therefore he had none other remedy but to wander as a Pilgrime and a forlorne creature till hee ended his dayes in extreame miseries so Agrippa suffered intollerable calamities Cap. 17. so Herod the Tetrarch was spoiled of his goods depriued of his Kingdome and banished from his Countrey So Herod that killed Iames Cap. 18. was miserably eaten vp of loathsome wormes and to the Iewes was measured the same measure as they had measured vnto Christ before for as they had sold him for thirty pence so thirty of them were sold for one peny and fiue hundred of them were nayled to Crosses in one day in so much that nec locus sufficeret crucibus nec cruces corporibus there was not place sufficient for the Crosses nor Crosses enough to nayle them on It were too too lamentable to relate more of those dolefull Tragedies which Iosephus Eusebius Euagrius and others haue written of them and what they suffered at the finall ruine and destruction of Ierusalem and what heauy bondage farre worse then that Egyptian slauery they haue endured to this very day In aureo tractatu Rabbi Sam. de miserimo statu Iudaeorum Hence it is that Rabbi Samuel about sixe hundred yeares agone writ a tractate in forme of an Epistle vnto Rabbi Isaac Master of the Synagogue of the Iewes in Subiulmeta a Citie of Morocco wherein he doth excellently discusse the cause of their long captiuity their great blindnesse and extreame misery and after that hee had proued tâ—at this punishment was inflicted vpon them for some great and grieuous sinne he sheweth that sinne to be the same whereof the Prophet Amos speaketh For three transgressions of Israel and for foure Amos 2.6 non transferam eo I will not turne away the punishment thereof because they sold the righteous for siluer And though he saith that their Rabbies doe vnderstand this righteous to be Ioseph that was sold by his brethren vnto Egypt What Rabbi Samuel saith concerning Iesus Christ yet because the Prophet putteth this for the fourth sinne and the greatest sinne of Israel and because he cannot finde any three sinnes of the sonnes of Israel before the selling of Ioseph therefore he maketh the selling of Ioseph to be the first sinne of Israel the worshipping of the Calfe in Horeb to be the second the abusing the killing of Gods Prophets to be the third and the fourth to be the selling of Iesus Christ For the first they serued foure hundred yeares for the second they wandred forty yeares in the Wildernesse vntill they that came out of Egypt were all consumed and brought to nothing excepting onely Caleb and Iosuah for the third they were held Captiues seauenty yeares in Babylon and for the fourth the said Rabbi Samuel confesseth that they were held in most pittifull Captiuity to this very day because hee was most vniustly sold and most shamefully deliuered to death as he sheweth in the seauenth Chapter of the said Tractate Much and many more circumstantiall proofes and demonstrations of his Resurrection to shew him to be the true Messias Why the Author did so prosecute the proofes of Christs Resurrection might be produced but I hope these will serue I say not to make vs to beleeue this truth for to that end I hope we neede not bring any proofe at all because we doe fully and vndoubtedly beleeue the same already but to shew that our fore-fathers haue not or we doe not beleeue these things without more then abundant and vnanswerable proofes thereof and to conuince that malicious obstinacy and infidelity of all those whether professed Iewes or seeming Christians which notwithstanding such an Army of arguments and such a cloud of witnesses will still continue blinded and hardened in vnbeleefe It were strange there should be any Athiests amongst vs yet I thinke it was not without cause that Dr. Fotherby writ his large and learned discourse against Atheisme and questionlesse they that deny God will neuer beleeue in Christ and therefore as that booke shall be a witnesse against all Atheists in the latter day to condemne them so shall this which I haue written be an accuser of all those that will not beleeue in Iesus Christ CHAP. VIII Of the place from whence our Sauiour rose both in respect of his body and soule NOw hauing seene that the Messias when hee should come was to rise againe the third day and that our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ is that true Messias because he did rise againe vpon the third day I must yet intreate you to consider that so you may haue the full knowledge of this point these two especiall things Arsatius in postilla ser de resurrect fol. 122. 1. The place from whence he rose 2. The manner how he rose First We must vnderstand that as Christ in respect of his humane nature consisted both of body and soule so his Resurrection must needs be considered both in respect of his body and soule First The Resurrection of the Body was that whereby hee raised the same from the graue a dead carkasse to be a liuing and a most glorious body neuer to die againe The place from whence Christ raised his soule Secondly The Resurrection of his Soule must be from some infernall place or else it must be a descention and not a Resurrection of his soule and therefore as in our Creede we professe to beleeue that he descended into Hell so we must likewise confesse that he raised himselfe from Hell but here vnawares I am fallen into an Ocean of contention For First Some say this Article of our Creede crept in by negligence and therefore would haue raced it out againe but that would proue a want of Gods prouidence that would suffer his whole Church to erre so grossely in the chiefe summe of her Christian faith and if such things might creepe into our Creede which is but the abstract of our faith then much more might easily creepe into our Scriptures which is so large an expresser both of faith and manners but the Spirit of Christ is alwayes with his Church to guide it into all truth and the Church of Christ is the Pillar of truth and a most faithfull preseruer of all truth and therefore this opinion is most absurde Secondly Others still retayning the words Foure expositions of that article of Christs discention into Hell cannot agree vpon the meaning of the sentence and of these I finde foure seuerall expositions The first is that the soule of Christ suffered the paines of Hell vpon the Crosse But this cannot stand first because we must bring in such a sense as will agree with the words after his buriall for that being dead and buried he descended into Hell and secondly That Christ suffered not the torments of the damned Iohn 9. because as that worthy Bishop of Winchester hath most excellently shewed there bee eight speciall things in Hell paines which the soule of Christ could not
truth of God wee can in no wayes beleeue them not because we know no reason how they may be done for so we beleeue many things as all the mysteries of our Faith but because we haue many reasons euen out of the Word of God to assure vs that these things cannot be done And so much for the chiefest obiections that are vsually made against the truth of this Doctrine of Gods Power CHAP. IV. Of the vsefull application of this Doctrine of Gods Power YOu haue seene the truth of this Doctrine of the Power of God it may serue for many especiall ends As first for the confutation of a world of errors and the cutting downe of many infinite heresies especially those whereof I haue already spoken and therefore I neede not say any more of them in this place Secondly this Doctrine of Gods Power A great comfort to the godly that God is able to deliuer them Math. 10.16 Dan. 3.17 may serue for the consolation of the godly for they are inuironed with many enemies they are sent as Sheepe into the middest of Wolues and they are hated of all-men for Christ his sake but as the three Children said We know that God is able to deliuer vs from the burning fiery Furnace and from the hands of all that hate vs and to preserue vs blamelesse vntill the day of the comming of Christ And therefore though we be beset with enemies on euery side Bosquier de incruent victor Christi p. 567. especially the World Tanquam Syrena dulcis Like the alluring Mermaides The flesh Tanquam Dalila blandiens Like a false flattering Dalila and the Diuell Tanquam Leo rugiens Like a roaring Lyon that doe seeke by all meanes to destroy vs Presentemque viris intendunt omnia mortem Virgil. Aeneid l. 1. Reuel 2.10 Yet we neede not feare any of those things that we shall suffer Quia non plus valet ad deijciendum terrena paena quam ad erigendum diuina tutela Because all the power of darkenesse is not so able to suppresse vs as our gracious God is to support vs for otherwise Si Diabolus nocere posset quantum vellet aliquis iustorum non remaneret If either Satans malice or the hatred of wicked men or the furie of bloud-thirsty Tyrants might preuaile against the godly seruants of Christ so much as they would then not a righteous man could remaine vpon the face of the Earth but God can put a hooke in their nostrils and say vnto them as he sayes vnto the Seas Hitherto shalt thou goo and no further Rom. 8.31 And therefore If God be with vs we neede not feare who be against vs Quia maior est qui est in nobis quam qui est in mundo 1 Iohn 4.4 Because as Saint Iohn saith He is greater and stronger which is in vs then he that is in the W rld Euen so we haue the lusts of our owne flesh the messengers of Satan 1 Pet. 2.11 that doe buffet vs and fight against our soules and make vs many times when it compells vs to doe the euill that we would not doe â—nd to leaue vndone the good that we would doe to crie out with the Apostle Rom. 7.19 O wretched men that we are who shall deliuer vs from this body of death or who shall preserue vs vnto eternall life And to say with the Poet O terque quaterque beati queis ante ora patrum contigit oppetere O happy had wee beene had wee died before wee had sinned but if we cast our eyes to looke vpon Gods Power we may be presently comforted because the Saints of God though they be shaken and sifted and winnowed like wheate yet are they kept not by their owne strength for so they should soone faile 1 Pet. 1.5 but by the Power of God saith Saint Peter through faith vnto saluation And this indeed is the sole comfort of all Christians that we shall neuer perish Iohn 10.28.29 because our Father which gaue vs vnto Christ is greater then all and none is able to take vs out of his Fathers hands This is that Foundation which remaineth sure and therefore happy is that man which buildes vpon this Foundation Thirdly this Doctrine of Gods Power may serue for the reprehension of the wicked for he can destroy all the workers of iniquitie Math. 10.28 and cast both body and soule into Hell fire And therefore will ye not feare to offend so great a God Remember I beseech you what he hath done to the old World to Sodome That the wicked should feare to offend thiâ— powerfull God Deut 29.19 and Gomorrah to Cora Dathan and Abiram to Pharaoh Iudas and many more remember that he can doe whatsoeuer hee will doe and remember what he saith Hee will doe vnto them that heare the words of the curse of the Law and yet will blesse themselues in their hearts saying We shall haue peace And let these things moue you to be humbled before the mighty â—and of God and to cause you here to feare his power 1 Pet. 5.6 that hereaâ—ter you may not feele his anger For Heb. 10.31 it is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the liuing God and they that now goe on in sinne and make but a sport of iniquitie without either beleeuing his truth that he will punish sinne or fearing his power that he can punish them shall then finde and feele that it had beene better for them neuer to haue beene borne or to haue had a milstone hanged about their neckes and to haue beene cast into the middest of the Sea then to haue broken the least Commandement oâ— this powerfull and Almighty God And so much for the first attribute of God here expressed that is his Power and now followeth the second attribute which is Gods Goodnesse CHAP. V. Of the Mercy of GOD and wherein the same chiefly consisteth YOu haue heard of the Power of God 2. Attribute i. e Gods goodnesse we are now to see how God proclaimeth his Goodnesse according as he had promised before I will make all my goodnesse to passe before thy face Exod. 33.9 A Doctrine farre more comfortable then the former for not hee that can but he that will helpe vs is best vnto vs and hee that is willing to doe what he can though it be but little is farre more deere vnto vs then he that can do much but will do nothing but the power of God sheweth that he is able and this goodnesse of God proueth that he is willing to releeue vs and therefore the goodnesse of God is the anchor of our hope and the foundation of all our comfort and it is well coupled with the former attribute for in vaine were his willingnesse to helpe vs vnlesse he were able and in vaine were his ability to helpe vs vnlesse hee were willing the former being but a fruitlesse wish and the latter but a gracelesse
nothing can be sayd to be trueth but God because nothing is or can be sayd to be of himselfe but God Secondly As God is essentially truth so hee is causally truth Iohn 14.6 The manner how all Truths doe proceede from God that is the fountaine of truth from whence all other channells of truth doe flow for this is the order of all veritie First The trueth of all things is conceiued in the Idea and notion or practicke knowledge and vnderstanding of God from all eternitie because all things had their being in the diuine vnderstanding before they had their being in themselues then Secondly This truth floweth to the things existing in themselues which are therefore true because they are adaequated and conformable to that truth conceiued in the minde of God concerning them then Thirdly This truth of things passeth to the vnderstanding both of Men Angels when the vnderstanding is adaequated and conformable to the things conceiued as they are in themselues i. e. when we truely vnderstand things to be as they be then Fourthly This truth conceiued in the vnderstanding proceedeth vnto expression either by words or writings when our expression of things is agreeable to that conception which wee haue of them in our vnderstanding that is when we speake or write as we thinke And therefore whensoeuer our words doe any wayes swarue from our minds and vnderstanding they cannot be true quia mendacium est contra mentem ire because a lye is to goe against our owne mindes or to say otherwise then wee thinke sayth Saint Augustine and a truth of words is the adaequation and conformitie of the tongue with the minde and vnderstanding and whensoeuer we vnderstand any thing otherwise then it is there can bee no trueth in that vnderstanding because the truth of the vnderstanding is the adaequation of the same to the things existing and being in their naturall causes and whensoeuer things doe any wayes swarue from that aeternall notion and conception of them in the minde and vnderstanding of God they cannot therein be true because the truth of all things consisteth in their adaequation and conformitie to the truth eternally conceiued of them in the diuine vnderstanding How the diuine vnderstanding is the rule that measureth all Truths But when our words are agreeable to our mindes our minds and vnderstandings to the things conceiued and those things to the minde of God then are they true because as the Schooles truely teach Intellectus diuinus est mensurans non mensuratus c. the diuine conception of things is that which measureth the trueth of all things and is not measured it selfe by any thing Et res naturalis est mensurata mensurans and euery naturall thing thus measured by the notion of God doth measure the truth of our vnderstanding and our vnderstanding measured by the truth of things conceiued doth measure the truth of our words And so you see Truth to be primatiuely in God as the light in the body of the Sunne and thence to be deriued in res existentes into the things wherein it resteth subiectiuely like vnto the light of the Moone and the starres which they receiue from the Sunne and so to passe into the vnderstanding terminatiuely like the reflection of the light of the Moone and the Starres vpon these lower orbes and lastly to our words or writings expressiuely like vnto the manifestation of things by that light which shineth vpon them Now this verum declaratiuum this expressed trueth is to bee considered two wayes 1. Primarily 2. Secondarily First As it is directed by God and guided by his Spirit so as therein there can be no cōmixtion of error and in that respect it is called the diuine Truth because it is wholy Truth and expressed by the Diuine Spirit for as Saint Peter saith 2 Pet. 1.21 The holy men of God spake as they were moued by the holy Ghost This is Theologicall Truth and it is wholy contained in the holy Scripture Coloss 1.5 which is therefore called The Word of Truth And this Truth though I might alledge many other reasons to proue the worth and the excellency thereof yet is this sufficient in stead of all that besides what Zorobabel saith of it it is in many passages of the Scripture compared vnto the Light as the Psalmist saith Send forth thy Truth and thy Light And that especially in three respects for as the Light is 1. The dispeller of darkenesse The excellency of the diuine Truth 2. The shewer of things 3. The effecter of generable Creatures So is Truth for First As the Light when it ariseth chaseth away all darkenesse and suffereth not the same to adhere vnto it whereupon the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 6.14 Truth expelleth errors What agreement is there betwixt light and darkenesse Euen so this Truth when it shineth dispelleth and driueth away all errors and ignorance from the mindes of all wherein it resteth And therefore Father Zachary saith That Christ which is Truth it selfe when hee came to preach this Word of Truth came To giue light to them that sit in darkenesse Luke 1.79 and in the shaddow of death i. e. To disperse those mysts of ignorance and errours which had ouer-shadowed the whole face of the Earth Secondly as the Light when it shineth displayeth it selfe and pierceth euery transparent body though neuer so solid and maketh all things manifest what they are for in the darke Ephes 5.13 Truth sheweth what euery thing is there is no certainty of colours white from blacke is scarce discerned there is no certainty of things Gold cannot be knowne from Copper but when the Light shineth it presently sheweth what euery thing is Euen so though while we are ignorant of Gods will euill may be deemed good and good euill yet when this Truth of God shineth i. e. this Word of God is Preached it maketh knowne euery thing what it is it sheweth the true God from the false the true seruice of God from the false superstition of men the true Church of Christ from the false Synagogue of Satan and the true members of Christ from the false hypocrites of the World Hence it is that the wicked cannot abide the Truth John 3.19 Because their workes are euill and by the preaching of the same their workes are manifested to be so And therefore Saint Paul saith That the Preachers of Gods Word are oftentimes become enemies vnto the wicked Gal. 4.16 because they tell them the Truth Truth begets vs vnto God Thirdly As the Light when it ariseth doth so heate and hearten euery thing that it is most truly said Sol homo generat hominem The Sunne and Man begets a Man Euen so this Truth of God and the Preaching of the same is the onely meanes whereby we are regenerate and begotten againe to be the Sonnes of God as the Apostle sheweth And this is that Truth whereby God sheweth himselfe to
proued and that the Holy Ghost is God as all the holy Fathers haue as sufficiently confirmed yet that there are not three Gods but one God Athan. in Sym. as Athanasius sheweth therefore it must needs follow that all three haue but one and the selfe-same Essence and consequently that the Sonne is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Patri Consubstantiall or co-essentiall vnto his Father and therefore also hence it must needs follow that as Caluin saith our Sauiour Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A God of himselfe independent as absolute as the Father is And yet for the better vnderstanding of this point how Christ may be said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God of himselfe Thom. p. 1. q. 33. we must consider that Aliud est habere essentiam Diuinam à seipso How Christ is God of himselfe aliud habere essentiam diuinam à seipsa existentem It is one thing to haue his Diuine Essence from himselfe and another to haue his Diuine Essence existing of it selfe To say that the person of the Sonne hath his Diuine Essence that is his personall being from himselfe we cannot because it is from the Father the Father communicating his whole Essence vnto the Sonne and therefore we say that the Sonne Ratione 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in respect of his personall being is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God of himselfe but God of God and Light of Light as the Nicen Councell hath it because the person of the Sonne existeth from the person of the Father but to say that the Sonne hath his Diuine Essence existing of it selfe Idem ibid. is most certaine Quia remota relatione ad patrem sola restat essentia qua est à seipsa for taking away the relation of the Sonne vnto the Father there remaineth but the Essence which is of it sâ—lfe and therefore we say that the Sonne Quoad essentiam absolutam In respect of his absolute Essence is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A God of himselfe because the Essence of the Sonne is the very same that the Essence of the Father is And so to this truth set downe by Caluine Bellarmine himselfe subscribeth Bellar. de Christo But the old and new Arrians cannot endure to yeeld him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same Essence with his Father but rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of some other such like Essence but not of the same substance as Athanasius sheweth Athan. in l. de expositione fidej And therefore they doe obiect First against the Word here vsed by the Fathers to expresse this truth Secondly against the truth and true meaning of the matter contained and declared by this Word Ob. Idem in l. de decret Con. Nicen. First for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though first found out by themselues yet of all others the Arrians could not indure it as Athanasius witnesseth because as they said neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 essence nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same essence can be found any where in all the Scriptures Sol. That the word Essence is plainely deriued out of Scriptures Rom 1.20 To this Epiphanius answereth that although the name of essence in plain tearme is not found either in the Old or New Testament yet the sense and signification thereof the Synonomie and aequiualencie of the same is obuiously found in many places for the Apostle speaketh of his eternall power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Godhead and what is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Godhead but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very Essence of God Philip. 2. and so he speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the forme of God but the forme of any thing is no lesse Philosophicall then the Essence of that thing and Saint Peter saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That wee might bee made partakers of the Diuine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 but the nature of God and the Essence of God are both the same Besides Essence is deriued of esse to be and it is the abstract of the name or Word which in the concrete is called ens being but God is said to be both ens esse Exod. 3.14 the chiefest being and to be in the Scriptures as ego sum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am that I am and hee that is hath sent me vnto you and therefore if the Scriptures call him ens the being why may not we call him essence for though it cannot be well said That abstract names are most agreeable to God that man is humanitie in the abstract yet because God is most simple by nature we may as well speake of him in the abstract as in the concrete nay the abstract names are more properly agreeable vnto him then the concrete as to say that he is Truth rather then true Wisdome rather then wise iustice Dionys de Diuin nominibus rather then iust and so essence or being rather then to be as Dionysius saith And further we finde the word Essence vsed in the Scripture for where the prodigal Child saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luc. 15.12 Father giue me the portion of thy substance which pertaineth to me he vseth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to expresse his fathers substance and what is the riches or the substance of God but his Diuinitie and therefore the word Essence is not improper nor altogether inuented without Scripture to expresse the Nature of GOD. And for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coessentiall or of the same essence That the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same Essence was not first vsed by the Fathers of Athanasius time the fathers answere that it was not first inuented by the fathers of the Nicen Councell as the Arrians falsely affirmed for one of themselues denying the Deitie of Christ said that if they should yeeld Christ to be a true God then must it follow that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same essence with God whereupon Hosius and the rest of the Orthodox fathers concluded that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same essence with God and it was vsed long before that time though not controuerted by Dionysius Romanus Dionysius Alexandrinus Origen Theognostus and others as Athanasius affirmeth Secondly they say that it was not so far fetcht as the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of another essence and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the like essence which themselues vsed to deny the coessentiality of the Sonne of God with his Father so free were they to deuise what they would to maintaine errours and so strict against the defenders of the truth Thirdly Luk 6. Deut 7.6.14.2.26 Ambros l. 3. c. 7. de fide they alleadge that the Scriptures vsed the like words as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Moses calleth the children of Israel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate a speciall people or a peculiar chosen people vnto himselfe a people as
others will haue this phrase to signifie his abode conuersation here among men thirdly others will haue it to signifie the state and condition of the dead as if the comparison were made betwixt those parts of the earth wherein the liuing doe inhabit and that place wherein the dead are buried and so they doe expound that place of Esayas that hee was cut off from the land of the liuing and so cast into the land of the dead Esay 53.8 which they say the Apostle vnderstandeth by the lower parts of the earth and fourthly others say that he descended into the place of the damned not to suffer Iohn 19.30 because that was finished on the Crosse nor to fetch any Fathers out of Lymbe but to signifie and to shew not onely by words but also by presence that seing by his death and Passion the wrath of God was appeased Satan was to haue no more power ouer the Elect which hee held captiue that he was now made Lord of all and that all power was giuen vnto him and a name aboue all other names Collos 2.15 and not onely to declare the same vnto them but also to subdue them and to spoyle principalities and powers and as my Text saith to leade captiuitie captiue And this is the exposition of most of the ancient Fathers for mine owne part I am of Zanchius minde Laâ—ch in Ephes c. 4. that in the word descendit all these foure expositions may bee comprehended because he descended into his mothers wombe to be conuersant here among men into his graue and into Hell and our very Creede expresseth all these foure he was conceaued by the holy Ghost i. e. in his mothers wombe there is the first hee was borne of the Virgin Marie and hee suffered vnder Pontius Pilate there is the second he was dead buried there is the third and he descended into Hell there is the fourth and these be the foure degrees of his humiliation That Christ descended into Hell and this the Apostle seemeth plainely to vnderstand by the antithesis by the coherence and by the scope of the words because hee saith that hee ascended to the highest part of Heauen and therefore this also that he descended into the lower parts of the earth is literally to bee vnderstood that he descended into Hell because no place of the earth is lower then Hell Secondly Touching the exaltation of Christ Saint Paul setteth downe two things 1. He describeth the Person ascending he which descended 2. He expresseth the action he ascended He which ascended is the very same person which descended First he saith that it is he which descended that hath ascended i. e. he which was made man which suffered was buried he ascended and who is he but God the Sonne the second Person of the Trinitie for so our Sauiour saith I went forth from the Father and I came into the world and againe I leaue the world and I goe to the Father and therfore it is the very self same Son of God and none other which both descended and ascended And so by these few words we finde two great heresies quite ouerthrowne first of them which say hee brought his body from Heauen because the Apostle doth not say he which ascended descended though this be true being truely vnderstood for he ascended God and Man which so did not descend but as God alone therefore he saith he which descended he ascended secondly hereby is ouerthrowne the heresie of Nestorius which said our Sauiour consisteth of two persons for if he which descended is the very same that ascended then it is apparant that by his descention That in Christ there cannot be two persons i. e. by the assumption of our nature hee is no other person then he was before but still remaineth one and the selfe same person and that the humane nature doth adde nothing vnto the Sonne of God for the constituting or perfecting of his person for otherwise he that ascended had bin another and not the same which descended for hee had descended a simple person and ascended compounded hee had descended an imperfect person and ascended perfect which is most hereticall either to say or think And this is the cause why we affirme that the person of Christ cannot be said to bee compounded of two natures tanquam ex partibus as of two parts Christ still remaineth a most simple person i. e not compounded but as hee was before the assuming of our nature so also now hee is still a most simple and a most perfect person bearing our nature as on â—â—areth on his garment but neuer to put it off againe because it is assumed into the vnitie of his person and so Saint Augustine saith that Christ descended like a naked man and when he ascended he ascended the same person but clothed with our flesh and therefore as he is not another man that taketh on a garment so the Sonne of God is not another person because he tooke vpon him the garment of our flesh and if the humane nature assumed did neither change nor perfect nor compound the person of the Sonne of God because he which descended is the very same that ascended and none other then by the same reason it cannot be said that Christ tooke man vpon him i. e. a humane person as Nestorius taught But therefore he vnderstood not the same How Nestorius was deceiued about the person of Christ because on the one side hee held that true philosophicall principle that the actions are of the persons and not of the natures and on the other side he held another principle which is also true if it be truely vnderstood that of contrary effects there must bee contrary efficient causes and hee saw that in Christ there were diuers and contrary actions and therefore he did thence conclude that in Christ there must needs be diuers persons whereof the one should be passible and the other impassible and so he made that hee which descended was not the same but another that ascended for he considered not quod idem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 potest diuersa pugnantia opâ—rari secundam diuersas in eo naturas that the same subsistent or person may worke diuers and contrarie acts in respect of the diuers natures that are in it as a man according to his soule doth vnderstand and according to his body hee doth not vnderstand in respect of his soule he is immortall and in respect of his body hee is mortall and so through his ignorance hee hath abused these true philosophicall principles being truely vnderstood to denie the truth of the Scriptures and to wrong the person of the Sonne of God but the Fathers truely explaining the sayd principles did confute his error and confirme this truth that he which descended is the very same that ascended and none other But from hence it is apparant that the word descendit is not to be taken in
737 TI. No time mispent that is spent to know the person of Christ 305 Christ how made in time 400 Of the time when Christ was borne ibid. How time hath his fulnesse 401 The particular time of the words incarnation 402. Titillation and thoughts of sinne is sinne 14 TO Torments of Hell how intollerable 86 Not equall to all the damned 93 Not suffered by Christ 581 TR. That we doe not traduce sinnes from our parents 246 Transubstantiation hath a double contradiction 173 How full of absurdities ibid. Defenders of Transubstantiation how agreeable to the false prophets whereof our Sauiour biddeth vs to beware 548 What the Author thinketh of Transubstantiation 549 Treason of Iudas what it should teach vs. 463 Mysterie of the Trinity why not fully reuealed at the first 272 How darkly shewed in the creatures 273 Trismegistus what he said of the word 312 Morall truth what it is 312 Truth in vs not as it is in God ibid. Physicall truth what it is ibid. God is truth two wayes 213 All truths how they doe proceed 213 Truth of things of vnderstanding of words 213 214 Diuine truth measureth all things 214 Expressed truth is two-fold 215 Truth how excellent it is ibid. How like the light 215 How it expelleth errors ibid. Sheweth what euery thing is ibid. How it begets vs to God 216 God true in himselfe in his workes and in his words 216 The primarie expressed truth contained in the holy Scriptures 215 Truth to be sought whatsoeuer it cost 217 To be defended with the losse of all that we haue 217 How alwayes handled on earth ibid. How at last it will preuaile 218 How euery truth proceedes from God 222 How God loueth it ibid. How it should be alwayes spoken 222 231 How hardly found in these dayes 222 231 Truth makes vs like to God 231 Truth and iustice how they pleaded against man 319 TV. To turne from sinne turnes away all the wrath of God 195 TW Twelue apparitions of Christ after his resurrection 565 Twelue wonders in the Manna of the Israelites 703 Two things further the sinnes of the parents to continue in the children 246 Two-fold will in Christ 296 Two sorts of Mediators 296 Two reasons shewing why Christ was made flesh 320 Two things to be done for man before he could be saued 321 Two things to be considered touching the conception of Christ 333 Two signes of a true Teacher 466 Two reasons moued Pilate to condemne Christ 478 That there is a two fold hope 649 Two kindes of prayer 700 TY. Giuing of Canaan to the Israelites a type of giuing heauen to vs. 127 The three women seeking Christ a type of the Church 519 520 Typicall testimonies that Christ should rise the third day 554 To liue vnder the tyrannie of sinne how lamentable it is 635 VA. VAnities of the world how soone they passe away 129 Christ despised all vanities 260 Vaine-glory how it tainteth many of the Clergy 525 Valentinus his heresie 343 VB Vbiquity cannot be communicated to any creature 156 Vbiquitie of Christ his body ouerthrowne by the assertion of the Angell 543 Obiections of the Vbiquitaries answered 168 388 VE Veniall sinnes or the least sinnes bring death 41 Vertue is of an admirable beauty 47 Christ a patterne of all vertue 260 VJ. Victory of Christ ouer Hell Death Sinne and Satan 634 Villanies of Satan to be shewed and why 392 Villanies done to Christ not paralelled since the world began 474 Vineger how giuen to Christ to drinke 482 Christ why borne of a Virgin 334 The blessed Virgin still continued a Virgin to her death 336 Visitation of God two-fold 243 To visite what it signifieth 243 God visiteth the afflicted ibid. God visiteth the wicked 244 VN Vnderstanding of Adam in Paradise how excellent 57 58. Our Vnderstanding now how darkened through sinne 58 How quicke and sharpe in naturall things 59 How blockish in all Diuine mysteries ibid. Our vnderstanding of God very small 121 Vnion of Christ his natures expressed by a simily of Iustin Martyr 371 Wherin the Nestorian heretickes auouched the same to consist 375 Wherein the Lutherans affirmed it to consist 377 Wherein it doth truely consist 378 Vnion of the two natures inconuertible indiuisible c. 379 Vnion of things three wayes made 380 Vnion of Christ his natures substantiall 381 Ineffable ibid. What benefits it bringeth 282 283 c. We must be vnited to Christ if we will ascend to Heauen 627 Vnity of brethren 689 Want of vnity amongst vs. 691 Vnrepentant sinners shall neuer be absolued 242 VO Voice of the creature three-fold 705 WA WAight of sinne feared by Christ 545 Christ how he walked vpon the waters 388 Warre how lawfull 702 All wants supplied by Christ 262 Way to Heauen how said to be hard 98 And how easie 99 Three wayes of knowing God 120 Three wayes of expressing what God is Wayes of wickednes how hard and difficult 99 121 Best way to teach is to lay a good foundation 392 Way to saue man could neuer haue beene found but onely by the wisdome of God 393 WE Wealth what discommoditie it bringerh 524 WH White clothing of Christ what it signified 473 White an argument of innocency 478 WI. Wicked men delight in committing sinne 36 They are greedy to doe it ibid. And they haue their full content when they haue done it ibid. How they should be afraid to offend Gods power 179 They haue no part in the speciall mercy of God 188 Wicked men not loued of God 189 They are with held from many sinnes by the goodnesse of God 200 To giue vnto the wicked power to serue God God is no waies to doe it 210 The wickednesse of professors of the truth ought no waies to disparage the truth of God 219 220 The wicked how they abuse Gods goodnesse 22â— How punished in their children 245 That they shall be punished 244 Not euery sinne of the wicked is visited vpon their children 247 The wicked how they doe deceiue themselues 517 How it hapneth that they seeke not God 5â—1 How they are terrified and punished by the Angels 536 How they are said to ascend 6â—0 How still captiues vnto Satan 635 Wife of Pilate how she iustified Christ 475 Will of God reuealed in our consciences and in the scriptures 11 Wilfull sinners 33 How fearefull is their state ibid. They can pleade no excuse ibid. The will commandeth all the faculties of the soule 53 Will to sinne deserueth the punishment of sinne 55 Our will cannot be compelled by Sathan nor by any other outward enemie 55 57 Our owne will is the cause of all our woe 55 How our will to doe good is quite killed by sinne 56 It is drawne to sinne by our owne corruption 57 How it is guided by the iudgement 57 How we may be said to haue free-will 57 To will to sinne euer is a temporarie act 97 God cannot will things contrarie to his nature 153 To will a thing we
but I will by Gods helpe be euer ready with all my heart to suffer any thing for the Name of Iesus Christ and for the least iot of his truth But I doe much reioyce in that assured confidence which I haue that your Lordship will herein as well as in all other points of true piety be an heauenly shining light and president vnto all other circumstant and succeeding Bishops and other Patrons whatsoeuer and to that end my prayers shall euer continue for your Lordship And for you my most worthy friend and neuer to be forgotten Benefactor Sir Iohn Wynne I must because I may truely say of you with the Poet Ego te intus in cute noui I am so intimately and inwardly acquainted with your very heart affections most earnestly pray to God for your long continuance amongst vs not onely because of your continuall loue and fauours vnto me and mine but especially to be as you haue beene hitherto the chiefest pillar of ciuill gouernment the best relieuer of our poore and needy and the most apparant patterne of all good workes of piety and charity in all these parts wherein you liue and you haue not lost your reward for God hath blessed you and your Lady with many blessed children all fearing God I said enough though I could truely say much more hereof such a comfort that not many men haue the like and God renueth your yeares as the Eagles and I hope yet will adde vnto your dayes as he did vnto the dayes of Ezechias and yet this is nothing Quia merces tua apud Deum in respect of that great reward which you shall haue of God because that by continuance in well doing you shall be sure to haue glory and honour and immortality and therefore most worthy Knight as I beare witnesse of this truth which I haue seene and know of your Religious heart fearing God full of good so I say vnto you as Christ saith vnto the Church of Smyrna Goe on in your course of godlinesse and be faithfull vnto the death and you shall haue the Crowne of life when the Lord shall say vnto you Euge serue bone Well done thou good and faithfull seruant enter thou into thy Masters ioy Amen Your Lordships and your Worships in all Christian seruice to be commanded GR. WILLIAMS To the Christian READER Deere and Christian Reader THe more grace any man receiueth from God the more thankefulnesse and seruice he oweth to God And I confesse God hath shewed me farre more then vsuall fauours which I assure my selfe he denyed to many farre more worthy of loue then I poore worme could any wayes thinke my selfe to be for he hath three times at least bestowed my life vpon me first in making me as he did all other men secondly in redeeming me as he doth all righteous men and thirdly in preseruing me from the hands of wicked men who though they gaue not any life vnto me yet induced by the malice of Hell and assisted by the subtilty of Satan did combine with a craftier cruelty then euer that I could finde the Arrian Bishops did against that innocent constant Athanasius to take away my feeble life for when the proud were risen vp against me Psal 86.14 and the congregation of naughty men had sought after my soule and compassed me on euery side Ecclus 51. so that there was no man to helpe me yet when I prayed vnto my God Vers 2. that he would not leaue me in the dayes of my trouble and in the time of the proud when I had none other help then did he awake as a Giant out of sleep and preserued my body from destruction Vers 3. he saued me from the mouth of the King of Lyons and according to the multitude of his mercies hee deliuered mee from the teeth of them that were ready to deuoure me and out of the hands of them that sought after my life Vers 7. yea he was so gracious vnto me that he left me not vntil mine eyes did see their desire vpon mine enemies not their destructiō which my soule desired they might neuer taste of and I pray God they desired the same themselues but their suppression so as they might neuer triumph in the miseries of Gods seruants nor trample the bloud of innocents vnder feet And therefore seeing God hath been so gracious vnto me I haue most constantly resolued by the assistance of his Spirit not onely to praise his Name for his goodnesse and to tell what he hath done for my soule but also to dedicate my whole life wholly to his seruice to despise the vanities of this life to abandon all the pleasures of this world to be carelesse of all earthly things * Quae possessa onerant amata inquinant amissa cruciant but what may make in ordine ad deum to helpe me the better to serue my God and with Iohn Baptist to consume my life in the preaching and penning of Gods Word and maugre all the malice of the proudest Prelates in the world to speake the truth as my conscience tels me though my wife and children should all begge and my body be burned for the same I will neuer count my life deare vnto me to spend it in his seruice that so often gaue it me And because I desired to doe that which I thought best for the edifying of Gods Church I haue applied my selfe to treate of these ensuing theames which doe containe the chiefest points and the most necessary grounds of all Christian Religion for besides my naturall inclination euer tending rather to pacification then contention I thinke we haue more neede of fundamentall instructions which are necessary for all men then of any controuersiall positions which may satisfie some men that perhaps desire rather to informe their iudgement then to reforme their manners And in the handling of them I haue intermingled the positiue declaration of the truth in a scholasticke forme with a forcible application of the same vnto our soules for the framing of our liues to make vse of what wee learne for I approue not so well the handling of Gods word with too slender inforcement of the same vnto our consciences as the schoolemen did their too much addicted followers vse to doe nor yet meerely to stand vpon exhortations with too slight expounding the most principle grounds of Religion which I feare to be the fault of too many amongst vs And therefore the one being but as a foundation without roofe and the other as a building on the sand or in the ayre vpon reeden pillars I haue euer adiudged it the best course to knit both together to make both a perfect buiding If I haue done well it is that which I desired but if I haue done slenderly it is that I could attaine vnto Aug. proaem l. 3. de Trinit And therefore I will be euer of that Fathers minde which in all his workes and
those daily heapes of our actuall transgressions And therefore you must giue me leaue to insist a little vpon this point and to take a further view of this our immortall enemie this actuall sinne that bringeth death I confesse it is an Hydrian beast that hath many heads it is like a continued quantitie that admits of infinite sections I cannot touch them all yet for methods sake and the furtherance of our memory I desire you to consider these three points Three things considered in the handling of actuall sin 1. The nature of it how it is defined 2. The degrees whereby it is increased 3. The manner how it is committed CHAP. II. Of actuall sinne what it is and by what degrees it inwardly increaseth Aug. contra faustum lib. 22. cap. 27. What actuall sinne is SAint Augustine defineth sinne to be factum aut dictum aut concupitum contra legem Dei any fact or word or thought that is contrary to the Law of God and Saint Ambrose briefer sayth that sinne is the breach of Gods Law but Zanchius fuller Zanch. de peccato actuali lib. 1. thes 1. pag. 161. and to my content playner sayth that an actuall sinne is an anomie * A want of rule whereby those humane acts that doe proceede from the corruption of our flesh are contrary to the Will of God ingraffed in the mindes of men and especially reuealed in the word of trueth for heerein is expressed both the matter and the forme of sinne The matter of sinne must be a humane act First Materiale peccati the matter of sinne is sayd to be a humane act whether thought word or deede for otherwise it cannot be sayd to be an actuall sinne where there is no act and therefore not onely in sinnes of commission as adultery murther theft and such like but also in those sinnes which are called sinnes of omission as not to pray not to doe that seruice vnto God which we owe vnto him there is not onely a meere priuation but there must be also aliquid positiuum some act that makes the sinne as when thou omittest thy duety either because thou wilt not doe it and there is an act of thy will or because thou canst not remember and hast forgotten to doe it and there is an act of thy memorie or else thy vnwillingnesse thy vnablenesse and thy forgetfulnesse doe proceede from some act and occasion either present or precedent Furor iraque mentem precipitant which makes thee to omitte the things commaunded and so to sinne as when thy feare blindes thy iudgement that thou canst not discerne the trueth or thy drunkennesse causeth thee to sleepe when thou shouldest be hearing the word of God But you must not thinke euery humane act to bee a sinne but onely those that doe proceede from the corruption of our flesh and are contrarie to the Will of God For Secondly Formale peccati The very being of sinne is an erring from the will of God Psal 40.10 as the Schoolemen call it the very being of sinne is a deuiation from the Will of God For the Will of God is to be alwayes set before our eyes as the onely rule whereby we are to square all our actions and therefore euery man should say with the Psalmist In the volume of thy booke it is written of me that I should fulfill thy will O my God I am content to doe it and euery man should doe as he saith Thy will be done in earth as it is Heauen for whosoeuer erreth from his Will sinneth against his owne Soule but whosoeuer doth the will of my Father the same is my brother and my sister and my mother Mar. 3.35 sayth our Sauiour Christ But because the will of God is not alwayes knowne to vs neither can we search into that which hee concealeth from vs therefore you must vnderstand that the reuealed will of God is lydius-lapis that touch-stone which trieth euery action and makes it either iust or sinnefull The will of God is reuealed in our consciences and in the Scriptures Now this will of God is reuealed in the booke of euery mans conscience and in the booke of holy Scriptures For of the first the Apostle saith that the Gentiles though they had not the written Law of Moses yet had they the Law of God written in their hearts because there consciences bare them witnesse what was to be performed and what was to be eschewed and did accuse them when they did ill and excuse them when they did well and therefore whatsoeuer they did against their owne conscience they did the same against the will of God reuealed and ingrauen in their hearts and therefore the Apostle saith that as many as haue sinned without the law Rom. 2.14 verse 14. i. e. without the written law of Moses shall also perish without the Law because they hauing not the law were a law vnto themselues And The word of God is diuided into two parts id est 1. The law 2. The Gospel For the 2. wee must not onely vnderstand the Law of decalogue or 10. commandements although that bee the chiefest rule to expresse all sinne but we must also consider the Gospel as a part of that booke wherin the reuealed will of God is expressed for there are many things forbidden and many things commaunded in the Gospell which are not plainely expressed or mentioned in the Law as to beleeue Iesus the sonne of Mary to be the Messias whereby all sinnes are taken away and without whom all sinnes doe remaine for so Christ himselfe testifieth Iohn 6.9 that the holy Ghost should reprooue the world of sinne because they did not beleeue in him and therfore whatsoeuer act is done against the will of God reuealed either in the Law or the Gospell the same is sinne Secondly For the degrees whereby sin is increased we must note Bernardus de grad humilitatis that nemo repentinè fit pessimus sed paulatim descendit no man is suddenly desperately euil but he descendeth to hel by little and little for the deuill is like a serpent creeping and sliding by little and little when wee cannot perceiue his pathes and therefore we should be very wary to marke his footesteps Now as euery sinne is committed either inwardly or outwardly Jsidorus de summo bono Sinne is inwardly increased by three degrees so euery sinne is increased either inwardly in our mindes or outwardly in our actions 1. Inwardly it increaseth and groweth by 3. degrees 1. By the suggestion of Satan 2. By the delight of the Flesh 3. By the consent of the Spirit The first we cannot well auoyde because Satan is euer busie to suggest sinne into vs Satan suggesteth sinne diuers wayes sometimes horribly to prodigious villanies sometimes secretly hee insinuates himselfe vnder the shape of an Angel of Light and suggesteth sinne vnder the shew of Vertue and thus in euery member of our Bodies
death vpon him as well as Iudas his betraying of Christ causeth him to hang himselfe And therefore timenda est ruina multitudinis etsi non magnitudinis We should as well take heed to be destroyed by the smallest Aug. de vera relig in ep 138. as by the greatest things Nam quid interest ad naufragium c. For what skils it whether the Ship suffers wracke from one huge billow that ouer-whelmes her or by some small Leakes which in time doth sincke her So what difference is it Luc 16.21 with Diues to be sent to hell for his daily denyall of his crummes of bread vnto poore Lazarus 1 King 21.16 or with Achab for once taking away of Naboths Vineyard or with our continuall swaggerers for daily swearing and loose-liuing or with the blood-like Caine that doe though but seldome commitimmane and fearefull murthers surely none but this that they doe walke diuers wayes but do meete in the end at the same place And therefore the very heathen man could say Cicerol 1. offic Qua parua videntur esse delicta c. Those sinnes which seeme to be so small as that they scarcely be perceiued to be sinnes by many ought with all care diligence be to auoyded or otherwise we shal find our Sauiours words to be true that for euery moment of time that we haue spent in vaine Matth. 12 39. and for euery idle word that we haue spoken to no purpose we shall render an account at the last day For the reward of Sinne be it neuer so little is Death And so much for the first part the worke done i. e. Sinne. Part. 2. PART II. The payment for Sinne. i. e. Death For the reward of Sinne is death CHAP. I. Of the deceit of Sinne. Of the great deceit of sinne in promising much and performing the cleane contrary YOu saw the Worke you see the Wages and thereby you may see the deceit of sinne Fronte polita Astutum vapido seruat seruat sub pectore vultum For it will appeare at first with a Syrens face most delightful but it wil proue at last to haue a Serpents sting and to be most wofull and you may easily find almost infinite instances of this trueth Gen. 3.6.7 for Eue saw the tree was good for meate and pleasant to the eye and a tree to be desired to make one wise therefore she tooke and did eate and gaue vnto her Husband But then saith Moses their eyes were opened and they knew they were naked naked in body naked in soule naked of all grace and naked of all goodnesse and therefore you see the Serpents promise to make them like Gods made them like Diuells and that the desire of delight and ostentation did worke their griefe and confusion Cle. Al. l. 3. Strom Iustin Martyr apol pro Christianis Sulpit l. 1. de sac hist Gen 6.1.2 So the sonnes of God that is not the Angels as Clemens Alexandrinus Iustin Martyr Sulpitius Lactantius and others thought but the godly sonnes of Seth as Saint Augustine and others doe most truely collect did see the daughters of men that is of the posterity of Caine that they were faire and therfore they tooke them wiues of all that they liked and what could they haue more then to haue their owne desires but what saith the Text when they thought themselues most happy then did they feele the greatest misery for suddenly the flood came and tooke them all away Mat. 24.9 So Saul thought to make aduantage by sauing Agag and the fattest of the Cattle but thereby he lost his Kingdome from his Off-spring 1 Sam. 15.9 So Iereboam thought to establish his Throne by his Idolatry but it proued to roote out all his Posterity 1 King 12.28 and so as the Scripture sheweth we finde the same truth in all other particular sinnes for though the Harlots words be sweet her countenance faire Prouerb 7.27 c. 9.18 and her bed perfumed yet her house saith Salomon is the way to the graue her chamber is the doore of death and her guests are in the depth of Hell and the very Heathen man could say Meritrix meum herum miserum Plantus Truc sua blanditia intulit in pauperiem spoliauit bonis luce honore atque amicis This Harlot with her cogging flattery hath impouerished and vndone my poore miserable Master she hath spoyled and depriued him of all his goods honour friends and all So though stolen waters be sweet and the bread of deceit is pleasant vnto a man yet afterwards his mouth shall be filled with grauell Prou. 20.17 and though the Wine seeme Cos to the drunkard that is to haue colorem odorem saporem an excellent colour in the glasse a pleasant smell in the nostrels and a sweet taste in the mouth yet in the end it will bite like a Serpent Prou. 23 32. it will hurt like a Cockatrice It will Circe-like transforme Men to Swines Virgil and make them with Vlysses fellowes to become worse then the very beasts When as the Poet saith Et pudor probitas metus omnis abest Wee shall finde in them neither feare of God nor shame of face nor scarce any quality or propertie of man besides humane shape for as Propertius saith Vino forma perit vino corrumpitur aetas Propertius l. 2. eleg vlt. Vino saepe suum nescit amica virum By Wine the beauty failes by Wine man waxeth olde Vt Venus enervat vires sic copia Bacchi tentat gressus debilitatque pedes Festus Anieno de ven vino by Wine the wedded wife with strangers will be bold And to be briefe though young men and Gallants doe reioyce in their youth and walke in the wayes of their hearts and in the sight of their eyes that is inioy what pleasure soeuer they will what their eye seeth or what their heart desireth yet in the end God will bring them to iudgement for all those things and then shall their bread in their bellies be turned into the gall of Serpents Eccles 11.9 And so euery sinne is like it selfe like Duke Ioab whose words were smoother then oyle when he saide vnto Amasa Est ne pax mi frater 2 Sam. 20.9.10 Is it peace brother and yet while the tongue called him brother his sword stab'd him to death like an enemie So sinne as it were a cunning Apothecary that writes on the out-side of his boxe Pharmaca medicines when as within there is nothing but Venena poysons Proponit quod delectabile supponit quod exitiale vngit pungit It promiseth wealth but it bringeth woes Reuel 8.13 Woe woe woe to the Inhabitants of the Earth Vae propter culpam vae propter tribulationem mundanam vae propter paenam aeternam Woe for our offences woe for our miseries woe for our eternal punishment and it annointeth vs with oyle
sleepe and smote all his enemies vpon the cheeke bone and brought them vnto perpetuall shame and as the Apostle sayth Collos 2.15 hee spoyled principalities and powers and led away captiuitie captiue Ephes 4.8 and receiued gifts for men And therefore as many as lay hold vpon this death of Christ they need not feare their owne death for they may say with the Phenix Moritur me moriente senectus Sinne and misery dieth in vs but wee doe still liue with Christ And therefore Saint Cyprian sayth that Cyprian de mortalitate eius est timere mortem qui ad Christum nolit ire it is enough for them to feare death which will not beleeue in Christ his death John 11.26 for hee that beleeueth in him shall neuer die but they that will not beleeue in him may well feare and tremble at the remembrance of this death because after death comes iudgement and then shall they feele another death which is eternall death for the reward of sinne is death that is indeed eternall death in hell Marke 9.44 where their worme dieth not and their fire is not quenched CHAP. VI. How sinne brings eternall death both of Body and Soule THirdly Touching eternall death wee must vnderstand What eternall death is that this is a separation of man from God which is paena damni the losse of eternall happinesse a losse farre exceeding the losse of all the world and an allegation of a damned soule in a tormented body non viuendâ— sed dolendi causa not to giue any comfort of life or ioy but to giue the true sence and feeling of eternall death and sorrow which is paena sensus the payne of feeling and suffering the greatest paynes that can be conceiued for when the wicked are called by God to be adiudged for sinne they shall bee condemned by Christ Of the intollerable paynes of hell and then caried by the deuils into euerlasting torments into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone for euermore and there their musicke shall be horrors and howlings their meate shall be balls of fire and their drinke shall be fountaines of teares alwayes distilling downe from their eyes and yet neuer procuring them any ease there their torments shall be intollerable their times endlesse and their companions deuils for so Saint Augustine sayth August ser 55. de tempore that in inferno nec tortores deficiant nec miseri torti moriantur sed per milia milia annorum cruciandi nec tamen in secula liberandi in hell neither the cruell tormenters shall be wanting nor the miserably tormented shall bee eased but for thousand thousands of yeares bee plagued and neuer thence to bee deliuered Isidorus de summo bono and as Isidorus sayth Ibi erit semper velle quod nunquam erit semper nolle quod nunquam non erit there shall bee a will neuer satisfied and a nille neuer gratified neuer inioying the ease they would and euer suffering the paynes they would not And if we diue into the depth of that dolefull tragedie of miserable Diues wee shall see this trueth fully confirmed for as the Scripture sheweth that here iudgement shall be without mercy and that euery one shall receiue his punishment in waite and measure according to the measure of their sinnes so wee find it true it him who as hee denied the crumbes of bread to poore Lazarus so is he now denied the least drop of water to coole his burning tongue How the least comfort shall be denied vnto the damned and the least dramme of mercy to refresh his poore distressed soule quis talia fando sustinet a lachrymis Who can indure to dwell in deuouring flames and yet behold this is the reward of sinne for the wages of sinne is death Oh then A most earnest perswasion to forsake sinne beloued brethren seeing euery sinne slayeth the soule within the body corrupteth the body in the graue and eternally tormenteth both the body and soule in hell let vs hate and detest all sinnes for though wee reade of many tyrants Nero Phalaris Caligula Heliagabalus and such like that were carniuorants and blood-thirsty men sauage beasts in the shapes of men delighting themselues onely in blood cruelties yet we neuer reade of such a tyrant as Sinne for the blood of death would quench these mens rage but no payne no death but eternall death a death that neuer dieth and a paine that neuer endeth will satisfie this tyrant Sinne. This is the deceit of sinne as the Poet sayd of Venus Laeta venire Venus tristis abire solet To present pleasure or profit vnto our eyes but assoone as ouer the sinne is done to deale with vs 2 Sam. 13.18 as Ammon did by Thamar thrust her out and hate her wound our conscience and destroy our soules And therefore once againe I beseech you let vs forsake our sinnes let vs leaue our drinking our swaggering and our swearing and instead of by God by God and more fearefull oathes which I am afraid to name at euery word which is the most odious yet most carelesse custome both of Court and Countrey let vs say in truth in truth the words are as easie and they will bring more ease vnto our soules for swearing graceth not your speech but disgraceth you and dishonoureth God and therefore one day you must greatly repent you of it or you shall fearefully die for it and I beseech you pardon mee for speaking it for it is my dutie that I owe you and it would bee my destruction if I did conceale it from you Clemens l. 1. recog as S. Clemens sayth in the like case and I desire not so much with Aristotle my God of Heauen is my witnesse that I lie not to bee deemed a great Scholler as with Gregorie Nazianzen to bee indeed an honest man to liue as I teach and to discharge my duety in reprouing sinne rather then to shew my knowledge in any Science and therefore I humbly intreate you all to giue me leaue to beseech you to leaue your sinnes and because wee cannot quite forsake them to confesse them and to bee ashamed of them John 1.19 for if we confesse our sinnes God is mercifull and iust to forgiue vs all our sinnes and to cleanse vs from all vnrighteousnesse But the deuill cannot indure that we should confesse them least God should thereby forgiue them and therefore as he perswadeth vs euer to commit them so he perswadeth vs euer to conceale them and neuer to confesse them For I read that on a time a sinner being at confession That the deuill cannot indure wee should confesse our sinnes the deuill intruded himselfe and came to him and being demaunded by the Priest wherefore he came in he answered to make restitution and being asked what he would restore hee sayd shame for this sayth hee I haue stollen from this sinner to make him shamelesse in sinning and
we see there is no necessitie to continuate the same act of the will but that it nilleth now what it willed a little before and because no act can exceed the bounds and limits of the agent but the agent sailing the act is ended and therefore man being temporarie being but a while to liue here his will being temporarie being no longer properly the will of man then it resteth in man therefore all acts of the will while it is in this life must needs be temporarie and so all sinnes done or of the will to doe them must be likewise temporarie And therefore I say that God doth not punish them God punisheth onely sinnes done for any fore-seene facts that they would haue done nor for any foreseene continuance of the will in the same desire to liue euer in sinne nor for any other foreseene future thing whatsoeuer but onely for those things that are done in this life either those workes that are outwardly acted or those desires of the heart and acts of the will which it produceth while it is in this life and no otherwise so that God punisheth onely sinnes done and not sinnes that would be done And if wee search a little further Two things make a temporarie sinne to deserue eternall punishment into the nature of the sinne done wee shall see the haynousnesse of the offence and the equitie of this inflicted punishment in two respects 1. A leuitate praecepti iniuncti from the easinesse of the things commaunded 2. A grauitate peccati perpetrati from the haynousnesse of the sinne committed CHAP. IIII. How easie and light are all the Commandements that God doth giue and how hard are the wayes of sinne John 5.3 FOr the first Saint Iohn sayth His commandements are not grieuous and our Sauiour sayth His yoke is easie Matth. 11.30 and his burthen light so easie that the Prophet Dauid sayth Psal 119. he did runne the way of Gods commandements when God had set his heart at libertie i. e. had vntied him from those bonds of sinne wherewith he was so tied by his naturall corruption that he could not stirre nor walke one iot in this easie path How the way to Heauen is said to be hard and therefore if the way be cragged at the gate narrow and straight that leadeth into life it is in respect of our vnablenesse now to performe any thing that is good and not in respect of any difficultie or hardnesse in themselues simply considered Looke into the commandement that God gaue vnto Adam What a small matter it was that God commanded Adam and you shall easily finde this trueth for at that time there was no Man to be enuied no Man to be opprest no Woman to be defiled no Churches to be robbed and therefore hee cumbred them not with many precepts all was but one to forbeare the fruites Gene. 2.17 but of one Tree they might eate of all besides that one and as his precepts were not many but one so this one was not great not to create Worlds not to remoue Mountaines but to forbeare the fruites of that one Tree Alas was this so great was this so grieuous what if hee had forbidden all but one had it not beene right that wee should obay and if we had asked him what hee would haue done with all the rest might not hee haue iustly sayd Matth. 20.15 May not I doe what I will with mine owne and what is that to thee Doe thou as I command thee John 21.22 but he was contented to make himselfe as it were poore to giue them store for he gaue them leaue to eate of all the rest and reserued but one for himselfe yet would they needs eate of that one as if they longed to breake this one Commandement of God they would presently eate of the Tree and it may be before they tasted of any other Tree sure before they saw any other day Quia non pernoctauit in honore For hee remained not one night in his dignitie sayth the vulgar-latine So looke into the Commandements he giueth vnto vs What a small matter it is that God requireth at our hands and wee shall soone see the same trueth they are Pauca breuia leuia vtilia Few short easie and profitable for he giues not many but tenne but two but one and that one not long one word one sillable Loue it is vnpossible therefore to forget it and it is easie enough it is naturall enough to performe it to Loue the poorest the youngest the eldest the richest at home and abroad may doe this who can say hee cannot doe it there needs no wealth there needs no wisedome to Loue and therefore all may doe it if they would doe it and it is for our profit to doe it for to that end doth the Lord require it Deut 5.33 and C. 29.9 that It may goe well with Vs and our Children But on the other side What a slauery and bondage it is to serue sinne the wayes of Wickednesse are verie hard and full of labour for all the world may see that the enuious man doth more vexe his wretched soule at the prosperitie of the Righteous then the Godly man doth his righteous soule either at the sinnes or prosperitie of the Wicked that the wrathfull man takes more paynes and frets and chafes more to execute his furie then the patient man doth in suffering all his iniuries that the tyrants were and are more tormented in tormenting the poore Christians then the Christians are in suffering all their exquisite strange inuented torments that the worldlings doe weare and wearie themselues a great deale more in pursuing after the vanities of this life and purchasing vnto themselues eternall miseries then the Righteous doe in seeking for the grace of God to attaine vnto euerlasting Happinesse and that the Deuill requires more time and greater paynes to serue him then God doth to keepe his Commandements for God giues vs sixe dayes to prouide for our selues and requires but one day to be serued of vs himselfe but the Deuill will haue the sixe the seauenth and all to serue him and all is to little two for we must serue him day night and God requires but one houre or two of that one day that he reserueth for himselfe to heare his Word and to call vpon his Name and that for our owne good as I shewed vnto you before but the Deuill requires not onely many houres That sinners take more payne to goe to Hell then the godly doe to attaine vnto eternall happinesse and them not onely to be spent in vayne pleasures and vanities but also in horrible sinnes and iniquities but he would haue vs also to forget that one day of Gods seruice and to spend the greatest part of those few houres wherein we should chiefely serue our God Aut malè agendo aut nihil agendo either in doing nothing or in doing
me for to Waite till God deliuereth me And fetch my prison'd Soule from hence to liue at libertie IEHOVAE LIBERATORI FINIS The Second golden Candlesticke HOLDING The second greatest light of Christian RELIGION Of the Knowledge of GOD. EXODVS 34.6.7 Iehouah Iehouah Strong Mercifull and Gracious slow to anger and abundant in goodnesse and trueth Reseruing mercy for thousands forgiuing iniquitie and transgression and sinne and that will by no meanes cleare the guiltie visiting the iniquitie of the fathers vpon the children and vpon the childrens children vnto the third and fourth generation YOu haue heard in my former Treatise the poore and miserable estate of distressed Man The coherence of this with the former Treatise how lamentable hee made himselfe by Sinne I am now to shew you a poole of Bethesda wherein if wee can but bathe our selues wee shall bee made perfectly whole and most comfortably deliuered from all diseases Iohn 5.2 and therefore I beseech you let this Panchrestum this medicine for all maladies be diligently acquired bee most carefully applied to euery sickned soule You shal finde it in Ierusalem i. e. in the Church of God and no where else for extra Ecclesiam non est salus no saluation is out of the Church and you shall finde it by the Sheepe-market i. e. in the place where the sheepe of Christ and children of God doe finde all prouision for their soules that is the Holy Heauenly Scripture and there if you looke you shall finde a porch ample enough for you to enter into this Bethesda in these words which I haue read vnto you The Lord the Lord God or else Iehoua Iehoua Strong Mercifull and Gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodnesse and trueth c. And I hope you will giue the more diligent heede vnto my words Quia speciosi pedes Euangelizantium pacem because as the Pro. Esay sayth the feete of theÌ„ that bring tydings of good things are most welcome vnto vs Esay 52.7 and as the Angell sayd vnto the Shepheards Luke 2.10 I bring you tydings of great ioy which shall be vnto all people For I am now to preach and to expound that gracious Sermon vnto you here which God himselfe hath Preached heretofore vnto Moses in Mount Sinay and it containes the whole discription of Almighty God so farre forth as himselfe thought it fit Chrysost varior loc in Matth. Hom. 9. to reueale himselfe at this time vnto his people and therefore Excutite pigritiam quia non est res leuis quam audituri estis I doe must humbly craue your attention and most diligent obseruation of these things for I thinke that you can neither heart nor reade a sweeter text if God giue me grace to handle it well It is large indeed I must confesse and my allotted time is short and it is as difficult to contract much into a little as to inlarge a little into much yet seeing I cannot speake all that I would I will by Gods helpe speake a little of all as I may The Occasion of these words The occasion hereof is playne enough in this precedent Chapter Moses desired to see God God tells him he cannot because it is as naturall vnto him to be inuisible as to be a God and therefore Saint Iohn sayth Iohn 4.12 no man hath seene God at any time yet to satisfie Moses so much as was fit for his happinesse God sayth that he should see his backe-parts that is hee should vnderstand so much concerning God as the weake vnderstanding of Man could possibly comprehend for hee saw nothing at all after any visible manner but onely heard this voyce describing God and we must know that God hath nâ—ither forepart nor backepart that can be seene with any mortall eyes and therefore this phrase of seeing Gods backeparts is onely vsed quoad captum nostrum after a humane manner and it importeth thus much in effect thou shalt see that is thou shalt vnderstand or see with thine eyes of knowledge my backeparts That God is not to be seene with any materiall eyes that is so much concerning me as thy weake apprehension shall be able to comprehend For First That God is no otherwise to bee seene then with the spirituall eyes of our Faith and vnderstanding it appeareth playne because Moses here saw no visible thing but onely heard a voyce So when God appeared to Elias 1 Kings 19.11.12 there passed before the Lord a mighty strong winde but the Lord was not in the Wind then an Earthquake but the Lord was not in the Earthquake and then came a still soft Voice and the Lord was in the Voyce and so when he deliuered the Law he sayth Ye saw no similitude saue a voyce therefore as God sheweth himselfe none otherwise then by a voyce so he can be seene none otherwise then by the spirituall eyes of our vnderstanding Secondly That by the backeparts of God is vnderstood By the backe-parts of God is vnderstood so much knowledge of God as we are able to comprehend so much knowledge of God as our weake apprehension can conceiue it is apparant in this place for Moses neither saw nor heard any other thing but onely this voyce proclayming these words that I haue read vnto you and therefore this is all one as if the voyce had sayd vnto him this is all that thou canst vnderstand of me that I am such and such a one as I shew vnto thee It is true indeed that I am so glorious to excellent so ineffable and so incomprehensible in my selfe that if I should shew thee my Maiestie and fully declare vnto thee mine excellencie what I am thou wert not able to comprehend it and therefore humano more loqui to speak vnto thee as a man that thou mayest the better vnderstand how farre thou mayest know me I would haue thee to looke vpon a Man and to consider how much more glorie and excellencie shineth in his face then in his backe-partes euen so thou must vnderstand that all this which I shew vnto thee concerning my selfe in comparison of what I am in the excellency of my Maiestie That we can conceiue but the least part of Gods excellencie is but as the back-parts of a man in comparison of his face and fore-parts So farre short is this that thou canst know of me to what I am and yet this least part of my excellency is so much as thou or any man breathing vpon the face of the earth is able to comprehend And therefore the meaning of this phrase to see the backe-parts of God is nothing else but the reuealing of himselfe vnto Moses so farre as Moses was able to comprehend that is a little but not neere all his properties for to be incomprehensible is as proper to God as to be Inuisible Secundum essentiam incognitus secundum maiestatem immensus His Maiestie is immeasurable Thalas apud Paulinum
God And so as Goclenius saith Crimen in excessu nec non defectus aberrat Sâ—d verum medium qui tenucre tenent We must walke in the middle-way if wee would not walke awry Psal 14.1 First for the Infidels The foole hath said in his heart there is no God and what he saith in his heart he testifieth and confirmeth by his workes for by their workes they deny God saith the Apostle and some in plaine tearmes as Diagoras and others And therefore seeing they deny him to be what maruell is it that they should deny him to be Almighty and therefore one of the Captaines 2 Reg. 7.2 and a Lord of the King of Israel said vnto Elizeus If the Lord should make windowes in Heauen to raine downe Corne like hayle-stones yet how can he doe those things that thou hast spoken and the wicked in Iob say Quis est omnipotens vt seruiamus ei How the Atheists and Infidels deny the Power of God or quid est omnipotens as Tremelius reads it who or what is Almighty God that we should serue him as if they said we know none such But what doe I stand vpon Infidels the most learned of their Philosophers the wittyest of their Poets and many Heretickes haue made but a scoffe of that Doctrine of the Omnipotent Power of God and did with all their strength maintaine that Ex nihilo nihil fit Of nothing nothing could be made and therefore concluded it was impossible for God Ex non ente ens producere To make any being of that which had no being in the world Arist l 1. 2. de caelo mundo and thereupon Aristotle the Prince of all the Philosophers doth striue with all his might to proue that this world is Eternall and neuer had any beginning and they that yeeld it was made doe affirme that it was composed of a prae-existent matter this was the opinion of the Stoiks and Peripateticks Cicero l. 3. de nat deorum which Cicero imbraceth So Seleucus and Hermias as Sebastianus Medices witnesseth and Hermogines against whom Tertullian writ a most elegant booke haue said Medices in summa haeres that the matter and the substance of the Elements whereof the world was made was not made by God but was coeternall with God D. Sicul. l. 1. c. 1. Euseb de preparat Euang l. 1. all which with many others whose opinions Diodorus Siculus and Eusebius Caesariensis haue most painefully collected and which is needlesse for me to rehearse haue erred in this point because with Petrus Abaylardus as Medices saith they were ignorant of the Omnipotent Power of God But against all these and the like How the Power of God is prooued the Power of God may bee easily shewed both from the Creation of the world and also from the Gubernation of it and of all things that are therein for the World it selfe saith Saint Augustine Ordinatissima sua mutabilitate mobilitate c. by his most comely mutability and mobility and all visible things in their kinde First from the creation of things doe as it were tacitely and after a secret manner proclaime it selfe to be made Yea and to be made by none other but by that most ineffable and inuisible excellent God and therefore although Aristotle in saying that this world was eternall was farre wide from the Truth because that whatsoeuer doth consist of a solide a ponderous body as it must of necessity haue an ending Diuers Heathens confessed God to haue made the world so it must needes be that at some time or other it hath had its beginning yet diuers of the very Heathens haue by the light of Nature seene and confest this Truth for we reade that Orpheus saide 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. There is one of himselfe i. e. God Justin Martyr in l de Monarchia and from him alone are all things that are and Pythagoras as Iustin Martyr cites him said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If any man besides that one euerliuing God doth say I am God let him create a world like vnto this and say this is mine And so Epicurus himselfe did in this thing confesse the Truth He ydelpheldius de deo c. 2. and say that this world had beginning and must in its due time haue ending and so many others of the most ancient Philosophers did professe this Truth and left their faith written for their posterities If any man desire to see it let him looke into Iustin Martyr in his exhortation vnto the Gentiles and in his Booke of Monarchy and to Eusebius Casariensis de preparat Euangel and especially into Lactantius Firmianus l. 1. c. 5. 6. 7. By whom the sayings and opinions of the former Age are most carefully collected And yet not one of them was able either to shew any reason or to expresse the manner how any of these things should be made which was the cause that Aristotle and his followers that would haue the reason of euery thing No man by the light of Nature is able to shew the reason how the world should be made Heb. 11.3 or else would beleeue nothing to say it was not made at all because they were all ignorant of those Diuine Oracles whereby God had made knowne this Truth vnto men and especially because they were destitute of that Spirit whereby we are perswaded to beleeue this Truth for that as the Apostle saith through faith we vnderstand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God Secondly Gods Power is prooued from the gouernment of the world Quintus Curt. de rebus gest Alexand. And as the Creation of the World so the Gubernation of the same doth as fully shew the Omnipotent Power of God for I may truly say Non minor est virtus quam condere facta tueri It requires as great a power or greater to sustaine all things that they turne not to nothing as to create all things of nothing When Alexander asked a certaine people what thing they feared most thinking they would say they feared him they scoffingly answered the falling of the Skies indeed if we knew all we might feare both the falling of the Heauens and the ouerflowings of the Seas and the vntamed furie both of men and beasts were it not for Almighty God which rideth vpon the Heauens as vpon a Horse Psal 68 4. and by his Power ruleth the rage of the Seas and the noyse of his waues and the madnesse of the people And therefore well doth that Christian Poet conclude Est Deus omnipotens qui temperat omnia nutu That he must needs be an Omnipotent God which ruleth and guideth all things with his becke or with a word according to his owne will And Victorinus Strigelius saith that it is worth the obseruation to consider out of Histories the beginnings and inlargements the declinations and subuersions
neque sua natura simpliciter sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which are neither contrary to the Nature of God nor yet of their owne Nature simply impossible to be done What things are repugnant to the Nature of God First of the first kinde are all those actions which though they may be done of the creatures yet haue they no place with God and such are to sinne to moue to die to walke to eate and all other humane acts and so whatsoeuer doth repugne the nature of God or be any wayes contrary to his essentiall or personall properties because to be able to doe these things were to euert and destroy the nature and properties of God And therefore God cannot imagine any folly because this doth contradict his Wisedome August ser 119. de temp he cannot suffer any sinne to goe vnpunished because that is contrary to his Iustice neither can he lye because that is contrary to his Truth neither can he doe but he must be iust good wise pure inuisible incorporeall so forth not onely because that to be able to doe this would argue a defect of power but especially because the denyall and sublation or taking away of these properties is the negation and destruction of the Essence of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the taking away of the essentiall properties Theodor. Dialog 3. is the abolishing of the nature saith Theodoret And therefore these and the like things which doe repugne with the essentiall or personall properties of God cannot be done on Gods part nor by God though they may be done by the creatures because in very deede he cannot by any meanes will to doe these things for none can naturally will That God cannot will those things that are contrary to his nature to bee contrary to that which naturally he willeth to be as no man can naturally will himselfe to be miserable because euery man naturally willeth felicitie and therefore seeing God is naturally Wise True and Good it is most absolutely necessarie that hee should alwayes Will Wisedome Trueth and Goodnesse and cannot possibly Will the contrary as Theodoret doth most excellently say Dominus Deus nihil vult eorum quae non sibi suapte natura insunt potest quaecunque vult vult quae naturae suae apta conuenientia sunt God cannot will any of those things which are not naturally agreeable vnto him he can doe what he will Jdem quo supra and he can will whatsoeuer is apt and agreeable to his nature Secondly Of the second kinde are all those things How contradictories doe destroy each other which implie a contradiction as for a thing to bee and not to bee together because all such things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are simply and absolutely impossible as contradictorily repugning and so destroying one another and therefore can no wayes be done Quia res talis non potest habere rationem factibilis Because such a thing hath not the reason nor way nor possibilitie of being done as Thomas sayth and therefore wee doe say that God can neither doe nor will contraries as good and euill which in a nature absolutely and euery way simple cannot subsist Trelcatius in thesi de Deo Amand Polan in Synt nor yet contradictories as to make a thing to be and not to be which in the essence of God voide and cleere from all falsehood and most perfect in all trueth can haue no place sayth Trelcatius And so we doe affirme that God cannot make that a triangle should be a triangle and yet not to haue three angles or corners or that a triangle should haue three angles and not three angles that that which is while it is should not be that those things which haue beene made How all antiquitie teacheth that God cannot doe contradictories Mark 10.27 should not haue beene made that a body should be a true naturall body and yet destitute and free from all those naturall proprieties which doe as it were constitute the very being of the thing and without which the very diffinition of the thing is taken away and all other such things which doe simplie implie a contradiction And we finde all Men in all ages to haue confest and to haue taught the same trueth for venerable Bede expounding those words of Marke All things are possible with God sayth it is not so to bee vnderstood that the couetous proud men can with their pride and couetousnesse enter into the kingdome of Heauen because this is impossible vnto God because neither the Couetous nor the Proud as God himselfe doth testifie by the mouth of his Apostle 1 Cor. 6.9.10 shall inherite the kingdome of God but that it is possible for God as often it hath beene done and we daily see it to bee done so to worke in the hearts of these wicked and vngodly Men that by the preaching of his Word and the working of his spirit they should be conuerted and weaned from the loue of worldly things and be inflamed with the longing desire of Heauenly things Venera Bede in Marc. C. 11. Et à perniciosa superbia ad humilitatem saluberrimam reducantur And bee reduced from their aspiring and pernicious pride vnto that most wholesome practise of humilitie in which words hee plainely sheweth that God cannot doe those things which doe implie a contradiction So S. Augustine against Faustus the Manachie and in many other places and so Aquinas The most horrible impieties of them which say God can worke all contradictories and all Schoole-Diuinitie doe all of them teach the same trueth And they that say otherwise doe but mocke both God and Man and take away all trueth from Diuine and Humane things and lay open a most vnsufferable and vnrepairable gappe for all wicked Hereticks for God which is immutably and infallibly true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the verie trueth it selfe can neither will nor suffer that an affirmation should bee a negation that an yea should bee a nay or that trueth and falshood should bee mixed together in the very selfe-same simplest subiect as this is fire and not water and this very selfe-same thing is water and not fire at the same time and in the same respect or this is bread and not flesh and this is flesh and not bread that is one thing to bee two distinct things at the selfe-same time and in the selfe-same respect I say it is vnpossible for the trueth of God to doe Aug. cont Faustum l. 26. c. 81 as Saint Augustine doth most excellently and largely shew against Faustus Manichaeus And therefore I cannot sufficiently wonder who hath bewitched our Vbiquitaries which doe so stiffely contend that the Body of Christ remayning a true body and yet notwithstanding may bee and is euery where illocall inuisible and so forth for if these things be not meerely contradictorie
Sancta custodiens veritatem a Righteous and a holy Nation Esay 26. to hold fast this Truth of God not shewing our selues like Rehoboam that found shields of gold but left behinde him shields of Brasse to receiue the cleere Truth from our fathers and to leaue the same darkened vnto our children Secondly As the word of God is the primary and most absolute declared Truth wherein there is no possibility of error Quia dicta Iehouae dicta pura Because the words of the Lord are pure words So the words of men agreeable to their vnderstanding conformed to the Truth of things Iohn 8.44 are secondarily the Truth of God because as euery lye is from the Deuill though it should be vttered from the tongue of a Saint as our Sauiour sheweth so euery Truth is from God though it were spoken from the mouth of a Diuell because the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Truth Et omne verum à quocunque dicitur à Spiritu sancto est And all Truth whosoeuer speaks it doth spring from the Spirit of God saith Saint Ambrose Euery Truth whatsoeuer whosoeuer saith it proceeds from God A sufficient reproofe for them that will not heare the Word of God but from the mouth of Saints for we are not to respect who speake or what they be that speake but what is spoken and therefore if Balaams Asse should preach me Christ I would willingly be his disciple for Saint Paul tels me that none can say 1 Cor. 12.3 that Iesus is Christ but by the Spirit of God and therefore hee did not so much care who preached nor how they preached so they preached Iesus Christ because he knew that euery truth must needs proceed from the Spirit of Truth â—hat we should say nothing but Truth And therefore this should teach vs to make much of Truth and not onely to beleeue the Truth whosoeuer speakes it but also to speake the Truth euery man vnto his neighbour whatsoeuer comes of it though it should be like Cassandra's Prophesie not beleeued or O dium parere Beget hatred as the Comicke speaketh Quia dilexit Deus veritatem because as all Truth is from God so God loueth all Truth whatsoeuer Corruit in platea veritas And yet we see Quod diminutae sunt veritates à filijs hominum The Truth is troden downe in the street and the faithfull are minished from among the children of men Psal 12.1 we are all like the Cretians alwayes lyars and though the godly man keepeth his promise vnto his neighbour Psal 15.5 though it were to his owne hinderance yet now we seldome think of any promise vnlesse it be for our furtherance to attaine vnto our owne desires so farre are wee from Truth But we must all loue Truth and follow after Truth if we would be children vnto him that is abundant in Truth And so much for the fift Particle of Gods goodnesse Of Gods abundant Truth CHAP. X. Of the large extent of Gods mercy and of the remission of all kinde of sinnes and the vsefull application of the whole Attribute of Gods goodnesse THe sixt Particle of Gods Goodnesse is God is mercifull to all men that hee reserueth mercy for thousands and that as I vnderstand it two manner of wayes 1. Extensiuely 2. Successiuely First he meaneth that his Mercy is not like a carnall Patrons loue which commonly reacheth no further then his kindred he can preferre none else Nor yet like great mens fauours which extendeth no further then their seruants their greatnesse is no greater but Miserationum Dei multitudo numerari Basil in regulis contract q. 15. magnitudo mensurari non potest The mercies of God are so many that they cannot be numbred and so great that they cannot be measured so that he hath enough in store to helpe not onely a few but also many multitudes thousands he hath enough for all being not like Isaac that had but one blessing Gen. 27.38 for he hath many blessings for euery one Secondly Gods Mercie lasteth for all times euen for euer and euer he meaneth that his Mercy is not for any set Period of time which is the property of all other things euen of the greatest Monarchs they haue but their time and when that time is gone they can do nothing which a little before seemed to be able to do all things but Gods mercies are tyed to no time but they continue froÌ„ generation to generation they are like a springing well that can neuer be dryed or like the Lampe that is fed with the oyle of immortality And this the Word reseruing doth most plainely shew that he hath mercy enough in store not onely for the fathers that beleeue in him but also for their children for their childrens children euen vnto a thousand generations of them that loue him and keepe his Commandements Good Parents doe leaue the best patrimâ—ny vnto their children Rom. 11.28 O then what a Patrimony doe good parents purchase vnto their children to haue the Mercies of God reserued and laid vp in store for thousands of them and as the Apostle saith of the Iewes to make them to be loued for their fathers sakes Most happy are those children which haue such fathers as doe feare God and keepe his Commandements And so much for the sixt Particle of Gods goodnesse Reseruing Mercy for thousands Forgiuenesse of sinnes our chiefest comfort Rom 4.7 The seauenth Particle of Gods goodnesse is that he forgiueth iniquitie and transgression and sinne Here is the last but not the least act of Gods goodnesse expressed For herein consisteth all our happinesse Blessed is the man whose vnrighteousnesse is forgiuen and whose sinne is couered And here by these three words God vnderstandeth three sorts of euill 1. By Iniquity is vnderstood originall corruption 2. By Transgression is meant the outward actuall commission 3. By Sinne is vnderstood the height of all abhomination No sinner excluded from hope of pardon The custome of sinning and the greatest sinnes For God depriues not these from hope of Pardon if these come to him with penitent hearts and therefore that none should despaire of his goodnes he sheweth that he can forgiue all these and forgiuing these he forgiueth all But here I must haue leaue to take away the vaile froÌ„ Moses his face and to looke further then the Iewish Tabernacle for as in Ezekiels vision Ezek. 10.10 Rota erat in rota Gospel was in the Law Law in the Gospell as Saint Gregory expounds it so here I finde all this to be Gospell and I see Iesus Christ in euery word for in Christ Coloss 1.14 we haue Redemption through his blood the forgiuenesse of our sinnes and so of all the rest of these Graces wee haue them all by Christ for though the Law came by Moses yet as Saint Iohn saith Grace and Truth yea Mercy and Peace and all the other good
teach vs Psal 103.1 35.10 that all parts of man at all times of the yeere are to be imployed in Gods seruice but also to shew vnto vs that wee are not onely to abstaine from euill 1 Cor. 15.58 but also to doe good because not onely the riotous and wastfull Steward that imbezelled his Masters goods but also the idle and thriftlesse seruant that did no good with his Masters goods shall be bound hand and foote and be cast cut into vtter darkenesse where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth And so we reade of Diues that he is tormented in flaming fire Non quia tulit aliena sed quia non dedit propria Not because he did euill to any but because hee did not good to poore Lazarus Luke 18 11. And therefore we should all striue not onely with the Pharisee to be truly able to say that we thanke God we are not Adulterers Swearers Extortioners Drunkards Raylers Lyars or such like but also as Saint Peter bids vs to adde vnto our Faith 2 Pet. 1.5 Vertue and to our Vertue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godlinesse and to Godlinesse Brotherly kindnesse and to Brotherly kindnesse Charity and so to goe on from one grace vnto another vntill at last we doe attaine vnto the perfection of goodnesse for assuredly to doe good will be our chiefest comfort Rom. 2.7 in life in death and after death for glory and honour and peace shall be to euery one that doth good and God himselfe will say vnto him Euge serue bone Well done thou good and faithfull seruant Math. 25.23 enter thou into thy Masters ioy Fiftly we should loue the Truth and say the Truth euery man vnto his Neighbour yea and so accustome our selues to Truth Vt mentiri lingua prorsus ignoret 5. To accustome our selues to say the Truth That our tonguâ—s should not know how to lye for as God is Truth so Truth makes vs the Children of God And therefore Pythagoras being demanded wherein men become likest vnto God answered Cum veritatem exercent Stobaeus Ser. 11. When they accustome themselues to say Truth I doe not know two more excellent things Zach. 8. Veritatem pacem diligite and more comfortable for the life of man while hee liues here in this World then Peace and Truth Peace to free vs from all euill and Truth to preserue vs in all good And yet I feare me we may now take vp the Prophet Esayes complaint that Truth is fallen in the streete yea and as Ieremy saith Is perished and cleane gone Esay 59.4.14 Jerem. 7.18 for though as Euripides saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Truth is a simple speech that requires neither welt nor guard yet now we doe so cunningly and craftily adorne lyes That there is a great want of practising to say the Truth amongst vs. and falshoods that we make them passe currantly for Truth and he that cannot dissemble and deceiue his Neighbour is accounted but a foole that cannot liue in the World So that now it is growen into a common speech to say We know not whom we may trust and we doe verifie that ancient saying Multis annis iam peractis Nulla fides est in factis Mel in ore verba lactis Fel in corde fraus in factis Many yeeres past and gone Faith in deeds there is none Hony in mouth words sweete Gall in heart deceit in deede But if we will haue any part in this God of Truth we must neither vse to speake a lye nor to conceale the Truth for Qui veritatem occultat qui mendacium prodit vterque reus est ille quia prodesse non vult iste quia nocere desiderat Aug. in l. de Agon christiano He that conceales a Truth and he that inuenteth lyes are both alike culpable in the sight of God the one because hee will not doe good the other because hee desireth to doe euill And though Veritas odium parit The Preachers of Truth shall finde little grace with men as Saint Ambrose saith yet must we not hide the Truth for any feare nor yet speake a falshood for any gaine but in all things we must hold fast the Truth Heraclid in sua hist Theat Zwing if we will be like vnto this God of Truth It is reported of one Idor an Abbat that for three things he was most excellent First that he neuer lyed at any time Secondly that he neuer spake euill of any man Thirdly that hee neuer spake any thing without great necessitie I onely wish we were all like him herein 6. To abound in the workes of mercy Sixthly we should reserue mercy for thousands that is to abound in the workes of mercy and compassion and that towards all men either in action or affection for where effecting meanes are wanting God neuer reiects a charitable meaning whereas the doing of good without good will or a large giuing with small charitie proues to be of no validity because he giues but externally some things without himselfe and not internally De semetipso From his heart And thus our mercy should extend it selfe to thousands because wee haue alwayes those before our eyes that haue neede of mercy and that in a double respect The outward workes of mercy are principally sixe 1. Of a corporall necessitie 2. Of a spirituall miserie The Schooles auouch the first to consist chiefly in sixe points 1. Visiting the sicke 2. Feeding the hungry 3. Clothing the naked 4. Redeeming the Captiue 5. Intertayning the Stranger 6. Burying of the Dead And for the second I see not lesse formes of pitty then there be deeds of Charity or acts of iniquity In the first respect the rich may be mercifull and shew pitty vnto the poore and in the second respect the rich may be pittied by the poorest men in the World because none are more lamentable then those that are poore and naked and destitute of the true spirituall riches And therefore in both respects we ought euer to shew mercy and compassion vnto our distressed Brethren Now in mercy there are two speciall acts Sinners are the men that are chiefly to be pittied 1. To see their miseries 2. To helpe their infirmities 1. To see with our eyes and then to helpe with our hands or at least to pitty with our hearts Diues saw Lazarus full of sores and we see men now full of sinnes and yet he did not pitty him nor these will not be helped by vs for if either by reprehension or instruction or by the mildest manner of aduising them yea or by most humbly requesting the Spirituall Lords That it is dangerous to seeke to redresse the dangerous estate of great men and temporall Potentates of this age to looke into their miserable estate wee would seeme to pitty them or make any attempt to helpe them they would make vs all to be
vnto vs especially 1. His life is our chiefest direction 2. Himselfe is our onely consolation For Aug de vera religione First Tota vita Christi in terris per hominem quem gessit disciplina morum fuit The whole life of Christ which he spent here on earth was and is a patterne for all Christians saith Saint Augustine Christ despised all worldly vanities Nam omnia bona mundi contempsit For he dâ—spised all the pompe and vanitie of this world he was borne poore his Inne was a Stable his Cradle was a Manger and his couering were poore swadling clouts he liued poore for hee had not an house to put his head in and he dyed poore Saint Augustine when he dyed made no Will because he had no wealth but his bookes which he gaue to the common Library Posidon in vita August saith Possidonius but Christ was poorer for he had no goods but his garment this was all the Souldiers got by him to teach vs in his mundanis faelicitatem non reponere That we should not greedily seeke nor childishly place our delight in these vaine and worldly toyes but if riches increase not to set our hearts vpon them Et omnia mala sustinuit Christ suffered all miseries and he suffered all the sorrowes of this world hunger thirst cold and nakednesse lyings slanders spittings mockings whippings death it selfe to teach vs Vt nec in illis quaereretur faelicitas ita nec in istis infaelicitas timeretur That as wee should place no felicity in the vanities of this life so we should not feare all the miseries of this life Iudg 6.12.14 but to say with Debora March valiantly O my soule and with the Angel vnto Gideon Goe on thou mighty man of Warre and passe through all the ranks of miseries for Dabit Deus his quoque finem God will make an end of these things and will bring his people vnto rest which shall continue without ending and therefore Saint Bernard saith Incassum laborat in acquisitione virtutum qui eas alibi quam in Christo quaerit That there is no way in the world for vs to attaine vnto any goodnesse Christ the most perfect patterne of all vertue but onely through Christ nor to learne any true vertue but onely from the example of Christ For If thou wouldest learne humilitie Let the same minde be in thee which was in Christ Iesus Phil. 2.5.6.7 who being in the forme of God and thought it no robbery to be equall with God yet did he make himselfe of no reputation and tooke vpon him the forme of a seruant If thou wouldest learne truth and vprightnesse set the example of Christ before thy face for in him there was no sinne 1 Pet. 2.22 Bernard ser 2. super Cantic Prudentia vera in eius doctrina iustitia in eius misericordia temperantia in vita fortitudo in eiusdem pâ—ssione reperiuntur and in his mouth was found no guile and to be briefe if thou dost seriously looke thou shalt easily finde that as Saint Bernard saith True Wisedome is found in his Doctrine Righteousnesse in his Mercy Mercy in his Iustice Temperance in his Life Truth in his words Fortitude in his sufferings and all vertues in all his actions All the Aethicks of Aristotle all the morality of Seneca and all the wisedome of Greece can no wayes describe vertue neere so perfectly as wee see it expresly portrayed in the liuely example of our Sauiours life And as there is no way for vs to finde true vertue The knowledge of Christ the onely meanes to suppresse all vices but onely in him which is vertue it selfe so there is nothing in the world that is so auaileable to suppresse all vice as is the true knowledge of Iesus Christ Nam haec irae impetum cohibet superbiae tumorem sedat For this will refraine the violence of anger when they consider how he suffered all violence and villanies Esay 53.7 and yet as a Sheepe before his shearer was dumbe so opened hee not his mouth This will allay the swellings of Pride when they consider how he was the noblest of all creatures Psal 45.3 and the fayrest among the sonnes of men and yet was he meeke and lowly in heart Matth. 11.29 â—his will heale the wounds of enuy it will stoppe the streames of luxury it will quench the flames of lust it will temper the thirst of couetousnesse and it will keepe thee from the itching desire of all filthinesse when we consider how much hee loathed these how free he was from these and how earnestly hee disswaded vs from these and from all other vices whatsoeuer And therefore saith he Ne mundi gloria seu carnis voluptatibus abducaris dulcescat tibi pro his sapientia Christus Ne spiritu mendacij erroris seducaris lucescat tibi veritas Christus ne aduersitatibus fatigeris comfortet te virtus Dei Christus Lest thou shouldest be with-drawne from God through the pompous vanities of this world or the lustfull and delightfull pleasures of thine owne flesh let Christ the true wisedome of God waxe sweet vnto thee Lest thou shouldest be seduced by the spirit of lies and of errors let Christ the true light shine vnto thee and lest thou shouldest be wearied and waxe faint vnder the burthen of aduersities let Christ the power of God refresh thee Secondly As all Christs actions are our instructions so is Christ himselfe all our consolation Nam cum defecerit virtus mea non conturbor For if I see mine owne strength and goodnesse faile me yet I neede not be disturbed I neede not be deiected Quia quod ex me mihi deest vsurpo ex visceribus Domini Because whatsoeuer wanteth in my selfe Whatsoeuer we want Christ alone is all-sufficient to supply our neede to helpe my selfe I may freely and boldly assume it to supply my wants from my Lord and Master Iesus Christ for as that seruant neede not want that hath free leaue to vse his Masters full purse at his owne command so neede not they want any grace that haue the grace of Christ because as I told you before Omnia habemus in Christo Christus omnia in nobis We haue all things in Christ and Christ is all things vnto vs. If thou art sicke with sinne and thy soule wounded or poysoned vnto death and wouldest be healed Christ is thy best and alone Physician onely he and not one but he can cure thee If thy soule doth hunger and thirst after righteousnesse and wouldest be satisfied Joh. 6.35 he is the Bread of Life and the Fountaine of liuing waters Whosoeuer eateth him shall neuer hunger and whosoeuer drinketh of him C. 7.38 shall neuer thirst for out of his belly shall flow riuers of waters of life If thou art as naked of all goodnesse as thou wert of all clothing when thou camest out of thy Mothers wombe
to remember nothing to haue nothing but Iesus Christ and him crucified And therefore well might Saint Augustine call him the best Childe of grace because as Saint Iohn that best beloued Disciple was the most louing vnto his brethren and did most of all expresse the loue of God to men and require the loue of men to God so did this chosen vessell of grace best of all suppresse the pride of man and extoll the grace of Christ So did Saint Augustine in his time that was Strenuus defensor gratiae A most valiant Champion to fight for grace so did that worthy Zanchius in these latter times and so will all Christians doe that doe loue Iesus Christ ascribe all good to him and nothing to our selues Quia nostrum nihil est Because nothing that is good is of our selues I reade of one Iohannes Alexandrinus a most excellent holy man that when hee had distributed all that euer he had vnto the poore hee fell downe vpon his knees and thanked God that now hauing nothing left hee desired nothing else The Authors earnest and hearty wish both for the Cleargy and Laity but his Lord and Master Iesus Christ Oh that it might be so with euery one of vs that this word which did all good vnto vs tooke all infirmities from vs suffered all punishments for vs and finished all the workes of our redemption to vs might be all in all within vs all First That we the Preachers of Gods Word would leaue our iarring and our iangling about shaddowes That we should not contest about trifles about things of nothing An ater sit contrarius albo As whether it be better to weare a white Surplesse or a blacke Gowne in the administring of the Sacrament Much like the contention in Rome betwixt the Augustine Friars and the vulgar Canons whether Saint Augustine did weare a blacke weede vpon a white coate or a white weede vpon a blacke coate for by this meanes in stead of bread we shall giue our Children stones to throw at one another and in stead of fish wee shall giue them Scorpions to sting one another And therefore I wish that we would all leaue these things and would be Pythagoricè mundo Ciceronicè Christo Mute vnto the World mute vnto all worldly vanities and vse all our words all our eloquence to expresse the excellency of this super-excellent word And so by the helpe of this word to preach of this word and to write of this word to the eternall prayse and glory of this word that is to preach not our selues but him not for our owne gaine but for his glory That we should imploy all our strength to expresse the glory of Christ It is reported of Saint Bernard that hauing made with great art and study a most curious elegant Sermon he passed home without any applause and the next day making a plaine conscionable and comfortable Sermon vnto his Auditors he receiued many a blessing from those well-edified hearers And being demanded by one of his Colleagues how it happened that his most learned Sermon was so strangely neglected and his farre more playne one so ioyfully imbraced he most humbly answered Heri praedicaui Bernardum hodie Iesum Christum Yesterday I preached my selfe to shew my wit and my learning to day I preached Iesus Christ to shew his grace and his goodnesse I wish that none would preach Saint Bernard that is preach a Sermon rare and seldome filled with words and fine phrases to gaine vnto themselues credit and thereby preferment as the onely rare Schollars of our times and so they are rare indeed for they are but seldome seene to preach like the Swallowes that come but once a yeere but that we would preach Iesus Christ to gaine soules vnto the Church of God And I confesse against my selfe that when I tooke greatest paines to make and compose a Scholler-like Sermon as I thought and saw the same vnregarded and when with lesse diligence but with good conscience I saw other of my poore labours most acceptably receiued That we should preach Iesus Christ and not our selues I deemed it was for want of iudgement in mine Auditors whereas now I perceiue it was an error in my selfe that I did not alwayes so as might best tend for edification and not so as might any wayes sauour of ambition Because our chiefest care should be not to spinne a fine thred but to winne a faire soule to Christ And therefore that is an excellent rule which Saint Augustine giues vnto all Preachers Non delectent verba vestra sed prosint quia sapientes verum magis amant in verbis quam verba That our words should not so much delight the eares as our matter edifie the soules of men because all wise Christians doe loue the truth and excellencie of the matter rather then the fluent elegancie of the words though I denie not but as the Poet sayth est aliqua gloria frondium an excellent matter exprest in fit and decent words is like apples of gold in pictures of siluer And therefore O my Soule so preach thou the Word of God that whatsoeuer men thinke or say of thee this Word God at last may say vnto thee euge serue bone well done thou good and faithfull seruant enter thou into thy Masters ioy Secondly I wish that all hearers would thinke of nothing speake of nothing heare of nothing loue and long for nothing but for this onely one thing that they would villifie and nullifie all things else to magnifie and to omnifie the excellencie of this excellent Word that we would prize and value him aboue all things that wee would loue him and long after him vntill we languish and be compelled to crie with the Spouse Cantic 2.5 Stay me with flaggons and comfort me with apples for I am sicke of loue and that we would so inquire after him as men vndone without him and rather be contented to want all the world then to want this Word which made the world of nothing and still preserues the same that it turne not to nothing for I doe much feare that if we could see the hearts of men we should finde many of them not as we would but rather as Saint Bernard calls them sine Christo Christianos such as haue this word Christ often in their mouthes to sweare and blaspheme him but not in their liues to yeeld any seruice to him Mammon is their chiefest god and this God which is the first and the last is the last and the least in all their thoughts all their delight is in filthie communications and leaude words all words that may doe hurt but they haue no delight in this word God The wise Merchant Matth. 13.46 sold al that euer he had to gaine this inualuable Pearle but as many a foole will leese his best friend rather then his basest iest so will the foolish worldlings sell this and leese all that belongs to
in Heauen Heb. 11.14 And secondly I say that these worldly riches are no true riches but onely vaine and imaginarie riches for they haue made many proude That the riches of this life are not the true riches none better if they had why did the wisest Philosopher so pronounced by the voice of the Oracle cast all his gold into the sea that he might be happie and the wisest among the sonnes of men so pronounced by the voyce of God pray aswell against riches as pouertie Prou. 30.8 and the best kings in this Iland and many other princes in many other countreyes besides the Apostles that forsooke all to follow Christ Matth. 19.27 change their princely thrones for poore cells and their kingly scepter for the diuine Scriptures and therefore he was a better husband then Philosopher that termed these riches goods but hee mended the matter well that called them goods of fortune false goods ascribed to a false patrone for as there is no goodnesse in them so there is no fortune to giue them the meaning therefore as I take it is this Doctor Hall that it is a chance if euer these riches proue good to any for many times they hurt the owners and disquiet others and as many time and ofnter too the worse men haue them and the best men want them and yet they are neuer the better for hauing them nor the other neuer the worse for wanting them for I heare Saint Peter and Saint Iohn the eldest and deerest Apostles say gold and siluer haue I none and I reade that Iudas the youngest and the worst Apostle bare the bagge and I reade that the Deuill sayd all these things will I giue thee and they are mine to giue and that Diues was rich and Lazarus poore and yet now the poore is made rich and caried vp to Heauen and the rich is poore and sent downe to Hell and therefore it is apparant that these false goods can be no true riches and so consequently that none is truely rich but onely God Now to proue that Christ is rich besides the foresaid testimonie of the Apostle our Sauiour himselfe sayth all that the Father hath Iohn 16. are mine of the holy Ghost he sayth he shall receiue of mine and declare vnto you and so the Euangelist sayth that of his fulnesse we haue all receiued Iohn 1.16 and grace for grace and therefore Christ being truely rich inriched with all the riches of the Dietie power strength wisedome goodnesse mercie and such like he must needs be the true and eternall God Fourthly from the proper workes of God Fourthly from the vniuersall effects and proper workes of God for he that created and preserueth and gouerneth all the things that are created is the true and euerlasting God but this word Created all things and doth still sustaine and gouerne all things and therefore he must needs be the true God The maior is cleere of it selfe Gene. 1.1 because as Moses sayth In the beginning God created the Heauen and the earth And The minor is confirmed That Christ created all things Psal 45.7 Psal 102.25 by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures which sayth Thy throne O God is for euer and euer the Scepter of thy kingdome is a right Scepter and in an other Psalm he sayth And thou Lord in the beginning hast layd the foundation of the Earth and the Heauens are the workes of thy hands so the Euangelist sayth that all things are made by this Word Iohn 1.2 and without this Word was made nothing that was made so Saint Paul sayth that all things were created by him aswell those things which are in Heauen as those things which are in Earth Colloss 1.16 And so all the orthodoxe fathers doe subscribe vnto the same trueth for Ignatius speaking of Christ vseth the verie words of the Euangelist that he was in the world and the world was made by him Jgnatius in ep ad Tarsenses Iust Mart orat 1. ad graecos and yet the world knew him not and Iustin Martyr sayth that by this Word both Heauen and Earth and all other creatures were created and Irenaeus l. 2. c. 2. against heresies Athenagoras in his apollogie for the Christians Clemens Alexandrinus l. 1. Pedagogi Tertullian in his Apollogetico Saint Cyprian in his second Booke against the Iewes and many more doe largely That Christ gouerneth all things and plainely proue by inanswerable arguments that all things were created by this Word And that Christ gouerneth all things the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrewes sayth Heb. 1.2.3 that he beareth vp all things with his mighty Word and our Sauiour sayth vnto the Iewes my father worketh yet and I worke Iohn 5.17 and Saint Paul sayth that hee is before all things 1 Colloss 17. and that by him all things doe consist Fiftly from the prayers which all Saints haue made Fiftly from the prayers of the Saints and that Diuine worship which they exhibited and which indeed is due to him for we are to pray to none but to God because wee beleeue in none but in God and because none but God can at all times heare vs and at any time helpe vs Iohn 5.23 but prayers shall bee euer made vnto Christ and dayly shall be praysed 1 Ioh. 2.22.23 sayth the Psalmist and so the Saints doe and euer haue prayed vnto him Rom. 14.11 as vnto the onely God Philip. 2.10 which can deliuer them out of their distresse and therefore this Word that was made flesh did make all flesh and is indeede the true and eternall God as wee may see in Prouerbes 8.12 Iohn 1.1 Apoc. 1.8 and as I haue by these inanswerable arguments sufficiently proued vnto you The obiections of the Arians against the eternall Godhead of Christ But against this eternall generation and euerlasting Godhead of this Sonne of God both the old Arians and the new vpstarte Ministers of Transiluania that like euill weeds did spring vp out of Arius his ashes doe obiect and indeuour with the witt of hell to proue that this God of Heauen was no God before his incarnation and was made man for Ob. 1 First They doe obiect that Saint Luke sayth hee shall be called the Sonne of God therefore he was not called before his incarnation Esay 9. and so Esayas saith that vnto vs a child is borne and vnto vs a sonne is giuen and he shall be called wonderfull the mighty God and the prince of Peace and therefore as Magistrates are not called Magistrates before they are made Magistrates so was not hee called the mighty God before hee was borne and giuen vnto vs This was the opinion of Arrius and Seruetus that the Sonne of God was nothing before his incarnation but onely a decree in the mynde of God to make this man Iesus Christ and to replenish him with abundant gifts of the Dietie
Creator and the Sonne of God is so produced as that hee receiued the substance of the begetter And therefore in that respect he is said to be begotten but he receiueth it without any mutation or alteration of the begetter and therefore in that respect he may be saide to be created And so he is sometimes said to be begotten and sometimes said to bee created not that any man should thereby denie his eternity and thinke him to be a creature but that from both these words wee might receiue what is fitting and reiect what seemeth to be vnfit for the declaration of this ineffable and inexplicable mystery Ob. 4 Fourthly They doe obiect the words of Dauid Thou art my sonne this day haue I begotten thee And therefore before that day wherein hee was begotten his sonne hee was not his sonne Sol. The words of Dauid are spoken of Christ in respect of his manhood I answere That the words Inquire of me and I will giue thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance and the vttermost parts of the Earth for thy possessions doe sufficiently proue that these words are spoken of his incarnation and not of his eternall generation for how should he according to his Diuinity demand the ends of the Earth for his possessions when as hee giueth the Kingdome of Heauen which is a thousand times more then the Earth to them that loue him And therefore he which according to his God-head possesseth all things with his Father according to the forme of a seruant which hee assumed for our saluation he requireth of his Father that hee might haue The Gentiles for his inheritance and the vttermost parts of the Earth for his possessions Act. 13. And thus the Apostle doth expound this place in the 13. Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles Ob. 5 Fiftly They doe obiect the words of the Apostle that he is The first-borne of euery Creature Coloss â— 15 and therefore created in the number of the Creatures Sol. That the words of the Apostle are to be vnderstood of the humanity of Christ Rom. 8.29 I answere That this is also meant of his humanity for that the Apostle speaketh here of the Creatures restored and not created because he is said to be Primogenitus ex mortuis The first fruites of the dead for if he were called The first fruites of euery Creature according to his Deity by what testimonies can it be shewed that he is The first-borne of the dead before all Creatures when as they could not be said to be dead which were not yet created And therefore the Apostle saith That whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the Image of his Sonne Iohn 1. that he might be the first-borne among many brethren To shew that he which according to his Deity is the onely begotten Sonne of God without brethren is according to his humanitie c. 3. the first-borne among many brethren for we must vnderstand this difference betwixt the first-begotten Sonne of God and the onely begotten Sonne of God that the first sheweth his humanity whereby he became man the first and chiefest among many brethren and the second his Diuinitie Iohn 1. whereby hee is the eternall Sonne of God without any brethren or otherwise it were in vaine to call him the onely begotten Sonne of God for that hee gaue power vnto others euen as many as beleeue in him to bee made the Sonnes of God and therefore if hee be not his Sonne by nature then without doubt he lost the name and the truth of being the onely begotten Sonne of God after he began to haue many brethren But because none of his sonnes by adoption Fulgen. in resp ad ob Arrian can be said to be the onely begotten sonne of God nor to be the Son of God â—ather then the rest be because the same name of sonnes is acommodated vnto them all although diuers rewards of retribution is promised vnto them according to the diuersitie of â—heir labours therefore is Christ still said to be the onely begotten Sonne of God because though there be many sonnes of God by grace yet there is none but he alone his Sonne by Nature And this difference doth our Sauiour Christ himselfe shew vnto vs when he saith I goe to my Father and to your Father Iohn 20.17 to my God and to your God because he is otherwise my Father and my God then he is your Father and your God for he is my Father eternally by nature and he is yours in time by grace and therefore hee that is first begotten in respect of his man-hood among many brethren is likewise still the onely begotten Sonne of God in respect of his God-head without any brethren And so you see that maugre all the spite of Hell it is most apparantly true that this Word is the true God for time coeternall vnto his Father CHAP. IIII. Of the coessentiality of the word with the Father and the obiections that are made against the same sufficiently answered SEcondly you haue heard of the eternall Godhead of this Word it followeth that I should shew vnto you how for nature he is coessentiall vnto his Father touching which point Athanasius saith Non res quaepiam extrinsecus adinuenta est filij substantia neque ex nihilo inducta est sed ex patris essentia nata est The substance of the Sonne is no outward thing either found or created but begotten of the very Essence of his Father euen as you see the brightnesse springing from the light or the vapour from the water Neque enim splendor neque vapor est ipsa aqua aut ipse sol neque res aliena For neither the light is the Sunne it selfe nor the vapour the water it selfe and yet they are none other things of another kind then be the substances from whence they spring euen so the Sonne issueth from the substance of his Father Et tamen patris sustantia non perpessa est partitionem And yet the substance of the father aâ—mits no partition for as the Sunne remaineth still the same Athanas in ep cont Eusebium and is no way lessened or diminished in respect of those beames that flow from him so the Father suffereth no mutation by hauing begetting Suam ipsius imaginem filium This his Son and eternall image but remaining still the same he begetteth his Son of the same Essence and we find not only all the Orthodox fathers but also the Scriptures plain enough to confirm the same truth for our Sauiour saith I and my Father are one And so S. Iohn hauing spoken of the Father Iohn 10 3â— the Word and the Spirit 1 Iohn 5.7 saith That these three are one And reason it selfe must needs confirme the same for seeing the Diuine Essence is most simple impartible and indiuisible and that the Father is God as none denyeth and that the Sonne is God as I haue already
it were of the like nature with God Fourthly they affirme that although the word it selfe is not found in the Scriptures yet that the full sense and meaning of the word is plainely found Aug. tract 79. In Joh. Cyrillus l. 1. de trinit as Saint Augustine doth most excellently proue out of those words of our Sauiour I and my Father are one Iohn 10. And that it is deriued from the Scripture for it is deriued of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Essence and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is deriued of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Lord saith of himselfe Ego sum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am he that is or I am that I am Exod. 3. And therefore seeing this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their verball winde shakes no corne nor cannot derogate any thing from the coessentiality of this word with his Father they proceed against the matter And so Secondly they doe obiect against the truth of the matter declared by this Word And First they argue thus Whose wils are diuers their natures Ob. 1 and essences are diuers but the will of the Father and of the Sonne are diuers for the Sonne saith vnto his Father Father if it be possible Matth. 26.39 let this cup passe from me neuerthelesse not as I will but as thou wilt therefore their Essence must needes be diuers Sol. That Christ as he hath two Natures so he hath a two-fold Will. I answere that the proposition is to be distinguished for whose wils are diuers hauing the same natures their natures must be diuers but in Christ there are two natures diuine and humane and therefore that his will is diuers or not the same will as his fathers is in respect of his humane nature though it be alwayes subiect and agreeable to the same we easily grant but that his will in respect of his diuine nature is any wayes different or diuers from his Fathers will we vtterly deny and we say not that the whole person of Christ but that Christ in respect of his diuine nature as he is the second person of the Trinitie is co-essentiall vnto his Father and therefore though the will of Christ as he is the Sonne of man be not the same as his Fathers will is yet that doth not proue the will of Christ as hee is the Sonne of God to be not the same as his Fathers will is because Christ hath a two-fold will the one as he is the eternall Word and the other as he is made Flesh Ob. 2 Secondly they say he that is mediator betwixt God and men is not of the same essence with God but Christ is the Mediator betwixt God and men 1 Tim. 2.5 saith the Apostle therefore he cannot be of the same essence with God Sol. That there are two sorts of Mediators I answere that the proposition is to be distinguished for it is true of such a mediator as Moses was the Messenger of God to men but it is false of such a Mediator as reconcileth wicked men to God by appeasing his wrath and making satisfaction for their sinnes for that no man can do so but he that is God by nature Now Saint Paul sheweth Christ to be such a Mediator as doth appease the wrath of God and therefore he sheweth euen thereby that Christ must needes be a God by nature and of the same Essence with his Father Ob. 3 Thirdly they say Christ is a Mediator and an Aduocate with God but he is no Mediator nor Aduocate with himselfe therefore himselfe is not of the same Essence with God Sol. I answere that the Name of God is to be taken two wayes First Essentially and so Christ is a Mediator with God Secondly Hipostatically for any person of the God-head and so Christ also is Mediator with God if you vnderstand God for the person of the Father not excluding the Sonne or the Holy Ghost for otherwise it is false because he is not onely Mediator with the person of the Father but also with himselfe and the Holy Ghost So likewise in the conclusion if you take God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the person of the Father we yeeld Christ is not God because God the Sonne is not nor cannot be God the Father And to the minor I say That Christ reconcileth vs to himselfe that Christ may bee said to bee a Mediator with himselfe if we consider the office of mediation Nam sacrificij modum non sicut vnus quidam ex nobis sacerdotibus affert seruiliter For he doth not seruilely like some of vs or any vnder the Law bring the substance of our sacrifice vnto the Priests which should first offer for themselues and then for the sinnes of their people because he hath nothing herein common with vs that he should receiue it at our hands to offer it for vs but as he is our sacrifice himselfe Cyrillus l. de recta fide ad reginas Sic sibi ipsi conciliat per ipsum in ipso patri So he reconcileth vs vnto himselfe and through himselfe and in himselfe vnto his Father as Saint Cyrill saith Fourthly they say If he be of the same essence with the Father Ob. 4 then is he essentially in the Father but he is not essentially in the Father for the Word was with God and not in God John 1.1 saith the Euangelist but to be with God signifieth not to be in God but without him as a booke held in my hand is with me though it be not in me therefore Christ is not essentially in the Father consequently not of the same essence with the Father To this Fulgentius answereth diuers wayes Sol. 1. If all that is sayd to be with God be without God Fulgent in resp ad obiect Arrianorum and all that is sayd to bee in God bee within him then are wee neerer vnto God then the Sonne of God for here you see he is sayd but to be with God and we are sayd to be in God 1 Cor. 8. for there is but one God the Father by whom are all things and wee in him sayth the Apostle but this is most absurd to say that wee are neerer vnto God then the Sonne of God and therefore it is as absurd to say that all which is with God is without God and all that are sayd to be in him to be within him Secondly Hee proueth that to be with God or with man doth not alwayes signifie to bee without God or without man for it is sayd that the vngodly reasoned with themselues Wisd 2.1 but when a man reasoneth he doth it within himselfe and not without himselfe C. 4.1 and it is sayd that the memoriall of Vertue is immortall because it is knowne with God and with men but it cannot be knowne with men vnlesse the memorie thereof be within men John 14.15 and so our Sauiour Christ sayth If any man loue mee and will
himself incomprehensible coessentiall and coequall vnto his father what therefore should hee merit or wherein could he be dignified by his Incarnation more then he was before his Incarnation Gloria eius augeri non potuit nothing could be added vnto his glorie or if it could his loue to vs could not be so great for then it might bee sayd hee did it not onely for our sake but also for his owne sake that himselfe might thereby be the more dignified and exalted but seeing he was so high before that he could not bee higher so great that hee could not greater and so good that he could not be better it is most certainly apparant that he descended from the height of his dignitie vnto the very depth of humilitie to be made flesh onely for our sake and therefore wee may well say that greater loue then this cannot be that he which is the highest chiefest euerlasting God should descend and be made the Sonne of Man that wee might be made the sonnes of the immortall GOD through him How Satan hath euer laboured more to obscure the truth concerning the person of Christ then any other point of doctrine whatsoeuer Secondly we may from hence see both the subtiltie and the cruelty of Satans dealing for he knoweth that this is the greatest benefit that euer man receiued from God the giuing of this Word to be made Flesh this his eternall Sonne to be made man Quia in creatione dedit te tibi Deus Because in thy creation hee did but giue thy being vnto thee but in this his Incarnation hee gaue himselfe vnto thee and therefore Satan would faine obscure this benefit either by debasing the person and perswading vs to beleeue that he was not so excellent as hee was i. e. not a God or if a God not so high not so excellent as his Father was or else by corrupting the action and suggesting vnto vs that hee did not all for our sakes onely but chiefly for his owne merit as if he were ambitious of vaine-glory which is blasphemy to thinke that he might thereby get him a name aboue all other names And this is his vsuall practise to seeke alwayes at the chiefest to corrupt the greatest points and to ouerthrow the strongest pillars of Christian religion Math. 4.3 for he tempted Christ himselfe and would faine haue ouercome him for hee knew that if the Captaine were once conquered then all the Souldiers would soone be vanquished if the Shepheard were once smitten then all the sheepe would be scattered and so since the comming of Christ he stirred vp more and greater heresies concerning Christ either his person or his offices then he did concerning any other point of Christian Religion for as there is no point so great so waighty no point more comfortable then this concerning the person of our Redeemer because this is eternall life to know him to be the true and eternall God Iohn 17.3 So Satan did neuer bestow more paines about any point to ouer-throw it and corrupt it then he did about this same as they that are but meanely read in the Ecclesiasticall stories and counsels may easily perceiue And therefore I haue euer thought no paines too great no discourses too long no time mispent that is spent to discusse this truth and to dispell those cloudes of errours that doe seeke to obscure the dignity and excellency of the person of the Sonne of God Quia bonum est esse hic For it is good to dwell on this Rocke and here to build vs Tabernacles as Peter saith Iuvat vsque morari Thirdly How maliciously Hereticks haue denyed the Godhead of Christ we may from hence see the peruersnesse of wicked Heretickes for that it is not enough for them to offend God but they will deny him to be a God and as the Athiests will be wicked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the highest degree by serching so farre into God as to say at last there is no God so will they search so farre into the nature of the Sonne of God that they deny him to be a God vntill the vengeance of God doth make them see their abhominable sinnes and therefore we should all take heed that the God of this world doe not so blinde our eyes as to make vs to deny God our Sauiour Fourthly How thankefull we ought to be vnto God for the giuing of the Word to be made flesh wee may from hence consider how thankefull wee ought to be and yet how vnthankefull we are to God for here wee see that more then this he could not doe for man for the highest God to be made man yea a man of sorrowes as I shall by his helpe in my Treatise of his Passion shew vnto you that we might be made the sonnes of God and the heires of ioy and yet we seldome or neuer set this great benefit before our eyes to be thankefull to God for the same for if we did how could we finde in our hearts with the sight of this goodnesse to heape vp such horrible wickednesse as we doe against his Maiestie to blaspheme his name to abuse his Word to dispise his seruants and to be to euery good worke reprobate O beloued remember what our Sauiour saith If you loue me keepe my Commandements Iohn 14.15 and if you be thankefull to God for this his great loue to you to be vilified and made flesh and made of no reputation for you offend not his Maiestie and render not vnto him euill for good and hatred for his good will And so much touching the excellency of the person that was made flesh he that was the true and eternall God co-essentiall and co-equall vnto his Father CHAP. VI. Of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word here shewed by the Euangelist to expresse the person that was incarnate and what it signifieth and why the Euangelist vseth it SEcondly hauing seene the excellency of the person that was made flesh we are now to consider the Word here vsed to declare that person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word touching which I will onely discusse these three points 1. What 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth 2. Why Christ is tearmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. Why the Euangelist saith here The Word was made flesh rather then the Sonne of God was made flesh What 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth First some say that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth reason and that the Sonne is therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reason because as reason is most inward with vs so is the Sonne with the Father as Saint Basil and Nazianzen say or because he maketh vs obedient to yeeld vnto reason as Origen saith others will haue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie definition because Christ defineth and expresseth the whole nature of his Father Heb 1.3 he being the brightnesse of his glory and the ingrauen forme of his person as Nazianzen and
good and to bring them vnto the true sauing knowledge of their Sauiour but as God by his true Prophets did foreshew the comming and incarnation of this Word so would Sathan play the Ape and by his Prophets teach them like as Oedipus Seneca in Oedipo blindly seeking his Father did vnfortunately slay his Father by seeking thus after Christ to worship himselfe in stead of Christ and so to offer sacrifices vnto Diuels as the Apostle saith and not to God Thirdly They might by the continuall tradition of their Elders retaine some reliques of that promise made vnto Adam That the seede of the woman should come Gen. 3.15 and breake the Serpents head for wee finde by their rites and ceremonies their Priests and Sacrifices and such like that they had a kinde of corrupted Diuinity still remaining amongst them and that they did conceiue some thing by these outward things that should expiate their sinnes and appease the wrath of God for them Fourthly Their owne great diligence That the Phylosophers were wonderfull diligent to attain vnto all kinde of knowledge might bring no small knowledge and vnderstanding of diuine things vnto them for they were exceeding great searchers of all antiquities and most wonderfully greedy of all kinde of knowledge and learning and therefore they did search into the Oracles of the Caldeans Aegyptians and Hebrewes that so much as they could they might find out the truth both of humane and diuine things And so Theodoret Clemens Alexandrinus and Iustin Martyr doe plainely affirme that Plato read the Bookes of Moses and the Prophets and both Saint Ambrose and Eusebius say that Numenius a Platonist was wont to say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Plato was none else but Moses in the Graecian Tongue And Saint Augustine himselfe saith That Plato learned the Diuine Scriptures from the Prophet Ieremie Aug de Doct. Christa l. 2. c. 28. Jdem de ciuit Dei l. 8. c. 11. when the Iewes were in their captiuity at Babylon but I finde he retracted this opinion in his eight Booke and eleuenth Chapter De ciuitate Dei for there by the computation of their yeeres and times wherein both of them liued he findes that Ieremie dyed almost a hundred yeeres before that Plato was borne the captiuity being in the time of Cyrus and Darius Kings of Persia and Plato borne but a little before Alexander King of Macedon yet there he denies not but that Plato by his industry when he trauelled into Egypt might by some Interpreters learne the Scriptures for as yet the Septuagint had not translated them into the Greeke Tongue and yet Aristobulus as Eusebius citeth him saith that certaine parts and parcels of the Scriptures were translated by others before the Septuagint out of which Plato might learne many points of the diuine Truth Or if this knowledge was not had out of the Hebrew Bookes yet might hee learne much as Herodotus did in other points from the Egyptian Priests for it is not likely that the Egyptians had lost all knowledge of Diuinitie but that still there remained some reliques of that verity which Ioseph and the Children of Israel when they dwelt in Egypt did spread and leaue amongst them Psal 105.22 for God sent Ioseph to instruct the Princes of Pharaoh and to teach his Senators wisedome not onely to prouide foode for their bodies but also for the happinesse of their soules All these things being well considered it seemeth not absurd vnto me to say that Plato and other learned men among the Gentiles were not altogether ignorant of the knowledge of this truth concerning this eternall Word Nay they could not be ignorant of the same That the Gentiles expected the comming of a Messiah for it is well knowne that the Gentiles did expect the comming of the Messias as well as the Iewes though for want of the Diuine Oracles they had not the knowledge of many particulars of his comming so well as the Iewes had And therefore he is called Expectatio gentium The hope and expectation of the Gentiles And so those many multitudes that became Proselites of the Iewish Religion those Sybils and Prophets Zoroastres Baalam and others that prophecyed of his comming Numb 24.17 and those Magi that came from the East To worship him as soone as euer he was borne doe sufficiently proue that the Gentiles expected the comming of this Word Math. 2.1 c. before hee was made flesh And therefore seeing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word was most chiefly knowne or likeliest to be knowne both among the Iewes and Gentiles and that the Euangelist desired to apply himselfe to both Nations that he might winne and gaine the more to Christ he vseth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and saith The Word was made flesh And Secondly The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the fittest word that hee could choose to make way for him to expresse what hee meant immediately to declare for he intended presently to say that all things were made by him but he could not call him by whom all things were made by any fitter terme then the Word because all men did know that God made all things by his Word for by the Word of the Lord were the Heauens made Psal 32. when God spake the Word and they were made hee commanded Psal 148.5 and they stood fast And so you see these few obseruations touching 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word here vsed by the Euangelist to expresse the person that was made flesh Now seeing this Word What a shame it is for vs to be ignorant of this Word now already incarnate is the chiefest Word in the World and was the Word best knowne to all the best men of the World Kings Priests Prophets Phylosophers Orators and the like it should put vs euer in minde neuer to neglect the knowledge of this Word for what a shame is this to vs that we are so full of idle words yea of leud and wicked words and this Word God should be so strange vnto vs and that the very Heathens knew it euen before he came into the World and we should be so ignorant of it now after hee is come and is preached throughout all the whole World that they were so diligent to finde him out and we so negligent to accept him offered vnto vs and preached euery where to euery one of vs without doubt they shall rise in iudgement against vs and condemne vs. And so much for this Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here vsed and why that word is here chosen by the Euangelist CHAP. VII Of the chiefest Causes why this Word was made Flesh THirdly We are to consider why this Word was incarnate and made flesh Touching which I say that First Causa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why the Word was made Flesh the impulsiue cause in respect of vs was our most wofull miserable case and condition wherein we lay all depriued
of the grace and fauour of God and causa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the impulsiue cause in respect of God was his great loue and tender compassion towards mankinde so lying in misery vnder the tyranny and bondage of the Diuell and the performing of his promise Gen. 3 15. which he made vnto Adam Abraham Isaac and Iacob that the seede of the Woman should breake the Serpents head And therefore because he would not alter the thing that was gone out of his mouth Luke 1.72 nor suffer his truth to faile hee remembred his holy Couenant and the Oath that hee sware vnto our Fathers and at the fulnesse of time he sent this Word to be made flesh Secondly The finall cause in respect of vs was the restoring of mankind vnto the fauor of God againe And therfore we professe in our Creede Concil Nic. that for vs men and for our saluation he came downe from Heauen Matth. 20.28 and was made man And so our Sauiour saith Iohn 12.46 that he came not to be serued but to serue and to giue his life a ransome for many Aug. in Joh. gloss in 1 Tim. 1. And Saint Augustine saith Non eum de coelo ad terram merita nostra sed peccata nostra traxerunt It was not our goodnesse but our wickednesse our sinnes our grieuous sinnes that brought downe Iesus Christ out of Heauen And so Hugo saith Hugo in l. de sacrament Nulla causa veniendi fuit nisi peccatores saluos facere tolle morbos tolle vulnera nulla est causa medicinae There was no cause that he should come to vs but to saue vs for where there is no wounds where there is no diseases there is no neede of medicines there is no vse of playsters because the whole neede not the Physician To shew the errour of Osiander who saide that if man had not sinned this Word had beene incarnate because there was nothing that could bring him out of Heauen or to moue him to be made man but onely to bring vs into Heauen and to make vs the Sonnes of God through him And the finall cause in respect of God was his owne glory for hee made all things for his owne sake and he gaue his Sonne for vs that wee might ascribe all praise and thankes vnto him And therefore the Angels said vnto the Shepheards Luke 2.14 Glory be to God on high peace vpon Earth and good will towards men And reason good that seeing wee haue peace with God God should haue glory and praise from vs. Why God decreed the Incarnation of the Word for the saluation of man Gen. 1.26 But here first it will be demanded as Saint Augustine saith Quare non potuit Dei sapientia aliter homines liberare c. Why could not the wisedome of God deuise and the power of God effect some other way to deliuer and saue sinnefull men then by sending his Sonne to be made man to be borne of a woman and to suffer such shamefull things of shamelesse sinners To this Saint Bernard frameth this witty answere that as in the creation of man God did as it were consult with his wisdom how to make him when he said Let vs make man in our image So after the transgression of man there was as it were a consultation in Heauen what should become of man for truth and Iustice stood vp against him and said that man had sinned and therefore man must die Cap. 2.17 or else that they must needs be violated for thou saidst say they to God In what day thou eatest of the tree of knowledge of good and euill thou shalt die the death But Mercie and Peace rose vp for man and said Quo quisque est maior magis est placabilis ira regia crede mihi res est succurrere lapsis It is a royal thing to releeue the distressed and the greater any one is the more placable and gentle hee should be and that God himselfe had said he was the God of Peace and the Father of Mercies and therefore they concluded that although man had sinned yet man must be pardoned or else they must needes be abandoned therefore the wisedome of God became an vmpire and deuised this way to reconcile them that as one man had sinned and thereby destroyed all men So Vnus homo nobis patiendo restituet rem Bosquier de pass domini ser 13. p. 793. One righteous man should suffer for all men and so Iustice should be satisfied and then all that beleeued in that man should be pardoned and so Mercie should be shewed Then all thus contented God looked downe from Heauen vpon the children of men to see if there were any that would vnderstand and seeke after God Psal 14.4 but they were all corrupted and become abhominable and there was none that did good no not one and therefore the wisedome of God that had found out this way was contented to performe this worke himselfe and to be made man that mercy might bee extended and to suffer death for man that Iustice might be satisfied and so in him Mercie and Truth met together Righteousnesse and Peace kissed each other But Saint Augustine Aug. de trinit l. â—3 c 10. Gregor moral l. 20. c. 26. and Saint Gregory doe more solydly answere saying Omnia Deus poterat si voluisset That in regard of his wisedome God could haue deuised another way and in regard of his power he could haue performed the saluation of man without the incarnation of his Sonne But if he had done it otherwise it would no doubt haue likewise displeased our foolishnesse for God appeared visibly saith Saint Augustine that he might prepare vs to inuisible things and therein hee displeased the couetous man How hard it is for the wisedome of God to please foolish man because he brought not a body of gold he displeased the lasciuious because hee was borne of a woman he displeased the Iewes because he came so poore and the wise men of this world because he erecteth his Kingdome by the foolishnesse of preaching and so he should haue displeased man what other way soeuer he had inuented to saue man for the wisdom of God is not sufficient to satisfie the foolishnes of men Aug. de annunt Domini ser 3. And therefore he that knowes all things best Sic voluit ruinam vasis fragilis reformare vt nec peccatum hominis dimitteret impunitum quia iustus erat nec insanabile quia misericors So God would repaire the ruine of fraile and fickle man that neither the sinne of man should escape vnpunished because God is iust nor yet miserable man remaine vncured because he is mercifull and although he could otherwise haue saued man Quantum ad potentiam medici in respect of the power and skill of the Phisitian yet he saw there was no fitter way to doe it Quantum ad medicinam
body but onely in the shew and shape of a body therefore he appeared in no true body to the Apostles To this I answere first that the minor is false Sol. That Christ appeared to the Patriarchs in a true body for he appeared vnto the Fathers in a true body as may be easily proued from those actions of eating drinking walking and such like and when he had ended that businesse for which he was sent of his Father he deposed that body which for that end hee had assumed and so he laid downe his body againe because hee had not as yet really and hypostatically vnited himselfe vnto the same Secondly Christ in former times did but assume a body for some speciall end now he was made flesh to remaine man for euer I say that if it were so that he appeared vnto the Fathers in a phantasme yet it followeth not that he did so likewise vnto the Apostles for before he assumed it onely for a time to performe some one speciall act but now he is made flesh which he hath really vnited vnto himselfe for euer to performe the greatest worke in the world the redemption of mankinde and therefore S. Iohn to expresse the truth thereof so fully as words could doe it saith that himselfe and the rest of his fellow Apostles did beare witnesse of that which they saw with their eyes and heard with their eares 1 John 21. and their hands had handled of the word of life and that this word was made flesh and dwelt among vs Iohn 1.14 which was neuer spoken of any of the formes that hee assumed in the Old Testament For though wee reade that hee appeared vnto the Fathers at sundry times and in diuers formes Heb. 1.1 yet we doe neuer reade that he made himselfe of no reputation by taking those formes vpon him Phil. â— 7 or that therefore he was made to be the things that he appeared to be because he neuer assumed them vnto himselfe as to vnite them personally vnto himselfe Ob. 3 Thirdly they say that the Scriptures teach not that he had a true naturall body but onely the shew and likenesse of a body for Saint Paul saith Phil 2.78 that Christ tooke vpon him the forme of a seruant and that God sent his Sonne in the similitude of the flesh of sinne Rom. 8 3. or of sinfull flesh and Saint Iohn saw one walking among the seauen golden Candlesticks Reuel 1.13 which was like vnto the Sonne of Man therefore he assumed no true body but onely a shew and a likenesse of a body Sol. I answere that these words and the like doe giue them no such ground nor any shew of reason to build any such conclusion thereupon for the Scripture saith that Adam did beget Caine Gen. 5.3 Christ in regard of his meane condition did appeare like a sinfull man but was without sinne Abel Seth in his owne image and likenesse but we might iustly account them very foolish that would hereupon inferre that neither Caine or Seth had not the very nature of Adam but onely a bare shadow and similitude thereof and therefore the Apostle in saying that hee was sent in the similitude of sinfull flesh giues vs to vnderstand that he was conceiued and borne without sinne and yet to haue flesh like vnto sinfull flesh because though it was without sinne yet it seemed to be full of sinnes by reason of the punishment that he was contented to vndergoe for our sinnes And this is most excellently declared by Tertullian Tertul. in l. de carne Christi c. 17. where he saith that Saint Paul affirmeth Christ to be made in the similitude of sinfull flesh not that he tooke the likenesse of flesh or the image of a body and not a true body but that he would giue vs to vnderstand that Christ tooke vpon him true flesh in the similitude of sinfull flesh Quia similitudo ad titulum peccati pertinebit Idem l. 5. contra Marcion Because the word similitude is to be referred to the iniquitie of sinne and not to deny the veritie of his substance for he would not haue added the word sinne if he had vnderstood and meant that the word similitude should be referred to the substance of his flesh to deny the veritie of the same but when he thus frameth his speech saying That hee came and tooke vpon him the likenesse of the flesh of sinne or of sinfull flesh Et substantiam confirmauit i. e. carnem similitudinem ad vitium substantiae retulit i. e. peccatum Hee doth confirme the veritie of his substance that is his flesh and he referreth similitude to the vitiousnes of the substance i. e. sin which in the sight of the Iewes he seemed to haue though in very deed hee had none So Cassianus saith Cassian collat 22. c. 11. that Similitudo non ad carnis veritatem sed ad peccati imaginem referenda est The word similitude hath relation not to flesh to denie the truth thereof for that was true flesh but to this word sinfull Quia in veritate corporis sed sine veritate peccati suscepit dominus speciem peccatoris Because that in the true nature of man without any sinne hee appeared and was so esteemed of many like a sinfull man Amb. de spiritu Sancto l. 3. c. 9. saith Saint Ambrose And so when the Apostle saith that Christ was made in the similitude of Man he doth not meane so to referre the word similitude Ad naturam humanam as that we should vnderstand him to be made onely in the likenesse of our humane nature The manhood of Christ seene by the sufferings of Christ but by the similitude of man he vnderstandeth Conditionem abiectam that abiect and meane condition of man whereby Christ was made like vnto all other men and therefore Saint Paul doth hereby more confirme the truth of his humane nature then any wayes weaken the same Iustin Martyr in expos fidei because as Iustin Martyr speaketh Deus quidem intelligitur ex prodigiorum operatione homo autem ostenditur ex aequalibus nostrae naturae perpessionibus His Godhead is sufficiently seene by the working of his miracles but his Manhood is chiefly seene by the like sufferings and infirmities of our nature And to that place of the Apocalyps I say that Saint Iohn saw him in a Propheticall vision his body being in heauen and not on earth and therefore this of all other is alledged most improperly to deny the truth of that flesh which Saint Iohn of all other had so plainely declared vnto vs. And so you may see that neither these places nor any other place though neuer so much wringed and wrested from the true meaning of the Holy Ghost no nor the gates of Hell it selfe can disproue the truth of this point that Christ hath a true and a naturall body CHAP. III. Of Christ his true and perfect
humane Soule That Christ had a true reasonable humane soule AND further we must consider that as he had a true humane body so he had a perfect reasonable soule for First The testimonies of the Scriptures are most plaine and pregnant herein As My soule is heauy vnto death Math. 26.38 And againe Father into thy hands I commend my spirit Heb. 2.17 Secondly Reason it selfe confirmeth it for He was made in all things like vnto his brethren Sinne onely excepted and he is The Shepheard of our soules 1 Pet. 2. And therefore he must needes consist of body and soule Thirdly The whole Schoole of Diuinity did euer teach the same Truth for Nazianzene saith Quod non assumpsit non salvabit Either he had a soule or he will not saue a soule And Saint Augustine saith Aug de tempore Ser. 145. Totum suscepit vt totum liberaret verbum The Word tooke all vpon him i. e. both body and soule that he might saue both body and soule And so Fulgentius doth most largely and excellently proue this point in his first Booke De Mysterio Mediatoris Fulgentius de myst med ad Tras l. 1. vnto King Trasimund where I referre my Reader to a most elegant and learned discourse of this matter Ob. But against this many of the Arrians and Apollinaris doe obiect as Nazianzene Athanasius and Saint Cyrill doe affirme that Christ had no humane soule Iohn 1.14 but onely a liuing flesh because the Euangelist saith That the Word was made Flesh And Saint Paul saith Rom. 1. That he was made of the seede of Dauid according to the Flesh Sol. To this I answere that it is an vsuall thing in Scripture to speake synechdochically and sometimes totum denominare ex parte praestantiori to put the soule for the whole man as seuenty soules that is seuenty men went downe vnto Egypt and the soule that sinneth Exod. 1.5 that soule shall die and let euery soule be subiect to the higher Powers Ezech. 18.20 and sometimes totum denominare ex parte minus praestantiori Rom. 13.1 to put the body for the whole man as all Flesh i. e. all men had corrupted their wayes before God and Gen. 6.12 all flesh shall see the saluation of God and to thee shall all flesh come that is all men And therefore hee was made Flesh signifieth Athanas in Sym. that hee was made Man of a reasonable soule and humane flesh subsisting And the reason why the Euangelist saith He was made flesh Why the Euangelist saith he was made flesh rather then he was made man rather then He was made man is diuersly rendered by the Fathers For some say it was to shew what part of Christ was made of his Mother that is his Flesh for his Diety was increated and his soule say they was created of nothing and his body onely was made of his Mother And therefore hee saith The Word was made Flesh But this cannot satisfie them which beleeue the Soule to be ex traduce by traduction from the Parents And therefore Secondly others with Theophilact say the Euangelist saith The Word was made Flesh to expresse the greatnesse of Gods loue who for our sakes would be contented to be made the vilest thing for all flesh is grasse Esay 40.6 Thirdly others with Saint Augustine say It was to shew the greatnesse of Christ his humility Ex parte ignobiliori to be named by the meanest name and the basest part of man he was contented to be made flesh for so we finde that in this respect i. e. to shew the greatnesse of his humility though hee was the Sonne of God yet most commonly would hee terme himselfe The Sonne of man to shew vs how hee debased himselfe and was well contented with the meanest and most abiect titles for our sakes and to teach vs by his example not to stand so much vpon our dignities but to humble our selues that we may be exalted Fourthly others with Saint Cyrill say It was for our greater confidence that we should not doubt of Gods loue and fauour towards vs because our flesh which was the part most corrupted is now vnited vnto God and because Christ is now become our brother and our kindred according to that of the Euangelist Behold thy Brethren and thy Kinsmen stand looking for thee Mar. 3.32 for that Consanguinity is in regard of flesh and bloud Fiftly others say It was Vt infimum summo poneret that he might put the highest and the lowest together for he had called Christ the Word which sheweth the highest power of God for thy Word is Almighty Heb. 1. and hee beareth vp all things by his mighty Word And therefore as hee had set downe his Deity by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word which declareth his greatest power so hee would shew his humanity by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Flesh which expresseth our greatest infirmity for as Summa dignitas in verbo the greatest dignity is exprest in the word So Summa infirmitas in carne the greatest infirmity is shewed in the flesh And therefore he saith The Word was made Flesh to declare vnto vs Quantus Deus quantillus factus est homo How great a God was made so meane a man All these reasons are very good and may well stand all of them to shew why he saith The Word was made Flesh rather then He was made man Yet Tertul. l. de carne Christi Jrenaeus l. 3. c. 11. Sixtly I like best of Tertullians reason alledged also by Irenaeus Saint Chrysostome and others that the Spirit of God foreseeing what Heresies would follow after and soone creepe to invade the Church of Christ did therefore purposely here and in many other places set downe most euident and vnanswerable arguments to conuince them whensoeuer they should arise that so the light of Truth might be cleered and the mouth of all wickednesse might be stopped God before heresies came prouided for vs that we might be preserued from them when they came And therefore I say that the Pen of the Euangelist was here directed by Gods Spirit to say The Word was made Flesh not because he had not a soule but to assure vs against Marcion Macidonius Valentinus Manichaeus and others that Christ had a true and a naturall flesh assumed from the very flesh and substance of his Mother and vnited vnto his God-head And so you see that Christ had not Ideam humanae naturae An imaginary patterne of humane nature but the whole nature of man In vno indiuiduo Consisting both of body and soule CHAP. IIII. Of Christ his being subiect to all the humane infirmities that are without sinne SEcondly As Christ had all the parts of a true man That Christ was made subiect to all our humane fraileties which are without sinne that is body and soule so he had all the properties that doe concerne mans nature
made flesh that is a true and a naturall man in all things like vnto his brethren sinne onely excepted CHAP. V. Of the comfortable instructions that we may collect from this Doctrine of the incarnation of the Word YOu heard what the Word was made Flesh What we may learne from this doctrine of Christ his Incarnation and from thence we may learne many comfortable excellent lessons for our instruction especially in respect 1. Of God 2. Of Christ 3. Of our Selues First in respect of God we may see and we ought seriously to consider it first his great loue and charity towards vs First Gods loue to man that he should giue his onely Sonne to be made flesh for our sake and therefore seeing he gaue his Sonne for vs and that while we were yet sinners while we were yet enemies vnto God how can it be but that he should giue vs all things together with his Sonne especially now being reconniled vnto him through his Sonne Rom. 5.10 for in him he is well pleased and through him he cannot bee offended with vs and therefore Christ to shew how dearely God loueth vs through him saith Whatsoeuer you aske the Father in my Name it shall be giuen you Secondly we may from hence see the faithfulnesse and truth of God in performing his promise Luke 1.73 and the oath that he sware vnto our Fathers Secondly that God is a true performer of all his promises Numb 23.19 touching the giuing of this Word to be made Flesh and therefore wee may assure our selues that whatsoeuer hee saith shall come to passe for he is not as man that he should lie or as the Sonne of Man that he should alter the thing that is gone out of his lipâ— Secondly in respect of Christ we may from hence see these two things First Christs perfect obedience First His great obedience in that he was contented in all things to submit himselfe vnto his Fathers Will and therefore we that doe beleeue in Christ should herein follow the example of Christ to be obedient vnto our heauenly Father Secondly how Christ humbled himselfe Secondly his rare and singular humilitie in that he being the Sonne of God and the eternall Word of God that could haue commanded all the Angels and by his stretched-out-arme without the assumption of our weakenesse haue made all his enemies his footstoole was notwithstanding contented Exininare seipsum to emptie himselfe as it were of his diuine riches and to clothe himselfe with our humane nakednesse and so to become the Sonne of Man and to be made flesh i. e. a vile a base and an abiect thing for vs Psal 144.4 for man is like a thing of naught his time passeth away like a shadow And therâ—fore we should not lift vp our hornes on high Phil. 2. nor speake with a stiffe necke but we should labour to haue the same minde in vs which was in Christ Iesus and learne of him to be meeke and lowly in heart Matth. 11. It was an humble speech of King Dauid when hee said I am a worme and no man a very shame Psal 22.6 or scorne of men and the out-cast of the people Hee was lowly in his owne eyes and did imitate herein our Sauiour Christ who as I shewed you before was not onely contented to be made a true man but also in the iudgement of the World to become no better then one of the basest of the people so rare a patterne of humility did he leaue vnto vs And yet now as the Poet saith Maxima quaeque domus seruis est plena superbis How farre we are from true humilitie Euery man is full of pride and as the prouerbe is euery Iacke will be a Gentleman Proijcit ampullas sesquipedalia verba It is strange to see how we strout our selues and speake great swelling words magnifying our selues by contemning others swaggering them out of countenance and thinking our selues to be gods and not men and with the Church of Laodicea to be rich and want nothing to be wise and valiant Reuel 3.17 and neither our manifold sinnes which are as the sands of the Sea nor our miserable estate which is most fraile and feeble so weake that a little sickenesse will euen vs downe with the dust can humble vs before the mighty hand of God so farre are we from learning true humility And Thirdly we see from hence our Sauiours loue Thirdly the great loue of Christ Bernard ser 1. de Epiphan and his aboundant great charity towards vs for quanto pro me vilior tanto mihi charior The viler and baser he made himselfe for me the dearer he shewed that he loued me but how could he euer debase himselfe more then he did not onely to appeare for a time in the visible shape of a man but also to assume for euer the true nature of man and though we be loath to take his sweet and easie yoke vpon vs yet he willingly tooke our heauy and bitter yoke on him for he tooke our infirmities and carried all our sorrowes Esay 53.4 and therefore O thou sweet Iesus that vsest to clothe thy selfe with the cloudes as with a garment and now clothest thy selfe with my naturall nakednesse that I might be adorned with thy supernaturall riches we beseech thee inflame our spirits with the loue of thee that nothing but thy selfe may be deare vnto vs because it so pleased thee to vilifie thy selfe for vs. Thirdly in respect of our selues we may from this doctrine of the words incarnation collect vnto our selues these singular comforts As First generally what fruits and benefits we haue What great benefits we receiue by the incarnation of the Word from this incarnation of the Sonne of God Beneficia nimis copiosa multa magna priuata positiua and they are exceeding great blessings innumerable and inualuable as repentance remission of our sinnes Grace Faith Righteousnesse Wisedome Sanctification and Redemption and in a word whatsoeuer blessing grace or goodnesse we haue we haue the same from this incarnate Word for Collos 2.3 in him are hidden all the treasures of wisedome and knowledge and from his fulnesse we all receiue and grace for grace Iohn 1.16 For neither his Deitie onely Quia non debuit Because he ought not nor his humanity onely Quia non potuit Aug. c 12. hom de â—vibus Because that could not was sufficient to bee a Mediator betwixt God and man Sed inter diuinitatem solam humanitatem solam mediatrix est diuina humanitas humana diuinitas Christi but betweene the bare humanity and the bare diuinity the diuine humanity and the humane diuinity of our Sauiour Christ doth mediate for vs vnto God and therefore by reason of this Incarnation of the Word God we are made Kings and Priests and a peculiar people vnto God Reuel 1.7 How Christ hath performed all
things for vs. euen for euer For this Incarnâ—â—e Word this God and Man Christ Iesus hath performed all things that are necessary for our saluation he liued for vs he dyed for vs he rose againe for vs and he became the Phisitian and the medicine both of our originall and actuall sinnes For against the corruption and guilt of originall sinne the pure birth and vndefiled conception of Christ is a sufficient salue and against the guilt of actuall sinne the Sanctitie and innocent life of Christ tâ—at was without any spot of sinne is a sufficient remedy and against the punishment either of originall or of actuall sinnes tâ—e most pretious death of Christ is a sufficient satisfaction Quia iniusta mors iustam vicit mortem Aug. ser 101. de tempore liberauit nos iuste quia pro nobis occisus est iniustè Because his vniust death hath iustly ouercome our death and he hath most iustly deliuered vs because he was most vniustly slaine for vs. That good examples are meanes to further godlines Besides the Word being made flesh we haue his life as a most perfect patterne to frame our liues thereby for wee are all like Apes apt to imitate and we say the life of our Minister would more moue vs to godlinesse then his doctrine and no doubt but it would doe much to them that hate not their Minister because he will not be as deboyst as themselues for a good example to good men is as a light set vpon a Candlesticke that all they which come into the house Iohn 3.19 may see the light although to euill men Christ an infallible patterne for men to imitate it moues them to the more indignation and wrath because it makes their sinnes appeare the more exceedingly sinfull and will be a iust witnesse against them in the day of wrath for that seeing the light of a good life shining amongst them they hated the same because their deeds were euill And therefore if we would be led by examples and would not erre let vs lay the the example of Christ before our face for this is a true looking glasse that is euer laid open before euery man and will neuer deceiue nor flatter any man and it is not onely a patterne for our practice but the continuall inspection and looking into the same is also in some measure an efficient cause Cyrillus l. 4. c. 5. and impulsiue motiue to incite vs to the imitation thereof and to the performance of all godlinesse because Christ is the giuer of all such graces whereby men do liue a godly life as the Apostle sheweth 1 Cor. 4.7 That we may boldly come to God Moreouer Christ hauing vnited his Deitie with our humanitie and hauing so well tempered his Maiestie with humility we may the more confidently and boldly draw neere vnto the throne of grace for that as his Deity confoundeth so his humanitie comforteth our faint and feeble soules and as his Maiestie amazeth so his humility animateth vs to come vnto him and to seeke of him whatsoeuer is needfull for vs. And further this Word being made flesh Naturam humanam nobilitauit He hath so innobled our humane nature as Saint Augustine saith that we which were wormes and no men are now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pertakers of the Diuine nature and as it were Gods and no wormes so that now 2 Pet. 1.4 That we attaine to a farre better state in Christ then we lost in Adam Bernard ser 1. de Epiphan our nature being repayred it is exalted farre aboue the dignitie of its first originall and it hath obtained to a farre better state in Christ then it had and lost in Adam because Adam was but is the image of God but wee are ioyned and made one with God as Saint Bernard saith and therefore foelix culpa quae talem meruit redemptorem happy was that fault as it happened vnto vs which brought foorth such a Sauiour to be made partaker of our flesh that wee might be partakers of his Spirit as Saint Gregory speaketh Secondly more particularly That both our bodies and our soules shall be saued in that he was made a true and a perfect man consisting both of body and soule we may assure our selues of the saluation both of body and soule for as our sinnes deserued damnation vnto both so the assuming of both by this Word hath brought deliuerance vnto them both And in that he was made subiect vnto all our humane frailties passions and miseries being made in all things like â—nto vs sinne onely excepted Heb. 2.17 c. 4 15. we may as I haue already touched before conceiue thereby an exceeding comfort for as Queene Dido said vnto the distressed Troians Haud ignara mali miseris succurrere disco Experience of miseries hath taught mee to succour all those that are miserable euen so Christ hauing felt all infirmities We may be sure of comfort in distresse and suffered more miseries then any of vs can endure will be mercifull and compassionate towards vs when hee seeth vs in distresse for he became like vnto vs that he might be mercifull vnto vs and he was tempted and suffered that he might be able to helpe and succour them that are tempted Heb. 2.17 18. saith the Apostle And therefore seeing wee haue not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but is a pittifull and a compassionate Redeemer if we be inuolued in miseries and doe suffer all kindes of infirmities wants scornes sickenesse paines or whatsoeuer else let vs goe boldly vnto the Throne of Grace and beg confidently his mercy and grace Heb. 4.16 to helpe vs in the time of neede for as hee which in our Creation formed vs according to the Image of God was contented now by his incarnation to take vpon himselfe the Image of man So wee which by our transgressions made our selues like vnto the Diuell shall bee most happy and blessed if as Christ became like vnto vs in flesh so we doe endeuour to become like vnto him in the graces of his most blessed Spirit And so much for the second point that he was made Flesh BRANCH III. CHAP. I. Of the distinction of the two Natures of Christ how each of them remaineth entire inconfused and the obiections made against this truth sufficiently answered Branch 3. THirdly We are to consider how this Word was made and still is Flesh which manner may be collected out of this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was made Flesh Touching which wee must well obserue these two speciall points Two things to be considered 1. The distinction 2. The vnion of the two natures the Word and the Flesh that is the Deity and the humanity of our Sauiour Christ First The distinction of these two Natures is most excellently shewed by Saint Paul where hee saith That in Christ there are two distinct natures Rom. 1.3.4
therefore hee must needes haue two natures in him according to one whereof he was before Abraham and according to the other he was after Abraham And further Vigilius l. 2. cont Eutych Philip. 2. we finde the same confirmed and confessed by all antiquity for Vigilius writing vpon those words of the Apostle who being in the forme of God tooke vpon him the forme of a seruant saith Mirum est c. It is a wonder to thinke why some are afraide to say that Christ had two natures when as the Apostle saith that he had two formes and the great oecumenicall Councell of Calcedon wherein were 630 Bishops Concil Calced Act. 5. in Symb. fidei left this confession vnto all posterity Confitemur in nouissimis diebus filium Dei vnigenitum in duabus naturis inconfuse immutabiliter indiuise inseparabiliter agnoscendum nunquam sublata differentia propter vnionem We confesse that the onely begotten Sonne of God which came in the last dayes to be incarnate is now to be acknowledged to be and to subsist of two natures i. e. Diuine and humane inconfused immutably inseperably and vndiuidedly vnited together and that the differences or distinction of these natures is neuer to be abolished and taken away by reason of the vnion of the same All the actions of Christ doe manifestly shew the two natures of Christ And so in very deed we finde all the actions of our Sauiour Christ while he liued here on earth to make inanswerable proofe of the same truth for as Saint Augustine saith Iacebat Christus quantum ad carnem mortuus in sepulchro mortuos suscitans in inferno vitam tribuens vniuersis in caelo Christ according to the flesh lay dead in his graue yet did he then in Hell i. e. in respect of his soule according to his Godhead raise the dead here on earth Aug. sup Mat. 5. contra Foelicem and giue life to all them that were in heauen Quia vt nec mundum dimittens ad coelum ascendit ita nec coelum deserens venit ad nos sed vno atque eodem tempore totum totus impleuit Because that as now he hath not left the world though he be ascended into Heauen so then he did not leaue the Heauens when hee came to be made flesh on earth but was wholly at one and the selfe-same time in all places replenishing and filling all things And Gregorie Nazianzen doth most excellently shew how the properties of both his natures concurred together and might be easily discerned in him from the very beginning of his dayes Luc. 2.7 to the last end of his being here on earth for he is borne of his mother and wrapped in swadling clouts as being a man but a starre doth manifest him Matth. 2.11 and the wise men adore him as being a God Matth. 3.16 he is baptized in Iordan as being a man but the Holy Ghost descends vpon him from Heauen as being a God he is tempted of the Deuill Mar. 1.12 as he is a man but he ouercomes and expels the Diuels Iohn 4.6 as he is a God he trauels and is thirstie he is hungry and is weary as he is a man but he refresheth the wearie hee feedeth the hungry Iohn 7. and he giueth drinke vnto the thirstie as hee is a God Matth. 24.26 he sleepes in the ship and his Disciples awake him as he is a man but he rebukes the windes and stilleth the rage of the Seas Matth. 8.20 as he is a God he is poore and needy and hath not an house to put his head in as he is a man but he is rich and mighty and cannot be contained in the heauens as he is a God he his sorrowfull and sad he weepes and he prayes as he is a man but he heareth our prayers and comforteth the sorrowfull Matth. 26. as hee is a God he is subiect to infirmities as he is a man Iohn 14. but he healeth all our infirmitie as he is a God he is whipped and crucified as hee is a man but he renteth the vaile of the Temple Esay 53. and causeth the Sunne to hide his face for shame to see him crucified as hee is a God he saith Eloi Eloi Lamasabachthani My God my God Matth. 27.46 why hast thou forsaken me as he is a man but hee saith vnto the theefe This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise as he is a God Luke 23.43 he dyeth and is buryed and lyeth in his graue as he is a man but he ouercommeth Death and destroyeth the Diuels Matt. 27.50.60 and raiseth himselfe vnto life againe as he is a God and being risen he appeares vnto his Disciples and eates and talkes with them Luke 24. v 15. 31. as he is a man but he vanisheth out of their sight and ascendeth vp vnto Heauen as he is a God and so now the Heauens doe containe him and he sitteth there on the right hand of God Psal 68.4 as he is a man but he sustaineth the Heauens and rideth vpon the same as vpon an horse as he is a God and so Fulgentius saith Fulgent ser de Epiphan Iste puer in praesepi quidem paruulus collocatur sed magnus in coelo mirabiliter operatur permittit se manibus in terra portari sed praecipit sibi coelestia famulari That little child is laid in a cratch i. e. as he is a man but he doth wonderfully worke in heauen i. e. as he is a God and he suffereth himselfe to be carryed in their armes as he is a man but he supporteth all things and commandeth all the hoast of Heauen to doe him seruice as he is a God And therefore it is most apparant that the person of Christ so subsisteth Vt cum in homine Christo videtur veritas hominis Idem de persona Christi l. 2. ad Tamrisi in eodem Deo Christo cognoscatur paternae veritas deitatis as when we see the veritie of the Manhood in the Man Christ Iesus we must know and acknowledge the eternall Deitie in the same God Christ Iesus because he is still a perfect God and a perfect man and of these two natures subsisting in one person inconfused But against this Eutyches and his followers What the Eutychian heretickes say against this truth haue and doe most impiously affirme that in Christ after his Incarnation there is but one onely nature made of the Word and of the flesh by the conuersion of the Deitie into the humanitie because the Euangelist saith that the Word was made flesh euen as when the Water was made Wine it was no more Water but was presently conuerted into Wine Nazian in Ep. ad Clidonium or else by the conuersion of the flesh into the Deitie because Gregory Nazianzen and Gregory Nyssen say that Caro Christi est deificata the flesh of Christ is now deified and to confirme
4. he saith Chap. 4. v. 3. Euery spirit Qui soluit Iesum which looseth or diuideth Iesus i. e. to make two persons of him is not of God and so in many other places hee doth most plainely shew that the eternall word and our humane nature vnited vnto the same word is but one and the selfe-same Christ i. e. one Christ one person And this is confessed by all antiquity All our Creeds and all antiquity confesseth the same truth touching vnity of Christ his person for in the Apostles Creede we say that we beleeue in Iesus Christ his onely Sonne our Lord which was conceiued of the Holy Ghost and borne of the Virgin Mary and therfore he is but one person because he which is said to be the onely Sonne of God is said also to be borne of the Virgin Mary the same is said in the Nicen Creed and in the Creede of Athanasius it is said that although Christ be both God and Man yet is he no more twaine but one Christ and that not by confounding of the substances but by the vnity of person i. e. by the vniting of both natures into one person What should I rehearse any more for the third Councell of Ephesus the great Councell of Chalcedon the Councell of Lateran and all the ancient Orthodoxe Fathers as Iustin Martyr Irenaeus Saint Basil Saint Nazianzen Saint Damascen Saint Hillary Saint Ambrose Saint Hierome Saint Augustine and the rest of them haue most truely confessed and most learnedly confirmed this truth that although Christ hath two natures the Word and the Flesh yet doe these two make but one person one Sonne of God one Sauiour of men What the Hereticks haue conceiued and most impiously thought concerning the person of Christ But against this Cerinthus and certaine of the Pelagian Hereticks and afterwards Nestorius seperating Iesus from Christ or rather Christ from Himselfe haue affirmed that Iesus was but meere man hauing not onely a humane nature but a humane person and afterwards to be made Christ at the time of his baptisme when the Holy Ghost descended vpon him in the forme of a Doue and therefore they conclude that as he consisteth of two natures so he is likewise two persons which notwithstanding may be said to be one in respect of their co-habitation affection operation and participation as hereafter I shall further shew vnto you Ob. 1 And to confirme this damnable errour against the inuiolable truth they doe obiect that our Sauiour said Destroy this Temple when he spake of his humanitie and therefore the God Christ Iohn 2.9 and the man Christ are two seuerall persons for hee doth not say destroy me but destroy this Temple and I will reare it vp in three dayes to shew vnto vs that the Temple and the dweller in the Temple or the raiser vp of the Temple are not the same but diuers persons Sol. To this I answere briefly that this alledged instance may well proue two natures to be in Christ but not two persons for the soule of man is said to dwell in the body as in a tabernacle because the nature of the soule is different from the nature of the body and yet man hath not two but one person which consisteth of both natures i. e. soule and body for Iob saith that men dwell in houses of Clay Iob 4.19 2 Cor. 5.1 and Saint Paul saith if this earthly house of our Tabernable be dissolued And therefore Saint Chrisostome vpon these words of Saint Iohn and he dwelt in vs doth most truely gather that in Christ there are two natures but from these or from any other places it can neuer be proued that in him there are two persons Ob. 2 Againe they doe obiect that the Sonne of Mary had an Angell to comfort him Matth. 27.46 Iohn 12.27 and said My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And againe Father Saluifica me ex hac hora Saue me from this houre and such like speeches which are not consonant and agreeable to the Sonne of God and therefore the Sonne of Mary is one different and another person from the Sonne of GOD. To this I answer with S. Cyrill Sol. that as there are many things which doe agree with him according to the forme of God which cannot be agreeable to him according to the forme of a seruant so there are many things that do agree with him according to the forme of a seruant which doe not agree with the Sonne of God absolutely considered because he is both a true God and a true man so vnited together as that the properties of neither nature are confounded as hereafter shall be shewed Cyrillus deffâ—nt 4. Anath contra Theodor. and therefore all such sayings and allegations which are said of him or be referred vnto him in respect of one nature which are not properly agreeable to the other nature doe onely shew and most rightly proue two natures but not two persons to be in our Sauiour Christ CHAP. III. Of the manner of the vnion of the two natures and wherein this vnion chiefly consisteth SEcondly Wherein the Hereticks haue affirmed the vnion of both natures in Christ to consist for the manner of this vnion of these two natures in one person or wherein chiefly it consisteth herein resteth the greatest difficulty For First the Nestorians and their followers say that both these natures are saide to bee one by the vnitie of 1. Co-habitation 2. Will and affection 3. Operation 4. Participation First by the vnity of Co-habitation because the Word dwelled in the man Christ as in his choicest House and Temple accocding to that saying of the Euangelist and he dwelt in vs. Iohn 1.14 Secondly by the vnity of will and affection because the will of Christ was alwayes agreeable to the will of God and this they doe illustrate by the example of Man and Wife which though they be two persons Math. 19.5 yet are they said to be one flesh in regard of their mariage knot and especially in respect of their vnanimous hearts so the Sonne of God and the Sonne of Mary are two persons say they and yet may be said to be one Christ in regard of that indissoluble spirituall coniunction and affection that is betwixt them Thirdly By the vnity of operation because the man Christ was the Instrument which the Word God vsed for the effecting of all those great workes that he did while hee walked here on Earth Fourthly By the vnity of participation because the Word God did impart vnto the man Christ his name and dignity that hee should be called God and the Sonne of God and should be worshipped of all Creatures not for his owne sake but for his sake to whom hee was thus vnited How falsly the Heretickes affirme the vnion of the two natures to consist in the aforesaid points But how false and fained are all these subtle infernall distinctions to misteach the
Quem dixerunt regem Iudaeorum erat Creator Angelorum quem viderunt paruum in praesepio erat immensus in coelo Whom they had called King of the Iewes was the Lord and Maker of the Angels and whom they saw little and poore in the cratch was rich and immeasurable in Heauen Quod non capis quod non vides Fulgentius ser de Epiphania Thom in hymn Animosa firmat fides Praeter rerum ordinem Their faith did shew them that he was their God And so that starre which sent forth these three fore-named beames of light into the hearts of these Wise men did send from thence by reflection three other beames of light for our instruction for here we see this starre wrought in them First Illumination and Faith in their hearts What effects the Starre wrought in the Wise men for when they saw him they beleeued in him Secondly Confession and Inquisition in their Mouthes for when they lost him they made diligent search and inquisition after him saying Where is he that is borne King of the Iewes Deut. 6.16 Thirdly Diligence and Obedience in their Actions for they made hast to goe vnto him and when they came they came not empty-handed but they brought vnto him Gold Frankinsence and Myrrhe Aurea nascenti fuderunt munera regi Thura dedâ—â—e deo myrrham tribuere sepulchro And so herein these Wise men were wise indeed not because they had all the wisedome of the Gentiles but because they did thus seeke and find him In whom are hid all the treasures of wisedome and knowledge Oh that it were so with vs that wee did know him beleeue in him goe vnto him search and seeke him and offer him our selues and ours to doe him seruice Pro myrrha lachrymas auro cor porrige purum Pro thure ex humili pectore funde preces And we shall not neede to fetch gold from Ophire What we shold offer vnto Christ but the gold of a pure Faith which will abide the fiery tryall neither shal we need to goe to the Apothecaries to buy their Frankinsence or Myrrhe but the sweet perfume of deuout prayers and the bitter teares of godly sorrow for out vngodly sinnes these are the most acceptable sacrifices vnto Christ And as the fore-named witnesses which were primitiae Martyrum the first fruits of his witnesses both of the Iewes and Gentiles doe testifie this truth vnto the world so to these are added the testimony of Iohn the Baptist for he was sent to beare witnes of that light Iohn 1.8 and he testified and bare witnesse of him that he was that Lambe of God John 1.29 which taketh away the sinnes of the world And because we should the better beleeue him and his testimonie herein he sheweth how he came to know him to be the true Messias euen by the testimony of the Spirit of truth for I knew him not saith he but he that sent me to baptize with water i. e. the holy Ghost said vnto me vpon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him the same is he which baptizeth with the holy Ghost and I saw saith he and bare record that this is the Sonne of God Iohn 1.33 And then the testimony of all the Euangelists the Apostles the Fathers the Martyres and all the holy Men of God which haue testified and sealed this truth vnto vs some with their words some with their workes and some with their deerest blood That God himselfe testified Christ to be his sonne Matth. 3.17 Secondly if these testimonies of the creatures be not sufficient to proue Iesus the Sonne of Mary to be the Eternall Sonne of God we find God himselfe the Creator of Heauen and Earth testifying the same for though the testimony of Iohn was sufficient Iohn 5.35 to satisfie any man because he was aburning a shining light in whom the Iewes themselues were willing to reioyce for a season as our Sauiour witnesseth yet Christ needed not to receiue testimony from man John 5.36 because he had a greater witnesse then that of Iohn euen the Father himselfe which sent him he bare witnesse of him and with an audible voyce he proclaymed the same twice from heauen saying first at the Riuer Iordan and then on Mount Thabor Matth. 7.5 that he was his Beloued Sonne in whom hee was well pleased John 5.36 And these are sufficient witnesses Quia dicta Iehouae dicta pura Because the words of the Lord are pure words as the Psalmist saith Or if any Athiest will not beleeue these Diuine Oracles let him beleeue his owne eyes If he will beleeue neither Angels Men nor GOD let him beleeue himselfe Matth. 7.16 for the very workes that I doe testifie of me for the workes of euery man