subject unto The slave acknowledged no more Masters than this one whom if it would please but to say the word his freedome might without difficulty be obtained if the Praetor of the City would but vouchsafe by his Masters leave to lay his white rod upon him and cause him to be turned once or twice about with some few other Ceremonies he could be turned out of a slave into a free Citizen in the space of an houre whereas if his Master had been turned round till his senses had failed him in case the Praetor would have laid his rod an hundred times upon his head hee could not have wound himselfe out of those bonds of servitude wherein his lusts had insnared him This slave had observed that his Master would often commend the frugality and temperance of the ancient Romans and often desire that hee and other moderne Romans might live as they did yet if any great man or good neighbour would invite him to a luxurious feast or if any foolish pleasures with whose excesse he had been formerly stung should proffer themselves he had not so much power to resist or restraine them as this slave had to neglect his designes or commands when they did displease him And for his Master to be drawne thus every day to doe that which in his retired and sober thoughts he did most dislike and condemne was in his judgement a greater slavery than any bodily servitude If the reasons which these and other Heathens often used to prove vitious men to bee the onely true slaves had not been the dictates of the law of nature written in our hearts or reasons unanswerable the Apostles of Christ yea Christ himselfe would not have used the like Know yee not saith S. Paul Rom. 6.16 as if it were a shame in this point to be ignorant that to whom yee yeeld your selves servants to obey his servants yee are to whom yee obey whether of sinne unto death or of obedience unto righteousnesse And S. Peter tells us of some who whilest they promise liberty unto others they themselves were servants unto corruption for of whom a man is overcome of the same is hee brought into bondage 2. Pet. 2.19 So our Saviour saith Ioh. 8.34 Whosoever committeth sinne is the servant of sinne And of him no doubt our Apostle S. Iohn learned that doctrine Hee that committeth sinne is of the Devill a servant of his 3. But albeit the wiser sort of Heathens did by light of nature know that every vicious man was a slave or servant to his owne lusts or desires yet the greatest danger which they apprehended from the servitude was but feare of satyricall censure for preposterous basenesse in subjecting reason to sensuality That their owne desires lusts or affections were maintained and cherished by a forreigne enemie as so many rebells to wage warre against their immortall soules or that their consciences being subdued by lust should bee everlastingly subject to so cruell a Tyran as the Devill is were points wherein the Prince of darknesse had blinded the eyes of the wisest Heathen And would to God wee Christians to whom the Lord hath revealed thus much could see or heare so much concerning this doctrine as would make us perfectly understand or lay to heart the inestimable danger wherein wee stand whether in respect of the fast hold which this Tyran by our corrupted nature and custome hath got of us or of the miserable usage which will follow if he and sinne finally prevaile against us But this is a common place for which every man may finde a fitter Text in his owne heart then any other man can chuse for him and matter of more ample and pertinent discourse upon it than reading of many books can suggest unto him All that I have here to say concerning this point is to request the Reader to examine his owne heart and calculate his non-performances of what I presume hee often seriously intended and perhaps hath vowed His duty it is to open the wounds of his conscience either to God alone in secret or to such as God hath appointed for the Physicians of his soule and conscience My purpose is to prepare the plaister or medicine and to informe him how to apply it CHAP. VIII The Sonne of God was properly a servant to his Father yet not by birth as hee was the sonne of his handmaid but by voluntary undergoing this hard condition for the redemption of man 1 TO free us from this miserable servitude unto sinne which alone doth wound our conscience the Sonne of God did freely and voluntarily take upon him the forme of a servant The parts of his peculiar service were in generall two The one to conquer Satan who was by right of conquest our Lord The other to reconcile us to grace and favour with God to make us first servants then sonnes and lastly kings and priests to his and our heavenly Father These two parts of his peculiar service unto his Father for unto him alone hee was a servant exhibit the most admirable paterne of justice mercie and loving kindnesse as well in God the Father as God the Sonne that the wit of man or Angels can contemplate First it was a paterne of justice never after to bee parallel'd for God the Father to exact satisfaction for our sinnes at the hands of his deare and onely Sonne Unto this unmeasurable act or exercise of justice upon the Sonne of righteousnesse his mercy towards us miserable sinners was fully commensurable For whatsoever hee suffered for our sakes was from his Fathers and his owne mercy and loving kindnesse towards us Againe so infinite was the justice of our gracious God that even whilest hee shewed his mercy and loving kindnesse towards us he did vouchsafe to give as we say the Devill himselfe his due and to observe the law of Armes or Duell with this Prince of Rebels his subject by right of Creation but professed enemie by resolution Albeit this grand Rebell after his revolt from God had conquered man and made him by treachery of Gods servant and sonne a meere slave unto himselfe the righteous Lord would not deprive this mighty Lion and greedy Wolfe of his prey by any other meanes than by right of conquest gotten over him by man Hee did not arme a legion of Angels nor summon the whole host of visible creatures against him nor use his omnipotent and absolute power to destroy or annihilate him or as then to shut him up in the everlasting prison The exercises of such power whether immediatly by the omnipotent Creator himselfe or by his creatures had been more than Satans matches upon equall termes or weapons Exercise of strength was not the first way in the wisedome of God to conquer pride ambition or vaine glory though these must bee quelled with the power and strength of the Sonne of God whom it pleased the Father at the first onset to weaken by laying our first Parents infirmities and their posterities upon
probably said Conferebant gratiam ex opere operato The ceremoniall sinne was taken away by a ceremoniall offering From this knowen maxime concerning the law of Ceremonies or Legall sacrifices S. Paul takes his rise unto the high mysterie of the Gospel to wit that the offering which the Sonne of God did make upon the Crosse was more sufficient as well for making full satisfaction unto God for all sinnes committed against his Law as for purifying the conscience of offenders from dead works more effectuall to make men partakers of the true celestiall Sanctuary than the blood of beasts was for making them legally cleane Purification from sinne or sanctification alwayes presupposed full satisfaction for the sinnes committed To cleanse men from sins meerely ceremoniall or to sanctifie them according to the flesh the bloody sacrifice of bruit beasts was sufficient although they suffered no other paines than naturall albeit they felt no force or assault of any agents but meerely naturall much more is the blood of Christ of force sufficient not onely to make a full atonement for us but to cleanse us from all sinnes although he suffered no paines supernaturall although he had suffered no force or impression of any agents more than naturall All this is but a branch of our Apostles inference For albeit sinnes committed against the Morall Law of God doe in a maner infinitely exceed sinnes committed against the Law of Ceremonies onely yet are not the sinnes of the one kinde so much more hainous than the sinnes of the other as the blood of Christ doth for vertue exceed the blood of bulls and goats Nor is there that odds of difference betwixt sinnes Moral and sinnes Ceremonial which is between the Priests of the Law and the high Priest of our soules the Sonne of God And yet the maine ground of our Apostles inference doth not simply consist in the superexcellency of the high Priest of our soules or of the sacrifice which hee offered in comparison with legall Priests and their sacrifices but withall in the admirable union of our high Priest and his sacrifice For admit it as possible first that there might haue been some matter of sacrifice as pure and spotlesse as the body of our Saviour more pure and glorious than the Angelicall substances Secondly that this pure and spotlesse sacrifice had been offered by a Priest for dignity equall to the Sonne of God as by the Holy Ghost the third Person in Trinity yet his offering or service could not have been so acceptable unto God as our Saviours offering or service was because the infinite worth of the Priest or Person sacrificing could not in this case have conferred any worth or vertue truely infinite upon the sacrifice or offering made by him though as holy and glorious as any created substance can bee unlesse it had been so personally united to him that in offering it hee had offered himselfe as our Saviour did This is the maine stemme or rather the root of our Apostles emphaticall inference or surplus in the forecited place How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternall Spirit offered himselfe without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God 7. Answerable to this hypostaticall or personall union betweene our high Priest and his sacrifice was that union between his obedience to his Father and his mercy and compassion towards men Obedience mercy and sacrifice were so united in his offering as they never had been before his owne death was the internall effect of his mercy towards us and obedience to his Father the period of his humiliation of himselfe Hee humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death even unto the death of the Crosse That we know was a cruell and servile death but no part of the second death not charged with the paines of Hell otherwise our Apostle would have mentioned them as the accomplishment of his obedience or of his service which without them did exceed the very abstract or paterne either of service or obedience Quid est servitus nisi obedientia animi fracti arbitrio carentis suo Servitude saith Tully is nothing else but the obedience of a broken or dejected minde utterly deprived of all power or right to dispose of it selfe or of its actions It is indeed dejection of minde a broken estate or basenesse of condition which make men willing to become servants unto others or inforceth them to resigne all their right and power unto their Masters will But it was no dejection of minde no want of any thing in heaven or earth but onely the abundance of mercy and compassion towards us miserable men which moved the Sonne of God to renounce this world before he came into it and to deprive himselfe of all that right and interest which every other man hath over his owne body and soule by voluntary resignation of his entire humane nature unto the sole disposing of his Father Other servants were obedient unto their Lords upon necessity or dejection of minde hee voluntarily became a servant to his Father that he might accomplish the office of a servant in the sacrifice of a broken and contrite spirit This was the internall effect of his service and obedience and this sacrifice thus offered was all-sufficient to make satisfaction for all the disobedience of men for the sinnes of ten thousand worlds of men CHAP. XIV That our Saviour in his Agony at least did suffer paines more than naturall though not the paines of Hell or Hellish paines That the suffering of such paines was not required for making satisfaction for our sinnes but for his Conquest over Satan 1 BUt albeit the bloody sacrifice of the Sonne of God were as God himselfe is all-sufficient to these purposes may wee hence collect that hee suffered no paines more than naturall or of no other kinde than his Martyrs Apostles or Prophets have done God forbid Betweene paines naturall and the paines of Hell there is a meane to wit paines altogether supernaturall in respect of the Agent and somewayes more than naturall in respect of the Patient and such paines out of all question the Son of God did suffer in the garden though not upon the Crosse Nor were these his sufferings superfluous though no way necessary for paying the full ransome or price of mans redemption or reconciliation unto God Most expedient they were if not necessary to other purposes As first for his absolute conquest over Satan Secondly for his consecration to his everlasting Priesthood Of his conflict with Satan in the garden a place sutable to that wherein hee had conquered our first Parents Iobs second temptation was the type or shadow His Father exposed him to the second temptation as he had unto the first temptation in the wildernesse and permitted Satan to exercise the utmost of his power against him onely over his soule or life hee had no power These were takē from him by the malice
kind are the proper fruits and necessary effects of Satans victory over sinners the finall wages of sinnes unrepented of or not actually expiated by the blood of our Redeemer In all other tribulations distresses or persecutions which are not the wages of sinne We are as our Apostle saith Rom. 8.35 37. more then Conquerers through him that loved us if so we endure them with patience But how more than Conquerers in these which are in themselves evill distastfull to our nature Therefore more than Conquerers because these afflictions suffered with patience doe testifie our conformity to the Sonne of God in his most grievous sufferings and the dissolution of the works of Satan in us doth seale unto our soules a full Acquitance from hell paines from which questionlesse our high Priest was free in that great Combat with Satan and his infernall powers Otherwise he had not been full Conquerer over hell and the second death which is no other than the paines of Hell or hellish torments Nor could the sufferings of such torments bee any part of the Sonne of Gods qualification for dissolving those works of Satan which cannot be dissolved but by the exercise of his everlasting Priesthood which was the last end or finall cause of his sufferings or consecration by afflictions CHAP. XV. Christs suffering of the unknowen paines or of paines greater than ever any of his Martyrs or others in this life have suffered requisite for his qualification as hee was to become the high Priest of our soules 1 THe Sonne of God was to suffer all the afflictions which wee in this world can suffer in a farre higher degree than we can suffer them to bee more strongly tempted by all the meanes by which wee are tempted unto sinne whether by feare of evill or by hope of things good and pleasant unto nature that hee might even to our apprehension bee a more faithfull and mercifull high Priest in things concerning God than ever any before him had been or can be But Satan we know tempteth no man in this life unto sinne either with the feare or sufferings of any evill or vexations whereof our mortality can have no experience Hee labours to withdraw no man from Gods service by giving them any taste or touch of the paines prepared for the damned in the life to come Such as are in the deepest bonds of thraldome to him would quickly abandon his service if hee should tender them such a true symbole or earnest of their everlasting wages or such a momentany taste of Hell paines as the Spirit of God in this life exhibiteth to some of his children of their everlasting joyes And it is questionable whether our nature whilest mortall bee capable of such paines or whether the first touch or reall impression of them would not dissolve the link or bond betweene mans mortall body and his immortall soule in a moment For as flesh and blood cannot inherite the Kingdome of God but this mortall must put on immortalitie ere we can bee partakers of celestiall joyes so it is probable that our corruptible bodies must bee made in another kinde incorruptible before they can bee the proper Subjects or receptacles of Hell paines But though no man in this life be tempted to ill or withdrawen from the service of God by sufferance of such paines yet in as much as many are oft times tempted to despaire of Gods mercies by the unknowne terrors of Hell or representations of infernall forces there is no question but the Sonne of God not in his Divine wisdome onely by which he knoweth all things but even as man had a more distinct view of all the forces and terrors of Hell more full experience of their active force and attempts than any man in this life can have to the end that he might bee a faithfull Comforter of all such unto the worlds end as shall bee affrighted or attempted with them If wee consider then onely the attempt assault or active force by which Satan seeketh to withdraw us from God unto his service not the issue or impression which his attempts makes upon us sinfull men there was no kinde of temptation whereto the Sonne of God was not subject whereto he did not submit himselfe for our sakes that hee might have full experience or perfect notice as man of all the dangers whereunto wee are obnoxious By that which was done against the greene tree hee knoweth what will become of the drie if it bee exposed to the like fiery triall It was requisite that this great Captaine of Gods warfare with Satan and of our salvation should have a perfect view of all the forces which fight against us that hee might bee a faithfull Solicitor to his Almighty Father for aid and succour unto all that are beset with them unto all that offer up strong cries unto him as hee in the dayes of his flesh did unto his Father and was saved from that which hee feared 2. The greatest comfort which any poore distressed mortall man can expect or which our nature is capable of in oppression and distresse must issue from this maine fountaine of our Saviours Agony and bloody sweat of his Crosse and Passion For whatsoever hee suffered in those two bitter dayes he suffered if not for this end alone yet for this especially that hee might bee an All-sufficient Comforter unto all such as mourne as having sometimes had more than a fellow feeling of all our infirmities and vexations as one who had tasted deeper of the cup of sorow and death it selfe then any man before him had done or to the worlds end shall doe It would bee a great comfort to such as have suffered shipwrack to have an Admirall a Dispenser of Almes unto Seafaring men who had sometimes suffered shipwrack or after shipwrack had been wronged by his neighbours or natives And so it would bee to a man eaten out of his estate by usury or vexations in Law to have a Judge or Chancellor who had been both wayes more grievously wronged a just or upright man whose heart would melt with the fellow-feeling of his calamities Experience of bodily paines or grievous diseases inclineth the Chirurgion or Physician to bee more compassionate to their Patients and more tender of their well-fare than otherwise they would be And for these reasons ever since I tooke them into consideration and as often as I resume the meditations of our Saviours death I have ever wondred and still doe wonder at the peevishnesse or rather patheticall prophanesse of some men who scoffe at those sacred passages in our Liturgie By thy Agony and bloody sweat by thy Crosse and Passion c. Good Lord deliver us as if they had more alliance with spells or formes of conjuring than with the spirit of prayer or true devotion Certainely they could never have fallen into such irreverent and uncharitable quarells with the Church our Mother unlesse they had first fallen out and that fouly with Pater
the originall Et cum iterum introducit primogenitum in orbem terrae When he bringeth his first begotten againe into the world the words in the originall are thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Upon this ground this good Writer takes liberty to dissent from the best Commentators that had gone before him and peremptorily denyeth this place to be meant of the Son of Gods first comming into the world And it cannot be denyed but that this 97. Psalme containes a remarkable Prophecy that the Sonne of God or God of Israel should be made Lord and King and Judge of the world by peculiar right This is one of those many places which as in the former booke hath beene observed cannot be meant of any save onely of him who was truely God and yet could not be punctually fulfilled save onely of God incarnate But Ribera should have considered that one and the same passage in any Psalme or Prophecy might have beene fulfilled in God incarnate at severall times and alike literally refer to severall manifestations whether of his glory or of his sufferings Yea sometimes one and the same place or proposition may literally and punctually refer both to his humiliation and exaltation as that of the 8. Psal ver 5. Thou hast made him little lower than the Angels and hast crowned him with glory and honour Now if one and the same passage or prediction may be punctually fulfilled of God incarnate at severall times or at his nativity his baptisme his transfiguration and resurrection c. much more may severall passages in one and the same Psalme or other prophecies be respectively fulfilled some of his Nativitie or resurrection other of his comming to judgement It is then no concludent proofe which Ribera brings in prejudice of the Ancient to strengthen his owne opinion that the testimony alleaged by the Apostle Hebr. 1.6 out of Psalme 97. cannot be literally meant of our Lord and Saviours Nativitie because the chief scope of that place is to foretell his comming to judge the world when he shall be attended with an hoast of Angels For if this attendance and obsequie be performed unto him as is probable by the whole hoast of Heaven the celebration of his Nativitie or first comming into the world by a band or company of these heavenly soldiers how many or how few God onely knows might be and certainly was a pledge or praeludium Nor doth the placing of the words in the originall necessarily argue but that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may have the same sense that it had in former places that is onely a repetition of testimonies without expresse reference to Christs first or second coming In that 40. of Isaiah before expounded some passages if not one and the same literally refer to the incarnation or first manifestation of the Word in the flesh others to the declaration of him to bee the Sonne of God at his Baptisme which Iohn Baptist acknowledged to bee the end and tenor of his Embassage Where and in what manner that transcendent glimpse which was exhibited in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his humiliation Ioh. 12.28 was foretold and fore-signified in its proper place But the former quaere here opportunely presents it selfe againe seeing such glory as these glimpses did portend was due unto him perpetually what necessity or urgent conveniency was there that hee should bee made so low and so strangely humbled CHAP. III. Whether our sinnes could have beene remitted without the humiliation of the Sonne of God is a point not determinable by men That the manner of the remitting our sinnes by his humiliation was the most admirable way which Wisdome Iustice or Mercy could require 1 PEremptorily to avouch that God could not have remitted the sinnes of our first Parents without full satisfaction nor advanced their sinfull seede unto glory without the disgracefull sufferings of his onely Sonne would by some and well might bee censured for a saucy doctrine A doctrine more derogatory from the Omnipotent Majesty than it would be to prerogatives Royall to deny Kings or free Princes invested with it the exercise of that most princely vertue Clemency or to grant a prohibition against them in case they should freely forgive offences committed against themselves or afterwards honour the parties thus freely forgiven upon their extraordinary thankfulnesse for such gracious favours This benignity no loyall Subject will grudge or repine at when it is practised by his liege Lord and Soveraigne and shall we deny the like freedome to infinite Majestie whereof benignity and graciousnesse infinite is to speake after the manner of men a speciall branch or dimension 2. Yet on the other side resolutely to determine that the sinnes of our first Parents could have been remitted without satisfaction or their seed advanced to glory without the humiliation of the Sonne of God would be a rash if not an unsound resolution For albeit wee take it for granted that earthly Princes of the best temper may freely pardon any offences against themselves and crowne this speciall favour with the advancement of the persons so offending to higher place and greater honour than formerly they did enjoy yet will it not hence follow that the Omnipotent and most just Judge might have done the like For he is not of Majesty or of gracious goodnesse onely but of justice truely infinite the immutable and indispensible rule of justice and goodnesse And he alone who is wisdome truely infinite can determine whether the remission of mens sinnes without satisfaction or the award of glory without some interposition of merits doe not imply some contradiction to the rule of justice infinite which they doe not imply to infinite Majesty or benignity The greatest Majesty on earth may more justly pardon offences done against themselves than they can doe the like offences against the publique Law it selfe or the community of men under their government For earthly Princes how great or good soever they be are no living lawes of goodnesse no living rules of justice This is the praerogative of the Almighty Lord to be both a most righteous Judge and the very Law or Idaeall rule of righteousnesse 3. Not Princes onely but every private person or publique Magistrate so they sit not in the seat of Justice may pardon a crime for its nature capitall if it be onely committed against themselves as if a servant should take his masters purse not by violence but unwarily laid aside and deny the finding taking or restoring of it the master may without wounding his conscience dismisse the party delinquent of his service without calling his life in question although the crime bee by humane law capitall Nor should the master I take it by this clemency incurre the danger of the humane Law if he be as well content to lose the money as the delinquents service In this case hee may doe to the worst of his servants as hee desires it may be done
to him if his case or condition were the same But if of a private master he should become a publike Judge and shew the same favour to him that had been his servant being arraigned for the like offence committed against another hee should hereby grievously transgresse both the Law of God and man The true reason whereof is not because the former rule Of doing as hee would bee done unto doth hold as one of late out of the spirit of contradiction rather than judgement hath taught not universally or alwayes but ad plurimum for the most part or now and then or more certainly in private men than publike Magistrates For they especially are most strictly tied to that fundamentall rule of justice and equity of doing as they would bee done unto But seeing as the great Casuist Gerson somewhere observes Every Judge sustaines a double person one of his owne as he is subject to the like infirmities with other men another of the Publike Weale or Community wherein hee liveth Hence it is or should bee that how mercifull or gracious soever he be by naturall disposition or grace yet when he ascends the seat of Justice hee must lay aside his private person all private considerations and arme himselfe with the publike Now the object of the observance of the former rule of doing as hee would bee done unto is not the person or party accused or arraigned but the persons whom hee wronged or may hereafter wrong The greatest Judge in this case must do to the Commō Weale whereof he himselfe is a member as he desires is should be done to himselfe in like case that is to right them when they are wronged and to protect them from further danger by putting wholesome lawes in execution for cutting off noisome members of publike Society 4. But what of all this God is no member of any Community being in himselfe farre greater and better than the whole Universe of things visible and invisible and for this reason not bound to conforme himselfe to any of the former rules which greatest Princes are by his Law bound to observe However hee is immutable goodnesse it selfe more than the rule of all those rules of mercy justice and goodnesse which hee enjoines us to follow It is most true he can doe whatsoever he will yet cannot any thing be willed by him that is contrary to goodnesse justice or mercy Though his mercies exceed the mercies of the best of men yet some sinnes there are which exempt men from participation of his mercies sinnes unpardonable to mercy it selfe So saith our Saviour Mar. 3.28 29. Verily I say unto you all sinnes shall be forgiven unto the sonnes of men and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme But hee that shall blaspheme against the holy Ghost hath never forgivenesse but is in danger of eternall damnation And S. Matthew more fully Chap. 12. ver 31 Wherefore I say unto you All manner of sinne and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the blasphemy against the holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men And whosoever speaketh a word against the Sonne of man it shall bee forgiven him but whosoever speaketh against the holy Ghost it shall not bee forgiven him neither in this world neither in the world to come It is not the sole infinitie of that Majestie against which wee sinne that makes the sinne so unpardonable For the Father is of infinite Majesty the Sonne is of infinite Majesty and the holy Ghost can bee no more their Majesty and glory is coeternall and coequall The sinne here meant then cannot bee any speciall sinne more offensive against the person of the holy Ghost then against the person of the Father or the Sonne Nor is it whatsoever else it be any one sinne specifically distinct from other sinnes as murther is from lust or lust from pride and envie but rather a confluence of many grievous sinnes It alwayes presupposeth a great measure of long continued contempt of Gods speciall favour gifts or goodnesse Those whom our Saviour in the forecited places forewarnes as being at the pit brink of this infernall bottomlesse sinne were as S. Marke tells us Scribes that came downe from Ierusalem Mark 3.22 and as S. Matthew addes Pharisees too Matth. 12.24 Both of them had seene or heard our Saviours miracles which were so pregnant that they could not deny the truth of them The particular miracle which occasioned this discourse was the healing of one possessed of a Devill insomuch that being blind and dumbe before he both spake and saw and all the people were amazed and said Is this the sonne of David And when the Pharisees heard it or as S. Marke addes the Scribes which came downe from Jerusalem they said this fellow doth not cast out Devils but by Beelzebub the Prince of Devils Matt. 12.22 Mark 3.24 And S. Marke giving the reason why our Saviour after hee had called the Scribes and Pharisees to him and debated this controversie with them did forewarne them in speciall of this dangerous sinne addeth Because they said he hath an uncleane spirit Mark 3.30 5. Into this fearefull sinne or rather high measure of sinne of whose danger our Saviour so graciously forewarnes these Scribes and Pharisees those convert Hebrews to whom S. Paul wrote that excellent Epistle were ready without his like admonitions to fall It is impossible saith he for those men who were once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the power of the world to come If they shall fall away to renew them againe unto repentance seeing they crucifie unto themselves the Sonne of God afresh and put him to an open shame For the earth which drinketh in the raine that commeth oft upon it and bringeth forth herbes meet for them by whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God But that which bringeth forth thornes and briers is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to bee burned Heb. 6.4 5 c. Others perhaps in those times had either incurred this sentence here denounced or stood in greater danger than these Hebrews did of whom our Apostle at this time had good hope But beloved wee are perswaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation though we thus speake For God is not unrighteous to forget your worke and labour of love which yee have shewed towards his Name in that ye have ministred towards his Saints and doe minister Heb. 6.9.10 Of our Apostles punctuall meaning or sense in these two verses last cited as of all the rest unto the end of the Chapter I shall have occasion hereafter to treat Of the former verses I have no more for this present or hereafter for ought I know to say then this That their meaning if any be disposed to scan them more exactly may I take it bee best illustrated by the type or parallel exhibited in the dayes of
Moses in those men which were excluded by oath from the land of Canaan Num. 14.20 21 22 23. And the Lord said I have pardoned according to thy word But as truely as I live all the earth shall bee filled with the glory of the Lord. Because all those men which have seene my glory and my miracles which I did in Egypt and in the wildernesse and have tempted mee now these ten times and have not hearkened to my voice Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers neither shall any of them that provoked me see it All these which were all the Males of Israel above twenty yeares of age save Caleb Ioshua and Moses who was in part involved in this sentence did beare a true type or shadow of those who offending in like manner against Christ and his Gospel we call Reprobates yet not so true types of such a sinne against the holy Ghost as those which went to search the land of Canaan And the men which Moses sent to search the land who returned and made all the Congregation to murmure against him by bringing up a slander upon she land Even those men that did bring up the evill report upon the land after they had seene the goodlinesse and tasted the pleasant fruits of it died of the plague before the Lord. But Joshua the sonne of Nun and Caleb the sonne of Jephunneh which were of the men that went to search the land lived still and many happy dayes after that time Numb 14.36 37 38. 6. Very probable it is though I will not determine pro or con that the irremissible sinne whereof our Saviour and S. Paul speake for which there remaineth no satisfaction was if dot peculiar yet Epidemicall unto those primitive times wherein the kingdom of heaven was first planted here on earth by our Saviour and the holy Catholike Church was in erection by the ministery of the Apostles or in times wherein the extraordinary gifts of the holy Spirit were most plentifull and most conspicuous Even in those times into this wofull estate none could fall which had not tasted of the heavenly gift of the good word of God and of the powers of the world to come and had not beene partakers of the holy Ghost Nor did such men fall away by ordinary sinnes but by relaps into Iewish blasphemy or heathenish Idolatry and malicious slander of the kingdom of heaven of whose power they had tasted God was good to all his creatures in their creation and better to men in their redemption by Christ of this later goodnesse all men werein some degree partakers The contempt or neglect of this goodnesse was not irremissible the parties thus farre offending and no further were not excluded from the benefit of Christs satisfaction or from renewing by repentance but of the gifts of the Spirit which was plentifully poured out after our Saviours ascension all were not partakers This was a speciall favour or peculiar goodnesse whose continued contempt or solemne abrenuntiation by relapse either into heathenisme or Jewish blasphemy was unpardonable not in that it was a sinne peculiarly committed against the person of the holy Ghost but because it did include an extraordinary opposition unto the indispensable law of justice or goodnesse which God the Father Sonne and holy Ghost are 7. Some sinnes then there be or some measure of them which being made up no satisfaction will be accepted for them It is impossible according to the sacred phrase that the parties thus delinquent should bee renewed by repentance But whether according to this dialect of the holy Ghost that grand sinne whereof our Saviour and the Apostle speakes be absolutely irremissible untill death hath determined their impenitency which committed it or onely exceeding dangerous in comparison of other sinnes I will not here dispute much lesse dare I take upon me to determine either branch of the maine question proposed As whether satisfaction were absolutely necessary for remitting the sinnes of our first Parents or their seed Or whether the Son of God could have brought us sinners unto glory by any other way or meanes than that which is revealed unto us in his Gospel It shall suffice me and so I request the Reader it may doe him to shew that this revealed way is the most admirable for the sweet concurrence of Wisdome Justice Mercy and whatsoever other branches of goodnesse else bee which the heart of man can conceive more admirable by much than wisdome finite could have contrived or our miserable condition desired unlesse it had been revealed unto us by God himselfe 8. For demonstration of this conclusion and for deterring all which pretend unto the priviledge or dignity of being the Sonnes of God from continuance in sinne no principle of faith or passage in the sacred Canon can bee of better use then that 1. Ioh. 3.8 He that committeth sinne is of the Devill for the Devill sinneth from the beginning For this purpose the Sonne of God was manifested that hee might destroy the works of the Devill However the words which severall translations doe render one and the same word in the Originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bee of different signification in point of Grammar yet is there no contradiction betwixt them upon the matter Our later English which I alledged readeth that he might destroy the former that hee might dissolve the works of the Devill Neither of them much amisse and both of them put together or mutually helping one another exceeding well Some works of the Devill the Sonne of God is said more properly to dissolve others more properly to destroy Sinne it selfe as the Apostle tells us is the proper worke of the Devill his perpetuall worke for he sinneth from the beginning And for this cause the man that committeth sinne is of the Devill the Devills workman or day labourer so long as hee continues in knowne sinnes Sinne the best of men dayly doe But it is one thing to sinne and doe a sinfull Act another to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the phrase used by our Apostle a worker or doer of evill operarius iniquitatis Such workmen the sonnes of God or servants of Christ cannot be at lest so long as they continue sonnes or servants The points most questionable in those forecited words of S. Iohn now to bee discussed in this preamble to the manner how the Son of God did dissolve or destroy the works of the Devill are two The first from what beginning the Devill is said to sinne or to continue in sinne The second what speciall workes of the Devill they were which the Sonne of God did or doth undoe or for whose dissolution or destruction hee was manifested in our flesh CHAP. IV. From what beginning the Divell is said by S. John to sinne Whether sinne consist in meere privation or have a positive entity or a cause truely efficient not deficient onely 1 THe word Beginning is some times taken universally and absolutely
them and mystically of Lucifer But they sinne no lesse for the act which say in their hearts or presuppose in their implicit thoughts altissimus est similimus mihi the most high God hath determined nothing concerning men or Angel otherwise than wee would have done if we had been in his place They preposterously usurpe the same power which God in his first Creation did justly exercise who though not expresly yet by inevitable consequence and by implicit thoughts make a God after their own image and similitude A God not according to the relikes of that image wherein hee made our first Parents but after the corruptions or defacements of it through partiality envy pride and hatred towards their fellow creatures But of the originall of transforming the Divine nature into the similitude of mans corrupted nature I have elswhere long agoe delivered my minde at large And I would to God some as I conjecture offended with what I there observed without any reference or respect either to their persons or their studies had not verified the truth of my observations in a larger measure than I then did conceived they could have been really ratified or exemplified by the meditation or practice of any rationall man This transformation of the Divine nature which is in some sort or degree common to most men is in the least degree of it one of those works of the Devill which the Sonne of God came into the world to dissolve by doctrine by example and exercise of his power But what bee the rest of those works besides this All I take it may be reduced to these generall heads First the actuall sinnes of our first Parents Secondly the remainder or effects of this sinne whether in our first Parents or in their posteritie to wit that more than habituall or hereditary corruption which we call sinne originall Thirdly sins adventitious or acquired that is such vitious acts or habits as doe not necessarily issue from that sinne which descends unto us from our first Parents but are voluntarily produced in particular men by their abuse of that portion of freewill which was left in our first Parents and in their posterity and that was a true freedome of will though not to doe well or ill yet at lest inter mala to doe lesse or greater evill or to doe this or that particular ill or worse Originall sinne is rather in us ad modum habitus than an habit properly so called All other habituall sinnes or vices are not acquired but by many unnecessitated vicious acts But to distinguish betweene vice and sinne or betweene vicious habits and sinfull habits is to my capacity a work or attempt rather of the same nature as if one should goe about to divide a point into two portions or a mathematicall line into two parallels 6. Nor are these sinnes enumerated nor sinne it self formally taken the onely works of the Devill which the Sonne of God came to destroy but these sinnes with their symptomes and resultances For the Devill sinneth from the beginning in continuall tempting men to sinne although his temptations doe not alwayes take effect He sinneth likewise in accusing men before their Creator or solliciting greater vengeance than their sinnes in favourable construction deserve Now that neither his temptations nor accusations do alwayes finde that successe which hee intends this is meerely from the mercy and loving kindnesse of our Creator in sending his Sonne to dissolve the works of Satan The generall symptome or resultance of all sinne originall or actuall is servitude or slavery unto Satan and the wages of this servitude is death not this hereditary servitude onely but death which is the wages of it is the work of Satan Yet a work which the Sonne of God doth not utterly destroy untill the generall resurrection of the dead Nor shall it then bee destroyed in any in whom the bonds of the servitude and slavery unto sinne have not been by the same Sonne of God dissolved whilest they lived on earth Hee was first manifested in the flesh and forme of a servant to pay the ransome of our sinnes and to untie the bonds and fetters of sinne in generall Hee was manifested in his resurrection to dissolve or breake the raigne of sinne within every one of us For as the Apostle speaks He died for our sinnes and rose againe for our justification And he shall lastly bee manifested or appeare in glory utterly to destroy sinne and death CHRIST saith the Apostle was once offered to beare the sinnes of many and unto them that look for him shall he appeare the second time without sin unto salvation Heb. 9.28 SECTION 2. Of the more speciall qualifications and undertakings of the Sonne of God for dissolving the works which the Devill had wrought in our first Parents and in our nature and for cancelling the bond of mankindes servitude unto Satan CHAP. VI. Of the peculiar qualifications of the Sonne of God for dissolving the first actuall sinne of our first Parents and the reliques of it whether in them or in us their sinfull posterity 1. THe qualifications or undertakings of the Sonne of God for dissolving or remitting such actuall sinnes as doe not necessarily issue from our first Parents and for bringing them and us unto greater glory than they affected doe challenge their place or proper seat in the Treatise designed to his exaltation after death and his consecration to his everlasting Priesthood Wee are now to prosecute the points proposed in the title of this Section and in the first place such points as were proposed in the title of this Chapter 2. The rule is universally true in works naturall civill and supernaturall but true with some speciall allowances Vnum quodque eodem modo dissolvitur quo constituitur Though the constitution and dissolution of the same work include two contrary motions yet the manner or method by which both are wrought is usually the same onely the order is inverted And wee should the better know how man 's first transgression was dissolved by Sonne of God if wee first knew how it was wrought by Satan or wherein the sinne it selfe did properly consist Infidelity or disobedience it could not bee for these are symptomes of sinnes already hatched Whatsoever else it was the first transgression was pride or ambitious desire of independent immortality Now the Sonne of God begun his work where Satan ended his dissoluing this sinne of pride by his unspeakable humility And to take away the guilt of mans disobedience or infidelity which were the symptomes or resultances of his intemperate desires the Sonne of God did humble himselfe to death even to the death of the Crosse reposing himselfe in all his sufferings upon God The first man was the onely Favourite which the King of kings had here on earth the onely creature whom hee had placed as a Prince in Paradise a seat more than royall or monarchicall with hopes of advancement unto heaven it selfe It was a
without originall sinne as being made out of this substance after such a maner as the Messias or Sonne of God was made of a virgin Sit fides penes Authorem We know the blessed Virgin was the daughter of Abraham and the daughter of David but not by any portion of Abrahams or Davids body altogether exempted from such alterations as the Elementary vertues of which all mens bodies are made are subject unto Nor was the body of the Messias to be made of any such portion of Adam perpetually exempted from the contagion of sin original unto the time wherein the blessed Virgin was affianced to Ioseph The first exemption of any portioÌ„ of the humane nature or substance of Adam after his fall was granted and wrought by the immediate hand of God in the conception of his Sonne by the holy Ghost which was immediatly upon that sweet assent of the blessed Virgin unto the Angel Gabriel Ecce ancilla c. Capnio Vellem expressius audire an veteres Heâ— braeorum senserint matrem Messiae in peccat-originali concipiendam non fuisse Galatin Quamvis ex his quae diximus satis utarbi tror apertè colligatur hanc priscorum Iudaeorum fuisse fidem nedum opinionem hoc tamen manifestius ex verbis praedicti Rabbenu haccados habetur qui eodem in libro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gale razeia cum ad septimam Antonini Consulis urbis Romae petitionem inter caetera dixisset propter matrem verò ejus scil Messiae ait David Psal 80. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hoc est aâ—acum quam plantavit dextratua Dixissetque ei Antoninus Cur mater Dei comparatur abaco curve dicit eam a dextra Dei plantatam Respondit sic Ille Similis facta est abaco mater Dei Quandoquidem sicut aâ—acus est armarium quod Principes conficiunt ad collâ—canda vascula auri argenti ut gloriam suam atque opes omnibus ostendant Ita mater Regis Messiae erat armarium quod Deus construxit ut in eo sedeat ipse Messias ad ostendendam gloriam Maiestatis suae cunctis mortalibus Per id autem quod ait plantâ—tam esse a dextra Dei ostendit eam primam esse creaturam Dei in genere humano sicut dictum est Micheae Cap. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est Et egressus eius ab aeternitate a diebus seculi Dicit enim egressus numero multitudinis Quiâ— sunt duo Messiae egressus Vnus Divinitatis quae est aeterna ideoque dicit ab aeternitate Alter humanitatis quae in sue matris extat substantia quae creata est ab hora creationis mundi Haec ille quem Iudaei Magistrum nostrum sanctum nuncupant Ad quorum declarationem notandum est Quod opinio quorundam veterum Judaeorum fuit matrem Messiae non solum in mente Dei ab initio ante secula creatam fuisse ut paulò superiùs dictum est verùm etiam materiam eius in materia Adae fuisse productam ipsamque gloriosam Messiae matrem principalem extitisse cum eius amore ut dictum est mundus creatus sit Nam cum Deus Adam plasmaret fecit quasi massam ex cuius parte nobiliori accepit intemeratae matris Messiae materiam ex residuo vero eius superfluitate Adam formavit Ex materia autem immaculatae matris Messiae facta est virtus quae in nobiliori loco membro corporis Adae conservata fuit Quae postea emanavit ad Seth deinde ad Enos deinde succidaneo ordine ad reliquos usque ad sanctum Iehoiakim Ex hac demum virtute beatissima mater Messiae formata fuit Et idcirco eam Zach. cap. 4. suae prophetiae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hoc est petram primariam recte appellavit Ex qua ut antiqui Judaeorum exposuerunt excidendus erat Messias Neque quidem abs re cum tempore gradu excellentia primaria futura esset Ex qua quidem opinione apertè concluditur carnem gloriosae matris Messiae non fuisse peccato originali infectam sed purissimam a divina prouidentia praeservatam Quocirca nec anima eius hujusmodi peccatum in conceptione contractura erat Petrus Galatinus lib. 7. per totum caput tertium 6 If it were lawfull to moralize such fables as I take this of Galatinus to bee no better the best moral I can make of it would be this However there had been many intermediat generations as many as S. Luke relateth if not more between our father Adam and the conception of the Sonne of God yet was our Saviour in some respects the immediat Successour of Adam the onely second Adam His immediat Successor not in sinne but of that purity of nature wherein the first Adam was created and yet withall immediat successor unto that curse which Adam by transgression had incurred but was not able to expiate nor to beare save onely by the everlasting death of himselfe and his posterity And for this reason if I mistake not the Sonne of God doth call himselfe as no sonne of Adam before him did The Sonne of man by peculiar title Yet was this a title as Maldonat well observes not of honour but of abjection of greater abjection than the like title given to Ezekiel not by himselfe but by the Angels And yet Ezekiel is called by the Angel not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of the difference betwixt these two titles which are both exorest in our English by Sonne of man I referre the Reader to the 49. Psalme ver 2. and the Commentators upon it As the Sonne of God was immediate Successour unto Adam so he was the immediate heire unto the blessing promised to Abraham more than heire the Author and foundation of it He was likewise immediate Successor unto David and his kingdome the onely body in whom the shadow of Gods mercies unto David for the good of Israel and Judah was to be fulfilled If hee had been immediate Successor unto David onely this might have occasioned some suspition or distrust that hee had been the Redeemer of the Jewish nation onely or of the sonnes of Iacob Had hee been immediate Successor unto Abraham onely this might have occasioned the like surmise or fancy that hee had been manifested onely to dissolve the works which Satan had wrought in Abrahams seed according to the flesh which was much more ample than the seed of Iacob But in as much as the Sonne of God did in time become the sonne of man the immediate Successor unto Adam the onely second Adam though not the first or second man from Adam This giveth us to understand that he was the next of kindred to all men as they were men whether Jewes or Gentiles He to whom the redemption of all mankinde did by right of kinred without partiality or respect of persons equally belong And for this reason hee did not take any created party or person into
or saluificated whilest the multitude cried Hosanna or wished all health unto him as wee are said to bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or saved by him And if Montanus had as fully exprest this whole phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as hee doth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 salvatus little could have been added to it by way of Comment 6. But to take the full importance of the whole phrase or matter signified according to the sublimitie of the Propheticall dialect or expression that I take it is thus However the promised King of Sion was to come unto her so lowly in person so poorely attired so meanely furnished of strength or visible pompe as might cause her Inhabitants rather to deride then respect him yet even in this plight or garb hee should bee entertained with generall applause with louder acclamations then had been used at the Coronation of David or of his Successors The ancient forme of such solemne acclamations had been Vivat Rex c. Let the King live but to our Saviour the multitude cry Hosanna Hosanna to the Sonne of David And this peculiar kinde of salutation or acclamation is punctually foretold by the Prophet and grammatically exprest by the Hebrew For Hosanna whether wee take it as precatory or congratulatory is an active which doth as exactly fit the passive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as ego saluto te doth tu es salutatus a me I salute you and you are saluted of me If Arias Montanus had said salvatus ille for salvatus ipse the Translation had been a more full expression of the Majestick originall phrase The full expression or Propheticall importance of the whole phrase if I mistake not the emphasis of the Hebrew pronoune 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 especially when it comes in the reare or after the Substantive to which it referres will amount to this height and higher Ecce Rex tuus venit Rex ille justus c. Et pro justis celebrandus And I know not whether Castellio his version of this place doe not imply as much Ecce Rex tuus venit qui est justus victoriosus It had been an ancient tradition or common prenotion amongst this people before the Prophet Zachariah was borne that their King or Christ should bee the Sonne of David and Davids Lord A Priest after the order of Melchisedeck who was King of Salem by office and by title King of righteousnesse or the righteous King Now the Prophet forewarnes this people that the glorious King whom Melchisedeck did by office and title foreshadow should come to Sion and Jerusalem not attended with horses and chariots but as became the righteous and pacificall King for so much his other title 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports riding on an Asse and the foale of an Asse and have both his titles proclaimed though not by expresse words yet by hieroglyphick or sacred heraldry His lowlinesse which is the onely ground of pacificall disposition was lively represented by the maner of his approach riding upon the foale of an Asse which in an instant had learned gentle conditions from his lowlinesse and peaceable temper who first did sit upon him His righteousnesse was really proclaimed by the congratulations and presents of the people Much people saith S. Iohn that were come to the Feast when they heard that Iesus was comming to Ierusalem tooke branches of Palme trees and went forth to meet him as yet not hearing whether hee came on foot or horsebacke and cried Hosanna blessed is the King of Israel that commeth in the Name of the Lord Iohn 12.12 c. And S. Mark telleth us Many spread their garments in the way and others cut downe branches of the trees And strawed them in the way And they that went before and they that followed cried saying Hosanna blessed is he that commeth in the Name of the Lord. Blessed bee the Kingdome of our Father David that commeth in the Name of the Lord Hosanna in the Highest Mark 11.8 9 10. Matt. 21.8 9. Now the Palme tree was as well in prophane as in sacred Heraldry as true an Embleme or hieroglyphick of righteousnesse or Justice as the sword is of Authority and power Hence saith the Psalmist Iustus ut palma florebit the just shall flourish like a Palme tree Why rather like this tree then any other then like the Oake or Cedar Pierius to my remembrance giveth us the ground or reason of this sacred allusion and it is this For that the Palme tree the more it is wronged or prest downe the lesse it is diverted from its naturall course but groweth higher and spreadeth the more And was for this reason a fit Embleme of this righteous and victorious King whose incomparable exaltation did grow from his unparalleld humiliation and depression CHAP. XIX Of the meaning or importance of Hosanna to the Sonne of David 1 THe diversity of Interpretations of many principall passages in Scripture is for the most part as great as the multiplicity or variety of importances or significations of some one single word in some large sentences and passages The best is that this word Hosanna hath but two importances which can breed any matter of difference betweene Interpreters of Scripture or any variety of Interpretations Yet discord betweene Interpreters usually arise without any difference onely from variety of significations in words more then compatible yea most consonant betweene themselves As some there be who would have this word Hosanna to be meerely precatory or optative as much as The Lord send help or salvation Others would have it to be meerely or especially congratulatory Whereas both opinions agree very well though their severall Authors or Abetters have censured each other That Hosanna in the intention of the Multitude which carryed or spread branches of Palmes or Olives in the way should at least in the direct sense be meerely congratulatory is probably alledged from the whole phrase or structure of speech for they did not cry as the blind man in the way did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O Son of David have mercy upō me or save me but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hosanna to the Son of David in the Highest Both clauses import matter only of cōgratulatiō Caninius first after him Beza amongst others have out of their Rabbinicall learning well observed that the branches of Palmes of Olives or other trees which this people used in their solemne Feast of Tabernacles or the like in which they used the comprecations of the 118. Psalme came by custome and concurrence of time to bee called Hosanna by such a maner or trope of speech as the English and French doe call the buds or flowers of Hawthorne May. According to this importance or signification of the word Hosanna the meaning of the multitude or Disciples was that they did beare these boughes and use these congratulations in honour of the Sonne of David now comming unto them in
this God of mercy and consolation infallibly know that Abraham would be ready to doe all that hee commanded him to doe Yes certainely and more then so that Abraham should not doe all which he first commanded him to doe Why then did he command him to sacrifice his only son Isaac To this end that he might have Abrahams full consent to offer up one of his seed but not Isaac for the accomplishing of the blessing promised to mankind from the date of the curse pronounced against the first woman Inasmuch as Abraham was willing to sacrifice his onely sonne the son of his old age whom he loved more dearely then he could have done any one or more sonnes or then he could have loved him if he had been the sonne of his middle age his consent for the sacrificing of any other either of his or Isaacs posterity whosoever hee were was evidently included in this his extraordinary obedience And yet so graciously and lovingly did God deale with Abraham that albeit he was the Lord of all and Abrahams most gracious Lord in particular that he would not seize upon any of Abrahams seed for a sacrifice of atonement betwixt himself and the whole world without Abrahams consent This gracious Lord then by interposing the forementioned oath that in Abrahams seed all the Natiōs of the Earth should be blessed was abundantly mercifull not to Abraham onely but unto all mankinde by him And yet as Rupertus out of S. Chrysostom if my memory failes me not observeth this abundant mercy was not diluta misericordia that is this mercy though incomparable was well placed and the accomplishment of it assured upon most just and equitable though not upon any valuable considerations Quaesivit Deus titulum in Abrahamo saith this Author c. God from the first promise made to mankinde did expect a fit occasion to confirme it by solemn oath and found out Abraham a man quoad haec according to his owne heart for accepting this league or covenant betwixt him and man upon earnest given or resolved to be given by Abraham For God had before determined to give his Sonne for the redemption of men and now finding Abraham most willing and ready to give him his onely Son and finding also Abrahams onely son obedient unto death he binds himself by solemn oath that he would give his onely Son that his onely Sonne being made the seed of Abraham should be more willing then Isaac was to be offered up in bloody sacrifice for the redemption of Mankinde But the contents or importances of Gods covenant made by oath unto Abraham were they to be handled alone would require a larger volume and longer disquisition then I dare in these yeares and in this weaknesse project So much of them as I conceive to be pertinent unto these Commentaries upon the Apostles Creed shall be intermingled by Gods assistance in the explication of the articles following 4. But taking all that hath beene said for granted to wit that God by demanding Isaac in sacrifice or by pressing Abraham to be the Sacrificer did binde himself by oath to offer up his onely sonne in such a bloody sacrifice as Abraham had destinated Isaac unto Yet the captious Jews or other Infidels would thus except that Abraham never intended nor was he by God commanded to offer up his onely sonne Isaac upon the crosse for that did not onely imply a bloody but an accursed kinde of death This indeed is the maine stumbling block to the Jew who perhaps would not so much as have scunnered at the Altar if our Saviour had beene offered upon it specially in the Temple or in the Courts adjoyning The next quaeries then for satisfaction of the Jews or other Infidels if God at any time shall vouchsafe them eyes to see or eares to heare are in what sacred writings acknowledged by them the bloody sacrifice of Abrahams seed or his sufferings upon a tree or crosse without the City of Jerusalem not in the courts or precincts of the Lords house were either foretold or foreshadowed CHAP. XXXI That the Sonne of God should be offered upon a tree or crosse was prefigured by Moses his erection of the brazen Serpent in the wildernesse 1 THat the death of the Messias or Sonne of God upon the Crosse was prefigured by Moses his lifting up of the brazen Serpent upon a pole perhaps a crosse in the wildernesse this Sonne of God did instruct his timorous Disciple Nicodemus who came to him by night more fully then he did such as were his daily followers untill the time approached wherein he was to suffer this ignominious death His sacred Catechisme to this Disciple is exactly registred by S. Iohn and uttered by him some yeares before that last feast of Tabernacles whereat Nicodemus was present Ioh. 7. No man saith our Saviour unto him hath ascended up to heaven but he that came downe from heaven even the Sonne of man which is in heaven and as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wildernesse even so must the Sonne of man be lifted up While the Sonne of man was lifted up the Sonne of God was likewise lifted up that is by way of sacrifice or atonement That the efficacy of this atonement should proceed from vertue or power of himself as he was the Sonne of God he himself instructeth us ver 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Sonne that whosoever beleeved in him should not perish but have everlasting life for God sent not his Sonne into the world to condemne it but that the world through him might be saved The end then of his comming into the world was to save it and the end of his lifting up upon the crosse was to draw all men to look upon him as the Israëlites who were stung with fiery serpents did upon the brazen Serpent which Moses erected in the wildernesse To this purpose he afterwards expounds himself when he repeateth his Catechisme made to Nicodemus unto the people Ioh. 12. And I if I be lift up from the earth will draw all men unto me He did and doth draw all men unto him not drag any after him Such as will not be gently drawn by him their perdition is from themselves and however all shall not in the issue be saved by him yet he is the Saviour of all though especially of such as beleeve that is of such as out of the sense and feeling of their sinnes which are the stings of death seeke that remedy for their souls from meditations upon the crosse or upon him crucified which Gods people in the wildernesse did for their bodies by looking upon the brazen Serpent erected by Moses 2. That bodily salvation which they enjoyed by observing of this divine prescript was not procured by the materiall Serpent on which they looked but by the vertue of that invisible power whose spirituall efficacie was in times following to bee more visibly manifested in the accomplishment of
Saviour suffer not them to perish which do hang on thee Thou art the Lord and owner challenge thy possession Thou art the head helpe thy members Thou art the King give us a reverence of thy Lawes Thou art the Prince of peace breathe upon us brotherly love Thou art the God have pity on thy humble beseechers be thou according to Pauls saying all things in all men to the intent the whole quire of thy Church with agreeing mindes and consonant voyces for mercy obtained at thy hands may give thanks to the Father Sonne and holy Ghost which after the most perfect example of concord be distincted in property of persons and one in nature to whom be praise and glory eternally Amen FINIS A CATALOGVE OF the severall Treatises heretofore published by the Author THe Eternall Truth of Scriptures and Christian beliefe in two Books of Commentaries upon the Apostles Creed The third Book of Commentaries upon the Apostles Creed containing the blasphemous positions of Iesuits and other later Romanists concerning the authoritie of their Church Iustifying Faith or the faith whereby the just doe live being the fourth Book upon the Creed A Treatise containing the originall of unbeliefe misbeliefe or misperswasions concerning the Verity Vnity and Attributes of the Deity with directions for rectifying our beliefe or knowledge in the forementioned points being the fifth Book upon the Creed A Treatise of the Divine Essence and Attributes the first and second parts being the sixth Book upon the Creed The knowledge of Christ Iesus or the seaventh booke of Commentaries upon the Apostles Creed containing the first and generall principles of Christian Theologie with the more immediate principles concerning the knowledge of Christ divided into foure Sections The humiliation of the Sonne of God or the eighth Book of Commentaries upon the Apostles Creed A Treatise of the holy Catholick Faith and Church Christs answer to Iohns question or an Introduction to the knowledge of Iesus Christ and him crucified delivered in certaine Sermons Nazareth and Bethlehem or Israels portion in the sonne of Jesse And mankinds comfort from the weaker sex in two Sermons preached at S. Maries in Oxford FINIS * Phil. â— ver 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. * Psal 40. ver 6 7 8. * See the seventh book cap. 17. §. 5. * In the 7. Book and 28. Chap. * See the 7 book cap. 26. § 34. * In the 5th book of Commentaries upon the Apostles Creed or a Treatise containing the originall of unbeliefe c. See the former Treatise chap. 44.45 c. a Mihi verò ratio cur ita sese vocaverit duabus ex rebus pâ—tenda esse videtur altera quòd solus ipse Ezechiel imo Daniel etiam aliquando ita vocetur ut Irenaeus lib. 3. cap. 18 notavit altera quòd solus ipse se ita vocet Nam alij in novo Testamento nunquam cum filium hominis appellant Ex priore re intelligimus posse eâdem aut simili de causâ quà Ezechielem filium hominis appellari Cur autem Ezechiel ita vocatus sit cum multas illic opiniones reconsuerimus illam R. Abraham maximè probavimus vocari â—um filium hominis quia semper cum Angelis lâ—quebatur qui eum ut a se qui homines non erant sed videbantur distinguerent fiâ—um hominis appellabant Nec enim ipse sed cum Angeli ita vocant Simili fortasse ratione Christus quia Deus erat filius Dei quasi aâ—itâ—esi quadam cum de se ut homine loquitur fiâ—ium hominis vocat Non quod alâ—uâ— sed quod aliter filius Dei quia Deus filiâ—s hominis quia homo esset quemadmodum Augustinus indicavit Exposteri reprobabilem conjecturam ducimus â—um se non honoris sed abjectionis caâ—á◠ita vocare sicut apud Prophetam vermem opprobrium hominum appellat Psal 21. ver 7. Nisi enim nomen abjectionis esset alij etiam eum aliquando eodem modo vocavissent Sed observamus Ezechielem nunquam a se sed abalus Christum nunquam ab aliis sed a se filâ—um hominis appellari Ideo ergo se filium hominis appellat ut significet se cum in forma Dei esset nec rapinam arbitraretur se esse aequalem Deo exinaâ—â—sse tamen semetipsum formamque servi accepisse habitu inventum ut hominem Phil. 2.6 7. Maldonat in cap. 8 Matthaei ver 20. The 7. book of the Commentaries upon the Creed cha 25. §. 3 4 c. The 7. book of Commentaries upon the Creed Chap. 30. § 10. c. * Deut. 8.3 * Psal 91.11 12. * Ioh. 12.27 * Heb. 5.8 * Matt. 16.22 * Curaeus * Capta Dragonera Magio negotiuÌ„ datum ut Montemmarinum munitissimuÌ„ locum aggrederetur Igitur secuÌ„ ducto Augusto SaluciaruÌ„ principis notâ—o filio eò tendit evocatoque quasi ad colloquium praesidiariorum duce ab Augusto quîcum arctissima intercedebat amicitia Magius ex compacto superveniens eum comprehendi jussit ut locum dederet hortatus cum nihil proficeret postremo minas addidit ipsum vinctum quasi ad supplicium in oppidi conspectum deduci imperavit tam miserabili spectaculo victi oppidani ut ducem suum periculo eximerent deditioneÌ„ fecere 0bservatuÌ„ tam indignae mortis vehementi metu adeo concussum animo eum suisse ut sanguineum sudoreÌ„ toto corpore funderet Thâ—an lib. 10. pag. 221.1 * Cusanus * 2. Sam. 24.17 * Psal 40. Heb. 10.5 6 7. * 1. Pet. 2.18 19. * In his Paradoxes * Mark 14.35 c The 7. book of these Commentaries upon the Creed chap. 36. par 3 4 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Ioh. 20.28 * Or sayed himselfe c. * The 7. Book of Commentaries ca. 6. c That is it should be a quiet habitation for bordering Nations or a mixt people * zach 9.9 * Vide Riberam in secundum Haggaei * Nunquam cohabites impiis eò quòd fieri non possit ut non ex illorum conversatione tu impius evadas Quod si mâ—raris Considera quid acciderit Iiphtah Gileaditae qui licet iustus esset tamen quia habitavit in tribu Epharaijm ipse ab eis ad impietatem pertractus fuit Cum enim videret quòd filios filias suas idolo Baal comburereÌ„t inde quoque ipse abiit similique modo filiam suam occidit Item cum videret eos operam dare homicidiis factus est ipse homicida abiens interficiens 40. duo millâ—a ob quod facinus tanquam impius punitus non meruit sepulturam juxta id quod dicituâ— Et sepultus est in civitatibus Gilead Iudic. 12. Qui locus Scripture docet di pâ—sa sinâ—e â—ossa ejus in omnibus civitatibus Gilead In quocunque enim loco videbant ejus ossa sepeâ—â—ebant ea Ben. Syrae Sentent Mor. 6. * Marke Luke in the forecited places and S. Ioh. chap. 12. ver 14. * Zach. 9.9 * Statius * Vide Hebraicum contextum Prov. 19.21 Quòd verò ponderibus resistat in adversuÌ„ incurvetur facere idem Iudices debent atque reluctabundi seductores pellacesque omnes detrectare neque mulieribus neque vioâ—etiae ced re Pierius in initio sui lib. I. de hierog inquit Aristot Si super arboris ejus lignum magnum quantumlibet pondus imponas Palma minime deorsum cedit nec infra flectitur sed adversus pondus â—esuâ—git sursum nititur in adversum fornicata Marke 10.48 * See Christs answere to Iohn In the 7. Booke last Chapter of the last section * Chap. 26. * Vide Genebrardum in Psal 3. * See Cap. 15. par 3. 4. * Ver. 69. * Matth. 26.64 * Sect. 3. Chap. 11. par 9 10. c. * See Jer. 45. ver 5. 39 Vide Nebrisensis quinquagenam C. 14. * Chap. 26 parag 4. * Zach. 11.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Septuagint * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gloriosum pretiuÌ„ quo appretiatus sum Zach. 11.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See the 7. book of CommeÌ„ts on the Creed S. Matthew addes and saith it was called the field of blood unto this day which argues that he wrote his Gospel a long time after S. Peter made his Comment upon the Psalmist See Psal 55.16 * See the 7. book of these Commentaries sect 3. cap. 28. sect 5. Mat. 27.50 Mat. 15.37 Gen. 22. * Ier. 32.42 * Scilicet in 3. Cap. ejus libelli * See Christs answer to John * Vide Chytraeism in hoc caput Sect. 2. * Vide Petrum RamuÌ„ in Commentariis de side Capite 130. de Christi sepulturâ Et Tremellium in editione Syriaci Testamenti See the 2. page of this Treatise
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the unknowne sufferings Such I take it as no man in this life besides our Saviour alone did suffer nor shall ever any man suffer the like in the life to come in which the paines of Hell shall be too well knowne unto many But that our Saviour in this life should suffer such paines is incredible for this being granted the powers of darknesse had prevailed more against him than Satan did against Iob. For the actuall suffering such paines includes more then a taste a draught of the second death unto which no man is subject before he die the first death nor was it possible that our Saviour should ever taste them either dying or living or after death This error it seemes hath surprized some otherwaies good Divines through incogitancie or want of skill in Philosophie For by the unerring rules of true Philosophy the nature quality or measure of paines must bee taken not so much from the force or violence of the Agent as from the condition or temper of the Patient Actus agentium sunt in patiente rite disposito The fire hath not the same operation upon Gold as it hath upon Lead nor the same upon greene wood which it hath on dry Or if a man should deale his blowes with an eeven hand betweene one sound of body and of strong bones and another sickly crasie or wounded the paines though issuing from the equality of the blowes would be most unequall That which would hardly put the one to any paine at all might drive the other into the very pangs of death Goliath did looke as big did speake as roughly and every way behave himselfe as sternly against little David as hee had against Saul and the whole hoast of Israel Yet his presence though in it selfe terrible did make no such impression of terrour upon David as it had done upon Saul and the stoutest Champions in his hoast And the reason why it did not was because David was armed with the shield of faith and confidence in the Lord his God a secret Armour which was not then to be found in all the Kingdome of Israel besides But a farre greater then Goliath associated and seconded with a farre greater hoast both for number and strength than the Philistines in Davids time were able to make more maliciously bent against the whole race of Adam than the Philistines at this or any other time were against the seed of Abraham was now in field And all of us are bound to praise our gracious God that in that houre wee had a Sonne of David farre greater than his Father to stand betweene us and the brunt of the battell then pitched against us For if all mankinde from the East unto the West which have lived on earth since our Father Adams fall unto this present time or shall continue unto all future generations had been then mustred together all of us would have fled more swiftly and more confusedly from the sight or presence of this great Champion for the powers of darknesse than the hoast of Israel did from the Champion of the Philistines when hee bid a defiance unto them All of us had been routed at the first encounter without any slaughter been committed alive to perpetuall slavery and imprisonment But did this Sonne of David obtaine victory in this Duel with the Champion for the powers of darknesse at as easie a rate as his Father David had done over Goliath No If wee stretch the similitude thus farre wee shall dissolve the sweet harmony betweene the type and the Antitype The conquest which the Sonne of David had over Satan and the powers of darknesse whether in the garden or upon the Crosse was more glorious then that which David had over Goliath or Israel over the Philistines David was Master of the field sine sanguine sudore multo without blood or much sweat The Sonne of David did sweat much blood before hee foiled his potent Adversary And the present question is not about the measure but about the nature and quality of the pains which the Sonne of David in this long Combat suffered in respect of the paines which David or any other in the behalfe of Gods people had suffered As the glory of our Saviour Christ is now much greater than the glory of all his Saints which have been or shall be hereafter so no doubt his sufferings did farre exceed the sufferings of all his Martyrs But all this and much more being granted will not inferre that he suffered either the paines of Hell or hellish paines poenas infernales aut poenas inferorum such paines as the power of darknesse in that houre of extraordinary temptation had cast all mankinde into unlesse the Sonne of David had stood in the breach Admit the old Serpent had been in that houre permitted to exert his sting with all the might and malice he could against the promised womans seed that is the manhood of the Sonne of God yet seeing as the Apostle saith the sting of death is sinne not imputed but inherent it was impossible that the stinging paines of the second death should fasten upon his body or soule in whom there was neither seed nor relique neither root or branch of sinne Or againe admit hell fire whether materiall or immateriall be of a more violent and malignant quality than any materiall fire which we know in what subject soever it bee seated is and that the powers of darknesse with their entire and joint force had liberty to environ or begirt the Sonne of God with this fire or any other instruments of greater torture which they are enabled or permitted to use yet seeing there was no fuell either in his soule or body whereon this fire could feed no paines could bee produced in him for nature or quality truely hellish or such as the damned suffer For these are supernaturall or more than so not only in respect of the Agents or causes which produce them but in respect of the Subject which endures them Satan findes alwayes some thing in them which he armes against them some inherent internall corruption which hee exasperates to greater malignity than any externall force or violence could effect in any creature not tainted with such internall corruption from which the promised womans seed was more free than his crucified body was from putrifaction The Prince of darknesse and this world could finde nothing which hee could exasperate or arme against him 4. In respect of Divine justice or of those eternall rules of equity which the Omnipotent Creator doth most strictly observe it was not expedient only but necessary that the Son of God should in our flesh vanquish Satan and vanquish him by suffering evills even all the evills incident to our mortall nature There was no necessity no congruity that the Sonne of God should vanquish this great Enemy of mankinde by suffering the very paines of Hell or hellish torments These properly taken or when they are suffered in