who is the resurrection and the life And therefore as by the will of the Father Rom. 4.25 He was delivered to death for our sinnes so he was also raised againe for our justification Here you see that our most gracious and mightie Redeemer was as Gorran saith Pugil in morte victor in resurrectione Gorran in Ro. cap. 1. a Champion in his death a conquerour in his resurrection For now He triumphed over the graue and death declaring to the world to men and Angells that he was perfectly just otherwise he could never haue risen unto Glory had he beene uncleane had he beene any way polluted and defiled with sinne for into the heavenly Ierusfalem such shall in no wise enter Yea He rose againe for our justification to shew himselfe a justifier of all that beleeue in him to shew that he had taken away their sinnes the wages wherof is death that so they might at the last day rise againe unto eternall life The resurrection and glorification of our Lord Iesus Christ August desurrect dom Cant. Allelujah according to St. Austine doe shew what life we are to receiue when he shall come to render digna dignis evill to the evill and good to the good then all the members of his mysticall body shall rise up in Him their head and so liue ever with him Fulgent serm de dupl nativ Christi for as Fulgentius saith Resurgens è sepulcro fecit nos participes vitae suae by rising out of the sepulchre He made us partakers of his life And we know as the Scripture teacheth us 2 Cor. 4.14 that He who raised the Lord Iesus shall raise up us also by Iesus And when Christ Coloss 3.4 who is our life shall appeare then shall we appeare also with Him in glorie CHAP. XIII Christs Intercession WHen the sonne of God had suffered his most dolorous and bitter agony on the Altar of the Crosse when he had victoriously triumphed over the graue in his most glorious resurrection He ascended upon high and led captivity captiue and is set on the right hand of God continually making intercession for us there he ever presents unto the Father his humane nature wherein He died and rose againe and performed so great things for us there we sinners haue an Advocate with the Father 1 Iohn 2.1 even Iesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sinnes whereupon St. Augustine saith Aug. in Psal 94. Sacerdotem si requiras supra caelos est interpellat prote qui in terra mortuus est prote if thou require a Priest He is aboue the Heavens He maketh intercession for thee who on earth died for thee Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect it is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth Rom. 8. v. 33.34 it is Christ that died yea that is risen agaìne who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us What greater comfort and consolation haue we in our pilgrimage than to know and beleeue that the Lord Iesus is our most faithfull Advocate who intercedeth for us day and night who as St. Ambrose speakes Amh. in ca. 8. ad Rom. Semper causas agit nostras apud patrem perpetnally pleades our causes before the Father Who as the Apostle saith maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God He onely intercedeth for all Saints and none of all the Saints intercede for him So he is our onely true perfect Mediatour He intercedes with the Father for us merito suo by vertue of his owne merit The Saints on earth intercede for others but merito Christi through Christs merit for all their holy requests for others all their pious intercessions are offered upon the Golden Altar and doe sweetly ascend up unto the throne of grace Apoc. 8.3 per Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum through Iesus Christ our Lord. CHAP. XIIII Our union with Christ WHat will it availe us to know the merit of Christs death the power of his resurrection the benefit of his intercession unlesse we participate of so great blessings But participate of them wee cannot unlesse we haue communion with Christ unlesse we be of him and in him as the branches are in the Vine unlesse we be members of his bodie flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones And this is a great mysterie concerning Christ and the Church Eph. 5.32 which to understand in some measure is most necessary but to haue a spirituall sense and feeling of it is even an unspeakeable fountaine of joy and consolation As we are of and in Adam by nature so are we of and in Christ by grace And Christ who cannot be had by portions is whole in the whole Church and whole in every faithfull member of the Church And thus he communicates himselfe unto us by his Spirit for the same Spirit which giveth life unto the Head quickeneth and enliveneth the members also for if any haue not the Spirit of Christ Rom. 8.9 he is none of his and therefore in Iohn 14.19 he saith to his Apostle Because I liue yee shall line also And all this proceeds from our union with him which he insinuateth in the twentieth verse following At that day shall yee know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you This holy Spirit whereby wee are united to Christ is the seede whereby we are borne of God and the sonnes of God Because yee are sonnes saith the Apostle God hath sent the Spirit of his Sonne into your hearts crying Abba Father Obscuro For our spirituall subsisting in Christ is correspondent to his personalitie and subsistence whereby he is the Sonne of God So in him we also are the sonnes of God He is such by nature we onely through him by adoption and grace Hence is it that St. Peter saith We are partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 which is communicated to all the three subsistences in the blessed Trinitie and consequently to the Sonne and in him to us This Christ prayed for and was heard in that he requested and desired for the faithfull in those words That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us Iohn 17.21 And St. Iohn intimateth as much saying Truely our fellowship is with the Father and with his Sonne Iesus Christ 1 Iohn 2.3 Entreating here of the union of the Church with Christ I was drawne to speake of our adoption through Christ For by one and the same Spirit we are adopted in Christ and united unto him He unites himselfe to us by grace we are united to him by faith And so the whole person of the faithfull is united to the whole person of Christ first to his flesh then through his flesh to the Word which was made flesh And this union is wrought after
quicquid potes pro persona quam portas perficis zelus domus tuae comedit me Doe what in thee lieth correspondent to the person thou sustainest and then thou doest perfectly performe that the zeale of thy house hath eaten me up In the next place consider what an one thou art whether pious or prophane cruell or mercifull humble or proud covetous or liberall temperate or intemperate in a word thou must consider wherein thou dost swarue from the rule of obedience and transgresse Gods law For nisi ad regulam Seneca ad Lucil ep 11. pratia non couriges saith Seneca thou wilt not correct that which is amisse but by the rule But if thou strictly examine thy selfe by that rule it is to be feared thou wilt finde thy selfe a great sinner a grievous sinner perhaps 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of measure sinfull thou wilt see thy prevarications und aberrations multiplied super numerum to be as David complained innumerable more than the haires of thy head Oh but the slnggish sinner will not looke into that cleare glasse to see his festered sores his otting corrupting Uicers least the sight thereof should trouble and torment him For he thinkes it true which the Preacher saith He that increaseth knowledge Eccles. 1.18 increaseth sorrow which St. Ierome expounds thus Hieron lib. 2. advers Pelag. he understands that he wants perfection and knowes by that which he doth know how much it is which he doth not know But the carnall sinner expounds it otherwise by searching into the Law and the severall branches of obedience therein contained he discovereth the multitude of his sinnes and transgressions and consequently the guilt of many foule and monstrous aberrations for as that holy Father Fulgentius saith Fulgent de gra incarn Dum. nosiâ—â—â—â—s Christi Quantum ignorantta peccati minuitur tantum reatus peccatorum augetur as much as the ignorance of sinne decreaseth so much the guilt of sinne increaseth Now the guilt of sinnes increaseth the sight of God justice and the extreame malediction or curse of the Law cause remorse of conscience increase sorrow But if this sorrow be seasoned and sanctified with grace and faith in Christ Iesus it is not that sorrow in morall Philosophie which is affectus destructivus subjecti an affection or passion destroying the subject but it is affectus perfectivus salvativus subjecti an affection perfecting preserving the subject for it is a pious a profitable sorrow or as the Apostle speakes 2 Cor. 7.10 a godly sorrow which causeth repentance unto salvation not to be repented of CHAP. XVII Of righteousnesse perfecting the will IN the day when Adam was created he was perfect in his understanding and will but by disobedience he became imperfect in both and so was cast out of that earthly Paradise Now unlesse we be renewed in Christ after the image of God and regaine such or greater perfection than Adam had in science and sanctitie in knowledge and righteousnesse we shall never enter into the paradise of heaven What knowledge is especially necessary unto perfection is formerly discovered So that in the next place it remaineth to enquire what righteousnesse is requisit to perfect us and prepare us for the kingdome of heaven Which before we come to let us still remember that as I intimated heretofore there is a double perfection compatible to man The first is absolute proper to the glorified ones in the Church triumphant and not to be found in any of the children of men so long as they be here in earthly tabernacles and mortall bodies of clay The second not absolute but correspondent to the state of this life and this is that which by all meanes wee must striue and endeavour to attaine unto whilst we are members of the militant Church whilst we are as yet strangers and pilgrims and way-faring men on earth This then premised consider we the righteousnesse whereby we are perfected according to the state of this present life And it is two-fold the first is the righteousnesse of another but imputed unto us called therefore imputed righteousnesse The second is our owne righteousnesse which is wrought in us by God through the sanctification of his Spirit called inherent righteousnesse And first we will treat of that righteousnesse which being without us is imputed unto us of God and so made ours otherwise we could never be perfect disciples in the schoole of Christ. CHAP. XVIII Of righteousnesse imputed THe righteousnesse which is without us and not our owne but imputed unto us as being the righteousnesse of another is the righteousnesse of Iesus our Mediatour now his righteousnesse is of two sorts first the righteousnesse of his person wherewith he himselfe is clothed and adorned secondly the rightousnesse of his merit whereby he doth cloath and adorne us poore naked miserable sinners and that of his meere grace free bountie and goodnesse The righteousnesse of Christs merit is that meritorious obedience which in our nature he performed for us to appease Gods wrath conceived against us for our sinne to satisfie his severe justice that wee being absolved from sinne by his death might be reconciled unto God and so become heires of eternall life This meritorious righteousnesse of our blessed Saviour without which we are altogether imperfect is in it selfe most perfect and it pleaseth God to account it unto us as our righteousnesse and to impute it unto us as done by us For Christ sustaining and bearing all our persons in his death by the will and determinate counsell of the Father died for us all So that that righteousnesse which he performed for us in our name may not unfitly be said to be ours as done by us For as St. Gregory saith Greg. Moral expos in Iob. lib. 24. cap. 7. Iustitia nostra dicitur non quae ex nostro nostra est sed quae divina largitate fit nostra it is called our righteousnesse not which is ours of our own but which is made ours by Gods bountie â—erem 23.6 And in this regard the sonne of Hilkia by the spirit of prophecy might well entitle him Iehovam justitiam nostram the Lord our righteousnesse And thus much the trumpet of grace proclaimeth 1 Cor. 1.30 teaching us that Iesus â—hrist is of God made unto us wisedome and righteousnesse and sanctification and redemption CHAP. XIX Of imputed righteousnesse made ours by faith GOD of his meere grace giues unto us the meritorious obedience of his Sonne accounting it unto us as ours and withall by the same grace giues us faith to apprehend it and apply it to our selues For by this hand of faith we claspe and embrace and lay fast hold on Christs righteousnesse and so make it ours Now this faith is a principall beame of that grace which enlighteneth all the faculties of the reasonable foule and is partly in the understanding and partly in the will for it is not a bare assent given to
the object seeing that such may be in evill Angels and reprobates and in that sense St. Iames saith Iam. 2.19 Daemones credunt contremiscunt the devills beleeue and tremble but it is * Or rather an affiance in Christ the redeemer for pardon of sin grounded on the promise of the Gospell a fiduciall assent to the promise of saving grace in Christ And as it is an assent it hath place in the understanding as it is fiduciall it hath place in the will A bare assent to the object is too slender a setting forth of the formall cause of justifying faith and too weake to support that which is the life of a Christian who saith with the Apostle Galat. â— 20. I liue by the faith of the Sonne of God who loved me and gaue himselfe for me Cornelius Bishop of Bitonto Corn. Bitont apud Whitak Conc. ult upon the first to the Romans saith that faith is not a bare credulitie but a trust and confidence and includes some operation of the will God indeed as the principall predominant efficient cause worketh faith in man this is the worke of God Iohn 6.29 that wee beleeue on him whom he hath sent but man in whom faith is wrought formally beleeveth and that willingly not against his will Aug. de Spir. lit ca. 34. All this St. Augustine plainely insinuateth saying Voluntas qua credimus dono Dei tribuitur the will whereby we beleeue is ascribed to the gift of God So then it is necessarily inferred out of the precedent grounds that both the will and whole person of a Christian is singularly perfected by the righteousnesse of faith in Christ Iesus whereby we who were enemies become well pleasing and acceptable to GOD and therefore the chosen vessell of mercy desired this Philip. 3.9 and onely this he desired that he might be foundin Christ not having his owne righteousnesse which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God through faith CHAP. XX. Of the different participating of imputed righteousnesse by faith THE righteousnesse of Christs merit which is the materiall cause of our justification is equally communicated to all that haue it so that in regard of it one is not more righteous than another For it is entirely imputed unto whom it is imputed and entirely embraced by all who participate of it But because we apprehend and apply it to our selues by a spirituall instrument or organ namely faith hence it coÌ„meth to passe that all doe not equally apprehend and applie it to themselues for all haue not one degree or measure of faith But it is according to one degree in one and according to another degree in another in some weaker and in others stronger and yet all haue true faith and sufficient to embrace Christs righteousnesse For if we consider faith secundùm rationem specificam in the essentiall forme whereby it is specified and differenced from other habits and vertues so it is in all right beleevers alike for every essentiall forme is constituted in indivisibili and doth not admit latitude as not being capable of division by more or lesse But if we consider it secundùm rationem individualem as it is inherent in divers subjects so it is in some more in others lesse and doth admit very great latitude And so there may be one degree of faith in St. Peter another in St. Paul and another in St. Luke and another in Onesimus Hence was it that our Saviour said to the Centurion in Capernaum Math. 10.8 I haue not found so great faith no not in Israel And to the woman of Canaan O woman great is thy faith Math. 15.28 Aquinas aptly noteth Aqui. 11 â—ae qu. 112. art 4. that an habit is said to be great two wayes First in respect of the end and object as being ordained to sime greaet good secondly in respect of the subject which doth lesse or more participate of the inherent habit Now faith as all other gifts and graces comes downe from the Father of lights and is dispensed and distributed to us by his Sonne Ephes 4.7 for to every one is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ So God is said to deale to every ma the measure of faith Rom. 12.3 and in the fixt verse following He that prophecieth must prophecy according to the proportion of faith Aqui. in Rom. cap. 12. lect 1. Whereupon Aquinas commenteth Nonsolùm alias gratias gratis datas dat Deus mensuratè sed etiam ipsam sidem quae per dilectionem operatur God doth not onely giue by measura other graces freely given but also faith it selfe which worketh by loue Now although Almightie God doth giue unto every man in his first conversion a certaine measure of faith yet doth he not alwayes giue unto every man that full measure which he shall after attaine unto but he shall goe on from one degree to another and still receiue further increase and improvement of his faith untill that measure allotted him be accomplished Eor even as plants when they first bud and herbs in the garden when they first put forth are not adorned with that beautie stature and perfection which they shall after haue so neither are graces and vertues given of God to men at the first such so great and perfect as afterward they shall be Ambr. de voc gent. lib. 2. cap. 3. Semina charisonatum plantaeque virtutnus non in omni agrecordis humani totum hoc pariter quod futurae sunt nascuntur nec facilè reperitur in exordio maturitas in inchoatione perfectio Exerit quidem frequenter potens misericors Deus mir abiles istes suae operationis effectus quibusdam mentibus non expectatâ profectuum morâ totum simul quicquid collaturus est invehit The seeds of graces saith St. Ambrose and plants of vertues doe not in every field of mans heart spring up at the first all that which they shall after be neither is ripenes easily found in the beginning and perfection at the first God mightie and mercifull doth indeede oft-times shew forth these wonderfull effects of his operation and puts into some mindes at once all that he bestoweth of them not expecting any delay of proficiencie Thus some haue their proper measure of faith fully measured out unto them at the first but others are to labour and pray for proficiencie to receiue further increase and augmentation of their faith saying or rather praying with the blessed Apostles unto the Lord increase our faith Luk. 9.5 And with the Father of him that was possessed with the dumb spirit Lord I beleeue Mark 9. v. 24 helpe thou mine unbeliefe This man beleeved yet prayed he for decrease of unbeliefe the Apostles beleeved yet prayed they to the Lord for increase of Faith When as our gracious Saviour had spoken to his Apostles of his
crowne meete for your labour Perseverance immediately beginneth to attend on grace the mother of all vertues when it is first infused but is not compleate untill death untill the infusion of finall grace which perfectly extinguisheth all evill concupiscence and is the utter deletion or taking away of all sinne and sinfulnesse As the Crowne on the Kings head giveth an eminent splend our and luster to his royall robes and other 〈◊〉 ornaments so the grace of perseverance is the glorious complement crowne of all other vertues and is an infallible guide to leade us into the kingdome of glorie Therefore our Saviour saith not he that shall begin Math. 24.13 but he that shall endure unto the end shall be saved And to the Angell in the Church of Smyrna he saith Be thou faithfull unto death and I will giue thee a crowne of life Apoc. 2. â—0 We are now in our spirituall course and race we must so runne that we may obtaine wee are now in the combat we must so fight that we may over come Which that we may doe we are to implore and desire by fervent and incessant prayer that God would prevent and follow us with grace all the dayes of our life that so at the end of our dayes we may confidently and comfortably say with the chosen vessell of mercy I have fought a good fight 2 Tim. 4. v. 7 8. I haue finished my course I haue kept the faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall giue me at that day and not unto me onely but unto them also which loue his appearing CHAP. XXXIII Of perfection in glorie SAint Paul the chosen vessell of mercy and trumpet of grace Rom. 8.30 uniteth and maketh up the golden chaine of our salvation with foure linkes First Predestination secondly Vocation thirdly Iustification fourthly Glorification Where hee expresseth not our sanctification as being included in our glorification according to the exposition of Aquinas Aquin. in cp ad Rom. cap. 8. saying Glorificamur in hac vita per prefectune virturis gratia in futura per exaltationem gloria We are glorified in this life by proficiency of vertue and grace in the life to come by exaltation of glory And indeed grace is glorie inchoate or begun glorie is grace consummate and perfected and our imperfect perfection by grace here is a previous preparing and disposing of us unto that absolute perfection which wee shall haue being cloathed and adorned with the stole of glorie For even in this life wee are freed in part from those foure evills which are maine impediments to our absolute perfection and this freedome is meerely from grace in Christ Iesus The first evill hindering our perfection is error in the understanding from which we are freed in part by the Spirit of grace leading of us into all truth and teaching us all things necessary unto salvation The second evill a let to perfection is sinne in the will from which wee are also partly freed by grace in Christ and that two wayes First Rom. 6.14 from the dominion of it For sinne shall not haue dominion over you because yee are not under the Law but under grace saith the Apostle secondly from the condemnation of sinne seeing Rom. 8.1 there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Iesus which walke not after the flesh but after the Spirit The third evill hindrance of our perfection is misery and afflictions from which by faith and spirituall fortitude we are freed in part that they may not swallow us up that the flouds of great waters the over-flowings of feare and despaire may never prevaile against us never over whelme us In the world you shall haue tribulation but be of good cheare saith Christ I haue overcome the world The last evill letting our perfection is death And from this also we are freed in part by grace not onely from spirituall and eternall death but even from corporall in two respects First from the sting thereof 1 Iohn 1. v. 7. which is sinne 1 Cor. 15.56 for by the bloud of Christ wee are cleansed from all sinne Secondly in regard of dominion for death shall not tyrannize over us for ever for in the resurrection at the sound of the Trumpet 1 Cor. 15.52 wee shall be raised incorruptible and never die any more Whereas the bodies of the unjust shall rise but from corporall to eternall death wherein they shall be ever dying but never dead which moved holy Bernard to cry out Bern. de consid li. 5. ca. 12. Alas saith he quis det illis semel mori ut non moriantur in aternum who might grant them once to die that so they might not die for ever Thus are we freed in part by grace from these foure evill impediments of perfection But in the stare of glorie we shall be wholy and entirely exempted from the in for then shall we be free from all darknesse of error obliquitie of sinne from all of stictive misery and destroying death Yea we shall be free from them after a more excellent mother than Adam was in Paradise in the state of innocency For it pleased the omnipotent goodnesse and wisedome who bringeth light out of darknesse life out of death and good out of evill even by the fall of man to raise him up in Christ to a more eminent and high state of perfection It is true that Adam in his integritie had power not to erre not to sinne not to suffer misery not to die but it is also true that he had power to erre to sinne to suffer misery to die which by wofull experiment he brought into act by disobeying the command of his creator Ever since the poison and contagion of disobedience hath tainted and corrupted all the veines of his rebellious children and miserable posteritie Now in the state of glory in that heavenly Paradise we shall obtaine such a transcendent degree of perfection as that we shall haue no power in our understanding to erre in our will to sinne no power to suffer misery and devouring death In that ineffable glorie wee being perfectly changed into the image of the Lord the knowledge of all things shall be seene of us not by parts but wholly and at once as St. Prosper saith Prosp de vita contemplat li. 1. cap. 6. We shall see all things clearely without error by beholding him who is all truth Now wee see through a glasse darkly that incomprehensible light we behold him now through a three-fold glasse First of the creatures secondly of his workes of justice and mercie thirdly of the holy Scriptures But then we shall see him perfectly clearely face to face with unspeakeable joy and delight and herein confists our essentiall alsufficient blessednesse therefore Philip said unto Christ Lord shew us the Father and it sufficeth Iohn 14.8 Now we know God but imperfectly