matters as mans redemption and saluation after so sleight a manner besides a vaine ostentation of your contentious and curious humour I leaue it to the Readers censure Now to the returne of your termes According to the most vsuall and common sense of Gods wrath so in my whole Treatise I take it for Gods perfect holinesse iustice and power properly executing vengeance and punishment whether little or great due to them on whom sinne lieth Take from you your termes no where found in the Scriptures but inuented and authorized onely by your selfe and you can not steppe one foote further in this question You haue named I know not how often Gods PROPER VVRATH in the premises though you neuer tooke the care nor paines to describe or define it Now you come to the most vsuall common sense of Gods wrath which you say is Gods PROPER wrath Except that old starting hole of yours which here you call the proper executing of punishment and there is nothing more repugnant to your owne assertion then your owne description For all the afflictions of this life whatsoeuer they be come from Gods perfect holinesse iustice and power and are due to the children of Adam for sinne abiding or dwelling in them though God of his secret counsell may haue other purposes in sifting his Saints for their good and his glorie Your sense of Gods wrath you say is most vsuall but you shew not where nor with whom If you meane with your selues I can easily yeeld that if you meane in the Scriptures I greatly doubt whether the wrath of God in the Scriptures doe more vsually signifie his euerlasting iudgements against sinne after this life or his temporall plagues vpon sinners in this life Howbeit it is not greatly materiall which is most vsuall since either is vsuall in the word of God You quote but foure places for that purpose in your Margin and misse two of them For in the 2. Cor. 3. vers 17. and 9. I finde not the name of Gods wrath at all expressed in either of them But I so vse the phrase as signifying any punishment of sinne whatsoeuer The Scriptures so vse it before me and you can giue no reason why I should not so vse it after them It is altogether an improper speech you say So say you but the Scriptures say not so They make degrees and differences betwixt the wrath of God in this world and in the next and his displeasure against the sinnes of his own and his enemies but they take not wrath for fauour as you doe though Gods wrath against the wickednesse of his children be neuer executed without fauor to their persons which in the faithlesse is farre otherwise It is true all troubles paines and griefs in their first ordinance were the effects of Gods proper wrath but in their state and condition now they are not namely as the godly doe suffer them You are full of shifts but they are so slender that they doe but shame you After much wrangling you grant it to be true that all troubles paines and griefs in their first ordinance were the effects of Gods wrath you say of Gods PROPER VVRATH Which last I thinke to be vntrue though the former be verie true If by their first ordinance you meane the iudgement of God pronounced against Adam and all his ofspring for sinne and the punishment irreuocably inflicted on mankinde therefore it is in effect the same which I auouched against you and so true that you your selfe dare not contradict it For if you should you should openly gainsay the Scriptures which witnesse that man was created in all integritie of nature felicitie of state and perpetuitie of life and that by sinne this impuritie miserie and mortalitie which now we all feele entred into the world as the wages of Adams sinne and namely that paine sorrow and death were imposed on Adam and so on all his by Gods owne mouth as effects or degrees of his most iust displeasure against the sinne of our first parents If you start from this with any shift of words you start from a maine principle of the Christian faith but I suppose that you confesle it by this that you say they were effects of Gods wrath in their first ordinance that is when they were first inflicted on Adam and all his posteritie But NOVV you say they are NOT so specially to the godlie Since what time began your Now or when was their state or condition changed These things were generally and irreuocablely inflicted on all men as the punishment of sinne in the first man when as yet they were signes and tastes of Gods wrath not in words but in deeds notwithstanding we were then and long before euen before the foundation of the world elected and adopted in Christ Iesu to be heires of eternall saluation Wherefore God euen at the first when by your confession they were the effects of his wrath layd them on all euen on his owne children whom he meant euerlastingly to saue and so doth continue them to this day as monuments of his iust displeasure against sinne euen in his owne seruants and saints Yea before God would inflict them he made open promise of the womans seed that it should bruize the serpents head and then to teach his owne and not onlie the wicked for whom he reserued euerlasting destruction what it was by sinne to prouoke him he loaded the life of all the godlie with sorow paine and death to make them for euer by that grieuous but righteous punishment of sinne in themselues the more mindfull how offensiue sinne was vnto God and the more warie how to giue eare to the Serpent against the voice of God And therefore at the verie first inflicting of them if wee cast our eyes either on our owne deserts or on the lot of the wicked we shall find the wonderfull fauor of God not onlie in opening his purpose vnto vs for our euerlasting saluation in Christ but euen in so tempering the smart of his rod that by the punishment we did feele in our selues the weight of sinne in some sort yet by his mercie we should be strengthened eased and comforted vnder that burden in this life and after be receiued into euerlasting blisse Notwithstanding when we compare this mortall miserable condition here with our creation and with the abundance of Gods blessings richly powred on vs when he first made vs we should beholde what sinne had depriued vs of and subiected vs vnto though it did not exclude vs from Christ who loued vs so dearely that he would and did giue himselfe for vs rather than we should euerlastingly perish So that the sorow paine and death which the godly feele were euen at the first layd on them by the same mixture of Gods iustice and mercie with which they now continue neither did Christ die for vs presently to free vs from that sentence of
that doctrine to the people The iust and mercifull God did not so vse the iniurie of his will those are his words that to restore vs hee would only shew the power of his clemenâ—…ie but because it was a consequent that man committing sinne should be the seruant of sinne God so fitted the medicine to the sicke the pardon to the guiltie and redâ—…mption to the captures that the iust sentence of condemnation should be dissolued by tâ—…e iust worke of the 〈◊〉 For if only the Godhead should haue opposed it selfe for vs sinners not so much reason as power should conquer the diuell The Sonne of God therefore admitted wicked hands to be layed on him and what the rage of the persecutors offered with patient power he suffered This was that great mysterie of godlinesse that Christ was euer loaden with iniuries which if he should haue repelled with open power and manifest vertue he should haue exercised onely his diuine strength but not regarded our cause that were men For in all things which the madnesse of the people and Priests did reprochfully and 〈◊〉 vnto him our sinnes were wiped away and our offences purged The diuell himselfe did not vnderstand that his crueltie against Christ should ouerthrow his owne kingdome WHO SHOVLD NOT LOOSE THE RIGHT OF HIS FIRST FRAVD IF HE COVLD ABSTAINE FROM THE LORDS BLOVD But greedie with malice to hurt whiles he rusheâ—…h on Christ himselfe falleth whiles he taketh he is taken and persuing him that was mortall he lighted on him that was the Sauiour of the world Iesus Christ being lifted vp on the tree returned death vpon the Authour of death and strangled all the principalities and powers that were against him by obiecting his flesh that was possible giuing place in himselfe to the presumption of our ancient enemie who raging against mans nature that was subiect vnto him durst there exact his debt where he could finde no signe of sinne Therefore the generall and mortall hand-writing by which we were solde was torne and the contract of our captiuitie came into the power of the Redeemer The person of the Sonne tookâ—… vpon him properly the reparation of mankinde that whose maker he was he might be their restorer so directing his counsell to effect that to destroy the kingdome of the diuell he rather vsed the righteousnesse of reason then the power of his might For whiles the diuell raged on him whom he held by no law of sinne he lost the right of his wicked dominion I repeat the more to let the Reader see that the Fathers in this case doe not play with figures as this Discourser dreameth but they consonantly propose and vrge with earnest and euident words a great point of Christian pietie Gregorie teacheth the same lesson When Satan tooke Christes bodie to crucifie it he lost Christes elect from the right of his power And by Gods speech to Satan concerning Iob Beholde he is in thine hand but saue his life hee thus declaâ—…eth Gods Commission to Satan touching Christ Tâ—…ke thou power against his bodie and lose the right of thy wicked dominion ouer his â—…lect Damascene also noteth that one respect why Christ was made man was to stoppe the diuels murmuring if God should haue taken man out of his hands by the power of his Deitie Christ was made man sayth he that that which was conquered might conquer God was not vnable who is able to doe all things by his almightie power and force to take man from the Tyrant that helâ—… him but that would haue beene a cause of complaint to the Tyrant that had conquered man if he were forced by God Therefore God who pitied and loued vs willing to make man that was fallen the conqueror of Satan became man restoring the like by the like that is man by man And in this sayth Damascene appeareth Gods iustice that man being ouerthrowen he would haue none other besides man to conquer the Tyrant neither would he by violence take man from death but whom death had of old brought into bondâ—…ge by sinne eâ—…en him would the gracious and righteous God make conquer againe What reason then haue you to reuell at Saint Augustine and Saint Ambrose in such sort as you doe that their names are of no waitht to warrant such a Doctrine as those words of theirs pretend Or what teach they different from the rest of the Fathers if their words be rightly taken and not wrested aside to your crooked conceiâ—…s That the bloud of Christ was so sufficient a price for vs that not onely the voluntarie sacrificing thereof throughly satisfied the displeased Iustice of God and obtained remission of all our sinnes but eâ—…en the wrongfull shedding thereof by Satans instigation wrought the subuersion of Satans power and right in all the â—…lect God by the rule of Iustice giuing vnto Christs manhoode the spoyle of Satans kingdome â—…or the patience which Christ shewed whiles Satan by the mouthes and hands of the wicked spoyled Christs humane nature of honor and life for the time what danger is there in this to the Christian Faith or what repugnancie to the sacred Scriptures THEREFORE VVILL I giue him his part in many things â—…aith God of Christs manhoode and he shall deuide THE SPOYLE of the mightie or with the mightie because he powred forth his Soule vnto death this the Apostle shâ—…weth was executed against the Diuels them selues Christ SPOYLED Principalities and Powers and made a shew of thâ—…m openly triumphing ouer them in his owne Person According as God threatned the Serpent vpon his first deceauing the woman I will put enmitie betweene thy seâ—…de and her seâ—…de he shall bruize thine head and thou shalt bruize his heele Where God expresseth plainly the Recompence that the seed of the woman should haue for suffering Satan to bruize his heâ—…le euen the bruizing of the Serpents head For nothing is more equall with God then to remâ—…ate the same measure to men and Angels that they mâ—…te to others It was therefore a thing most iust in the sight of God as he subiected Man to Satans power when by sinne he first conquered Man so he subiected Satan to the will and power of Christs manhoode when by righteousnesse Christ conquered the diuell And as Christ patiently endured to be wrongfully depriued of his life by the meanes and members of Satan so in requitall of that presumption and iniurie Christ powerfully and iustly depâ—…ed Satan of all his â—…ight and interest to the Elect for whose sakes Christ gaue his life This excludeth not the voluntarie seruice and sacrifice of Christs obedience vnto death wherewith the Iustice of God was satisfied and appeased but this sheweth that as God had chiefe regard of his owne Iustice and mercie towards man in giuing his owne Sonne to be the pacification of his wrath and propitiation of our sinnes so he dealt iustly with the diuell in causing the
it For to the impenitent no sinnes are pardoned Except yee repent saith our Sauior ye shall all perish likewise As sinne is accursed so all punishment of sinne saith Austen is accursed meaning till it be released and no longer a punishment of sinne Which he auoucheth not of the wicked onely whose punishment is perpetuall and therefore truely and properly a curse but of all the godly when they suffer for their sinnes We saith Austen came to death by sinne Christ by righteousnesse and therefore where our death is the punishment of sinne his death is the sacrifice for sinne And that the death of our bodies is hatefull to God euen as our sinne is he resolueth in these words Nisi Deus odisset peccatum mortem nostram non ad eam suscipiendam atque delendam filium suum mitteret Except God had hated sinne and also death in vs he would neuer haue sent his Sonne tâ—… vndertake and destroy our death For so much the more willingly God giueth vs immortalitie of our bodies which shal be reuealed with Christes comming how much the more mercifully he hateth our death which hung on the crosse when Christ died Here you may learne that the bodies of Martyrs are so acceptable to God that he hateth death which detaineth them in dust and that the loue which he beareth to the one is the cause why he will destroy the other as an enimie to them â—…hom he loueth and therefore iustly hated of him but in the meane time how false is this reason which you so much stand on God in his secret and euerlasting counsell loueth the soules and bodies of his Saints as being the members of Christ and temples of his holie spirite therefore he hateth neither sinne in their soules nor death in their bodies Nay rather the more he loueth the one the more he hateth the other and sent his Sonne to destroy both sinne and death in his elect as the Enimies that hinder and defer the true blisse promised to his seruants You say we must call things by those names which God first allotted them That I deny if God since euidently hath altered them My rule had more reason in it then you doe comprehend For if it be written of Adam in his innocencie that God brought all liuing creatures vnto man to see how hee could call them and how soeuer the man named the liuing creature so was the nâ—…me thereof how much more shall it be verified of Gods wisdome With whom is no change that he knew all his workes from the beginning of the world and therefore the word of the Lord abideth for euer that he may be iustified in whatsoeuer he saith but God you say hath made the alteration himselfe or else your conceite deceiueth you For God hath not reuoked the generall iudgement which he gaue vpon all men for sinne Dust thou art and to dust thou shalâ—… returne but he hath performed his promise made before he inflicted this punishment that the Seed of the woman should bruize the Serpents head And therefore there is no change made by God as you imagine but he qualified his sentence at the first pronouncing of it on all his elect euen as it standeth to this day And were there that addition since made by God which you vntruely dreame of Yet Saint Austen telleth you that altereth not the name of punishment first imposed on all but sheweth Gods goodnesse towards his owne Whatsoeuer it is in those that die which with bitter paine taketh away sense by religious and faithfull enduring it it increaseth the merâ—…te of patience Non aufert vocabulum poenae it taketh not away the name of punishment His firme resolution is Wherefore as touching the death of the body that is the separation of the soule from the bodie when such as die suffer it Nulli bona est it is good to no man And noting the vse that God maketh thereof in crowning his Saints with as ample words as you haue any he resolutely concludeth Mors ergo non ideo bonum videri debet quia in tantam vtilitatem non vi sua sed diuina opitulatione conuersa est Death theâ—… OVGHT NOT TO BE THOVGHT GOOD because by Gods mercie and not by any force of his own it is turned to so great vtilitie And this assertion you and your adherents must yeeld vnto least you rather conuince your selues then that woorthy pillour of Christes church to be in an errour For the ground that he standeth on is sure God turneth euill to a good vse and will you therefore denie euill to be euill because God vseth it well to how many good and blessed purposes doth God vse the diuell and shall the diuell by your doctrine now cease to be a diuell what excellent effectes doth God worke by the sinnes of the faithfull shall we therefore not call them nor account them sinnes you be cleane out of your byas good Sir when you come in with your changes made by God to alter the names or natures of things that be euill Afflictions and death which originally and Naturally were punishments for sinne and so are still in the wicked the same to the godly are since changed and now not punishments nor curses To wise men there is enough said to bablers who will still talke they know not what nothing is enough The Scriptures and Fathers may not be set aside to giue way to your follies Daniell confessing the sinnes of himselfe and of his people Israel plainly saith Therefore the Curse is powred vpon vs written in the Law of Moses the seruant of God because we haue sinned against him Baruc made the same confession during the Captiuitie Saint Iohn in his Reuelation of the Citie of God now brought to the presence of the Lambe saith There shall be no more Curse meaning amongst the faithfull as there was before For the wicked then shall be most deepely accursed Saint Austen learnedly and largely writing of the miseries of mans life saith Quot quantis poenis agitetur genus humanum quae non ad malitiam nequitiamque iniquorum sed ad conditionem pertinent miseriamque communem quis vllo sermone digerit quis vlla cogitatione comprehendit With how many and how great punishments mankinde is persued which pertaine not to the malice and leudnesse of the wicked but to the common condition and calamitie of man what tongue câ—…n expresse what heart can comprehend And repeating many particulars which there may be seene he concludeth Satis apparet humanum genus ad luendas miseriarum poenas esse damnatum It appeareth sufficiently that mankâ—…de is condemned to endure the punishments of miseries And lest you should flie to your shift of improper speeches as your maner is S. Austen exquisitly discusseth and resolueth this question that these miseries and afflictions come from the iust iudgement of God
any trueth in it that hades is the priuation of this life or power of death had the stones of Capernaum euer any life that they might be depriued of it and come vnder the power of death It is not so often applied to other things notwithstanding we may find it applied to other things as where Plato which you stumble at sayth in hades were birds beasts trees flowers fruits I deny not but they had toyish cōceits but wise mē may see how their meaning was these vnreasonable creatures being once brought to destruction they yeelded hades to them also Is it not enough to draw the Scriptures to Platoes fabulous conceits but you must grosly falsifie Plato to fit your new made hades Where Plato saith there were trees flowers fruits and beasts in hades doth he not there also say there were men that liued long and without sickenesse and temples in which the Gods dwell familiarly and that to see these things is the sight of the blessed Was this ment of destruction as you expound your hades or was it a Pagans imagination of an earthly heauen farre aboue vs in which he described all things heere found with vs but in greater perfection and excellencie then here on earth thus wrest you not only the words of our Sauiour from their right sense but you force other writers directly against their words and meaning that you may seeme in them to haue some shew for your licentious exposition of the Scriptures as heere you plainely peruert Plato to make a preface to your mistaking destruction in steede of perfection The like wrong you offer to Plutarke whose name you abuse without either word or syllable sounding towards your intent as if you ment to ouerthrow the whole world to enlarge your hades Thus it seemeth Moses also vseth Sheol when he saith men women children and cattell aliue yea houses and riches went to Sheol If Moses had sayd so calling that vast and deepe gulfe of the earth into which the tents and stuffe of Corah and his companie fell Sheol yet vnlesse you can prooue that the citie of Capernaum was in like sort swallowed vp housen and implements aswell as men in the same deepe gulfe of the earth Moses Sheol maketh nothing for the ruine and destruction of cities where the buildings thereof fall to the ground and lie on the ground as in decayes they doc But though you were both with Plato and Plutarke thinking it no sinne to father your fansies on them you may not doe the like with Moses without more blame then you will willingly beare Moses hath no such wordes that houses and riches went to Sheol but they were swallowed vp in the cleft of the earth as well as the rest yet nothing went to Sheol saue what was liuing because the Scripture saith they descended aliue to Sheol Now if you can proue tents and houshold-stuffe to be aliue you may chance to say somewhat though not much for your destroying Hades but if that be false and absurd then haue you no words in Moses to proue that riches went to Sheol or Hades The words of Moses are plaine enough and exclude as well your cattell as your cofers from Hades If the earth open her mouth and swallow them and all that they haue and they descend aliue to Sheol you shall know that these men haue prouoked the Lord. Themselues descended aliue to Sheol the rest was swallowed vp by the earth For the ground brake vnder them and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them and their housen or families and euery man that belonged to Corah and all their substance And they descended and all the men that pertained to them aliue to Sheol Who pertained to them the Scripture expresseth before namely their wiues their children and their families All their goods were swallowed vp in the gulfe of the earth but of the men that were liuing and belonging to them and not of their cattell the Scripture saith they descended aliue to Sheol That they had any cattell at this time saue for sacrifices it cannot be prooued they did eate no flesh of beasts nor bread garments they changed not on foote they trauelled seruants they had to do their workes and to beare their burdens and yet were it granted they had some cattell for carriage they kept them not in their tents which were swallowed vp in the cleft of the earth These are Moses wordes to the people Depart I pray you from the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs least you perish in all their sinnes For their tents with all that was in them fell into the earth and the persons descended aliue to Sheol Now that they descended aliue to hell not only the auncient Fathers Cyprian Ierom Basil Austin Epiphanius and others teach but our new writers therein agree with them as namely Pellican in Numerorum ca. 16. vers 32. Aretius in his problemes de inferno loc 162. Bullingere in 28. cap. Mat. de morte aeterna Gualtere homil 89. in Esaiam homilia 158. in Lucam Lauatere in ca. 15. Prouerb vers 24. So that you must seeke farder for your Sheol and Hades of vnreasonable beasts since to descend aliue to Sheol is the terrible iudgement of God against seditious rebels and not against sheepe or oxen After this maner also those sheepe in Sheol which you turne to the worst may be vnderstoode If you can prooue there be sheepe in Sheol we will giue eare to it but if you tell vs nothing besides your seeming and saying you shew your selfe to be like a sheepe out of Sheol And here the Reader may see how certaine a leader he shall haue of you for in the halfe of this one side you deliuer six or seuen expositions resolutions with no better warrant then It seemeth this may be and yet with these you patch vp your predicament of Hades to containe all things euen stones cattell and sheepe But hath this any seeming worth the speaking of that because Dauid saith of the wicked like sheepe they lie in Sheol you should conclude ergo there be sheep in Sheol you need not feare my turning of this to the worst I cannot well turne it to worse then it is The wise man saith be not like a Lion in thine owne house Doth that inferre euery man to haue Lions in his house Thy children saith the Psalmist shal be like oliue plants round about thy table Hath euery good man therefore Oliue plants about his table The wicked be in Sheol like sheepe that is either bound hand and foote and cast into vtter darkenesse as sheepe are bound by all foure when they are prepared for the slaughter or voide of reason and vnable to helpe themselues like sheepe That the word Sheol standeth next to sheepe in the Hebrew and the verbe commeth