he was made a curse For the third in what nature he was made a curse We have this answer In his humane nature consisting of body and soul yea in soul rather then in body the soul of man being the principal seat and place of residence for sin For saith Christ himself z Mat. 15.19 out of the heart which in Scripture beareth usually the name and title of the soul proceedeth evill thoughts murthers adulteries c. Yet I say in both compleating and making up the humane nature sustained and supported by the Divine being in Union with it Here is something to be borne and meet it is a Bishop Andrews ser that every one should bear his own burthen the nature that had sinned bear his own sin Mans nature had sinned and therefore mans nature ought to suffer But that which mans nature should mans nature could not bear not the heavy and insupportable weight of Gods wrath due to sin but God could The one ought and could not The other could but ought not if he had not bin man he could not have suffered if he had not bin God he had sunk in his sufferings and had never bin able to have gone thorow with them God had no shoulders Man had but too weak God knows to sustain so great a weight So that as he was man he was lyable and as he was God he was able saith that learned Prelate b Pag. to bear the burthen in the heat of the day c Psal 16. To the last how far forth Christ was accursed We answer thus There is a two-fold death a first and a second death in the first death there are two degrees separation of body and soul and the putrifaction of the body separated The first Christ suffered but not the second For his body being deprived of life according to the dialect of the Psalmist c Psal 16. saw no corruption Again in the second there are two degrees the first is a separation from God in sense and feeling The second is an absolute separation from him for ever never to be admitted into favour any more Into this last degree of death Christ entred not for in the midst of his most grievous sufferings in the exaltation and height of all his sorrows he yet cryed out my God my God declaring his trust in and dependance upon God notwithstanding all his misery Neither could it be otherwise without a dissolution of the personal Union But into the first degâ—ees of this second death we affirm and that upon plain Scripture grounds against all opposition that Christ did enter that is the sense and feeling of Gods wrath and indignation d Cum ira Dei sit voluntas puniendi rectè etiam diâ—ipotest Iratus illo quèm vice loco delinquentium punire vult essen due to the Elect in regard of their iniquities by which they had provoked him to be highly displeased with them Not to muster up any more * Instances witnesses we will only take a short survey of that place of the Apostle to the Hebrews cap. 5. vers 7. Who in the dayes of his flesh when he had offered up Prayers and Supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared and so free it what we may from the violence done unto it by the Dialogue who notwithstanding his profession of reverence to those Authours who expound the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fear yea the fear of astonishment at the sense and feeling of Gods wrath for the guilt of our sins yet labours tooth and naile to overthrow their exposition and by one of his own to carry the meaning of the Text another way telling us that some translate it reverence others dignity a third sort piety to which because he himself adheres rather then to any other doth therefore conclude that it must be so taken here and must not cannot be otherwise But by the Dialogues good leave there is no such necessity for that as he would have us believe the proper signification of the word being fear together with the frequent use of it by all sorts of Greek Authours both holy d Heb. 12.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and humane e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Plut. in Camille declare the contrary as also the Proposition annexed f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which cannot be bribed or corrupted to comply with the sense and interpretation of the Dialogue It was not an ordinary fear arising from an ordinary cause g Metus vel solitudo c. that thus constrained our blessed Saviour to entreat and supplicate for he felt such pains saith Piscator h In animo pariter corpore tales sensit dolores quales damnati sensuri sunt in inferno ut ita satisfaceret pro peccatis nostris quae ut Sponsor in se susceperat c. In Heb. 5.7 as the Elect if they had bin damned in Hell should have felt that so he might make satisfaction to the Justice of God for their sins the guilt of which as a Pledge or surety he had freely and voluntarily taken upon him He offered up saith the Apostle prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared If it had bin fear of bodily death only as the Dialogue would have it what need such cryes such strong cryes with tears Surely be would make him lesse then a man and more faint in a good cause then Malefactors are in a bad But the Text is plain he was heard in that he feared that is saved from the death he feared but he was not saved from the bodily death for he dyed and gave up the Ghost i Mat. 27.58 therefore it was not the bodily death but the great horrour of soul * Christus ut plenè pro nobis satisfaceret non tantum corporis sed etiam summos animi cruciatus sustinuit Vicit Bâ—za in Mat. by reason of the wrath of God which he suffered that he so feared and from which he was in respect of the eternity there of delivered Nor was it Christs deliverance out of these sufferings much lesse from a bodily death only as the Dialogue but upon what grounds I know not doth most vainly to say no worse affirm but the glory of God his Father in the salvation of the Elect which was the Master-piece of all his prayers Well we have enough for our purpose He prayed that he might be delivered from death True but this death was the death of the crosse the principal part whereof was the curse that is the wrath of God due to the Elect for sin from which he was delivered in respect of duration but sustained it for a time for them that they might for ever be freed from the same And this we take to be the
undergone those most grievous punishments due unto and for the same But Christ hath so born or carryed our iniquities sustaining and suffering death for the same that we might be freed there from Therefore he hath truly and indeed sustained the most grievous punishments of our iniquities Here the Dialogue doth endeavour Tenebras inducore rebus to cast a mist before our eyes by telling us that this very place being cited by St. Matthew c Mat. 8.17 is by him applyed to bodily sicknesses and diseases inferring from hence that Christ did not bear infirmities or sicknesses from the sick and diseased as a Porter bears a burthen by laying them on his own body but bearing them away by the power of his Word * See how they reason Ferre seu portare in Scripturali quando ergo Semper after which manner also he bare our sins and our iniquities One egg cannot be more like another then these Words and this glosse are to those and that of Socinus d De Christo Servatore and his Disciple Crellius e Corporales morbos Christus non sustinuit aut perculit sed ab hominibus abstulit ac verbo Sanavat Cont. Grot. pag. 56. if they may not be said and that truly to be the same To which we in the name of the Orthodox do answer that that place of St. Matthew is to be read by way of application not explication sicknesses and diseases are the effects and fruits of sin therefore he declareth Christ to be a Physician not for the soul only but for the body also and in token of spiritual health and recovery from sin he did afford and apply corporal from maladyes and distempers So Pareus upon this place in Matthew It was the end of Christs coming to bear our sins which are the sicknesses of the soul and therefore he begins by practising upon the sicknesses of the body that so having cured the one he might proceed to the Sanation of the other Thus honest Ferus the fryer f Christi propositum erat ut peccata nostra portaret quae verè infirmitates sunt animarum c. in Mat. 8. Also St. Chrisost saith g Homil. 25. that the corporal health which Christ afforded to the sick was a type of that spiritual health which was to be expected from him Nor is there so much difference if any at all between that in Isaiah which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that in St. Matthew which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they would bear us in hand in regard he may be truly said to bear both the one by passion the other by compassion Now seeing the figg-leaf will not serve to cover their nakedness but that it must be discovered for that he bare wounds and bruises for us cannot be denyed He that is our Dialogue tells us that Satan and his instruments did thus bruise and wound him True but not for us The sufferings wounds and bruises of which the Prophet Isaiah doth so liberally discourse and so literally describe are not only such wherein Satan and wicked men were instruments as these Socinians the Dialogue and the rest h We put them together as birds of a seather do fondly fain but some of them were immediately inflicted by God himself without any second means as instruments of the same so Vers 6. the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all also Vers 10. It pleased the Lord to bruise him Now these sufferings were principally in his soul which neither men nor Divels could afflict or terrify but God could and did as was forespoken of him in the same verse Thou shalt make his soul a sacrifice for sin Add to these the complaint of Christ himself i Matt. 26.33 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my soul is exceeding heavy even unto the death And then the sum of all will be this that Christ our Saviour did undergo most exquisite torments both in body and soul joyned with and lying under the sense of Divine wrath by reason of the guilt of sin which lay upon him and was imputed to him For the further confirmation hereof I might urge and that with better authority then any can refuse it that place in the book of the Lamentations k Lam. 1.12 Is it nothing to you all ye that passe by Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce wrath I know and according to the letter it cannot be denyed but that these words are set down by the Prophet Jeremiah in the person of his own people being then in great misery and of the holy City then laid wast by the Chaldees their professed Enemies what then says one l Bishop Andrews his serm as learned as the best of those that dare oppose it I find saith he there is not any of the Ancient writers but do apply yea and in a manner appropriate this speech to our Saviour Christ and wheresoever they treat of the passion ever this cometh in to expresse the bitterness and the horrour thereof And to say the truth taking the words strictly and as they lye before us they cannot agree with or be verified of any but of him and him only For though some other and not altogether unfitly may say the same words yet it must be in a qualified sense For in full and perfect propriety of speech he and none but he can say si fuerit dolor sicut dolor meus no day of wrath like to his day no grief no sorrow no torment to be compared to his yea his exceeded them all Besides what if it were spoken literally of this people then So was that in the Prophesie of Hosea m Hos 11.1 Ex Aegypto vocavi filium out of Aegypt have I called my Son yet it is by the Evangelist n Matt. 2.15 understood of and applyed to our Saviour Christ My God my God why hast thou forsaken me was at first uttered by David o Psal 22.1 yet Christ himself maketh use of the same words and that more truly and properly then ever David did or could and of those of Davids and of these of Jeremies there is the same reason Well though the Ancients all along have ascribed them unto Christ and in fitness of terms and more fulness of truth they may be taken to be spoken of him more and rather then of any other whatsoever yet because we will give nâ—ne occasion to cavil we will freely and fairly passe them by A man that would commend a Spring water need not drink up the whole Fountain one or two draughts is sufficient We have already had a tast of the truth of Christs suffering the wrath of God for us Yet we will take a sip or two more and so will conclude this first part And to this purpose mark how fully the Apostle Paul p Gal.
very drift and purpose of the Holy Ghost in this place of the Apostle Further more there are some and those of no small account in the Church of God who take that Article in the Creed of Christs descension into Hell to signify those Spiritual and internal passions which he suffered in his Soul out of the sense of Divine wrath hanging over him and inflicted upon him by reason of the guilt of our sins for which he was to satisfie Thus Uâ—sinus k Catechism pag 236. and Spanhemius l Summos cruciatus angustias dolores quas Christus perpossus c. de exinatione Christi pag. 274. also our own Perkins m Perkins on the Creed upon the Creed expounding that part of Hannah's song 1 Sam. 2.6 The Lord killeth and the Lord maketh alive He bringeth down to Hell and raiseth up again saith thus The Lord maketh men feel wo and misery in their Souls yea even the pangs of Hell and afterwards restoreth comfort and refreshment to them But we passe this What ever uncertainty in this point the Dialogue would fasten on us and make the World believe there is among us shall so he may gain the more credit to himself and his Socinian opinion I leave to the judgment of the indifferent Reader in the mean season let all men know that in this we all agree and this constantly and unâ—nimously affirm that Christ Jesus suffered that death and those very Soul n Ipsam poenam infornalem re ipsa tulit c. Poliander 1. concertatione torments to which the Elect were subject by reason of the curse of the Law which lay upon them For the further confirmation whereof we here propound a three-fold question First in what manner Secondly in what measure Thirdly for what time Christ suffered this death and these torments Which being resolved will not be much unlike Solomons three-fold cord not easily broken First how and in what manner Christ suffered this death and these torments Answ Our sins and we by reason of our sins being accursed hatefull and abhominable in the sight of the most pure God not beholding us in our filthinesse but with indignation towards us It pleased Jesus Christ being himself most holy by the unspeakable mercy of the Father and his own free grace and goodness taking upon him our miserable and forlorne condition and undergoing both in body and soul those torments which we should everlastingly have suffered * Christus fit pro nobis maledictio in cruce luens poenam iis debitam qui voluerunt dificri Bez. in Luc. 23. to free us from the same This I say he did freely and of his own accord for though according to the Evangelist o Mat. 26.39 there may seem some reluctancy in him yet against the Monotholites we consider in Christ a double will the one Divine the other humane in respect of his humane will he may be said under condition to eschue death and desire to be delivered from it but his Divine will was that the will of his Father and not his humane will might be accomplished which being considered he did freely and voluntarily engage himself to suffer what ever his Father in Justice would even to his wrath and indignation to satisfy the same and free the Elect from it Secondly how much and in what measure Christ suffered Answ As much in full weight and measure if we may use the terms as did counter-vail all the sins of the Elect past present and to come and what was wanting in his bodily torments to make full satisfaction to Divine Justice was supplyed and made up in his soul sufferings * Christus cum Satana cum pâ—ccatis cum morte denique horrenâ—a illa maledictione Deâ—armatis potenter luctans c. Beza in Mar. cap. 13. the sense of which both before and in the time of suffering did so much molest and trouble him Thirdly what time and how long did he suffer Answ From the very time that he began to work out the Redemption of the Elect date it when they will untill upon the crosse he cryed out consummatum est it is finished To the Jews this may be a stumbling block to the Greeks foolishness to the Dialogue and the rest of the Socinian brood absurd and ridiculous but both to Jews and Greeks with all that believe it is the mighty power wisdome and goodness Object 1 of God to Salvation But here the Dialogue c. do scoffingly object what would God deal so hardly with his own Son as not to abate him any thing of the full price of that which sinfull man should have payed Answ To which the Apostle himself hath given an answer hear we him for we cannot mend it p Rom. 8.32 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non pepercit he spared not his own Son but gave him up to death and what death even the cursed death of the crosse for our redemption Object 2 It is further objected that this punishment and these sufferings and that death which our Savivour Christ endured cannot he said to be eternal because they lasted but a time which being expired they were likewise finished Answ For answer whereunto we affirm that a thing may be said to be eternal two wayes q Vel ratione quid dicatis vel ratione durationis L. V. de satisfactione either in respect of the substance or in respect of the circumstance the being or continual being of a thing in the former sense Christ suffered eternal death not in the latter he suffered the essential part of those torments r Ipsissimam maledictionem in lege minacum subierit Idem which all the Elect should have suffered unto all eternity though not the circumstantial in respect of duration Besides eternal death in the phrase and dialect of the Scriptures doth not signify the perpetual dissolution of body and soul as the Socinians do understand it for so the damned themselves do not suffer eternal death Å¿ Aliud est ceterum in morte manere aliud est aeternam mortem sustinere Illud durationem hoc virtutem mortis utrumque vel de animae corporis solutione vel de cruciatibus gehennae intelligitur Cal. de Satisf pag. 466. but either in the immeasurable greatness of infernal torments or the everlasting continuance thereof The first of which is essential the other but accidental That Christ suffered This he could not ought not to undergo Could not because he is eternal life it self God blessed for ever Amen Ought not because it was his office to free us from death by conquering the power and taking away the sting thereof Lastly Christ may be said to suffer eternal death potentially if we may borrow that expression to declare our intention though not actually that is a death alwayes enduring though not by him alwayes to be endured There is this proportion between that death which we should have suffered and that which Christ did
far from agreement among our selves Some affirming our justification to be by infusion of righteousness into us for which we are accepted Others take away the imputation of Christ's righteousness from us A third sort deny the satisfaction of Christ A fourth would have the very act of beleeving accounted for righteousness One cries up this Another that as their severall humours and affections sway them So that there are almost found tot Sententiae quot capita as many different minds as men Among which I find one Gentleman the Author of the Dialogue I mean who by the fame and opinion of his learning and piety hath drawn in many professours of Religion not only to a liking but defending of his errors For with that tract of his baited with the glorious Title of the Meritorious price of Mans redemption hath he hooked in many and some no smal fools in the eye and judgement of the World The very Title page d Hedera illa quam in Dialogi sui vestibulo fronte suspensam habet vinum intus haud vendibile indicat whereof is sufficient to declare its contents to be unsound what then can be expected from the whole Indeed nothing but what is exceedingly derogatory both to the Justice of God and the Grace of Christ e Nimis extenuatur Christi gratia nisi ejus sacrificio vim expiandi placandi satisfaciendi concedimus Cal. Inst lib. 2. cap. 17. Sect. 4. which being openly published and secretly commended especially by some of repute and office in this Common-weal may contribute much to the heap of those many errors and heresies too much abounding already among us For reclaiming then of the Ignorant who are by him seduced for confounding of the Impudent who are by him perverted and for stopping the mouths of those his high Admirers who set themselves against the known Truth so long received so cleerly maintained as a Christian as a Minister though the least and most unworthy of many thousand I shall discover him to be a dangerous Socinian Sophister and his book so highly commended so much admired to be as opposite to Truth as light to darkness Christ to Belial The whole controversie between us is laid down in these four things 1. Concerning Christ's suffering the wrath of God due to the Elect for sin 2. Concerning God's imputation of sin to Christ 3. Concerning the true nature of the Mediatorial obedience of Christ c. Lastly the Justification of a sinner The two former as they are disposed in the Dialogue are a meer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet we will not alter their place but take them up as they lye before us and write something briefly concerning each leaving the more particular handling thereof to some more worthy seing Reverend Mr. Norton cannot be heard or if God so please to a more large and full discourse hereafter Zanch. de Attr. And first concerning Christ's suffering the wrath * Ira Dei significat vel essentiale Dei attributum vel ejus attributi effectum i. e. poenam of God due to the Elect for sin I will pass by the impertinent and unsound exposition which he makes of that place of Moses Gen. 2.17 wherein Mr. Norton hath cleerly evicted him for saith he the sum of the sense thereof according to the Dialogue is this Christ could not sin therefore he could not suffer the punishment due to the Elect for sin as their surety which he calls and that truly a reasonlesse and sick consequence and the contrary thereof true He could not as a Mediatour and surety have suffered satisfactorily the punishment due to others for sin if he had not been himself without sin Though Christ was not a sinner inherently yet was he a sinner imputatively whereupon the substantial f Execratio quam Christus pro nobis subiit non fuit ceremonialis sed realis Sibr. Lubbus lib. 2. cap. 1. curse of the Law was justly executed upon him and what is the substantial curse of the Law but the wrath of God which he for a time endured for us that we might be freed from the weight thereof for ever That Christ did suffer this is plain from that which follows for that he should be so troubled in soul as St. John g John 12.27 declareth in so grievous an Agony as St. Luke h Luke 22.44 in such anguish of mind and deep distress as St. Mark i Mark 14.35 have his soul so invironed with sorrow and that sorrow to the death as St. Matthew k Matth. 26.38 doth set forth no manner of violence being offered to him in body no man touching him or being neer him in a cold night l For they were fain to have a fire within doors at that time of the year as Bishop Andrews observes And John 18.25 being abroad in the air and upon the cold earth to be all of a sweat and that sweat to be bloud m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken for an adverb of simitude and sometime adjuncta certitudinem indicat Joh. 1.14 Joh. 7.10 i. e. in secret and not as they call it Diaphoreticus a thin faint sweat but Grumosus of great thick drops so many so plenteous as that they went through all and streamed to the ground in great abundance do all speake aloud the greatness of his sufferings And that his most dreadful cry which at once moved all the powers of Heaven and Earth my God my God why hast thou forsaken me must needs be the voyce of some weighty anguish wherewith his soul was smitten For as that learned Prelate n Bish Andrews ser de passion pag. well observes derelinqui a Deo the body cannot feel or tell what it meaneth It is the souls complaint and therefore without all doubt Christs trouble anguish agony sorrow and deadly sorrow must needs declare unto us those spiritual and internal torments * Propter nostram justificationem sic actum est per Christum Nos enim peccatoris in ipso infernales poenas quas justè meremur exsolvimus Nicol. de Cusa exercitationum lib. 10. which he suffered in his soul out of the sense of Divine wrath hanging over him and inflicted on him by reason of the guilt of our sins which lay upon him being imputed to him Besides this he being the Son of God Lord of Heaven and Earth to be so terrifyed with the sense of a bodily death only which he was to suffer and the Dialogue endeavours to perswade as that he should for very fear thereof sweat bloud want the comfort and support of an Angel and cry out so bitterly when on the contrary we see many others not only without sorrow and fear but even with joy and rejoycing conflict with as violent a death every deal it must necessarily follow that either Christ the Son of God Lord of Heaven and Earth had lesse strength lesse courage lesse confidence
and lesse constancy then the common sort of men which to say is impious and blasphemous and yet the Dialogue doth in effect affirm so much or else his sufferings must be more then others and so not only corporal but spiritual also To deny which as the Dialogue every where doth is with Socinus and his followers to swim against the stream of all the Orthodox both Antient o Damasus ad Paulinum Cyrillus de incarnatione c. Calvini Insti lib. 2. cap. 16. Act. 10. c. Bezae annotat and Moderne p Aug. cout Fel. St. August reasoning against Felicianus the Arian proveth that Christ took not only humane flesh but an humane soul si totus homo periit c. saith he if man wholly were lost both body and soul he wholly stood in need of a Saviour Christ by his comming wholly redeemed him therefore Christ took upon him the whole nature of man both body and soul For since the whole man had sinned and Christ only had taken our flesh and not our soul the soul of man should still have remained lyable to punishment By the same reason we prove it necessary that Christ should suffer both in body and soul he did assume both to redeem both but he redeemed us not in being born for us or walking or preaching here upon the Earth though these were preparations to his sacrifice but by dying and suffering for us Therefore he suffered both in body and soul that very punishment which was due unto the Elect or that at least which was equivalent thereunto consisting in the very sense and feeling of Gods wrath yea saith Willet q Synopsis pag. 1642. the torments of Hell for a season due unto them by reason of their transgressions So Gerhard r Dolorem inferni persen sit ut nunquam illos sentiremus Med. 7. in his Meditations So that to deny this is not only to oppose the Orthodox but even to go against the Scriptures themselves which being freed from the corrupt glosse the Dialogue puts upon them do sufficiently not only in those very places formerly quoted but in many others prove the same That the Prophet David Å¿ Psal 88. doth briefly emphatically describe those torments which Christ our redeemer suffered in his passion not only the chief but even al Expositors t Is enim ante alios omnes sensit iram judicium Dei c. Mollerus in Argu. Psalmi Fâ—abritius Musculus Calvinus c. yea the substance circumstances of the Psalm it self do sufficiently declare For vers 3. My soul is Saturata malis brim full of troubles u Tanta mole calamitatum obrutam ferre aut sustinere amplius nequeat Id. Moller the Spirit of God chusing rather to expresse it by soul then body because thoâ—e Calamities of which he speaks did especially oppresse his soul * Sanè non sclum corporis dolores sed etiam maximos inenarrabiâ—es animi angores persensisse constat Joanâ—â—s Gâ—â—r Vossius responsione ad judiâ—ium Ravenspurgr by reason of the weight which he sustained as also Vita inferno appropinquavit my life draweth nigh to Hell I know the word here used for Hell is translated the grave yet doth it admit of a more deep signification for if it were only the grave why should our blessed Saviour so cry out of that and be so terrified with the thought of it which would put an end to all his misery and be an entrance for him into his glory the very consideration of which hath put Spirit and Vigour into others even in the midst of as great if not greater corporal sufferings then these of his Vers 4. Tanquam vir cui nulla virtus saith Millarus destitute of all help and succour as Musculus w Heb. est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grae. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Musc in Psal 88. turns it His soul was even as scorched heath-ground without so much as any drop of dew of Divine comfort as a naked Tree no fruit to refresh him within no leaf to give him shadow without The power of darknes let loose to afflict him The influence of comfort restrained that should relieve him We cannot be barren or banquerupt of testimony for the vindication of this truth namely that Christ suffered the wrath of God due to the Elect for sin that they might be freed from the same This Psalm is able sufficiently to furnish us but we must not dwell upon particulars lest we should swell into a volumne The Prophet Isaiah x Isa 53.4 speaking of the sufferings of Christ doth thus expresse himself He hath born our griefs and carryed our sorrows understanding and intending hereby those very sufferings that were due to the Elect for sin which Christ himself did bear for them and in their steed as may plainly appear both by the scope of the chapter and also by the two Hebrew words with are used in the same The one is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath born for by that phrase ferre peccatum to bear sin is inferred the bearing of the punishment of sin For the Hebrews that they may signify that which the Latines call punishment have no expression more common and more received then this ferre peccatum to bear sin Answerable whereunto is that of the Latines Luere delicta to bear the offence that is the punishment of the offence as Lev. 5.1 He that heareth the voyce of swearing and is a witness thereof if he do not utter it shall bear his iniquity The other word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath carryed veré dolores nostros bajulavit he hath stood under the burthen of our griefs It hath a double signification in Scripture it imports either the carrying of some burthen on the shoulder so y Isa 46.7 the Prophet speaking concerning their Gods of Gold and Silver which they made they leave them says he upon the shoulder and z Gen. 49.15 Issachar is a very strong Asse couching down between two burdens and seeing that rest was good he bowed the shoulder to bear Which manner of expression is used by God himself concerning his dealing with his people a Isa 46.4 yet by an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even to hoary hairs will I carry you I have made and I will bear c. Or else the leaving of some grievous punishment as b Lam. 5.7 Our Fathers have sinned and are not and we 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bear their iniquities that is we do undergo as a great burthen the punishment of their iniquities for so by an usual Metongmie it is often taken in Scripture the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 retaining the proper signification of bearing an hard and heavy burthen Whence we conclude whosoever hath born or carryed our iniquities sustaining and suffering punishment and death for the same that we might be free from the guilt and punishment thereof he hath truly and indeed
cursed of God Now what is it to be cursed of God but to have the punishment of the curse inflicted on him both in body and soul It is no marvell that the grand Enemy of our Salvation doth set men and they their wits on work to oppose this wholsome Doctrine namely the truth of Christs suffering the wrath of God for the Elect considering the great benefit which issues from and the good use may be made of the same As first by faith beholding Christ in his Spiritual conflict with the wrath of God and seeing him sorrowing sweating praying fainting crying out unto and upon his Father * Jesus in inferrarum gurgitem submersus ejulat Bez. in Mat. as one utterly forsaken by him no whit sparing or one jot regarding him standing in the room of sinners and by reason of our iniquities suffering such things should make us loath and abhorre our sins which caused God to be so displeased with his own Son by reason of the guilt thereof which lay upon him and to think thus sadly with our selves Oh how shall we if we go on now and lye down hereafter in our sins and transgressions be able in the great day to appear before him How shall we endure his fury which made the Son of God so groane and cry Surely we can expect no other no better then with Esau to be sent away empty though with tears we seek the blessing We will therefore resolve thus seriously with our selves reasonably to break off our sins by repentance and our iniquities by turning to our God from whom so long we have turned away to serve our own turns in and upon the vanities of this life which by no means the Devil can endure to hear Secondly it begets an exceeding contentment and comfort in us when the hand of God by sickness with other bodily diseases and distempers do lye hard and heavy upon us thâ—n to think with our selves why what are these to those miseries that anguish those horrours of conscience those eternal and unutterable torments which my sins have deserved or my Saviour suffered As a poor Prisoner laid up for some capital crime by reason of which according to his desert and the equity of the Law he can expect nothing but death and that with the severest execution but being beyond hope pardoned his life and only adjudged to the penalty of some few stripes doth rejoyce in the midst of these his petty sufferings considering what he should have undergone So we though we be in misery here yet being by the mercy of God and the sufferings of Jesus Christ delivered from those eternâ—l torments which were due unto us by reason of our sins do rejoyce in the midst hereof with joy unspeakable and full of glory which the Devil cannot endure to see and therefore stirs up his instruments with all the slights and tricks that may be to weaken the ground thereof And truly these of all other the most dangerous for under the pretence of exalting Christ they most of all debase him making him more infirm then other men which have suffered as great if not greater bodily torments and yet never expressed so much fear grief and sorrow under them or else with shame to them be it spoken to counterfeit what he suffered not so while they inconsiderately endeavour to defend his glory they most of all darken and obscure it by calling in question the truth of his sufferings and consequently the certainty of our Redemption leaving us under the insupportable weight of Gods wrath which if he hath not none other either man or Angel is able to satisfie for us yet here 's our comfort Truth is strong yea so strong that the gates of Hell cannot prevail against it Secondly Concerning Gods imputation of sin to Christ. WE complained in the beginning of the Dialogues want of order but know not how to help our selves for we resolve in his own way and method to give him that answer and the Reader that satisfaction which we intend And for our more orderly proceeding herein we shall propose and prove these three things First that sin was imputed to Christ Secondly that it was imputed to him by God himself Thirdly that it was imputed by way of satisfaction to Divine Justice For our entrance into the first we shall enquire what imputation is and what is meant thereby that so it may be the better understood of what and what we do affirm The words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are not to be taken physicè according to the native and natural signification thereof as if any sinful quality were infused into Christ but relative as he is considered in relation to us Nor is it a naked and bare relation that must make or bear out such an imputation Christ therefore is termed and that truly to our Head Husband Saviour Redeemer Surety Voluntarily interposing between God and us undertaking our debt and so becoming lyable to the satisfaction thereof Imputation then z Imputatio est rei unius pro altero acceptatio Bradshaw de Justificat is the taking of one for another nor is there any mistake at all in so doing a righteous person is made a sinner that is justly esteemed and accounted a sinner In this sense the Apostle Paul offers himself to Philemon Verse the 8. of that Epistle desiring that that wrong which Onesimus had done unto him and his debt might 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be imputed to him that is put upon his account and esteemed as though they vvere his ovvn committed and contracted by him And thus is the vvord to be taken here one standing in the room and place of others and so in their steed accounted guilty He vvas made sin saith the Apostle a 2 Cor. 5.21 not in respect of act but transaction conveyance c. It is no trouble at all to us that the Dialogue doth so often term it the common doctrine of Imputation St. Paul calls faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b Tit. 1.4 common faith and St. Jude Verse 2. our Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 common salvation Now a good thing c Bonum quò communius eo melius the more common the more commodious I would to God it it were yet more common and then let the Dialogue scoffe his belly-full But because he knows not what kind of Doctrine it is nor can his Master Socinus teach him therefore he would fain perswade us there is no such thing shall a blind man perswade us there is no Sun because he cannot see it shine Yea he tells us because he knows it not that therefore it may well be suspected to be but a device of Satan to darken the truth of the most needfull Doctrine of a sinners justification bona verba but we intend not to be deluded by them For we can see light in Goshen though he and the rest of his party can see none in Aegypt Doth
only the contingent effect thereof Reconciliation with God arising from true justification without which man must necessarily even unto all eternity have remained under and at all times bin lyable to the wrath of God is that whereby God for the Satisfaction of Christ pardoning all his sins doth freely admit and receive him into favour Or else more plainly d Emphasis vocis reconciliationem dissidentium per emptâ mutuâ dissentione importat It is a setting at one those who by reason of some discord between or hatred toward one another were exceedingly divided and separated one from the other This and the word Atonement which the Dialogue doth so often make use of are meer Synonima's no more but two several expressions of one and the same thing yet admitting of not different but divers denominations For being referred to wrath it is called a pacification or an appeasing either with a gift prepared as Jacob did his brother Esau e Gen. 32.20 or by compensation made for some wrong or injury done as David did the Gibeonites f 2 Sam. 21.3 and having reference to sin it signifies to expiate or purge with Sacrifice whence the day of Atonement is called g Lev. 16.30 a day of expiation and sometimes it is used for pardon and remission of sins as h Psal 78.38 he being full of compassion forgave their iniquity in which sense the Dialogue takes it and spends it self in the most part of that which remains to make his Reader believe it namely that this very atonement or reconciliation is our very righteousness and justification But this cannot be for this likewise were to confound the effect with the cause as before in remission of sins Atonement or Reconciliation being but the necessary effect or consequent of a sinners justification before God Thus you see being driven to their shifts they fly from one thing to another and are at no certainty among themselves into what a labyrinth then would they bring their perplexed Readers In this work of reconciliation or atonement Christ is to be considered after a two-fold manner or under a double notion either in respect of his essential Deity and Divinity or in respect of his Mediatorial office and Priestly performance in respect of his essential Deity common to himself with the Father and the Holy Ghost he by the same right whereby the Father and the Holy Ghost was exceedingly offended with and highly provoked to indignation against us by reason of our sins in respect of his Mediatorial officâ— by the common consent and councel of the whole Trinity receding from his most just right took upon him our flesh that he might fully perform the part of a mercifull Mediatour between God and man In the transaction of this great husiness of mediation reconciliation or atonement for they are one in effect though they differ in terms there are six distinct things to be performed by Christ The first is Discretion oâ— Dijudication of the cause he takes notice of the state and condition of his Church and chosen Secondly he doth report the will of his Father the covenant and agreement with God unto them Thirdly he makes intercession to God for them Fourthly he fully satisfies the wrath and Justice of God provoked against them and freely delivers them from the eternal punishment which they had justly deserved should be inflicted on them Fiftly he mercifully applies that satisfaction to them And finally he everlastingly conserves them in this state of reconciliation into which he hath brought them And thus we dispose of these things thus wonderfully and mercifully performed by him Discretion and Relation pertain properly to the Prophetical office of Christ Intercession and Satisfaction to his Priest-hood Application and Conservation to his Regal office and that Kingly power which he exerciseth in and over his beloved ones So that whole Christ God-man in both natures in all his offices is employed in and for the effecting this high and glorious work of the Fathers mercifull atonement and reconciliation which is no small comfort being brought home and seasonably applied to the heart of a Christian Thus have we set down the true nature of Atonement or Reconciliation with God But as for the Dialogues Atonement it is nothing else but a vain idle imaginary and illusory thing a meer fiction which he having fancied and framed out to himself would fain obtrude upon others without the least colour of testimony from the Word of God For that which the Scripture presents unto us under the name and notioâ— of the word Atonement is an effect of our righteousness and not a part much lesse the whole as he would have it concerning which ne speaks much as being perhaps delighted in and affected with his own expressions but proves nothing of what is expected from him many times crossing and confounding himself much more his unwary and over-confident Reader To conclude then for I hope by this time the good and intelligent Reader doth plainly discover what the drift and purpose of the Dialogue is together with the rest of the Socinian faction namely to raze if they could the very foundation of our Religion which we have built upon the Rock that so we might erect a new structure on the sand but they shall not prevail yet let every one of us take heed that we build not thereon For other foundation can no man lay and expect comfort in or continuance of the building then that is laid the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone These under specious pretences and new coyned phrases endeavour to betray us that they may have whereby as they think to glory over us We know that offences to and oppositions against the Truth especially in these latter times must needs come that those which are firm and constant may be made manifest But wo unto them by whom such offences and oppositions do come From henc it comes to passe that such thâ—ngs as were never handled by the Scriptures are now hand over head urged and maintained from the Scriptures and such questions as were never dreamed of among the Apostles are stoutly yet strangely defended by the Apostles By these means our Pulpits ring our Presses groane and our eares are filled with the confused noise thereof such loud lies such lawlesse arguments such naked collections such backward conclusions such an Ocean of tempestuous sequels such a legend of unsound and unseasoned Non-sequitur's such upstart heresyes and such high strain'd blasphemies that the common Adversary scorneth at our follies and all the Devils in Hell as it were keeping holy-day do rejoyce at our forwardness to run and destroy not only the bodies but even the souls too one of another bringing hereby our selves into derision abroad an the Scriptures themselves into suspition at home Thus are many too many God knows poor single hearted men misled although by a contrary course yet to the same gulf running their
let all the people say AMEN FINIS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OR A CAGE OF Unclean Birds Containing the Authors Promoters Propagators and chief Disseminators of this damnable Socinian Heresie Together with a brief description of their Lives and a true relation of their deaths Collected Composed and Published for the Glory of God and the convincing of those that are in any measure Infected herewith By NICH. CHEVVNEY M.A. and Mâ—nister of the Word of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 2.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joan. 1.1 Aequè peccarunt qui blasphemarunt Christum regnantem in Coelis quà m qui eum crucifixerunt ambulantem in terris LONDON Printed by J. M. for H. Twâ—ford and T. Dring and are to be sold in Vine-Court Middle-Temple and at the George in Fleetstreet neer Cliffords Inn. 1656. To the Right Worshipful Sr Nicholas Crisp Kn t of Queax in the Isle of Thannet SIR WHere I stand engaged in a Just Service and would Publish it I less fear the censure of Vain-Glory then of Ingratitude I know the Age is very severe in her Paraphrase on those who appear for Truth when as others pass uncensured Yet I am resolved rather to hazard the imputation of a Weak-man then to be accounted one Unthankful He that doth but Tacitely acknowledge the Favours of a Noble Friend doth in a manner Bury them when as he that Proclaims them hath in a part requited he hath repaid His Honour and therefore Him and so hath satisfied though not restored I desire not so much to expose my Labours to the World as to express my acknowledgements of your Worth and Goodness The Ancient of Days multiply your Days here upon Earth and at last take you to that place where there shall be no Night So Praying rests Sir Yours to be commanded in the Lord. N. C. To my once Beloved Charge the Inhabitants of St nicholas at Wade in the Isle of Thannet Beloved IT is not unknown to you that I voluntarily left a very loving people and a more beneficial place to come among you and reside with you expecting and not without reason a more then ordinary success of my poor labours with a retaliation of affection from you But through the malicious subtilty of some abroad and the notorious hypocrisie of others at home I have been strangely frustrate in my expectation Yet I hope there are among you some who will give me cause to say I have not laboured in vain God the Searcher of all hearts shall witness for me that I have not ceas'd to declare unto you while I was with you even the whole counsel of God especially by those Doctrines which I conceived to be most needful and necessary for you And being now departing from you I commend this poor Piece as a lasting monument of my Affection to you Therefore I pray accept this free will Offering with the same hand and heart it is tendered to you I have not wrote any thing to the prejudice of the person of the Author of the Dâ—alogue whose Christian Moderation in many things is knâ—wn to many whose holy conversation may be a pattern to most yet I am not willing that Truth should suffer by the hand of any whatsoever much less be wounded by those that pretend to be her best friends and make an escape in a croud without any notice taken of it I do not cannot look to escape censures abroad no more then St Paul did perils and among the rest especially by false Brethren who are possessed with such a spirit of Pride and Bitterness that scorning and reviling the works of others how painful and elaborate soever they think nothing well done but what they do themselves Let me therefore my good friends find kindness and curtesie from you at home lest it repent me not that I undertook and by Gods mercy finished but that ever I published these weak endeavours of mine I have here unmasked Errour and Heresie that you may the better see them and seeing know them and knowing avoid them when you shall meet them in what ever Paint or Dress of Piety and Purity they shall seek to shroud or shelter themselves so that you be not deceived by them I have made use of such Authors in the managing of this high and holy business as have gone before me and were needful for me They I suppose may pass currant without any prejudice or prejudicial censure But my self and what is mine do importune your favour which I presume will be the easier attained in regard we both intend nothing but good unto you We are they my friends upon whom the very Ends of the World are come in which not only homo homini Lupus one man is a Wolf to another preying upon the Body Name and Estate but homo homini Daemon one man is a Divel to another labouring to ensnare and betray the Souls the precious Souls one of another It is very necessary then that we take heed unto our selves that we be not slightly carryed on to our own destruction What caution the Apostle gave his Colossians the same do I give to you Let no man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit And further give me leave to say let no man spoil you through Divinity and vain deceit For no doubt but the Serpent hath his poyson in his head as well as his tayl and the Divel hath his baits as cunningly set on and as covertly laid in the depths of Divinity as in the shallows of Philosophy yea rather did he attempt to have spoyl'd the great Commander of Divines with the Theorems of Divinity then with the Rudiments of Philosophy he can frame either or both according to the times places or persons with whom he hath to deal to serve his purpose and make for his advantage Let us then consider what is or ought to be the credit countenance and authority of him that writeth any thing in publike not his Person though it be Comly nor his Deportment though it be Demure nor his Name though it be Famous nor his Learning though it be Profound nor his Language though it be Pleasing nor his Stile though it be Smooth But rather the Spirit if not only the Spirit by which he is guided For otherwise were he as grave and ancient as Melchisedech as wise and well learned as Solomon as eloquent and well-spoken as Aaron were he brought up at the feet of Gamaliel or might he sit in the Gates of the City for his Judgment and great ability yet if in these the Spirit of Truth accompany him not we are so far from receiving any good from him that there is the more danger to be infected by him And though the only or special credit of him that writeth be the Spirit by which he doth it yet we must not believe every one that pretendeth he hath the Spirit There are many false Prophets gone out into the world and many times such are the unseasoned and
his standard bearer and doth much condesmne him for his opinions yet commends him for his good conversation and austerity of life utinam tà m sanae esset Doctrinae quà m districta est vitae no bad wish I assure you would to God saith he he had bin as sound in his Doctrine as he was strict in his life Epist c x c v. Cujus conversatio mel doctrina venenum whose course of life was as Honey but his Doctrine as poyson Epist cxv I. Cui caput columbae cauda Scorpionis who had the head of a dove but the taile of a Scorpion whom Brixia spewed out Rome abhorred France refused Germany abominated and Italy would not entertain This purity of life in the Scholler doth much condemn the loose and licentious conversation of the Master for without question he was it boon companion and one that loved his belly well otherwise he had not bin taken and overtaken with such libidinous crimes of which he was accused For according to the old rule sine Cerere Baccho friget Venus concupiscence waxeth could where it is not heightened with wine and pampered with lusty and lustfull meats which being as fewel abstracted the fire either goeth out of it self or is quickly extinguished But this filthy wretch it seems took not this course for giving way to his untamed lust he defloured and defiled a May'd for which he was taken and guelded in so much as that he that for al his high intendments would not make himself an Eunuch for the Kingdome of God's sake must by others be made an Eunuch for his beastly lust sake and by reason of his blasphemons heresies which he maintained and published to the subversion of many others he was by the means of Bernard and the Bishops of France condemned for an heretick himself excommunicate and his books to be openly burned in the sight of all those that would behold them It is no marvel he took him to a solitary place as one that might well be ashamed to see or to be seen by others Now these are the chief heads of that corrupt doctrine which were noted to be in this perverse and blasphemons heretick and which he being full of the Spirit of pride and errour did in disputing and by writing principally endeavour to maintain 1. That Reason was to be Judge of the Articles of faith affirming that he could comprehend within the bounds of humane reason that whole immense which is God himself 2. That the Doctrine of the blessed Trinity as the reformed Churches did believe and hold it was not to be credited For he made degrees in the Trinity he denyed the Holy Ghost to be of the essence of the Father and called it the soul of the World 3. That Original sin was nothing else but that very debt of damnation in which we were bound when we were made obnoxions to eternal punishment for the fault of our Originall that is of our first parents from whom we took our original referring it rather to the punishment for then to the guilt of sin and he gives this reason for it but what reason there is in it let any indifferent Reader judge because saith he he who could not as yet make any use of free will nor had as yet any exercise of his reason could have no transgression or negligence imputed to him 4. That Christ did not satisfie the Justice of God for our sins For after a tedeons dispute which he had against the Satisfaction of Christ he saith that Christ dyed nostro bono for our good and nostro exemplo for our example but as our surety and nostro loco in our place or nostra vice in our steed are words which neither he nor any of his followers can abide 5. That the Law conteineth not any promise of life in it and that it did consist of imperfect precepts because our blessed Saviour Matt. 5. gives a cleer and full exposition of it he publisheth likewise many figments concerning it This is the Authour and these the chief heads of those vile and direfull opinions which he maintained and though he have gone far and done much for the furtherance of this gracelesse babe which he had begotten yet there are some that come after him that are in this matter to be preferred before him both for addition hereunto and propagation hereof using such execrable and damnable expressions that are far unbeseeming the ears of a Christian but Ordine quisq suo every one in his own place and according to his own order And therefore this Abailardus challengeth the first place as the revier of the old heresies of Arius Ebion Photinus and Samosatenus with others of the like sort who out of these as also the Turkish Alcaron and Jewish Talmude patched up a new one of his own as they that came after him did revive his with their additions and augmentations also For the Devil will loose nothing by lying still for a time but makes a gain of his losse and that to his very great advantage Michael Servetus Hispanus Medicus Tarraconensis Ignibus errorurm Ecclesiam vastâsse triumphas Servaté ex meritis ignibus ipse peris THE next instrument of the Devil after him mentioned in former Histories is Michael Servetus a Spaniard of Tarracon by profession at first a Physician Honest and Honorable in respect of it self but growing weary of this a notable argument of the inconstancy or selfe conceit of the man he betook himself to the study and profession of Divinity Plato sets it down for a rule that the beginnings of all councels are in our Will but the performance in the destinies so may we make the first choise of the pitch which we mean to fly but after we begin to mount and soare above the common sight Nullum medium inter summa praecipitia there is mean or middle course between the breaking of our necks and the satisfying of our humours Thus fared it with this unhappy man For soaring a loft and having now pitcht upon the best profession became worse in it then he was before and by the just judgment of God falls upon those tookes by which he was ruined A the black fly called the Beetle passing over all thy pleasant and fragrant flowers of choice and comely garden doth light upon an heap of dung So this man passing by the many glorious truths of Divinity in the study and practise of which he might have found much comfort pitcheth upon such contagious errours and such damnable heresies the pursuite and publishing of which could effect no lesse then the destruction both of body and soul Thus men overborne with the strength of a self conceit are so precipitated and drawn on with the swindge of an unruly fancy that leaving the beaten road and more usual way of truth they run into by-pathes of errour and so at length lose both their judgment and their faith so that then no way comes amisse to them how foul or
looked to be obeyed not disputed and freely assented to not preposterously controverst He seems to me to be Master of little or no reason at all who would have Reason a competent judge of those things which are above and beyond reason and all finite apprehension whatsoever For his good conversation it deserves commendation if it were real I would be loath to be what ever the World and some ill byassed men think of me an Advocate for debauchery I here openly protest against it in the sight of God and man yet to speak my mind freely I believe the Devil that hath many wayes to catch men hath in'd a greater harvest by the means of such austerity and seeming purity I judge no man then ever he did by those that are too much addicted to company To decline offences to be careful and conscionable in our several actions is a perfection which every man ought to labour for and to attain unto which we may well do without a sullen segregation of our selves from all society or at least from all society that are not of our opinion The Donatists were pure in their lives but desperate in their Doctrines What Saints did the Anabaptists seem at their first rise and Original to be Insomuch that Luther himself wrote to the Duke of Saxonie in their behalf desiring him not to be too severe to those innocent and harmelesse persons yet afterwards when they had gotten the staff into their own hands what Monsters they discovered themselves to be what horrible outrages were acted what horrid impieties perpetrated by them poor Germany can yet remember and declare to her long lasting sorrow and their everlasting infamy An affected austerity a supercilious gravity a starch't deportment insteed of reverence which is looked for beget scorne and contempt If there be any priviledges they are surely granted to the Children of the Kingdome to which many without warrant intitle themselves If mirth and recreations be lawful surely such as desire to keep faith and a good conscience may lawfully use them Let us not then judge one another but every one of us labour to build up one another in our most holy faith that God may have the glory his Church the peace his Servants the comfort that is to be desired Well having considered this Laelius in his life and Doctrine we now come to his end having attained to the middle of his age being about seven and thirty years old and at that very time when being moved by the importunity of his friends he had determined yea had already begun to bring to light and publish to the World some fruâ—t of his laborious and industrious studies in Divinity he was cut off by the sudain stroak of death insomuch that all his endeavour which was wholly bent if possible to the ruin of Orthodox Doctrine and their great expectation for the present dyed with him and came to nothing How did death cousen both the living and dead This intended now out of hand to publish Those to enjoy the result of many years hard and painful studies yet both are prevented by one sudain and unexpected blow We are here even in our best condition but as a flower that lasts some dayes we last some years at a certain period both fade It should be our care to be alwayes well doing and then let death come when where and how it will We may then with comfort sing that Swan-like song of good old Simeon Nunc dimittis c. Lord now leâ— thy Servant depart in peace Mattheus Gribaldus Iurisconsultus Patavinus Jam Patavinus adest Gribaldus jure peritus At verae legis cognitione caret MAttheus Gribaldus to whom that runagate Galentinus Gentilis flying out of Geneva first betook himself was a Lawyer of Patavia as able in his profession as any in that School one that lived well and in good repute tâ—ll he was drawn away by the sly and subtil perswasion of Laelius Socinus that broker for the Devil who cunningly wrought the downfal of this man and many others He was familiarly present with Francis Spira in that desperate conflict which he had by reason of his Apostacy and abâ—egation of the faith contrary to his conscience and his former proâ—ession of the truth He also wrote the History of the same the whole matter whereof in his preface he terms and that very truly a great wonderfull example of Divine Justice upon the man to the terrour and astonishment of all beholders For he together with Paulus Vergerius Bishop â—f Justinopolitanus who unlesse he had seen Spira in that Agonie had never come over to Basil to us as himself was wont often to say did very often visite Spira and give him what comfort he could at that time in a better condâ—tion then himself who having forsaken the faith and abandoned his profession he betook himself secretly to his village in the Country where he lay close and obscure for a time at length he joyned himself a companion to these Italian hereticks who took him off cleerly from the foundations of his Religion So that by degrees for nemo repente fit turpissimus he became as Arch an heretick as any in the company No enemy like to bad company it destroyes both our bodies and souls it gives us immedicabile vulnus such a wound as will admit of no cure How many have lived ignominiously and dyed miserably who have used their last breath only to complain of this as the witch that hath enchanted them to the commiting of those evills which now they must smart for and that for ever Many a man had bin good which is not had he not fallen into ill company This this wrought such an unhappy change in Gribaldus that the sad example of Spira which before had made some impression in him was now quite gone and that terrour which it had wrought was removed Quantum mutatus ab illo what can we think of him when as Beza writing concerning him saith that he had denyed with open and apparent perjurie that Religion which in his conscience he thought to contain the very truth This made Calvin refuse to take or give a hand when he met him unlesse they first might know each others minds and what agreement was between them in the prime Article of the Christian faith that is the sacred Trinity and the Deity of Jesus Christ But the difference proved so wide that Calvin and he were never at amity many times at enmity during his abode at Geneva After this we find that he returned to his profession of the Law but never to the profession of the truth And therefore t is not for nothing that this saying came in use to convince an heretick is next to a miracle that is so to convince him as to bring him to acknowledge his errours to be sorry for them and utterly to relinquish and forsake them By the favour of Vergerius who either knew not or winked at his errours and heresies
escape the like misery from an inundation of all false Doctrine and heresy Good Lord deliver us Franciscus Lismanninus Claudiopolitani caetus Pastor Se Lismanninus puteum conjecit in altum Triste erat exemplum Justitiae Domini MEn do commonly wrong themselves with a groundlesse expectation of good fore-promising to themselves all fair terms in their proceedings and all happy successe in the issue and indeed they may go on with a prosperous gale and full saile for a time but at last they fall into unexpected trouble and danger so that their former misreckoning makes their present dis-appointment so much the more grievous to them and drives them into the greater desperation This we shall find verified in Lismanninus who encouraged himself with a hope of gaining many to the embracing and following of his wicked and abominable opinions and for this purpose he thought no pains to much travelling from place to place to propagate the same It were to be desired that we that professe the truth would be but half so industrious for the converting of some and the confirming of others in the profession thereof as these instruments of the Devil these Factors for Hell are for the subverting them in or seducing them from their holy profession to their diabolical tenets and hellish devices He was one of those which that runagate Blandrata having insinuated into the favour of the most illustrious and excellent Prince of Transylvanià sent for thither to unsettle the newly setled Churches of God in those parts by sowing tares among their good corne his most pernicious heresies even then when they least suspected it But he could not go over to them as yet for having so much of the devils business to do in other places he could not at present intend to wait upon them there His expectat on was high and soaring thinking to over-run all the Churches in Italy first with his damnable Doctrines and that in a moment ere he could perform the desire of Blandrata in going into Transylvania Hear what he wrote back unto him and you see his aime Before he returned he must constitute the Churches of Bernen Lausanna and Geneva formerly visited by him and to which he was again taking his journey to observe the form of doctrine discipline and ceremonies together with the administration of the Sacraments which were in each of them and to confer and reason with the Ministers by whose help and councel he should coâ—e the better instructed and inform'd to their Church when time and opportunity served Which he performed according to his promise and by which he did very much retarde the blessed reformation which Calvin so much endeavoured to promote among those Churches For he did so exceedingly fascinate the minds of divers that they could not be restrained by the faithful admonit on s no not of Calvin himself whom they once highly esteemed and vvho much laboured in the business but vvould needs rush head-long into the dangerous pit of Arianisme or Tritheitarisme to their ovvn ruine and destruction This man vvas Pastor of the conventicle at Claudiopolis to vvhich he openly preached the Doctrine of Arius and held that Christ was a certain spiritual substance being before all others created of God who afterwards took unto him an humane body in which he performed many things for our example At last being openly confuted plainly detected and too late if God had not othervvise permitted it for the Churches good convicted either for shame of vvhat he had done or for fear of vvhat he vvas to suffer he threvv himself head-long into a vvell and so perished He that wilfully cast many others avvay doth novv desperatly cast avvay himself both body and soul Andraeas Dudithius Episcopus Quinquecclesiensis Dudithius doctus cupiens vitare Charybdim Incidit in Scyllam fata dolenda sua THis Andraeas Dudithius by nation a Hungarian Bishop of Quinquecclesiae a City in Panonia was a very learned and famous man employed in divers Embassies to Ferdinand and Maximilian Caesars being present as a Bishop in the name of the Hungarians at the Councel of Trent he there made two elegant Orations the one of the necessity of the Cummunion under both kinds the other of the lawfulness of Priests marriage both composed very eloquently and full of excellent variety yet home to the purpose for which they were intended For he was an exquisite Orator himself a great admirer and follower of the Tullian eloquence insomuch that as Thuan reporteth of him he thrice copyed out Tullies works with his own hands After all this bidding the Pope with all his shavelings adieu he marryed a wife a noble young Lady Sophia Gonicella whom he light upon by chance in the Court of the Polonian King when he was sent thither Embassador from Maximilian the Emperour For shee being extreamly taken with his discretion judgment and other good parts he with her beauty piety and perfection they mutually combined each to other in holy matrimony As for religion he was better seen in the leaving then the taking part For having forsaken popery and not having joyned himself to the reformed Churches he was a long time disquieted in mind not knowing what course to take or which way to turn himself in matters of religion He knew the Church of Rome was full of errours he saw the Churches professing the Protestant Religion to be full of dissentions and divisions which caused him to doubt and as we use to say to look before he leapt Hast makes wast is a true Proverb in the precipitant carriage of business Fair and soft goes far Not too fast for falling Stay a little and we shall have done the sooner These be the sayings of Moderation to correct and qualify the rashness of our terrene and sublunary undertakings But in our spiritual proceedings when our journey is Heaven and the end eternal salvation Delay is more dangerous then Celerity it proved so here for while he was uncertain what to do and so did nothing at all he was artificially drawn aside by Socinus and his fellows under the specious allurement of vain and doating reason he is sudainly hurryed into their mischiâ—vous heresy of denying the Trinity the merit and satisfaction of Jesus Christ for sinners with all the rest of their blasphemous opinions In defence whereof he wrote a letter to John Lasius a Polonian Knt. and an intimate friend of his which was lately published with the answer of Maresuis annexed to it As in dark nights pyrates use to kindle fires and make great lights upon the rocks and maritime coasts whether poor weather beaten Sea-men do steer in hope of harbour and there meet with wrack and ruin So these hereticks with their flourish of the Scriptures or at least with some flashes of them like false fires and deceitful lights did entice this poor soul to repair for succour but found nothing being come but pernicious and deadly errour And it is a common thing to see that dead
errours are the snares which the Devil layes by his instruments to catch living souls How much Beza made of this Dudithius with what a Christian affection he loved him how solicitous he was to draw him from errour and to perswade him to and confirm him in the truth against those doubtings and distractions by which he was much molested between the profession of the Papists on the one side and the Socinian on the other doth appear by a large and elegant letter written to him and is to be found among the letters of Beza Zanchie also wrote to Dudithius a letter concerning the true Church being the same argument about which he had written to Beza and Wolphius a little before proposing this question to them How comes it to passe that in your Church if it be the true Church there be so many dissentions and divisions among you and that in and about the chief articles of religion This is one stone of stumbling which the Devil hath cast in the way to the profession of the truth by which he hath hindred many from walking in it or giving any credit to it But to this that good man Zanchy gives a full and a solid answer First that there are not so many nor so great contentions among us who professe the true faith as the Devil and his complices would make the World believe thereby to bring the truth into suspicion And then that those which are among us are no argument of doubting of the truth of the Church but rather of approving it For the continued and common condition of the Church of God here is militant and subject to infirmity only in Heaven it is already in part and shall be hereafter wholly triumphant Christ himself gives the Church a caution hereof Matt. 7.15 Beware of false Prophets which come to you Not to Turks not to Infidels and yet to these but not to these only but to you also to you principally and especially who have the Gospel and to whom God affords the means of Salvation The Devil is let loose for a season Rev. 20. For a season to try the faith and patience of the Church And but for a season to fortifie the courage of the Church Had it not bin that Satan hath bin busy in the obtruding of errour the Church of God had not bin so busy in searching out the truth Therefore the Church is on the getting hand hereby Had not those Arians and Sabellians at the first vexed the Church of God with their heresies which are but branches and lims of this of Socinianism the deep mysteries of the sacred Trinity had not bin so accurately cleered so strongly fortifyed to the faith and belief of men as by the Ancient Doctors then it was and this day it is among us Heresie makes men sharpen their wits the better to confute it That Absynthium that smarts the eye cleers it and we thank that pain that gives us sight Dudithius then had no reason to douht of but rather to joyne issue with that as the true Church who by the contentions that were among them got the more knowledge of and laid the faster hold upon the truth of the Gospel But he was not so happy He wrote divers Orations and political admonitions In the Bodlejan library at Oxford are to be seen divers works of his as the signification of Comets divers and they very pithy speeches which he made in the councel of Trent An Apologie to Maximilian the II. An Epistle concerning the inflicting of capital punishment upon hereticks The life of Cardinal Pool was drawn out by his artificial hand and flourished by his pen. There are divers letters also of Socinus to him by which at first he solicited and and as is to be believed gained him to his party Raemundus reporteth of him that being invited by a certain friend of his to dinner who earnestly requested his company at that time in good health free from all sense or the least suspicion of sickness much lesse of death gave the Messenger this answer his friend must have him excused for that he was at that very time to go another way and had some other business of greater consequence to do Namely to pay the last debt which he owed to nature which accordingly at that very time he did and so departed Truly this man was much to be pitied who having forsaken a bad yet chose no better a religion then which a worse could not be raked out of Hell giving himself over to the Socinian faction in whose destructive opinions as he lived So he dyed without comfort That old saying may stand us in some steed if we list to make use of it Optimum est alinâ frui insaniâ to take heed by other mens harms is experience bought at a very cheap rate and whom they teach not may want not grief but pity Franciscus Puccius Florentinus Ecclesiae Christi membrum se Puccius instat Scilicet egregâ—um Relligionis inops IF our souls were as sensible of sin as our bodies are of pain we would be mâ—re careful of our selves for â—ear of a relapse We would not willingly fall again into the same sicknesses under which we have a long time groaned and â—rom which we are for the present delivered and yet we take no care of falling into the same sins or runing into the same wayes of errour out of which God by his mercy hath luckt us like brands out of the fire when we were ready to be consumed This was verely the fault of Francis Puccius a Florentine of the noble and renowned family of the Puccij of Florence who so journing at Lyons being there about some necessary affair when as disputations about religion waxed hot and matters of moment were freely debated therein was convinced in his conscience of the vanity of the Popish religion in which he was at that time very Zealous after some debatement thereof with himself and some conference concerning it with others he utterly renounced it as tendâ—ng to the destruction both of body and soul Hereupon he came into England and first to Oxford where for some time he studied Divinity after that to London and so over to Bâ—sil where he had that disputation with Socinus which was formerly mentioned by us But where or from whom he got those whimsies and fancies of dotage with which he was possessed those wild and mad opinions which he broached and by which the Churches were very much troubled we cannot learn nor do we greatly care to know For besides those opinions which he held in common with the Socinians he maintained a certain kind of natural faith by which we mâ—ght attain to salvation as also universal redemption and other stuffe ejusdem fâ—rmae of the same batch By reason of which he was constrained to leave Basil from whence he took his course directly for England and so up to London where he began to publish his paradoxical opinions and that with such
enjoyned to perform Such execrable blasphemies are therein contained which without inevitable danger of contagion may not be suffered to passe among Christians being no small disparagement to their holy profession and an high measure of despight done to the Spirit of Grace Which things being so we are in hope your Honors will wisely and speedily take a course that these men which have brought in and dispersed abroad these cursed writings and books may not long abide with you or remain within your coasts and also that the writings and books themselves may not come into the hands of any to whom they may be a snare either through simplicity or curiosity Renowned Lords we beseech God that he would bestow upon you more and more the Spirit of truth and wisedome and would be present with you from Heaven in all your affairs and especially in this great and weighty cause which pertains so much to establishing of the truth of God and the common salvation of his people that those things which are pious holy and just may be seasonably provided for by you and perfected in the Lord That those things also which have any tincture of errour or heresy may be wholly extirpated by you Dated at Leyden the 12. of August 1598. An extract of the Resolution of the Lords States General of the United Princes March and September 1598. taken out of the Registry THE States General of the United Provinces being informed that there are certain books found with and in the possession of two Persons here present at the Hague which came lately from the Kingdome of Polonia into these united Provinces the one named Christopher Ostorrodus the other Andraeas Voidovius which books being examined in Leyden by the faculty of Divines there are divers things therein found to agree with the Doctrine or religion of the Turks denying the Divinity both of the Son of God and of the Holy Ghost And that the foresaid persons openly professing the same Doctrine came purposely into these Provinces that they might publish the same herein and so disturb the present State and quiet of the Church hereby We therefore beâ—ng willing to prevent â—n time the ensuing mischief hereof for the maintaining of the honour of God together with the profit and commodity of the United Provinces which like Democritus Twins do laugh and cry lâ—ve and dye together have decreed that the foresaid books in the presence of the foresaid persons shall openly be burnt to morrow before noon opposite to our Chamber of General meeting Aâ—ter that the aforesaid two persons shall be charged and straitly commanded as by these presenâ—s they are charged and commanded that within the space of ten dayes next to come they shall depart out of these united Provinces under the penalty of such punishment as shall be inflicted on them according to discretion if afterwards they be found or taken herein All which we thought fit to ordain for the peace and quiet of the Church of Christ and for the benefit and commodity of the united Provinces Conceiving it also very necessary for the better and more due accomplishing hereof that all the Provinces should be admonished of thâ—s and a Copy of this Attestation be conveyed to them which is above written and subscribed by the faculty of Divines at Leyden concerning the foresaid books that the foresaid persons be not suffered to tarry or abide longer in these Provinces then the time limitted for them and that their abominable Doctrine may be expelled hence also Mar. 1599. What better course could have been taken for the dispatch of these Brethren in evill with all their trumpery with them out of these parts But what are good and wholesome Laws without execution even like a body without a soul for as a body without a soul doth quickly perish and come to nothing So the best Laws that can be made without due execution do dye in the very letter For notwithstanding this decree made and published with so much strictness and good intention on the States part there was some connivence in the matter by which these persons thus proscribed were yet retained and secured If it be true which John Uytenbogardus saith who wrote the story they remained still in Friesland and there privily drew up an Apologie to the decree of the States General which they printed and published both in the Latine and high Dutch tongues I cannot but wonder at the mad folly or foolish madness of those that professe either reason or religion that they should be so far transported with the novell Doctrines of theâ—e half Lunatick Teachers that they should keep them and secure them within their own bosoms who watch all opportunities to destroy them Yet a new fashion does not more take a proud Lady nor a new Tavern a drunkard nor a new drug an Emperick then a new opinion does those that are affected to heresy be it never so divelish and blasphemous And I beleeve they made a great I cannot say a good reurn of them For I have heard of above thirty Sects and sorts of Religion in one Town in those parts so that come will you be of our Church was a solicitation as frequent as the ordinary salutation one to another of good morrow or good even To be wâ—lling to be seduced hath given occasion to divers to attempt it which otherwise had never been attempted so did these Hereticks play with and play upon those that gave them entertainment This Ostorrodus was a notable factour for the Devil deceiving many with his cousening trash For besides that disputation against Tradelius which he had concerning the Deity of Christ which was the mark they all shot at the Deity also of the blessed Spirit to deny which I take to be an high degree of the sin against the holy Ghost the expiation of our sins the imputatioâ— of sin to Christ the satisfaction he made to Divine Justice paying the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of our redemption that it stood not with the freeness of Gods mercy in pardoning sin to require satisfaction for it by which and many other damnable opinions destructive to the very essence of Religion he drew many away after him to the liking and embracing of his Socinian tenets He wrote also certain institutions of the cheif Articles and principal points of Christian he would he should have said Socinian Religion which have perverted divers yet are learnedly opposed and confuted by Iacobus ad Portum that excellent instrument of Gods glory and painful labourer in his vineyard Jacobus Palaeologus Graius Si quaeras cur iste Pal'ologus igne crematur In promptu causa est haeresiarcha fuit TO be loose in the main joynts of Religion is very bad and gives the Devil and his instruments great advantage against us we may see the truth of this in the example here set before us Jacob Palaeologus of the ancient and Jmperial family of the Graecian Palaeologi came from his own country to Rome