them plentie of his grace but also admits them into his glorious presence so as they may behold his maiestie face to face The fourth and last is that whereby the Godhead of the sonne is present and dwells with and in the manhood giuing vnto it in some part his owne subsistance Wherby it comes to passe that this manhood assumed is proper to the sonne and can not be the manhood of the Father or of the holy Ghost or of any creature whatsoeuer And this is a thing so admirable and so vnspeakable that among all the works of God there can not be found an other example hereof in all the world Hence it follows necessarily that the manhood of Christ consisting of bodie and reasonable soule is a nature onely and not a person because it doth not subsist alone as other men Peter Paul Iohn doe but wholly depends on the person of the word into the vnitie whereof it is receiued The third point is in what order the diuine and humane nature of Christ are vnited togither Ans. The common consent of Diuines is that albeit all the parts of the manhood and the godhead of Christ be vnited at one instant yet in respect of order he vnites vnto himselfe first and immediately the soule and by the soule the bodie And it seemes vnmeete that God beeing a most simple essence should immediately be ioyned to a compound bodie and therefore it may well be saide that he is vnited vnto it by the more simple part of man which is the soule Againe the manhood of Christ is first and immediately ioyned to the person of the sonne himselfe and by the person to the godhead of the sonne The fourth point is whether there remaine any difference or diuersitie of the two natures after that the vnion is made Answ. The two natures concurring make not the person of the sonne to be compounded properly but onely by analogie for as bodie and soule make one man so God and man make one Christ neither are they turned one into an other the godhead into the manhood or the manhood into the godhead as water was turned into wine at Cana in Galile neither are they confused and mingled togither as meates in the stomacke but they now are and so remaine without composition conuersion or confusion really distinct and that in three respects First in regard of essence For the godhead of Christ is the godhead and can not be the manhood and againe the manhood of Christ is the manhood and not the godhead Secondly they are distinguished in proprieties the godhead is most wise iust mercifull omnipotent yea wisdom iustice mercie and power it selfe and so is not the manhood neither can it be Againe Christ as he is God hath his will eternall and vncreated which is all one with the will of the father and the holy Ghost And as he is man he hath another will created in time placed in his reasonable soule this Christ signifieth when he saith Not my will but thy will be done Thirdly they are distinct in their actions or operations which though they goe togither inseparably in the worke of redemption yet they must in no wise be confounded but distinguished as the natures themselues are Christ saith of himselfe I haue power to lay downe my life and I haue power to take it vp againe and hereby he shewes the distinction of operations in his two natures For to lay downe his life is an action of the manhood because the Godhead can not die and to take it vp againe is the worke of the Godhead alone which reunites the soule to the bodie after death The fifth and last point is what ariseth of this vnion Ans. By reason of this hypostatical vnion though the godhead receiue nothing from the manhood yet the manhood it selfe which is assumed is thereby perfected and enriched with vnspeakable dignitie For first of all it is exalted aboue all creatures whatsoeuer euen angels themselues in that it hath subsistance in the second person in Trinitie Secondly togither with the godhead of the Sonne it is adored and worshipped with diuine honour as in like case the honour done to the King himselfe redoundes to the crowne on his head Thirdly by reason of this vnion the godhead of Christ workes all things in the matter of our redemption in and by the manhoode And hereupon the flesh of Christ though it profit nothing of it selfe yet by the vertue which it receiueth from that person to which it is ioyned it is quickning flesh and the bread of life Againe from this vnion of two natures into one person ariseth a kinde of speech or phrase peculiar to the Scriptures called the communication of proprieties when the propertie of one nature is attributed to the whole person or to the other nature as when Paul saith that God shed his blood that the Lord of glorie was crucified And when Christ saith that he talking with Nichodemus was then in heauen The vse of the personall vnion is threefold First it serues to shew the hainousnesse of our sinnes and the greatnesse of our miserie For it had not bene possible to make a satisfaction to Gods iustice in mans nature for the least offence vnlesse the same nature had first of all beene neerely ioyned to the godhead of the sonne that thereby it might be so farre forth supported and sustained that it might ouercome the wrath of God Secondly it sets forth vnto vs the endlesse loue of God to man For whereas by reason of Adams fall we were become the vilest of all creatures except the deuill and his angels by his mysticall coniunction our nature is exalted to such an estate and condition as is farre aboue all creatures euen the angels themselues Thirdly it is as it were the keye of all our comfort for all sound comfort stands in happines all happines is in fellowship with God all fellowship with God is by Christ who for this cause beeing very God became very man that he might reconcile man to God and God to man Thus much of the conception of Christ now followes his birth whereby in the ordinarie time of trauell according to the course of nature he was brought forth into the world by the virgin Marie And it was the will of God that Christ should not onely be conceiued but also borne and that after the manner of men that he might be knowne to be very man indeede In the birth we may consider foure things the time the place the manner the manifestation of it The time was in the last daies toward the end of the 70. weekes of Daniel which are to be accounted from the ende of the captiuitie of Babylon and make in all 490 yeares or more plainly 3900 yeares and more from the beginning of the world and as Paul saith in the fulnesse of time And the Euangelists haue noted of purpose the time to haue beene when Augustus Caesar taxed
into one whole Mystical bodie Now that we may the better cōceiue the nature of it sundrie questions are to be mooued The first what kinde of coniunction this is Ans. In the scripture we meete with three kinde of coniunctions The first is coniunction in nature when sundrie things are coupled by one and the same nature As the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost being three distinct subsistances are all one and therefore ioyned in one godhead or diuine nature Nowe Christ and the beleeuer are not ioyned in nature for thē they twaine should haue one bodie and soule The second coniunction is in person when things in nature different so concurre togither that they make but one person as the bodie and soule make one man and the godhead of the sonne with his manhood make but one Christ in whome there is an vnion of distinct natures with vnity of person Nowe Christ and a Christian are not ioyned in person for Christ is one person Peter a second and Paul a third distinct from thē both so many men as there bee so many seuerall persons The third coniunction is in spirit and this is the coniunction meant in this place whereby Christ and his Church are ioyned togither for the verie same spirit of God that dwelleth in the manhood of Christ and filleth it with all graces aboue measure is deriued thence and dwelleth in all the true members of the Church and filleth them with the like graces in measure and therefore S. Iohn saith Hereby wee knowe that we dwell in him and he in vs because he hath giuen vs of his spirit Hence it followes that the bond of this coniunction is one and the same spirit descending from Christ the head to all his members creating also in them the instrument of faith whereby they apprehend Christ and make him their owne The second is what are the things vnited Ans. Not the bodie of the beleeuer to the bodie of Christ or the soule to his soule but the whole person of the man to the whole person of Christ yet in this order we are first of al immediately ioyned to the manhood of Christ by the manhood to the godhead The third question is what is the manner of this coniunction Answ. Wee must not thinke that Christ and his Church are ioyned by imagination as the minde of man and the thing whereof he thinkes or by consent of heart as one friende is ioyned with another and as the Iewes conuerted were all of one heart and soule or by any abode in one place or by touching as sea and lande are both ioyned togither and make one globe or by any composition or cōmixtion of substances as when many ingredients are put togither to make one medicine But this coniunction is altogither spirituall as the former Giuing was and incomprehensible to mans reason and therefore wee must rather labour to feele it by experience in the heart then to conceiue it in the braine Yet neuerthelesse it shall not be amisse to consider a resemblance of it in this comparison Suppose a man hauing the parts of his bodie disioyned farre asunder his head lying in Italy one arme in Germanie the other in Spaine and his leggs with vs in England suppose further all these parts or quarters haue all one soule extending it selfe vnto them all and quickening each of them seuerally as though they were neerely ioyned togither and though the parts be seuered many hundred miles asunder yet the distance of place doth not hinder the coniunction considering one and the same soule doth inlarge it selfe and giue life vnto them all In the same manner the head of the Mysticall bodie Christ our Sauiour is nowe in heauen and some of his members in heauen with him and some in earth and of these some in England some in Germanie some in Italy some in Spaine distant many thousand miles asunder and the spirit of God is as it were the soule of this bodie which giueth spirituall life to all the members distance of place doth not hinder this coniunction because the holy Ghost which linketh all the partes togither is infinite The benefits which we receiue by this Mysticall vnion are manifold For it is the ground of the conueiance of all grace The first is that by means hereof euery Christian as he is a Christian or a man regenerate hath his beginning and being in Christ howesoeuer as he is a man hee hath his beeing and subsisting in himselfe as Paul saith Ye are of God in Christ. And We are members of his bodie of his flesh and of his bones Howe will some say can this be After this manner The comparison is taken from our first parents Eue was made of a rib taken out of Adams side he beeing cast into a slumber this beeing done Adam awaked and said This nowe is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh Christ was nailed on the crosse and his most pretious blood was shed and out of it arise and spring all true Christians that is out of the merit of Christs death passion whereby they become newe creatures Secondly euery one that beleeueth in Christ by reason of this vnion hath an vnspeakable prerogatiue for hereby he is first vnited to Christ and by reason thereof is also ioyned to the whole trinitie the father the sonne and the holy Ghost and shall haue eternall fellowship with them Thirdly sundrie men specially Papists deride the doctrine of iustification by imputed righteousnes thinking it as absurde that a man should be iust by that righteousnesse which is inherent in the person of Christ as if we should say that one man may liue by the soule of another or be learned by the learning of another But here we may see that it hath sufficient foundation For there is a most neere and strait vnion betweene Christ and all that beleeue in him and in this vnion Christ with all his benefits according to the tenour of the couenant of grace is made ours really therfore we may stande iust before God by his righteousnesse it beeing indeede his because it is in him as in a subiect yet so as it is also ours because it is giuen vnto vs of God Nowe there is no such vnion betweene man and man and for that cause one man can not liue by the soule of another or be learned by the learning of another Fourthly frō this fountaine springes our sanctificatiō wherby we die to sin and are renued in righteousnes and holines Wormes flies that haue lien dead al winter if they be laid in the sunne in the spring time begin to reuiue by vertue thereof euen so whē we are vnited to Christ are as it were laid in the beames of this blessed sonne of righteousnes vertue is deriued thence which warmeth our benummed hearts dead in sinne and reuiueth vs to newnes of life whereby we begin to affect and like good things and put in practise all
no robberie to be equall with God Ioh. 1.1 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and that Word was God It was requisite for the Mediatour to be God 1. That he might the better sustaine that great miserie wherewith mankind was ouerwhelmed the greatnesse whereof these foure things declare I. The grieuousnesse of sinne wherwith Gods maiestie was infinitely offended II. Gods infinite anger against this sinne III. The fearefull power of death IV. The diuels tyrannie who is prince of this world 2. That he might make his humaine nature both of pleÌ„tifull merite and also of sufficient efficacie for the work of mans redemption 3. That he might instill into all the elect eternall life and holinesse Esa. 43.12 I am the Lord there is none besides me a Sauiour I haue declared and I haue saued and I haue shewed when there was no strange god among you therefore ye are my witnesses saith the Lord that I am God I say the Godhead in as much as it is the Godhead of the Sonne is Christs diuine Nature not as it is the Godhead of the Father or the holy Ghost for it is the office of the Sonne to haue the administration of euery outward action of the Trinitie from the Father to the holy Ghost 1. Cor. 6.8 And he being by nature the Sonne of the father bestowetâ— this priuiledge on those that beleeue that they are the Sonnes of God by adoption Ioh. 1.12 As many as receiued him to them he gaue to be the sonnes of God If either the Father or the holy Ghost should haue beene incarnate the title of Sonne should haue beene giuen to one of them who was not the Sonne by eternall generation and so there should be moe sonnes then one Christs other nature is his humanity wherby he the Mediator is very maÌ„â— 1. Tim. 2.5 One God one Mediator betwene God man the man Christ Ieâ—â—s It was necessarie that Christ should be man First that God might be pacified in that nature wherein he was offended Secondly that he might vndergo punishment due to sinne the which the Godhead could not being void and free from all passion Furthermore Christ as he is man is like vnto vs in all things sinne onely excepted Heb. 2.17 In all things it became him to be made like vnto his brethren 1. Cor. 13.4 Christ therefore is a perfect man consisting of an essentiall and true soule bodie whereunto are ioyned such faculties and properties as are essentiall vnto both In his soule is vnderstanding memorie will and such like in his bodie length breadth and thicknesse yea it is comprehended in one onely place visible subiect to feeling neither is there any thing wanting in him which may either adorne or make for the beeing of mans nature Againe Christ in his humanitie was subiect to the infirmities of mans nature which are these I. to be tempted Matth. 4.1 Iesus was carried by the spirit into the desart to be tempted of the Diuell II. To feare Heb. 5.7 Who in the daies of his flesh did offer vp praiers and supplications with strong crying and teares vnto him that was able to saue him from death and was also heard in that which he feared III. To be angrie Mark 3.5 Then he looked round about on them angerly mourning also for the hardnesse of their hearts and said vnto the man Stretch forth thine hand IV. Forgetfulnesse of his office imposed vpon him by reason of the agonie astonishing his senses Matth. 26.39 He went a little further and fell on his face and praied saying O Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me neuertheles not as I will but as thou wilt VVe must hold these things concerning Christs infinitenes I. They were such qualities as did onely affect his humane nature and not at all constitute the same and therefore might be left of Christ. II. They were such as were common to all men as to thirst to be wearie and to die and not personall as are agues consumptions the leprosie blindnes c. III. He was subiect to these infirmities not by necessitie of his humaine nature but by his freewill pleasure pitying mankind therefore in him such infirmities were not the punishment of his owne sinne as they are in vs but rather part of that his humiliation which he did willingly vndergoe for our sakes CHAP. 16. Of the Vnion of the two natures in Christ. NOwe followeth the Vnion of the two natures in Christ which especially concerneth his Mediation for by it his humanity did suffer death vpon the crosse in such sort as he could neither be ouercome nor perpetually ouerwhelmed by it Three things belong to this vniting of Natures I. Conception by which his humaine nature was by the wonderfull power and operation of God both immediately that is without mans help and miraculously framed of the substance of the Virgin Marie Luke 1.35 The holy Ghost shall come vpon thee the power of the most high shall ouershadow thee The holy Ghost cannot be said to be the father of Christ because he did minister no matter to the making of the humanitie but did onely fashion and frame it of the substance of the Virgin Marie II. Sanctification whereby the same humane nature was purified that is altogether seuered by the power of the holy ghost from the least staine of sin to the end that it might be holy be made fit to die for others Luk. 1.35 That holy thing which shall be borne of thee shall be called the Sonne of God 1. Pet. 3.18 Christ hath once suffered for sinnes the iust for the vniust 1. Pet. 2.22 Who did not sinne neither was there guile found in his mouth III. Assumption whereby the Word that is the second person in Trinity tooke vpon him flesh and the seed of Abraham namely that his humaine Nature to the end that it beeing destitute of a proper and personal subsisteÌ„ce might in the person of the Word obtaine it subsisting and as it were beeing supported of the Word for euer Iohn 1.14 That Word was made flesh Heb. 2.16 Hee tooke not vpon him the nature of Angels but the seede of Abraham In the assumption we haue three things to consider I. The difference of the two natures in Christ. For the diuine nature as it is limited to the person of the Sonne is perfect and actually subsisting in it selfe the other not II. The manner of vnion The person of the Sonne did by assuming the humane Nature create it by creating assume it III. The product of the VnioÌ„ Whole Christ God and man was not made a newe person of the two natures as of partes compounding a new thing but remained still the same person Nowe whereas the ancient Fathers tearmed Christ a compound person wee must vnderstand them not properly but by proportion For as the parts are vnited in the whole so these two natures doe concurre togither in one person which is the
In whome ye are also built togither to be the habitation of God by the spirit This albeit it be a most neere and reall vnion yet we must not thinke that it by touching mixture or as it were by souldring of one soule with another neither by a bare agreement of the soules among themselues but by the communion and operation of the same spirit which beeing by nature infinite is of sufficient abilitie to conioyne those things togither which are of themselues farre distant from each other the like we see in the soule of man which conioyneth the head with the foote Eph. 2.22 2. Pet. 1.4 Whereby most great and precious promises are giuen vnto vs that by them ye should be partakers of the godly nature in that ye flie the corruption which is in the world through lust Phil. 2.1 If there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of loue if any fellowship of the spirit c. The things vnited In this vnion not our soule alone is vnited with Christs soule or our â—lesh with his flesh but the whole person of euery faithfull man is â—erely conioyned with the whol person of our Sauiour Christ God man The manner of their vnion is this A faithfull man first of all and immediatly is vnited to the flesh or humane nature of Christ afterward by reason of the humanitie to the Word it selfe or diuine nature For saluation and life dependeth on that fulnesse of the godhead which is in Christ yet it is not coÌ„municated vnto vs but in the flesh and by the flesh of Christ. Ioh. 6 5â— Except ye eate the flesh and drinke the blood of the Sonne of man ye haue no life in you 56. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him The bond of this vnion This vnion is made by the spirit of God applying Christ vnto vs and on our parts by faith receiuing Christ Iesus offered vnto vs. And for this cause is it tearmed a spirituall vnion Christ because he is the head of the faithfull is to be considered as a publike man sustaining the person of all the elect Hence is it that the faithfull are â—aid to be crucified with Christ and with him to die to be buried Rom. 6.4 5,6 to be quickened Eph. 2.5 to be raised vp and placed in heauen v. 6. Col. 3.1 the which is not onely in regard of the hope of the faithful but because they are accepted of God certainely to haue done all these things in Christ euen as in Adams first sinne all his posteritie afterward was tainted of sinne A member of Christ is diuersly distinguished and is so either before men or God Before meÌ„ they are the members of Christ who outwardly professing the faith are charitably reputed by the Church as true members But such deceiuing at length both themselues and the Church may be reprobates therefore in Gods presence they are no more true members then are the noxious humours in mans bodie or a woodden legge or other ioynt cunningly fastened to another part of the bodie Againe members before God they are such as either are decreed to be so or actually are so already Such as are decreed to be so are they who being elect from all eternitie are either as yet not borne or not called Ioh. 10. 16. Other sheepe haue I which are not of this fold them also must I bring Actuall members of Christ are either liuing or dying members An actuall liuing member of Christ is euery one elected which being engraffed by faith and the spirit into Christ doth feele and shewe forth the power of Christ in him An actuall dying or decaying member is euery one truely engraffed into Christ and yet hath no feeling of the power and efficacie of the quickening spirit in him He is like vnto a benummed legge without sense which indeede is a part of mans body and yet receiueth no nourishment such are those faithfull ones who for a time doe faint and are ouercome vnder the heauie burtheÌ„ of tentations and their sinnes such are also those excommunicate persons who in regard of their engraffing are true members howesoeuer in regard of the externall communion with the Church and efficacie of the spirit they are not members till such time as they being touched with repentance doe begin as it were to liue againe God executeth this effectuall calling by certaine meanes The first is the sauing hearing of the word of God which is when the said word outwardly is preached to such an one as is both dead in his sinnes and doth not so much as dreame of his saluation And first of all the Law shewing a man his sinne and the punishment thereof which is eternall death afterward the Gospel shewing saluation by Christ Iesus to such as beleeue And inwardly the eyes of the minde are enlightened the heart and eares opened that he may see heare and vnderstand the preaching of the word of God The second is the mollifying of the heart the which must be bruised in pieces that it may be fit to receiue Gods sauing grace offered vnto it Ezech. 11. 19. I will giue them one heart and I will put a new spirit within their bowels And I will take the stonie heart out of their bodies and will giue them an heart of flesh There are for the brusing of this stonie heart foure principal hammers The first is the knowledge of the law of God The second is the knowledge of sinne both originall and actuall and what punishment is due vnto them The third is compunction or pricking of the heart namely a sense and feeling of the wrath of God for the same sinnes The fourth is an holy desperation of a mans owne power in the obtaining of eternall life Act. 2.37 When they heard these things they were pricked in heart and said vnto Peter and the rest of the Apostles Men and brethren what shall we doe 38. Peter said vnto them Repent and be baptized euery one of you in the name of Iesus into the remission of sinnes and ye shall receiue the gift of the holy Ghost Luk. 15.17 Then he came to himselfe and said How many hired seruants at my fathers haue bread ynough and I die for hunger 18. I will rise and goe to my father and say vnto him Father I haue sinned against heauen and before thee 19. And am no more worthie to be called thy sonne make me as one of thy hired seruants c. Matth. 15. 24. He answered and said I am not sent but to the lost sheepe of Israel The third is faith which is a miraculous and supernaturall facultie of the heart apprehending Christ Iesus being applied by the operation of the holy Ghost and receiuing him to it selfe Ioh. 1.1,2,6.35 Iesus said vnto them I am the bread of life he that commeth vnto me shall neuer hunger and he that beleeueth in me shall neuer thirst Rom. 9.30 What shall we
custodie of God Fewe or none can practise this and therefore when any euill befalls them either in bodie or in goods or any other way whatsoeuer then they presently shewe them-selues rather beastes then men in impatience For in prosperitie they had no care to put their trust in God and therefore in aduersitie when crosses come they are void of comfort But when a man hath grace to beleeue and trust in God then he commits all into Gods handes and though all the world should perish yet he would not bee dismaied And vndoubtedly if a man will bee thankefull for the preseruation of his goods or of his life he must shewe the same by committing all he hath into God hands and suffer himselfe to be ruled by him Nowe followes the consolations and comforts which Gods Church and children reape hereby Hee that beleeues in God and takes God for his God may assure himselfe of saluation and of a happie deliuerance in all daungers and necessities When God threatned a plague vpon Israel for their idolatrie good King Iosiah humbled himselfe before the Lord his God and hee was safe all his daies And so King Hezekiah when Senacherib the King of Ashur offered to inuade Iudah hee trusted likewise in the Lord and praied vnto him and was deliuered Whereby wee see if a man puts his whole trust in God he shall haue securitie and quietnesse as Iehosaphat saide to the men of Iudah And our Sauiour Christ when hee was vpon the crosse and felt the whole burden of the terrible wrath of God vpon him cried My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And it appeareth in the Epistle to the Hebrewes that Christ was heard in that he feared whereby we are giuen to vnderstand that they shall neuer be vtterly forsaken that take God for their God And King Dauid hauing experience of this vseth most excellent speeches for this ende to shewe that the ground of his comfort was that God was his God And it is saide that Daniel had no manner of hurt in the Lyons denne because he trusted in the Lord his God And contrariwise such as distrust God are subiect to all miseries and iudgements The Israelites in the wildernesse beleeued not God and trusted not in his helpe therefore God was angrie and his fire was kindled in Iacob and wrath came vpon Israel God the Father Almightie Some haue thought that these words are to be coupled to the former without distinction as if the title of God had beene proper to the first person the Father and not common to the rest◠and thus haue some heretickes thought But in deede there must a pause or distinction be made that the name or title of God may bee set in the fore-front as common to all the three persons following For that is the very intent of the order of this Creede to teach vs to beleeue in one God who is distinct into three subsistances or persons called the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost And here offers it selfe to bee considered euen one of the greatest mysteries of our religion namely that God is the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost and againe that the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost are one and the same God Some at the first may possibly say that this cannot stande because it is against all reason that one should bee three or three one The aunswere is that indeede if one and the same respect bee kept it is not possible but in diuers considerations and respects it may And thus the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost are three namely in person and againe they three are one not in person but in nature By nature is meant a thing subsisting by it selfe that is common to many as the substance of man consisting of bodie and soule common to all men which wee call the humanitie of a man is the nature of man By person is meant a thing or essence subsisting by it selfe not common to many but incommunicable as among men these particulars Peter Iohn Paul are called persons And so in the mysterie of the Trinitie the diuine nature is the godhead it selfe simply and absolutely considered and a person is that which subsisteth in this Godhead as the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost Or againe a person is one and the same godhead not absolutely considered but in relation and as it were restrained by personall or caracteristicall proprieties as the godhead or God begetting is the Father God againe considered not simply but so farre foorth as hee is begotten is the Sonne and God proceeding of the Father and the Sonne the holy Ghost And if any man would conceiue in minde rightly the diuine nature hee must conceiue God or the godhead absolutely if any of the persons then hee must conceiue the same godhead relatiuely with personall proprieties Thus the godhead considered with the proprietie of fatherhoode or begetting is the father and conceiuing the same godhead with the proprietie of generation we conceiue the Sonne and the godhead with the proprietie of proceeding we conceiue the holy Ghost Neither must it seeme straunge to any that we vse the names of nature and person to set forth this mysterie by for they haue beene taken vp by common consent in the primitiue Church and that vpon weightie consideration to manifest the trueth and to stop the mouthes of hereticks and they are not vsed against the proper sense of the scriptures nay they are therein contained Thus wee see howe it comes to passe that the three things signified by these names Father Sonne holy Ghost are ech of them one and the same God And this mysterie may well be conceiued by a comparison borrowed from light The light of the sunne the light of the moone and the light of the aire for nature and substance are one and the same light and yet they are three distinct lights The light of the sunne beeing of it selfe and from none the light of the moone from the sunne and the light of the aire from them both So the diuine nature is one the persons are three subsisting after a diuers manner in one and the same nature And for the further clearing of this point we must yet further marke and remember two things namely the vnion and the distinction of the persons The vnion is whereby three persons are one not simply but one in nature that is coessentiall or cōsubstantiall hauing all one godhead For the Father is God the sonne is god and the holy ghost is god now there are not three distinct Gods but one God because there is one God and no more in nature considering that the thing which is infinite is but one and is not subiect to multiplication and the Father is this one God as also the Sonne and the holy Ghost And as these three persons are one in nature so whatsoeuer agrees to God simply considered agrees to them all
three They are all coequal and coeternall all most wise iust mercifull omnipotent by one and the same wisdome iustice mercie power And because they haue all one godhead therefore they are not onely one with another but also ech in other the Father in the Sonne and the Sonne in the Father and the holy Ghost in them both And we must not imagine that these three are one God as though the Father had one part of the Godhead the Sonne another part and the holy Ghost a third For that is most false because the infinite and the most simple godhead is not subiect to composition or diuision but euery person is whole god subsisting not in a part but in the whole godhead and the whole entire godhead is communicateâ— from the father to the sonneâ— from both father and sonne to the holy Ghost But some may yet say that this doctrine seemes to bee impossible because three creatures as for example Peter Paul Timothy beeing three persons and so remaining cannot haue one and the same nature that is the same body the same soule Answ. Three or moe men may haue the same nature in kind but the truth is they cannot possibly haue a nature which shal be one and the same in number in them all three For a man is a substance created and finite and the bodies of men are quantities and therefore diuisible and separable one from another Hereupon it comes that the persons of men are not only distinguished by proprieties but also diuided and sundered one from another And though Peter Paul Timothy haue all one common and vniuersall forme yet they three are not one man but three men Nowe it is otherwise with the diuine nature or godhead which is vncreated and infinite and therefore admits neither composition nor diuision but a distinction without any seperatioÌ„ so as the three persons subsisting in it shal not be three gods but one and the same God Yet further some wil obiect that it is truely said of the father that he is god but the same godhead is not in the sonne nor in the holy ghost for the sonne and the holy ghost haue their beginning from the father Ans. The sonne and the holy ghost haue not a beginning of their nature or of their godhead from the Father but of their person onely the person of the Sonne is from the Father and the person of the holy ghost is both from the father and from the Sonne but the godhead of all three persons is vncreate and vnbegotten and proceeding from none Yet some may say both the sonne and the holy ghost haue receiued from the Father al their attributes as wisdome knowledge power c. Nowe he that receiueth any thing from another is in that respect inferiour to him that giueth it and therefore the Sonne and the holy Ghost are not God as he is Ans. We must knowe that which the Sonne receiueth of the Father he receiueth it by nature and not by grace and he receiueth not a part but all that the father hath sauing the persoâ—all proprietie And the holy ghost receiueth from the Father and the Sonne by nature and not by grace and therefore though both the sonne and the holy Ghost receiue from the Father yet they are not inferiour to him but equall with him And thus much is both necessary and profitable to be learned of the vnion betweene the three persons in Trinitie whereby they beeing three haue all one and the same godhead The second point to be considered is that that though these three haue but one godhead and all make but one God yet they are distinguished one from another for the father is the father and not the sonne or the holy Ghost the sonne is the sonne and not the father nor the holy Ghost and the holy ghost is the holy ghost not the father nor the sonne This distinction of the persons is notably set forth vnto vs in the baptisme of our Sauiour Christ where it is said that vvhen Iesus was baptized he came out of the water there is the second person and the holy Ghost descended vpon him in the forme of a doue there is the third person and the father the first person pronounced from heauen that he was his onely beloued sonne in whome he was well pleased And wee must conceiue this distinction in such manner as though these three Father Sonne and holy Ghost were three names of one God For the three persons doe not in name or word but really in trueth distinctly subsist in the same diuine nature Neither must we imagine that the three persons are three formes or differences of one God as some hereticks haue dreamed who taught that the father alone is God and that he is called a father in one respect the sonne in another and the holy Ghost in a third For this were nothing els but to make the personall proprieties to be nothing but imaginarie accidents which indeede or at the least in mans conceit might come and goe and be either in the persons or forth of them For the personall râ—lations though in minde they may be distinguished from the diuine essence yet indeede they are one with it But some will say if they make this distinction there is rather a quaternitie then a trinitie for the godhead is one the father an other the sonne a third and the holy Ghost a fourth Thus some heretikes haue obiected against the distinction of the trinitie but it is vntrue which they say For the godhead must not be seuered from the Father nor from the Sonne nor from the holy Ghost for the father is God or the whole godhead so also is the sonne and the holy Ghost and the godhead likewise is in euery one of these three persons and euery one of them subsisting in the godhead and the godhead must be conceiued to be in them all and not as a fourth thing out of them And therefore we must still mâ—intaine that these three persons are distinguished and not deuided as three men are deuided in beeing and substance for this diuision can not be in them because all three haue one drâ—ine nature and one godhead This is the mysterie of all mysteries to be receiued of vs all namely the trinitie of the persons in the vnitie of the godhead This forme of doctrine must be retained and holden for these causes I. because by it we are able to distinguish this true God from all false gods and idols II. because among all other points of religion this is one of the chiefest beeing the very foundation thereof For it is not sufficient for vs to know God as we can conceiue of him in our owne imagination but we must know him as he hath reuealed himselfe in his word And it is not sufficient to saluation to beleeue in God confusedly but we must beleeue in one God distinct into three persons the Father the Sonne the holy
him to whome it was due immediately the angel of the Lord smote him And so if Christ had bin but a meere man and not very god as he auouched vndoubtedly the hand of God would haue bin vpon him likewise for his confusion but when he suffred for vs and bare the punishment due for our sinnes he most triumphed And the iudgements of God were vpon Herod Pontius Pilate Caiphas and vpon all those that were enemies to him and to his Church afterward and that partly in life and partly in death Wherefore considering God cannot abide that his glorie should be giuen to any creature and seeing for that cause he takes reuenge on all those that exalt themselues to be gods it remaines that the testimony which Christ gaue of himselfe that he was God is vnfallibly true and without all question to be beleeued of vs. And to conclude I would haue all the deuills in hell with the cursed order of Lucians Porphyrians and Atheists whatsoeuer to answer â—his one point how it could come to passe that Christ by publishing the doctrine of the Gospel that is as contrarie to mans reason will and affections as water to fire should winne almost the whole world to become his disciples and to giue their liues for him vnlesse he were God indeede as he professed himselfe to be There be sundrie speciall reasons wherefore it was necessarie that Christ should be God I. There is none which can be a Sauiour of bodie and soule but God I euen I am the Lord and besides me there is no Sauiour And I am the Lord the God from the land of Egipt and thou shalt know no God but me for there is no Sauiour beside me II. There must be a proportion betweene the sinne of man and the punishment of sinne now the sinne of man in respect of the offence of the maiestie of God is infinite in that he is infinitely displeased with man for the breach of his law therefore the punishment of sinne must be infinite and hence it followeth that he which suffereth the punishment beeing man must withall be God that the manhood by the power of the Godhead may be supported that in suffering it may vanquish death and make a sufficient satisfaction III. He that must be a Sauiour must be able first to deliuer men from the bondage of their spirituall enemies namely sinne and Satan secondly to restore the image of God lost by the fall of Adam and to conferre righteousnes and life euerlasting thirdly to defend them from hel death damnation the flesh the deuill the world fourthly to giue them full redemption from all their miseries both in bodie and soule and to place them in eternall happines all which none can doe but he which is very God IV. It was the pleasure of God to shew his incomprehensible goodnes in this that his grace should not onely be equal to our sinne but also by many degrees goe beyond it And therefore the first Adam beeing but a meere man the second Adam must be both God and man that as the second was more excellent then the first so our comfort might be greater in our redemption by the second then our miserie and discomfort was by the fall of the first Hitherto we haue shewed how Christ is the sonne of God now let vs come to the second point namely that he is the onely sonne of God And he is so tearmed because he is the sonne of the father in a speciall manner so as nothing can be the sonne of God as he is Angels indeede are tearmed the sonnes of God but that is onely in respect of their creation all that beleeue in Christ are sonnes of God by adoption beeing receiued into the familie of God which is his church by the merit of Christ whereas by nature they were the children of wrath Christ also as he is man I say not his manhood which is a nature and no person is the sonne of God by the grace of personal vnion and not by nature or adoption Lastly Christ as he is the second person in trinitie thâ— eternall word of the father coeternall and consubstantiall with him is also the sonne of God But how neither by creation nor adoption nor by the vertue of personall vnion but by nature as he was begotten of the very substance of the father before all world and therefore he is called the proper and onely begotten sonne of God It may be obiected on this manner If the father beget the sonne he doth it either willingly or against his will if willingly theÌ„ the son is begotten by the free will of the father and no sonne by nature Ans. The father did communicate to the sonne his whole godhead willingly without coÌ„straint yet not by his will and therfore he is the Sonne of the father by nature not by will It may be further said that if Christ be the sonne of God by nature as he is the essentiall word of the father and by personall vnion as he is man then is hee not one but two sonnes Ans. As he is but one person so is he but one sonne yet not in one but in two respects two respects make not two thinges whereas one and the same thing not altered but still remaining one may admitte sundrie respects Thus much of the meaning of the third title nowe followe the comforts which may be gathered hence Whereas Christ Iesus is the sonne of God it serues as a meanes to make miserable and wretched sinners that are by nature the children of wrath and damnation to be the sonnes of God by adoption as S. Iohn testifieth Nowe what a benefit is this to be the childe of God no tongue can expresse Christ saith Blessed are the peacemakers but why are they blessed for saith he they shall be called the sonnes of God Whereby he testifieth that the right of adoption is a most excellent priuiledge not without cause For he which is the child of God is spiritually allied to Christ and to all the Saints and seruants of God both in heauen and earth hauing his owne redeemer for his elder brother and all his members as his brethren and sisters yea if we be Gods adopted children we are also heires euen heires of God and heires annexed with Christ. Well how great soeuer this prerogatiue is yet few there be that rightly way it consider of it Children of noble meÌ„ Princes heires are had in account and reputation of all men they are the verie speach and wonder of the worlde But it is a matter of no account to be the sonne of God and fellow-heire with Christ. The dearest seruants of God haue beene esteemed but as the offscouring of the worlde And no maruaile for they which are after the flesh sauour the thinges of the flesh Fewe men haue their vnderstandings inlightened to discerne of such spirituall things as these are therefore are they little or
this order touching man that what euill or defect soeuer he brought vpon himselfe he should deriue the same to euery one of his posteritie begotten of him and hereupon when any father begets his childe he is in the roome of Adam and conueies vnto it beside the nature of man the very guilt and corruption of nature Now for the preuenting of this euill in Christ God in great wisdome appointed that he should be conceiued by the holy Ghost without any manner of generation by man And by this meanes he takes substance from the Virgin without the guilt and corruption of the substance But it may further be obiected thus All that be in Adam haue sinned in him but Christ was in Adam as he is man therefore he sinned in him Ans. The proposition is false vnlesse it be expounded on this manner All that were in Adam haue sinned in him so be it they come of him by generation Paul saith not out of one man but by one man sinne entred into the world to shew that man propagates his corruption to no more then he begets Againe Christ is in Adam not simply as other men are but in some part namely in respect of substance which he took from him and not in respect of the propagation of the substance by ordinarie generation other men are both from Adam and by Adam but Christ is from him alone and not by him as a begetter or procreant cause The second part of sanctification is the infusion of all purenesse and holinesse into the manhoode of Christ so farre forth as was meete for the nature of a redeemer The duties to be learned hence are these First whereas Christ was sanctified in the wombe of the virgin Marie we likewise must labour to be sanctified in our selues following the commandement of God Be ye holy as I am holy S. Iohn saith that he which hath hope to be with Christ in glorie in heauen purifieth himselfe euen as he is pure no doubt setting before himselfe the example of Christ as a patterne to follow in all his waies And because our hearts are as it were seas of corruptions we must daily cleanse our selues of them by little little following the practise of the poore begger that is alwaies peecing and mending and day by day pulls away some ragges and puts better cloath in the roome And if we shall continually indeauour our selues to cast off the remnants of corruption that hang so fast on and make a supplie thereof by some new portions of Gods heauenly grace we shall be vessells of honour sanctified and meete for the Lord and prepared vnto euery good worke Christ could not haue beene a fit Sauiour for vs vnlesse he had first of all bin sanctified neither can we be fit members vnto him vnlesse we be purged of our sinnes and in some measure truly sanctified The comfort which Gods people may reape of the sanctification of Christs manhood is great For why was he sanctified Surely if we marke it well we shall finde it was for the good and benefit of his Elect. For Adam and Christ be two rootes as hath beene shewed Adam by creation first receiued Gods image and after lost the same for himselfe and his posteritie Now Christ to remooue the sinne of man is made the second Adam and the roote and very head of all the Elect. His manhood was filled with holinesse aboue measure that from thence as from a storehouse it might be deriued to all his members And therefore by his most holy conception our sinnefull birth and conception is sanctified and his holinesse serues as a couer to hide our manifolde corruptions from the eyes of God Yea it serues as a buckler to award the temptations of the deuill for when he shall say to our hearts on this manner no vncleane thing can enter into the kingdome of heauen but thou by reason of the remnants of originall sinne art vncleane therefore thou canst not enter into the kingdome of heauen we returne our answer saying that Christs righteousnesse is our righteousnesse seruing to make vs stand without blame or spot before God And as Iacob put on Esaus garments that he might get his fathers blessing so if by faith we doe put on the white garment of righteousnes of our elder brother Christ Iesus and present our selues in it vnto our heauenly father we shall obtaine his blessing which is eternall happines Now remaines the third and last part of the conception which is the Vnion of the godhead and the manhood cōcerning which many points are particularly to be handled The first is what kinde of Vnion this is Ans. In the Trinitie there be two sorts of vnions vnion in nature and vnion in person Vnion in nature is when two or moe things are ioyned and vnited into one nature as the Father the Sonne the holy Ghost beeing and remaining three distinct persons are one and the same in nature or Godhead Vnion in person is when two things are in that maner vnited that they make but one person or subsistance as a bodie created by God and a reasonable soule ioyned both togither make one particular man as Peter Paul Iohn c. And this second is the vnion whereof we intreat in this place by which the second person in Trinitie the sonne of God did vnite vnto himselfe the humane nature that is the bodie and soule of man so as the Godhead of the Sonne and the manhood concurring togither made but one person The second point is in what thing this vnion doth consist Answ. It consists in this that the second person the Sonne of God doth assume vnto it a manhood in such order that it beeing voide of all personall being in it selfe doth wholly and onely subsist in the same person As the plant called Missell or Misselto hauing no roote of his owne both growes and liues in the stocke or bodie of the Oke or some other tree so the humane nature hauing no proper substance is as it were ingrafted into the person of the sonne and is wholly supported and sustained by it so as it should not be at all if it were not sustained in that manner And for the better vnderstanding of this point we must consider that there be foure degrees of the presence of God in his creatures The first is his generall presence and it may be called the presence of his prouidence whereby he preserueth the substances of all creatures and giueth vnto them to liue mooue and haue beeing and this extendeth it selfe to all creatures good and bad The second degree is the presence of grace wherby he doth not onely preserue the substāces of all his creatures but also giueth grace vnto it this agreeth to the Church people of God vpon earth The third degree is the presence of glorie peculiar to the Saints and angels in heauen and this stands in three things for God not onely preserues their substances and giues
we pollute our soules and bodies with any manner of sinne we make them euen stables and styes for our wretched enemie the deuill to harbour in For when Satan is once cast out if afterward we fall againe to our old sinnes loosenes of life and so defile our bodies they are then most cleane and neat for them to dwell in whereupon he will come and bring seuen other deuills worse then himselfe so a mans last end shall be worse then his beginning Now what a fearefull thing is this that the bodie which should be a temple for the holy Ghost by our sins should be made a stable for the deuil Furthermore S. Paul biddeth vs not to quench the spirit The graces of the holy spirit in this life are like sparkes of fire which may soone be quenched with a little water Now so oft as we sinne we cast water vpon the grace of God and as much as we can put out the same therefore it stands vs in hand to make conscience of euery thing wherein we may offend and displease God And we may assure our selues that so long as we liue and lie in our corruptions and sinnes the holy Ghost will neuer come and dwell with vs. He is a spirit most pure and chast and therefore must haue an vndefiled temple to dwell in Thus we haue heard what is to be beleeued concerning the Father Sonne and holy Ghost Now looke as we beleeue in God distinguished into three persons so we must remember that when we performe diuine worship to him we may distinguish the persons but we are not to seuer them when we pray to the Father we must not omit the Sonne or the holy Ghost but make our prayers to them all for as in nature they are one and in person not deuided but distinguished so in all worship we must neuer confound or seuer the persons but distinguish them and worship the Trinitie in vnitie and vnitie in trinitie one God in three persons and three persons in one God Hitherto we haue intreated of the first part of the Creede concerning God now followes the second part thereof concerning the Church and â—t was added to the former vpon speciall consideration For the right order of a confession did require that after the Trinitie the Church should be mentioned as the house after the owner the temple after God and the citie after the builder Againe the Creede is concluded with points of doctrine concerning the Church because whosoeuer is out of it is also forth of the number of gods children and he can not haue God for his father which hath not the Church for his mother Question is made what the words are which are to be supplied in this article the holy Catholike Church whether I beleeue or I beleeue in and ancient expositours haue sufficiently determined the matter One saith In these words in which is set forth our faith of the godhead it is saide In God the father in the Sonne and in the holy Ghost but in the rest where the speech is not of the Godhead but of creatures aud mysteries the preposition In is not added that it should be in the holy Church but that we should beleeue there is an holy Church not as God but as a companie gathered to God And men should beleeue that there is remission of sinnes not in the remission of sinnes and they should beleeue the resurrection of the bodie not in the resurrection of the bodie therefore by this preposition the Creatour is distinguished from the creatures and things pertaining to God from things pertaining to men Another vpon these words This is the worke of God that ye beleeue in him saith If ye beleeue in him ye beleeue him not if ye beleeue him ye beleeue in him for the deuills beleeued God but did not beleeue in him Againe of the Apostles we may say we beleeue Paul but we doe not beleeue in Paul we beleeue Peter but we beleeue not in Peter For his faith that beleeueth in him which iustifieth the vngodly is imputed to him for righteousnes What is it therefore to beleeue in him by beleeuing to loue and like and as it were to passe into him and to be incorporated into his members Now the reasons which some Papists bring to the contrarie to prooue that we may beleeue in the creatures in the church are of no moment First they alleadge the phrase of Scripture Exod. 14.31 They beleeued in God and in Moses 1. Sam. 27. 12. And Achis beleeued in Dauid 2. Chron. 20.20 Beleeue in the Prophets and prosper Ans. The Hebrewe phrase in which the seruile letter Beth is vsed must not bee translated with a preposition that ruleth an accusatiue or ablatiue case but with a datiue case on this manner Beleeue Moses Dauid the Prophets and it doth not impart any affiance in the creature but onely a giuing of credance by one man to another Secondly they alleadge that ancient fathers read the article on this manner I beleeue in the holy Catholike Church Answ. Indeede some haue done so but by this kind of speech they signified no more but thus much that they beleeued that there was a Catholike Church Thus hauing found what words are to be supplied let vs come to the meaning of the article And that we may proceede in order let vs first of all see what the Church is The Church is a peculiar companie of men predestinate to life euerlasting and made one in Christ. First I say it is a peculiar company of men for Saint Peter saith Ye are a chosen generation a royall priesthood an holy nation and a peculiar people He speakes indeede of the Church of God on earth but his saying may be also extended to the whole Church of God as well in heauen as in earth Nowe because there can be no companie vnlesse it haue a beginning and a cause whereby it is gathered therefore I adde further in the definition predestinate to life euerlasting Noting thereby the ground and cause of the Catholike Church namely Gods eternall predestination to life euerlasting and to this purpose our Sauiour Christ saith Feare not little flocke for it is your fathers will to giue you the kingdome signifying thereby that the first and principall cause of the Church is the good pleasure of God whereby he hath before all workes purposed to aduance his elect to eternall saluation Therefore one saith well onely the elect are the Church of God And further because no companie can continue and abide for euer vnlesse the members thereof be ioyned and coupled together by some bond therefore I adde in the last place made one with Christ. This vnion maketh the Church to be the Church and by it the members thereof whether they be in heauen or in earth are distinguished from all other companies whatsoeuer Now this coniunction betweene Christ and the Church is auouched by Saint Paul when
is euident 1. by the course of nature 2. by the nature of the soule of man 3. by the distinction of things honest and dishonest 4. by the terrour of conscience 5. by the regiment of ciuill societies 6. the order of all causes hauing euer recourse to some former beginning 7. the determination of all things to their seuerall ends 8. the consent of all men well in their wits God is Iehouah Elohim Exod. 6.2 And Elohim spake vnto Moses and said vnto him I am Iehouah and I appeared vnto Abraham to Isaac and to Iacob by the name of God almightie but by my name Iehouah was I not knowne vnto them Exod 3.13 If they say vnto me What is his name What shall I say vnto them And God answered Moses I am that I am Also he said thus shalt thou say vnto the children of Israel I am hath sent me vnto you And God spake further to Moses Thus shalt thou say vnto the children of Israel Iehouah Elohim c. hath sent me vnto you In these wordes the first title of God declareth his Nature the second his Persons The Nature of God is his most liuely and most perfect essence The perfection of the nature of God is his absolute constitution by the which he is wholly complete within himselfe Exod. 3. 13. I am that I am Act. 17.24 God that made the world and all things that are therein seeing that he is the Lord of heauen and earth dwelleth not in temples made with hands neither is worshipped with mens hands as though he needed any thing seeing he giueth to all life and breath and all things The perfection of his Nature is either Simplenes or the Infinitenes therof The Simplenesse of his nature is that by which he is void of all Logical relation He hath not in him subiect or adiunct Ioh. 5.26 As the Father hath life in himselfe so hath he giuen to the Sonne to haue life in himselfe conferred with Ioh. 14.6 I am the way the truth and the life 1. Ioh. 1.7 But if we walke in light as he is in light conferred with v. 5. God is light and in him is no darkenesse Hence it is manifest that to haue Life and to be Life to be in Light and to be Light in God are all one Neither is God subiect to generalitie or specialtie whole or parts matter or that which is made of matter for so there should be in God diuers things and one more perfect then another Therefore whatsoeuer is in God is his essence and all that he is he is by essence The saying of Augustine in his 6. booke and 4. chap. of the Trinitie is fit to prooue this In God saith he to be and to be iust or mightie are all one but in the minde of man it is not all one to be and to be mightie or iust for the minde may be destitute of these vertues and yet a minde Hence it is manifest that the Nature of God is immutable and Spirituall Gods immutabilitie of nature is that by which he is void of all composition diuision and change Iam. 1. 17. With God there is no variablenesse nor shadowe of changing Mal. 3.6 I am the Lord and am not changed Where it is saide that God repenteth c. Gen. 6.6 the meaning is that God changeth the action as men doe that repent therefore repentance it signifieth not any mutation in God but in his actions and such things as are made and chaunged by him Gods Nature is spirituall in that it is incorporall and therefore inuisible Ioh. 4.24 God is a spirit 2. Cor. 3. 17. The Lord is the spirit 1. Tim. 1.17 To the King eternall immortall inuisible onely wise God be glorie and honour for euer and euer Col. 1.15 Who is the image of the inuisible God The infinitenesse of GOD is twofolde his Eternitie and Exceeding greatnesse Gods eternitie is that by which he is without beginning and ending Psal. 90. 2. Before the mountaines were made and before thou hadst formed the earth and the round world euen from euerlasting to euerlasting thou art our God Revel â— 8. I am Alpha and Omega that is the beginning and ending saith the Lord Which is Which was and Which is to come Gods exceeding greatnes is that by which his incomprehensible nature is euery where present both within and without the world Psal. 145.3 Great is the Lord and worthie to be praised and his greatnes is incomprehensible 1. King 8.27 Is it true indeede that God will dwell on the earth behold the heauens and the heauens of heauens are not able to containe thee how much lesse is this house that I haue built Ier. 23. 24. Doe not I fill the heauen and earth saith the Lord Hence it is plaine First that he is onely one and that indiuisible not many Eph. 4.5 One Lord one faith one Baptisme one God and Father of all Deut. 4. 35. Vnto thee it was shewed that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God and that there is none but he alone 1. Cor. 8.4 We know that an idoll is nothing in the world and that there is none other God but one And there can be but one thing infinite in nature Secondly that God is the knower of the heart For nothing is hidden from that nature which is within all things and without all things which is included in nothing nor excluded from any thing Because 1. King 8. 39. the Lord searcheth all hearts and vnderstandeth euery worke of the minde Psal. 139.1,2 Thou knowest my sitting downe and my rising vp thou vnderstandest my cogitation a farre off CHAP. 3. Of the life of God HItherto we haue spoken of the perfection of Gods nature Now followeth the life of God by which the Diuine Nature is in perpetuall action liuing and moouing in it selfe Psal. 42. 2. My soule thirsteth for God euen for the liuing God when shall I come and appeare before the presence of God Hebr. 3. 12. See that there be not at any time in any of you an euill heart to depart from the liuing God The diuine Nature is especially in perpetual operation by three attributes the which doe manifest the operation of God towards his creatures These are his Wisdome Will and Omnipotencie The wisdome or knowledge of God is that by the which God doth not by certaine notions abstracted from the things themselues but by his owne essence nor successiuely and by discourse of reason but by one eternall and immutable act of vnderstanding distinctly and perfectly know himselfe and all other things though infinite whether they haue beene or not Matth. 11.27 No man knoweth the Sonne but the Father nor the Father but the Sonne and he to whome the Sonne will reueale him Hebr. 4. 13. There is nothing created which is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and open to his eyes with whome we haue to doe Psal. 147.5 His wisdome is infinite Gods wisdome hath these
you God is able of these stones to raise vp children to Abraham Philip. 3. 21. According to the working whereby he is able to subdue euen all things vnto himselfe Gods actuall power is that by which he causeth all things to be which he freely will Psal. 135. 6. All things which God will those he doth in heauen and in earth and in all depths CHAP. 5. Of Gods glorie and blessednesse OVt of the former attributes by which the true Iehouah is distinguished from a fained god and from idols arise the glorie of God and his blessednesse Gods glorie or maiestie is the infinite excellencie of his most simple and most holy diuine Nature Hebr. 1.3 Who beeing the brightnesse of his glorie and the ingraued forme of his person c. Dan. 3. Thou art onely God and glorious vpon the earth By this we see that God onely can know himselfe perfectly Ioh. 6.46 Not that any maÌ„ hath seene the Father saue he which is of God he hath seen the Father 1. Tim. 6. 16. Who onely hath immortalitie and dwelleth in the light that none can attaine vnto whom neuer man saw neither can see Exod. 33.18 Thou canst not see my face Notwithstanding there is a certaine manifestation of gods glorie partly more obscure partly more apparant The more obscure manifestation is the vision of Gods maiestie in this life by the eies of the mind through the help of things perceiued by the outward senses Esa. 6.1 I saw the Lord sitting vppon an high throne and lifted vp and the lower parts thereof filled the temple Exod. â—3 22 And while my glorie passeth by I will put thee in a cleft of the rocke and will couer thee with my hand whiles I passe by after I will take away mine hand and thou shalt see my backe parts but my face shall not be seene 1. Cor. 13. 12. Nowe we se as through a glasse darkely The more apparant manifestation of God is the contemplation of him in heauen face to face 1. Corinth 13. 12. But then shall we see face to face Dan. 7. 9 10. I beheld till the thrones were set vp and the ancient of daies did fit whose garment was white as snow c. Matth. 19.16 Gods blessednes is that by which God is in himselfe and of himselfe all sufficient Gen. 17.1 I am God all sufficient walke before me and be thou vpright Col. 2.2.9 For in him dwelleth all the fulnesse of the godhead bodily 1. Tim. 6.5 Which in due time he shall shew that is blessed and Prince onely c. CHAP. 5. Concerning the persons of the Godhead THe persons are they which subsisting in one Godhead are distinguished by incommunicable properties 1. Ioh. 5.7 There are three that beare record in heauen the Father the Word and the holy Ghost and these three are one Gen. 19.24 Then Iehouah raigned vpon Sodom and vpon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Iehouah in heauen Ioh. 1.1 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and that Word was God They therefore are coequall and are distinguished not by degree but by order The Constitution of a person is when as a personall proprietie or the proper manner of subsisting is adioyned to the Dietie or one diuine nature Distinction of persons is that which albeit euery person is one and the same perfect God yet the Father is not the Sonne or the holy Ghost but the Father alone and the holy Ghost is not the Father or the Sonne but the holy Ghost alone neither can they be deuided by reason of the infinitnesse of their most simple essence which is all one in number and the same in the Father the same in the Sonne and the same in the holy Ghost so that in these there is diuersitie of persons but vnitie in essence The communion of the persons or rather vnion is that by which each one is in the rest and with the rest by reason of the vnitie of the Godhead therfore euerie each one doth possesse loue and glorifie another and worke the same thing Ioh. 4.10 Beleeuest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father is in me the wordes that I spake vnto you I speake not of my selfe but the father that dwelleth in me he doth the workes Prov. 8.22 The Lord hath possessed me in the beginning of his way I was before the works of old And vers 20. Them was I with him as a nourisher and I was daily his delight reioicing alwaie before him Ioh. 1. 1. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and that Word was God and chap. 5.19 The Sonne can doe nothing of himselfe saue that he seeth the Father do for whatsoeuer things he doth the same doth the Sonne also There be three persons the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost Matth. 3.16.17 And Iesus when hee was baptized came straight out of the water and lo the heauens were opened vnto him and Iohn saw the Spirit of God descending like a doue and lighting vpon him and loe a voyce came from heauen saying This is my belooued sonne in whome I am well pleased The father is a person without beginning who from all eternitie begate the Sonne Heb. 1.3 Who being the brightnes of the glorie and the ingraued forme of his person Psal. 2.7 Thou art my Sonne this day haue I begotten thee In the generation of the Sonne these properties must be noted I. Hee that begetteth and he that is begotten are togither and not one before another in time II. He that begetteth doth communicate with him that is begotten not some one part but his whole essence III. The Father begot the Sonne not out of himselfe but within in himselfe The incommunicable propertie of the Father is to be vnbegotten to be a Father and to beget He is the beginning of actions because he beginneth euery action of himselfe effecting it by the Sonne and the holy Ghost 1. Cor. 8.6 Yet vnto vs there is but one God which is the Father of whome are all things and we in him and one Lord Iesus Christ by whome are all things and wee by him Rom. 11. â—6 For of him and through him and for him are all things The other two persons haue the Godhead or the whole diuine essence of the Father by communication namely the Sonne and the holy Ghost The Sonne is the second person begotten of the Father from all eternitie Heb. 1.5 For vnto which of the Angels said be at any time Thou art my Sonne this day begat I thee Col. 1.15 Who is the image of the inuisible God the first borne of euery creaturâ— Ioh. 1.14 And we saw the glory thereof as the glory of the only begotten sonne of the father Rom. 8.32 He who spared not his owne sonne For this cause he is said to be sent from the father Ioh. 8.42 I proceeded forth and came from God neither came I of my selfe but he sent me This sending taketh not
nature namely as he is the Word Now the Word is middle betwixt the Father and the faithfull I. In regard of order because the Word was begotten of the Father and by it we haue accesse vnto the Father This subordination which is of the Sonne to the Father is not in the diuine essence seuerally and distinctly considered but in the relation or manner of hauing the essence And after this manner those things which are subordinate cannot be vnequall if they haue one and the same singular essence II. In regard of his office the which beeing imposed on him by his Father he did willingly vndergoe and of his owne accord Christ doth exercise this office according to both natures vnited in one person and according to each nature distinct one from the other For in reconciling God and man together the flesh performeth some things distinctly and the Word other things distinctly Againe some other things are done not by the Word or flesh alone but by both together This office is so appropriate to Christ that neither in whole or in part can it be translated to any other Hebr. 7.24 This man because he endureth for euer hath an euerlasting priesthood or a priesthood that cannot passe from one to another Therfore Christ as he is God hath vnder him Emperours Kings Princes to be his Vicegerents who therefore are called Gods Psal. 82.1 But as he is Mediator that is a Priest a Prophet King of the Church he hath no Vicegerent Vicar or Lieuetenant who in his either Kingly or Priestly office in both or but one can be in his stead Christs office is threefold Priestly Propheticall Regall Psal. 110.1,2,3,4 Esai 42.1 Christs Priesthood is an office of his wherby he performed all those things to God whereby is obtained eternall life Heb. 5.9 And being consecrate was made the author of eternall saluation vnto all them that obey him and is called of God an high Priest for euer after the order of Melchisedec Chap. 7. 24,25 This man because he endureth for euer hath an euerlasting Priesthood wherefore he is able also perfectly to saue all them that come vnto God by him His Priesthood consisteth of two parts Satisfaction and Intercession Satisfaction is that whereby Christ is a full propitiation to his Father for the Elect. Iob. 23.23 If there be a messenger with him or an interpreter one of a thousand to declare vnto man his righteousnes then will he haue mercie vpon him and will say Deliuer him that he goe not downe into the pit for I haue found a reconciliation Rom. 3.24 And are iustisied freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus v. 25. Whome God hath set forth to be a reconciliation thorough faith in his blood 1. Ioh. 2. 2. He is a propitiation for our sinnes Christ satisfied Gods anger for mans offence according to his humanitie by performing perfect obedience to the will of God according to his Deitie by ministring such especiall dignitie to his perfect obedience as was both full of merit and efficacie before God for the saluation of the Elect. Ioh. 17.19 For their sakes sanctifie I my selfe that they also may be sanctified through the truth Act. 20.28 To feed the flocke of God which he hath purchased with his owne blood 2. Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ and reconciled the world to himselfe not imputing their sinnes vnto them Satisfaction comprehendeth his passion and fulfilling the Law His passion is the first part of satisfaction by which he hauing vndergone the punishment of sinne satisfied Gods iustice and appeased his anger for the sinnes of the faithfull His passion was on this manner Somewhat before his death partly feare arising from the sense of Gods wrath imminent vpon him partly griefe possessing as it were each part of him so disturbed his sacred minde that inwardly for a while it stroke into him a strange kinde of astonishment or rather obliuion of his dutie imposed vpon him and outwardly made him pray vnto his Father if he would to remooue that cuppe from him the which he did expresse with no small crie many teares and a bloody sweate trickling from his bodie vnto the ground But when he came againe vnto himselfe he freely yeelded himselfe vnto his Father to satisfie vpon the crosse for the transgression of man After this his agonie was ouerpassed by Iudas his treacherie Christ is apprehended and first he is brought to Annas after to Caiaphas where Peter denieth him from Caiaphas is he lead bound to Pilate Pilate posteth him ouer to Herod he transposteth him backe againe to Pilate who acknowledgeth his innocencie and yet condemneth him as an offender This innocent thus condemned is pitifully scourged crowned with thornes scoffed spitted at spitefully adiudged to the death of the crosse on which his hands and feete are fastened with nayles Here staied not his passions but after all these he became accursed to God the Father that is God poured vpon him beeing thus innocent such a sea of his wrath as was equiualent to the sinnes of the whole world He now beeing vnder this curse through the sense and feeling of this straunge terrour complaineth to his Father that he is forsaken who notwithstanding encountring then with Satan and his Angels did vtterly vanquish and ouercome them When this was ended his heart was pierced with a speare till the bloode gushed out from his sides and he gaue vp the ghost and commended his spirit to his Fathers protection the which immediately went into Paradise His bodie whereof not one bone was broken was buried and three daies was ignominiously captiuated of death In this description of Christs passion we may note fiue circumstances especially I. His Agonie namely a vehement anguish arising vpon the conflict of two contrarie desires in him The first was to be obedient to his Father The second to auoid the horror of death Luk. 22.44 Beeing in an agonie be prayed more earnestly and his sweate was like droppes of blood trickling downe to the groūd Hebr. 5.7 In the daies of his flesh did offer vp prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares vnto him that was able to saue him from death and was also heard in that which he feared II. His Sacrifice which is an action of Christs offering himselfe to God the Father as a ransome for the sinnes of the Elect. Hebr. 9.26 Nowe in the ende of the world hath he appeared once to put away sinne by the sacrifice of himselfe In this sacrifice the oblation was Christ as he was man Heb. 10.10 By the which will we are sanctified euen by the offering of Iesus Christ once made The Altar also was Christ as he was God Heb. 13.10 We haue an Altar whereof they haue no authoritie to eate which serue in the Tabernacle Hebr. 9.14 How much more shall the bloode of Christ which through
the eternall spirit offered himselfe without spot to God purge your conscience from dead workes to serue the liuing God Hence it is that Christ is saide to sanctifie himselfe as he is man Ioh. 17.19 For their sakes sanctifiâ— I my selfe Math. 23.17 As the altar the gift and the temple the gold Math. 23.17 Christ is the Priest as he is God and man Heb. 5.6 Thou art a Priest for euer after the order of Melchisedec 1. Tim. 2.5,6 One Mediatour betweene God and man the man Christ Iesus who gaue himselfe a ransome for all men to be a testimonie in due time III. God the fathers acceptation of that his sacrifice in which he was wel pleased For had it beene that God had not allowed of it Christs suffering had beene in vaine Matth. 3.17 This is my beloued Sonne in whome I am well pleased Eph. 5.1 Euen as Christ loued vs and gaue himselfe for vs to be an offering and a sacrifice of a sweete smelling sauour to God IV. Imputation of mans sinne to Christ whereby his Father accounted him as a transgressour hauing translated the burden of mans sinnes to his shoulders Esai 53. 4. He hath borne our infirmities and caried our sorrowes yet we did iudge him as plagued and smitten of God and humbled But he was wounded for our transgressions he was broken for our iniquities c. and v. 12. He was counted with the transgressours and he bare the sinnes of many 2. Cor. 5.21 He hath made him to be sinne for vs which knew no sinne that we should be made the righteousnes of God in him V. His wonderfull humiliation consisting of two parts I. In that he made himselfe of small or no reputation in respect of his Deitie Philip. 2.7,8 He made himselfe of no reputation c. he humbled himselfe and became obedient vnto the death euen the death of the crosse We may not thinke that this debasing of Christ came because his diuine nature was either wasted or weakened but because his Deitie did as it were lay aside and conceale his power and maiestie for a season And as Irenaeus saith The Word rested that the humane nature might be crucified and dead II. In that he became execrable which is by the law accursed for vs. Gal. 3.10 Cursed is euery one that remaineth not in all things written in the booke of the Law to doe them This accursednesse is either inward or outward Inward is the sense of Gods fearefull anger vpon the crosse Revel 19. 15. He it is that treadeth the winepresse of the fiercenes and wrath of Almightie God Esai 53.5 He is grieued for our transgressions the chastisment of our peace was vpon him and with his stripes we were healed This appeared by those droppes of bloode which issued from him by his cryings to his Father vpon the crosse and by sending of Angels to comfort him Hence was it that he so much feared death which many Martyrs entertained most willingly His outward accursednes standeth in three degrees I. Death vpon the crosse which was not imaginarie but true because blood and water issued froÌ„ his heart For seeing that water and blood gushed forth together it is very like the casket or coate which inuesteth the heart called Pericardion was pierced As Columbus obserueth in his Anatomie 7. booke Ioh. 19â—4 His death was necessarie that he might confirme to vs the Testament or Couenant of grace promised for our sakes Heb. 19.15,16 For this cause is he the Mediator of the new Testament that through death c. they which were called might receiue the promise of eternall inheritance for where a testament is there must be the death of him that made the testament c. ver 17. II. Buriall to ratifie the certentie of his death III. Descension into hell which we must not vnderstand that he went locally into the place of the damned but that for the time of his abode in the graue he was vnder the ignominious dominion of death Act. 2.24 Whome God hath raised vp and loosed the sorrowes of death because it was vnpossible that he should be holden of it Ephes. 4.9 In that he ascended vvhat vvas it but that he also he descended first into the lowest part of the earth It was necessarie that Christ should be captiuated of death that he might abolish the sting that is the power thereof 1. Cor. 15. 55. O death where is thy sting O hell where is thy victorie Thus we haue heard of Christs maruelous passion whereby he hath abolished both the first and second death due vnto vs for our sinnes the which as we may further obserue is a perfect ransom for the sinnes of all and euery one of the Elect. 1. Tim. 2.6 Who gaue himself a ransome for all men For it was more that Christ the onely begotten Sonne of God yea God himselfe for a small while should beare the curse of the Law then if the whole world should haue suffered eternall punishment This also is worthie our meditation that then a man is wel grounded in the doctrine of Christs passion when his heart ceaseth to sinne is pricked with the griefe of those sinnes whereby as with speares he pierced the side of the immaculate lambe of God 1. Ioh. 3.6 Who so sinneth neither hath seene him nor knowne him Zach. 12.10 And they shall looke vpon him whome they haue pierced and they shall lament for him as one lamenteth for his onely sonne and be sorie for him as one is sorie for his first borne After Christs passion followeth the fulfilling of the Law by which he satisfied Gods iustice in fulfilling the whole Law Rom. 8. 3,4 God sent his owne Sonne that the righteousnes of the Law might be fulfilled by vs. He fulfilled the Law partly by the holines of his humane nature and partly by obedience in the works of the Law Rom. 8.2 The Law of the spirit of life which is in Christ Iesus hath freed me from the Law of sinne and of death Matth. 3. 15. It becommeth vs to fulsill all righteousnes c. Ioh. 17.19 Now succeedeth the second part of Christs priesthood namely intercession whereby Christ is an Aduocate and intreater of God the Father for the faithfull Rom. 8.34 Christ is at the right hand of God and maketh request for vs. Christs intercession is directed immediately to God the Father 1. Ioh. 2.1 If any man sinne we haue an Aduocate with the Father euen Iesus Christ the iust Now as the Father is first of the Trinitie in order so if he be appeased the Sonne and the holy Ghost are appeased also For there is one and the same agreement and will of all the persons of the Trinitie Christ maketh intercession according to both natures First according to his humanitie partly by appearing before his Father in heauen partly by desiring the saluation of the Elect. Hebr. 9.24 Christ is entred into very heauen to appeare now in the sight of God for vs. and chap. 7. 25.
Ghost yea and more then this we must hold and beleeue that God the father is our father the Sonne our redeemer the holy Ghost our sanctifier and comforter Well then if we must in this manner beleeue in God then we must also know him for we can haue no faith in the thing which is vtterly vnknowne Wherefore if we would beleeue in the father sonne or holy Ghost we must know them in part Ioh. 17. This is life eternall to know thee the onely God and whome thou hast sent Iesus Christ. Ioh. 14. 17. The world can not receiue the spirit of truth because it hath neither seene him nor knowne him 1. Ioh. 2.23 Whosoeuer denieth the sonne hath not the father Thirdly this doctrine directs vs in worshipping God aright for vnitie in trinitie and trinitie in vnitie is to be worshipped one God must be worshipped in the Father in the Sonne and in the holy Ghost and if wee worship God the father without the Sonne and the holy Ghost or if we worship the Sonne without the father and the holy Ghost and the holy Ghost without the father and the Sonne we worship nothing but an Idol Againe if we worship the three persons not as one God but as three Gods then likewise we make three Idols Note further that of all the three persons the first person the Father is set in the first place and described to vs by three things I. by his title that hee is a Father II. by his attribute that he is Almightie III. by his effect that he is maker of heauen and earth of these in order as they lie in the Creed And first of the title Father It may seeme that he hath some prerogatiue ouer the Sonne and the holy Ghost because he is set before them but wee must knowe that hee is set before them neither in regard of timeâ— nor of dignitie for therein all three are equall but in regard of order onely The Father is the first the Sonne the second and the holy Ghost the third as may appeare by this similitude If three Emperours equall in dignitie should meete all in one place beeing equall also in power and maiestie if all three should sit downe though one be no better then an other yet one of them must needes sit downe the first and an other in the second place and then the third but yet we cannot say that he which sate downe first is the chiefest And so it is in the Trinitie though none be greater or aboue another yet the Father is in the first place not because he is before the Sonne or the holy Ghost in dignitie or honour but because he is the fountaine of the Deitie the Sonne beeing from him and the holy Ghost from them both Now let vs come to the title of the first person The name Father in Scriptures is ascribed either to God taken indefinitely and so by consequent to all the three persons in Trinitie or particularly to the first person alone For the first God is a father properly and principally according to the saying of Christ Call no man father vpon earth for there is but one your father which is in heauen that is principally whereas earthly parents whome we are commaunded to worship and honour are but certaine images or resemblances of our heauenly Father hauing this blessing that they are fathers from him And hereupon this title agrees to men not simply but so farre forth as God honoureth them with fatherhoode in calling them to be fathers whereas God himselfe receiues this honour from none God is tearmed a Father in respect both of nature and grace He is a father in regarde of natureâ— because he created and gouerneth all things In this regard he is called the father of spirits and Adam is called the Sonne of God He is a father in respect of grace because we are regenerate by him and accepted to be his sonnâ—s by adoption thorough the merite of Christ. And in this respect the second person as well as the first is called a Father and saide to haue an offspring or seede and children But when the name of Father is giuen to the first person it is done vpon a speciall consideration because he is a father by nature to the fe 〈◊〉 â—erson begetting him of his owne substance before all worldes By thâ—◠〈◊〉 â—â—peares that out of the title of the first person we may fetch a â—â—â—cription thereof on this manner The Father is the first person in Trinitie begetting the sonne Nowe to beget is the personall proprietie whereby he is distinguished from the other two If it be saide that creatures doe beget and that therefore to beget is not proper to the father the answer is that in this point there are many differences betweene God the father and all creatures First the father begets the sonne before all eternitie and therefore God the father begetting and the sonne begotten are equall in tâ—me whereas in earthly generation the father is before the sonne in time Secondly God the father begets his Sonne by communicating to him his whole essence or godhead which can not be in earthly parents vnlesse they should be abolished and come to nothing Whereas neuerthelesse God the Father giuing his whole nature to his sonne retaines the same still because it is infinite Thirdly the father begets the sonne in himselfe and not forth of himselfe but in earthly generation the father begetting is forth of the child and the child forth of the father And that must not trouble vs which heretiques alleadge against this doctrine namely that if the father who is of one nature with the sonne did beget the sonne then he did beget himselfe for the godhead of the father doth not beget either the godhead or the person of the sonne but the person of the father begets the person of the sonne both which in one godhead are really distinct Thus we see what the Father is Now to beleeue in the father is to be perswaded that the first person in Trinitie is the father of Christ and in him my father particularly that for this cause I intend and desire for euer to put my truâ—t in him The duties which we may learne hence are manifold And here we haue occasion offered first of all to consider who is our father by nature I shall say to corruption saith Iob thou art my father and to the worme thou art my mother seeing God vouchsafeth this great prerogatiue to them that loue him that he will be their father therefore Iob in consideration hereof would haue euery man to haue recourse to his owne naturall condition to see who is his father by natureâ— Iob saith corruption is his father but if we marke well the condition of our nature we shall further see euery man to be the childe of wrath and that Sathan is his father for so long as a man walkes in his sinnes which euery
sentence of the law of God to which man was bound from the first creation But God is aboue all his laws and not bound to them he is an absolute lord and law-giuer and therfore his actions are not within the compasse of morall lawes as mens are Whereupon it followes that though he did foresee mans defection yet is hee free from all blame in not preuenting of it For with him there be good causes of permitting euill And though God be no cause of mans fall yet must we not imagine that it came to passe by chance or fortune whereas the least things that are come to passe with Gods prouidence Neither was it by any bare permission without his decree and his will for that is to make an idle prouidence neither did it happen against the will of God he vtterly nilling it for then it could not haue beene vnlesse we denie God to be omnipotent It remaines therefore that this fall did so proceede of the voluntarie motion of Adam as that God did in part ordaine and will the permitting of it not as it was a sinne against his commandement but as it was further in the counsell of God a way to execute his iustice and mercie Against this which I say diuers things are obiected First that if Adam did that which God in any respect willed then he did not sinne at all Answ. He that willeth and doth that which God willeth for all that sinnes vnlesse he will it in the same manner with God and for the same ende Now in the permitting of this fact God intended the manifesting of his glorie but our first parents intending no such thing sought not onely to be like but also to be equall with God Secondly it is alleadged that Adam could not but fall necessarily if God did decree it Answ. Adams fall that came not to passe without Gods decree and therefore in that respect was necessarie was neuerthelesse in respect of Adams freewill contingent and not necessarie Gods decree not taking away the freedome of will but onely ordering it Lastly it is alleadged that Gods will is the cause of Adams will and Adams wil the cause of his fall and that therefore Gods will shall be the cause of the fall Ans. It must be granted that Gods will is a moouing cause of the wills of euil men yet marke how not as they are euill wills simply but as they are wills and therefore when God inclines the euill will of his creature to his good purpose he is nothing at all intangled with defect or euill of his will Touching the time of the fall the receiued opinion in former ages hath beene that our first parents fell the same day in which they were created and therefore Augustine writes that they stood but sixe houres And though we cannot determine of the certen time yet in all likelihood was it very short For Moses presently after that he had set downe the creation of man without the interposition of any thing else comes immediatly to the fall And considering the nature of the deuill is without ceasing to shew his malice no doubt he tooke the first occasion that possibly might be had to bring man to the same damnation with himselfe And our Sauiour Christ saith that the deuill was a man-slayer from the beginning namely from the beginning not of the creation of the world or of time but of man And Eue saith We shall eate of the fruit of the trees of the garden it may be insinuating that as yet shee had not eaten when the deuill tempted her Touching the greatnes of mans fall some haue made a small matter of it because it was the eating of an apple or some such fruit But we must not measure the greatnesse or the smalnesse of a sinne by the obiect or matter whereabout it is occupied but by the commandement of God and by the disobedience or offence of his infinite maiestie And that this fact of Adam and Eue was no small fault but a notorious crime and Apostasie in which they withdraw themselues from vnder the power of God nay reiect and denie him will euidently appeare if we take a viewe of all the particular sinnes that be contained in it The first is vnbeleefe in that they doubted and distrusted of the truth of Gods word which he spake to them The second is contempt of God in that they beleeued the lies of the deuill rather then him For whē God saith In the day that ye shall eate thereof ye shall die the death it is as nothing with Eue but when the deuill comes and saith Ye shall not die at all that shee takes hold on The third is pride and ambition For they did eate the forbidden fruit that they might be as gods namely as the Father the Sonne the holy Ghost The fourth is vnthankfulnesse God had made them excellent creatures in his owne image that is nothing with them to be like vnto him vnlesse they may be equall vnto him The fifth is curiositie whereby they affected greater wisdome then God had giuen them in creation and a greater measure of knowledge then God had reuealed to them The sixth is reprochfull blasphemie in that they subscribe to the sayings of the deuill in which he charged God with lying and enuie The seuenth is murder For by this meanes they bereaue themselues and their posteritie of the fellowship and graces of Gods spirit and bring vpon their owne heads the eternall wrath of God The eight is discontentation in that they sought for an higher condition then that was in which God had placed them In a word in this one single fact is comprised the breach of the whole law of God And we should often thinke vpon this that we may learne to wonder at the iust iudgements of God in punishing this fall and his vnspeakable goodnesse in receiuing men to mercie after the same And here we must not omit to remember the largenesse of Adams fall Sinnes are either personall or generall Personall are such as are peculiar to one or some fewe persons and make them alone guiltie Generall that is common to all men and such is Adams fall It is a sinne not onely of the person of one man but of the whole nature of man And Adam must be considered not as a priuate man but as a roote or head bearing in it all mankind or as a publike person representing all his posteritie and therefore when he sinned all his posteritie sinned with him as in a Parliament whatsoeuer is done by the burgesse of the shiere is done by euery person in the shiere As Paul saith By one man sinne entred into the world and so death went ouer all for as much as all haue sinned And here lies the difference betweene Adams fall and the sinnes of men as Cains murder which makes not the posteritie of Cain guiltie because he was neuer appointed by God to be the roote of his posteritie
To him is giuen a name at which euery knee doth bow of things in heauen and things in earth and things vnder the earth As for the reasons which be alleadged to the contrarie they are of no moment I. Obiect The word of God can not be God the sonne is the word of the father therefore he is not God Answ. The word is taken two waies first for a sounding word standing of letters and syllables vttered either by God or by the creatures now on this manner Christ is not the word of God Secondly there is a substantiall word which is of the substance of him whose word it is And thus Christ is the word of God the father And he is so tearmed I. in respect of the father for as reason and speach hath his beginning from the mind without any passion in the minde so hath he beginning from the father And as the speach is in the minde and the minde in the speach so the father is in the sonne and the sonne in the father II. In respect of all creatures The father doth all things by the sonne by whose powerfull word the world was made is now preserued and shall be abolished III. In respect of the Church For the father by him speakes vnto vs both in the outward ministerie of the word and by the inward operation of the spirit and againe we by him speake to the father II. It may be obiected thus God hath no beginning from any other Christ hath beginning from the father therefore he is not God Answ. Christ must be considered both in regard of his godhead and in regard of his person in regard of his godhead he came not of any but is of himselfe as well as the father is yet in regard of his person he is from the father who is a beginning to the rest of the persons both in respect of order for the Scripture saith not the holy Ghost the Sonne the Father but the Father the Sonne the holy Ghost as also in respect of the communication of the Godhead And whereas it is said that God is of himselfe if the name of God be taken for the Godhead it selfe absolutely considered it is true but if it be taken for any particular person in the godhead it is false III. Ob. None is greater then God but the father is greater then Christ for so he saith the father is greater then I. Ans. Christ there speakes of himselfe as he was a man abased in the forme of a seruant in which respect he is lesse then the father who neuer was incarnate and abased in our nature And though Christ in respect of his nature assumed be inferiour to the father yet doth it not hinder but that he may be equall to him as he is the second person in trinitie or as he is God by one and the same Godhead with the father IV. Obiect He that is made of God this or that is not God but Christ is made God as Paul saith Christ is made vnto vs wisdome righteousnes c. Answ. Christ is said to be made not because there was any beginning of his godhead or any change or alteration in his person but because in the eternall counsell of the father he was set apart before all times to execute the office of a Mediatour and was withall in time called and as it were consecrated and ordained thereunto in his baptisme he is made therefore in respect of his office but not in respect of his person or nature V. Obiect God hath no head Christ hath an head as Paul saith God is Christs head Answ. God that is the father is head of Christ not as he is God simply but as he is God incarnate or made manifest in the flesh and in respect of the office to which he willingly abased himselfe VI. Obiect He which giues vp his kingdome is not God Christ giues vp his kingdome Then saith Paul shall be the ende when he hath deliuered vp the kingdome to God euen the father Answ. Christ is king two waies as he is God and as he is Mediatour as he is God he raignes eternally with the Father and the holy Ghost but as he is Mediatour in the ende of the world when all the companie of the Elect are gathered his kingdome shall cease not simply but in respect of the outward manner of administration for the execution of ciuill and ecclesiasticall functions shall cease And whereas in the same place it is saide that Christ shall be subiect vnto God eternally after the ende it must be vnderstoode partly in regard of the assumed manhoode partly in respect of his mysticall bodie the Church most neerely ioyned vnto him in heauen VII Obiect The first borne of euery creature and of many brethren is a creature and not God but Christ is the first borne of euery creature and of many brethren Answ. He is called the first borne by resemblance or allusion to the first borne in the old testament for as they were principall heires hauing double portions allowed them and the chiefe or gouernours of the familie so Christ is made heire of the world and the head of Gods familie which is his church elected and adopted in him And againe he is called the first borne of euery creature because he was begotten of the substance of his father before any creature was made and therefore it is not here saide that he was first created but first begotten By the reasons which haue bin alleadged as also by the insufficiencie of the contrarie arguments it is more then manifest against all heretikes that Christ is very God Yet to stoppe the mouths of all Atheists and to satisfie all wauering and doubting minds I will adde one reason further The Gospel of Saint Iohn was chiefly penned for this end to prooue the deitie of Christ among other arguments alleadged this is one that Christ gaue a resolute and a constant testimonie of himselfe that he was the sonne of God and very God Now if any man shall say that sundrie persons since the beginning of the world haue taken vpon them and that falsly to be gods I answer that neuer any creature tooke this title and honour vpon him to be called God but the fearefull iudgements of God were vpon him for it In the estate of mans innocencie the deuill told our first parents that by eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and euill they should be as gods knowing good and euill now they beleeued him and affected diuine honour but what came of it surely Adam with all his posteritie is shut vp for this very cause vnder eternall damnation Herod likewise araied in royall apparell and sitting on the iudgement seat made an oration to the men of Tyre and Sidon who gaue a shout saying the voyce of God and not of man Now because he tooke the glorie of God to himselfe and did not returne it to
nothing regarded A blinde man neuer seeing the sunne is not brought to wonder at it and earthly minded men neither seeing nor feeling what an excellent thing it is to bee the childe of God cannot bee brought to seeke after it But let all such as feare God enter into a serious consideration of the vnspeakeable goodnesse of God comforting themselues in this that God the father hath vouchsafed by his owne sonne to make them of the vassals of satan to be his owne deere children Nowe followe the duties which are two First we beleeue that Iesus Christ who was to be the Sauiour of mankinde must needs be God what is the reason hereof surely because no creature no not all the creatures in heauen and earth were able to saue one man so vile wretched and miserable is our estate by Adams fall And therefore the sonne of God himselfe pitied our estate and beeing king of heauen and earth was faine to come from heauen and lay downe his crowne and become a seruant and taking vpon him our nature was also faine to take vpon him our case and condition and suffer death for our sinnes which otherwise euery one of vs should haue suffered both in bodie and soule world without ende To make this more plaine let vs suppose that some one hath committed an offence against a prince and the trespasse to be so grieuous that no man can appease the kings wrath saue only the kings onely sonne and which is more the kings sonne himselfe cannot release him vnlesse hee suffer the punishment for him in his owne person which is due vnto the malefactour Nowe what is to be thought of this mans estate surely all men will say that he is in a most miserable taking and that his trespasse is notorious and so it is with euery one of vs by nature whatsoeuer we are No man could saue our soules no not all the angels in heauen vnlesse the king of heauen and earth the onely sonne of God had come down from heauen and suffered for vs bearing our punishment Nowe the consideration of this must humble vs and make vs to cast downe our selues vnder the hand of God for our sinnes and pray continually that the Lord would send some Moses or other which might smite the rockes of our hearts that some teares of sorrowe and repentance might gush out for this our wofull miserie Secondly whereas God the Father of Christ gaue his onley sonne to be our Sauiour as we must be thankefull to God for all things so especially for this great and vnspeakable benefit Common blessings of God as meat drinke health wealth and libertie must at all times mooue vs to be thankeful but this that Christ Iesus the onely sonne of God redeemed vs beeing vtterly lost this I say must be the maine point of all our thankfulnes but alas mens hearts are so frozen in the dreggs of their sinnes that this dutie comes little in practise nowe adaies When our Sauiour Christ clensed ten lepers there was but one of them that returned to giue him thankes and this is as true in the leprosie of the soule for though saluation by Christ be offered vnto vs daily by Gods ministers yet not one of tenne nay scarse one of a thousand giues praise and thankes to God for it because men take no delight in things which concerne the kingdome of heauen they thinke not that they haue neede of saluation neither do they feele any want of a Sauiour But we for our parts must learne to say with Dauid What shall I render vnto the Lord for all his benefits yea we are to practise that which Salomon saith My sonne giue me thy heart for we should giue vnto God both bodie and soule in token of our thankefulnesse for this wonderful blessing that he hath giuen his onely sonne to bee our Sauiour and we are to hold this for trueth that they which are not thankfull for it let them say what they will they haue no soundnes of grace or power of religion at the heart And thus much of the third title The fourth and last title is in these wordes our Lord. Christ Iesus the onely sonne of God is our Lord three waies first by creation in that he made vs of nothing when we were not secondly he is our Lord in the right of redemption In former times the custome hath bin when one is taken prisoner in the field he that paies his raunsome shall becom alwaies after his Lord so Christ when we were bondslaues vnder hell death and condemnation paide the ransome of our redemption and freed vs from the bondage of sinne and satan and therfore in that respect he is our Lord. Thirdly he is the head of the Church as the husband is the wiues head to rule and gouerne the same by his word and spirit And therefore in that respect also Christ is our Lord. And thus much for the meaning Nowe followe the duties And first of al if Christ be our Soueraigne Lord we must performe absolute obedience vnto him that is whatsoeuer he commandes vs that must we doe And I say absolute obedience because Magistrates Masters Rulers and fathers may command and must bee obeyed yet not simply but so farre foorth as that which they command doth agree with the word and commandement of God but Christs will and word is righteousnesse it selfe and therfore it is a rule and direction of all our actions whatsoeuer and for this cause he must be absolutely obeyed Thus he requires the obedience of the morall lawe but why because he is the Lord our god And in Malachie he saith If I be your Lord where is my feare And againe we must resigne both bodie and soule heart mind wil affections and the course of our whole liues to be ruled by the will of Christ. He is Lord not onely of the bodie but of the spirit and soule of man he must therefore haue homage of both As wee adore him by the knee of the bodie so must the thoughts and the affections of our hearts haue their knees also to worship him and to shewe their subiection to his commandements As for such as doe hold him for their Lord in word but in the meane season will not indeauour to shewe their loyaltie in all manner of obedience they are indeede no better then starke rebels Secondly when by the hande of Christ straunge iudgements shall come to passe as it is vsuall in all places continually we must stay ourselues without murmuring or finding fault because he is an absolute Lorde ouer all his creatures all things are in his handes and hee may doe with his owne whatsoeuer he will and therefore wee must rather feare and tremble whensoeuer we see or heare of them so Dauid saith I was dumbe and opened not my mouth because thou didst it And againe My flesh trembleth for feare of thee and I am afraid of thy iudgements Thirdly before wee vse
any of Gods creatures or ordinances wee must sanctifie them by the direction of his word and by praier the reason is this because he is Lord ouer all and therefore from his word we must fetch direction to teach vs whether we may vse them or not and when and how they are to be vsed and secondly we must pray to him that he would giue vs libertie and grace to vse them aright in holy maner Also we are so to vse the creatures and ordinances of God as being alwaies readie to giue an account of our doings at the day of iudgement for we vse that which is the Lords not our owne we are but stewards ouer them and we must come to a reckoning for the stewardship Hast thou learning then imploy it to the glory of God and the good of the Church boast not of it as though it were thine owne Hast thou any other gift or blessing of God be it wisdome strength riches honour fauour or whatsoeuer then looke thou vse it so as thou maist be alwaies readie to make a good account thereof vnto Christ. Lastly euery one must in such manner lead his life in this world that at the day of death hee may with cheerefulnes surrender and giue vp his soule into the handes of his Lord and say with Steuen Lord Iesus receiue my soule For consider this with thy selfe that thy soule is none of thine owne but his who hath bought it with a price and therefore thou must so order and keepe it as that thou maiest in good manner restore it into the hands of god at the ende of thy life If a man should borrowe a thing of his neighbour and afterward hurt it and make a spoile of it he would be ashamed to bring it againe to the owner in that manner and if he doe the owner himselfe will not receiue it Vngodly men in this life doe so staine their soules with sinne that they can neuer be able willingly to giue them vp into the handes of God at the day of death and if they would yet God accepts them not but casts them quite away We must therefore labour so to liue in the world that with a ioyfull heart at the day of death we may commend our soules into the handes of our Lord Christ Iesus who gaue them vnto vs. This is a harde thing to bee done and he that will doe it truely must first be assured of the pardon of his owne sinnes which a man can neuer haue without true vnfained faith and repentance wherefore while we haue time let vs purge and clense our soules and bâ—dies that they may come home againe to God in good plight And here all gouernours must be put in mind that they haue an higher Lord that they may not oppresse or deale hardly with their inferiours This is Paul reason Ye masters saith he doe the same things vnto your seruants putting away threatning and knowe that euen your master is also in heauen neither is there respect of persons with him Inferiours againe must remember to submit themselues to the authoritie of their gouernours especially of magistrates For they are set ouer vs by our soueraigne Lord and king Christ Iesus as Paul saith Let euery soule be subiect to the higher powers For there is no power but of God and the powers that be ordained are of God And againe Seruants be obedient to your Masters according to the flesh with feare and trembling in singlenes of your hearts as vnto Christ. The comfort which Gods Church may reape hence is very great for if Christ be the Lord of lords and our Lord especially whome he hath created and redeemed we neede not to feare what the deuil or wicked men can doe vnto vs. If Christ be on our side who can be against vs wee neede not feare them that can destroy the bodie and doe no more but we must cast our feare on him that is Lord of body and soule and can cast both to hell Thus much of the fourth title Nowe followes Christs incarnation in these wordes Conceiued by the holy Ghost borne of the Virgin Marie And they containe in them one of the most principall points of the doctrine of godlines as Paul saith Without controuersie great is the mysterie of godlinesse which is God is made manifest in the flesh iustified in the spirit c. And that we may proceede in order in handling them I will first speake of the incarnation generally and then after come to the parts thereof In generall we are to propound fiue questions the answering whereof will be very needefull to the better vnderstanding of the doctrine following The first question is who was incarnateâ— or made man Answ. The second person in Trinitie the sonne of God alone as it is set downe in this article according to the Scripture S. Iohn saith The Word was made flesh and the angel saith The holy one which shall be borne of thee shall be called the sonne of the most high And Paul saith that Christ Iesus our Lord was made of the seede of Abraham according to the flesh And there be sundrie reasons why the second person should rather be incarnate then any other I. By whom the father created all things and man especially by him man beeing fallen is to be redeemed and as I may say recreated now man was at the first created of the father by the sonne and therefore to be redeemed by him II. It was most conuenient that he which is the essentiall image of the father should take mans nature that he might restore the image of God lost and defaced in man but the second person is the essentiall image of the father and therefore he alone must take mans nature III. It was requisite that that person which was by nature the sonne of God should be made the sonne of man that we which are the sonnes of men yea the sonnes of wrath should againe by grace be made the sonnes of God now the second person alone is the sonne of God by nature not the Father nor the holy Ghost As for the Father he could not be incarnate For to take flesh is to be sent of an other but the Father can not be sent of any person because he is from none Againe if the Father were incarnate he should be father to him which is by nature God and the sonne of a creature namely the virgin Marie which things can not well stand And the holy Ghost could not be incarnateâ— for then there should be more sonnes then one in the Trinitie namely the second person the sonne of the father and the third person the holy Ghost the sonne of the virgin Marie It may be obiected to the contrarie on this manner The whole diuine essence is incarnate euery person in Trinitie is the whole diuine essence therefore euery person is incarnate Ans. The whole Godhead indeede is incarnate yet not
as it is absolutely considered but so farre forth as it is restrained and limited to the person of the sonne and to speake properly the godhead it selfe is not incarnate but the very person of the sonne subsisting in the Godhead And though all the persons be one and the same essence yet doe they really differ each from other in regard of the peculiar manner of subsisting and therefore mans nature may be assumed of the second person and be not assumed either of the father or of the holy Ghost as in the like case the soule of man is wholly in the head and wholly in the feete yea wholly in euery part and yet the soule can not be said to vse reason in the feete or in any other part but onely in the head Againe it may be alleadged that the incarnation beeing an outward action of God to the creature is not proper to the sonne For the rule is that all outward actions of God are common to all the persons in Trinitie equally Ans. The incarnation stands of two actions the first is the framing and creating of that manhood which was to be assumed by the Sonne or Word of the father and this action is common to all the three persons equally the second is the limiting or the receiuing of it into the vnitie of any person in respect of this action the worke of incarnation is peculiar to the Sonne To this purpose Augustine speaketh That creature saith he which the Virgin conceiued and brought forth though it appertaine to the person of the sonne alone yet was it made by the whole Trinitie as when three men weaue one and the same garment and the second onely weares it The second question is what manner of man the sonne of God was made Answ. He was made a proper or particular man and a perfect or a very man I say that he was a particular man to shew that he tooke not vnto him the generall forme or idea of mans nature conceiued onely in minde nor the common nature of man as it is existing in euery man but the whole nature of mā that is both a bodie and a resonable soule existing in one particular subiect I say further that he was and is a true and perfect man beeing in euerie thing that concernes mans nature like to Adam Abraham Dauid and all other men sauing onely in sinne For first of all he had the substance of a true body and of a reasonable soule secondly the properties of body and soule in the bodi◠length breadth thicknesse circumscription c. in the soule the faculties of vnderstanding both simply and compounde will affections as loue hatred desire ioy feare c. the powers also of hearing feeling seeing smelling tasting moouing growing eating digesting sleeping c. Thirdly hee tooke vnto him the infirmities of mans nature which are certaine naturall defects or passions in bodie or minde as to be hungrie thirstie wearie sadde and sorrowfull ignorant of some things angrie to increase in stature and wisdōe and knowledge c. yet this which I say must be vnderstood with two caueats The first is that infirmities be either certaine vnblameable passions or else such defects as are sinnes in themselues nowe Christ takes the first onely and not the second Secondly infirmities be either generall or personall generall◠which appertaine to the whole nature of man and are to be founde in euery man that comes of Adam as to be borne vnlearned and subiect to naturall affections as sorrow anger c Personall are such as appertaine to some particular men and not to all and arise of some priuate causes particular iudgements of God as to be borne a foole to bee sicke of an ague consumption dropsie plurisie and such like diseases Nowe the first sort bee in Christ and not the second for as he tooke not the person of any man◠but onely mans nature so was it sufficient for him to take vnto him the infirmities of mans nature though he tooke not the priuate infirmities of any mans person And the reason why Christ would put on not onely the substance and faculties of a true man but also his infirmities was that he might shewe himselfe to be very man indeede also that he might suffer for vs both in bodie and soule and that he might giue vs an example of patience in bearing all manner of euill for Gds glory and the good of our neighbour Nowe the things which may bee alleadged to the contrarie for the infringing of the trueth of Christs manhoode are of no moment As first because Christ appeared in the forme of a man in the olde testament beeing no man therfore he did so at his comming in the newe testament but the reason is not like For Christ in the olde testament as the angel of his father in some speciall affaires tooke vnto him the bodie of a man for some space of time but he did not receiue it into the vnitie of his person but laid it downe when the busines which he enterprised with men was ended Nowe in the fulnesse of time he came from heauen as the angel of the couenant and for that cause he was to vnite into his owne person the nature of man which thing was neuer done before And when as Paul saith that Christ came in the similitude of sinnefull flesh his meaning is not to signifie that he was a man onely in resemblance and shewe but to testifie that beeing a true man which was indeede void of sinne he was content to abase himselfe to that condition in which he became like to a miserable sinner in bearng the punishment for our sinne For Paul doth not say that hee tooke vpon him the similitude of flesh simply as it is flesh but of the flesh of sinne or sinnefull flesh The third question is why the sonne of God must become man Ans. There be sundrie reasons of this point and the most principall are these First of all it is a thing that greatly standes with the iustice of God that in that nature in which God was offended in the same should a satisfaction be made to God for sinne nowe sinne was committed in mans nature Adam sinned first and in him all his posteritie therefore it is very necessarie that in mans nature there should bee a satisfaction made to Gods iustice and for this cause the sonne of God must needes abase himselfe and become man for our sakes Secondly by the right of creation euery man is bound in conscience to fulfill euen the very rigour and extremitie of the morall lawe But considering man is nowe fallen from his first estate and condition therfore it was requisite that the Sonne of God should become man that in mans nature he might fulfill all righteousnesse which the lawe doth exact at our handes Thirdly hee that is our redeemer must die for our sinnes for there is no remission of sinnes without shedding
And though Christ be called her first born yet doth it not followe that shee had any child after him for as that is called last after which there is none so that is called the first before which there was none And as for Ioseph when he was espoused to Marie he was a man of eightie yeares old And here we haue occasion to praise the wisdome of God in the forming of man The first man Adam was borne of no man but immediately created of God the second that is Eve is formed not of a woman but of a man alone the third all after begotten both of womā man the fourth that is Christ God and man not of no man as Adam not of no woman as Eve not of man and woman as we but after a newe manner of a woman without a man hee is conceiued and borne And hereupon our dutie is not to despise but highly to reuerence the virgin Marie as being the mother of the sonne God a prophetisse vpon earth a Saint in heauen And we do willingly condescend to giue her honour three waies first by thanksgiuing to God for her secondly by a reuerent estimation of her thirdly by imitation of her excellent vertues yet farre be it from vs to adore her with diuine honour by praier to cal vpon her as though shee knew our hearts and heard our requests and to place her in heauen as a queene aboue the sonne of God The name of the mother of Christ is added to shewe that he came of the linage of Dauid and that therefore he was the true Messias before spoken of It may be obiected that both Mathew and Luke sets downe the genealogie of Ioseph of whom Christ was not Ans. Mathew sets downe indeede in Christs genealogie the natural descent of Ioseph the husband of Marie hauing Iaacob for his naturall father but Luke taking another course propounds the natural descent of Marie the mother of Christ and when he saith that Ioseph was the sonne of Eli he meanes of a legall sonne For sonnes and daughters in law are called sonnes and daughters to their fathers and mothers in law Mary her selfe and not Ioseph being the naturall daughter of Eli. And whereas Luke doth not plainely say that Marie was the daughter of Eli but puts Ioseph the sonne in lawe in her roome the reason hereof may bee because it was the maner of the Iewes to account and continue their genealogies in the male and not in the female sexe the man beeing the head of the familie and not the woman And though Ruth and Rahab and other women be mentioned by Matthew yet that is onely by the way for they make no degrees herein Againe it may be further demanded howe Christ could come of Dauid by Salomon as Mathew saith and by Nathan as Luke saith they twaine being two distinct sonnes of Dauid Ans. By vertue of the lawe whereby the brother was bound to raise vp seed to his brother there was a double descent in vse among the Iewes the one was naturall the other legall Naturall when one man descended of another by generation as the child from the naturall father Legall when a man not begotten of another yet did succeede him in his inheritance and thus Salathiel is the naturall sonne of Neri and the legall sonne of Iechonias Nowe Saint Luke setts downe the naturall descent of Christ from Dauid by Nathan and Saint Mathewe the other descent which is legall by Salomon whome Christ succeeded in the right of the kingdome beeing borne the King of the Iewes none that could possibly be named hauing more right to it then he By this descent of Christ wee haue occasion to consider that Christ was euen in his birth the most excellent and noble man that euer was descending o◠the eternall father as he is the sonne of God and as he is man descending of the Patriarks and of the renowmed kings of Iudah And this his nobilitie hee conuaies in part to his members in that he makes them the sonnes of God a royall priesthood and a peculiar people to himselfe inriching them also with the reuenewes of the whole worlde and with title and right to the kingdome of glorie in heauen as their inheritance And withall Christ beeing the liuely patterne of true nobilitie by his example men of blood are taught not to stand so much on their pedigree and their ancetours as though nobilitie stood in this that man descends of man but to labour with all that they may be the sonnes and daughters of God by regeneration in Christ. This indeede is the ornament of the blood the best part in the noble mans skutchin and the finest flowre in his garland And though a man bee neuer so noble or great an estate yet if he be not a repentant sinner he is base and vile and his nobilitie stinkes in the nosthrils of god Christ in his genealogie doth not so much as vouchsafe to name those his ancetours that ruled wickedly and hereupon Saint Mathewe omitteth three kings of Iudah Achaziah Ioas and Amaziah whereas neuerthelesse hainous offendours that repented are mentioned as Ruth Thamar and Bathshabe Thus much of the incarnation of Christ nowe followeth the third and last point which is to be considered in the description of Christ namely the estate of Christ after his birth which is two-fold the estate of humiliation and the estate of exaltation The estate of humiliation is the condition of Christ the Mediatour in which he abased himselfe euen to the death of the crosse that by that meanes he might performe the office of a priest in making satisfaction to the iustice of his father This estate agrees to the whole person of Christ according to both natures For first of al his manhood was abased and humbled in that it was made subiect to the infirmities of mans nature as also to the miseries and punishments which were due vnto man for sinne Secondly his Godhead was abased not as it is considered in it selfe For so it admits no alteration or chaunge But in respect of the flesh or manhood assumed vnder the which as vnder a vaile the Godhead lay hid from the first moment of the incarnation to the time of his resurrection without any great manifestation of his power maiestie therein The order of these two estates must be marked First is the estate of humiliation and then in the second place followes the estate of exaltatiō As Christ saith of himselfe O fooles slow of heart to beleeue c. ought not Christ to haue suffered these things and to enter into his glorie And here we for our parts must learne a lesson The same which was true in Christ the head must be verified in all his members they must all haue their two-fold estate first in this life the estate of humiliation secondly after this life the estate of glorie And as Christ first entred into the state of his
mocke and a skoffe at him And in this we may plainly see how dangerous and fearefull their case is who are wholly giuen vp to the hardnesse of their owne hearts and we are further admonished to take heede how we giue our selues to iesting or mocking of others And if any man thinke it to be a light sinne let them consider what befell the Iewes for mocking Christ. The hand of God was vpon them within a while after and so remaineth to this day Little children wickedly brought vp when they saw Elisha the man of God comming they mocked him and saide Come vp thou bald pate come vp thou bald pate but Elisha looked backe on them and cursed them in the name of the Lord and two wilde beares came out of the forrest and tare in pieces two and fourty of them Iulian once a Christian Emperour but after an Apostata did nothing els but mocke Christ and his doctrine and made ieasts of sundry places of Scripture but being in fight against the Persians was wounded with a dart no man knowing how and died scoffing and blaspheming And such like are the iudgements of God which befall mockers and scorners Let vs therefore in the feare of God learne to eschew and auoid this sinne Furthermore if we shall indifferently consider all the mocks and scornings of the Iewes we shall finde that they can not truly conuince him to the least sinne which serueth to cleare Christ and to prooue that he was a most innocent man in whose waies was no wickednes and in whose mouth was found no guile and therefore he was most fit to stand in our roome and suffer for vs which were most vile and sinnefull And here by the way a question offereth it selfe to be skanned S. Matthew saith The theeues which were crucified with him cast the same in his teeth which the Scribes and Pharises did S. Luke saith that one of the theeues mocked him Now it may be demanded how both these can be true Ans. Some reconcile the places thus that the Scripture speaking generally of any thing by a figure doth attribute that to the whol which is proper to some part onely and so here doth ascribe that to both the theeues which agreeth but to one Others answer it thus that at the first both of the euill doers did mocke Christ and of that time speaketh Matthew but afterward one of them was miraculously conuerted then the other alone mocked him and of that time spake S. Luke And this I rather take to be the truth But what was the behauiour of Christ when he is thus laden with reproch In wonderfull patience he replies not but puts vp all in silence Where we are taught that when a man shall raile on vs wrongfully we must not returne rebuke for rebuke nor taunt for taunt but we must either be silent or els speake no more then shall serue for our iust defence This was the practise of the Israelites by the appointment of Hezekias when Rabshakah reuiled the Iewes and blasphemed the name of God the people held their peace and answered him not a word for the kings commandement was answer him not So Hannah beeing troubled in minde praied vnto the Lord and Hely marked her mouth for shee spake in her heart and her lippes did mooue onely but her voice was not beard therefore Hely thought shee had bin drunken and said How long wilt thou be drunken put away thy drunkennesse from thee Such a speech would haue mooued many one to very hard wordes but shee saide Nay my lord but I am a woman troubled in spirit I haue drunke neither wine nor strong drinke but haue powred out my soule before the Lord. This is a hard lesson for men to learne but we must indeauour our selues to practise it if we will be followers of Christ and ouercome euill with good The third thing that fell out in the time of Christs crucifying was the pitifull complaint in which he cried with a loud voice El◠El◠lamasabacthani that is My God my God why hast thou forsaken me In the opening of this cōplaint many points must be skanned The first is what was the cause that mooued Christ to complaine Ans. It was not any impatience or discontentation of mind or any despaire or any dissembling as some would haue it but it was an apprehension and a feeling of the whole wrath of God which seazed vpon him both in bodie soule The second what was the thing whereof he doth complaine Ans. That he is forsaken of God the father And from this point ariseth another question How Christ beeing God can be forsaken of God for the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost are all three but one and the same God Ans. By God we must vnderstand God the father the first person According to the common rule when God is compared with the Sonne or the holy Ghost then the father is meant by this title God as in this place not that the father is more God then the Sonne for in dignitie all the three persons are equall but they are distinguished in order onely and the father is first And againe whereas Christ complaineth that he was forsaken it must be vnderstood in regard of his humane nature not of his godhead And Christs manhood was forsaken not that his godhead and manhood were seuered for they were euer ioyned togither from the first moment of the incarnation but the godhead of Christ and so the godhead of the father did not shewe foorth his power in the manhoode but did as it were lie a sleepe for a time that the manhood might suffer when a man sleepeth the soule is not seuered from the bodie but lieth as it were dead and exerciseth not it selfe euen so the godhead lay stil did not manifest his power in the manhood thus the manhood seemed to be forsaken The third point is the manner of this complaint My God my God saith hee these wordes are wordes of faith I say not of iustifying faith whereof Christ stood not in neede but hee had such a faith or hope whereby he did put his confidence in God The last wordes why hast thou forsaken me seeme at the first to be wordes of distrust Howe then will some say can these wordes stand with the former for faith and distrust are flat contraries Ans. Christ did not vtter any speech of distrust but onely make his mone and complaint by reason of the greatnes of his punishment and yet still relied himselfe on the assistance of his father Hence wee learne first that religion doth not stand in feeling but in faith which faith wee must haue in Christ though we haue no feeling at all for God oftentimes doth withdrawe his grace and fauour from his children that hee may teach them to beleeue in his mercy in Christ then when they feele nothing lesse thē his mercie And faith and feeling cannot alwaies stand togither
it containeth three points The first that Christ beeing now to ascend lifts vp his hands and blessed his disciples In the Scripture are mentioned diuers kinds of blessings The first when one man praieth to God for a blessing vpon an other and this blessing doe Kings and princes bestow vpon their subiects and parents on their children and for this cause children are well taught to aske their fathers and mothers blessing that they may pray to God to blesse them There is an other kinde of blessing when a man doth not onely pray for a blessing but also pronounceth it This did the priests in the old Testament and thus Melchisedeck when he met Abraham blessed him saying Blessed art thou Abraham of God the most high possessour of heauen earth And this was the ordinarie duty of the priests prescribed by God himselfe therefore the very forme of words which they vsed is set downe after this maner The Lord blesse thee and keepe thee the Lord make his face to shine vpon thee c. The third kind of blessing is when a man doth not onely pray to God pronounce blessing but by the spirit of prophecie doth foretell a particular blessing vpon any Thus Isaac blessed Iaacob and Esau particularly foretelling both their estates And Iaacob blessed the twelue Patriarks by the same spirit foretelling them what should befall them many hundred yeares after Now our Sauiour Christ did not blesse his disciples any of these three waies and therefore there remaineth a fourth kinde of blessing which he vsed that was after this manner Christ in blessing his disciples did not onely pronounce or foretell a blessing that should come to his disciples but did conferre giue the same vnto them For he is the fountaine and author of all blessings And therefore Paul saith that God the father hath blessed vs in all spiritual blessings in Christ. Hence we learne first that al those which denie themselues flie to Christ and put their affiance in him shall be freed from the curse of the law from the wrath of God due vnto them for their sinns whatsoeuer they are Secondly that the curses of men must not discourage vs from doing well For though men curse yet Christ blesseth and for this cause he saith Woe be vnto you when all men speake well of you as if he should say then you want the blessing of God And we must remember that when men shall curse vs for doing our dutie euen then the blessing of God shall be vpon vs the curse causeles shall not hurt And God saith to Abraham he will curse them that curs◠him Thirdly we learne that no witchcraft nor sorcerie which often are done with cursing shall be able to hurt vs. For looke where Christ will blesse there all the deuills in hell can neuer fasten a curse This is found true by experiēce For when Balaam the wizzard should haue cursed the people of Israel had assaied to doe it many waies but could not at length he said there is no sorcerie against Iacob nor soothsaying against Israel This is a notable comfort to the people of God that witches and sorcerers doe what they can shall neuer be able to hurt them It may be that their badde practises may annoy mens bodies and goods yet the Lord will turne all to a blessing vpon his seruants either in this life or the life to come The second point is that Christ went apart from his disciples and ascended vpward toward heauen in their sight For the right vnderstanding of this sundrie speciall points must be obserued The first that the lifting vp of his bodie was principally by the mightie power of his godhead and partly by the supernaturall propertie of a glorified bodie which is to mooue as well vpward as downward without constraint or violence The second that Christ did goe from earth to heauen really and actually and not in appearance onely The third that he went visibly in the sight of his disciples The fourth that he went locally by chaunging his place and going from earth to heauen so as he is no more on earth bodily as we are now on earth It may be obiected that Christ made a promise that hee would bee with his Church to the ende of the world Answ. That promise is to be vnderstood of the presence of his spirit or godhead not of the presence of his manhood Againe it may further be alleadged that if the godhead be on earth then must the manhood be there also because they are both vnited together Answ. It is not true that of two things conioined where the one is there must the other be also For the sunne it selfe and the sunne-beames are both ioyned together yet they are not both in all places together For the bodie of the sunne is onely in the heauens but the sunne-beames are also vpon the earth The argument therefore followes not Christs manhood subsists in that person which is euery where ergo his manhood is euery where And the reason is because the Sonne of God subsists not onely in his diuine nature but also by it whereas he doth not subsist at all by the manhoode but onely in it for he subsisted before all eternitie when the manhood was not Nay rather because the manhood doth subsist by the person of the Sonne therefore the person extends it selfe further then the manhood which is assumed and sustained by it and hath his existing thence For that very thing whereby any other thing either essentially or accidentally is extends it selfe further then the thing whereby it is As the humane nature whereby Peter is a man extends it selfe further then to Peter namely to all other men and the whitenesse whereby the snow is white extends it selfe further then to that snow which a man holds in his hand The third point is that in the ascension a cloud tooke Christ from the fight of his disciples And whereas he caused a cloud to come betweene their sight and himselfe it signified vnto them that they must now be contented with that which they had seene and not seeke to know further what became of him afterward and the same thing is taught vnto vs also we must content our selues with that which God hath reuealed in his word and seeke no further specially in things which concerne God For the like ende in the giuing of the law in Sinai God appeared in a cloud and when he did manifest his glorie in the temple which Salomon made a thicke cloud filled the same The fourth point to be considered is concerning the witnesses of his ascension which were his owne disciples in the mount of Oliues at Bethanie and none but they Now it may be demanded why he would not haue all the whol natiō of the Iewes to see him ascend that so they might know that he was risen againe and beleeue in him
is giuen to me in heauen and earth The third circumstance is concerning the person at whose right hand Christ sits noted in the words of the article of God the father Almightie whereby is signified that he receiues all the honour power glorie of his kingdome from his father as he that is set at the right hand of a prince receiues the honour authoritie which he hath from the prince Nowe if it be alleadged that by this meanes Christ shall be inferiour to his father because he which receiueth honour of another is inferiour to him of whome he receiueth it the answer is that in Christ we must consider his person and his office in respect of his person as he is the eternall sonne of God he is equall to the father and is not here said to sit at his right hand yet in respect of the oâ—fice which he beares namely as he is mediatour and as he is man he is inferiour to the father and receiues his kingdome from him As he is God he is our king and head and hath no head more then the father as he is mediatour he is also our head yet so as hee is vnder the father as beeing his head And we must not thinke it strange that one and the same thing should bee both equall and inferiour to another diuers respects considered Nowe in that Christs placing at the right hand of his father argues inferioritie betweene the father him hence we learne that they are deceiued which from this article gather that in the glorification of Christ there is a transfusion of the proprieties of the godhead as omnipotencie omniscience omnipresence c. into his manhood For this is to abolish all inferioritie and to make an equalitie betweene the creature and the creatour And whereas againe the word Almightie is repeated it is done vpon special reason because Christs sitting at the right hand of God doth presuppose omnipotencie For in vaine were all power in heauen and earth giuen to him vnlesse he were omnipotent as the father to execute the same And therefore the song of the Elders was on this manner Worthie is the Lamb that was killed to receiue power and riches and wisdome and strength and honour and glory and praise The benefits which redound vnto vs by Christs sitting at the right hand of God are two one concernes his priesthood the other his kingly office The benefit rising from his priesthood is his Intercession for vs for this is one of the endes why Christ is now exalted in glorie and sits at the right hand of his father namely to make request in the behalfe of all that come vnto him as Paul saith Christ is risen againe and sitteth at the right hand of God and maketh request for vs. Nowe that we may rightly vnderstand what his intercession is wee are to consider these points First to whome it is made secondly in what manner thirdly whether it be made by Christ alone or no fourthly what be the fruits and benefits thereof fiftly the duties whereunto wee are mooued thereby For the first Intercession is to make suite request or intreaty in some ones behalfe to another and this is done by Christ for vs vnto God as Paul saith there is one God and one mediatour betweene God and man which is the man Christ Iesus Here at the verie first ariseth a difficultie for in euery intercession there be three parties the person offended the person offending the intercessour distinct from them both Now if Christ the sonne of God make intercession to God for man then hee maketh intercession to himselfe because he is true God which cannot be howe then shall Christ be mediatour Ans. This point hath so troubled the Church of Rome that for the resoluing of it they haue deuised an errour auouching that Christ is mediatour onely as he is man not as he is God which is vntrue For as both natures doe concurre in the worke of satisfaction so likewise they doe both concurre in the worke of intercession and therefore a more meete and conuenient answere is this Christ Iesus God-man in both natures is directly our mediatour to the first person the father as S. Iohn saith If any man sinne we haue an aduocate with the father Iesus Christ the iust And thus we haue three persons in the worke of intercession really distinguished The partie offended is God the Father the partie offending is man thirdly the intercessour distinct froÌ„ them both is Christ the secoÌ„d person in Trinitie For howsoeuer in Godhead he the Father be one yet in person they are really distinguished and hee is as it were in the middle betweene the father and vs for the father is God and not man wee that beleeue in Christ are men not God Christ himselfe both man and God It may be further replyed that this answere will not stand because not onely the father is offended but also the sonne and the holy Ghost and therefore there must be a mediatour to them also Answer The intercession of Christ is directed to the father the first person immediately nowe the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost haue all one indiuisible essence and by consequent one and the same will whereupon the father beeing appeased by Christs intercession the Sonne and the Holy Ghost are also appeased with him and in him Thus then intercession is made to the whole trinitie but yet immediately and directly to the first person and in him to the rest The second point to be considered is the maner of his intercession vnto his father We must not imagine that Christ nowe in heauen kneeles downe on his knees and vtters wordes and puts vp a supplication for all the faithfull to God the father for that is not beseeming the maiestie of him that sits at the right hand of God But the manner of his intercession is thus to be conceiued When one is to speake to an earthly prince in the behalfe of another first of al he must come into the presence of the king and secondly make his request and both these Christ performeth for vs vnto God For the first after his ascension he entred into heauen where he did present vnto his father first of all his owne person in two natures and secondly the inualuable merits of his death and passion in which he was well pleased And we must further vnderstand that as on the crosse he stood in our roome so in heaueÌ„ he now appears as a publike person in our stead representing all the elect that shal beleeue in him as the holy Ghost saith Christ Iesus ascended vp into heauen to appeare in the sight of God for vs. And for the second Christ makes request for vs in that he willeth according to both his natures and desireth as he is man that the father would accept his satisfaction in the behalfe of al that are giuen vnto him And that he makes request on
to teach all ignorāt persons and impenitent sinners repentance and humiliation for their sinnes and to mooue them with all speede to seeke vnto Christ for the pardon of the same When Paul preached to the Athenians he willed them to repent vpon this ground and reason because the Lord hath appointed a day wherein he will iudge the world in righteousnes To speake plainly we can be content to heare the word and to honour him with our lipps yet for the most part all is done but for fashions sake for still we liue in our old sinnes our hearts are not turned but in the feare of God let vs bethinke our selues of the time when wee shall come before the iudge of heauen and earth and haue all our sinnes laide open and wee must answer for them all This is the point which the holy Ghost vseth as a reason to mooue men vnto repentance and assuredly if this will not mooue vs there is nothing in the world will Secondly to this purpose Paul saith If wee would iudge our selues wee should not be iudged Wouldest thou then escape the iudgement of Christ at the last day then in this life iudge thy selfe Nowe a man in iudging of himselfe must performe foure things I. he must examine himselfe of his owne sinnes II. he must confesse thē before the Lord. III. he must condemne himselfe as a iudge vpon the bench giue sentence against himselfe Lastly he must plead pardon and crie vnto God as for life and death for the remission of all his sinnes and he that doth this vnfainedly shal neuer be iudged of the Lord at the last day but if we slacke and neglect this dutie in this life then vndoubtedly there remaines nothing but eternall woe in the world to come Thirdly by this we may learne one not to iudge or condemne another as Paul sayeth Iudge nothing before the time vntill the Lord come who lighten all things that are in darknes make the counsels of the hearts manifest And Christ saith Iudgement is mine and iudge not and ye shall not be iudged And againe Paul saith to the Romans Why doest thou iudge thy brother for we must all appeare before the iudgement seat of Christ but some will aske howe doth one iudge another Ans. Thus I. when a man doth well to saie of him that he doth euill II. when a man doth euill then to make it worse III. when a thing is doubtfull to take it in the worst part And by any of these three waies we are not to iudge either of mens persons or of their actions Fourthly wee must endeauour our selues to keepe a good conscience before God and before all men This is the practise of S. Paul who in consideration and hope of a resurrection vnto iudgement as well of the iust as of the vniust endeauoured himselfe to haue alwaies a cleare conscience both towards God and towards men His example is worthie our marking and imitation for fewe there be that vpon this occasion make any conscience either of duty to God or to their brethren Fifthly the last iudgement must stirre vs vp to a reuerend feare of God cause vs to glorifie him as the Angel saith in the Reuelation Feare God and giue glorie to him for the houre of his iudgement is come And doubtlesse if any thing in the world will mooue a man to feare the Lord it is this to remember the fearefull and terrible daie of iudgement Nowe hauing spoken hitherto of the first person the father and also of the sonne it followeth in the next place to speake of the third person in these wordes I beleeue in the holy Ghost In which wee may consider two things the title of the person and the action of faith repeated from the beginning The title is Holy Ghost or spirit It may here be demanded howe this title can be fit to expresse the third person which seemes to bee common to the rest for the father is holy and the sonne is holy againe the father is a spirit and the sonne is a spirit Ans. Indeed the father and the sonne are as wel to be tearmed holy in respect of their natures the third person for all three subsisting in one and the same godhead are consequently holy by one and the fame holinesse but the third person is called holy because beside the holinesse of nature his office is to sanctifie the Church of God Nowe if it be said that sanctification is a work of the whole Trinitie the answer is that although it be so yet the worke of sanctification agrees to the Holy Ghost in speciall manner The father sanctifieth by the sonne and by the holy Ghost the sonne sanctifieth from the father and by the Holy Ghost the holy Ghost sanctifieth from the father and from the sonne by himselfe immediatly and in this respect is the third person tearmed holy Againe the third person is tearmed a Spirit not onely because his nature is spirituall for in that respect the father is a spirit and the sonne is a spirit but because hee is spired or breathed from the father and from the sonne in that he procedes from them both Thus wee see there is a speciall cause why the third person is called the Holy Ghost Nowe the action of faith which concernes the third person is to beleeue in him Which is I. to acknowledge the Holy Ghost as he hath reuealed himselfe in the word II. In special to beleeue that he is my sanctifier and comforter III. To put all the confidence of my heart in him for that cause In these wordes are comprised foure points of doctrine which are to be beleeued cōcerning the holy Ghost The first that he is very God For we are not to put our affiance or confidence in any but in God alone And no doubt the penners of the Creede in that they prefixed these wordes I beleeue in before the article of the third person meant thereby to signifie that he is true God equall with the father and the sonne according to the tenour of the Scriptures themselues Peter saith to Ananias Why hath Satan filled thine heart that thou shouldest lie vnto the Holy Ghost and continuing the same speech he changeth the tearme onely and saith Thou hast not lied vnto men but vnto God Whereby hei nsinuateth that the Holy Ghost is very God In the vision of the Prophet Isai the wordes by him set downe are thus I heard the voice of Iehoua saying Whome shall I send c. and he said God and say to this people Ye shall heare indeed but ye shall not vnderstand But Paul quoting the same place spake on this manner Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esay the Prophet saying Goe vnto this people and say vnto them Now these places being compared togither make it plaine that the title of Iehova agreeth to the holy Ghost But yet the enemies of this truth which thinke that the Holy
Ghost is nothing els but the action or operation of God obiect out of the Scriptures to the contrarie I. God knoweth the sonne the holy Ghost knoweth not the sonne for none knoweth the sonne but the father ergo the holy Ghost is not God Ans. That place excludeth no person in Trinitie but onely creatures and false gods and the meaning is this None that is no creature or idol god knoweth the sonne of God but the father And the opposition is made to exclude creatures not to exclude the holy Ghost Againe they obiect that the holy Ghost maketh request for vs with grones and sighes that can not be vttered therefore say they the Holy ghost is not God but rather a gift of God For he that is true God can not pray grone or sigh Ans. Pauls meaning is thereby to signifie that the Holy Ghost causeth vs to make requests and stirreth vp our hearts to grone and sigh to God for he said before we haue receiued the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba father Yet further they obiect the words of the Angel Gabriel to the virgin Marie saying The vertue of the most high hath ouershadowed thee and hence they gather that if the holy Ghost be the vertue of God then he is not God indeede Ans. As Christ is called the Word of God not a worde made of letters or syllables but a substantial word that is beeing for euer of the same substance with the father so in this place the holy ghost is called the vertue of the most highest not because he is a created qualitie but because he is the substantiall vertue of the Father and the sonne and therefore God equall with them both Furthermore they alleadge that neither the scriptures nor the practise of the Primitiue Church doth warrant vs to pray to the holy Ghost Ans. It is not true For whēsoeuer we direct our praier to any of the three persons in him we pray to them all Besides we haue example of praier made to the holy Ghost in the word of God For Paul saith to the Corinthians The grace of our Lord Iesus the loue of god the father the fellowship of the holy ghost be with you all And the words are as if S. Paul had said thus O Father let thy loue O Sonne let thy grace O holy Ghost let thy fellowship bee with them all And therefore this first doctrine is true and as well to bee beleeued as any other that the Holy Ghost is God The second point is that the Holy Ghost is a distinct person from the father and the sonne Hereupon the articles touching the three persons are thus distinguished I beleeue in the father I beleeue in the sonne I beleeue in the holy Ghost This point also is consonant to the Scriptures which make the same distinction In the baptisme of Christ the father vttereth a voice from heauen saying This is my beloued Sonne in whome I am well pleased and not the sonne or the holy ghost Secondly the sonne stood in the water and was baptized by Iohn and not the father or the holy Ghost Thirdly the holy Ghost descended from heauen vpon Christ in the forme of a doue and not the father or the sonne but the holy Ghost alone Christ in his commission vnto his disciples saith Goe teach all nations baptizing them into the name of the father the sonne and the Holy Ghost Now if the Holy Ghost had beene the same person either with the father or with the sonne then it had bene sufficient to haue named the father and the sonne onely And the distinction of the third person from the rest may be conceiued by this that the Holy Ghost is the Holy Ghost and not the father or the sonne The third point to bee beleeued is that the holy Ghost proceedeth from the father and the sonne For a further proofe hereof consider these places Paul saith Ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit for the spirit of God dwelleth in you But if any man haue not the spirit of Christ hee is not his And againe Because ye are sonnes God hath sent forth the spirit of the sonne into your hearts where we may obserue that the holy Ghost is the spirit both of the father and of the sonne Now the holy Ghost is called the spirit of the father not only because he is sent of him but because hee proceedeth from the father as Christ saith to his disciples When the comforter will come whome I shall send vnto you from the father euen the spirit of trueth vvhich proceedeth of the father hee shall testifie of me And therefore likewise he is the spirit of the sonne not onely because he is sent of the sonne but also because hee proceedeth from him Againe in the Trinitie the person sending doth communicate his whole essence and substance to the person sent As the father sending the sonne doeth communicate his essence and substance to the sonne For sending doth presuppose a communication of essence Nowe the father and the sonne send the holy Ghost therefore both of them communicate their substance and essence vnto the same person Thirdly Christ saith The holy Ghost hath receiued of mine which he shall shewe vnto you namely knowledge and trueth to be reuealed vnto his Church Whence we may reason thus the person receiuing knowledge from another receiues essence also the holy Ghost receiues truth and knowledge from Christ to be reuealed vnto the Church and therefore first of all he hath receiued substance and essence from the sonne But some peraduenture will say where is it written in all the bible in expresse wordes that the holv Ghost proceedes from the sonne as he proceedes from the father Answer The scripture saith not so much in plaine tearmes yet we must know that that which is gathered forth thence by iust cōsequence is no lesse the truth of god then that which is expressed in words Hereupon all Churches saue those in Greece with one confent acknowledge the trueth of this point The fourth and last point is that the holy Ghost is equall to the father and the sonne And this we are taught to acknowledge in the Creede in that wee doe as well beleeue in the Holy Ghost as in the father and the sonne And though the holy Ghost be sent of the father and the sonne yet as I haue said before that argues no inequalitie for one equall may send another by consent but order onely whereby the Holy Ghost is last of all the three persons Againe in that the holy Ghost receiueth from the sonne it prooues no inferiority Because he receiues frō the sonne whatsoeuer he receiues by nature and not by grace And he receiues not a part but all that the sonne hath sauing the proprietie of his person Nowe followe the benefits which are giuen by the holy Ghost and they are of two sorts some are common to all
how are the members of the visible Church qualified and discerned the answer followeth in the definition professing the faith Whereby I meane the profession of that religion which hath bin taught from the beginning and is now recorded in the writings of the Prophets and Apostles And this profession is a signe and marke whereby a man is declared and made manifest to be a member of the Church Againe because the profession of the faith is otherwhiles true and syncere and otherwhiles onely in shewe therefore there be also two sorts of members of the visible church members before God and members before men A member of the church before God is he that beside the outward profession of the faith hath inwardly a pure heart good conscience and faith vnfained whereby he is indeede a true member of the church Members before men whome we may call reputed members are such as haue nothing else but the outward profession wanting the good conscience and the faith vnfained The reason why they are to be esteemed members of vs is because we are bound by the rule of charitie to thinke of men as they appeare vnto vs leauing secret iudgements vnto God I added in the last place that the Church is gathered by the word preached to shew that the cause whereby it is begunne and continued is the word which for that cause is called the immortall seede whereby we are borne anew and milke whereby we are fedde and cherished to life euerlasting And hence it followeth necessarily that the preaching of the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles ioyned with any measure of faith and obedience is an vnfallible marke of a true church Indeede it is true there be three things required to the good estate of a church the preaching of the Gospell the administration of the Sacraments and due execution of Discipline according to the word yet if the two latter be wanting so be it there be preaching of the word with obedience in the people there is for substance a true church of God For it is the banner of Christ displaied vnder which all that warre against the flesh the deuill the world must range themselues As the Lord saith by the Prophet Esai I will lift vp my hand to the Gentiles and set vp my standard vnto the people and they shall bring their sonnes in their armes and their daughters shall be carried vpon their shoulders Hence it followeth that men which want the preaching of the Gospell must either procure the same vnto themselues or if that can not be because they liue in the middest of idolatrous nations as in Spaine and Italie it is requisite that they should ioyne themselues to those places where with libertie of conscience they may enioy this happie blessing Men are not to haue their hearts glued to the honours and riches of this world but they should be of Dauids minde and rather desire to be dorekeepers in the house of God then to dwell in the tents of vngodlines In the Canticles the spouse of Christ saith Shew me O thou whome my soule loueth where thou feedest where thou liest at noone for why should I be as shee that turneth aside to the flocks of thy companions To whome he answereth thus If thou know not O thou the fairest among women get thee forth by the steppes of the flocke and feede thy kids by the tents of the shepheards that is in those places where the doctrine of righteousnes and life euerlasting by the Messias is published When the Shunamites child was dead shee told her husband that shee would go to the man of God to whome he answered thus Why wilt thou goe to him to day it is neither new moone nor sabbath day whereby it is signified that when teaching was skarse in Israel the people did resort to the Prophets for instruction and consolation And Dauid saith that the people wheresoeuer there aboad was went from strength to strength till they appeared before God in Sion And oftentimes they beeing Proselytes there aboade must needes be out of the precincts of Iewrie Thus we see what the visible Church is now further concerning it three questions are to be skanned The first is how we may discerne whether particular men and particular Churches holding errours be found members of the Catholicke church or no. For the answering of this we must make a double distinction one of errours the other of persons that erre Of errours some are destroiers of the faith some onely weakners of it A destroier is that which ouerturneth any fundamentall point of religion which is of that nature that if it be denied religion it selfe is ouerturned as the deniall of the death of Christ and the immortalitie of the soule iustification by workes and such like and the summe of these fundamentall points is comprised in the Creede of the Apostles and the Decalogue A weakning errour is that the holding whereof doth not ouerturue any point in the foundation of saluation as the errour of freewill and sundrie such like This distinction is made by the holy Ghost who saith expressely that the doctrines of repentance and faith and baptismes and laying on of hands and the resurrection and the last iudgement are the foundation namely of religion and againe that Christ is the foundation and that other doctrines consonant to the word are as gold and siluer laid thereupon Secondly persons erring are of two sorts some erre of wâ—aknes beeing carried away by others or of simple ignorance not yet beeing conuicted and informed concerning the truth Some againe erre of obstinacie or affected ignorance which hauing bin admonished and conuicted still perseuere in their forged opinions This beeing saide wâ—e nowe come to the point If any man or Church shall hold an errour of the lighter kinde he still remaines a member of the Church of God and so must be reputed of vs. As when a Lutherane shall hold that images are still to be retained in the church that there is an Vniuersall Election of all men c. for these and such like opinions may be maintained the foundation of saluation vnrased This which I say is slatly auouched by Paul If any man saith he build on this foundation gold siluer pretious stones timber hay or stubble his worke shall be made manifest by the fire c. and if any mans worke burne he shall loose but yet he shall be safe himselfe And therefore the hay and stubble of mens errours that are beside the foundation on which they are laid doe not debarre them from beeing Christians or members of the church A man breaks downe the windows of his house the house stands he breakes downe the roofe or the walls the house yet stands though deformed he pulls vp the foundation the house it selfe falls and ceaseth to be an house Now religion which we professe is like an house or building and some points thereof are like windowes doores walls roofes
commandement to pray and then after giues a direction for the keeping of it this he doth to stir vp our dulnes and to allure vs by all meanes to this heauenly exercise of prayer wherefore still I say imploy your selues in praier feruently and continually and if you cannot doe it learne to praie Thus much of the commandement of our Sauiour Christ now follow the words of the praier Our Father which art c. THese wordes containe three partes 1. A preface 2. The praier it selfe containing sixe petitions 3. The testification of faith in the last worde Amen Which although it be short yet it doth not containe the smallest point in the praier It is I say a testification of our faith whereas the petitions that goe before are onely testifications of our desires Nowe of these three partes in order We must consider howe our Sauiour Christ doth not set downe the petitions abruptly but he first begins with a solemne preface Whereby wee are taught this lesson that hee which is to pray vnto God is first to prepare himselfe and not boldly without consideration as it were to rush into the presence of God If a man be to come before an earthly prince hee will order himselfe in apparell gesture and wordes that he may doe all things in seemelinesse and dutifull reuerence how much more are men to order themselues when they are to appeare before the liuing God Eccl. 5.1 Bee not rash with thy mouth and let not thy heart be hastie to vtter a thing before the Lord. And Dauid Psal. 26.6 Washed his hands in innocency before he came to the altar of the Lord to offer sacrifice The meanes whereby men may stirre vp their dull and heauie hearts so prepare themselues to praier are three The first is to read diligently the word of God concerning those matters about which they are to pray what then this will be a meanes not onely to direct him but also to quicken the heart more feruently to deliuer his praier This is euident by a comparison The beames of the sunne descending heat not before they come to the earth or some solide bodie where they may reflect and then by that meanes the earth and aire adioyning is made hot euen so the Lord sends down vnto vs his blessed word euen as beames and the goodly sunshine and thereby he speakes to our hearts now when we make our praiers of that which we haue read Gods word is as it were reâ—â—ected and our hearts are thereby warmed with the comfortable heat of Gods holy spirit to poure out our pâ—aiers to God more feruently The second meanes is to pray to God that hee would strengthen vs with his spirit that we might be able to praie as it is practised Psal. 143.1 The third meanes is the consideration of Gods most glorious maiestie wherein we are to remember first his fatherly goodnes and kindnesse whereby hee is willing and secondly his omnipotencie whereby hee is able to gâ—ant our requests One of these imboldened the leaper to pray Lord if thou wilâ— thou canst make me â—leane Mat. 8.2 Therefore both togither are more effectuall Now let vs come to the preface it selfe Our father which art in heauen It coÌ„taines a description of the true Iehoua to whome we pray and that by two arguments the first is drawne from a relation Our Father the second is taken from the subiect or place Which art in heauen Father 1. The meaning IN the opening of this word or title of God two questions are to be opened 1. Quest. Whether by thit title Father is signified the whole Trinitie or some one person thereof Ans. Otherwhiles this name is attributed to all the persons in Trinitie or any of them Mal. 2. 10. Haue wee not all one father c. Luk. 3.38 Which was the sonne of Adam which was the sâ—nne of God And in Esai 36. Christ is called the Father of eternitie because all that are truely knit to him and borne anew by him they are eternally made the sonnes of God Againe oftentimes it is giuen to the first person in Trinitie as in those places where one person is conferred with another And so in this place principally for some speciall respects this title agrees to the first person For first he is the father of Christ as he is the eternall word of the father and that by nature because he is of the same essence with him Secondly he is the father to Christ in respect of his manhood not by nature or adoption but by personall vnion because the humane nature doth subsist in the person of the word Thirdly he is a father to all the faithfull by adoption in Christ. 2. Quest. Whether are we to praie to the sonne and the holy Ghost as to the Father Ans. Inuocation belongs to al the three persons in Trinitie not only to the Father Act. 7.59 Steuen praieth Lord Iesus receiue my spirit 1. Thâ—s 3.2 Now God our Father and our Lord Iesus Christ guide our iourney vnto you 2. Cor. 13.13 The grace of our Lord Iesus Christ the loue of God and the communion of the holy ghost be with you And men are baptized in the name of the father the sonne and the holy Ghost that is by calling on the name of the Father Sonne and holy Ghost Some may say this praier is a perfect platforme of all praiers yet we are taught to direct our praiers to the Father not to the Sonne or holy spirit I answere the Father Sonne and holy Ghost are three distinct persons yet they are not to be seuered or deuided because they all subsist in one and the same godhead or diuine nature And further in all outward actions as in the creation and preseruation of the world and the saluation of the elect they are not seuered or diuided for they all worke togither onely they are distinguished in the manner of working Nowe if they be not diuided in nature or operation then they are not to be seuered in worship And in this place wee principally direct our praiers to the father because he is the first in order yet so as then we implie the Sonne and holy Ghost For we pray to the Father in the name of the Sonne by the assistance of the holy Ghost And to what person soeuer the praier is directed we must alwaies remember in minde and heart to include the rest 2. The vse TThe vses of this point are manifold 1. First whereas we are taught to come to God as to a father therefore in the name of his Sonne our Sauiour Christ we learne to lay the first ground of all our praiers which is to hold and maintaine the vnion the distinction of the three persons in Trinitie This beeing the lowest and the first foundation of praier it is requisite that all which would pray aright should haue this knowledge rightly to beleeue the Trinitie and to know how the three persons agree and how
families must principally bestowe their goods vpon their owne children and them that be of their own kindred This man saith God to Abraham of Eleazar a stranger shall not bee thine heire but the sonne which shall come of thy loynes And this was Gods commandement to the Israelites that when any man dies his sonne should bee his heire and if hee had no sonne then his daughter if he haue no daughter then his brethren and if he haue no brethren then his fathers brethren if there be none then the next of his kinne whosoeuer And Paul saith If ye be sonnes then also heires And againe He that prouides not for his owne and namly for them of his houshold is worse then an infidel Therefore it is a fault for any man to alienate his goods or landes wholly and finally from his blood and posteritie It is a thing which the verie lawe of nature it selfe hath condemned Againe it is a fault to giue all to the eldest and nothing in respect to the rest as though the eldest were born to be gentlemen and yonger brethren borne to beare the wallet Yet in equitie the eldest must haue more then any euen because hee is the eldest and because stockes and families in their persons are to bee maintained and because there must alwaies be some that must be fit to doe speciall seruice in the peace of the common-weale or in the time of warre which could not bee if goods should bee equally parted to all The fourth and last rule is that no Will is of force till the testatour bee dead for so long as hee is aliue hee may alter and change it These rules must bee remembred because they are recorded in Scripture the opening of other points and circumstances belongeth to the profession of the law The second dutie of the master of the family concerneth the soules of such as be vnder his gouernmēt and that is to giue charge to them that they learn beleeue and obey the true religion that is the doctrine of saluation set downe in the writings of the Prophets and Apostles The Lord himselfe commends Abraham for this I know Abraham saith he that he will command his sonnes his houshold after him that they keepe the waie of the Lord to doe righteousnes and iudgement And Dauid giues Salomon on his death bed a most notable and solemne charge the summe and substance whereof is to knowe the God of his fathers and to serue him which being done he further commends him to God by praier for which purpose the 72. psalme was made This practise of his is to be followed of all Thus gouernours whē they shall carefully dispose of their goods and giue charge to their posteritie touching the worship of God shall greatly honour God dying as well as liuing Hitherto I haue intreated of the two-folde preparation which is to goe before death nowe follows the second part of Dying-wel namely the disposition in death This disposition is nothing else but a religious and holy behauiour specially towards God when wee are in or neere the agonie or pang of death This behauiour containes three special duties The first is to die in or by faith To die by faith is when a man in the time of death doeth with all his heart relie himselfe wholly on Gods speciall loue and fauour and mercie in Christ as it is reuealed in the word And though their bee no part of mans life voide of iust occasions whereby we may put faith in practise yet the speciall time of all is the pang of death when friendes and riches and pleasures and the outward senses and temporall life and all earthly helps forsake vs. For thē true faith maketh vs to goe wholly out of our selues and to despaire of comfort and saluation in respect of any earthly thing and with all the power and strength of the heart to rest on the pure mercie of God This made Luther both thinke and say that men were best Christians in death An example of this faith wee haue in Dauid who when hee sawe nothing before his eies but present death the people intending to stone him comforted him at that very instant as the text saieth in the Lord his God And this comfort he reaped in that by faith he applied vnto his owne soule the mercifull promises of God as hee testifieth of himself Remember saith he the promise made to thy seruant wherin thou hast caused me to trust It is my comfort in trouble for thy promise hath quickened me Againe My flesh failed and my heart also but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for euer Now looke what Dauid here did the same must euery one of vs doe in the like case When the Israelites in the wildernes were stung with fierie serpents and lay at the point of death they looked vp to the brasen serpent which was erected by the appointment of God and were presently healed euen so when any man feeles death to drawe neere and his fiery sting to pierce the heart he must fixe the eye of a true and liuely faith vpon Christ exalted crucified on the crosse which beeing done he shall by death enter into eternall life Nowe because true faith is no dead thing it must bee expressed by speciall actions the principal whereof is Inuocation whereby either praier or thanksgiuing is directed vnto God When death had seazed vpon the bodie of Iacob he raised vp himselfe and turning his face towards the beds head leaned on the toppe of his staffe by reason of his feeblenesse and praied vnto God which praier of his was an excellent fruite of his faith Iobs wife in the midst of his affliction saide vnto him to very good purpose Blesse God and die I know and grant that the words are commonly translated otherwise Curse god and die but as I take it the former is the best For it is not like that in so excellent a family any one person much lesse a matrone and principall gouernour thereof would giue such lewd and wretched counsell which the most wicked mā vpon earth hauing no more but the light of nature would not once giue but rather much abhorre and condemne And though Iob cal her a foolish woman yet he doth it not because shee wēt about to perswade him to blaspheme God but because shee was of the mind of Iobs friends and thought that hee stood too much in a conceit of his owne righteousnes Nowe the effect and meaning of her counsell is this Blesse God that is husband no doubt thou art by the extremitie of thine affliction at deaths dore therefore beginne nowe at length to lay aside the great ouerweening which thou hast of thine owne righteousnes acknowledge the hand of God vpon thee for thy sinnes confesse them vnto him giuing him the glorie pray for the pardon of them and end thy daies This counsell is very good and to be
thus Though Christ hath freed thee from death by his death yet thou art quite barred from heauen because thou neuer didst fulfil the law The conscience answereth I know that Christ is my righteousnes and hath fulfilled the law for me Thirdly the deuill replies and saith Christs benefits belong not to thee thou art but an hypocrite and wantest faith Now when a man is driuen to this straight it is neither wit nor learning nor fauour nor honour that can repulse this temptation but onely the poore conscience directed and sanctified by the Spirit of God which boldly and constantly answereth I know that I beleeue And though it be the office of the conscience after it is renued principally to excuse yet doth it also in part accuse When Dauid had numbred the people his heart smote him 2. Sam. 24.10 Iob saith in his affâ—iction that God did write bitter things against him and made him possesse the sinnes of his youth Iob 13. 26. The reason hereof is because the whole man and the very conscience is onely in part regenerate and therefore in some part remaines still corrupt Neither must it seeme straunge that one and the same conscience should both accuse and excuse because it doth it not in one and the same respect It excuseth in that it assureth a man that his person stands righteous before God and that he hath an indeauour in the generall course of his life to please God it accuseth him for his particular slippes and for the wants that be in his good actions If any shall demaund why God doth not perfectly regenerate the conscience and cause it onely to excuse the answer is this God doth it for the preuenting of great misâ—hiefes When the Israelites came into the land of Canaan the Cananites were not at the first wholly displacedâ— Why Moses rendreth the reason least wild beasts come and inhabit some parts of the land that were dispeopled and more annoy them then the Cananites In like manner God renues the conscience but so as it shall still accuse when occasion serueth for the preuenting of many dangerous sinnes which like wild beasts would make hauocke of the soule Thus much of good conscience now follows euill conscience and that is so called partly because it is defiled and corrupted by originall sinne partly because it is euill that is troublesome and painefull in our sense and feeling as all sorrowes calamities and miseries are which for this very cause also are called euills And though conscience be thus tearmed euill yet hath it some respects of generall goodnes in as much as it is an instrument of the execution of diuine iustice because it serues to accuse them before God which are iustly to be accused It hath spread it selfe ouer mankind as generally as originall sinne therefore it is to be found in all men that come of Adam by ordinarie generation The propertie of it is with all the power it hath to accuse and condemne and thereby to make a man afraid of the presence of God and to cause him to flie from God as from an enemie This the Lord signified when he said to Adam Adam where art thou When Peter saw some little glimbring of the power and maiestie of God in the great draught of fish he fell on his knees and saide to Christ Lord goe from me for I am a sinnefullman Euill conscience is either dead or stirring Dead conscience is that which though it can doe nothing but accuse yet commonly it lies quiet accusing little or nothing at all The causes why conscience lieth dead in all men either more or lesse are many I. Defect of reason or vnderstanding in crased braines II. Violence and strength of affections which as a cloud doe ouercast the minde and as a gulfe of water swallow vp the iudgement and reason and thereby hinder the conscience from accusing for when reason can not doe his part then conscience doth nothing For example some one in his rage behaues himselfe like a madde man and willingly commits any mischiefe without controlment of conscience but when choller is downe he beginnes to be ashamed and troubled in himselfe not alwaies by grace but euen by the force of his naturall conscience which when affection is calmed beginnes to stirre as appeareth in the example of Cain III. Ignorance of Gods will and errours in iudgement cause the conscience to be quiet when it ought to accuse This we find by experience in the deaths of obstinate heretikes which suffer for their damnable opinions without checke of conscience Dead conscience hath two degrees The first is the slumbring or the benummed conscience the second is the seared conscience The benummed conscience is that which doth not accuse a man for any sinne vnlesse it be grieuous or capitall and not alwaies for that but onely in the time of some grieuous sicknes or calamitie Iosephs brethren were not much troubled in conscience for their villanie in selling their brother till afterward when they were afflicted with famine and distressed in Egypt Gen. 42. 2. This is the conscience that commonly raignes in the hearts of drousie Protestants of all carnall and lukewarme gospellers and of such as are commonly tearmed ciuill honest men whose apparant integritie will not free them from guiltie consciences Such a conscience is to be taken heede of vs as beeing most daâ—gerous It is like a wild beast which so long as he lies asleepe seemes very tame and gentle and hurts no man but when he is roused he then awakes and flies in a mans face and offers to pull out his throate And so it is the manner of dead conscience to lie still and quiet euen through the course of a mans life and hereupon a man would thinke as most doe that it were a good conscience indeede but when sicknes or death approcheth it beeing awaked by the hand of God beginnes to stand vp on his legges and shewes his fierce eyes and offers to rend out euen the very throat of the soule And heathen Poets knowing this right well haue compared euill conscience to Furies pursuing men with firebrands The seared conscience is that which doth not accuse for any sinne no not for great sinnes It is compared by Paul 1. Tim. 4.2 to the part of a mans bodie which is not onely bereft of sense life and motion by the gangrene but also is burnt with a searing yron and therefore must needes be vtterly past all feeling This kind of conscience is not in all men but in such persons as are become obstinate heretikes and notorious malefactours And it is not in them by nature but by an increase of the corruption of nature and that by certaine steppes and degrees For naturally euery man hath in him blindnes of minde and obstinacie or frowardnes of heart yet so as with the blindnes and ignorance of minde are ioyned some remnants of the light of nature shewing vs what is
maner For his obedience in fulfilling the law is aboue Adams righteousnes yea aboue the righteousnes of all Angels For they were all but creatures their obedience the obedience of creatures but Christ his obedience is the obedience or righteousnes of god so tearmed Rom. 1.17 18. 2. Cor. 5.21 not only because god accepted of it but because it was in that person which is very God When Christ obeied God obeyed and when he suffered God suffered not because the godhead suffered or performed any obedience but because the person which according to one nature is God performed obedience and suffered And by this meanes his righteousnesse is of infinite value price merit and efficacie Hence also it commeth to passe that this obedience of Christ serueth not onely for the iustifying of some one person as Adams did but of all and euery one of the Elect yea it is sufficient to iustifie many thousand worldes Now to come to the point this righteousnes that is in Christ in this largenesse and measure is pertaining to vs in a more narrow skantling because it is onely receiued by faith so farreforth as it serueth to iustifie any particular beleeuer But they vrge the reason further saying If Christ his righteousnes be the righteousnes of euery beleeuer then euery man shauld be a Sauiour which is absurb Answ. I answer as before and yet more plainely thus Christ his righteousnesse is imputed to the person of this or that man not as it is the price of redemption for all mankind but as it is the price of redemption for one particular man as for example Christ his righteousnes is imputed to Peter not as it is the price of redemption for all but as it is the price of redemption for Peter And therefore Christ his righteousnesse is not applyed to any one sinner in that largenes and measure in which it is in the person of Christ but onely so farforth as it serueth to satisfie the law for the said sinner and to make his person accepted of God as righteous and no further III. Obiect If we be made righteous by Christ his righteousnes truly then Christ is a sinner truly by our sinnes but Christ is not indeed a sinner by our sinnes Ans. We may with reuerence to his maiestie in good manner say that Christ was a sinner and that truly not by any infusion of sinne into his most holy person but because our sinnes were laide on him thus saith the holy Ghost he which knew no sinne was made sinne for vs and he was counted with sinners Isa. 53. 12. yet so as euen then in himselfe he was without blot yea more holy then all men and angels On this manner saide Chrysostome 2. Cor. 3. God permitted Christ to be condemned as a sinner Againe He made the iust one to be a sinner that he might make sinners iust IV. Obiect If a man be made righteous by imputation then God iudgeth sinners to be righteous but God iudgeth no sinner to be righteous for it is abomination to the Lord. Ans. When God iustifieth a sinner by Christ his righteousnes at the same time he ceaseth in regard of guiltines to be a sinner and to whome God imputeth righteousnes them he sanctifieth at the very same instant by his holy Spirit giuing also vnto originall corruption his deadly wound V. Obiect That which Adam neuer lost was neuer giuen by Christ but he neuer lost imputed righteousnes therefore it was neuer giuen vnto him Ans. The proposition is not true for sauing faith that was neuer lost by Adam is giuen to vs in Christ and Adam neuer had this priuiledge that after the first grace should follow the second and therefore being left to himselfe he fell from God and yet this mercie is vouchsafed to all beleeuers that after their first conuersion God will still confirme them with new grace and by this meanes they perseuere vnto the ende And whereas they say that Adam had not imputed righteousnes I answer that he had the same for substance though not for the manner of applying by imputation VI. Obiect Iustification is eternall but the imputation of Christ his righteousnes is not eternall for it ceaseth in the end of this life therfore it is not that which iustifieth a sinner Ans. The imputation of Christs righteousnes is euerlasting for he that is esteemed righteous in this life by Christ his righteousnes is accepted as righteous for euer and the remission of sinnes graunted in this life is for euer continued And though sanctification be perfect in the world to come yet shall it not iustifie for we must conceiue it no otherwise after this life but as a fruit springing from the imputed righteousnes of Christ without which it could not be And a good childe will not cast away the first garment because his father giues him a second And what if inward righteousnes be perfect in the ende of this life shall we therefore make it the matter of our iustification God forbid For the righteousnes whereby sinners are iustified must be had in the time of this life before the pangs of death II. Difference about the manner of iustification All both Papists and Protestants agree that a sinner is iustified by faith This agreement is onely in word and the difference betweene vs is great indeede And it may be reduced to these three heads First the Papist saying that a man is iustified by faith vnderstandeth a generall or a Catholike faith whereby a man beleeueth the articles of religion to be true But we holde that the faith which iustifieth is a particular faith whereby we apply to our selues the promises of righteousnes and life euerlasting by Christ. And that our opinion is the trueth I haue prooued before but I wil adde a reason or twaine I. Reason The faith whereby we liue is that faith whereby we are iustified but the faith whereby we liue spiritually is a particular faith whereby we apply Christ vnto our selues as Paul saith Gal. 2.20 I liue that is spiritually by the faith of the sonne of God which faith he sheweth to bee a particular faith in Christ in the very wordes following who hath loued me and giuen himselfe for me particularly and in this manner of beleeuing Paul was and is an example to all that are to be saued 1. Tim. 1.16 and Phil. 3.15 II. Reason That which we are to aske of God in praier we must beleeue it shal be giuen vs as we aske it but in praier we are to aske the pardon of our owne sinnes and the merit of Christs righteousnes for our selues therfore we must beleeue the same particularly The proposition is a rule of Gods word requiring that in euery petition wee bring a particular faith whereby wee beleeue that the thing lawfully asked shall be giuen accordingly Matth. 11.24 The minor is also euident neither can it be denied for we are taught by Christ himselfe to pray on this manner Forgiue
waies first not as causes thereof either conuersant adiuvant or procreant but onely as consequents of faith in that they are inseparable companions and fruits of that faith which is indeede necessarie to saluation Secondly they are as necessarie as markes in a way and as the way it selfe directing vs vnto eternall life III. We hold and beleeue that the righteous man is in some sort iustified by works for so the holy Ghost speaketh plainely and truly Iam. 2.21 That Abraham was iustified by workes Thus farre we ioyne with them and the very difference is this They say we are iustified by workes as by causes thereof we say that we are iustified by workes as by signes and fruits of our iustification before God and no otherwise and in this sense must the place of S. Iames be vnderstood that Abraham was iustified that is declared and made manifest to be iust indeed by his obedience and that euen before God Now that our doctrine is the truth it will appeare by reasons on both parts Our reasons I. Rom. 3.28 We conclude that a man is iustified by faith without the workes of the law Some answer that ceremoniall workes be excluded here some that morall works some works going before faith But let them deuise what they can for themselues the truth is that Paul excludeth all works whatsoeuer as by the very text will appeare For v. 24. he saith We are iustified freely by his grace that is by the meere gift of God giuing vs to vnderstand that a sinner in his iustification is meerely passiue that is doing nothing on his part whereby God should accept him to life euerlasting And v. 27. he saith iustification by faith excludeth all boasting and therefore all kind of works are thereby excluded and specially such as are most of all the matter of boasting that is good workes For if a sinner after that he is iustified by the merit of Christ were iustified more by his owne workes then might he haue some matter of boasting in himselfe And that we may not doubt of Pauls meaning consider and read Eph. 2.8,9 By grace saith he you are saued tâ—rough faith and that not of your selues it is the gift of God not of workes least any man should boast himselfe Here Paul excludes all and euery worke and directly workes of grace themselues as appeares by the reason following For we are his workemanshippe created in Christ Iesus vnto good workes which God hath ordained that weâ— should walke in them Nowe let the Papists tell me what bee the workes which God hath prepared for men to walke in and to which they are regenerate vnlesse they bee the most excellent workes of grace and let them marke howe Paul excludes them wholly from the worke of iustification and saluation II. Gal. 5.3 If ye be circumcised ye are bound to the whole lawe and ye are abolished from Christ. Here Paul disputeth against such men as would bee saued partly by Christ and partly by the workes of the lawe hence I reason thus If a man will be iustified by workes he is bound to fulfill the whole lawe according to the rigour thereof that is Pauls ground I nowe assume no man can fullfill the lawe according to the rigour thereof for the liues and workes of most righteous men are imperfect and stained with sinne and therefore they are taught euery day to say on this manner forgiue vs our debts Againe our knowledge is imperfect and therefore our faith repentance and sanctifiâ—atioÌ„ is answerable And lastly the regenerate man is partly flesh and partly spirit and therefore his best workes are partly from the flesh and in part onely spirituall Thus then for any man to bee bound to the rigour of the whole lawe is as much as if he were bound to his owne damnation III. Election to saluation is of grace without workes therefore the iustification of a sinner is of grace alone without workes For it is a certen rule that the cause of a cause is the cause of a thing caused Now grace without workes is the cause of election which election is the cause of our iustification therfore grace without workes is the cause of our iustification IV. A man must first be fully iustified before he can doe a good worke for the person must first please God before his works can please him But the person of a sinner cannot please God till he be perfectly iustified and therefore till hee be iustified he cannot doe so much as one good worke And thus good workes cannot be any meritorious causes of iustification after which they are both for time and order of nature In a word whereas they make two distinct iustifications we acknowledge that there be degrees of sanctification yet so as iustification is onely one standing in remission of sinnes and Gods acceptation of vs to life euerlasting by Christ and this iustification hath no degrees but is perfect at the very first Obiections of Papists Psal. 7.8 Iudge me according to my righteousnesse Hence they reason thus if Dauid be iudged according to his righteousnes then may he be iustified therby but Dauid desires to be iudged according to his righteousnes and therefore he was iustified thereby Ans. There be two kindes of righteousnesse one of the person the other of the cause or action The righteousnes of a mans person is whereby it is accepted into the fauour of God into life eternall The â—ighteousnes of the action or cause is when the action or cause is iudged of God to be good and iust Nowe Dauid in this psalme speaketh onely of the righteousnesse of the action or innocency of his cause in that he was falsely charged to haue sought the kingdome In like manner it is said of Phineas Psal. 166.31 that his fact in killing Zimri and Cosbie was imputed to him for righteousnes not because it was a satisfaction to the lawe the rigour whereof could not be fulfilled in that one worke but because God accepted of it as a iust worke and as a token of his righteousnes and zeale for Gods glorie II. Obiect The Scripture saith in sundrie places that men are blessed which doe good workes Psal. 119.1 Blessed is the man that is vpright in heart walketh in the lawe of the Lord. Ans. The man is blessed that indeauoureth to keep Gods commandements Yet is he not blessed simply because hee doth so but because he is in Christ by whome he doeth so and his obedience to the lawe of God is a signe thereof III. Obiect When man confesseth his sinnes and humbleth himselfe by praier and fasting Gods wrath is pacified and staied therefore praier and fasting are causes of iustification before God Answ. Indeede men that truely humble themselues by praier and fasting doe appease the wrath of God yet not properly by these actions but by their faith expressed and testified in theÌ„ whereby they apprehend that which appeaseth Gods wrath euen the merits of Christ in whome the
satisfie Gods iustice for mans sinne but because they are fruits of that faith and repentance which lies in the heart Obiect VII 2. Cor. 7.10 Paul setteth downe sundrie fruits of repentance whereof the last is reuenge whereby repentant persons punish themselues thereby to satisfie Gods iustice for the temporall punishment of their sinnes Ans. A repentant sinner must take reuenge of himselfe and that is onely to vse all meanes which serue to subdue the corruption of his nature to bridle carnal affections and to mortifie sinne and these kinde of actions are restrainments properly and not punishments and are directed against the sinne and not against the person Lastly they make three workes of satisfaction praier fasting and almes deedes For the first it is meere foolishnes to thinke that man by praier can satisfie for his sinnes It is all one as if they had said that a begger by asking of almes should deserue his almes or that a debter by requesting his creditor to pardon his debt should thereby pay his debt Secondly fasting is a thing indifferent of the same nature with eating drinking and of it selfe conferreth nothing to the obtainment of the kingdome of heauen no more then eating and drinking doth Thirdly and lastly almes deedes cannot bee workes of satisfaction for sinnes For when we giue them as we ought we doe but our dutie whereunto we are bound And wee may as well say that a man by paying one debt may discharge another as to say that by doing his dutie hee may satisfie Gods iustice for the punishment of his sinnes These we confesse bee fruites of faith but yet are they no workes of satisfaction but the onely and alsufficient satisfaction made to Gods iustice for our sinnes is to be found in the person of Christ beeing procured by the merit of his death and his obedience And thus our doctrine touching satisfaction is cleared and it is to bee learned carefully of our common people because the opinion of humane satisfaction is naturall and stickes fast in the heart of naturall men Hereupon when any haue sinned and feele touch of conscience any way their manner is then to performe some outward humiliation and repentance thinking therby to stoppe the mouth of conscience and by doing some ceremoniall duties to appease the wrath of God for their sinnes Yea many thinke to satisfie gods iustice by repeating the Creed the Lords praier and then tenne commandements so foolish are they in this kind The seuenth point Of Traditions Traditions are doctrines deliuered from hand to hand either by word of mouth or by writing beside the written word of God Our Consent Conclus I. We hold that the very word of God hath beene deliuered by tradition For first God reuealed his will to Adam by word of mouth and renued the fame vnto the Patriarkes not by writing but by speech by dreames other inspirations and thus the word of God went from man to man for the space of two thousand and foure hundred yeres vnto the time of Moses who was the first pen-man of hoâ—y Scripture For as touching the prophesie of Enoch we commonly hold it was not penned by Enoch but by some Iewe vnder his name And for the space of this time men worshipped God and held the articles of their faith by tradition not from men but immediately from God himselfe And the historie of the newe testament as some say â—or eightie yeares as some others thinke for the space of twentie yeares and more went from hand to hand by tradition til penned by the Apostles or beeing penned by others was approoued by them Conclus II. We hold that the Prophets our Sauiour Christ and his Apostles spake and did many things good and true which were not written in the scriptures but came either to vs or to our ancetours onely by tradition As 2. Tim. 3.8 it is said Iannes and Iambres were the Magitians that withstood Moses nowe in the bookes of the old testament we shall not find them once named and therefore it is like that the Apostle had their names by tradition or by some writings then extant among the Iewes So Heb. 12.21 the author of the Epistle recordeth of Moses that when hee sawe a terrible sight in Mount Sinai he said I tremble and am afraide which wordes are not to be found in all the bookes of the old testament In the epistle of Iude mention is made that the deuill stroue with Michaell the Archangel about the bodie of Moses which point as also the former considering it is not to be found in holy wine it seemes the Apostle had it by tradition from the Iewes That the prophet â—say was killed with a fullers club is receiued for trueth but yet not recorded in scripture and so likewise that the virgine Marie liued and died a virgine And in Ecclesiasticall writers many worthy sayings of the Apostles and other holy men are recorded and receiued of vs for trueth which neuerthelesse are not set downe in the bookes of the old or newe testament And many things wee holde for trueth not written in the worde if they bee not against the word Conclus III. We hold that the Church of God hath power to prescribe ordinances rules or traditions touching time and place of Gods worship touching order and comelines to be vsed in the same and in this regard Paul 1. Cor. 11.2 commendeth the Church of Corinth for keeping his traditions and Act. 15. the Councel at Ierusalem decreed that the Churches of the Gentiles should abstaine from blood and from things strangled This decree is tearmed a tradition and it was in force among them so long as the offence of the Iewes remained And this kinde of traditions whether made by generall Councels or particular Synods we haue care to maintaine and obserue these caueats being remembred first that they prescribe nothing childish or absurd to be done secondly that they be not imposed as any parts of Gods worship thirdly that they be seuered from superstition or opinion of merit lastly that the Church of God be not burdened with the multitude of them And thus much we hold touching Traditions The difference Papists teach that beside the written word there be certaine vnwritten traditions which must be beleeued as profitable and necessarie to saluation And these they say are twofold Apostolicall namely such as were deliuered by the Apostles and not written and Ecclesiasticall which the Church decreeth as occasion is offered We hold that the Scriptures are most perfect containing in them all doctrines needfull to saluation whether they concerne faith or manners and therefore we acknowledge no such traditions beside the written word which shal be necessarie to saluation so as he which beleeueth them not cannot be saued Our Reasons Testimonie I. Deut. 4.2 Thou shalt not adde to the wordes that I commande thee nor take any thing thing therefrom therefore the written word is sufficient for all doctrines pertaining to saluation If it be
Sonne of God By this we may see that Christ is one onely Sonne of God not two yet in two respects is he one As he is the eternall Word hee is by nature the Son of the Father As he is man the same Sonne also yet not by nature or by adoption but only by personal vnion Luk. 1.35 Matth. 3.17 This is my beloued Son c. The phrase in Scripture agreeing to this Vnion is the communion of properties concerning which obserue two rules I. Of those things which are spoken or attributed to Christ some are only vnderstood of his diuine nature As that Ioh. 8.58 Before Abraham was I am And that Coloss. 1.15 Who is the image of the inuisible God the first borne of euery creature Some againe agree only to his humanitie as borne suffered dead buried c. Luk. 2.52 And Iesus increased in wisdome and stature and in fauour with God and man Lastly other things are vnderstood only of both natures vnited togither As Matth. 17.5 This is my beloued Son in whome onely I am well pleased heare him Eph. 1.22 He hath made subiect all things vnder his feete and hath appointed him ouer all things to be the head to the Church II. Some things are spoken of Christ as he is God which must be interpreted according to his humane nature Act. 20.28 To feed the Church of God that is Christ which he according to his manhood hath purchased with his own blood 1. Cor. 2.8 If they had knowne this they would neuer haue crucified the Lord of glory Contrarily some things are mentioned of Christ as he is man which onely are vnderstood of his diuine nature Ioh. 3.13 No man ascended vp to heauen but he that hath descended from heauen the sonne of man which is in heauen This is spoken of his manhood whereas we must vnderstand that onely his Deitie came downe from heauen Ioh. 6.62 What if ye should see the sonne of man vz. Christs humane nature ascend vp where hee vz. his Deitie was before Lastlie by reason of this Vnion Christ as he is man is exalted aboue euery name yea he is adored and hath such a great though not infinite measure of gifts as farre surpasse the gifts of all Saints and Angels Eph. 1.21 And set him at his right hand in heauenly places â—â—â—re aboue all principalitie and power and might and domination and euery name that is named not in this world onely but in that also that is to come Heb. 1.6 When he bringeth his first begotten Sonne into the world he saith And let all the Angels of God worship him Col. 2.3 In whome all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge are hidden Phil. 2.9 10. Therefore god exalted him on hie gaue him a name aboue all names that at the name of Iesus euery knee should bow namely worship and be subiect to him both of things in heauen and things in earth and things vnder the earth CHAP. 17. Of the distinction of both Natures THe distinction of both Natures is that whereby they with their properties and effects remaine without composition mingling or conuersion distinct Ioh. 10.17,18 Therefore doth my Father loue me because I lay downe my life that I may take it againe No man taketh it from me but I lay it downe of my selfe I haue power to lay it downe and haue power to take it againe Ioh. 13.31 32. Now is the Son of man glorified God is glorified in him If God be glorified in him God shall also glorifie him in himselfe Here we may obserue that there is one will in Christ as God another as man Matth. 26.39 Not as I will but as thou wilt This also approoueth that sentence of the Chalcedon Creede Wee confesse that one and the same Christ Iesus both Sonne Lord only begotteÌ„ is known and preached to be in two natures without confusion mutation distinction or separation Lastly hereby it is manifest that Christ when he became that which he was not namely man continued still that which he was very God CHAP. 18. Of Christs Natiuitie and Office THus much concerning Christs incarnation the cleere declaration thereof was by his natiuitie The natiuity of Christ is that wherby Mary a Virgin did after the course of nature and the custome of women bring forth Christ that Word of the father and the Son of Dauid so that those are much deceiued which are of opinion that Christ after a miraculous maner came into the world the wombe of the Virgin beeing shut Luk. 2.23 Euery man child which first openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. The which place of scripture is applyed to Mary our Sauiour Christ. Hence is it that the Virgin Marie is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bring forth god albeit she is not any way mother of the Godhead For Christ as hee is God is without mother and as man without Father It is conuenient to be thought that Mary continued a Virgin vntill her dying day albeit we make not this opinion any article of our beleefe I. Christ beeing now to depart the world committed his mother to the tuition and custodie of his disciple Iohn which it is like he would not haue done if shee had had any children by whom as custome was shee might haue beene prouided for Ioh. 19. 26. II. It is likely that shee who was with childe by the holy Ghost would not after know any man III. It is agreed of by the Church in all ages Christ beeing now borne was circumcised the eight day that he might fulfill all the righteousnes of the law and bâ—â—â—g thirtie yeares of age he was baptized that he beeing publiquely and solemnly inuested into the office of his Mediatorship might take vpon him the guilt of our sinnes He was both circumcised and baptized that we might learne I. That the whole efficacie of the Sacraments depend alone and wholly vpon him II. That he was Mediatour of mankind both before and after the Law as also vnder grace III. That he is the knot and bond of both couenants His Office followeth to the perfect accomplishing whereof he was annointed of his Father that is he was sufficiently furnished both with gifts and authoritie Hebr. 1.9 Therefore God euen thy God annointed thee with the oyle of gladnesse aboue thy fellowes Esa. 61.1 The Spirit of the Lord was vpon me therfore be annointed me Ioh. 3.34 God giueth him not the Spirit by measure If any man inforce this as a reason that Christ could not performe the Office of a Mediatour beeing not the meane or middle betwixt God and man but the partie offended so one of the extreames we must know that Christ is two waies said to be the middle or meane I. Betwixt God and all men for being both God and man he doth participate with both extreames II. Betwixt God and the faithfull onely first according to his humanitie whereby he receiued the Spirit without measure Secondly according to his diuine
of blood but Christ as he is God cannot die For no passion can befall the Godhead Therefore it was needefull that he should become man that in mans nature he might die and fully satisfie Gods iustice for mans offence Lastly he that must make reconciliation betweene God and man must be such an one as may make request or speake both to God and man For a Mediatour is as it were a middle person making intercession betweene two other persons the one offended the other offending Therefore it is necessarie that Christ should not onely be God to speake vnto the father for vs and to present our prayers vnto him but also man that God might speake to vs and we to God by Christ. For howsoeuer before the fall man could speak to God euen face to face yet since the fall such feare possesseth mans corrupt nature that he cannot abide the presence of God but flyeth from it Nowe whereas I say that it was necessarie that the sonne of God for the causes before alleadged must become man the necessitie must be vnderstood in respect of Gods will and not in respect of his absolute power For if it had so pleased God he was able to haue laid downe an other kind of way of mans redemption then by the incarnation of the sonne of God and he appointed no other way because he would not Thus much of the Incarnation in generall Nowe followe the duties which arise of it And first we are taught hereby to come to Christ by faith and with all our hearts to cleaue vnto him Great is the deadnesse and sluggishnesse of mans nature for skarse one of a thousand care for him or seeke vnto him for righteousnesse and life euerlasting But wee shoulde excite our selues euery way to drawe neare to him as much as possibly we may for when he was incarnate he came neere vnto vs by taking our nature vpon him that wee againe whatsoeuer we are might come neere vnto him by taking vnto vs his diuine nature Againe when Christ was incarnate he was made bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh and therefore proportionally wee must labour to become bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh which we shall bee when we are mystically vnited vnto him by faith and borne anewe by his spirit Moreouer Christ by his incarnation came downe from heauen to vs that we being partakers of his grace might ascend vp to heauen by him And thus we see how the meditation of Christs incarnation should be a spurre to prick vs forward still more and more to come to Christ. Secondly Christs incarnation must be a patterne vnto vs of a most wonderfull and straunge humilitie For as Paul saith Being in the forme of God and thinking it no robberie to bee equall with God made himselfe of no reputation and tooke on him forme of a seruant and humbled himselfe and became obedient to death euen to the death of the crosse Yea so farre forth he abased himselfe that as Dauid saith he was a worme and no man And this teacheth vs to lay aside al selfe-loue and pride of heart and to practise the duties of humility as the Apostle exhorts the Philippians in the same place and that shall we doe when we beginne to cast off that high opinion which euery man by nature conceiueth of himselfe and become vile and base in our owne eies Secure drowsie protestants thinke themselues blessed and say in their hearts as the Angel of the Church of Laodicea said I am rich increased with goods and haue need of nothing whereas indeed they are most miserable and wretched and poore and naked and blind And the same fond opinion possesseth the mindes of our ignorant people who chant it in the very same tune saying that God loues them and that they loue God with al their hearts and their neighbours as themselues that they haue perfect faith in Christ and euer had not once so much as doubting of their saluation that all is well with them and that they are past all danger whatsoeuer in the matter of their saluation and therefore neede not take so much care for it Thus yee may see howe men are commonly carried away with vaine and fond conceits of their owne excellencie And truely so long as this ouerweening of our owne righteousnesse raignes in our hearts let preachers speake and say what they will we can neuer become followers of Christ in the practise of humilitie Some will say peraduenture that they neuer had any such opinion of their owne righteousnes but I answere againe that there was neuer yet any man descending of Adam saue Christ but he had this proud phantasie ruling and raigning in him till such time as God gaue grace to chaÌ„ge alter his heart this inward pride the lesse we discern it the more it is and the more we discerne it the lesse it is Therefore though as yet thou see it not in thy selfe yet labour both to see it to feele it to striue against it casting down thy selfe for thy own miserie after Christs own example who being God abased himselfe to the condition of a miserable man For thou shalt neuer be filled with the good things of god till thou be emptied of selfe-loue and selfe-liking For this cause let vs purge and emptie our selues of all conceit of our own righteousnes that god may fil our hearts with his grace Furthermore the incarnation of Christ is the ground and foundation of all our comfort as the names of Christ seruing to expresse the same doe testifie Iâ—akob in his last Testament saith that the scepter shall not depart from Iudah in Shilo that is the Messias come Nowe the name Shilo signifieth the tunicle or skinne that lappeth the infant in the mothers wombe called by the Phisitians the secundine and by a kind of figure it is put for the Sonne of God in the wombe of the virgine made man And Iob to comfort himselfe in his affliction saith I knowe that my redeemer liueth Nowe the word which he vseth to signifie his redeemer by is verie emphaticall for it signifieth a kinsman neere allied vnto him of his owne flesh that will restore him to life And the Lord by the prophet Esay calleth Christ Immanuel that is God with vs which name importeth very much namely that whereas by nature we haue lost our fellowshippe with God because our sinnes are a wall of partition seuering vs from him yet neuerthelesse the fame is restored to all that beleeue by the Mediatour Christ Iesus because his diuine nature is coupled to mans nature and so the word is made flesh And this strait coniunction of two natures into one person ioynes God to men and men to God yea by Christ we are brought to God and haue free accesse vnto him and againe in him we apprehend God and are made one with him And further whereas Christ beside
our nature tooke our infirmities also it is a wonderfull comfort vnto Gods Church for it shewes that he is not only a Sauiour but also a very compassionate and pitiful Sauiour As the holy Ghost saith In all thinges it became Christ to be like vnto his brethren that hee might be mercifull and a faithfull high priest in things concerning God Let a man be sicke of a grieuous disease and let a friend come that hath beene troubled with the very same disease he will presently shewe more compassion then twentie others and so Christ hauing felt in his owne soule and bodie the anguish and the manifold perplexities that we feele in our temptations and afflictiōs hath his bowels as it were yearning towards vs euermore being prest and readie to releeue vs in all our miseries In the daies of his flesh he wept ouer Ierusalem when he sawe it a farre off because shee continued in her olde sinnes and did not knowe the time of her visitation and no doubt though now he be exalted in glorie in heauen yet his compassion to his poore members vpon earth is no whit diminished Now we come to speake of the Incarnation more particularly the creed yet further expresseth it by two parts the first is the conception of Christ in these words Conceiued by the holy ghost the second is his birth in the words following Borne of the virgine Marie The conception of Christ is set downe with his efficient cause the Holy Ghost as the angel said to Ioseph Feare not to take Marie for thy wife for that which is conceiued in her is of the holy ghost Here it may be demanded why the conception of Christ should be ascribed to the Holy Ghost alone which is common to all the persons in Trinitie as all other such actions are Ans. It is not done to exclude the Father or the Sonne himselfe from this worke but to signifie that it comes of the free gift and grace of God which commonly is tearmed by the holy ghost that the manhood of Christ beeing but a creature should be aduanced to this dignitie that it should become a part of the Sonne of God And againe the Holy Ghost is the author of this conception in a speciall manner for the father and the sonne did cause it by the holy Ghost from them both immediately In the conception of Christ we must obserue and consider three thinges The framing of the manhood the sanctifying of it and the personall vnion of the manhood with the Godhead And howsoeuer I distinguish these three for orders sake yet must we know and remember that they are all wrought at one and the same instant of time For when the holy Ghost frames and sanctifies the manhood in the wombe of the Virgin at the very same moment it is receiued into the vnitie of the second person In the framing of Christs manhood two things must be considered the matter and the maner The matter of his bodie was the very flesh and blood of the virgin Marie otherwise he could not haue beene the sonne of Dauid of Abraham and Adam according to the flesh As for his soule it was not deriued from the soule of the virgin Marie as a part thereof but it was made as the soules of all other men be that is of nothing by the very power of God and placed in the bodie both of them from the first moment of their beeing hauing their subsistance in the person of the sonne And here we must take heed of two opinions the first is of the Anabaptists which holde that the flesh of Christ came downe from heauen and passed through the virgin Marie as through a pipe without taking any substance from her the places which they alleadge for the purpose are manifestly abused For whereas Christ saith of himselfe that he descended from heauen his speech must be vnderstoode in respect of his Godhead which may be said in some sort to descend in that it was made manifest in the manhood here vpon earth And whereas Paul calleth him heauenly and the Lord from heauen it is not in respect of the substance of his bodie but in respect of the glorious qualities which he receiued after this resurrection The other opinion is of the Papists that hold the bread in the sacrament to be turned substantially into the bodie of Christ which thing if it be true then the bodie of Christ is made of bread kneaded and tempered by the hand of the baker and not of the substance of the virgin Marie As for the manner of the making and framing of the humane nature of Christ it was miraculous not by generation according to the ordinarie course of nature but by an extraordinary operation of the holy Ghost aboue nature and for this cause it is not within the compasse of mans reason either to conceiue or to expresse the manner and order of this conception The Angel ascribes two actions to the holy Ghost in this great worke the one to come vpon the virgin Marie the other to ouershadow her by the first is signified the extraordinarie worke of the holy Ghost in fashioning the humane nature of Christ for so much the phrase elsewhere importeth The second signifieth that the holy Ghost did as it were cast a cloud ouer her to teach vs that we should not search ouer much into the mysterie of the Incarnation It may be obiected against this which hath bin said that if Christ be in this manner conceiued by the holy Ghost then the holy Ghost shall be father to Christ and Christ his sonne Answ. The reason is not good For he that is a father is not a bare efficient cause but one which in the effecting of any thing conferres the matter vnto it from himselfe whereof it shall be made Now the holy Ghost did not minister any matter vnto Christ from his own substance but did onely as it were take the masse and lumpe of mans nature from the bodie of the virgin Marie and without ordinarie generation made it the bodie of Christ as Basil saith Christ was conceiued not of the substance but of the power not by any generation but by the appointment and benediction of the holy Ghost The second point in the conception is the sanctifying of that masse or lumpe which was to be the manhood of Christ. And that was done vpon speciall cause first that it might be ioyned to the person of the Sonne which could not haue beene if it had beene defiled with sinne Secondly Christ was a Sauiour as he is both God and man now then beeing man if he had beene sinnefull himselfe he could not haue saued others but should haue stoode in neede of a Sauiour for himselfe This sanctification hath two parts the first is the stay and stoppage of the propagation of originall sinne and of the guilt of Adams sinne which was on this manner God in the beginning set downe