the nature with all the assentiall and inseparable harmelesse properties thereof of a true and verie man both in respect of his body and soule That by this forme of a seruant he ment not any other created nature but the nature of man he sufficiently she weth by adding that he was made in the similitude of man and in shape found as a man For Marcion and other heretiques heere upon gathering that he assumed not the verie nature of man but the showe and phantasme of a man they doe most wilfullie but cauill and foolishlie seek to darken a most manifest truth For besides that all the story of his conception birth life and death and most plaine speeches and phrases continually vsed of him in the scriptures prooue that he was a verie true and perfect man both in bodie and soule these wordes giue them no ground to build any such conclusion vpon For Adam is said to haue begot Seth according to his owne image or likenesse Gen. 5.3 and yet we might iustly counte them verie fond that therefore woulde inferre that Seth had not the verie nature of a man that Adam had but a bare shadow or similitude thereof The woordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 et 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commonly englished taking and made well vnderstood made it most cleare that the second person tooke vnto it selfe personally the nature of man so that he vnited so verilie and personally with him selfe as he was the sonne of God and the second person in the trinitie that nature of man that he assumed that Iohn might iustlie say the word was made flesh Cap. 1.14 and that we may most safely beleeue that he that before subsisted onely in the forme of God now also subsistes in the forme of a seruant and that as in respect of the one nature he is the verie sonne of God equall to his father so also in respect of the other he is the verie sonne of his mother and verie man and so lesser and inferiour to his father In the olde testament we reade he appeared in diuerse formes vnto men but yet we neuer can say that then he made him selfe of no reputation by taking such forms vpon him neyther therefore was he made the thinges he appeared to bee because he neuer assumed theÌ„ so to himself that he personally vnited himselfe vnto them And heereby also we may further learne in that the assumer and thing assumed are thus both described heere the one to be that that had his beeing in the forme of God before and in this worke remained still himselfe and the other to be the forme of a seruant accompanied or inuested with the likenesse shape of a seruant that both these notwithstanding this personall vnion are entire and perfect in their owne nature without any abolishing of eyther nature or confounding of other in themselues or in the properties with the other in Christ Lastly these wordes are plaine and forcible to make vs see that notwithstanding the assumer of the forme of a seruant vnto himselfe thereby is made in the likenesse of a man and found in shape as a man that yet he is but one person nowe subsisting both in the true forme of God and in the verie nature or forme of man For as of one person after the finishing of this his incarnation both heere and else where alwaies the gospel speaketh of him Dreame therefore we may not that this vnion of the nature of man personally with the son of God is either in the commixtion of the two natures or by the inhabitation of the one in the other or by the adioining of the one vnto the other or by the assisting of one the other neither yet by the real coÌ„munication of the properties of the one with the other so as that the one nature may simply properly be said to be of the same properties that the other is For though water wine be mixed in one cup the spirit of God dwel in the seruants of God God adioyn him self vnto theÌ„ assist theÌ„ most aparaÌ„tly euery where yet caÌ„not wine the spirit or God be said to haue so taken vnto theÌ„selues water the harts of men or the seruaÌ„ts of God that therefore wine is made water the spirit of God or God the heartes of men or the seruants of God themselues as we heere see him that hath beene alwaies in the forme of God said to haue beene made in the forme of man by his taking vnto himselfe the forme of a seruant And though most certaine it be and therefore most vsuall in the scriptures also the better to note the true reall essentiall and personall vnion betwixt the sonne of God and the nature of man to heare those things that properly appertaine to the manhood to be affirmed of our blessed God and Sauiour and also those things that properlie belong vnto him onely as he is God spoken of the man Christ yet to make it euident that as it is heretical to confound the one nature with the other that so it is also and hath beene euer so accounted of all those who by the motion of Gods spirit and not of their owne haue written the scriptures to coÌ„municate properly the special properties of the one vnto the other they haue neuer so spoken or writ but speaking of these two natures in the concrete that is as the wordes vsed to signifie the same not the person subsisting in the essence and neuer speaking thereof in the abstract as the schoolemen speake that is as the words vsed note the naked and simple essence in it selfe And therefore for this true essentiall and personall vnion of the sonne of God with the forme of a seruant we say according to the trueth and to the scriptures that Christ is God and man but we vse not to say he is Godhead and manheade and we say they crucified the Lorde of glorie so noting that person that was and is the Lord of glorie and vnderstanding this of his person not in respect of that nature whereby he was so the Lord of glory but in respect of the other nature personally vnited thereunto wherein he was passible and might be crucified And so likewise speaking of his person in respect of the other nature we may say and say truely the man Christ is almightie euerie where and infinite because he is so in that respect that he is the sonne of God but we may not say that his manhoode is so For we must vnderstand and alwaies remember that whensoeuer any thing is affirmed of Christ in respect of the one nature that properly belonges vnto aâ—â—ther that the meaning thereof neuer is to inuest the one nature with the properties that are peculiar to the other but that so we speake to shewe the personall vnion of both in one person Wee may see a prettie good image heereof in a man as he consistes of bodie and soule for because of the concurring but of those two
natures together to the constitution of a man as they doe though infinitely it come short of the reaching to the excellencie of this mysterie that we now speake of may truely be said in diuerse respectes to be a heauenly creature and an earthly mortall and immortall heauenly and immortall in respect of his soule and earthlie mortall in regard of his bodie and diuerse thinges that are proper to the bodie are yet saide of the soule and contrarie they which are speciall to the soule are affirmed of the bodie as for example we say somtimes the soule of man awaketh or sleepeth which are properly saide of the bodie and we say the bodie heareth seeth or vnderstandeth when as in deede the body can doe none of these but by the soule and yet as wee thinke they destroy the nature of man that eyther for the vnion or coupling of these two together to make a man or for any of these phrases woulde eyther turne the one of these into the other confounde one of these with the other or inuest the one nature reallie with the properties that be speciall and peculiar vnto the other so holde we it most firmely in this case that it is plainely hereticall to doe the like These things therfore thus weied and considered we haue iust cause to say and thinke with the Apostle That great is the mysterie of Godlines namely euen this that God is manifested in the flesh and yet iustifyed in the spirit seene of Angels preached vnto gentiles beleeued on in the worlde and receiued vp into glorie 1. Tim. 3.16 And by these thinges we may so clearely see our Christ in person to be verie God and verie man and yet for all that but one person as that both with the Apostle Paul we may call him The mightie and blessed God for euer 2. Tim. 2.13 and the man Christ Iesus 1.2.5 and yet still speake of him as but of the one person as hee doth in both these places And to conclude this pointe heereby also euen sufficientlie we may see and heare all the heretiques and their heresies confuted that euer yet haue sette themselues against anie pointe or parte of the trueth of this doctrine of his person For heereby againste Ebion Cerinthus and Photinus denying his Godheade that hath beene a duouched and against Marcion confessing that and denying the truth of his manhoode that hath beene likewise plainely prooued and consequently Arrius that held rightly of neyther affirming that in respect of the one he was but a created spirit and in regard of the other a bodie onely without any other soule then his created Godhead and Apollinaris that denied that he had the minde or reasonable soule of a man howsoeuer he granted him the sensitiue and growing soule are confounded also especially remembring further that Christ himselfe as plainely to teach them by his wordes that he had a verie soule of a man as by experience they sawe and found he had the very body of a man said not onely that his soule was heauy vnto death Math. 26.38 but dying as Luke reporteth 23.46 cryed with a lowde voyce Father into thy handes I commend my spirit And Nestorius that helde the two natures in him only to be vnited by consociation and assistance and that therefore he had stil a Godhead and a manhood not onely distinct in their natures but also so that in him the sonne of God was one and the sonne of the virgin an other as he was condemned in the counsel of Ephesus for one that was led by the spirit of Antichrist for his so loosing or dissoluing of Iesus so hath the Apostle directly confuted him in this place to the Phillipians and Iohn also as I haue shewed in setting downe plainely that he that was in the forme of God whome Iohn called the worde so tooke vnto himselfe the forme of a seruant that he was made very man or flesh Eutiches also who to ouerthrowe Nestorius taught that the two naturs are so vnited after the incarnation that howsoeuer they were two before after they are but one cannot stand with the apparant distinction that Paule hath made betwixt the assumer and assumed nature both before in and after the assuming of the one by the other vnto himselfe And whereas if this opinion of his were true it should thereupon follow that then eyther the Godhead shoulde be turned into the manhoode or the manhoode into the Godhead for that of the commixtion of both a third thing should growe Euerie one of these absurd consequentes Paule hath refelled also by teaching vs both to remayne without eyther turning of the one into the other or confounding one of them by anie commixtion or otherwise one with an other as we haue hearde And consequentlie heereby both the Lutherans and Papistes who for the maintenance of their grosse reall presence and mouth eating of Christ both God and man doe most eagerlie striue and contende to entitle the manhoode of Christ with the peculiar properties of the Godheade as to be muisible incircumscriptible c. are most plainly prooued to teach heerein hereticall and damned doctrine for that thus confounding the properties with Eutiches in deede and trueth they confounde the natures themselues and therefore let them as they may iustly take the condemnation of Eutiches in the councell of Calcedon to bee also directly their condemnation Vnder this same condemnation come the heretiques 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so called because Eutiches being condemned they durst not say whom they followed though with him they hold but one nature after the incarnation to remaine and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that thought the diuine nature was turned into the humaine and that therfore they might say that it suffered and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also which holding that there was nothing lefte but the diuine nature and that the other was absorpte of that yet helde that that nature was ignoraunte of manie thinges and the Aphterdoxitae who helde that the humaine nature was impassible for the coniunxion that it had with the diuine and also the Monothelites who therefore taught that there was but onelie will in the person of Christ For all these stumbled and fell with Eutiches in vrging so the vnion of the two natures that they in effecte one waie or other ere they had done eyther by confounding the natures or the properties left but one in effecte Let vs therefore whatsoeuer heretiques eyther olde or newe haue thought or doe or shall thinke to the contrarie moste constantlie holde this as the verie rocke and foundation whereupon if we bee builte and stande faste the verie gates of hell shall neuer preuaile against vs that Christe Iesus in person is verie GOD the seconde person in the trinitie and also verie man the sonne of the blessed virgine Marie and therefore that both these two are so personally vnited in him that he is one person and that without any conuersion of the one nature into
the other or confusion eyther of the natures themselues or of the seuerall and speciall properties the one with the other For most necessarie it is that in euery respect he shoulde be such an one or else he neyther can be an able nor fit person to be our Iesus For though the sinne of man there being growne of Gods parte such iust cause of enimitie against man of mans such alienation and auersion of minde from God as there is it was first most meete that he that should be the attonement-maker twixt these shoulde first in himselfe haue the two natures at vnity and one And then seeing the order of Gods iustice required that as man had offended it man againe shoulde appease it by vndergoing the burthen of the sinnes of man to satisfie fullie the same for them as it was necessarie that he that woulde be mans sauiour shoulde therefore be a verie man so likewise because no nature but that which is of power infinite and therefore none but very God coulde euer haue beene able to haue enabled the nature of man to vndertake and effectuallie to go through with this most greate and hard worke to satisfie fully the infinite iustice of God for the sinnes of the world it was as needfull that he shoulde be true and very God Yea for these causes it was most requisite that these two verie God and the nature of man shoulde be so vnited as that thereof shoulde consist but onely one person as I haue said that so the passible nature might beare as Esay speaketh the chastisment of our peace Esay 53.5 and that the other which is impassible by the power and dignitie thereof hauing it so personally subsisting in and with it selfe might fit it for that purpose not onely contributing vnto it power and strength sufficient therefore but also communicating vnto the thinges done and suffered to that end by that nature though in number and for the time of the accomplishing the same fruite an infinite dignity and worthynesse to satisfie the infinite iustice of God for the purchassing and compassing of mans saluation For otherwise if that nature by this means had not been the manhode of one that was and is very God also it might well haue entred into this worke but doubtlesse in wrastling vnder the burthen of our sinnes against hell death and deuil to satisfie the infinite iustice and wrath of God for the same it might well haue been swallowed vp of death and of the sorrows of hel but it neither shoulde nor coulde euer haue valiently and triumphantly ouercome all these and nailed as it were out sins and the hand writing that was against vs for the same to his crosse as Paule speaketh Colos 2.14.10 Begote vs againe vnto a liuelie hope that is to assure vs that he had gone through the worke that he tooke in hand as nowe through the power thereof by rising againe the third day from death to life and by ascending visibly as a conqueror into heauen fourty daies after and by sitting euer since at the right hand of his father in the heauenly places most euidently he hath For it is the spirite that quickneth and without that so vnited vnto it as it was His flesh could haue profited nothing Io 6.63 Therefore verse diuinely saith the apostle that by his eternall spirite it was thereby vnderstanding plainly his Godhead that he offered himselfe without spot to God to purge our consciences from dead workes to serue the liuing God Heb. 9.14 And hence is it as the former saying of Christ sheweth plainlie inough that he saith my flesh is meat indeed and my bloode is drincke indeed Ioh. 6.55 and againe 53.54 except yee eate the flesh of the sonne of man and drincke his blood yee haue no life in you but whosoeuer eateth my fleshe and drinketh my blood hath eternall life and I will raise him vp at the last day For howe can it be otherwise but that he being as he is God and man in one person by the meanes of this most high vnion of his Godhead with his manhoode but that from the same Godhead there must needes proceed and flowe throgh his manhoode infinite power to quicken and saue all those that be partakers thereof And how can it be possible but that the heauenlie father must needs account this his welbeloued sonne in whome he is well pleased a fit and most sufficient meanes to make him also to be well pleased with all these that confesse and acknowledge him to be in person as he is and confidently repose their redemption and saluation Whatsoeuer therefore others haue done or yet doe let vs learne by thus knowing and acknowledging Christ to be in person to come vnto him Nowe concerning his office the same light of the gospell will most clearely direct vs what also to holde and to beleeue touching that What Christ is in office and first in generall both in generall and in particulare In generall it sets him before vs to be the Christ the Messiah the sauiour of the world And this it doth also in such sorte as that it teacheth as solie and wholy sullie and freely to account him so to bee For most plainly we read as we cannot heare too ofte that saint Peter most confidently to the faces of his stowtest enimies hath aduouched that there is noe saluation in any other for amongest men there is giuen no other name vnder heauen whereby saluation commeth but his Act 4.12 And therefore in this respect he is called The author and finisher of our faith Heb 12.2 and ∠and ◠the beginning and the ending Reue. 1.8 Besides he himselfe that best knewe himselfe what he was and is tels vs plainly to this purpose that he is the way the trueth and the life Io. 14.6 yea that he is so the dore of the sheepfold that whosoeuer he be that climmeth vp and seeketh to get in by anie other way he is a theefe and a murtherer Ioh 10. vers 1. and 7. againe Mat. 22. comparing the kingdome of heauen to a mariage that a king made vnto his sonne and the true ministers of God to the bidders vnto that mariage he shewes that his heauenlie father to illure his guestes to come therevnto hath willed them to say vnto them all thinges are prepared already vers 4. therby shewing that in that that this mariage is so consummat betwixt him the sonne of the heauenly king and our nature as by the personall vnion thereof we haue heard it is we may be sure that if nowe we will come and feed of the heauenly cheare that in and by this mariage is prouided for vs that euen therein we shall finde all thinges necessarie to feed vs to eternall life so sufficiently prouided for vs before hand already that we need speake no further And this he had an eie vnto when he said to the woman of Samaria Ioh 4.14 whosoeuer drincketh of the water that I shall giue him
possest there also the possessour may be assured that with him he possesseth all those things also And yet these men no not their Bellarmine can abide any of these but it shall be inough with them him also to beleeue there is remission of sins accompanying baptisme to be had by him in him in the Church that there is such a mercy of God that is able to saue and that the righteousnesse of Christ may be as he is our head ours in such a sort that it may be the efficient cause of an inherent righteousnes in our selves able to earne heauen by but particularlie especially for vs to beleeue that we shall without all doubt haue all our sinnes forgiuen vs that we are sure of this mercie and haue this righteousnesse of his imputed vnto vs as our owne whereby we shall and may be righteous before God at no hand they can abide As though he that sticketh not to giue vs his sonne God and man to be our verie owne so that we are his and he ours would not or could not together with him giue vs these things also Yea how can he withold them giuing vs his sonne seeing these and he goe alway togither But to proceede This vniō is not carnall but spirituall this vnion of ours and cōmunion with Christ though it must be certain reall true in refpect of the things to be vnited yet in regard of the manner of vniting them we must not imagine it to be any grosse or earthly commixtion or cōiunction with him such as is with vs the mingling or ioyning togither of any creatures that in themselues are diuerse but that it is altogither in respect of the manner spirituall and supernaturall and yet neuerthelesse true and certaine though it be both vnsearchable and vnutterable For let a man fearch all the scriptures thorow and an other communion and fellowship with Christ whereupon saluation commeth then that which is spirituall he shall nether finde eyther promised expected or performed In deede it was both promised and thereupon expected and performed that Godhead and manhood shoulde be vnited togither in one person that so man who by sinne had lost his vnion communion and fellowship with God might recouer the same againe in and by that person and by that which he should accomplish in those two natures for him But as the personall vnion of these two natures in one Christ as by our Catholicke faith we are perswaded is reall certaine and sure so we finde it yet by humaine sense and reason incomprehensible and yet by the power of the eternall spirite by the same faith we are taught vndoubtedly to beleeue it was so verily effected for our euerlasting good A communicating of the merits of this Christ God and man vnto those that belezue in him by imputation there is we knowe For the righteousnes of God is on all and vpon all that beleene in him Rom. 3.22 which is a righteousnes that such attaine vnto by faith in him not made manifest by the lawe as the inherent righteousnesse of our owne merits if there were any such as men knowe is as both in that verse and that which goeth before is shewed But without the inhabitation of the spirit of God proceeding both from the Father and the Sonne the worke whereof faith is Iohn 6.29 Gal. 5.22 we cannot attaine heereunto Howbeit heere we talke not eyther of the vnion of the two natures in the person of one Christ nor yet of his communicating of his merits vnto vs by imputation nor of his dwelling in vs by his spirit but of his owne vniting and communicating of himselfe both God and man vnto vs. For consisting of those two natures heere in my text he biddeth vs to come vnto him and as I haue shewed to drinke of him which if once we duelie performe then we withal euen thereby are sure of all the benefits necessary to our saluation that by any of these we may looke for Now Paule when he spoke most plainely of this saying We are members of his body of his flesh of his bones Ephes 5.30 to assure vs that it is reall and essentiall yea and most certaine in respect of the thinges to be vnited Christ his members yet within two verses after he confesseth and saith that it is a great mystery that he speaketh of thereby also shewing that in respect of the manner of vniting of them it is supernaturall and vnsearchable by humaine sen̄se and reason howbeit this is our comfort that though we cannot conceiue it whiles we are heere and our knowledge is vnperfect that yet Christ our sauiour to our vnspeakeable consolation hath tolde vs that the day shall come when his shall knowe By the spirit it is obtained That he is to the father they in him and he in them Io. 14.20 In the meane time thus much it hath pleased him to reueale vnto vs by the worde that it is the holie Ghost the vertie spirit of God without which this cannot be and by the means whereof this vnion and communion is made betwixt Christ and vs. For it is written as vttered by Christ himselfe Io. 3.5 Except a man be borne againe of water and the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdome of God And Paule most plainelie saieth Rom. 8.9 If any man haue not the spirit of Christ the same is none of his And likewise Saint Iohn 1. Epist cap. 4. vers 13. writeth that by this we knowe that Christ is in vs by his spirit that he hath giuen vs. Paule also to this purpose verie notablie saith by one spirite we are all baptized into one bodie and haue beene all made to drinke into one spirite 1. Cor. 12.13 And therefore vpon verie good ground hath the ancient father Irenaeus who liued in the next age to the Apostles in his third booke and 19. chapter against the heresies of the Valentinians and others written most sweetely and profoundlie Sicut de arido tritico massa vna fierinon potest neque vnus panis ita nec nos multi vnum fieri in Christo Iesu poteramus sine aqua qnae de coelo est sicut arida terra si non percipiat humorem non fruclificat sic nos lignum aridum existentes primùm nunquam fructificaremus vitam sine superna voluntaria pluuia that is As of drie wheate neyther one lumpe of dowe nor one loafe can be made so neyther we beeing many could euer haue beene made one in Christ Iesu without water from heauen and as the drie earth fructifieth not without moysture so we being first but dry wood could neuer haue had our fruit to be eternall life without voluntarie raine from aboue Which in the same place he interpreteth to be the spirit of God which God bestoweth vpon his Which Chrisosiom in his Homilie at Pentecost of the holy spirit calleth the coupling or band of the vnion betwixt Christ and his Further to
conceites cogitations of the mind soule of man further then eyther the soule or bodie themselues What an absurd kind of reasoning is it then for to say Christes Godheade and manhoode are vnited therefore wheresoeuer the Godheade is there must the manhoode be also And the hereticalnesse thereof is monstrous and intollerable For not onely with Marcion it transformes Christes true manhood into a meere phantasme or imagination of such a thing but also in thus confounding the properties of the two natures it confoundes the natures themselues and so eyther makes Christes Godhead or manhoode with Eutiches to swallowe vp the one the other or which is as absurd makes Christes person to haue in it one estentiall and true Godhead and an other communicated vnto his manhood beginning when the personall vnion of these two natures begonne which sauours strongly towardes Arianisme Besides all this if this were true that they say that streight vpon this vnion of the two natures his manhood had the properties of the Godhead communicated vnto it then not onely to the shaking but to the quite subuerting of all the Articles of our faith touching his manhood we must hold that assone as this vnion was consummate in his mothers wombe so soone he was there and euerie where else and whiles he liued he was not onely where he was seepe and heard but also euery where and the like we must hold to be true when he died was buried descended into hell rose againe ascended sitteth at the right hand of the Father and when he shall come againe to iudgement that is that in his verie manhood at one self same time he was vpon the crosse and not vpon the crosse in his graue and not in his graue that he descended into hell and that yet he was not in hell that he rose againe out of his graue and did not ascended vp into heauen and yet tarried still below in the earth that he sits at the right hand of his Father in heauen and yet is elsewhere and that he shall come from thence to iudgement and yet was neuer gone from hence because at all these times his Godhead was is and shall be euery where and therefore his manhoode Yea we must hold that he was at one selfe same time compassed in place and yet filled euery place that he was passible and impassible infinite and finite visible and inuible in respect of his manhood the one through the naturall condition thereof and the other through a communicated Godhead therunto All which eyther quite raise these Articles before touched out of the Creed or at least they inforce vs to conceiue them in such a fond sense as neither the Scriptures nor any auncient writer lead vs vnto or incourage vs in Heereupon it comes that in plaine tearmes because the Article of the ascention is most vrged against them that they are not ashamed some of the greatest of them to interprete that to be no chaunging at all of his place but a becomming inuisible whereas before he was visible By which new kinde of Diuinitie we may say that he that was seene before in a romth is gone out of it he that was below is gone vp into vpper romth if he haue but hid himselfe behinde the curteines And seeing by the same reason they must be driuen to inteprete the rest in like manner hereupon also it will followe that his leauing his mothers wombe and his rising out of the graue and therefore his not beeing founde there in his bodie was but a deceiuing of the senses of his mother and of those that sought him in his graue and could not finde him for he was there stil though she thought that she was quite deliuered of him and they could not finde him there So also by this when he was dying vpon the crosse visibly in all other places he was inuisibly in his verie same manhood aliue and not toucht by his enemies O what a ridiculous monstrous and foolish assertion is this whereupon all these most grosse absurdities both against reason and all religion follow Who can once enter but into the view thereof whose heart withall will not tremble and quake and for the horrour thereof be extre emely amazed and astonied The Lordes name therefore for euer be blessed that hitherto hath kept these our Churches from the infection of the poyson heereof and I beseech him for his Christes sake that for euer he would vouchsafe so to doe still Luther neuer sought to defend his Consubstantiation with this yea his best friendes that he had and amongst them that famous learned man Phillip Melancton plainely reporte that yet he was brought to see his errour therein ere he died though he liued not to rase it out of his bookes Since his preposterous followers of a wilful eagernes to maintaine that which once heerein they had vndertooke beeing driuen to see the weaknesse of the former groundes that they had before common with the papists haue as with the furious tempest of contention thus runne themselues vpon this rocke The Lond in his mercy graunt them in time to see their folly that they may beartily repent heereof and of the destruction of the Churches of Christ whereof by this meanes they haue beene perilous authors Amen Amen The special grouÌ„ds fruits of the popish real presence viewed confuted Now thus to leaue these and to come to the Papistes to viewe what speciall groundes and conceites they haue for the and intenance of their reall presence and so whither they are growne thorowe the good liking that they haue of their opinion truely I see I shall enter into the rauing of surely a rotten dunghil the fauour wherof may iustly offende both God and man For by occasion of this their opinion of reall presence by retue of Transubstantiation they haue transformed this Sacrament into a Masse which they may worthily so call it consisteth of such a masse of errours and impieties For thereby whereas by Christes institution it is a Sacrament As first their making of it a propitiatorie sacrifice wherein GOD offereth and giueth to vs his Sonnes broken bodie and bloode shed to feede on they â—â—rne it into a sacrifice whereby man shoulde offer vp againe the Sonne to the Father and whereas the vse of it as Christ hath left it vnto vs leadeth vs to the onely sacrifice that Christ hath offered once for all in his owne person thereupon by faith to feede to our perfect and euerlasting saluation they in this their Masse leade vs to a propitiatorie sacrifice which they saye their priestes therein offer both for the quicke and dead as though quite contrarie to the doctrine of the Apostle to the Hebrewes Christ were such a Priest as needed successors as Aaron to offer often sacrifice for that the once offering of it himselfe should no more make the commers thereunto perfect then the sacrifices that the priefies after the order of Aaron
are 3. distinct persons the father the son and the holy ghost coequal coeternall the light of the gospell makes it most cleare euident that the 2. persons in this trinitie hauing been froÌ„ euerlasting then also being true very God when the fulnes of time was come he tooke vnto him selfe the full and whole nature of man in the wombe of the blessed virgine Marie that by the power of the holy ghost shadowing her she both conceiued and bare a son remaining stil a virgine that was is very God and man also yet not two persons bur one The historie of this his incarnation conception and birth most agreeably to all ancient prophesies giuen before of the comming of the Messiah in respect of all the circumstances thereof of whom he should descend according to the flesh at what time he should come wher he should be borne and in what manner is set forth most plainly by Mat. 10. and by Luke 1. 2. In which also so much as I hauesaid touching his person is taught for therin we finde him termed the son of the almighty Emanuel that is God with vs to proue that he was conceiued born of the virgin his mother a very man there his petegree is deriued euen down from Adam to Abraham Isaac Iacob Dauid the rest wherby also it appeare th that he is indeed that seed of the woman and of those descended that should tread down the serpents head in whom al the natioÌ„s of the world should be blessed And yet in this history he is stil spokeÌ„ of neither as of one by the coÌ„mixtion or coniunctioÌ„ of two natures made a third nor yet by the consociation or associatioÌ„ of two natures remaining stil two persoÌ„s but as he became so stil remaineth one onely person consisting of these two natures so therin is he set before vs. This mystery also is most notably in my opinioÌ„ opened vnto vs by saint Paule Phillip 2. vers 5.6.7 and 8. in these words let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Iesus who being in the forme of God thought it no robery to be equal with god but he made himself of no reputatioÌ„ took on him the form of a seruaÌ„t was made like vnto men was found in shap as a man For her in if the wordes be wel markt he hath most profouÌ„dly set down what he was before his incarnation and what he became then what he was before he sheeweth in these being in the forme of God he thought it no roberie to be equall with God and what he became after in the rest and euen these fewe wordes shew first thabefore his incarnation he was one that had a true being and existence to confute Ebion and Ceriâ—â—â—â— and all their folowers who hold that he tooke all his being existence of the virgin and that therefore he was onely man and Seruetus also hereby is confuted who fant astically blasphemously taught that the word was nothing before that had a being and existence but that it was but the decree in Gods minde of the making and creating of this man and of replenishing him with his godhead For he is said to haue beene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is one existing and being in the forme of God and after it is added that euen this same tooke vnto himself the forme of a seruant To this same purpose saith Iohn in the beginning was the word Io 1.1 and Christ him selfe said before Abraham was I am Io. 8.58 and Paule he himselfe tooke the seed of Abraham Heb 2.16 Secondly by forme of God vnderstanding here the nature of God as after the forme of a seruant we must vnderstand the very nature of man as al sound interpreters both olde newe euer haue done in that it is said that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is being in the the forme of God further that being in the forme he thought it no robery to be equal with god al these things be further taught that this being of his which he had before was the being of a very true God that yet he was a distinct person in the Godhead from the father though equal to with the father For as his being in the forme of man proued that he was a verie man yet a distinct person in that nature from other men equal with them in the common nature so his being in the forme of God and his iust and lawfull thinking which doubtles it was or else it coulde not haue been incident to such an one that it was no wrong or robery to be equal with God proues most substantially that he was before his incarnation by nature very God equal to his father as touching his Godhead though a distinct person from his father For who can be in the forme of God but verie God who can think it no robery that rightly to be equall to God but he that indeed is coequal to with God yet how can these things be said and said truely as certainly they be here of the son of God but they must needs proue that though father son holy ghost be all but one God and haue but one essence that most perfectly one that yet the same is a distinct person from the person of the father For one self same person cannot be said to be equal to it self he therfore that thinketh it no robery to be equal must needs be one person he to whom he accounts himselfe equal an other So that with this one short sentence with these verie fewe wordes as it were with one blow all these heretiques Arrius Photinus Carpocrates Seruetus Sabellius Praxeas the Tritheits and Gentilis their scholers are laid for dead and therefore are meet for euer to be buried in the graues of infamous and blasphemous heretiques For Arrius though he granted that Christ had a being before his incarnation yet he could neuer be brought to confesse that in that being he was God from euerlasting coeternal and coessentiall with the father Photinus and Seruetus with their crue held he was God and the sonne of God and so might be called but not by nature but by grace and office Carpocrates likewise acknowledged in Christ besides his manhoode a celestiall and diuine nature but yet he would not yeelde that it was of the same essence that his fathers was Sabellius Praxeas would haue there to bee but one person named with three names the Tritheits gentilis conteÌ„ded for the destinctioÌ„ of the 3. persons that they would haue theÌ„ to haue 3 distinct essences so consequeÌ„tly to be 3 Gods These here sies of Arrius Photinus Sernetus Carpocrates haue all their deathswound in that expresly he is said to haue bin in the form of God it being most certain that ther by God the father is ment by his form no
accidentall form for that God the father hath none such but his very essence substance And this his being in the same forme with his father likewise cuts the throte of Gentilis of al Tritheites for it most strōgly sheweth one form or essence to be one self same most perfectly to distinct persons therin lastly the cōparisō equality betwixt him his father set down in the other words for asmuch as such comparisō could not be if he his father were but one persō named onely by diuers names is as pregnant for euer to confounde Sabellius and Praxeas But the lordes name be blessed praised for it if these words wernot plain inough to proue this doctrine of the son of God to be most cleare against these heretiques we haue else where in the scriptures the same most plentifully and plainelie taught For what can be plainer to this purpose then these words of Iohn Cap. 1.1 and 2. In the beginning was the worde and the word was with God and the word was God For the first clause shewes his existence and being from euerlasting the second his distinct existence and being in person from his fathers and that last his vnitie in essence with him Plaine also to this ende is that which we read Heb. 1.2.3 For there the Apostle cals him the sonne of God whom his heauenlie father hath made heire of all things and by whome he made the world and he termeth him the brightnes of his glorie and the ingraued forme of his person bearing vp all thinges by his mighty worde For herein his being before the world was the distinctiō his of person from his fathers and yet the vnitie of effence betwixt them in most forceable words is aduouched let these therefore be sufficiente for this pointe Now if we would know what he became and is by his incarnation in person further as I said before the rest of the wordes of faint Paule before alleadged out of his 2. Chapter to the Philliplans most notablie lay that also down before vs. For the Apostles purpose being to shew the Phillippians how Christ humbled and abased himselfe for the good of his Church that he doth in shewing them how first he did it by taking vpon him the forme of a seruant and by beeing made like vnto men and by beeing found in shape of a man so setting down the misterie of his incarnation and after by telling them howe beeing so become man he humbled himselfe to be obedient euen vnto the death for them to purchase their redemption Note therefore diligentlie welbeloued and marke religiouslie the wordes of the Apostle before alleadged to expresse the mysterie of his incarnation First he faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we english but he abased himselfe and made himselfe of no reputation which wordes teach vs that though it be moste true that we haue heard of him before that voluntarily yet to shewe his obedience to the will of his father and his loue towards his Church when the time appointed of his father was come he was content though not to cease to be that which he had alwaies beene before which was impossible yet so to haue the glorie and shining brightnesse wherein alwaies thither vnto he had beene in with his father for a time darkned obscured and hid as that in comparison thereof he might be said and thought euen much to haue abased himselfe yea to haue made himselfe of no reputation Nowe to shewe vs more particularly and speciallie wherein this abasing of himselfe laie and how he did it the Apostle sayeth he did thus euen himselfe abase himselfe by taking the forme of a seruant c. thereby vnderstanding the verie nature of man withall the properties and naturall infirmities thereof sinne onely excepted as we are taught to vnderstand it Heb. 2.17 7.26 where the Apostle most plainelie teacheth that in all things he in his manhood was made like vnto his brethren but that he was without sinne And these three wordes forme shape and similitude vsed by the Apostle heere himselfe make it euident that he had a purpose as substantially as might bee to expresse as much Yea the word seruant shews further that voluntarily also he became amongst men to deliuer men from seruitude euen the cōmon seruant of men to serue vnder the burthen of their sins as one in whom there was neither forme nor beauty who was reiected and despised of men as in that respect the prophet Isayah discribs him 53.2.3.54 The Apostles meaning is therefore heereby to teach that Christ being frō euerlasting very God with his father though a distinct person from his father that at he was not thus abased against his wil for that beeing so he thoght it no robery to be equal to his father but that he himself most freely willingly was cōtent thus to strip himself or to empty himself of that glory equality which he had naturally with his father in taking vnto himselfe as he was is in the second person in the trinity the whole nature of man with all the sinles harmles and naturall properties therof both in body soule and in vniting the same immediately in the creation thereof yea in the very same instant and moment with himselfe as he was the sonne of God personally that so as he was before in that he was the sonne of God almighty infinite incomprehensible and eternall so he might bee as he was the soune of man weake finite comprehended and mortall The better yet once againe to make you see that the Apostles meaning in these his wordes stretch thus farre besides that which I haue noted already therin obserue and marke further that he saith not the forme of God eyther abased it selfe tooke the forme of a seruant or was made in the likelihoode or similitude of men but he the which was in the forme he made himself of no reputatiō was made so and found also in the shape of a man to teach vs if we will speake like the Apostle and so accordingly beleeue we must not say nor beleeue that nature tooke nature but the person of the sonne tooke vnto himselfe the nature of man and so that as he was created so it was immediately vnited vnto that person to haue togither with that person a personall vnion and neuer to haue first any existence or beeing a part by or in it selfe For then the Apostle would haue said aswell that the thing assumed was he that was in the forme of a seruant as he had said that the assumer was he that was and had a beeing in the forme of God which he doth not The assumer thefore was the second person in the trinity the sonne of God and neyther father nor holie Ghost nor yet the bare essence of God but as in it this second person had his existence and being and the assumed was not a person of a man first beeing and existing a part but