speechlesse we die that are of the earth but he which came from heauen breathed out his soule with a loud voice We must say it was a shew of his diuine power to lay downe his soule when he would and to take it againe Yea the Centurio hearing him say to hiâ—… Father Into thine hands I commend my spirit statim sponte spiritum dimisisse and straightway of his own accord to send forth his spirit mooued with the GREATNES of this WOONDER said Truly this was the Sonne of God Chrysostome vpon these words of Matthew Iesus crying with a loud voice gaue vp the ghost sayth Idcirco magna voce clamauit vt ostendat haec sua potestate fieri Therefore Christ cried with a loud voice that he might shew this to be done by his owne power Marke sayth Pilate maruâ—…lled if he were alreadie dead And the Centurion also THERâ—…FORE CHIEFLY beleeued because he saw Christ die of his owne accord and power Victor of Antioch vpon the like words of Marke sayth By so doing the Lord Iesus doth plainly declare that he had his whole life and death in his owne free power Wherefore Marke writeth that Pilate not without admiration asked if Christ were yet dead addidit item ea potissimum de causa Centurionem credidisse he added likewise that the Centurion chiefly for that reason beleeued because he saw Christ giue vp the ghost with a loud crie and signification of great power Leo noting that Christ died not for lacke of helpe but of determinatâ—… purpose sayth Quae illic vitae intercessio sentienda est vbi anima potestate est emissa potestate reuocata What intreatie for life shall we thinke there was where the soule was both sent out with power and recalled with power Fulgentius Cum ergo homo Christus tantam accepâ—…rit potestatem vt cum vellet animam poneret cum vellet denuò resumeret quantam potuit habere Christi diuinitas potestatem Ideo autem ille homo potestatem animae habuit quia cum diuina potestas in vnitatem personae suscepit Where then the man Christ receiued so much power that he might lay downe his soule when he would and take it againe when he would how great power might the Godhead of Christ haue and therefore the manhood of Christ had power to lay downe his soule because the diuine power admitted him into the vinitie of person Sedulius Animam protinus suam sancto de corpore volens ipse deposâ—…it Christ himselfe forthwith vpon his prayer willingly layd off his sacred soule from his bodie Nonnius in his Paraphrase vpon S. Iohns Gospell expresseth the saying of Christ None taketh my soule from me in these words No birth-law taketh my soule from me no incroching time that tameth all things nor Necessitie which is vnchangeable counsell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but ruler of my selfe I of mine owne accord yeeld vp my willing soule Beda vpon that place of Matthew And Iesus crying with a loud voice sent out or gaue vp his spirit writeth thus Quod autem dicit emisit spiritum ostendit diuinae potestatis esse emittere spiritum vt ipse quoque dixerat nemo potest tollere animam in that the Euangelist saith Christ sent out his soule or spirit he sheweth it is a point of Diuine power to send out the soule as Christ himselfe sayd None can take my soule from me Nullus enim habet potestatem emittendi spiritum nisi qui animarum conditor est For none hath power to send out the soule but he that is Creator of soules Which Bede buildeth vpon the words of S. Matthew who saith that Christ crying with a loud voice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dismissed or sent his soule from him Theophylact Iesus crieth with a loud voice that we should know it was true which he sayd I haue power to lay downe my soule for not constrained but of his own accord he dismissed his soule And the Centurion seeing that he breathed out his soule so like a Commander of death WONDERED and confessed him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he died not like other men but as the Master of death Lyra vpon these words of Matthew Iesus againe crying with a loude voice sent forth his soule Whereby it appeareth that voice was not naturall but MIRACVLOVS because a man afflicted with great and long torment and through such affliction neere to death could not so cry by any strength of nature The latter writers concurre with the older in this obseruation Erasmus in his Paraphrase vpon Saint Luke Iesus when with a mighty cry he had said Father into thy hands I commend my spirit breathed out his soule to make it manifest to all that he did not faint as others doe the strengh of the body by little and little decaying but straightway vpon a strong cry and words distinctly pronounced laid downe his life as of his owne accord And the Centurion who stood ouerright as a Minister and witnesse of his death and had seene many dye with punishment when he saw Iesus besides the manner of other men after a strong cry presently to breath out his soule said truely this man was the Sonne of God Musculus That Christ sent foorth hiâ—… soule with aloude voice is a proofe of greater power then may be found in a man dying Whereby he shewed that he layed of his soule of his owne accord answerable to that I haue power to lay downe my soule and to take it againe To which end Iohn saith that bowing his head he gaue vp the Ghost Others first dye and then their heads fall but he first layeth downe his head and then of his owne accord deliuereth his soule vp to his Father Gualter But let vs see the manner of Christs death who as Iohn writeth with bowing downe his head yelded his Spirit Luke saith he cryed with a loude voice Father into thy hands I commend my Spirite Concurrunt hâ—…c non obscura Diuinitatis argumenta Here find we manifest arguments of his Diuinitie which the Centurion and others obserued as some of the Euangelists witnesse First this cry and distinct pronouncing of his last words sheweth a power and vertue MORE THEN HVMANE For we know that men dying so faint that the most of them cannot speake be it neuer so softly Againe he dyeth when he will himselfe yea and layeth of his soule with authoritie to shew himselfe Lord of life and death which is an euident proofe of his Diuine power It is profitable for vs diligently to marke the Diuine power of Christ which shewed it selfe so plainly in his death Marlorat vpon the words of Mathew and Iesus crying againe with a loud voyce sent foorth his spirit saith Declarat hic Christus maiestatem suam Christ declareth here his Maiestie that he layeth downe his soule not when men constraine him but when he himselfe will
vpon the expectation of Christs comming and differreth the crowne of glory 〈◊〉 that time let vs be content with the boundes which God hath appointed vs that the soules of the godly hauing ended their warfare of this life depart into an happy rest where with a blessed ioy they looke for the fruition of the promised glory and so all things stand suspended till Christ our redeemer appeare Then none of these writers old nor new so conceaued or so expounded Christes wordes as you doe that all his Saints doe locally accompany him and generally wheresoeuer he abideth or whithersoeuer he goeth The Fathers all with one voice I may truely affirme teach and beleeue euen that Christ after death went no whither but where his faithfull and holy seruants were yea and there remained till his resurrection To which consent of men some where you ascribe exceeding much Your assertions all the Fathers with one consent refuse to which agreement of learned and auncient writers I confesse I yeeld very much when there is no expresse Scripture against it alleaged and vrged by some of themselues as in all the cases where I forsake them there is but what is that to your nouelties who neither in the first nor second question yeeld any thing to their iudgements and censures put them altogether That the soules of the faithfull before the comming of Christ were in Abrahams bosome our Sauiour first deliuered and no father that I know departeth from it but where Abrahams bosome was whether in earth or elsewhere and whether it were a skirt of hell or no till Christ transferred them thence to Paradise of this some fathers diuersely thinke and diuersely speake And but that Saint Austin learnedly discusseth and resolueth this point that Abrahams bosome could be no member nor part of hell since this was a secret habitation of rest and happinesse which the Scripture neuer affirmeth of hell but calleth it a place of torment it would be hard for you or any of your crue to say where Abrahams bosome was That Christ after death went to the place where the faithfull were in expectation and desire of his comming to redeeine the world the Fathers affirme but that he went no whither else or that hec went not to the place of the damned as well to discharge and release his members thence that is from all feare and daunger thereof as to destroy the power of the diuell ouer all his and to triumph ouer the force and furie of Satan in his owne person that euery knee of things vnder the earth should bow to him as well as of things in heauen and earth in this you vtterly mistake the consent of the Fathers which you so much talke of and shew that you neuer came neere the reading of them howsoeuer you presume to affirme what you list of them And least I should carie the Reader without cause to rest on my word as you would haue him doe on yours he shall heare the Fathers speake their owne mindes and so the better iudge of your abusing them Ireneus Dauid said prophesying this of Christ thou hast deliuered my soule from the nethermost hell Cyprian When in Christs presence hell was broken open captiuitie made captiue his conquering soule being presented to his fathers sight returned without delay to his bodie Lactantius or as some thinke Venantius o The darkenesse fled at the brightnesse of Christ the grosse mist of eternall night vanished Hinc tumuluÌ„ repetens post tariâ—…ra carne resumpta belliger ad coelos ampla trophea refers Then after thy being in hell thou going to thy graue resuming thy bodie as a warrier thou barâ—…st to heauen a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CONQVEST ouer hell Athanasius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who euer went to hell besides the sonne which rose from the dead at the sight of whom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the keepers of hell gates shrâ—…ncke for feare Yea HADES HELL or the Diuell at the sight of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was afraid and amazed saying Who is this that descendeth hither with so great power and authoritie Who is this that teareth open the brazen gates of hell breaketh the bars of Adamant Who is this that being crucisied is not conquered by me who am death Who is this that looseth their bandes whom I conquered Who is this that by his owne death destroyeth me that am death Eusebius To him only were the gates of death opened him only the keepers of hell gates seeing shranke for feare and the chiefe ruler of death the diuell knowing him alone to be his Lord rose out of his loftie throne and spake to him fearefully with supplication intreatie Eusebius called Emisenus The Lord descending darkenesse trembled at the suddaine sight of vnknowen light Aâ—… praefulgidum fidus caeloruÌ„ Tartareae caliginis profunda viderunt And the deepes of hellish darkenesse saw the most bright starre of heauen Deposito quidâ—… corpore imas atque abdit as Tartari sedes filius hominis penetrauit the Sonne of man laying aside his body pearced the lowest and secret seates of Tartarus or of the dungeon of hell Hilarie The powers of heauen doe incessantly glorifie the Sonne of God sor conquering death breaking the gates of hell In hell he killed death Gregorie Nazianzene Going to the gates of hell all couered with darknesse thou shalt pearce hell with a sharpe speare and shalt deliuer all thou alone being free and shalt besides haue the victory ouer thine enemies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 valiantly SVBDVING HELL the SERPENT and DEATH Chryâ—…ostome Descendente in tenebrosam inferoruÌ„ caligineÌ„ Domino ettam illic tunâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dubio dies splendidissimus fuit vbi seruator illuxit tenuit in illo noctis horrore inuiolabilem Maiestatis suae splendorem The Lord descending into the darke mâ—…st of hell euen there no doubt then was a most cleere day where our Sauiour shined In that horror of night he held the brightnesse of his Maiestie inuiolable Ierom. Pro vita populi mortuus non es derelictus in Tartaro Dying for the life of thy people thou wast not left in hell And againe Christ dâ—…stroyed and brake open the closed places of hell and put the diuell that had power ouer death from his kingdome and Dominion Augustine If the holy Scripture had sayd that Christ after death came to Abrahams bosome not naming hell and the sorrowes thereof I maruaile if any man would haue durst to affirme that Christ descended into hell But because euident testimonies of the Scripture mention hell and the sorowes thereof no cause is occurrent why our Sauior should be beleeued to haue come thither but to saue from those paines And againe There is a lower hell â—…hither the dead go whence God would deliuer our soules by sending his sonne thither For therefore Christ came euen
as you doe tending all to expresse one thing but seeke a little to shew vs what matter is contained in them you should soone see what labour you haue lost in this Carrecke of words which you haue newly brought vs home Your meere and simple death which you say is nothing els but the going asunder of the soule from the body hath of necessitie thus much in it It is the separation of the soule from the body which is the cause of life in the body It is the dissolution of the person which consisteth of body and soule It is the priuation of life which endeth with the departing of the soule It is the continuing of death since possibly there is no regresse from the priuation to the habite without the mightie hand of God working aboue nature For the soule departing neuer returneth till God commaund by whose word heauen and earth were made What now after death becommeth of both parts of man is no hard matter to conceaue Salomon saith Dust meaning flesh first made of dust returneth to earth as it was and the spirit to God that gaue it by him to be disposed and adiudged to ioy or paine as pleaseth him The body then goeth to corruption the soule receaueth iudgement where it shall remaine in hell or heauen till the bodie be restored againe which shall be at the last day Descending to hades after death cannot be verified of the whole person of man but in respect of the parts Referred to the body it is as much as buried and laide in the place where it shall putrifie and returne to dust Applied to the soule it must signifie the place to which the soule is caried which I say must be vnder earth since heauen is neuer called by that name nor expressed by that word either in the Scriptures or in any other sacred or prophane writers The power and dominion of death which you so much speake of is nothing else but Gods ordinance that from death there is no returne to life till hee appoint If then there be no dominion nor kingdome of death preuailing or ruling in heauen where the soules of the Saints are without their bodies then Christ in ascending to heauen descended not to Hades Againe with what trueth can you auouch Christes soule came vnder the full power and dominion of death since death had no power ouer the bodie or soule of Christ longer or farder then he himselfe would permit and his soule free from all bands and paines of death destroied the dominion and kingdome of death to which it was alwaies superiour and neuer subiect but onely that he might shew himselfe with greater power to be conquerer of death rather in rising from the dead then in declining the force of death as if he were not able after death and in death to dissolue the dominion and power of death Wherefore your exaggerating the power and dominion of death OVER THE SOVLE of Christ and that IN HEAVEN whither you graunt Christes soule went after death is not onely a vaine and idle flourish but a poisoned and pestilent doctrine if you take not heed to it since no power of death but Christes will to shew himselfe Lord of life and death either seuered his soule from his bodie or bestowed his soule in any place after death or detained him in the condition of death but he was free to die when he would and rise from death when he would which euerteth all power and dominion of death ouer him how much soeuer in wastefull wordes you auouch the contrarie Touching the proprietie of wordes that you say is as true as the rest For Hades hath no such natiue and proper sense as you talke of but exactly and directly when it is referred to a place and not to a person signifieth a place of darknesse where nothing can be seene as with one consent Heathen and Christian writers acknowledge And the word descending after death which you must applie to the soule ascending to heauen you childishly change into the fall of the person from lise to death or inconstantly varie you know not how to Christes submission when he died or his abasement by lying held and subdued so long time in death Where againe you incurre the same sands that you did before in affirming Christ was held and subdued of death for the time which is plainly false doctrine since he would abide that time in death least any should thinke him not truely dead but was neuer vnder the power and dominion of death And as for lying held in death that phrase is strangely referred to the soule of Christ which ascended to the third heauen with more honour and ioy then it receaued in this life heere on earth What Ruffine saith is not much to be regarded if we beleeue S. Ierom neither was Ruffines faith sound nor his authoritie any thing in the Church and yet were he woorth the respecting he maketh more against you then for you For first these wordes are not vsed as an exposition of Christs descent to Hades but Ruffine saith Diuina natura in mortem per carnem descendit non vt lege mortalium detinerâ—…tur a Morte sed vt per se resurrecturus ianuas mortis aperiret The diuine nature of Christ descended to death by his flesh not to be held of death after the law of mortall men but that rising of himselfe hee might open the gates of death Where he saith the diuine nature descended to death he speaketh not of the soule but of the godhead of Christ which words by your leaue require a sober interpretation and yet in respect of the diuine glory the phrase of descending vnto death signifieth Christes submission to die not his descent after death And withall he refelleth two of your fansies first that Christ was was not held of death which you say he was Secondly that he followed not heerein the lâ—…w of mans nature which you say he did And that Christes soule descended to hell by Ruffines opinion his wordes are plaine enough in many places He applieth that to Christ which Dauid saith Thou hast brought my soule out of hell and alleaging the place of Peter In his spirit Christ preached to them which were in prison heerein saith â—…e it is declared quid operâ—…â—…gerit in Inferno What Christ did in hell So that the lesse hold you take of Ruffine the better for you and your cause he will doe more harme then good If any thinke this to be somewhat figuratiue yet is it verely so familiar and easie to all people as that other word in the Creede is he sitteth at the right hand of God yea it is farre easier When you can diue deepe into your owne fansies you thinke them as familiar to all others as to your selfe If this were so easie and readie with the simpler sort as you make it me thinkes it should not so much trouble
had God chiefly respected the execution of his iustice against sinne his owne sonne was most vnfit to be subiected to that vengeance which was prepared for deuils but God in the recompense which he required for sinne chose rather to haue his holinesse contented and his glory aduanced than to haue his iustice inflicted to the vttermost And therefore he selected the person of his owne sonne that might fully satisfie his holinesse and maruellously exalt his glorie but on whom of all others his iustice could take least holde not that his iustice should be neglected but that a moderate punishment in his person for the worthinesse thereof would weigh more euen in the balance of Gods exact iustice than the depth of Gods wrath executed on all the transgressours The chastisement of our peace layd vpon him will proue the same For where the wages of sinne is death and death due to sinne is threefold spirituall corporall and eternall as I haue formerly shewed such was the person of our Sauiour that two parts of death due to sinne could by no rule of Gods iustice fasten on Christes humane nature The gifts of Gods spirit and grace could not be quenched nor diminished in him he was full of grace and trueth he had not the spirit by measure as we haue but of his fulnesse we all haue receiued It is my father saith he that honoureth me whom ye say to be your God yet haue ye not knowen him but I know him and if I should say I know him not I should be a liar like vnto you but I know him and keepe his word and do alwayes the things that please him The cleerenesse of trueth knowing Gods will and fulnesse of grace keeping his word beeing continually present with the humane soule of Christ most apparently the death of the soule which excludeth all inward sense and motion of Gods spirit could haue no place in him by reason the death of the soule is the want of all grace and height of all sinne from which he was free much lesse could any part of Christs manhood by Gods iustice be condemned to euerlasting death or to hell fire since there could nothing befall the humanitie of Christ which was vnfit for his Diuinitie they both being inseparably ioyned together or repugnant to that loue which God so often professed and proclamed from heauen or iniurious to the innocencie and obedience which God so highly accepted and rewarded or preiudiciall to mans saluation which God so long before purposed and promised No weight of sinne no heat of wrath no rigour of iustice could preuaile against the least of these to cast Christ out of heauen and combine him with diuels in the second death which is the lake burning with fire and brimstone There is onely left the third kinde of death which is corporall to which Christ yeelded himselfe willingly for the conseruation of Gods iustice who inflicted that paine on all men as the generall punishment of sinne for the demonstration of his power who by death ouercame death together with the cause and consequents thereof and for the consolation of the godly that they should not faint vnder the crosse nor feare what sinne and Satan could do against them It was loue then in God towards vs to giue his sonne for vs So God loued the world that he gaue his only begotten sonne that whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perish but haue life euerlasting but farre greater loue to his sonne than to vs though the burden of our sinnes which we could not beare were layd vpon him For since God hath adopted vs through Christ Iesus vnto himselfe and made vs accepted in his beloued of force he must be much better beloued for whose sake we all are beloued And if to make the world by his sonne were an excellent demonstration of Gods euerlasting and exceeding loue towards his sonne to send him into the world that the world through him might be saued doth as farre in honour and loue exceed the former as our Redemption by which heauen is inherited doth passe our creation whereby the earth was first inhabited Neither was it possible that God should remit the rigor of iustice against sinne for the loue of any but onely of his owne sonne whom because he loued as deerely as himselfe and had made heire of all things worthily and rightly did the wrath of God against man asswage and yeeld to the loue of God towards his owne sonne against whom no punishment could proceed but such as was fatherly and serued rather to witnesse obedience than to execute vengeance For though you Sir Discourser in the height of your vnlearned skill resolue that Christ could suffer no chastisement but all his sufferings were the true and proper punishment or iust vengeance of God for sinne yet the Prophet Esay telleth vs the chastisment of our peace was vpon him and the word Musar which the Prophet there vseth deriued from Iasar is the proper word that in the Scripture signifieth the correction of a father towards his sonne and of God likewise towards his Church Chastise thy sonne saith Salomon while there is hope As a father chasteneth his sonne ‖ so ‖ the Lord chasteneth thee sayth Moses to Israel My Sonne refuse not the chastening of the Lord. Blessed is the man whom thou Lord doest chasten The like may be seene by those that will looke Deutr. 21. vers 18. Ierem. 2. vers 30. Ierem. 31. vers 18. Psal. 118. vers 18. The Apostle concurreth with the Prophet Esay touching Christes sufferings and sayth Though he were the sonne yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered He learned obedience which is the subiection of a sonne to his fathers chastisement he tasted not vengeance which is the indignation of an enemie requiting Yea the very death which Christ suffered in the body of his flesh was so farre from being an effect of Gods proper wrath that it was an increase of Gods loue towards him and as well the price of our Redemption as the cause of all his honor following Therefore the Father loueth me sayth our Sauiour because I lay downe my soule or life to take it againe And so much the Prophet foretolde Therefore will I giue him sayth God a part in many things and he shall diuide the spoile of or with the mightie because he poured out his soule or life vnto death Which the Apostle sheweth to be thus verified in Christ. He humbled himselfe being obedient vnto the death euen the death of the Crosse. Wherefore God also highly exalted him and gaue him a name aboue euery name that in the name of Iesu euery knee should bow of things celestiall terrestrial and infernall euery tongue confesse that Iesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the father All power honour and iudgement in heauen earth and hell are therefore deliuered
your selfe to haue lesse iudgement in mainteining it than you had in mistaking it but you haue stood too long on these irifles which I thinke to be true for you trifle indeed and neither in defence of your selfe nor disaduantage of me bring any thing that is materiall You come therefore to peruse how you haue ignorantly and purposely peruerted my reasons That the true sacrifice for sinne must be indeed BODILY BLOODY and DEAD we doubt not we vnfainedly and heartily embrace it The Patriarks beleeued it the Iewes sacrifices of beasts figured it the New Testament confirmeth it But what will follow then ergo Christes bodilie death only and meerely was the whole ransome and price of our sinne for we must note that this is the very question indeed this is the point of our controuersie When you can say nothing to support your errours you beginne to quarrell with the question as if you had or could prescribe me what I should preach of What I by warrant of holie Scripture receiued into the contents of Christs crosse and what I excluded from the same is euident by my words you may not come after and alter the question to your liking Into the Crosse of Christ I admitted whatsoeuer the Holie ghost witnesseth the Sonne of God suffered either on his crosse or going to his crosse My words are plaine the rest which went bâ—…fore not being excluded as superfluous but continued and increased by that sharpe and extreme martyrdome which he endured on the crosse And good reason had I so to doe for all the paines and griefes of bodie or minde which befell him betweene his last supper and his fastning to the crosse endured and augmented on the crosse and so by no meanes might be excluded from his crosse What things I then excluded from the crosse of Christ is as manifest by mine owne words which neither I can hide nor you may change These they are Some men in our dayes stretch the crosse of Christ a great deale farther to the death both of bodie and soule and vnto the whole paines of the damned in hell but vpon how iust grounds when you heare you mâ—…y iudge as you see cause Then shewing what might be tolerated if men could therewith be contented and that I neither refuted those which tooke hell paines hyperbolically for great and intolerable paines nor those that by hell paines vnderstood either a wrestling with the very powers of hell or trembling at the terrour of Gods vengeance prouoked by our sinnes so they put no distrust nor doubt in Christes soule of his owne saluation or our redemption but leaue him firme faith alwayes fixed on God I repeated againe what it was I impugned to wit that some men in our dayes will no nay but that Christ on the crosse suffered the selfe same paines in soule which the damned do in hell and endured euen the death of the soule Heere Sir is the question as I first proposed it I no where alter it noâ—… varie from it both these I meane the death of the soule and the selfe same paines which the damned in hell do suffer I excluded from the crosse of Christ and consequently from the worke of our redemption which I auouched to be perfect and full without either of those additions To this are all my proofs directed and from this by your leaue I may not suffer you to wander Your meere bodily sufferings without any proper sufferings of the soule take backe to your selfe I haue no such words nor make no such doubts the death of the soule and the selfe same paines which the damned doe suffer and we should haue suffered had we not beene redeemed which is the second death or the death of the damned are the things brought by me in question Wherefore howsoeuer you will vnderstand my meaning contrarie to my words because you would shroud your selfe vnder the couert of these wordes MEERE AND PROPER I must recall all my reasons to those two points to which I first intended them and whether I speake ambiguously or deceitfully or change my question or charge you vniustly that you slip from the question to certaine generall and doubtfull termes let the Reader in Gods name iudge My proofes to my purpose stand sound and good The true sacrifice for sinne by the Apostles Doctrine hath these three properties in it it must be BODILY BLOODY and DEADLIE that is it must haue the bodily and bloody death of the mediator who must be the Sonne of God This the Patriarkes beleeâ—…ed the Iewish sacrifices prefigured the new Testament confirmeth What followeth you aske Ergâ—… Christs bodily death onely and meerely was the whole ransome and price of sinne Without your termes of proper and meere you are no body My reason is in sight The death which the Mediator must dye for the sinnes of the world must be bodily and bloody The death of the soule in this life and the death of the damned after this life which are the paines of hell could not be bodily and bloody Therefore neither of them was the death which the Mediator must or did die for the sinnes of the world If he dyed neither of those then he died the death of the body onely for so much as the Scriptures mention no kinds of death but onely these three except it be by way of figuratiue speech Doe you now see what followeth then what is your answere If I meane that the MEERE bodily sufferings of Christ without any proper sufferings of his soule are the intire and whole Ransome for sinne then you affirme expreslie there is no peece of reason in these words You are a PROPER and MEERE Gentleman to spott out matters of this importance I conclude by the Apostles assertion that Christ for the sinnes of the world died neither the death of the soule nor the death of the daâ—…ed which is the paines of hell and second death but ONELY a BODILY death You reele too and fro and stumble first at bodily and then at onely and in the end say you know not what If I meane that Christes MEERE BODILY sufferings without any proper suâ—…ings of the soule were the whole ransom for sin then you see no reason in my words Thus much reason you may heare in my words that Christ died neither the death of the Soule nor the death of the damned but ONLY a BODILY death that is the death of the body and none other kind of death What say you to this This is not your Controâ—…ersie you say the very question indeede is as you haue set it Haue you a Commission when I haue proposed questions which I mind to impugne to come after me and new set my questions Acknowledge the death of the soule and the death of the damâ—…d which are the true paines of hell to be no part of Christs sufferings and we shall soone conclude that Christ died onely a bodily death
life of all And that this is most perfect charitie I will cite our Sauiour himselfe for a witnesse where he saith greater loue hath no man then to lay downe his soule for his friends By all this Christ teacheth his Disciples to be so farre from shunning daungers and troubles for the saluation of men that the death of the flesh must not be refused for euen to that doth charitie stretch Fulgentius an other of the Fathers on whom you would faine fasten your error of Christs redeeming our soules by the death of his soule and our bodies by the death of his body not only noteth when and how Christ laid downe his soule for vs but why that phrase is applyed to Christs death and to all theirs that die willingly for loue not necessarily vpon constraint The whole man Christ laid downe his soule when his soule departed his flesh dying on the crosse And so againe Christ dying in the flesh laid downe his Soule and shewing the difference betwixt deliuering the body to death and giuing or laying downe the soule He saith Where loue is not the body is said to be deliuered but not the soule to be laid downe as the vessell of election plainly testifieth If I giue my body to be burnt and haue no loue it auayleth me nothing Here Paule declareth that without loue the body may be yeelded but not the soule laid downe For where he purposeth to signifie the purenesse of his loue he thus writeth to the Thessalonians Our goodwill was to bestow on you not onely the Gospell of God but euen our owne soules and to proue this an effect of his loue he addeth because yee were deare vnto vs. So that it is proued by manifest witnesse of Scripture that there wanteth loue where the body onely is layed downe to death but there is charitie where the soule is laid downe together with the body Beda Ponere ergo animam mori est Sic Apostolus Petrus Domino dixit animam pro te ponam id est pro te moriar carne To lay downe the Soule is to die So the Apostle Peter said to Christ I will lay downe my Soule for thee that is I will die in the flesh for thee A good sheepeheard saith Christ layeth downe his soule for his sheepe He did that he taught he performed that he commaunded he laid downe his Soule for his sheepe and shewed vs a way to contemne death which we must follow and a paterne after which we must be Printed which is first to extend our outward works of mercie towards his sheepe then if neede be to offer our death for them The later writers are all of the same mind and expound those words of our Sauiour the Sonne of man came to serue and to giue his soule a ransome for many and I lay downe my soule for my sheepe to haue none other sense then that he would die for vs as the Fathers before them did expound the same Erasmus in his paraphrase expressing our Sauiours meaning in both places saith in the person of Christ Therefore I came euen to serue the welfare of all in so much that I thinke it no burden to giue my life by the losse of one soule to redeeme many And againe Therefore my Father loueth me singularly as his Sonne because of mine owne accord I bestowed my life for the safetie of my Fathers flocke Bullinger likewise in the person of our Sauiour I came to serue the good of all and that which is farre greater I came into this world to giue my life for sinners And so I yeeld my selfe to death and euen to the death of the crosse that my sheepe beleeuing in me may liue by my death And alleadging and relying on Saint Austens words on the same place he addeth out of Austen To lay downe the soule is to die So Peter the Apostle said to his Master I will lay downe my soule for thee that is I will die for thee Attribute this to the flesh for when the soule goeth out of the flesh and the flesh remaineth without a soule then is a man said to lay downe his soule What saith the Euangelist Christ bowing his head gaue vp the Ghost this is to lay downe the soule Musculus Christ declareth what his ministerie is euen to redeeme mortall men and the chiefest degree of this ministerie is that he would giue his soule for them Then are we redeemed by the onely begotten Sonne of God and that dearely euen with his owne death For the Lord of heauen and earth humbled himselfe vnto death and that vnto a most shamefull death What was more vile or more abiect in the world then the death of the crosse And in the person of Christ Therefore my Father loueth me because I lay downe my soule that is because I die for my sheepe Caluine vpon those words of Christ I came to giue my soule a Redemption for many Therefore Christ mentioneth his death that he might withdraw his Disciples from a peruerse imagination of an earthly kingdome In the meane time the force and fruite of his death is aptly and rightly expressed whiles he affirmeth his life to be the price of our Redemption Whence it followeth that the price of our reconciliation with God is no where found but in the death of Christ and so It is no maruaile that Christ affirmeth himselfe to be therefore loued of his Father because he esteemeth our saluation dearer then his owne life He would by this arme his Disciples least seeing him soone after to be caried to death they should faint in hart as if he were oppressed by his enimies but rather acknowledge it to be the wonderfull prouidence of God that he should die to redeeme the flocke Gualter Christ saith he came to giue his soule to be the price of Redemption for many This passeth all offices that men may yeeld one to another For as him selfe saith no man hath greater loue then this to giue his soule for his friends But he vouchsafeth to die for his enimies And dying for vs he bestowed life on vs because his death was a ransome sufficient for the sinnes of the world And so A good sheepeheard saith Christ layeth downe his soule for his sheepe b As if he should haue said who can deny him to be a good sheepeheard that so much loueth his sheepe as not to refuse to redeeme their safetie with the losse of his owne life And because the Sonne of God hath exposed or yeelded his life for vs who can doubt but he hath satisfied abundantly for vs Vitus Theodorus Christ saith the sonne of man came to minister and to giue his life for the Redemption of all That surely is the chiefest and truest loue and seruice when a man serueth his enimies with body and life And likewise in the person of Christ. I alone am the good
sheepeheard and lay downe my soule for my sheepe that is by my death men are deliuered from eternall death I aske now the Christian Reader whether he thinke it a shift of mine when Christ gaue his soule for vs or our soules for me to say that he gaue it by the losse of his life in such sort as the Euangelists describe or whether the Scriptures and Fathers together with the later writers doe not consent with me in the same exposition of Christs words This conclusion then that Christ gaue his soule for our soules doth not inferre that he had distinct times places or manners of suffering or dying for our soules and then for our bodies that is erroneous iniurious to the death of Christ and openly disclaimed euen by the Discourser himselfe but that in suffering death on the crosse by which his soule was separated from his body after long and sharpe torments first endured in his body his soule was the chiefe or rather the onely patient that discerned and sustained the bitternesse of the paines and perceiued the cause for which and the counsell of God from whence all that affliction was ordained and decreed For as we sinned in body and soule but chiefly in soule so Christs death for our Redemption must grieue both body and soule but chiefly the soule which was ioyned with the body in suffering death that both soule and body might be redeemed and the paine thereof proportioned to the soule as the pleasure of sinne chiefly delighted the soule More then this no Father euer ment and this is no way denied by me You would faine wring in a conceite of your owne into their words which is mainly directly against their words and resolutions in all other places and therefore which of vs two deserueth best the name of a shifter let the Reader iudge The Fathers striue to expresse an exact proportion so farre as was possible betweene Christ and vs first in the parts that suffered in Christ and are saued in vs Next in that which Christ suffered for vs and which we are saued from thereby They iustly conclude that no parts of our nature are saued in vs but such as Christ assumed into the vnitie of his person and therefore in Christs sufferings there must be body and soule before they could be humane sufferings or auailable for vs. As by man came death so by man came the resurrection of the dead But that they doe or would affirme that we are saued from no more then Christ suffered for vs or that we are wholy freed from all those kinds of paines which he suffered for our sakes this is a false and fantasticall proportion of your owne inuenting it is no part of their meaning Sundry things should we haue suffered for sinne as the death of the soule and the death of the damned besides reiection from all grace and blisse confusion malediction and many other terrors and torments of conscience which by no meanes these Fathers apply to Christ but in euident and vehement words auouch the contrarie Christ likewise suffered wrong reproch shame paine and death of the body from which we are not freed yea rather we must haue fellowship with his afflictions and be conformed vnto his death before we shall be partakers of the comforts that are in him or of his resurrection So that your running to proportions of your owne compounding when you should bring sound probations for that you defend is mad Musicke though best becomming the discords of your doctrine As we are saued not in our bodies onely nor onely in the externall sensitiue part of our soules wherein standeth that suffering with and by our bodies but we are saued redeemed and sanctified in our whole spirit and vnderstanding also euen so by their verdict Christ suffered for vs not the bodily and outward sufferings by Sympathie onely but he suffered for vs euen in his minde also Now this is directly against your present assertion A man can not readily tell whether your assertion in this place be more false absurd or idle The Scripture teacheth vs that a man hath but two substances of which he consisteth a mortall and visible which is his bodie an immortall and inuisible which is his soule Our Sauiour who best knew what man had saith as much Feare not them which kill the bodie but can not kill the soule feare him rather that can destroy soule and bodie in hell The names of these parts are sometimes varied and sometimes diuided into sundrie powers and faculties but the partes themselues cannot be increased Salomon speaking of mans death sayth Dust goeth to the earth as it was meaning the bodie and the Spirit returneth to God that gaue it meaning the Soule Of a Virgin Paul sayth she careth for the things of the Lord that she may be holy both in bodie and spirit that is in bodie and soule And writing to the Thessalonians the same Apostle saith that their whole Spirit and Soule and Bodie may be kept blamelesse vnto the comming of the Lord Iesus Christ. Of this place diuerse haue diuersly thought Chrysostome Theodoret Ambrose Ierome Oecumenius and Theophylact commenting on these words take the spirit for the grace of Gods spirit wherewith our mindes are lightned and renewed and indeede sometimes Paul vseth the word spirit for the gifts of the spirit as where he saith Quench not the spirit and calleth them our spirits as the Spirits of the Prophets are subiect to the Prophets Howbeit Athanasius Tertullian Epiphanius Gregorie Nyssene Augustine Bede and others take here the spirit for the vnderstanding and minde of man as also Caluine Zanchius and Beza doe who referre the soule here spoken of to the will and affections of man not that any of them maketh two soules in man which were most absurd but that by those names they note two different faculties or functions in one and the same substance of mans soule Come now to your words and see how handsomely you proportion them either to your Authors or to the trueth or to your purpose Not one of the Fathers which you cite nameth the minde of Christ but onely his soule and his bodie saue Nazianzene who speaketh not of Christs suffering in the minde but of his sanctifying the same by assuming it in his incarnation Let himselfe explane his owne wordes in the very same place Our mind some say is condemned And what our flesh is not that also condemned then either cast away mans flesh from Christ for sinne or admit mans mind that it may be saued For if Christ take the worse part of man to sanctific it by his incarnation shall he not take the better part that it may be sanctified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by his assuming of mans nature I speake not this as if it might not safely be granted that Christs soule suffered as well by
men as a sinfull and accursed wretch and saith Christ was content so to be made a curse for vs when indeed he was none by the wrong which he suffered at mens hands to free vs from the iust desert of our sinnes with God Which exposition I bring to let the Reader see how much the learned and godly Fathers detested your proper and true curses in the whole manhood of Christ. But we shall haue fresh proofe That your speech was sound your reason euident and that I openly peruerted your words You were neuer brought vp belike but where will went for reason and speech for proose you tell vs so often of sound and euident reasons when you bring nothing besides your naked and absurd fansies Your speech you say was sound that Christes dying simply but as the godly die might in no sort heere be called a curse Take home your As that you set running abroad to breed a brabble and your speech hath neither soundnesse nor sense in it That Christ died the same kinde of death which the godly die I meane the death of the bodie and not of the soule nor of the damned is a plaine position of the Scriptures We are afflicted persecuted and deiected saith Paul euerte where we beare about in our bodies the dying of the Lord Iesus and againe I count all things losse that I may be CONFORMED to his death Christ laid downe his life for vs saith Saint Iohn and we ought to lay downe our liues for our brethren Ibi mortuus est Christus vbi tues moriturus there or in that part Christ died in which thou shalt die Hactenus morerentur ad Christi gratiam pertinentes quatenus pro illis ipse mortuus est Christus carnis tantum morte non SPIRITVS We are Redeemed that such as pertaine to Christes grace should so farre forth die how farre forth Christ himselfe died for them that is onely the death of the bodie and not of the SPIRIT So that the godly are conformed and matched with Christ as touching the kind of death which must be common to both and that being a punishment and curse on our nature for sinne why is it not truely saide of Saint Austen that Christ receaued our curse that is a bodily death to free vs from euerlasting death which is the true curse of body and soule The reason is euident because the text heere doth speake and treat of the curse of the Law against sinne such therefore was Christs curse which he sustained The text speaketh of the curse of the Law pronounced against vs for violating the Law That curse the Apostle doth not applie to Christ as you doe but bringeth another text of the Law where the violent and shamefull punishment of hanging on a tree is called a curse To which since Christ submitted himselfe for our â—…akes and so suffering a curse of punishment he discharged vs from the whole curse of the Law due to vs for transgressing Wherefore your leaping from the one curse to the other and from a part to the whole is no euident reason but an euident falsehood which Chrysostome Augustine Ambrose Nazianzene Epiphanius and Cyrill doe mightely impugne and your selfe in the end doe yeeld Christ may be rightly called sinne and so a curse in that he was a sacrifice for sinne and for the curse which is as cleane contrary to your Assertion heere as holinesse and righteousnesse is to vncleannesse and wickednesse You openly peruert my words affirming that I say death here that is Christes death noted Galat. 3. vers 13. may in no sort be called a curse when I expresly euen there and euery where say the contrarie You are very iealous that I goe about to cleare you from your absurd and false conceits without your consent but your feare is needlesse as your quarrell is causelesse I applied not HERE to Christes death as you most fondly mistake and inuert my report of your words but I referre HERE to the curse there mentioned obseruing in you that you defended Death which all the godly haue common with Christ as touching their bodies might in no sort here be called a curse that is the curse which the Apostle here nameth I am so far from enuying your glorie in this point though I pitie your folly that where you make Christes Afflictions euerie one both small and great from the day of his birth to the houre of his death to bee proper punishments and so true curses and effects of Gods very wrath in him for our sinne I will adde if you will that Christes hunger wearinesse weeping and growning in spirit for these are afflictions brought into mans nature by sinne are likewise defended by you to be true curses in Christ. Howbeit you shall doe well in all these miseries and infirmities of our life and nature to finde out Christes most blessed humilitie and charitie not refusing them for our comforts and leaue the proper and true curses of God for the diuell and his associates Your greatest exception is that this curse laide on Christ cannot bâ—…e vnderstood of the whole curse of God or of the law The exception is such that withall the wits and shifts you haue you shall neuer auoide it For where the whole curse of the Law hath in it corporall spirituall and eternall death well deserued by sinne and most iustly inflicted on sinners as we see in the wicked and reprobate who for sinne are subiected to these three deathes or curses the two last which are spirituall and eternall death you can not offer to Christ without hereticall and diabolicall blasphemie and to draw the Apostle into that societie were arrogant and impudent impietie Since then there are so notorious impediments why Christ neither did nor could suffer the whole curse of the Law denounced to sinne and prouided for sinne with what face and conscience you shift and shuffle this geere let the Reader iudge if he haue either godly wisdome to which you appeale or but humane sense from which I doe not appeale Your conueiance is as weake as your cause is wicked Christ you say suffered the whole curse of the Law saue what you excepted thence onely so farre as possibilitie of things could admit that is which you saw was impossible he should suffer And so wee haue here your owne confession that possibilitie of things could not permit Christ to suffer the whole curse of the Law and yet you make the Apostle to meane all these impossibilities For he maketh none of your exceptions But looke somwhat neerer and you shall see greater barres to that totall assertion then impossibilities euen horrible impietie and blasphemie which if they barre not you from your boldnesse they terrifie me and all good Christians to come within the sound of them This shift being shameâ—…l you slide to another as absurd and impertinent to your purpose as the former For were it granted
flesh by his owne power and was borne and suffered and died and rose againe Nulla sua necessitate sed voluntate potestaue By no necâ—…ssitie laid on him but of his owne will and power And so Hâ—…s humane infiâ—…mitatis affecâ—…us siâ—…t ipâ—…m carnem Infirmitatis humâ—…nae aâ—… mortem carnis humanâ—… Dominus Ieâ—…us non conditionis necessitate sed miâ—…ationis voluntate suscepâ—…t These affections of maâ—…s Infiâ—…mitie as alâ—…o the flesh of mans weâ—…kenesse and the death of mans flesh the Lord Iesus tooke vpon him not by any necesstie of Condition but by the good will of â—…is mercie As else where Ostendit Domiâ—…us voluntâ—…e se pati non necessitate Ergo quod pâ—…ssus est misericordia fuit The Lord sheweth that he sâ—…ffered by his owne will and by no neâ—…essitie It was therefore mercie that made him suffer â—…uery where Saint Austen is resolute that Christ suffered and died when he would as he would and because he woulâ—… Athâ—…asius Christ seeing the goodnesse of his Fâ—…ther and his owne suffciencie and poâ—…er 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was moueâ—… with â—…ue towards man and pittiyng our infirmitie he put on the same and hauing Comâ—…assion on our mortalitie he clothed himselfe therewith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and willingly tooke vp the Crosse to himâ—…e and â—…ent to his death vncompelled Chrysostome Seiâ—…sum tradidit vt indicet quod voluntaâ—… pâ—…ssionem suscepit non necessitate neque vt sed volens spenté Christ gaue himselâ—…e to shew that he vndertooke his Passion wilâ—…ngly and not by any necâ—…ssitie or exaction but of his owne will and accord Passus est quia voluit resurrexit quia potuit Christ suffered because he would and rose because he could And so By his deeds Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…hat â—…e wâ—…nt to hiâ—… Pâ—…ssion by no force nor necessitie but of his owne accord Ambrâ—…e 〈◊〉 â—…as no â—…eruant to death but free among the dead For he was free that had poweâ—… 〈◊〉 death By the power of his Duâ—…nitie â—…e laid downe his Soule and tooke 〈◊〉 Tâ—…ou secâ—… his goodnâ—…sse in that he laid it downe of his owne accord thou seest his power in that â—…e toâ—…ke it againe At the â—…ime when pleaâ—…ed him the Lord Iesus emptied himselâ—…e â—…nd 〈◊〉 suffered when he would Ierom. â—… Death came not vpon Christ but Christ camâ—… 〈◊〉 â—…or Death in him found no way for his power â—… He was no Debtor to Death and sinne bâ—…t he was offered because he himâ—…elfe would For he â—…ustained not tbe Crosse by any neâ—…essitie but willingly otherwise if he hâ—…d not beene offâ—…red by his owne good will he migâ—…t hâ—…ue deâ—…lined thoâ—…e that were sent to take him whom he met without feare and of his oâ—…ne accord offâ—…red himâ—…elfe to them Gregoâ—…ie In carne veniâ—…ns Dominus non culpam nostrâ—…m ex vitio non poenam ex necessitâ—…te 〈◊〉 nulla enim labe peccati pollutus reatus nostriteneri conditione non potuit atque idâ—…o mâ—…rtem nostraÌ„ omni necessitate câ—…lcata cum voluit spâ—…nte suscepit The Lord commiâ—…g in flesh neitâ—…er tooke on â—…im our fault by any infection nor our punishment by any coactiâ—…n for being â—…filed with no stâ—…ine of sinne he could not be held by any condition of our guiltiâ—… 〈◊〉 and thereâ—…ore â—…reading all necessitie vnâ—…er his feete of his owne accord when he would â—…e admitted oâ—…r dâ—…ath â—… Nos omnes cum nolumus morimur quia ad soluâ—…ndae penae debitum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conditione coarcâ—…armur Ille autem quia nulli admixtus est culpae nulli ex necâ—…e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sed quia culpam nâ—…stram dominando subdidit poenam nostram miâ—…ando suscepit We all die against our wils because we are tied by the condition of our sinne to the debt of â—…nduring punishment But he that was entangled with no fault could not be bâ—…und to any peâ—…ltie by necâ—…ssitie Yet because he subdued our sinne by raigning ouer it in 〈◊〉 and pitiâ—… to vs he vndertooke our pâ—…nishment as he himselfe saith I haue power to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my 〈◊〉 no man taketh it from me but I lay it downe of my selfe Beda Iesus hungred it 〈◊〉 true but because he would He slept it is true but because he would He sorrowed it is true but because he would He died it is true but because he would It was in his power to be so or so affected or not These affections of mans infirmitie Non conditione necessitatis sed voluntate miserationis suscepit siâ—…ut carnem ipsam etiam mortem Christ tooke vnto him not by any bâ—…nd of necessitie but by the good pleasure of his mercie as he did flesh and death it selfe Wherefore his death was truely free not forced because he had power to lay downe his soule and take it againe He that dieth of necessitie can not rise of himselfe Christ then who wanted all fault was not tied to the necessitie of death Therefore Christes death was voluntarie not necessarie and so he might rise of himselfe Damascene Naturall things affections and passions in Christ did not preuent his will there was nothing forced in Christ but all voluntarie At his owne will he hungred at his owne will he thirsted at his owne will he feared at his owne will he died Bernard Not onely Christ was willing and was offered but he was offered because he was willing Christ being equal with God emptied himselfe by taking the forme of a seruant and being rich became poore for vs and of great was made little of high low of strong weake and hungred and thirsted and was wearied in his iourney and the rest which he suffered of his owne accord and not by any necessitie He was voluntarily incarnate he voluntarily suffered and was voluntarily crucified For had he not died voluntarily that death had not beene meritorious How much more vnwoorthely he died who deserued not death so much the more iustly man liueth for whom he died What iustice thou wilt aske is this that an innocent should die for a malefacâ—…our NON EST IVSTITIA SED MISERICORDIA Si iustitia esset iam non gratis sed ex debito moreretur It is no iustice it is mercie If it were iustice then should he not die freâ—…ly but endebted thereto and if endebted then he indeed should die but the other for whom he died should not liue Yet though it be not iustice it is not against iustice otherwise he could not be both iust and mercifull The verie Catechisme on which you seeme so much to stand diligently teacheth and vrgeth the same doctrine howsoeuer you be slipt to some Scâ—…ueners shoppe to draw Indentures to binde Christ to the penaltie of the Law as your Suertie Laquet ipsum debit as hominum sceleri sibi indebit as paenas sua voluntate inse suscepisse subijsse nostrorum
disputation that manie here vndertake whether this wish were lawfull or vnlawfull If Paul refâ—…ained thus to wish because it was neither lawfull nor possible actually to obtaine it how senselesse and truethlesse are your foure obseruations grounded vpon the possibilitie and pietie of this wish whereas all men of any iudgement or vnderstanding conclude the cleane contrarie but such is your cariage that except you may crosse the resolutions of all men you thinke your selfe no bodie Be famous therefore in your follie that bring impossibilities and impieties for the chiefe foundation of your late sprung faith your Reader I trust will require some better proofe before he giue you allowance in matters of such moment as these be m Defenc. pag. 97. li. 1. Thirdly that extraordinarily there is greater loue among meere men then only to die bodily one for another though vsually and ordinarily a greater cannot be found among men which is it that Christ meaneth but how much more then may the loue of Christ toward his elect be farre greater contrarie to your assertion pag 107. 108. Your doctrine is all extraordinarie The Defendâ—…r sayth the Scriptures â—…re ordinarily true that is sometimes false that no ordinarie rules of the Scriptures can stand with it Howbeit in this you chalenge Christ and not mee who saith n Iohn 15. No man hath greater loue then to lay downe his life for his friend That is ordinarily true you say but extraordinarily false Then extraordinarily by your supposition Christ sometimes speaketh an vntrueth though it be not ordinarie with him so to doe which honor you yeeld to the rest of the Scriptures For when you can not otherwise auoid them those you answeare are the o Defenc. pag. 96. li. 32. ordinarie and common rules of the Scripture But your doctrine consisteth of extraordinarie Rules which are no where found but in your owne braine You haue heard Chrysostome Photius and Zanchius auouch who are the chiefe commenders of the exposition which you would seeme to follow that Paul neither did nor might preferre the loue of his Countriemen before his owne saluation and communion with Christ but that his principall respect in this wish was his loue to the glorie of Christ which he more esteemed then his owne soule So that nothing did hinder Paul to preferre Gods glory before the safety of his owne soule and yet Christes rule to stand true that no man hath greater loue then to lay downe his life for his friend Neither was it the death of the Soule that Paul wished since he would by no meanes as these old and new writers obserue be seuered from the loue and fauour of Christ but from the ioy and honour that is laid vp for the saints of God Peter Martyr is of the same opinion with them p Pet. Martyr in ca. 9. epist. ad Romanos Neither doth Paul in this place say he wished to be separated from the loue of God nullo enim modo voluisset ab illo amando desistere for by no meanes would Paul haue ceased from louing God only he wisheth to be excluded from the blessednesse and fruition of God And this euerie one of vs ought to be willing vnto euen lesse to regard his owne eternall happinesse then the glorie of God Now he that still loueth god and is beloued of him by no meanes can suffer the death or curse of the soule mentioned in the Scriptures q 1. Cor. 16. if any man loue not the Lord Iesus Christ let him be Anathema maranAtha that is accursed in the highest degree then could not the same curse befall him that loued Christ dearer then his owne soule but the words of our Sauiour must needes be verified in him r Maâ—…th 10. he that looseth his soule for my sake shall find or saue it So that neither of your suppositions are true either that Paul preferred the loue of men before the safety of his owne soule or that for their sakes he was content to die the death of the soule mentioned in the Scriptures which is a separation as well from the loue and trueth of God as from the glorie and felicitie of God And your comparison for which you intend all this and wherewith you would crosse my assertion is most vntrue that Christes loue to his elect led him to die the death of the soule or to forgoe the fauour and fellowship of God for their sakes For the coniunction of Christs manhoode to his Godhead being personall was farre greater and nearer then the knitting of Paul or Moses vnto God and if that vnion were broken all the workes and sufferings of Christs manhoode were no way able to bring vs to God Christ could not be content to be separated from God for vs. Wherefore it were a thing extreamly impious in the manhood of Christ and no lesse dangerous to our saluation for him to be content to be vtterly seuered from the vnion and communion of the diuine nature with which he was personally ioined and though your imagination of Moses and Paul be false enough and altogether impossible yet to dreame the like of Christ is the higth of all impietie Neither doth that diminish his loue to vs since there was no need thereof for vs his other suffrings being sufficient in the iust and exact iudgement of God and the loue that led the second person in Trinitie to lay aside for the time the full and perfect fruition of his glorie and equalitie with God his Father and in our flesh to emptie and humble himselfe not only to the infirmities of our nature and miseries of our life but euen to the shame and paine of our death on the Crosse farre exceeded all the loues that men or Angels could shew vnto vs. For there is more distance betweene the glorie and Maiesty of God and the sense and shame of our miserie and mortality then betwixt the saluation or damnation of men or Angels Wherefore Christs loue to vs may not be diminished or made inferiour to the loue of creatures though he were not damned for our sakes since that ineuitablely and irreuocablely would haue fastned vs to a greater condemnation and no way saued vs whereas now his vnspeakable fellowship with God hath recalled vs all from the damnation due to vs to be partakers of the loue and grace that eternally and infinitely he possessed with God s Defenc. pag. 97. li. 6. Fourthly we see here these holy men without feeling any paines inflicted by Gods wrath but only through an earnest and mighty compassion of loue had their minds drawen so wholy to thinke on this speciall thing aboue their reach that during the time they turne not themselues to any other cogitation t li. 17. This you acknowledge may be in men and yet you will not scoffe at them as cast into a Traunce by it nor reproche them with infernall confusion How much lesse ought you so to deale with Christ.
to mans nature yet differre they farre from the paines of the damned to which you seeke in this place to fasten the soule of Christ. f Defenc. pag. 97. li. 26. As for the Fathers which you cite if they meane as they seeme to doe that now at his passion among other causes of sorow there wanted not this euen his great pittie towards his forlorne countriemen then we ioine with them If they meane as you would haue them that this was the maine and chiefe cause of his extreame sorow and amazednesse therein Ivtterly leaue them You haue a long while in most lauish maner vntowardly pretended that g Defenc. pag. 94. li. 20. Certainly Christ would haue greatly reioiced to see the due execution of Gods most holie and deserued iustice vpon the Iewes and now with a suddaine retraite you ioine with Ambrose Ierom Augustine and Bede that this among other causes of sorow wanted not in the Garden Then as here you be more soberlie minded then before or he at least that made this collection for you so this often crossing your selfe argueth that either you haue not yet recouered your witts to vnderstand what you write or that your helpers being in diuers places and not seeing the one what the other wrote you haue vnhandsomely patched their notes together without marking wherein they contradicted each other But this we take to be the nearest the trueth since I doe not vrge this cause to exclude all others which by any due circumstance of the Scriptures might concurre to greeue him in the Garden onely I noted that those learned and auncient fathers coniecturing the causes of Christs sorrow at that instant neuer drempt of your hell paines which you haue lately coyned out of the hollownesse of your owne hart but obserued other causes that might afflict his mind which you in your Treatise reiected with great skorne howsoeuer some of your friends haue since drawen you to be otherwise minded As for your leaning them it is little to the purpose they will remaine wise and godly expositors when such a blind guide as you are will be lightly regarded withall your fantasticall Nouelties h Defenc. pag. 97. li. 31. Howbeit this here note in the that these Fathers auouch Christ feared not his bodily death or passion for thereof only they speake here questionles You contrariwise say that Christ feared bodily death for thereof also you discourse and had more cause as you thinke so to doe then any of his members First then they questionlesse gainsay your new plot of mans redemption by the paines of hell For they speak of the death which Christ died for our sins accordingto the Scriptures which if they tooke to be only bodily as you graunt they knew nothing neither of the death of the Soule nor of the second death of the damned which you auouch Christ must suffer before he could redeeme vs and so they or you are cleane besides the Christian faith Againe they doe not simply say he feared not death for then should they crosse other fathers and euen themselues affirming that Christ had a naturall feare of death but the feare thereof was not the cause of this Agonie that is he feared it not so much as to be thus afflicted at the remembrance of it Otherwise Ambrose himselfe saith i Ambros. in Luc. li. 10. de tristitia dolore Christi Debuit ergo Dolorem suscipere vt vinceret tristitiam non excluderet nos disceremus in Christo quemadmodum futurae mortis mestitiam vinceremus Christ was therefore to admit sorrow that he might conquere it not exclude it and we in Christ might learne to ouercome the feare of death approching So Cyrill k Cyril The sauri li. 10 ca. 3. Quando formidasse mortem videtur vt homo dicebat Pater transeat à me Calix iste When Christ seemed to fâ—…are death as a Man he said Father let this Cup passe from me For though as a man he abhorred death yet as a man he refused not to performe the will of his Father and of himselfe being the word or Sonne of God Morti ergo quam vt homo formidabat seipsum pro nobis vt Deus tradidit To death then which as a man he feared he deliuered himselfe for vs as God And Athanasius l Athana Ora tio 4. contra Aria As by Death Christ abolished Death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and all humane miseries by suffering them as a man so by vsuall feare he tooke away our feare and made Men no longer to feare death And Damascene m Damascen orthodoxae fidei li. 3. ca. 18. As a Man Christ would haue the Cup to passe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These wrrds proceeded from a naturall feare And Theophylact n Theophyl in 26. ca Matthaei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is incident to the nature of man to feare death for death entered besides or against Nature and therefore nature flieth death o Idem in Luc. cap. 22. The common feare of mans nature Christ cured 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consuming or dispersing it in him selfe and making it obedient to the will of God This your ignorance apprehendeth as a contradiction in them but were you quietly minded or better acquainted with their positions and reasons you would soone see that these may stand together that Christ might haue a naturall feare of death incident to man and yet that feare not to be the whole cause of this agonie p Defenc. pag. 97. li. 37. Thirdly touching his regard of his Church generally the same answere serueth as it is giuen to the last point before You meane that among other causes of his sorrow this wanted not which is as much as I auouched And the more dearely he loued his The third cause concurring to Christs agonie Disciples that followed him and the whole Church that should after beleeue in him the more inwardly he might sorrow for their infirmities and earnestly pray for their safeties being no way ignorant of satans eger and watchfull malice against them Since then after his resurrection and ascension he should in glory appeare to the face of God for them what let was there but he might now in the daies of his flesh approching to his passion for their deliuerance in most humble and ardent manner mediate aswell for their redemption as preseruation and in this loue zeale towards them for whom he gaue himselfe powre out both abundant teares and bloudie sweats to shew the height of his desire and care to prouide and purchase their protection and saluation His supplications for vs were a necessarie part of our reconciliation to God as well as his sufferings for vs and the Prophet expressing the one adioyneth the other as no lesse requisite then the former in saying q Esa. 53. he bare the sinne of many and prayed for the Trespassers And no doubt he chose this place and time before his
nemo anxietatem euasit nemo egrediente anima sine amaritudine expirauit This griefe nâ—… man hath euer escaped nor any euer breathed out his soule without bitternesse And Martyrs no doubt doe or should priuately in their prayers to God see the sharpenesse of death in respect of their strength and confesse the iustnesse of this punishment layed on all men for sinne and so with all religious feare and most earnest prayer to God for his assistance and defence against the terrour of death approch their endes though the cause for which they die should comfort them and make them cheerefull in the eyes of all their aduersaries when they haue first giuen God his due and reposed themselues on his heauenly protection Euen so did Christ teach vs by his example who to his Father in the Garden confessed the naturall horror of death which he would feele and felt for our sakes and after to his persecutours shewed no such thing but readily met them willingly offered himselfe to them and patiently endured whatsoeuer paine they heaped on him c Cyprianus de Passione Domini Latens in humanitate omnipotentiate Discipulis pauidum coram per secutoribus terribilem exhibebat Omnipotencie couered in mans nature shoâ—…ed thee fearefull to thy Disciples and terrible to thy persecutours sayth Cyprian of Christ. When Christ was carried bound to the President hee was not suppliant to the Sergeants yea he despised he greatnesse of Herod and Pilate de impietate malitia suauitas pietasque Christi triumphat and the mildnesse and godlinesse of Christ triumphed ouer the malice and wickednesse of his persecuters d Defenc. pag. 102. li 26. You answere if death be not fearefull to the seruants of Christ they are the more bound to their Lord and Master who was the first that by death disarmed death and seuered death and hell What is this to our reason Enough and more than enough if your captious head would conceiue it right For Christ tooke from death all destroying power ouer the Elect and from them all amazed and confounding feare which others finde in death and so not only by his example taught them to resort to God with prayer for comfort against the terrour of death but by his agonie enabled them to goe securely and quietly to their deaths notwithstanding the horror thereof since he will helpe them in the midst of that miserie and receiue them with glorie when others thinke them swallowed vp with death e Defenc. pag. 103. li. 10. By breaking the knot betwixt death hell he could not be so wofully affected afflicted aboue measure as he was if he did not suffer by them somwhat extraordinarily Vnto Christ might feele somewhat extraordinary yet not the pains of hell this you haue nothing to answer Are the pains of hell the death of the damned come now to SOMEWHAT EXTRAORDINARIE Heere may the Reader see the verie depth of all your new doctrine It was SOMEWHAT that Christ SVFFERED or FEARED in the Garden ergo it was the second death and the pains of the damned All your idle and erroneous illations and amplifications of martyrs and malefactors end now in SOMEWHAT if you could tell what and because you knowe not what it was you will imagine what you list I doe not doubt but it was somewhat extraordinarie that mooued Christ to this feare sorow and intentiue Prayer after comfort receaued from heauen by an Angell although I dare not determine what it was which the Scriptures doe not expresse much lesse presume it to be the second death as you doe against the Scriptures or frame a new hell of the damned for Christes soule to pay our ransome thereby to crosse the whole course of the word of God teaching and assuring vs the bloud of Christ was the price of our Redemption I see many things extraordinarie or rather nothing wholy ordinarie in the son of God specially at the time of our redemption which he alone for the innocencie and excellency of his person and power could and did throughly performe Yea euen in his agonie though some thinges might be common to him with man yet none of those thinges could be sustained by any man as they were by him And therefore your somwhat betraieth your presumption when thence you inferre what you best like because the Scripture hath not acquainted you with euery secret affection or action that was required in mans saluation g Defenc. pag. 103. li 22. It was not therefore that only but some other death farre more dreadfull and intolerable which made Christ man being also God in such wise to tremble and quake I hope you doe not meane that Christes godhead trembled at your other death or was subiect to any humane feares or miseries nor that your other death was so dreadfull that his diuine power could not keepe him from trembling and quaking at it It was no small part of Christes obedience and humilitie to lay aside his strength when he suffered for our sinnes and not by power to resist repulse or ease the paines which his passion should bring but with exact sense to feele it and with woonderfull patience to indure it Neither was it no part of Christes purpose by his sorrow and feare in the Garden to giue vs to vnderstand that he would vse no power which he might easily haue done to diminish the vehemency or sense of the paines prepared for him least his so sauing himselfe from smart by his secret power should delude Gods Iustice impaire his loue to vs and put vs in despaire of following his example since we had no power to succour ourselues as we might imagine of him had he not by naturall and euident signes of true feare and sorow confirmed vnto vs that he felt his afflictions as much as we doe ours and will helpe our infirmitie and ease our miserie though he would not spare himselfe So that hence a good Christian would collect Christes submission to the weakest degree of mans infirmitie and his communion with vs in tasting the sharpest of our sorowes and not exaggerate his power to make him capable of the second death g Reuel 21. which is the lake burning with fire and brimstone as the Scriptures affirme and consequent not antecedent to the first death as you dreame in Christes case besides that the h Reuel 14. smoke of their torments which are cast into this lake ascendeth euermore and they haue no rest night nor day i Defenc. pag. 103. li. 25. Indeed Christ had farre greater cause as you say to feare euen his bodily death then any of his members haue For it was therefore because death approched vnto him clasped fast with hell so that he could not by the ordinance of God meddle with the one but he must feele the other My wordes enlarged and peruerted by you may seeme to make some musicke for you but of themselues they are true and no way touch
for saken of God whose cause to reconcile them 〈◊〉 then vndertookest and as a most skillfull Patron for seruants thou didest not disdaine to take the person of a seruant and SO FARRE thou didst compassionate the weake that thou wast neither afraid nor ashamed to be crucified and to dy leauing for a time thine owne higth and emptying the maiesty of thy glory that the dispersed might returne and the forsaken might take breath or comfort The forsaking which Cyprian here describeth in Christ consisteth in leauing of his diuine power and glory for a time and in abasing himselfe SO FARRE as to dy the death of the Crosse for their sakes but no farder And these wordes he saith Christ would haue vnderstoode to be a cause of their Reconciliation to God who had deserued for their sinnes to be forsaken of God and therefore he addeth presently f 〈◊〉 I consider thee Lord on that crosse where thou seemedst without helpe or forsaken how with an Emperiall power thou didst send the theefe before to thy kingdome by assuming of whom it is manifest how much thou hadst preuailed for those that were forsaken You would faine so wrest Cyprians wordes that he should say Christ vndertooke our cause and no more but he withall affirmeth that Christ tooke vpon him our person and that his carefull complaint were the wordes of his beloued If the wordes were spoken as well in our person as in our cause then we were indeed forsaken and Christ by laying downe his glorie for a time and obeying his fathers will did by those wordes declare that he reconciled vs to God when we were forsaken and in signe thereof with full power made the theefe partaker of his kingdome that had deserued and was condemned to die the death of a for lorne and forsaken malefactour g Defenc. pag. 109. li. 2. If you thincke they ment that Christ spake this by some strange metonimy naming himselfe but meaning his Church that can haue no good sense I shall not need to tell you The first sense of 〈◊〉 complaint on the Crosse. what I thinke let them speake themselues what they ment and when you haue heard their meaning out of their owne wordes you shall see how much you abused Cyprian to make him speake that he neuerment It is plaine enough which Athanasius saith h Athanaâ—…ius de incarnatione Christi Christ spake those wordes in our person for he was neuer forsaken of God and Austen is as euident i August epist. 120. why disdaine we to heare the voice of the body by the mouth of the head to me that is to my body my church and my litle ones So was it said why hast thou forsaken me euen as it was said he that receaueth you receaueth me No doubt we were in those wordes and the head did speake for his body And likewise Leo k Leo Serm. 16. de Pâ—…ss Dom. Christ spake those wordes in the voice of his Redeemed Neither are they alone in this opinion Theodoret satith l Theodoret. iâ—… Psalm 21. because Christ was the head of mans nature he speaketh for the whole nature of man So Bede m 〈◊〉 a in Psal. 21. Quare dereliquistime idestmeos ideo scilicet quia longè te fecerunt peccata esse à salute mea id est meorum Hec verbaplane innuunt caput non in persona sua hic loqui Quomodo enim derelictus vellonge à salute factus posset esse ille Why hast thou forsaken me that is mine because sinne did put thee farre from sauing me that is mine These words do plainly prooue that the head doth not here speake in his owne person For how could he possiblely be forsaken or remooued from saluation And Euthymius n 〈◊〉 in Psal. 21. The Lord taketh vnto him the person of mans nature as lincked to him and saith why hast thou forsaken me now a man that is the whole nature of man And Damascene o 〈◊〉 Orthodoxe fidei li. 3. ca. 24. Christ was neuer forsaken of his owne Godhead but we were those that were forsaken and despised Wherefore appropriating our person he praied in that sort And expressing what it is to appropriate or assume an others person he saith As when a man doth put on an others person of piety or charitic and in his steed vseth speach for him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which agreeth not vnto himselfe If then we take dereliction for the want of Gods fauour spirit and grace as these Fathers doe it is euident Christ could not so be forsaken and consequently these wordes in that sense which is proper to the Children of Gods wrath could not agree to the person of Christ though it were true in his members that they by nature were forsaken and destitute of grace till he reconciled them to God and diffused his spirite into their harts to make them partakeâ—…s of his holinesse And as for the strangenesse of the metonimy count you that strange which Christ vseth in one Chapter more then thirty times and find you no strangenesse in your conceits which are no where throughout the Scriptures either expressed or so much as coherent with the continuall speach and plaine rules of the Scriptures p Defenc. pag. 109. li. 5. That can haue no good sense For how can it be that we were forsaken of God when Christ was on the Crosse Nay euen then and there we were purchased vnto God not forsaken by God Doth any man vse when he would make reasons for his opinion to refuâ—…e himselfe as you doe we were purchased you say on the Crosse vnto God you must adde by the bloud of his sonne which was also God for that Saint Paul in the plâ—…ce which you cite nameth as the true and right price of this purchase God purchased his Church with his owne bloud and not by the direfull paines of hell as your braine hath lately broched Now if we were purchased on the Crosse then till we were purchased we were enstranged from God and so forsaken of him And what hindreth this complaint or prayer of Christs to beare witnesse that we were now reconciled and purchased vnto God which before were forsaken and separated from God For those words doe not imply that we still continued forsaken but that formerly without Christ we were vtterly forsaken and now by him restored to fauour And the goodnesse of this sense I doe not thinke but any man of meane capacitie will soone conceaue and iudge it more fruitfull for vs to know that by Christs mediation and oblation on the crosse we are now no longer strangers vnto God nor forsaken of him as before we were for our sinnes then that Christ suffered the direfull and infernall paines and death of the damned in his Soule before we could be freed from our sinnes For of the first there can be no question and of the second you neither haue nor euer shall be able to bring one
for the manhood of Christ to say my God my God why hast thou so long forsaken me without any publike signe or shew that thou louest and fauourest me whom this nation had so much wronged and blasphemed or is it of late become so shamefull a thing with you that Christ should complaine he was forsaken and left in the hands of his persuers without help or ease both old and new writers euen of the best learned that haue been in Christs Church haue thought it no shame for Christ in that very respect so to speake o Hieronym in Matth ca. 27. Maruaile not saith Ierom at Christes complaint of being forsaken when thou seest the scandall of his crosse p 〈◊〉 de fide li. 2. ca. 3. He speaketh as a man saith Ambrose which was no shame for him to doe because being in danger we thinke our selues forsaken of God The same wordes q 〈◊〉 in Mar. ca. 14. Bede r 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 ca. 27. Rabanus and r 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 ca. 27. Aquinas repeat and follow Theodoret saith Christ s 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 21. calleth that a dereliction which was a permission of the diuinity that the humanity should suffer Christe would endure saieth Austen this vnto death in the sight of his enemies that they might take him as one forsaken Lyra. u 〈◊〉 Mat. ca 27. Dixit 〈◊〉 derclictum a deo 〈◊〉 quia dimittebat cum in manibus occidentium Christ saith he was forsaken of God his father because he was left in the hands of those that slew him And so our new writers August epist. 120 x 〈◊〉 in Mat. ca. 27. Hic questus est se in manibus impiorum adomnem ipsorvm libidinem a patre derelictum Christ heere complained saith Bucer that he was forsaken of his father or left in the 〈◊〉 of the wicked to endure all their rage Bullinger y Bullingerus in Matth. ca. 27. Derelinquere siue deserere in 〈◊〉 est permittere To forsake or leaue in Christes wordes on the Crosse is to permit So that this was Christs meaning why doest thou suffer me to be thus afflicted why doest thou permit these things to mine enemies when wilt thou deliuer me Munster z Munsterus in Psalm 21. haec Christi verbanon impatientiam aliquam aut diffiden̄tiam prae se ferunt c these words of Christ My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee shew no impatience or diffidence but declare that he was a true man and that he had truely suffered And what if as some learned Fathers conceaue Christ did not grieuously complaine in those wordes that he was forsaken but thereby led his enemies to looke and search in the Psalmes Prophets for the cause why the messias should be so forsaken deliuered into the hands of sinners as they saw he was a August epist. 120. Christ doth not say saith Austen my God my God why hast thou forsaken me sed causum commonuit requirendam cum addidit vt quid dereliquisti me id est propter quid quam ob causam but he admonished the cause to be searched when he added why hast thou forsaken me that is to what end and for what cause for truely there was a cause and that no small cause why God would not deliuer Christ from the handes of the Iewes but leaue him in the power of his persecutors till he died Leo likewise b Leo de Passione 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 17. Therefore Christ cried with a loud voice why hast thou forsaken me that he might make it knowen to all for what cause he ought not to be deliuered nor defended sed saeuientium manibus derelinqui but to be left in the hands of his pursuers which was to be made the Sauiour of the world and the Redeemer of all men non per miseriam sed per misericordiam non amissione auxilij sed definitione moriendi not by any miserable necessitie but of mercie not for lacke of helpe but of purpose to die for vs Whether then Christs meaning in those wordes if we apply them to his owne person were to hasten the time of his death which he knew was at hand and should bring him case of his excessiue How many meanings 〈◊〉 words on the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haue paines or to mooue his father to demonstrate by those signes which followed what fauour and affection he bare to the person of his sonne though for our sakes he suffered him thus to be vsed or to teach his persecutors that there was a cause which they knew not why himselfe being their messias should die this death on the crosse or last whether his manhood conformed it selfe to the desires and grones of his church and members whom the Prophets teach in this wise to pray when they were oppressed with any great calamity or misery none of these waies I say are the wordes of Christ on the crosse chalengeable but they stand well with the piety patience confidence and expectance that were in Christ and haue better foundation in the sacred Scriptures then your paines of the damned or your second death to be then and there suffered in the soule of Christ. c Defenc. pag. 110. li. 7. The bare names againe of Austen Ambrose Ierom doe here likewise no good this is but a weake kind of reasoning for so learned a Diuine as you are I like better this kind of weakenesse in matters of faith to haue the consent of the learned and auncient fathers for that I teach then your kind of strength which is to be so stiffe in your priuate conceits that you will delude the Scriptures with your figures and deride the fathers as seely fooles not vnderstanding the first principles of Religion rather then you will forgoe the least of your fansies If you light on any Reader of the same mind let him know that the choice wil be hard for him to make whether all the fathers in Christes Church did erre in the chiefe grounds of their faith or he himselfe be out of the trueth If Christian Religion were not since Christes time before our age this is a greater forsaking of Christ then any was on the Crosse. For then hath God forgotten all his purposes and promises so often mentioned in the Prophets and confirmed to Christ if there were neuer Church of Christ since the Apostles death till our dayes And he that is of that humour it skilleth not greatly of what side he be for certainly he can be no member of Christs Church that reiecteth all persons places and ages before his birth as none of Christs I wish no wise nor sober Reader so farre to venture his soule If then to the Primatiue Church of Christ next after the Apostles we yeeld but ordinary knowledge of the Christian faith we may not take from so many learned fathers and Pastours as God hath for so many hundred yeares adorned his Church withall the common vnderstanding of their Catechisme and
death for which we must not pray But whosoeuer is borne of God sinneth not that sinne and so neither Christ who was the true Sonne of God nor any of his chosen who are the children of God by adoption can sinne that sinne nor die that death because he that is begotten of God liueth by God who is eternall life to all that know him and cleaue vnto him without separation If then the sinnes of the Elect be not vnto death but such as we in pietie may and in charitie must pray for consequently the death of the soule here meant by Saint Iohn is such as is not incident to any of the sonnes of God and so not the temporall hell which you communicate to Christ and his members Heere are your eight places of Scriptures proouing as you pretend the second death of the soule which you ascribe to Christ in euery one of which saue the first and second there can be no question but euerlasting damnation is intended and in those two the guiltinesse of eternall death which is due to sinne may be comprised in the name of death which the Apostle iustifieth when he sayth t Rom. 5. v. 12. The offence of one came on all men vnto condemnation which is in effect that he sayd before Death went ouer all men forasmuch as all men haue sinned But that any of these intend your temporall hell brought into this life not by snares and feares working on the soules of men but by substance and essence and not eternall death in hell fire with the Diuell and his Angels you nor all your adherents shall euer be able by any ground of holy Scripture to make it appeare And therefore your presuming it vpon the bare shew of places concluding no such thing is a pestilent intrusion vpon the word of God whiles you sticke not to couple your conceits which are false and erroneous with his vndoubted and vndefiled trueth x Defenc. pag. 135. li. 31. First ordinarily and commonly it belongeth only to the damned wherewithall are the ordinarie accidents and concomitants desperation induration vtter darknesse c. with perpetuitie of punishment and that locally in HELL Generally and truely the Scriptures neuer vse the name of the second death but for the lake burning with euerlasting fire into which the Diuell and all the Reprobate shall be cast and whatsoeuer you otherwise pretend is your owne absurd deuice without the Scriptures and against the Scriptures to keepe your doctrine from open derision and detestation And since your selfe acknowledge that this is the ordinarie and vsuall doctrine of the Scriptures it shal be needfull for your Reader to hold you to that till you fully proue your extraordinarie deuice by the same Scriptures by which the other is euidenly confirmed and so much openly confessed by you y Defenc. pag. 135. li. 36. In this sense the Fathers generally do take it where they denie that Christ suffered the death of the soule and so do we If your cause haue so little holde in the Scriptures it hath lesse in the Fathers who in the necessarie worke of our redemption thought it sacriledge to say any thing that was not apparently proued by the Scriptures And as you light not on a true word when you come to deliuer vs the mysteries of your new hell so this is patently false that the Fathers generally take the death of the soule for eternall damnation only when they denie that Christ died the death of the soule They speake as the Scriptures leade them and confessing two deaths of the soule as the Scriptures doe which are sinne excluding all grace and the wages of sinne euen euerlasting damnation they generally denie that Christ died any death of the soule and haue for confirmation of their doctrine therein the whole course of the sacred Scriptures concurring with them x Defenc. pag. 135. li. 37. Secondly the death of the soule or the second death may be extraordinarily and singularly considered namely to imply no more but simply the very nature and essence of it You broach two apparent and euident vntrueths which you make the whole foundation of your presumptuous errour First that either Christ or his Elect in this life did or do suffer the very nature and essence of the second death Next that the Scriptures do singularly and extraordinarily reserue that kinde of second death for Christ and his members Shew either of these by the word of God before you make them grounds of your doctrine or els any meane Reader may soone conceiue you meane to teach no trueth confirmed in the Scriptures but a bolde and false deuice of your owne which you would extraordinarily intrude vpon the word of God a Defenc. pag. 136. li. 5. This is a death to the soule as before we haue shewed according to this sense the Scriptures and Fathers before noted may rightly be vnderstood not to denie it in Christ. When you glaunced before at the death of Christes soule you prayed vs to haue patience When the Defender shouâ—…d proue the death of Christs soule he sayeth bee hâ—…th proued it already till you came to the place where we should receiue a reasonable satisfaction and now you are come to the place where you should make iust and full proofe thereof you send vs backe againe and say you haue shewed it before What meaneth this doubling and deceiuing of your Reader but that you would seeme to haue many proofs when indeed you haue none and therefore you post vs to and fro to seeke for that we shall neuer finde In the 113. Page of this Defence you went about by your miserable misconstruing of certaine wordes vsed by some of the Fathers to enforce a shew of a death on the soule of Christ but against the haire as there I haue proued and therefore stand not on your former vnfortunate aduentures but either heere make proofe by the Scriptures that Christ died the death of the soule or leaue prating and publishing it so confidently as you and your adherents do for the chiefe part of mans redemption The Scriptures and Fathers you say before noted may rightly be vnderstood not to denie it in Christ. Is this all you haue to say for the death of Christes soule that the Scriptures and Fathers may be vnderstood not to denie it The Scriptures must affirme it before you can make it any point of Christian religion or part of our reconciliation to God b Rom. 10. Faith is by hearing and hearing by the word of God and not by not denying If that be your course to put any thing to the Creed which you list to say the Scriptures doe not denie you may quickly haue a large Creed containing all things which the Scriptures abused with your figures and wrested to your fansies shall not in expresse words as you thinke denie c Defenc. pag. 136. li. 9. Moreouer let it be obserued that if we had no proofes at all
crucifixi corporis iniuria intelligitur Sola in Christo materia carnis mortis fragilitate defuncta spem resurrectionis expectabat The prophesie in the Psalmes auouch the passion of Christ in the flesh only when it saith they pearced my hands and my feet and numbred all my bones Where not the iniurie of his deity but of his body is percâ—…aued in Christ the matter only of his flesh yeelding to the srailty of death expected resurrection Petrus quoque Apostolus Christi supplicium sic praedicat in solo corpore consummatum a Ibidem qui peccata inquit nostra pertulit in corpore suo super lignum Peter also the Apostle preacheth the passion of Christ to haue beene performed ONLY IN HIS BODY when he saith Christ bare our sinnes in his body on the tree And againe b Ibidem Sola caro crucis exitium sensit sola caro lanceam pertulit sola sanguine aqua manauit Ipsa sola mortua ipsa sola in sepulchro posita ipsa sola tertio dic resuscitata Only the flesh of Christ tasted the sharpnesse of the Crosse only the flesh endured the speare only the flesh yeelded forth bloud and water That only died that only lay in the graue that ONLY ROSE AGAINE And assuring themselues this to be the Christian faith confirmed in the old and new testament they say c Ibidem Ecce pronunciata est passio corporis Christi ex lege Prophetis Cuius quidem fidei verit as tam est efficax vt eam nec tyranni sua potuerint crudelitate confundere nec haereticorum subdola circumâ—… to pessumdare nâ—…c hypocritarum diminuere fallax simulatio The passion of the body of Christ is prooued by the law and the Prophets The trueth of which faith is so forcible that neither tyrants with their â—…rucltie could confound it nor Heretickes with their crafty deuices euert it nor Hypocrites with their false dissembling diminish it Theodoret. d Theodoret. Dialogo 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how could the soule of our Sauiour hauing an immortall nature and not touched with the least spot of sinne be possibly taken with the hooke of death Cyril e Cyril de recta fide ad Râ—… li. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If we conceaue Christ to be God incarnate and suffering in his owne flesh the death of his flesh alone sufficeth for the redemption of the world Fulgentius f Fulgentius aâ—… I 〈◊〉 li. 3. ca. 7. Quis ignoret Christum nec in diuinitate sed IN SOLO CORPORE MORTVVM sepultum Who can be ignorant that Christ was dead and buried not in his deity but in his body only Cum sola caro moreretur resuscitaretur in Christo filius Dei dicitur mortuus Idem Christus secundum solam carnem mortuus secundum solam animam ad insernum descendit When the flesh onely died and was raised againe in Christ the Sonne of God is said to haue died The same Christ died in his flesh onely and descended into hell in his soule ONELY g Idem ca. 5. Moriente carne non solum Dietas sed nec anima Christi potest ostendi commortua The flesh dying not onely the dietie but the soule of Christ cannot be shewed to haue bene also dead The same Father and fifteene other Bishops of Africa make this confession of their faith h Mors silij Dei quam sola carne suscepit vtramque in nobis mortem animae scilicet carnisque destruxit The death of the Sonne of God which he SVFFERED IN HIS FLESH ALONE destroyed in vs both our deaths to wit the death of soule body This confession Gregory followed when he said i Gregorius in 〈◊〉 li. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Solumpro nobis mortem carnis suscepit Christ vndertooke for vs the only death of the flesh And againe comming to vs who were iâ—… the death of spirit and flesh Christ brought his owne death to vs and loosed both our deaths His sâ—…le death 〈◊〉 applied to our double death and dying vanquished our double death Vigius k Secundum proprietatem naturae sola carâ—… mortâ—…m sâ—…t sola caro sepulturae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ergo 〈◊〉 dominum iacuisse in sepulchro sâ—…d in sola carne Dominum d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 According to the propriety of nature onely the 〈◊〉 of Christ 〈◊〉 death onely the â—…sh was buried Therefore we say the Lord lay in the grâ—…ue but in flesh alone and descended into hell but in SOVIE Aâ—…ONE Bede treadeth iust in their steps l 〈◊〉 in ca. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hoc 〈◊〉 quod mâ—…atur Nam verbum 〈◊〉 non potuit 〈◊〉 anima illa mortua â—…it Caro tantum mortua est resurrexit tertia 〈◊〉 That was raised which died the Godhead could not die his soule was not dead onely his flesh died and râ—…se againe And againe m Idem Homiâ—… 4. in 〈◊〉 Veniens adnos qui in morte carnis spiritus eramus vnam suam id est carnis mortem pertulit duas nostras absoluit simplam suam nostrae duplâ—… coâ—…t dulpam nostram subegit Christ comming to vs that were in death of bodie and spirit suffered onely one death that is the death of the flesh and freed both our deaths â—…ee applied his one death to our double death and vanquished them both Albinus n Quid significat morte morieris duplicem mortem â—…ominis designat animae videlicit corpâ—…s Animae mors est dum proptâ—…r peccatum quodlibâ—…t animam dâ—…t Deus Corporis â—…rs est dum propter necessitatem quamlibet corpus descritur â—…b anima Et hanc duplâ—…m Christus sua 〈◊〉 destruxit Nam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est ad tempus anima vero nunquam qui nunquam peccauit What is ment â—…y this tâ—…ou shalâ—…â—…e the death it noteth a double death in man to wit of soule and body The death of the soule is when for any sinne God forsaketh it the death of the 〈◊〉 is wâ—…en for any necessitie the bodie is depriued of the soule This double death of 〈◊〉 Christ destroyed with his single death for hee died onely in 〈◊〉 for a time but in soule he neuer died who neuer sinned This continued without change to Bernards time who saith of Christ o Ex duaâ—…s 〈◊〉 nostris cum aâ—…ra nobis in cuâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reputaretur susâ—…ns pâ—…am nesâ—…ns culpam dum sponâ—…é TANTVMâ—…N CORPORE MORITVR vitam nobis 〈◊〉 promâ—…ur Of our two deaths where one was the desert of 〈◊〉 the other the dâ—…e of punishment Christs taking our punishment but 〈◊〉 from sinne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dieth willingly and ONELY IN 〈◊〉 hee meâ—…h â—…or vs life and 〈◊〉 I haue bene the longer good Reader in alleaging these fathers to assure thee that I deliuer no doctrine touching our redemption but â—…uch as the whole Church of Christ in the best purest times professed to
be principles of the Christian faith and that in so euident and pertinent manner that I know not how to lighten or strengthen their wordes Thou hearest them with one voice affirme that Christ died not A DOVBLE but A SINGLE death for vs which they likewise aâ—…ch was the death of HIS BODY ONLY AND NOT OF HIS SOVLâ—… and THâ—… DEATH OF THE SOVLE HE DIED NOT. The death of the soule they truely deriue from the Scriptures to be either sinne or damnation sinne by which men are depriued of all grace and so of the life of God and damnation which is a perpetuall reiection from all blisse addicting the wicked to eternall and intollerable miserie in the torments of hell fire Which of these things will this dreamer denie will he say that Christ died moe deaths then ONE and as well the death of the soule as of the bodie So he must say if he will vphold his new redemption by the death of Christs soule and so he doth say but whether there in he crosse not the full consent of Christs whole Church I leaue it to thy censure Will he shift as hee hath hitherto done with the name of flesh that it compriseth as well the soule as the bodie and therefore by the death of Christs flesh onely the Fathers doe not exclude the death of Christs soule but the death of his Godhead they prooue indeed against the Arians that the Sonne of God could not die in his Diuine nature but onely in his humane flesh And this as we now see is one of their maine reasons The soule of Christ died not nor coulde die much lesse then his Godhead And therefore the most of them do expresse that argument vtterly denying that Christes soule died any kinde of death but onely his flesh Besides a number of them not onely expresâ—…e by circumstances and consequents of burying and rising againe what the rest meane by the flesh but they vse the word 〈◊〉 which can not be taken for the soule and with like zeale and truth auouch that Christ died in his body onely So that these three stand for cleere and sounde conclusions with all these Fathers First that Christ died BVT ONE KIND of death Secondly that HE DIED ONELY IN HIS FLESH OR BODY and thirdly that THE DEATH OF THE SOVLE HE NEITHER DID NOR COVLD DIE. Will hee shuâ—…e with the name of death and say they ment not his kind of death that will nothing relieue him For first if Christ died but one kinde of death and of his bodily death no Christian may so much as doubt then by maine consequent out of their wordes Christ died no death of the soule let him take it how and which way he will Againe if Christ DIED ONELY IN BODY as they likewise witnesse then apparantly he died not any death of the soule neither in your sense Sir Defenser nor in theirs Lastly what death of the soule can you shew mentioned in the Scriptures without the compasse of their diuision that is which is not sinne or damnation Of sinne the Apostles wordes are plaine p Rom. 7. Sinne seduced me and slew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and I died as likewise that q â—…hes 2. q Coloss. 2. we were dead in our sinnes This death men liâ—…ing may die as the Apostle saith of wanton widowes r â—… Tim. 5. lyuing she is dead and of all the Gentils s â—…phes 4. walking in the vanitie of their minde they are strangers from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the hardnesse of their heart who being past feeling haue giuen themselues to worke all vncleanesse euen with greedinesse Where the hardnesse of mans heart voide of all feeling or 〈◊〉 of God and so running on in all wickednesse is by the Apostle defined to be the death of the soule which is a depriuing or â—…anging from the life of God The second death as I before haue shewed is the laâ—…e burning with fire and brimstone into which the diuell and all the wicked shall be cast Shew now a third death of the soule not in your extraordinarie fansie and folly but in the word of God to which these Fathers proportion their speeches If there be no such thing there then directly earnestly and truely do these Fathers auouch that Christ dâ—…ed no death of the soule Of Fathers it may be your Mastership maketh small account and will not sticke in the high perswasion of your great and deepe learning to reiect them all as ignorant of the principles of their faith and so fitter to be taught then to teach but that proud peeuishnesse to giue it no worse words I leaue to the sober to censure for an vpshot the Reader shall haue a cleere conclusion out of the sacred Scriptures that the soule of Christ neuer was nor could be dead and consequently that these learned and ancient Fathers deliuered sound and true doctrine touching the soule of Christ and The soule of Christ liuing by graâ—…e could no way be dead fully build their asâ—…ertions on the maine foundations of the Diuine Scriptures It is euident by nature sense and trueth that priuatiues can not concurre at one and the same time in one and the same subiect For the one expelleth the other and so can not be found both together Yea since the one of them cleerely remooueth the other they can no more stand together then may contradiction For that which liueth is not dead and that which is dead liueth not I meane alwaies the same time and the same part But the soule of Christ by the manifest and manifold testimonies of holie Scripture did alwaies liue in the fulnesse of faith of hope of loue of grace of trueth of spirit It is euident therefore that the soule of Christ neuer died nor could die Which of these assertions will you encounter that Christes soule may be aliue and dead both at one time You would seeme the leafe before to shunne the shame of t Defenc. pag. 140. li. 25. this absurditie that Christes soule died and died not will you now come plainely and grossely to it by auouching that Christes soule was at one and the same time LIVING AND NOT LIVING DEAD AND NOT DEAD that is both ALIVE AND DEAD If you doe there is no man in England that hath either eies or eares to see or heare but he will reprooue you for a manifest beliar of his sense as well as of Christs soule Will you smoothly set yourselfe to one side and say that Christs soule was not aliue so many parts of life as I haue named in the soule of Christ so many pregnant proofes are there in holy Scripture that Christes soule was not onely liuing but as full of life as of grace during the whole time of his passion Neither is there any one of those things named by mee concerning the life of Christes soule which you can take from Christ without apparent blasphemie For if
prepared which were requisite to offer the sacrifice for our sinnes behold the Priest with his sacrifice Christ with his body the body I say of him that was God who through voluntary obedience to his Father and most ardent loue to vs offered himselfe to God for a most sweet smell And where did he offer himselfe on the altar of the Crosse he suffered and died and that on the crosse k Ibidem Patitur in anima summam tristitiam timorem ignominiam in corpore summos dolores in singulis membris atrocissima flagella l Ibidem In ligno moritur vt mors per lignum ingressa in mundum per lignum tolleretur è mundo He suffered in soule most exceeding heauinesse feare and shame In his bodie most bitter paines in euerie member most grieuous scourges On the tree he died that as death came into the world by a tree so it might be taken out of the world by a tree m Idem in ca. 1. ad Ephes. v. 7. To that point how we are redeemed the Apostle saith by his bloud that is by 〈◊〉 sacrifice which consisted of the offering of his body deliuered to death and his bloud shed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fuit proprius modus this was the proper manner or onely way how we must be redeemed from the captiuitie of sinne and death This n Ibidem sacrifice which is often signified by the name of Christeâ—… bloud alone is that price of which the Prophets before and after the Apostles say we were redeemed by it For o Ibidem we are redeemed and haue remission of sinnes in Christ by his onely bloud p Idem de tribus 〈◊〉 1. cap. 5. test 9. This is euen he who by the onely sacrifice of his bodie should effectually clense the sinnes of the world And so againe The Apostle q Idem in ca. 1. ep ad Coloss. vers 22. expresseth the materiall cause of our reconciliation or the thing wherewith the Father reconciled vs to himselfe to 〈◊〉 by the oblation of the true and humane body of Christ deliuered to death for our sinnes This he meaneth when he saith in the body of his flesh through death For this body which was truely flesh and an humane body not simply but as it died is the matter of our reconciliation by that was reconciliation made He r Ibidem ioineth the body with bloud because both are the price of our reconciliation and by both were our sinnes clensed The Apostle then s Ibidem signifieth reconciliation was by the oblation of the body of Christ as by the true sacrifice sor sinne Zanchius speaketh not precisely you will say against the death of Christes soule In plainely and fully deliuering the matter and meane of our redemption to be the ONELY SACRIFICE of the body and bloud of Christ offered on the crosse to death he excludeth all other ransomes for our sins so maketh the death of Christs soule not onely to be superfluous to mans saluation but no meane of our redemption For in his iudgement t Zanchius de tribus Elohim part 1. li. 5. ca. 1 〈◊〉 10. Christ is the propitiatorie sacrifice for sinne not simply but as he died for vs with the shedding of his bloud and u Ibidem this ONELY SACRIFICE the shedding of Christes bloud vnto death God chose from euerlasting for the expiation of our sinnes and promised the same from the creation of the world and shadowed it with resemblances And touching the death of the soule if you teach as Zanchius doth you will presently finde it is open blasphemie to ascribe to Christ any death of the soule x Zanchâ—… tractat theologicâ—… de peccato originali ca. 4. thes 3 A triple death saith he God threatned to Adam for disobedience a spirituall death which was the separation of grace of the holy Ghost and of originall righteousnesse from the soule and body of Adam of which death in the Scriptures there is often mention made This death Adam died as soone as he did eate The second was a corporall death whereby the soule is seuered from the bodie To this Adam was presently vpon his eating made subiect though he did not straightwayes actually die The third is euerlasting death which is knowen to all of this death Adam was forthwith made guiltie This triple death was the punishment of his disobedience And vpon like occasion comparing the death of the soule and of the bodie he saith y Ibidem in ca. 2. epist. ad ephes vers 5. There is a triple death spirituall of the spirit or soule corporall knowen to all men and the third is that eternall death pertaining to bodie and soule wherewith all the wicked shall be punished in hell These all God threatned to Adam when he said what hower soeuer thou shalt eate c. thou shalt die the death For he straightway died in spirit or soule he incurred also the death of the bodie because he became mortall and was made guiltie of eternall death z Ibid. We haue rightly said death to bee the priuation of life and so of all the actions of life consisting in the separation of bodie and soule The like we must say of the spirituall life and death The spirituall life is a certaine spirituall and diuine force whereby we are mooued to spirituall and diuine actions by the presence of the holy Ghost dwelling in vs. The holy Ghost regenerating vs in this spirituall life is as it were the soule thereof And holy and spirituall thoughts holy desires holy actions both inward and outward are the operations of this spirituall life What then is the death of the spirit euen the priuation of the spirituall life and consequently of all spirituall and good actions in a man destitute of the presence of the holy Ghost which should quicken him comming from sinne and for sinne a Ibidem What strength hath a man dead in bodie to the actions of this life so neither can he that is dead in spirit or soule do any workes of the spirituall life Heere is a full and true description of the death of the spirit or soule of man which if you and your friends dare attribute to Christ then doth Zanchius fauour the death of Christs soule but if euery peece hereof applied to Christ be euident heresie and infidelitie then did Zanchius no way defend the death of Christes soule to be any part of our redemption and as for the second death he acknowledgeth none but that which is eternall and inflicted in hell on all the wicked Much more might be brought to like effect shewing the true and onely meane and matter of our redemption and reconciliation to be the only body and bloud of Christ yeelded vnto death for the ransome of our sinnes but I should make a new volume if I should stand thereon It may suffice in the iudgement of any reasonable man to refute the slaunderous
God and chiefly Christs soule when it descended to hell not only to be brought thence but euen there by gods hand assisting to destroy the strength of Satans kingdome and to triumph ouer all the powers and Principalities of darkenesse If those wordes did alwaies import a present possession and fruition of heauenly glorie then could Dauid with no truth haue spoken them of himselfe so long before his death when as yet no part of Gods promises to him touching his kingdome were perfourmed But the soules of the faithfull are alwaies in the hand of God whiles heere they are protected by him and after this life receaued in rest though they come not as yet to be inuested with the fulnesse of heauenly glory Yea the words properly pertaining to our Sauiours person and condition after death ` Thou wilt not leaue or forsake my soule in hell doe shew that Christs soule was then in Gods hands and compassed round with the power and glory of God when hell and Satan trembled at his presence and were both vanquished and spoiled by him Your adding that this sentence may be fitly applied to Christ prooueth nothing For though I haue no doubt but Christs soule was with farre greater honour and fauour ioy and blisse receaued into the hands of God to whom it was committed then the soules of all his Saints yet that doth not prooue his present entraunce after death into the glory of heauen and continuance in the same except you will say that at his resurrection and till his Ascension his soule was out of his Fathers hands because during that time it was on earth and not in heauen which were a strange position in diuinity The soules of the righteous were in the hands of God long before Christs comming as the wise man witnesseth and yet were they not in the glory of heauen but in Abrahams bosome as our Sauiour teacheth And so the wise man expoundeth himselfe adding No torment shall touch them they are in peace and in the time of their visitation they shall shine reseruing them to a time appointed when glory shal be reuealed on them though in the meane whiles their spirits were kept in rest and ioy vnder the mighty hand of God The Thieues being in Paradise with Christ the same day that he died concludeth no such thing as you conceaue For first no words there or els where euince that Christ spake this of his humane nature Saint Austen resolueth The sense is much easier and freer from all ambiguities if Christ be vnderstood to haue said this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise not of his manhood but of his godhead And in his 111. Tractate vpoÌ„ Iohn vpholding the same exposition addeth He that said to the thiefe painfully hanging yet healthfully confessing this dâ—…y shalt thou be with me in Paradise according to his manhood had his soule that daâ—…e in hâ—…ll his flesh 〈◊〉 the graue but according to his godhead vndoubtedlie he was in Paradise Titus Bishop of Bostra in Arabia somewhat elder then Austen sheweth how these words may be verified of either of Christs natures How was this promise of our Lord made to the thiefe this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise performed Christ takâ—…n dâ—…wne from the crosse was in hell according to his soule and neuerthelesse by the power of his diuinity brought the Thiefe into Paradise Happily he first caried the beleeuing Thiefe to Paradise before he descended to hell Damascen is of Austens mind The same Christ is adored in heauen as God together with the Father and with the holy Ghost and he as man lay in the Sepulchre with his body and abode in hell with his soule and gaue entrance to the thiefe into Paradise his diuinity which cannot be comprehended in any place euery where accompanying him And so is Euthymius How said Christ this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise because as God who filleth all places he was euery where at one instant in the sepulchre in hell and in Paradise and in heauen But admit the words to be ment of Christs humane soule what reason call you this Christs soule was in Paradise that very day that he died ergo neither that day nor any day els before his resurrection his soul did or could descend to hell You must amend these reasons before any man will yeeld you to haue reason or sense Christ might that very day that he went to Paradise subdue and subiect all power in hell vnto himsâ—…lfe he might doe it the next day he might doe it the third day when he rose from the dead the time is not the thing we striue for which we must leaue to God but the reall and actuall performance of the Apostles words He spoiled powers and principalities and made an open shew of them triumphing ouer them in himselfe which in other words Peter expressed when he said Christs soule was not left or forsaken in hell but God raised him â—…p loosing the sorowes of death or hell that euery knee of things vnder earth should â—…ow vnto him as well as of things in heauen and earth and that euerie tongue euen of the damned and Diuels for there are none other vnder earth should confesse either willingly or constrainedly Iesus Christ to be Lord vnto the glory of God the Father This conquest ouer hell and Satan being acknowledged whereby all power in heauen and earth and consequently in hell conteined in the earth was yeelded vnto Christs manhood after his death and before or at his resurrection we shall not need to be curious about the time and manner thereof The compilers of the centuries at Magdeburge doe well admonish Descendisse Christum in infernum articulus sidei est verum quanam ratione ibi omnia sunt gesta non est expresse traditum That Christ descended to hell is an article of the faith but in what sort all things there were donne is not expressely deliuered Happilie it is enough for vs to hâ—…ld the generall and a more exact declaration of this mysterie wee shall heare in another life The eternall and generall ordinance of God is shewed Luc. 16. to be such that none can goe out of heauen downe to hell nor come from hell vp to heauen You boldly presume after your maner that Abrahams bosome was heauen of which many learned men do make great doubt For if the soules of the righteous were in heauen before Christes death and biâ—…th then were they equall vnto the elect Angels before the resurrection which Christ saith shall be when they are the children of the resurrection and so not before And how were the wordes of our Sauiour true which he spake in his life time No man ascendeth vp to heauen but he that descended from heauen the Sonne of man which is in heauen If all the Saints deceased were in heauen or how had
the perfection of their celestiall glory Otherwise against you and all that out of this place surmise that iust mens soules shall not be deliuered out of Sheol till the resurrection the sense and words of Dauid in this are pregnant enough For Dauid putting a difference in thâ—…se two verses betwixt himselfe and the wicked and that with an aduersatiue coniunction since the soules of the wicked are in Sheol presently vpon their deaths if Dauids must be there also what distinction doe his wordes make betweene himselfe and those others of whom he spake before Againe he saith God will deliuer his soule from Sheol ki cúm or quia when he shall receiue me or because he will receiue me Take which you will it is plaine by the Scriptures and by these very words of Dauid that so soonâ—… as God receiueth the soule of man it is deliuered from Sheol But hee receiueth the soules of his Saints instantly vpon their deaths they are therefore presently deliuered out of Sheol and stay not there by any force of Dauids wordes vntill the resurrection Lord Iesus sayd Steuen euen as he was stoned receiue my spirit The begger died saith the Gospell and was caried by the Angels into Abrahams bosome This day shalt thou be with mee in Paradise said Christ to the theefe He that beleeueth in him that sent me saith Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is already passed from death to life If the faithfull passe so soone to life they bee as soone deliuered from Sheol by Dauids owne confession against which I will heare neither you nor any man liuing Againe that Psalme sheweth it also where it is thus written My soule is filled with sorrowes and my liâ—…e draweth neere to Sheol by his life he meaneth his soule the proper cause and fountaine of life in him which also in â—…e first part of the sentence hee nameth By these rouing and licentious glozes builded on the sands of your owne saying you thinke you may prooue what you will and all shall be expresse Scripture if you say the word Life you will haue to be soule drawing neere to be abiding in The graue to be the generall condition of soules deceased and to warrant all this your selfe is the soothsayer By his life he meaneth his soule which also in the first part of the sentence hee nameth as the manner of phrase in the Psalme is in the second part to speake of the same things that are in the former Many verses in the Psalmes doe illustrate the selfe same generall with diuers parts adiuncts and consequents but that the words be of all one force or signification in euery such verse this is an other of your new found methodes which is nothing else but a meere confusion of all things For will you see with your manner of phrase as you finâ—…ly furbish it what consequents hang on these kind of collections This life of which Dauid speaketh continueth not in Sheol because it is vtterly exstinguished by Sheol ergo the soule likewise is mortall and wholy perisheth in Sheol for so doth the life mentioned by Dauid which you say is all one with the soule Againe if both these parts import one sense then the iust in Sheol are filled with sorrowes for so are the former wordes of Dauid And if that be true how much hath the spirit of God deceiued vs who bad S. Iohn write blessed are the dead which hereafter die in the Lord euen so saith the spirit for they rest from their labours But that was the spirit of trueth and therefore the spirit of error in you sucketh these absurdities out of the Psalmes by your misconstruction of them Indeede I denie not but life may signifie heere the whole person of man and so may nephesh the soule also very well and then Sheol and Hades signifie not peculiarly and distinctly the graue which is only for the car casse but the condition of the whole man after he hath no being in this world And per aduenture so it is vnderstood heere in thâ—…se places in which sense Sheol and Hades are farre from signifying hell yea or heauen either yea or onely and meerely the graue but it signisieth destruction out of this world and not being heere any more as aforetime to the whole person that is both to the bodie and to the soule The idle deuices of this wild-gooseracer who would spend either time or paines to tracke when he reeleth to and fro like a man pot-shotten with it may be and per aduenture it is so and closeth vp all in the end with a dangerous destruction which he maketh to be iust nothing Boyes meanely Catechised can soone conceiue that death or the graue bringeth with it an end of all earthly things from which the wicked are loth to depart as hauing no farder nor better hope after this life and therefore to them death is a destruction indeed that is a ceasing of all their pleasures and an encreasing of all their paines To the godly who put not their hearts to the things of this world but desire to bee dissolued and to bee with Christ and in comparison of his presence account all earthly things to be base and burdenous death is a gaine and no destruction because they renounced the loue of all these worldly thinges before hand and sought for the permanent citie whose founder is God Wherefore to them this bodie is a burden this life is a warefare and this world is a desert full of snares and pits Wherein they wander as pilgrimes and strangers If then to lay aside these troubles and trifles and to be freed from all labours and dangers and to come home to the countrcy and citie which God hath prouided for the faithfull be in any wise mans sense a destruction then haue you some reason to call the generall condition of death as well to the iust as to the wicked a destruction but if that thought and speech be void of all religion and reason then doe you houer in the midst betweene heauen and hell and huddle saluation and damnation in one generall condition or state as you call it and when you sce what inconuenience will follow thereof you make it nothing but a meere priuation or an end of things past And this you would applie as well to the person of Christ whose soule you say was in no Sheol but this as to al his members whose soules shall not be freed from this destruction and Sheol till the day of resurrection Did you speake of the nature of death in it selfe or as it taketh hold on the wicked I would allow the word destruction which if it be well vnderstood is more then a mâ—…re priuation but when you presume to peruert the Scriptures with peraduentures and to sow to them what sense you list as may best fit your monstrous fancies lâ—…t no man be offended if I often thinke it fit to reiect your
to the enemie The diuell therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thinking to kill one lost all and hoping to carie one to Hades hell was himselfe cast out of hades hell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hades hell is abrogated death no more preuailing but all being raised to life neither can the diuell stand vp any more against vs but is fallen and indeed creepeth on his brest and bellie And therefore of the Saints he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in fine they saw Hades hell spoiled Epiphanius in sundrie places expresseth the parts and purpose of Christs descending to hell or hades He was crucified buried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hee descended to the places vnder earth in his diuinitie and in his soule he tooke captiuitie captiue and rose againe the third day What here he calleth places vnder the earth whither Christes soule went after his death that elswhere he calleth Hades The Godhead of Christ would performe all things that perteined to the mysterie of his passion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and would descend together with his soule to the infernall places to worke the saluation there of such as were before dead I meane the holy Patriarcks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that he might performe the things he would against hades in the forme of a man euen in hades that the chiefe Ruler HADES and death thinking to lay hands on a man and not knowing his Deitie vnited to his sacred soule Hades himselfe might rather be surprised and death dissolued and that fulfilled which was spoken Thou wilt not leaue my soule in Hades Basil Death is not altogether euill except you speake of the death of a sinner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because their departure hence is the beginning of their punishments in hades againe the euâ—…s that are in hades haue not God for their cause but our selues the head and root of sinne is in vs and in our willes And againe Dathan and Abiram were swallowed vp of earth the gulfes and clefts thereof opening vnder them Heere were not they the better for this kinde of punishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for how should they be so that went to hades to hell but they made the rest the wiser by their example And writing on the 48 Psalme Because man turned himselfe from the word of God and became a beast the enemie caught him as a sheepe without a shepheard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and put him in hades hell but when he sayth God will redeeme my soule from the power of hades he doth plainly prophesie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the descent of the Lord to hades who would redeeme the Prophets soule with others not to abide there Nazianzene in his second Oration against Iulian the Renâ—…gate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stop thou thy secrets and wayes that leade to hell hades I will declare the plaine wayes which leade to heauen And of Christ he sayth Christ died but he restored to life and with his death abolished death He was buried but he rose againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He descended to hell hades but he brought backe soules and ascended to heauen Macarius When thou hearest that Christ deliuered soules 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of hell hades and darkeneâ—…se and that the Lord descended to hades and did an admirable worke thinke not these thinâ—… to be farre from thine owne soule And thus he maketh Christ to speake to death and to the diuell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I command thee hades and darkenesse and death restore the soules inclosed And so the wickâ—… powers trembling refund man that was inclosed Cyrill of Alexandria In olde times before Christ the soules of men departing from their bodies were sent to fill the receptacles of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in dennes vnder the earth But after Christ commended his oâ—…ne soule to his Father he renewed the same way for vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And now we goe not to bades from any place but we follow him rather in this and committing our soules to a faithfull Creatour we rest in excellent hope Yet of Christ he aâ—…firmeth The soule which was coupled and vnited to the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 descended into hades and vsing the power and force of the Godhead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shewed it selâ—…e to the spirits or soules there For we must not say that the Godhead of the onely begotten which is a nature vncapable of death and no waâ—… conquerable by it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was brought backe from the dâ—…es vnder the earth Cyrill of Ierusalem like wise in his Catechismes vpon those words of the Psalme If ascend to heauen thou art there if I goe downe to hades tâ—…u art preâ—…ent sayth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If tâ—…ere â—…e â—…ing higher than the heauens and hades be lower than the earth he that compreâ—…â—…eth the â—…owest doth also touch the earth And to those that were baptized he sayth When thou renouncest Satan thou hast vtterly abrogated the couenant had with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. euen the olde couenant â—…ith hades hell and the Paradise of God is opened to thee In the Homilies which Leo the Emperour made for the exercise of his stâ—…le and confession of his faith it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ is risen bringing Hades prisoner with him and proclaiming lilibertie to the capitues He that held others bound is now in bonds himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ is come from hades with the ensigne of his triumph the sowre and heauie lookes of those that are vtterly ouerthrowen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as of Hades death and the hatefull diuels Damascene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The soule deisied descended to Hades that as to those on earth the Sonne of righteousnesse was risen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so to those that sate vnder the earth in darkenesse and in the shadow light might shine The brazen gates were torne the iron barres were broken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the keeper of Hades hell did shake for feare and the foundations of the world were laid open Cydonius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That there is in hades hell vengeance for all sinnes heere committed not onely the consent of all wise men but also the equalitie of the Diuine iustice confirmeth and strengthmeth this opinion Aeneas Gazeus He that in a priuate life committeth small sinnes and lamenteth them escapeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the punishments that are in Hades hell Gregentius Christ tooke a rodde out of the earth which was his pretious crosse stretching his right hand strake all his enemies conquered them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Hades death sin and that wilâ—…e serpent Theophylact. The rich man dying is not caried by the angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but
to heauen as Dauid likewise foretold of him and there sitteth at the right hand of God vntill all his enemies in the rest of his members be made his footstoole and thence hath he shed forth this which you now see and heare euen the promise of the holy Ghost receaued of the Father for all his Know ye therefore for a suertie that God hath made him both Lord ouer all in heauen earth and hell and Christ euen the annointed Sauiour of all his elect Against this illation neither all the miscreants in earth nor all the Diuels in hell can open their mouths Where first we may see that Peter resteth more on the manner and power of Christs resurrection then simply on this that his soule was reunited to his body from which by death it was seuered Secondly he bringeth the words of Dauid to shew that either part of the Messias submitted to death for the time was to returne againe to life with greater glory the flesh free from all corruption the soule superiour to all destruction Thirdly that these things neither were nor could be verified in Dauid since Dauid saw corruption as his sepulchre prooued remaining to that day and Dauid was not as then ascended to heauen much lesse made Lord ouer all his enemies Heere is no such prerogatiue mentioned If this were common to Christ with Dauid and others of the faithfull how could Peter hence conclude that this was not spoken of Dauid but onely of the Messias Againe if this were no prerogatiue what need was there that Dauid should be a Prophet by speciall reuelation to know this much and that which Dauid knew was not onely this that Christ should rise to life againe but the words are that God would raise vp Christ after death to set him on his throne that is to giue him an euerlasting kingdome euen all power in heauen and earth subiecting all his enemies vnder his feet So that simply to rise from death was no prerogatiue nor proper to Christ but to rise Lord ouer all death and hell not excepted this was peculiar to Christ and not common to him with Dauid and therefore must needes be a speciall priuiledge to the manhood of Christ which is expressed chiefly in these words Thou wilt not forsake my soule in hades but bring me thence conquerer of all mine enemies You adde no flesh dead was euer free from corruption but onely Christes what then ergo his soule was in hell Why winch you where no man toucheth you doth any man say Christes soule was in hell because his flesh saw no corruption or rather that Dauids wordes are as plaine and peculiar to Christ in the one that Christes soule was not forsaken in hell as in the other that God would not suffer his flesh to see corruption and both being affirmed of Christ by way of speciall prerogatiue why should not both be likewise performed in Christ were not some being dead raised to life againe before their flesh putrified The promise of God to Christ that his flesh should not see corruption doth not onely assure a speedie resurrection but an impossibilitie that any corruption could preuaile against his flesh since the returne of his flesh to dust to which all others are iudged would bee the dissolution of his person for the time which by no meanes might befall him his Godhead being vnited vnto flesh and not vnto dust In these words therefore of Dauid the soule and bodie of Christ were appointed to be superiour to all contrarie powers that is the soule to hell the flesh to the graue and from both was Christ to rise as subduer of both that he might sit on his heauenly Throne as Lord ouer all not by promise onely as before but by proofe also as appeared in his resurrection And yet so many dayes as Christ did lyeth no man in his graue without some taint of corruption which in Christ was vtterly none It is a strange absurditie still to abuse your Reader calling this word hell which indeede is nothing but death in effect Againe to presume that we take it for Paradise or heauen or hell when wee referre it alwayes to the generall state of the dead and no farder immediately Then when you expound the wordes of the Creede Christ descended to hades your meaning is nothing in effect but that Christ died which was before deliuered in plained and shorter wordes and so your exposition is an idle and obscure repetition Againe hades in the new Testament is neuer taken for the death of the bodie since it is annexed to bodily death as a consequent after it and so your acception of it is repugnant to the trueth of the Scriptures And where you will at no time haue Hades taken for Paradise Heauen or Hell as here you pretend when you thereby note the place of soules deceased meane you they are neither in Heauen Paradise nor Hell are you not a wise man to talke so much of an inuisible place and when you come to the point you will haue it no place at all but you referre it alwayes to the generall state of the dead and no farder immediately An inuisible place you referre immediately to no place and thus when you will be frantike or foolish words shall loose their proper and plaine signification and containe no more then pleaseth you Shew vs a place where soules deceased are besides Paradise Heauen and Hell and wee will graunt you may exclude these three by some pretence when you spake of the place of hades but if you cannot then topos aides a place vnseene which you haue so much bowled at will be a place in spite of your heart and that immediately and consequently will bee Paradise Heauen or Hell whatsoeuer you presume or dreame to the contrarie Christ had another inestimable cause to reioyce that he was raised to life againe namely that he might fulfill his whole worke for our saluation which before his resurrection and ascension he could not accomplish When I told you that Christ after death was to conquere Hell and to free vs thence you would needes defend that Christ on the Crosse perfited our redemption and wrought our saluation and now you say which I take to bee the truer though you meane not to bee constant therein that before his resurrection and ascension hee could not accomplish the worke of our saluation The text saith God raised him vp loosing the sorrowes of death because it was impossible for him to be holden fast of it Will you conclude from hence ergo there were present sorrowes in the place where Christ was there is no strength in this reason There is more strength in it then either you will acknowledge or can answere The sorrowes of bodily death are all dissolued by the separating of the soule from the bodie Then after death there are no sorrowes of bodily death But God raised vp Christ loosing the sorrowes of
recenseri insernum siue gehennam mortem peccatum legem In the meane while thou must see our enemies heere numbred in order hell or gehenna death sinne and the law Christ hath gotten the victory ouer all these and the fruit of that victory redoundeth to vs. Bullinger The Apostle declareth that the victory ouer sinne death and hell is gotten by the might and merits not of the saints but of Christ to whom the saints must yeeld all glory praise and thanks And this explanation hath very excellent degrees First â—… hell to wit the excrlasting punishment whereby the dead are condemned to the second death the second is sinne which is the force of death and hell For by sinne came death The third is the law the strength of sinne The law being then taken away the force of sinne decaieth sinne being abolished the power of death ceaseth death being disarmed hell is ouerthrowen Hyperius If death shall then haue no more rule it followeth that neither hell shall preuaile against the godly For this must be vnderstood of them since the wicked shall not be deliuered from the power of hell In these words ô death where is thy sting ô hell where is thy victory either God as conquerer or the saints as giuing the praise of the conquest to God in a sort reproch death and hell with the losse of their power and strength And very aptly is death put first and then hell For men die before they be cast into hell in which the wicked tast the second or eternall death Moe might be brought but with wise men there can be no question that the Saints at the last day being then fully freed from all their enemies may giue thanks to God for the victory purchased by Christ against them all hell and Satan not excepted Also we are to note that the Apostle heere plainely alludeth to that of Hoseah O Sheol o kingdome of death I wil be thy destruction not ô hell The Prophet speaketh this to comfort Israel in their captiuity against their continuall destruction and raizings out of this world You will soone brest other men that will beard the Apostle in this matter so boldly as you doe Indeed you and some others thinke it a glory to take part with the Iewes contradicting all that the Euangelists Apostles alleage out of the law and the Prophets touching Christ and his kingdome and you vouchsafe to yeeld to the holy Ghost speaking in them no more skill or vnderstanding of the old Testament but to allude to it and as it were to play with it when the true literall sense of most places as you thinke is farre from that which they intend But this Iudaizing whiles you would seeme more then others to smatch of a little Hebrew I for my part detest and professe to the world I take that euery where to be the true and direct meaning of Moses and the Prophets which Christ and his Apostles collect from their words And therefore Ierom saith of this very place as I say of all others That which the Apostle referreth to the resurrection of the Lord nos aliter interpretari nec possumui nec audemus we neither can nor dare interprete otherwise Yea so well learned you are in the circumstances of the Prophets speach that you pronounce The Prophet speaketh this to comfort Israel in their captiuity shewing that now the Lord would stay his iudgment that way and death should now destroy them no more Whereas Israel was then in no captiuity as appeareth by the 16 verse of the same chapter Samaria shal be desolute And God had no meaning to tell the people he would now stay his hand and they should be destroied no more because in the two next verses he threatneth They should be spoiled dried and desolate they should fall by the sword their infants should be dashed in pieces and their women with child should be ripâ—… Wherefore except you will haue the holy Ghost to speake contradictions as your manner is you must acknowledge that amidst the fearefull troubles destructions and desolations then and afore denounced by the Prophet against the whole kingdome of Israel God doth comfort his elect amongst them that whatsoeuer became of their bodies in this affliction approching he had his time when he would vtterly destroy the power of all their enemies not onely freeing them by death from tyrants and persecutors but sauing them from death and hell by his annointed Messias who should be a death to death and a destruction to hell And as this was the greatest comfort and onely hope that Gods children in their miseries could expect or desire so the Apostle keepeth right the Prophets meaning and sheweth the time when all this shal be performed that is when all teares shal be wiped from the eies of Gods elect and all their enemies sinne death and hell troden vnder their feete In this comfort and promise as hell was the chiefest enemy so of all others that must be conteined within the limits of Gods assurance and their deliuerance In vaine are all other promises of grace whiles that enemy standeth vnuanquished And therefore as we most needed so God most promised and Christ most performed the destruction of hell aboue and afore the death of the body which you so much talke of and from which you giue to the reprobate a resurrection as well as to the godly which is but a cold comfort to him that duely considereth it Next we come to the Reuelation First I haue the keyes of Hades that is of destruction or of the kingdome of death and of death Or we may take them as two words for oâ—… and the same thing That is both of them for death What shew of reason haue you to bring in here Christs power ouer the damned soules in hell because there is mention else where of the key of hell therefore the key of Hades here is the same What colour of reason is there in this Euen so much as you can not resist For if it be certaine which the Scripture confirmeth that Christ hath the keyes of both that is as well of hell as of death and gate them both by submitting himselfe to death And Hades in the new Testament is taken for hell as hitherto we haue seene and euen with Saint Iohn the writer of this Reuelation it is a different thing from death what can Hades be here but hell That Christ by his obedience vnto death had all power in heauen and earth and hell giuen him the Apostle is very plaine Christ became obedient to the death euen the death of the Crosse. Wherefore or for which cause God highly exalted him and gaue him a Name aboue euery name that at the name of Iesus euery knee of those in heauen on earth and vnder the earth should bow and euery tongue confesse that Iesus is the Lord. As he himselfe also witnessed when he said
the haynous sinnes and impenitent harts of men therefore Hades hell is said to come after the third in respect that the rebellions of men against God are ripe for hell when no plagues can conuert them from their wicked waies This the auncient Expositor in Austens works obserueth Hell followeth after Idest expectat deuorationem multarum animarum that is it expecteth to deuoure many soules slaine with these plagues Bede saith It may simply be vnderstoode that such as are spiritually dead eternall punishment doth there follow Lyra saith the meaning is post cursum vitae praesent is statim captus est ad poenam gehennae After the course of this present life the wicked is straight way caried to the torments of Gehenna Bullingere saith If thou vnderstand this wholy of the place of the damned they are surely throwen headlong to hell as many as being here consumed with diseases die without faith and repentance Rightly therefore doth hell follow after death Marlorate And Hades followeth after death This seemeth to be added to terrifie hypocrites that they may certainly know Gehenna is prepared for them except they repent in time Osiander Hades followed after death that iâ—… the Images of some Insernall punishments followed It was permitted to death to take 〈◊〉 away not onely by the sword and famine but by the pestilence and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is and to deliuer a great part of them to be tormented in hell For hell followeth the death not of the godly but of the wicked which repent not their contempt and persuing of the Gospell Thâ—…se after their corporall death descend directly to hell Full wisely you adde where I say God sometimes vseth the diuell to slay the bodies of wicked men whose soules are presently caried to hell that this is not the torments of hell in the place of the damned as if hell had not gates preuailing here on earth against the wicked and snares here laid to catch them that shall be damned and the diuell did not walke about deuouring the soules of the reprobate and in many of them both soules and bodies Wherefore if this be your best skill in points of Diuinitie you may goe to your old occupation which is filling your paper with phrases when you lacke matter The Scriptures need not your sound of wordes without any sense to declare their meaning Shew first substantially where the Scriptures vse these idle variations of yours and then we will after argue how well they sitte the circumstances of ech place otherwise it is madnesse to admit your imaginations for the meaning of the holy Ghost As you now confesse you neuer esteemed your old obiection though you earnestly vrged it of the fourth part of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…o hell at once because it is no new thing in the Scriptures to take a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…or an vncertaine so when you haue throughly reuised all thâ—…se â—…lle and trifling coniectures now made against the vse of the word Hades for hell you may as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all as one The last place is death and Hades that is the dominion or power of death were cast into hell I said it was absurd to say hell was cast into hell You answer it is more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the world of soules was cast into hell Where you doe but dallie with words For 〈◊〉 that terme the world of soules Then yet at last you be wearie of one of your whitlesse phrases you may as well recall the rest as this Howbeit your head was so busied with this reuocation that you remembred not Saint Iohns words which you tooke vpon you to alleage and on which you grounded the sorce of your fond obiection It soundeth senselesse â—… your eares you proclaime many sort to say that hell shall be cast into hell But it is more senselesse truethlesse in mine that you plainly falsifie S. Iohns wordes and then refute your owne follie Saint Iohn hath no such words that death and hades were cast into hell though you cite them in S. Iohns name and quote Reuel 20. vers 14. for them his wordes are Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire Where if we take death and hades for those that are the Rulers and gouernours of death and Hades as the Scripture often by the name of the place intend the persons then is there no absurditie but an euident veritie in this that the dâ—…ll and his Angels shall be cast into perpetuall fire or into the lake of fire And so you sport your selfe all this while with your owne falsitie and vanitie And yet haue you not auoided that which you would so same decline that it is more absurd to say Your world of sâ—…les wast cast into hell for then the soules of all Gods Saints must be cast into hell fire which blasphemic how your backe will beare I doe not know But you renounce that exposition of Hades and say You vse not that terme Then blush at your former presumption and later obliuion that hauing told vs this was the true and authentike and familiar 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 you now deny that euer you vsed that terme Looke in your woorthie Treatise pag. 97. and tell me whether those wordes be there or no. The masters of the Greekâ—… tongue doe vse hades in proper sense onely in generall for the state of the dead the world of the dead THE WORID OF SOVLLS departed indifferently and indefinitely meaning aswell these in eternall ioies as those in paines And ouer right these wordes in the Margine you say The true and authentike and familiar sense of Hades I leaue you now to your owne deuotion whether you will recant or continue this proper true and authentike exposition that Hades meaning indifferently and indefinitely as well thâ—…se in eternall ioyes as those in paines was cast into hell There is no absurditie to say that at the last day the power kingdome and dominion of death shall be cast into hell that is eternally abolished We aske for trueth and sense and you giue vs emptie wordes and phrases You tosse these termes as Souldiers do pikes and then you say there is no absurditie in them You haue beene squaring rounding of Hades sometimes for the vnseene place of soules sometimes for the meere priuation of this life sometimes for the world of the dead in generall which compriseth the soules bodies of all that be dead be they good or bad somtimes also for the power dominion and kingdome of death which you enlarge aswel to heauen where the Saints are as to hell where the damned are Now which of all these shall be cast into hell not the place for then not onely hell shall be cast into hell which you say soundeth senselesle in your eares but heauen also which is most senselesse in mine not the world of the dead for so should the bodies and soules of all the Saints be throwen into hell fire which
it It is a plaine true rule in mine opinion that the Euangelists and Apostles euery where by Hades intended hell and none of your wandring or stragling fansies Besides the Greeke Fathers with one consent vse Hades after the direction of the Canonicall writers for a place of darknesse vnder the earth prouided to receaue and detaine the Soules of men And in this sense neither the Scriptures nor the Fathers departed much from the auncient and true vse of the word amongst heathen and prophane Authors sauing that the Pagans made it common to the Soules of iust and vniust which the Scriptures neuer doe and the Fathers vtterly refuse after Christs Resurrection whatsoeuer they doe before Since then Hades by the manifest exposition of Saint Luke in his Gospell is the place of torment where the wicked after death are punished and the same Euangelist expresseth Dauids meaning to be this that Christs Soule after death was not left or forsaken in Hades what cause or reason hath any man to denie that Christ dying descended to hell there to spoyle powers and principalities and thence to leade Captiuitie Captiue that as he ascended to the highest heauens there to sit superiour to all the Elect Angels so he first descended to the bottomlesse deepe there to subiect the Reprobate Angels vnto his humane nature and to dissolue the power and sorrowes of hell of which it was impossible he should be held Here we must consider a maine obiection of yours euen those words of our common Creed he descended into hell originally it is he descended into Hades and in truth this is all you haue to alleadge for your opinion but I answere two waies first admitting then denying the Authoritie of these words in our common Creede You haue seene by this time what I haue to alleadge for that which I defend may besafely conceiued of the Creed The words themselues he descended to Hades haue euident warrant in the holy Scriptures and Peter exactly concludeth out of Dauids words that Christs Soule was not left in Hades What Hades is with S. Luke the writer of the Acts we likewise haue seene It is euen the place where the wicked are tormented after death Put these together and tell me what they want of Christes descending into hell before he rose from the dead The words in English he descended into hell are confirmed by the publike authoritie of this Realme as well in the Booke of common praier as in the Articles of Religion agreed on by the Conuocation and ratified by Act of Parliament So that all your euasions elusions of the priuation condition and dominion of death to be ment thereby are vtterly reiected and condemned by generall and full consent of Prince Pastours people within this Realme and Christs descent to hell after death hath beene constantly and continually professed and beleeued in the Church of England euer since the Gospell was here established What you haue said against it I leaue to the Readers wise and indifferent iudgement who wil easily tell you you must bring better sluffe then either phrases or fansies before the common Creede may be thus reiected and despised You enioyne vs three Rules to be exactly and precisely kept in the expounding of these words Namely 1. distinction of Matter 2. consequence of order 3. proprietie of words Might not those godly men thinke you misse in some such circumstances although the Scripture cannot The first compilers of the Creede meaning shortly orderly and plainly to deliuer the summe of the Christian faith as touching the three persons in Trinitie and the chiefest blessings which God bestoweth on his Church in this life and the next by Iesus Christ our Lord might not with any discretion in so briefe and compendious assume of Christian Religon proposed to the simple and vulgar sort of all ages and sexes vse either any needlesse repetition disordered confusion or obscure inuolution of things requisite to our Saluation To these Rules agree all that haue expounded the Creede in the Church of Christ to this very day saue your selfe and such as haue opened you the gap to these innouations And these Rules allowed do cleane cast your exposition out of doores For where it is most plainly said that Christ died and was buried which words no plow-man woman nor child of reasonable yeeres can mistake you after Christs buriall come in with a darke and figuratiue phrase of descending to Hades which in effect you confesse is no more but what was said before in knowen and open speech that Christ died And this obscure and strange circumlocution of death you will haue to be an Article of your faith as if euery Christian creature were bound vpon danger of his saluation to vnderstand what Sheol or Hades doth signifie in the Greeke and Hebrew Tongues which is a position meete for such a Diuine as you are Your exposition therefore is repugnant to all three Rules For it is a superfluous vnorderly enigmaticall iteration of that which was before expressed in due place with as plaine and easie wordes as any might be spoken by the tongue of man Now with what Arguments you or any man liuing Hu. Bro. not excepted can prooue that Hebrew or Greeke phrases are Articles of Religion and must be conceaued and beleeued of all men before they can be saued as yet I doe not vnderstand And this is the miserie of your cause that not onely you haue no word in Latine English nor in any tongue else answerable to your Sheol or Hades but when you come to lay open your owne phrases the exposition is more ridiculous then the Translation For by Christs descending to Hades which you call the power dominion and kingdome of death you meane no more but that Christs Soule seuered from his Body went to heauen to the rest of the blessed Soules there And here I report me to him that will vouchsafe to read your 196. 197. pages whether you haue any thing there but store of phrases extending intending enlarging amplifying the name power and dominion of death which when all is done and said amounteth to this much that Christes soule seuered by death from his body submitted it selfe to the base and low condition of the dead by taking the paines to goe to heauen to the rest of the Saints there This is all in effect that your Periphrasis and Emphasis moriendi doe containe and the great fall or whole casting downe of Christes person which you so Rhetorically set out with termes of the broadest and longest size hath nothing in it but only this that his soule after death which dissolued his person ascended to the societie of the blessed soules in heauen The rest is your emphaticall and paraphrasticall vanitie swelling with wordes and shrinking in sense which needeth none other refutation but sober obseruation that when two sides are spent nothing is said but you are where you began For would you not varie so many phrases
questioned which you say was without any presence of his humane soule and consequently must be referred to his diuine nature I aâ—…irme the contrarie that this exaltation to be Lord ouer heauen earth and hell pertained not to Christes Deitie which neuer wanted that Soueraintie but to his manhood which was obedient vnto death and was therefore aduanced to this hight And since this conquest ouer hell was reall in proofe not verball in claime speciall to Christes person not generall to all his members and performed after Christes death not by Christes diuine but by his humane nature this must needs be referred to Christes soule which might descend to hell and must before it could shew it selfe vanquisher of hell and not to his bodie which lay dead in the graue and could neither ascend nor descend till it was restored to life You make Christ Lord ouer hell because he kept himselfe from thence but so were all the faithfull whose soules were not inclosed in hell whom yet the Scriptures make not Lords ouer death and hell but deliuered from both There must be a conquest peculiar to Christ whereby he did take all power from them and reserued it to himselfe and rose from death as hauing the keyes of both The particular manner whereof in time and other such circumstances though the Scriptures do not expresse yet must not the general be doubted because the Scriptures witnesse that Christs soule was not left nor for saken in hell of Gods diuine power and presence but thence returned as conquerer of all Satans power and Dominion This the Church of Christ hath alwayes professed and this may the godly safely beleâ—…ue notwithstanding M. Broughtonsbedlom proclamation that it is the generall corruption of religion Scripture and all learning Our fourth reason There is altogether as great reason and as vrgent cause that Christ whole man both soule and bodie should be present in hell to free vs thence wholy that is our soules and bodies as there is that his soule must be there present to free thence our soules Heere I wish you would answere my proposition without skoffes and taunts and â—…autie disdaine as your manner is You cannot mocke and that is great pitie When your propositions want not only proofe and trueth but learning and vnderstanding shall I say they be sage wise Christian resolutions your deuices I call dreames your contradictions I call contrarieties your neglect of all Councels and Fathers I call presumption and your shifting and outfacing affirming that which is false and dâ—…nying that which is true I call vnshamefastnesse if not impudencie What other names should I giue them I professe I cannot flatter you in your fansies neither see I any cause why you regarding no man besides your selfe should thinke your selfe fit to be regarded with the disgrace of all auncients and others Where the matter is not meet to be reiected with disdaine I vse it not and where it is why should I not Yet now you would haue a direct and faire answere to your proposition though you little deserue it you shall This which you mention to wit our deliuerance from hell was not the onely cause of Christs descent thither his owne honour and right that suffered shame and wrong at Satans hand on the crosse was the chieâ—…e cause of his descent that after death he might shew himselfe in his manhood the conquerer and destroier of Satans power This you cleane leaue out of your proposition because you would be sure to bring nothing that should be sound and sufficient Againe your proposition as it standeth hath no strength in it besides your owne imagination For hell once subdued and conquered by Christ needeth not the second time to be conquered Since then till the day of iudgement hell hath no more but the soules of the wicked some few excepted who descended aliue to hell what needed more then the soule of Christ to conquer hell Thirdly sâ—…ing the body is cast into hell to increase the paines of the soule the soule being acquited and freed from hell there is no cause the body should goe thither And so in respect aswell of Gods ordinance till the day of doome as of the soules preeminence in and ouer the body the soule of Christ after death might iustly discharge our bodies and soules from all the power and claime that Satan had against vs. Lastly the proportion which Fulgentius Athanasius and others mention as deriued from the Scriptures that as the two parts of man after death were for sinne appointed to two seuerall places his soule to hell and his body to the graue so the Redeemer did â—…etch man backe againe from those two places of condemnation with the presence of his soule subduing hell and of his body resisting corruption this pâ—…oportion I say gâ—…ounded on the Scriptures is more then you can any way confute or open your mouth against with any trueth You aske why this going to hell by our Sauiour was not rather afâ—…er his resurrection when both paâ—…ts were ioined together First because by death which is the separating of the soule from the body Christ was to destroy both death and hell Next he was to rise conquerer of them both and not after his resurrection which was a conquest of both to reconquer them againe This therefore is an vnwise demand and sheweth that you doe not vnderstand what belongeth to Christs death or resurrection who was to rise the full conquerer and Lord of all his enemies in his owne person and not aâ—…ter his resurrection to make a new conquest ouer them And therefore your heaping of seuenteen places of Scripture in the margine of your booke to shew that Christ died and rose againe is to let men see that you haue emptied your note Booke and there find that Christ did rise from the dead To which if you will adde which is the true intent of all those places that Christ was to rise a perfect conquerer of death and hell you shall make so many proofes that Christ conquered both before and with his resurrection and by no meanes after it For his resurrection was manifest proofe that neither his soule was forsaken in hel nor his flesh left to see corruption in the graue and therefore both hell and death were perfectly subdued when he ioined againe his soule to his body and aduanced them both to an immortall and celestiall life Considering then whence the parts of Christs manhood were taken when he rose from the dead to wit his soule from hâ—…ll where it was not forsaken and his body from the graue where it was not corrupted you shall easily see if you doe not wilfully shut your eies that the power and force of Christs resurrection beganne with the subduing of hell by his soule and ouermastering putrifaction by his body Against whose soule and body since neither destruction nor corruption could preuaile it was not possible but he should rise vanquisher and Lord
Ephesus which the Councels of Chalcedon and Constantinople doe fully approoue Now what Cyrill meant by spoiling hades appeareth in these words Our Lord Iesus saith Cyrill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hauing spoyled death and loosed the number of soules that were detained in the dâ—…nnes there rose the third day We must not say that the Deitie of the onely begotten returned from the denns vnder the earth but his soule descended to hades and vsing his diuine power and authoritie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shewed it selfe to the soules there and said to them in bands come forth and to them in darkenesse receiue light This Cyrill tooke from Athanasius whom he much followed and often cited Those wretches the diuels did not know that the death of Christ should giue vs immortalitie and his descent to Hades should procure our ascent to heauen For the Lord rose the third day from the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hauing spoiled Hades hel troden the enemie vnder foote dissolued death broken the chaines of sin with which we were tyed and freed vs that were bound saying arise let vs goe hence Being therefore freed from the bondage of the diuell let vs acknowledge our redeemer and glorifie the Father c. So elswhere What neede had Christ that was God of the crosse of the graue of hell to which things we were subiect but that in them he sought vs quickning vs in this manner agreeable to vs For if the Lord had not bene made man wee had neuer risen from the dead as redeemed from our sinnes but had remained dead vnder the earth neither had we beene exalted to heauen but had laine still 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in hell For vs therefore and for our sakes it is sayd God exalted him and gaue him the dominion of heauen earth and hell By which places as by infinite others in Athanasius it is euident that Christ conquered and spoiled hell and Satan for vs and deliuered vs thence aswell as those that were formerly deceased to whom as to vs hell had a chalenge till the Sauiour of the world freed both them and vs thence And this is the true meaning of those prouinciall and generall Councels which say Christ rose the third day hauing first spoiled hell The same I affirme of that Allegory in Luke which sheweth Christs ouercomming binding and spoiling of Satan indeed but not by his locall being in hell Christ expressely applieth it to his dispossessing of Diuels out of mens bodies I did not alleage this parable to prooue Christs going to hell in soule after death but to shew what parts Christs conquest ouer hell and Satan must haue to wit that he must subdue bind and spoile Satan before his conquest ouer Satan could be perfect Other places of Scripture applied these parts to Christs rising from the dead and spoiling the kingdome of Satan for this parable it did suffice that these things heere mentioned must be fully performed by Christ before he did fully conquere Satan Now that these things were throughly performed by Christ whiles he liued on earth is repugnant to the Scriptures For so Christ should neuer haue died since death was a part of Satans power which Christ was to spoile It is therefore certaine that Christs ouermastering of Satan began here on earth when he cast him out from such as were possessed but Christs conquest ouer Satan had not his sull and complete higth no not in his owne person till he rose from the dead and ascended to heauen leading captiuity captiue That therefore it began before Christs death I doe not denie but that it was not finished till his resurrection and ascension the Scriptures auouch Christ saith Origen hauing bound the strong man and by his crosse conquered him went euen to his house to the house of death and into hell and thence tooke his goods that is the soules which he possessed And this was that which he spake by a Parable in the Gospell saying Who can enter a strong mans house and spoile his goods except he first bind the strong man So Ierom. The strong man was bound and tied in hell and troden vnder the Lords foote and the Tyrants howsen being spoiled captiuity was led captiue And Zanchius The Apostle to the Ephesians the 4. where he speaketh of Christs triumph and saith he led captiuity captiue that is he led the Diuel captiue and triumphed ouer him doth not there say this triumph was made on the crosse but then performed that is perfected when Christ ascended to heauen Christ then obteined it on the Crosse but performed it afterwards Of euill spirits subdued and spoiled the Sonne of God triumphed Whither pertaineth that parable of Christs when a strong man keepeth his house his goods are in peace but when a stronger then he commeth vpon him he taketh his spoiles from him Remember I pray how God shewed his displeasure against your wresting of his word by that strange terrour that happened euen then when you were descended intâ—… he depth of this vncouth doctrine at Paules Crosse. Indeed it may be that you and such others were in a strange terror at that time otherwise there was no cause nor harme but the breakeing of an old rotten forme which men desirous to heare had ouer loaden and so where they stood halfe a yard aboue ground before they were then faine to stand on their feet But Sir by what authoâ—…ity doe you take vpon you to interprete Gods will by the cracking of an old stoole Are you of late become a Southsaier that you professe to declare Gods meaning by the breaking of an old borde in sunder What say you then to those Coronations of Princes and other assemblies where many haue been slaine What say you to S. Pauls Sermon where Eutychus falling downe from a third lâ—…ft was taken vp dead Will you say his doctrine was vncouth because the hearers were a while troubled with that accident had there any thing indeed fallen out as God be thanked there did nothing you would haue plaied the false Prophet apace to presume of Gods purpose when by your owne foolish feare vpon the cracking of an old forme you proudely and prophanely take vpon you to pronounce of Gods pleasure Where you charge me in the end arrogantly and absurdly to falsisie the Synod of this Realme it is but what your selfe doth in effect I said our Synod corrected King Edwards Synod You acknowledge and professe that in the later words of that former Synod now left out are three things that cannot be iustified by the Scriptures If a man would hire you you cannot leaue this outfacing and falsifying no not when you goe about to cleare your selfe of it which whether it be absurd or arrogant I leaue to the Reader Our Synod you said corrected King Edwards Synod Said you no more did you not lustily conclude Therefore our Synod
ordained to be damned for vs. 364 Dauid neuer felt the true paines of hell 453 Dauids feare vnlike to Christs 442 What Death Christ died 19 A threefold death the wages of sinne 13â—… Corporall death in all men is the punishment of sinne 149. 150. 151. 176 Death in Christ was the satisfaction for sinne 176 Euerlasting death the wages of sinne which Christ could not suffer 226 The death of the body is euill in it selfe though God to his make it a passage to life 244. 245 The consequenâ—…s after death doe not proue death to be good 246 The nature of death not changed in the godly 252 God so hâ—…teth death that he will destroy it as an enemie 254 Naturall death came not by the sentence of Mosâ—… Law 261 Thâ—…e is no death of the Soule without sinne 366 All feele the sting of death which Christ expressed before he died 389 The death and life of the soule here on earth mistaken by the Defender 430 What the second death is in the Scriptures 492 Eight pâ—…es of Scripture abused for the death of Christs Soule 493 By one lande of death Christ freed vs from all kinds of death 504 To be vtterly forsaken of God is the death of the Soule 517. 518 The extreamest degree of pains where grace doth not faile is no death of the Soule 524 What things the death of the body doth import 649 The Defender grosly peruerteth my words 44. 45 The Defender contâ—…adicteth himselfe 56. 57 The Defender contemneth the Fathers and their iudgements 82 The Defender deuiseth shifts to decline Scriptures and Fathers against him 94 The Defender would make the maner of Christes dying onely vnusuall 95 The Dâ—…fender doth grossely mistake the reiection of the Iewes to be the meaning of Christes complaint on the crosse 98 The Dâ—…fender not able to support his errors doth quarrell with the question 99 The Defender eludeth the Scriptures with his termes of single and meere 125. 126. 127 The Defender clouteth one conclusion out of diuers places 146 The Defender maketh the sufferings of Christs flesh needlesse to our redemption 168. 169 The Defender peruerteth the doctrine of the Homilies 224. 225 The Defender maketh Christ sinfull accursed and defiled 265 The Defender would not faile to cite Fathers if he had them 273 The Defender compareth Christ in want of comfort with the damned 291 The Defender vainly presumeth all places of his vnanswered to be granted 319 The Defender hath deuised torments for Christs soule 323 The Defender controleth the words of the holy Ghost by his new phrases 413 The Defender in steed of proouing falleth to granting his owne positions 5â—…3 The Defender misciteth S. Iohns words and on that error groundeth all his reasons 644 The Defender giuing a reason of nâ—…thing asketh a reason of all things 415 The Defender claimeth like reuerence to his words as to the Scripture 325 The Defender saith the Scriptures are ordinarilie true that is sometimes false 367 The Defender doth euery where mistake and misapply what is said 384 The Defender forgeth a pace new parts of the Christian faith 393 The Defender taketh the parts of Christs agonie for the causes thereof 401 The Defender is somewhat pleasureable 528 The Defender corrupteth S. Luke 402. 403 The Defender ascribeth a liuely affection to Christs dead flesh 422 The Defender vttereth a flat contradiction to his owne doctrine 422. 423 The Defender confesseth the Fathers prooue my meaning 425 The Defender is driuen to contrarieties 431 The Defender taketh from Christ inward sense and memory in his sufferings 440 The Defender yeeldeth perfect knowledge to Christ in his amazednesse 481 The Defender foolishly prooueth the death of Christs soule 495. 496 The Defender abuseth the Scriptures 534. 535 The Defender cannot discerne a conclusion from a quotation 568 The Defendours foure restraints of hell paines 4 The Defendours disdaine of the fathers 98 The Defendours vaine shifts 114. 115 The Defendours skill in framing arguments 327 The Defendours absurd deuises 490 The Defendours manner of reasoning as illogicall as his matter is false 336 Dereliction in the Scriptures neuer implieth the paines of the damned 415 Deepe what it signifieth 566 To what Deepe Christ descended after death 565 567 The true sense of Paul and Moses words Rom. 10. concerning the Deepe 568 The whoâ—…e church taught that Christ after death descended to hell 544. 545 New Writers teach Christs descent to hell 546. 547 Christ needed no long time to descend to hell 551 Of Christs descending and ascending 553 Christ aescended and ascended to be Lord ouer all 563 To what deepe Christ descended after death 565 567 Descending is to places below 569 How long this clause of Christs descent to hell hath been in the Creed 653. 654 What Ruffinus meaneth by Christs descent to hell 655 Descending to hades was not the buriall of Christs body 556. 557. 558 The causes of Christs descent to hell 666 Desâ—…ending to hell was a part of Christs exaltation 671 The descent of Christ to hell confessed by the Catechisme 677 The Lawes of this land doe binde all to beleeue Christs descent to hell 678 Desperation in hell is no sinne 71 Desperation is the sorest torment in this life 238 A small Difference of wordes may quite alter the sense 199 Difference of Christs offering and suffering 276 Difference of outward and inward temptatioÌ„s 314 Difference betwixt Gods threats iudgements 472 How the Diuell may discerne and incense our affections 192 The Diuell tormented not Christes soule on the Crosse. 295 Christ suffered as deepe paines but not as deepe Doubts as we may 321 E. ELect Who is enemie to Gods Elect. 233 The Elect are neuer truely accursed 252 The Elect cannot perish 364 Erasmus fouly mistaken by the defendor 653 Foure notable Errors grounded by the defendor vpon the facts of Moses and Paul 363 The first 363 The second 365 The third 367 The fourth 368 What impressions Euill maketh in the soule of man 341 Euill past present or to come worketh sorrow paine and feare in the soule of man 341 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what it importeth 485 Is contrarie to feare 501 Esay doth not touch the death of Christes soule 526. 527 Esay 14. Shcol for hell 559. 560 Eusebius report of Thaddeus allowed by the best historiographers 660 F FAthers their iudgements may be called Authorities 83 The Fathers may be left in some priuate opinions 84 I leaue not the Fathers in the grounds of faith 85 The Fathers doc not teach that Christ suffered all which we should haue suffered 138. 139 The Fathers disclaime all necessitie in the death of Christ. 285 The Fathers determine not the exact cause of Christs Agonie 371 Wherein we should follow the Fathers 415 Some Fathers expound me in Christs wordes for my members 416 No Father auoucheth the death of Christs Soule 142. 143 Diuerse Fathers euidently corrupted for the death of Christs Soule 428. 429 By the iudgement of the Fathers Christ died
was neglected and loathed And vpon conference with the most reuerend Father the late Archbishop now with God was aduised in open audience to deliuer what the Scriptures teach touching our redemption by the death and bloudshedding of Iesus Christ the Sonne of God Which accordingly I did declaring by occasion of the Apostles words Be it far from me to reioyce but in the Crosse of Christ first the Contents and then the Effects of Christes crosse In the Contents of Christes crosse I shewed what Christ suffered by the witnes of holy Scripture and what he suffered not and there ioyned this issue That no Scripture doth teach the death of Christs soule or the paines of the damned to be requisite in the person of Christ before he could be the Ransomer of our sinnes and Sauiour of the world And because the proofs pretended for this point might be three Praedictions that Christ should suffer those paines Causes why he must suffer them and Signes that he did suffer them I likewise insisted on all three and shewed there were no such Praedictions Causes nor Signes of the true paines of hell to be suffered in the soule of Christ before he could saue vs. Wherein his Agonie in the Garden and Complaint on the Crosse were examined as well by the rules of holy Scripture as by the maine consent of all the Fathers And lest the death of Christ suffered in the bodie of his flesh on the altar of the Crosse as it is described in the Scriptures and the shedding of his precious bloud should be disabled or distrusted of any as no sufficient meanes or price of our redemption in the Effects of Christs crosse I prooued the merits of Christes suffering to be infinite in respect of his person who was God and of the perfection of his obedience vnto the death of the Crosse the maner of his offering to be bloudie foreshewed by the Sacrifices of the Law and sealed by the Sacraments of the Gospell the power of his death to be mightie as able to conquer Sinne Hell and Satan the comfort of his Crosse to be necessarie to which we must all be conformed to suffer with him before we can raigne with him the victorie thereof to be heauenly in that he rose the third day into a celestiall and eternall life hauing all his enemies vnder his feet Yet for peace sake I yeelded the name of hell-paines might in some sort be tolerated in the sufferings of Christ if we meant thereby great and intolerable paines as the word is sometimes metaphorically taken in the Scriptures at the least by our vulgar translation for the word indeed was Sheôl which is vsed aswell for the graue as for hell and so those speeches of Dauid That the paines of Sheol found him out or compassed him might import the paines of death which brought men to their graues And concerning that Article of our Faith Christ descended to Hell I taught it might not by the course of the Creed be referred to Christ liuing but to Christ dead and safely note the conquest which Christs manhood after death had ouer all the powers of darkenesse declared by his resurrection when he rose Lord ouer all his enemies in his owne person Death Hell and Satan not excepted and had the Keyes that is all power of death and hell deliuered him by God that those in heauen earth and hell should stoope vnto him and be subiect to the strength and glorie of his Kingdome These things were first vttered by speech and after committed to writing that aswell the parts as proofes of euery point might more plainly appeare to all that would examine them My care was in either of these to ioyne with the doctrine prescribed by the booke of Homilies to be taught in the Church of God to the people That there is none other thing that can be named vnder heauen to saue our soules but this only worke of Christes precious offering his bodie vpon the Altar of the Crosse. For so great was Gods wrath and displeasure towards sinne that he could be pacified by no other meanes but only by the sweet and precious bloud of his deere Sonne And so pleasant was this sacrifice and oblation of his Sonnes death which he so obediently and innocently suffered that God would take it for the onely and full amends for all the sinnes of the world As for Christs descent to hell I deliuered the same ends and intents which the booke of Homilies doth where it saith Christes death destroyed death and ouercame the Diuell His death destroyed hell with all the damnation thereof Christ passed thorow death and hell to the intent to put vs in good hope that by his strength we shall do the same He destroyed the Diuell and all his tyrannie and openly triumphed ouer him and tooke away from him all his Captiues meaning all the Elect and hath raised and set them with himselfe amongst the heauenly Citizens aboue These things thus preached and printed by me it may please your excellent Maiestie to vnderstand were first impugned by an hastie and humorous Treatise whiles my Sermons were yet vnder the Presse and after by a larger and warier Defence which is this that I now refute The Treatiser sliding from the things proposed by me wherein he could not open his mouth but with as many vntrueths as words did beare men in hand the question was Whether Christ suffered for vs the wrath of God or no whereas I mooued no such doubt but rather acknowledged That all which Christ suffered in soule or in bodie was the wrath of God against our sinnes if we speake as the Scriptures doe of punishments prouided â—…or this life where Christ did suffer and not of the wrath to come which is the vengeance prepared for the Diuell and the damned in another world And because in this Treatise I found moe distempered pangs of erroneous follie than aduised steppes of learning or religion I refelled the chiefe reasons thereof in a Conclusion added to my Sermons as they were in printing not thinking it worth my time or paines to make any longer resutation of him that remembred so little of that I had vttered and reasoned so loosely for that which he would establish No sooner were those Sermons and that Conclusion published but the curious Brethren seeing their kingdome of conceits impugned made their obseruations on both and sent their collections and reasons to the Treatiser that he might make a fresh Defence correcting in many things his former rashnesse and now leading him rather cunningly to cauill with the Fathers speeches than so proudly to disdaine their testimonies which maketh him not only to change his minde in many matters from that he sayd before but often to crosse himselâ—…e in the selfe same leafe whiles he doth not marke what he sayth out of his owne heart and what he bringeth out of other mens supplies and papers In this Defence for so they
religious Prince aswell to examine the Scriptures with all diligence as to shew the confession and resolution of Christs Church long before our times that all the world may see I maintaine none other grounds of Faith nor sense of Scripture than haue beene anciently constantly and continually professed and beleeued in the Church of Christ for these fifteene hundred yeeres till this our present Age and the same allowed and ratified by the publike lawes of this Realme which your Maiestie in your most Princely wisdome and courage professe to vpholde and continue God for his holy Names sake blesse your most sacred Maiestie and prosper all your vertuous and Christian cares that as in learning and wisdome in clemencie and pietie he hath made you the Mirrour of this Age so in peace and prosperitie in concord and vnitie in all happinesse and felicitie he may exalt you aboue all your neighbour Princes and hauing vnited the two Realmes of England and Scotland in one subiection vnder your Princely right and regiment he will knit the hearts and hands of both to honour and serue you loue and obey you and your royall issue after you to the worlds end Your Maiesties most humble subiect and seruant THO. WINTON THE CHIEFE RESOLVTIONS OF THIS Suruey THe cleerenes and fulnes of the Scriptures in the worke of our Redemption is exactly to be reuerenced so as no man ought to teach or beleeue any thing touching our redemption by Christ which is not expresly witnessed in the sacred Scriptures much lesse may we distrust the manifest words of the holy Ghost to be impertinent or vnsufficient in declaring the true price and meane of our redemption The maine ground of the Gospell which the Apostles preached the faithfull receiued wherein they continued and whereby they were saued was this That Christ died for our sinnes according to the Scriptures and was buried and rose the third day according to the Scriptures Since then we are reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne we must acknowledge none other death of Christ then that which he suffered in the bodie of his flesh after which he was buried and from which he rose the third day which death the Scriptures most apparently describe to be the death of Christs bodie If we were redeemed by the bloud of Christ and God proposed him to be a Reconciliation through faith in his bloud which was shed for the remission of sinnes we may not presume to appoint a new price of our redemption or new meane of our reconciliation since by the bloud of his crosse Christ hath pacified both the things in earth and things in heauen and the bloud of Iesus Christ cleanseth vs from all sinne The Scriptures doe no where teach nor mention the death of Christs Joule or the death of the damned which is the second death to be needfull for our redemption We must not therefore intrude our selues into Gods seat to ordâ—…ne a new course for mans redemption If the Spirit doe quicken and the iust liue by faith and he that abideth in loue abideth in God who is life it was vtterlie impossible but the soule of Christ in that abundance of Spirit euidence of Faith assurance of Hope and perfection of Loue which he alwayes retained should alwayes liue to God Life and death being opposed as priuatiues and so not to be found in one and the same subiect at one and the same time the soule of Christ alwayes liuing could neuer be dead Neither could a dead soule be pleasing to God who is whole life and therefore hateth death as contrarie to his nature when yet he was alwayes well pleased with Christ. Where some imagine extreame paine in Christs soule may be called the death of his soule that position is repugnant to the Scriptures for the greater the paine which the soule feeleth and endureth with innocencie confidence obedience and patience such as were all Christes sufferings the more the soule liueth and cleaueth to God for whose glorie it suffereth so much smart as appeareth in Martyrs whose soules do most liue in their greatest torments The late deuice of hell-paines in Christes passion is not only false but also superfluous for the true paines of hell neither are nor can be suffered in this life where by Gods ordinance extreame paine driueth the soule from the bodie much lesse can man or Angell endure them with obedience and patience as Christ did all his paines And what need was there of hell-paines in the crosse of Christ since God can by euery meanes or without meanes raise more paines in bodie or soule than any creature can endure Christs soule could not be strooken with any horrour of Gods displeasure against him since in his greatest anguish he professed God to be his God and his Father and by prayer preuailed for his persecutors as appeared after by their conuersion and gaue eternall life to the soule of the Thiefe hanging by him and beleeuing on him Now to giue life is more than to haue life and restore others to fauour he can not that himselfe is in displeasure Hell-fire which the damned and diuels do and shall suffer is a true and eternall fire prepared by the mightie hand of God to punish aswell spirits as bodies and this errour That the fire of hell was only an internall or spirituall fire in the soules and consciences of men was long since condemned in Origen by the Church of Christ. Reiection therefore desperation confusion horrour of damnation externall and eternall fire which are the torments of the damned and true paines of hell can not without blasphemie be ascribed to Christ. Christ therefore suffered neither the death of the soule nor the paines nor horrors os the damned or of hell Euery sinne is common to the whole man who is defiled euen with thoughts that be euill not only because the bodie is the Seat wherein and the instrument whereby the soule worketh but also for that the first infection of sinne commeth to the soule by the bodie and the first information and prouocation to sinne riseth from the senses and affections which are mooued with corporall spirits and all the parts and powers of the bodie attend the will with most readie subiection to haue each sinne which the soule conceiueth impressed on them and executed by them And therefore the suffering for sinne in the person of the Mediatour must be common both to bodie and soule in such sort that as in transgressing our soules are the principall Agents so in the suffering for sinne his soule was the principall Patient Christ would vse no power to assuage the force and violence of his paines though he wanted none as appeareth by his ouerthrowing them with a word that came to apprehend him but submitted himselfe to his Fathers will with greater obedience and patience than any man liuing could We may therefore safely beleeue That the iustice of God condemning sinne in Christes flesh proportioned the paines of his bodie in
Agonie after an Angell appeared from heauen and comforted or strengthened him with a message from God it seemeth rather an effect of Christes intentiue prayer which the Scripture there mentioneth than a consequent to any other passion or paine Christes intentiue prayer after comfort receiued by an Angell from heauen might proceed from his ardent desire care and zeale of our redemption from the wrath of God and protection from the rage of Satan And therefore as the Prophet foreshewed he should not onely beare the sinnes of many but pray for the Trespassers Christ might spend all the spirits and powers of bodie and soule in most vehement and feruent prayer euen vnto a bloudie sweat to haue all his members pardoned their sinnes and reconciled to God by the sacrifice of his bodie which he would offer for them and also to haue Satan cast out from accusing them and in the end trodden vnder their feet If Christes bloudie sweat were supernaturall we must aske no cause thereof but leaue it to his sacred will who could aboue nature doe what he would That it was no proofe of hell paines appeareth plainly because Christ after in greater paines on the Crosse did not sweat bloud and of all those whom these men imagine suffered hell paines in the Scriptures no one can be produced that euer sweat bloud The word forsaking vsed by Christ in his Complaint on the Crosse doth not in all the Scriptures inferre the paines of the damned but in the wicked it noteth reiection desperation and feare of damnation and in the godly it argueth want of protection or decrease of consolation in their troubles In Christ it might shew the time the cause the maner or the griefe of his being so long forsaken and left to the rage and reproch of his persecutors without any sensible signe of Gods loue towards him care for him helpe in his troubles or exse in his paines but it doth not prooue that Christ thought himselfe forsaken of Gods fauour grace or spirit which feare or doubt could not be in him without a manifest touch of error and want of faith Christ neuer feared nor doubted that he should or could perish vnder the hand of God persuing our sinnes in the bodie of his flesh but for the ioy set before him endured the Crosse and despised the shame and as S. Peter sayth of him at the time of his suffering he alwayes beheld God at his right hand that he should not be shaken and therefore his heart reioyced and his tongue was glad and his flesh rested in hope because his soule should not be forsaken in hell nor his flesh see corruption Christ was made a curse for vs in that he suffered the temporall and corporall curses of the Law threatned vnto sinners as all sorts of afflictions belonging to this life and in the end a painfull and shamefull death by which he abolished the spirituall and eternall curse of God due to vs for sinne but he was neuer inwardly truely nor eternally accursed of God since by tasting of our externall curse for a time he made vs partakers of his spirituall and celestiall blessednesse for euer Christ who knew no sinne was made sinne for vs that is either the punishment of our sinnes or the sacrifice for our sinnes for we were healed by his stripes and he gaue himselfe for vs a sacrifice of a sweet smell to God Being then an holy and acceptable sacrifice to God for sinne he was neither defiled nor hatefull to God with our sinnes but suffered the iust for the vniust that is he tooke vpon him the punishment of our sinnes though he were most innocent and by the holinesse of his person submitting himselfe to the death of the crosse purged our vncleannesse by his innocencie couered our guiltinesse and by his fauour with God reconciled vs that were enemies Christ bare the full punishment of our sinnes that is not all which we should haue borne for then he must haue beene euer lastingly reiected confounded and condemned to hell fire which are most horrible blasphemies but he bare so much of the punishments of this life where he suffered as in his person by the iust iudgement of God was most sufficient for all our sinnes TOuching Christs descent to hell the words are plainly cited by Peter out of Dauid that Christes soule after death should not be left in Hades which Saint Luke in his Gospell vseth for the place where torments are prepared for the wicked after this life And in that sense is the word vsed thorowout the New Testament as likewise the Greeke Fathers tooke it for the place vnder the earth whither the soules of all men were condemned for sinne and where the Diuels detaine and torment the wicked That Christ likewise descended to the lower parts of the earth and to the bottomlesse deepe after death is vouched by Saint Paul whereupon the whole Church of Christ from the beginning hath confessed his descent to hel to be a point of Christian pietie Peters Sermon in the second of the Acts intended not simply to proue that Christ was risen from the dead as Lazarus and others were but affirmed farder of him That God raised him vp to set him on Dauids Throne that is to make him King of Glorie This he prooueth In that Christes flesh could not see corruption nor his soule be forsaken in hell which was verified in none no not in Dauid who were all dead and saw corruption but only in the Messias It was therefore impossible that either death or hell should detaine Christ but he was to rise Lord of death and hell and the Sauiour of all his from both as appeared by his ascending to heauen and sitting at the right hand of God Neither was this strange to the Iewes who were taught to expect that to be performed by the Messias which God promised by his Prophet O Death I will be thy death O Hell I will be thy destruction Sheol in the Olde Testament signifieth the Graue and Hell that is the places whither the dead bodies of all men went and whither the soules of the wicked dead in sinne descended after death And therefore where it is distinguished from the death of the bodie or referred to the soule after death as it is in Dauids words applied by Peter to Christ it apparently signifieth Hell The ends of Christes descent are likewise deriued from the Scriptures as the destroying of the Diuels kingdome and triumphing ouer powers and principalities and making an open shew of them spoiling them by deliuering all his Elect dead liuing and yet vnborne from the right power and feare of eternall death taking into his hands the Keyes of Death and Hell that he might be Lord of all in Heauen Earth and Hell The Creed is not a Collection of Greeke or Hebrew phrases vnknowen to the people but a short summe of the Christian faith prouided for the simpler sort of men to learne by heart And therefore as
nothing is superfluously repeated so nothing is obscurely couered in it And though this Article He descended to hell wanted for a time in some Churches euen as some part of Scripture did yet was it retained by all Christian Writers as a ground of true religion from the Apostles time and professed in some Churches very anciently in their Creed and at last generally receiued in all places All the Fathers of Christes Church with one consent teach this as a point of the Christian faith That Christ after death descended to hell insomuch that Austen resolutely sayth Who but an Infidell will denie that Christ was in hell Where Abrahams bosome was neither was nor is agreed amongst the learned only Austen rightly inferreth out of Christes words That being a place of comfort and farre off aboue Hades where the rich man was tormented with a great Gulfe setled betwixt those two places it could be no part nor member of hell The rest which are very many appeare by the seuerall Titles ouer ech Page or by the Table prouided to finde the same with more facilitie THE SVRVEY OF CHRISTES SVFFERINGS FOR MANS REDEMPTION IT may seeme somewhat strange to thee Christian Reader as it doth likewise to me that one and the selfe same cause being twice now debated and discussed in writing on either side we should at the last be farther from agreeing on the true state of the controuersie than we were at the first entring into the matter If the fault be either in the doubtfulnesse of my words proposing it or in the diuersnesse of my mind defending it I refuse no reproch of follie and inconstancie but if I keeping close to the points which I first propounded and calling vpon the aduerse part with as great vehemencie and importunitie as I could to goe directly to the issue and no way to digresse from the things in question the Impugner trusting more to the couert of his words than to the soundnesse of his proofs will of purpose shunne the marke prefixed and roue at pleasure with doubtfull and deceitfull termes to hide the nakednesse of his side and to make the Reader beleeue he hath matter of moment when indeed he doth not so much as vnderstand himselfe or take any knowledge of the chiefest things which I obiect or alledge then is he woorthie to beare the blame who best deserueth it and thou Christian Reader mayest soone perceiue and assoone pronounce both for thine owne ease and for an end to be had in this strife for to thee the Confuter referreth himselfe and so doe I whether of vs flieth the touchstone of trueth and faileth in the due proofe of his doctrine as neere as God shall giue thee wisdome to discerne light from darknesse and grace to preferre trueth before falshood In the Preface of my Sermons published I much misliked and openly charged the ouer hastie Discourser that called himselfe H. I. for cleane changing the state of the first Question and to the maine diuision of his Treatise where he sayth The whole controuersie hath in it two points the first That Christ suffered for vs the wrath of God c I replied in my conclusion It was too much boldnesse to outface the world in print that this was the position which I impugned There were too many witnesses there for me to denie or for him to belie the Question he knew it well enough but he could not tell how to proue that which I then reproued and therefore he shranke from it and dallied with generall and doubtfull termes And lest either the patient Reader or strict Examiner should be forced farre to seeke for the chiefe points by me denied or affirmed in those Sermons I purposely and plainly numbred and deliuered them in such sort as none could mistake them but he that would wilfully ouerleape them My words thou wilt pardon me to repeat good Christian Reader that thereby thou mayest see whether I alter or new frame my first questions and resolutions as this Prater pretendeth by his euery where complaining of my manifolde ambiguities fallacies and contrâ—…rieties or he rather dissembleth the weaknesse and couereth the badnesse of his cause vnder certeine perplexed and confused phrases as anon thou shalt heare more at large These are my words in the foresayd Preface I laboured in these my Sermons to prooue these foure points First That it was no where recorded in holy Scriptures nor iustly to be concluded by the Scriptures that Christ suffered the true paines of Hell Secondly That as the Scriptures describe to vs the paines of the Damned and of hell there are manie terrors and torments which without euident impietie can not be ascribed to the Sonne of God Thirdly That the death and bloud of Christ Iesus were euidently frequently constantly set downe in the writings of the Apostles as the sufficient price of our Redemption and true meane of our Reconciliation to God and the verie same proposed in the figures resembled in the sacrifices of the Law and sealed with the Sacraments of the New testament as the verie ground-worke of our saluation by Christ and so haue beene receiued and beleeued in the Church of God foureteene hundred yeeres before any man euer made mention of hell-paines to be suffered in the soule of Christ. Lastly where the Scriptures are plaine and pregnant That Christ died for our sinnes and by his death destroyed him that had power of death euen the diuell and reconciled vs when we were strangers and enemies in the body of his flesh through death besides That the Holie ghost in these places by expresse words nameth the bodily death of Christ as the meane of our Redemption Reconciliation to God no considerate Diuine might affirme or imagine Christ suffered the death of the soule for somuch as the death of the soule must exclude Christ from the grace spirit and life of God and leaue in him neither faith hope nor loue sanctitie nor innocencie which God forbid any Christian man should so much as dreame And if any man to mainteine his deuice would inuent a new hell and another death of the soule then either Scriptures or Fathers euer heard or spake of they should keepe their inuentions to themselues it sufficed me to beleeue what I read and consequently not to beleeue what I did not reade in the Word of God which is and ought to be the foundation of our faith Whether there be any darkenesse or doubling in my speech I leaue it to thy censure good Christian Reader I affirme touching our redemption and reconciliation to God what the Scriptures affirme and as neere as I could in the selfe-same words I denied the late additions of some men in matters of so great weight which the Scriptures by their perpetuall silence denie and by their open and euident consequents disprooue and impugne If any man thinke my Sermons in these points lesse euident or pertinent to the purpose than my Preface let him looke
damned doe though in circumstances of time and place his sufferings somewhat differed from theirs Your quintessencing and new framing of another hell which the Scriptures neuer speake of your quenching hell-fire with a fansie your appointing God to be the tormentor in hell with his immediate hand your nice diuiding betweene the substance and circumstance of Gods eternall iudgements your placing the substance thereof in the apprehension of the soule and that as well in this life as in the next with a number of like audacious and desperate deuises to vphold the name or the shade of hell-paines in the sufferings of Christ wee shall anon discusse when we come to your opening of the question in the meane while the Reader must marke The question is not whether Christ bare the burden of all our sinnes on the tree or whether he were touched and tempted in all things like to his brethren yet still without sinne but whether it can be prooued by the Scriptures that Christ must beare all and the selfe same burdens of our sinnes which wee should haue borne in this life and the next and which the damned doe and shall beare Your distinction of the substance and circumstance of Gods endlesse and mercilesse vengeance of sinne in hell we shall quickly let the Reader see how vainely you presume it without all warrant of holy Scripture and how falsely you applie it to the person of Christ against the manifest Scripture if first we obserue how handsomely you set downe the doctrine which I defend in the next words to your owne hieroglyphicall question of purpose that if you cannot by trueth ouerbeare it you may at least by falshood disgrace it His contrary opinion say you we conceaue thus that Christ suffered for our sinnes nothing else but simply and meerely a bodily death altogether like as the godly doe often suffer at the hands of persecutors sauing onely that God accepted the death of his sonne as a ransome for sin but the death of his seruants he doth not Had you not seene and read my sermons printed before you made this late defence you might haue excused your selfe Sir defender by forgetting or mistaking my wordes but after so often and open repeating them in Print what cause can be imagined why you should thus apparently peruert my words and purposely forsake the points which I proposed saue onely that finding the foile and doubting a fall you would gladly slippe your necke out of the collar and seeing no better meanes you thinke it more skâ—…ll to stand wrangling about the Question then to be taken tardie with saying iust nothing in a matter of the greatest weight and chiefest regard in Christian religion My words are euery where plaine enough as well in deliuering as debating the question that Christ suffered no death saue onâ—…ly the death of the bodie by the verdit of holy Scripture and therefore whatsoeuer the Scripture speaketh of Christs death it is intended and referred to the death of Christs bodie on the Crosse and by no meanes to the death of his soule The words of my preface are these Where the Scriptures are plaine and pregnant that Christ died for our sinnes and by his death destroyed him that had power ouer death euen the Deuill and reconciled vs when we were strangers and enemies in the body of his flesh besides that the holy Ghost in these places by expresse words nameth the bodily death of Christ as the meane of our redemption and reconciliation to God no considerate Diuine may affirme or imagine Christ suffered the death of the soule When I come in my Sermons to handle that point I thus beginne it That Christ did or could suffer the death of the soule is a position farre from the words but farther from the groundes of sacred Scriptures When I shew the Fathers doe ioyne in the same resolution with the Scriptures I say Rightly therefore doe the Ancient Fatâ—…ers teach that Christ dying for our sinnes suffered ONELY THE DEATH OF THE BODIE BVT NOT OF THE SOVLâ—… Concluding their testimonies I capitulate in this wise I hope to all men learned or well aduised it will seeme no Iesuiticall phrenzie but rather Christian and Catholike doctrine that the Sonne of God dying for our sinnes suffered NOT THE DEATH OF THE SOVLE BVT ONELY OF THE BODIE If you vnderstand not these words Sir Defender your Reader will iudge you fitter to learne your abc then to dispute questions in Diuinitie if you doe conceaue them and will peruert them let him likewise pronounce whether it be sinceritie or impudencie in you thus to outface the matter against my plaine speach and to make Proclamation that I defend Christ suffeâ—…ed nothing else for our sinnes but simply and meerely a bodyly death altogether like as the godly often doe at the hands of persecutors Had you said I maintaine Christ suffered no death but onely a bodily death I would haue asked you by what Scriptures you or all your adherents can disproue it but charging me as you doe with this opinion that Christ suffered nothing else but simply and meerely a bodily death altogether like the godly I must tell you this is one of your trueths which many men will call a malitious leasing since my wordes are publikely extant to the contrarie My first resolution was Christ saw before hand that going to his Crosse he should tast all kindes of calamities and so it came to passe For betweene his last Supper and his death he was betrayed of Iudas abiured of Peter forsaken of all his followers he was wrongfully imprisoned falsly accused uniustly condemned he was buffeâ—…ed whipped skorned reuiled he endured cold nakednesse thirst wounding hanging shame reproach and all sorts of deadly paines besides heauinesse of hart and agonie of mind which oppressed him in the Garden All this I affirme Christ suffered before his death and therefore all this besides his meere bodily death to which I added all those afflictions and passions of the Soule which naturally and necessarily follow paine and accompany death You perchance would annex the paines of hell and the death of the Soule but those are the very points in question which I then did and yet doe vtterly exclude from the sufferings of Christ. Where you say I hold Christs death was altogether like as the godly doe suffer at the hands of Persecutors I know not what you meane by your altogether in some things his death was like theirs in many things vnlike A wrongfull and painefull death of the body he suffered at the hands of the Iewes as the godly doe often at the hands of their persecutors and a full perswasion he alwaies had of Gods exceeding and assured loue and fauour towards him in the middest of all his anguishes as the godly haue in theirs though in farre lesse perfection then his was but as touching the cause the manner the force of his death I make it altogether vnlike theirs
They inherite both sinne and death from their Parents and so of necessity must die and putrifie in the graue he did inherite neither but being free from both yeelded himselfe to die that he might purge and abolish sinne Death wresteth our soules from our bodies be we neuer so patient whiles sence doth last he breathed out his soule powerfully and willingly which none could take from him except he would lay it downe of his owne accord Our bodies doe rot in the graue and lye in corruption which is the dominion of death till the time they shall be restored his body could not be dissolued to ashes because neither part of his humane nature might perish after it was once vnited to his Diuine but lay in the graue without corruption resisting death and rose with speede in glory ouerthrowing death first in him selfe and after in all his members at their appointed time So that death is now a necessarie consequent to our sinfull nature his voluntary death was the satisfaction for our sins and pacification of Gods wrath restoring vs againe to Gods fauour which through sin we had lost Thus haue you both swarued very far Sir Desender from your owne question which your selfe put in your first Treatise though wide from our purpose and wholy misreported the doctrine which I formerly auouched by Scriptures and Fathers giuing small hope you will deale more sincerely in the rest that enter so corruptly at the first but you will now open the whole state of the Question which we are content to heare The opening of the whole state of the Question For the better vnderstanding whereof we must note these principall things What you calâ—… the opening of the Question I may better call the darkning and obscuring of the Question with many trifling and tedious obseruations with many new found farre fet and ill applyed phrases with many bold and false assertions powred out of your owne braines without any shew or so much as pretence of holy Scripture And if you may be suffered thus to raigne and reuele in matters of Religion at your pleasure it is an easie way for you to conclude any thing without any great paines or proofes For you bring vs a world of wordes warranted by no mans authoritie but by your owne and out of them you frame false positions fitte for your fancie and vtter them as vndoubted principles of Christian Religion which indeede haue in them neither truth nor sence when they come to be examined As is your matter so is your method tumbling and tossing too and fro like the vnsettlednesse of your head and spending twentie pages in meere confusion and contradiction for which cause I must be driuen to recall your conceits to some speciall heads least in pursuing your steps I loose both my selfe and the Reader The things which you disorderly shuffle and I shall be forced more largely to handle concerne either the offender which is man or the offence which is sinne or the Iudge which is God or the punishment which is death or the ransommer and redeemer which is Christ. I meane to meddle with no more in any of these but what directly pertaineth to this question and serueth aptly to exclude your conceits and truely to establish the collections which I make First then 1 touching MAN who consisteth of body and soule the doubt will be whether the whole man sinned in Adam that the whole might suffer in Christ or whether the soule onely sinned that the soule of Christ onely must suffer Secondly in 2 SINNE must be remembred how it commeth and what it bringeth Sinne is either COMMITTED as by Adam or INHERITED as by vs all or ASSVMED as by Christ who tooke vpon him the punishment of our sinnes though neither committed nor inherited by him And of it selfe sinne breedeth in the offendor where it is not remitted clensed and remooued by the blood of Christ POLLVTION of the whole man STING of conscience and REVENGE of Gods wrath in this life and the next Thirdly for the 3 IVDGE which is God we must learne from what ground within him the punishments of his elect in this life doe proceede whether from his Iustice or from his loue or from both mixed together by whom he executeth his iustice in earth and in hell whether by his immediate hand or by inferiour ministers and meanes with what measure he proportioneth it as well to the faithfull in this life as to the faithlesse till the number of their sinnes be full and lastly to what purpose he directeth it either to reuenge sinne as in the wicked and damned or to represse sinne as in the godly or to declare his iustice as in Infants baptized or to perfit his graces as in the best of his Saints here on earth or to purge and abolish sinne and to prooue obedience as in the person of Christ Iesus Fourthly 4 DEATH which is the wages of sinne and includeth all the punishments prouided here and elsewhere for sinners is either corporall parting the soule from the bodie or spirituall separating the soule from the life and grace of God or eternall excluding both bodie and soule from the ioy and blisse of Gods heauenly kingdome and wrapping them both in the darkenesse fire and horrour of hell for euer That all the paynes and griefes of this life are the seedes of death and wayes to death and so come vnder the name of death which driueth the soule from the bodie is now presumed and shall be prooued in place conuenient Fiftly concerning the 5 REDEEMER which is Christ to whose sufferings all that is aforesaid must in some sort be referred the question is in what part and how farre he suffered feared or apprehended the wrath of God against our sinnes but without question we must know and beleeue that his person was naturally and infinitely beloued of God all the elect being imbraced and accepted onely for him and in him and that the dignitie of his person and depth of his fauour with God when hee submitted himselfe to shew his obedience and maintaine Gods iustice by the shame and sharpenesse of the Crosse receiued in his humaine nature was the right ground and true cause of our Redemption and Reconciliation to God whose patience vnto death was a greater and acceptabler sacrifice to God for sinne then all the world yea then all earthly and heauenly creatures were worth And to increase or strengthen this voluntary sacrifice for sinne the paines of hell were no way needfull since Christ was to shew his obedience in this life onely and after death to rise and raigne with glory and by that which he suffered on the Crosse he was to learne the obedience of a Sonne and not the vengeance due to deuils In all these issues if I would take the Discoursers trade to affirme what I list without any further proofe I could end the whole cause in as fewe wordes as I haue expressed it but since that will neither
which will not suffer you to be tempted aboue that you be able but will giue the issue with the tentation that you may be able to beare it Yea to his enimies God mitigateth the heauinesse of his hand at first and giueth them time and place to amend before he destroyeth them I gaue her space to repent saith Christ but she repented not and therefore when the measure of their sinnes waxeth full God repaieth them the fulnes of vengeance which is puuishment proportioned to their sinnes and this is the due and proper punishments of those that are wilfull and doe not repent their wickednesse The paines of the godly are partly remembrances to cause repentance partly Chasticements to humble vs and mortifie sinne in vs but these whatsoeuer they be yea though death it selfe are improperly called punishments Here you touch after your loose maner the purpose of God in afflicting his seruants which you say is to reforme them but in no wise to punish them If God had none other meaning in afflicting the faithfull but to reforme their sins nor none other meanes to doe that but by paines your speech had some truth but because God hath diuers purposes in so doing and diuers waies without paines to amend his children this that here you bring as the rest else-where is a blind groping besides the truth and a bold presuming that you are in the truth God many times lodeth the best and chiefest of his Saintes with oftner and greater troubles then he doth the meaner sort not because their sinnes are more then others or they neede more amendment then the rest but to TRIE their faith as in Abraham and Iob or to shew the perfection of his grace as in Paul or to prepare them to glory as in Lazarus or to conforme them to Christ whose steps they must follow and often to declare his iustice as he did in striking Dauids child when the sinne was both repented and pardoned in the Father In the sicknesse and death of which child as of all other infants regenerate by Baptisme there neither was nor can be any vse of Repentance humiliation or mortification for themselues and consequently by your owne diuision since to them it can be NO CORRECTION it must in them be a punishment of sinne not actually committed by them but naturally deriued to them by the guilt and corruption of their Parents Yea the generall paine laid on Adam and all mankinde as dissolution by death priuation of originall light and grace corruption of sinne infection of soule which declare vs all to be the children of wrath by nature were they corrections or punishments of Adams sinne since after death there is no repentance nor amendment of life and the rest are neither barres to sinne nor retraits from sinne but either parts effects or causes of sinne which sticke so fast and beare such rule in many euen of the elect that no gentle or fatherly admonitions reprehensions or comminations will preuaile with them but they must be ouerruled and wearied with sharp and pearcing scourges before they will see or forsake the loathsomnesse of their sinne Wherein though it be a great fauour of God rather to persue them with all temporall plagues vnto their conuersion then to let them run headlong to euerlasting perdition yet the meanes which he vseth are mixed with iustice and mercie and are rightly beleeued to be punishments fully deserued by their sinnes though not fully proportioned to their sinnes the iust and full wages whereof in sinfull men can be none other but death corporall spirituall and eternall So that your diuision all paine from God is either correction or punishment and your position no paine in the godly is punishment are not onely friuolous and false but repugnant each to the other for so much as paine commeth from God for probation of faith perfection of grace assurance of saluation encouraging of others by example as well as for correction and death and correction in Infants where correction hath no place must by your owne partition be a punishment of sinne inflicted on the first Man and all his posteritie The which because we all inherite from our Parents and had it in vs at our birth when there was no vse of correction for vs it was then in vs all and so still remaineth a punishment of our first Parents sinne though by the grace and price of Christs death we are and shall be freed from it But come to your purpose and apply this to Christ for thither you bend and thereat you shoote is your diuision true in the sufferings of Christ then since by your owne assertion chastisements and remembrances which are the branches that you make of Correction belonged nothing at all to Christ and indeede there could be no cause to correct any sinfull corruption or affection in him where no sinne was it is a plaine confession that the bodily death and paines which Christ suffered on the Crosse were the punishment of our sinnes in his body and consequently a part of that curse which was imposed on the first mans sinne which you so stifly denied in your Treatise where you said Therefore Christs dying simply as the godly die that is a bodily death may in no sort be called a curse or cursed And if to shift of this contradiction and confession of the truth of my answere to the place of S. Paule Christ was made a curse for vs you referre these words as the godly doe not to the same kinde of death which is bodily in both but to the same cause of death which was different in Christ and his members Remember good Sir the words are not mine but your owne I put many differences betwixt the death of Christ and his Saints as namely the cause the manner and force of his death which I haue touched before but the kind of death which was bodily and not Ghostly is all one in Christ and the godly For Christ died not the death of the Soule no more doe the godly when they depart this life albeit they may oftentimes whiles here they liue draw neere to the death of the Soule by sinning which Christ could not And if you begin now to be better aduised I am not displeased with it it shall suffice that mine answere did and doth stand true that Christ in suffering bodyly paines and death for vs suffered a part of the same punishment and curse which was laid on all mankind for the sinne of Adam We must note especially that to suffer as the godly doe Chasticements and corrections is not to suffer or feele Gods wrath nor the punishment of sinne except it be in a very improper speech To suffer the true punishment satisfaction proper payment and wages of sinne onely that is to suffer properly and truely the wrath of God now then seeing the paines which Christ for vs did feele were indeede properly the
punishment and payment and vengeance for sinne such as the godly doe in no wise suffer Christ onely hauing wholy suffered that for vs all Therefore indeede his sufferings proceded from Gods proper wrath and were the true effects of Gods meere Iustice bent to take recompence on him for our offences Thou hast in these words Christian Reader the bulwarke of this mans cause concluding that Christ suffered the MEERE IVSTICE PROPER VVRATH and very CVRSE of God for sinne The frame of his reason if I vnderstand it as who vnderstandeth his mysteries but himselfe is this All paine in man is from God either as correction of sinne or as punishment for sinne In Christ there was no ‖ cause and so no neede of ‖ correction his sufferings therefore were the punishments of sinne They were punishments for sinne Ergo they were the true punishment proper payment wages and vengeance of sinne which proceeded from Gods proper wrath and were the true effects of Gods mâ—…ere iustice bent to take recompence on him for our offences His termes of TRVE PROPER and MEERE ioyned to the PVNISHMENT VVRATH and IVSTICE of God are not warranted by any Scripture much lesse referred to the sufferings of Christ nor so much as prooued by any testimony defined with any certaintie directed by any part or expounded by any meanes but onely proiected as Ridles and laberinthes to weary the wise to angle the simple and to refuge himselfe when he shall be pressed with the falsitie and impietie of his assertions Least therefore we wrangle about words in vaine which is his desire and deuise that he may seeme to say somewhat and carry the Reader into a forest of strange and vnknowen phrases where he shall hardly discerne what either side saith I thâ—…nke it needefull first to declare what the Scriptures meane by the wages of sinne and wrath of God and so to trie in what sense and with what truth his termes may be added to them and applyed to the sufferings of Christ. The wages of sinne is death saith S. Paul God himselfe foretold Adam it should be so Whensoeuer thou catest of the forbidden tree thou shalt die the death Then how many kinds of death are by God threatned and inflicted on sinners so many parts must the wages of sinne containe Now those are three the death of the Soule in this life which I call spirituall the death of the body leauing this life which I call corporall and the death of both in the next world which I call eternall For as man had two parts by which he did liue Soule and body and two places wherein he might liue if he obeyed God earth for a time and heauen for euer so disobedience depriued either part of man in either place of the life which he should haue enioyed and subiected him to the feares griefes and paines of death both here and in hell for euer The life of the body is the vnion of the Soule with the body the effects whereof are sense and motion to discerne obtaine and performe that which is needfull or healthfull for the body And as the presence of the Soule bringeth life to the body so the departing of the Soule taketh life from the body and leaueth it dead that is voide of all action motion and sense as to euery mans eyes is apparent in dead bodies The Soule therefore in the Scriptures is vsually taken for the life of the body which proceedeth from the Soule and is maintained by the Soule And these phrases to seeke a mans Soule tolay downe his owne Soule or to giue it for another to powre out his Soule vnto death with such like doe properly expresse the death of the body quickned by the Soule because men loose or leaue this life when they loose or leaue their Soules And where God threatned death to Adam euen the very same day in which he should transgresse we must not thinke that God either delayed the punishment longer or extended it farder then his words at first imported When therefore the very same day that they sinned God said to the woman increasing I will increase thy sorrow and to the man In sorrow shalt thou eate all the daies of thy life we must acknowledge that from that time forward death began to take hold and worke on both their bodies though not by present separation of the Soule from the body for Adam liued after that 930. yeeres yet by mortalitie mutabilitie miserie and namely by sorrow and paine as the instruments and agents of death Worldly sorrow causeth death as Paul witnesseth and a broken hart saith Salomon drieth the bones yea sorrow hath slaine maxy And were it not so written yet experience and nature teacheth vs that griefe of mind and paine of body where they continue or increase consume the flesh and hasten death so that when God the same day that they sinned subiected them to sorrow and paine which before they felt not He made way for death that it might continually worke in them and â—…ken them till they returned to dust The tiâ—…e of this life saith Austâ—…n is nothing elsâ—… but a race to death and truely after a mâ—…n begiâ—…th to be in this bâ—…dy he is in death The life of the soule is not her vnderstanding and will which she can neuer lose no not in hell but onely the trueth and graâ—…e of God by whose spirit she receiueth the light of faith to direct her and the strength of loue to stirre and iâ—…cite her in tâ—…is life to beholde desire and embrace the holinesse and goodnesse of Gods blessed will and promise for her euerlasting happinesse which with patience and comfort of the Holy ghost she expecteth till Gods appointed time do come The lacke or losse of this inward sense and motion of Gods spirit which only can quicken the soule is the death of the soule depriued of her life which is God and left to herselfe in blindnesse and hardnesse of heart and giuen ouer vnto a reprobaâ—…e minde and vile affections to worke wickednesse euen with greedinesse till contempt of Gods will and desperation of his mercy doe fearefully end her miserable time in this life and violently draw her from hence to see and suffer the terrible iudgements of God prouided for sinne in another world Life euerlasting is the perfect and perpetuall vision and fruition of Gods glorious presence in the heauens where vnspeakable light and honour ioy and bliâ—…e shall compasse and replenish bodie and soule in the fellowship of Christ and his elect angels for euer The exclusion and reiection of the wicked from this heauenly fâ—…licity together with the shame and confusion of sinne wounding and stinging the conscience without ease or rest and the dreadfull horror of hell the place of darknesse and diuels hauing in it continuall flames of intolerable and vnquenchable fire eternallie tormenting the soules and bodies of the damned the Scriptures call the sâ—…cond death
ouer to Christ by God and all things subiected vnder his feet because he hâ—…bled himselfe and was obedient to his father vnto death euen the death of the Crosse. Was it then wrath in God without loue that brought Christ to his death or rather vnspeakable loue in God towards his sonne which ouerruled his iustice prouoked by our sinnes and so highly accepted and plentifully rewarded the death of Christ that he made him LORD ouer all things and persons in heauen earth and hell to giue grace and peace mercie and glory to Gods elect by his meanes and merites and to inflict excecation destruction and damnation on the wicked both men and diuels by his iudgement and sentence If it were admirable loue and fauour in God towards Christs humane nature to ioyne mans flesh and spirit into the vnitie and societie of his Sonnes Diuine maiestie what inestimable honor and glory was it to put the whole gouernment of Gods kingdome in heauen and earth into Christs hands which is the reward that God hath allotted to Christs obedience patience shewed on the Altar of the Crosse So that the learned may soone perceiue I worke no deceit nor mistaking to the Reader through the ambiguitie of this word THE VVRATH OF GOD as you pretend but you wandring in the desart of your owne deuises haue fashioned to your selfe a fardle of phrases as Gods proper and improper wrath 〈◊〉 meere iustice and such like and vnder the generalitie and vncertaintie of these words you hide your head and when you are required to make some proofe and shew some parts of Gods wrath out of the Scripture which Christ suffered besides the death of the Crosse and paines thereof you answere to particularize or to specifie the parts of Gods wrath which Christ felt as I will you to doe what madnesse were it in men to attempt and what folly is it in any to require Indeede it would be madnesse in you to attempt it for thereby you should plainly disclose that absurditie and impietie which now is cloaked vnder generall and doubtfull termes but those that be godly will neuer suffer their faith to be framed by your phrases except you shew warrant of Gods word both whence you collect them and what you meane by them neither of which you doe nor can doe with any truth in these points now in question For first by what Scripture proue you that Christ did or must suffer the proper wrath of God or the punishment and vengeance of sinne I following the sense and words of the Scriptures and of Diuines both olde new which make shame sorrow paine and death in this life the effects of Gods wrath punishing sinne in Adam and his of-spring at his fall did by consequent a specie ad genus affirmatiue gather and in that respect confesse that Christ suffering those things on the Crosse suffered the wrath of God and due punishment of sinne in this life but you tell vs now the Scriptures in that point speake most improperly you haue found out that Gods wrath signifieth properly the paines of the damned and those Christ suffered for our sinnes True it is and long since by me auouched that Gods wrath against sinne extendeth to all the paines and punishments of Soule and body as well in hell as on earth and in comparison of the terrible torments of hell fier the paines and punishments of the faithfull in this life may be called and accounted rather the chastisements of a Father then the rigour of a Iudge but since you refuse that sense of Gods wrath which I collected from the Scriptures as very improper take no aduantage of my confession and let Gods wrath stand in your sense either for Gods displeasure against the person offending or for the vengeance of sinne executed on the wicked and damned I aske you now by what authoritie of holy Scripture can you prooue that Christ suffered Gods proper wrath or his wrath at all I recall not my former Resolution which I take to be sober and sound but you reiecting it as improper and deceitfull let vs see how you prooue by the Scriptures that Christ suffered Gods wrath which you so much presume and make the chiefe pillour of all your procedings In your late defence with shame enough you yeeld at last that this word HELL is not literally and expresly applyed to Christs sufferings in the Scriptures you must likewise yeeld by your leaue that this speech the wrath of God is not literally nor expresly affirmed of Christs sufferings in all the Scriptures That he was wounded for our transgressions and torne or trodden vnder feete for our iniquities and we healed by his stripes as also that he was afflicted and oppressed and bare our iniquities and poured out his soule vnto death the Prophet Esay witnesseth that he dranke of the Cup which his Father gaue him the Euangelists mention and the Apostle saith he was deliuered and died for our sinnes according to the Scriptures but none of these expresse or inferre that he suffered the proper wrath of God or full punishment and vengeance of sinne which are the phrases placed for the ground-worke of all your discourse though no way prooued by any shew of Scripture The words vsed generally by the holy Ghost to expresse Christs sufferings besides the former import that he gaue himselfe for vs to be the sacrifice the price and the ransome of our deliuerance All which wordes note no wrath conceiued against him nor vengeance executed on him but rather the exceeding loue and fauour of God towards him as the onely Sacrifice that God would accept the onely price that God did esteeme the onely ransome that God would receaue for the sinne of the world This Sacrifice was his body this price was his bloud this ransome was his death We are sanctified by the offering of the body of Iesus once ‖ made ‖ priceâ—…th â—…th Paule that is yee were redcemed with the precious blood of Christ saith Peter For we haue redemption in him by his blood And he is the mediatour of the new testament through death for the ransome of the transgressions in the former testament So that by the sacrifice of his bodie price of his blood and ransome of his death he hath made a most full recompence satisfaction and redemption for the sinnes of the world and consequently the punishment which he sustained when he bare our sinnes in his body on the tree was the full perfect purgation and propitiation of our sinnes full not in the degrees and parts of condemnation and vengeance due to sinne which the damned doe suffer as you falsely and absurdly insinuate but full in price and force of Redemption and deliuerance from sinne for somuch as Gods holinesse is highly pleased with the obedience Gods glory greatly aduanced by the humilitie and Gods iustice fully satisfied with the
members and vitall parts is so weake that they are not able to sustaine the force which bringeth great or most sharpe paine Which Chrysostome also confiâ—…meth Name fiâ—…e if thou wilt the sword or wilde beasts and if any thing be more grieuous than these yet are these scant a shadow to the torments of hell And these when they grow vehement are easiest and soonest dispatch men the body not sufficing to suffer a sharpe paine any long while Your hell paines then are not very sharpe which the wicked may suffer so many yeres in this life and not forsake either food or sleepe Yet Christ did feele you say Gods very wrath and proper vengeance for sinne and that only you know though you câ—…n not expresse the maner or measure of his feeling it And it was discerned and conceiâ—…ed by Christ to be such and so did wound the soule properly yea chiefly though it were outwardly executed on his bodic The wrath and vengeance of God due to sinne and generally to all mankinde for sinne is spirituall corporall and eternall death with all the seeds and fruits of death that is the losse of all earthly and heauenly blessings in this life and the next and the depth of perpetuall miâ—…ery in body and soule here and in hell This is the true wages and full payment of sinne and though God of his bountie and patience do often remit to the wicked in this life a great part of this 〈◊〉 in things tempo all yet when he inflicteth on them the miseries and calaâ—…ities of this life he giueth them their due And as for spirituall and eternall death now and hereafter it is so proper and certaine to the reprobate that not one of them shall eâ—…cape eâ—…ther Spirituall death is blindnesse and hardnesse of heart working all vncleâ—…nnesse euen with greedinesse which sheweth men to be strangers from the life of God and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as past all sense and feeling of God Eternall death the Scripture calleth WRATH TO COME because no man suffereth the full force and waâ—…ght thereof in this life but as it is the second death so it followeth in men after the first death which â—…euereth the soule from the bodâ—…e Yee vipers broâ—…d sayd Iohn Baptist to the Pharises and Sadduâ—…s who hath taught you thus to flâ—…e from the wrath to come Iesus sayth Paul deliuereth vs from the wrath to come In this life the wicked may haue a fearefull expectation but no present execution of this iudgement there is a day of â—…rath euen the reuelation of the â—…st iudgement of God when euery man shall be rewarded according to his works and a violent fire shall dâ—…uoure the aduersaries This wrath by the Scriptures is reserued for the vessels of wrath for euer and shall be executed on them with indignation furie and fire not onely because the wrath of God against the wicked burneth lâ—…ke fire but for that it shall be powred on them with flaming and euerlasting fire The effects whereof are reiection malediction confusion desperation and such lâ—…ke which neuer accompanie saluation To say that Christ suffered this kinde of wrath which is the true and proper wages of sinne is horrible and hellish blasphemie which I hope no Christian man will aduenture From the spirituall death of the soule which is the wrath of God reuealed from heauen against all vngodlinesse and vnrighteousnesse of men and bringeth with it the losse of all grace and goodnesse in this life and consequently leaueth the pollution and dominion of sinne in the soule of man our Lord and master must be as free as from damnation the one being alwayes a necessary consequent to the other Displeasure and wrath against Christes person God neuer had nor could haue any Christ being his owne and only sonne and so deerely beloued that for his sake Gods most iust and most heauie wrath against the sinnes of all his elect did calme and asswage for Gods inward loue doth not admit contrarieties or changes as mans doth all Gods counsels wayes and wo kes being absolutely perfect and constant chiefly towards his owne sonne whom he naturally infinitly and euerlastingly loueth in the same degree that he doth himselfe and therefore no more possible there should be in god any displeasure or dislike conceiued of his sonne for bearing the sinnes of the world or for what cause soeuer than of himselfe And since the humane nature of Christ was by Gods owne wisdome will and worke ioyned into the vnitie of the person of his sonne and made one and the same Christ with his Godhead no cause nor course whatsoeuer could alter or diminish the exceeding loue and fauour of God towards the very manhood of Christ but as God did inseparably knit it to the person of his sonne so did he make it fully partaker of that infinite loue wherewith he embraced his sonne To confirme this to all the world God did often from heauen pronounce with his owne voice This is my beloued sonne in whom I am well pleased as he forespake by his Prophet Beholde mâ—…e elect in whom my soule delighteth This vnspeakable loue of God towards the person of his Sonne now being God and man is the chiefe ground of our election and redemption For wee were adopted through Iesus Christ and made accepted in his beloued by whom wee haue redemption through his blood euen the forgiuenesse of sinnes according to the riches of his grace So that we were neither elected nor redeemed but by the infinite loue of God towards his sonne for whose â—…ake we were adopted to be the sonnes of God and to whose loue the fierce wrath of God prouoked by our sinnes did yeeld and giue place neither may he beare the name of a Christian man that otherwise teacheth or beleeueth of our election and redemption Now iudge thou Christian Reader whether it were wrath or loue in God towards his sonne that pardoned all our sinnes for his â—…ake and accepted the voluntarie sacrifice of his bodie and blood for the redemption of the world through whoâ—…e death we are reconciled to God and cleansed by his blood from all our sinnes Then as in God there neither was nor could be any displeasure against the person of his Sonne nor against any part thereof for what cause soeuer nor any chaunge or decrease of the loue which God with his own mouth professed from heauen towards Christ incarnate so could not Christ without plaine infidelitie conceaue or beleeue that God was inwardly displeased or angrie with â—…im no not when he presented him â—…elfe to God his Father vnder the burden of all our â—…innes knowing that neither sin from which he was â—…ee being the innocent and â—…mmaculate â—…amb of God noâ—… Gods most holy dislike or iust pursuite of sinne could diminish Gods fatherly affection and most constant loue to him For though he were not ignorant that God in his holinesse did hate
former feare and freed from suffering hell paines wherein there is no comfort he prayed more earnestly or ardently and his sweate was in colour and consistence like drops or strings of blood trickling downe to the ground So that feruencie in prayer is set downe next before that sweate in the Gospell as a precedent or cause thereof Howbeit I onely barre the boldnesse of this deuiser who presumeth what pleaseth him of Christs bloodie sweate in the garden because the Scriptures doe not exactly mention the cause and thinke it no reason to let him build on a blinde coniecture a false conceit of his owne without any warrant of holy Scripture But I am repugnant to my selfe and some where I hold that Christ suffered no more but meere bodily paines that is in his soule from and by his bodie Neuerthelesse contrâ—…riwise I seeme somewhere to yeelde wholely so much as you affirme I leaue that grace to you Sir Discourser to roule to and fro and when you haue â—…aid a thing after a sense and in a sort then in another kind to vnsay it againe and laying the whole foundation of your cause vpon Christes suffering the wrath of God neither to bring any proofes or to shew any parts thereof by the word of God but to play with the termes of very proper and meere and to call that the opening of the whole question Indeed I euery where defend that Christ suffered no death expressed or mentioned in the Scriptures saue onely the death of the bodie from other passions or sufferings of the soule as feare sorrow shame and such like I doe not exempt the soule of Christ when he sustered for our sinnes though I leaue no place in him for the feare of damnation sting of conscience despaire or doubt of Gods fauour and such other shipwrackes of all faith hope patience and pietie The Crosse death and blood of Christ when I name I vse those words as the Scripture doth to declare the whole maner and order of his passion from the garden to the graue as it is described in the Euangelists not excluding either the feare or agonie which befell him before he was apprehended but comprising within his death his obedience and patience in all those asâ—…ictions which he suffered till he died And this is no wauering in mee to retaine the words of the holy Ghost in their right sense and vse but it is rather a childish dalliance in you Sir Discourser to suppose that the death of Christ doth import no more but the very act of giuing vp the ghost or els if I by that worde designe the rest of Christs sufferings endured at the time of his death by the witnesse of holy Scripture you will also hemme in your hell paines within the list of the same wordes though the Euangelists name or note no such thing in all the historie of Christs passâ—…on So likewise in speaking of Gods wrath against the wicked I wrap in no Ridles nor enuiron the Reader with a windlace of words but plainely and fairely distinguish it either by the naturall vertues and properties that are in God misâ—…iking and repreâ—…sing sinne or by the effects and punishments proceeding from God to reuenge the works and reward the workers of iniquitie In the wicked Gods holinesse hateth the euill deede and the doer that is both the sinne and the sinner and by his iustice without all loue or fauour towardes them awardeth a punishment against them according to their deserts which the power of God doth execute on them not respecting their strength but rather inabling them to continue in perpetuall torments of bodie and soule in hell fire for euer Gods purpose being onely to reuenge sinne in them and to destroy them for their sinnes which is most holy and righteous in him though it be neuer so grieuous and intollerable to them Gods iust and full iudgement against sinne where and when it pleaseth him to inflict it is the depriuing bodie and soule of all outward and inward peace and grace in this life for the time and the reiecting of both from all blisâ—…e and rest in the world to come for euer which is the losâ—…e of God and of all his blessings prouided in this life and the next for his elect These causes and parts Gods anger hath against the wicked for their sinnes and to euery of these the Scripture beareth witnesse In Christ Gods holinesse infinitely imbraced the humilitie obedience and charitie of his Sonne offering himselfe to be the ransommer of man and perfectly loued the integritie innocencie and puritie of his manhood created called and anointed of God to this intent and end that his death and bloodshedding should be the redemption of the world though God vtterly hated the sinnes of men which his sonne then assumed into the bodie of his flesh to beare the burden of them when wee could not Wherefore Gods iustice finding the loue of the Father towards his Sonne farre to exceede the hatred of the Creator against the vncleannesse of his sinfull but sedused creature did relent from the rigour of that iudgement which was prouided for sinne in Angels and with a fatherly regard and respect to the meanest part of the peâ—…son of his sonne decreed a punishment for our sinnes in the manhood of Christ which was a corporall death accompanied with the sharpest paines that Christ might endure with obedience and pacience whose voluntarie submission and sacrifice for sinne the iustice of God did accept as a most sufficient price and payment for all our sinnes which in themselues deserued euerlasting destruction of bodie and soule in hell fire with deuils This correction though very sharpe yet not ouerpressing the patience of Christs manhood Gods iustice would not release to his owne Sonne least he should seeme to make light account of our sinne if it were remitted onely for prayer and intreatie and without iust cause so terribly to punish the sinnes of the reprobate with all kinds of death I meane corporall spirituall and eternall And greater or other death then the death of the bodie God by no iustice could impose on the person of his Sonne since Christ could not be subiected to sinne which he must cleanse and abolish in vs much lesse be reiected from euerlasting â—…lisse and ioy to which hee must bring vs least of all linked and chained with deuils in perpetuall flames of hell fire for so much as hee was the true and onely Sonne of God for whose sake we all were adopted and made heires of eternall saluation And for this cause the power of God which is otherwise most dreadfull to men and Angels and so was then to the manhood of Christ restrained it selfe and tempered the smart of Christes paines to the stâ—…ength of Christes humane nature not meaning to ouerwhelme his patience but to trie his obedience to the vttermost In all which sufâ—…erings Gods counsell and purpose was most fauourable and honourable euen to the manhood
of Christ the perfection of whose confidence and patience hee would demonstrate to Angels and men and propose him a paterne to all the Sonnes of God how to humble themsâ—…lues vnder the mightie hand of God and accept his obedience vnto death as a most precâ—…ous and pleasing satisfaction and sacrifice for the sinnes of his elect and reward his humilitie with vnspeakeable honour in making him Lord and Iudge of all both men and Angels not onely to confound the pride and suppâ—…esse the power of Satan but to adiudge him to euerlasting torments with all the wicked and accursed Against the tenor and effect of this Christian confession which I referre to the iudgements of all that be learned rightly instructed in the sacred Scriptures I neuer speake any one word to my knowledge I cannot in euery sentence repeate euery circumstance nor of euery page make a paire of Indentures much lesse may I forsake the forme of holsome words deliuered in the Scriptures But the maine summe and scope of this doctrine being so fully declared and so often repeated by me I had no reason to feare the capacity or doubt the memorie of any heedfull Reader And howsoeuer some shallow trifler may picke out a word heere and there to carpe at yet are there so many cleere places to direct all doubts that no man needeth to stumble but he that will not or can not stand vpright For let the Christian Reader looke but to the marke at which I aime in euery place and remember these two rules that of three sorts of death which onely are mentioned in the Scriptures as the wages of sinne to wit corporall spirituall and eternall death I alwayes remoue the two last from the person of Christ by describing or naming the first which was his corporall death and in that I conteine the whole course and maner of his death that is the feares forrowâ—…s shames temptations derisions smarts and paines which the Scriptures record in the history of his death and all my words will prooue plaine and easie which this maâ—… thinketh so false in themselues so contrary to themselues Examine my words which he hath brought for examples of contradiction and falsity and see whether his labour be any more than meere nugation and vanitie Aâ—…ouching and prouing that Christ could not suffer eternall damnation which is the full wages of sinne nor the death of the soule which by the Scriptures must exclude Christ from the fauour and grace trueth and spirit of God and giuing the reasons why sinne could not preuaile vpon his person as it did vpon others I conclude What maruell then if sinne which should haue wrought in vs an eternal destruction both of bodie and soule could not farther preuaile in him that is to none other kinde of death but to the wounding of his flesh and shedding of his blood for the iust and full satisfaction of all our sinnes euen in the righteous and sincere iudgement of God In this I free Christ from eternall destruction or death of bodie and soule which was the wages of sinne in our persons but could not take holde on his as the difference there betwixt him and vs declareth I exempted him by proofs in the page precedent from the death of the soule which was the maine scope of that section and so leâ—…t him subiect onely to the third kinde of death which was corporall and might be suffered not onely without all taint of sinne losse of grace and change of Gods fauour but euen with great manifestation of Gods power and wisdome in his death and commendation of Christs obedience and patience vnto death That third kinde of death I doe not name but describe by the wounding of Christes flesh and shedding of his blood the rest of his paines and griefes that went bâ—…fore not being excluded as superfluous but continued and increased by that sharpe and â—…xtreame martyrdome which he endured on the crossâ—… as my caueat touching Christs Crosse did plainly admonish And since the whole maner of Christes dâ—…ath and shedding his blood expressed in the Scriptures is the thing that I alwayes intend and the word doth import when I name or touch the death of Christ all that he voluntarily or violently suffered when he yeelded himselfe to be put to death â—…s comprised in the mention of his death Besides that Christ by his bloody sweat in the garden beganne of his owne accord in some sort to effuse his blood for our sakes and safeties and the efore it could haue no iust reason to imagine that my words exclude his agonie and other passions of the soule mentioned in the Scriptures specially my very next words affirming that the same part might and did suffer in Christ which sinned in man to wit the soule though by no meanes it could receiue the same wages which we should haue receiued But I professe by the generall title of my Sermons the full redemption of mankinde by the death and blood of Christ and commend the jâ—…ce and fruit of his bodily death as most sufficient That indeed is very dangerous to your fansie who hold the ioynt sufferings of Christes soule from and by his body not properly to pertaine to mans redemption for that they are common to men with beasts and therefore labour to frustrate all the words of the Holy Ghost deliuered in the Scriptures as improper and impertinent to our saluation but to me there can be no danger in the trueth nor doubt of the fruit or force of those things which the spirit of God so often and euidently commendeth vnto vs in the â—…acred Scriptures as the price of our redemption and meanes of our reconciliation to God In Christ sayth Paul we haue redemption by his blood euen the remission of our sinnes Redemption by Christs blood you will and must gâ—…ant the Holy ghost doth directly auouch it but whether that redemption be full and most sufficient which is purchased by the blood of Christ you doe make some doubt or els you need not sticke at my words which import so much Of that if you doubt you must beare the name of some other sect and not of a Christian for no Christian may doubt whether the redemption which we haue by the blood of Christ be fâ—…ll and suffâ—…cient or no. To make Christ in part a Sauiour is to make him in part no Sauiour contrary to S Peter who sayth There is no saluation in any other If you will deâ—…iue our whole redemption from him but not from his blood shed for vs then giue you S. Iohn the lie who sayth The blood of Iesus Christ clenseth vs from all sinne Clensing from all sinne is full and perfect redemption from sinne and sinne being fully remitted and purged there is no cause of breach betweene God and vs that should hinder our saluation Christ by his owne blood sayth Paul entred once into the holy place hauing purchased eternall
which are nothing like nor neare the paines of hell For example in harty and true repentance how great is the griefe and paine of euery part and facultie of the soule detesting and abhorring sinne and fearing and feeling the power of Gods wrath and yet I trust ech penitent person doth not suffer the paines of hell Feare griefe and sorrow then the soule of Christ might deepely tast when he suffered for sinne and yet be farre from the paines of hell But your collection from my words is more absurd for where I say the soule of Christ might suffer for sinne yet by no meanes could it receiue the same wages of sinne which we should haue receiued you inferre not only without any words of mine but directlv against my words ergo I meane or I ought to meane that the soule and mind of Christ suffered the paines of hell from the immediate hand of God and so where I auouch Christ by no meanes could suffer the same wages of sin which we should haue suffered you paraphrase Imeane or I ought to meane Christ suffered the selfe same which we should haue suffered and of my negatiues you make affirmatiues and then tell the Reader I contradict my selfe But in plaine termes I allow in Christ all those afflictions and passions of the Soule which naturally and necessarily follow paine and this ALL reacheth vnto moe then meere bodily paines it includeth the soules proper and immediate paines also Where you learned to reason I doe not know but you haue the best grace to disgrace your selfe that euer I saw and if this be all the learning you haue you may clout shoes with this Al. Doe the torments of hell naturally and necessarily follow paine then whosoeuer in any part or for any cause is payned suffereth the paines of hell or at least the soules proper and immediate paines which you make extreamest and sharpest in hell Babes and boyes may thus bable it is a shame for men to talke so much out of square Let my words stand simplely as you bring them and allow in Christ all those afflictions and passions of the soule which naturally and necessarily follow paine what conclude you out of them your sight is very sharpe if you see any absurditie in them Howbeit you draw my words from their right course and sense by leauing out what pleaseth you My words are When the auncient fathers affirme that Christ dyed for vs the death of the body only we must not like children imagine they exclude the vnion operation or passion of the soule but in the death of his body and shedding of his blood they include all those afflictions and passions of the soule which naturally and necessarily follow paine and accompany death Christ suffering for vs a painefull death how could it be otherwise but such afflictions â—…nd passions of the soule as naturally and necessarily follow paine and accompâ—…ny deâ—…th should be found in the soule of Christ vnlesse we giue him an insensible flesh or impassiole soule both which are errors in the nature of Christ His flesh waâ—… sensible and his soule passible as ours is because they both were humane Paiâ—… then and death in my words are plainly referred to the body of Christ whose â—…lesh could not be wounded and blood shed as his was but naturally and necâ—…ssarily his â—…le must feele the paine thereof And yet if my words wâ—…e not limited to the paine of Châ—…sts body as indeed they are I see no inconueniencâ—… growing from them nor helpe for your fansie coÌ„tained in them Yet plaiâ—…er as fauoâ—…g your error I say 〈◊〉 paine griefe of body or mind be it neuer so great will commend Christs obedieâ—…ce patience And the punishment of sinne which proceedeth from the iusâ—…ice of God and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Christ might and did beare Yea he suffered death with all painfâ—…â—…ut no sinfull 〈◊〉 or â—…onsequents How good a sempsteâ—… you are doth well appeaâ—… by your short cuâ—…ing and â—…ide 〈◊〉 â—…hing my words together The first sentence you take our of a Section of my 〈◊〉 wherein I purposely shew that not only the paines of hell but euen the feare oâ—… 〈◊〉 must â—…e farre from the soule of Christ. The suffering of hell paines in the soule of Christ I there refuse as not consâ—…t to the Christian 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the 〈◊〉 â—…ertaintie sanctâ—…ie of Christs person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 with God Immediatly after the words which you bring I say 〈◊〉 Christ there could beâ—… no apprehension of hâ—…ll paines as due to him or determiâ—… for him but â—…e mâ—…st 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…are that God would be inconstant or vâ—…st which are more then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yea to these very words which you 〈◊〉 I â—…oyne this exception in the same 〈◊〉 but the sense of damnation or separatâ—…n from God or the feare or doubt thereof in Chrâ—…t as they quench faith and abolish grace so they dissolue the vnion and commuâ—…on of â—…ath 〈◊〉 natures or else breed a false persuasion and sinfull temptation in the soule of Christ. Who can be so sottish as not to see that my former words import Smart 〈◊〉 and gâ—…fe of body and mind which haue in them neither senâ—…e nor seare of hell paines that is of damnation or separation from God since no man is damned but vnto the pâ—…ines and place of hell and is first separated from God Wâ—…th as great discretion you fasten on an other sentence of mine where though 〈◊〉 â—…position be not generall but indefinite and hath two restraints euen from your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to wit in this liâ—…e where Christ suffeâ—…ed in â—… like to vs who aâ—… his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you throw off all forgetting what your selâ—…e obiected and whereto I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…nswere and suppose that here I fully concurre with your conâ—…ites But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 your owne obiection and that will rightly guide my solution Your reason which you proudly boasted could not be refuâ—…ed by the wiâ—… of man â—…as as you call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the lesâ—…e to the more Thus doe the members of Chriâ—… 〈◊〉 the terrors 〈◊〉 God and sorrowes of hâ—…ll therefore of necessitie Christ suffered the likâ—… Pâ—…ooue you by this Aâ—…gument that Christ aâ—…ter this life suffered the terrors of God and sorrowes of hell I doe you wrong to â—…pect it for it is open impietie so to thinke or say Then do you more wrong to imagine that I extended my words farther then to refell your reason As you spake of this life though you expressed it not so I replied that the puâ—…shment 〈◊〉 sâ—…nne which proceedeth from the iustice of God in this life and is no sinne Christ might and did beare but in no wiâ—…e those terrors and feares of consciâ—…nce which procâ—… from sinne and aâ—…gment sinne Now I pray you what allowance finde you here for your new erected hell or how force you my words to fit your deuises Terror of conscience and feare of hell could haue no
person onely but also in his members Then first you be slipt from your former resolutio deliuered in your Treatise which is no strange thing in your writings There your words were I take it to be cleare the Apostle HERE SPEAKETH NOT of the personall sufferings of Christ but of the godly You there denie that Paul speaketh of Christs personall sufferings but of the godly Here you affirme hee speaketh of both and least you should seeme to diuide them you adde Paul doth here ioyntly together vnderstand by Christs crosse the afflictions of the whole mysticall bodie both head and members A large and long Crosse of Christ that conteineth not onely his owne death and passion and whatsoeuer persecution he suffered in his life time but ioyntly together all the asflictions of the godly from the beginning of the world to the end I will not aske you where you find or how you proue Christs crosse to be so vsed in the Scriptures you that take vpon you to frame new Redemptions new hels and new heauens to your fansie will not sticke to frame a new Crosse of Christ without any Scripture howbeit know this all wise will beware of such expositions as haue neither example nor ground in the word of God For though our Sauiour sometimes said If any will come after me let him denie himselfe and take vp his Crosse and follow me yet he neuer said let him take vp my Crosse and follow mee and Paul who often vseth the word Crosse without addition many times the Crosse of Christ neuer taketh it in all his Epistles for the afflictions of the godly but onely for the spitefull and shamefull death which Christ in his owne person suffered on the Crosse. So that howsoeuer euery Christian may be said to take or beare his Crosse the Scriptures no where apply the Crosse of Christ but only to the force and fruit of Christes death suffered on the Crosse for vs and our saluation which is the sense that I affirme Saint Paul here intended But the markes afflictions and DYING OF THE LORD IESVS are vsed in this and other places of the Scripture to signifie the afflictions of the godly Those places haue speciall wordes adioyned which can not bee referred to the person of Christ but must of force belong to the speaker or sufferer As I beare IN MY BODY the markes of the Lord Iesus saith Paul and againe I fulfill the rest of the afflictions of Christ IN MY FLESH And so we beare about IN OUR BODIE the dying of the Lord Iesus Where these words in my bodie and in my flesh are proper to the speaker and no way deriueable to the person of Christ. Wherefore the markes afflictions and dying of the Lord must either import a resemblance to the personall sufferings of Christ or demonstrate the cause for which the Apostle suffered which was for Christs sake and in this is no difficultie to suffer affliction in like manner as Christ did or to suffer it for Christs cause But the Crosse of Christ whereof the Apostle speaketh in my Text was that at which the Iewes were so greatly offended for which the true preachers were so sharpely persecuted to which the false teachers ioyned circumcision for the better attayning of saluation in which the godly most reioyced and by which the faithfull were crucified to the world and the world to them and all these are proper to the personall death and crosse of Christ as he was the Sauiour of the world and not common to the afflictions of the Saints It was a question of doctrine not of manners for which the Apostle so much striued and the highest point of mans redemption not of mans perfection in which he so much gloried For touching other mens miseries how should Paul reioyce in them or how should he by them be crucified to the world and the world to him He had good cause to reioyce in the death of Christ though it were neuer so much maligned and pursued by the Iewes because it was the wisedome and power of God to saue all that beleeued and in his owne troubles for Christes quarrell hee might reioyce as hauing thereby fellowship with Christs afflictions and made conformable to his death but to reioyce at other mens troubles that hath no warrant in the word of God Reioyce saith Paul with them that reioyce and weepe with them that weepe Wee may take comfort and giue God thankes that the faithfull haue grace to endure persecution with patience and courage but that affliction befalleth them we may not be glad For that is to reioyce at other mens harmes which is repugnant to the rule of charitie Neither could Paul be crucified to the world by other mens troubles long before dead or then vnborne examples might encourage the weake but Paul was strong and proposed himselfe as a paterne of patience suffering persecution And therefore this haling into the Crosse of Christ the afflictions of all the godly that euer were or shall be as if the Apostle so highly reioyced in them and were crucified to the world by them is wholy against the haire and hath neither dependence nor coherence with the Apostles words Besides you doe not or will not vnderstand the maine point here in question betwixt the Apostle and those false teachers of the Iewes whom he reprooueth and refuteth in this Epistle You say indeede It is manifest the Apostle here Gala. 6. v. 12. reprooueth the false teachers for mingling the pure doctrine because they were loth to taste persecution but you neither tell vs what the Gospell was which they thus mingled with circumcision nor why they feared persecution nor from whom which things if you would haue specified as the Scriptures deliuer them you should soone haue perceiued how properly the Apostle addeth for the Crosse of Christ and how rightly I referred these words to the force and fruite of Christs death which is the summe and substance of the Gospell What the Gospel was which Paul preached appeareth plainly by his owne words We preach saith he Christ crucified vnto the Iewes a scandall or offence and vnto the Grecians foolishnesse but vnto them which are called both of the Iewes and Greekes Christ the power of God and wisedome of God to saue all that beleeue For Christ is made of God to vs righteousnesse redemption and sanctification to the end That he which reioyceth might reioyce in the Lord. In so much that I esteemed not to know any thing among you sayth Paul saue Iesus Christ and him crucified So that Christ crucified the Crosse of Christ the preaching of the Crosse and the Gospell of Iesu Christ are phrases of like force vsed by Paul for one and the selfe same word of trueth which is the doctrine of our saluation by the death and blood of Christ. Christ sent me saith he to preach THE GOSPEL not with wisedome of words least
THE CROSSE OF CHRIST should be frustrate For the PREACHING OF THE CROSSE is to them that perish foolishnesse but to vs that are saued it is the power of God Christ crucified then being the very ground of our saluation and the Gospel declaring him to be the power of God to saue all that beleeue euidently the crosse of Christ was the maine doctrine of the Gospell which Paul preached to the Galathians and which the false Apostles mixed with circumcision and the righteousnesse of the law as well for the aduancing themselues being Iewes as for feare of their countreymen who vtterly disdained and egerly pursued all that taught a man hanged on a tree as a malefactor for so the vnbeleeuing Iewes conceiued of Christ to be the Sauiour of the world and complement of all Gods promises made to the seede of Abraham for their euerlasting blisse The rage of the vnbeleeuing Iewes against Paul for preaching the death and blood of Christ to be the Redemption of all the faithfull is manifest in many places of the Actes and of his owne Epistles which furie whiles the false Apostles sought to decline and somewhat to please and pacifie the Iewes they added circumcision and the obseruation of the law vnto the Crosse of Christ as necessary for iustification and saluation without which the death of Christ could doe vs no good This error then newly sowen among the Galathians to whom Paul before had preached Christ crucified as the sole and sufficient meane of their Redemption and Iustification through faith in his blood the Apostle throughout that large Epistle of his written vnto them with his owne hand doth purposely and mightily confute and is so farre from coupling any thing with Christ as requisite for righteousnesse or blessednesse and chiefly the law that he opposeth himselfe against men and Angels for the truth of his doctrine and resolueth cleane contrary to those false teachers and flatterers of the Iewish nation in most vehement manner Behold I Paul say vnto you that if yee be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing Ye are abandoned from Christ whosoeuer are iustified by the law ye are fallen from grace His reasons are vrgent and euident If righteousnesse could be by the law then Christ died in vaine And that no man is iustified by the law in the sight of God it is plaine for the iust shall liue by faith now the law is not of faith For all haue sinned and are iustified freely by Gods grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Iesus whom God hath set foorth to be a Reconciliation THROVGH FAITH in his blood to declare his righteousnesse by the forgiuenes of sinnes As many then as are of the works of the law are vnder the curse but Christ hath redeemed vs from the curse of the law being made a curse for vs as it is written cursed is euery one that hangeth on a tree that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentils through Iesus Christ. And that made the Apostle enter this disputation with so sharpe a rebuke to the Galathians for sliding from this Gospel or glad tidings of their saluation in the Crosse of Christ to circumcision and the works of the law O foolish Galathians saith he who hath bewitched you not to obey the truth to whom Iesus Christ was before your eyes described crucified among you And in this confident course he goeth on with plentifull and substantiall proofes that the Redemption righteousnesse blessednesse adoption freedome and sanctification of Gods children proceede from the grace of God and of Christ who gaue himselfe for our sinnes that he might tast death for all and are receiued by faith in the blood of Christ which confesseth him to be the Sonne of God and the only Sauiour of the world What marueile then if in the close of this example when Paul had shewed his care to haue the Galathians persist in this truth in that he wrote so long a letter vnto them with his owne hand which otherwise he did not vse he did also traduce the pride and pollicie of the false Apostles who partly to aduance themselues because they were Iewes partly to shunne the enuie of their countrimen frustrated the Crosse of Christ by adding circumcision and the obseruation of the law vnto it not that they themselues kept the law but only because they would not suffer persecution for preaching the Crosse of Christ which the vnbeleeuing Iewes so egerly resisted and impugned and withall professed of himselfe that howsoeuer they reioyced in the flesh that is in the circumcision of the Gentils yet God forbid that he should reioyce but in the crosse of Christ as the most sufficient meane of mans Redemption by which he was crucified to the world and the world to him what persecution soeuer he suffered for it And the verses following which you peâ—…uishly pull to patience in persecution pertaine directly to establish the truth and force of Christs Crosse. For in Christ Iesus saith he that is to attaine saluation by Christ crucified neither circumâ—…sion anâ—…leth any thing nor vncircumcision but a new creature that is Regeneration in Christ when the inward man of the hart is renued by faith through the operation of the spirit And as many as walke according to this Rule of doctrine by preaching and beleeuing the crosse of Christ for many walke after an other rule of whom I haue often told you that they are the enimies of the crosse of Christ peace be vpon them and mercy and vpon the Israell of God that is vpon as many as be Iewes within and not without and haue the circumcision of the hart in the spirit not in the flesh whose praise is not of men but of God And therefore from hence forth let no man put me to businesse as if I liked or allowed circumcision when and where pleased me For if I yet preach circumcision why doe I yet suffer persecution the slâ—…inder of the Crosse is abolished and the Iewes haue no cause of offence against me But of the Iewes fiue times receiued I fortie lashes sane one I was thrise beaten with rods I was once stoned I haue beene in stripes aboue measure in prison frequent in death often I beare in my body the markes of the Lord Iesus that is the signes of these persecutions suffered for his cause which prooue that in preaching the crosse of Christ I goe not about to please men but God For if I would please â—…en I were not the seruant of Christ. There is no miscoherence with the Text nor dissidence from the truth in this exposition which not my selfe alone but the auncient Fathers and best Diuines both olde and new haue imbraced yea it fully agreeth with the maine intent of Paul in this Epistle with the perpetuall vse of his words and with the cleare light of other places where
like persons and cause were vndertaken by the Apostle You only are found Sir Discourser that to shew neither learning nor reading but a presumptious ouerweening of your owne witte will needs make the Reader beleeue I vnderstand not the Text. But let vs heare your pure conceit how currantly it carrieth with it the words and circumstances of the Text. They vrge you to be circumcised onely least they should suffer persecution for the crosse of Christ saith Paul of those false teachers which peruerted the truth of the Gospell among the Galathians by teaching circumcision and the righteousnesse of the Law to be necessarie to saluation How expound you these words of the Apostle he may say you be vnderstood to say that he would not suffer persecution for commending the afflictions and shame of good Christians for Christs sake You should say THEY would not suffer persecution vnlesse you put Paul into the number of false teachers but that might be the scape of your Printer Come to your owne ouersights First then Christs personall sufferings are here quite excluded for Christ I trust shall haue an other title with you then the name of a good Christian among the many and so the crosse of Christ in this place by your exposition doth both exclude and include the proper sufferings of Christ. For afore you said here Paul doth ioyntly together vnderstand by Christs crosse the afflictions of the whole mysticall body of Christ both head and members Secondly where euer read you in the Scriptures that the Iewes raized persecutions against any for commending the afflictions of the godly If it be a truth name vs the place and the persons if it be a dreame of yours keepe it to your selfe the Scriptures can expound themselues without your â—…ansies That the Iewes had a furious disdaine and hatred against the person of Christ and specially against the shame and reproch of his crosse and for his sake against all that preached or beleeued him to be the Messias so long before promised and his death to be the Redemption of tâ—…e world the Euangelistes and Apostles euery where in their writings giue full testimony Paul himselfe first persecuting the Christians vnto death and afterward as sharply pursued by the Iewes for the very same cause best knew what offence the Iewes tooke at the infamous death of Christ on the crosse and how egerly they were bent against all that durst professe the name of Christ and therefore could speake in this case out of his owne experience that not the commending of the afflictions of the godly but the preaching of Christs death on the crosse to be the saluation of the world was the point that so much irritated the Iewes to lay violent hands on the Christians Thirdly did circumcision hinder the commending of the afflictions of the godly the Apostles and first spreaders of the Gospell as also Paul himselfe were circumcised and yet the chiefest fauourers and encouragers of the afflicted Christians so that circumcision was no impediment to like and allow the afl ictions of the godly But as Paul saw himselfe to be most odious to the Iewes because they held opinion of him that he taught all men euery where against the people the Law and the Temple and indeed he boldly professed that in Christ Iesus neither circumcision auayled any thing nor vncircumcision and that they were no longer vnder the Law since Christ had redeemed both Iew and Gentile from the curse and bondage of the Law so he could not but discerne the drift of those false teachers who to flatter the Iewes and to claw fauour with the enimies of Christs crosse taught circumcision and the righteousnesse of the law to be necessary vnto saluation as if the death of Christ without them could profit vs nothing You doe therefore not expound but peruert the words of Paul which I tooke for my text when as he reprouing those false teachers whom he before confuted for adding circumcision and the iustification of the law to the death of Christ thereby to mitigate the malice of the Iewes conceaued against the crosse of Christ you turne the Apostles words from doctrine to manners from preaching to not commending from the death of Christ to the afflictions of Christians and so of the highest point of our Redemption and Saluation by the crosse of Christ you haue found out a cold kind of scant allowing the troubles of the Saints But the Fathers which I brought ouerthrow not your sense they rather iustifie it Whether Augustine Chrysostome Ierome and Bede whom I cited for the sense of this place do take the word Crosse in this very sentence for the personall suffeâ—…ings of Christ on the crosse which was my assertion I referre it to the censure of the Reader vpon the sight of their sayings which he may finde in the conclusion of my Sermons I must confesse mine eyes be not matches if they speake not directly to that purpose Howbeit you haue a speciall gift to make a short returne of all the Fathers with a nihil dicit when they speake against you Indeed you are out of your element when you talke of Fathers for you neither like their credits nor allow their iudgements as in processe we shall more fully shew For the present to satisfie those that be soberly minded and to let all men see to your shame that I tooke my text right though you fondly seeke by your silly conceits to impeach it marke I pray thee Christian Reader whether both elder and later Diuines doe not concurre with me in that sense of Christes crosse which I auouched to be in Pauls words Christ was crucified vnder Pontius Pilate This sayth Augustine we beleeue and we so beleeue it that we reioyce in it Be it farre from me sayth Paul to reioyce but in the crosse of Christ. Happily some man sayth Athanasius beholding the Lord and Sauiour to be condemned of Pilate and crucified of the Iewes will cast downe his head for shame But if we learne the cause why the Lord suffered wee shall cease to blush and rather reioyce as Paul did in the Lords crosse Ignatius in his Epistle to those at Tarsus where Paul was borne sayth mindfull of Paul Holde it for most certaine that the Lord Iesus was truely crucified for Paul sayth Be it farre from me to reioyce but in the crosse of our Lord Iesus and truly suffered and died Cyril Be it farre from me to reioyce but in the crosse of the Lord Iesus Paul sayth he reioyceth in the death of Christ he knew Christ therefore to be God and to haue suffered for vs in the flesh Theodoret thus expresseth Pauls meaning Ego autem propter solam salutarem crucem me iacto mihi placeo I onely boast my selfe on that crosse of Christ which bringeth saluation and therewith I content my selfe Theophylact vpon the same words of Paul Illi inquit circumcisionem hanc
gloriae ducunt à me vero procul sit caeterarum rerum iactantia Licet in vna Christi cruce morte admodum gloriars They sayth Paul count circumcision a glorie farre be it from me to boast in other things It is lawfull for me thorowly to reioyce only in the crosse and dâ—…ath of Christ Iesus Some will aske How or why doest thou reioyce in the Lords crosse For that he was crucified for my sake which aâ—… no bodie and loued me so deerely that he offered himselfe to death for me Oecumenius What is this reioycing in Christs crosse which Paul speaketh of That for vs who were vnworthy Christ would be crucified for that is the cause we haue to glorie Haymo vpon the same place in the person of Paul sayth I will not reioyce in the riches and dignities of this world but in the crosse of Christ that is I will reioyce in his passion which was celebrated on the crosse whence is my redemption and saluation Moe I might easily bring but these for antiquitie may suffice The grauest and exactest of the new writers agree with the Fathers Bullinger Whereas Paul might haue vsed a simple kinde of affirmation ONLY THE DEATH OF CHRIST is sufficient for me to saluation he chose rather to expresse it by the way of detestation and to say Farre be it from me to reioyce but in the crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ. Where againe the second time by the crosse he meaneth the death sacrifice and expiation of the Lord Christ and the whole worke of our redemption Gualter in his 59. homilie vpon that Epistle sayth Now Paul opposeth himselfe to those false teachers declaring how he himselfe is affected and vpon that occasion repeateth the Summe of his doctrine touching the redemption and saluation of mankind in these words Be it farre from me to reioyce but in the crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ. He might haue sayd simply I reioyce only in Christ crucified in whose crosse I know there is reposed for me life and saluation But he vseth such a kind of speech as teacheth vs their insolencie was an abominable and capitall offence Caluin a man for his great paines in the Church of God worthy of great praise where he steppeth not too much aside from the ancient Fathers expounding these words of Paul sayth To reioyce in Christs crosse is as much as in Christ crucified but that it expresseth more for it signifieth that death of Christs which was full of reproch and shame and was accursed of God That death then which men abhorre and whereof they are ashamed in that death Paul sayth he reioyceth because he hath perfect blessednesse therein Piscator in his Scholies vpon Pauls Epistle to the Galathians noting what crosse of Christ it was for which the false teachers would not suffer persecution sayth Ob crucem Christs id est ob doctrinam Euangelij de salute part a per solam Christi crucem they would not suffer persecution for the crosse of Christ that is for the doctrine of the Gospell teaching saluation to be purchased by the crosse of Christ only There is not a new writer of any iudgement or diligence which ioyneth not with these and howsoeuer some of them withall auouch that Paul meant to shew by this opposing himselfe to these false teachers that hee shunned not persecution for the crosse of Christ as they did but reioyced in the doctrine of the crosse by which the elect are saued what affliction soeuer befell him therefore yet they deriue that part of Pauls meaning not from the confused signification of Christs crosse as you doe but either from the EFFICACIE thereof by which Paul was crucified to the world and the world to him in neglecting the flattery and enduring the fury of such as opposed themselues against Christ or from the CONFORMITIE to it that as he desired to reigne so he was willing to suffer with Christ and therefore reioyced as well in the fellowship as in the force and effects of Christes sufferings on the crosse or lastly from the CONTRARIETIE to the false teachers that though they adulterated the true doctrine of Christes crosse because they would decline persecution it was Paulâ—… ioy to teach sincerely the power of Christ crucified whosoeuer pursued him for so doing This sinceritie and duetie of the Apostle I am farre from denying but the crosse of Christ I constantly referre to the doctrine of mans redemption and saluation by the crosse of Christ that is by his personall sufferings on the crosse as all those old and new writers do and not to the troubles and afflictions of the godly to which if this Discourser dare ascribe the meane or merit of mans redemption or saluation he falleth from puritie to poperie and from the Christian faith to open heresie Thou seest then gentle Reader how sure ground and iust reason I had to propose that sense of my text which I did as also how vntruely vnwisely and headily this fellow ranne first to the challenging of my text and still vpholdeth his humour with his priuate dreame of Christs crosse conteining ioyntly together all the afflictions of Christ and his members from the beginning of the world to the ending thereof and maketh the false teachers as fearing persecution for the commending of his conceit to ioyne circumcision to the doctrine of the Gospell and so by altering and interlacing Pauls words after his owne fansie hee hath hatched at last an exposition without head or heele which no man vnderstandeth besides himselfe and the Diuines of all ages both new and olde do contradict But I committed another great ouersight in handling my text which was to take occasion from the text to speake of any thing for you count them the faithfullest and wisest handlers of Scripture which conclude euen from their text firmly and first of all what soeuer they afterwards teach thereupon Indeed I thinke your maner be to conclude all that you afterward say euen from your text without the helpe of any other places of Scripture You be so fast in your conceits and so loose in your conclusions that you can inferre any thing of euery thing Euery word you speake you tie to your text as firmly as flax to fire but if you would take the paines once to proue that you say and not only to say that which you should prooue you would finde great difference betwixt the firmnesse of a fansie in which you be so resolute and of an argument which for ought I yet see in your writings you scant make not vnderstand And where you quarrell with such handling of texts as is vsuall in these dayes but no good nor commendable vse your reading must be greater and iudgement better before you take vpon you to controle the Preachers of England for mishandling their texts Many hundreds there are of whom you may learne both how to diuide and how to pursue your theme your skill is not such
that you should professe your selfe a Method-master to this Realme When I tooke occasion from my text to lay downe first the contents then the effects of Christs crosse as the Scriptures did deliuer them that is what Christ suffered on his crosse for vs and what he performed by his crosse to vs say good Sir out of your new found art what fault you finde either with the matter or with the method Christes crosse you say signifieth here no such thing but the afflictions of Christ and his members That is the vanitie of your errour that is not the trueth of my text Christ crucified in his owne person for mans redemption is the full purport of Christs crosse in my text as in my Sermons I shortly declared in my conclusion I more amplie proued and now I trust I haue therein fully satisfied the Reader That standing good I note what Christ suffered which I call the contents of his crosse and to what end he suffered which are the effects of his crosse both these are aptly and fairely closed in my text and by other places of Scripture iustly proued to be comprised in my text This forsooth your mastership liketh not but I must make syllogismes out of euery word conteined in my text or els I make the Scriptures such an instrument as they ought not to be Silly Sir you vnderstand not what you say first learne and after teach lest you teach that you neuer learned When it is sayd Giue vnto God the things which are Gods can you out of these words without the aid of other Scriptures firmely conclude what things are Gods and how they must be giuen vnto him or must you proue that by other places of holy Scripture Euen so when I had shewed what was iustly inclosed within the words of my theme I made direct ful proofe thereof by other places of holy writ which I take to be a sound and sure way of well vsing the Scriptures to that very purpose they should be applied notwithstanding your palterie prouisoes that no man must after speake any thing that can not firmely be concluded by the sole and single words of his text which is a rule fit for such a Rouer as you are that neuer soundly proue any thing but not for him that will fully diuide and rightly deliuer as well the sense as the sound of any sentence of holy Scripture which he taketh in hand to vnfold To shew your selfe a firme and fine concluder vpon texts you exemplifie your skill and inferre that in three speciall points I my selfe by my very text ouerthrow my selfe in the first entrance as all men may see First in that I expresly grant the proper sufferings of Christes minde may rightly be in the contents of his crosse contrary to my maine opinion that Christs bodily sufferings ALONE were the full price of our redemption Secondly that Christs soule in a large sense may be sayd to be crucified if I suppose my text to signifie the whole contents of Christs crosse which I reproued in you with great contempt Thirdly in that I quite ouerthrow my second question for if it be a detestable thing to reioyce but in the crosse of Christ then Christes descent to hell after death must either be a part of the contents of his crosse and so he must suffer among the diuels and damned spirits or els he did vs no good there if we may not reioyce in his descending thither These iarres in my selfe you say I must reconcile els men will thinke I haue not handled my text indeed very rightly These iarres good Sir for so much as concerneth me are soone reconciled Your first obiection is a plaine falsitie your second an open follie your third a meere mockerie The contents of Christs crosse I extended to those griefs wrongs and paines which Christ suffered in his passage to his crosse as namely his submission in the garden his apprehension accusation illusion flagellation condemnation and such like all which he felt before he was fastened to the tree and though indeed they were precedents to his crosse yet because the griefe and smart of them continued and increased with his hanging on the tree the Scripture doth not exclude them from the crosse of Christ which often meaneth by that word the whole course and maner of Christes death and passion as well in comming to his crosse as in hanging on his crosse As for the proper sufferings of the minde those be none of my words yet if you thereby meane care and feare shame and sorrow not repugnant to the condition and perfection of Christes person let them in Gods name come within the contents of Christes crosse as antecedents or consequents to the paines which he suffered But if vnder the proper sufferings of the soule you conuey the suffering of hell paines or the death of the soule from the immediate hand of God which is your dreame keepe your errours for your owne accounts my words haue no such matter nor meaning How then can my maine opinion be true that Christs bodily sufferings ALONE were the full price of our Redemption which I would also ground on all the Fathers though very vntruely How can your obiections be waightie that speake neuer a true word By Christs bodily sufferings I no where exclude either the sense consideration or affection of the Soule discerning the paines which and the cause why the body suffered as you falsely imagine I only except the death of the Soule and paines of hell in Christs sufferings and to barre that I shew by many sufficient testimonies of the auncient Fathers which you shall neuer ouerbeare for all your bragges that Christ dyed for vs the death of the bodie onely and not the death of the soule In this case I vse the word ONLY as hath beene often told you otherwise to exclude the vnion operation or passion of the soule from Christs sufferings I neuer vse it And where I so often and instantly vrge that Christs death and blood-shedding are specified in the Scriptures as the full price of our Redemption and true meanes of our reconciliation to God You foolishly by their fulnesse would turne out all the rest of Christs sufferings as superfluous but my words throughout my sermons are expresse to the contrarie The crosse blood and death of Christ are euery where mentioned in the Scriptures as the very ground-worke and pillars of our Redemption And the things which are named in the Scriptures as they were the last so are they the chiefest parts of Christs sufferings the rest being vnderstood as antecedent to them and not eminent aboue them So that by the death and blood of Christ I neither did nor doe exclude the rest of his sufferings before he came to his crosse only I make them Antecedent to that not eminent aboue that which he suffered on the crosse For as the end of euery thing presupposeth a beginning and a middle and the
necessarily by Gods power and ordinance adioyned vnto it For no man can reioyce in the cause but he must likewise reioyce in the effects and where the Antecedent is expressed the consequent is therewithall intended Now the crosse of Christ in it selfe without the effects was and is most odious and scandalous to men as appeareth by the Iewes and Gentiles ignorant thereof and offended therewith So that when the godly professe they reioyce in the crosse of Christ they meane in the loue of Christ who willinglie endured the paine and shame of the crosse to purchase them euerlasting blisse and therewith procured and established all the meanes and parts of their Redemption iustification and sanctification in this liâ—…e and saluation in the life to come and but in respect of Christs loue submitting himselfe to the crosse and of those effects merited and obtained by the crosse of Christ they take no pleasure much lesse ioy in his griefes and torments as the wicked did that put him to death Wherefore it was an easie thing for euery childe to see that when the Apostle reioyced in the death of Christ suffered for vs and for our saluation he also reioyced in the consequents of Christs death as his Resurrection ascension sitting at the right hand of God and promised returne to Iudgement by which as by certaine degrees and steps our iustification mortification sanctification and saluation are assured and performed Now a consequent to Christs death if not a part or preamble to his Resurrection from the dead is the destruction of the diuell and of hell which is the chiefe place of Satans power as I thinke and as the Church of Christ before me hath thought notwithstanding all that you haue said or can say to the contrarie Thus standeth my Text neither forced nor misapplied as by your ioynt mysticall imagination of a new crosse you supposed but rightly both conceiued and referred to the painfull sufferings and powerfull effects of Christ on the crosse in which the Apostle so reioyced that he detested all things different from it or derogatorie to it and the iarres which so much offended your eares were but your owne iests and iefallies not truely reporting but grosly mistaking the sense and sequels of my positions Proceeding forward I still shew a badde minde towards you seeking foorthwith euen in the entrance to draw you without cause into hatred for disdaining the Fathers What then is your contempt and disdaine of the Fathers which I so often report in sundry places and as odiously as is possible Surely you beleeue I can not tell happily it is because you follow not their authorities in some opinions of religion nor in diuers expositions of Scripture What need you seeke so busily for that which I so plainly haue exemplified vnto you you affourd the Fathers when pleaseth you neither true knowledge of the first principles of their faith nor the right vnderstanding of words familiar in their natiue tongue nor so much as reasonable or likely expositions of the Scriptures but fond and absurd as you terme them and yet you aske What is your insolent dealing against the Fathers With one consent they teach that for our redemption Christ died the death of the body only and by no meanes the death of the soule You teach that Christ must die the death of the soule before he could redeeme vs and that his bodily sufferings properly did not make to our redemption And though Austen aske Who dare auouch that Christ died in soule or in his humane spirit you not only dare and doe it but you make it the maine ground of our redemption wherein you condemne him and the rest of the ancient and learned Fathers as ignorant of the very way and meane of our redemption So likewise that Christ receiued vpon him the punishment but not the guilt of our sinne that the second death in the Scriptures is the eternall punishment of bodie and soule and that the death of the bodie was inflicted on Adam and all his posteritie as a punishment of sinne in these and many such which are deliuered as sound conclusions of Christian religion you oppose your selfe against S. Austen and the rest and reiect their iudgements as false and erroneous And for the sense and signification of words vsed in the Scriptures you lustily controle them in their natiue speech and leaue them not so much as the true vnderstanding of the Greeke or Latine tongue This I affirme say you it is only the Fathers abusiue speaking and altering the vsuall and ancient sense of Hades that bredde this error of Christs descending into hell their vnapt and perillous translating into Latine Inferi And note heere first it is a thing too rife with the Fathers yea with some of the ancientest of them to alter and change the authentike vse of words whereby consequently it is easie for errours and grosse mistakings to creepe in This challenge of yours against the credits and consciences of so many learned and worthy Fathers as haue vsed the word hades to signifie the place of hell how insolent it is I leaue to the wise Reader to iudge when he shall see that indeed they concurre with the writers of the new Testament and with the ancient and vulgar vnderstanding of their owne tongue How you entertaine their expositions of the Scripture your owne words doe witnesse when you replie to interpretations alledged out of them this sense is most absurd this is no lesse absurd than the former there is no reason nor likelihood for it This is more fond and absurd than the other This is the reuerence and louing regard you beare towards their opinions and iudgements for the manifolde graces of God that were otherwise in them and this you thinke is no contempt nor disdaine of the Fathers I call the Fathers iudgements many times AVTHORITIES that the world might conceiue their words to be warrants vnto vs and good authorities to rest on in matters of Religion If I had not this drift in my minde why giue I them such a title which to you seemeth somewhat insolent indeed What difference there is betwixt the authoritie of God and man in matters of religion I need not to learne nor you to teach there is no such thing in question betwixt vs S. Austen hath long since in sundrie places of his works humbly truely and fully confessed and professed the eminence of the Canonicall Scriptures aboue and against all the writings of others whosoeuer they be with him I wholly ioyne in iudgement This therefore is an idle shift of yours to guesse what drifts I haue in my minde and that I goe about to impaire the soueraigntie and certaintie of the Scriptures by giuing such a title to the expositions and opinions of the Fathers as to call them Authorities As though the best learned Diuines both new and olde did not vse the same word in the same
strugling with death before she depart her body from which she doth not yeeld but by force of death taking from her first speech and sense and so by degrees the whole possession of hir bodie violently thrusting hir out of her seate Neither this violence of death nor this resistance of the soule may be admitted or were perceaued in the person of Christ. He might suffer nothing but willingly because the misliking of the hart is disobedience though the fact be endured Wherefore if we meane with the Apostle to confesse Christ to haue beene obedient to his death we must leaue in him both sense and will to obey euen to the last gasp and also power to breath out his soule into his Fathers hand when the time was come appointed by God for him to depart this life Againe what force created could wrest his soule from him being God and man but at his liking His owne words are none taketh my soule from me but I lay it downe of my selfe Whereon Chrysostome rightly groundeth this consequent Si nemo vtique nec mors If none then surely neither death But you would see expresse words in the Text that Christ died as I say not naturally but miraculously and then you will beleeue it Would you haue so plaine words in the text that you can not or that you should not quarrell with If you delude as your maner is the plaine words of the Scripture with kinds of speeches and large senses I see no words that can hold you but you may defend after your fashion any kind of fansie or heresie with Synecdoches Allegories and Hyperboles And though the iudgement of so great and godly fathers ioyning with the very words of the Scripture carie with it sufficient weight to a sober and religious Reader yet for your pleasure that you may see your follie I am content to cast about againe What is ponere animam in the Scripture Sir I pray is it willingly or vnwillingly to lay downe a mans soule or life You know Peters words to his Master Animam meam pro te ponam I will lay downe my life for thy sake And S. Iohns Nos debemus profratribus animas ponere We ought to lay downe our liues for our brethren And Christes Propter hoc Pater me diligit quoniam ego pono animam meam vt iterum sumam eam Therefore the Father loueth me because I lay downe my soule to take it againe In all these places ponere animam must needs be to lay downe life or soule willingly except you be so wise as to thinke that Peter in loue telleth his Master he was vnwilling to die for him and S. Iohn forwarneth vs we must not be willing to die for our brethren yea and that the Father loued the Sonne because hee was vnwilling to die for his sheepe which were Diuinitie fit for such a Doctor as you are Then tollere animam is for another to take our life or soule fromvs whether we be willing or vnwilling it should be done as appeareth by Eliahs prayer vnto God in saying take away my soule when he desired to die Resort now to the words of our Sauiour where he sayd None taketh my soule from me but I lay it downe of my selfe and see whether they inferre a peculiar maner of dying not common to others Had he meant to say no more but I die willingly as you imagine he intended pono animam I lay downe my soule had been words enow to expresse that meaning but he maketh an addition which must needs haue some force and not be an idle repetition of the same thing and likewise an opposition the contrarie whereof must be found in his death For where other mens soules are taken from them though they be neuer so willing to die as appeareth by the witnesse of Scripture I lay it downe OF MY SELFE sayth our Sauiour that is not onely of mine owne accord but by mine owne power To shew that so he doth he sayth None taketh my soule from me which they do from others I lay it downe of my selfe And lest any man should doubt as you doe whether â—…e spake of his willingnesse to die which is common to others or of his power which was proper to himselfe in full expresse and direct words to stoppe such cauilling mouthes as yours is hee addeth as a proofe of his speech I haue power to lay it downe he meaneth of himselfe as the former words conuince and haue power to take it againe this commandement haue I receiued of my Father That he was willing to lay down his soule I do not denie the word pono I lay it down proueth so much but he professeth that hee had receiued power and commandement from his Father to lay it downe of himselfe and to take it againe of himselfe This commaundement was peculiar to his person no man liuing euer had or shall haue the like this power to lay downe his soule of himselfe was as MIRACVLOVS as his power to raise himselfe from the dead since they are both compared and ioyned together These things did those ancient and learned Fathers see when they made their collections and so plaine and perspicuous are they euen in the Text it selfe that none of meane capacitie or any modestie can mistake or will outface them As for Chrysostom whom you cite hereupon he hath nothing for this point He that hath once hardned his hart and mouth against the truth will neuer stay nor sticke at any thing When you would needs out of those words He was like vs in all things inferre therefore Christ must be like vs in the manner of his death I let you see that Chrysostom auoucheth the contrary The death of Christ and his rising from the dead both these saith Chrysostom were strong and besides the common that is the naturall course of men And expounding Christs words I haue power to lay downe my soule that is saith Chrysostom I alone haue this power which you haue not In this power which he had and we haue not I trust he was vnlike vs and so Chrysostom directly refelleth your vnskilfull application of the Scripture that Christ was like vs in all things euen in the manner of his death But If it were new and not ordinarie that Christ should haue power to lay downe his life yet why may not his manhood dye naturally notwithstanding Forsooth because he vsed that power at the time of his death as he himselfe witnesseth which no man euer did or can doe As he had power which was aboue nature to lay downe his life when he himselfe would so his owne mouth testifieth that none tooke his soule from him but he layed it downe of himselfe that is of his owne accord and power when he saw his time And so Chrysostom telleth you Ita mori vires humanas excedit So to dye as Christ did passeth the power or
nature of man and solus erat vitam ponendi dominus Christ alone was the Ruler or master of laying downe his life Howbeit in your mocking vaine you goe on and say that I will conclude this better You must remember what God himselfe saith O foole this night they shall fetch away thy soule from thee Whereto you adde I remember it well what then ergo Christ saying none taketh my life from me ment he would dye miraculously and not by the fayling of nature in him If this be the reason verely I graunt it is marueylous subtill and past my reach If you ouer-reach no more then this reason doth you will come short of all your new conceits If your memory be not too much moistened you may call to mind that this place was brought to prooue Christ was vnlike vs in the laying downe of this soule and if I be not as grosse as you are gamesome it proueth it very directly God by those words expresseth the rich man should that night die and thereby teacheth vs that when we dye our soules are taken from vs. So that it is not in our power to keepe our soules in our bodies as long as we will nor to leaue them when we list but when God sendeth will we nill we they are taken from vs. This Christ denieth to be verified in him none tooke his soule from him but he laid is downe of himselfe which we cannot doe Hence if it please you to frame but this reason which is in open sight All mens soules are taken from them when they dye Christs soule was not taken from him when he dyed ergo Christ dyed not in the same manner that we doe and so was vnlike vs in his death by the manifest wordes of the Scripture you shall see a plaine truth not past your reach though repugnant to your purpose But I should proue Christ died miraculously not naturally That at last after long and sore anguish of mind bodily torments his natural strength failed him therfore he bowed his head and gaue vp the ghost what miracle is there in this Men may well maruaile at your folly who turne wind euery way rather then you will acknowledge that which the Scriptures expresly witnesse was in Christ aboue mans nature which they that saw it marueiled at which the best Diuines of all ages haue confessed to be miraculous in the death of Christ To haue perfect sense speach and moâ—…on at the very instant of giuing vp the ghost is a thing not possible to our nature Our speach and sense luntaâ—… motion doe first euidently faile before our soules depart from our bodies But Christ had all three by the full report of the Euangelists euen to the very act of breathing out of his soule Saint Iohn writeth that Iesus knowing all things were fulfilled said I thirst and when he had tasted the vineger he said it is finished and inclining his head gaue vp the ghost Hee noteth in Christ exact memorie of all things written in the Scripture touching him Plaine speach and voluntarie motion in laying downe his head at the very moment that he yeelded vp the ghost S. Luke witnesseth that crying with a lowde voyce Christ said Father into thine hands I will commend or lay down my Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And speaking these words hee breathed out his soule The lowdnesse of his voyce and effect of his prayer professing hee would now die and at the same instant performing it by giuing vp his spirit conclude that neither sense memorie speach nor prayer failed him to the last breath as they doe vs when wee draw towards death and therefore the maner of his death to bee farre distant from ours Anone after you say he might die and in the meane while both sense and speach faile him before he died Your libertie to iudge of the sense of the Scripture doeth lead you and hold you to this errour You imagine what please you of the words of the Euangelists and auerting them from their true coherence by interposing your fansies you maintaine it as your right to iudge of the meaning of the holy Ghost But consult your conscience that you â—…st not with the truth and compare the Euangelists words and purpose together and you shall soone see the course and force of them To what end doe the Euangelists so carefully note in Christ these circumstances not vsuall with vs noâ—… possible for vs at the departure of our soules but onely to shew the trueth of his owne words that none tooke his soule from him but hee laied it downe of himselfe which he had power to doe and accordingly did and therefore they describe him remembring all things calling euen for drinke because hee was exceeding drie through paine warning the people standing about him with a lowde prayer that he would now lay downe his soule into his Fathers hands And so bowing his head of his owne accord he forthwith breathed out his soule Anone after say you but nature first decaying in him Presently say I when there was in him no decay of nature nor any want of memorie sense or speach In vaine else were all those things both performed by our Sauiour and testified by the Euangelists if this were not the scope thereof that Christ with actuall and perfect obedience deuotion and submission to the will of God and therefore also with full and perfect memorie sense and speach did aboue the strength and vse of men willingly and powerfully with one breath render his soule into the hands of his Father who had decreed hee should die but gaue him leaue and power to lay downe his soule of his owne accord when hee would without constraint or stroke of death wresting or taking his soule from him And that the maner of Christs death was miraculous euen in his owne Person and draue the standers by to confesse hee was more then a man that so could die if you could but open your partial eares you should heare the Euangelists cofirme though you very coursely intreate S. Ierom as bending himselfe therein against the plaine text where indeed he rightly pursueth the words of the holy Ghost and you would saucily controle one text by an other and not seeke to reconcile them together Saint Markes words are these And Iesus crying with a lowde voyce gaue vp the ghost and the Centurion that stoode ouerright him seeing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that crying in such sort hee breathed out his soule said Surely this man was the Sonne of God This crying so lowde which Saint Marke speaketh of was that prayer whereby Christ commended his soule into his Fathers hands as S. Luke testifieth for those were the last words hee spake at the time when he gaue vp the ghost The breathing out of his soule so presently vpon so strong a voyce and â—…o lowde a prayer was so strange that it forthwith mooued the Centurion who stoode
ouerright him and well obserued him to pronounce that he was the Sonne of God What now hath Ierom offended I pray you in noting that which S. Marke writeth that the Centurion hearing Christ say to his Father Into thy hands I commend my spirit ET STATIM SPONTE and foorthwith of his owne accord to haue giuen vp the ghost mooued with the greatnesse of this wonder said truely this man was the Sonne of God I vrge Ierom you say against the plaine text in an other place which saith When the Centurion sâ—…w the Earthquake the things which were done he said truly this man was the Sonne of God If Ierom should haue falsified one text as you haue done to out-face an other he were worthy to be blamed but your libertie to iudge of the Scriptures at your pleasure must excuse you What hath Ierom said in those words which Saint Marke and S. Luke in effect did not before him That the lowde voyce which Christ vsed presently before his yeelding vp the ghost was that prayer which Ierom mentioneth S. Luke witnesseth And speaking those words saith S. Luke Christ gaue vp the ghost That was a very strange and marueilous thing to the Centurion to heare him so speake and see him so die Saint Marke obserueth The Centurion seeing that crying in such sort Christ gaue vp the ghost said Surely this man was the Sonne of God Could it mooue the Centurion that had the charge to see Christ executed to this confession and not seeme strange vnto him Pilate that gaue sentence of death vpon him Marueiled he was so soone dead and doe you thinke it much S. Ierom should say it was a wonder But in S. Matthew it is expresly noted that the Earthquake chiâ—…ly did mooue the Centurion so to thinke and speake Saint Marke saith The Centurion that stoode ouer-right Christ and beheld him when hee saw in what sort hee cried and died said Truely this was the Sonne of God After his death the Earthquake and other things that followed the death of Christ caused the Centurion and his Souldiers as they were keeping Iesus now dead greatly to feare and with one voyce now to confesse that surely he was the Sonne of God Both which reports stand true together the one not ouerthrowing the other For the Centurio alone at the hearing of Christs voyce and sight of his death did first affirme it Afterward when Christ was dead as the Centurion and his souldiers kept his body on the Crosse till Pilates pleasure were knowen the wonders which followed Christs death as the shaking of the earth the cleauing of the rockes and opening of the graues made the Centurion and those that were with him watching Iesus greatly to feare and with one mind to say Truely this was the Sonne of God So that your words HE SAID meaning thereby the Centurion are not in S. Matthew but the Centurion and those that were with him SEEING the wonders that followed Christs death greatly feared saying Truely this man was the Sonne of God And had the Centurion seene nothing wonderfull in Christs person before he died how should hee and the rest haue gathered certainely that these things declared Christ and none other to be the Sonne of God But Christ suffering all things with silence and patience till the instant of his death he then shewed himselfe to die with a strange and diuine power aboue mans nature which the Centurion first marked and therefore confesâ—…ed him to be the Sonne of God when the rest of the wonders that followed the death of Christ were perceiued they confirmed him and all his souldiers in the same opinion yea all the people that came to that sight beholding the things which were done smote their brests and returned Where S. Luke also putteth a manifest difference betwixt the Centurion and the rest of the people Of the Centurion hee saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seeing what was done in that Christ praying gaue vp the ghost hee glorified God and said truely this man was iust Of the rest Saint Luke saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beholding the sundry things that were done after Christs death they stroke their brests and returned This miraculous and diuine power which appeared in the person of our Sauiour breathing out his soule at an instant when he would and as he would besides and beyond the nature of man at which the Centurion so much wondered the best Diuines of all ages haue likewise obserued and acknowledged So that you haue small cause to conceiue you can take Bernard tardie in a tale in such sort as you doe as if his age were too young or his wits too weake to encounter your worth He sayth indeede to die was a great infirmitie but so to die as Christ did was a great or an infinite power Where shewing your selfe to be sharpe sighted in toyes and heauie headed in trueth you aske which is this infinite power Christs tasting the vineger or his saying it is finished or his bowing the head or his giuing vp the ghost Had you not tasted so much the vineger of your owne conceits that you can scant lift vp your head to looke on any thing but lees you might easily haue seene what Bernard sayth and that he sayth no more then the best learned Fathers in Christes Church said before him Solus potestatem habuit ponendi animam suam nemo â—…am abstulit ab eo incâ—…to capite factus obediens vsque admortem tradidit spiritum Quis tam facile quando vult dormit magna quidem infirmit as mori sed planè sic mori virtus immensa Solus potestatem habuit ponendi qui solus facultatem aeqne habuit liberam resumendi imperium habens vitae mort is Christ alone had power to lay downe his soule none tooke it from him Bowing his head being obedient vnto death he gaue vp the ghost Who can so easily sleepe when he will To dic was a great infirmitie but so to die was plainely an exceeding power Hâ—…e onely had power to lay downe his soule who onely had like free power to take it againe hauing the rule of life and death Long before Bernard S. Austen sayd as much whose words you say being granted necessarily conclude nothing for my purpose They shew nothing but Christs voluntarie dying and that at his death he shâ—…ed great power which you denie not Were it infirmitie in you that you could not vnderstand S. Austens words it were the lesse to be misliked but being an insolent concâ—… of your selfe that will quarrell with Scriptures and Fathers least you should be conuinced of a manifest errour this hath neither trueth nor touch of any Religion That Christ died VOLVNTARIE and shewed GREAT POVVER AT HIS DEATH S. Austen you grant auoucheth and you because you can wind those wordes at your will doâ—… not denie them but were you as carefull to take Saint Austens words in their
Whereupon Pilat maruailed that Christ was so soone dead And the Lord himselfe said None taketh my soule from me but I lay it downe of my selfe I haue power to lay it downe and power to take it againe To which it pertaineth that is written he bowing downe his head gaue vp his spirit for other men first dye and then their heads hang but Christ first laid downe his head and then voluntarily rendered his soule to his Father Many moe might be brought of all ages and places confessing the same but if these suffice not what may be enough I doe not know To decline the Scriptures and Fathers that make against him the Discourser hath deuised two shifts very like the rest of of his tenents that is void of all truth and iudgement I deny not saith he but Christ might shew some strange vnusuall thing apparantly to the beholders in vttering his last voice which might very much mooue the beholders and hâ—…arers Adde hereunto that experience sheweth as Phisitians say how some diseases in the body bring death presently after most strong and violent crying Namely in some excessiue torments as of the stone Things reported and expressed in the Scriptures touching the strange and wonderfull manner of Christs death you deny and dreame of things there no way mentioned to coulour your matter and cosin your Reader That Christ did render his soule into his Fathers hands when as yet neither speech sense memory nor motion began to faile is diligently obserued by the Euangelists and was greatly marueyled at by the Centurion which saw the manner of his death As also that he breathed out his soule of his owne accord when he had spoken those words without any former or other degrees or pangs of death appearing in him is likewise witnessed by the Scriptures and constantly auouched by all the Fathers Saint Luke saith and speaking these words he breat hed out his soule Saint Mathew and crying with a loud voice he dismissed his spirit Saint Marke and sending a strong voice from him he blew out his Soule This did he of his owne accord and power None taking his soule from him as in death they doe ours but declaring himselfe by laying of his soule when he would and as he would to be Lord and master of life and death This is fit for all Christians to confesse least they dishonor the death of Christ by depriuing his person of that power and glory which he openly shewed in the eyes eares of all his persecutors This you shift of and instced thereof imagine some strange and VNVSVALI accident in the manner of Christs death which neither the Scriptures report nor you can expresse wherein you shew your selfe forward to inuent what is not written and backward to beleeue what is written which is the trade of such men as meane to make a shipwracke of their faith That a man may dye crying as Christ did you haue found at length if not from Diuines at least from Phisitians for I perccaue you haue sought all sorts of helps both farre and neere to vphold your fansies Pâ—…rchaunce Phisitians may tell you when a painefull disease possesseth the parts which are no fountaines of life or sense a man may cry till sense and strength begin to faile and so hasten his death by the violent spending of his spirits but that a man may by any course of nature retaine perfect memorie sense motion and speach to the very act of breathing out his soule I assure my selfe no wise Phisitian will affirme And if any more humorous then learned will wade so farre without his Art he must vnderstand that his word may not ouersway the Rules of Diuinitie and Principles of nature For what are the powers and faculties whereby the soule is conioyned with the body but life sense and motion so long then as they last the soule by nature neither doth nor can forsake the body But when sense and motion first outward and then inward are oppressed and ouerwhelmed then life also perisheth and the soule may no longer abide in her body the vnion by which she was fastened vnto it being wholy dissolued Wherefore death which is the priuation of life by Gods ordinance for the punishment of sinne by degrees surpriseth and in the end quencheth all sense and motion and so forceth the soule to forsake her seate which by Gods appointment is violently parted from hir body whether she will or no but neuer till the effects oflife which are sense and motion be first decayed and abolished A sowne is the suddainest ouerwhelming of the powers of life which any natural experience doth teach vs and yet therewith though outward sense and motion doe faile at an instant and the inward be very weake and almost insensible the soule doth not presently depart but stayeth a time till all sense and motion without and within except the partie be recouered be vtterly extinguished Wherefore in all men by necessitie of nature the powers and parts of life decav in some sooner in some later before they die and therefore in Christ on the Crosse it was MIRACVLOVS and aboue nature that hauing full perfect outward and inward sense speech and motion he did in a moment when he would and as he would render his soule into the hands of his Father without any farder decayes or other degrees of death precedent then the very act of breathing out his soule which left his body presently and perfectly dead Thou hast gentle Reader the causes and prooses that mooued me to obserue the manâ—…r of Christes death to bee different from ours which whether they be consonant to the Scriptures and rightly conceiued by those learned and ancient Fathers which I haue named vnto thee I leaue to thy discrecte iudgement assuring thee there is nothing to hinder the maine consent of so many old and new writers in a matter of so great consequence but onely the headdinesse of this discourser who vpon a bare pretence of one peece of Scripture not well vnderstood and worse applied thinketh he may worke wonders and conclude all these graue and sound Expositours to be so ignorant of the sense of that place and so vnable to reach to the depth of those words Christ was LIKE VS IN ALL things that with one accord they would affirme a sine fable a Paradoxe in Nature and contrarie to Scripture Howbeit it is no newes with this man to defend that Christ was distempered ouerwhelmed and all confounded both in all the powers of his soule and senses of his body He boldly auoucheth it was so with Christ before his death in the Garden and on the Crosse and therefore hee presumeth it might much more befall him at his death But let him keepe these secrets to himselfe I doubt not Christian Reader but thou wilt be well aduised before thou put the Sauiour of the world and the Sonne of God out of his wits or senses to make way for
for the sinnes of the world But you after your slight and slippery manner though euen here you deny it very stifly when you be pressed with reasons or authorities conuey your selfe presently to your ambiguous and deceitfull termes of meere bodily sufferings and the proper sufferings of the soule and from thence you make your aduantage But what are meere bodily sufferings such as haue no communion neither with the sense nor grace of the soule can a liuing body die a shamefull and cruell death as Christ did and the soule neither like or mislike it nor so much as feele it This you inferre vpon the word onely when I conclude that Christ died a bodily death onely If the sacrifice say you As it is onely bodily and bloudy doe wholy purge sinne ‖ it followeth that no action or passion of the soule neither by Sympathie nor any other I say none at all As being in the soule was regarded as propitiatorie and meritorious Graunt first your owne termes to be true which are neither my words nor my meaning that Christs MEERE bodily sufferings without any proper sufferings of the soule were the whole Ransom for sinne how exclude you the sense affections and actions of Christs soule not to be meritorious Had Christ any sufferings in his body which his soule felt not and when his soule felt them did he not patiently obediently and willingly endure them for our sakes Or was not the patience obedience and loue of Christ meritorious How then will it follow that if Christs sufferings were MEERE BODILY without any proper sufferings of the soule no affection nor action of Christs soule was meritorious But you adde â—…f the Sacrifice As it is onely bodily bloudy and deadly doth wholy purge sinne thâ—…n no action nor passion of the soule was propitiatorie and meritorious If you meane that Christs body as it was onely dead for that is your word did without soule or life wholy purge sinne then indeed your consequent is good that neither action nor passion of the soule could be propitiatorie because the soule was not present when the body was dead But who maketh that blockish Antecedent besides your selfe Or who euer excluded Christs innocence obedience patience charitie and digniâ—…e from his bodily and bloody sacrifice before you will you seuer the manner of offering from the thing offered and call it a perfect and propitiatorie sacrifice As it was only bodily and bloudy it had no communion with any action or passion of Christs soule As being in the soule Why entangle you the Reader with an As and an As of your owne adding which no where are found in my words What sense can any wise man pike out of this The sacrifice As it is only bodily excludeth all actions and passions of the soule As being in the soule Is it so strange a kind of speech to say that Christ died only a bodily death which so many learned and auncient Fathers haue so frequently vâ—…ed before me that you should bring in your As and your As thus to kicke at it In death as in death if thereby you meane the priuation and want of soule and life there is neither paine nor sense and in the body As in the body if you take the body for a dead corps there is no absolute necessitie of a soule otherwise no body could be dead What then Had therefore Christs body no soule nor his death no paine when he suffered for our sinnes Or are you of late so souced in Sophistrie that when you heare of a body you will inferre there is neither action nor paâ—…sion of the soule in that body as in a body or whâ—…n you are told of a man tormented to death you will assure vs that in his death as death he had neither paine nor sense All men besides you conceaue in the sufferings of the body the soule as the soule must haue the sense and feeling thereof and is thereby vrged by Gods ordinance to seeke for the cause and ease thereof In their affliction saith God by his Prophet they will seeke me And Dauid sill their faces with shame that the may seeke thy name And likewise by the suffering of death they vnderstand the paine and sting of death approching and lastly separating the soule from the body And therefore Christs sacrifice for sinne though it were only bodily because no part of Christ died but only the body yet the soule endured the paine and discerned the cause thereof And though it were deadly because it ended in death and was finished by death yet the actions and affections of Christs soule as well from her selfe as from his body at the time of his passion impressed or stirred either by the cause smart author or manner of his sufferings were meritorious and made way for the satisfaction of sinne which was not accomplished but by that death of Christs body that God had determined Let therefore the Reader iudge how well you impugne my conclusion that Christ died for our sinnes the death of the body only and not the death of the soule nor of the damned and how vainly you vouch Christs death and sacrifice as they were bodily had neither paines nor patience obedience nor charitie nor any other action or passion of his soule in them Else-where I see in you manifest contrarietie hereunto for sundry times you teach that Christ did suffer peculiarly and seuerally some proper punishments which I hope were propitiatorie and meritorious in his soule besides his bodily suffering yea that this was a part of his crosse and an effect of God wrath on his soule as well as the suffering in his body I pray thee Christian Reader obserue that this Discourser plainly and fully here confesâ—…eth that I SVNDRY times teach that Christ BESIDES his bodely sufferings did suffer peculiarly and seuerally some PROPER punishments in his soule and that this was a part of his Crosse as well as the sufferings of his bodie Now iudge whether it be not a meere shift for him to beare thee in hand that the question betwixt vs is whether Christs meere bodily sufferings without anie proper sufferings of the soule be all that Christ suffered for our sinnes and the whole ransom for sinne or whether that be or can be my meaning as he outfaced thee the next Page before the contrary whereof I sundry times teach as he now confesseth But I crosse my selfe he thinketh write I know not what Sir Trifler if I contradict my selfe shew me my words my writing is extant If you will be priuie to my meaning against my words you are a strange if not a sturdie Prophet But indeede I haue neither meaning nor words sounding that way I auouch that Christ for our sinnes suffered the death of the body only and not of the soule or no death but only the death of the body Vpon these words the death of the bodie onlie if it may be inferred by
any reason or learning ergo Christs dead bodie depriued of soule and sense was the whole Ransom for our sinnes for that he meaneth by Christs death or ergo no action nor passion of Christs soule before or on his crosse was meritorious If I say these conclusions doe necessarily follow out of those words or out of the meaning of them then I must confesâ—…e I am fowly ouershot in my speach But if these be most ignorant and absurd collections from my words and from theirs that vsed that speâ—…ch before me then mayest thou see Christian Reader what meaning this man hath throughout this booke purposely to peruert and misconster all that I say to make thee beleeue I broch some strange and wonderous Doctrine But shifts lâ—… hid but a while the shame in the end will be his How then can that which I sundrie times teach of Christs sufferings in his soule be true if our whole ranâ—…om and propitiation be bodily bloudy and deadly only which is the point â—…here stand on What contradiction finde you in my words that Christ might haue and had sufferings in his soule as feare sorrow and affliction of minde and yet died no death but only a bodilie Only a bodily death doth not exclude all paines which are not bodily but all deaths saue the death of the bodie Wherefore my conclusion is whâ—…re it was That the death which the Mediator must suffer for sinne by the Apostles doctrine must onely be bodily and bloodie and therefore by no meanes the death of the soule or of the damned Yet this â—…as not our whole râ—…some you say nor the whole sacrifice for sinne the sufferings of his soule must be added vnto it When I speake of Christes death I vnderstand that maner and order of his death which the Euangelists describe for so the Scriptures meane when they speake of Christes death and from that death I doe not seuer those sufferings of his soule which the Scripturâ—…s mention because the sharpnesse of that death which his body was to suffer draue him to the deepe consideration of the cause why of the Iudge from whom and the captiue for whom he suffered Christ otherwise had not suffered death as a Redeemer if he had been ignorant of any of these or compelled by force to endure the furie of the Iewes he had power enough to stay their rage decline their bloudie hands yea to auert or decrease the paines as he thought good but because he was to offer himselfe as a willing sacrifice to suffer death to saue vs from the wrath of his Father he layed aside his owne power and submitted himselfe wholly to be disposed at his Fathers will which the Scriptures call his obedience vnto death When therefore he foresaw and felt how sharpe and painfull that death would be and was which he must and did suffer for our sinnes was it possible he should not fully cast the eyes of his â—…inde vpon the horror of our sinnes which did so sting him vpon the fiercenesse of Gods wrath which did so pursue him though he were his innocent and only sonne and vpon the terrible vengeance that rested for vs if he should mislike or refâ—…se to beare the burden of our offences If any man learned thinke it possible for Christ to suffer the one and not in spirit most cleerely to see the other I am content he shall seâ—…er the sufferings of Christs soule from the griefe and anguish of his bodily death but if it be more than absurd so to conceiue then finde we that the sight and sense of Christes extreame torments in bodie caused and vrged his soule thorowly to beholde these things with feare and sorrow which in themselues were most fearefull and could not châ—… but affect Christes soule deeply and diuersly As for the whole ransome of our sinne we shall haue occasion in the next reason more largely to treate of But you haue reasons you say to confirme your maine matter among manie these two the first the Iewish sacrifices shadowing and foreshewing the second the sacraments of Christians testifying and confirming that the true sacrifice for sinne was bodily and bloudy Still what trifling is this doth any in the world denie that the true sacrifice for sinne was the bodie bloud and death of the Redeemer Wherefore the proposition must be as I did set it in your behalfe the Iewish sacrifices were shadowes or figures and our sacraments were signes of our whole and absolute redemption by Christ I say of the whole and entire propitiatorie sacrifice or els you shrinke and leaue the question When I lacke one to set propositions in my behalfe I will send to you for helpe till then spare your paines except you might reape more thanks But you must learne to get you plainer termes or at least more plainly to expound them if you will needs be a setter of propositions for what is the WHOLE sacriâ—…ice propitiatorie and what is our WHOLE redemption By the whole sacrifice meane you the whole person of Christ that gaue himselfe for vs or intend you the whole action whereby he sanctified submitted and presented himselfe as a sacrifice of a sweet smell vnto God or by the whole vnderstand you all that in Christ was deuoted and deliuered vnto death for the satisfaction of Gods iustice And so our whole redemption doe you referre it only to remission of sinnes as the Apostle doth when he sayth We haue redemption through Christes bloud euen the forgiuenesse of sinnes or also to deliuerance from the dominion and infection of sinne and to the abolishing of all corruption in soule and bodie which is our whole and absolute redemption When the powers of heauen shall be shaken and the Sonne of man come in a cloud with power and great glorie then lift vp your heads sayth Christ for your redemption draweth neere You are sealed by the holy Spirit vnto the day of redemption sayeth Paul And Dauid God shall redeeme their soules from deceit and violence that is he shall deliuer their soulâ—…s The Saints as the Apoâ—…e speaketh were racked and would admit no redemption to obtaine a better resurrection where by redemption he meaneth deliuerance As Zacharias sayd God hath visited and sent redemption to his people that is saluation or deliuerance from our enemies and from the hands of all that hate vs to serue him in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of our life So that our whole and absolute redemption compriseth all the degrees and steps of our saluation as iustification sanctification and glorification and these though they were merited and obtained for vs by Christes obedience vnto dâ—…ath yet are they performed and accomplished by diuers other meanes therewith concurring and thereon depending as by the grace of his spirit the working of his power and glory of his comming And therefore the words which you haue set in my behalfe are like their authour that is they are
ambiguous and quarrellous The whole propitiatorie sacrifice are words as doubtfull as the other for since Christ was the Priest who by his eternall spirit offered himselfe vnspotted to God and gaue himselfe for vs to be an offering and sacrifice of a sweet smel vnto God his innocence and obedience chiefly rested in his soule thence sanctified his bodie which suffered death for the ransome of our sinnes Though then all things in Christ were holie and acceptable vnto God and so sacrifices most meritorious yet nothing did fully satisfie the iustice of God for sinne nor make a perfect reconciliation for vs with God but his obedience vnto death For that which must satisfie for sinne must be death other ransome for sinne God neither in his wisdome and counsell would nor in his trueth and iustice could accept after his will once determined and declared It was the first wages appointed and denounced by God to sinne In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death or certainly thou shalt die the doubling of the word noting the inflexibilitâ—…e of Gods counsell and iustice The Apostle witnesseth the same when he sayth The wages of sinne is death Then as sinne was irreuocabâ—…e rewarded with death so must it necessarily be redeemed by death Which rule stood so sure that when the Sonne of God would giue himselfe for vs to redeeme vs he could not do it by reason of Gods immutable counsell and decree but by death Wherefore the Apostle calleth him the Mediator of the New testament through death for the redemption of transgressions And where a testament is there MVST BE sayth he the death of the testator He contenteth not himselfe to say there was but there must be the death of the testator before we could be redeemed A necessitie not simplie binding Gods power but plainly declaring his counsell to be fixed and his will reuealed Since then Christ was to taste death for all men that through death he might destroy him which had power of death euen the diuell and deliuer vs who were reconciled to God by the death of his sonne the point which indeed wee both must stand on is what death Christ suffered to redeeme vs from sinne and to reconcile vs vnto God whether it were the death of the damned which is the second death or the death of the soule or as I auouch the death of the bodie only Other parts of Christes person and beames of his vertues and kinds of his sufferings are not to this quâ—…stion â—…arther than they commended and presented to God Christes death which must ransome our sinnes but the scope to which all the rest was referred and the â—…lose which consummated all the rest was death and therefore no sufferings of Christ were parts of the propitiatorie sacrifice which ransomed sinne but such as ended in death or tended to that sorrowfull shamefull and painfull death of Christ which by order of Gods iustice was appointed to satisfie for sinne The fulnesse of which satisfaction consisted in death and therefore the death and bloud of Christ though they were not the whole sacrifice yet were they the full and perfect ransome and price for sinne because without them the rest could not preuaile and to them all the rest was directed If then you will deale plainly as you pretend or not forget your duetie to God and his trueth you must leaue cauilling with the words of the Holy Ghost and go soberly to consider not whether any other sufferings but whether any other death of Christes be mentioned in the Scriptures to ransome our sinnes besides the death of his bodie If you finde any other there professe â—…t in Gods name if you finde none but only that described or mentioned in the Scriptures leaue snarling at the depth and bredth of those words which the Spirit of God hath authorized and learne rather to vnderstand them truely than vainly to oppose against them In sense and substance there is no difference betwixt these words the death bloud and crosse of Christ the crosse noting the tree whereon Christ died a reprochfull and cruell death for vs and his bloud expressing the maner of his death by sundrie sorts of shedding the same as by whipping piercing his head with thornes boaring his hands and feet to fasten him to the crosse and hanging him thereon three houres by the sorenesse of his wounds till his soule departed from his bodie To make these iarre one with the other which the holy Ghost had knit together is the signe of a busie but not of godly wit and howsoeuer you and your adherents can flourish with figures of Grammar you were best take heede that you turne not your eares from the trueth of God The bodily death which Christ died to ransome our sinnes the holy Ghost doth note sometimes by his Flesh sometimes by his Body sometimes by his Blood and sometimes by his Crosse and these either ioyned or seuered and sometimes also by his soule or life laide downe or powred out vnto death for vs. We finde them ioyned when Paul saith It pleased God by Christ to reconcile all things to himselfe and to pacifie by the BLOOD of his Crosse through him both things in earth and things in heauen And you which in times past were strangers and enemies hath he now reconciled in the BODY OF HIS FLESH through death Seuered are they when Peter saith You were redeemed by the precious blood of Christ as a Lambe vndefiled Who by his owne blood saith the Apostle entered in once into the holyplace and obtained eternall Redemption And so when Iohn saith The blood of Iesus Christ clenseth vs from all sinne As likewife Paul We haue Redemption through his blood euen the Remission of sinnes Of his body himselfe saith This is my body which is giuen for you and my flesh will I giue for the life of the world so are we sanctified by the offering of the body of Iesus Christ once Likewise of his soule by which the Scripture meaneth his life for that life wholy dependeth vpon the presence of the soule in the body My Father loueth me sayth Christ because I lay downe my soule or life The sonne of man came to giue his soule or life as a ransome for many And Esay foreshewed that Christ should diuide the spoyle of or with the mightie Because he powred out his soule vnto death which seuereth the soule from the body and so made it an offering for sinne by laying it downe of himselfe that death might seaze on his body This then being the maine foundation of the Gospel which the Apostle receiued that Christ died for our sinnes according to the Scriptures the Question still standeth as I first set it What death Christ died for our sinnes by the witnesse of holy Scriptures and not what sufferings went before or what other things ioyned with his death which is
the hole that you would faine hide your selfe in To that intent which I set downe my reasons drawen from the Iewish sacrifices and Christians sacraments did and doe still stand effectuall For the olde sacrifices must figure and the new Sacraments must seale whatsoeuer death in Christ was the full and perfect ransome of our sinnes But they foreshew and confirme the bodily death of Christ onely they neither shew not signifie the death of the soule nor the death of the damned Therefore the bodily death of Christ onely is the full and perfect ransome of our sinnes the death of the soule and the death of the damned as they serued nothing to our Redemption so were they not suffered in the soule of Christ. Two cauils you offer against the first part of this reason touching the sacrifices of the fathers before and vnder the law One that they figured not the whole sacrifice as neither Christes Deitie his soule nor his resurrection the next that all the sacrifices of the Iewes did not signifie his bodily death because the Scape goate which was a sinne offering was not slaine Of trifling you talke much this is more then trifling it is plaine shifting Christes deitie could be no part of that sacrifice which suffered for sinne the diuine Maiestie can not suffer either paine or sorrow To what ende then come you in with Christes Godhead when you talke of his suffering for sinne His soule you say was not figured by those sacrifices The suffering death in his soule was indeed no way figured by them but that the mediatour should haue an humane soule to bee separated from his body by death before hee could make purgation of our sinnes that was more then figured by those sacrifices For since not the blood of beasts but of man and euen of the Sonne of God made man was by Gods promise to be shed for our sinnes It is euident that from life to death he could not come but by seuering his soule from his body And consequently he must haue a soule being a man which must be powred out vnto death before he could die euen as the powers of life in bloody sacrifices were parted from their flesh before they could be offered as sacrifices vnto God But I charge you vntruely when I say you expound your whole and absolute Redemption to be of all the fruites and causes of our Redemption you haue no such word nor meaning as fruites Your words are our whole and absolute Redemption and those I say containe the whole course of our saluation euen vnto the last step which is our glorification as I haue formerly prooued by Christes owne speech Againe if the resurrection of Christ which is your owne instance bee a part of that propitiatorie sacrifice because it was a necessarie consequent then all the benefites that Christ obtained for vs or bestowed on vs must be comprised in that his oblation for sinne For they are all necessarie consequents and effects of our Redemption and depend on these two branches his death to free vs from sinne and his resurrection to raise vs into a new and heauenly life now for euer He was deliuered to death for our sinnes and rose againe for our iustification From these two heads the Scriptures deriue not onely forgiuenes of sinnes but newnesse of life on earth and happinesse of life in heauen Yet you did not call them fruits Effects you called them and what is a ioyfull effect such as was Christs resurrection but a fruit and that as well in Christ as in vs When the Prophet saith of Christ he shall see the trauaile of his soule and be satisfied what meaneth he but the fruits and effects of Christs labour when for his obedience to death God highly exalted him and gaue him a name aboue euery name that euery knee should bow vnto him what is this but a fruite and reward of his humiliation first in his owne person then proportionably in all that be his Many of the Iewes sacrifices yea most of them did represent and signifie Christs bodily sufferings onely yet not all Therefore you may well deny mine assumption as you did before and affirme that certaine Iewish Sacrifices set forth the sufferings euen of the soule of Christ and not of his body only Did I any where say that all the Iewish sacrifices were bloudy or that all of them did represent Christs death and blood shedding Could I be ignorant that the Iewes had oblations made onely by fier as of flower wine and incense and also offerings of the first fruits and other things dedicated or presented to the Lord for the vse of his tabernacle and Temple Doth not the Apostle say Euery high Priest is ordayned for men to offer GIFTES and SACRIFICES for sinne Where gifts shew that things without life were offered as well as liuing beasts and birds which were slaine As then there was no cause nor neede I should so I neuer vsed the word ALL in that case vnlesse I added liuing or BLOODY Sacrifices For they by their life lost and blood shed figured the death of Christ Iesus But this ALL is your adding to my wordes that you may take occasion to pike some quarrell at them But you may well deny my assumption that no sacrifices of the Iewes did figure the sufferings of Christs soule I assumed no such thing neither did I meddle with the sufferings of Christs soule vnlesse they were the death of the soule or the paines of hell which the Scripture calleth the second death and I the death of the damned because none besides the damned die that second death but you plainly giue me the slip and conuey your selfe from speaking of the death of the soule or of the death of the damned which are the things in Question to the sufferings of the soule in generall of which I make no Question And though your meaning be vnder the sufferings of the soule to comprise the tormenting of Christs soule by the immediate hand of God with the selfe same paines which the damned do feele in hell Yet such is your cariage that euery where you suppresse your maine intent and make a faire shew with the sufferings of Christs soule as if you ment no more but that Christs soule must needs haue some sufferings proper to it selfe which you confesse I sundry times teach and yet you make your Reader beleeue I euer impugne You shall doe well to awake out of this slumber and call to minde that there are no sufferings of Christs soule now in question but the DEATH of the SOVLE or of the DAMNED which you dare not openly auouch and therefore you plaster them ouer with smoother termes of the sufferings of the soule to hide your secret mysteries till you meete with itching eares that will listen more to fansies then to faith Another peece of skill you shew in this place to ease your selfe of all proofe and thinke it enough if
whether you make the Soule of Christ mortall as your words here stand because he suffered the death of the soule as you imagine or whether this were the scape of your Printer but by such demonstrations as these are supported with figures and fansies of your owne making you may prooue what you will That the Brasen Serpent was a figure of Christs death Christ himselfe witnesseth Whence you may inferre after your manner that Christ had no true flesh nor felt death For the Brasen Serpent had neither flesh to feele nor life to loose So the Lord expresseth that Ionas was a figure of his lying in the graue and yet was Ionas aliue in the Whales belly May it therefore be concluded that Christ was neuer dead nor buried because Ionas indeede was neither Figures haue a resemblance to some things in Christ not to all as the brasen Serpent to his fastning on the Crosse and sauing all that beheld him in faith Ionas to the time that he lay in his graue and to the impossibilitie conceaued of his resurrection So the Scape-goate notwithstanding your must needs be and could not be mighâ—… signifie the impassible godhead of Christ as Theodoret and Isychius affirme since power to take away sin and to cleanse it without any suffering for it is proper to God It might likewise resemble the detestation and hatred the Iewes had of Christ when they cryed away with him away with him if the vsage of the people towards the Scape-goate were such as Tertullian describeth which was to spit at him punch him and curse him as he was caried out of the Citie And where he went away aliue for all their spites and wrongs that might declare either his resurrection into life eternall which they could not touch or else the disposition of his life here not left in the peoples hands but reserued to his owne power till he did willingly offer it as a sacrifice vnto God Ambrose saith of him Quasi arbiter exuendi suscipiendique corporis emisit spiritum non amisit As hauing power in himselfe to lay aside and to take againe his body he sent foorth his soule he lost it not And likewise Eusebius When no man had power ouer Christs soule he himselfe of his owne accord laid it downe for man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So loosed from all force and resting free him selfe of him selfe made the departure from his body This the Scape-goate I say might figure as some ancient Fathers auouch your reasons to the contrary are but rushes vnfit to conclude such a cause considering that no figure agreeth in all things with the truth for then it should be no figure but the truth and you collect some small disagreements betweene the figure and the truth Againe as you suppose for some petite difference the Scape-goat could not figure the deity nor body of Christ so I vpon stronger grounds collect it could not signifie the proper sufferings of Christs soule if your word were of any waight your selfe auouch that which I entend Those bâ—…asts sacrifices say you could not prefigure the immortall and reasonable soule of Christ. If that be true which is your owne auerment how could the Scape-goat which I troe was a beast as you say a sacrifice figure the sufferings of Christs soule which were inward and invisible as was his soule Can you so closely conuey contradictions as in your treatise to tell vs the sacrifices of beasts could not prefigure the immortall soule of Christ and in your defence to assure vs it must be ofnecessitie that the Scape-goat signified the humane soule of Christ Besides if the Scape-goat signified Christs soule sent away from his body for the other goat was first slain it must of force import Christs death for without death his soule was not separated from his body And so by your vrging that it could not signifie Christs death you plainly confirme it did signifie Christes death Thirdly the place whither the Scape-goat was sent was the Wildernes and a land vnhabitabie Now the soule of Christ seuered from his body went to heauen as you hold or to Paradise Is heauen or Paradise with you become a wildernes a land not inhabited Fourthly the Scape-goat after he was sent away did beare vpon him all the sinnes of the people Dare you say that Christs soule departed from his body did beare or suffer the punishment of the peoples sinnes Your meaning is but to shew what you thinke to be indeed most probable and likely knowing that yet some such matter as you ayme at they doe signifie without Question After it must be of necessitie come you now with probabilitie and is your doubtles so soone turned into likelihood The Reader is well holpen vp to rest on your word and to beleeue SOME SVCH MATTER AS YOV AYME AT But backe to the matter indeed and then your Reader shall finde euen by your owne confession besides my proofes that you do but ayme at these things vpon the bare surmise of your own braine and that you can shew no sacrifices of the Iewes which did figure the proper sufferings of Christs foule much lesse the death of his soule which is the matter that we differ about howsoeuer you would now loose your necke out of the coller We reade of other sacrifices consisting of sacrifices of sundry and diuers sorts The bloody sacrifice had conioyned together with it the vnbloody sacrifice of the meate offering and an other of the drinke offering Which may very likely represent vnto vs the sundry and diuers kinds of Christs meritorious sufferings in his life time and at his death You coniecture still so farre from truth that few men will regard your coniecturall likelihoods Why Salt Flower Oyle and Wine were added to the carnall sacrifices of the Iewes much may be ghessed litle can be prooued They might well serue to make the sacrifice the sweeter and the fuller and so resemble the fragrancie and sufficiencie of Christs death but what reason you haue to make Christes life to be thought his death and his merits all one with his sufferings and things without sense or life to figure the sufferings of his soule and you know not what besides I doe not see but onely that your will is your best weapon when you be put to the push of any proofe Yea in the same side where you reiect the iudgement of Cyrill Ambrose and Bede as wide coniectures and palpable mistakings you come in with your foolish supposals and offer them to all the godly as matters of good moment onely because you fansie them But mocke not your Reader with may and must as you thinke your thoughts must be wiser and neerer the truth before a meane man will regard them Who but I you say would defend these palpable mistakings of the auncients and not see the expresse text against them Nay who but you would so peremptorily
respect as they are bodily things represent the soule of Christ or any matter pertaining to it In that respect as they are bodily things without any sacred action or passion they figure neither bodie nor soule of Christ nor are indeed any figures at all But you speake of sacrifices of beasts which can not beare that name in the Scriptures without some sacred action and passion ordeined by God to praefigure the sacrifice of his Sonne And where euery thing which was appointed of God to foreshew the comming and dying of his Sonne was a figure of him not in respect of any bodily matter or forme for so all things of that kinde should naturally haue beene figures of Christ and not by gods appointment which is most absurd and false but in regard of some holie rare or beneficiall action passion or propertie authorized by God to represent the power and vertue of Christ appearing in our flesh you like a deepe Diuine seuer from those sacrifices all sacred actions and passions ordained by God to make them both sacrifices and figures and then tell vs that in respect of their earthly and bodily substance they were no figures of Christes soule When you sayd Sacrifices you included those sacred actions and passions which made them sacrifices and figures of Christes sacrifice and therefore to exclude them againe with an idle respect is a silly and emptie refuge If vnder bodily things you comprise externall and sensible actions and passions then is it euident that by sensible signes in those Sacrifices God did alwayes and altogether declare the ioynt sufferings of Christ for the sinnes of the world but not the paines of hell nor the death of the soule from which you alwayes and altogether slide vnder pretence of my grosse vttering it though I vtter it in the selfe-same words and parts which the Scripture doth But how considerate are you when you vouch that the Scape-goat representeth not Christes soule vnlesse onely in respect of the escaping of it when the other goat died yet not the body of the holocaust but the vtter consuming by sire of the whole signifieth the sufferings of whole Christ What agreement hath ESCAPING with VTTER CONSVMING and yet you make both these actions to be figures of the sufferings of Christes soule So that Christes soule by your refined figures did escape free from death and not escape free from death for you defend that Christ died the death of the soule and was vtterly consumed and could not be consumed but as it were escaped and yet escaped not and was at it were vtterly consumed and yet could no way be consumed but escaped free and vntouched as the Scape-goat did Such is your settlednesse that yea and no with you are as it were all one That fire did signifie the incorruption of Christes flesh after death is very hard and farre fetcht Sacrifices had their respect to Christes death not to any thing further or afterwards All things are farre fetcht with you that come not from the whirlepoole of your owne head It is the iudgement of S. Austen and other learned Fathers which you so lightly esteeme The same substance of the bodie shall be changed into an heauenly qualitie quod ignis in sacrificio significabat velut absorbens mortem in victoriam which fire in sacrifice signified as it were swallowing vp death in victorie Whom Bede disdaineth not to follow Ignis in sacrificio id significabat velut absorbens mortem in victoriam Fire in sacrifice did signifie victorie euen swallowing vp death Cyril is of the same minde Agreeably to the sacrifices did heauenly fire consume all things that were done by our Sauiour in the bodie and restored them all neerer to the nature of his Diuinitie for rising from the dead he ascended to heauen his passage to which place the nature of fire doth shew To farder sufferings after Christes death no sacrifice had respect because there neither were any nor needed any but to the efficacie and glorie consequent to Christes death the fire in sacrifices had respect as these Fathers affirme Against whom though you euery where oppose the worm-eaten warrant of your owne words I trust you will somewhat relent to the Apostles authoritie who telleth you that the high Priests going intâ—… the most holy place with the blood of the sacrifice once euery yeere signified Christes entring the heauens with his owne blood which I hope was after both his death and his resurrection As for an other sense out of Austen that it should signifie our perfection and burning charitie it can not be true for the holocaust-sacrifice out of question primarily signified the person of Christ not ours Also you both here do seeme to double vnderstanding by the holocaust both incorruption after death and a perfect burning loue in vs now in this life which things are farre distant and can not stand together You are so giddie that you dislike euerie thing and so hastie that you conceiue nothing right S. Austen sayth indeed that fire in the holocaust may note the feruent â—…esse of charitie and brightnesse of immortalitie which are all one with perfection and incorruption What fault finde you with this The holocaust you say signified primarily the person of Christ not ours Doth S. Austen denie that It suffâ—…ceth for the trueth of his wordes that those sacrifices did principally point out Christes sufferings grace and glorie and consequently ours For as we haue fellowship with his afflictions and are conformed vnto his death so shall we be partakers of his perfection and incorruption and be fashioned to his image 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If we suffer as he did sayth Paul that we may be glorified as he was not presuming an equalitie with him but promising a conformitie to him The Sacrifices then which as you grant primarily signified the person passion and perfection of Christ did secondly note and teach our dying to sinne our rising againe in glorie and appearing before him in perfect holinesse which in this life we endeuour but can not attaine to the full till by death we be freed from sinne The bearing of Christs Image is enough to iustifie Saint Austens speech For he neither saith that the holocaust did primarily signifie the members of Christ nor that men could haue perfection of charitie in this life but when Christ shall present vs righteous and glorious vnto his Father then shall he offer vs as holocausts vnto God And yet in the meane while what hindereth Saint Austen to exhort vs that the Diuine fire of Gods wisedome and grace may wholy inflame vs and euen consume vs Who but a moth of your mould would giue Saint Austen the lâ—…e twice in two lines for so speaking and in the third line after charge him with doubling as if Christs puritie in this life and glorie after this life could not stand together or the perfection of Gods Saints here such as
neerer in soules to the right signification of bruizing than the mangling tearing and contusing of Christs body which he suffered from the violent rage of the Iewes Your other word of the very same nature keepe to your selfe When your proofs faile you in this you may not be suffered to roue at your pleasure and to reach after other words out of your own vnlearned skill to vouch they are of the very same nature Wherefore there is no cause why the coherence of Esaies wordes should be cut in sunder by your vnhandsome deuice of the peeces and powder of soules but as the first words in that sentence he was wounded for our transgressions and the last with his stripes we are healed are plainly referred to the punishments of Christes bodie so the middest he was bruized for our iniquities should haue the same relation and intention especially the Prophet foretelling the people what they should see in their Messias and how they should misiudge of him We sayth Esay did iudge him as plagued and smittâ—…n of God but he was wounded for our transgressions and bruized for our iniquities and with his stripes are we healed Neither is it any strange thing in the Scriptures to ioyne this very word which you talke so much of with wounding as with a word of the same nature and force For besides that Moses sayth None wounded with any bruizing or â—…utting of his secret parts shall enter into the Lords congregation Dauid saith to God Thou hast bruized Rahab as one that is wounded Where wounding bruizing are more properly lincked together as words of like force and effect than your breaking of soules into pieces or beating them to powder The verie same word is also vsed in the Scriptures to note the bruizing of mans bodie by sicknesse or of his estate by wrong and oppression Dauid in a grieuous sicknesse complaining that he felt nothing sound in his flesh nor any rest in his bones addeth I am weakned and bruized very much Bruize not the poore in the gate sayth Salomon that is oppresse not the poore in iudgement The children of the foolish shall be bruized that is oppressed in the gate and none shall deliuer them And when it is applied to the soule it may note that to be either wounded with sorrow oppressed with wrong or humbled with obedience but as for powder and pieces from which you would pull a iust proportion which nothing can answere but the paines of hell it is a sicke conceit of your owne braine it hath no deriuation either from the Prophets or Apostles words You did not meane that the soule might be properly broken in pieces but that thus it is neerer and better applied to the soule than to the bodie which was only pierced and boared thorow Then was your former opposition out of the Scripture very licentious and your conclusion as friuolous In that a bone of Christes was not broken you inferred that Esaies words He was broken for our sinnes could not be properly meant of Christes bodie flesh and bones as if there were no breaking of ioynts veines sinewes flesh or skinne but only of bones And yet as if the soule of Christ which is by nature altogether indiuisible might properly be broken in pieces you conclude the breaking of the bread can not properly belong to the bodie of Christ BVT TO THE SOVLE Had you denied the breaking of the bread properly to belong to either your words must haue beene It can belong properly neither to the bodie nor to the soule but you denie the one and auouch the other It can not belong properly to the body but to the soule Whether those words of yours doe not expresly import that the breaking of bread doth properly belong to the soule of Christ as to the trueth wherein they must be verified I leaue it to the iudgement of the discreet Reader Howbeit you denie not but broken applied to the soule of Christ is figuratiue And so you grant there was no cause you should take such exceptions as you did to the Apostles wordes This is my bodie which is broken for you For since it can not be verified of the soule but figuratiuely as you now confesse it may so be most iustly verified of Christes bodie without any sense of hell paines suffered in the soule of Christ. And if the consent of the English Latine and Greeke tongues may be trusted for the vse of a word breaking may properly be affirmed of Christes bodie which can not be of his soule for so much as his ioynts veines sinewes flesh and skinne were broken and torne in sunder though his bones were not And but that your fashion is to follow no man farder than your fansie leadeth you you might haue seene with what reuerence and conscience Master Beza that otherwise vpholdeth the sufferings of Christes soule referreth this word KLOMENON to the tearings and torments of Christes bodie being hereto led by the Apostles assertion By the word broken in Pauls wordes is designed the kindâ—… of Christes death because besides that the Lords bodie was torne bruized and euen broken with most bitter torments though his legges were not broken as the theeues were Christ breathing out his soule with a most violent death was as it were rent in two parts according to his humane Nature This word then hath a MARVELLOVS EXPRESSE SIGNIFICATION that the figure should fullie agree with the thing it selfe to wit that the breaking of the bread should represent to our minds the verie death of Christ. Peter Martyr hauing made your obiection that a bone of Christ was not broken resolueth But heereof I will not greatly contend for somuch as this breaking is by many Fathers referred to the body of Christ. With whom the wordes following doe make broken for you which indeed leadeth me to consent vnto them and to acknowledge a double breaking one in the bread another in the bodie of Christ. Bullinger sayth The bread is properlie sayd to be broken the bodie of man to be slaine howbeit in the Hebrue tongue to breake is to waste to kill and destroy And so the visible bread which in our sight is broken with our hands doth certeinly set before our eyes that bodie of Christ which was broken or done to death by vs or for vs. So Haymo q Christ himselfe brake the bread which he deliuered to his Disciples to shew that the breaking and suffering of his bodie came not but of his owne accord Which wordes he tooke out of Beda vpon the Gospels of Marke and Luke Before whom Prosper When the host is broken and the bloud is powred out into the mouthes of the faithfull what other thing is designed than the doing to death of the Lords bodie on the crosse and the shedding of the bloud out of his side And likewise Austen The table of thy spouse sayth he to the Church hath bread
owne words and hereafter by your leaue tell you it is a plaine lye and a meere shift if you father your termes of Christs meere blood and single bodie vpon me as any part of the Question which I mooued or Doctrine which I defend Wherefore I pray thee Christian Reader once more to take notice that I be not driuen in euery page to proue one and the same thing against the Discoursers vnsauery childish and Idle phrases with which he would faine elude the Scriptures and delude the world Your confession both of my Sermons and conclusion Sir Descourser is this Sundry times you teach that Christ did suffer peculiarly and seuerally some proper punishments in his soule besides his bodily sufferings yea that this was a part of his crosse and the effect of Gods wrath on his soule as well as the suffering in his body Against my words so often witnessed in my writings and so openly confessed by your selfe you take vpon you by some secret reuelation belike to know my meaning that no more but the shedding of Christs blood MEERELY is the full satisfaction of all our sinnes which MEERE BLOOD of Christ the Scriptures meane not nor onely his body SINGLY and SIMPLY considered The MEERE blood and SINGLE and SIMPLE body of Christ with such like couerts of your cause are termes fit for such a teacher as you are to which if you could once conuert the Question we must haue as many Lexicons to bring vs out of these Laberinthes as there be leaues in your booke Keepe them therefore as whelps of your owne litture the faith of Christ and the word of God hath stood without them these sixteene hundered yeeres What I meane by the body and blood of Christ giuen and shed for our Redemption and the remission of our sinne I haue meetly well expressed I must not in euery section fall to fresh repetitions When I speake as the Scripture speaketh I meane as the Scripture meaneth They know not your new termes of the MEERE blood nor of the single and simple body of Christ but by his blood and death they meane that manner of shedding his blood and that kind and course of death suffered in the body of his flesh which the Gospell describeth no way excluding from Christ when he presented himselfe before God to vndertake mans cause the due consideration of mans infirmitie and iniquitie abounding or of Gods iustice therewith displeased nor his humble and voluntary submission to the mightie hand and righteous will of his heauenly Father to excuse vs from the heauie iudgement that otherwise did hang ouer our heads So much as the Scriptures mention in declaring the manner of his death and bloodshedding so much they containe in the name of his Crosse blood and death For as the description which the holy Ghost maketh is in no point idle so the comprehension of all vnder one word excludeth nothing formerly described This I take to be a sound and sure way to expound the Scriptures by their owne direction and intention For since the manner and order of Christs death was so carefully regestred by the spirite of God that we should not be ignorant of it whensoeuer the Scriptures speake of Christs Crosse blood and death they referre vs to all that which either by the Prophets was foretold or in the Gospell is expressed touching the order and manner of his death And so Christ died for our sinnes according to the Scriptures as Paul addeth Then to take any thing from it which is mentioned in the Scriptures or to adde any thing to it which is not there expresly recorded is to depart from the word of trueth and to dishonor and deface the death and bloud of Christ with our inuentions This being my meaning euen from the beginning as my words declare I moued these two generall questions The first Whether in the crosse and death of Christ described in the Scriptures the death of the soule or the death of the damned were by any good warrant of the sayd Scriptures comprised Secondly Whether the crosse and death of Christ as the Scriptures describe them be not the full and perfect price of our redemption from sinne and reconciliation to God by the testimonie of the same Scriptures without the death of the soule or paines of the damned The Discourser finding himselfe inclosed with these questions speaketh directlie to neither and prooueth nothing in either but declining the enuie of these speeches the death of the soule and the paines of the damned which indeed are the points misliked and reiected he changeth the first question into the generall termes of suffering Gods wrath and the soules proper suffering which may import manie things besides those two and in the second he euery where beareth the Reader in hand that by the death and bloud of Christ I meane the MEERE bodily sufferings of Christ without anie sense or sorrow of the soule in her spirituall powers And lest the Scripture should stand in his way he casteth them all behinde him that any way witnesse the force and merit of Christes death and bloudshedding as figuratiue speeches because they name not the MEERE bloud of Christ nor only his body SINGLY considered But Sir all this while you forget that you haue proued nothing but onely supposed and auouched what pleased you and that in matters of faith you may not adde to the word of God without manifest apostasie The things questioned by me were the death of the soule and the verie paines of the damned as appeareth euidently by my words when I first mooued the question Of these you say nothing all this while which yet you must soundly fully proue before you may adde them to the words of the Holy ghost testifying the power vertue of Christes bloud and death Therefore howsoeuer you seeme to shift off the Scriptures as figuratiue speeches with your MEERE and SINGLE termes they will sticke faster by you than so For as there can be no doubt of my meaning comprising all in the death and bloud of Christ which the Scriptures report of the order and maner of his sufferings when he yeelded himselfe to die for the sinnes of the world according to the counsell of his Fathers wil so you may not presume any thing to be conteined in the death or crosse of Christ as requisite for our redemption which is not cleerely witnessed by the Scriptures Proue therefore by the Scriptures that Christ died the death of the soule or the death of the damned which are the true paines of hell and then adde it to the crosse of Christ when you will Till so you do the Scriptures which I haue produced stand in their full strength against you For as they bind all Christian men stedfastly to beleeue that which is written touching their redemption by the death and bloud of Christ so do they straitly prohibit all and euery be they men or Angels to adde any other
deuice to the doctrine of our saluation than what is euidently reuealed and directly witnessed in the Scriptures Whether it be of Christ sayth Austen or of any other thing what soeuer touching the faith I say not if we who are no way comparable to him that so spake but that which followeth if an Angell from heauen teach you BESIDES that which you haue receiued in the Scriptures of the Law and the Gospell holde him accursed It is a manifest fall from the faith sayth Basil either to abrogate any thing that is written or to bring in any thing that is not written For when once we beleeue the Gospel sayth Tertullian this we first beleeue that there is nothing besides which we ought to beleeue So that the meere bloud and single bodie of Christ are but sleights of yours with vnknowen phrases to draw your Reader from asking or eying your proofes for the death of Christes soule and the paines of the damned to be suffered by him before wee could be redeemed The Scriptures are maine and manifest for that which I beleeue and teach and which the whole Church of Christ before mee taught and beleeued these fifteene hundred yeeres afore your conceit of hell paines in the soule of Christ was either hatcht or heard of The sufferings of the soule and the wrath of God which things you now catch holde on to make some introduction to your secret and priuate fansies are too generall to inferre either the death of the soule or the paines of the damned except to the rest of your absurdities you will adde these that the soule neuer suffereth but it dieth the death of spirits and that Gods anger in this life hath none other effects but damnation Here you vrge a reason against vs if then our soules be not redeemed by the blood of Christ our bodies haue no benefite of Redemption from death You hunt so headily after aduantages of words by some ambiguitie in them that you neither remember what the Scriptures teach nor what your selfe defend nor when I vse a word in the same sense that the Apostle doth It is not my deuise but the Apostles doing to take REDEMPTION of the body for the incorruption of the same We sigh in our selues saith Paul wayting for the Redemption of our body And againe you are sealed by the holy spirit of God vnto the day of Redemption When that day shall be our Sauiour telleth vs in these words When the powers of heauen shall be shaken and you see the sonne of man come in a cloud with power and great glory then lift vp your heads for your Redemption draweth neere In all which places Redemption is taken for none of those mercies or graces which are bestowed on Gods children in this life but for that glorie and immortalitie which shall be reueiled on them when Christ shall come to iudge the world and namely the Redemption of the body for that incorruption wherewith our vile bodies shall bee changed and made like to his glorious body Take then the Redemption of the body for the incorruption of the same as the Apostle plainely doth and I did and see what absurditie or obscuritie there is in my reason which you so much wrangle with and wonder at as though it passed all vnderstanding The Redemption which we haue in this life by the bloud of Christ must needes bee either of body or of soule we haue no more parts to be redeemed by Christ. But the Redemption of our bodies we haue not in this world we must waite for it till this corruptible put on incorruption The Redemption therefore which we haue in this life or shal haue before the last day is the Redemption of our soules And so the words of Peter You were Redeemed with the precious bloud of Christ and of the Saints in heauen saying to the Lambe Thou hast redeemed vs to God by thy bloud pertaine expresly to the Redemption of their soules because their bodies then did and yet do lie in corruption What so strange monsters or marueiles doeth your Logicall head finde in this reason that you should make such wonderizations at it and protestations against it Is it not open and easie to all that be meanely witted or soberly minded But you haue three things to note in my words which you alleage 1. The Proposition is vaine and Illogicall hauing no consequence in it at all It is a speciall point of Art memoratiue in you to note three things and vtterly to forget two of them For in this whole Section you doe not so much as mention any second or third thing to bee noted in those words which you cite The first and al which you note is that my proposition is vaine Illogicall and vncoherent Your idle and vntheologicall head hath ouer busied it selfe with many mad multiplications and what ifs vpon this proposition and yet you come nothing neere the sense or coherence of it The Proposition hath two parts whereof the second is either an illation out of the Apostles words vpon the first being a supposition of yours if we limit it to the time of this life or if wee speake without restraint of time as you doe it is a necessarie consequent to the former being the condition and cause of the latter That our soules are not redeemed by the bloud of Christ but by his soule is a resolution of yours wherewith you giue a fresh on-set in the next Section as the Reader shall there perceiue though here in shew you somwhat relent after your inconstant maner That being a position of yours I added by the Apostles warrant that our bodies haue not their Redemption in this life but must stay for it till the day of Redemption or generall resurrection And so the reason standeth If our soules be not here redeemed by the bloud of Christ which is your Assertion our bodies by the Apostles doctrine haue no Redemption in this life But this That wee should presently haue no Redemption in body or soule by the bloud of Christ is quite m contrarie to the words of Peter who sayth Yee are redeemed by the bloud of Christ not yee shall be and of the soules in heauen that say to Christ thou hast redeemed vs by thy bloud when their bodies were rotten in the earth Since therefore either body or soule must haue Redemption in this life and the body as Paul assureth vs hath not Redemption in this life Ergo the Redemption which we haue in this life by the bloud of Christ must bee referred to our soules and our bodies must expect the generall day of Redemption in the end of the world before they shall haue it If the sober and wise Reader vnderstand not this reason or can dislike the sequence of it I am content he shall condemne it as darke and obscure but if it be open to all mens eyes saue yours then is your
be deliuered into the hands of men and they shall kill him And againe The Sonne of man shall be deliuered to be crucified and immediately before his apprehension Behold the houre is come the Sonne of man is deliuered into the hands of sinners This deliuering of Christ into the hands of men to be crucified was the not sparing him which the Apostle meant and was that for saking which Christ testified on the Crosse as Tertullian thinketh Filium dereliquit dum hominem eius tradit in mortem Hoc Apostolus sensit scribens si pater Filio non pepercit Sic reliquit dum non parcit sic reliquit dum tradit Ceterum non reliquit pater filium in cuius manibus Filius spiritum suum posuit Denique posuit statim obijt Spiritu enim manente in carne caro omnino mori non potest Ita relinqui á patre mori fuit filio God left or forsooke his Sonne as Christ complained on the Crosse whiles he deliuered his humane nature vnto death This the Apostle meant when he wrote if God spared not his Sonne So God left him whiles he spared him not so God left him whiles he deliuered him Otherwise the Father forsooke not the Sonne into whose hands the Sonne commended his spirit He laide it downe and presently died For while the spirit abideth in the flesh the flesh can not die at all Then to bee left of the Father was as much in the Sonne as to die Here are Tertullians words in order as they stand Where first he maketh the Sonne to die when hee laide downe his soule into his Fathers hands This death by which the soule of Christ departed from his body was that deliuering that not sparing which Paul meant and that forsaking which Christ spake of on the crosse What finde you here for the paines of Hell or for the proper sufferings of the soule You may peruert any mans words if you will but of them selues these are very coherent and euident In Ambrose you finde more hold He saith Minus contulerat mihi nisimeum suscepisset affectum Christ had done lesse for me if hee had not beene altogether affected as I should haue beene Though you be no good concluder yet are you a notable translatour For you can turne the English not onely cleane from but quite against the Latine Where Ambrose saith Christ had done lesse for mee if taking my nature vnto him hee had not also taken my naturall affection vnto him as feare sorrow and such like you misconster affection for punishment and mine that is naturally mine for that which I should haue suffered in hell and adding the word altogether of your owne you make Ambrose say that Christ was altogether affected that is punished in soule as I should haue beene in hell if I had not bene redeemed But by what Grammar doth affectus signifie hell paines Feare griefe and sorrow are naturall affections in all men and passions of the soule they signifie not in their owne nature the torments of the damned How shall we know this to bee Ambrose meaning Hee that hath but halfe an eye may see by that whole Chapter the roote of this sorrow to bee the infirmitie of our nature in Christ and the cause thereof to be his compassion and pitie had of vs and for vs. The next words to those which you bring are Ergo pro me doluit qui pro se nihil habuit quod doleret And presently taedio meae infirmitatis afficitur Christ therefore sorrowed for me who had nothing in him selfe for which he should sorrow he is affected with the tediousnesse of my infirmitie The tediousnesse of our infirmitie affected him not the torments of hell suffered in his owne soule Neque speciem incarnationis suscepit sed veritatem Debuit ergo dolorem suscipere vt vinceret tristitiam non excluderet Christ tooke vpon him not the shew but the trueth of our flesh Hee was therefore to feele griefe as a consequent to our nature that he might ouercome sorrow and not exclude it Tristis est non ipse sed anima Suscepit enim animam meam suscepit corpus meum Anima obnoxia passionibus Christ was sorrowfull not in person but in soule For he tooke vnto him my soule and my body Now the soule it is that is subiect to passions Is hell with you of late become a naturall infirmitie and affection that wheresoeuer you reade either of these words you streight inferre the paines of hell The causes of Christes sorrow will put all out of doubt and are plainely recited by Ambrose in the ende of this Chapter though stifly reiected by you because they sort not with your conceits Tristis videbatur tristis erat non pro sua passione sed pro nostra dispersione Christ seemed sorrowfull and indeede was sorrowfull not for his owne suffering but for our dispersing You say Christs sorrow was for the suffering of hell paines in his soule Ambrose saith in expresse words Christ sorrowed not for his owne suffering which of you twaine shall wee thinke best vnderstoode Ambrose meaning him selfe or you Christ sorowed saith Ambrose for our dispersion he sorrowed because he left vs orphanes he sorrowed for his persecutors All these occasions of sorrow in Christ at the time of his passion mentioned by Ambrose you vtterly disauerre and in spite of Ambrose teeth you will haue the infirmitie and affection of mans nature in Christ to signifie hell Yet Ierom shall helpe at a neede who saith That which we should haue borne for our sinnes the same Christ suffered for vs. You might haue done well to haue put quicquid for quod as one of your fellowes hath done alleaging this place that where Ierom would not say Christ suffered for vs whatsoeuer we should haue suffered your selues may speake it in his name Neither is it so strange a thing with you to translate all for some In the very next Page before citing Ambrose words hoc in se obtulit Christus quod induit Christ offered that in him selfe which he tooke of vs you render it Christ offered in sacrifice ALL that which he assumed which translation is euidently false whatsoeuer the illation be This place of Ierom I haue already answered in the conclusion of my Sermons and but that the booke happely will not alwaies be at hand I would spend no moe words therein The particular can not hurt me if it be simply graunted and the generall is not affirmed by Ierom. Howbeit Ierom in plaine speech presently expresseth what he ment Christ suffered for vs. By this saith he it is manifest that as Christs body whipt and torne bare the printes of the stripes and wrongs so his soule truely sorrowed for vs. What neede we any other exposition then his owne that Christ suffered for vs smart of body and griefe of minde which were due to vs in this world
Christi potest ostendi commortua When Christ died in the flesh neither can the godhead nor the soule of Christ be shewed to haue bene also dead And of hell paines he saith Dignum fuit vt animam dolor non contigisset inferni quam seruitus nequiuit tenere peccati It was a meete and right thing that the paines of hell should not touch that soule whom the seruitude of sinne could not fasten on Yet Cyrill in the place aboue cited SEEMETH to acknowledge A KIND OF DEATH EVEN OF THE SOVLE from which Christ reuiued againe But of that in due place hereafter Is the death of Christs soule so slender a matter that you may collect it by a seeming and a kind of death without any mention or occasion of any such thing comprised in Cyrils words The Reader may there obserue what your maine intent is and whereon you fasten your eyes all this while euen on the death of Christs soule to be requisite for our Redemption though you finde no such thing in Scripture or Father but miserably and childishly slide it in at last with a seeming Now if there be no such thing in Cyrils words nor any such seeming how wel deserue you to be hissed out with hands if not to be hurled out by the heeles for a seeming sleeper if not for a waking dreamer what are those words of Cyrill that seeme to acknowledge the death of Christs soule Christ bestowed his flesh as a ransome for our flesh and made his soule likewise the price of redemption for our soules although he liued againe being by nature life it selfe It is lawfull for you to further euery place you bring with a mayned and forced translation Cyrils true words stand thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Without constraint of any Christ of himselfe laide downe his owne soule for vs that he might be Lord of dead and quicke yeelding his flesh in recompence as a gift fully worth it for the flesh of all and making his soule or life a ransome for the soule or life of all though he reuiued againe being life by nature in that he was God The words which you would cite are heere no perfect sentence as hauing no principall verbe in them and therefore must be ioyned with the former and depend vpon the verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ layd downe his soule which gouerneth the whole as appeareth also by the two participles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yeelding in recompence and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 making which must be directed by the same nominatiue case that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is and likewise by the opposition of the verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he reuiued Of what death Cyrill here speaketh is more then manifest by the words of our Sauiour here vsed and deriued from the Gospell where he said None taketh my soule from me or constraineth me to die I lay it downe of my selfe and likewise the Sonne of man came to giue his soule or life a ransome for many What kind of death those words of Christ imported I made it appeare but a little before by the full consent of Scriptures and interpreters old and new and of Cyrill himselfe who all with one accord referre both those sayings to the death of Christs bodie and the losse of his life on the Crosse when his soule departed from him Set that downe in Cyrils first words for the death which Christ died by the constant assertion of Scriptures Fathers New writers and of Cyrill himselfe and then the words which you alleage shew plainely the force of his corporall death to be auaileable for the bodies and soules of all men in that his flesh yeelded to death was a recompence or exchange for all mens flesh and his soule laide downe without constraint of any was the ransome of all mens soules and he notwithstanding rose againe the third day to life by his owne power as being God and life it selfe against whom death could preuaile no farder nor longer then hee him selfe would Where are the words that acknowledge the death of Christs Soule or that so much as seeme to acknowledge a kind of death in the soule of Christ Here are the cleane contrarie For if the death of Christs bodie by which he laid aside his soule for vs be sufficient to redeeme the bodies and soules of all men then superfluous and needlesse euen by these words was the death of Christs soule the whole being fully perfourmed without it But he gaue his flesh to be a ransome for our flesh and his soule for our soules you say and yet liued againe Cyrill doth not say by seuerall deaths but by one and the same death which was the laying down of his soule or life for vs as Christ himselfe in the Gospel said he would If those wordes inferre the death of Christes soule why bring you not the words of Christ himselfe saying The Sonne of man came to giue his soule a ransome for many You saw the Scriptures themselues and the whole Church of Christ first and last I meane all old and new writers translators and expositors would condemne your folly therin in most exact words taking soule there for life which must needes import the death of Christs bodie And therefore you thought it more safetie to catch at the same words in some Father for whose meaning there could not be brought so many and so sound deponents But all in vaine For if Christ had no meaning in those wordes to point out the death of his owne soule then Cyrill alleaging and obseruing the words of Christ can haue no such purpose as to crosse the Scriptures himselfe and all the Fathers of Christs Church in a matter so dangerous and desperate as the death of Christs soule amounteth vnto In the meane while his words conclude no such thing neither in saying nor in seeming and so your embracing them to that end argueth your good will to seeke but your euill lucke to finde any such thing as the death of Christs soule in all the Fathers Cyrill doth not say Christ rose againe which properly belongeth to the body but he reuiued or liued againe which seemeth to be spoken of the Soule Then Saint Paul maketh more for you then Cyrill doth for he affirmeth both os Christ to this end saith he Christ died and rose againe and reuiued that he might be Lord of dead and liuing And indeed resurrection properly noteth from whence Christ arose to wit from the graue Reuiuing expresseth the blessed and glorious life which he enioyed after he was risen from the dead Christ himselfe saith of his they shall come forth of their graues vnto the resurrection of life to separate them from the wicked who shall come likewise forth vnto the resurrection but of iudgement and condemnation Notwithstanding in Christ there is either no difference betwixt them the one euer implying the other or if we make any Christs reuiuing alwaies presupposeth
his Resurrection as antecedent since he possessed not that immortall and heauenly life which now he hath but vpon his arising from the dead And so the Apostle placeth them Christ died and rose againe and reuiued into such power and glory that he was made Lord ouer dead and quicke And Cyrill who often times vseth this word he reuiued of Christ meaneth the third day after Christs death when the Scriptures affirme he rose from the graue So Cyrill and the Synode of Alexandria that ioyned with him in writing vnto Nestorius say of Christ. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he reuiued the third day hauing spoyled hell and so in his second confession of the true faith to the religious Queenes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ spoyling death reuiued the third day And in his Epistle to those of Egypt Christ is said in the Scriptures first to haue died as a man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and after that to haue returned to life by that which he was by Nature If then he died not in the flesh according to the Scriptures he was not quickned by the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is he reuiued not againe So that Cyrill hath not any seeming words for the death of Christs Soule but saith as Christ said in effect before that the Sonne of man gaue his soule or life to be a ransome for the life of all and not for the Soule of all which in the singular number is neither good English nor good Diuinitie though to smooth it you put the plurall and say for our soules which is not in Cyrill The words of Ambrose will prooue that Christ offered his Soule for vs hoc in se obtulit Christus quod induit Christ offered in Sacrifice all that which he assumed Besides that you falsifie Ambrose by adding ALL to his words which haue no such thing in them you â—…est Ambroses words against Ambroses meaning For though it may well be graunted that Christ offered body and soule as a Sacrifice of holinesse and obedience vnto God and that Christs Soule likewise was laid downe vnto the death of his body to feele the smart thereof and to be seuered by the force thereof in which respect Esay saith that Christ powred forth his Soule vnto death Yet Ambrose speaking of Christs sacrifice for the sinnes of the people meaneth as the rest of the Fathers doe that part of the Sacrifice which was slaine which was by his and their confession Christs body and not Christs Soule Heare Ambrose him selfe In quo nisi in corpore expiauit populi peceata In quo passus est nisi in corpore Wherein did Christ sacrifice for the sinnes of the people but in his body wherein did he suffer death but in his body And so Theodoret Christ was called a Priest in his humane nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and offered none other Sacrifice but his owne body Athanasius nameth what Christ put on and what he offered The word of God that made all things was afterward made an hie Priest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Putting on a body that was borne and made which he might offer for vs. Nazianzene saith to Christ. Thou art a sheepe because thouwast a Sacrifice thou art an hie Priest because thou offeredst thy body Augustine also Sacerdos propter victimam quam pro nobis offerret a nobis acceptam Christ 〈◊〉 a Priest for the Sacrifice he tooke of vs that he might offer it for vs. What that Sacrifice was he sheweth saying Assumpsit a nobis quod offerret Domino ipsas diximus sanctas primitias carnis ex vtero virginis Christ tooke of vs that he might offer to the Lord we meane the holy first fruits of his flesh taken from the wombe of the Virgine Theophylact A Priest may by no meanes be without a Sacrifice It was then necessarie that Christ should haue somewhat to offer Quod autem offerretur praeter eius corpus nil quidpiam erat necessariò ergo mortuus est Now there was vtterly nothing that he might offer besides his body it was needfull then he should die This that Christ tooke a body to offer is most agreeable to Ambroses mind as well in the booke which you cite as in other parts of his writings Ex segenerauit Maria Marie conceiued of her selfe to wit of her owne body that what was conceiued of her might be the true nature of a body And alleadging Saint Pauls words that Christ was made of the seede of Dauid according to the flesh Rom. 1. and made of a woman Galat. 4. He concludeth Ergo ex nobis accepit quod proprium offerret pro nobis vt nos redimeret ex nostro Then Christ tooke of vs that which hee might offer as his owne for vs to the ende he might redeeme vs by that which was ours And declaring what he meant euen by the words which you bring Christ offered that in himselfe which hee put on Ambrose addeth Non igitur diuinitatem induit sed carnem assumpsit vt spolium carnis exueret Christ put not on the nature of his Diuinitie but he tooke flesh that he might put off the spoyle of his flesh when he should die Now if the flesh of Christ were subiect to all iniuries how say you that Christs flesh is of the same substance with his Godhead What else doe you in so saying but compare Adams slime and our earth to the Diuine substance Here Ambrose plainely confesseth what hee meant Christ tooke vnto him and offered for vs euen Adams slime and our earth whereof his body was made Which elsewhere hee precisely auoucheth saying Corpus suscepit nostrae mortalitatis vt pro nobis haberet quid offerret Christ assumed our mortall body that he might haue what to offer for vs. And least you should after your trifling maner aske whether we exclude an humane soule from the body which Christ tooke of the substance of his mother and which hee offered for vs to death on the Crosse I answere with Ambrose Cum susceperit carnem hominis consequens est vt perfectionem incarnationis plenitudinemque susceperit Nihil enim in Christo imperfectum Where as Christ tooke vnto him the flesh of a man it is consequent that hee tooke vnto him the perfection and fulnesse of incarnation for there is nothing imperfect in Christ. And what neede was there hee should take flesh without a Soule when as an insensible flesh and an vnreasonable soule was neither subiect to sinne nor capable of reward An humane soule was a necessarie sequell to Christs body which he tooke of the seede of Dauid and substance of his mother as it is to all ours before we can be men but the soule is not comprised in the name of the body much lesse doeth it receiue the same conditions and properties which the body doth Though then I make no doubt but Christ at his birth and
at his death as all his life long had both a body and a perfect reasonable and humane soule indued with all the powers affections and infirmities of mans nature saue sinne and the corruption of sinne yet is it no consequent with Ambrose that Christs soule was made of a woman as his flesh was nor that Christ died the death of the soule when his body died on the Crosse. Let them doubt saith Ambrose of that which the Prophet saith my soule hateth your new Moones and Sabboths This that is testified in the Gospel therefore the Father loueth me because I lay downe my soule to take it againe they can not refute to bee spoken of the proprietie of the soule when as it is spoken of the Lords death and resurrection The bodie of Christ could not die but by laying downe his soule as also it could not rise to life but by taking it againe So that both Christes death and his resurrection doe cleerely prooue that he had a true soule as Ambrose noteth which by his death was seuered from his body and by his resurrection was assumed againe into his body And yet that death was proper to Christs body and not to his soule though the soule felt the smart and sting thereof as well before as when it departed from his body Corpus est quod amit tit animam amittendo fit mortuum it a mortui vocabulum corpori competit Porro si resurrectio mortui est mortuum autem non aliud est quà m corpus corporis erit resurrectio It is the body saith Tertullian that looseth the soule and by loosing it dieth so that the word dead agreeth to the body Now if the resurrection be of that which was dead and nothing can be dead besides the body Resurrection must likewise pertaine to the body This death and this resurrection I meane of the body was found in Christ yours is very strange to Ambrose and to all the Fathers Per quam nisiper corporis mortem mortis vincula dissoluit By what other death saith Ambrose then by the death of the body did Christ breake the bands of death Thus haue you spent your great store of Fathers with small successe and though you dissemble where you borrowed them yet you dissemble not your excessiue bragging of them as if they were cleane against me and for you in the chiefest point of this question where indeede you doe but reach after a word in them here and there and that not rightly conceaued or not rightly translated from whence you would faine inferre your fansies saue that neither the grounds of trueth nor learning will beare you out in your conclusions That Christs sufferings did belong to bodie and soule the Fathers affirme whether by Sympathie or without Sympathie they say nothing much lesse that Christ suffered in minde distinctly from soule or bodie Nazianzene saith he assumed mans mind at his incarnation that thereby he might sanctifie it besides him not one of your places so much as nameth the minde As for Gods immediate hand punishing the soule of Christ in his passion if you should fast till you find that in these or any other Fathers you should fast not fourtie dayes but yeares And as though these were not falsities enough to loade the Fathers with you hoyse vp the top sayle of vntrueth and flant it out that these Fathers say Christ suffered all these paines which els we should haue suffered and was spared in nothing plainely belying your Authors which say no such thing and out-facing your Reader as if his sight did not serue him to seuer your shamefull additions from the texts of those ancient writers Cyrill sayth Christ suffered all things that is all naturall and innocent infirmities and passions of bodie and soule as Cyrill explaineth himselfe in the same Chapter yea in the close of the very same sentence to whose words you adde of your owne WHICH els we should haue suffered Only you ioyned them at first so cunningly to Cyrils sentence hauing two parts that a man could not readily tell to which you referred this addition saue that now in the recapitulation of your proofes you apparantly tie them to the former For if you made Cyrill to say Christ suffered to free vs from all which els we should haue suffered that assertion is verie true onely these last words are yours and not Cyrils If you make him to say Christ suffered all which els we should haue suffered this hath neither trueth in it nor any colour in Cyrils text Ierome indeede saith Christ suffered that which we ought to haue suffered meaning what Christ suffered was due to vs and not to him but Ierome is farre from your all which els we should haue suffered Your sleight then in collecting your conceits from the Fathers sayings is woorth the obseruing Nazianzene sayth Christ in his incarnation assumed mans mind to sanctisie it Cyrill saith Christ SVFFERED ALL the infirmities and passions of mans nature Ierome sayth That which was due to vs for our sinnes Christ suffered for vs. And Tertullian saith God spared not his owne Sonne but deliuered him for vs that is God spared him not from deliuering Out of these foure places hauing different causes ends and respects for which to which in which they were written you clout this conclusion as common to them all which is repugnant to euery one of them that Christ IN MIND so saieth Nazianzene SVFFERED ALL so saith Cyrill WHICH VVAS DVE TO VS so saith Ierome WITHOVT SPARING so saith Tertullian By this order and manner of hudling and hampering different things and diuerse places together you may collect what you will when you will and out of whom you will and this is your cleare and plaine sense of the Fathers against the which you say I can take no exception After this you fal againe to your first trench more of termes and wandering a while about the phrases of Gods proper wrath the true and right punishment of sinne two countenances in Christ and the coincidence of his soule and spirit you would faine conclude if you could that if Christ suffered the wrath of God for vs he suffered the true paines of hell which I auouched you neuer should be able to doe Whether I or you abuse the Reader with ambiguous and doubtfull words I leaue to his iudgement that taketh the paines to peruse what is past and what followeth truely I disaduantage my selfe very much so precisely to diuide distinguish and prooue euery thing as I doe if I ment to slide away with generalities But you that neither can nor will specifie any parts nor bring any proofes of your chiefest assertions but keepe your selfe safe vnder the shelter of certaine phrases deuised by your selfe without any warrant of Scriptures or Fathers and neuer expounded nor defined in all your writing saue onely with AS IT VVERE and after a sort what meaning you can haue to handle so great
the bodie which is the punishment of sinne but also the sting of death which is sinne entred into the world because we consent not to these men who say the contrarie but to the Apostle who testifieth that sinne and death went ouer all men Prosper The punishment of sinne which Adam the root of mankinde receiued by Gods sentence saying Earth thou art and to earth thou shalt returne and transmitted to his posteritie as to his branches the Apostle sayth entred into the world by one mans sinne and so ranged ouer all men Beda The death as well of vs men as of Christ is called sinne because it is the effect and punishment of that sinne which Adam committed The second councell of Arrange about 450 yeres after Christ confesseth no lesse If any man affirme that only the death of the bodie which is the punishment of sinne and not sinne also which is the death of the soule passed by one man to all mankinde he ascribeth iniustice to God and contradicteth the Apostle who sayth By one man sinne entred into the world and by sinne death passed ouer all men Our later writers though they fully defend that God doth not punish his either to destruction as he doth the wicked nor for satisfaction of sinne as he did his owne Sonne for the sinnes of all his Saints and to comfort the afflicted they set before them the presence of Gods power assisting them in their miseries or deliuering them from their troubles the purpose of God respecting wholy their good and the promise of God exceedingly recompencing their patience yet when they come to the causes prouoking God to this seueritie they acknowledge that to be sinne and teach euery man to descend into himselfe and to giue God the glorie in that his righteous iudgement beginneth at his owne house Of the euils which we suffer in this life there be many and sundry causes saith Bullinger but sinne it selfe is counted to be the generall cause For by disobedience sinne entred into the world and by sinne death diseases and all the mischiefes in the world The persecutions and cruell tortures inflicted on the Church of God or on particular Martyrs as they were offered them for the confession and testimony of the faith and truth of the Gospell so for the most part they had for their causes the offences and sinnes of the godly which the iustice of God did visite in his seruants though for the good and welfare of his Saints The people of Israell sinned against the Lord in the desert vnder the Iudges and Kings very often and very enormously and were grieuously punished by the Lord but againe they were speedily deliuered as often as they acknowledged their sinnes and turned vnto the Lord. If therefore any man suffer any euill for sinne committed let him acknowledge the iust iudgement of God vpon himselfe and humble himselfe vnder the mightie hand of God confessing it vnto God and asking pardon with lowly praier let him patiently beare that which he hath so well deserued to suffer It is certaine saith Zanchius that all the punishments and miseries which we feele in this world are from sin and inflicted for sinne In which place he resolueth by a plaine thesis that death is the punishment of sinne and so are all those things which are the fruits of death as well in Soule as in body and in our externall state It is an argument saith Gualther of a mind skant religious wholy to despise death quam per peccatum ingressam peccati poenam esse omnes Scripturae testantur which all the Scriptures witnesse came in by sinne and is the punishment of sinne In the Philosophers commendations of the death of the bodie there are some things saith Peter Martyr not agreeable to the Christian faith and to the sacred Scriptures For we say that death must not be accounted any good but an euill thing Quandoquidem Deus illam vti poenam inflixit nostro generi For so much as God inflicted it as a punishment on mankind And so else where Omnes pij statuunt in morte â—…rae diuinae sensum esse ideoque sua natura dolorem horrorem incutit All the godly resolue that in death there is a sense of Gods wrath and therefore of his owne nature it impresseth a griefe and terror And if there be any to whom it is contenting and acceptable to die they haue that from some other fountaine and not from the nature of death There might be assigned saith Musculus many kinds of the wrath of God but for this present we content our selues with a triple diuision thereof whereby we diuide it into generall temporall and eternall The generall wrath of God is that wherewith the whole posteritie of Adam is enwrapped for originall sinne Hence come all the miseries of mankind which equally follow the condition of men and cleaue as well to our minds as to our flesh The temporall wrath of God is that Qua peccat is non impiorum modò sed piorum irascitur ac paenas de illis sumit in hac vita whereby God is angry with the sinnes not of the wicked onely but of the godly also and taketh punishment of them in this life Whether I speake or thinke otherwise then these new and old Diuines haue spoken and taught let the Reader iudge But mine owne Authors in the very places which I alleadge doe say that the nature of death is changed and that God is angry with his elect as a Father with his beloued children to chasten and amend them Peter Martyr saith indeede the nature of death is chaunged by Gods goodnes making that profitable to vs which of it selfe is very harmefull but with what condition doth he say it is changed Puta si quis obediente animo eam sube at néque poenam illam reijciat quam diuina iustitia nos omnes voluerit exoluere If a man submit himselfe vnto it with an obedient hart and reiect not that punishment which the iustice of God would haue vs all to suffer And so it was chaunged euen when it was inflicted on the elect in Adams loynes For Christ was first promised to be the bruizer of the Serpents head Now if death afterward tooke full and euerlasting hold on Christs members then the serpent preuailed against Christ and his chosen and not Christ against the Serpent Wherefore God so moderated his sentence that he adiudged Christes members in Adam no farder then to the earth whence Christ should raise them and vtterly abolish from them all the Serpents poyson that is sinne death and corruption but this prooueth not death to be good in Gods Children or to be no punishment of sinne in them because God conuerteth it to their aduantage in the ende no more then their sinnes are good because God turneth them also to the benefite of his elect For as you heard before Saint Austen
or amended then was he not punished for correction On the other side much lesse did God purpose to destroy Christs person being his owne and onely Sonne as he doth the wicked whose bodies and soules he will destroy in hell and consequently Christ was not punished to destruction That is proper to the reprobate whose persons God hateth and leaueth in their sinnes that they may prouoke his iust wrath to their vtter destruction Then was Christ neither punished as the godly are for amendment nor as the wicked are for vengeance and so your partition is false and defectiue and all your collections grounded thereon are like the foundation that is voide of all strength and trueth What then was Gods purpose in punishing Christ for our sinnes euen that which you alwayes passe by with deafe and dull eares though it be often repeated and vrged vnto you because you will not be turned from the trade of your hellish paines Why God would not haue man redeemed but by the death and passion that I call the punishment of Christ Iesus the Scriptures yeeld many causes though of Gods will no cause may be required some respecting God himselfe some concerning Christ and some regarding vs. Touching God the crosse of Christ doth commend his wisdome shew his power manifest his loue content his holines preserue his iustice Christ crucisied as Paul sayth is the power of God and the wisdome of God to them that are saued howsoeuer the crosse of Christ seeme foolishnesse and weakenesse to them that perish Then to controle the carnall wisdome of the world and to confound the pride and strength of Satan and his members God would vse the basenesse and feeblenesse of the Crosse in sauing his elect Also to witnesse his loue towards vs he decreed the same So God loued the world that he gaue his onely begotten Sonne to be an offering and a sacrifice of a sweet smelling sauour vnto God With which Sacrifice the holinesse of God resteth so well pleased that he accepteth vs as holy and sanctified by the oblation of the bodie of Iesus Christ once made The vpholding of Gods Iustice by the death of Christ is often specified in the Scriptures By a man came death and by a man the resurrection from the dead Him that knew no sinne God made sinne for vs to wit a sacrifice for sinne that wee should be made the righteousnesse of God in him Therefore it was expedient that one man should die for the people and that the whole Nation perished not He was wounded for our transgressions and by his stripes are wee healed The Lord layed vpon him the iniquitie of vs all And where a Testament is there must be the death of the Testator for a Testament is confirmed when men are dead So that by the Scriptures themselues God decreed the Crosse of Christ in mans redemption to reueale his wisdome power and loue to the world and wholly to satisfie his holinesse and iustice which were thorowly displeased and prouoked with mans disobedience but as thorowly recompensed and appeased by the submission and obedience of Christ. As for Christ himselfe it is euident by the Scriptures that his enduring the crosse declared his obedience patience humilitie charitie perfection and power in more effectuall maner than without it he could haue done For therein he emptied and humbled himselfe and became obedient vnto death euen to the death of the crosse When hee was reuiled he reuiled not againe when he suffered he threatned not He was oppressed and afflicted yet did he not open his mouth For so he loued vs that he gaue himselfe for vs and greater loue than this hath no man to bestow his life for his friends But God setteth out his loue towards vs that whiles we were yet sinners Christ died for vs. Once then he suffered the iust for the vniust that he might bring vs to God and being consummate through affliction was made the Prince of our Saluation For in that he suffered and was tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted and became a mercifull and faithfull high Priest to make reconciliation for the sinnes of the people And therefore he died and rose againe that he might be Lord of the dead and the liuing and through death destroy him that had power of death euen the diuell On our behalfe it was not needlesse that Christ should die the death of the crosse For besides that we are bought with a price lest we should be our owne euen with the precious bloud of Christ as of a Lambe vnspotted and vndefiled and reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne which couenant is irreuocable being sealed with his bloud by his crosse Christ left vs an example how we should follow his steps and be partakers of his sufferings that when his glorie shall appeare we may be glad and reioyce For it is a true saying if we be dead with him we shall liue with him if we suffer with him we shall raigne with him We are buried then by Baptisme into his death that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorie of his Father so we should also walke in newnesse of life knowing this that our olde man is crucified with him that the bodie of sinne might be destroyed that hencefoorth we should not serue sinne He died for all that they which liue should not hencefoorth liue vnto themselues but to him which died for them and rose againe Infinite are the places of Scripture witnessing the causes effects and fruits of Christs death on the Crosse all which this Dreamer must denie or delude before he can defend that Gods purpose in Christes sufferings was only to punish our sinne lying on him For if Gods purposes in appointing Christes Crosse were so acceptable to the Father so honourable to the Sonne and so profitable for man as the Scriptures mention with what face can it be said that God punished his Sonne only for vengeance or that whatsoeuer Christ suffered all his life long specially at his death was verie wrath and vengeance from God properly taken Christ suffered the same things here on earth which the godly likewise do in this life as appeareth by the history of his death and passion and other paines or deaths in Christ the Scriptures doe not specifie Gods counsell in decreeing the Crosse of Christ for mans redemption considering the true desert of our sinne and terrible vengeance prouided for others was varie fauourable and fatherly not ouerpressing the patience of Christes humane nature nor wearying his obedience and had in it farre more gracious and glorious intents and euents than our afflictions can or ought any way to match or approch If then Gods fauour to his elect make their sufferings in this life no wrath nor vengeance nor so much as punishments why should
doth directly inferre that either we were not begotten and conceiued in sinne which is an euident heresie repugnant to Dauids wordes or els the vntimely fruites and scapes of women haue reasonable soules at the very instant of their conception when sinne is found in them by Dauids words which is this grosse absurd and false conceite that now you would shunne If you flie for helpe to actuall sinne haue children actuall sinne in their mothers wombes or as soone as they haue reasonable soules Or is actuall sinne traduced and inherited from Adam or spake I of actuall sinne when I said we inherite pollution from Adams flesh before the soule commeth Will you sticke to it and say originall pollution is no sinne Dauid conuinceth you who saith he was begotten in sinnes and conceaued in iniquitie and Paul affirmeth that death went ouer all men infants not excepted for so much as all men haue sinned and euen ouer them also who sinned not after the likenesse of Adams transgression that is who did not commit sinne as Adam did actually and voluntarily but naturally inherited sinne from Adam which dwelleth in them from the houre of their conception to the time of their dissolution and worketh the euill in them that they would not leading them captiue to the law of sinne which is in their members But how could Dauid say he was conceiued in sinne when at the time of his conception he had neither bodie nor soule Howsoeuer mans reason iudge thereof which yet often giueth the name of the whole to a part and the titles of things represented to their images with God nothing is more frequent than to call those things which are not as though they were because he not only made all things of nothing but quickeneth the dead and hath things past and to come present before him Leui is sayd by the Scripture to haue payed tithes to Melchisedech by Abraham as being then in Abrahams loines when Leuies grandfather was not yet borne So God by his Prophet spake to Cyrus many yeeres before Cyrus was borne calling him his anointed and saying to him by name thou art my shepheard So certaine is the counsell of God and his purpose so immutable that he speaketh in the Scriptures of things to come as if they were past or present Out of this infallible decree of God Dauid and Iob call that seed which was prepared to be the matter of their bodies by the names of themselues because it could not be altered what God had appointed But the void conceptions of women which miscarie before the bodie be framed neuer had either life or soule and so neither name nor kinde but perish as other superfluous burdens and repletions of the bodie which God hath appointed to no vse saue to ease the bodie In satisfaction for sinne you runne the same course that you do in the rest for neither vnderstanding my words nor almost any mans els rightly you fight with your owne fansies as if they were parts of my faith I sayd the Scripture acknowledgeth no satisfaction for sinne but by death I did and do so say what then Still we must note that by death you meane onlie the bodilie death In Christes person I alwayes meane by the death which he suffered the death of the bodie though you would include the death of the soule which I do not In the wicked I take death for all kinds of death corporall spirituall and eternall What can you hence distill Then surely the wicked should satisfie easily for their sinnes Farre be it from me to vtter such a sentence Doe the wicked with any kinde of death satisfie for their sinnes or is their condemnation to hell paines therefore eternall because by no death they can satisfie for their sinnes Were the iustice of God once satisfied by any thing the wicked could suffer their torments should cease but their punishments euerlastingly continue for that no satisfaction can be made to God by them suffer they neuer so much or neuer so long Whose follie then is it to pronounce that the wicked may satisfie for their sinnes mine or yours I sayd no such word I directly auouched the contrary The paines of hell haue neither worth nor weight sufficient in themselues to satisfie the anger or to procure the fauor of God Satisfaction for sinne I ascribe to none but onlie to Christ and in him to no death but onlie to that of his body Will it thence follow the Scripture acknowledgeth no satisfaction but by some kind of death ergo the wicked may satisfie for their sinnes by the deaths which they suffer Be it farre from all wise men to make such consequents and from all Christian men to make such conclusions The antecedent in effect is confessed by your selfe The Scriptures you say do shew indeed that Christ should not satisfie without death I sayd the same By satisfaction I meant full satisfaction when no more could be exacted as the word importeth and not the concurrents or precedents to satisfaction when the chiefest is vnpayed Why then doth your absurd and leud conclusion folow more vpon my words than vpon your owne My proofs are not good with those you finde fault If yours were no worse they would go more currantly The Apostle sayth Christ is the Mediator of the new Testament that through death which was for the redemption of transgressions we might receiue the promise Heere death is auouched to be the redemption which is all one with satisfaction for sinne for wherewith we are redeemed therewith God is satisfied Christes bodily death meerely and alone you say without any thing else together therewith which is my intent is not heere mentioned You will not tell where your shoo wringeth Death was for the redemption or satisfaction for sin sayth the Scripture Now the death of Christes bodie or of his soule or of both must here be contained The death of Christes soule you dare not openly professe and therefore all this while you carrie it couertly vnder the sufferings of Christes soule But you must come plainly to it for these assertions of the Apostle Death was the redemption of our transgressions and we are reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne will make this to be the question as I first set it whether the death of Christes soule or the death of the damned which is the true paines of hell be a necessary part of Christs satisfaction and our Redemption Other sufferings of the Soule are meere shifts to harbor your folly if you striue in words or your impietie if you striue indeede for the death of Christs Soule as requisite by the Scriptures to our Saluation That Christ did not die the death of the Soule I doe not prooue there is no cause I should it is your assertion that he did and must be prooued by you which you be so farre from comming neere that you purposely
conceale it and onely skirre at it here and there in SOME KIND OF SENSE Otherwise you offer nothing as yet to the Reader but the proper sufferings of the soule which I trust are not alwaies priuation of grace and exclusion from blisse For so the faithfull should neuer haue any proper sufferings of the Soule or else vtterly loose both the spirit and fauour of God which they neuer doe The other Authoritie which I cite In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death is not so sound you thinke For am I sure that death here is but the bodyly death onely and no more I no where say that death threatned in these words was onely the death of the body it is one of your rash and rude illations it is none of my assertions I knew that God gaue this Commandement and threatned this punishment as well to Adams posteritie as to his person Otherwise had this prohibition beene made to Adam alone neither could the woman haue beene within the compasse of it who was not then created when this precept was inioyned neither could Adams of-spring haue tasted of death as well as Adam if this penaltie had stretched no farder then to Adams person But he being the roote and stocke of all mankind as he receaued blessings by his creation which should be common to all that descended of him so by his transgression he lost them as well from his Issue as from himselfe and subiected them to the same death and condemnation that he did him selfe when he rebelled against God his Creator Death we see executed on all the children of Adam and therefore we may not doubt but death was threatned to them all before it was inflicted on them Howbeit the commination in this place is like to Gods thâ—…eats in all other places against the transgâ—…ssours of his Law It denounceth what shall â—…e due vnto all but it bindeth not God that he shall not haue power to release or mitigate what and to whom pleaseth him In death then here threatned I containe all kinds of death corporall spirituall and eternall either as expressed in the generall name of death which is common to them all or as consequent ech to other and coherent if by Gods goodnes and mercies in Christ Iesus they be not seuered Saint Austen learnedly and truely teacheth the same When it is asked what death God threatned to the first men if they transgressed the Commandement giuen them whether the death of the body or of the soule or of the whole man or that which is called the second death we must answere ALI When therefore God said to the first man what day soeuer yee eate thereof yee shall die the death that threatning contained what soeuer death there is euen vnto the last which is called the second death and after which there is none other If any man stand more strictly on the time and kinde of death when and which Adam should die by this Commination Saint Austen hath an other answere In that which was said yee shall die the death because it was not said deaths if we vnderstand that onely death whereby the soule is forsaken of her life which to her is God for she was not forsaken that she might forsake but she did first forsake that she might after be forsaken though I say we vnderstand that God denounceth this death when he said what day yee eate thereof yee shall die the death as if God had said what day yee forsake me by disobedience I will forsake you by iustice Surely in that death were the rest denounced which without Question were to follow For euen in that a disobedient motion rose in the flesh of the Soule disobeying for which they couered their priuie parts one death was perceaued wherein God forsooke the Soule And when the Soule forsooke the body now corrupted with time and wasted with age an other death was found by experience which God mentioned to Man when punishing sinne he said earth thou art and to earth shalt thou returne that by these two deaths that first death of the whole man might be accomplished which the second death at last doth follow except man be deliuered by the grace of God By Saint Austens iudgement concording with the Scriptures God threatned all kinds of death to the transgressor the death of the Soule the same houre to take place that he disobeyed the rest to follow in their order as next the death of the body and at last eternall death of body and soule if the grace of God by Iesus Christ did not release and free man from it That the death of the Soule tooke present hold vpon the disobeyers the Scripture giueth testimony sufficient when it noteth their shame feare and flight of Gods presence who before sinne was their delight ioy and blisse The death of the body was a long time differred in Adam euen nine hundred and thirtie yeeres before it did separate his Soule from his Body but it began presently to worke and shew his force in either of their bodies The sentence of mortalitie God called Death saith Theodoret. For after Gods sentence Adam euerie day expected or feared Death Beda saith the like That which God said In what day soeuer thou shalt eate thereof thou shalt die the Death was as if he had said Morti deputatus eris thou shalt be deputed or adiudged to death not that he should that very day die but be mortall Chrysostom imbraceth the same opinion In what dâ—…y soeuer yee shall eate of the tree yee shall die the Death But Adam liued still how then died he By the sentence of God and the nature of the thing it selfe For he that maketh him selfe subiect to punishment is vnder punâ—…shment sinonre tamen sententia If not by deede and execution yet by guiltinesse and sentence pronounced So that if we will rightly conceiue Gods commination to Adam we must so take the words of God as threatning Adam and his posteritie with all kinds of death to which they all should bee subiect as guiltie thereof and deseruing the same though hee would keepe to himselfe the dispencing and moderating thereof not binding himselâ—…e thereby but the offenders as euery supreame Iudge doth on earth after sentence giuen and before execution finished Else if wee â—…e God who is trueth it selfe to the rigour and tenor of those words without reseruing power to him to dispose of Adam and Adams of-spring at his pleasure and in the words Thou shalt die the death comprise the execution of all sorts of death which can not be reuoked then we conclude Adam and all his issue without remedie or mercie vnder all sorts of death that is vnder spirituall corporall and eternal death which is not onely an vtter ouerthrow to all Christian â—…eligion promising saluation in Iesus Christ but a mecre madnesse against all mankind deuoting them without exception or mitigation to eternall
destruction of body and soule Wee must therefore know that God truely and iustly threatned Adam and in him all mankind to be guiltie of all soâ—…ts of death and to bee thereto subiected as to their due if they transgressed against him but this commination neither included execution of all sorts of death on all mankind nor excluded pardon where pleased God onely thence may rightly bee gathered fiâ—…st that all Adaâ—… of spring should bee condemned and subiected to the guilt of all as deseruing all the one no lesse then the other Secondly that some of Adams issue should effectuall feele the sting of all which God allotted to the reprobate Thirdly that euen the elect as well as the reprobate should beare in themselues the monuments of this transgression by the corruption dissolution of their nature though the one should in this life bee reformed by the working of Gods spirit in them and the other bee restored after this life by the Resurrection from the dead All these wee finde performed by God in the trueth of his iudgements and therefore we may be sure they were intended at the time of his threatning And consequently this collection is very true that God threating Adam with these words Thou shalt die the death purposed if Adam transgressed that none of his posteritie should escape the death of their bodies to which God foorthwith punishing sinne irreuocably subiected Adam and all his children as Gods owne words declare when he said to Adam and in him to all men Dust thou art and to dust shalt thou returne The iudges reuenge then for sinne which we deserued and to which we were iustly condemned was temporall eternall death of the body and soule heere and in hell But this was not executed on all because some were freed by the fauour of God in Iesus Christ though none excused from a corporall death which prooueth my position the truer that God neuer released sinne to any no not to his owne Sonne without some kind of death It must not be forgotten that here you renounce all satisfaction for sinne in respect of merite as from Christes soule vtterly If you meane I vtterly renounce all satisfaction for sinne as from the death of Christs soule I easily graunt it and would gladly heare what you can say against it because the soule of Christ as I beleeue could not die the death of spirits But if you conceiue that Christes soule had neither part sense nor merit in the death of his body by which satisfaction for sinne was fully made it is the weamishnesse of your wit to mistake so much and vnderstand so little I attributed all sense of paine as well in death as other wise to the soule of Christ and the death of his body I communicated to his soule by reason it is a separation of the soule from the body not thereby to bee depriued of sense or grace which Christes soule could not be but therein to feele the paine and sting which the death of the body brought with it I tolde you but the leafe before out of Austen that the paine which is called bodily belongeth rather to the soule and that the paine of the flesh is only the offending or afflicting the soule by the flesh Wherefore I made the soule of Christ to be the principall agent in all his meriting and patient in all his suffering and though the soule of Christ could not pay the satisfaction for our sinnes by her death because shee could not die yet that is no impediment but the soule of Christ might haue and had the chiefest paine sense and merit in the death of Christes bodie by which the whole person made full satisfaction for the sinnes of the world And this is so farre from renouncing all merit of satisfaction from the soule of Christ as you conceiue that it ascribeth the whole power and force thereof to the obedience and patience of Christes soule and maketh the bodie the instrument ordeined of God to conuey paine vnto the soule and to lie dead when the soule is departed from it As for Bernards words which I alledge if you did or could tell how they crosse mine I would take the paines to reconcile them now you say they sute not with mine but awake out of your wonted maze and you shall see that I giue the chiefe place and part in the meritorious sacrifice vnto the soule of Christ which you dreame I doe not as also that you neither like nor allow of Bernards words For he declaring the cause and maner why and how Christes minde was afflicted in his passion sayth it was with a double affection of most humane compassion on the one side for the vncomfortable griefe of the holy women on the other for the desperation and dispersion of his disciples These causes you reiect as fond and absurd and now you would seeme to ioyne with Bernards words But you must say of him as you doe of Ambrose and pray that mens authorities may be omitted in this case for all the Fathers of Christes church are vtter strangers or enemies to your new doctrine That nothing may satisfie for sinne but death is not sound the Scriptures doe shewe indeede that Christ should not satisfie without death but they denie not that there are other parts of Christs satisfaction which differ from his death as his bloodshedding his shame his reproches his apprehension his buffeting and besides that pouertie hunger and wearines These doubtlesse yea all other sufferings of Christ what soeuer small or great are satisfactorie and meritorious That all Christes actions and passions were meritorious with God I haue no doubt but that all his sufferings as well naturall as voluntarie did euery one small or great satisfie for sinne This is a speech of yours which except it be well qualified hath in it an whole heape of absurdities and contrarieties For if the least and the first thing that Christ suffered either naturally or voluntarily did satisfie for sinne superfluous were all the rest to our redemption when God was once satisfied And so by his birth or circumcision you graunt a Supersedeas to all his life and death as needelesse to our redemption Then the which what can be more repugnant to the word of God and faith of Christ and euen to your selfe who by this meanes make your hell paines of no importance to our saluation By satisfaction you meane not full satisfaction but that which any way tendeth to satisfaction or is requisite before satisfaction can be made It is easie and often with you to abuse words though you talke much of their proprietie What is Satis in Latine whence to satisfie commeth but enough and what is enough for sinne but after which more is not requisite If then Christ satisfied that is did or paide enough for sinne by the first of his sufferings then all that followed as I inferred were more then enough and consequently
superfluous That you will say is the proper and strict signification of the word satisfie but you take it more largely For the abuse of words I will not greatly striue so you build thereon no impieties howbeit when I say that nothing might satisfie for sinne but death I take satisfaction properly for the last and full payment after which no more was due for sinne and that apparantly by the Scriptures was the death of Christ before which the rest was not sufficient and after which no more was required by the righteous will and counsell of God So that although the obedience and patience of Christ all his life long did tend to satisfaction and made way for satisfaction as his hunger wearinesse pouertie and such like yet none of these did satisfie for sinne or acquite vs from sinne by the verdict of the holy Scripture but Christ after all these must yeeld himselfe to suffer that kind of death which the iustice of God should appoint and ordaine before we could be freed from our sinnes His blood you thinke did wash vs from all our sinnes Because his blood was shed for vs euen vnto death therefore his bloodshed expresseth the manner of his death as likewise his apprehension buffeting reproches and shame which the Scripture describeth in the order of his death and therefore compriseth vnder the name of his death For by Christes death as I haue often said the Scripture meaneth that kind of death in all respects and circumstances which the Euangelists in their writings report Who will grant in proper speech that those are his death The name of Christs death in the Scriptures containeth all those things which were coincident and concurrent to that death which Christ died for our sinnes according to the Scriptures Neither shall we neede your figure Synecdoche by a part of Christs sufferings to vnderstand all that he felt or suffered from his mothers wombe that is a loose deuise of yours to make any thing of euery thing and so to confound the Scriptures that no man shall knowe either what to beleeue or what to beware For where S. Iohn saith the blood of Christ doth clense vs from all our sinnes by your Synecdoche you imagine that the wine which he dranke at his last Supper the water wherewith he washed his disciples feete the teares which he shed for Lazarus death the iourney which he tooke to Galilee the sleepe which he fetched in the ship the hunger which he sustained in the wildernesse and what not should doe the like since euery thing that befell our Sauiour small or great did satisfie for sinnes as well as his death and passion What els is this but to mayme and mangle the Scriptures which name the blood of Christ to be the price of our redemption and his death the meane of our reconciliation if euerie thing that Christ did or endured shall be of the same force and weight to satisfie for sinne that his bloud and death were His bloud you will say is not his death The shedding of his bloud vnto death which the Scripture intendeth by his bloud is a plaine description of his death This is my bloud sayd he which is shed for many for the remission of sinnes And the rest which were appendants to his death expresse the maner of his death which the wisdome and iustice of God would haue to be full of violence iniurie reproch contempt shame and paine All which as they note the maner of his death so are they inclosed by the Scriptures in the name of his death and that I trust more properly being parts thereof than the naturall infirmities of his bodie as sleepe hunger and wearinesse or the voluntarie euents of his life as the rest of his actions and passions long before the houre came that he should be deliuered into the hands of sinfull men Why may not the proper sufferings of Christs Soule be as well admitted into the worke of Christs satisfaction although his SOVLE COVLD NOT PROPERLY DIE The sufferings of Christs Soule at the time of his death which the Scriptures mention we easily admit into the worke of his satisfaction for sinne but your satis-fiction of hell paines and of the death of Christs Soule we doe not admit because the holy Ghost so diligently describing the whole order and manner of Christs sufferings when he went to his death teacheth no such thing as you falsely collect from certaine words of his and chiefly from his bloody sweate whereof not knowing precisely the cause you surmise what best pleaseth your humor without all warrant of the word of God Prooue therefore by the Scriptures and not by your owne ghesses that Christs Soule suffered these things from the immediate hand of God which you suppose and we shall soone find a place for them in the worke of Christs satisfaction for sinne Till then giue me leaue to expound the Scriptures by themselues and not by your vnioynted and vntidie Commentaries confounding Christs life and death nature and will affections and punishments satisfaction and merits as if they were not different parts of our saluation to take our nature vpon him to worke all righteousnes in our names to suffer a shamefull and painfull death for our sinnes and to obtaine all spirituall and celestiall graces and comforts here and in heauen for vs. The first sinne committed by Adam and our continuall treading in his steps rest yet vndiscussed wherein we should not neede many words if you could or at least would rightly conceaue what is said and not ignorantly or purposely mistake and measure all things by your hastie humor To prooue that Christ must satisfie for sinne by the proper sufferings of his Soule and not with or by his body you brought this reason in your Treatise Whereby Adam first did and we euer since doe most properly commit sinne by the same the second Adam Christ hath made satisfaction for our sinnes But Adam first did and we euer since doe most properly commit sinne in our Soules our bodies being but the Instrument of the Soule and following the Soules direction and will Therefore Christ in his Soule most properly made satisfaction for vs In my Conclusion to your obiections I first denyed your Maior or former proposition For though the Soule of Adam as also our Soules quickly might and worthily did die for sinne and by sinne wherein they were the principall agents yet the Soule of Christ by no warrant of holy Scripture did or could die the death of Spirits and so could make no satisction for sin by her death Now by the Scriptures without death there was no satisfaction for sin and therefore the soule of Christ must satisfie for sinne by the death of her body not by any death proper to her selfe And so much the Scriptures auouch teaching vs that we haue redemption euen the remission of sinnes through his blood are reconciled to God
by the death of his Sonne who bare our sinnes in his body on the tree that we might be deliuered from sinne and healed with his stripes And without satisfaction to God for sinne we haue neither remission of sinne nor redemption from sinne nor reconciliation with God Vpon this ground I then did still do reiect your maior as guarded neither with text nor truth but leaning only to your priuat liking as the best helpe to commend it From thence I came to your assumption or second proposition that Adam first and we euer since most properly committed sin in our soules our bodies being but the instruments of our soules following the Soules direction and will The which because it had diuerse branches one touching Adams transgression an other touching ours and likewise two parts the soule body in either I reserued for diuers answers In Adams sinne if you meant as your words made shew that his Soule and bodie were ioyned in transgressing Gods Commandement the Soule as the agent the body as the instrument That I said was MOST TRVE but repugnant to your intention and maine Conclusion For then as Adams Soule transgressed the Commandement with and by her bodie so in fatisfying for sinne Christs Soule must be punished by and with her bodie which was the thing you so much laboured to ouerthrow To this you now replie Nay the Conclusion will follow that the immortall part the minde was punished peculiarly and not by and from the body onely seeing in all euen outward sinnes the Soule sinneth both principally and also in a proper and peculiar manner by it selfe yea before the body sinneth Albeit the body sinneth also secondarily and in a manner proper to it selfe euen as the instrument as you say The principall and peculiar action of the Soule in sinnes that be common to the Body and Soule maketh no proofe that the Soule must haue a distinct and seuerall punishment from the body or that it may not be punished from and by the body The true and full punishment of all sinne in all the wicked is the casting of Body and Soule into hell fire where one and the same punishment is common to both euen as their sinnes were notwithstanding the proper and peculiar manner which the Soule hath in sinne by it selfe aboue the body The punishments of this life are likewise common to both For the Soule feeleth whatsoeuer greeueth the Body neither can any thing offend the Soule which doth not likewise disquiet the Body How beit the effects and impressions of one and the same punishment are different in Soule and Body not onely because the Soule is the chiefe patient and sentient in all paine as it was the chiefe agent and disponent in all sinne but also for that the Soule seeth and greeueth farder vpon feeling the paine then the body can doe For the Sense of the Body can onely iudge how tolerable or intolerable the paine is but the Soule reacheth vnto the cause continuance and consequence thereof which often times afflict the Soule as much or more then the paine it selfe This difference dependeth on the nature of the Soule which because it is endued with reason remembrance and intelligence perceiueth not onely things present and subiect to sense as the Body doth but things past and future together with their dependences and things spirituall as well as corporall and the losse of ioy and blisse no lesse then the anguish of perpetuall paine and miserie So that in all punishments of sinne which be common to the Soule and Body the Soule is farre deeper engaged in the griefe thereof then the Body can be But this is no reason to proue that Christs Soule must die the death of Soules or feele the paines of hell because his Soule considered better of his paines then his body could doe Two Rules of Gods Iustice in punishing the sinnes of men the Scriptures report Which though they be kept in all others yet may no man affirme them of Christ farder then the Gospell giueth euident Testimonie to them The one is the meanes the other is the measure of punishment As Wherewith a man sinneth by the same also shall he be punished and How much she exalted her selfe and liued in pleasure so much torment and sorrow giue yee to her Neither of these ruies could rightly fasten on Christ because he neuer sinned and therefore touching the meanes by which he satisfied for our sinnes the Scriptures and not your imaginations must be consulted Now they testifie that he dyed for our sinnes according to the Scriptures and that we were Redeemed by his pretious bloud which was shed for Remission of sinnes Here is the satisfaction for the sins of men which the Scripture deliuereth without any other death of the soule or of the damned which men must suffer if they be not freed from it by the death and blood of Christ but Christ neither did nor could suffer For the measure of paine which Christ suffered in the death of his body described in the Scriptures we must leaue it to God who only knew what proportion of paine in the person of his Sonne was sufficient for the sinnes of the world not therein trust the deceitfull ballance of your presumption who neither know what degree of pain Christ suffred on the crosse nor how much in the person of Christ would satisfie the iustice of God for our sinnes Only this we are assured that he learned obedience by that which he suffered his patience was thereby proued but neither of them ouerwhelmed or endangered And therefore that Christs paine on the Crosse was equall to hell paines or the very same which the damned do suffer these be your rash and violent intrusions vpon Gods iustice allotting to Christ out of your owne braine the same punishment as you call it in substance that the wrath of God inflicteth on the wicked and damned for their sinnes but in all these collections you rest on the rules of your owne reason without any warrant of the word of God which neuer sorteth our Sauior in his sufferings with the reprobate damned and contrary to the Christian faith which groundeth the waight of our redemption and strength of our Reconciliation to God vpon the infinitie of the person that died for vs and not of the paine that was suffered in our steeds Yea farder I meane that some sinnes the Soule acteth in and by it selfe meerely and therefore it suffereth likewise some punishments meerely in it selfe which touch not the body at all vnlesse it be by Sympathie onely and that onely when they grow vehement What you now meane vpon better aduise maketh nothing to the Conclusion which you would haue forced out of your former words Your assumption was that Adam first did and we euer since doe commit sinne most properly in our Soules our bodies being but the Instruments of our Soules In which words you speake of
soeuer are punishments of our first sinne inflicted on Adam and all his posteritie whiles here they liue is newes to none but to you Saint Austen saith Sunt duo tortores animae Timor Dolor There are two tormentors of the Soule sorrow and feare Now torment without sinne the Soule should neuer haue had Fnding then sorrow and feare in the Soule of Christ by the witnesse of the Gospell though the cause thereof be not expressed I resolued that Christ tasted these which were punishments of sin by their first institution as well as other our infirmities of Soule and Body What followeth hereupon That these were proper punishments inflicted on Christ by Gods very wrath Who saith so You or I They are your words in deed but no way mine It followeth you say euidently from my words As how Christ was not free from SORROVV and feare and these were punishments of our first offence ergo what Ergo the whole Question is granted in a word Ergo fooles might flee but for want of wings The Question is whether Christ died the death of the Soule or suffered the paine of the damned You heare me say Christ sorrowed and feared as also he hungred in the desert and thirsted on the Crosse which likewise came into mans nature as punishments of sinne will it hence follow that hunger and thirst are the paines of hell No more doe sorrow and feare inferre the whole Question except in a mad moode you will auouch that no man can feare or sorrow vnlesse he suffer the paines of the damned and death of the Soule But Christ suffered these as a punishment of our sinnes you will say And so did he those For though euery thing which he suffered did not yeeld satisfaction for our sinnes because death was required to make the full paiment thereof yet euery infirmitie and miserie that he felt consequent to our condition were receaâ—…ed in him as punishments for sinne fastned to our nature and state I feare you meane his holy affections as deuotion to God and compassion to men Were there any sufferings in Christ that were vnholy Would you haue him afraid that he was or should be reiected and condemned of God Or sorrow for the losse of Gods grace and sauour in him selfe That were vnholinesse in deede to be in any sort so affected and without hainous blasphemie you can not suspect that of Christ. But his paine you thinke was infinite Then was his patience and obedience the more religious and pretious in Gods sight wheresoeuer he felt the paine either in Soule or in Body or in both And when you haue said what you can and deuised what you will except you will weaken Christs faith hope and loue in God which without sinne can not be you must leaue feare and sorrow in him to be naturall and holy affections and no way defiled with our sinne The obiect or cause of Christs feare is that you would speake of if you could tell what to make of it but you dare not depart from your couert of Gods very wrath and proper punishment for sinne least you should vtter as many absurditics as syllables That feare and sorrow then were affections in Christ I thinke no man doubteth besides you and that they were in him most holy you dare not deny least to folly you should ioyne heresie and so notwithstanding your feare what I meane sorrow and feare in Christ were most holy affections whatsoeuer the occasions of his feare and sorrow were If they were affections common to Body and Soule how then were they punishments proper to the Sonle I vse not PROPER as you doe for that which is peculiar to the Soule and not imparted to the Body for so no feare nor sorow is proper to the Soule in this life and least of all Christs whose Body no doubt was afflicted with the feare of his minde which as you thinke astonished and ouerwhelmed all the powers of Christs Soule and senses of his Body but I take proper for that which first beginneth in the Soule though it after offend the Body Otherwise the Body feeleth nothing which doth not affect the Soule neither is there any feare or sorrow in the Soule which is not impressed on the Body The sorrow of this world worketh death saith the Apostle which it could not do but by changing and decaying the Body and godly sorrow for sinne though it make a deepe impression in Soule and Body yet the pardon of sinne and comfort of grace doe more reuiue the spirits then sorrow doth quench them and so that hurteth not mans life as worldly sorrow doth But why cite I the Fathers that Christ did not feare either death or hell Forsooth because you and your friends make that the cause of Christs feare and Agonie though now you hide it vnder the name of Gods proper wrath And if it be an absurd impudent and impious assertion to say that Christ trembled or doubted for feare of hell as due to him or determined for him what is it then to defend that he did and must suffer the very paines of the damned and of hell before we could be redeemed If he did not feare it how could he suffer it since he was not ignorant what should befall him A naturall feare you say he had of death and hell A disliking and declining of hell Christ might haue as well for him selfe as for vs that were ioyned in one Body with him but a doubtfull feare what should be the end of him selfe or his sufferings he could not haue The weaknesse of mans nature might also iustly tremble and shake at the might and power of God prouoked with our sinnes which were to be answered and ranfomed by his Body but other feare Christ could haue none and these I trust be religious submissions and not amazed confusions such as you put in the Soule of Christ. You come now to your fortifying of your speciall reasons not speciall for any more excellencie in them then in the rest which you may safely sweare but for that they more specially touched the question as you say though you neuer offered to come necre it To the words of Esay the Prophet by you cited that Christ bare our iniquities and sustained our sorowes themselues I answered shortly the words made nothing to your purpose the text did not expresse whether Christ sustained all or some What now replie you I meane all and euery whit so farre as possibilitie will admit Keepe your meaning to make sawsigies as I aske not after it so I little regard it How prooue you the Prophet meant so Not by his words for they are not generall what other helpe you haue to come by his meaning I would gladly heare The verie text expresseth so much WITH GREAT EMPHASIS Christ bare our sorowes themselues You shew your skill when you come to your proofs for first this is no Emphasis and were it how prooue
the people that Christ came to saue the house of Israell by giuing his life for their sinnes and that sinne caused the onely Sonne of God to be crucified in the flesh and to suffer the most vile and slaunderous death of the Crosse and consequently willed them to remember how grieuously and cruelly Christ was handled of the Iewes for our sinnes and to set before their eyes Christ crucified with his body stretched on the Crosse his head crowned with sharpe thornes his hands and his feete pearced with nayles his heart opened with a speare his flesh rent and torne with whips his browes sweating water and bloudâ—… by this stirreth vp the hearers to the hatred of sinne that was so grieuous in the sight of God that he would not be pacified but onely with the bloud of his owne Sonne And though there were a thousand examples in the Scripture shewing how greatly God abhorred sinne yet this one is of more force then all the rest that the Sonne of God was compelled to giue his body to bee bruised and broken on the Crosse for our sinnes After these premonitions follow your words Christ hath taken vpon him the iust reward of sinne which was death not the whole reward of sinne which is an vtter exclusion from all grace and glorie and the eternall damnation of body and Soule in hell fire but the death of his body bruised and broken on the Crosse by the cruell rage of the Iewes which is particularly and plainely before described Now the death of the body inflicted on all mankind for sinne is the iust though not the full reward of sinne and by suffering that Christ freed vs from all condemnation of sinne which otherwise in vs would haue beene euerlasting And this explication the same Homily addeth to the former words which you cite though you purposely suppresse it When all hope of righteousnesse was past on our part and wee had nothing whereby wee might quench Gods burning wrath and worke the saluation of our Soules Then euen then did the Sonne of God come downe from heauen to be wounded for our sakes to be reputed with the wicked to be condemned vnto death to take vpon him the reward of our sinnes and to giue his body to be broken on the Crosse for our offences Here are both the places which you patch together the one noting Death to be the iust reward of sinne the other expressing what kind of death Christ suffered for vs as the reward of our sinne euen the breaking of his body on the Crosse for our offences In the second proposition you shew more deprauing of the publike doctrine of this Realme For where the second Homily saith in expresse words that our Grandfather Adam by breaking Gods commaundement in eating the Apple forbidden him in Paradise purchased not onely to himselfe but also to his posteritie for euer the iust wrath and indignation of God who condemned both him and his to euerlasting death both of body and Soule you transferre this iudgement from Adam to Christ which the Homily doeth not and least you should bee taken tardie with open blasphemie you leaue out the word EVERLASTING which is euident in the Homily and vpon those maimed and forged collections you inferre that by the Homily Christ tooke on him for vs the death both of body and Soule Why say you not Christ tooke vpon him EVERLASTING death both of body and Soule which was the iust and due purchase or wages of our sinne by the plaine words of that Homilie You feared blasphemie and therefore you chose rather to falsifie the place then to want some defence for your Doctrine Christ you will say died that death which was the reward of our sinne by the Booke of Homilies To belie publike Authoritie so grossely in so great causes is a quadruple iniquitie What death Christ died for our sinnes is openly professed and euen pictured before our eyes in this very Homilie the words I repeated in the Section before What death was the wages of our sinne if the word euerlasting did not fully declare the same Homilie in the same Section whence your words are taken doth twice most abundantly teach Adam tooke vpon him to eate of the tree forbidden and in so doing he died the death that is to say he became mortall he lost the fauour of God he was cast out of Paradise he was no longer a Citizen of heauen but a fire brand of hell and a bond-slaue to the Diuell And sixe lines after So that now neither Adam nor any of his had any right or interest at all in the kingdome of heauen but were become plaine Reprobates and cast-awaies being perpetually damned to the euerlasting paines of hell fire It would fairely fit your new Doctrine to defend that Christ was a Reprobate and a Cast-away yea a fire-brand of hell and a bond-slaue to the Diuell perpetually damned to the euerlasting paines of hell fire And though I be perswaded you detest these diuelish impieties and hellish blasphemies yet you regard little your cause or your conscience which vouch in Print that Christ suffered that reward of sinne which by the Booke of Homilies was due to vs all those things by the same Booke in the same place being due to vs. You will shift of this matter as if these things might be granted in substance not in circumstance and in our countenance not in his But such shifts are so shamefull and sinfull in this case that I thinke your owne friends wil altogether mislike your flying to the Booke of Homilies for the death of the Soule or the iust reward of sinne in all mankind there mentioned to be suffered in the Soule of Christ. Also our great Bible appointed by Authoritie to be read in publike Churches expresly saith as much It is a poore pittance when you finde no helpe for your new made hell in the whole Text of the Bible to run to the Printers additions set by the sides of the Booke who often annexe things in the Margine for direction or explication as they thinke good which declare the Printers or Correctors but not the Authors nor Translators mind Your wits I trust be not so weake but you can discerne between the English translation of the Text commaunded to be publikely read in the Church and the Marginall notes added by others without any warrant of publike Authority for ought that I see And therefore I take not my selfe nor any man else to be bound to those notes farder then they euidently concurre with the truth of the Text though they may be sometimes profitable for the opening of hard places That Christ was in an Agonie the Euangelist affirmeth and the English Translator hath done his duetie in expressing so much but what the cause was of that Agonie is beyond the Commission of a Translator to specifie since the Scripture concealeth it and so publike Authoritie which appointed
redeeming Captiues is either to free Prisoner for Prisoner or to take money for the ransome of libertie neither of which tooke place in our redemption and therefore the common custome of redeeming of men taken in warre hath no likenesse with the redeeming of the world since God tooke no money for our ransome as men vse to do for their Prisoners but the life of his only Sonne for the libertie of his rebellious seruants which men vse not to doe Neither did Christ offer a price proportioned to our value or abilitie but farre excelling our persons and exceeding our power It was therefore a very colde comparison to resemble the freeing of mens bodies for golde and siluer which Captaines esteeme more than they doe Prisoners to the redeeming of their soules by the precious bloud of Christ and such as S. Peter reiected before me in euident words Yee were not redeemed with corruptible things as siluer and golde but with the precious bloud of Christ as of a lambe vndefiled and vnspotted And for you or any man els to say that Christ suffered no lesse nor none other than we should haue suffered or payed no more than we should haue payd is to subiect the soule of Christ to our deserued confusion and condemnation and to euen our persons who are wretched and sinfull men with his who is the true and eternall sonne of God either of which is a sensible defacing of his dignitie innocencie and obedience wholly requisit to our redemption and vtterly impossible to our condition You seeme to inferre that I forsooth doe holde with your opinion that Christ payed the price of our redemption properly to the diuell and not to God If you should leaue belying and falsifying of other mens speeches you should leaue one of your chiefest defences For when you can take no aduantage of my words you sticke not to straine them to your bâ—…nt and as though mistaking and wresting were not wrongs enough you inlarge them and interlace them not only with things neuer intended by me but with plaine contrarieties to that which is conteined in my words To shew how full and perfect our redemption is by the bloud of Christ in my sermons I say The bloud of Christ doth redeeme cleanse wash iustifie and sanctifie the elect it doth pacifie and propitiate the Iudge it doth seale the couenant of mercie grace and glorie betwixt God and man it doth conclude and binde the diuell And lest any man should mistake that I sayd The price was so sufficient that it did not onely pacifie and propitiate the Iudge but conclude and binde the diuell that otherwise had a challenge to vs as to the seruants of sinne and corruption I added It was an iniurie to Christ for vs to thinke his bloud was shed to satisfie the diuell but Christ offered his bloud as a sacrifice to God his Father to satisfie the iustice of God prouoked with our sinnes and yet Satans extreme rage against the person of Christ in conspiring and compassing his death with all contumelie and crueltie turned to his vtter ruine God raising againe the Lord Iesus from death and giuing him power to spoile the kingdome of the diuell in recompence of the wrong which he receiued at Satans hand Thus was the bloud of Christ a price most sufficient for all the world the voluntarie offering whereof by Christ himselfe was the sacrifice that appeased the wrath satisfied the iustice and purchased the fauour of God towards vs and the wrongfull spilling whereof which Christ with patience endured did exclude the diuell euen by Gods iustice from all the challenge that otherwise he had vnto vs. Doth this make the pâ—…ce of our redemption which was the bloud of Christ to be payed properly to the diuell and not to God or rather cleane contrarie that this price was willingly offered and so properly payed to God for the satisfaction of his iustice and by no meanes yeelded or payed to satisfie the diuell but the iniurious shedding thereof by the procurement of Satan did iustly discharge all the members of Christ from the power and challenge of the diuell who afore possessed them by the rule of Gods iustice And to this sense I did restraine the words of Ambrose to make him accord with the rest of the Fathers who with one voice confesse that God would not vse power alone but euen iustice to the diuell in taking man out of his hand and therefore ordered the price of our redemption in such sort that it should not only fully satisfie and pacifie his owne wrath by a willing and precious oblation but iustly exclude all the power and possession of darknesse from the elect by Satans malitious and contumelious attempt against the person of the Sonne of God Neither is this doctrine so strange as you would make it but only to those that neuer waded farther then the mire of their owne inuentions Irenaeus that ancient Father vrgeth this as a râ—…ason why Christ must be man as well as God that the diuell might be conquered by iustice Christ therefore sayth he coupled and vnited man to God Si â—…nim homo non viâ—…isset inimicum hominis non iuste victus esset inimicus For if a man had not vanquished the enemie of man the enemie had not beene iustly vanquished So Theodoret When the Creator saw our nature of it selfe to ioyne with that cruell Tyrant the diuell and to fall into the deepe pit of wickednesse he wrought our saluation wisely and iusâ—…ly For neither would â—…e vse his POVVER alone to free vs nor arme his MERCIE alone against him that had 〈◊〉 mans 〈◊〉 vnder serâ—…itude leâ—…t he should exclaime of this mercâ—… as vâ—…iust but God tâ—…oke a 〈◊〉 with clemencie and adorned with iustice The effect whereof for the whose discourse is somewhat long we may perceiue by the words which Theodoret ascribeth to the person of Christ for thus hee maketh Christ to speake to the diuell Because thou who receiuedst power against sinners 〈◊〉 touched my bodie that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of no sinne forfeit thy power and cease thy tyrannie I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all 〈◊〉 from death 〈◊〉 simply vsing the power of a Lord but a righteous power I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 death I haue suffered death and not subiâ—…ct to death I did admit 〈◊〉 No way guiltâ—…e I was reckened with the guiltie and being free from debt I was numbred 〈◊〉 Sustaining therefore an vniust death I dissolue the death that is deserued and imprisoned wrongfully I free them from prison that were iustly detained And lest you should say of him as you doe of Ambrose and Austen that he doth but play with the figure â—…e â—…airely preuenteth that idle shift of yours in these words Let no man thinke that herein wee dallie or trifle for by the sacred Gospels and doctrines of the Apostles we are taught that these things are so Leo likewise not once or twice publikely teacheth
spoyler to be spoyled and for the wrongfull and spitefull inuasion that Satan made against his Lord and Master to loose all the Dominion and power that otherwise he claymed ouer Christs elect And so the Price of our Redemption whatsoeuer you trifle to the contrarie did not onely discharge the guilt of our sinnes and our debt to Gods iustice by Christs willing obedience to God euen vnto death but the furious and iniurious intermedling of Satan therewith so closeth his mouth that he seeth and knoweth our deliuerance and his destruction to be iust I am out of doubt that the Fathers doe but play with figures or if they meane indeede to teach such a Doctrine we are to learne by their good leaues how to speake and thinke more wholesomely then they doe out of the Scriptures Whether they play with figures or no I referre it to the Iudgement of indifferent Readers that will take the paines to peruse the places It is a good signe they speake in earnest when they double it and treble it in their open Sermons and writings and render the causes thereof pithâ—…ly and plentifully as Theodoret and Leo doe and chiefly Saint Austen in foure whole Chapters of his Booke de Trinitate whose learning and iudgement though you set light by because they sort not with your fansies I confesse I reuerence for that the whole Church of Christ hath done the same before me and I see nothing in the word of God repugnant to their Doctrine truely conceaued But you haue learned to speake more wholsomely as you thinke out of the Scriptures I pray you then let vs heare your wholesome speech I vrge that the enemie must haue a price for his Captiue I pray who is that enemie which must be satisfied the Diuell God forbid Gods Iustice onely is that offended Enemie to whom our Ransome was paid the Diuell was but Gods slaâ—…e and Executioner There is no man for ought that I know which saith the Diuell must be satisfied it is your partiall humor that leadeth you so to surmise my Sermons professe it were an Iniurie to Christ for vs to thinke his bloud was shed to satisfie the Diuell but the enemie to Christs elect which is the diuell and not God must be conquered and spoyled though not satisfied And that as S. Austen rightly obserueth God would haue done first by Iustice and then by power Because the Diuell by his peruersenesse was a desirer of power and a forsaker and impugner of Iustice and men did so much the more imitate him how much the more neglecting or hating Iustice they did studie to be mightie and were either inflamed with the getting or delighted with the hauing thereof It pleased God that for the taking of Man out of the diuels power the diuell should not be conquered by power but by Iustice and so men imitating Christ should seeke to ouercome the diuell by Iustice and not with power By him that dyed and was so mightie to vs that were mortall and altogether weake both Iustice was commended and power promised Of these twaine the one Christ performed dying the other rising For what is more iust then to come willingly to the death of the Crosse for righteousnesse And what is more mightie then to rise from the dead and ascend vp to heauen with the same flesh which was slaine First then by righteousnesse and after by power Christ Conquered the diuell It is no hard matter to perceaue the diuell to be conquered by power when Christ who was slaine by the diuell rose againe that is harder and deeper to be vnderstoode that the diuell was conquered when he seemed to himselfe to be the Conquerer to wit when Christ was slaine For then Christs bloud because it was his that had no sinne was shed for the remission of our sinnes that whom the diuell iustly detained and tied to the condition of death as guiltie of sinne those he might iustly loose through Christ whom being guiltie of no sinne he vniustly put to death With this Iustice was the Diuell vanquished and with this bond was the strong man bound that his things should be taken from him which were with him the vessels of wrath and bee turned to vessels of mercie And after proofe made out of the Scriptures that we are translated from the power of darknesse and of the diuell to the kingdome of God and of his beloued in whoâ—… we haue Redemption for remission of sinnes then follow the words which you so highly chalenge In this Redemption the bloud of Christ was giuen for vs as a Price QVO ACCEPTO which being taken that is wrongfully pursued and vsurped as the diuels manner is to take things which are not his and not willingly offered or lawfully receaued as God did accept the same at the hands of his Sonne the diuell was not enriched but fast tyed that we should be loosed from his bands The bloud of Christ patiently shed vnto death was the Price of our Redemption by the witnesse of the whole Scriptures which Christ obediently and voluntarily offered to his Fathers will for the full remission of our sinnes and our perfect reconciliation with God This bloud could not be iustly shed by any because it was innocent and holy They must therefore be iniust and wicked that should shed the righteous bloud of that vndefiled Lamb. Wherefore the secrete counsell and iustice of God deliuered Christ being thereto willing into the hands of sinners and permitted him to the power of darknesse with all reproch shame and torture to take his life from him This obedience and patience of the Redeemer in suffering the rage and violence of Satan and his members God so highly accepted and recompenced that not onely his wrath was appeased and our sinnes remitted but all power in heauen and earth as well ouer Satan as ouer all his kingdome was giuen vnto the manhood of Christ to take from the power and feare of the diuell whom Christ would and to adiudge that cruâ—…ll and bloudie tyrant with all his adherents to euerlasting destruction For though the Diuine nature of Christ in that hee was the Sonne of God were a rightfull and powerfull Lord ouer Satan and his whole kingdome sinne death and hell not excepted to dispose thereof at his pleasure yet the humane nature of Christ had of it selfe no such right or prerogatiue in respect it was a creature and so lower and weaker then the condition of Angels sauing for the personall vnion thereof with the Godhead of Christ. And therefore as the wisedome of God thought it no match nor honour for the diuine Maiestie of Christ to spoyle the diuell that was but a base and vile seruant in comparison of his Almightie power so the iustice of God would not aduance the manhood of Christ to the heigth of his kingdom to rule all things in heauen earth and hell till hee had humbled himselfe to the death of
a true and corporall punishment appointed by God for sinne though mans error inflict it on innocents or true repentance abolish the rest that would follow after this life if God were not reconciled vnto vs. In the wicked then which persist in their mischieuous purposes without repentance your reason taketh place that hanging to them is a part of that true and terrible curse the whole whereof shall be executed on them for their sinnes but in repentants it is starke false and in Christ of whom this question riseth it is irreligious and impious to say that he suffered the whole curse of the Law prouided for sinne or the death of the soule and of the damned which is properly due to sinners Now vnderstand Chrysostome thus as we before haue distinguished the punishment of Christ and of the damned and then we differ not Suppose Chrysostome to teach falsly and talke absurdly as you doe and then you may soone bring him to weare your badge but leaue him at libertie to tell his owne tale and hee is farre enough from your follies He sayth they were dâ—…erse curses in Christ and in the damned to signifie diuerse manners of one and the same curse in Nature He speaketh not of the damned at all he speaketh of the whole people of the Iewes which were vnder the curse of the Law for sinne till they were thence deliuered by Christ which the damned neuer were nor shall be His words are The people were in danger of another curse which saith Cursed is euery one which abideth not in the things written in the booke of the Law For not one of them had obserued the whole Law Christ then since he was not subiect to the curse of transgression admitted this curse to hang on the Crosse in steede of that to loose the people from their curse Chrysostome truely learnedly and consonantly to the rest of the ancient Fathers distinguisheth two kindes of EVILS or CVRSES incident to men which are sinne and the punishment of sinne The one is an vniust action pleasing man but displeasing God the other is a iust passion pleasing God but displeasing man Mala dicuntur Delicta Supplicia The OFFENCE and the REVENGE are both called â—…uils sayth Tertullian Duo sunt genera malorum peccatum poena peccati there are two sorts of Euils sayth Austen Sinne and the punishment of sinne For by Gods prouidence ruling all things as man doth the euill which he will so he suffereth the Euill which he will not Then sinne is not onely euill before it be punished but a greater euill then the punishment is since it is an euill in his owne nature repugnant to the righteousnesse of God Now as God is all good and therefore all blessed so sinne forsaking God falleth from goodnesse and so from blessednesse and is consequently more accursed with God then punishment is and ought so to be with men if they be rightly aduised as being the cause and continuance of their punishment For accursed signifieth as well detested and depriued of blessednesse as subiected to miserie or deuoted to destruction So that sinne in it selfe is a curse with God that is hated and detested of God and depriuing man of all communion and participation with the fountaine of blessednesse though no punishment did follow Yet because men would with neglect and despâ—…ght of God abide and reioyce in their wickednesse if sense of grieâ—…e and paine did not force them to feele theiâ—… wretchednesse therefore the wisedome and iustice of God pursueth such as dwell and delight in their sinnes with sharpe and bitteâ—… plagues that locâ—…ing on their miserie they may timely repent or eternally lament their obstinacie To these two kinds of curses Chrysostomes wordes and proofes doe leade The whole people were not damned as you deuoutly dâ—…eame but they had sinned and so were subiected to the danger of Gods displeasure foâ—… sinne and of his indignation against sinne From this Christ was free for he did not sinne 〈◊〉 was guile found in his mâ—…uth as Chrysostom concludeth out of the Scriptures Since then Christ was not subiect to the curse of Transgression he admitted â—…other Curse euâ—…n the punishment of sinne which is a curse also for sinne though of an other Nature then the committing of sinne by one to dissolue the otheâ—… that is by his owne paine to abolish the guilt of our sinne Chrysostomes woâ—…ds are as plâ—…ne as his proofes The curse of transgressing was another curse and not the 〈◊〉 which Christ suffered Yea Christ might not be subiected to that curse to which the people were for transgressing the law but changed that for another and so loosâ—…d their curse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another and not the same be as forciâ—…le woâ—…ds to shew different natures and persons as any the Greeke tongue hath and your shift of diâ—…erse degrees in the same nature is a childish toy since much and little like and vnlike sâ—…ew diuers degrees or measures in one nature but another and not the same thing directly noteth the substance or nature to be diuers Austen on whom you triumph is stretched beyond his meaning he deaâ—…eth against a Mainichâ—…e who denied that Christ had true human flesh Now he proueth that Christ truely died because the Apostle saith he was made a curse for vs in that he hanged on a Tree I haue cause to content my selfe that so leaâ—…ned and religious a Father as Saint Augustine was so highly reuerenced in the Church of God did more then twelue hundred yeers since in his conflicts with Hereticks refute the greatest part of your positions as repugnant to the faith of Christ and the soundnesse of the Sacred Scriptures And I thinke few men so foolish as in the grounds of our Redemption and saluation by Christ to reiect the Doctrine which he taught as false and receaue your scambling conceits as true And in my Iudgement you were best to take heed least if the resolutions which Saint Austen and other Catholike Fathers made against Heretickes disprooue your new found faith you be taken tardy with bringing Baggage into the Church of Christ long since condemned and banished from the Creede of all Christians What Saint Austen proueth you are no fit reporter except you did read more attentiuely and iudge more sincerely For did you euer peruse the words wrong course in so wise a Father if he meant purposely to prooue against the Manichees that Christ truely died for vs and not in shew onely as they supposed to ouerskip all the Testimonies and circumstances of Christs true death recorded in the Scriptures as his giuing vp the Ghost Pilates examining and the Centurions confessing the truth thereof as also the Souldiers perceiuing him alreadie dead and so not breaking his lâ—…gges but pearcing his side with a speare and the* gazing and watching of his â—…nemies and of the whole multitude ouer him
to see him die as likewise his buriall by his owne followers the sealing of his Tumbe and his lying three daiâ—…s in the graue to omit I say all these things with silence and to produce a word which the Manichees reiected as odious and iniurious to Christ and the Christians defended none otherwise then as common to all men that die both good and bad were no small ouersight in so learned a writer But this is a â—…ite of yours to shift of the truth of his answere it is no part of his meaning He sheweth against the Manichees and likewise against you since you defend the Contrarie that the death of the Body is in all men the punishment of sinne and that this death INFLICTED ON MANS NATVRE for sinne which is the MORTALITIE OF OVR FLESH by the Scriptures is called a Sinne and a Curse euen in Christ not that Christ was properly and truly accursed with God as transgressours are which is your erroneous assertion but that he submitted himselfe to receiue the punishment of sinne in his owne person by the death of his Body which was common to him with all men If the former words of Saint Austen were not plaine enough he hath playner If thou deny Christ was accursed deny Christ was dead If thou deny he was dead now â—…ightest thou not against Moses but against the Apostles If thou confesse him to haue beene dead confesse that he tooke the punishment of our sinne without sinne Now when thou hearest the punishment of sinne beleeue it came either from Gods blessing or cursing If the punishment of sinne came from blessing wish alwaies to be vnder the punishment But if thou desire to be thence deliuered beleeue that by the iust Iudgement of God the punishment of sinne came from the curse Confesse then that Christ tooke a Curse for vs when thou confessest him to haue beene dead for vs Nec aliud significare voluisse Mosen cum diceret maledictus omnis qui in ligno pependâ—…rit nisi mortalis omnis moriens omnis qui in ligno pependerit and that Moses had none other meaning when he said Accursed is euery one that hangeth on a Tree then to say euery one that hangeth on a Tree is Mortall and dieth He might hauâ—… said Accursed is euery Mortall Man or accursed is euery one that dieth How thinke you would Austen prooue that Christ truely died because he was truely accursed or that Christ tooke vpon him a Curse because he tooke vpon him the death of the Bodie which is the punishment of sinne in all mortall men and so proceeded from the curse whereunto all men for sinne were subiect He doth not defend the Apostle by Moses but he expoundeth Moses by the Apostle and so resolueth in plaine words that Moses had none other meaning when he said accursed is euery one that hangeth on a Tree then if he had said accursed is euery mortall man because death came first on all men as a Curse for sinne You acknowledge not the death which all men die to be a punishment or Curse for sinne But all the wit you haue will not answere Saint Austens reasons For the death of the Body which is common to all mortall men must of force be a blessing or a Cursing If it be a blessing why doe we beleeue or hope to be free from a blessing but if we detest continuance vnder it and desire deliuerance from it then certainly the death of the Body in all men euen in the Saints of God was and still is a punishment and Curse of Sinne till Christ raise vs from it An other reason Saint Austen vrgeth to the same effect which is this Vnlesse God had hated sinne and our Death he would not haue sent his sonne to vndertake and abolish the same What maruaile then if that be accursed to God which God hateth God that is him selfe all life and gaue vs life as his blessing in this world must needs hate death which is priuation of life as repugnant to his Image and euerting the worke of his hands wherewith he ioyned Soule and Body to participate in life And though by his Iustice he inflicted death on all men for sinne yet of his mercie he sent his owne and PAINFVLL death to be that part of the curse which Christ suffered for vs. This I hope is more then shame though shame and reproch were not the least parts of Gods curse against sinne euen in Christ. You would needs in a brauado set vp your bristles and aske What nothing but the shame of the world will any man of common sense affirme that this was all the curse that Christ bare for vs I replied that shame and ignominie was an expresse part of the curse which Christ dying suffered for vs and that there was no cause you should so much disdaine Chrysostome and Austen for so saying The Scriptures themselues in that point concurred with them as I haue fully shewed in my Conclusion and you can not auoid it Lest therefore your Reader should take you to be tongue-tied you cleane change the case and would haue men beleeue that I defend and endeuoured to proue that shame was the whole curse which Christ endured As though I alleaged not S. Austen at large to proue that death in all men Christ not exempted was a part of the curse inflicted on mankinde for sinne And therefore when Chrysostome sayd the crosse is the onely kinde of death subiect to the curse I did not set him and Austen at variance as if the one did trippe the other but I thus reconciled them that not only death as in all men but the verâ—…e kinde of death which Christ died was accursed by the very words of the Law in Chrysostomes iudgement This then is one of your familiar trades and trueths to set downe that in my name which I neuer spake nor meant and so by lying when you can not by reasoning to support your cause Indeed if a man will admit your absurd and false positions so much is consequent out of their words For where you will not haue the death of the bodie to be any part of the curse inflicted on sinne except the death of the damned be coherent with it as in the reprobate it followeth from Chrysostomes words that the corporall death of Christ seuered from all other sorts of death had no part of Gods curse in it besides shame which yet is as farre from being a true curse where the cause is good as death it selfe since neither shame nor death are true and inward curses when they are suffered for righteousnesse but rather causes and increases of blessing not in nor of themselues but by Gods goodnesse accepting and recompensing them with all fauour and blisse Againe you mislike that I sayd Christs dying simplie as the godlie die may in no sort be called a Curse or accursed I mislike that you can not or
will not distinguish what death is in it selfe euen to the godly and what is consequent after it by Gods mercie towards his Saints And heerein I say you want both trueth and iudgement for things are to be named by their natures and not by the sequents which often God sendeth cleane contrarie to the purposes and practises of Satan and his members Tyrannie shall it be no crueltie because it maketh Martyrs Sinne shall it not be displeasing to God because it humbleth the faithfull by repentance The corruption of mans nature shall it not be sinne because thereby God exerciseth his Saints to watchfulnesse and prayer Euen so the death of the bodie which God at first inflicted on all his Elect for sinne shall it be no punishment for that God doth comfort his in death and reward them after death I affirme death to the godly is no curse properly And I aâ—…irme that when you can not tell how to start from the force of truth you do nothing but lie or flie to your phrases of proper and verie which here as in other places do you no good In the fifteenth line of this page you say the death of of the godly may IN NO SORT be called a Curse or Accursed In the sixteenth whiles you offer to proue those words you confesse them to be false Death to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no Curse properly you say but a benefit and aduantage then improperly death is a curse and before you sayd It may in no sort be called a Curse to them If in no â—…rt then neither properly nor improperly What then is that Enemie that must be destâ—…oyed a cursing or a blessing Can it be an enemie to Christ and yet a blessing to the godly I cannot better refell your folly then S. Austen doth in this verie case If death be a bleâ—…ing to the bodies of the godly neuer desire to be deliuered from it what nâ—…ed you beleeue or loue the resurrection of the flesh which is the destruction of death in the bodie it death be a benefit to the bodie But if this be repugnant to Christian religion then hath death in it euen a shew of Gods curse on the bodie for sinne which must be destroyed before Christ can fully reigne in all his Saints Yet is it to the godly no curse properly The heigth of your learning hangeth on the helpe of this word PROPERLY we yet came to no point in all our defence but when you see your selfe pressed you straightwayes post to PROPER and VERY and yet you neuer define either nor take the paines to expound your selfe lest you should be taken with open heresie and blasphemie in applying one and the same curse properly and truely to Christ and the damned You say I am to young a Doctour to controll Saint Austen herein and I say you are a Doctour not olde enough to prooue Austen contrarie to me in this point A farre younger then I am will soone discerne by that I haue sayd that S. Austen is repugnant in this point to your proper and verie nouelties for where you say Death to the godly may in no sort be called a curse S. Austen thus expoundeth Christes words to the godlie Feare not those which kill the bodie as if Christ had sayd Nolite timere male dictum mortis corporalis quod temporaliter soluitur Feare not the CVRSE of a bodily death which in time is dissolued And so when he resolueth Moses had none other meaning in this sentence Cursed is euerie one that hangeth on a tree then if he had sayd Mortall is euerie one that hangeth on a tree Poterat enim dicere maledictus omnis mortalis aut maledictus omnis moriens For Moses might haue sayd Cursed is eâ—…ry mortall man or cursed is euerie man that dieth If Moses might truely haue so sayd as it is euident by S. Austens position then I trust death in some sort may be iustlie called a Curse euen to the godlie But S. Austen sayth that the death of the bodie is good to the good and euill to the euill That speech S. Austen sayth may be tolerated not in respect of death it selfe which is euill but of the mercies of God which follow the faithfull after their deaths His words which you skippe as your maner is to do when any thing maketh against you are Dici potest It may be sayd But vpon that speech he presently moueth this question in the beginning of the next Chapter If the death of the bodie be good to the good quo modo poterit obtineri quòd etiam ipsa sit poena peccati how may it be resolued that it is also the punishment of sinne His resolution you did not reade or not regard because it resisted your fansie but thereby the Reader may see what credit is to be giuen to your words when you crake of Fathers We must confesse sayth Austen that the first men were so created that if they had not sinned they should haue tasted no kinde of death but the verie same being the first sinners were so punished with death that whatsoeuer should spring from their root should be held subiect to the same punishment And discussing the question proposed more at large he resolueth Sic per ineffabilem Dei misericordiam ipsa pâ—…na vitâ—…orum transit in arma virtutis fit meritum iusti etiam supplicium peccatoris So by the vnspeakeable mercie of God the punishment of vice becommeth the armour of vertue and the reuenge of a sinner is made the merit of the iust Non quia mors bonum aliquod facta est quâ—… antea malum fuit sed tantam Deus fidei praestitit gratiam vt mors quam vitae constat esse contrariam instrumentum fieret per quod transiâ—… in vitam NOT THAT DEATH IS BECOME ANY GOOD which before was euill but so great fauour God hath yeelded vnto faith that death which most certainly is contrarie to life is made an instrument for the good by which they passe vnto life And to make men the better to vnderstand the effect of his speech he bringeth an example out of the Scriptures where the law is called the strength of sinne Why sayth he rehearse â—…e this Because that as the Law is not euill when it increaseth the lust of sinners so death is not good when it augmenteth the glorie of the sufferes but as the vniust doe eâ—…lly vse not onely euill but also good things so the iust doe well vse not onely good but euen things that be euill Hence commeth it that the wicked vse the Law ill though the Law be good BONI beâ—…è moriantur quamuis sit mors malum and the good die well though death be euill I haue toucheâ—… at large Saint Anstens reasons and resolutions in his owne words because the Reâ—…der should the more cleerely conceiue him and the discourser see him contrarie to his conceits euen in this point
which he so much denieth The death of the body which the godly doe suffer is to this day an euill of it selfe and the punishment of sinne but God of his mercie towards his hath giuen such grace not to death but to their faith that by suffering death patiently they shal be the more plentifully rewarded But as no wise man will say the Law is euill when the wicked abuse it to kindle their lusts so may no sober man say that the death of the faithfull is good in it selfe though by Gods goodnesse it bee made to them a triall of their patience and a passage to a better life You say the nature of death is changed and not to the faithfull any longer an euill or part of the punishment and curse which was laide oâ—… sinne S. Austen saith the contrarie It is still an euill as it was and the nature thereof is not changed though the vse thereof be changed by faith and the consequents altered by Gods goodnesse Now things must bee esteemed by their nature and not by their vse as Austen teacheth For euill men vse good things euilly yet that maketh not good to bee euill because their vse is inuerted and euen so saith Austen good men haue a good vse of death which is euill yet that maketh not the death which they suffer to be good in it selfe or in nature to bee such as by Gods fauour it is to them When the death therefore of the faithfull is said by Saint Austen or any others to be good they meane the vse and not the nature thereof and when they say it is euill or a curse they meane the nature and not the vse For touching the nature thereof the Apostle who must be heard saith fully and resolutely Death is an enemie that must be destroyed euen in the godly And touching the vse thereof the same Apostle saith To mee Christ is life and to die is gaine Against this you neither doe nor can bring ought besides waste words and places either not vnderstood of you or wrested by you as spoken of the nature of death when they meane the vse of death which the faithfull haue by Gods abundant blessing Your selfe doe say The vengeance of the Law once executed on the suertie can no more in Gods iustice be executed on vs. In the vengeance of the law is comprised corporall spirituall and eternall death The whole Christ neither did nor could taste and bee a Sauiour A part he therefore tasted which was the death of his body and thereby freed vs from the rest which was due to our sinnes From the death of the body he hath not as yet wholly deliuered vs but hee will and in the meane time hee hath broken the linckes of death whereby those three were coupled together first in his owne person who suffered the first kinde of death and neither of the other and by vertue thereof hath done the like in all his Saints leauing their bodies for a season vnto death as his was that he may raise them after with greater power and glorie then if they had neuer died What doeth this hinder but death may truely bee called a Curse as in Christ so in his members and though execution of vengeance be restrained from vs yet imitation of Christ is not excluded neither is the generall sentence pronounced against the sinne of all mankinde To dust thou shalt returne reuoked but by the resurrection from the dead how then was it vengeance on Christ if it were due to mans nature Death was due to mans nature for sinne and consequently not due to Christ that had not sinned When therefore it was laide on him that deserued it not it must be taken as the wages of our sinne in his person and so was a wound to him though a medicine to vs because hee was wounded for our transgressions and wee were healed by his stripes Our publike doctrine in England set foorth by Master Nowel confirmeth as much To the faithfull death is now not a destruction but a changing of life and a very sure and short passage to heauen Euery thing that is licensed or liked as profitable to bee publikely read or taught is not by and by authorised in all things nor made the publike doctrine of this Realme You would faine oppose Master Nowel to Saint Austen who if hee were liuing would giue you no thanks therefore Saint Austens Faith hath beene allowed and receiued by all Synods and Councels since his time and by the whole Church of Christ as fit to guide and leade not onely learners but makers of Catechismes and therefore the match if they were repugnant is somewhat vnequall but indeede you haue neede to bee taught how to vnderstand your Catechisme That death is a destruction to the godly can you tell who saith so except it bee your selfe That it is a changing of life and short passage to heauen if you meane to the soules of the faithfull as the Caâ—…echisme doth no man doubteth thereof if you meane to their bodies that they by death change life and so haue a short passage to heauen it is a notable falsitie and heresie gainsaying the verie grounds of the Christian faith For priuation of sense and corruption to dust is no life much lesse an heauen except you will multiplie heauens as you do helles without reason or trueth It is most true which the Catechisine intendeth that death is this to the souls of the faithful but not to their bodies as yet till the generall day of resurrection and then the destruction of death in their bodies shall bring them to the full possession of heauenly glory prouided both for soule and bodie till that time their bodies lie vnder the dominion or power of death which is not yet destroied in euery part of vs because of sinne dwelling in our bodies though it throughly be conquered in the person of Christ and shall be likewise in vs at his appointed time As little to the purpose is that which you cite next out of the Catechisme that Death which before was a punishment is now become a vantage For he meaneth that death before had nothing in it nor after it but punishment and so was wholly and onely punishment which now by Christ is altered and made an aduantage to vs as well in respect of the manifold miseries and offences of this life from which we are deliuered as in regard of the felicitie and securitie which the soules of the Saints decâ—…ased enioy but this is nothing to their bodies which lie depriued of life and corrupted to dust till the finall restitution Neither is this a comparison with our condition before sinne in which we were created when soule and bodie should iointly haue beene translated to the kingdome of heauen without any sense or touch of death if we had stood fast in obedience but this noteth what death is after sinne committed without Christ and rightly saith that when
once by sinne we were plunged into the depth of all miserie as a punishment for sinne then the grace of Christ by the death of his body brake off the chaines of internall and eternall death knit to the former by Gods iustice and made the naturall death of our bodies which without Christ was onely a punishment and the entrance to all other mischiefes of sinne afteâ—… this life to become now an aduantage to the soule which is presently freed from the labours of this life and inuested and secured with euerlasting blisse But the body is not yet quited from the burden and corruption laid on it by Gods iustice for the punishment of Adams sinne and the soule in the midst of her comforts not onely feeleth the want but sheweth her desire to receaue her bodie as appeareth by the praâ—…er of the soules vnder the Altar who desire not now in heauen reuenge of their persecutors whom they pardoned and praied for on earth but woondering at Gods patience that is daily prouoked and abused they desire the day of iudgement though thâ—…t bring with it the destruction of the wicked because they shall then receaue their bodiâ—…s and with them the fulnesse of Gods promises That place of the Catechisme doth â—… notably contradict you who call death to the Gâ—…dly the gate of hell a strange and most vntrue translation The Catechisme speaketh of the soules of the godly who without Christ were assured by death to enter the bottomlesâ—… pit of hell and now by Christ doe safely passe from death to heauen but what is this to their bodies whereof I speake doe the bodies of the Saints passe straight vpon death to heauen as their soules doe I trust your Catechisme saith not so and therefore no way contradicteth me But I translate it so when I call death the gate of hell which is sâ—…range and vntrue No good Sir when I translated the text because the word Sheol was doubtfull and imported all the power and strength oâ—… hell against bodie and soule in this world and in the next I retained the verie worde Sheol as may be seene in the page of my Sermons which you cite pag. 150. li. 32. yet what was ment by â—…heol in that place when I came to examine I did incline rather to the word hell then to the word Graue since we had in English no more words to expresse the power or danger of Satans kingdome on earth For neither the griefe which Ezechias conceaued nor the phrase which he vsed might be rightly referred to the graue It was not the graue that Ezechiah did so much feare and so much decline it was the doubt of Gods displeasure that vpon deliuerance of him and his citie from the hands of Senacherib presently strooke the king with sicknesse and denounced death vnto him as vnworthie to enioy that protection which God had shewed from heauen in defence of his people against their enimies and therefore in the bitternesse of his soule which he confessed did oppresâ—…e him he said he should goe to the gates of Sheol that is to a dangerous conflict with death betweene hope and feare of Gods fauour or anger Neither doth Sheol there import onely the graue for at first Ezechiah resolued he should die and so goe farder then the gates or entrance of the graue Neither doth that phrase in other places of Scripture expresse barely the buriall of the bodâ—…e The gates of hell sayth our Sâ—…uiour shall not preuaile against my Church by which he meaueth nothing lesse then the graue Are the gates of death knowen to thee saith God to Iob who could not be ignorant what the sides and bottome of a graue were Thou liftest me saith Dauid from the gates of death when yet he was sure to come to his graue And had Ezechiah from the griefe of his hart vnder which he chattered like a Swallow and mourned as a Doue pronounced death to be the Gate or first inuasion that hell or Satan made one mans Body for sinne what had you to say against it By the enuie of the Diuell saith the wise man Death entred into the world The Apostle saith as much By sinne Death eâ—…red into the world not as a blessing of God but on all men to Condemnation From this Condemnation the Soule by Christ is presently released the Body is also promised but yet not cleered from that Condemnation to Death which sinne brought with it And since the Apostle calleth it an Enemie to Christ and Austen doubteth not to name it a corporall Curse why should I not number it rather amongst the gates or powers of hell then of heauen since the diuell was the Author and Christ will be the destroyer thereof It offendeth you that I say if we will reason what death is in it selfe we must resolue it to be a part of Gods curse which you say is no answere For who euer denied it to be in it selfe a part of Gods curse for sinne but your expresse words are death is to the godly no curse properly Doe you now find the foile how foolishly you haue all this while supported an errour that yoâ—… now come with properly to proppe it vp least it fall on your head You can now with shame enough confesse WE KNOVV AL SHAME AND AFFLICTION TO ALL MEN IS A KIND OF CVRSE Then death a man would thinke may rightly be called a kind of corporall curse since that is the sharpest and forest of all outward asfâ—…ictions A kind of curse who euer denied that say you Euen your wisedome hath all this while denied it In your Treatise you bleated forth this resolution Therefore Christes dying simply as the godly die MAY IN NO SORT HERE BE CALLED A CVRSE or accursed You iterate the verie same in your defence Yea it is the maine ground of your second speciall reason Christ you say was made a curse sor vs or accursed in his death But to die simply as the godly doe may in no sort be called a curse or accursed Christ therefore endured the curse and wrath of God truely Your expresse wordes you say are Death to the godly is no curse properly but a vantage Are not the other your expresse wordes also that the death of the godly MAY IN NO SORT BE called a curse or accursed and doth not the force of your reason wholy depend vpon these later wordes For had you confessed that death shame and paine were to the godly corporall curses how then conclude you that Christ was properly accursed Because the Apostle saith He was made a curse Doeth the Apostle say he was made a curse properly It would empt and waste all the wit in your head from the one to conclude the other Against your precâ—…e Negatiue that death in the godly might in no sort be called a curse I opposed the contrarie that the death of the bodie was a curse for sinne laide on
the bodies euen of the elect and therefore might iustly be so called in vs and much more in Christ though the force of that curse were quenched in Christ and the coherence thereof interrupted In floting to and fro you fell to the curse of the Law and the curse of God and there as your fashion is you auouched what you listed without any proofe or witnesse besides your selfe telling vs that Paul mentioned Christs hanging on the tree as a part of the curse of the Law thereby impolying the whole to be executed on Christ. The whole curse of the Law in my conclusion I shewed to be externall corporall internall and eternall plagues and punishments and asked you which of these you affirmed of Christ. Externall and corporall curses in Christ I did grant internall and eternall curses of the Law which are want of grace and losse of blisse with perpetuall damnation of bodie and soule I said could not be ascribed to Christ without enormous and haynous blasphemie To this when you should answere you turne with a trice to your world of wordes and say your question was Whether death to the godly were a curse properly or no. But sir remember the reason was yours which if you doe not fully prooâ—…e you must wholly loose You should therefore first define what a proper curse is and then applie the parts thereof as well to Christ as to the godly and in so doing we should soone haue seene both the sense and trueth of your speach Now you hold fast to the ambiguitie and vncertainetie of the word proper as though it were enough for you to deliuer Oracles with the breath of your mouth you say the worde and then the field is wonne Our question is not what death is in it selfe but what death is to the godly You are so wedded to your owne wordes that you vnderstand no man els and scant your selfe When I reason what the death of the godly is in it selfe I speake not of the death which they do no not suffer that is not their death at all which they no way feele but since they die the death of the bodie that death which they suffer is to them one thing in his owne force which they taste and endure and the consequents after death by Gods mercie prouided for his seruants are most euidently other things and he that cannot distinguish this is no way worthy to beare the name of a Diuine For the ioyes of Gods heauenly kingdome are after death prepared for the godly Shall we therefore say the ioyes of heauen are death Besides the smart and anguish which afflicteth the soule when she is driuen from her bodie death in it selfe is the separation of the soule from the bodie with priuation of sense and life in the bodie and resolution of the same into dust The ioyning of the soule with the bodie was a most wonderfull worke of God in his creation and consequently verie good by the plaine words of Moses Then is the dissolution of the soule from the bodie repugnant to that which is verie good and of force euill as being contrarie to good The making of mans bodie from the dust of the ground was likewise verie good by the same witnesse of Moses Then the returning of the bodie to dust againe must be an euill vnto man destroying that excellent worke of God And if sense motion and action be blessings of God on mans bodie then the bereauing of these must needs be curses in their kinde Yea since life was no small fauour of God bestowed on man when he made him a liuing soule as all the rest in their degrees was verie good then death which is the priuation of life is the taking of Gods good blessing from mans bodie which cannot chuse but be a curse It is recompensed you will say with a better blessing euen with the blisse of heauen The soule is but not the bodie so long as death preuaileth on it And this blessing consquent is no way pertinent to the nature of death no not as the godly do suffer it but it is a fruit of Gods fauour reserued for the faithfull in Christ Iesus who remoueth death from their soules and will doe the like from their bodies when the time commeth Without death you thinke we can not come to Gods presence And why is that but because the corruption of sinne dwelleth in our bodies which is not meet for the kingdome of God Corruption cannot inherit incorruption And whence came this corruption but from sinne and consequently the displeasure of God against sinne both brought corruption to our bodies and for corruption keepeth our bodies vnder death excluded for the time from his heauenly kingdome Yet this is no proper curse to the bodies of the Saints Had you but once declared what you meant by proper and true curses sixe lines had long since leuelled this question but you according to the heigth of your skill that neuer troubled your selfe but with a few fond conceits and some vnsetled sentences trace to and fro sometimes with no curse in any sort sometimes with no true curse and sometimes with no curse properly and will not be drawen to steppe one foot farther And though I haue no cause to how your timber that you leaue ragged yet for their sakes that would see the trueth I am content to square your worke Of Gods curse I must say as I did of Gods wrath for the wrath and curse of God are all one in effect it noteth either Gods detestation of sinne or his commination to sinne or which is most to this case Gods indignation or pnnishment prouided for sinne or executed on sinners For as man is sayd to blesse with his minde mouth or hand when he meaneth prayeth or doth good to any so is he sayd to curse by thought word or deed when he desireth vttereth or worketh euill to any God is likewise sayd to curse in soule when he detesteth and hateth euill in voice when he pronounceth or threatneth euill in iudgement when he decreeth or inflicteth euill To shew how execrable sinne is to God the Scripture sayth these things God HATETH and his soule ABHORRETH them And so the way of the wicked is ABOMINABLE to the Lord. The threats of God against sinne and his plagues vpon sinne are euery where extant in the Law and chiefiy in the 27. and 28. of Deuteronomie where not onely the greatest sinnes are namely and all sinnes in the close generally accursed but the manifolde plagues of this life persuing the states the bodies and soules of sinners are numbred Maledictum est omne peccatum siue ipsum quodsit vt sequatur supplicium siue ipsum supplicium quod alâ—…o modo vocatur peccatum quia sit ex peccato Accursed is all sinne sayth Austen as well the deed which prouoketh punishment as the punishment it selfe which in another sense is called sinne because it commeth from sinne
Fâ—…st the dislike of God refusing them the sting of sinne defiling them the sting of death excluding them from all ioy and peace râ—…st and ease of soule and bodie for euer Applie this to Christ and his members and we shall presently finde by the rules of our Christian faith how farre they agree to either No true curse can be ascribed to Christ which shall seuer him from God without apparent impietie for neither the fauour of Gods fauour towards his manhood nor the fulnesse of grace and trueth in his soule nor the stedfast and most assured expectation of euerlasting ioy and glorie set before him euen in his greatest afflictions and temptations may be doubted of by any that will retaine the name of a Christian besides the perpetuall and personall vnion of his manhood with his Godhead to which was consequent such a communion with God and fruition of God as no elect man or angell euer had or can haue Wherefore you must either defend that the true curse of God did not seuer him from God but that one and the same nature in him might be truely blessed and yet truly accursed of God at one and the same time which are monsters meet for your doctrine or els you must wholly forbeare to affâ—…rme any true curse of Christ that shal separaâ—…e him from God and what other true curses you will attribute to him I would gladly heare The like though in farre lesse measure I yeeld to the membeâ—…s of Christ for since they were before all worlds beloued elected and blessed with all spirituall blessings in Christ and the foundation of God standeth sure hauing this Seale the Lord knoweth who are his yea the gifts and calling of God are without repâ—…ntance And the Apostle is fully perswaded that neither death nor life nor angels â—…r principalities nor things present nor things future nor heigth nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus but that whom God did predestinate those he called and whom he called those he iustified and whom he iustified those he glorified I see no true curse no not sinne it selfe that can fasten on Christes members to their destruction but howsoeuer by nature tâ—…ey were the children of Gods wrath as well as others yet by grace they are saued and all things shall woâ—… for the best to them that loue God and are loued of him They may want theâ—…e gâ—…ft and graces for a time and so not feele the fruits of Gods election and vocâ—…tion but with God they are truely blessed because they are surely setled in hiâ—… fauour and fore-appointed to be heires of Saluation though they lie censâ—…ed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a while in the masse of Adams condemnation The loue and 〈◊〉 then of God is the originall of all true blessing and since that is vnmoueaâ—…le towards the â—…lect how much soeuer they be sometimes plunged by sinne and Satan into feares and doubts of their saluation all that is to humble them and not to destroy them and with God who is trueth it selfe they are truely blessed as being adopted in Christ though in mans iudgement and euen to themselues they seeme neuer so much accursed What curses you aske then may be on the godlie Gods loue which is the ground of all true blessing can not varie towards them it is euerlasting and immutable like himselfe All other blessings saue this they may want for a season in this world as before they are lightned and called to the knowledge of God they haue no blessing in them more then the very Reprobate haue After they are engrassed in Christ they may be tosâ—…ed and turmoyled with the very same eâ—…ernall and corporall plagues and punishments that the wicked are and often times with greater and thaâ—…-per but then they are supported with inward grace and comfort which others are not and when by ignorance feare or infirmitie they fall they shall not perish Where then in the Curses of God inflicted on the wicked in this world and the next three things must be marked their Dâ—…PRIVANCE of his blesâ—…ings of all sorts their COHERENCE together and CONTINVANCE for euer the godly communicate with the wicked in some part of the first that is they may be sequestred from such externall and corporall blessings as this life requireth but of spirituall they can not vtterly be depâ—…ued because they must be regenerated and renued in the inward man to the Image of God and sealed by the holy spirit of promise that they may be partakers of Christ here in this world in whom they haue Redemption euen the Remission of sinnes according to the riches of his grace In the rest they may not communicate with the wicked For where the Curses of God doe FOLLOVV one another vpon the Reprobate and abide for euer in the highest degree from this the godly are wholy free as DELIVERED by the mercies of God in Christ from this present euill world and from the wrath to come If then we be saued from these things by Christ how much more must Christ him selfe be saued from them before he could saue others So that Christ as I said at first by submitting him selfe to a part of the curse of the Law which depriueth vs of all earthly and bodily blessings and of life it selfe quenched the whole Curse of the Law and by his shamefull wrongfull and painefull death quited vs from euerlasting death which was the iust reward of our sinnes You say if by the Resurrection of Christ the Nature of death were changed then till Christ was risen death was a punishment to the faithfull themselues I wonder what meaning there is in this Argument As well you may say that none were saued till Christ was risen Wonder then at your owne conceits reasons and Authorities For if the nature of Death were changed as you suppose it was since it was first inflicted on Adam I asked you how and when before the change you doe not doubt but it was a punishment you must graunt to the godly for Christ neuer changed the Nature of Death to the wicked Then if the change were made by Christs dying and rising from the dead how thinke you doth it not follow vpon this confession that death BEFORE it was changed in the godly by Christs Resurrection was a punishment euen to the godly And to this end you bring the Catechisme in this very Section Death which BEFORE was a punishment is now by Christ become a vantage If death were neuer but a vantage to the godly euen when it was first inflicted then the change that you dreame to be made of death in the Godly is but a fansie If NOVV it be so which BEFORE it was not then BEFORE what else could it be to the godly but a punishment of sinne My Resolution was and is that Christ was first promised by Gods
owne mouth to bruize the Serpents head before death was inflicted on Adam and his of-spring And therefore the punishment of mans sinne following could extend no farder in the Elect then to the death of the Body vnlesse you will make Gods punishment repugnant to his promise of Christ made before to his Elect which were to charge God with Inconstancie And therefore either the death of the Body was neuer any punishment of sinne in Adam which is repugnant to the Scriptures and the full consent of all Diuines old and new or else it resteth still the same to the Elect which it was at first when it was inflicted on them in the person of their first Father Indeede the promise of Christ to the faithfull brake of the sequence of eternall death which in the wicked is coherent to the death of their Bodies and that made God in his Iudiciall sentence pronounced against Adams sinne to comprise no more but Adams returne to dust for that he meant no more to his Elect though he would suffer death to haue his full force against the Bodies and Soules of the wicked both in this world and in the next for euer As for the Saluation of the faithfull before Christs comming in the flesh I see not which way that should be endangered by their afflictions in this life It is written of Lazarus dying before Christ that in his life time he receiued euill and therefore after death he was comforted So that their chasticement in this life which was a moderate and fatherly correction and punishment of their sinnes could be no impediment to their saluation but worke rather in them that were patient in their troubles as it doth in vs an excellent and eternall waight of glorie For in that the Iudgement of God began here in this life with them their humbling themselues vnder the mightie hand of God with true Repentance of their sinnes and full assurance by faith that in the promised Seede their sinnes should be pardoned caused God of his mercy to turne their â—…eauinesse into ioy and in due time to exalt them Further you except against me touching Innocents and Martyrs executions who I say are most blessed If you meane their Soules are most blessed I said as much before you if you respect their patience and loue in laying downe their liues for the truth I make no doubt the death of Gods Saints is precious in his sight But if the suffering of death were a blessing and aduantage as you would haue it it were no such thankes with God to taste of his blessings for his name sake The greatnesse of their reward sheweth the shaâ—…pnesse of their conflict with the sting and smart of death which because they refuse not for Christes cause their patience is the more precious in Gods sight but this doeth not prooue the corruption of their bodies turned to dust to bee any blessing but rather an enemie that must be destroyed before their bodies shall enioy the true blessing of immortall glorie that is reserued for them The holy men are in trueth most glorious and blessed in them If you speake of their bodiâ—…s you speake falsly and directly against the Scripture which expresâ—…ely saith They are sowâ—…n in corruption and dishonour but they shall be raised in incorruption and dishonour and what can be more repugnant to the trueth or more reprochfull to the resurrection from the dead then to say that corruption in the bodies of the Saints is most glorious and blessed The Saints and Martyrs can not be properly cursed and properly blâ—…ssed too in any measure Can you see that in the members of Christ and can you not see so much in Christ himselfe You defend with might and maine that Christ was properly and truely accursed and that he was also truely and properly blessed except you will bee worâ—…e then a Turke you may not denie For euen his manhood was personally ioyned with his Godhead and more abundantly blessed then any Martyr can be as hauing in him the fulnesse of blessing for him selfe and vs all How hangeth then this not onely monstrous but impious Assertion of yours together that the Soule of Christ was truely and properly most abundantly blessed and most properly cursed at one and the same instant You will come in with your two countenances and conditions his owne and ours but in vaine doe you salue a manifest contrarietie and impictie with countenances Christ was truely accursed in no condition or countenance since he was most blessed in himselfe and the spring of all blessing to vs. The Soules of the Martyrs are not blessed vnlesse their bodies be blessed also and free from the true curâ—… although you seeme to denâ—…e this point Of the TRVE curse â—…aide on the bodies of Martyrs I spake neuer a word and therefore that is no vncouth Assertion of mine as your phrase is but an impudent fiction of yours that thinke best to belâ—…e the trueth when you cannot otherwise preuaile against it I said not a woâ—…d moâ—…e then Saint Austen said before me Maledictus omnis moriens Accursed is euerie one that dieth And when the godly are so streightned that they must either commit Idolatrie or suffer Martyrdome euen in that case of Martyrs Saint Austen saith Elâ—…gendum est maledictum in corporiâ—… morte quo maledicto ipsum corpus in Resurrectione liberabitur deuit andum autem maledictum in animae morte ne cum suo corpore in aeterno igne damnetur A Christian when these two are proposed must chuse the curse of a bodily death from which curse the body shall be freed in the Resurrection and hee must shunne the curse of the death of the Soule least that be together with the body condemned to euerlasting fire And to prooue this to be non Anicularis malâ—…dictio an olde wifes curse as the Manichees called it but a propheticall prediction hee giueth sound reasons to all that list not to moâ—…ke and elude the trueth as you doe Morsipsa ex maledicâ—…o Death it selfe came from the curse that was laide on all mankinde for sinne Maledictum est omne peccatum siâ—…e ipsum quod sit vt sequatur supplicium siâ—…c ipsum supplicium quod alâ—…o modo vocatur peccatum quâ—…a fit ex peccato Accursed is all sinne whether it bâ—…e the fact deseruing punishment or the punishment it selfe which is after a sort called sinne because it is cauâ—…d by sinne Which words though you afterward idlely abuse yet are they sound and consonant to the Scriptures Of sinne there is no question but that is in it selâ—…e truely accursed as being the roote and cause of all Gods curses vpon men and Angels where it is not remitted and howsoeuer of mercie God doeth paâ—…don it vnto his Elect yet hee hateth their sinnes in such sort that either sinne must die in them by true and hartie repentance or they must perish with
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
vpon all but against Idolaters blasphemers disobeyers of Parents Murderers Adulterers and such like to whom there were no Sacrifices prescribed but death awarded These two deaths then a Naturall by the hand of God on all men and a violent by the hands of the Magistrate on some certaine offenders haue difference enough a man would thinke so that when the one is proposed for you to runne to the other is a manifest faile in your answere and a flat confession that you can not prooue Christ was iustly hanged by the sentence of the Law And yet you mistake your selfe euen in that to which you flie for helpe For Christ was not subiect by Nature but onely by will to the death of the Body because he was cleere from actuall and originall sinne by which death first entred into the world and inuaded all men Now in the violent death which Christ receaued from publike Authoritie by the sentence of Pilate the Iudge perceaued aâ—…d not once nor twice pronounced him faultles and when he could not otherwise appease the rage of the People but by condemnâ—…ng Christ to death Pilate tooke Water and washed his hands before the Multitude saying I am innocent of the bloud of this Iust Man looke you to it With what face then can you being a Christian auouch that Christ was iustly hanged by the sentence of the Law when God so prouided that he which gaue the sentence should often and earnestly witnesse the Contrarie What say you then to Christes death did he die iustly if he died by the rule of Gods iustice then he died iustly I say the longer you reason the farder you straie from the Question and yet conclude nothing God hath a double rule of his punishing Iustice the one râ—…aled by which we must be gouerned the other reserued to himselfe which we must reuerence because it cannot be but iust in him though it be hid from vs. The sentence of the Law is the reuealed will of Gods reuenging Iustice by that I vtterly denie that Christ any way deserued to be hanged And thus much Saint Peter affirmeth when he saith Christ suffered the iust for the vniust that he might present vs to God If Christ by Gods reuealed will suffered iustly then Christ himselfe must be vniust But if he were iust euen when and as he suffered then were his sufferings vndeserued euen by the sentence of the Law which is the will of God prescribed vs that we must follow Otherwise who can suffer as Martyrs or innocents if we speake of Gods secret Iustice since he hath cause enough to deliuer all men for their due deserts to death when pleaseth him though he be graciously content that his seruants shall die most innocently in respect of his will reuealed that is not for any offence which their persuers can iustly chalenge and most gloriously when they giue testimonie to his trueth with their bloud who yet in his sight may not nor can not iustifie themselues This therefore is another leape of yours to start from the sentence of the Law to the secrets of Gods counsell and most vntruely and iniuriously to pronounce men that are sinners before God to be innocents in their deaths and Christ that was truely innocent before God and man to be iustly hanged by the sentence of the Law As you misse the Rule so doe you the Iustice of Gods will and that which you would make to be the curtaine of your cause I take to be the very puddle of your error For where you would insinuate that either Christ was iustly put to death or els God did vniustly deliuer him to death your ignorant abusing or aduised inuerting the name of Gods Iustice breadeth in you this sensible ouersight The Scriptures most truely confesse that God is iust in all his waies not in punishing onely mens offences but in giuing grace forgiuing sinne promising and performing life eternall and generally whatsoeuer he doth in him is iust and holie There is as great iustice that God should doe with his owne what he will as that he should repay men their deserts For if we ascribe no iustice to God but in rewarding our works then was he vniust in creating vs of nothing when we could deserue nothing then is he vniust in sauing vs when he condemneth others since we deserued no better then others Accursed be that mouth and minde which calleth or counteth the fauour and loue of God wherewith he embraceth his the grace and mercie which he affoordeth his the glorie and blisse which he will giue to his to be vniust Yet were none of these things deserued by vs though he be most iust in giuing what and where pleaseth him It is a righteous thing saith Paul to recompence rest to you which are troubled and yet no way deserued If we confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and iust sayth Iohn to forgine vs our sinnes We need not woonder at this how God is iust in punishing sinne and also iust in forgiuing sinne he vseth his right in the one as master of his owne and repaieth men their deserts in the other which is their due Since all the waâ—…es of â—…he Lord saith Austen are mercie and trueth neither can his grace be vnâ—… nor his Iustice be cruell Can we then finde how God is iust in giuing vs good things which we neuer meâ—…d and doe we stagger how he might be iust in deliuering Christ to corporall and externall paines and death which he neuer deserued It is no wrong you say for the Lâ—…w to lay the penaltie on the suertie Much lesse was it vniust with God to receauâ—… recompense for our sinnes at the hands of his owne Sonne who was willing and able to make it when we were not But he must be guiltie of our sinnes before he could be iustly punisâ—…d for our sinnes Who tolde you so Your similitude of a Suretie bound to see the debt discharged Keepe your bonds to hang abont your heeles A man may discharge anothers debts and beare anothers burden as well willingly and freely as vrged and arrested by the law What iustice hath mans law to accept the suretie for the debtour but the will of the offerer How much more then was it a righteous thing with God to accept a satisfaction for our sinnes at the hands of his owne Sonne not because he was thereto bound or any way guiltie with vs but only because he was able and willing to beare our burden when we were weake and rebate the rigour of Gods vengeance by the innocencie and dignitie of his person which was farre aboue our power For if amongst â—…en it be an honorable iustice for the stronger to helpe the weaker and the richer to relieue the poorer and the lesse we be bound as to our Enemies the more willing the more righteous who that hath but one spaâ—… of Christian sense will doubt whether it were most iust with God to
admit the ransom which his own Sonne most willingly offered for vs when we were his Enemies or will conclude that Christ must iustly desâ—…e death because he did willingly die for vs You see now what I say to Christes death he died most iustly to God because most willingly for vs and yet most vndeseruedly because most innocently If Christ died not by Gods iustice then woe and thrice woe to vs for it can not be but Gods iustice must be executed If Gods iustice against vs were not satisfied by his Sonne and so appeased wo were it with vs but if any man be so madde headed that either the Sonne of God or himselfe must be euerlastingly damned for the full execution of Gods iustice against sinne then woe indeed to that hellish infidelitie and blessed for euer be Gods loue and mercie towards vs that accepted the death of his Sonne for our sinnes which Christ willingly offâ—…red as the price of our redemption when he could by no sentence of the law be thereto bound Therefore my Father loueth me sayth Christ because I lay downe my life for my sheepe None taketh it from me but I lay it downe of mine owne selfe And so the Prophet foretold of him If he will or shall lay downe his soule or life for sinne he shall see his seed prolong his dayes and the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hands What if hanging on a tree were no necessarie part of the gâ—…erall curse it was neuerthelesse iust from God vpon him as well as his death Neither â—…th nor hanging nor any part of Christes punishment was iust from God as deserued by Christ either in respect of his nature or of his office but all was most iust with God euen on Christ in respect of Christs owne free willingnesse to reconcile vs to God with his death rather then we should perish And if both these were iust in Gods secret Counsell by reason of Christs good liking so to ransome man what is that to the sentence of the Law which Iudgeth euery man according to his works and punisheth only the transgressour out of which number Christ is excepted by the continuall Caueats of the holy Scriptures Still I meane iustly in respect of God alone And still I say iustly in respect of Christs willingnesse only which is nothing to the sentence of the Law For the law respecteth the euill desert of the Transgressour and not the good will of the Redeemer or Suretie You mislike that Christ should suffer iustly because he suffered willingly for vs which hindreth not at all Since that was most iust with God in his secret counsell whereto his Sonne was most willing I vtterlie misliked as the whole Church of Christ before me did that the Sonne of God should be thought to be bound to death who must be most free or deseruing death by the sentence of the Law punishing sinners because he was willing to beare our burden And if you looke well about you you shall find the second person in Trinitie vndertooke to ransome vs from our sinnes long before his manhood was borne euen from the foundation of the world and to lay any band vpon the Sonne of God besides his owne good will and pleasure aduise you whether it tendeth And since God would not haue the death of Christes manhood but as a sacrifice most freely willingly offered vnto him for sinne least there should appeare any constraint or necessitie layd on the person of Christ let the Reader iudge with what trueth you not onely bind the second person in Trinitie to be subiect to the sentence of the Law but taint the soule of Christ with the vncleannesse of our sinne because he suffered the punishment thereof in our steedes The voluntarie suertie beareth his penaltie iustly when he sustaineth that which the Debtour by Law should sustaine It is a penaltie to patience to heare you talke so vnwisely and vniustly of Iustice. Shall mercie and charitie in Christians that ease other mens shoulders or pay other mens debts be taken now with you for the iust desert of a penaltie How much lesse then may the loue and fauour of God redeeming vs with his owne blood and â—…aling vs with his owne stripâ—…s be called a â—…ust and well deserued punishment Mans law may exact the debt where the Suertie standeth bound to the â—…aw to see it satisfied From one freely offering to pay another mans debts the Law may iustly receiue it because he is willing but the Law cannot exact it because he is at libertie which is the true difference betwixt a Suertie bound and a free Ransommer and yet neither is guiltie of the prisoners offences You say no Law you are sure not Gods law alloweth a murderer or like offender to be shared and another that is willing to be hanged in his steede You haue all this while dallied with Gods iustice you now begin to play with Gods Law that where trueth faâ—…th you you may yet at least make some shew with wordes as all wranglers doe when they be driuen to the wall whereof the discreet Reader may take a sensible obseruation in this place You haue bene spuddling here and spending more then two leaues to prooâ—…e that Christ bare the true curse of the Law which was due to vs for sinne and that the Apostle speaking thereof Galat. 3. could haue none other meaning and therefore you resolued that Christ was hanged by the iust sentence of the Law which otherwise must light on vs if it were not laid on him What Law ment you all this while or what Law doth Paul dispute of in that place Not of that Law which accurieth and punisheth sinne That Law I said admitted no Suerties but reuenged the malefactours themselues and therefore by the sentence of that Law Christ could not be iustly accursed or hanged in our steedes Against this when you can say nothing you get you to the Gospell of Christ which proposeth glad tydings of our Redemption from the burden of our sinnes and from the curse of the Law by the most willing and innocent death of the Sonne of God for our sakes and by that Lawe you say Christ might and did die for vs as our Suertie I aske the indifferent Reader whether this be not a plaine running from the question and a resigning of all that you haue said before touching tâ—…e â—…es accursing of Christ as our Suertiâ—… For the Gospell I trust doth not pronounce Christ to be either accursed for our sinnes or defiled with our sinnes but shewed him to be the blessed Seede that bruized the Sâ—…pents head and the vndefiled and vnspotted Lambe that tooke away the sinne of the world with his most innocent and precious blood This shifting therefore which is so vsuall with you that as long as you can wrench a word you will not yeeld to the trueth will breake the necke of your cause in the end with all
considerate Readers howsoeuer it may content you for the time But let vs heare the rest I answere it is not true which you say That Gods Law alloweth no Suertiâ—…s Vnderstanding here by Gods reuealed will and his most holy and gracious ordinance for vs. Though indeede this is not his Law properly but his Gospell You lacke here English as well as trueth except it be the Printers fault and not yours Vnderstanding here in your words hath nothing to follow it I thinke you would say Vnderstanding hâ—… by Gods Law Gods reuealed will c. I neuer made doubt whether the Gospell proposed the wonderfull loue mercie good will and fauour of God the Sonne towards vs in offering himselfe to make the purgation of our sinnes in his owne person and likewise the wisedome power iustice clemencie grace and goodnesse of the whole Trinitie in accepting that offer for our saluation but such I said was the infinite dignitie of the person being true God that he could by no Law be bound but onely ledde by his owne good will and pleasure as a voluntary and free Sauiour Which libertie the iustice of God so farre tendred and preserued in the humane nature of Christ that he could not in rigour exact death as a debt from a Suertie but receiue it as a voluntarie sacrifice from a willing and free Redeemer for which cause neither the desert of our punishment nor the filth of our sinnâ—…s nor the trueth of our curse could cleaue vnto him but his death was innocent and altogether vndeserued though he died iustly to God as well in â—…espect of vs for whom he suffered who deserued farre worse as in regard of his owne will and offer who refused not the smart of death thereby to breake thâ—… chaines of death and to deliuer vs from the power of darkenesse For the name of the law in generall how farre that word might be stretched I did not question since you spake directly of that law which accurseth and punisheth sinne as the Apostle doth alleaging in plaine words both the curse and punishment of Moses law Otherwise I knew the Apostles words in this verie Epistle Beare yee one anothers burden and so fulfill the law of Christ which is in libertie and loue to serue one an other as Christ did vs. No similitude you say can proue Christ in taking our person on him to be sinfull defiled hatefull and accursed I denie this saying vtterly I like your wit well that when you should go to proue your affirmatiues you fall to denie my negatiues This is a short way to shunne all paines and proofs for you to say what you list and when you denie the contrarie the matter is fully proued But Sir you forget that my assertion hath in it the plaine words of the Holy Ghost and the maine grounds of Christian religion that Christ as well in his nature and actions as in his sufferings and sacrifice was holie harmelesse seuered from sinners and vndefiled This you vtterly denie If you make no more bones in denying the words of God your Reader will as easily denie you to be a Christian whatsoeuer I do In his owne nature and in respect meerly thereof he suffered both at the Iewes hands and before God the iust for the vniust A faire gloze and full against the text When Christ died was it for himselfe or for vs that hee suffered He suffered not in any respect of or for himselfe no not before God and yet he suffered the iust for the vniust sayth Peter Which words Peter could not speake in respect of the Iewes who killed Christ for they tooke Christ to be most vniust and they had no meaning nor power to put him to death for the redemption of the world but Peter speaketh this of Christ who knowing himselfe to be iust and innocent in the sight of God was yet patient and willing when he suffered for the vniust By this example Peter often exhorteth the godly to follow Christes steppes and to suffer wrong patiently when they do well For that is more acceptable to God then when they are buffeted for their faults because they are blessed that suffer for righteousnesse sake as Christ did You turne the text cleane contrarie and would haue men beleeue that Christ was not only sinfull accursed and defiled with our sinnes but the greatest sinner and most vniust person that euer suffered as guiltie before God of all their sinnes for whom he died Yet this is not inherently but by imputation the Lord translating by his ordinance the sinne of men vpon him Afore we enter to speake farther of the filthinesse or guiltinesse of sinne inherent or imputed and the malediction on either I thinke it fit for the Reader to know what is conteined in those termes lest the Defender carie his conceits in a cloud as his meaning and maner is to do In sinne besides the auerting of the will from God by defection and hardning of the heart against God by rebellion the loue and affections of the soule which should be inflamed with sinceritie and puritie of Gods holinesse and goodnesse are wholly deiected and egerly fastened vpon base vile vaine and vncleane things and thereby the soule growing like to that which it loueth for loue causeth a societie and similitude with the things loued bâ—…ommeth base vile and vncleane in all her delights desires parts and powers Which impurenesse and pollution of the inward man when God beholdeth he reiecteth hateth and detesteth as well this corruption inherent in the soule as the deeds and acts of sinne past with vs but present still with him and accusing vs in his sight by the witnesse of our owne conscience which we can not auoid This when God setteth before the eyes of the wicked letting them see what they haue refused and what they haue embraced and how deformed and defiled they are in comparison of his beautie and sanctitie as also what they haue done against the light and leading of their owne conscience they fall ashamed of their vncleannesse and confounded with their guiltinesse finding the iust vengeance of God to hang ouer their heads with a desperate and most dreadfull expectation thereof These things are not doubted by any good Diuines and therefore it shall suffice shortly to touch some places teaching no lesse then I haue sayd To the vncleane and vnbeleeuing sayth Paul nothing is clâ—… but euen their mindes and consciences are defiled Of euill thoughts and deeds proceeding from the heart our Sauiour-generally pronounceth These are the things which defile a man S. Peter sayth of the wicked They are led with sensualitie as bruit beasts perishing in their corruption and are not onely spots and staines but after they had escaped from the filthinesse of the world turne againe as swine to wallowing in the mire This is the vncleannesse of sinne as well inherited from Adam as
by the infinite dignitie of his person able to support the one and abolish the other and that the rather because euerie part of Christes manhood was holie and vndefiled and so by the rule of Gods iustice no part of him could be pressed with spirituall and eternall death Which is a plaine proofe that the guilt of our sinnes tooke not hold on him For then as well spirituall as eternall death which both are due to sinne must haue fastned on Christ which we see to be false yea the death of the bodie could not wrest his soule from him but he must lay it downe of himselfe And if the desert of a corporall death did not binde him how should the guilt of eternall death be due to him which was the â—…ust wages of our sinne but no way due to his person since he did assume our sinnes to cleere vs from them and not to subiect himselfe to the guilt or filth of our sinne though he were content to make full satisfaction for them but not to defile himselfe with any pollution of them How could he be by God properly and truly punished and cursed for sinne but that he was sinfull hatefull Nay how could he either clense vs or reconcile vs to God if he were sinfull hatefull to God as well as we As we had Christ for our Redeemer because we weâ—…e hated of God for sin so if you bring Christ within the same danger displeasure with God he must haue another to mediate to God for him God respecteth not those whom he hateth nor heareth any that is sinful without some other to propiâ—…e for him And where you quote Scriptures to vphold your wicked follies and phrases they prooue the cleane contrarie The soule that sinneth the same shall dic saith God by Ezechiel But Christes soule did not die either by want of grace or losse of glorie which are the deaths proper to sinners Christes soule therefore by the verie place which you cite was not sinnefull Shail nâ—…t the Iudge of all the world doe right saide Abraham to God What right is there ment but that God will not destroy the righteous with the wicked as Abrahams words before import Since then Christ was not destroâ—…ed either in soule or bodie but by death made conquerer of death and a Sauiour to all his what a venemous mouth haue you to match him with the wicked or to make thâ—…s destruction And heere the Reader may obserue how religiously you wrest the Scriptures to reproch the Sonne of God and where you can by no sufficient testimonie prooue Christ to haue beene sinnefull or hatefull to God as you dâ—…fend when he died for our sinnes you sort him with the reprobate and damned and then â—…ge the Scriptures against him that directly speake of them I wish you to leaue this lewd deuotion and not to thinke to shift off all this with a pretended imputation Our sinnes God did impute that is impose on Christ for â—…e bâ—…re them in his bodie on the â—…ee but this was right with God because Christ was both willing and able to beare them and an honour to the humane nature of Christ to be made l ord ouer all his enimies for the short affliction which he suffered at their hands and Sauiour of all beleeuers for the submission and obedience which he performed on the crosse in which Gods exceeding mercy towards vs and loue towards him did most manifestly appeare Did not God then hate our sinnes when he punished his owne Sonne for them If that ground of Christian religion could haue contented you that God throughly hated our sinnes which Christ assumed and yet so loued the person assuming them that the fauour he bare to the one ouer-rulâ—…d his anger due to the other and therefore after sharpe chastisement on the person least wee should thinke our transgressions to be lightly regarded with God and yet such as the sufferer willingly reâ—…ued to maintaine the iustice of his Father exalted him with infinite honour and gaue him all power in earth and heauen and made him onely Lord ouer all both men and Angels If this confession of true Religion had pleased you you neuer needed to haue defiled your pen with these sinfull hatefull and accursâ—…d termes But haâ—…ing itching eares and humorous heads you measure the greatest mysteries of our saluation by the similitude and proportion of humane reason and actions and thence deâ—…iue according to your fantasies that which Scriptures and Fathers doe vtterly disclaime It is written God sent his Sonne in the likenesse of sinfull flâ—…sh for sinne and condemned sinne in his flesh in which likenesse he stoode before God The Scripture teacheth that Christ was made like to his brethren in all things and did partake with them in flesh and bloud but the same Scripture addeth without sinne So that the likenesse of sinfull flesh excludeth all touch or taint of our sinne though it admit the likenesse of our flesh in Christ. And indeede betweene his and ours there was no difference saue the corruption of sinne which dwelleth in ours and did not in his You doe therefore learnedly collect out of the Apostles words that where he saith Christ was sent in the likenesse of sinfull flesh for that he had true flesh and no sinne you make Christ to be defiled and accursed with sinne for hauing the likenesse of our flesh But the Syriacke translation saith God condemned sinne in Christes flesh The condemning of sinne in the flesh of Christ was the cleansing and abolishing of sinne by the body of Christ which the Apostle calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the destroying and taking away of sinne by the sacrifice of himâ—…elfe The text doth notsay that God condemned Christ for sinne but contrarie that God condemned sin that is pardoned the guilt weakned the power remooued the sting and abandoned the memoriall of all our sinnes for the obedience and patience which Christ shewed in his flesh So that it is you and not the Apostle nor the Syriacke translator which would faine bring Christ within the compasse of condemnation for sinne where they say quite otherwise that not hee but sinne was condemned that is destroyed in or by his flesh Chrysostome saith rightly Thou seest sinne euery where condemned not the flesh which was crouned and obtained iudgement against sinne And Austen taketh libertie to expound the Text against your Syriacke translation By the similitude of sinfull flesh saith he which was Christes God condemned sinne in the flesh of sinne which was ours God made him sinne for vs that we might be made the rightcousnesse of God in him Other men read the Scriptures to learne thence all thanks submission and seruice to the Sonne of God for his vnspeakeable loue and mercie towards vs in taking the burden of our sinnes and laying it on his owne shoulders You thresh and winnow the Scriptures to catch vp chaffe
and yet none of them maketh Christ sinfull hatefull or defiled which is your vncleane doctrine We affirme sayth Austen that Christ had no sinne neither in soule nor flâ—…sh and yet in taking flesh after the likenâ—…sse of sinfull flesh by sinne he condemned sinne Which being somewhat obscurâ—…ly spoken by the Apostle may be two wayes opened either because the similitudes of things vse to be called by the names of the things themselues and in that respect the Apostle would call the similitude of sinfull flesh Sinne or els because the sacrifices for sinnes in the Law were called sinnes all which were the figures of Christs flesh the true and only sacrifice for sinne A third way is that the punishment of sinne is after a sort called sinne as being a consequent to sinne which S. Austen before testified and in that respect as well mortalitie as all other miseries and infirmitâ—…s that inuaded mans nature for sinne may be called sinne that is the effects of sinne The wrongfull and shamefull death of Christ Chrysostome Theodoret Theophylact and others take to be the punishment of our sinnes in the flesh of Christ and in that regard they thinke Christ was made sinne that is punished as a sinner though he were innocent and righteous Him that was righteousnesse it selfe God made sinne that is he suffered him to be condemned as a sinner and to die as one accursed for accursed was he that hung on a tree Christ sayth Theodoret when he had fulfilled all righteousnesse and not admitted any blemish of sinne and yet as a sinner sustained the death of sinners he reproued the iniustice of sinne that deliuered his bodie to death no way deseruing it and dissolued both sinne and death Theophylact as his maner is followeth Chrysostome almost word for word The Sonne who knew no sinne and was righteousnesse it selfe the Father made to die for vs as if he had beene a sinner and malefactour S. Austen ioyneth with them Christ had the similitude of sinfull flesh because his flesh was mortall sinâ—… vllo omnino peccato but vtterly without any sinne that by sinne for similitude he might condemne the sinne that is in our flesh through true iniquitie True iniquitie in Christ there was none mortalitie there was Peccatum non suscepit sed poenam peccati suscepit Suscipiendâ—… sinâ—… culpâ—… poenam poenam saâ—…it culpam Christ tooke not our sinne vnto him he tooke the punishment of our sinne And taking the punishment without any fault he healed both the punishment and the fault I leaue the Reader to his choise which of these he will embrace or whether he will conioyne them all together for the one impugneth not the other they all impugne the Defenders false collections and lewd surmises out of these places that Christ when he is called sinne is intended by the Scriptures to be defiled with our sinnes and hatefull to God and accursed of him for our sinnes which the Church of Christ did neuer endure to heare Master Caluin warily enough sayth Vt personam nostram suscepit peccator erat maledictionis reus As Christ tooke vpon him our person he was a 〈◊〉 and guiltie of the curse I had rather you had commended Master Caluins wisdome to ioyne with the whole Church of God in giuing Christ his due then his warinesse in going a by-way without all the learned and Catholike fathers to hemme Christ within the guilt of our sinne and curse Master Caluin truely I honour for his great gifts and paines in the Church of God but I may not take him for the first founder of Christian religion and therefore where he dissenteth from the worthie Pillers of Christs Church in matters of Doctrine I dissent from him And I more commend his warinesse elsewhere and thinke it fit that when his speech soundeth somewhat hard or offensiue to the Godly it should be expounded by other places of his writings least you make him in so waightie points as these are very inconstant or very inconsiderate This therefore which you bring I interpret by none other then himselfe vsing the very same words of the very same matter in his Commentaries vpon the very next Epistle of Saint Paul before this which you quote You shall haue it in Latine because you shall see how he qualifieth these very words which you would presse to your aduantage PERSONAM nostram QVODAMMODO suscepit vt reus nostro nomine fieret tanquam peccator iudicaretur non proprijs sed alienis delictis quum purus foret ipse immunis ab omni culpa paenamque sâ—…biret nobis non sibi debitam Christ tooke vnto him our Person AFTER A SORT that he might be accused or Iudged in our Name and condemned as it were for a Sinner not for any of his owne offences but other mens since he himselfe was pure and FREE FROM ALL FAVLT or guilt and suffered the punishment due to vs not to him Take these mitigations from Master Caluins owne mouth and then your labour is lost in putting his words to the Racke and these are farre truer then your whirlegigges set running by the businesse of your Braine Christ was AFTER A SORT A SINNER Saith Caluine that is Christ presented the Persons and procured the cause of vs â—…at were sinners and was guiltie that is accused condemned or punished in our steedes Reâ—… doth not alwaies import an offender if you know what Latine meaneth it noteth one â—…uius res agitur whose cause is handled or brought into Iudgement whether he be guiltie or innocent And when it goeth farder then iudiciall inquisition it may be applied either to the fault which is conuinced or to the Iudgement which is decreed or to the punishment which is deserued or appointed And so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke which the new Testament vseth for guiltie or worthie of or subiected to punishment is as much as fast held either by the Crime committed or by the sentence pronounced or by the punishment prepared and assured Thus you see Caluins words limited by himselfe make nothing for you and howsoeuer you rack the word Reus you may not thereby bring Christ to be defiled or hatefull with our sinnes except mercie humilitie and charitie by your learning defile the Sonne of God and make him hatefull to his Father Euen as by Gods true and reall imputation not by any iâ—…hesion we now in this life are iust holy and blamelesse before God so was he sinfull and defiled by Imputation not inherently This is neither the Apostles speech nor sense it is your soone-come and soone-gone gathering from the Apostles words The one is the cause of the other but the one is not in all points proportioned to the other God made him Sinne for vs that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him Thus speaketh the Apostle Omit Christs Sacrifice for sinne whereby our sinnes were pardoned and
which God gaue against Adam for eating of the forbidden fruit Soluit you interpret he satisfied where the word is he loosed or dissolued it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you translate vnder the appearance Athanasius meaning the substance of mans soule and bodie which he calleth the fourme of man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you render of a Damned man applying it to Christ for some countenance to your cause in laying the paines of the damned on the soule of Christ where Athanasius speaketh that word of Adam that was condemned for sinne in whose substance or forme Christ appeared that is a true man to dissolue the sentence giuen against Adam when he was first condemned And that which is most intolerable where Athanasius in the same sentence the verie next words expresly addeth that Christ was altogether vntouched either with condemnation or with sinne to shew that he ment Adam in the former word of condemnation you purposely skippe and neglect that which should lead you to the trueth of his speech and directly against his plaine and manifest words you referre Damnation to Christ as if in spite of Athanasius though he earnestly and openly professe the contrary you would wrest his words to dishonour and belie Christ and make the Reader beleeue that some before you had ascribed damnation vnto Christ. But be ashamed of these monstrous falsifications if you haue any shame in you or if not your Reader will soone perceaue what cause it is you haue in hand that must be vpheld with such hatefull forgeries Athanasius doctrine is very sound and good though you will not acknowledge it that Christ in his owne person taking our humane nature vnto him dissolued the sentence that he gaue against Adam when he condemned him for transgressing and by his bodie dead and laid in the graue he freed our bodies from the power of corruption and with his soule descending into hell he quited our soules from all the right and power that hell had ouer vs by sinne This whiles Athanasius mindeth to expresse he saith He that examined Adams disobedience and gaue iudgement comprised a double punishment in his sentence saying to the earthly part earth thou art and to earth thoushalt returne and to the soule thou shalt die the death and thereupon man is deuided in twaine and condemned to goe vnto two places to wit his bodie to the graue and his soule to hell It was therefore needfull that the pronouncer of that sentence should himselfe by himselfe dissolue his owne sentence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appearing in the forme or substance of him that was condemned but yet without either condemnation or sinne that the freedome of the whole man might be wrought by man in the newnesse of the image of the Sonne of God I shall not need to prooue that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the substantiall forme as well of God as of man the Apostle applieth it to both and Athanasius in this verie place saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The fourme of his owne soule vnsubiected to the bands of death Christ sent present before them and so againe Christ deliuering vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his owne perfect and true formâ—… or substance answerable to ours This could you not chuse but see if either you perused Athanasius himselfe or the verie page 181. of my conclusion which you cite and whence you tooke this authoritie where it is euident by the full wordes of Athanasius in the same sentence that Christ was cleere from sinne and vncondemned and that man was the person condemned for sinne which you could not misse without infinite negligence or inexcusable blindnesse Austen we saw a little before We saw his name as now we doe but we sawe no words of his that any way made to your purpose He saith Accursed is all sinne whether it be the deed deseruing or the punishment deserued which is called sinne because it commeth by or from sinne And likewise that Christ receaued our punishment without sinne that thereby he might dissolue our sinne and end our punishment Truely accursed is sinne and the punishment inflicted on the ofâ—…ender for sinne abiding without remission or repentance otherwise punishment after sinne remitted as in the godly or without desert of sinne as in Christ is not a true curse separating from God not from the true blessings of God which make vs certainly and euerlastingly happie but it is a curse depriuing vs of externall and corporall blessings which God of his bountie first bestowed on the life of man and often recalleth for triall of obedience and chastising of disobedience as also for preuenting occasions of sinne and auoiding of greater vengeance if we should be suffered to walke secure and carelesse in the waies of our hearts Christ then receaued a curse for vs which in him was the chastisement or punishment of our sinne yet as he no way deserued it so was it not destruction which lighteth on the wicked for their wilfull persisting in sinne but a proofe of his obedience and a full satisfaction for our offences respecting his person that suffered it who was God and Man and is by Saint Austen called our Punishment as well for the cause which was wholy ours as for the likenesse it had with the punishments prouided for vs in this life where Christ suffered and not in hel where Christ could not suffer It is no euill in it selfe to be punished but to deserue punishment And so Basil. The true euill is sinne whose end is destruction that which seemeth euill with afflicting or greeuing the sense hath the force of good in it Your former sense that Christ was a sacrifice for sinne how differeth it from your second that he was punished for our sinnes With you it may be a question with me it is none For though they were both ioined in Christes sufferings yet that is no reason to take away their difference In the sacrifice which Christ ofâ—…ered vnto God for the sinnes of the world himselfe was the Priest and the Offerer and by his willing obedience submitting himselfe to his Fathers will made a recompence for our sinne which we could not doe In his Martyrdome he was a patient sufferer of that which the Iewes with cruell and wicked rage wrongfully laid on him when he was deliuered by Gods determinate counsell into their hands Now betweene his patient suffering from men and willing offering to God there is some difference if you could see it though they were both coupled in his death they both prooue directly and necessarily that he must be indeed sinnefull by imputation The one prooueth that he bare our sinnes in his bodie on the tree but by no meanes that he was guiltie of them the other sheweth that he clensed our sinnes and so was no way defiled with them How could he be truely punished for sinne by God but that he was sinnefull by imputation Because he
and to taste of death that he might in the end abolish them both For as Christ would be Circumcised and Baptised though there was nothing in him needfull to be pared or washed away but rather that fulfilling all righteousnesse he might commend both the one and the other with his person and presence so would he obserue the ceremonies of the Law not tied like a Seruant vnto them but content to vse them as Lord ouer them till he saw his time which he did not sticke to professe of himselfe when occasion was offered The Sonne of man saith he of himselfe is Lord euen of the Sabboth And so likewise I say vnto you that here is one greater then the temple By which words of his it is euident that he was not bound to the Law who called himselfe as he was the Sonne of Man Lord of the Sabboth and so of all the Law but as he laide downe his life when the Law could not take it from him and was obedient vnto death though death were in his power so would he subiect himselfe to the carnall commandements of the Law though he were free from them as being the truth and end of the Law For the Law was our Schole-master to Christ to whom when we were come by faith which made vs the Sonnes of God we were no longer vnder a Schoole-master How much lesse then could Christ himselfe who freed all that beleeued in him from obseruing the Law be bound or of necessitie subiect to the Law which neede not lead him to himselfe nor could not force him that was personally the Sonne of God to be a seruant vnder the types and figures of the Law farder then his owne wil induced him I made a reason that Suerties bound to the law to pay other mens debts might not looke to haue all referred to their liking and power as Christ had to his but to answer the penalties of the law to which they were obliged â—…es forsooth such a Suertie as he was might worthely be a gratious Mediator he was no ordinarie Sucrtie You labour to binde Christ to the thraldome of condemnation by the similitude of humane lawes which subiect the Suertie to the â—…arre condition that they doe the debtour and now when you see that resemblance to faile you exempt him from the seruitude of Suerties because he was no ordinarie Suertie Doe you now finde there is great difference betwixt a Suertie and a Redeemer and howsoeuer the speech may be true that Christ was a kinde of Suertie for vs yet may we not make him a seruant obliged to vs or with vs but a willing and free Redeemer For after our transgression committed and iudgement giuen vpon Adam and all his posteritie by Gods owne mouth a Suertie commeth to late a Redeemer is not too late before execution and therefore the Scriptures doe euerie where giue vs a Redeen er to note that we were condemned and reserued vnder feare and danger of euerlasting punishment till the Redeemer interposed himselfe and offered such ransome and restitution as should more content and satisfie the holinesse and iustice of God then out condemnation could doe The person that vndertooke our redemption was not Christes humane nature which as then was not but the Sonne of God in his owne person assumed on him to make ful satisfaction for our disobedience not by suffering euerlasting death which was due to vs but by giuing a better and more pretious recompence then we were woorth And this he would doe by submitting himselfe to obey and serue in our nature and in our steed and so offer the most acceptable Sacrifice of humilitie and obedience vnto death that Gods holinesse might be honored which we dâ—…spised and his iustice satisfied which we prouoked Let all men therefore aduise themselues how they binde the person of the Sonne of God to their obligation or condemnation it was he and none other that vndertooke for vs and by whose fauour power dignitie sanctitie and humilitie ioyned in one person with our weake and fraile nature the worke of our redemption was performed You say he could not be bound to the Law because he was aboue the Law He was aboue the Law in his Godhead but in his manhood he became for vs vnder the Law If you speake of Christes manhood apart from his Godhead you vtterly ouerthrow all our saluation For set aside the personall vnion of man with God in Christ Iesus and his humane nature could do vs no good Since therefore his Godhead was from euerlasting and a perfect and distinct person in the Tâ—…initie before his manhood was created which had neuer any existence by it selfe but in coniunction with his Deitie from the first instant of his conception when we speake of the person of Christ we must speake either of his Godhead which was before his incarnation or ioyntly of both after his assumption of man into God Then either we had no Surctie for our redemption the foure thousand yeeres that Christes flâ—…sh was vnmade of his mother or els the Sonne of God in his owne person was our Suretie So that our Suretie for foure thousand yeeres could not be bound to the Law by your confession and when the same Sonne of God tooke vnto him our humane nature into the vnity of his perfon HE that is the Person could be no more bound to the Law then he was before For the Godhead was of more power to free the manhood of Christ in that Person from the Law then our flesh in Christ was to subiect the Godhead vnder the Law Wherefore the person remained free and vnbound yet would he submit himselfe to obserue the signes and sacraments of the Law as he did humble himselfe to the death of the Crosse to neither of which the person was bound by any legall seruitude but only by voluntarie submission that his obedience being no way tied might be the more precious in Gods sight For as the Lord of glorie was crucified and we are reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne so God sent his Sonne mâ—…de of a woman and made vnder the Law to redeeme vs and giue vs the adâ—…ption of children but as he was made flesh by no compulsion nor obligation no more was he subiâ—…ct to the Law by any other meanes then by his owne loue and liking for vs. Neither doth the Scripture binde the manhood of Christ vnto the Law For the Law was not giuen to the righteous sayth the Apostle Which if it were possible to be true in any it was most true in the manhood of Christ who had neither in birth life nor death any taint of sinne If ye be led by the spirit sayth Paul ye are not vnder the Law for against such there is no law Whether you thinke the manhood of Christ was endued and guided with the spirit I referre it to your owne conscience If it were then
against him was no law though in loue to vs which was the fulfilling of the law he would humble himselfe not vnder the law only but vnder the worst of men to be the contempt of men and reproch of the people If the Sonne shall make you free you shall be free indeâ—…d sayth our Sauiour For the seruant abideth not in the house for euer but the Sonne abideth for euer If then when we are made the sonnes of God by faith we can be no longer seruants to the law because the law ingendreth bondage which is repugnant to the libertâ—…e wherewith Christ hath made vs free how much lesse could the manhood of Christ which not only freeth vs but was personally borne the Sonne of God be a seruant and in bondage to the law sauâ—… onely because he would humble himselâ—…e to serue in our steads This Paul learned of his master and followed in his maâ—…ter when he sayd Though I be free from all men yet haue I made my selfe seruant vnto all men and am made all things to all men that I might by all meanes saue some So that by your leaue it is a plaine errour in you because Christ submitted himselfe willingly to the lâ—…w to conclude his manhood was bound to the law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not of â—…m else in his manhood bound to the law for vs but freely and voluntarily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods gratious eternall decree appointing him so he became bound to the 〈◊〉 The â—…eader will finde in the end that your greatest strength is the mistaking oâ—… oâ—…her mens words and abusing of your owne For when you haue wrangled foure leaues to â—…e Christ to the true curse of the law and to hang him by the iust sentence of the same law because he stood bound with vs as a Suretie to pay our debts now at last long lingering you say he did freely and voluntarily vndertake to redeeme vs yet loth to let go you adde and so became bound to the law Sir you should tell vs Wâ—…o did â—…ely and voluntarily vndertake our redemption and WHEN For if it were vndertaken by the Sonne of God long before Christes manhood was borne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you the Sonne of God to the law which before you disclaimed And did â—…od thiâ—…ke you eternally decree and appoint his Sonne to be bound to the Law 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 if you appoint any of the persons in Trinitie to be one bound 〈◊〉 thâ—…n another with any manner of bondage or seruice Then as the Sonne coâ—…ld not â—…e boâ—…nd because he was God No more would the Father binde the Sâ—…nne whose loue to vs ledde him to vndertake our Redemption and to binde him that was willing was to distrust him which suspition I hope you will not impure to the Father against the Sonne The Father therefore in the same loue to vs wherewith his Sonne offered to be the person that should redeeme vs accepted the offer of his Sonne and gratiously decreed with one consent of the whole Trinitie as well the manner as the meane of our redemption which decree did not binde but accept and approoue the loue of the Redeemer And when the time came that the Sonne of God would execute this decree made as well by himselfe as the other persons in Trinitie he tooke an vndefiled humane bodie and soule into the person of his Godhead which he so repleâ—…ished with the woonderfull light and supported with the infallâ—…le strength of his spirit that it most willingly embraced and most earnestly affeâ—…ted the same submission and obedience which the diuine nature of Christ was pleâ—…sed to yeeld for our redemption So that the manhood of Christ neuer hauing any subsistence by it selfe apart from the Godhead of the Sonne it neuer had any humane action or pasâ—…ion in birth life or death which pertained not to the whole person consisting of God and man And in that respect the Scriptures say God sent his Sonnâ—… maâ—… of a womâ—…n and made vnder the Law and we are reconciled to God by the death of hiâ—… Sonne the 〈◊〉 crucified the Lord of glorie and God purchased his church with his owne bloud Which speeches could haue no trueth in them as likewise our saluation no certaintie if the manhood of Christ could haue had any action or passion asunder from the Godhead The person therefore of God and man after his incarnation was subiect to the Law and euen the same person that from the beginning vndertooke our redemption and so not the manhood of Christ as you would shift the matter off but the person of God and man must be bound to the Law if our Suertie were bound May not God be bound by his promise Then must you say that God is bound to giue vs grace mercie and glorie because he hath promised euerie one of these and hath sworne to performe them and so you turne the whole Scriptures vpside downe and put your selfe in Gods place and make him your attendant and seruant because by an immutable decree he hath promised to heare vs when we call and helpe vs in time of need By this Diuinitie like to the rest of your deuices the loue fauour compassion bountie mercie trueth and maiestie of God shall be not onely a necessitie but euen a bondage vnto him which blasphemie no Christian eares I hope will enduâ—…e God therefore is a most mercifull promiser a most gratious giuer and a most faithfull performer his promises are assurances that he will giue what he saith but they are no bands that he must yeeld what he oweth because we haue neither meanes to deserue them nor â—…ight to chalenge them nor power to exact them but onely need to receaue them praier to entreat them and thanks to acknowledge them He is content to make himselfe our debtour by promise to let vs see how much we are bound to him that deseruing nothing we are yet by his mercy assured of all things Though he who ordinarily Redeemeth a prisoner from the Enemie be not bound but content so to doe yet a Suertie being content becommeth bound and so Christ our Redeemer became bound as a Suertie to pay our debt for vs. Though the Scriptures euerie where calling Christ a Redeemer and no where a Suertie to God for vs to pay our debts but Gods Suertie or assurance to vs doe by the verie name giue vs to vnderstand that God must needs be lesse bound then men which are not bound but content to redeeme others from their enemies yet you will haue your will in spite of Scriptures and Fathers and make Christ no Redeemer indeed by taking his freedome from him but biâ—…de him with your similitudes to doe that in thraldome which in loue and meâ—…cie he was content to doe for vs. And where Gods decrees and promises which aâ—…e most faithfull and firme assurances can not be called bonds in him without blaspheâ—…ie yet you will haue him bound to saue vs because he
flagitiorum maculas morte voluntaria suo innocente sanguine luisse atque eluisse It is euident that Christ admitted receaued and suffered of his owne good will the paines due to mans wickednesse but not due to him and with a voluntarie death and his owne innocent bloud did wash and clense the spots of our filthinesse And againe It is euident the Iewes had not in their power these things or times sed sua ipsum voluntate nulla vâ—… coactum harc mortem pro nostra salute oppetijsse but of his owne accord without anie câ—…action Christ died this death for our saluation Where also this is set downe as a true position that eligendae mortis optio penes ipsum fiâ—…t the election and direction of his death was left to his owne power and choise which the whole Church of Christ hath hitherto ascribed to the power and will loue and mercie of the Sonne of God reiecting your bands and obligations lately deuised to barre the freedome and abridge the power of the Sauiour of the worlde because you would tie him to the paines of hell You see not you will say how these Fathers make against you None otherwise but that they directly denie that which you affirme Christ you say though of good will he was at first content so to doe yet after became bound to the Law to pay our debts Now he that is bound must needs obey and so you lay on Christ not onely a necessity but also a dutie These Fathers with one consent disclaime al necessitie in the death of Christ and consequently they confesâ—…e he was free from all bands and debts but in loue and mercie as a free Redeemer he would giue himselfe for vs which was a farre greater price then we were woorth or could owe. And these multitudes of men as you call them though they be not of equall strength with the word of God which is the touchstone of all trueth yet doe they plainely prooue that you innouate the faith of Christes Church which in their seuerall ages they all beleeued and professed and for their faith they haue the manifest wordes of our Sauiour that none tooke his soule from him but he laid it downe of himselfe and the witnesse of the Apostle that Christ for loue gaue himselfe for vs which argueth that he was vrged thereto with no violence necessitie nor dutie much lesse was thereto bound and you for your deuice haue the curiositie of creditours the discredite of debtours of whom men require Suerties with bands because they trust not their words and promises much lesle their willes and dispositions But this iealousie in the Sonne of God is hainous blasphemie therfore there could be no cause to bind him as there could be no distrust of him since our miserie and his mercie were motiues enough to incline and continue his loue though we leaue him at his full libertie without all seruitude or necessirie Gods decree and his owne good will was that he should satisfie and pay none otherwise for vs then so as he did There can be no question but in creating condemning and redeeming man the Father the Sonne and the holie Ghost had one and the same will and decree yet except with the Arian heretickes you make an inequallitie of the persons in the most blessed Trinitie you can impose no seruice nor suffering on the Sonne of God by any decree but what must come from his owne good pleasure offer and perfourmance And that the Scriptures euerie where imply when they say Christ loued vs and gaue himselfe for vs that is he FIRST of loue towards vs OFFERED to serue and suffer in our places and AFTER of the same loue submitted himselfe to performe his purpose and promise of our saluation So that Gods decree was no iniunction nor ordinance that his Sonne should doe it but an ACCEPTATION of his Sonnes loue and mercie towards vs and an APPROEATION that it was a most sufficient recompence for all the transgressions of men And the Father is said to giue his Sonne for vs not that he loued vs better then he did his Sonne whom he infinitely loueth as himselfe and for whose sake onely he accepteth vs not that he vsed any authoritie or power ouer his Sonne to appoint him to this seruice but that knowing the strength and sufficiencie of his Sonne to be as his owne and seeing his loue and mercie towards vs which was common to him with the rest of the persons in that most glorious Trinitie the Father out of the same loue towards vs thought it fitter to accept the offer of his Sonne then that we should perish And therefore though the Father loued his Sonne as himselfe yet he was content his Sonne should beare our burden which we could not without euerlasting destruction and his Sonne could with exceeding honour and admiration of his mercie humilitie obedience and patience If you slide from the Godhead of Christ to his manhood to binde that because it was a Creature and not the Creator by diuiding the person of Christ you runne into the heresie of Nestorius condemned in the generall Counsell of â—…phesus and yet releiue not your selfe For the person and not this or that part of his nature must be the Redeemer since neither man could saue vs vnlesse he were also God nor God could die for vs vnlesse he were also man and so did sufâ—…er death in his humane nature So that the Suertie as you call him that vndertooke our saluation not onely from the beginning but before the world was precisely the person of the Sonne of God and not the humane nature of Christ and therefore you must either binde the Godhead of Christ as our Suertie or free his manhood from all bands Neither could any of Christs sufferings be of infinite price and merite for vs except we asâ—…ibe them to the voluntarie obedience of the person since the death of a iust man could not be the redemption of the worlde but the death of that person which was more woorth then all the world If then Christs sufferings take their force and value from the person they must likewise haue their freedome and election from the person Those sentences of your Authors Gregorie Austen and Ambrose if they be spoken simply seeme very harsh where they say that Christ could haue saued vs otherwaies then by suffering and dying for vs. For herein they oppose Gods absolute omnipotencie against his expresse and reuealed will which how it may be liked in Diuinitie I know not Yours is more harsh that reprooue them before you vnderstand them and chalenge that as false which is most apparantly true by the maine grounds of Christian Religion For if you auouch Gods power to extend no farder then his works as if God could doe no more then he hath done or will doe is a manifest denying of Gods omnipotencie which is larger then either his will or his
might and did punish properly Christes soule also and yet neuer deuide his Godhead nor his loue from it The one standeth with Gods iustice and with the nature of man in Christ as well as the other A wanton colt when he winceth with his heeles thinketh he can batter walles and beate downe trees with a blow when yet the skittish thing doth but hurt it selfe Is this the reason which weakened all that I said in so manie sides against the death of the soule for of that I speake in all those pages which you quote Neede you a paire of spectacles so see the difference betweene the death of the soule and the death of the bodie that you so falsely idlely and foolishly match them together A verie drone would soone discerne that the death of the bodie innocently obediently and patiently suffered could no way separate Christ from the fauour and loue of God nor hinder the worke of our redemption though it depriued hiâ—… of life sense and motion in the bodie for the time which are the good blessings of God when they are vsed to his glorie and yet the death of the soule which leaueth neither action affection nor communion of grace trueth or faith in the soule seuereth both Soule and body quite from God and maketh them hatefull vnto God and altogether vnapt to reconcile others vnto God when they themselues are disioyned and parted from God And therefore notwithstanding your Crakes that you can blow mountaines afore you with your breath and your craft that shift the death of the Soule whereof I speake in all those places into a proper spirituall punishment of your owne framing you haue not auoyded any one Reason there nor offer so much as to come toward the matter in question but roue after your wonted manner with generall phrases proper to your selfe and then thinke that no man seeth you there are other punishments in the Soule besides death but none that can reconcile vs vnto God For b Rom 5. We were reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne c 1. Cor. 15. I declare vnto you saith Paul the Gospell which I preached vnto you and whereby you are saued For first of all I deliuered vnto you that Christ died for our sinnes according to the Scriptures Then you and whosoeuer else that preach or beleeue Remission of sinnes by any thing else but by the death of Christ you preach not the Gospell which the Apostle deliuered neither can you looke for saluation in Christ that leaue the maine ground thereof which is the death that he tasted for all and through which he destroyed him that had the power of death euen the diuell So that to step to any other spirituall punishments for the satisfaction of our sinnes and reconciliation to God then to that which the Scriptures call the death of Christ and the death of the Crosse is to renounce all that God hath ordained or reuealed for our Saluation and to create you new Sauiours after your owne conceits You must therefore be directly and plainly brought to this point whether Christ suffered for vs the death of the Soule by the Scriptures and not such giggers of proper punishments nor straines of improper speeches as you and your friends hunt after but fairely and fully according to the direction of the sacred Scriptures which must be heard and preferred before all your fansies as well touching the death of the soule as the trueth of our redemption by the bloud of Christ Iesus Wherein though I exclude not the sense and affections of his soule which felt the paine knew the cause and beheld the counsell of God in all those sufferings vndertaken for man through the tender loue that he bare to man yet none of those feares sorrowes nor paines which the soule discerned and receiued did any whit diminish the power of Gods spirit and grace in him nor the perfection of his faith hope and loue whereby the soule cleaued fast to God without any separation and consequently the innocence obedience and patience of Christes soule in his sufferings both outward and inward did confirme and manifest the life of his soule But of this more in due place d Defenc. paâ—… 90. li. 27. Then you addresse your selfe against another euen one of the chiefest reasons of mine which I make from the strange and incomparable agonies of Christ in the time of his passion You make no reasons from Christes agonie but assuming that for a shew which you do not vnderstand you inferre what you list by your rash presumptuous and manifest contradictions both to your selfe and to the Scriptures e Ibid. li. 30. These inuaded him as we reade principally at three times First in the foretaste of his passion Ioh. 12. secondly in the Garden a little before his apprehension thirdly in his very extreame passion it selfe on the crosse The Scripture mentioneth one agonie and you multiplie that to three In the twelfth of Iohn when some of the Grecians that came to worship on the feast of Easter were desirous to see Christ of whom they had heard much and made their desire knowen to Philip and he to Andrew and they both to Iesus Iesus answered them f Iohn 12. The houre was come euen at hand that the Sonne of man should be glorified by his death This therefore was not a time to shew himselfe when his heart or soule was troubled with other matters euen with the meditation and preparation of his death Now except you be so wise that you will make euery affection in Christ an agonie there is no cause to conceiue this to be an agonie He often times thought and spake of his death before where no man besides you doth dreame of agonies and this verie word is in other cases ascribed aswell to Christ as to others where no colour of an agonie doth appeare When he tolde his Disciples that one of them should betray him g Iohn 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was troubled in spirit and meaning to raise Lazarus from death when he saw Mary the sister of Lazarus and the Iewes that were with her to weepe h Iohn 11. he groned in spirit and troubled himselfe insomuch that he wept which yet was no agonie but a touch of humane compassion shewing the loue he bare vnto them The complaint on the crosse besides the words had no shew of an agonie and what sense they beare we shall after examine Verily he that would not suffer his owne Disciples to beholde his agonie in the Garden would neuer in the eyes or eares of his enemies with his owne deeds or words verifie their reproches and taunts against himselfe as if he were forsaken of God which was the thing they vpbraided him with And therfore you may deuise not three but threescore agonies if you will The Scripture expresseth one and that you neither rightly conceiue nor rightly vse i Defenc. pag. 90. li. 35. To all that
consequently the infirmities and affections of minde that were griâ—…tious were likewise voluntarie sufferings in him and pertained to the humilitie and obedience to which he submitted himselfe for the fuller satisfaction of our sinnes as well by his life as death That our whole life is a suffering for our sinne in Adam S. Austen exactly noteth d August in Psal. 37. Non enim in illum non est vindicatâ—…m aâ—…t frustra dixerat Deus morte morieris aut aliquid patimur in ista vita nisi ex illa morte quam meruimus primo peccato Neither did God not reuenge Adam nor sayd in vaine Thou shalt die the death neither do we suffer any thing in this life but from that death which we deserued by the first sinne And making an example of hunger sayth e August ibid. Ista fames naturalis quidam morbus est quia natura nobis facta est poena ex vindicta Primo hominâ—… quod erat poena natura nobis est This hunger of the bodie is a disease of nature because the punishment inflicted on Adam to reuenge his sin is our nature That which was punishment to the first man is become nature to vs. Christ then in partaking our nature did partake with our punishment and his submitting himselfe to that what was it but a continuall suffering of our punishment by feeling our naturall infirmities both of soule and bodie though still without sinne and all naturall necessitie as in vs that his obedience might be the more euident and acceptable vnto God So that it is no equiuocation in me to call feare and sorrow of minde in Christ sufferings for sinne notwithstanding they were innocent and obedient in him and so parts of his humane holinesse and righteousnesse directly tending to satisfaction for our sinfull disobedience The full price and payment whereof was death the close of mans life which as it was the last so was it the greatest and weightiest part of his obedience and recompence to Gods Iustice for our sinnes but it is an idle vagation in you when you can neither refute nor resist the trueth to make an appeale against ambiguities when you your selfe can neither proue nor dare plainly expresse that you intend f Defenc. pag. 92. li. 21. Sir I hope you will not thinke to beat downe all afore you with nothing but cunning yet vaine deceit countenanced out with cruell and hatefull words You lacke an Ostler to bring you to bed you haue trauelled sore as a man may see by your foming at mouth If I say any thing that I doe not particularize and prooue to be the receiued and publike doctrine of Christes Church agreeing with the Scriptures for many hundred yeeres before your deuice of hell paines in Christes soule was heard of amongst Christians let me lose in Gods name both my labour and my credit with the Reader but if you that stand iangling about proper punishment and meere vengeance for sinne and will not one word further crie out in your passions as sicke men do in their dreames that you are ouerborne with cunning and countenance they are not all wise men that haue parts in playes nor all true men that talke of losing by the high wayes g Defenc. pag. 92. li. 24. Further you are in this your Resolution directly contrary to your selfe as before I haue briefly yet sufficiently shewed So saith he that neither agreeth with the trewth noâ—… with himselfe Ignorance in you is no praeiudice to me much lâ—…sse malitious follie that pronounce before you vnderstand and take nothing right though it be neuer so plainly deliuered In the place where you chalenged my contrarietie I put in a full discharge thereof and here you repeat the very same though you would seeme freshly to find out some solemne matter h Defenc. pag. 92. li. 26. Againe you censure your selfe verie sharply for your resolutenesse in this cause where you say It is curiositie to examine presumption to determine impossibilitie to conclude certainly what was the true cause thereof To affirme euerie thing and confirme nothing is growen now such a trade with you that you haue neither care nor conscience what you say Could you certainly conclude what was the true cause of Christs agonie you The precise and particulaâ—… cause of Christes agonie is not reuealed though the gâ—…nerall occasions may be con iectured were free from this censure but in that you bring nothing besides your owne conceits no way grounded or supported by any euidence of the sacred Scriptures my speech is verified in you that since it is impossible out of the Scriptures to conclude any certaine that is particuler and praecise cause of this agonie which hath so many parts and secrets not reuealed vnto vs it is presumption in you to determine that the present suffering of hell paines from the immediate hand of god was the cause thereof and to call it in question argueth itching curiositie to search for that which is concealed from vs. Why then doe I conclude resolutely that the cause of Christes agonie i Defenc. pag. 91. li 12. could not proceed but from his submission to God or compassion to men or both Doe I conclude any CERTAINE or precise cause in particuler that make so manie diuersities of generall causes that might be as submission to God or compassion on men or both They say bruite beastes doe bewray themselues to want all reason by want of numbering Take heede least if you see no distance betwixt THREE generall heads or occasions of Christes feares and sorrowes and ONE certaine and precise cause thereof men thincke there lieth somewhat els in you vnder a mans skinne For what els should I say to the grossenes of his conceits that hath not learned to vnderstand the difference betwixt three generall disiunctiues and one speciall and certaine aâ—…firmatiue My resolutenes if your Braines were not buzzed with more pride then skill is against your paines of the damned to be suffered in the Soule of Christ since neither damnation nor confusion could take hold of him but they that will not willfully blind themselues as you doe with your presumptuous fansies must beleeue that pietie to god and charitie to men or both led Christ to these feares and sorowes which the Scriptures mention in his agonie though wee cannot precisely pronounce what particular respects mooued eche afsection in him k Dâ—…fenc pag. 92. li. 29. Thirdly where you make but two causes submission to God and compassion to men els where but one religious feare but before you verie precisely made six if you agree no better with your selfe I haue small hope you will agree with vs. To looke for learning wisdome or sobrietie from him that hath none is to looke in vaine Some would seeme rich by often looking on that little which is left when all is spent and you would seeme learned by oftâ—…n telling vs one tale though it containe nothing but lies
v. 17. 18. God willing saith the Apostle more abundantly to shew the stablenesse of his counsell bound himselfe with an othe that by two immutable things his promise and his othe wherein it is impossible that God should lie we might haue strong comfort So that howsoeuer you in your irreligious sophistrie doe say God Omnipotent may inflict damnation vpon men for others If you meane vpon his Elect such as Moses and Paul were whose examples and words you would seeme to follow you defend an open and exact Impossibilitie Note and heresie speaking of damnation as the Scriptures doe and as you doe in this place where you say those holy men Moses and Paul x Defenc. pag. 96. li. 5. Earnestly and constantly wished Gods eternall wrath might come vpon themselues that the Iewes might scape it Will you flie from the elect to the reprobate and say that God may inflict damnation on them for other mens sinnes Then are you cleane gone from your examples of Moses and Paul for they were no reprobates and as farre from all regard of Gods Iustice who eternally condemneth no man but for sinne permanent and inherent as in all the reprobate For though God doe saue without merite for his mercies sake yet he condemneth no man eternally but for sinne and that either committed or inherited y Genes 18. Be it farre from thee saith Abraham to God to slay the righteous with the wicked and that the righteous should be euen as the wicked be it farre from thee Shall not the Iudge of the world doe iudgement If it be simply impossible for Gods elect to perish as our Sauiour witnesseth what hainous and horrrible falsitie and impietie is it to say The Sonne of God might be damned for sinners And though you shift sides and say z Defenc pag. 96. li. 29. Much rather then maâ—… God doe this to Christ yet if you hold either to your former examples whence you deduce this or to your words in this very sentence whence you draw this comparison you must say much rather then may God inflict damnation and his eternall wrath on Christ which whether it may not rightly be called one of your hellish mysteries I leaue to all Christian men to iudge Such wicked obseruations when you make from so weake and false foundations the Reader may soone see what a notable Diuine you are and how likely to teach the truth that pretend Gods power against his will for the vtter ruine os all Religion Christ you say was ordained for that purpose Christ was not ordained to be damned for vs. What to be damned for others or rather to beare the chastisment of our peace that we might be healed with his stripes The Prophet Esay saith he was wounded for our transgressions and bruized for our iniquities But you are the first supplanter of all Patriarkes and Prophets that say Christ was damned for our sinnes You will come in with your temporall and substantiall damnation to which you subiect the Soule of Christ But Sir if you beleeue and teach the same truth which the holy Ghost doth in the word of God Why swarue you so much from the words and grounds of the Sacred Scriptures Why doth nothing please you in mans Redemption but hell and damnation inflicted on Christ where you neuer learned any such lesson out of the Prophets or Apostles And here your abused and vnaduised examples which you pretend for this purpose import no such thing but rather the cleane contrarie For if it were not possible for Moses and Paul euerlastingly to perish because they were elected in Christ how infinitely more impossible was it that Christ should perish in whom all are elected And how Christ could perish but either by the dissolution of his person or else by the ioynt condemnation of the second person in the most glorious Trinitie to the fire of hell I doe not see since these are such blasphemies as hell neuer hatched the like a Defenc. pag. 96. li. 31. That which there you mention is the ordinarie and common rule The Soule that sinneth it shall die but in Christ this was extraordinarie and singular that the iust died for the vniâ—…st The wordes which I cited are sufficient to reprooue the first of your foure notable obseruations as starke false For there God sweareth by himselfe that the b Ezech. 18. Soule which sinneth that shall die and consequently the Sonne shall not beare the iniquitie of the Father neither shall the Father beare the iniquitie of the Sonne much lesse shall Moses and Paul beare the iniquitie of the whole people as you dreame they might And so much Gods answere to Moses importeth * Exod. 32. whosoeuer hath sinned against me I will wipe him and none other out of my Booke As for Christ since he was God as well as man his person could not be tied to the Lawes and Rules appointed for men but what he himselfe would admit in his owne person to that by willing obedience he submitted himselfe namely in his Manhood to die the death of the Crosse for our sinnes according to the Scriptures but not to be damned for vs nor to die the death of the Soule mentioned in the Scriptures to whose Doctrine we must stand and not to your deuices when we speake of Gods iudgements against sinne or of the purgation of our Soules Wherefore that God himselfe by his owne body would be the Price of our Redemption was indeed a thing proper and singular to the person of Christ wherein neither Moses nor Paul could be partakers with him or examples of him and therefore your fitting their prayers to his Passion to make your hel paines thereby possible is a thing far fet no way pertinent to this purpose c Defenc. pag. 96. li 22. I take it plaine enough that these sinned not in their desire and I suppose you take it so too in that you alleadge them and ground your Reasons of comparison vpon them They sinned not because their desires were conditionall submitted to Gods good pleasure with reseruation of their dueties otherwise if they thought that possible which they desired as you doe by their destruction who were the chosen vessels of mercie to excuse the reprobate from damnation deserued by obstinacie and infidelitie they not only erred from the truth but sinned in praying to haue their wils take place before and against the will of God But Moses in loue to Gods glory and care for his charge desired to be partaker of such temporall vengeance as should befall the whole people of God and Pauls words that are potentiall must be conditionall otherwise he needed not to haue said I could wish but I doe wish The which because he doth not but onely shew his desire were it possible and pleasing to God therefore he may be well excused from sinne though you condemne this in him and that in Moses as a d Defenc. pag. 95.
desert of sinne the whole masse of mankind was condemned If the Christian faith permit vs to say that we were condemned before we were redeemed since we could not be redeemed but from condemnation how much more lawfull is it for me to say that euerlasting death was deserued by vs and prepared for vs without Christ since the reward of sinne was first prouided for the diuell and his angels before man fell through his inticements and was neuer since vnprepared d Defenc. pag. 9â—… li. 〈◊〉 The truth is he could not by any meanes pray against that or decline that onely vnlesse he were for the time in some astonishment and perturbation of his senses which by the infinitenesse of that paine he well might be yea he could not but be as is afore shewed to haue hapned in Moses and Paul There is as much truth in this as in the rest of your deuices Here are errors as thicke as hops shuffled in vpon your bare word the proofe whereof you bring after at leasure about latter Lammas 1. That Christ felt infinite painâ—…s of hell which you before named all the whole paines which our sinnes deserued 2. That by the infinitenesse of that paine he could not but be in some astonishment and perturbation of his senses which though here you mitigate with some yet afterward you straine it aboue the extreamest degree of astonishment that might be Your words are e Defenc. pag. 128. li 26. Therefore no maruaile though this astonishment in Christ were farre greater then is to be seene in any man that euer was or shall be Wherein you keepe the Sauiour of the world as long and as often as pleaseth yourselfe 3. That against these paines he could not by any meanes pray onely vnlesse he were thus astonished 4. That Paul in his Epistle to the Romanes expressing his affection for the Iewes was likewise astonished and amazed as not knowing what he said f Defenc. pag. 99 li. 8. This is the very point of our Defence affirme this and you affirme with vs all that we hold and professe When I am out of my wits I may chaunce to hold these conceits with you otherwise so long as God giueth me grace to be soberly minded and well aduised I will see other manner of warrant for all these weafes and straies then you yet shew before I affirme them or professe them g Defenc pag. 99. li. 9. Otherwise if you meane that Christ praied intentiuely to haue the whole and intire cup of eternall malediction and death passe from him which both the elect deserue and the reprobate sustaine that as it is pâ—…ssing strange doctrine so is it simply impossible For he could not intentiuely pray against that nor feare that which he perfitly knew concerned him not at all and by no meanes could euer possibly come nâ—…are him I premonished the Reader that I would there repeate the diuers iudgements of diuers men and so farre admitte them as they might accord with the Christian faith To this opinion of some men that Christ was in his agonie stroken with a feare of eternall death and so might pray against it I gaue two expositions how those words might be tolerated in Christian Religion without apparent impietie The one that h Sermo pag. 23. li. 21. Christ had no neede to pray for himselfe against that cuppe of eternall death but ONLIE FOR VS who then suffered with him in him The other that if we would conioine Christs person with ours feare must there be taken for a shunning and declining of that cup which he i Ibid. pag. 24. li. 10. religiously disliked For k Ibid. pag. 23. li. 29. touching himselfe albeit the innocencie of his cause the holinesse of his life the merite of his obedience the abundance of his spirite the loue of his father and vnity of his person did most sufficiently guard him from all danger and doubt of eternall death yet to shew the perfection of his humility he would not suffer his humane nature to require it on right but prostrate on the earth besought his father that cuppe might passe from him and was heard in that he shunned or auoided I repeate the selfe same words which then I vsed to lett the Reader see that I shift not hands nor change not mindes as there is no cause I should but that this Broker neglecting my manifest limitations to other mens opinions and euident speache as also suppressing my purpose would haue the world beleeue that I graunt Christ doubted and feared eternall death to come on his owne person Which in the maze that you put him in sir defensor might well be since you auouch hee knew not what he praied or els he sinned in praying against the resolute and knowen will of God but by my positions it is impossible that any distrustfull feare of hell or eternall death should fall on the soule of Christ for the reasons there shortly but sufficiently collected by me And this is your idle course throughout your Booke to catch at a word and neuer to regard what goeth before or after be it neuer so plaine and perspicuous to recall your misconstruing my speach Omitte then your wanton rouing or malitious swaruing from my meaning and saying and refute either of these limitations if you can And first least any man thinke I limite other mens words without iust cause I ment herein the words of the Catechisme which you would faine pull into your packe as also of some other writers whose sayings so long as they might be salued with any good construction I thought not fitte to repell as intolerable in Christs Church The Catechisme saieth l Nowels Catechisme Greeke and Latine pag. 281. Christum non communi modo morte in hominum conspectu mulctatum sed et aeternae mortis horrore perfusum fuisse horribiles formidines atque acerbissimos animi dolores pro nobis perpessum et perfunctum esse Peccatoribus enim quorum hic quasi personam Christ us sustinuit non praesentis modo sed futurae etiam aeternaeque mortis dolores atque cruciatus debentur Christ not onely died our common death in the sight of men but was also perfused The Translator of the Catechisme into Greeke allowed as well as the Latin saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 agonized with the horror of eternall death suffered and felt for vs horrible feares and most bitter sorowes of mind For to sinners whose person in some sort Christ here sustained were due the sorowes and torments not of this present death onely but also of future and eternall death Of the paines of the damned really inflicted in the garden on Christs soule by the immediate hand of God and of Christs extreame astonishment for the present Torments therof the writer of the Catechisme knew nothing these deuices of yours are later then the making of that Booke but he speaketh of Christes fearing the infinite wrath of God against
vpon him he might and did iustly feare the power of Gods wrath prouoked with our sinnes which though he were assured could not rage on him vnto condemnation yet God had infinite meanes to presse and punish the humane nature of Christ aboue that it was able to beare And therefore except Christ would contemne the wrath of his father which were impious he was withall possible feare and trembling to deprecate his fathers anger against our sinnes knowing that God would at his most ardent and most suppliant praier both pardon vs and proportion that paine according to the weaknesse of our flesh which he bare about him that neither his obedience nor patience should be ouerwhelmed nor endangered but onely prooued and tried that in all things Christ might shew himselfe a patterne of perfection as well by patience in affliction as by innocencie of life And this feare the more vehement in Christ the more pleasing to God since it proceeded neither from infidelitie nor distrust but from pietie confessing the greatnesse and iustnesse of Gods anger against our wickednesse and vnwoorthinesse and from charitie putting his holy and harmelesse person in the gappe betweene vs and God least the wrathfull displeasure of God lighting on vs should vtterly consume vs. A third cause concurring with the rest of Christes feares in the Garden against Christ might feare the sting of death as horrible to mans nature which he praied might be the naturall abhorring of death which his manhood then had and shewed in priuate because he neither despised that punishment of God laide vpon our sinne which indeed is and ought to be displeasant to mans nature in that it was inflicted on vs for disobedience neither would he suffer his soule or flesh to struggle and striue with death as ours doe when sense and life beginnes to faile in the eies of his persecutors to whom by the present and quiet breathing out of his soule in their sight he would declare himselfe to be the disposer and ruler of death and so more then a man though as a man hee were content to die for our sakes And this kinde of feare verie learned and well redde Diuines agree might be the cause of Christes prayer in the garden to haue the Cuppe passe from him not that he was then amazed and in that astonishment praied against the knowen will of God as you imagine and on that foundation build your conceit of hell paines to be then suffered in the soule of Christ which you thinke excluded both reason and memorie from Christ but that he therein accorded with his fathers will who would haue that Cuppe hatefull and horrible by nature though faith and obedience should ouerrule the feare and sting of death in our flesh and Gods will be preferred before the naturall dislike which he would haue vs to feele of death k Zanchius de tribus 〈◊〉 part 2. li. 3. cap 9. As touching Christes diuine Nature saith Zanchius there was alwaies one and the same will of the Father and the Sonne concerning his death and passion Yea as Christ was man he was alwaies obedient to his Father and therefore he saide I alwaies doe the things which please him What meaning then hath Quod deprecatur mortem calicem that he praieth to be freed from death and from the Cuppe Naturaliter quâ homo expauescebat exhorrescebat fugiebatque mortem Naturally as a man Christ feared abhorred and shunned death his naturall horror of death he called his will when he said Not my will be done to witte this naturall will which I haue as a man Yet neither doth this will of Christ resist his Fathers will for the Father would haue Christ to be like vs in all things sinne excepted and to that end would haue him made Man Therefore when Christ did naturally shunne and desire to escape death he did not contradict his Fathers will because the Father would haue this naturall horror and feare of death to be in Christ as a punishment of our sinnes Wherefore it is altogether false that Christes will in this was diuers from his Fathers will For we haue concluded that this naturall horror of death which Christ called his will was not repugnant to the will of his Father whereby he would haue Christ subiect to this horror If in respect of the same end the Father had beene willing Christ should die and Christ had beene vnwilling or had neuer so little refused then their willes had beene indeed repugnant But in reference to the same end that is to our saluation Christ alwaies had the same will that his Father had For in regard of our saluation Christs will was euer the same and constant but in respect of his humane Nature he neuer put off this affection wherein he was like vs and whereby we naturally flie death By the iudgement of this learned writer the varietie of willes in Christ the one naturally shunning death as in a man like vs the other accepting and desiring it for our saluation was no contrarietie either in it selfe or to the will of God but God himselfe would haue the sting of our common and vsuall death to be grieuous vnto him because it was the punishment of our sinne in Adam and yet obedience to counteruaile that naturall detestation of death when God for his glorie calleth vs to that triall as he did his Sonne in that case The like limitations of Christes prayer in the Garden if it were possible let this cup passe from me other ancient writers deliuered before Zanchius who obserue this expresse condition out of Christes prayer That if it were possible to stand with Gods will and our saluation then Christ prayed the cuppe might passe from him and not otherwise l Orig. in Math. tract 35. Christ taking vnto him sayth Origen the nature of mans flesh retained all the properties thereof according to which he prayed in this place the cuppe might passe from him It is the propertie of euery faithfull man first to be vnwilling to suffer any paine specially that tendeth to death because he is a man and hath flesh but if God so will then to be content euen against that will of his owne because he is faithfull There is also another Exposition of this place which is this If it be possible that all those good things may come to effect without my passion which otherwise shall come by my death then let this passion passe from me that both the world may be saued and the Iewes not perish by putting me to death So Bede m Beâ—…a in 14. ca. 〈◊〉 If death may die without my death in the flesh let this cuppe sayth Christ passe from me but because this will not otherwise be thy will be done not mine And Euthymius n Euthymius in Matth. cap. 26. As a man Christ sayd If it be possible that is so farre as is possible And in saying Yet not as I will but as thou wilt he
teacheth that we must follow the will of God though nature reclaime So that the preferring of Gods will before the desire of his owne nature and the limiting of his prayer with this condition If it were possible not to Gods power but to Gods purpose to saue the world without his death then he desired the cuppe might passe from him prooue apparently that Christ was not onely well aduised in that prayer but he meant to teach vs that neither the power of his enemies did oppresse his weaknesse nor his owne loue leade him to a needlesse death it was rather Gods determined and irreuocable counsell and will that he must die or we must perish By which we learne not Christes inconstancie as of a man amazed but an excellent mysterie of Christian religion that no sacrifice could take away sinne but onely The intent of Christs prayer in the garden the death of Christ on the crosse which he for our sakes earnestly desired though by his thrise declining it if we might possibly be otherwise saued he shewed how painfull and grieuous that suffering would be vnto him We are therefore by the one to collect how intolerable that cuppe would be to his flesh and by the other to beholde his ardent loue to vs and willing obedience to his Father which things if in your conceit they conclude Christ to haue beene therein amazed I shall coniecture that your wits are not to this houre yet well recouered since greater pietie and charitie could not be shewed in that infirmitie wherewith Christ was then compassed and acerbitie of paines to come which he did not dissemble Now let vs heare how you impugne this o Defenc. pag. 99. li. 26. The first of these foure maketh in my minde much for vs. For vnderstanding that Christ tooke all the infirmities and passions whereto mens nature is subiect to the end he might cure all and euerie kinde of them in vs then it followeth that he wanted not the paines and immediate sufferings of paines inflicted by Gods owne hand in his soule It is but your mind that maketh so much for you your collection is otherwise as wide from reason and trueth as any may be For what if Christ taking our nature vnto him tooke therewith all our infirmities and affections which you cunningly call passions a word indifferent to affections and sufferings doth that inferre that he tooke vnto him the paines of the damned because mans nature through the hardnesse of his impenitent hart is subiect after this life by Gods iust iudgement to euerlasting damnation for sinne are your eyes so ill matches that you cannot discerne betwixt naturall affections cleauing to all men from their birth and the reall suffering of hell paines inflicted as you defend by Gods immediate hand on the soules of the faithfull here in this life which in deed are reserued for the wicked in another world are somtimes feared of the godly here on earth when the conscience of their sin through want of faith calleth Gods fauor in question with their owne harts first proue that all the godly haue the pains of the damned inflicted here in this life on their soules by the immediat hand of God for nature is not proper nor priuate to this or that man but common and constant to all men and next that notwithstanding your hell paines thus suffered they are in constant and perfect faith and assurance of Gods fauour and his heauenly kingdome and then you haue some pretence for your purpose which now is none For touching the first I appeale not onely to the Scriptures which teach no such thing but to the consciences and experiences of all the faithfull whether this can haue any trueth in it that the true paines of the damned are really inflicted on all their soules here on earth by Gods immediate hand And secondly when they feele any feare of Gods wrath or doubt of Gods fauour whether that come not through the failing and shrincking of their faith which pressed often with the number of their sinnes feareth least God will visite their offences with a mercielesse iudgement because they haue so greatly prouoked him The feare of hell may iustly make them quake and tremble which they acknowledge they haue worthily deserued and the same terrour doth often though not alwaies pursue the wicked vnto desperation but other torments of hell actually inflicted by Gods owne hand on the soules of all the faithfull as the Scriptures deliuer none so you shall not be able to prooue any common to all mankind though God want not power to punish where and as pleaseth him If therefore you speake of naturall affections they were common to Christ with vs but in vs excessiue vpon euery occasion which in him were moderate till they were inflamed with piety or charitie and then they burned more in him then in vs by reason of his abundant giftes and graces farre passing ours But if you talke of some secret speculations priuate to your selfe and some others of your sort that dreame perchaunce of hell paines both night and day according to your owne fansies then no words of mine nor of any auncient father come neere those deuices of yours which are knowen to no man either by reading or feeling but to such conceiters as you are if happely you doe not belie or deceaue your owne hearts p Defenc. pag. 99. li. 37. This your authors here doe fully affirme Cyrill Ambrose and others as before we haue obserued Mine authors there are easily redde and if any such thinge be there mentioned or thence to be concluded I am content you shall be thought to speake some trueth which is almost a maruaile in you you wrie all things so absurdly to your senselesse fansies Of your fourth argument and of these authors I haue largely deliuered what I take to be true euen in the place where you produced them to this purpose And so I leaue this as lately refuted lest I lengthen the volume to much q Defenc. pag. 100. li. 1. It is most vnreasonable which here you doe if you doe as you seeme to vnderstand them of meere bodilie death and of the infirmities meerelie of his flesh Shew that they name or intend any other death then the death of Christes body on the crosse or els your otherwise conceauing them without any words of theirs is a plaine peruerting them to pull them to your part Of infirmities when they speake they meane naturall such as were no derogations to faith nor hope nor to any other the graces of Gods spirite in Christ and in them all Christ was like vnto vs whether they were infirmities of body or soule Whether feare and sorow be infirmities meerely of the flesh is a doubt fit for Feare may be intellectiuâ—… or sensitiue your discussing they may be sensitiue or intellectiue according to their obiects and in Christ since they were caused by things rather foreseene then felt or at least
impressed in them by Gods power and will though whiles strength and memorie dure they may be so confirmed in their good or euill purposes that they doe not yeeld so long as they can make resistance This naturall horror of death which mans soule hath impressed in her by Gods owne doing if Christ would admit in the Garden priuately before his Father as obedient to his ordinance not openly before his enemies to whom he would shew nothing but patience and constance aboue all malefactors and martyrs what force haue your examples to refute this since Christ voluntarily shewed that in the Garden which the soules of all men naturally doe when the feare or force of death falleth on them k Petri Martyris loci communes class 2. loco 1. sect 51. Omnes pij statuunt in morte irâ—… diuinae sensum esse ideoque sua natura dolorem horrorem incutit quod Christus ipse dum or aret in horto alij multi sancti viri declarauerunt All the godly saith Peter Martyr resolue there is a sense of Gods wrath in bodily death and therefore by the nature thereof it striketh a feare and terrour into vs which Christ himselfe when he prayed in the Garden and many other holy men haue declared To let you farther see that your Malefactors and Martyrs doe not prooue that Christ might not shew himselfe afrayd of death in the Garden though in patience and constancie he exceeded all mankinde when he came to the present feeling of his paines you shall heare the iudgement of S. Austen affirming that Christ by this voluntarie Christ would be like the weake to comfort the weake feare would of mercie conforme himselfe to his weake members for their comfort lest they should despaire when they feele the feare of death oppressing them l August in Iohannem tract 60. Firmissimi quidem Christiani si qui sunt qui nequaquam morte imminente turbantur Sed numquid Christo fortiores Quis hoc insanissimus dixerit Quid est ergo quod ille turbatus est nisi quia infirmos in suo corpore hoc est in sua Ecclesia suâ—… infirmitatis voluntaria similitudine consolatus est c. They are indeed most setled Christians if there be any such which are not troubled when death approcheth But are they stronger than Christ Who will so say though he were neuer so madde What is it then that Christ was troubled therewith but because by the voluntarie shew of his weaknesse he did comfort those that were weake in his bodie which is his Church that if any of his were troubled with the approching of death they should in spirit beholde him lest thinking themselues by this fearefulnesse to be reprobates they should be swallowed vp with a woorse death of desperation And elswhere with admiration of Christes goodnesse for this verie cause m Idem in Iohannem tract 52. O Lord sayth he God aboue vs Man for vs I acknowledge thy mercy for in that thou being so great wouldest of thy loue be voluntarily troubled by n Ibidem taking the affection of thy members thou doest comfort many in thy bodie the Church which are necessarily troubled with this their infirmitie lest by despairing they should perish So that neither of these wayes Martyrs nor Malefactours are stronger than Christ though he feared death which you imagine they do not but Christ either in respect of his Fathers ordinance against sinne shewed that conflict with death in himselfe which the soules of all men haue naturally be they Martyrs or Malefactors before they depart their bodies or els of mercie towards vs he would voluntarily assume our weaknesse in the Garden lest we should despaire when we feele the stroke and terrour of death as by his example on the crosse he ledde vs to immooueable patience and confidence in all our afflictions Some Malefactors you say despise death often smile in their torments Being hardened in their sinnes and obstinate against God they may haue either stupefaction of sense by Satans meanes to encourage others to the like wickednesse by their contempt of death or els obduration in their mischiefe till the time of repentance be past but their soules that so stifly contemne Gods iudgements haue another maner of terror before they forsake their bodies when indeed it is too late for want of sense and memorie to call for grace And the Martyrs themselues as all good Christians that are resolued not only quietly to suffer but to desire death that they may be with Christ are by Gods grace preserued in that minde so long as vnderstanding and faith preuaile but when the powers of the soule are ouerwhelmed by the violent paines and pangues of death she is by Gods ordinance in all mankinde and euen in the All feele the sting of death which Christ expressed before 〈◊〉 aied faithfull suffered to feele the touch and sting of bodily death which is fully knowen to none but to God that ordained it and to herselfe that feeleth it though this agonie of death be shortened or succoured as pleaseth God of his mercie to dispose in euery man and in Gods elect this anguish though it be very sharpe for the time turneth to their good and his glorie God supporting and comforting the soules of his Saints with hope of a better life Your reasons therefore are all idle and impertinent which you draw from the patience of Martyrs or stifnesse of Malefactors For admitting all that to be true which Martyrs by grace and Malefactors of pertinacie performe in their torments whiles strength and memorie serue them yet haue they both their conflicts with death when they can neither speake nor expresse what they feele and malefactors a most fearefull confusion when repentance being past which they neglected their soules are now suffered to see the terrours and torments of hell into which they shall presently depart And this naturall anguish of death which assaulteth all men when the soule feeleth the strangenesse and bitternesse of her diuorce from the bodie Christ might purposely â—…uffer to arise in himselfe in the Garden that tasting it with perfect sense and memorie he might sustaine it with greater patience and obedience though it were very painfull than all mankinde besides o Defenc. pag. 101. li. 20. All your answeare is malefactours are no fit comparison for the sonne of God for they are desperate not hauing any feare or care of God till they feele the force of his wrath in hell fire What an answeare is this The answeare is â—…itter and fuller then your wit serueth you to vnderstand or your learning to refute For this ignorant or desperate contempt of Gods iudgment which you alleage in malefactors Christ might not follow since he rightly discerned and religiously feared Gods displeasure against sinne euen in the death inflicted on the body of man So that Christ shewed an humble regard of Gods punishment with due feare and sorow which
impenitent Theeues and murderers neglect till it be to late and yet when he came to the very suffering of death on the Crosse his silence and patience farre exceeded both malefactours and martyrs The cause of your error is this that you ascribe that to weaknesse of heart and want of strength in Christ which he of humilitie to God mercie to his members voluntarily admitted in himselfe to comfort and strengthen the weake which are not able to imitate his perfection of patience on the crosse p Leo de Passione Domini serm 7. In our basenesse saith Leo Christe was despised he sorowed in our heauinesse and was crucified in our paine For of mercy he tooke vnto him the passion of our mortality to this end that he might heale it and his power admitted it that he might conquere it All thinges in him were full of mysteries and full of miracles q Bernard serm Agnosco planè in duce belli 〈◊〉 trepidationem agnosco agroti vocem in medico agnosco infirmantem gallinam cum pullis confidero charitatem stupeo miserationem 1. de S. 〈◊〉 expauesco dignationem I plainly see saith Bernard citing Christes praier in the garden in the captaine of the field the feare of weakelings I see in the Physician the voice of the sicke I see the hen weake with cherishing her yong ones I consider the loue of Christ I am euen amazed at his mercy and I tremble to see what he voutchsafed for vs. r Defenc. pag. 102 li. 1â—… To leaue these and come to the patience of Martyrs in their sufferings It is admirable what ioy what peace what triumphe they shew in the middest of a thousand most strange and bucherly torments noe lesse if not greater in outward shew then the sufferings of our Sauiour Christe It is farre more admirable in our sauiour Christ that he would be weake for As Christ would be weake to coÌ„fort the weake in the Garden so was be stronger than the strongest on the Crosse. their sakes that were weake when it pleased him before his passion and strong for their example whom he would make strong when he came to the heigth of his sufferings and by either as wel weakenesse as strength teach vs in both to depend on him and not to exalt our selues against him or afore him as you doe Martyrs with your manifold termes and torments And haue not Martyrs thinke you before they depart this life as great conflicts with the paines and horror of death as Christ had any though the wisdome of God reserue the naturall sting of death till the soule fecle her bodily senses and powers ouerwhelmed and her selfe violently forced to forsake her seat in which case she would vtterly faint if she were not supported by the secret goodnesse of God and taken from that conflict in her bodie by the hands of Angels to be brought with ioy to the presence of God s Cyprianus de Passione Domini That feare of Christes in the garden saith Cyprian expressed the common affection of mans infirmitie and the generalitie of all men that liue in the flesh to be vrged with this sorow and that the dissolution of the soule and the body cannot want this griefe Martyrs you suppose want this griefe or willingly endure it but you are deceiued in either of these as in all things els t August in Iohannem tract 123. Si nulla esset mortis vel parua molestia non esset tam magna martyrum gloria If there were no paine or but small pain in death the glory of martyrs would not be so great saith Austen And againe u 〈◊〉 de ciuitate 〈◊〉 li. 13. ca. 11. Tam molâ—…sta mors est vt nulla explicari locutione possit nec vlla ratione vitari So pairfull is death that it can by no wordes be expressed nor by no meanes auoided x Bernard de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quid horribilius morte in morte tam dulce carnis animae vinculum amarissimo secandum erit diuortio What is more horrible saith Bernard then death in death the vnion of body and soule which is so sweete shal be seuered with a most bitter diuorce But martyrs you thincke are willing to endure it they find as much vnwillingnesse in nature as they fiind readinesse in faith or desire in hope saue that in them necessity worketh obedience y August de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 serm 32. mortem horret non opinio sed natura It is nature saith Austen not opinion that abhorreth death Quis enim vult mori prorsus nemo it a nemo vt beato Petro diceretur alter te cinget feret z Ibidem sermone 33. quo tu non vis Who will die by his will vtterly no man and so certainely no man that it was said by Christ to Peter another shall gird thee and lead thee whither thou wouldest not when he went euen to martyrdome Death therefore by Gods ordinance hath in it a sting repugnant to mans nature which all men euen martyrs themselues do feele when the paine is so great that it passeth both their strength and their patience the force thereof seuereth their soules from their bodies albeit in Gods Elect all things turne to their good this agonie of death not excepted in which God supporteth them whiles they haue sense that they despaire not and after some conflict with death taketh their soules from them now ioyfull that they are deliuered and shall be presented to the Throne of Grace This Christ alone of all men was able exactly to know and feele in himselfe before and without the pangues of death not that he was weaker than Martyrs but that all the godly might assure themselues he tasted euen the sharpenesse of death to which they are subiect and is able and willing to sustaine vs and saue vs in the naturall conflict and horrour of death as he did himselfe a Defenc. pag. 103. h. 2. All this other godly men do also suffer and feele which they take passing ioyfully and quietly Who told you that there is ioy and rest in the pangues of death Haue the gates Iob. 38. of death beene opened to you or hath any of the dead certified you what 〈◊〉 there is in â—…euering the soule from the bodie Did God punish Adams disobedience with ioy Martyrs 〈◊〉 ioy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 death but not in death and ease or doth nature abhorre pleasure True it is the godly ought not to be dismayed with the feare of death since it is God that woundeth and healeth killeth and quickeneth bringeth to hell and bringeth backe againe but they must acknowledge death to be Gods punishment on Adams sinne and the straightest gate that leadeth to heauen b 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This punishment sayth Cyprian was layd on all Adams ofspring without exception that the difficultie of the last passage out of this life should be feared Hanc
your vntuned and hie strained cratchets That Christ must and did breake the knot betwixt death and hell which otherwise were fast clasped together and by receauing the one in his owne person did free all his members from the other is no question neither with me nor I thinke with any Christian man The iust vengeance deserued and prepared for sinne which was temporall and eternall death the Redeemer must throughly know least he should ransome vs he could not tell from what Wherefore not your new found hell but the wages of our sinne which was eternall death vsually called hell in the Scriptures might not be hidde from the eâ—…es of Christ but euen the iust and full reward of our iniquities was to be presented to the sight and spirit of the Redeemer that in the presence of God he might behold the waight of our sinne the greatnesse and iustnesse of Gods anger against it and accordingly conceaue how deare the price and how sharpe the paine must be that should quitte vs from this debt and yet how pretious his person and infinite his obedience was that by one death should excuse vs from the other Whether these things were reuealed and shewed to Christ by sight as the terrors and torments of hell might be or by vision or in spirit I dare not pronounce I meddle not so farre with Gods secrets God hath waies enough to propose the Iudgemets of the next world to men here liuing when and how pleaseth him but of none of these might Christ be ignorant least we make him a Sauiour at peraduentures as not knowing all things that directly belonged to his office and sacrifice and to the causes effects of our Redemption That therfore Christ must haue a perfect knowledge and liuely sight and view of all these things pertaining to the waight and burden of mans deliuerance chiefly now when he appeared in Gods iudgement where nothing is couered to performe the fame I may safely grant but that he felt or suffered eternall death or the paines of the damned or the full wages of our sinnes this you shall neuer prooue how much soeuer you presume with licentious but irreligious words to couer it and conuey it into the Creed of Christians k Defenc. pag. 103. li. 29. He did not contemplate and looke on them a farre of nor had to do with one more then the other but by suffering one he felt both and by enduring one he endured both Your speaches are false absurd and impious howsoeuer you will qualifie them when you come to the point with the substances but not with the circumstances of eternall death and damnation First shew that the Scripture teacheth any such thing of Christ The Defender forgeth apace new parts of the Christian faith as that he suffered the second death or the paines of the damned Next that your deuice of this new second death which dureth but for a moment and proceedeth from Gods owne hand agreeth with the word of God And Thirdly that God did thus torment the soule of his sonne with his immediate hand either in the garden or on the crosse All these things are your owne dreames plainly plastered to the Christian faith with figures and phrases of your owne coining and yet you thinke you haue wrong if you be not suffered to change the whole Creede and outface the Scriptures with your idle fansies That Christ should and did suffer a bodily death on the crosse the Prophets did forshew the Euangelists doe witnesse and the Apostles doe confirme That he died the second death in the garden before the first or that this death came to him by fitts and dured but the turning of an hand and was inflicted on his soule by Gods immediate hand as the other death was on his body by the Iewes what Prophet what Euangelist what Apostle did euer teach or write And how hang your owne words with your owne conceits by suffering the one Christ felt both you say and by enduring the one he endured both Then in the Garden when as yet he suffered not the death of the body he felt not your second death and Gods immediate hand did cease if by the one which the Iewes inflicted he endured both If you fly to Christes fearing and apprehending the second death by the first then are you farre from his suffering and enduring it and this apprehension which was not erroneous in Christ as it is in you might offer him a feare of Gods power which is more infinite then the manhoode of Christ could comprehend and so might be terrible to him as it is to all the godly when they finde or feele Gods anger against sinne but it could breed no perswasion or distrust that God would destroy him for our sinnes since he perfectly knew God would saue vs by his sufferings l Defenc. pag. 104. li. Also you forget my argument that Christ alwayes charged his Disciples not to take their bodily death heauily for righteousnesse sake ergo he himselfe would neuer be so dismáyed with the feare of it As I did not professe in my conclusion to refute all your follies which were both trifling and tedious so if I had purposed any such thing I should haue skipped this as an argument rather of your ignorance and vanitie than of any force or veritie For first where did I defend in my Sermons that Christes bodilie death was the cause of this agonie recken my sixe causes on your fingers ends if your memorie be so fickle that refuting them you can not tell what they are and see whether Christes bodily death be any of them or no if it be none how doth this argument conclude any thing against me who shew so many things which might concurre in Christes feare besides his bodily death Wherefore your conclusion if it were good is no way preiudiciall to me nor beneficiall to your hell paines For though Christ feared somewhat els there is a large leape betweene somewhat els and the death of the damned But what was it that Christ willed his Disciples to feare Christ teacheth all his to feare Gods power as himselfe did in the garden Gods purpose meaning to condemne Christians to hell or his power that was able to destroy soule and bodie in hell Did Christ teach in these words a desperation of Gods fauour or submission vnder the mighty hand of God and a religious feare not to displease him To feare religiously not distrustfully Gods power since they were persuaded of Gods goodnesse whom Christ calleth his friends and so not to prouoke him considering the mightinesse of his arme is the summe of Christes doctrine in that place as God himselfe by the Prophet Esay taught all the faithfull saying m Esa. 8. Sanctifie the Lord of hosts and let him be your fearâ—… and let him be your dread A deepe impression of this feare commended to all the Elect whiles heere they liue Christ himselfe might haue and shew in the
and bloudshed on the Crosse shewed in him no paines nor infirmitie but onely that voluntarily he made himselfe there the true Priest and performed the prefigured bloudie and deadlie sacrifice for the sinnes of the world As good reason altogether you haue to say so as to affirme it of his agonie No by your leaue for Christ did not actually offer two sacrifices the one ghostly suffering the paines of hell in the garden as you imagine the other bodily and bloudy yeelding himselfe to the death of the crosse m Heb. 〈◊〉 14 With one oblation he hath made perfect for euer them which are sanctified n vers 〈◊〉 and we are sanctified by the offering of the body of Iesus Christ once made This sacrifice was presented and submitted to Gods will in the garden but finished and consummated on the Crosse which could not be without paines and infirmitie belonging vnto death In the garden where no Scripture saith Christ died I admit not the second death nor the paines of the damned which are thereto consequent And where you say I refuse all paines and infirmitie in Christes agonie it is one of your wonted trueths which in another were an open lie I admit not the paines of the damned or of the second death til you shew where the scripture teacheth that Christ suffered two deaths the first on the Crosse and the second in the garden and that afore the first Otherwise painefull affections of feare and sorow which were humane infirmities though voluntarily and religiously receaued by Christ into his soule I euerie where acknowledge and with Cyprian make them entrances to his oblation for the sinnes of the world o 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vt fieret voluntas Patris sacrificium carnis a timore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suberant victime desolatoriâ—… carbones quos obedientiae liquefactus adeps extinxit 〈◊〉 tâ—…e will of the Father might be donne saith Cyprian and Christ begin the sacrifice of his flesh with feare and sorow consuming coales of feare and sorow in the gardeÌ„ were puâ—… vnder the sacrifice which the sweet fatnesse of his obedience mâ—…lting did quench So that Christ beganne the sacrifice of his body in the garden offering that to be disposed at his fathers will for the life of the world and his entring to it was with feare and sorow the painfulnesse whereof his obedience abolished and so without all feare went to the rest of his suffrings before and on the crosse where he perfected and ended his oblation despising all torments and punishments that the wicked could deuice for him * 〈◊〉 ibidem 〈◊〉 vt sanaret inâ—…irmos timuit vt faceret securos Christ sorowed to heale our weakenesse and feared to make vs secure I beheld 〈◊〉 workes o Lord saith he and admire thee fastened to the crosse betweene two condemned Theeues now to be neither fearefull nor sorrowfull but a conquerer of thy punishments p Defenc. pag. 105. li. 6. You meane voluntarie in such sense that Christmas not also vrged thereunto by any violence of paines and feare procuring it in him naturally I meane by voluntarie that Christ had power enough to resist and represse the vehemency and painefulnesse of these affections 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his affections as â—…e saw cause in him selfe and therefore against or without his will they could not trouble him For 〈◊〉 did not preuaile or exceed in him as they do in vs against our wils but he must be willing to submit himselfe to each affection of feare sorow before they could take hold of him or be grieuous to him Our nature though he tooke in substance yet the corruption and distemper of our sinfull nature he did not take and therfore as before our fall the innocency and rectitude that was in man could guide and gouerne as well the rising as the inflaming of his affections so much more Christ who besides sincerity from sinne and libertie from corruption had the grace and power of Gods spirite aboue measure in his humane nature could so restraine and represse in himselfe all affections of feare and sorow that till he was willing and thought it fitte they neither did mooue nor molest his humane flesh or spirit And when he suffered mans nature in him to feele the same affections that are in vs they were holy and righteous in him declaring his obedience to his Fathers will and not disordered as we find in the corruption of our flesh And where you adde that Christ was vrged to his bloudie sweat by violence of paines or feare procuring it in him naturally you speake not only against the trueth but euen against your selfe For within one leafe after you grant q 〈◊〉 107. li. 16 it was aboue the course of nature led thereunto by Hilaries wordes that it was r Hâ—…lar de Trinitate li. 10. non secundum naturae consuetudinem not according to the accustomed course of nature And indeed how could it be naturall since feare cannot by nature cause a bloudy sweate and of all the men that you imagine did euer suffer the paines of hell you neuer read in the Scriptures or else where that any of them did sweate bloud Now if it were naturall to paine yea to your supposed paines of hell in this life to sweate bloud as many as you vrge suffered the same yea all the members of Christ to whom in these sufferings you make him like must needs at one â—…ime or other sweate bloud as well as Christ. Wherefore it is certaine that either you fitten and faine thâ—…se sufferings in other men or else Christ was not vrged NATVRALLY to this sweate by any â—…eares or paines of hell that oppressed him in the Garden s Defenc. pag. 10. li. 2. Of this Exposition with all the rest you pronounce that they are sound and well agreeing with Christian pietie Yet is it contrarie to your Resolution also yea it is contrarie to the Scripture expressing his feare and vehement sorrowes and discomfort to haue caused his Agonie Your words are of so small waight that a man would skant spare you Oyster-shels vpon your credit You know not the difference betwixt the occasion of Christs sorrow and sweate in the Garden and the exposition of his complaint on the crosse What I say of the one You more then negligently apply to the other As for my Resolution Pag. 290. prooue it contrarie to this position for exposition it is none since it concerneth the cause of Christs sweate and not the sense of his words and you shall after many failes and follies prooue somewhat Otherwise if these things in the Garden concerned Christs priesthood which is mine Assertion in this place I hope his Priesthood prooueth both his submission to God to whom he yeelded himselfe obedient and suppliant and his compassion on man for whose sake he refused not to make a bloudie and deadly offering of his owne bodie which is my Resolution in the Page
crosse top to toe and hanging in that plight now three houres on the crosse when the paine was greatest and himselfe weakest his sense was quickest which could not be ouerwhelmed in him as it is in vs but he endured most horrible anguish all that time and therefore when his patience was at the highest proofe he had more than reason to complaine that he had long beene left in that extremitie without assistance or deliuerance and he that doubteth thereof sheweth that his fansie doth ouerrule his reason and his will doth vndermine his wit b Defenc. pag. 109. li. 35. Note this well that no godly 〈◊〉 nor martyr did euer ascribe thiâ—… forsaking of themselues to God in the time of their martyrdomes But note this better that you auouch a notable â—…alsehood euen against the expresse witnesse of the Holy Ghost When the Angel of God c Iudg. 6. v. 13. appeared to Gedeon and sayd vnto 〈◊〉 The Lord is with thee thou valiant man Gedeon answered Aâ—… my Lord if the Lord be with vs why then is all this come vpon vs did not the Lord bring vs out of Egypt but now the Lord hath forsaken vs and deliuered vs into the hands of the Midianites So the godly by the mouth of Ieremie d Ier. 14. v. 8. 9. O the hope of Israel the 〈◊〉 thereof in the time of trouble why art thou as a stranger in the land and as a strong man that can not belpe thy name is called vpon vs forsake vs not And speaking of the captiuitie of Gods people sayth e Lament 〈◊〉 vers 5. 20. Our necks are vnder persecution we are wearie and haue no rest Wherefore doest thou forget vs for euer and forsake vs so long time Yea the godly in farre lesse afflictions than was Christ on the crosse haue vsed farre more grieuous complaints f Psal. 89. Thou hast reiected and abhorred thine aneinted thou hast broken the couenant of thy seruant and profaned his crowne to the ground Lord how long wilt thou hide thy selfe for euer shall thy wrath burne like fire Now if martyrs doe not confesse before their enemies and persecuters that God hath forsaken them what is that to this purpose so long as they in their prayers to God desire him not to forsake them and their flesh in their torments strugleth and striueth as neither willing nor able to beare the burden Againe Christs praiers made with so loud a voice in the eares of all his aduersaries had an other meaning then to acknowledge as they obiected vnto him that he was indeed forsaken of God which was to hasten now the time of his death for an end God shewed by the present 〈◊〉 that he had not forsaken his sonne of his paines and to besecch his father that had all this while forborne to shew any open signe of liking and loue towards him being so much afflicted and reproched by the Iewes now when he should leaue this life to let them all see how much God regarded and glorified the person of his Sonne both which God accordingly performed for straightwayes with a second prayer Christ commending his spirit into his Fathers hands did voluntarily but miraculously breathe out his soule and g Matth. 27. vers 51. BEHOLDE sayth the Scripture that is immediatly and to all their admirations the vaile of the Temple did rent in twaine the earth did quake the stones did cleaue h 52. and the graues did open which things were so fearefull and wonderful that when i Vers. 54. the Centurion and they that were with him watching Iesus saw the earth Quake and the things that were donne they greatly feared and said truely this man was the sonne of God Here is the intent and effect of Christes complaint on the crosse expressed that when he had now three howres endured most extreame paines in all parts of his body and heard the insolent and pestilent reproches of his persuers obiecting to him that he did falsely call himselfe the sonne of God since in his greatest necessity God did neither deliuer him nor any way regard him he at the time appointed by his father made his complaint to God with a loude voice that they all might heare him that he was now a long time forsaken that is LEFT in this anguish and ignominie without any shew of his fathers loue towards him Whereupon presently Christ before k Iohn 18. Knowing all that should come vnto him and so knowing what should be the issue of this his praier to his no small comfort was permitted to breath out his soule with greate power and the temple the earth the Rockes renting shaking and cleauing asunder gaue manifest testimony to those that watched him that he was the son of God for so much as all these thinges were done at his petition to declare that God had not forsaken his sonne though he suffered him to dy that death on the crosse for causes then to them vnknowen And so this praier which you would haue to be a most mournefull and vncomfortable complaint of inward forsaking in soule and spirit was an effectuall and powerful praier prouoking God his father to demonstrate by most maruailous signes and wonders the exceeding loue and honour that he bare to the tormented and despised person of his sonne This Athanasius obserued before me Loe saith he l Athanasius contra 〈◊〉 oratio 4. vpon Christes speach why hast thou forsaken me the father shewed himselfe to be euen then in Christ as euer before For the earth knowing her Lord to speake straightway trembled and the vaile rent in twaine and the Sunne did hide himselfe and the Rocks claue insunder and the Graues were opened and the dead in them rose And that which was no lesâ—…e maruailous the standers by which before denied him seeing what came to passe confessed him truely to be the sonne of God This Bernard saith was the dereliction that Christ ment in his complaint m Bernardus dâ—… verbis Esaiâ—… Serm. 5. Quasi quâ—…dam ibi derelictio fuit vbi nulla fuit in tanta necessitate virtut is exhibitio nulla maiestatis ostensio There was on the Crosse a kind of forsaking of Christ where there was in so great necessity no demonstrance of his power no declarance of his maiesty n Defenc. pag. 110. li. It is a great shame to imagine that Christ was lesse able to endure such a dereliction or that he would thus complaine and mourne for it onely It is a greater shame and sinne first to mistake and then to disgrace the wordes of Christ. What rule either of reason or pietie could hinder our Sauior when his time drew neere that he would die and ease himselfe of his exceeding paines on the crosse earnestly to call to God euen now to declare which he had all this while refrained what account he made of that person whom the Iewes and Gentils so much despised and oppressed was it any shame
Creed how we were saued and what is the price of our Redemption specially the Scriptures going so cleare with them and they teaching so closely and soundly the trueth there expressed d Defenc. pag. 110. li. 9. These very sentences of the fathers I can easily admit if they import no more then that those outward afflictions on the Crosse were SOME CAVSES AND THAT NO SMAL of his complaint alwaies remembring that some greater cause also did concurre and was conioined with them Then by your owne confession haue the fathers spoken trueth and there was small or no cause giuen you to make so light regard of them As for your other greater cause when you prooue by Scripture as you intend that Christs soule on the crosse suffered the second death and the paines of the damned you shall haue a speciall reseruation that your fansies may be conioined with Christs praiers otherwise your reasons be like your resolutions they haue neither proofe nor strength besides your owne priuate and presumptuous perswasions e Defenc. pag. 110. li. 14. Your third sense if I conceiue it aright is that his being left to bodily death caused him thus to mourne which is but as the last before And yet you seeme to meane not only that but also because his flesh now should want all feeling of his heauenly comfort for that while that it should remaine dead A maruailous exquisite and farre fet cause The sense is neither mine nor so farre fet as you would make it I tooke it out of Tertullian Hilarie and The third sense of Christs complaint on the crosse Epiphanius whose wordes I produced to that purpose and howsoeuer you gibe at it after your scornefull maner I suppose it will prooue sounder then your hellish death which you haue so learnedly deuised out of their words The difference betwixt this and the former sense is not great For there the fathers ment Christ was forsaken that is not deliuered from the rage of his persecutors whiles he liued and these doe adde that he was left vnto death presuming death to be the greatest and most grieuous of all outward afflictions which in this life befall the nature of man f Defenc. pag. 110. li. 19. Yet me thinks as this crosseth your other expositions here so it is flat contrarie to the Scripture also If the expositions were contrary each to other so long as they be sundrie mens and repeated onely by me to shew how many senses haue beene deliuered in the Church of Christ by learned and auncient Fathers touching that complaint or praier of Christ which you would faine abuse to hatch your hell-paines what els note you by their contratiety but the diuersity of mens iudgements vpon these words all which conioined in this against you that Christes complaint on the crosse may diuersly be conceaued according to the different acceptions of forsaking and yet your paines of the damned haue no place in that variety or contrariety of â—…enses But this third sense you say is flat contrarie to the Scripture That were worth the hearing indeed if your foolish conceits were not farre more likely to crosse both themselues the Scriptures then iustly to controle the iudgements of so learned fathers But what is this great ouersight that is so much repugnant to the Scripture the Scripture g Ibid. li. 21. giueth after a sort to Christes dead flesh this LIVELY AFFECTION my flesh shall rest in hope The soule of Christ which was replenished with life trueth and grace as being personally vnited vnto God and of whose fullnesse we all haue receaued you affirme died on the Crosse and none other death then the second death and Christs flesh lying dead in the graue you imagine not only to haue life but to be a liuing spirit For you giue vnto it the liuely affection of hope which nothing hath that is not a liuing and reasonable soule or more You doe it you will say but after a sort That sort is absurd inough of figuratiue speaches in the Scriptures to make positiue doctrines For if you defend that the dead flesh of Christ in the graue had indeed any liuely affection of hope in part or in whole it is a brutish heresie denying that Christ was truely dead and that his body was truely flesh since a liuely hope impoâ—…teth not only life but vnderstanding and faith If you graunt these speaches to be figuratiue then doe you betray your folly to thwart the fathers assertions with figuratiue florishes as if they were proper and to pronounce their sayings flat contrary to the Scriptures because you can pike out a word that in outward shew soundeth somewhat strangely Hope in these wordes of Dauid is either applied to the soule of Christ in respect of the resurrection of his body which he beleeued and hoped for as most assured or if we apply it to the body it noteth safety from corruption and promise made by God of speedie resurrection which was the thing wherewith Christs bodie might be inuested But we shall haue mainer proofe for this matter h Defenc. pag. 110. li. 24. Is it likely is it possible that he should so dolefully mourne that either he should bodily dy or that his body should want the sense of his diuine presence so little a while when as in HIS MINDHE SPEAKETH SO TRIVMPHANTLY of his CONSTANT and CONTINVALLIOY IN GOD yea not excluding euen his body though dead from participating in some sort therein as we read in the former place at large I i Act 2. 26 27. BEHEID the Lord alwaies The Defender 〈◊〉 contradicteth his owne doctrine before me for he is at my right hand that I should not bâ—… shaken Therefore did mine heart reioice and my tongue was glad and moreouer my flesh shall rest in hope Now can a man in this EXCEEDING GENERALL and CONSTANTIOY so vncomfortably mourne in that sense as you vrge My God my God why forsakest thou my flesh it cannot be I would not thinke it likely nor possible if I did not see it before mine eies that such a pert Proctour should so proudly despise all auncient writers and fathers that fauour not his faction and yet so palpably confound himselfe and his whole cause with ouermuch prating For Christian Reader I pray thee take no more but his owne confession or assertion in this place by which he thought to ouerbeare all that stood in his way and obserue both how desperatly he contradicteth himselfe and how sensibly he subuerteth his whole doctrine and his deuice of this new found hell But the lease before he told vs peremptorily that k Pa. 108. li. 8. Christes Godhead as it were withdrawing and hiding it selfe from him for that season of his passion gaue him NO SENSE NOR FEELING OF COMFORT OR IOY in spirit soule or body Now suddainly whiles he eagerly hunteth after his hell paines he not onely falleth ouer head and eares into the myre of contradictions
but he clearely confesseth before hand that all which himselfe will say touching the second death of Christes soule on the crosse is apparantly false doctrine and euidently repugnant to the sacred Scriptures Thou wilt maruaile much at this and so doe I but that Liars are often so earnest to serue their turnes and not the trueth that they forget their former tales whiles they inuent newer As here for example He that would before allow to Christ on the crosse NO SENSE NOR FEELING OF COMFORT OR IOY in spirit soule or body Now vrgeth to promote another purpose Christs EXCEEDING GENERALL AND CONSTANT IOY euen at the same time when he spake these wordes My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and not content with this he addeth that Christ euen then IN HIS MIND SPAKE TRIVMPHANTLY OF HIS CONSTANT and CONTINVALL IOY in GOD and prooueth it by the words of the holy Ghost where Dauid being a Prophet spake concerning Christ on the Crosse that he l Acts 2. beheld the Lord alwaies before him at his right hand that he should not be shaken And therefore did Christs hart reioyce and his tongue was glad Vnderstand you sit faith-maker the difference or repugnance betweene NO SENSE NOR FEELING OF COMFORTOR IOY in spirit soule or body A most shamefull contradiction and EXCEEDING GENERALL CONSTANT and TRIVMPHANT IOY in GOD in the mind of Christ can you read this and not thinke you reele as your reasons doe to and fro can you salue this sore without sweating or make vp this breach without blushing and I pray you since the ground of these wordes is true in that it is the holy Ghosts and you may not flie from your owne inference which you presse so violently against the fathers to beate downe their exposition how could Christs Soule on the crosse IN THIS EXCEEDING GENERALL CONTINVALL CONSTANT and TRIVMPHANT IOY OF MIND suffer also the paines of the damned and the second death wherein IS NO SENSE NOR FEELING OF ANY COMFORT OR IOY IN body soule or spirit Can you hang these gymmoes together that the one shall not crie shamefull and intolerable falsehood against the other the best excuse that I can make for your to saue you from ebriety or frensie is that these things were posted ouer to you from diuers that saw not each others fansies and so without due perusing or remembring where they crossed ech other you patched their papers together with more hast then good speed How beit surely I take it to be a iust iudgement of God when you are diuided from the trueth to diuide either your tongues from your harts or your harts from themselues that all men may learne to take heed how they dally with the Christian faith or delude the Scriptures I thanke God I hate you not so much but for your owne sake I could wish you had beene silenter or circumspecter And see how euill you lucke or at least your cause is For heere haue you spoken enough to confute all that you formerly haue said and afterward will say and yet you haue brought nothing to infringe that which I said For a naturall seare and mislike of death as also griefe and sharpnesse of paine in the body may well stand with a continuall and constant comfort in God yea where grace is present and preuaileth the m 2 Cor. 4. perishing of the outward man bringeth the renewing of the inward man and bitter affliction maketh vs seeke after God and call vpon him the more earnestly for his assistance in which case it is most true that Gods n 2. Cor. 12. power is perfected in our infirmity For when I am weake saith the Apostle in body then I am strong in spirit And if Paul could o 2. Cor. 12. delight in reproches persecutions and anguishes for Christes sake and yet feele the smart of them could not Christ retaine comfort in his afflictions though his flesh were pressed with extreame paine Many thinges more may be strongly alleaged against this opinion With such strength as you haue already shewed whereneither words nor matter shall hang together p Defenc. pag. 110 li. 37. As first that seeing he perfectly knew that as his flesh should now quietly rest so his soule should enioy perfect glory and comfort more then before it did That doth not quench the detestation Was there no comfort in all this which mans nature hath of death euen by Gods ordinance though it comfort and courage the soule in hope of future blisse to indure the paine and horrour of death S. Austen saith q August epistola 120. Nemo vnquam carnem suam odio habuit et praeterea non vult anima vel ad tempus abeius etiam insirmitate descedere quamuis 〈◊〉 se sine infirmitate in aeternum recepturamesse confidat Tantam habet vim carnis animae dulce consortium No man euer hated his owne flesh and therefore the soule is not willing to depart euen from the weakenesse of the body for a time though she beleeue that she shall receiue her flesh againe for euer without infirmity Of so great 〈◊〉 is the sweet 〈◊〉 betwixt the soule and the body And so againe r 〈◊〉 tract in 〈◊〉 123. This affection of mans weakenesse whereby no man is willing to die is so naturall that age could not take it from blessed Peter to whom it was said by Christ when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 old thou shalt be led whither thou wouldest not And to comfort us our 〈◊〉 himselfe assumed and shewed this affection in himselfe when he said Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me So that these respects made Christ the more comfortable in death but by no meanes did vtterly quench the naturall dislike that Christes manhood had and lawfully might haue of death knowing it to be the punishment of sinne and dissolution of our creation though by Gods goodnesse it be now made a passâ—…ge in his to a better life Your next reason is of the same stamp The resurrection of the body maketh no man willing to die if he could with Gods liking decline death but obedience ouerruleth the naturall instinct that God hath impressed in vs to abhorre death And where you take it for a mighty'pillar in your building that Christ s Pa. 111. li. 6. would not so extreamly mourne and complaine only for this cause as my fansie importeth you build but on sand which will haue the greater fall For I shew you many more causes and senses of those words then this only all which you kindly skippe and pretend this only which I neuer professed calling it my fansie that I cited out of auncient and reuerend writers t Defenc. pag. 111. li. 8 Further he knew perfectly that this was the very appointment of God for the obtaining of his most desired purchase of our health for the more aduancing of Gods glorie and for the aduancing of his very manhood Finally it was
his owne most free and fore-determined will would he then so mournefully grieue and complaine thereat It hath no reason nor likelihood in it You runne your selfe out of breath and quite besides the way You shall not need to perswade me that Christ was resolued and willing to die I perfectly beleeue it and easily confesse it but how as he himselfe declared the spirit was willing the flesh was weake The minde of Christ apprehended and persued all these things which you mention but that excludeth not the naturall dislike which Gods will is all men should haue of death This imperfection of mans nature since it pleased Christ to taste as well as the rest of our infirmities and affections you may by no respects nor rewards make the weakenesse of Christes flesh to which he submitted himselfe the Weaknesse appered in Christs flesh but willingnesse in his spirit same or equall with the willingnesse of his spirit which had and shewed the abundance of all grace Wherefore I maintaine both in Christ a voluntarie sense of the weaknesse of our flesh and an heauenly strength of the inward man which expressed but ouerballanced the naturall desire of the outward man in Christ. And still you harpe on that one string which is vtterly out of tune that he would not do it So extreamly and So mournefully This extremitie is only your fansie for I say Christ did it meekely obediently and faithfully assuring himselfe that his Father who all this while had tried his patience would at his prayer not onely end his paine but make heauen and earth to witnesse what account God made of him though for a season he left him in their hands to be made a sacrifice for our sinnes u Defenc. pag. 111. li. 15. Lazarus when he was returned from the ioyes of heauen to take againe his rotten carcase yet he grieued not at it nor ought he so to haue done When you sincke in reasons you ascend to reuelations Who tolde you that the soule of Lazarus was in the ioyes of heauen when Christ raised his bodie from the graue Christ placeth the soule of the other Lazarus that died at the rich mans doore in Abrahams bosome to be comforted and doe you take vpon you to place this Lazarus that was brother to Marie and Martha in the very ioyes of heauen Where was his soule those foure dayes you will aske It is not for you to aske nor for me to answere The things after this life and out of this world it is not lawfull for me or you farder to enquire then the Scripture reuealeth That such as are raised from the dead should be able by experience to report the ioies of heauen or the paines of hell or the secrets of Gods kingdome is a thing not permitted by God as we find by Abrahams answeare to the rich man praying that Lazarus might be sent to his fathers house God hath places and Angels enough to keepe the soules of such as he meaneth shal be returned to this life though it be neither in hell nor in heauen From hell no man is released and from heauen no man is dismissed that hath once seene God face to face When x 1. Cor. 13. that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be abolished sayth the Apostle And will you aduenture to abolish perfection after it is come and to bring men backe to this mortall life that haue seene God in the fulnesse of his glory whom no man liuing can see depriuing them of that vision perfection and brightnesse which the ioyes of heauen haue in them It is an enterprise meet for such an encounterer as you are Paul liuing was taken vp into y 2. Cor. 〈◊〉 the third heauen euen into Paradise where he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he might not vtter Was Paul then in the ioyes of heauen I trow not For he sayth Lest I should be exalted out of measure through the abundance of reuelations there was giuen vnto me a sting in the flesh euen the messenger of Satan to â—…uffit me If the abundance of reuelation would so exalt Paul when he was but taken vp into Paradise that he needed the messenger of Satan to humble him how would the ioyes of heauen and cleercnesse of Gods face beheld in his glory exalt men that should afterward liue againe in this wretched world And therefore this is like the rest euen a bolde assertion of things vnknowen whereas God wanteth no meanes nor places extraordinarie to detaine the soules of such as shall in his counsell returne to this life without knowing the secrets or possessing the ioyes of heauen z Defenc. pag. 111. li. 22. If your Fathers proue any thing towards your meaning it is this because that he complained of his bodily dying Howbeit they say not that he thus complained only and meerely The Defender 〈◊〉 the Fathers proue my meaning for that Neither do I thinke will you plainly holde this NEITHER DO VVE DENIE THE OTHER If the Fathers meaning be which you now consesse that Christ on the crosse complained because of his bodily dying then proue they as much as I produced them sor and your admitting this exposition of theirs sheweth that all this while you idlely sought to subuert their assertion with your strong allegation as you supposed to no purpose since now you denie it not And where you pretend they say not ONLY and meerely for that you come too late with your exception For since Christ made no complaint on the crosse but this My God my God why hast thou forsaken me if in that he complained because of his bodily dying as you do not denie then all proofe for your hell paines out of those words is quite excluded aswell by their opinion as by your owne confession And your making Christs complaint on the crosse to be a Pa. 111. li. 22 improbable yea vnlawfull conuinceth you by your owne mouth that within the compasse of fiue lines you are contrary to your selfe and charge Christ with vnlawfull mourning which amounteth to as much as sinfull As for mine opinion what respects Christ might haue in that complaint of his I haue before deliuered so that your so grieuing and so mourning only and meerely for that is but a sillie refuge when you can not otherwise resist the trueth b Defenc. pag. 111. li. 32. 28. These Fathers had no purpose here to exclude the suffering of Christes soule but only to denie that his Godhead suffered They stroue here with heretikes whose controuersies were farre from our question Indeed the heretikes against whom they wrote tooke great holde of these places on which you build your hell paines and because they were Heretikes alwayes vrged the same places whiâ—…h the Desender doth somewhat darke and doubtfull they stumbled many weake Christians with them euen as you doe Their purpose I know was to proue Christ no God in nature because he feared and sorowed in
the Garden and complained on the Crosse as if he were forsaken which things they thought vnfit for him that was God The Fathers to repell their heresie and to open this obscuritie insist plainly on these points that the Mediatour must be God as well as man and that the Godhead of Christ incarnate was impassible and could not suffer any violence or change but his manhood might and did suffer somethings in soule as feare and sorow and somethings in bodie as paines and death But generally when they speake of death they neuer intend as you doc the death of Christes soule as well as of his bodie but they meane plainly the death of the Crosse described by the Euangelists which is farre from the second death or the death of the damned c Defenc. pag. 111. li. 36. The very same doth Hilarie also where he sayth that this in Christ was Corporis vox The outcrie of his bodie he plainly meaneth it of his whole manhood the opposition being betweene it and his Godhead as the Scripture often doth If your authoritie be such that you may take bodie for soule and life for death where you will you may soone make a shew that the Fathers intend nothing against your doctrine but if you must proue it as well as say it then is it the most riotous and most ridiculous course that can be to take one contrarie for another for so you may proue darknesse to be light vice to be vertue falshood to be trueth and infidelitie to be faith What the Fathers taught touching the death of Christes soule when we come to the place we shall plainly see by their owne asserting and not by your peruerting in the meane time you were best bring stronger proofes than these that you will take the bodie for the soule if you meane to conclude any thing out of the Fathers for your croslegged doctrine d Trea. pag. 9. The Scripture often doth the like you say as you haue shewed in your Treatise There you haue childishly abused a number of Scriptures and yet no way prooued that any where the bodie signifieth the soule or standeth for the soule That the soule is a consequent to the bodie and the bodie likewise a consequent to the soule wheresoeuer The sâ—…ule is a câ—…nsequent to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but no part of it the Scripture speaketh of men liuing heere on earth is a sure and safe rule because no man heere liueth that doeth not consist of soule and bodie yet that is no proofe that what is attributed to the bodie must be verified of the soule much lesse that the one must be taken for the other Looke but to your owne examples where bodie is named e Rom. 6. Let not sinne reigne in your mortall bodies sayth the Apostle If here you will comprehend the soule vnder the name of the bodie you must grant in exact words that the soule is mortall which is an open heresie destroying the summe and effect of the Christian faith Againe f 1. Cor. 6. Euery sinne that a man doth is without the body but the fornicato-sinneth against his owne bodie If in this place the bodie conclude the soule then euery sinne saue fornication is without soule and body and consequently no sinne which is a doctrine a man would thinke meet for no Diuine The third instance which you bring hath not so grosse sequels but as plaine falshoods g Hebr. 10. Sacrifice and burnt offerings thou wouldest not but a bodie hâ—…st thou ordained me whereof the sacrifices offered by the Law were h Ibid. vers 1. shadowes Now did the bodies of beasts slaine or their bloud shed prefigure the Soule of Christ or the death of his bodie These be the places on which you build your vnsound obseruation that the Scripture doth often take the bodie for the soule which are so sensibly false that they need no Refuter But we reason of death which seuereth the soule from the bodie and therein to say the bodie must be taken for the soule is a very sincke of sottish absurdities and falsities For what can be more repugnant to trueth and sense than to take a dead bodie for a liuing soule and when they are so farre seuered by nature to say they must agree in name and the one be called the other Peruse now the Fathers which you would faine wrest to your purpose and see whether they doe not flatly contradict your deuice that the body in their speaches must be taken for the whole man and so the death of Christes body for the death as well of soule as of the body Epiphanius is the first that you would frustrate with your deuices and the first that shall conuince your falshood He saith the manhood of Christ spake these words Now seeing the deity together with the soule moouing to forsake his sacred body What death call you that where the soule moueth and forsaketh the body then in that complaint of Christs the thing forsaken was his body alone by the iudgement of Epiphanius and the deity i Epiph. contra 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 69. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 together with the soule did mooue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to forsake that sacred body Which way doth this prooue the soule or the whole manhood of Christ to be forsaken when Epiphanius expresly saith the deity with the soule did mooue to forsake the body Hilarie is the next whom you would infect with your fansie but finding no words in him meet for your matter you are forced shamefully to misconster the body for the soule and the death of the one for the death of the other which is all the hold you haue in Hilarie though you lustily would beare out the rest with the copy of your countenance Notwithstanding Hilarie doth not only preuent but also refute your mistaking For in plaine words he saith k 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 10. Querela derelicti morientis infirmit as est traditio spirit us morientis excessio est The complaint of Christ that he was forsaken was the infirmity of one dying the yeelding vp his spirit was his departure hence when he died And againe Tradens spiritum mortuus est Christ died by deliuering vp his spirit Sepultus est Christus quia mortuus est mortuus autem est quia moriturus locutus est Deus Deus meus quare me dereliquisti Christ was buried because he was dead and ready to die he said My God my God why hast thou forsaken me So that Christes death when he spake those words was not past nor present but then to come as Hilarie noteth by the future tence and was the deliuering vp of his spirit into his fathers hands I trust you dare not defend that Christ in or after the deliuering vp of his spirit suffered the paines of hell or the second death and yet saith Hilarie those words Christ spake of his death that was to come Tertullian is the last whose words though
you mightily mistake mistranslate yet make they nothing for you but against you directly Writing against Praxeas that denied the Father and the Sonne to be two distinct persons and taught that the Father became sonne to himselfe l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ca. 2. and was made man and crucisied after many proofes to shew the person of the sonne to be different from the person of the father he citeth those words of Christ on the crosse My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and saith m Ibid. ca. 30. hâ—…c vox carnis animae idest hominis non sermonis nec spiritus id est Dei propterea emissa est vt impassibilem Deum ostenderet qui sic filium dereliquit dum hominem eius trâ—…didit in mortem Caeterum non reliquit Pater Filium in cuius manibus Filius spiritum suum posuit Denique posuit statim obijt Spiritu enim manente in carne caro omnino mori non potest Ita relinqui a Patre fuit mori filio This voice of the flesh and soule that is of the man not of the word nor of the spirit that is not of God was therefore spoken to shew that God is impassible who so left his sonne whiles he deliuered his manhood to death Yet the Father did not altogether forsake the sonne into whose hands the sonne breathed out his spirit For he breathed it out and straighâ—…way died Whiles the spirit remained in the flesh the flesh could not die at all So that to be forsaken of the Father was in the sonne to die Here are the words of Tertullian in order as they stand Where it is euident that he affirmeth no death nor forsaking in Christ but only that when the spirit left the body His words are plaine The Father forsocke not the sonne into whose hands the sonne deposed his spirit For he laid it downe and died So to be forsaken of the Father was this for the sonne to die by laying downe his spirit or soule as before he prooueth Christ did Then suffered Christ no death of the soule since he died not till he breathed out his spirit into his fathers hands and other forsaking the sonne felt none then so to die by the separation of his soule from his body Now touching the voice of the soule and the flesh whereof Tertullian speaketh What forsaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of either he maketh three parts in man as the Apostle doth Thess 1 5. verse 23. the spirit the soule and the body and then the soule noteth the operations of life and sense which were to cease for the time by death or els he affirmeth this voice came from both soule and body because the soule was to be separated from her body by death as well as the body to be left dead both which are a kind of forsaking Other death he nameth none here then to die by breathing out the spirit And so long as the spirit abideth in the flesh the flesh he saith cannot die at all Christ therefore endured no death whiles his spirit did abide in his body and consequently no death of the soule and when he breathed out his spirit he straightway died which was the forsaking that he complained of in those words So that all your collections heere out of Tertullian are your additions to Tertullian and not so much as one of them to be found or fet from his text He speaketh not a word that Christ n Defenc. pag. suffered in both these parts from his father nor that this death or forsaking o li. 15. was ment of the flesh and of the 1 12. li. 20. soule as you falsly translate him And as for Tertullians confirming that p li. 26. heresie of Christes being no true naturall man except Christ suffered q li. 23. the stroke of Gods hand in his soule as the proper vengcance of sinne this is your blinde deuice absurdly foisted into Tertullian without any word or letter sounding that way r Defenc. pag. 112. li. 31. This dereliction of which he speaketh is more 〈◊〉 the separation of the soule and bodie euen the separation of the deitie from the whole manhood which is the death of the soule I speake nothing here but the Fathers words yea the Scriptures Your setting vnto Tertullian Tertullian nameth no death but of Christes bodie your owne sense is an impudent attempt and the weakest argument that can be when you tell vs he meaneth so though he speake not one word touching the death of the soule but as exactly as he can or should nameth the death of the bodie by this that he sayth Denique spiritum posuit statim obijt Spiritu enim manente in carne caro omnino mori non potest Christ layd downe his spirit and straightway died For whiles the spirit remained in the flesh the flesh could not die at all What was it to lay downe his spirit into his fathers hands as the Scripture speaketh of Christ on the crosse but to die the death of the body Those very words Tertullian here citeth and vseth and thereby prooueth the Father had not inwardly forsaken the sonne since the sonne by the manifest words of himselfe reported in the Euangelist commended and yeelded his spirit to his fathers hands So that against the death of the soule Tertullians words are pregnant for how did the soule die that was commended into Gods hands and other death Tertullian nameth nor meaneth none but only this Denique spiritum posuit statim obijt Christ laied downe his spirit into his fathers hands and straightway died As for your speaking nothing heere but the fathers and the Scriptures words beware you take not vp the Diuels trade to keepe their words and peruert their sense It is no great mastery to abuse mens words yea the word of God which all Hereticks haue euer drawen to their owne false and wicked purposes s Defenc. pag. 112. li. 34. Your owne place of Epiphanius saith that now his deity departed from his manhood So saith your owne Hilarie also Corporis vox contestata recedentis a se Dei dissidium So saith Ambrose clamauit homo diuinitat is separatione moriturus The man Christ did crie being about to die by the separation of his Godhead You alleage three places to this purpose and either corrupt or peruert all three most apparantly â—…piphanius saith that Christs deity TOGETHER WITH THE SOVLE departed from his sacred body which is as plaine a description of bodily death as may be vttered You leaue out the words TOGETHER WITH THE SOVLE as crossing your course and turne the body into the soule meaning by this corruption to load Epiphanius with a sense cleane contrarie to his owne Hilaries words spoken of Christes body you enlarge to the whole manhood of Christ and thence conclude directly against Hilaries meaning and words that the deity departed from both where as Hilarie professeth of Christ t Hilarius
de Trinitate li. 10. Derelinqui se ad mortem questus est sed TVNC confessorem suum secum in Regno Paradisi recepit Christ complained that he was forsaken or left vnto death but EVEN THEN he receiued the Thiefe that consessed him into the kingdome of Paradise iointly with himselfe Ambroses words are u Ambros in Luc. li. 10. de commendatione spiritus in 〈◊〉 Patris Clamauit homo diuinitatis sepâ—…ratione moriturus The man Christ cried not then dead in soule when he cried as you would haue it but ready to die or that after should die when he yeelded his spirit into his fathers hands The very next sentence before sheweth that this departing was of the diuinity from the body to leaue that vnto death x Ibidem Euidens manifestatio contestantis Dei secessionem diuinitatis corporis A manifest speach of God witnessing the departure of his diuinity from his bodie So that by no meanes Ambrose euer imagined that Christes soule died but as he expresseth himselfe in the same Chapter y Ibidem Caro moritur vt resurgat spiritus Patri commendatur vt pax fuerit in Caelo The flesh dieth that it might rise againe the spirit is commended to God the father that peace might be established in the heauens Thus shortly haue you taken the paines to produce three Fathers for the death of Christes soule and haue as shamefully peruerted and inuerted euery one of them which is no newes with you and yet all that you can conclude out of them may amount to a pestilent heresie if you will that the vnion of Christes person was dissolued for the time of his death but it can neuer inferre any thing pertinent to your purpose z Defenc. pag. 113. li. 4. Here the Fathers do sâ—…ew indeed that Christ died but more than a meere bodily death euen the death of the soule also Heere the Fathers are exquisitly belied and falsified otherwise that Christes soule died they offer neither word nor syllable sounding that way And though you can not speake trueth in so false a cause yet you should learne to speâ—…ke coherently You grant they auouch here that Christ died the death of the bodie and more euen the death of the soule also whereas it is euident by the words of the holy ghost as also by your owne positions that Christ neither did nor could die these two deaths at one time For by the manifest witnesse of the Euangelist Christ a Luc. 22. 〈◊〉 his spirit into his Fathers 〈◊〉 and so died Then most certeinly the soule of Christ was accepted and receiued into the hands of God which I trow is life and not death when the bodie was left to death Wherefore if their words concerne his bodily death they by no meanes admix the death of the soule since they all affirme aâ—… the Scripture doth that Christ committed his soule to his Fathers hands and so died of which death they say he spake in those words Why hast thou left me that is to die as they expound it Now if you affixe any death to the soule of Christ I hope you will free him from it before he commended his soule into his Fathers hands And so the one must be ended before the other could enter and consequently if they spake of the latter their words haue no intent to implie the other But what dispute we of their meaning when their words are so manifest that you can not hale them to your hell-paines but by shamefull corrupting of their sentences and wilfull misconstruing the bodie for the soule b Defenc. pag. 113. li. 6. What is the separation of the deitie from his soule els but the death of his soule Which of these Fathers doth auouch the separation of Christes deitie from his soule Is it so small a mote in your eye that Christes deitie was separated from his humane soule that you may loosely and lightly surmise it by disordering and altering other mens words At this speech of Ambrose you could not so grosly haue stumbled had you but read the Master of the Sentences who long since in one whole distinction of his third booke examined those words and answered as the trueth is that separation in that place was taken for want of protection and withholding Christes power whiles the bodie died c Sententiarum li. 3. dist 21. Separauit se 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subtraxu protectionem Separauit se foris vt non esset ad defensionem sed non 〈◊〉 defuit ad vnionem Si non ibi cohibuisset potentiam sedexercuisset non 〈◊〉 Christus The deitie seuered it selfe because it withdrew protection It separated it selfe outwardly not to defend but if failed not inwardly to continue the vnion If it had not refrained but exercised power Christ could not haue died Theodoret calleth this dereliction d In Psal. 21. The permission of the deitie that the humanitie might suffer And Isychius sayth e 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 li. 5. ca. 16. Diuinit as abijsse dicitur cohibens propriam virtutem ex humanitate vt daret spacium Passioni Christs deitie is sayd to depart by withholding his owne power from his humanitie that he might giue time to his Passion Otherwise it is a certaine truth which â—…ulgentius teacheth f Ad 〈◊〉 lib. 3. Licet in Christi morte carnem morieâ—…tem fuisset anima desertura diuinit as tamen Christi nec ab anima nec à carne posset separari suscepta Though in Christes death the soule were to forsake the bodie dying yet the deitie of Christ could not be seuered from the soule nor from the bodie once assumed g Defenc. pag. 113. li. 7. Howbeit note I pray that neither the Fathers nor I do meane any separating of the vnion of both natures in Christ nor the separating of any holinesse or habituall grace of God from his soule nor the separating of Gods loue from him but the separation of all comfortable feeling and assistance of the Godhead This separation is meant and may be called the death of the soule If you separate none of these what then is it that you separate from the soule of Christ to proue it dead All comfortable feeling and assistance of the Godhead He knew himselfe to be personally God and man he saw his soule full of all truth and grace he was assured the loue of God towards him could neither faile nor change he knew that his obedience and sacrifice were acceptable to his Father and should be the redemption of the world and he was most certaine that the third day he should rise againe into immortall and celestiall glory hauing men diuels and angels euen all things in heauen and earth subiect to his manhood Were all these no comforts or was there no assistance of the Godhead in these Nay take but your owne words a little before that Christ on the crosse euen when he complained of his forsaking was in h Pag.
much deceaued when he said vnto him that stood there in presence Thou art the sonne of the liuing God and Christ himselfe was more then deceaued when he answered s Matth 16. Blessed art thou for flesh and bloud hath not reuealed it vnto thee but my Father which is in heauen Then speaketh not Athanasius of Christs diuine nature but of his person which was t Athanasius contra 〈◊〉 serm 4. ALWAIES in his father that is before he spake those words and after And euen when he spake those words the father declared saith Athanasius by the miracles presently following that he was THEN ALSO in his sonne incarnate as euer before Doth not this directly conclude that Athanasius intended God was in the speaker of those words euen when he spake them and that at no time the father forsooke the person incarnate no not when he spake those words since God to shew that he had not forsaken him who then spake vnto him made heauen and earth to witnesse how much he esteemed the person that so complained u Defenc pag. 113. li. 35. Touching Christs humanity Athanasius denieth not but God might for sake it for so the Scripture saith The question is not for the word but for the sense You finding the word of forsaking to be vsed in the Scripture put what sense you list to it and thence would prooue the death of Christs soule with as strange positions as the maine error it selfe For you grant Christs manhood was not forsaken neither of Gods FAâ—…OVR nor GRACE nor of continuall and constant ioy in God much lesse of What contrarieties the Defender is driuen to the fulnesse of Gods spirit which rested on him and yet you say he died the death of the soule for want of comsort As if there were no comfort neither in the grace nor in the fauour of God nor in the ioies of his spirit nor in the hope of his promises all which were most assured to him to the highest degree that any creature was capable of Did you meane that he had no ease of his paines nor end of reproches whiles he liued as also no deliuerance from the hands of his persecutors nor protection from death all these might be borne with since the Scriptures giue manifest testimony that these things he suffered till he died but these things that are true will not serue your turne you vrge his soule died because he had no heauenly life such as he tasted in his transfiguration where x Matth. 17. his face did shine as the 〈◊〉 and the clothes were as white as the light which prooueth his soule to be no more dead in his passion then it was all his life long besids and that will no man in his right wits auouch of Christ or of his Saints here in earth y Defenc pag. 114. li. 1. 4. Your fift exposition is Leos conceit without warrant farre fetcht hardly applied Origen is also here as weake Pricke on in your pride despising all the world besids your selfe and skorning euery mans opinion that hitteth not right with your fansie though The fift sense of Christes complaint on the crosse few men speake or write so absurdly and falsly as you doe Leos exposition vtterly subuerteth your hellish assertion and that maketh you fling it away with such disdaine as you doe Otherwise it hath more vicinity with the circumstances of the text then yours by many degrees For there is nothing in Leos interpretation which accordeth not with the Christian faith and hath his foundation in the very words of the sacred Scriptures in both which your hellish and harrish application faileth He saith z Leo de Pass Dom. serm 16. Vox ista doctrina est non querela those words were an instruction not a lamentation And his reason is past your refuting Cum in Christo Dei hominis vna sit persona nec potuerit ab eo relinqui à quo non poterat separari pro nobis trepidis infirmis interrogat cur caro pati metuens ex audita non fuerit Since in Christ there was but one person of God and man he could not be for saken of him from whom he could not be seuered he ASKETH for our sakes that are fearefull and weake why flesh fearing to suffer was not heard Which of these things can you refell with all the witte in your head the coniunction and communion of both natures in one person of Christ you were not best meddle with lest you sowe damnable heresies as thicke as you haue done notable absurdities He saith further Cur for quare and non exandities for relictus Aske the Boyes in Pauls schoole what difference betwixt cur and quare both signifying WHY and being both interrogatiues as Leo rightly obserueth concurring with that of Saint Austen who said as we haue heard before a August epist. 120. Causam commonuit requirendam cum addidit vt quid dereliquistime Christ warned them to search for the cause when he added WHY HAST THOV FORSAKEN ME His exposition of the word forsaking he taketh out of the very Psalme whence Christ cited the rest For so Dauid ioined them together My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and art so farrc from sauiâ—…g or deliuering me I crie by day and thou hearest not So that not to heare and not to deliuer is the forâ—…aking which Dauid ment in that place and which in all likelihood our Sauiour intended as Saint Austen thinketh if he spake of his owne person b August Ibid. Quare me dereliquisti tanquam diceret relinquendo me hoc est non me exaudiendo longè factus es à salute mea praesenti scilicet salute huius vitae Why hast thou forsaken me as if he should haue said leauing me that is not hearing me thou art farre from sauing me to wit from the present safety of this life So saith Leo. c De Passione serm 16. In ipso tantae victoriae exaltatus triumpho causam rationem qua sit relictus id est non exauditus inquirit Christ exalted in the triumph of so great a victory inquireth the cause reason why he is forsaken that is not heard The reason therof he giueth soberly learnedly and truely howsoeuer your humour like it not d Idem de Pass Dom. serm 17. That the Lord should be deliuered to his passion it was as well his Fathers will as â—…is owne vt 〈◊〉 non solum Pater relinqueret sed etiam ipse se quadam ratione desereret That not only the father might leaue him but that after a sort he should forsake himselfe not by any fearefull shrincking but by a voluntary cession For the power of Christ crucisied conteined it selfe from those wicked ones and to performe his secret disposition he would not vse any manifest power He that came by his passion to destroy death and the author of death how should he saue sinners if he would
haue resisted his pursuers And touching that kind of forsaking which you dreame of he saith e Ibidem Iudâ—…orum hoc fuerit vt Iesum crederent a Deo relictum in quem tanto scelere saeuire potuissent qui sacrilega illusione dicebant alios saluos fecit seipsum non potest saluum facere Let vs leaue this to the Iewes to thinke Christ forsaken of God on whom they could execute their rage with such wickednesse who sacriligiously deriding him saied he saued others he cannot saue himselfe He was then forsaken of his father when he was deliuered into the hands of the wicked that is he was not defended from them yea he would forsake himselfe that is he would vse no manifest power against them but willingly yeelded himselfe into their hands to suffer what they would This is the forsaking saith Leo which the Scripture alloweth That other sort of forsaking that God indeed had left him would not help him in his good time that is rather the perfidiousnesse of the Iewes which obiected so much vnto him then the faith of Christians Origen you say is here as weake and why because you say the word you take vpon you like a Iudge to set downe your vnwise censure on euery mans words you take not the paines to refute them by any colour or shew of reason Origen saith that f Origâ—…n 〈◊〉 Matth. 〈◊〉 35. Christ was forsaken of his Father when he tooke vnto him the forme of a seruant and came to the death of the crosse which amongest men seemed most shamefull Then maiest thou plainly vnderstand what he ment when he sayd why hast thou forsaken me comparing that glory which he had with his Father to this shame which he despised enduring the Crosse. Tell vs not what you will mislike but what you can refute in this saying And since you require the reasons of all other mens speaches and thinke your selfe priuiledged to speake without all reason what say you which was the greater abasing or forsaking for God to lay aside the power and glory of his maiesty and to take vnto him the shape of a seruant and therein to die the shamefull death of the crosse or for man to want comfort in his affliction which was the greater emptying or humbling himselfe in Christ If Origen in this point be weake the Apostle is as weake who nameth this as the greatest g Phil. 2. EXINANITION that Christ endured saying he being in the forme of God that is equall with God emptied himselfe and tooke on him the forme of a seruant and humbled himselfe and became obedient to the death euen the death of the Crosse. Origen goeth right with the Apostles words and saith this was the greatest dereliction or humiliation that Christ suffered and before you can with any reason controle this speach you must correct the Apostles text and in steed of the death of the Crosse put in the death of the damned which is a mystery the apostle neuer heard nor spake of Origen therefore concludeth h Origen vâ—… supra Vnde non estimes more humano Saluatorem ista 〈◊〉 propter 〈◊〉 quae comprehenderat eum in cruce Wherefore thinke not our Sauiour spake this after the mâ—…ner of men for the calamity which apprehended him on the crosse For so if 〈◊〉 take it thou shalt not seeke for things worthy his diuine voice i Defenc. pag. 114. li. 6. Also these senses be contrary to all the rest here obserued If they were what is that to the goodnesse of your cause Is it such newes that diuers men should make 〈◊〉 senses of some places in holy Scriptures If there be so abundant and different meanings of these wordes then your conclusion of hell-paines out of that complaint is more than crackt What warrant haue you but your owne will to make any such construction of Christes words And the word forsaking hauing so many degrees respects and diuersities as wee see by these learned Fathers you must proclaime your selfe more than a Patriarke euen a Pope that must haue and will haue the sense of holy Scripture shut vp in the closet of your owne brest before your inference of hell-paines suffered in the soule of Christ will be consequent to these words k Defenc pag. 114. li. 7. Your sixth and last sense is likewise contrary to the rest and as improbable in it selfe or more than the former That Christ should here cite the beginning of that Psalme onely to shew the Iewes that their wrongs towards him were prophesied of before This alreadie I The sixt sense of Christs complaint on the crosse fully answered which you refute not What should I refute a brainsicke Presumer of his owne ignorant conceit and a proud despiser of all other mens words and reasons This you say you haue alreadie fullie answered in your Treatise If you had sayd foolely I might the sooner haue beleeued you for what is there in that answere but extreame pride and follie All your answere is l Trea. pa. 66. li 31. Which sense is most absurd What patch can not presently giue this answere to any thing But more fully you say m Ibid pag. 67. li. 7. This is too fond to be spoken Such liquor doth rellish well your lippes All mens sayings are fond to a foole saue his owne which are most foolish of all I brought you the iudgements of Ierom and Chrysostom and all the answere you vouchsafed vnto them is that which I now repeat which whether it sauour of any sobrietie I relinquish to the Reader But you adde a reason thereof in your Treatise Such as would make a man sicke to heare an idle companion prate so boldly and loosely Your reason forsooth is for so you will haue it called n Ibid. pag. 66. li. 32. As if when they had mocked and reuiled him at noone or before he would then three whole houres after tell them of such an answere in the Prophet As if you stood by and kept the Register when they left mocking and deriding Christ on the crosse That he was crucified about mid-noone and spake these words about the ninth houre which was three of the clocke after noone the Scripture doth witnesse but how long they continued their scorning and scoffing at him no Scripture doth limit Saint Matthew nameth the high o Matth. 27. vers 41. Priests with the Scribes Elders and Pharises the p 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that were crucified with him and such as q 〈◊〉 passed by reuiled him wagging their â—…eads and r 〈◊〉 saying Thou that destroyest the Temple and buildest it in three dayes saue thy selfe If thou be the Sonne of God come downe from the crosse S. Luke addeth That s Luc. 22. v. 35. the people which stood and beheld mocked him as well as the Rulers and the souldiers also mocked him and came and offered him vineger How long this continued from all sorts standing and passing by
words of Christes sorow and feare or astonishment vsed by the Euangelists S. Ierom saith p Hieronym in Matth. ca. 26. Caepit contristari aliud est enim contristari aliud incipere contristari Christ began to be sorowfull for it is one thing to be sorowfull and another thing to begin to be sorowfull And so Origen q Origen in Matth. tract 35. Capit pauere vel tristari nihil amplius tristitiae vel pauoris patiens nisi principium tantum Christ began to be afrayd or to be sorrowfull suffering no more but onely the beginning of feare or sorrow And consider sayth he r Ibidem the Euangelist sayth not he was afrayd or he was loaden with sorow but he beganne to be afrayd and sorowfull There is great difference betwixt sorow and the beginning of sorow And so he expoundeth Christes words My soule is heauie vnto death that is Heauinesse is begunne in me so that I am not altogether without some taste thereof The continuance thereof the Scripture noteth not to be such that either bereaued him of memorie or hindred his prayers for both he persisted in earnest and humble Christ did not pray in astonishment prayer wherein he was heard and carefully warned his Apostles that were with him to watch and pray that they entred not into temptation Now prayer requireth not vnderstanding and memory alone but faith also Of euery man that would pray Saint Iames sayth s Iames 1. Let him aske in faith and wauer not for he that wauereth is like the waue of the sea tost with the winde Neither let that man thinke he shall receiue any thing of the Lord. And where by these tastes and touches of feare and sorow you would insinuate your hell paines partly felt and partly further to come S. Austen telleth you that t August 83. quâ—…st quâ—…st 33. cognitu facile est nullum metum esse nisi futuri imminentis mali it is easie to know there is no feare but of future and imminent euill As also u Ibidem Nihil erat inter omnia genera mortis illo genere execrabilius formidolosius Amongst all kindes of death there was none more execrable and formidable than that kinde of death on the crosse which Christ died So that what Christ feared was to come and not present as also he might haue a naturall mislike and feare of that kinde of death respecting as well the paine which would be intolerable as the exactnesse of patience required more in him than in all men liuing because he might admit no declining nor disliking the sharpnesse thereof in the weakenesse of his flesh were it neuer so grieuous This I speake of his bodilie paines besides the feare and sorow that his soule might apprehend for the weightie worke of mans redemption then in hand x Defenc. pag. 115. li. 31. You skip this kind of feare when you recken but foure kinds for this was neither a religious care nor doubtfull feare nor desperate nor damned feare but a right naturall feare in Christ. As though the ground of all these were not a naturall feare and dislike of hell paines For why doe the faithfull decline them the weake conflict with them the desperate sinke vnder them and the damned lie confounded in them but because nature abhorreth and shunneth all kind of paine and consequently the greatest which is hell with the greatest detestation that may be You after your surly sort presume that Christ really felt in the Garden the paines of the damned I admitting no such deuice did yet sufficiently comprise all kinds of feare concerning hell in that diuision of mine since if they were presently felt of Christ as they are of the damned his feare of them must then needs be a damned feare or rather paine because he had as you defend a present sense of them as the damned haue And therefore if you misse no more in your conclusions then I did in my partition your reasons would passe without any iust reproofe y Defenc. pag. 116. Dauid wanted sometime the present feeling of Gods comfortable spirit and mourned dolefully for the want of it albeit yet he was not destitute of his spirit indeâ—…de which also himselfe knew well enough And thus did Christ euen in his greatest plunge of woe for then he called God his God resolutely The example of Dauid maketh nothing for your hell paines to be suffered in the soule of Christ but very much against them and yet betweene Dauids case in that Psalme and Christs there is no comparison For Dauid then was not pressed with any outward affliction but stroken with an inward doubt of Gods fauour towards him whom he had so greatly offended with adultery and homicide and so long dallied with before repentance Christ contrariwise was neuer pressed with any doubt or distrust of Gods fauour towards himselfe but the weakenesse of his flesh was burdened with extreame and intolerable paynes What affinitie then had Dauids feare of reiection with Christs sense of affliction and yet were they like what gaine you by that Dauid was truely penitent when he made that psalme and true repentance I hope putteth not men into the paines of hell Againe Dauid you confesse was not then destitute of Gods spirit which also himselfe knew well enough But the spirit of God is life to the soule of man and quickeneth it Ergo Dauid though he wanted the full peace and ioy of conscience which he calleth saluation yet he liued in soule and was farre from the second death How much more then was Christs soule free from all these things in whom was the fulnesse of Gods spirit with all his gifts and graces any way needfull for the Sauiour of the world though glory were differred and ioy diminished for the time by excesse of paine To wish ease of paine or to grieue at the sharpenesse therof is naturall vnto man and therefore may well be graunted to haue bene in Christ as also to lacke the fulnesse of ioy and comfort till his sufferings were ouer past But he neuer wanted the ioy of saluation nor assurance thereof and therefore he doubled his inuocation on the crosse saying not onely My God my God but Father forgiue them and Father into thine hands I commend my spirit and in the Garden he resolutely pronounced as often if not oftner z Mat. 26. vers 39 42. O my Father Which words doe most apparantly prooue that Christ had neuer any other perswasion suspition or feare but that God was his God and his Father and therefore most certainly bare towards him a fatherly loue and affection though he knew it was his Fathers will he should inwardly and outwardly grieue a while for our sinnes and so receiue ease by death ioy by Paradise and glory by his speedy and heauenly resurrection a Defenc. pag. 116 li. 14. Thirdly adde hereunto Christs owne expresse wordes when in this season he prayeth that this
so grieuous feare trouble and sorow of mind or soule that he cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me I make good difference betwixt the Booke of Homilies confirmed as well by the publicke authority of Prince and Parliament Anno Reginae 13. ca 12 as by the generall subscription of the vpper and neather house in the conuocation Anno 1571 to a In the 35. article of Homilies containe godlie wholesome and necessarie doctrine and the Catechisme then licenced to be taught in Schooles to yong scholers but without any such autoritie as the former is Shew the like approbation and you shall freely call it the publike autorized doctrine of England till you doe so giue me leaue to tell you that the one is indeede by publicke authority receaued and ratified euen as the articles are the other was by priuate discretion permitted and tolerated to be taught in Grammar schooles but publicke authority of the whole Realme you may chalenge none vnto it And therefore I take my selfe in matters of faith not bound vnto it farder then it accordeth with the manifest trueth deliuered in the â—…acred Scriptures Againe your selfe doâ—… more impugne the Catechisme then I doe For if your owne wordes be true that Christ when he vttered those b Defenc. pag. 110. li. 28. 34. words spake in his mind of his constant and continuall ioy in God and was in exceeding generall and constant ioy What place leaue you for any of those wordes which you cite out of the Catechisme to haue any trueth in them since they speake of exceeding and horrible feares and sorrows which I thinke are contrarie to your triumphant generall and constant ioy And although I thinke it no reason that a thing priuatly permitted should abrogate the full and maine consent of the learned and auntient Fathers as you would haue it to doe and therefore make it free when the Carechisme swatueth from their sense and interpretation to be of another mind yet I condemne nothing in it as wicked but wish that soâ—…e few places had been more cleerly and more particularlâ—…e deliuered and expressed to auoid such cauillers as you and some others are But you with open mouth reiâ—…ct euen those places which now you produce as passing strange doctrine and simply impossible For where the Catechisme here in these words which you alleage saith Christ was Aeternae mortis horrore perfusus perfused or wholy touched with an horror which is a trembling feare of eternall death you not only reason against it that c Defenc. pag. 9â—… li. 13. Christ could not feare that which he perfectly knew concerned him not at all and by no meanes could euer possibly come neere him but you make it d li. 12. passing strange doctrine and simply impossible that Christ should feare or pray against the whole and intire cup of eternall death And yet the Catechisme saith he trembled and was ouercast with the horror of it You misâ—…ike that the Catechisme saith except you may peruert it to your pleasure and in steed of fearing eternall death you say Christ suffered the second death which is die death of the damned and so refusing the Catechisme for saying so much you say more and thinke the Catechisme is of your mind But sir tell vs how Christ could be stroken with the HORROR OF ETERNALL DEATH for those aâ—…e the wordes of the Catechisme and not how he suffered your new made hell which the Catechisme neuer speaketh of I haue deliuered two senses to salue the Catechisme which you impugne The first that Christ in respect of his members to whom that death was due might in loue and pietie towards them inwardly tremble at the punishment deserued by them since mercie maketh vs truely feele the very smart of other mens harmes and dangers and where we hartily loue no lesse then if they were imminent ouer our owne heads The second that Christ fearing the power of Gods wrath against sinne which is infinite may in a sort be sayd to tremble at the effects thereof by reason he trembled at the cause thereof And in this sense the consideration and apprehension of Gods infinite power and displeasure against sinne might brâ—…ede those horrible feares and sorrowes which the Catcchisme talketh of Otherwise I must be plaine the Catechisme sayth more then can be prooued by any Scripture or any learned and auncient Father and more then you your selfe allow or like saue that you would out of his vehement speaches make some aduantage to your cause though in substance you wholy dissent from the maker thereof For he speaketh of feare and sorrow you of re 〈◊〉 al solute suffering he of eternall death due to sin you of a new found hell from the immediate hand of God which is no part of the Catcchisers meaning since he plainely nameth future and euerlasting death due to sinners and not a present and temporall hell which is not the full wages of sinne nor of the damned The like I say for the notes added by the Printer or correctour to the great Bible whose text is authorized to be read in the Church but not the notes to be of equall credit or authoritie with the text And if you may turne of the whole aâ—…ay of auncient and Catholike Fathers because they diflent from your conceits how much lesse am I bound to correctours or Printers adding often times to other mens workes and labours what pleaseth themselues Though the note be not such but that it may receiue the former construction and be tolerated welâ—… enough Wherefore I meane euen the same giddy spirit which before I did buzzing in the eares of the people his owne fancies against the Scriptures against the Fathers and against the doctrine of this Realme confirmed by publike authoritie of Prince and Parliament The recollecting of your former reason so lately and largely answered I omit as tedious trifling and since you say no more then is before refuted what should I trouble my selfe and the Reader with repeating the same things so often iterated e Defenc pag. 118. li. 10. You haue yet heere and there some exceptions against this our doctrine which are not to be cleane neglected First you say I extend Christs agonie to farre because I will haue is proceede from the intolerable sorrowes and horrors of Gods siery wrath equall to â—…ell I shew not there the cause of Christs agonie and feare I shewed it of purpose in the beginning Why did you not refuse that You extend it so farre according to my wordes yea your maine purpose is to make that the cause of Christs agonie in the garden and on the crosse onely you would vse some cunning in the carriage of it first to make sorrowes and feares the cause thereof and at the next step to aske what sorrowes and feares could those be but the intolerable sorowes and horrors of Gods fierie wrath equall to hell And to this end you quote both the
yet will I looke againe toward thine holy temple Thou hast brought vp my life from the pit ó Lord my God z Ibid. ver 7. When my soule fainted I remembred the Lord and my praier came vnto thee into thine holy temple So that Ionas sainted with feare of death but not with the paines of the damned who I troe do not pray in their paines much lesse trust in God or are heard of him as Ionas was a Trea. pa. 46. Dauid wanted not the like in his manifold and fearefull agonies many times Though I exempt neither Dauid nor any of Gods saints here on earth from b 2. Cor. 7. feares within and sights without and troubles on euery side as the Apostle speaketh of himselfe yet is there no proofe that Dauid euer suffered the paines of the damned his words conuince no such thing Sheol which you would now turne to signifie hell though in the words of Dauid applied to Christ by Peter in the acts you stiffely refuse it standeth indifferent to note the pit prouided for the body which is the graue or prepared for the soule which is hell So that out of a word admitting this double signification you can neuer inferre which sense you please but by some other sound and sufficient circumstances Againe there are but two places which cleerly confesse that Dauid was compassed or ouertaken with the snares dangers or troubles of Sheol the 18 Psalme and the 116. In the first of which it is more then euident as well by the occasion of the Psalme as by the variation and coniunction of other words that Dauid ment the danger of death which often beset him vnder the persuit of Saul and other his enemies as the manifest words of holy writte do witnesse For this is the inscription of the Psalme c 2. Sam. 22. Dauid spake vnto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord deliuered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul So that the snares and ropes of death which he speaketh of in that Psalme were apparantly the manifold dangers of life which his enemies and chiefly Saul put him in Secondly the titles that he there ascribeth vnto God proue that in his persecutions Dauid neuer doubted of Gods goodnesse towards him but in all his troubles held that for his chiefe hope and help d Psal. 18. v. 1. I will loue thee deerly saith he ô Lord my strength e 2. The Lord is my Rocke and my fortresse and my deliuerer my God my Rocke in him will I trust my shield the horne of my saluation and my refuge f 3. I will call vpon the Lord which is worthy to be praised so shall I be safe from mine enemies Thirdly the words there declaring his dangers and yet at last the destruction of his enemies argue as much For he saith g Ibid. vers 4. The ropes of death compassed me the floudes of vngodlinesse that is of the vngodly made me afraid The h 5. ropes of Sheol enuironed me the snares of death ouertooke me And so for the persons of his enemies he saith i Ibid. vers 18. They preuented me in the day of my trouble but the Lord was my stay the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousnesse because I kept the waies of the Lord. His seuering his enemies from God and iustifying himselfe not in the sight of God but in respect of them proueth all his intention in that Psalme to be touching his enemies whom by Gods aide and might hee k vers 37. persued and consumed wounding them that they fell vnder his feet and whose necks were giuen him that he might destroy them that hated him l vers 41. They cried vnto the Lord sayth he but there was none to deliuer them This no way concerneth the diuell nor his tentations much lesse any paines of hell from the immediate hand of God but most euidently the plots of men that were his enemies and sought his destruction The other Psalme maketh the like profession vpon the like occasion and affirmeth that God heard Dauid and inclined his eare vnto him when the m Psal. 116. snares of death compassed him when the straights of Sheol found him out when troubles and griefe tooke hold on him In other places where Dauid saith that his life or Soule was deliuered and saued from n Psal. 30. Sheol and euen from the o 86. lowest Sheol it is indifferent which sense wee follow since no doubt he did ascribe the euerlasting Saluation of his Soule from Hell vnto Gods goodnes and mercie no lesse then he did the preseruation of his life from the Graue And therefore I shall not neede to discusse any of those places which admit both constructions and yet bring not your hell-paines into this life any whit the sooner Againe when Dauid speaketh of feares ropes snares of hell if it were graunted that Dauid intended as well the inward assaultes of Satan to subuert his soule as the outward perils of his life to shorten his daies it helpeth not your cause For the gates euen of hell that is the power thereof preuaile in this life against all that are not of Christs true church and often compasse and besiege the faithfull and p 1. Pet. 5. the roaring lion that goeth about seeking whom he may deuoure is neither idle nor vnable to take hold of mens soules by sundrie sinnes tentations deceits and snares if he be not stedfastly resisted by faith and to make them the children of hell not by the present suffering thereof but by preparing and obliging them to the wrath to come Of the Scribes and Pharises Christ saith q Matth. 23. vers 15. You compasse sea and land to make one Proselyte that is a nouice of your profession and when he is gotten you make him filium gehennae the child of hell double to your selues Shall we hence conclude that the Scribes and Pharises and all their Proselytes were heere on earth in the true paines of hell and of the damned because our Sauiour who can not erre pronounceth them THE CHILDREN OF HELL or shall wee rather accept Christes owne Exposition where he saith r Ibid ver 33. O Serpents generation of Vipers how should you escape the future damnation or iudgment of hell Lastly as the name of God is added figuratiuely to manie things to signifie the beautie and excellencie thereof in their kindes as the s Psal. 36. hilles of God and the t 80. Ceders of God for faire and goodlie hills and trees so the name of hell is vsed in detestation for that which is fearefull and intolerable as the sorowes of hell and straights of hell and such like Whereby it is euident that you may dreame of Dauid as you doe of others that he felt in this life the paines of hell or of the damned but if you sett your selfe to prooue it
from the body Take an example of this fire which we see and know If it be not possible without a miracle from the mighty hand of God for flesh to abide or life to dure in the paine of burning and flaming fire how lesse possible is it for the wicked on whom God sheweth no such wonders to liue and continue in the paines of the damned whiles they are heere fastened to the flesh b Chrysost. ad Theodorum lapsum epâ—…st 5. Hic quidem non simul contingit vehementia poenarum earum diuturnitas Altera enim cum altera pugnat propter conditionem corruptibilis huius corporis non ferentisea In this life saith Chrysostome the violence of paines and the continuance thereof cannot stand together The one fighteth with the other by reason of this corruptible body which cannot beare both And againe c Idem ad Populum Antioch homil 49. Name fire or sword or any thing that is more grieuous then these yet these are scant a shadow to those torments d Defenc. pag. 121. li. 16. And if hell paines in this world may be in any much rather may they be in Christ whom God purposely sent through paines and afflictions the extreamest that might be to be consecrated the Prince of our saluation If the true paines of hell might be in others here liuing yet in Christs soule they might not be since his soule had alwaies greater inward ioyes of the holy Ghost which you call heauen then any man here liuing on earth could haue except your learning serue you to put both the ioyes of heauen and the paines of hell at one and the same time in the soule of Christ. As for your proofe when you shew that the paines of hell are sacred and holy then bring them to consecrate the Prince of our saluation Till then refraine this apparent collusion to make Christ both obedient and astonished patient and ouerwhelmed in the paines of hell and learne that God tried the obedience and patience of his Sonne by the things which he suffered and so consecrated or consummated him to be the Prince of our saluation who must be conformed to his image to suffer with him not the pains of hell but the miseries and afflictions of this life with all obedience to the will and counsell of God if we will reigne with him e Defenc pag. 121. li. 14. 19. If you say yet thus it will follow that the extreamest paines of hell are not to be found in this world as the hiest ioyes of heauen are not likewise by my confession I answere I know not neither meane I to determine the measure and depth of sorowes which Christ in his Passion suffered Either you change mindes with the windes or he that wrote this wrote not that which went before In the 52 page of this booke li. 25. you prated apace that Christ suffered a sense of Gods wrath EQVALL to hell it selfe and ALL THE TORMENTS thereof And in the 15 page li. 16. you solemnly concluded whence it must follow that the paines of Christs suffering were the same in nature and ALTOGETHER AS SHARPE and as painfull as they are in hell it selfe Now you know no such thing nor meane to determine it It were good you tooke vpon you to know lesse of your hellish mysteries till you were more assured of them or better learned in them This floting vp downe like the waues of the sea shew that either diuers mens pens haue beene in your papers or that vnquiet buzzes are in your owne braines who sometimes can not nor will not and yet somtimes can and will determine and pronounce the paines of hell suffered by Christ to be EQVALL to hell and all the torments thereof and AS SHARPE as the sharpest in hell But your Reader if he be wise will see you more constant in your owne conceits before he giue any credit to them and lesse maruell that men fallen from the trueth thus reele to and fro f Defenc. pag. 121. li. 22. Only grant this plainly that Christ suffered in his soule the true effects of Gods proper iustice and wrath and we seeke no more Tell me first what you meane by the effects of Gods proper iustice and wrath and then from what Scripture you deriue it and you shall soone see what I grant Only say you no more than you haue expresse warrant of the holie Ghost to beleeue and I aske no more With the name of Gods proper wrath you haue plaied a long time and a number haue deceaued them selues For as it is most true that God would haue laid none of these things which Christ suffered on his owne sonne but displeased and angrie with our sinnes for which he was to satisfie the Iustice of God least our iniquitie should seeme a matter of dalliance and easily â—…uerpast so it is as true that God neither was nor could be wroth and offended with the person of his owne sonne in whom he was well pleased and for whose sake he was reconciled to vs but that the chastisement of our peace being imposed on him who for the innocencie and excellencie of his person was able to tolerate and mitigate the wrath of God prouoked by our sinnes he made the purgation of them by that kind of satisfaction which was conuenient both to the dignitie and safetie of his person and argued apparantly the loue of God towards him and his loue towards vs whiles he put him selfe in the gappe by his owne smart to auert and appease the iust wrath kindled against vs. Now what this chastisement was wee may neither of vs nor any man els seeke farder then the holie Ghost hath deliuered that g 1. Cor. 15. Christ died for our sinnes according to the Scriptures and h Philip 2. became obedient to the death euen the death of the crosse which is plainly described by the Euangelists and should not be questioned by any that is not more wedded to his conceits than to the word of God i Defenc. pag. 121. li. 31. Though Christ suffered all which he did suffer here in this world yeâ—… for any thing I can see there is cause why Christ should be an extraordinarie person in the case of suffering for sin in this life and that therefore as touching sorow and paine he might feele more than euer any els hath or could feele for the time He was an extraordinarie person indeed as being the true and only Sonne of God that is both God and man in one person bearing the burden of our sinnes in his bodie but appropriating or accounting the same to the dignitie of his person that by his death he might abolish him that had rule of death and restore vs to life by his humilitie and obedience which was so precious and glorious in the sight of God that he accepted it as a full sacrifice and satisfaction for all our sinnes and made him the authour of eternali saluation
not worth thankes except he suffered in hell amongst the diuels where indeede are the paines of the damned which you haue lately deriued to the earth vpon your authoritie shall this impietie also goe for good religion because the more Christ suffered for vs the more we are and ought to be beholding vnto him we shall doe well to thinke that we can neuer giue thankes sufficient for the least of his mercies and not take vpon vs to determine what recompence God must exact of his sonne for our sinnes except he will be vniust which is a most pestilent presumption and intrusion vpon the secret counsels and iudgements of God but rather learne to lament our owne vnworthinesse and wickednesse and not delight or dwell in sinne which God so hated and abhorred that nothing could appease his wrath against our vncleannesse but onely the death and bloud of his owne Sonne i Defenc. pag. 128. li. 2. Remember your owne wordes out of Austen that there is in some men INSIPIENS HONORIFICENTIA a fond intent of honoring Christ. If there be any such surely this is one point thereof which you maintaine You applie Fathers as you doe Scriptures and call S. Austen foole as well as all the rest of the learned and auncient pillars of Christs Church because they reject your hellish confusion by which you ouerwhelme all the powers of Christs soule and senses of his bodie rather then you will yeeld him vnderstanding and remembrance in his prayers S. Austen saith indeed of the Manichees that were loath to confesse Christ truely died a bodily death on the crosse for feare of bringing him within the curse of a corporall death since the death of mans bodie first proceeded from Gods curse against sinne and therefore defended that Christ seemed there to die in outward shew but indeede did not die on the crosse S. Austen I say affirmeth that they with a foolish pretence of honour vnto Christ denied the loue of Christ towards vs and the trueth of Christ who professed that he should and would lay downe his life a ransome for many What is this to the paines of the damned or to the death of the soule of which S. Austen saith k August epist. 99. who dare auouch it and yet ment not so foolishly to honour Christ as thereby to denie or impugne the trueth of Christian religion l Defenc. pag. 128. li. 5. Master Caluine a worthy minister of Christ and a pillar of the Church is bold and saith we confesse indeede such is the basenesse and follie of Christes crosse that proude men cannot away with it If master Caluine meane as the Apostle doth that the heathen not knowing the wisedome power of God in the crosse of Christ counted it meere folâ—…y for him that was God to become man and in the bodie of his flesh to endure so vile and shamefull a death I account him no Christian that is not of that mind with master Caluine but if he call them all proud that did not like his new deuice of Christs suffering hell on the crosse which you haue stretched and drawen to many degrees and points aboue master Caluine then let him looke whether it be pride to beleeue the plaine and faire doctrine of trueth deliuered in the Scriptures as all the Fathers of Christes Church did or for men to adde thereunto their owne deuices as you and some others haue done For my part as I loue and honour master Caluines name and like well his resolutions where he contented himselfe in the grounds of doctrine and discipline to ioyne with the auncient and primatiue Church of Christ so when he leaueth them vpon some liking of his priuate deuices I must leaue him I so honour him that I will not for loue to him dishonour all antiquitie as if Christ had neuer any Church nor faithfull or learned minister therein before master Caluine And were it worth the while I could easily shew many great and maine differences betwixt master Caluines conceit of hell suffered in the soule of Christ and yours but because it hath occasioned and hatched your amplified error of an other hell from the immediate hand of God I will not trouble my selfe nor the Reader with sifting or censuring that which I am not bound to beleeue no more then I am yours till it be proued by more substantiall grounds then master Caluins good liking of it m Defenc. pag. 128. li. 10. In another place where I shewed from the more to the lesse how Christ might haue for the sodaine the powers of his mind astonished and yet no decay in him of faith nor obedience nor patience Like as there is not in a man a sleepe or amazed with a blow on the head hereupon you aske me scoffingly was Christ a sleepe or in a swoune Your answere was indeed drawen from the lesse to the more that is from the lesser vanity and falsity to the greater and therefore my question which you call a skoffe was a sound refutation of such ignorant misapplying of things impertinent vncoherent For what if a man in his sleepe or in a swoune retaine habituall faith obedience and patience doth that prooue that Christ awaked and well aduised might pray he knew not what and yet haue actuall faith obedience and patience If a man should babble in his sleepe or grone in a swoune before he recouer sense or vnderstanding would you cal that faith or praier though the habite of faith were then in him no more doth that example prooue any actuall faith obedience or patience in Christ at the time of his often and earnest praiers in the garden if all that while you make him all confounded in all the powers of his soule and so astonished that he could not or did not remember his Fathers oft reuealed and oft repeated will nor his owne person nor office who came vnto this houre of purpose to performe his Fathers will And therefore you must get you some better patterns for the vse and acts of faith obedience and patience in Christes astonishment then sleeping or swouning or els ech Christian Reader will soone perceaue you to be worse then a sleep when you dreame of a n Defenc pag. 128. li. 26. farre greater astonishment in Christ at the time of praiers then is to be seâ—…ne in any man els that euer was or shall be And yet you defend there might be actuall faith obedience and patience in Christ because men in sleep or in a swoune retaine the habits or gifts of those vertues o Defenc. pag. 128. li. 21. As you grant that amazednesse and astonishment commeth naturally from sorowes and feares so I thinke in Christ both the one and the other was in the extreamest and most violent degree that might be Then must you also thinke that Christ had not the free vse of speach memory and vnderstanding nor of sense nor motion for the time that he was in that amazednesse For it
z Defenc. pag. 134. li. 33. Eternall continuance in hell paines is not of the essence or nature of hell tormâ—…nts So haue you said page 12. though page 53. as you often quote it there is no such thing but euen there also haue I shewed that this you say out of your owne braine the Scriptures affirme no such thing Secondly I answered you that the horror of the paines of the damnâ—…d did admit no ioy for in hell I hope there is no ioy Christ then by your owne doctrine hauing constant continual exceeding generall ioy was neither in the true paines nor in the true terrors of hell vnlesse in defence of your deuices you will now make your new heauen and your new hell to be all one For ioy in the holy Ghost you directly make to be the substance of heauenly bliâ—…ie Now if in Christ and all his members you put at one and the same time the true terrors of hell and the true ioy of the holy Ghost what misse you of mixing heauen and hell at one instant in Christ and all the faithfull A third replie I gaue in that very place to this obiection which you say I neither doe nor can answere and that was a Serm. pag. 135. li. 3. since it is no where witnessed in the Scriptures that Christ suffered the paines of hell why striue you to establish a meere conceit of men neither written nor spoken before our age All these are no answeres with you and only because you haue deuiced a new hell from the immediate hand of God with which you delude as your maner is all that the Scriptures speake of the paines of the damned But glory not in your deuice to inuent a new faith it is as much sinne as to renounce the true Christian faith which indeed is auncient and in substance as old as the Scriptures since they serue to testifie from the beginning Gods blessed will and promise of saluation vnto man through the death of Christ which God first named the Serpents biting the heele of the womans â—…eed b Defenc. pag. 135. li. After this you set vâ—…hemently against my last argument that Christ suffered not in some sort the death of the soule first if we should speake strictly after the manner of death in the bodie then no man is so mad or foolish as to say that any mans soule can die at all that is want life and sense as a dead bodie doth You be come now to the vpshot of all your defence and doctrin whether the Scriptures do any where teach that Christ died the death of the soule or the second death for our redmption and here shall we find nothing but an heape of words broched out of your braines and so tempered with your conceits that when you haue all said you say nothing with any substance or shew of holy Scripture You disclaime that the soule is at any time deuoide of life and sense as dead bodies are as if that were ought to your purpose but yet the death of the soule hath a resemblance and concordance with the death of the bodie as spirituall things may haue with corporall And therefore as the bodie being once dead wanteth all sense and motion which are the parts or effects of life from the soule quickning the bodie so the soule being dead to God who is her life hath no sense nor motion of Gods grace in this life nor sight nor hope of glory in the life to come but destitute of the one here on earth which is grace hath no desire nor feeling of God and in the next world depriued of all possibilitie of glory is subiected to eternall and intolerable miserie from the presence of God d Defenc. pag. 135. li. 24. Such a death as immortall soules are subiect vnto is Gods separation from them this is two fold the first death and the second death as the Scripture speaketh The first is the separation of them from Gods grace which is in this life by sinne raigning in them The soule loaden with sinne in this life is not vtterly dead so long as it retaineth any sense or motion of Gods grace So that sorow for sinne ioyned with any desire of true repentance is a plaine signe of life in the soule though sorrow for sinne without hope be plaine despaire and death of the soule And therefore the soule of man finding the danger of sinne and desiring to be deliuered from it yet liueth whiles she apprehendeth affecteth or seeketh the grace of God but if she want all sense of God by faith and motion to God by hope and desire she is wholy dead to God that is void of the life of God which is deriued from God vnto the soules of men As for the second death of the soule the Scriptures indeed speake thereof but you erre groslely in this second death the execution whereof alwayes followeth the first death as well of the bodie as of the soule though the guiltinesse and condemnation thereof by a mans owne conscience may be found heere in this life And therefore the second death by the open and euident wordes of the holy Ghost is called the d Reuel 20. lake of fire or the e 19. 21. lake burning with fire and brimstone which is not in this life And consequently your next collection that the second death is Gods leauing them in the feeling of the most sharpe and most vehement paines inflicted by Gods iustice for sinne is as false as it is defectiue not agreeing in one word with the tenor of the sacred Scriptures which you pretend to follow f Defenc. pag. 1â—…5 li. 30. This last kind of death is so called and named in many places of Scripture The second death is expresly named but in foure places of the Scripture The first g Reuel 2. v. 11 Be thou faithfull to death and I will giue thee the crowne of life He that ouercommeth the first death shall not be hurt of the second death The second h Reuel 20. v. 6 blessed and holy is he that hath part in first resurrection of the soule vnto the life of grace on such THE SECOND DEATH hath no power The third i Ibid. v. 14. Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire THIS IS THE SECOND DEATH The fourth k Reuel 21. v. 8 The fearefull vnbeleeuing the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liers shall haue their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone WHICH IS THE SECOND DEATH Saue in these places the second death is neuer expresly named in the Scriptures and in these most apparantly the second death followeth after the death of the bodie and is euerlasting And neither on Christ who is the first resurrection vnto grace and the second resurrection vnto glorie nor on any of his members hath the second death any power by the plaine words of Saint Iohn
So that all your platforme is quite ouerthrowen by the direct words of the Apostle freeing Christ and all his elect euen in this life from all power of the second death And therefore you set your selfe in this section euidently to confront the holy Ghost when you seeke to proue that Christ suffered the second death of the soule as the Scripture speaketh And besides the Scriptures if you talke of second deaths you may as well tell vs tales of a new world as of an other word without the witnesse of Gods spirit But you haue found out many places of Scripture where this last kinde of death is so called and named Eight you quote by the side in your margine but take not the paines to discusse one of them onely you pronounce after your stately manner that those places of Scripture prooue that which you meane to bee the death of the soule Now what if not one of them speake any such thing is not your Reader sure to find you a true man of your word when you quote eight places and not one of them to your purpose but this is your perpetuall course to mistake and misuse Scriptures at your pleasure and then to say you haue soundly prooued it On the contrary I affirme that none of these places intend any such thing as you imagine of your terrestiall and temporall hell but they exactly conclude against you that damnation is eternall and no death of the soule which is not euerlasting is expressed or intended in any of those Scriptures or in any other that you or your friends are able to picke out And though it may suffice me as well to say nay as you to say yea yet for the Readers better resolution I will not bee grieued to run through all these places as much as shal be needfull The first is l Ezech. 18. ver 4. the soule that â—…inneth it shall die These words may signifie either subtraction of grace in this life which is consequent to sinne in the wicked or exclusion Eight places of Scripture abused for the temporall death of Christs soulâ—… from glory in the next world which is the iust and full wages of sinne But that euery soule which sinneth hath felt or shall feele in this life your temporall hell or the pains of the damned this is a grosse error to be fathered on those words and repugnant not onely to the trueth of this text but euen to the sense and experience of all the Godly and such as your selfe dare not auouch since you qualifie your conceit in that behalfe with these words that m Defenc. pag. 134. li. 15. some in some measure are conformed with Christ in these his sufferings But if God by Ezechiel ment your earthly hell then absolutely all men children not excepted must feele in this life paines equall with the damned for so much as they haue sinned and deserued euerlasting damnation The second is the commination that God made to Adam n Genes 2. ver 17. Whensoeuer thou â—…atest thereof thou shalt die the death or surely thou shalt die Here are all sorts of deaths threatned but not to be executed either on all men nor in this present life God reseruing to himselfe power and libertie to dispose of all mens soules according to his determinate counsell though they should all be guiltie and liable to all kinds of death by vertue of those words vpon the transgression of the first man This exposition the Apostle giueth when he saith o Rom. 5. The offence of one came on all men to condemnation which is the verifying of these words that all men died in Adam to wit were subiect to death not onely by dying the death of the bodie which is appointed for all men but to the guiltinesse of euerlasting death not executed on all though deserued by all The third which is the p Rom. 6. Apostles conclusion is either generally ment of all kinds of death which came in by sinne as the rewards and punishments thereof and then it is nothing to your intention or else it expresseth the full wages of sinne to be euerlasting death by opposition to eternall life mentioned in the next wordes following For eternall life is the gift of God as eternall death is the wages that is bothe the desert and repayment of sinne Take which you will either the generall or speciall construction of death it is no way pertinent to your purpose Lesse is the fourth that the Apostles were the q 2. Cor. 2. vers 16. sauour of death vnto death in them that perished as they were the sauour of life vnto life in them that were saued For the preaching of the Gospell which the Apostle meaneth in that place doeth not proclaime a terrestiall or temporall heauen to them that beleeue in Christ but life eternall and consequently neither doth it denounce a temporall death to them which refuse Christ but euerlasting death And therefore there can be nothing more absurd then to conuert these places to the proofe of your temporall hell for so you should doe the reprobate a very good turne if you could shew that the death threatned them for not beleeuing in Christ were to dure but for a time or in this life only where your new found hell hath power and place and no where else With like successe you note for your fifth that the r 2 Cor. 3. vers 7. ministration of death was glorious the Apostle so calling the law because it denounced death not temporall but eternall to all transgessours So that if the full wages of sinne be eternall death by the word of God then did the law not denounce a temporall death due to all men by course of nature be they good or bad though euen that at first entered as a part of the punishment of sinne but euerlasting death which is the second death is reserued as S. Iohn writeth for all sorts of sinners and liers Saint Iames is the sixth who sayth s Iames 5. He that conuerteth a sinner erring from the trueth shall saue a soule from death If a man conuerted shall be saued from your temporall hell which you here would intend by the death of the soule then much more the Conuerter and he that neuer erred from the trueth shall be free from your hell and consequently Christ was most free who was trueth it selfe and neuer erred But as trueth is the way to euerlasting life and freeth men from all bondage of sinne and Satan so errour and infidelitie haue another maner of death than your terrestiall hell which you make common to Christ and some of his members and he that is conuerted from errour or sinne shall be saued from euerlasting perdition which indeed is the death of the soule depriuing it of all blisse and ioy for euer The seuenth and eigth you take out of Saint Iohn who sayth t 1. Ioh. 5. vers 16 17. There is sinne vnto
in Scripture for this point yet our question is fully proued and confirmed by those other sufficient and pregnant proofs alleaged and iustified before Your palpable and pregnant follies are sufficiently seene before your proofs were none but bald and false presumptions conceiued by your selfe though otherwise voide of all reason and authoritie with such props you haue hitherto supported your Defence and now you be come to the maine issue whether the Scriptures or Fathers doe teach that Christ for our redemption died the death of the soule or the death of the damned which is the second death you would passe it ouer as a matter of no moment and here tell vs if you had no such proofe as indeed you haue none yet you haue played your part before which was to set a good face on an euill cause and to proue iust nothing d Defenc. pag 136. li. 13. For it is to be noted that no man setteth the question in these tearmes that Christ died in his soule neither doe we at all vse them very much in speaking of this matter The Scriptures themselues set that for the question First of all I e 1. Cor. 15. deliuered vnto you sayeth Paul that which I receiued how that Christ died for our sinnes according to the Scriptures Since then f Rom. 5. we were reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne and Christ is the g Hebr 9. Mediatour of the New Testament through death for the redemption of the transgressions in the former Testament and where a Testament is there must be the death of him that made the Testament The question riseth of it selfe what death the Sonne of God died for our sinnes by the witnesse of holy Scripture And hitherto for these fifteene hundred yeeres and vpward the Christian world both of learned and vnlearned hath beleeued that the Sonne of God by the death of his bodie on the tree ransomed our sinnes reconciled vs to God and vtterly destroyed the kingdome of Satan and that he neither did nor could suffer any other kinde of death as the death of the soule or the So that the reference of the Apostles words standeth thus he offered vp praiers and supplications with strong cries and teares to him that was able to saue him from all touch of death and was heard in that he prayed for and though he were the sonne and god was able to keepe him vntouched of death that is to make him the Sauiour of the world without tasting any kind of death yet such was Gods counsell and his owne liking that he learned or perfourmed the obedience of a sonne by the things which he suffered Whereby the Apostle teacheth vs it was neither want of power in God that Christ died for God was able to haue saued the world by him without his death neither was it lacke of fauour towards his sonne for God HEARD him in that he asked but to manifest in his person the perfect submission of a sonne to his father God would haue him obedient to death euen vnto the death of the crosse and so make him the author of eternall saluation to all that obey him As he obeied God his Father Those words then Christ offered praiers to him that was able to keep him from death prooue not death to be the cause of Christs feare nor the scaping therefrom to be the scope of Christes strong cries and teares but the Apostle thereby noteth that Christ neither doubted of his Fathers power nor loue when he praied so earnestly vnto him but was assured of both and enioyed both in such sort as might best stand with the honor and wisedome of God the father and of Christ his sonne And therefore all your collections and illations built on that false ground doâ—… fall of themselues as hauing nothing to support them but your idle and vaine supposals a Defenc. pag. 137. li. 6. Your owne selfe doe fully grant and affirme it with me yea you affirme farder then we doe or then the trueth is or possibly can be you say Christ heâ—…re thus feared eternall death and euerlasting damnation I must take no â—…corne to haue you wrest and wring my words to a contrary sense when you offer that course to the Apostles words The place which you quote for proofe of my meaning will conuince you to be a malitious falsifier My words a man would thinke are plaine enough and my exposition of that speach vsed by some men is such that no man of any intelligence or conscience would so grosly peruert it Thus I say pag 23. b Serm. pag. 23. li. 4. Distrust of his owne saluation or doubt of Gods displeasure against himselfe we cannot so much as imagine in Christ without euident want of grace and losse of faith which we may not attribute to Christs person no not for an instant And againe c Ibid. li. 17. I refraine to speake what wrong it is to put either doubtfulnâ—…sse or forgetfulnesse of these things in part of Christs humane nature And to the question thereon demanded d li. 20. Why then did he pray that the cup might passe from him I answere he had no need to pray for himselfe but only for vs who then suffered with him and in him What learning I cannot say but what lewdnesse is this to father that on me which I fully forsake and still to presse me with that which I so often preuent and repell I did not intend in my Sermons to note any by name nor sharply to censure their sayings but repeating as much as I saw I gaue the best construction or mittigation to their words that any trueth would endure Where then some men whom by your importunity you haue vrged me to name as the Catechisme of master Nowel which you would seeme so much to reuerence in plaine words auoucheth that Christ was e Pag. 280. 〈◊〉 mortis horrore perfusus perfused or plunged with the horror of etâ—…rnall death And master Caluin saith f Institutione li. 2. ca. 16. sect 10. Oportuit 〈◊〉 cum inferorum copijs 〈◊〉 mortis horrore quasi consertis manibus luctari Christ was to wrâ—…si â—…ith the powers of hell and with the horror of eternall death as it were hand to hand Their words suppressing their names I there taught might be tolerated if we tooke horror for a religious feare only trembling at the terror of hell and praying against it or did attribute that trembling and feare of eternall death to Christ in respect and compassion of vs that were his members and whom he ioined and reckened in his sufferings for vs as one person or body with him Which moderation of mine you euery where conceale and make your Reader beleeue that I fully grant and affirme that which I expressely denie And not content therewith you enterlace my words with your lewd additions as if I said Christ thus feared eternall death You meane with strong cries and teares and
world the death of the bodie that hence both body and soule might be haled to hell though first the soule and after the bodie when at the last day it shall rise from the corruption of the graue to euerlasting destruction To thinke that Christ submitted himselfe to all these sorts of death corporall spirituall and eternall is most hellish blasphemie for so he should not haue redeemed vs but destroyed himselfe bodie and soule foreuer To say that Christ deliuered vs not from all these lincks of death from spirituall death whiles here we liue from eternall death after this life and at the generall resurrection from the power of the graue where our bodies rot in the meane time is heathenish impietie and heresie denying the whole force and fruit of our redemption by Christ. Since then he cleered vs from all and yet suffered not all sorts of death it is manifest which is the Apostles meaning in the wordes by you cited that by one kind of death which in Christ was corporall he freed vs from all power of death heere and heereafter in bodie and soule not preseruing our bodies that they should not turne to dust but restoring them after death which is the farre more marueilous and mightie worke of God And this is euery where so plainly witnessed in the Scriptures and plentifully confessed by the learned and auncient fathers that none but he that is blinder then a bat would professe he seeth no such thing Christ g Matth 20. gaue his life a ransome for many and h Coloss. 2. by the bloud of his crosse pacified things in heauen and in earth i Hebr. 9. By the sacrifice of his bodie once made we are sanctified and k 1. Peter 1. healed by his stripes who bare our sinnes in his bodie on the tree If then the bloud of Christ clense vs from all sinne by which the diuell and death had power ouer vs It is most certaine that Christ abolished sinne and Satan by suffering his bloud to be shed vnto death for the remission of sinnes raising himself that is the Temple of his bodie from death into a glorious and blessed life by which the power and kingdome of Satan were vtterly ouerthrowen l Defenc. pag. 137. li. 15. Against this you haue no reason at all but wordes and wrestings and vaine oftentation of Fathers none of them all denying our sense The reason of all reasons is against it which is that no man nor Angell may adde or alter any thing in the Christian faith without the sure warrant of the sacred Scriptures m Rom. 10. Faith is by hearing and hearing by the word of God It is reason enough for me and for all â—…he faithfull that there is no such thing deliuered in the word of God You talke of words and wrestings as knowing them best and vsing them most and herein I am content to stand to the iudgement of the wise and indifferent Reader whether you haue brought ought yet for the death of Christes soule or his suffering the second death but your owne speaches and surmises abusing the wordes of the holy Ghost to your owne fansies without either cause or colour And touching the vaine ostentation of Fathers who as you vaunt deny not your sense I brought ancient learned writers not ignorant of the Christian faith as being the pillars of their times that with great perspicuitie and vehemence denied as I doe the death of Christs soule and affirmed with me the death which Christ suffered in the body of his flesh to be a most sufficient ransome for the sinnes of the whole world Augustins words were n August epist. 99. The same flesh in which only Christ died rose againe by the quickning of the spirit For that Christ was dead in soule that is in his humane spirit who dare 〈◊〉 since the death of the soule in this life is none else but sinne from which he was altogether free This you say denieth not your sense and why because you auouch the death of Christs soule which Austen asketh who dare auouch to say that Christ suffered the death of the soule is with Austen an impudent and wicked presumption and no part of the Christian faith or of mans redemption Austen by the death of the soule ment sinne you will say which you meane not You say by your leaue that Christ o Trea. pa. 42. li. 20. became defiled and hatefull to God by our sinnes And so if pollution of sinne be the death of the soule that kind of death you ascribe to Christ though not for his owne sinnes yet for ours then made his no lesse by guilt then by punishment as you teach directly against the assertion of Saint Austen who saith p August contra Faâ—…stum li. 14. ca. 4. Christ tooke our punishment without our guilt that thereby he might release our guilt and end our punishment But you vnderstand not Austen when he saith there is no death of the soule here but sinne he doth not thence exclude the consequents and adherents to sinne in this life but noteth that onely sinne doth kill the soule because it doth separate vs from God who is the life of the soule and the light and grace of God departing from the soule by sinne the soule dieth that is looseth all her sense of God and motion to God by which she liueth vnto God This with Austen and this indeede by the word of God is the death of the soule which if you attribute to Christ you incurre open and exquisite infidelitie For your meaning therefore it maketh no great matter if you will offer to correct our Creede you must speake as the Scriptures speake and not deliuer â—…s your priuate dreames for the publike doctrine of Christs Church With like neglect you skip the rest auouched by Saint Austen that Christ died onely in his flesh which rose againe by the quickning of the spirit Wherein least you should vse your accustomed euasion that the flesh of Christ compriseth as well his soule as his bodie Saint Austen hath wisely preuented you in saying the same flesh onely died Which rose againe Where if your learning serue you to say that Christes soule rose againe the third day you shall make vs a new resurrection of soules after this life as the Scripture doth of bodies which were a meete deuice for such a diuine as you are How beit Saint Austen naming Christs soule a part from his flesh and affirming of Christs soule that no man in his right wits dare auouch Christs soule died but onely that flesh which rose againe it is as cleere as mans speech may be that he vtterly refuseth the death of Christs soule as an irreligious and vnchristian position and directly teacheth this as a ground confessed in Christian religion that Christ died in his bodie alone which rose againe the third day and not in his soule which no Christian man durst auouch was euer dead Of
all the elect he saith likewise that they who q August dâ—… 〈◊〉 li. 13. ca. 15. pertaine to the grace of Christ so farre die as Christ died for them Carnis tantum morte non spiritus the death of the flesh onely and not of the spirit If this make not against you nothing that I say maketh against you for I can vse none other nor plainer words thâ—…n Austen and the rest of the Fathers doe in teaching that Christ died the death of the bodie onely and not of the soule and that by his death which was onely corporall he destroyed the dominion of sinne and the strength of eueâ—…lasting death r August 〈◊〉 162. There is a first death saith Austen and there is a second The first death hath â—…wo parts one whereby the sinfull soule by transgressing departeth from her creator the other whereby she is excluded from her bodie through the iudgement of God for a punishment The second death is the euerlasting torment of the bodie and soule either of these deaths had euery man obliged vnto them but the immortall and righteous sonne of God came to die for vs in whose flesh because there could be no sinne hee suffered the punishment of sinne without the guilt thereof Wherefore he admitted for vs the second part of the â—…irst death that is the death of the bodie onely by which he tooke from vs the dominion of sinne and the pâ—…ine of eternall punishment Say as Saint Austen here saith and our controuersies are ended If he denie not your sense you may the sooner accept this confession of the Catholike and Christian faith from which no man yet swarued these fifteene hundred yeerâ—…s But then you must teare both your Treatise and your defence in pieces For by this as by infinite other places in Austen it is euident first that Christ tooke not vnto him the guilt of our sinne secondly that hee died the death of the bodie onely thirdly that by that his corporall death he destroyed sinne hell and Satan fourthly that the death of the soule he could not die because he could haue no sinne and lastly that he was farre from the second death which is the eternall damnation of bodie and soule Acknowledge these which neuer Christian man yet refused and we shall soone resolue all other questions If you haue of late gotten you a faith besides this and against this generall Creede of all Christendome looke well to your new deuices you may sooner be excluded from the faith then your fansies be included in the faith s Defenc. pag. 137. li. 17. Thirdly it seemâ—…th also that Peter teacheth the same saying Christ in his suffering was donne to death in the flesh but made aliue by the spirit Where death may be very well referred both to the soule and bodie of Christ because the text heere speaketh as I iudge of the whole and entire sufferings of Christ. Be these the demonstrations you bring vs out of the Scriptures for the death of Christes soule that these words of Peter MAY BE referred both to the soule and bodie of Christ IT SEEMETH SO and YOV IVDGâ—… SO To you that hunt after your conceits in euery syllable of the scriptures that is any thing doutfull may things SEEME that are not and if you may be iudge what sense eche place may beare we shall quickely haue a new doctrine and discipline in the Church of God framed to your fansies though no way deduced by iust proofe from the word of God But heere Christian Reader thou mayest see the foundation of this new redemption by the death of Christs soule and his suffering the second death H. I. so iudgeth and to him it so seemeth Indeede it is common with you and your consorts to set downe euery thing for the vndoubted word of God what you once conceite may seeme to be within the compasse of any text But I hope the wise and Godly Reader will looke better about him then to take your maying your seeming your iudging for the ground of his faith against the plaine and expresse places of the Scriptures and against the continuall and generall vnderstanding of the whole Church of Christ. Yet let vs heare the reason of your seeming since other proofe for your purpose you bring none neither heere nor else where Christ as Peter teacheth was t 1 Peter 3. mortified or put to death in the flesh but quickned in or by the spirit What conclude you out of these words u Dâ—…fenc pag. 137. li. 2â—… The word flesh it seemeth cannot heere in this place be vnderstood to signifie only the bodie of Christ. If that cannot be then was S. Austen much deceiued who out of these very words coÌ„cluded that Christ died in x Epist. 99. flesh alone and not in soule addeth a better reason out of Peters words then you bring any since Christ was in that part mortified in which hee was afterwardes quickned of the soule of Christ as none durst auouch it was euer mortified so neuer being dead there was no cause it should be quickned and therefore neither of these attriâ—…utes agreed to the soule of Christ but to his flesh onely y Defenc. pag. 137. li. 28. My reason is because wheresoeuer in the Scripture the flesh and the spirit are noted oppositely together in Christ there the flesh signifieth alwayes the whole humanity euen both parts thereof the soule also and not only the bodie First that rule hath no ground nor truth and if it were addmitted it proueth no such thing as you would enforce For in a case farre plainer the name of Christ wheresoeuer it is applied to Christ liuing I meane saying suffering or doing any thing there without all question the whole humanitie is comprised in that name since Christes bodie without his soule could neither say suffer nor doe any thing And yet were it mad diuinitie to attribute euery action and passion affirmed of Christ in the Scriptures as well to his soule as to his bodie That Christ sate that he hungred that he did eate that he slept and was circumcised buffited whipped and a number such like are auouched in the Scriptures of Christ liuing that is of his whole â—…umanitie for without bodie and soule he could doe nor suffer none of these things And yet I trust you will not therefore conclude that Christs soule did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eate or sit or that it was circumcised buffited and whipped as well as his body So that the word may containe the whole man as doubtles the name of Christs 〈◊〉 doth and yet the things ascribed to the person doe not alwayes properly agree to both parts alike For so we shall make the soule to haue flesh and bones as well as the bodie hath which weâ—…e to make it no soule but a bodie Wherefore your illation is as weake as your obseruation is false and you farre from inferring your purpose I know the soule doth partake in all
these and such like actions and passions with the bodie For the force to doe and since to feele is from the soule and so in the death of the bodie the soule is partaker with the bodie not to lie dead and senselesse as the bodie doth but to feele the paine of death and suffer the separation from the bodie 〈◊〉 the effects of death appeare in the bodie But that the soule doth die when the whole compound of bodie and soule dieth is no consequent neither in Philosophie nor Diuinitie z Defenc. pag. 137. li. 20. The text heere speaketh as I iudge of the whole and intire sufferings of Christ. The text heere speaketh of death bereauing life which was after re-â—…stored when Christes bodie was againe quickned by the power of his spirit the rest of Christes sufferings during the whole time of his life are not comprised in the name of death otherwise Peter must haue sayd Christ was alwayes dead since his affections 〈◊〉 with circumcision if not before which is no part of Peters speach nor meaning yea rather it is repugnant to both since Peter saith Christ a 1. Peter 3. suffered once fâ—…r sinnes when he was put to death and not euer and alwayes whiles he liued on â—…arth b Defenc pag. 137. li. 35. Against this obseruation what pretended you some Scriptures palpably abused first Matthew where Christ speaketh of his Disciples that their spirit their inward regenerate man was ready to watch bâ—…t their flesh their corrupt Nature was weake and sluggish 〈◊〉 is this to Christs flesh and spirit If my authoritie were as good as yours and my learning as great I could say as you doe I iudge it so but if I shew not better reason for me to aâ—…firme those wordes Christ ment of himselfe then you doe or can that he ment them not of himselfe I am content your consistorian seeming shall goe before my laborious proouing my vse is not to relie too much on mine owne iudgement as you doe though I thanke God I can examine both your and other mens interpretations but when I finde a thing maturely and rightly considered and concoâ—…ded by the learned and auncient Fathers in matters of faith or exposition of the Scriptures I goe not easily from them Tertullian saith c Tertullianus de suga in persecutione Christ himselfe professed his soule was 〈◊〉 vnto death his flesh weake that he might shew to thee there were in himselfe both the substaâ—…ces of man by the propertie of heauinesse in the soule and weakenesse in the flesh Athanasius likewise d Athanasius de Passione Cruâ—…e 〈◊〉 A little afore his death Christ cried the spirit was willing but the flesâ—… weakâ—… that our aduersarie the diuell encountring him as a man might feele his diuine power Theophilus Alexandrinus e 〈◊〉 epistola Paschali prima contra Appollinaristas If Christ tooke onely the flesh of man and not the soule of man why in his Passion did he say the spirit is prompt but the flesh weake Ambrose f Ambros. ls 4. in 〈◊〉 ca. 4. If Christes body had beene spirituall he would not haue said the spirit is prompt but the flesh is weake Heare the voice of either in Christ as well of weake flesh as of a readie spirit The auncient writer among the works of Saint Austen g De Salutaribus documentis ca. 64. The trueth it selfe our Lord Iesus Christ saith of himselfe the spirit is prompt but the flesh weake Cyrill h Cyrill Thesauri li. 10. ca. 3. Though Christ abhorred death as a man yet as a man he refused not to doe the will of his Father and his owne as God and therefore he said the spirit is prompt but the flesh is weake Vigilius i Vigilius contra 〈◊〉 li. 5. ca. 4. What is that wherein he suffered and tried weakenesse but mans nature whereof he said at the time of his passion the spirit is prompt but the flesh weake tasting of which infirmitie he learned to helpe the weake Seuerianus k Seuerianus contra Nonatum citatur a 〈◊〉 contra 〈◊〉 hem My soule saith Christ is he auic vnto death And interpreting to what his Passions pertained the spirit saith he is ready but the flesh weake Remigius l 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 26. 〈◊〉 a Tho. 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In these words Christ sheweth that he tooke true flesh of the Virgine and that he had a true soule Wherefore he now saith that his spirit is ready to suffer but that his weake flesh feareth the paine of his Passion Euthymius m 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 My God my God said Christ why hast thou for saken me that is why hast thou left me in this feare knowing my spirit is ready but my flesh weake What thinke you had I no more reason to say as I saide then you haue to denie it where also you may note that all these learned Fathers refuse your lame obseruation as well as I doe and so you had neede seeke some better authoritie then your owne or perhaps some one that 〈◊〉 you with this rule seruing to none other end but to helpe forward your hell fansie n 〈◊〉 pag. 139. li. 1. Thinke you that Christs soule was willing to suffer as God had appointed but that his flesh resisted veâ—…ily so you seeme heere to vnderstand and it is as likely as your applying of flesh and spirit to Christ in your pag. 104. Put on your visard before you take in hand to controle the iudgement of so many Fathers Your pride is greater then your wit in this and most things that passe your pen. Is it such newes to you for me or for them to say that Christes flesh was weake that is not so ready to suffer as was his soule seeth your mastership no difference betwixt weakenesse and resistance specially when in comparison of the readinesse of the spirit the flesh is said to be weaker that is lesse ready to suffer then the soule doth not the Apostle applie the same word vnto Christ when he saith Christ was o 2. Cor. 13. crucified through weakenesse and long before the Prophet said of Christ p Esa. 53. He is a man full of sorrowes and one that hath experience in infirmites So that your cholor was kindled without cause when you strooke such an heat with my saying that Christs flesh was weake the Prophet foretold he should be a man full of sorrowes and well acquainted with infirmities The vntrue conceit which you challenge in the 104. Page of my Sermons touching Christes flesh where I sayd it must haue force to cleanse and quicken when you impugâ—…e I will defend in the meane time it may serue I savd nothing but what our Saâ—…iour sayd before me q Iob. 6. vers 56. 54. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud dwelleth in me and I in him he hath eternall life and I will raise him vp at the last
day If you could take any hold I doubt not the sharpenesse of your teeth but your foolish conceits are caried like clouds in the aire they rest not before they vanish r Defenc pag. 139. li. 5. Then Luke where both spirit and flesh are not intended of Christ as our obseruation requireth but only the flesh Your obseruation is made to fitte S. Peters words to your fansie For there are not many places in Scripture where spirit and flesh are expressed and intended of the two natures of Christ though in other places some words adioyned doe prooue him to be God as well as man In that of S. Luke Christ doth not denie himselfe to be a diuine spirit for then he were no God since God is a s Iohn 4. spirit nor to haue an humane spirit for then he were no man but that which they saw with their eies he affirmed was flesh and bloud and not any apparition in the shape of a man And the words following t Luke 24. as ye see me to haue containe and note the other part of his humane nature which was his soule and spirit and consequently inferre that he was a man and had an humane spirit though compassed with flesh and bones as we haue u Defenc. pag. 139. li. 7. Then the Romans where I affirme that flesh signifieth the whole manhood of Christ according to the which he came from Dauid euen as well as Salomon or Nathan did who were Dauids sonnes in their intire and perfect nature Whether Christs body without a soule which was but a Carcasse be alwaies in the Scriptures intended by the name of Christs flesh this is not the question there is but one place in the new Testament where Christs flesh importeth his dead body as when Peter saith Christes x Acts 2. flesh saw no corruption but whether whatsoeuer is attributed to Christs flesh with comparison or mention of his diuine nature doe properly agree as well to his soule as to his body this is the thing in question betwixt you and me That the man Christ was borne of the Virgin and died on the Crosse there is no doubt but that his soule was made of the seed of Dauid and circumcised crucified as well as his body this is your error and for this you haue no shew in the word of God and therefore you seeke by rules of your owne making to draw it in by the heeles when you cannot by the head It is but a shift to saue your selfe when you tell your Reader that Christs whole manhood came from Dauid as well as Salomon or Nathan did The point is whether Christes soule were made of the seed of Dauid as well as his body was That I denie and haue the Apostle for my warrant that men are only the y Heb. 12. Fathers of our bodies and God is the immediate Father of our spirits Which if it be true in all men then Salomon and Nathan were the sonnes of Dauid not because their soules were made of the seed of Dauid but only their bodies and yet since they drew as much from their father as children by Gods ordinance do or may do therefore were they the sonnes of Dauid In Christ it is most sure which the Apostle saith that according to the flâ—…sh he was made of the seed of Dauid This by no meanes can be verified of his soule howsoeuer you would slubber it vp by calling his whole manhood the sonne of Dauid which I doe not denie Not that his soule was made of the seed of Dauid as was his body that is an open and an odious error but that his flesh made of the seed of Dauid which was the Virgins body was also quickened with a soule from God in due time that came not out of Dauids loines Euen so the whole man in Christ died on the Crosse not that his soule was depriued of life or left dead as was his body but that the coniunction of soule and body which maketh the whole man was dissolued by death his flesh lying in the graue without corruption and his soule remaining in the hands of God to which it was commended z Defenc. pag. 139. So likewise Christ was kinne to the lewes according to his whole humanity as well as Paul was When you can shew kindred in spirits as well as in flesh that is deriued from parents then say that Paul and Christ were kin to the Iewes according to their whole humanity till you proue that howsoeuer vse of speach may be endured which must be interpreted according to the truth you can neuer conclude there is consanguinity betweene soules as there is betweene bodies And spight of your heart if you will not maintaine vntrueths to vphold your credit as your maner is the Apostle teacheth you how to vnderstand those words that as we haue fathers of our bodies from whom our spirits come not but immediatly from God so kindred and consanguinity which commeth by the parents goeth by flesh and bloud receiued from them and not by soules infused from God S. Iohn leadeth you to the same rule that men are borne of bloud and of the will of the flesh and so by flesh and bloud commeth kindred God giuing soules to quicken their bodies Wherefore the Scriptures when they expresse kindred they note it by flesh and bone As when Laban said to Iacob Thou art my a Gene. 29. bone and my flesh So Iudah of Ioseph b Gene. 37. he is our brother and our flesh So Abimelech to his mothers brethren c Iudic. 9. I am your bone and your flesh And vsualy where kindred is claimed or yeelded the Scriptures expresse it by d 2. Sam. 5. 19 flesh and bones as Adam said to Eue e Gen. 2. This now is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh So that howsoeuer you dreame or talke of the consanguinity of soules it is like the rest of your nouelties which haue no handfast but in your head and the exception taken by me will stand good doe you and your adherents what you can that in these attributes to the manhood of Christ you shall neuer prooue they properly pertaine to both parts but to the whole conioyned or to one part seuerally respected f Defenc. pag. 139. li. 21. Further that which you bring out of the Corinthians compared with this in Peter doth most cleerely open and confirme the same He was crucified touching his infirmitie but liueth by the power of God His soule had infirmities of suffering in it aswell as his bodie therefore his soule also is vnderstood here that it was crucified and died that is according to the condition thereof You proue not what you promise but pronounce what you please which if any man will suffer you to doe we shall soone haue a new Church a new Faith and all things new Afore you pretended rules at least though void of reason and trueth now you
he suffered in the flesh But of the fathers iudgement in this case more shal be said afterward g Defenc. pag. 139. li. 12. Heere you obiect thus I note all the attributes of the bodie common to the soule Nay for sooth that I doe not Forsooth the ground of your conclusion inferreth so much what euer your meaning is or may be For this you vrge that wheresoeuer the flesh of Christ is taken for the whole manhood of Christ the thing affirmed of Christs flesh must be common to soule and bodie and thence you conclude that since Christ suffered death in his flesh by Saint Peters wordes he must by the Scriptures â—…e sayd to haue died as well in the soule as in the bodie You regard no more but death to bee common to both which of all others is not common to both because they are seured by death but vpon this collection it followeth if your rule bee not false that since through out the Scrtptures where mention is made of Christes liuing flesh or of his actions or passions the whole manhood of Christ is there vnderstoode then consequently all those thinges so affirmed of Christ must be common to both the parts of Christs humane nature that is as well to his soule as to his bodie To pretend your meaning against your speach when you see how absurd your saying is is a childish vanitie if your obseruation and illation be true this that I obiect followeth if those be not true then faile you of your first purpose that death must be common to both parts of Christes manhood Besides the falsitie of your collection appeareth by this that when things are attributed to Christ liuing which are proper to the soule or bodie and yet are ascribed to Christs person this kind of speach is figuratiue either because the whole is taken fot a part or because either part hath some concurrence or reference to the actions and passions auouched of Christ. But thence you may not inferre that all such things most properly agree to either part in Christ that is such palpable ignorance that you seeme not to conceiue what a man is or whereof he consisteth For so you may concâ—…ude that the soule eateth drinketh sleepeth sitteth falleth and such like as well as the bodie because these things are affirmed of the person that is of the whole man though indeed performed by meanes of the bodie More follie it is to vrge the same in death which seuereth the soule from the bodie and so leaueth nothing common to bodie and soule but the generall attributes of a Creature as to be locall finite and such like For where death is the priuation of life and the soule is the life of her bodie what reason or sense can it haue because man dieth to say the losse of life must be common to the soule which is the cause of life as well as to the bodie which is but the vessell or vehicle of life True it is the soule by death is driuen to depart from her bodie but so long as she is present there is life and she must first be gone before death which is the lacke of life can seaze on the bodie To draw this consequent then from reason that the soule must die when man dieth is the part of him that vnderstandeth not what reason meaneth except by the dying of the soule he note the departing of the soule from the bodie in which sense the Scriptures sometimes applie the name of death to the soule as wee shall afterwardes see h Defenc. pag. 140. li. 14. This attribute of dying vnderstood in such sort and manner as the bodie properly dieth that is to become without life and sense I make not common to the soule The whole man consisting of bodie and soule is most properly said to die that is to be dissolued the soule departing from the bodie the bodie is properly said to bee dead that is to bee void of life and sense and if we say the bodie dieth as speach is often guided rather by vse then by rule we meane the bodie beginneth to lacke sense and life and to bee possessed by death And though the soule cannot be void of life and sense in such sort as the bodie is because she is the life of the bodie yet when the soule is dead shee is vtterly void of her life which is God and hath no more sense or feeling of him then the bodie lying dead hath of the soule How then doth it follow that because Christ died in the flesh or in his manhood that his soule must be dead after her manner of dying as well as his bodie after his sort of death where the whole dieth either part you will say must die But Peter doth not say Christ died in his whole manhood that is your lame and blind conceit but that Christ died in the flesh And yet the whole manhood may die and not both parts because the whole is a thing conioyned of parts and so dissolued where they are seuered though both parts doe not die the whole you meane for euery part Your meaning is not the matter but Peters words are the thing that I stand on Now what doe they inferre when he saith Christ died in the flesh you say the whole and euery part thereof because the spirit heere opposite to the flesh importeth the whole dietie and therefore the flesh must comprise the whole humanitie This is that bold and false obseruation that hath deceiued you and your leaders For besides all other exceptions hâ—…eretofore taken which are enough the words of Paul in the same case which is also one of your examples Christ was i Rom. 1. made of the seed of Dauid according to the flesh do they inferre that Christes whole manhood and euery part thereof as well soule as bodie was made of the seede of Dauid If you and your instructors see the falsenesse of this collection with what face vrge you so earnestly the same illation from Peters words but your wills not Peters words are the foundation of your faith and so you can make a shew to wrangle you little care for trueth or substance k Defenc pag. 140. li 25. This if you do not acknowledge the shame of absurditie and contrarietie which in your fansie you accuse me of that Christs soule died and died not will sit neerer to you than to me Is this enough to say the word You may soone write if you make it suffâ—…cient to say what you list but your absurdities and contrarieties are not so easily declined as you would sleightly ouerslippe them Looke backe to your former footing and see how shamefully you shun your owne assertions Examining the place of Peter after your learned maner and labouring as you thought with impregnable force to prooue when Peter â—…yth Christmas mortified in the flâ—…sh but qnickened in or by the spirit that the spirit could not there be taken for Christs humane soule
you l Treâ—… pa. 78. li. 〈◊〉 butted both these as absurd and most false that Christ was made aliue either in his humane soule or by the same I replied that you refuted your owne position Foâ—… if in the former words of Peter his meaning were to say that Christes soule and bodie as you conceaue him were done to death then of necessitie Christ must be quickned and restored to life as well in his humane Soule as in his Bodie And this is so farre from being absurd and false as you proclaimed it that it is openly blasphemous otherwise to saie or thinke that Christ was neuer made aliue in his humane soule if once it were dead as you collected out of Peters words What course now take you to colour these incongruities You ment it was absurd to say that Christes soule was quickned as was his bodie Of the maner of death you speake there not a word but onely seeke to prooue that spirit in that place can not be taken for Christes soule because it is most absurd and false as you say that Christ was made aliue in his humane soule How you will iangle or iuggle touching your intent is not to this purpose you must answere for the sense which you would patch to Peters words The death which Christ suffered in his flesh by Peters assertion was it the death of the body alone or of both body and soule if of the body only then is your commentane which corrupteth Peters words absurd false and wicked Did Peter intend to teach that Christ died in both parts of his manhood that is in soule as well as in bodie then is it a necessarie trueth and point of piety to confesse and affirme that Chist was made aliue in his humane soule which you say is absurd and false Which way will your wisedome winde out of this grinne you ment it is absurd for the soule to be quickened as the body is You ment as best serued your turne but what ment Peter if he affirmed the soule of Christ died as you interprete him must not his words auouch that Christes soule was made aliue except you resolue that Christs soule once dead was neuer quickned againe and though you set a bold face on these contradictions and say you are farre from them yet ech meane Reader may soone perceaue how farre you were ouershot in them though heere you would outface them And where you now say that in such a sense you doe not denie but Christ may be said to be quickned in the spirit what is this but to grant that now which before you called absurd and most false m Dâ—…c pag. 140. li. 37. I hope it is cleere to reasonable men that Christes soule according to the Scriptures phrase may be said in some sort to haue tasted suffered death that is the extreamest feelings of Gods wrath for sinne and the most vehement paines of the damned but in a singuler maner and extraordinarie vvay And to the same reasonable men I referre it whether you haue brought one word or syllable out of holy Scripture concluding that Christ died the death of the soule or the second death The Scripture phrase you haue peruerted and distorted to your meaning but the words are farre from inferring any such thing euen in the iudgement of the meanest Your mittigations In some sort in a singular manner and extraordinarie way What argue they but your wresting of the Scriptures from their right sense since no such thing is there affirmed yea the death of the soule and the second death in the Scriptures are such as you dare not auouch of Christ but with these limitations which are no where mentioned in the Scriptures but are houels to shroud your absurd and false doctrine from the tempest of the word of God conuincing you of impiety and heresie if you did not thus delude the force of them But in vaine doe you seeke for these vnsound refuges when you be once driuen from your footing in the word of God For you must not only prooue by the Scriptures which you neither haue done nor can doe that Christ suffered the death of the soule and the second death as you say he did but you must shew also where these exceptions are written of Christ otherwise they are but shifts declining the maine and generall trueth of the Scriptures touching the death of the soule and the second death which can no more agree to Christ then sinne and damnation which you may as well defend IN A SORT in a singular manner and extraordinary way to be found in Christ as the other And therefore dally not with the word of God and faith of Christ your singular manner will not saue you from abusing the one and defacing the other except you can shew where your assertion as well as your exceptions be written in the booke of God As for the most vehement paines of the damned when you take the paines to prooue any thing otherwise then by the meale of your owne mouth you shal be answered The paines of the damned expressed in the Scriptures are reiection confusion worme of conscience and torment of hell fire which if by your cunning conueyance you cast vppon the soule of Christ you shall cough me a singular and extraordinary miscreant n Defenc. pag. 141. li. 6. Now besides the matter you gird at me in diuers places as where I say the death of the soule is such paines and sufferings of Gods wrath as alwayes accompanie them that are separated from the grace and loue of God This geere deserued more then girding other men vse to blush at such falsehoods but shamefastnesse and you are parted When you had thus grossely thwarted the trueth as to say that the paines of Gods wrath which here you make the most o Treatis pag. 77. li. 5. vehement paines of the damned doe alwayes accompanie them that are separated from the grace and loue of God your Printer or Corrector ashamed of that more then childish ouersight would not take vpon him to altar your text and so to amend your error but with a marginall note bridled your wordes making an addition cleane contrarie to your text For where you said alwayes he said ordinarily which is not alwayes and so he giueth you the lie and yet himselfe is as farre from the trueth as you are For neither alwayes nor ordinarily much lesse alwayes ordinarily which is as much as alwayes sometimes doe the most vehement paines of the damned accompanie them that are strangers to the grace and loue of God and therefore this Laborinth is like your other riddles in religion neither Writer Reader nor Corrector can tell what to make of them nor how to temper them with any trueth But now you will make amends for all p Defenc. pag. 141. li. 10. Forsooth it is true they are alwayes wicked whom these paines do accompanie ordinarily It is the first time I heard you speake
towards a trueth but this is cleane kam to that you said before Your former speach was these paines doe alwayes accompanie the wicked and now you turne the cake in the pan as if that side were not burnt and tell vs they are alwayes wicked whom those paines doe accompanie ordinarily Forsooth this is not How handsomly the defender shifteth hands that you said before and if you be ashamed of your follie and falsehood I am not against repentance But it were plaine dealing to confesse the fault and not to bring in an ape for an owle and say it is the same Creature And yet forsooth whether this position be true or not is without the compasse of your skill For first what is ordinarie with you once a weeke once a moneth or once in seuen yeeres you haue gotten a word that you may winde at your will and limite as you like best and yet without all proofe you resolue that these paines doe ordinarily accompanie the wicked experience I trust you will take none vpon you for then by your owne rule you must be alwayes wicked to sift other mens souls what paines they feele though they be wicked I win you haue no way but by report or conâ—…ecture which are both vncertaine Warrant in the word you haue none that such paines doe alwayes or ordinarily accompany the wicked the contrarie may rather be thence collected For when the wicked shall say q 1. Thess. 5. Peace and safetie then shall suddaine destruction come vpon them Peace and safetie in the paines of hell I suppose they haue nor cause nor will to say In Peace then safety not in the pains of the damned are many if not most of the wicked till destruction come vpon them which is not alwaies nor ordinary since they can be destroyed but once and vntill that time their ease and abundance make them forget God r Defenc. pag. 141. li. 18. Againe you pretend to haue much against me where I say the feeling of the sorrwes of Gods wrath due to sinne in a broken and contrite heart is indeede the onely true and perfectly accepted sacrifie to God True so I said and againe I say it What see you annsse in it Then vnhappie men are the godlâ—…e say you which are at any time free from the paines of the damned to what purpose is this I speake of Christs sacrifice Thus your triumphs before the victorie come to nothing but blasts of vanitie If I mistooke your meaning you are the more beholding to me the sense which you now expresse is worse then that I charged you with and yet I tooke your words as they lay which because they were namely applied neither to Christ nor to vs by you I pressed you with the lesser absurditie of the twaine Why your words might not be referred to the faithfull I saw no cause Dauid confessing that the s Psal. 51. v. 17. sacrifices of God he meaneth esteemed and required of God are a troubled spirit and a contrite and broken heart causeth the sacrifice of righteousnesse to be accepted I strained your words no farder then Dauids but sayd you miâ—…construed the wordes of the holy Ghost if you tooke a broken and contrite heart repenting his former sinnes for the paines of hell suffered in the soule You now say you ment this of Christ that his broken and contrite heart feeling the most vehement paines of the damned was the onely true and perfectly accepted sacrifice to God and aske me what I see amisse in this I will soone tell you Where I would haue charged you with a single error against the Godly by reason your wordes are indistinct and doubtfull you loade your selfe with a double iniurie against God and his Sonne For first the sacrifice of Christes bodie by which we are sanctified as saith the Apostle is excluded from being a true and perfectly accepted sacrifice if the paines of hell in his soule be onely the true sacrifice Secondly a false sacrifice deuised by your selfe and neuer offered by Christ is obtruded by you vnto God as the onely true sacrifice which he must perfectly accept and so where before you blazed an vntrueth you be now come to bolster it vp with impietie For where no Scripture doth witnesse that Christ suffered any such sorrowes and paines of hell as you surmise you now openly professe that all sorrowes and sacrifices besides this were neither true nor acceptable vnto God and that this your deuice surpasâ—…eth all the merits and obedience of Christ whatsoeuer t Defenc. pag. 141. li. 30. Where Austen seemeth to denie that Christes soule might die he denieth that Christ suffered any paines of damation locally in hell after his death as it seemeth some held about his time whom heere he laboureth to confute If your ignorance were not euery where patent some man perhaps would stumble at your report but you are growen to such a trade of outfacing that almost you can doe nothing else That any such opinion was held in Austens time as you talke of and that he laboured there to confute the same is a maske of your making to hide your owne blemishes Austen refelleth that as a fable in exact words when he saith Quis audeat dicere who dare say so Now if some had so held he must haue said some doe say so but who dare say so is as much as no man dareth say so If no man durst so to say then no man was so wicked or irreligious in Austens time as to dare say that Christs soule died which now is become the greatest pillar of your pater noster As for suffering in hell locally it is a fiction of yours fastened to S. Austen he hath no such words and therefore no such meaning u Defenc. pag 141. li. 37. He had no necessary cause â—…o speake of the second sense thereof how the soule may be sayd to suffer death extraordinarily for sinne imputed onely neither doth he speake against that in Christ. S. Austen a man would thinke had cause to know how we wâ—…re râ—…d by Christ and surely if he were ignorant thereof you would not iudge him worthy to be a Curate in your Conuenticles but shew that he who taught so much and wrote so much as his works declare euer spake word of your new-found redemption by the paines of hell suffered in the soule of Christ or by the second death Against it he often speaketh when he so soundly and sincerely collecteth out of the Scriptures that Christ died for vs the death of the body onely and not the death of the soule And this how could it be a true or tolerable assertion if the Scriptures did auouch or the church in his time had professed the death of Christs soule to be the chiefest part of our redemption for sinne and reconciliation to God Wherefore neuer dreame he had no necessarie cause to speake of your sense if your sense had beene a part
of the Christian faith would any man in his right wits haue asked as Austen doth Who dare auouch it He discusseth the place of S. Peter and when he commeth to those words Christ was quickened in the spirit or by the spirit he resolueth this cannot be spoken of Christs humane soule because that which was afterwards quickened was first mortified and therefore we could not say that Christs humane spirit or soule was restored to life except we first yeelded that it was before subiected to death Now that Christs soule was euer dead who durst auouch it The reason why Christs soule could neuer die he rendreth thus for that the Scriptures acknowledge no death of the soule in any but sin and damnation to neither of which the soule of Christ could be subiect x August epist. 99. Certè anima Christi nullo mortificata peccato vel damnatione punita est quibus duabus causis mors animae intelligi potest Surely the soule of Christ was neither dead with any sin nor punished with damnation which are the two waies how the death of the soule may be possibly vnderstood This collection of S. Austins out of the Scriptures touching the death of the soule is most sound and cannot be shaken with all your shewes and shifts talke of ordinarie and extraordinarie as long as you will That standing good which yet we see immooueable for all your battery it followeth ineuitably that Christ ne did ne could die the death of the soule ne may any man defend it without apparent falsity and impiety What proofes you haue profered against S. Austins conclusion let the Reader iudge I must confesse my selfe very blind if he see any for I see none and therefore not only S. Austins words but his reasons out of holy Scripture stand firme and hold you fast to the grinding stone being no way as yet counteruailed or controled but with your vaine speaches and most vnlearned euasions y Defenc pag. 142. li. 2. Nay according to Austins owne definition of the soules dying it will easily appeare that Christes soule may be said to haue suffered some kind of death Mors est spiritus deseri a Deo The death of the soule saith he is Gods for saking of it but the Scripture saith God did forsake him for a season yea the Fathers also agree fully therevnto Therefore by Anstins definition largely and rightly taken Christ may be said in some sense to haue died in soule From your shifts you returne againe to your proofes and neither barrell is better herring The maior you thinke is Austins the minor is Christs owne words and what trow you should hinder the cōclusion This reason hath but three of your wonted flowers I must not say faults the maior is larger then Austen euer ment and the minor no way matcheth it except you quite alter the words of Christ and the conclusion commeth nothing neere to your purpose Examine them in order Not euery forsaking of the soule is death for the godly often in the Scriptures complaine as I haue shewed that they are forsaken of God when yet their soules liue but as life is repugnant to death and God is the life of the soule so till God haue vtterly forsaken the soule she is not dead Whiles she retaineth any fellowship of grace with God who is her life she is not dead because she partaketh with life As then death is the vtter priuation of life so God must vtterly forsake the soule before she can be pronounced to be dead and that kind of forsaking is indeed the death of the soule in this life So that your maior if euer you will come neere S. Austins meaning must be the death of the soule is Gods vtter for saking of the same And that thus you must conster S. Austins words appeareth euery where by his z In Psal. 70. in Iohan. tract 47. de verbis Apost Serm. 30. comparison with the death of the bodie which is not dead till the soule be vtterly departed from it For as the body which hath in it any power or presence of the soule is not dead but liuing so the soule that hath any communion with God who is her life can not be truely sayd to be dead but as yet to haue life Were you no Diuine but a plaine Sophister reason teacheth you so to vnderstand S. Austins words for where life and death be priuatiues as well in the soule as in the bodie the one hath no place till the other be vtterly quenched He is not blinde that hath any sight nor deafe that hath any hearing the priuation vtterly excludeth the habite neither is the soule dead that hath any force or effect of life in her and consequently not euerie forsaking but onely an vtter forsaking of God is the death of the soule heere in this life Your minor then should be that Christes Soule was vtterly forsaken of God which are not the words of Christ on the crosse nor any way consonant to them yea the verie entrance to that speech when Christ saide My God my God doth prooue the quite contrarie a Matth. 22. God is not the God of the dead but of the liuiug Then directly by the plaine wordes of Scripture when Christ said My God my God his soule confessing God to be his God was liuing and consequently the wordes following why hast thou forsaken me doe net prooue the death of the soule vnlesse you make the Sonne of God so vnwise as not to vnderstand what he said or so amazed that he marked not his owne speech which with you perchance is no absurditie but with me it is a wicked and vnchristian impietie Christes wordes therefore import that he found a kinde of forsaking but not that his soule was forsaken of the trueth grace or spirit of God these be blasphemies to auouch and no points of pietic nor that he was vtterly or altogither forsaken which onely is the death of the soule And against this wresting of Christes wordes from their right sense how many testimonies of scriptures and Fathers haue I sormerly brought all which you trippe ouer with a light foote and make as though you felt them not You haue beene told b Galat 3. the iust shall liue by saith So that if Christ wanted not faith he could not choose but liue in soule Againe c 1. Iohn 4. God is 〈◊〉 and he that dwelleth in loue dwelieth in God Christ then must either haue life or want loue for the loue of God is the life of the soule Farder the Spirit of God is the d Rom. 8. spirit of life that quickneth the soule yea then 〈◊〉 thereof is life and peace Then must you take from Christ the spirit of God with all the gifts and graces thereof before you can depriue the soule of Christ from life What an hellish heape of blasphemies are here before you can affirm that Christs soule was dead according to the Scriptures
according to Austins meaning who herein ioineth with the Scriptures Christ then lyâ—…ing in soule with perfect obedience and patience and assuredly knowing God to be his God his Father complaineth that he was left or forsaken that is either not deliuered from his troubles afflictions but left in sinners hands to do their pleasure with him or deuested of his power and left through weaknesse vnto death which should for a season seuer his soule from his bodie or lastly lest in this shame of the crosse anguish of body without any open or sensible shew or signe of Gods fauour towards him or care for him All these kindes of forsaking the learned and ancient Fathers acknowledge in Christ on the crosse and other forsaking of the soule they admit none howsoeuer you falsly pretend their full agreement Come now to your conclusion if you could euince that Christes soule was vtterly forsaken of God and depriued of life which you can neuer and to offer it will conuince you of hainous and wilfull heresie and blasphemie yet can you conclude no more but the death of the soule in this life which is either ignorance or contempt of God Hell paines you cannot inferre nor the torments of the damned which are the second death and so your great flourish out of Austen for the death of Christes soule is but a â—…aw And the Reader may see with what vnderstanding and conscience you read and alleage the Fathers that where you acknowledge e Defenc. pag. 142. li. 12. they doe denie this phrase generally that Christ died in soule yet you boldly and lewdly affirme the next line before they f li. 11. grant the thing in effect as if they denied that in wordes which indeed they knew to be a part of the Christian faith and were like you who shift and lie for life to support your owne Deuices But in all these shewes of yours the aduised Reader shall finde nothing but a carelesse and senselesse resolution to saie anie thing rather then to admit a trueth or to relent from the least of your conceits whereof he may haue a full proofe in your words next following g Defenc pag. 142. li. 16. Let this be the answer touching all your Fathers and Councels which you bring abundantly heere and there about this point of the soules death A short answer indeede if it had either trueth or sense in it It is right a colts tricke when he will not or can not endure the loade to cast the whole packe off at once That they generally deny the death of Christes soule you grant and with a brazen face and barren head you adde they meane otherwise they deny not the thing but onely the phrase What is this but to suppâ—… vp the trueth with a sadde countenance and to belch foorth your shame with open mouth had you examined their places your shifts sleights and vntrueths would haue loaden a carrect you haue better now prouided for your selfe with belying them all at once you haue incurred but one inconuenience But like is your Defence to your cause it entred first with aduantage of phrases and so it will end with a wind-mill of wordes Well that the Christian Reader may perceaue how auncient and vniuersally consented and confirmed by the church of Christ this truth hath beene which I teach that Christ died no death for our redemption but the death of the body onely to those Fathers which you say are abundantly brought by me already I will adde others that though there be no care nor conscience in you yet all men in whom there is any sense may see your deuice of the death of Christes soule and of hell paines and the most vehement torments of the damned suffered by him to be not onely a falsitie repugnant to the Scriptures but a noueltie against the maine consent and confession of all antiquitie If their testimonies be long and many thou wilt bâ—…are with me Christian Reader I hope the expence of a little paper to me or paine to thee is not so deare as the cause it selfe both for thy direction and for my discharge First then thou shalt heare that Christ died in bodie alone which is my assertion and withall that Christ died not in soule which is their conceit contradicted by all the Fathers and in the end we will shortly view whether these Fathers crosse their new found redemption in words oâ—… matter The places I thinke good to repeate in Latine or Grecke as much as shall need which otherwise I refraine of purpose to decrease the volume least it should be too great that the Reader should ncither distrust my translating nor make long search for the wordes themselues in ech Writer if happily he desire to see them Tertullian prouing the resurrection of our bodies by Christs example saith h Tertull. de Resurrect carmis ca. 48. Sine dubio si mortuum sisepultum audis secundum scripturas NON ALIAS QVAM IN CARNF aequâ—… resuscitatum in carne conced â—…ipsum enim quod â—…idit in mortem quod iacuit iâ—…sepulchro hoc resurrexit non tam Christus in carne quà m caro Christi Without Christ died no death of the soule by the iudgement of all the Fathers question if thou heare that CHRIST DIED that he was buried according to the Scriptures NONE OTHERWISE THEN in the flesh thou wilt grant that he was likewise raised in the flesh For that very thing which fell by death which lay in the graue that surely rose not so much Christ in the flesh as the flesh of Christ. And in the same place Dominus i Ibidem quanquam animam circumferret trepidantem vsque ad mortem sed non cadentem PER MORTEM The Lord though he caried about a soule fearing vnto death YET NOT FALLING BY DEATH Origen k Origen li. 5. in ca. 5. epist. ad Romanos By sinne saith Paul came death that death no doubt whereof the Prophet saith the soule that sinneth the same shall die whereof a man may iustly call this bodily death a shadow For whither soeuer that pierceth of force this followeth as a shadow doth the bodie If a man obiect that our Sauiour did no sinne neither was there in him the death of the soule by reason of any sinne and yet he sustained a corporall death we will answere him that where Christ owed this death to none nor was obnoxious to it yet for â—…ur saluation of his owne accord and by no necessitie he vndertooke this so aboue called shadow of death l Ibidem This common death then he did vndergoe but that death of sinne which raigned ouer all others he did not admit Athanasius m Athanas. contra Arianos oratione 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What els was that which was crucified but the bodie of Christ And againe Christs n Ibidem resurrection could not be without death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And how could
death haue had place in him if he had not had a mortall bodie And againe o Idem de incarnat verbâ—… Death of it selfe could not appeare but in the bodie and therefore Christ put on a bodie that finding death in his bodie he might abolish it Ambrose p Ambros. de fide ad Gratianum li. 3. ca. 5. Who is he that would haue vs partakers of his flesh and bloud Surely the Sonne of God Quomodo nisi per carnem particeps factus est noster aut PER QVAM NISI CORPORIS MORTEM mortis vincula dissoluit IN QVO NISI IN CORPORE expiaâ—…t peccata populi IN QVO PASSVS EST NISI IN CORPORE Sicut supra diximus Christo secundum carnem passo How was he made our Partner but by flesh and by what death other than the death of his bodie did he dissolue the bands of death WHEREIN BVT IN HIS BODIE did he expiate the sinnes of the people WHEREIN BVT IN HIS BODIE did he suffer As wee sayd before Christ suffered in the flesh Chrysostom q 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r We died a double death therefore we must looke for a double resurrection Christ died but one kind of death therefore herose but one kind of resurrection Adam died body and soule he died to sinne and to nature In what day soeuer ye eat of the tree said God ye shall die the death That very day Adam did not die in which he did eat but he then died to sinne and long after to nature The first is the death of the soule the other is the death of the body For the death of the soule is sinne or euerlasting punishment To vs men there is a double death and therefore we must haue a double resurrection To Christ there was but one kinde of death for he sinned not and that one kinde of death was for vs. He owed no kind of death for he was not subiect to sinne and so not to death Therefore he as free from sinne rose but one 〈◊〉 We as gâ—…e of sinne die a double death and so must haue a double resurrection This Sermon whence these words are taken thought it be not amongst Chrysostomes printed Volumes yet besides that it was published in print by FRONTO DVCâ—…VS it is found in the written Greeke copie of Chrysostom lying in New Colledge Librarie in Oxford whence these words are taken little differing from the printed copie Out of Augustine though much be sayd and much more might be yet thinke I not meet to omit some places as well for the cleerenesse as the rarenesse of them some of them being sufficiently witnessed vnto vs by others though they be not found at this day among his printed works And first of those that are found s August de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4 ca. 3. Vtrique rei nosâ—… id est animae corpori medicina resurrectione opus crat Mors animae impiet as est mors corporis corruptibilitas Sicut enim anima Dco deserente sic corpus anima deserente nâ—…ur vnde illâ—… sit insipiens hoc exanime Huic ergo DVPLAE MORTI NOSTRAE Salâ—…or impendit SIMPLAM SVAM adfâ—…ciendam vtramque resuscitationem nostram in Sacramento exemplo praeposuit proposuit VNAM SVAM Neque enim fuit peccator aut impâ—… vt et tanquam spiritu mortuo in interiori homine renouari opus esset sed Indutus carne mortali EA SOLA MORIENS EA SOLA RESVRGENS EA SOLA NOBIS ad vtrumque concinuit cùm in ea fieret interioris hominis sacramentum 〈◊〉 exemplum Either part of vs that is both soule and body needed curing and raising The death of the soule is impictie and the death of the bodie corruptibilitie As the soule dieth when God for saketh her so the bodie dieth when the soule for saketh it whereupon the one is soolish the other senselesse To this double death of ours our Sauiour applied his single death and to make a double resurrection in vs he preferred and proposed his one kind of death for a Sacrament and for a Precedent for he was no sinner or wicked person that he should need any renewing as one dead in spirit but putting on mortall flesh and dying in that ALONE and rising in that ALONE he fitted that ALONE to both our deaths placing therein a Sacrament for our inward man and an example for our outward So againe t Idem contra 〈◊〉 Arianum ca. 16. ca. 18. Sensit mortem Christus sicut omnes sentiunt qui moriâ—…nte carne mentibus viuunt c. Credo mortuum esse filium Dei illa quae secundum naturam generalis est cunctis non illa quae specialis est malis Christ selt death as all feele it who dying in the flesh liue in their spirits I beleeue the Sonne of God died that death which by Nature is common to all not that which is proper to euill men The words which the second Councell of Hispalis doth cite out of S. Austins writing against Maximinus are woorth the hearing though they be not now in his printed works as many other things are not which Bede and others alleage out of him u Concilium Hispalens 2. ca. 13. ex August aduersus Maximinum Vbi resurgit nisi in eo quod potuit cadere Vbi resurrexit nisi in eo vbi mortuus Quaere mortem in verbo nunquam esse potuit QVAERE MORTâ—…M IN ANIMA NVNQVAM IBI FVIT Quaere mortem in carne planè ibi fuit Et paulò pòst Quid miraris Nec mortua est anima nec verbum mortuum est CARO TANTVM MORTVA EST. Where was Christ raised but in that which might fall Wherein did he rise but in that wherein he died Seeke for death in his deitie it could neuer be there Seeke for death in his SOVLE IT NEVER VVAS THERE Seeke for death in his flesh there was it indeed And a little after Why doest thou maruell Neither was Christes soule dead nor his Godhead ONLY HIS FLESH DIED Neither want the same words in effect in his printed Sermons x In Iohannem tractat 47. Hoc suscitabatur quod mâ—…ur Nam verbum non est mortuum anima illa non est mortua That was raised in Christ which died The Deitie died not yea his soule died not y Ibidem Quid fecit mors nisi corpus ab anima separauit in morte sola caro est a Iudaeis occisa What did death in Christ more than seuer his bodie from his soule in death his flesh only was killed of the Iewes The councell it selfe adding of their own saith z Concilium Hispalens 2. ca. 13 Prophetia quoque in psalmis passionem Christi in carne sola sic asserit Foderunt manus meas pedes meos dinumer auerunt omnia 〈◊〉 Vbi non deitatis sed tantum
you depriue him of saith hope loue grace truâ—…th or the spirit of God you leaue him in Infidelitie desperation hatred of God reprobation falshood and make him no way the Sonne of God since they onely are the sonnes of God who are ledde by the spirit of God Now what shamefull and impious enormities these are you can easily coniecture So that of force you must confesse the soule of Christ to be liuing and endued with all these parts and powers of the life of God or else you must professe your selfe to be nothing lesse then a Christian And euen the praiers which he made and obedience which he shewed in all and euerie his conflicts and agonies prooue his soule not onely to liue but to rest assuredly on the fauour and loue of God towards him which are no fruites nor effects of the death of the soule but exactly the conrrarie Yet paine you thinke Christ might all this while suffer and that most extreame which you call the death of the soule Your calling sweete sower good badde light darknesse and life death changeth not the natures of the things but conuincâ—…th your owne ignorant and wilfull headinesse You must call things in Christ not as pleaseth your fansie but as the word of God directeth and by witnesse thereof shall you neuer be able to proue that Christs soule was dead since thence so many sure demonstrations may be brought that Christs soule was alwaies u Iohn 1. full of truth and grace and of the Holy Ghost not only in a greater abundance then either man or Angel hath or can haue but aboue all measure And in this state if we should imagine with you that x Iohn 3. Christs soule suffred the greatest sense of torments that any creature can feele yet this doth not inferre Christs soule to be dead but expressely the contrary since all paine The soule of Christ in her greatest paines did most shew the life of patience and obedience to God yea if it were possible paine equall with hell it selfe suffered in this life with obedience and patience such as all Christs sufferings were except you will wrappe him as well within sinning as suffering doth conuince the soule of Christ to be rather liuing then dead as the martyrs of Christ had their soules then most liuing in their greatest torments when force of intolerable paine excluded their spirits from their bodies And therefore I doe not a little maruaile how lightly you leape to determine and defend the death of Christs soule since all paine endured with patience obedience and confidence prooueth the soule to be most aliue to God-ward euen when she departeth as not able to sustaine the fury and violence of the torment encreasing And heerein appeareth your notable error in calling that the death of Christs soule which the Scripture calleth his obedience and victory For he was y Phil. 2. obedient to the death euen the death of the Crosse that is in all his sufferings vnto the end he z Reuel 3. ouercame and sate with his Father in his Throne as we ouercomming shall sit with Christ in his Throne And other conquest in our conflicts there is none then constant resisting all temptations and patient enduring all afflictions which Christ did before vs and we must after him by his example both which are most â—…uident â—…ignes effects of the life and strength of the soule To beleeue and loue God to hope in him and call on him in proâ—…perity declareth the soule to be 〈◊〉 but in adâ—…ty and extreaâ—…ty to continue and 〈◊〉 those dueties of piety are as forâ—…ible powers and parts of the life of the soule as the Scripture maketh any Wherefore it is a grosse ouersight in you to call that the death of the soule which the Scripture maketh the life of the soule and to pronounce Christs soule to be dead in those respects which the word of God teacheth to be the chiefest proofes of the life of the soule If you slide from the sense of absolute and inherent paine to the feare and horror of dereliction and desperation in the soule of Christ for you role at your pleasure from one to another and are constant in nothing but in generall and doubtfull speaches as were the first authors of this conceit and make that the death of the soule No temptations without desparation kill the soule then know you that these temptations kill not the soule till they plant infidelity and desperation in the soule of man from which I trust you will cleere Christ or els I mâ—…st aske what difference betwixt you and a Turke For the Iewes were not so wicked as to take from Christ his trust in God they said of him as he hung on the Crosse a Matth. 27. he trusteth in God but they thought God had failed him in suffering him to come to that cursed kind of death wherein they knew not the wisedome or power of God But no Christian can be excused by ignorance if he diminish the faith hope loue patience or obedience of Christ in all his sufferings and those not decreasing it was no way possible for the soule of Christ to be but liuing yea full of life grace how great soeuer the paines were which he endured or the temptations which he resisted So that both fathers and Scriptures persue you narrowly to this straight that Christes soule must either alwaies liue and so your doctrine is vtterly false which auoucheth the death of Christs soule to be the ground of our redemption or if it died it must die with sinne since without sinne there is no death of the soule and all paines and torments that are possible in this life if they be suffered with obedience and patience doe rather demonstrate the life then confirme the death of the soule euen in the person of Christ Iesus b Defenc. pag. 142. li. 24. But our authorised Catechisme published by master Nowel and the homily sheweth that Christ suffered farre more sharpely then meere bodily death euen the infinite paines of Gods wrath in his soule which I pointed you vnto before but you fairely leape it ouer You belie the one and confute the other and then charge me with leaping them both ouer The homily which indeed is authorised hath no such thing as you report the Catechisme which is only approoued to be taught to children in schooles hath more then you any way like or receaue and yet not that which you now defend The sorow and paine which the Catechisme supposeth in Christs soule was the feare and horror of eternall death that you not only refuse in plaine words but refell with many reasons as you thinke The like you doe for Christs descent to hell which the Catechisme confesseth to be not the presence of Christs soule in Paradise but an effectuall force thereof in hell whereby the soules of the faithlesse saw their damnation to be iust and the Diuel himselfe perceaued all
his power to be destroyed and ouerthrowen If you regard the Catechisme so highly as you pretend why slippe you from it in these or other points at your pleasure why obtrude you that to others as authorised which your selfe doe not admit indeed some men haue of late yeeres inclined to vehement and violent temptations offered to the soule of Christ in his sufferings and some to feares and horrors euen of eternall death as master Caluin and the Catechisme which you cite but if you may be suffered to shrincke from them at your liking neuer blame me if I doe not preferre them before all these fathers Howbeit to speake vprightly without wronging them I doe not see that either the Catechisme or master Caluin doe expressely defend the death of Christs soule or the second death but only the feare and horror not of a temporall hell as you haue distilled their infusion but of eternall death which you with might and maine reiect And surely if they did contradict the confession of all these fathers I would adhere to the primatiue church of Christ in matters of faith rather then to the deuices of late writers dissenting from themselues and others But touching the death of Christes soule I see no cause to depart from them since they define no such thing and therefore they aâ—…e idlely alleadged by you euen as the rest are by you proudly neglected And till you leaue this contemning of ancient Fathers and straining of later writers beyond their meaning I for my part thinke you worthie of no charge in the church of Christ neither of that you had wherein you sowed as much cockle as corne nor of that you may haue except you change your mind and learne to teach nothing to the people of God but what is warranted by the word of God c Defenc. pag. 142. li. 36. ` You say I should haue donne well to haue laied downe for a shew which is written in Easy he laied downe his soule vnto death Verily if I had it would haue made some shew I said indeed the Prophet Esay would make a better shew for the death of Christ soule then the Poet Terence whom only you produced for proofe thereof but such was then and still is your presumption that on your bare word you will pronounce what best pleaseth your fansie Howbeit the words of Esay are but a shew for the death of Christes soule since they exactly declare his bodily death to be the redemption of mankind For when the soule in the Hebrew tongue and in the old Testament is said to die either by the soule are ment the vegetatiue and sensitiue powers of the soule whereby the spirit of man is vnited to his body and which are quenched by death or by death is ment the distraction of the soule from the body which violence of death is common as well to the soule thrust from her body as to the body left without a soule That signification of the word soule the Apostle sheweth when he praieth the d 1. Thess. 5. whole spirit and soule and body of the faithfull may be kept blaâ—…lesse vnto the comming of Christ and saith e Hebr. 4. The word of God pearceth to the diuiding a sunder of the soule and the spirit And this sense of the word death the Scriptures expresse when they often mention that the soules of the godly doe or would die When Iosephs brethren would haue slaine him Ruben said vnto them f Genes 37. vers 21. Let vs not strike him in the soule that is let vs not kill him So Balaam seeing the glory of Gods people said g Numb 23. vers 10. Let my soule die the death of the Righteous and mine end be like his that is Let my soule depart in peace as the Righteous doe And least any thinke that Balaam spake he knew not what Sampson willing to end his life with reuenge of the dishonour done to God by the Philistines insulting at his bonds and blindnesse when he pulled the house on his and their heades said h Iudâ—… 16. vers 30. Let my soule die with the Philistines So Elias wearie of his life i 1. Kings 19. vers 4. desired for his soule to die saying Lord take my soule he ment from his body So Moses comparing a rape with murder saith k Deuter. 22. vers 26. This is as if a man should fall vpon his fellow and kill him in the soule And so Ieremie to Ierusalem l Iere 2. v 34. In thy bosome is found the bloud of the soules of the poore innocents Infinite places are there in the Scripture to like effect All which declare that the soule of man feeleth the death of the body by her departing from it and that the Prophet Esay when he said of Christ He m Esa. 53. v. 12 powred forth his soule vnto death Had no meaning but to describe Christs bodily death in which the soule is powred out from the body that is wholy separated from it The very phrase of powring forth the soule which must needes be from the body sheweth that the Prophet directly described the death of Christs body by which the soule is emptied and powred out of the body as out of a vessel replenished with it So that heere you haue as much hold for the death of Christs soule as you had before which is vtterly none n Defenc. pag. 143. li. 1. You earnestly affirme that this word signifieth soule or spirit in a proper sense Also how resolute are you forbidding to diuert from the natiue and proper significations of words but when the letter impugneth the grounds of Christian faith and charity In the Page 167. which you quote I neither spake of this place nor of this word and therefore your considering cappe was not on when you so much mistooke my words I know Nephesh is applied as well to beasts who haue no soules as to bodies once liuing but then dead And therefore of Nephesh I affirmed no such thing of S. Lukes words repeating Dauids and exactly distinguishing the soule from the flesh in Christ I did indeed auouch and still doe that we must not rashly depart from the proper significations of that and other words in the Scripture except the letter breed some inconuenience to faith or good-maners But what is that to this place where though the word Nephesh be granted properly to import the soule yet the rest sheweth it to be referred to the death of the body because the soule is powred forth of the body by the death thereof where before it was conteined and inclosed o Defenc. pag. 143. li. 15. The rather if we note that which followeth he was counted with sinners that is he was punished by God as sinners are punished and not by the Iewes only counted among Theeues You take vpon you to controle both the Prophet and the Euangelist who refer this misiudging of Chriâ—…t to men not to
est mortuum anima illa non est mortua The word died not the soule of Christ died not And therefore the death of Christ which the Scriptures euery where note was the breathing of his soule out of his body not the separating of his soule from God as you would haue it Austins purpose in that place you little conceiue if you make him haue but one purpose As occasion serued he taught many things pertinent incident to his text which was large euen from the 10. verse vnto the 20. of that f Iohn 10. Chapter And these words I lay downe my soule for my sheepe being part of his text he had iust occasion to treate what death Christ died for his sheepe which was neither the death of his diety nor the death of his soule but only the separating of his soule from his bodie if this make not against you you haue good lucke that nothing will reach you his words refute the foolish error which you would establish that by the Scriptures Christ may be said to haue died the death of the soule as well as the death of the bodie which Austen expressely contradicteth auouching the one and denying the other in as plaine speach as any wise man can require g Defenc. pag. 143. li. 34. All your other discourse heere against me is almost nothing but reuilings and reproches and bitter skoffes Yet you say you haue not learned nor vsed to giue reuiling speaches Haue you not learned it is it then naturall vnto you Nâ—…y you meane these are fatherly warnings and admonitions If your fatherly admonitions are such what are your Lordly rebukes If these be your bishoply blessings what are your cursings What my discourse is against Hâ—… your defendour 〈◊〉 som what pleasurable you muâ—…t bee left neither to your censure nor mine but to the Readers If I called your conclusions bold and foolish shewing neither learning nor wit but sauouring onely of the vanitie of your owne conceits the trueth forced me so to doe which I might not betray When you reiected the iudgements and expositions of the fathers one after an other as k Trea. pa. 69. li. 67. 68. fond and absurd void of sense reason and likelihood yea most absurd and too fond to be spoken and trampled on their names credits as you would on nutshels affirming i Ibid. pa. 95. 96. It is onely the Fathers abusiue speaking and altering the vsuall and ancient sense of words that bred this error their vnapt and perillous translating that confirmed the same and that is a thing too rife with the Fathers yea with some of the auncient est of them to alter and change the Authentike vse of wordes whereby it is easie for errors and grosse mistakings to creepe in is or ought any good man to be so patient or rather negligent as to heare a parrat thus prate against the whole Church of Christ in her best times next after the Apostles and not onely to spare his folly but to reuerence his pride For my part I must confesse I tooke my selfe bound in duety to yeeld him no more regard then he deserued that thus sought to blaze his errors with contempt of all men saue of himselfe If therefore your absurd positions and proofes S. Treatiser did not iustly prouoke these replies which I made in the opinion of any wise and Christian Reader I crie your mercie but if you thinke me to blame for not taking you to be some Patriarke of Vtopia because you can scoffe and mocke as well at Bishops as at fathers Salomon aduiseth me to answere some men according to their merits k Prou. 26. least they seeme wise in their owne eyes Your Mockes I remit to your selfe I am as readie to bearâ—… them for the trueth as you to giue them Howbeit you wanted colours in your coate when you made such pastime with the blessing of Bishops and pepper in your porrage when I taking learned for skilfull which is not strange to any saue to you whose skill is void of all good learning you would needs make your selfe such mirth that railing must be naturall to me because I was not learned or expert therein I wish these were the worst of your toyes and then my sufferance should quiet the whole l Defenc. pag. 144. li. 8. Finally that is not true where you say the flesh doth often signifie the soule in vs. Is it ignorance or malice which driueth you to this waywardnesse to auouch you know not or care not what so you seeme to crosse that I say better learned then you or I obserued that before me which you affirme to be false Austen saith m August dâ—… 〈◊〉 Symbolo â—…a 10. Anima cum carnalia bona adhuc appetit caro nominatur The soule so long as it affecteth fleshly things is called flesh And Ambrose n Ambros. in 6. câ—… 〈◊〉 ad Romanos Caro aliquando corpus intelligitur velipsa anima sequens corporea vitia The flesh is sometimes vnderstoode to be the bodie of mâ—… or the soule it selfe addicted to corporall vices And Ierom. o Hâ—… in 5. ca. â—…pist ad Galat. Anima inter carnem spiritumque consistens quando se tradiderit carni caro dicitur The soule consisting betweene the flesâ—… and the spirit when it yeeldeth it selfe to the flesh is called flesh And least you clamour against these Fathers as your Treatise doth that they change the authentike vse of words heare what Zanchius a man of good iudgement though a late writer saith thereof p Zanchij tractat Theologicâ—… de peccato originali Thes. 6. Flesh and bloud reuealed not this vnto thee saith Christ to Peter The mind of man he calleth flesh and bloud why so because it is wholy corrupted by the flesh so that it sauoureth nothing but flesh How thinke you Sir is it true or false which I sayd that the soule is often called flesh because of her corruption as well as the bodie q Defenc. pag. 144. li. 12. Heere I desire the Reader to change a worde or two in my former Treatise for alwaies to set vsually and for a Man to set Christ. Because since I finde that flesh and spirit together applied to men doe once 2. Corinth 7. vers 1. signifie meerely the body and soule Which then I thought euery where did signifie in vs our corrupt and regenerate man Which ouersight the Bishop spieth not but in this place confirmeth The Bishop that professed hee found fewe true sentences in your Treatise had neither will nor leasure to traduce them all but obseruing your errors in doctrine remitted this and many other ouersights as not preiudicing the maine point in question As for his confirming it that is one of your vsuall verities who by the defending of falshood haue gotten you such an habite that you can scant see or speake a trueth when it toucheth but the skirts of your cause
And how come you now to put so great a difference betwixt alwaies and vsually where before you did interpret alwaies to be ordinarily but now you finde flesh and spirit together applied to men once to signifie meerely the body and soule Meane you in all the Scriptures or in the new Testament onely You call it the r Treatis pag. 136. li. 8. perpetuall vse of the Scripture and so must include the old Testament as well as the new except you will barre the old from being part of the Scripture What then shall become of that which Moses so often ascribeth to God when he saith s Numb 16. 27. O God the God of the spirits of all flesh Praieth he for the spirits of men or of beastes If you will straighten your wordes to the new Testament how insolent a bragger and negligent a Reader of the Scripture are you that first said it was alwaies so and now correcting your error say you finde it once otherwise where a childe might easily haue found it oftner The Apostle decreed the Offender at Corinth to be t 1. Coâ—… 5. deliuered vnto Sathan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit might be saued in the day of the Lord. And to the Hebrewes he telleth vs u Heb. 12. We had fathers of our flesh which corrected vs and we reuerenced them Should we not much more be subiect to the Father of spirits In both which places the spirit of force must signifie the substance of mans soule x Defenc. pag. 144. li. 19. Finally to make an end with your Fathers and Councels I haue shewed before that your large claime prooueth a very short gaine For in substance and full effect they are euidently and generally against you and for vs. If thou thinke Christian Reader that I charge this man vniustly with impudent facing behold but these wordes and say what thou thinkest of them He that hath not brought nor can not bring one euident or pertinent word out of any Father for the death of Christes soule he yelleth out with open throatâ—… that generally and euidently they are in substance and full effect for him and against me It is no time heere to repeat what is past by that which is said thou maist easily iudge on which side the Fathers stand with full confession of the trueth and their faith Bragging is boies play where all performance wanteth y li. 24. As for their denying that Christ died in his soule I haue answered before With senselesse and shamefull shifts that Christes soule died not as the body did that he died not the ordinary death of the soule expressed in the Scriptures but an extraordinary newly deuised by your selfe and more then this in summe and substance you haue not said one word z li. 25. Further where you bring them in many places saying by his bloud onely he redeemed vs and he suffered onely in his body they are abused by you woonderfully not in their wordes but in their meaning You would faine change dying into suffering and haue your Reader imagine that I say Christes soule suffered nothing at all but these are now so stale tricks of yours that euery man reiecteth them as fast as I doe From death you 〈◊〉 to sufferings from sufferings to proper sufferings of the soule to which you à dde as a supplussage the paines of the damned from the immediate hand of God And so where you finde any Father affirme that Christ GRIEVED FEARED OR SORROWED in soule which are the naturall passions of mans soule common to good and badde you looke no farder but presently pronounce that Father maketh euidently with you But awake out of this ignorant lâ—…thargie there be many steps betweene their words and your wiles which you will neuer tread ouer with any the least shew of truth or proofe If I haue not abused their wordes in alleaging them as you confesse and I assure my selfe I haue not but where the Printer perchance hath made some fault which no man can auoid as pag. 81. August de Trinitate li. 11. the Printer hath set for lib. 13. and some such then haue I lesse abused their meaning whereof I make euerie Reader iudge and so referre my collecting to their censuring which is no abuse a Defenc. pag. 144. li. 28. They striuing against Arians and such other heretikes who would haue Christs Deitie to take part in his sufferings for our redemption the godly auncient writers doe heereupon say he suffered and satisfied for vs onely in his body not excluding the proper and immediate sufferings of his spirit Let the Authors themselues be viewed if you thinke 1 affirme of them falsely Against whom they write is not so much as what they write and how they confute those heretikes whom they vndertake The positions which they establish out of the Scriptures against such heresies are most to be regarded by their proofes you shall see their purpose To confound those misbeleeuers that would haue the Godhead of Christ suffer in his flesh or together with his flesh the Fathers do soundly oppose first that the Godhead is inuiolable impassible immutable and such like properties of the Godhead Secondly that the soule of Christ was subiect to no kind of death neither of sinne nor damnation which are not the death of the body as you wilfully but most absurdly would wrest it and therefore the Godhead was much more free not onely from this death of the bodie but from all touch of any kinde of death Thirdly to shew what it was in Christ that died since neither the Deitie nor the soule of Christ could die any kinde of death they prooue that that which died was a mortall bodie buried and raised againe the third day according to the Scriptures Which accidents and attributes belonging onely to the body of Christ It is most certaine by the sacred Scriptures that onely the body of Christ was yeelded to death for the redemption of our sinnes These be the chiefest of their reasons though they haue many others tending to the same issue which whether they truely and effectually exclude the death of Christes soule from the worke of our redemption I leaue it to their iudgement that shall peruse the former places by me cited or view the Fathers themselues in their full discourses And yet a number of these Fathers in the places by me alleaged doe not refute the Arians but handle professedly other points of our redemption saluation as Tertullian in his booke of the Resurrection of the flesh Chrysostom in his Homily of drunkennesse of the resurrection Augustine in his 99. Epistle those Chapters of his fourth Booke de Trinitate which I produced Gregorie vpon Iob Bernard in his Sermons to the Souldiers of the Temple Bede in his Homilies and Albinus in his questions these I say doe not there take in hand to refell the Arians but to deliuer what kinde of death Christ died to free
vs from all deaths And resolue as we may read that by one kinde of death which was the death of Châ—…istes bodie onely both our deaths of body and soule were vtterly abolished And whether this be true or false which I auouch I wish no better triall then the present view of their sayings whom now you stroke as auncient and godlie writers but not long since you stript as fond absurd the peruerters of Authentike words and occasioners of grosse errors b Defenc. pag. 145. li. 1. Tertullian and Cyrill will giue a taste heereof for all the rest You will giue a fresh taste of your vnlearned mistaking them otherwise their places as they make nothing for your pretences so were they obiected and answered before c li. 2. In Tertullians wordes Christes flesh is expresly opposed to his Deitie not to his soule so that euidently he meaneth thereby his whole manhood If you meane that Tertullian still conceaued Christes flâ—…sh to be humane flesh that is not amisse but wide from your matter But if you would obserue that Tertullian in that tractate speaking of Christes flesh doth not distinguish it from Christes soule or maketh common to Christes soule whatsoeuer he there aâ—…firmeth of Christes flesh it is a palpable and pestilent vntrueth When he saith Hâ—…c vox carnis animae id est hominis This was the voice of his flesh and of his soule that is of his Manhood doth he not in exact wordes distinguish Christes flesh from his soule Againe where he saith d Tertullianus aduersus Praxeam Denique spiritum posuit statim obijt spiritu enim manente in carne caro omnino mori non potest Christ laid downe his spirit and straight way died for his spirit abiding in his flesh the flesh could not die at all can there be any doubt but the name of Christs flesh here doth not containe his humane spirit or soule though you auouch the contrarie Of the attributes of Christes flesh he saith e Ibidem videtur contrectatur per carnem Christ is seene and handled by the flesh which I hope he is not by his soule Though therefore he often interpret carnem id est hominem flesh that is man shewing he speaketh of Christ who had both body and soule yet that doth no way prooue that what hee affirmeth of Christes flesh must be common to both parts of Christes manhoode which simple shift when you haue once taken vp you can neuer make an end of it f Defenc. pag. 145. li. 5. If he had ment to exclude any part or facultie of the soule from suffering as he doth his Godhead he had consirmed that heresie against which he striueth as before I noted You keepe close to your owne notes though they want both trueth and iudgement To make Christes soule as impassible as his Godhead was to make him no man for mans soule is mutable subiect to affections and passions which God is not But what is this to the death of Christes soule if it were an humane soule and not equall with his Deitie or what heresie doth this confirme if Tertullian deny Christs soule to be mortall which he ascribeth to the flesh of Christ You talke much of heresiâ—…s but take heed you leape not head and eares into them whiles you deuise new deaths and new hels for the soule of Christ without and against the rules of the sacred Scriptures g Defenc. pag. 145. li. 7. It seemes he yeeldeth the name of death to this suffering of Christes whole manhood in saying quod vnctum est mortuum ostendit that died which receaued the annointing For I hope his spirit was anointed with the holy Ghost as well as his flesh You doe weâ—…l to adâ—…e seeming to this saying for to him that vnderstandeth little it may so seeme when in trueth it is nothing lesse Tertullian interpreting the name Christ which is as much as Anointed saith Christ died not as he was the word and Sonne of God but as he was Anointed that is in his humane flesh which was anointed as well as his humane spirit Doth he say all that was anointed died as you most falsly would enforce his speech It sufficeth then that he died not as he was God who can no way be subiect to death but as he was man hauing one part mortall which was his bodie and he died that death which is common to all I meane the separating of the soule from the body not that which is speciall to the wicked as reiâ—…ction from the fauour and grace of God Tertullians owne words next before are these h Tertullianus aduersus Praxeam Cum duae substantiae censeantur in Christo Iesu diuina humana consâ—…et autem immortalem esse diuinaâ—… cum mortalem quae humana sit apparet quatenus eum mortuum dicat id est 〈◊〉 carnem hominem silium hominis non quâ spiritum sermonem filium Dei. Dâ—…do â—…que Christus mortuus est id est vnctus id quod vnctum est mortuum ostendit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 câ—…rnem Where there are two substances in Christ Iesus a diuine and â—…n humane and it is câ—…rtaine that the diuine is immortall and the humane mortall it is plaine wherein the Apostle pronounced Christ to be dead that is as he was flesh and man and the Sonne of man not as he was a spirit and the word and Sonne of God In saying then Christ that is the Anointed was dead he sheweth that which was Annointed euen his flesh to haue beene dead Will you teach out of these wordes that Christes soule was certainely mortall because it was not his diuine substance and that he died in soule because he died in his humane nature as a man which Tertullian expoundeth to be his flesh and likewise his death to be the laying downe of his soule or breathing out of his spirit as the Euangelist describeth it i Defenc. pag. 145. li 14. My false translating of him which you note is not worth the noting but you doe worse in false placing those his last rehearsed words for aduantage in Tertulliâ—…n they are vsed more generally comming long before Your mistranslating can not be defended and my misplacing as you call it is no way preiudiciall either to the truth or the authors intent What should hinder me to alleage diuers sentences out of any Writer occurrent in one and the same Treatise and tending all to declare his meaning and to dâ—…ct your misconstruction of him I vse to set Ibidem by the side to shew that it is a new sentence which if the Printer omit what wrong is done to the Reader so long as I adde or alter nothing as you do He that will rightly conceiue anothers sense must compare his words vttered in the same discourse and belonging to the same matter You say they are vsed more generally in their owne place this were somewhat if your saying were any thing
worth but if they be diuers proofes of one thing though in place one before another they all haue one intention and must haue one construction Your maner is to make what you list of euery mans wordes my course is to shew by the wordes precedent and consequent that I take the right sense of each Writer not vpon the aduantage of one word wrested from the rest but out of the whole context to manifest the true meaning of ech mans speach If therfore Tertullian had said Haec mors est carnis animae this is the death of soule and flesh as he saith Haec vox est carnis animae this is the voice of soule and flesh It had been worth the obiecting and yet I must tell you that Tertullian being of opinion that the soule was traduced with the seed of the body when he diuideth a man into flesh soule and spirit as heere he doth by naming all three parts it may well be doubted whether he spake of the substance of the soule which is a spirit or of the powers of sense and speach which faile by death and are often comprised in the name of the soule But it is cleare by Tertullians owne words that Christs humane spirit was not dead or forsaken since he there vrgeth it was committed to the fathers hands and consequently was not forsaken nor left to death as the rest of Christs manhood was k Tertullianus aduersus Praxeam Caeterum non reliquit pater filium in cuius manibus filius spiritum suum posuit Denique posuit statim obijt spiritu enim manente in carne caro omnio mori non potest But the Father did not forsake the Sonne into whose hands the sonne laid downe his spirit For he laid it downe and presently died the spirit remaining in the flesh the flesh could not die at all The Father then left the flesh of his sonne vnto death but he tooke Christs spirit into his hands and so for the sonne to be forsaken was nothing els but for his flesh to be left to death This is Tertullians owne exposition of himselfe howsoeuer you would dally and deceaue both your selfe and your Reader by generall or speciall before or after l Defenc. pag. 145. li. 24. Cyrill also euen in that booke which you cite for you sheweth that he excludeth but Christs deity though he mention only his suffering in flesh Christ then is God impassible as God passible according to the flâ—…sh You put a whole But to Cyrills sense more then you find in his text and yet the words passible and impassible are not the things we striue for Impassible is that which by no possibility can admit any mutation or alteration by force or affection which is proper to God alone So no part of Christs manhood was impassible But though his soule were passible with diuers affections and impressions how will it follow from these or any other words in Cyrill that Christs soule died Cyrill hath in many words shewed which I before haue cited that Christs soule was subiect to all humane and naturall passions or affections but without sinne or corruption in this sense what doth it helpe you to haue the soule of Christ passible by nature and not impassible as his godhead is but you loue to loyter that thus still repeat one lesson not only besides your booke but against your booke m Defenc. pag 145. li 30. In a word so doe all the rest as before is partly noted A totall summe is as soone made of lies as of trueths All the answer you giue is they spake against other Hereticks not against you but this is the danger that if such points as they prooue against other Hereticks make against you you had need beware of the coniunction and communion between you and other Hereticks Against n li. 31. Nestorius they affirme you say the vnion of Christs natures Why skippe you o Sermo fo 331. Athanasius Epiphanius Ambrose and Augustine that neuer heard of Nestorius who teach directly that Christs suffering of death mentioned in the Scriptures was the suffering thereof in his mortall bodie which died and rose againe and by the death of this body was the ransome for vs all payd p Ambros. in Lucâ—… ca 4. de ductu Christi in desertum What pray saith Ambrose could there be for death and Satan but his bodie You say his soule q August in Psal. 148. Accepit ex te vnde moreretur pro te Non posset mori nisi card Non posset mori nisi mortale corpus Christ tooke of thee sayth Austen wherein he might die for thee There could die in him nothing but flesh There could die in him nothing but his mortall bodie These and many such places yon cleanly skippe and tell in a word they are all for you r li. 32. They preserue the properties of ech They therefore holde not his only bodily sufferings Nay they therefore holde not the death of Christes soule since that is no necessarie propertie of mans nature assumed by Christ. Their reasons likewise and expositions of the Scriptures which you peruert exclude your conceit of the death of Christes soule most apparently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Deitie could not suffer death say they because it was no bodie Then onely the bodie could suffer that death which Christ died And since the soule is no bodie that also must be free froÌ„ the death which Christ died These positions likewise of the Christian faith that the Son of God was wounded crucified dead and rose againe for vs all they expound to be expresly meant of his bodie wounded crucified dead and raised the third day so that where you would cauill that the name of Christes flesh importeth his soule as well as his body they directly refell you and pronounce all these things to be verified of his body and not of his soule or deity since nothing in him could suffer death but his body And the Scriptures that Christ by the grace of God tasted death for all and by death conquered him that had power ouer death and such like they exactly referre to the death of his body which argueth all your doctrine of the death of Christs soule to be meerely superfluous if not wholy pernicious f Defenc. pag. 145. li. 33. Is this then your great boast of all the Fathers and councels nay are they well vsed at your hands to be thus drawen clean from their purpose to an opinion which they neuer thought of is this good dealing towards Gods people to tell them that the Fathers generally teach the only bodily sufferings of Christ and denie our assertion of his soules peculiar suffering which they iustifie and conâ—…irme indeed Intrueth good Reader if I were not too well acquainted with this mans vnshamefastnesse I should thinke I rather heard a plaier on the stage then a Pen-man in the Church Is it possible for a
man of any learning or vnderstanding thus in print and open view of the whole Realme to rage revell rush on with lying craking and facing when he speaketh not one true word for first Sir flincher is this the point heere or any where proposed by me whether Christs sufferings were only bodily did I promise or produce any Fathers to that end is it not the death of the soule and the paines of the damned which I impugned in Christs sufferings haue I not most truely performed which I euer professed that the whole Church of Christ for so many hundred yeeres neuer thought neuer heard of the death of Christs soule in the worke of our redemption but rested their faith on the death of Christs body as a most sufficient price both for the soules and bodies of the faithfull What cunning then is this first to shift your hands of that you can no way prooue though you still doe and must professe it and then to clamour at me for drawing the Fathers cleane from their intent and meaning is this the way to credit your new Creed by such deuices and stratagemes to intertaine the people of God least they should see how farre you be slid from the ancient primatiue Church of Christ take a while but the thought of a sober man and this pangue will soone be ouerpast Did you not vndertake to prooue the death of Christs soule by Scriptures which indeed I first and most required and haue you so donne looke backe to your miserable mistakings and palpable peruertings of the words of the holy Ghost and tell vs what one syllable you haue brought sounding that way are your secrets such that they be no where reuealed in the word of God must all faith come from thence and is your faith exempted that it shall haue no foundation there are men and Angels accursed that preach any other Gospell then was deliuered and written by Christs Apostles and shall you be excused for deuising a new kind of redemption by the death of Christs soule no where witnessed in the Scriptures you see how easie it were to be eloquent against you in a iust and true cause but words must not winne the field What I impugned my sermons will shew what I haue prooued I will not proclaime If I haue failed in that I endeuoured the labour is mine the liberty is the Readers to iudge Let the indifferent read it they shall find somewhat to direct them let the contentious skanne it they shall see somewhat to harle their hast and perhaps to restraine their stifnesse What euer it be I leaue it to others since the discourser hasteth towards an end and so doe I. s Defenc. pag. 146. li. 2 This is the profit that comes by ordinarie flaunting with Fathers which many do frequent in these dayes Thinke they if the Scriptures alone suffice not for things in religion that the Fathers will suffice or if the Scriptures may be wrested by subtle heads that yet the Fathers can not Is it not enough for your selfe to be a despiser of all antiquitie and sobrietie but you must insult at them that beare more regard to either than you do If to flaunt with Fathers be so great a fault which yet respecteth their iudgements that haue beene liked and allowed from age to age in the Church of Christ what is it to fliske with pride and follie grounded on nothing but on selfe-loue and singularitie It were to be wished that euen some of the best writers of our age as they thinke themselues had had more respect to the auncient Fathers then they shew we should haue wanted a number of nouelties in the Church of God which now wee are troubled withall as well in Doctrine as in discipline This course of concurring with the lights of Gods Church before our time in matters of faith though you mislike other manner of men then you are or euer will be haue allowed and followed as u August contra Iâ—…num li. 1. Augustine x Theodor. diol 2. 3. Theodorete y Leo epist. 97. 〈◊〉 Leonem Leo z Cassi. de incarnat Domini li. 7 ca. 5. Cassianus a Gelas. de duabus in Christo natâ—…ris Gelasius b Vigilius li. 5. cap. 6. Vigilius and the two c Hispalensi concilium 2. ca. 13. councels of Hispalis and others not doubting the sufficiencie of the Scriptures but shewing the correspondencie of beleeuing and interpreting the Scriptures in all ages to haue bene the same which they imbraced and vrged And in all euennesse of reason were it better to feede the people with our priuate conceits pretended out of Scripture or to let such as be of iudgement vnderstand that we frame no faith but such as in the best times hath bene collected and receiued from the grounds of holy Scripture by the wisest and greatest men in the Church of God your only example turning and winding the words of the holy Ghost to your owne conceits will shew how needfull it is not to permit euery prater to raigne ouer the Scriptures with figures and phrases at his pleasure and thence to fetch what faith he list If you so much reuerence the Scriptures as you report which were to be wished you would why deuise you doctrine not expressed in the Scriptures Why teach you that touching mans redemption which is no where written in the word of God Indeed the Scriptures are plaine in this point of all others what death Christ died for vs if you did not peruert them against the histories of the Euangelists and testimonies of the Apostles Omit the description of his death so farely witnessed by the foure Euangelists what exacter words can we haue then the Apostles that Christ d Coloss. 1. pacisied things in earth and things in heauen by the bloud of his crosse and reconciled vs which were strangers and enemies in the bodie of his flesh through death Beleeue what you reade and what you reade not in the word of God beleeue not and this matter is ended but by Synecdoches without cause you put to the Scriptures not what you read in them but what you like best and by Metaphores and Metonimies you will take bodie for substance and flesh for soule And so where the Apostle auoucheth that we were reconciled to God through death in the bodie of Christs flesh you tell vs we could not be redeemed without the death of Christs soule and the essence of the paines of the damned suffered by suddaine touches from the immediate hand of God after an extraordinarie manner If you teach no doctrine but deliuered in the Scriptures aband on these deuices not expressed in the Scriptures If you content your selfe with the all sufficient word of God in matters of faith you must relinquish the death of Christs soule and paines of the damned as no part of our redemption since there is no such thing contained in the word of God To me and
others that beleeue the words of Paul are sufficient declaring this to be the very ground of the Gospell which hee receiued and deliuered that Christ e 1. Cor. 15. died for our sinnes according to the Scriptures and that he was buried and that hee arose the third day according to the Scriptures Whence by a full and faire coherence I collect that whatsoeuer died in Christ according to the Scriptures that was buried and raised the third day according to the Scriptures But it is more then manifest by the Scriptures that the soule of Christ was neither buried nor raised from death the third day but onely his bodie It is therefore as plaine to me by the all sufficient word of God that the soule of Christ died not for our sinnes according to the Scripture Your f Defenc. pag. 146. li 23. section touching materiall fire in hell I haue sifted at large before I shall not neede to say any more of it Your hemming in all the world on your side g Defenc pag. 147. li. 25. not some nor the most or best but euen all and euery one both Churches and writers in the world who are Protestants leauing none to vphold the doctrine which I deliuer but Papists Iesuites and Friars is as I told you before and must tell you againe an egregious lie so loud and leud that all the belles in London if they should iarre together could not yeeld a more offensiue sound That euery new writer speaketh of some feares sorrowes temptations or painefull sufferings in the soule of Christ neuer was nor is by me denied neither doe I in my Sermons take vpon me to determine what feares temptations paines and sorrowes Christ might and did suffer in his soule onely I added that we must beware we diminish not his faith hope loue confidence obedience patience and other gifts and graces of the spirit of God in the soule of Christ which the Scripture cleerely maketh to be without want defect or measure in him Shunning those sands I left euery man to his libertie to speake or write of Christes feares and sorrowes as farre as any circumstance of holy Scripture did duely enforce but the death of the soule the paines of hell and of the damned and the second death if any sought to fasten on the soule of Christ whosoeuer they were they did it by their owne surmises they had no warrant for any of those in the word of God except they tooke the paines of hell figuratiuely for great and intolerable such as sometimes the Godly in their humane weakenesse thinke and complaine they feele or feare though they come nothing neere the true paines of hell which cannot be endured in this mortall life and flesh by the euidence of nature and Scripture This being my constant course as my Sermons printed doe apparently witnesse what folly what madnesse is this so egerly and often to chalenge me for contradicting the whole world when it is but your immoderate greedinesse or giddinesse to thinke that everie man who writeth any thing of the feares or sufferings of Christs soule doth presently teach as you doe the death of Christs soule and the substance of the most vehement paines of the damned yea the second death to be a necessary part of our redemtion which Christ must suffer before he could ransome vs To censure mens priuate opinions I take no pleasure some men otherwise very learned and laborious haue dipped too deepe in that die as your selfe proue and pronounce by reiecting and reselling the horror of eâ—… nâ—… death in the soule of Christ though Master Caluin say Christ CONFLICTED therewith and the Catechisme auouch Christ was therewithall Pâ—…VSED If you may thus renounce and refute the first deuise and spredders as you thinke them of your proper and spirituall temptations and torments in the soule of Christ giue others leaue to receaue them no farder then they concurre with the Scriptures and with the primatiue church of God I find diuers men speake diuersly but very few and these late that light on the death of Christs soule and suddaine touches of the essentiall paines of the damned from the immediate hand of God which is your fresh and new deuice yea many that are caried away with the generall termes of Gods wrath and horror of his dreadfull iudgements against sin no way like the death of Christs soule and by speciall words debarre all mention of the second death in the sufferings of Christ and those as well English as others How false and soolish your vaunt is of all and euerie church and writer in the world that are Protestants to be of your minde will soone appeare to any that will reade and waigh the workes and wordes of Zuinglius Musculus Martyr Bullinger Aretius 〈◊〉 new 〈◊〉 teach the sufferings of Christs soule without the paines of hell Zanchius and of sundry others as sound in faith as ripe in iudgement as diligent in reading and sufficient in all kinde of learning as the best you can name either broching or bowing towards your late conceits who though they teach that Christ suffered in soule and body as I doe yet they assigne farre other sufferings in the soule of Christ then your essentiall paines of the damned I may not stand to make new discourses touching new writers a place or two shall serue for all and so an end of this matter Bullinger vpon those words of Esay Christ layd downe or made his soule a sacrifice sor sinne saith h 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…3 To make his soule a sacrifice for sinne is to offer himselfe to be a sacrifice to Purge sinnes And he saith Christs soule and not his flesh not that the flesh of Christ was not offered for vs but that whole Christ body and soule offered himselfe to God and that willingly from his heart and of his owne accord and whole Christ was the expiation of our sinnes licet interim neque diuinit as sit passa neque anima mortua sed caro de quare beati Patres Vigilius Fulgentius contra Haereticos religiose disputarunt Though during that time neither his diuinty suffered NOR HIS SOVLE DIED but his flesh whereof the blessed fathers Vigilius and Fulgentius haue religiously discoursed against Heretickes Zanchius whose learned workes are to me in steed of many writers that are caried with faction and affection to vphold whatsoeuer some other men say though he could not for his often and great labours get time to finish his purposed treatise of mans redemption in that exact manner that he hath donne the rest yet commenting on S. Paules Epistles as occasion was offered he fully deliuereth the matter and manner of our redemption to be the only sacrifice of Christs body and bloud other propitiatory sacrifice for sinne then that he acknowledgeth none though he ascribe to the soule as well her sufferings as her sacrifice i Zanchius in ca. 2. epist. ad Philip. v. 8. All things
vnto hell that we should not abide in hell Ruffinus Eousque ille miserando descendit vsquequo tu peccando deiectâ—…s es Christ descended of mercie to the very place whither thou wast deiected by sinne Fulgentius It remained to the full effect of our redemption that the man which God tooke vnto him without sin should descend euen thither whither man separated from God fell by desert of sin that is to hell where the soule of a sinner vseth to be tormented and to the graue where the flesh of a sinner vseth to be corrupted yet so that neither Christs flesh might rot in the graue nor his soule be â—…ormented with the sorrowes of hâ—…ll Cyrill The powers Principalities and rulers of the world which the Apostle numbreth none other could conquere and carie into the desart of hell but only he who said be of good hope I haue ouercome the world Therefore it was necessary that our Lord Sauiour should not only be borne a man amongst men but also descend to hell that he might carie into the wildernesse of hell the goate that was to be led away and returning thence this worke perfourmed might ascend to his father Caesarius Arelatensis Aeterna nox inferorum Christo descendente resplenduit attonitae mentis obstupuere Tortores The euerlasting darkenesse of hell was made bright with Christs descending thither the tormentors inwardly stroken were amazed Prudentius Tartarum benignus intrat fracta cedit Ianua fertur horruisse mundus noctis aeternae chaos Christ mildely entred hell breaking open the gates the world shooke at the opening of Chaos of euerlasting darkenesse Arator Infernum Dominus cum destructurus adiret Sol ruit in Tenebras arua tremunt concussa locis saxa crepant tartara moesta gemunt quia vincula cunta quiescunt Mors ibi quid faceret quo vitae portitor ibat When the Lord went to hell to destroy it the Sunne was darkned the earth shooke the rockes claue in sunder Hell mourned to see her bands loosed But what could death doe there whither the bringer of life came Petrus Chrysologus Mortem suscepisse vicisse intrasse inferos redijsse venisse in iura Tartari Tartari iura soluisse non est fragilit as sed potestas To suffer death and to conquere it to goe to hell and to returne to come within the lawes of the dungeon of hell â—…nd to dissolue the lawes therof is not weakenesse but power And thus he maketh Christ to speake after his resurrection to his Disciples Ego ex mortuis sum vinus ex infernis sum supernâ—…s Ego sum quem mors fugit inferna tremuerunt Tartarus Deum confessus est I am aliue from the dead and come vp from those below I am he whom death fled from hell trembled at and the dungeon of hell confessed to be God Maximus This day of Christes resurrection which the Lord hath made penetrat omnia vniuersa continet coelum terram Tartarumque complectitur pearceth all places conteineth all compriseth heauen earth and the dungeon of hell For that Christ the true day lightned heauen earth and the deepe of hell the Scripture witnesseth There should be no end of alleaging if I should cite all that speake to this purpose These be auncient and sufficient to prooue this refuter a fabler in affirming that the Fathers with one voice auouch Christ went no whither but where his faithfull and holy seruants were whom the Fathers did not thinke to be in the torments of hell nor in the place of the damned and to shew that I teach none other sense of the Creed then all these Fathers and infinit others did before me Neither can they be shifted off as this Trifler vseth to decline them who name Hades that they ment the world of soules which might be as well in heauen or paradise as in hell since they speake of Christes descent after death to that place where there was euerlasting darknesse and amazednesse of diuels bondage and punishment of sinners deliuerance from destruction an happie and mightie conquest ouer enemies with such like circumstances which by no meanes can agree either to Paradise or heauen or to any other place but onely to hell where these things are found and no where else And if new writers may be regarded I could bring as many or moe of them of great learning and good iudgement confessing and allowing this exposition of the Creede which I follow that Christ descended into Hell to destroy Satans power and force ouer his and to free them all from comming thither as concurrent and consonant with the sacred Scriptures and namely refelling your fansie that Christ went no whither but where his faithfull and holy seruants were The very Catechisme which you would seeme so much to respect as if it were the publicke and authorised doctrine of this Realme maketh it needfull to beleeue that as Christs body was laid in the bowels of the earth so his soule separated from his body descended ad inferos to the places or spirits below that is to hell and with all the force and efficacie of his death so pearced vnto the dead atque inferos adeo ipsos and euen to the spirits in hell that the soules of the vnfaithfull perceaued the condemnation of their infidelity to be most sharp and iust ipseque inferorum princeps Satan and Satan himselfe the Prince of hell saw all the power of his tyrannie and of darcknesse to be weakned broken and destroied and contrariwise the dead who whiles they liued beleeued in Christ vnderstood the worke of their redemption to be performed and felt the fruite and force thereof with a most sweet and certaine comfort The Catechisme treating of Christs descent to hell mentioned in the Creed deliuereth this to be the sense thereof that Christes soule separated from his body descendit ad inferos descended vnto hell And least we should doubt what he meaneth by inferi he putteth inferos as a degree lower farder then the dead in saying Penetrauit ad mortuos atque inferos adeo ipsos Christ pearced vnto the dead and which more is euen to hell it selfe and maketh Satan to be Princeps inferorum the Prince of hell Who is no chiefe ruler either in heauen or Paradise but onlie in hell Againe he resolueth that together with the soule of Christ came the power force of Christs death as well to the faithfull which were saued by him as to the rest iustly condemned for their vnbeliefe and that the Diuell himselfe saw all the power of darckenesse afflicted and oppressed by Christ. More then this I do not teach so much the catechisme auoucheth to be part of the Christian faith and the meaning of that article in the Creed Christ descended into hell Peter Martyr likewise in the confession of his faith and exposâ—…tion of the Creed sayth As touching Christes soule as soone as it
departed from the bodie it rested not idle but descended ad inferos vnto hell And surely the one and the other societic both of godly soules and of the damned found the presence of Christes soule For the soules of the faithfull were cheered with great comfort and gaue God thanks sor deliuering them by the hand of this Mediatour and performing that which so long before he had promised Other soules also adiudged to euerlasting damnation animae Christi aduentum persenserunt perceiued the comming of Christes soule Zanchius shewing the different interpretations of those words of the Apostle Christ spoiled powers and principalities and made an open shew of them triumphing ouer them in himselfe that is in his owne person sayth Other Interpreters hold that these enemies were vâ—…nquished and conquered on the crosse by Christ but the triumph was pâ—…rformed when Christ in his soule entred the kingdome of Hell as a glorious victorer For so they interpret the Article He descended into Hell And because the word deigmatizein doth signifie to carie one in an open shew as the Romans were woont in the eyes of men to leade their enemies once ouerthrowen with their hanâ—…s bound behinde them to their perpetuall shame and the soule of Christ separated from his bodie might really doe this to the diuels bringing them out of their infernall kingdome and carying them along the aire in the sight of all the Angels and blessed soules therefore nothing hindereth vs to interpret that which Paul heere writeth as the words sound euen of a reall triumph ouer the diuels in the sight of God onlie and of the blessed spirits specially since the Fathers for the most part so expound them ex nostris non pauci neque vulgares and of our Expositors not a few and those no meane men Aretius in his Problemes purposely treating of Christes descent to hell first alleageth that Tota Ecclesia vbique terrarum hodie illum Articulum agnoscit diuer sum à sepultura recitat the whole Church throughout the world at this date acknowledgeth that article and reciteth it as different from Christs buriall And to that obiection that some Creeds had not this clause he answereth The Church finding the descent of Christ to hell to be plainly deliuered in the Scriptures with great aduise admitted this Article into the Creed Otherwise how could it be that with so full consent of all nations and all tongues this clause should be so constantly and so consentingly receaued Repeating therefore many other senses he refuseth them euery one and concludeth Quare mea est sententia Christum descendisse ad inferos postquam tradidisset spiritum in manus Dei patris in cruce c. Wherfore mine opinion is that Christ descended into hell after he yeelded his soule on the Crosse to the hands of God his Father And hell in this question we put to be a certaine place appointed for the damned euen for Satan and his members To the words of Christ vttered to the thiefe this daie shalt thou be with me in Paradise I answere they hinder not this cause For Christ was in Paradise with the thiefe according to his diuinity in the graue according to his body in hell according to his soule Howbeit there is no certaintie how long Christ staied in hell not long it seemeth so that he might in soule that verie day returne from hell and after a glorious sort enter Paradise with the thiefe Neither hath that any more strength that Christ commended his soule into his Fathers handes For the soule of Christ was still in his Fathers hands though he descended into hell This descent was voide of forrow and shame to Christ. Where they say there was no need of this descent they run backe to the beginning for how should it be needlesse which the Scripture pronounceth Christ did and we confesse in our Creed We iudge it therefore needfull first for the reprobate that they might know he was now come of whose comming they had so often heard but neglected it with great contempt Againe Satan was perfectly to know that this Christ whom he had tempted in the desart and deliuered to death by the fraud of the Iewes was the very Messias and the seed promised to the woman Hoc inquam expediebat etiam Demonibus in imo Tartaro innotescere This I say was expedient euen for the diuels in the deepe of hell to know Thirdly it was expedient for the elect that Satan might see he should haue no right no not on their bodies since Christ heereafter would raise them to life Hemmingius As Christ by his death conflicted with the enemy on the gibbet of the crosse and ouercame him so by his glorious descent to hell resurrection and ascension to heauen he executed the triumph erecting as a monument of his victorie the ensigne of his crosse Mollerus writing on the 16. Psalme Touching Christes descent to hell We saith he vnderstand that Article of our faith in the Creede simply and without allegorie and beleeue that Christ truely descended to the lower parts of the earth as Paul speaketh Ephes. 4. It is enough for vs to beleeue which Austen affirmeth in his Epistle to Dardanus Christ thereforâ—… descended that he might helpe those which were to be holpen For Christ by his death destroied the powers of hell and the tyrannie of the diuell as is said Osee 13. O death I will be thy death and thy destruction O hell And this his victory he would in a certaine maner shew vnto the diuell that he might strike perpetuall terrors into the diuell and take from vs all feare of Satans tyrannie Let it suffice vs to know this and omit curious questions and disputations heereabouts Pomeranus on these words of the 16. Psalme Thou wilt not leaue my soule in Hell Heere hast thou saith he that Article of our faith Christ descended into hell If thou aske what he did there I answer He then deliuered not the Fathers onely but all the faithfull from the beginning of the world to the end thereof not out of Lymbus but out of the lowest nether most hell to which we all were condemned and in which we all were as in death by the sentence of God There euerlasting fire did abide to vs all that being deliuered to death by the sinne of Adam we might in the last iudgement be deliuered to punishment and perpetuall sire Christ therefore descended euen thither vnto death and hell to this end least thou shouldest dâ—…scend thither that as he had redeemed vs from death so he might deliuer vs from hell Westmerus in his expositions of the Psalmes followeth worde for word the confession of Pomerane Wolfgangus Musculus Christ therefore was to die not that he should simply be dead but that by his death he might conquer death and ouercome him that had the rule ouer death and so he was to descend to hell
vs though against the opinion of the Fathers that the soules of the holie Patriarks dead before Christ were not beneath but aboue Not in Limbo but with God in peace ioy and blisse euen in Paradise that is heauen Your certainties be your owne ouerhastie coniectures neither well vnderstanding your selfe nor others In the places which you quote out of my Sermons I say as Christ himselfe deliuered that the iust deceased were in Abrahams bosome which the wise man calleth the hand of God And that Abrahams bosome was vpward farre aboue hell as appeareth by the wordes of our Sauiour more I durst not determine Neither did I make Abrahams bosome to be Paradise or Heauen I had no warrant so to doe but the place whither the soule of the thiefe was caried the day of his death Christ calleth Paradise which the Apostle seemeth to make a part of the third heauen And heere were the soules of the righteous after Christes death except you thinke that Paradise was prouided only for the penitent thiefe which S. Austen counteth a great absurditie Thus much I said and still say as also that the faithfull departing this life rest from their labours and dwell with the Lord in places prepasred and appointed for them though as yet they haue not their house which is eternall in the heauens nor are clothed with life swallowing vp mortalitie But that the soules of the Patriarks were in heauen that is in the glorie of gods kingdome before the death and comming of Christ I haue no such wordes in any of the pages which you produce I vse not of things vnknowen to giue hastie iudgement I leaue it to God who hath many places of abode in his house and desire not to search into his secrets vnreuealed in this life Hence I conclude that Christes soule after his death ascended indeed and descended not downward beneath vs heere I heare your conclusion but I see no premises from which you may iustly inferre so much For though the soule of Christ might ascend after death if we respect situation of place in comparison of the earth yet because the Scriptures reckon no ascending but into the glorie of heauen otherwise the diuels that rule in the aire should ascend and the damned that come to iudgement shall ascend the Christian faith doth not say that Christ ascended before he descended And the apostle exactly obseruing the relation and application of those two wordes vnto Christ saith his descending was the first of the twaine that was performed This saith he that Christ ascended what is it but that he first descended into the lower parts of the earth Otherwise if you be disposed to play with the ascending and descending of Christes person bodie or soule before or after death you may finde vs many descents and ascents besides the two that are mentioned in our Creed The Nicene Creed saith of his person that for vs and our saluation he descended from heauen and was incarnate by the holy Ghost of the virgine Marie and of himselfe he saith I am the liuing bread which descended from heauen Then after his death his soule ascended as you say and so must descend againe before his body could be restored to life Now the apostle saith Christ descended into the lower parts of the earth and likewise must thence ascend before his resurrection And lastly after forty daies he ascended body and soule aboue all the heauens Heere are sixe descents and ascents if you list to controle the Creed but the Christian faith following the apostle noteth onely two his descending to hell or to the lower parts of the earth and his ascending aboue all heauens which were two materiall parts of our saluation after he tooke flesh and profitable for vs to know And though you stifly stand on this that Christes soule descended not downeward beneath vs heere Yet against the Creed and the apostles wordes that Christ descended to hell and to the lower parts of the earth no wise man will admit either your opinion or assertion howsoeuer you thinke you can make a florish with Dauids words who saith he was fashioned beneath in the earth of which we will speake when we come to examine the force of the apostles wordes Only except there be some speciall reason of good authoritie to the contrary which is the second point of importance heere to be considered Touching which thus I say without expresse and euident Scripture there is in the world no sound nor meet authoritie to disprooue our former reason or conclusion Your reasons raked out of the Scripture are such that no man need to regard they are miserable mistakings and palpable misapplyings of the Scriptures intending no such thing as you imagine and for the contrarie they are plaine enough and such as haue been receaued and reuerenced by all Christendom without exception till you and some others in our age started vp with figures and phrases to mince and manage the Scriptures to your pleasure They are â—…eely diuines that doe not know the names of heauon and hell of life and death of flesh and spâ—…it of Christ and of God may be diuersly taken and diuersly vsed euen by example of holy Scriptures but it is the high way to all heresie and infidelity to turne and wind euery word occurrent in the Scriptures after euery signification that may be found thereof in the old or new Testament without respect to the maine grounds of the Christian faith and to make Rabbins and Pagans to be the best interpreters of words vsed by the holy Ghost to expresse the mysteries of Christs kingdome And how come you now to be so strickt in this second question that without expresse and euident Scripture against which you cannot so much wrangle you will yeeld to nothing who were so licentious in the former that without all Scripture and against the Scripture you maintained a new kind of redemption by the death of Christs soule and his suâ—…ering the second death which if you stand to the word of God is eternall damnation of body and soule in hell fire you shew your selfe more then a Patriarke in the Church thus to coine new articles of the Creed without all warrant of the word and to cast out the old though confessed and continued since Christs time because you find some words to haue diuers senses at least with Iewish and heathen writers though not with Christians Austen himselfe auoucheth well and faithfully supposing there were no expresse nor plaine Scripture for Christes descending theâ—… sayth he it were maruellous boldnesse that any should dare say he went downe to hell But the same Austen in the same place telleth you that euidentia testimonia infernum commemorant dolores euident testimones of Scriptures mention both hell and the sorowes thereof to which Christ came And for full proofe heereof he sayth euâ—…n in the same Epistle We can not contradict
either the prophesie which sayd Thou wilâ—… not leaue my soâ—…le in hell which lesâ—…â—…y man should dâ—…e otherwise interpret Peter expoundeth in the Acts of the Apostles nor the words of the same Peter where he affirmeth that Christ loosed the sorowes of hell in which it was impossible he should be held Who then but an Infidell will denie that Christ was in hell All that you haue to say against this is that Iewes and Pagans to wit wicked Rabbins enemies to Christ and Poets ignorant of all trueth vsed the words Sheol and Hades otherwise than the whole Church of Christ without exception till our age receiued and beleeued them from S. Peters mouth and S. Lukes pen that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth the foule and hades importeth hell put you from this shiâ—…t and you fall â—…ull within the compasse of S. Austens challenge that is of plaine infidelitie and theâ—…e be simple Sidemen to cleere you from that crime q Now I assume this and by Gods helpe shall make it manifest that there is in all the Scripture no one place whereby it may be prooued by any shew of reason that Christes soule after this life went locally downward from hence or diuersly from the soâ—…les of â—…ll good men deceased Though the opinion you hâ—…e of your â—…lfe be great yet when you come to condemne the whole Church of God â—…s ignorâ—…t of the Christian faith or altering the same you should vse some more modestie than to say they had not one plat â—…all the Scripture nor any shew of reason to beleeue as they did You preâ—…ume much of your Rabbins and Pagans preferring theiâ—… enuioâ—…s and friuolous iâ—…aginations before the iudgement and faith of the whole Châ—…ch of Chrâ—…st yet take good heed lest the better and elder sort euen of your owne Deponents receiue you not and so you test conuicted in the â—…ares of all good mâ—…n to be rather an insolent affecter of nouelties than any regarder of sobrietie or pietie Only there are two or thrâ—… places sonsibly wrested to this pâ—…rpose First that Ephes. 4. where Christ is sayd to hâ—…e come downe into the lowest parts of the earth If that place be wrested from his right sense the Church of Christ from the beginning must be charged with that wresting Ireneuâ—… citeth thoâ—…e very words of the Apostle that Christ descended to the lower parts of the earth and maketh them equiualent with the words of Dauid touching Christ Thâ—… hast deliuered my soule from the nethermost hell saying Hoâ—… Daâ—…id in câ—…m prophetâ—…s dâ—…xit so much Daâ—…id in his prophesiâ—… spake of him Tertullian alleaging the very same wordes of the Apostle concludeth Habes regionem Inferâ—…m subterraneam credere by this thou art to beleeue that the region or place of hell is vnder the earth Cyprian Descendens ad inferos captiuam ab antiquo captiuitatem reduxit Christ descending to hell brought backe the captiuitie that of old was captiuated Arnobius Postea vidit inferos longe factus est non solum à câ—…lis sed ab ipsa Terra in abyssi profunda descendens c after his crosse he visited hell and became farre off not only from heauen but euen from the earth it selfe descending into the depth of the bottomlesse pit Chrysostom Christ descended to the lower parts of the earth after which there are none other And he ascended aboue all higher than which there is nothing Ambrose vpon that place of â—…aul After death Christ descended to hell whence rising the third day he ascended aboue all the heauens afore all men Ierom out of those words of the Apostle Christ descended to the lower parts of the earth first concludeth Infernum sub terra esse nemo iam ambigat Let no man now doubt but hell is vnder the earth And expounding the rest he sayth Qui descendit cum anima in infernum ipse cum anima corpore ascendit in coelum He that descended to hell in soule ascended to heauen with bodie and soule Primasius vpon the same words of Paul maketh the like collection Ergo sub terra est infernus Qui descendit cum anima in infernum ipse cum anima corpore ascendit ad coelos Therefore hell is vnder the earth And he that in soule descended to hell ascended to heauen in soule and bodie Photius To the lower parts of the earth after which place there is no lower he meaneth hell Dorotheus What is He led captiuitie captiue By Adams transgression the enemie made vs all captiues and had vs in subiection Christ then tooke vs againe out of the enemies hand and conquered him that made vs captiuâ—… Erepti sumus igitur ab inferis ob Christi humanitatem We were then taken from hell by Christes humanity Theophylact At quem in locum descendit In infernum c. To what place did Christ descend To hell which he calleth the lowest parts of the carth after the common opinion of men Haymo First Christ descended to the lower parts of the â—…arth into hell and after he ascended to heauen He descended to hell in his soule alone and then he ascended aboue all the heauens in body and soule It must be noted by this that he sayth Christ descended to the lower parts of the earth he sheweth hell to be vnder the earth whence it is called Infernus because it is lower than the earth or vnder the earth Zanchius repeating diuers Expositions of this place addeth in the end The Fathers for the most part are of this opinion that Christ in his soule came to the place of the damned to signifie not in words but with his presence that the iustice of God was satisfied by his death and bloudshed and that Satan had no longer power ouer his Elect whom he held captiue that himselfe was made Lord ouer all and all power ouer heauen and earth giuen him and a Name aboue all Names that in the name of Iesu euery knee of things celestiall terrestriall and infernall should bow neither that he came thither only to signifie this in such sort as is sayd but also that he might câ—…ie all the diuels with him in a triumph as it is Coloss 2. He spoiled powers and principalities and made an open shew of them leading them as captiues in a triumph by the vertue of his crosse by which he had purged sinnes and appeased the iustice of God Could he not haue done this without any such descent of his soule He could but he would be so farre humbled that his soule should descend into that most darke and wretched place though not there to suffer any thing but to beginne thence his triumph ouer the power of the Diuell And this opinion of the Fathers I dare not condemne since it is not repugnant to the sacred Scriptures and hath likely reasons The consent of the Fathers when it is not contrary to
Then notwithstanding your exception not worth a straw these are two maine grounds of the Christian faith that Christ dying descended to the decpe and rising ascended to heauen and hee that but doubteth in his heart of either of these by the apostles verdict emptieth and reuerseth Christs death and resurrection And did not this latter question who can descend to the deepe pertaine directly vnto Christ who onely of all men that euer were descended to the deepe of Hell and returned againe with safetie and glory we might not onely iustly doubt whoeâ—…er besides Christ descended to the deepe of the earth but our faith teacheth vs plainely â—…o denâ—…e that euer man Christ cxcepted did descend to the deepe supposing now that to signifie hell as you doe and yet doth not our faith frustrate the death of Christ but therein rather commend it and exalt it that neuer man was able to doe as he did that is dying and descending to subiect hell vnder his power and to deliuer all his from thence So that if the deepe heere doe signifie hell then is heere a plaine resolution of the Apostle that Christ dying descended to hell Now least you should take any pride in your peâ—…ting answere not worth a tagge of of a blew point the Reader shall see that all interpreters old and new and euen those on whom you would seeme most to relie haue with one consent comprised the person of Christ in these two questions and yeelded the Apostles answcre to be very extrauagant which God forbid vnlesse Christ were comprised as well in the questions as in the answeres Oecumenius The Apostle referreth these things to Christ. That is wauer not neither say in thy mind how did Christ descend from heauen or did Christ being dead rise from the deepe that is from the lowest places cast all such thoughts out of thy mind Theophylact. Stagger not saith the apostle neither doubtingly cast this in thy mind how Christ descended from heauen or how after death he rose from the deepe id est ex abditissimo profundissimo loco that is from the deepest and most hidden place Erasmus Who shall ascend to heauen that being spoken of the Law Paul interpreteth and applieth to Christ. For that is saith he to draw Christ from heauen Or who shall descend into the deepe that is who will beleeue the things that are spoken of hell except he see them this is sayth Paul to draw Christ backe from the dead as though he did not descend to hell or they desired that in their sight he would againe descend to hell Peter Martyr thus setteth the Apostles questions Who shall ascend to heauen to see whether God bee reconciled to vs by Christ or who shall descend downe into the deepe to see euerlasting death weakned and abolished by him that is by Christ Bucere The Apostle acknowledgeth in this question the deniall of Christ and that he draweth Christ downe from heauen which admitteth this doubt It is euident that the deepe is taken pro inferis for hell and in this sense the Apostle seemeth to haue vsed this word the deepe for hee addeth that is to bring Christ backe from the dead to wit to account his descent to hell to be void and his victorie ouer death and Gehenna Hyperiâ—…s Say not who shall descend into the deepe thou art eased of this trouble by Christs resurrection from the dead and from hell Gualtere Who shall descend to the deepe to see whether death be disarmed hell gates broken open the Diuels kingdome subuerted and we truely redeemed from all these doâ—… not they denie death to haue beene conquered by the merit and resurrection of Christ and therefore would haue him againe to die and to returne to hell to doe that once more which he hath alreadie performed Piscator The heart of him that beleeueth doth not descend by his thoughts to the deepe to trie whether victorie be obtained against eternall death For if he doubt of this he must also doubt whether Christ were dead ad inferos descender it and descended to hell Beza Because the law proposed heauen but vnder an impossible condition and threatned the deepe that is destruction for the offence to which we are all subiect whosoeuer cleaueth to the righteousnesse of the law of force is compelled to crie out who shall ascend to heauen or descena into the deepe to take me hence and lead me thither But contrariwise faith suggesteth that Christ is he which ascended to heauen to carrie vs thâ—…ther with him and descended into the depth of death to abolish him that had power of death Take which of these expositions you will it is euident in euery one of them that by the Christian faith both these impossible actions as man thinketh of ascending to heauen and descending to the deepe were performed for vs in the person of Christ and therefore now to doubt of either is to weaken eneruate the power of Christ who most perfectly hath accomplished both to saue vs from one and bring vs to the other And heere also by the deepe those whom you would seeme to follow vnderstand destruction and eternall death as all the rest doe from which Christ hath freed vs by descending and destroying them for vs. This I say the dead heere importeth the generall condition and state of all the dead as it is opposed to the state of the liuing Yea it is not vnlikely that the former word Abyssâ—… the deepe is vsed also heere by the Apostle to signifie not hell but euen this condition and state of death which is a gulfe bottomlesse neuer satisfied and vnrecouerable like as Sheôl in Hebrew doth likewise properly signifie You shew your selfe by your saying to haue little care what you say that not onely you crosse all Expositors without exception but euen the Scriptures themselues without any respect of trueth or touch of conscience For where the Apostle proposeth this last point Who shall descend to the deepe and returne againe as possible onely to Christ and to none else by your vntidie tale that the deepe heere signifieth the generall condition of the dead opposed to the liuing you make the apostle a weake reasoner or rather a plaine lyer For could Paul at this time be ignorant that Elias and Elizeus raised some from the generall condition of the dead that Christ restored three from death Peter did the like for Tabitha Is there not plaine testimonie giuen in the Scriptures that through faith the women receaued their dead raised to life If this were not onely possible but so vsuall as the Scriptures declare how could Paul make this actioÌ„ of descending to the deepe possible but only to Christ wherefore I say you must be better aduised or else you shew yourselfe in an open and impudent falshood to ruffle and reuell with the holy Ghost testifying that many haue gone to the condition
of the dead opposed to the lyuing and yet bin restored to life againe And consequently in spite of your heart Abyssus the bottomles deepe must not onely keepe his signification perpetuall in the new Testament which is the place appointed for the diuels but descending thither with returne must import an impossible condition to all men â—…aue onely to Christ which in the generall condition and state of the dead is nothing so Besides that the condemned to hell are truely dead and so called in the Scriptures is vnknowne to none of any learning saue to you Death and hell saith Saint Iohn deliuered vp their dead And if the second death bâ—… the truest and terriblest death that is wherein both soule and body are for euer dead then hell is most properly the place of the dead since all there are adiudged to euerlasting death where in the condition of death opposed to the liuing heere on earth the soules of the Saints doe liue with God and taste neither torment nor death Touching the word Abyssus the bottomlesse pit with which you play at your pleasure this may sufâ—…ce that throughout the Scriptures the word is neuer vsed for the graue For the depth of the sea and bottom of earth it is vsed in the old Testament and metaphorically for the deepe counsels of God and desperate troubles of men but in the new Testament it is onely vsed for the bottomlesse pitte whither Diuels are afraid to goe as appeareth by their petition to Christ not to be commanded to depart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the bottomlesse deep and where they are lockt and kept when pleaseth God This meaning the Syriacke translator an auncient writer of no small credit seemeth to haue sith he turneth it abyssum sepulchri the deepe of the graue The Syriacke translation I reuerence for antiquity but you bring the Latin traÌ„slator of the Syriacke that is partiall by your leaue rendreth the Syriacke word according to his owne supposition For though the man were very learned that made the Latin translation yet in this and some other things he yeelded ouer much to the priuate affections of some men with whom he liued conuersed The words in Syriacke are who shall descend latâ—…ehuma dashiul to the deep of sheiul Where sheiul in Syriacke hath the same deriuation and signification that Sheôl hath in Hebrew and therefore standeth as indifferent to the Sheâ—…l of soules which is hell as of bodies which is the graue Againe Tehuma in Syriacke being all one whith tehoma in Chalday and thence taken as they both are froÌ„ tehom in Hebrew and throughout the Scriptures tehom the deepe being neuer applied to the graue but to the great and vnsearchable deepes of the sea of the earth and of hell it hath neither sense nor truth that Tehuma in this place should be applied to the six foot depth of a graue Lastly Tehuma without addition is vsed by the Sayriack Translator for the deepe of hell to which the Diuels desired not to be sent And sheiul alone is also put by him to signifie the place of torment where the rich Gluttons soule was punished after death The Arabicke Translator keepeth the same sense which the Syriack doth saying who is he that descended ILEY AFFAâ—… LGIAHIM to the lower places of hell GIAHIM being vsed by the same Translator in S. Lukes Gospell to expresse the place where the Rich mans soule after death was tormented So that the Syriacke Arabicke Translators fully refute your conceit of the graue besides the sound and sufficient reason alleadged formerly by me to which Translators must confirme their words that the Apostles speach heere cannot be construed of the graue without a manifest and inexcusable falsehood For where then the sense of these words must be None euer descended to the graue that returned saue Christ this is so false that children will not endure it to be thought Apostolike therefore will you nill you the bottomlesse deepe here in this place of the apostle must signifie that deepe to which neuer man descended and returned but only Christ. Which if it be not hell we desire to know of you and your friends what place you can plot vs out to fitte these words The Apostle may also insinuate in this word a seeking to the deepest and fardest parts of the sea to learne somewhere if it might be among all the creatures how to fulfill keepe the law For so Moses whom here he doth cite expressely signifieth then so the Apostle also signifieth the very same You thought the Sextens would deride you if you should rest on this resolution that euery day they digge bottomlesse pits to burie men in when they themselues so easily get out of them and therefore you now put forth to sea and goe a diuing to see whether you can catch cockles in the deepe or no to learne of them how the law of God may be fulfilled A pattern of your profound learning if a man would seeke he shall need goe no farder then this Page and the next where he shall find how ignorantly absurdly and vntruely you roue at the matter and meaning of Moses and Paul and misse them both as wide as the sea is broad For Moses speaketh no word of the depth of the sea much lesse of seeking to all creatures how the law of God might be fulfilled Neither doth the Apostle exactly cite the wordes of Moses as you imagine but somewhat altereth them that he may fitte them to Christ with greater effect and comfort then Moses could vnto the law Moses speach is faire and plaine The Iewes to whom he deliuered the law written could not pretend the knowledge of Gods will to be hidde in heauen nor farre remooued from them beyond the seas that they should wish some would goe vp to heauen to bring it them or ouer the sea to fetch it but the word saith Moses to the people is very neere vnto thee in thy mouth and in thine heart for to doe it That is written before thine eies that thou mightest read it and pronounced in thine eares that thou maiest remember it if thou wilt take heed to obserue it I take heauen and earth to record I haue set before thee life and death blessing and cursing Moses doth not say the performing of the law was not in heauen nor beyond the sea but the knowledg of the law Otherwise you make Moses teach that the fulfilling of the law was in their mouthes hearts which is an open error and repugnant to the trueth of the Gospell For if righteousnesse might be by the law then Christ died without cause As you come nothing neere to Moses meaning so you swarue farder from Pauls The right way to decline death threatned to the breakers of the law and to obteine life promised to the obseruers thereof is not to looke to the law which we cannot obserue but to Christ who
hath destroied death and purchased life for vs. And therefore after Chriâ—…s resurrection and ascension to aske who shall ascend to heauen to procure vs life or who shall descend into the deepe to destroy death for vs is to frustrate through infidelity that which Christ hath done for vs. If we confâ—…sse with our mouths and beleeue with our hâ—…arts that God hath raised vp Iesus from the dead to be Lord ouer all that is to giue life and saue from death whom he will we shal be saued this is the Apostles purpose As for merit-mongers of whom you say the Apostle speaketh these words it is an idle and drowsie conceit of yours These words doe no waies fitte presumers on their merits for they thinke they shall ascend to heauen by their workes they aske not who shall ascend and in the bottom of the sea what merits can you deuise or to what creatures there should Pharises seeke how to fulfill the law what bables be these to be wreathed into the Apostles words or who but you would place all the creatures of God either in heauen or in the bottom of the sea If you cannot write as a diuine speake yet as a man of common sense or vnderstanding And all these senses you say the Apostle may insinuate in this word I thinke as soone all as one but that the deepe in one and the same sentence should signifie the graue the bottom of the sea and the whole state of the dead is a flower of your field it groweth in no wise mans garden I may not omit to shew how you deale here againe with the Text. You alleage it â—…e descended into the deepe But he is cunningly added neither are these words meant of him Your eyes be not paires that perceiue not the difference betwixt a quotation and a conclusion gathered out of the Apostles words In the 220 page with which you cauill the letter b pointing to Rom. 10. in the margine is set after he and next before descended to the deepe So that any sober man might soone see I alleaged not this word he as out of the text but inferred it as the true meaning of the Apostle And whether I haue better reason to say these words are meant of Christ as all Interpreters new and olde doe than you haue to say they are meant of a Pharâ—…aicall Merit-monger that seeketh to learne of fishes in the deepe of the sea how to fulfill the Law let the Reader iudge now he hath heard vs both The like praâ—…se you vâ—… againe in the Psalme There is no word to exprâ—…sse beneath which you put into the text of your owne head Were there no word importing so much yet so long as the word added is expresly ratified by many places of Scripture as appeareth Esay 14. vers 9. and Prouerbs 15. vers 24. in plaine words that Sheol is beneath and the addition is in another letter different from the rest before and after your Mastership might haue taken it for an explication inserted and not for any part of the text cited But you neuer suppose that the Printer may sometimes mistake or mis-set my directions and that maketh you so fast to fome at mouth with my falsifying the word of God of purpose and for aduantage where you rather lie of purpose or for aduantage since I doe not offer there to build any thing on that word nor so much as mention it in my collection there which if I would haue done Scriptures enough besides this would warrant my assertion And what if you whet your teeth against the trueth and the word there of it selfe will beare this addition without any corruption is not your time well spent to play the Bedlom in this sort and in the end to betray your owne ignorance and malice The Septuagint translate the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if I descend or go downe to Sheôl whom the Greeke Fathers follow The West Church kept the same word as is euident by all the Latine Fathers The Chaldaie paraphrase sayth Veêmuc lishjol If I depresse or humble my selfe downe to Sheol where the word is mac to be depressed downe or humbled low Ierom sayth If I lie downe in Sheól New Writers well skilled in the Hebrew tongue as Pellican Pomerane and others continue the word of descending and many that change it retaine the same sense as Vatablus Heâ—…raismus prosietiam descendam ad Ima it is an Hebrew phrase importing thus much If I doe descend to the parts beneath Westhmerus expoundeth it Si descendam in infima loca terrae If I descend to the lowest places of the earth Mollerus Si ettam descendam ad Ima If I should descend to the places beneath Dauid Kimchi obserueth that this word is not only to spread but withall it hath in it the force of lematta below beneath Augustâ—…us â—…stinianus translated the Arabick with the word of descending If all these haue falsified the word of God in so translating and expounding this place then haue I mistaken in following their iudgements but that I falsified of purpose or for an aduantage that is the meale of your mouth not vnlike the rest of your griest Howbeit it is eâ—…ident the Hebrew word hath in it as Kimchi noteth the signification of sub infra and in that respect importeth a bed where a man lieth downe in a lower position than he had before For which cause I might lawfully render the word as I did If I lie downe or lodge beneath in sheól Since Sheol by the Scriptures is a place whither a man must descend though indeed to preuent all challenge I was content to expresse the force of the word in another letter Our second and most principall reason is this If there be not one place of Scripture to proue that Christs soule was in hell then you ought to denie that opinion but you haue not indeed any one place that proueth it therefore it ought to be denied You shew your Logâ—… where little need is keepe it if you be wiâ—…e till it may stand you in more steed Euery Child knoweth or at least hath heard that faith must depend on the word of God Wherefore if it be no where written we meane not to beleeue it But if when the words be plaine you will wrest them with figures and phrases to another purpose then giue vs leaue if your proofes be not sound and good to tell you that our faith relieth on the singlenesse and plainnesse of the word of God so receaued and beleeued since Christ had a Church on earth And though you can make shewes with diuers acceptions and figuratiue senses of words yet that is no reason to reuerse the trueth written For giue me the like liberty without regard of faith and trueth and I can shift of any word whatsoeuer in the Scriptures yea the chiefest and mainest grounds of Religion I can elude with different
significations of the same word in other places of Scriptures This therefore if you take not heed is a vaine ostentation of phrasiologie wherewith you thinke to make euery thing of any thing with your figuratiue and phrasitiue fansies Against this argument you say you haue one place Acts 2. 27. euen onely one where you thinke it is plaine that Christ saith God would not leaue his soule in hell That we haue or say wee haue but one place to prooue Christes descent to hell is a tale of your telling who seldome speake trueth but that you shall neuer with all the wittes and shifts you haue euert the vigour of this place that I say and you shall see by Gods grace I will pâ—…orme it But omit your Prefaces and goe to your proofes and then it will soone be seene where trueth is The Hebrew word controuersed is Sheól the Greeke Hades Now must the word Sheól and Hades needs signifie hell being applied to soules departed hence so indeed you auouch more confidently then truly and hâ—…reupon it seemeth you pawne the triall of this question You be so fine in your phrases that you can not frame your lippes to trueth I auouch indeed you can prooue no such thing and so I suppose it will fall out But in neither of these two pages which you quote doe I pawne the question on that issue and in the 312. by you cited in your margine I speake not a word of Sheol or Hades so well couched are your conceits that you cite things neither written nor ment Wee hope then when this proofe which you aske for against your opinion is shewed you will correct your opinion in this point Your proofes I feare will be so wide from the purpose that they will rather confirme then conuince mine assertion of Sheól but neuer make so deintie to bring foorth your choisest stuffe it will be some great onset that you make so many offers to it before you begin Let it be considered which the Psalmist hath of this matter What man liueth and shall not see death shall he deliuer his soule from the hand of Sheol Heere now the soule attributed to euery man liuing must be properly taken as well as in the former place Now then it is apparant that heere the soules of all men liuing both good and badde after death are appointed to Sheol For there is none that can possibly escape it saith the text Therefore in the Scripture sheôl and Hades applied to departed soules is not alwaies hell but the condition or place as well where the iust mens soules are after death as that where the damned are Heere is the Cannon that must craze the Creede and beate downe the walles of Christes Church but your deuices doe not deceaue mine expectation Set aside the wordes of the Psalmist which you violently draw to fit your dreames there is not one true nor likely word in all this reason First you say The soule attributed to euery liuing man must be properly taken you meane for his immortall spirit as well as in the former place where without question the soule of Christ as after death was seuered from his bodie This is a foolish and false position openly impugned by the Scriptures for the soule attributed to euery man liuing by the Scriptures importeth not only his life which by death is dissolued and brought to Sheol but also his senses desires and euen corporall affections and passions Of this can no man doubt that haâ—…h read any part of the Scriptures The soule is there sayd to hunger and thirst to lust to loath meats to eat and drinke to weepe to melt to suffer all violence to be strooken or pierced with the sword These things are attributed to the soules of men liuing by which not the substance of the soule but the affections and passions of the bodie that are common to vs with beasts are intended Much more then when the soule is sayd to haue bloud to die or not to be deliuered from the power of soâ—…ol are these things applied to the life of men which are most false of their soules once seuered from their bodies So that no man is able to deliuer his soule from the hand of Sheol but he must see death as the words next before do import but that Sheol after death shall possesse the soules of all men there is no such thing in the Prophets words by you produced The hand or power of Sheol which endeth this life sundreth the soule from the bodie that power of Sheol shall no man escape because it is appointed for all to die or as it is in your allegation to see death but what becommeth of their soules after death whether they be in Sheol or in Paradise this place expresseth not And therefore your interlacing those wordes after death of your owne authority besides the text sheweth that you affirme so much but the Psalmist sayth no such thing And because the Reader shall plainly see how lamely and loosely you conclude and cleane contrarie to the direct words of the holy Ghost euen in the Psalmes he shall heare the words of Dauid himselfe whether his soule after death should be subiected to the power of Sheol or no. Speaking of the foolish he sayth Like sheepe they lie in Sheôl death deuoureth them but God will deliuer my soule from the hand or power of sheol for he will receiue me Where first is a manifest contradiction to your maine collection out of the former place that the soules of all men good bad after death are appointed to Shâ—…l Secondly here is a full confirmatition of mine assertion that whose soules God receaueth they are not in Sheól But God receaueth the soules of his Saints their soules therefore are not in Sheól Neither is this confession to bee found in the Psalmes alone Salomon auoucheth the same Thou shalt smite thy child with the rod and shald deliuer his soule from Sheol Then are not the soules of all men in Sheol after death since the soule of a childe well nurtered and in time chastened shal be deliuered from Sheol And so shall the soules of all men that after death liue with God The way of life is on high for him that vnderstandeth to dâ—…line from Sheol belowe Life is on high Sheol is below the Saints then whose soules liue with God are freed from Sheol which is below To be in both places at once is impossible for one and the same part of man Then such as you graunt are in any part of heauen can by no meanes remaine in Sheol But the soules of the righteous are in a blessed rest with God and as Christ promised the thiefe that was crucified with him at least in Paradise They be therefore not in Sheol And as for the mirth that you make with me and Saint Augustine that O then this point of faith
bodies Hades and sheol sometimes to bodies somtimes to soules of men indifferently You may as well assume vnto your selfe to make new Lexicons as new Creeds Life and death being opposites the force of death is properly the priuation of lâ—…e Howbeit the continuance and necessary consequents of death are vsually comprised in this name that sheol and hades are likewise nothing properly but the mâ—…e pâ—…tion of this life this is your new made signification of these wordes warranted by your selfe against the maine resolution of all sorts of writers Hebrew Grâ—…ke and Latine and euen against the Scriptures themselues For if sheol be nothing but a meere priuation of this life how doth the Scripture auouch of Core Dathan and their companie that the earth opening her mouth They descended aliue to Shâ—…l How doth S. Iohn make Hades consequent after Thanatos and say Hades followed after him after a meere priuation of this life can you deuise a second priuation thâ—…of to follow the first you take it to be for your credite to crosse the whole world with wordes but you may doe well to spare the holy Ghost for feare of aâ—…rclaps And whence commeth this new skill that Thanatos belongeth properly to bodies hath not the soule of man a life of grace and blisse which is the life of God or will you call that improperly life Then the Angels haue properly no life and God himselfe who is all life and that most properly shall by your learning improperly liue If the soule haue truly and properly her life then the priuation thereof as in all the wicked is truely and properly death I meane not want of sense which she can not lacke but loâ—… of grace by which she liueth And were your false position true that onely the body did liue and onâ—…ly might die and there were no death of the soule the state of a dead bodie doth it containe nothing positiue what is corruption and dust to which the bodie must returne are they meerely priuatiue And as for the soules of the righteous which you say are in Hades Shâ—…ol and death forget you what our Sauiour teacheth God is â—…ot the God of the dead but of the liuing that is they are not properly dead that liue with God In the 49. Psalme where all expresse circumstances doe shew that the Prophet speaketh of this death not of hell yet Dauid heere saith Notwithstanding God shall deliuer my soule from the power of sheôl that is death or the state of death when he shall receaue me most mightily So Tremelius turneth it noting heere Dauids hope of the resurrection which I thinke he hath well vnderstood in this place You promised to shew euen by the Scriptures that Sheol and Hades are more then once vsed for the generall condition of death wherein euen iust mens soules are held or the mansion of soules departed as well good as bad and now you turne vs ouer to Tremelius translation as if euery word that Tremelius said were Scripture whosoeuer saith nay But first you falsifie Tremelius translation for he doth not turne Sheol there by death or the state of death as you set it downe but he translateth Sheol in the 15. verse by Infernus hell and in the 16. which you cite by sepulchrum the graue And by his generall obseruation ouerthroweth your idle speculation of Sheol to be meerely and properly priuatiue His wordes are Vox Hebraica Sheol stationem quamlibet mortuorum in vniuersum notat ideoque modo ad sepulchrum modo ad Infernum Synecdochicè modo ad vtramque simul accommodanda est The Hebrew word Sheol noteth in generall euerie station not state of the dead that is of so much as is dead in men and therefore it must be applied sometimes to the graue somtimes to hell by Synecdoche as to parts thereof and sometimes to both ioyntly Then Sheôl properly hath nothing to doe with the generall state of the dead common to good and badde but Sheol is euery station or place vnder earth as the graue and hell where any part of man subiected to death is receaued If this be Tremelius meaning as his words import none other then he agreeth with the rest of the Iewes and Christian Hebraicians who auouch the same otherwise he is deceaued as Mercere plainly prooueth against him and you and all that be so minded Errant qui Sheôl propriè locum animarum tam bonorum quam malorum esse putant cum Sheol propriè sit LOCVS SVBTERRANEVS generaliter generalâ—…us quam Sepulchrum THEY ERRE that thinke Sheol properly to be the place of soules as well good as badde since Sheol properly is any place vnder the earth in generall and more generall then the graue This he confirmeth by the witnesse of Aben Ezra vpon the 37. of Genesis that the proper and right signification of Sheôl is to signifie all places vnder earth and not the pit or graue alone Whereupon it is euery where opposed to heauen which is the highest of all Tremelius therefore maketh nothing for your conceit of Sheôl and if he did you are both deceaued as I haue formerly shewed by the testimonies of many Rabbins and learned Christians whose iudgements ouerswaie Tremelius since neither he nor you haue any iust proofe against them but your owne wresting the Scripture to your priuate purposes Howbeit I see no such thing in Tremelius as you pretend and therefore doe not charge him with any such fault For your owne collection if you ioyne it with Tremelius translation you hatch as grosse an error touching the soules of iust men after this life as hath beene heard of amongst Christians For if the soules of the godly shall not be deliuered from Sheol or as Tremelius translateth it from the graue till the resurrection and as you obserue the soule must here be taken properly that is for the immortall spirit which is in man and is therefore in Sheol because it shall not be deliuered thence till the resurrection then are the spirits of al iust men deceased as yet in their graues vnder earth and there shall remaine till their bodies rise which is fit doctrine for such a diuine as you are You might as well conclude out of Tremelius wordes that all the iust are damned in hell till the resurrection For hee thus expoundeth Dauids meaning Christ is my deliuerer à corruptione sepulchri inferni damnaâ—…one from the corruption of the gâ—…e and damnation of hell And so by your logike in the meane time the soules of the iust are subiected to both To labour much to reconcile wrested expositions of this or that wâ—…ter I haue no leasure yet Tremelius may meane that the soules of the iust are not yet wholy freed from the power of the graue not that they are in the graue as you absurdly and falsely conceiue and conclude but that their bodies lie yet in the graue which is an impediment to
with heart and voice ceaseth by reason the body seuered from the soule by deaâ—…h câ—…n not concurre with the soule in any speach action or affection whatsoeuer So â—…uch then as is dead in the iust is vtterly made vnprofitable by death to performe any such duty to God For that which is dead is depriued as of life so of all sense and motiâ—…n answerable to that life which is lost But an vtter want of praising God is in shâ—…l as Ezechiah declared the place therefore where the soules of the iust deceased are is not Sheol by the scriptures since they doe not cease to confesse and praise God In Sheol you say there is no such praysing of God as on earth In Sheol I say there is no praysing of God at all Now let vs see to which of these two the Scriptures accord You thought with a wrench as your manner is to decline the force of trueth and make way to your fansie but the Scriptures hold you faster then so In the very same verse the next words are They that goe downe to the pit cannot hope on in or for thy trueth Whosoeuer confesseth or praiseth God must hope in the trueth of God They can therefore no way confesle or praise God Now the soules of the iust no question confesse and praise God They are not therefore in the pit which the Scriptures call Sheol And so much you might plainly haue perceaued by the words of Salomon if trueth had been in greater request with you then your owne deuices The liuing saith Salomon know that they shall die but the dead know nothing at all There is neither knowledge nâ—…r wisedome in Sheol whither thou goest And of Dauid likewise Shall thy wonderous works be knowen in the darcke and thy righteousnesse in the land of obliuion If the soules of the iust and blessed be in that place which the Scripture calleth hSeol as you stifly maintaine then haue they no wisedome knowledge nor memorie at all no not of Gods righteousnesse and trueth But that were to prop vp error with open heresie and as before you gaue a good push to denie the Resurrection of the flesh by saying their bodies wasted to dust had no being at all so by this you fairely abolish the immortality of the soule and by consequent lâ—…e euerlasting For if the bodie be nothing after it returneth to dust and the soule after this life remaining in Sheol as you say can haue neither wisedome nor knowledge nor memory of Gods righteousnesse and trueth as the Scriptures say you must hold a new creation of other bodies and other soules before either soules or bodies can be partakers of life euerlasting This is your world of soules for which you make so much worke and whither you striue to bring the soule of Christ defending that his soule was in your Sheol where the Scripture saith is neither wisedome knowledge nor memorie And so handsomly you haue set vp the sides of your Sheol that by your Resolution it is indeed no positiue thing properly but a meere priuation of this life and yet it is the condition or place as well where the iust mens soules are after death as that where the daâ—…ned are And lastly it is the land of the dead where they see him euen the Lord which must needs be the place of blessed soules These many variations you haue made vs and all these be properly Sheol in the Scriptures and yet Sheol is neither hell nor heauen but somewhere no where if you could tell what to make of it And the proofe of all this is as pretious as the place it selfe For since the iust goe to Sheol as well as the wicked and there remaine til the resurrection the bodies of the Saints waste away to nothing in the graue neither haue any being at all consequently their soules must haue their habitation mansion and abode in Sheol which is in the land of the dead soules where they see God and yet this condition and place common to them with the wicked who can neither see God nor haue any bleslednesse Much to blame shall I be if I correct not mine opinion vpon such pregnancies as these be The figuratiue senses of Sheôl as when men liuing thinke or complaine they are in Sheôl or other things besides man are said to goe to Sheôl I purposely let passe the corruption of all earthly things returning to dust for the sinne of man as man doth And the feare and force of destruction persuing man in this life if he seeke not to God for helpe are figuratiue significations of Sheôl in the Scriptures but deriued by resemblance from the proper significations thereof as likewise the consoquents depending on the higher Sheôl appointed for the bodies or on the lower prepared for the soules that are dead are sometimes intended by that word and comprised in it as adherents and accessories vnto it These I say I omit because we reason heere of the proper signification of Sheôl which conâ—…th places vnder earth prouided for sinners to which the bodies depriued of life and soules forsaken of grace descend as to the mansions assigned them by the iust iudgement of God for euer That the soules of the Righteous are in Sheôl till the Resurrection the more you labour to confirme the lesse cause I find to beleeue since you therein wâ—…der most vnwisely not only with meere vnâ—…tainties and many contrarities but euen to open and most desperate falshoods To the verie same purpose the Seâ—…gint vse Hades For it is well and truely acknowledged by you that both Sheol and Hades are iust all one I neuer doubted but Hades in Greek was vsed by the Septuagint to expresse Sheol in Hebrew and with them did note as well the graue where the bodies of men lie silent and dead as the place of punishment whither the soules of the wicked descend but in the new Testament where our Sauiour often and openly reuealed the place and paines of the damned there the Euangelists and Apostles distinguishing the death of the body from the destruction of the soule and counting the one to be but a sleepe to the godly They separate Hades from Thanatos and vse them diuersly referring hades to signifie the place of torment whither the wicked are condemned which is hell and expressing by Thanatos the dissolution of soule and body saue when they speake of the death of the soule either on earth which is the losse of all grace or in hell which is an exclusion from all gloâ—…ie and a subiection to perpetuall and intolerable misery in which case they doe not forbeare the word Thanatos death The Greeke fathers exactly follow this signification of hades for hell which they learned from the Euangelists and Apostles Your fitting of Dauids phrases to your owne deuices is a dangerous and deceitfull course For you make what you will of his words and then conclude your owne
positiue thing common to the elect and râ—…probates after death which you obserue well but onely that they alike remaine in death I assure my selfe that my obseruation in that behalfe is consonant to the word of God and is indeede the trueth as you now confesse but then your world of soules and common condition of the dead must come to bare wordes and meere priuations or else to a manifest and confessed falshood If Sheol and Hades in the Scriptures be nothing but wordes or priuations importing that men are departed this life then happie are the wicked that haue none other Sheol or Hades but onely the want of this mortall and miserable life and Atheists all this while were true beleeuers if Moses and the Prophets threatned nothing after death but a lacke of life And vnhappie are the godly if the place of blessed soules noted as you say by the word Sheôl bee nothing else but an emptie name and a meere priuation It were good you did a little consider with your friends how these things agree with the Christian faith that the STATE CONDITION AND PLACE of iust mens soules departed this life for these three you containe in the name of Sheol and hades should haue nothing in them positiue but all priuatiue The place of their soules I suppose to bee Paradise and when you are in your good moodes you make it not onely to be heauen but aboue all the heauens euen where Christ is at the right hand of the throne of maiestie Their state is blessed with rest and ioy Hath heauenly rest and blisse no positiue thing in it but onely a priuation of this life these be strange conceits and yet if you will needes haue one common condition state and place to good and bad you must come to worse consequents then these There is indeed one common condition state and place of the dead bodies of iust and vniust that is to come to corruption in their graues but touching their soules no man besides you was euer so vnwise as to auouch that there was one condition state and place of the dead howsoeuer now and then some men light on generall wordes touching the dead that require a sober and heedefull interpreter And by what authoritie doe you call the condition and state of blessed soules a meere priuation or a priuation at all since to them their state is an exchange for a better life in respect whereof this life is but a shadow of death and the vale of miserie Vse we to say that men are depriued of their burdens when they are eased of them or depriued of their bondage when they are freed from it or that the hauen depriueth Sea-men of stormes No more may wee rightly say that the condition or state of blessed soules is any priuation but rather a permutation of a short and wretched life so iustly tempered for the desert of our sinnes with a perpetuall and happie life giuen vs by Gods mercies The wicked that are excluded from all sense and hope of bliâ—…e or ease may bee sayd to bee depriued of this life which they loued aboue all things but the Saints that were otherwise minded and are prouided of a farre better life may not be said to be depriued but rather deliuered of the manifold troubles and afflictions of this life But such is your conceited disposition that if you may not haue a doctrine and discipline by your selfe you loath the way of other Christian beleeuers Thus the old Latin translator vseth Infernum as commonly for Hades so sometimes for Thanatos death and sometimes Mors death for Hades Epiphanius readeth the text Acts 2. 24. indifferently Thanatou or Hadou as reckning them in effect all one In your last pamphlet you were at defiance with all the Fathers Greeke and Latin for abusing the wordes HADES AND INFERI to signifie Hell properly and particularly that is the place of the damned or a place vnder earth a part thereof which the latter writers haue since named Limbus you now are taught another lesson by some of your friends whose fingers are in this second part of your defence that it is more for your credit rather to peruert the meaning of ech Father then wholy to reiect their writings And therefore you or they turne quite about and now without all question the Greeke and Latin Fathers you say meant by Hades and Inferi not as they did before hell or a part thereof but your priuatiue world of soules and that you take vpon you to iustifie with a round and readie course as if it were no more masterie for you to misconstrue their sayings then the Scriptures Notwithstanding by processe it will appeare how much your helpers haue beguiled you and brought you into a fooles Paradise vpon sight of one place with which you might wrangle to thinke that all their testimonies were as soone auoided or wrested to your purpose The place of the Acts 2. 24. which the old Translator rendreth by the name of Infernus and Epiphanius citeth sometimes with Hadou sometimes with Thanatou I omit till we come to the speciall handling thereof in the meane while let vs here how well you prooue your proiect of the rest of the Fathers Iustine the Martyr long before saith Christ noted the follie of those men that thought him not to be Christ but that he should die and remaine in Hades as a common man He meaneth not heere as a wicked man in hell but as auy common man whether good or bad dying abideth in death Could you finde no wiser men to ground your reason on then such as Christ himselfe noteth of error and folly maketh it any matter to the trueth what cogitations fooles caried in their brests I pray you Sir why might not these vnchristian fooles thinke that all mens soules good and badde went after death to the place called Hades vnder the earth as well as wiser men who were of that opinion were you so neere of their counsell as to know their thoughts not onely Iewes and Pagans but euen Christians were of that perswasion as appeareth by many of the Fathers much more then might fooles be of that minde and therefore except you haue somâ—… better stuffe we may note this allegation of folly and so let it passe But if you would needes know in what sense Iustine himselfe vseth the word Hades and what maner of place for soules after death he tooke it to be reade his answere to the 75. question touching Christian religion After the soule is departed from the body straightwaies there is a separation of the iust from the vniust For they are caried by Angels into places meete for them the soules of the iust to Paradise where is the fellowship and sight of Angels and Archangels with a kinde of beholding of Christ our Sauiour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the soules of the vniust are caried to places in Hades as it is said of Nabuchodâ—…nosor king of Babylon
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hades below was stirred to meete thee So likewise he citeth and alloweth Platoes words When death draweth neere the tales that are told 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of things in Hades how he that heere dealeth vniustly shall there be punished and were laughed at then trouble the soule least they prooue true Irâ—…us saith Heerein Christ legem mortuorum seruauit did as other doe that diâ—… and conuersed three daies vbi erant mortui sancti where the dead Saints were And this he calleth locum inuisibilem the vnseene world What meaneth thiâ—… but Hades as we take it yea a little before he expresly calleth it Paradise Neuerthelesse I grâ—…nt that he thought this vnseene world was indeed beneath in the earth Wherein his proofes doe vtterly faile him as you your selfe doe fully grant and professe in this point as well as we In time you may learne some skill to alter and counterfait the Fathers writings but as yet your cunning faileth you You doe not marke or will not see that Irenaeus in this Chapter expresly confuteth a number of your positions and subuerteth the whole frame of your meere priuatiue Sheol and not Irenaeus but your sense put to Irenaeus his words against his manifest meaning is all the hold you haue in thisplace Irenaeus condemneth two of your assertions as erroneous the one that Christes soule after death went vpward to heauen and descended not downeward to the lower parts of the earth The next that the soules of the Saints as soone as they die ascend to the highest heauens Haeretici simulatque mortui fuerâ—…t dicâ—…t se supergredicaelos Hereticks as soone as they be dead say they ascend aboue the heauens They will not vnderstand that if this were so as they say the Lord himselfe surely would not haue made his resurrection on the third day sed super crucem expirans confestim vtique abiâ—…sset sursum relinquens corpus terrae but giuing vp the ghost on the crosse would no doubt haue straightwaies gone vpward leauing his bodie to the earth But now he staied three daies where the dead were As he refelleth your imaginations so he nothing relieueth your assertions though you touch nothing of his which you turne not awrie with corrupting his sense or his sentence Christ kept the law of the dead saith Irenaeus that is say you he did but as others that die and conuersed three dâ—…es where the dead Saints were The lawe of the dead which Irenaeus heere speaketh of is to expect the resurrection of their bodies till the time prefixed by God His wordes are As then our Master non statiâ—…â—…lans abiâ—… did not straight after death ascend vp but staied the time appointed for his resurrection by the Father so we ought to endure the time of our resurrection prefixed by God and so to be assumed as many as the Lord shall count woorthy You make a new law of your owne for the dead which Irenaeus neuer thought of and the iâ—…sible place appointed for their soules vntill the resurrection if you will haue it to be the same which Irenaeus saith Christ had must be the lower parts of the earth which I trust is not Paradise If therefore saith he the Lord obserued the law of the dead and staying vntill the third day in the lower parts of the earth then rose in his flesh and so ascended to his father how should they not be confounded who say their inward man leauing the body heere in supercelestem ascendere locum ascendeth to the highest place of heauen Touching the place where Christs soule seuered from his bodie was as the transcriber or printer before you mistooke the word sanctorum in Irenaeus for sanctus so you the second time corrupt the same in saying Christ conuersed three daies where the dead Saints were in steed of Vbi erant mortui where the dead were This place is twise before alleadged by Irenaeus where the word sanctus is referred to God and not to the dead Commemoratus est dominus sanctus Israel mortuorum suorum qui dormierant in terra sepultionis The Lord the holy one of Israêl remembred his dead which slept in the earth of their buriall and descended to them So in his 4 booke and 39 chapter he repeateth it againe Recommemoratus est dominus sanctus Israel mortuorum suorum qui prâ—…dormierunt in terra defossionis The Lord the holy one of Israel remembred his dead which before his comming had slept in the earth digged to lay them in that is in their Graues Iustine Martyr citeth the Greeke words to like effect The Lord God out of Israel remembred his dead that slept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their graues This being the true tenor or translation of this sentence it is euident that the transcriber or printer of Ireneus mistooke Sanctorum for Sanctus and you more wilfully presume to put the word Sanctus to the former period of purpose to imply that Christ went no whither but where the souls of his Saints were But you vtterlie peruert Ireneus meaning for Christs going to them doth not exclude his goinge els whither and in those generall words Christ conuersed three dayes with the dead are comprised not only the graue and place of buriall where the Lords dead were but as appeareth by Ireneus proofes following the Heart and lower parts of the earth euen the nethermost Infernum hell where others were which were no Saints and the souls of the Saints were not except you mind to establish Limbus out of these words Now what hath your priuatiue Sheól and Hades to do with these words heere are places described in the earth and vnder the earth where if you set the soules of the Saints vntill the day of resurrection you empty Paradise and quite deny the Saints deceased to be in any part of heauen since heauen is aboue and not vnder the earth And though you say Ireneus proofes doe faile him for his purpose they are plaine and full as that Christ was in the heart of the earth and descended to the lower parts of the earth and that of Dauid applied by him to Christ Thou hast deliuered my soule from the nethermost hell There is therfore nothing in these words of Ireneus that fauoreth your new found hades though the souls of Christs disciples after death be granted to go to an muisible place prepared for them by God which whether it be Paradise or heauen or a place vnder earth for thither â—…aith Ireneus Christ descended but he doth not say that the souls of his Disciples shall thither goe till the resurrection as you falsly collect it cannot be your hades which is a meere priuation of this life and hath no positiue thing in it much lesâ—…e a certaine and defined place for the soules of his Saints And where you presume as your manner is that Ireneus a little before calleth this
inuisible place expresly Paradise if that were so you must then confesse your hades is not common to good and bad and hath in it not only an heauenly place but an happie state which I trust you will not allow to the wicked and so hades and heauen to be all one with you which thing you so much disclaime But by your leaue it is not so your friends and you are ouerbold with Ireneus to make him say what you list Six and twenty Chapters before this he saith the elders which were the Apostles Disciples deliuered that such as were translated that is remooued hence with their bodies without dying as Enoch and Elias were translated thither euen to Paradise and there remaine they which were translated euen to the end shewing now a beginning of incorruption Againe he further sheweth that in the Scripture he taketh hades to be al one with death or the dominion of death where he readeth the text thus Vbi est mors aculeus tuus Vbi est mors victoria tua Death where is thy sting Death where is thy victory You shew your selfe to be well read in the fathers that cannot tell whether Ireneus wrote in Greeke or in Latin and therefore in steed of a most learned and most eloquent writer as Ierom calleth him you bring vs the authority of an vnknowen and obscure interpreter Were there no more but the very place euen now cited and abused by your selfe the parts whereof are found in Ireneus thrice after three seuerall interpretations as for example in Terra sepultionis in terra defossionis in terra stipulationis it were enough to shew the Author neuer wrote in Latine that varieth so much from himselfe and that the translator was verie seely but there are other arguments infinite the Greeke wordes expressing the conceits of heretikes aboue 120 euery where be retained the stile throughout exactly resembling the Greeke phrase the manifold citations thereof by the Greeke Fathers as 18. whole Chapters by Epiphanius 22. peeces and parts thereof by Eusebius and 14. by Theodoret besides Polycarpe his instructor and teacher euen in his youth who was altogether a Grecian But we shall not need to seeke reasons for it since Ierom so many hundred yeeres agoe when the originall was extant numbreth Ireneus amongst the Greek writers We shall seeme saith he to crosse the opinions of many auncient writers of the Latins Tertullian Victorinus Lactantius of the Greekes o omit the rest I will make mention onely of Ireneus Bishop of Lions And againe To name the Greeke writers and to ioine the first and last together Ireneus and Apollinarius Ireneus then writing in Greeke and citing the Apostles words likewise in Greek you cannot proue by the rude and late translation of his works which we haue how he read the Apostles text Gregorie Bishop of Rome more then 600 yeeres after Christ saith Scripta beati Irenei iamdiu est quòd solicite quaesiuimus sed hactenus ex â—…is inueniri aliquid non potuit The writings of blessed Ireneus we haue long and carefully sought for but hitherto nothing of his can be found he meaneth in Latin for before and after euerie Greek diuine as Basil Cyril Theodoret Occumenius Aretas Anastasius Damascen Procopius Nicetas cite Irenaeus workes and words The Latin translation of the Apostles words 1 Corinth 15 Death where is thy sting death where is thy victory I shall haue fitter occasion by and by to examine Tertullian doth likewise For speaking of Inferi which he taketh for the same that hades is he noteth it as the place quo vniuersa humanitas trahitur whither all mankind must goe and therefore of Christes going thither he saith Because he was a man therefore hee died according to the Scriptures and was buried according to the same also heere he satisfied the common law of nature by following the forme of mens dying and going to the world of the dead If you should not peruert both Tertullians wordes and sense neither would make for your purpose And though you gain not much by corrupting the coherence of his wordes yet are you so vsed to haue all to your liking that you cannot hold your hand from disordering other mens speeches Christ saith Tertullian being God because he was also man and died according to the Scriptures and was buried according to the same euen in this satisfied the law by performing the course of an humane death apud Inferos in the places below In steed of Legi the law you say the common law of nature apud Inferos you translate going to the world of the dead These bee your fansies added to Tertullians wordes and no parts of his purpose In the meane while you dissemble and therein abuse both your selfe and your Reader that euen in that Chapter and the sentence before Tertullian describeth Inferi to be a place vnder the earth whither the soules of good and bad descend after death the good to a kind of refreshing which is plainely Limbus so much refused by your selfe the bad to punishment His wordes in the fiue and fiftie Chapter which you quote precedent to those which you cite are these Nobis inferi non nuda cauositas nec sub diualis aliqua mundi sentina creduntur sed in fossa Terrae in alto vastitas in ipsis visceribus eius abstrusa profunditas Siquidem Christum in corde Terrae triduum mort is legimus expunctum id est in recessu intimo interno in ipsa Terrâ—… operto intra ipsam cauato inferioribus adhuc abyssis superstructo We beleeue Inferi to be no bare hollownesse nor any sincke vnder the world but in the gulfe of the earth and in the depth of vastitie and in the very bowels of the earth an abstruse profunditie For we reade that Christ was the three dayes of his death in the heart of the earth that is in an inward place within the midst thereof and couered with the earth and hollowed within the same and seated ouer mighty deepes below If this be your world of the dead let any man of vnderstanding iudge whether this be not a plaine euident description of that which the latter writers called Limbus and whether there can be any fuller delineation of it then a place vnder the earth and in the midst thereof euen hollowed in the bowels of the earth and couered with the same hauing vnder it mighty deepes And that in it there is as well rest for the good as torments for the wicked And the continuation of the very same sentence which you guilefully bring for your world of dead and the conclusion of both are deliuered by Tertullian in these words if Christ did performe the course of an humanc death in places below neither did ascend into the higth of the heauens before he descended into the lower parts of the earth there to make the
for regiâ—…on and state for place skipping cleane that all this is vnder earth and then you say this is your world of the dead whereof part are in heauen by your owne positions and part in hell But this is too sensible a subuerting of Tertullians words vnfit either for Iunius to beginne or for you to follow If Tertullians words were as true as they be plaine neither side might refuse his opinion Neither was Tertullian alone in this perswasion that all departing this life before Christes death went to places below in the earth Ireneus affirmeth almost as much Ea propter Dominum in ca quae sunt sub terra descendisse euangelizantem illis aduentum suum Therefore the Lord descended to the places vnder the earth to preach or publish euen to them his comming And againe Christ conuersed three dayes where the dead were yea where the soules of the dead were and was in the heart of the earth and stayed till the third day in the lower parts of the earth where I trust you will not defend Heauen or Paradise to be Ierom is more plaine in this point Salomon speaketh thus sayth he because before the comming of Christ omnia ad inferos pariter ducerentur all were caried alike to the places below Wherefore Iacob sayth He shall descend ad inferos to the lower places Et Iob pios impios in inferno queritur retentari And Iob complaineth that the godly and the wicked are detained in inferno in the gulfe below And lest you make what you list of the words Inferi Infernus as Iunius and some other learned men by their leaues haue done you shall heare what Ierom himselfe sayth of them both Inter mortem inferos hoc interest betweene death and inferi this is the difference Death is that whereby the soule is separated from the bodie Infernus locus in quo animae includuntur siue in refrigerio siue in poenis Infernus is the place in which the soules are shut vp either in refreshing or in punishment Now where this place was and how long the soules of the iust stayed there he doth not dissemble We learne by Esay sayth he that Infernus is vnder the earth And that Infernus is in the lower part of the earth the Psalmist witnesseth saying The earth opened and swallowed Dathan and couered the congregation of Abiram For as the heart is in the midst of the liuing creature so Infernus is sayd to be in the midst of the earth And vpon these words of Salomon There is neither thought knowledge nor wisdome in Infernus whither thou goest he sayth Nota vt Samuelem quoque verè in Inferno credas fuisse ante aduentum Christi quamuis sanctos omnes Inferm lege detentos Porro quod sancti post resurrectionem Domini nequaquam teneantur Inferno testatur Apostolus dicens melius est dissolui esse cum Christo. Qui autem cum Christo est vtique non tenetur in Inferno Note that thou mayest beleeue Samuel also was truely in Infernus and that before Christes comming all though saints were detained vnder the law of Infernus But that the saints after the Lords resurrection are no longer in Infernus the Apostle witnesseth saying It is better to be dissolued and to be with Christ. Now he that is with Christ certainly is not held in Infernus I would not repeat so much of this which I do not acknowledge to be vndoubtedly true were it not that you and some otheâ—…s take aduantage of these sayings which yet you reiect as vtterly false to establish hence your new world of soules and that after Christs resurrection directly repugnant to their assertions out of whose words you would seeme to deriue your opinion For you hold that to this hower the soules of the iust are in hades and infernus and so shal be till the resurrection since infernus and hades as you beare men in hand import no more with the Latin and Greek fathers but the condition and state of the dead in generall whether they be in hell or in heauen Well this may be your conceit but no father Greek or Latin euer made mention of any such thing as you would gather out of their words That all mens soules before Christs comming good and bad were in places vnder the earth the good in ease and comfort the rest in paines and torments this some of the fathers both Greek and Latin auouch but that the iust still remaine now after Christs resurrection either in hades or Infernus I find no man that auoucheth any such thing saue only Tertullian The first I must confesse I doe not beleeue neither did Saint Austen before me who learnedly and truely concluded that Abrahams bosome mentioned by our Sauiour in the Gospell could be no part nor member of Infernus or hell since the Scripture saith there is a great and mighty gulfe set betweene them so that the one can haue no accesse to the other and the iust were aboue in comfort whiles the wicked were below in hades a place of torment punished with flames of fire But since the resurrection of Christ no father I still except Tertullian affirmeth the soules of the iust to be in hades or infernus but in Paradise which Tertullian yeelded to none but to Martyrs being himselfe infected with the error of Montanus when he wrote his booke De anima as shall most plainly appeare though you neuer so stifly denie it Howbeit his opinion in that was priuate and different from the rest For Ierom saith Ante Christum Abraham apud Inferos post Christum latro in Paradiso Before Christ Abraham was in places below after Christ the Thiefe was in Paradise Now the thiefe was iustly punished for his offences and so no Martyr And againe The munition to which God exhâ—…rteth the Prisoners of hope we ought to vnderstand none other but the habitation of Paradise to which the Thiefe first entred with the Lord. For this is the Land of the liuing in which the good things of the Lord are prepared for meeke and holy men to which before the comming of our Lord and Sauiour in the flesh neither Abraham nor Isaac nor Iacob nor the Prophets nor other iust men could attaine But euen by Tertullian himselfe it is euident that your collection out of him is vtterly false For he excepteth martyrs out of Inferi and placeth them in Paradise who yet I trust are in the condition of the dead And so by no meanes doe inferi signifie with Tertullian the place or state of good and bad indifferently that are dead but onely such as were or are in places vnder the earth who are properly and truely called inferi in respect of vs and not those that are aboue vs in heauen or Paradise where on euery side we now confesse the Saints are though their bodies lie yet in the dust
hades either for the place or state of the godly now deceased in Christ nor for the generall or common condition of both elect and reprobate since Christs resurrection but as we saw before in Iustine the martyr Chrysostome and Theodoret precisely for a place opposite to Paradise and heauen where the wicked after this life find the due wages of their sinnes which is eternall darâ—…knesse and death where the dwelling and dominion of Diuels is and whence the Saints dead and liuing from the beginning of the world to the end thereof weâ—…e and are redeemed and deliuered by Christ. Iosephus a Iew and yet a fauourâ—…r of Christian Religion as appeareth by his testimonie giuen of Christ and one that liued euen in the Apostles time as being a chiefe leader of the Iewes in the battaile against the Romans and taken by Veâ—…pasian to whom he foretold by the gift of pâ—…ophesie whiles Nero yet liued that he should be Emperour in his oration to dissuade them that would haue killed themselues and him before he should yeeld to the Romans Know you not saith he that such as goe out of this life by the law or course of nature and repâ—…y the debt which they râ—…ceaued of God when he that gaue it is willing to receaue it haue immortall glory an house and ofspring setled and their soules cleansed and fauoured of God inhabit the holiest place of heauen and whose hands waxe mad against themselues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THEIR SOVLâ—…S HADES that is darke RECEIVETH Ignatius the third bishop of Antioch after the Apostles sayth of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He descended alone to Hades Hell and threw downe the rampier that had stood from the beginning and brake vp the partition wall thereof which kept men from heauen To the state of the dead Christs soule did not descend alone the thiefs soule was with him neither had the rampier of bodily death continued vnbroken from the beginning since many before Christs suffering rose from the generall condition of the dead but hell it was to which he alone of all men that euer returned went and brake the strength and force thereof which till that time was vntouched Theophilus the sixt bishop of Antioch about 170 yeeres after Christ alleageth against Autolycus a maligner of Christian religion the verses of Sybilla to prooue that the Gentiles did sacrifice to diuels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You made sacrifices to diuels in hades Clemens Alexandrinus not long after labouring to proue that Peters words Christ preached to the spirits in prison pertained to the wicked not to the godly giueth this reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who being well aduised will thinke the soules of the iust and of sinners to be in one condâ—…mnation Whence he concludeth that none heard Christs voice there but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as were placed in hades and had yeelded themselues wâ—…ttingly to destruction And for proofe thereof alleageth these words as out of the Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hades sayd to destruction We saw not his shape but we heard his voice I cite not these places to approoue euery allegation or opinion that is occurrent but to shew in what sense the auncient Greeke writers that were Christians vsed the worde Hades not for the common condition and state of soules iust and vniust which Clemens heere disaâ—…oweth but for the place where the wicked were detained that wilfully wrought their owne destruction Eusebius speaking in the person of Christ saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I see my descent to Hades approch and the rebellion against me of the contrarie powers that are enemies to God He saith Eusebius went thither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the saluation of the soules that were in Hades and descended to breake the brasen gates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to dismis those that before were prisoners of hades And out of Plato he alleageth this for a trueth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the soules of the wicked immediately after death departing hence endure the punishment in Hades of their doings heere Athanasius a man of no meane iudgement in whose confession or Creede allowed in the Booke of Common Prayer we finde it a part of the Christian faith that Christ descended to Hades declareth in infinite places what he meaneth by the word Hades After man had sinned saith he and was fallen by his fall death preuailed from Adam vntill Christ the earth was accursed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hades was opened Paradise was closed Heauen was offended but after all things were deliuâ—…red to Christ the whole was reformed and persited the earth in steede of a curse was blessed paradise was opened 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hades shranke for feare the gates of heauen were left open He suffering for vs recouered vs and hungring refreshed vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And descending to hades brought vs backe For if the Lord had not beene made man we had neuer risen from the dead as redeemed from our sinnes but had remained vnder the earth as dead neither had we euer beene lifted vp to heauen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but had lien in hades Againe he that examined mans disobedience and gaue iudgement inflicted a double punishment saying to that which was earthly Earth thou art and to earth shalt thou returne and to the soule Thou shalt die the death and so man was distracted into two parts and condemned to abide after death in two places If you can shew an other place whither man was condemned well may you say man was deuided into three parts and that being recouered out of two places he remaineth bound and chained in the third 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but if you can shew none other place besidâ—…s the graue and hades hell out of which man was perfectly freed by Christ how say you then that God is not yet reconciled to man This appeareth not onely in vs but in the death of Christ the body comming to the graue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the soule descending to Hades being places that are seuered with a great distance the graue receauing his body for there it was present and hades his spirit or soule els how did Christ present the shape of his owne soule to the soules detained in bandes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that hee might breake in sunder the bandes of the soules detained in hades So likewise speaking of Christes persuing the diuell by his life and death hee else where saith The diuell was fallen from heauen hee was cast from the earth hee was persued in the aire euery where conquered and euery where straightned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he determined to keepe Hades hell for this place was yet left him But the Lord a true Sauiour would not leane his worke vnfinished 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor leaue those that were in hades as yeelded
hereticke in saying descendens ad inferos genus humanum liberauit Christ descending to hell deliucred mankind that is aswell from comming thither as tarrying there So Hilarie Crux Mors Inferi nostra salus est Christes Crosse death descent to inferi the places below is our saluation So Athanasius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ descending to hades brought vs backâ—… that we should not goe thither So Ierom Liberauit omnes Dominus quando eius anima descendit ad infernum The Lord deliuered all his from thence when his soule descended to hell So Fulgentius Hoc ideo factum est vt per descendentem ad infernum animam iusti dolores soluerentur inferni solutis doloribus inferni omnes sideles ad iâ—…sdem doloribus liberauit This was therefore done that by the soule of the iust descending to hell the sorrows of hell might be loosed and the sorrows of hell being loosed he deliuered all the faithfull from them Our deliuery thence who were neuer there must needs be the keeping vs from comming thither If then Christ by his dâ—…scending thither deliuered vs and all his elect thâ—…nce it followeth he saued them from comming to that place and that by his descent thither And this speach Austen prooueth to be right and true in this very case by many examples from which he thus concludeth In his omnibus non erant sed quia talibus meritis agebantur vt nisi subuentum esset ibi essent inde se recte dicunt liberari quo per liberatores suos non sunt permissi perduci In all these mischiefes men were not but because their deserts were such that they should haue been in them had they not been holpen from them they rightly say they were THENCE DELIVERED whither they were not suffered to come by such as deliuered them If then they were Hereticks that vpheld this position the best learned of the fathers in Christs Church were plainely within the compasse of heresie and whether it be safer to forsake Tertullian in his priuate conceit of Montanisme or to muster so many religious and Catholike writers for hereticks let the Reader iudge And what if you take your selfe by the nose before you be ware and plunge your selfe into this wicked heresie as you call it farre deeper then others by alleaging and yet refusing Tertullians fansies in this place doe you not well to be so liberall of your termes when you must beare the greatest waight of them I cleare my selfe in saying and proouing that these were Tertullians priuate conceits conâ—…onant to Montanus new prophesies and repugnant to the Church of Christ and therefore vnlesse these fathers were hereticks I am none but you are caught like a Come with your loude ctowing and cannot shift thence but with your owne shame For you say it was the obiection of certaine hereticks Now if your selfe defend that which Tertullian there impugneth then are you an heretick by your owne confession First then that Christ dying went ad inferos that is ad inferiora terrarum to the lower parts of the earth Tertullian exactly auoucheth His words of Christ in this very Chapter are Forma humanae mortis apud inferos functus nec ante ascendit in sublimior a caelorum quam descendit in inferior a terrarum He performed the manner of an humane death in the places below neither did he ascend to the higher parts of the heauens before he descended to the lower parts of the earth This Tertullian bringeth as graunted on all sides for he refuseth not that which himselfe affirmeth The obiection then of the heretiks as you name them was this Ne nos adiremus that we should not come thither that is ad regionem inferúm subterraneam to the region of inferi vnder the earth which is Tertullians inferi whither he thought all must come Now make your choise wise Sir whether you wil be one of the Hereticks as you say whom Tertullian refuteth or hold this grosse error with Tertullian that all the Saints saue Martyrs after this life are in places vnder the earth there to remaine till the day of resurrection But this you euery where seeme to disclaime as being that Limbus which you so much auoide Then are you one of those hereticks whose obiection this is and that which argueth you to be a witt-all aswell as an heretick of your owne calling you haue not so much sense as to see that you yeeld your selfe to be an heretick for defending the trueth Tertullian saith it is false that Christ went to inferos that is to hell You that rightly vnderstand not one word in this place of Tertullian talke as if you were authorized not onely to contradict your owne Author but to pronounce them all heretikes that gainesay your absurd and ignorant follie Tertullian in this place resolueth that Christ dying went ad Inferos that is ad Regionem Inferúm subterraneam to the Region of Inferi vnder earth for so he expoundeth himselfe and concludeth that all the faithfull after death saue Martyrs shall goe to the same Region vnder earth and there stay till the generall refurrection This conclusion you denie as well as I doe and say they were Heretikes that made that obiection But awake out of this maze or madnesse and see that Tertullian to strengthen the priuate opinions of Montanus in aduauncing Martyrs and none else to Paradise impugneth the profession of the whole Church that Christes descending to Inferi that is to the Region vnder the earth freed all the faithfull from comming thither With like stupiditie you seuer the reason of this position from the position it selfe and make that a refutation of the obiection as you call it which is a confirmation thereof For they which opposed the former wordes Christ therefore went ad inferos to the places below least we should come thither brought this for a reason of their assertion Caeterum quod discrimen Ethnicorum Christianorum si carcer mortuâ—…s idem For what difference is there betweene Ethnicks and Christians if they haue one and the same prison after death You say this is Tertullians answere to them but your head is so heauie that you doe not perceaue this maketh for them not against them and so rather confirmeth then answereth their obiection They who made the former obiection that Christ went to the places below least we should come thither neuer excepted infidels but Christians from comming to those places If Tertullian were of the same mind he did rather confesse then refell their obiection But his answere to these words commeth after which you did not reade or not marke Agnosce differentiam Ethnici fidelis in morte si pro Deo occumbas vt Paracletus monet non in mollibus fâ—…bribus Lectulis sed in Martyriâ—…s See the difference betwixt an Ethnick a beleeuer if thou die for Gods cause as the Paraclete warneth not in easie feauers
thing so to thinke Ambrose confesseth the same Expers peccati Christus cum ad Tartari ima descenderet vinctas peccato animas mortis dominatione destructa é fâ—…ucibus Diaboli reuocauit ad vitam Christ free from sinne when he descended to the lowest pit of hell recalled to life out of the diuels iawes the soules that were bound with sinne destroying the Dominion of death And so doth Ierom. Infernus locus suppliciorum atque cruciatuum est in quo videtur diues purpuratus ad quem descendit dominus vt vinctos de Carcere din itteret Infernus is the place of punishments and torments in which the rich man clothed with purple was seene and to which the Lord descended to dimisse such as were bound out of prison These I trust were no Heretikes but if need were and I would vse that aduantage against you which you insisting on Tertullians error seeke against me they would doe little lesse then prooue you to be a refuser and peruerter of the faith receiued in the Church of Christ and professed not by them onely but by all those Fathers whom I formerly cited as concurring in this cause with them But I smile at your follie and remit your reproches to the Readers impartiall Censure Athanasius also saying where humane soules were held by death there Christ brought his humane soule meaneth nothing else but that his soule came vnder the same condition of death as other humane soules did not that he went to the place of the damned Neither must he be vnderstood after your partiall translation when you say ex orco out of hell himselfe saith ex Hadou out of the power of death You set your selfe to outface all the places which I brought out of the Fathers for Christs descent to hell and as you played your part in wrenching wrying the words of Tertullian Austin from their rightsense so you continue in all the rest with like successe thinking it enough for you to say the word though it be neuer so false and farre from the Fathers meaning As first in Athanasius wordes what double punishment was that I pray which God threatned to Adam for sinne in saying to the earthly part earth thou art to earth shalt thou returne and to the soule thou shalt die the death for those are Athanasius words and what be the two places to which man after his dissolution was condemned Did God threaten nothing to Adam but the dissolution of bodie and soule or did he threaten the death of the soule also after this life which properly noteth hell besides the death of the bodie I trust you be not so senselesse as to say that God for sinne threatened no more to Adam and his posteritie but onely a bodily death for so could none of Adams off-spring by that sentence be adiudged to hell which yet we find daily performed by Gods iustice Then the death of mans soule threatened by God for sinne and meant by Athanasius in those words which you would elude was the place of perpetuall torments where the soule of man was truly held in death and not the condition of the soule seuered from the bodie without respect of any consequent miserie Therefore your maine foundation is euidently false that Athanasius by the death of mans soule meaneth nothing els but the soules being apart from the bodie without regard of punishment following but in expresse words he noteth the place Vbi tencbatur anima humana in morte where the soule of man was held captiue in death which spite of your heart must needes be hell Againe according to the double death threatned for sinne Athanasius saith â—… Homo in duas partes discerpitur vt ad duo loca discedat condemnatur Man dying is distracted in two parts and CONDEMNED TO TWO PLACES Now in your diuinitie is any man condemned to heauen or to Paradise you must find vs then two places of condemnation whither either part of man dissolued was adiudged as his bodie to the graue his soule to hades So saith Athanasius in expresse words If you can shew me another place of condemnation well you may say that a man is diuided 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into three places and that being reuoked out of two places he remaineth bound in the third but if you can shew none other place of condemnation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 besides the graue and Hades from which man is perfectly freed Christ deliuering vs how say you then that God is not reconciled vnto mankind If then Hades bee a place of condemnation â—…or sinne where the soule of man was bound till it was freed by Christ 〈◊〉 certainely Hades with Athanasius is neither Paradise nor heauen but onely hell Againe if by death raigning in the soule of man Athanasius intended nothing but the condition of death common to good and bad and euen to Christ himselfe how could hâ—… say of Christ that he was then and there inuiolus a morte not subâ—…ect to death or that he brake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bands of the soules detained in hades Hath heauen or Paradise any bands that must be broken And as for you last conceit that Hades being enemie and opposite to the immortalitie and resurrection of mens persons cannot by any means be hell for in hell shal be immortality resurrection as well as in heauen it is so like to the rest of your diuinitic that I doc not ouer much maruaile at it If hades be enemie and opposite to immortalitie as you confesse out of Athanasius then Hades is neither heauen nor Paradise for they are both places of immortalitie there is no death but life in either of them And though you cunningly shift handes and change mens persons for mens soulâ—…s of which Athanasius speaketh when he sayth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where mans soule was held in death there Christ presented his humane soule to breake the chaines of death euen in hades yet that immortality is as well in hell as in heauen is a phrase of your owne framing to put all trueth and faith out of ioint The Scriptures teach most truely that God alone hath immortality It then you haue found vs a new immortalitie in hell you haue found vs a new God also And what is immortalitie but without all death since then in hâ—…ll there is nothing but death that eternall as well of soule as of body your deuices are very delâ—…cate in euerlasting death to finde no death But dally not thus with the grounds of Religion least God doe not dally with you if by your assertion the deliuerance from death and immortalitie which Christ brought to his elect be none other then such as men in hell shall haue pray God your braines be not as much crazed as your faith is And as for your interpreting Athanasius words and gessing at his meaning when we vse madde men to
giue aduise we will send for you to make comments vpon their counsels Where you make Athanasius say Christ was held in this death till â—…e spoiled and conquered it which you conclude cannot be hell out of question You speake not one true word Athanasius hath no such words that Christ was held in death Of mans soule he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that was held in death but of Christ in that very sentence he auoucheth the cleane contrary saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be could not be held in death Secondly that hades was spoiled of all his power right and claime to or ouer all Christs elect and we deliuered thence Athanasius as well as the rest beareth plentifull witnesse But that Christ spoiled heauen or Paradise where the soules of the Saints were seuered from their bodies brought vs thence is not onely a false fable but a pestilent error Christ raising his body from the graue by Athanasius iudgement gaue vs hope of the resurrection of our bodies and bringing backe his soule from hades as not onely vntouched of any death there but also loosing the bands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of soules surprised by hades he made vs partakers of his immortality which the strength of hades could not touch Descending to hades Christ brought vs backe saith Athanasius of himselfe and of all Christs members as then not borne Christ did not bring all the faithful of the old Testament from the condition of death much lesse brought he the rest thence that were not either dead or borne We die still and so the condition of death is common to vs after Christs resurrection as it was to the fathers before Christs death and birth but hell hath now no right to vs nor power ouer vs since Christ our head conquered and spoiled Satan of all interest and chalenge to any of his members And where you pretend that hades is spoiled because our soules shal be ioined againe to our bodies at the resurrection know you good Sir that the separation of the soule from the bodie was to dure by Gods ordinance but for a time as well in the wicked as in the godly that is vntil the generall iudgement And you that defend a resurrection and immortality as well of the wicked in hell as of the Saints in Paradise what reason can you giue why the condition of the soule separated from the body is more conquered by Christ for his members then by Satan for his partners for that separation shall cease in both and consequently the force of death seuering the soule from the body is spoiled aswell for the reprobate as for the elect Yea the continuing of the godly soules asunder from their â—…odies till the last day is rather a furnishing and storing of your hades then a conquering and spoiling of it And therefore mocke not with these matters they be of more importance then that they may be thus idlely caried Hilarie verily hath this meaning also saying this is the law of humane necessity that their bodies goe downe to the graue their soules to the world of the dead ad inferos Which descent the Lord did not refuse that he might prooue himselfe in euery point to be true man And this for his soule to come vnder the power of death was indeed the law of humane necessity after the like phrase as Iustine Irenaeus and Tertullian also speake but not to goe to hell Your head is so fraighted with falseshoods that trueth can take no place there and so little is your skill though your pride be great that you doe not know for ought that I see how necessity of death came into mans nature Whiles man was free from sinne he was free from death By sinne came death When man lost his innocencie he lost his liberty and fell both within the seruitude of sinne and necessity of death Now death being the wages of sinne reacheth aswell to the soule after this life as to the body to be depriued of this life By one offence came guiltinesse on all men vnto condemnation The law then of humane necessity for sinne without Christ Iesus in whom we recouer liberty is for the body to goe to corruption and for the soule to descend to destruction and not onely to be seuered from the body as you would faine mistake the words of Hilarie It is no part of humane necessity for the soule seuered from the body to ascend to heauen or to Paradise that is the honour and fauour of our Redemption purchased by Christ our Sauiour but necessity of death in vs which is the reward of sinne draweth the whole man body and soule vnto condemnation This you might haue found to be Hilaries meaning by the words precedent which occasioned this conclusion Si descendero in infernum ades If I goe downe to hell thou art there Which Hilarie sheweth to be verified in Christ by the words that you bring meaning that as men by sinne came to this necessitie that their bodies lying in the graue their soules descended to hell So Christ the redeemer of man refused not euen this descent to hell ad consummationem veri hominis to consummate true man or to recouer and restore both parts of man to witte body and soule whereof a true man consisteth That Christ should descend to places vnseene and vnknowen to prooue himselfe a true man what sense can this haue since no man liuing was present to see the proofe thereof and he that doubted whether Christ liuing were a true man would much more doubt whether Christ rising in that glorious bodie which neuer man saw before noâ—… the like were a true man or no. I thinke therefore by your leaue that as Christ died not to prooue himselfe a true man but to ransome our sinnes so he descended to the places below not to make proofe to vs that he was a true man but to worke our saluation and consummation as elswhere the same Father saith Crux mors inferi nostra salus est Christs crosse death and descent to inferi are parts of our saluation And of Christ he voucheth mortem in inferno perimens he killed death in hell And yet if with you we should take consummation for demonstration which is farre fet and say Christ reâ—…used not that descent to shew himselfe a true man it nothing hurteth me since that burden of necessity lay on all men for desert of sinne till they were deliuered by Christ to haue their bodies goe to the graue and their soules to the place of punishment both which Christ refused not though he were in the one without any corruption in the other without any condemnation but as conquerour of both Of Iustine Irenaeus Tertullian we haue spoken before we shall not need to iterate your ouersights Iustine speaketh of no law at all Irenaeus noteth the law of the dead to be this that they must stay a time dead before their
other but a bodily death then Christ descended onely to the graue but if the desert of our sinne tied vs as guiltie to the torments of hell then Christ by Ruffinus confession so farre descended how farre we were by Gods iustice deiected that is to the place of condemnation for sinne And therefore Ruffinus doth not onely knit these speaches together in the person of Christ as expounding one the other Eduxisti de Inferno animam meam de abysso terrae â—…erum adduxisti me thou hast brought my soule from Infernus and hast brought me backe againe from the deepe of the earth But of the diuell he saith Qui mortis habebat imperium disruptis Inferni claustris velut de profundo tractus traditur he that had Rule of death was drawen as it were out of the deepe the cloysters of Infernus being broken open The place where the diuell was and whence he was drawen when he was spoyled and triumphed by Christ was not the separation of the Soule from the Body which the diuel hath not but it was the deepe of hell which here is called Infernus So that it is certaine by all the Fathers generally First that Hades and Sheol are taken for the state of death common to the Soules of good and bad Secondly Christ went not into hell the place of the damned as you hold but to the habitation of the blessed deceased If I haue not conuinced both these collections to be false by the manifest Testimonies of the Fathers for out of them you gather these obseruations then I desire no mans consent to any thing that I haue sayd but if you grosly mistake and misuse all the Fathers names and speeches then I trust the Reader will better consider what credit is to be giuen to your certainties and giue me leaue to be shorter in slipping ouer your idle presumptuous vaine crafts and false collections which are almost all that is behinde A taste whereof if he will take let him heare these bragges of yours following Thus your vaine boasting of all the Fathers is but a bubble So that if you consent as you say to be tried by all the Fathers Greeke and Latine they quite ouerthrow you notwithstanding your great words If your vaine and shamelesse boasting were not by this time well knowen I would giue some fresh assault to these bulwarks of falsitie and insolenâ—… but the proofs being euident and precedent which I leaue to the Readers indifferent iudgement I will ouerskip this and a great deale more of the same kind as the bubbles or your vanitie and if ought be said to any purpose I will refute that otherwâ—…e I will bestow no more paper and incke on your wandring and wilde conceits Only Austen doubtingly and waueringly differeth from all the rest for thus he saith I confesse I haue not yet found that Inferi are named where the iust mens soules are at peace You might haue done well to haue learned of Austen this sober and modest course not by vaunting and outfacing but by plaine and faire confessing to shew the ground of your opinion as Austen doth of his Wherein he differeth not from all the rest as you confidently yet most iniuriously report of him but in this hee exactly and resolutely consenteth with them all Tertullians errour still excepted that after Christs resurrection Deinceps boni fideles prorsus Inferos nesciunt Good Christians dying come not to Inferi at all And as for the former opinion that the godly deceased before Christes death went ad Inferos to places below in the earth though not to torments which is the stone that still you stumble at and make it the very heart of all your defence deceitfully applying that to the time since Christes resurrection which the Fathers euer intended and expressed to pertaine to the time before Christes comming S. Austen though he yeeld so farre to former writers as to say If it may seeme tâ—… be beleeued without absurditie yet he euery where professeth he could finde no such vse of the word Inferi in any place of the sacred Scriptures and that Abrahams bosome where the Saints did rest before Christs death was a part or skirt of hell he vtterly refuseth that as no way consonant to the wordes of Christ in the Gospell And therefore when he proposeth the other opinion with a condition if it may be beleeued without absurditie euen there he retaineth his owne resolution that Abrahams bosome was in locis à tormentis impiorum remotissimis in places most remote from the torments of the wicked and to beleeue otherwise were an absurditie as he concludeth in his 99. Epistle Against Austin you obiect First that surely the auncients named the places for all deceased good and badde Inferos as they named the world where both wicked and good doe liue Superos Secondly that Austen if hee had well marked it might haue found euen this which he saith he found not in the Latin translation of the Scripture What man is there that shall deliuer his soule from the hand of inferi that is death Where the soule being takeâ—… properly for the soule then Inferi is found applied to iust mens soules deceased as well as to the wicked which Augustine might haue obserued Were you masking this might make mirth but being in earnest it is more then idle What if Arnobius in respect of hell being in the earth beneath vs call vs that liue on earth superos those aboue is that a proofe that the godly deceased are called inferi who knoweth not that infra supra are differences of place which in diuers respects may be diuersly varied To those that are in heauen we are Inferi that is beneath them and in that reference to heauen which is aboue vs Augustine himselfe doubteth not to call the earth Infernum Ad hoc infernum missus est filius Dei nascendo ad illud inferius moriendo To this earth below was the Sonne of God sent when he was borne to that other place beneath vs when he died But if no speciall comparison of place bee expressed then Superi Inferi the Saints aboue and the spirits beneath are generally so called in regard of vs who dwell on earth and speake on earth are by position of place in the middest that is lower then the highest and higher then the lowest And because vnder vs there are none liuing but those in hell therefore Inferi whom the Apostle calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are spirits vnder the earth whether men or diuels As for that other obiection out of the Psalmes it is not onely a bubble soone blowen away but a bable not worth the bringing The translation of Tremelius and Iunius to whom you most appeale for these matters hath eripiat seipsum à sepulchro shall he saue himselfe from the graue that is can hee keepe himselfe that he shall not die and where you
take hold on the word soule as if that must be either in the graue which is absurd or in the hand of Inferi which is that you would haue your hastie head doth not perceiue that take the word SOVLE which way you will either for the life of man which is an vsuall speech in the Scriptures or for the soule properly neither of them doth steede you a rush For no man can preserue his life from the graue that he shall not die neither can any man withstand the hand or power of death that it shall not seuer the soule from the bodie since that is the ordinance of God against all men Saint Austen giueth you a third sense taking the soule there for the soule separate from the bodie which is more then euer you would be able to prooue and yet that maketh nothing to your purpose The rest of the faithfull saith he shall rise from the dead and liue for euer and not see death and yet can they not deliuer their owne soules from the handes of hell He which deliuered his owne soule from the hands of hell he hath deliuered the soules of his faithfull they cannot deliuer themselues This S. Austen could obserue though he regarded none of your vaine supposals And where you say Austen himselfe elsewhere graunteth the iust in peace might bee in infernus after death You might haue obserued the difference betwixt a condition and a position which you doe not and therefore you wrong him the more in saying that he graunteth any such thing He saith Si non absurde credi videtur if it seeme to be beleeued without an absurditie not affirming it might be beleeued without an absur ditie but respecting it with a conditionall least he should shew himselfe ouer peremptorie in condemning others that were of that opinion Otherwise his owne assertion and conclusion are earnest enough Non vtique sinus ille Abrahae aliqua pars inferorum esse credenda est The bosome of Abraham is not to be beleeued to be any part of inferi In his ipsis tanti Magistri verbis satis vt opinor apparet non esse quandam partem quasi membrum inferorum tantae illius felicitatis sinum In these very wordes of so great a teacher as Christ it appeareth sufficiently as I thinke that the bosome of so great felicitie is not any part or member of hell In Christs descent to hell Saint Austen is more resolute Of that he pronounceth Satis constat it is cleare enough Yea he putteth more waight vnto it and saith For neither can the Prophesie be contradicted which sayd thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell nor Peters words by which he affirmeth Christ loosed the sorrowes of hell wherein it was not possible he should be held And so concludeth who then but an infidell will denie Christ was in hell And againe Euidentia testimonia insernum commemorant dolores Euident testimonies of the Scriptures mention both hell and the paines thereof These be no coniecturall inclinations they bee iudiciall assertions whatsoeuer you say to the contrarie Fulgentius denieth not inferos to the godly deceased nor that Christ was locally only with them in inferis So that in saying he was where the wicked are tormented he meaneth that in respect of the common place which in the whole he calleth infernum Heere is a hole where through your wit is wholy runne and not your wit alone but your religion learning and conscience are runne after Plainer wordes then those of Fulgentius I neither doe nor can speake any Christus illuc vsque descendit quousque homo separatus à Deo peccati merito cecidisset id est ad infernum vbi solebat anima peccatoris torqueri Christ descended euen thither whither man seuered from God by desert of sinne was fallen that is to infernus where the soule of a sinner vseth to bee tormented What doth your wisedome answere to this He meaneth that in respect of the common place which in the whole hee calleth infâ—…rnum Is there any one place common to the Saints in heauen and to the damned in hell You haue learned belike of Parmenides the riddle-maker that all is one and because the world is but one that heauen and hell make one common place Whether fell man I pray you by the desert of sinne to heauen or to hell not to heauen I hope for then man sinning should approch to Gods Throne who Fulgentius saith was seuered from God to hell then he fell ergo Christ descended to hell by Fulgentius assertion and that place where the soules of sinners are wont to be tormenmented he calleth Infernum which if you can prooue to bee heauen you shall doe greater wonders then M. Hugh Broughton can doe For he maketh but a great ditch betwixt heauen and hell You fill vp that ditch of M. Broughtons digging and say both hell and heauen are one place common to Saints and Diuels For Infernus is the singular number and by the rules of Grammer if any rules will hold you must note but one place in which if both the blessed and the damned are then heauen and hell are both but one place Againe you farre passe M. Broughtons skill in that he saith they are much deceaued who thinke hell to be below in the earth though Saint Paul distribute all reasonable creatures subiected to Christs kingdome into things in heauen on earth and vnder the earth You change the whole site of the world and say heauen is below For where insernus is deriued from infra which is below if heauen bee called infernus then surely heauen is below and then must the Apostle recall his error in saying seeke the things which are aboue where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God he should haue sayd by your doctrine seeke the things which are below where the soules of the wicked are tormented for that is heauen with you But if at your next exercise you should pray for your Auditorie to come to infernus where the wicked are punished I winne they would thinke you more madde then M. Broughton is Howbe it with this one answere you giue the lie aswell to Prophets as Apostles For where Dauid saith to God Thou hast brought my soule out of infernus that cannot be by your rules since heauen and hell make but one place and the earth being in the midst of them must needes be one place with both extreames and haue the same name with both So that Dauids soule wheresoeuer it was was not out of Infernus Againe where he saith in the person of Christ Thou wilt not leaue my soule in infernus that is false by your doctrine who teach that Christ and all his Saints deceased are yet in a common place with the damned the whole being called Infernus And where before you were very angry That I said you made ascending to be descending and
heauen to be hell to decline the force of Fulgentius wordes you fairely answere that Christs descending to infernus where the soules of sinners are tormented was his going to heauen because they both are but one place common to good and bad and the whole hath one name which is Infernus A speciall spleene you beare against S. Austin disgrace him you would if you could tell how that you might be freed from the waight of his iudgement in matters of faith but you want both wit learning for such an enterprise therefore you resist his opinion with more lies then lines Austins differing from you you say is to little purpose and why First because it is contrary to all the auncient Fathers before him with him and since him Heere are three lies in one line all the Fathers before him with him and since him do not dissent from him with you not one of them consenteth Secondly we must not esteeme his saying by the Latin word inferi but by the Originall Sheol hades which are more against him as before I haue shewed Though he did folow the Latin translation then receiued in the Church where he liued yet neither the Hebrew nor the Greeke words are against him For you shal neuer shew that Sheol or Hades throughout the Scripture are taken for any good condition or receptacle of the dead which is Austins aâ—…rtion of the word Inferi much lesse that either of those wordes Sheol or Hades doe any where in the Scriptures import the place or state of the blessed soules which is your error and which you haue no way prooued though you haue spent much paper paines to make some shew for it Thirdly it is waueringly deliuered and with doubt in himselfe yea contrary to himselfe as I haue shewed Heere are three lies more in another line besides those that swarmed in the midst Austin doth deliuer his opinion constantly consonantly to himselfe and you haue shewed no such thing as you pretend but the contrary is euident to him that will but either peruse what I haue sayd or will but reuiew the manner of his setting downe that opinion vpon the eighty fiue Psalme where he saieth alâ—…m etiam opinionem dicam I will set downe another opinion or the opinion of others Fourthly he seeketh to maintaine it erroneously for he giueth this reason and end of Christs going to hell the place of the damned that he might deliuer some of the damned out of hell torments which most strange conceit of his your selfe confâ—…e rightly The end of Christs descending to hell is by the Fathers confessed to be double the one to destroy death and the Ruler thereof euen the diuell the other to deliuer all his Elect from the power danger and feare of hell The Scriptures doe not concâ—…le that Christ by his death and resurrection wrought these things By death Christ deâ—…royed him that had the rule of death euen the diuell and deliuered all them which for fâ—…re of death were all their lâ—…fe long subiect to bondage Rising againe he loosed the sorrowes of death spoiled Principalities and powers and made an open snew of them triumphing ouer them in his owne person Had Christ died and not risen we had perished as Paul confesseth The conquering then of hell and Satan and the deliuering of vs from the power and â—…are of either though this were purchased by Christes obedience vnto death yet was it eâ—…ected and performed by his resurrection from the dead And so much the Councell of Alexandria in their letters to Nestorius professe which the generall Councell of Ephesus repeated and allowed and the fift generall Councâ—…ll of Constantinople afterwards confirmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ rose to life the third day hauing spoiled hades hell So Ierom Propterea illuc in infernum descendit vt Electos suos exinde eijceret Diabolum ligaret Christ descended to hell for this cause that he might clâ—…ere his Elect thence and binde the diuell This end of Christes deâ—…cending to hell and hades to deliuer not only the dead but the liuing from thence the Fathers Greeke and Latine euery where confesse The Christians in Tertullian say as I haue formerly proued notwithstanding your idle exceptions In hoc Christus inferòs adijt ne nos adiremus Christ to this end went to hell that we should not come thither Athanasins Christ descending to hades 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 brought vs backe Nostram detentionem relaxans loosing our detention there He speaketh of himselfe and others then liuing which weâ—…e not in hades but must haue gone thither if Christ had not freed them from comming there For of the soules departed he sayth In the soule of him that was God the power of death was loosed his raising from hades was performed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and declared to the soules deceased Hilarie Christes dèscent to hell salus nostra est is our salâ—…ation So Nazianzen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou wilt deliuer all from hades being only free thy selfe As Ierom likewise sayth Liberauit omnes Dominus quando anima eius descendit in infernum The Lord deliuered all when his soule descended into hell meaning all Christes Elect both liuing and dead So Fulgentius expresseth this point As dying for vs Christ made vs all to die with him so loosing the sorrowes of hell omnes fideles ab ijsdem doloribus liberauit he deliuered all the faithfull from the same feares and sorrowes Which Ambrose calleth mankinde Descendens ad inferos genus humanum liberauit Christ descending to hell deliuered thence mankind With these S. Austen agreeth and sayth Ideo ille vsque ad infernum peruenit ne nos maneremus in infernâ—… Therefore Christ went euen vnto hell that we should not remaine in hell Austen knowing this end of Christes descending to hell why should he not say Christ went thither to deliuer those quos esse soluendos occultá nobis suá iustitia iudicabat whom in his iustice secret to vs he thought fit to be deliuered Since then there are so sufficient causes acknowledged by the Fathers and by Austen himselfe of Christes descent to hell which you can not refute what reason hath it that his maine opinion of Christes spoiling hades and hell approued by so many Fathers and by Councels prouinciall and generall should be false though in the maner thereof he did somewhat varie from the rest which yet I neither do nor need grant if we take his owne exposition elswhere that there they were not but because such were their deserts that there they had beene vnlesse they had beene holpen they are rightly sayd to be deliuered from thence whither they were not suffered to come by Christ their deliuerer As for Austens opposing against this our sense of Hades saying In Grac â linguâ origo nominis quo
their bodies in the dust of the earth And therefore that which followeth and is by you cited By this which we confesse that the Lord descended to infernus we must vnderstand that the Lord ioined himselfe in spirit to the spirits of the Saints deceased that I say is added as a consequent to Christs death and not as the proper signification of the phrase For it were more then absurd by your leaue that one and the same word which he saith signifieth the graue should properly note the burying of the body in earth below and the ascending of the spirit to heauen on high though in all the Saints the one is performed as well as the other And where Bucere seemeth to impugne the sense which the fathers gaue of this Article as his reasons be none so his words in no wise mans iudgement can ouersway theirs Peter martyr that Christ descended to inferos or hades signifieth nothing els but that he did vnder goe the same state as other soules doe that depart this life Why stoppe you there are you bleere eied that you cannot see what presently followeth or short winded that you can read no farder the very next words will plainly shew with what sincerity and fidelity you be conuersant in old and new writers Peter Martyrs words are these Eundem subijt statum quem reliquae animae à corpore seiunctae experiuntur quae aut in Sanctorum societatem coaptantur aut cum damnatorum spiritibus in aeternum exitium detruduntur Et vero vna atque altera tum piorum spirituum tum eorum qui damnati essent societas animae Christi praesentiam persensit The soule of Christ did vndergoe the same state by going to the same place which the rest of the soules seuered from the body doe trie that are either admitted into the fellowship of the saints or cast into euerlasting destruction with the spirits of the damned For both the one and the other society aswell of godly soules as of those that were damned perceaued the presence of Christs soule The soule then of Christ by Peter Martyrs iudgement cleane contrary to Bucers went aswell to the place of the damned as to the seats of the blessed and either society perceaued the presence of his soule seuered from his body Mollerus touching Sheol Hades and infernum ascribed to Christ saith they do signisie but that Christ died and to be no more then if he should say in the Psalme therefore I reioice because I know that although I die yet I shall rise to life againe Of Sheol Mollerus saith Saepe pro sepulchro dicâ—…tur it is often taken for the graue which no man denieth Of hades and infernus he speaketh not a word And albeit he be of opinion that Christs descent to hell sat is certò euinci non potest ex hoc loco cannot cleerely and fully be euinced out of this place of the Psalme by reason as he thinketh the words may be wrested to diuers senses yet touching Christs descent to hel he saith We vnderstand that Article of the Creed simply and without allegory and we beleeue that Christ truely descended to the lower parts of the earth as Paul speaketh Ephes. 4. and his victory he would shew to the Diuels after a speciall manner to strike perpetuall terrors into them and to free vs from the feare of their tyranny Bullinger speaking of Christ and indifferently of the godly sheweth that to goe to infernus is to goe to Abrahams bosome that is into heauen not into hell And that inferi and hades doe makâ—… difference onely betweene the liuing and the dead and nothing els Bullinger bringeth foure senses of that Article of the Creed Christ descended to Inferna The first that is all one with he was buried which exposition he saith others mislike The second is Austens who in his Epistle to Dardanus writeth The Lord descended to Tartarus but felt there no torment The third to which he more inclineth Longe simplicius videbimur hunc articulum intelligere si senserimus virtutem mortis Christi dimanasse etiam ad defunctos his profuisse We shall seeme farre more simply to vnderstand this article if we thinke that the force of Christs death pearced euen to the dead and profited them The fourth is Vel certe per inferos inferna intelligimus non locum certè destinatum impijs sed defunctos fideles Or els by inferi inferna we vnderstand not the place of punishment appointed for the wicked but the faithfull deceased Here are all foure senses He liketh best that the vertue and force of Christs death descended and was shewed both to the blessed and to the damned as Saint Peter telleth vs that the Lord went in spirit and preached to the spirits that were inobedient and kept in prison Nimirum innotuit his iust a damnationis ex morte Christi sententia For euen to the damned appeared the sentence of their condemnation to be iust by the death of Christ. This he confesseth Christ did in spirit If by Christs spirit he ment Christs soule he expressely refuteh your conceits If he mean the force of Christs diuine spirit descended he hath Athanasius Cyril and others opposite against him Athanasius saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How could the word or Sonne of God descend to Hades And againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How could he descend with his Godhead open and vncouered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither could hades endure the accesse of his Godhead vncouered And so Cyrill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither in any wise may we say that the Godhead of the only begotten was brought from hades or the dennes vnder the earth for that was not worthy of woondering if the Sonne of God were not left in hades Exactly they teach that the Deitie of Christ or his diuine spirit could by no meanes be sayd to descend to hades or to returne from thence but it must be verified of his humane soule which reuealed it selfe and the vertue of his death as well to the damned as to the blessed Lauater saith Hades in Greâ—…ke is a generall word for the condition of the dead both in torments and in peace Lauater saith of hades as he doth of Sheól that Non solum locum Damnatorum sed Sâ—…pulchrum vel statum mortuorum passim in Scripturis signisicat it signisieth not onely the place of the damned but also the graue or state of the dead And so doth Hades with the septuagint who alwaies render Sheôl by that word Now the graue or state of the dead the one being an exposition of the other reacheth not to the Soules of the godly which are not in their graues but to their bodies and hath in it corruption silence obliuion and priuation of all things in this life from which the graue excludeth them be they neuer so blessed And so
also in the same place with the damned Such new Cosmographie well becommeth your new Diuinitie without such misshapen Asses you are not able to open your mouth But if this be your best defence for your new found Hades your Reader I trust will be better aduised before he will be in the same place or minde with you The Scriptures teach vs to distinguish places according to their names giuen them by God himselfe as heauen earth and hell and not to make all one common place or world of soules which you haue newly created We stand not so much on this that by hades must be vnderstood any one place common to all the dead but the state and condition of death among the dead All this while you haue beene prouing that hades is an inuisible place and so doth Ambrosse expound it aïdes is a place not seene which we call Hell now you can not tell how to bring heauen and hell which are so farre distant asunder to be one common place you would faine reduce them to one common state or condition of death when the Scriptures euery where make them opposite ascribing light and life to the one and darkenesse and death to the other But you haue found one common condition of death in both which is to want their bodies What say you then to Elias who was caried vp to heauen or to Paradise aliue and neuer died Are he and the rest who rose from their graues with Christ in the common condition of death What say you to Core Dathan Abiram and their company who descended aliue to hades are they free from the condition of death in hades because they haue their bodies Meere priuations are no conditions or states And therefore to want their bodies for a time either in heauen or in hell maketh no common estate to both no more than that they are all soules and contained in some certaine limitation of place which nothing touch their condition or state otherwise the damned in hell and the blessed in heauen shall alwayes haue one common state and condition because they shall eternally be fastned to their places and shall haue their soules vnited to their bodies and shall remember things past and such like which yet do not performe one common estate or condition to both since they shall haue so many contraries to make them differ euen as now they haue though degrees of ioy and paine shall then increase The Pagans esteemed indeed a part of his dominion to be hell properly but a part also to be the region of the happie This is like the rest of your trueths Did the Pagans know or acknowledge none other heauen but hades Did euer man so write or speake that had read but one leafe of prose or Poetrie neuer read you what Cicero citeth out of Ennius Romulus in caelo cum Dijs agit aeuum Romulus enioyeth eternitie with the Gods in heauen And addeth of his owne Quid totum propè coelum nonne humano genere completum est The whole heauen is it not almost replenished with mankind Homer and the rest of the Greeke Poets were not ignorant hereof nor silent herein Of Hercules Homer sayth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He doth solace himselfe with the immortall Gods And what was ouranos with them if hades were their heauen Arristotle sayth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The highest place of the world being the seat or habitation of God is called heauen To this heauen the Poets admitted the sons of their Gods obscurely lighting on that rule of true religion the sons of God shal inherit the kingdome of God but the Philosophers plainly affirme of iustice and pietie ea vita via est in coelum such a life is the way to heauen And for al the helpers encreasers and preseruers of their countrey certum esse in coelo ac dâ—…finitum locum vbi beati aeuo sempiterno fruantur there is a set and certaine place in heauen where they shall enioy euerlasting blessednesse The Greeke Poets then were not ignorant of heauen aboue when they sent most men departing this life to Hades beneath but they had heard somewhat of that diuine sentence which adiudged mankind for sinne to death both of body and Soule and thereupon as there manner is to multiply their owne fansies and fables they placed all mortall men in Hades below and yet allowed the better sort of men some ease and comfort though they neuer brought them to heauen except they thought them the sonnes of some God What is this to the true heauen which is the glorious seate of God and the euerlasting habitation of his Angels and Saints Why yoke you Gods trueth with Poeticall fables and humane fansies as if the one were not onely a meet paterne for the other but the same place with the other How commeth hades to be al one with the created world and so not only men liuing are in hades but Saints and Angels yea Christ himselfe is still in hades since neither he nor they are without the compasse of the created world So large is your predicament of hades that the whole world is scant wide enough for it After this you reade vs a lecture of more than two leaues how the Apostles taught the trueth of the Gospell with the very words of the heathens and as you make rules for their speech at your pleasure so you take paines to bring no authour for all that you say besides your selfe I haue heard so many of your trifling and wandering discourses that I am starke wearie with reading them and if it haue no better weight than your word you may keepe your winde and saue your labour Who doubteth but the Holy Ghost might and did correct as well the words as errours of the heathens and reduced both their eares and hearts to the vnderstanding and imbracing of the Gospell Wherefore such words as Infidels abused and defiled with their wicked imaginations the Apostles of Christ restrained and applied to expresse the trueth thereby teaching the heathen to keepe their words and leaue their errours and not framing the Gospel to the prophane sense or vse of their speech What conclude you hence for hades That the Apostles retained the erroneous sense of that word and made it worse than the Pagans did For the heathen vsed that word for places vnder the earth where soules after this life were kept and you would haue the Apostles vse it for Heauen and Paradise where the soules of the righteous are as well as for hell where the damned are Leaue therefore your idle vagaries the Apostles vsed the word hades for the places vnder the earth where soules were detained as the heathen did but in this they redressed the Pagans conceits that they as naturall men dreamed of bodily pleasures in hades which the Scriptures make a place of torment with perpetuall fire Put this correction to the Poets opinion of hades as touching
Hades or death The sorrowes of death by Peters wordes were then loosed when Christ was raised because it was not possible for him to be held thereof So that this pertaineth nothing to the sorrowes which he felt dying they ended all with death but the sorrowes of an other death euen of death in hell were loosed when he was raised because it was not possible for that kind of death to take hold on him Your two or three things wherewith you would shift of the Apostles wordes doe you no good That God loosed death from him are not the Apostles wordes you make a gloze vpon your owne wordes and not vpon the Apostles Such libertie you take to change the text to serue your turne The next is farder of from the reference of Peters words God loosed the sorrowes of death or Hades at Christs rising that is say you because his death had beene most painefull before his Soule was seuered from his body So Peter talketh of Christs rising and you wrest it to Christs dying on the Crosse. And here your hebraisme will not steede you For God did not loose the sorrowfull death of Christ on the Crosse at his rising but at his dying And therefore you are wider of then you were before Thus then it followeth euen by the Text that there were sorrowes in Hades where Christ was but they could not take hold of him The sorrowes of Hades must needes be the sorrowes in Hades otherwise if they were not in Hades they were not the sorowes of Hades As the ioyes of heauen are in heauen so the sorrowes of Hades must be in Hades where Christ was and not where Christ was not The very text implieth that Christ was holden in this which was loosed from him Saint Austen saith you fitten Snares may be broken and loosed ne tencant non quia tenuerunt not because they haue taken hold but that they should not take hold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you say is to be holden fast Your Greekish conceits crossing Saint Austins iudgement taste more of will then of skill Kratcisthai hath many significations amongst others it signifieth to touch to take to hold and in the the new Testament it is specially obserued by those that are learned that it signifieth prehendere or tenere to take or to hold The Maries that went to Christes Sepulchre meeting him as they came thence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 touched his feete and worshipped him When Simons mother in law was sicke of a feuer Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taking her by the hand lift her vp The rulers daughter of the Synagogue Christ likewise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tooke her by the hand and the maid arose Your Lexicons will tell you that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 standeth often for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to touch Now if you may choose what signification you will haue in euery word you are no Reader but an ouer ruler of the Scriptures Howbeit we now see Saint Austin hath better warrant in the Scriptures for his tenere then you were ware of Thou wilt not leaue my soule in Hades I say he was now in the same wherein he was not left nor forsaken I say the same and by your owne saying conuince you that if S. Luke by Hades heere signifie hell as he doth in his Gospell Christes soule was in hell by your owne illation in which it was not left nor forsaken But hee was in no sorrowes at all now Then is Saint Austins assertion confessed by your selfe the sorowes of death were loosed at Christes rising not that they had taken hold on him but that they should not take any hold of him or so much as touch him If he were in them I thinke he should haue felt them The Scripture saith his soule was not left 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the place of Hades it speaketh not there of the sorrowes of Hades as if Christ were not forsaken in them But God as Peter saith loosed them when he raised Christ that is hee made Christ the subduer and dissoluer of them at his resurrection You mightily vrge that it is Austins collection from this text I perceaue your argument is from Austin and not from Peter as you pretend It is better to imitate Austen and his collections then to rest on your idle braine as you doe and when you haue cleane mistaken both the scope and wordes of the text to range after butterflies Howbeit if it had pleased you to looke better into the 169. and 170. Page of my Sermons you should haue sound moe reasons there then Austins collections But your answeres and disproofes a man may soone perceaue come out of the bottome of your pocket for there is neither trueth nor learning in them Austen missed in his translation of these wordes Thus he readeth solutis doloribus Inferni quia impossibile erat teneri cum in illis God raised vp Christ loosing the sorrowes of hell because it was impossible he should be held in them But the text hath loosing the sorowes of death seeing it was impossible he should be holden fast or strongly holden of it Seeing therefore he fayled in expressing the text no maruaile if his collection from it were wide He that neuer saw water but the Themes will thinke there is none other Sea You neuer looke neither to the diuerse readings nor significations of wordes in the new Testament and that maketh you so hastely to pronounce that Austins collection hath no ground nor reason in the text but is wholly disprooued by it Austen followed the auncient and receiued translation of the Church in his time and missed not so much as you imagine For that Text hath two readings some bookes hauing Thanátou death some hauing Hadou which the old translator calleth infernum the places below or hell Peruse the new Testament in Greeke of the larger volume printed by Robert Steuen at Paris Anno 1550. and see whether he put not Hadou ouer right this place in the margine as standing yet in many copies The Greeke Bible printed at Frankford Anno 1596. consesseth the like varietie of reading Athanasius vseth sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee loosed the sorrowes of Hades and someties 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sorrowes of death So doth Epiphanius Peter saith It was impossible Christ should be held 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of it that is of hades And against the Arians It is sayd by the Apostle it was impossible that he should be held 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of hades The Syriack translation reuerenced for antiquitie and fidelitie keepeth the word Sheiul twice in the foure and twentieth verse of this Chapter and saith But God raised him vp and loosed the sorrowes deshiul of Shool which Saint Luke calleth hades because it was impossible he should be detained bashiul in Sheol or hades The Arabicke translator
may doe well to leaue this outfacing Scriptures and Fathers it may seeme a shift for a time but it will end with your shame By the whole text it is euident Peter had no reason nor purpose to speake to the Iewes of Christes soule being in hell If you may be iudge Peter shall say nothing but what hitteth your hand right It is more then plain by the whole purport of Peters speech that he ment to prooue Christ to be raised vp as Lord of all his enemies and Sauiour of all that obey him To rise simply from death was not sufficient to shew the eternitie and soueraigntie of Christs kingdome but he must be raised as the only Lord that should sit on Dauids throne and haue all things in heauen earth and hell subiected vnto him From our enemies if hee could not deliuer vs he could be no Sauiour of ours he must therefore tread them all vnder his feete when he rose from death before we could hope to be freed from them by his force And to this end Peter expresly maketh mention that God scattered the sorrowes of death and hell before him when he raised him vp that all the faithfull might be assured as Christ conquered and destroied the diuell in his owne person when he rose from the graue so he could and would doe the like for all his members by freeing them from the power of Hades and conforming them to his death and resurrection This God had promised to his people by his Prophet saying I will redeeme them from the hand of hell I will deliuer them from death O death I will be thy death O hell I will be thy destruction Repentance is hid from mine eies This Dauid foretold the Messias should performe in that his soule should not be forsaken that is left destitute of power or honour no not in hell Of this deliuerance from their enemies and from the handes of all that hated them spake the Prophets that were from the beginning of the worlde This was the oath that God sware to Abraham that they being deliuered out of the handes of their enimies should serue him without feare of sinne death or hell This the Iewes beleeued and expected in the Messias and therefore neither were they I meane the elect among them so ignorant vnbeleeuing and stubborne as you pretend three thousand being conuerted with this one Sermon neither was this so strange and vncouth a thing as you imagine being so often promised and prophesied vnto them Neither did Peter intend onely Christes resurrection as you suppose his chiefe scope being to shew them the strength and height of Christs heauenly kingdome And where you flourish that this was not subiect to sense and without all example of the like in the whole law and namely no figure foreshewing any such thing these be obiections meeter for perfidious Iewes then for those that would seeme to be beleeuers How many points of faith are not subiect to sense Christes sitting at the right hande of God in glorie will you not beleeue because it is not subiect to sense and without an example of the like and no figure foreshadowing any such matter Of Christes ascending to heauen and his returne to iudge the quicke and the dead haue you any examples or figures in the whole law and yet it is no such hard matter to proportion our deliuerance from hell and Satan to the bondage of Israell in Egypt and the ouerwhelming of Pharoh and all his host in the bottom of the redde sea The like might be said of Sampsons death who being weake and bound slew all his enemies of Dauid and Goliah of Daniell in the Lyons denne without harme of Ionas lying in the Whales bellie and such like which though in all things they match not Christs conquest ouer Satan and the destruction of him and his kingdome as no figures can do yet are they resemblances of that which you so much dissemble Howbeit as I said of Christes birth buriall descending to Hades rising ascending sitting in heauen and comming to iudge the law did not yeeld any expresse and visible figures as it did of his death and sacrifice We haue seene that Hades hath no such meaning in the Acts which yet is the only place whereon you build This were sufficient to end this argument but yet it shall be good to trie whether any where hades properly signifieth hell Verily it doth so signifie no where at all in the Scriptures Yet I graunt it is and ought to be translated hell in two places Matth. 16. v. 18. Luk. 16. v. 23. not that the word it selfe doth necessarily signifie hell but because the circumstances heere doe require that meaning as the fittest and best for these particular purposes We haue seene you beate your braines about Hades to make it any thing rather then tha tindeed it is both by the generall opinion of all Pagan Poets and by the constant assertion of all the Greeke Fathers We haue also seene you turne winde your selfe you know not whither sometimes to haue it the place for soules departed this world sometimes the state of such soules sometimes the power of death and sometimes the priuation of this life and so to crosse and controle your owne conceits that you could not tell where to set foote without falling Now as he that is blinde maketh no difference betwixt day and night no more doth your wilfull yet witlesse imagination perceaue any distance betwixt trueth and falshood And hauing held your owne so well that no shifting or shuffling can make you ashamed you will now proceed to a farder triall of other texts of Scriptures to see whether you can outface them with your fansies and figures as you haue done them that be already ouerpast I make no doubt but if you may sit sole Iudge in your owne cause you will quickly pronounce for your selfe but if you must prooue as well as pronounce you will make as many errors in your proceedings as there be holes in a sieue Howbeit you grant that in two places of the new Testament Hades is and ought to be translated hell not for that the word of it self doth so necessarily signifie but because the circumstances require that meaning Which is as much as if you said there are two places in the new Testament where hades is must be taken for hel neither can you with all your sleights shifts auoid the same the circumstances of the text so euidently demonstrate the Euangelists tooke hades for hell This by your leaue is some preiudice to your cause and a bridle to your boldnesse that the holy Ghost doth twice in the Gospels by your owne confession vse hades for hell and why he doth not vse it in that sense in other places there is no impediment but your proud will and waste wordes Saint Luke is so cleere as no exception can be taken to it that Hades is the
place of torment after this life and not one common place for all in paine and rest with nothing but a ditch betwixt them So likewise Christ promised the gates of hades should not preuaile against his Church where if you defend that the godly shall not haue their soules separated from their bodies by death and yet hell may preuaile against their soules you maintaine two as manifest lies as a man may vtter Spite of your hart therefore Hades must signifie hell in the 16. of Saint Matthewes Gospell and so it doth in all other places of the new Testament though the circumstances of ech place be not so pregnant as these are And though in the old Testament Zuinglius Mollerus obserue The gates of Sheol and Hades with the Septuagint may signifie the danger of death approching when it is referred to the godly yet Hades in the new Testament neuer signifieth the death of the body but it is a thing distinguished from it and consequent to it as Saint Iohn in plaine words doth witnesse his name that sate on the pale horse was Death and Hades followed after him or close to him The worthie Master Bucer noteth well saying Diues non simpliciter scribitur esse in hade sed in gehenna quia in torment is flammis The rich is not said to be simply in hades but also in hell because he is said to be in fierie torments Master Bucere I honor for his learning and Religion yet not so that all his words are Gospell or that I receaue him afore or against all the Fathers And by his leaue in this place his wordes are out of square He saith The Rich man is not simply written to be in Hades but if mine eyes were matches when I read Saint Lukes Gospell last it cannot be more simply written then it is there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in Hades lifting vp his eyes Now what place Hades is the Euangelist expresseth when he saith being in torments Had Hades beene vsed alone without explication men might and would haue questioned this as they doe other places where Hades is vsed alone But Luke noting afterward what manner of place Hades is euen a place of Torment he prooueth exactly that Hades alone without any addition ioyned to it is vsed for hell in the new Testament Will you conclude from this as you doe about Abyssus In the Reuelation and in Luke Abyssus is vsed to signifie Hell Therefore it signifieth Hell in the Romanes or therefore euery where properly it signifieth Hell If Abyslus be the bottomelesse pit properly and hell be so called both in the Gospell and in the Reuelation and no reason can be giuen why either the graue or the Sea should properly be called bottomelesse then since figures are not to be brought into the Scriptures but vpon necessitie you must shew vs more necessitie then hitherto you haue done why hell may not be vnderstood in that place or else we must cleaue to the naturall sense of the word and leaue your figures till you can better fasten them That Abyssus may metaphorically be applied to other things I neuer denied but in Saint Pauls words to the Romans you must shew vs a pit that properly is bottomlesse and opposite to heauen and to which Christ descended before you can exclude hell as not ment by the Apostle in that place But of this I haue spoken before whither I referre you for fuller answere death sometimes is the 2 death ergo it is so Acts 2. 24. The sorrowes of the first death end with this life and in the graue there is neither sorrow nor sense But the sorrowes of that death which Peter ment were loosed at Christs rising to life Those were therefore the sorrowes of another death which must be the second death which were loosed and scattered with Christs resurrection Againe the text hath there a double reading death or hades Then that death must be vnderstood which is in hades and not the sorrowes and paines which are in this life since hades by your owne confession is a state opposite to the world Thirdly the loosing of the sorrows of that death which Peter there intended prooueth Christ to be Lord of all But a simple rising vnto life againe prooueth no such thing That therefore was neither pertinent nor sufficient for Peters purpose Next let vs consider and thou Capernaum which art lift vp to heauen shalt be brought downe to hades to destruction I say hades heere is not hell but the destruction of Capernaum the city Christ threatneth the city it selfe with destruction and razing out from the face of the earth which he meaneth by hades The inhabitants the wicked people thereof he threatneth with damnation in hell A graue and wise construction Christ threatneth the stones and timber of the city with hades for not hearing his word and regarding his miracles In the 20 verse of this very chapter where it is said Christ began to vpbraid the cities whereof Capernaum was one because they repented not of whom spake Christ of the men or of the wals of those cities it may be you will find out repentance for stones but our Sauiour nameth the place for the persons which is as vsuall in the Scriptures as any thing may be Ierusalem Ierusalem which killest the Prophets and stonest those that be sent vnto thee Christ speaketh not there of the housen but of the Inhabitants So doth he heere for neither were the stones of this city capable of repentance nor exalted vp to heauen nor intelligent of Christs words or works nor punishable at the day of iudgement all which things Christ heere ascribeth to Capernaum Then if the stones of Capernaum were not exalted to heauen they were not threatned by Christ to be depressed downe to hades And so hades heere was not threatned to the place but to the persons Now the persons by your owne confession and by the righteous iudgement of Christ were threatned with damnation in hell Hades then in these words of Christ doth exactly signifie hell and implieth as much as followeth in the next verse It shal be easier for the land of Sodom in the day of iudgement then for thee Which is likewise spoken to the city though ment of the vnbeleeuers there Now if we make the former words interrogatiue as some Greek copies haue them and the Latin translator putteth them And thou Capernaum wilt thou be exalted to heauen You must giue will to stones as well as sense before these wordes can agree to the city it selfe The Gospell of Saint Matthew translated into the Hebrew tongue long before Saint Ieroms time if it were not written in Hebrew by the Euangelist himselfe as Ierom thinketh thus expresseth the words of our Sauiour And thou Capernaum wilt thou be exalted to heauen adh Gehinnom têredi thou shalt descend to Gehenna And if that which you haue said all this while haue
serueth For that a vast and deepe gulfe in the earth should be nothing els but an abolishing of any visible creatures hence or that this should be the most proper sense of Sheol and your vast and deepe gulfe a resemblance thereof this hath neither top nor toe If Sheol be properly nothing but a priuation how can it be a vast and deepe gulfe in the earth or what proportion or similitude hath the one with the other These are therefore nothing but your fictions imagined of your owne braine to delude the Scriptures and to auoide the lower Sheol indeed which is the place of torment for the damned How Capernaum was exalted to heauen whether in her owne proud conceit after the example of the king of Babylon of whom Esaie speaketh or whether Christ ment that by reason of his often preaching and working miracles amongst them the kingdome of God was in the midst of them but not receaued nor regarded by them which some thinke to be the meaning of this place I stand indifferent so long as we keepe Sheol opposite to heauen I meane not to the clouds nor to the skies as you would shift the matter but to the place aboue where the way of life is and the brightnesse of Gods glorie that thereby we may conceaue in the lower sheol darknesse and death for euer euen as in the higher sheol both are for the time The way of life saith Salomon is on high neither in the clouds nor starres but in the seat of the blessed euen in heauen to him that declineth Sheol below Where speaking of eternall life since bodily life is heere on earth he warneth vs that eternall death is in sheol below The rest of your stuffe is not woorth the sticking at For what if God by Ieremie threatned Babylon that though her walles were thicke and her gates high the one should be broken and the other burned and though she should mount vp to heauen by raising her walles neuer so high yet her destroyers should come from God Doth this being spoken of the walles and gates which should be razed prooue that her walles and gates should descend to Sheol Where hath the prophet any such words of the walles gates or buildings of Babylon And for you to expound Sheol by what you list is a larger commission then I know any you haue I haue no doubt but walles and gates cannot reach vnto the clouds much lesse to the starres and therefore heauen applied to them standeth for that which riseth on high in the aire but that the pride of the king of Babel lifted it selfe aboue the clouds and starres I haue prooued by the plaine report of the Prophet against which no exception can be taken Next let vs view the Corinthians O death where is thy victorie ô hades ô destruction or ô power of death where is thy sting Heere it is referred to the destruction of the whole and intire persons of men taken away by death out of this world What is now become of your world of soules which you so often vrged as properly signified by hades What is become of your vast and deepe gulfe in the earth which sheol and hades did import as yon told vs but euen now Nay what is become of your destruction of stones and their descending to Hades which you said was threatned to Capernaum Are all these out of date and in euerie new place must you be forced to frame vs a new Hades You will rest somewhere at last if it be possible for your vnquiet head to haue or like any rest Well now then hades is the destruction of the whole person of man taken out of this world by death And why should not hades heere be taken for hell The whole scope and drift of the Apostle heere is to speake of the resurrection of the bodie and you graunt it What then The Saints receauing their bodies endued with immortalitie may they not reioice in their deliuerance from corruption and insult as hauing then the full victorie ouer hell and death Our full deliuerance from hell and from Satan is obtained in this life as it is written we being deliuered from our enemies and from the handes of all that hate vs. We are so deliuered from their hands or power which is all one that we shall not need to feare them but we are not yet actually freed from their snares since we daily must pray not to be ledde or left into temptation neither are all our enemies yet fully destroied since as the Apostle saith the last enemie that shall be destroied is death If all Christes enemies were put vnder his and our feete he should no longer raigne as Redeemer and Sauiour of his Church for he must raigne till he hath put all his enemies vnder his feete and then shall deliuer vp the kingdome to God euen the Father which is not before the end And yet were all things granted which you intend it helpeth you not one whit for may not the saints giue thankes for all euen then when all is fully finished though part be before perfourmed And may they not iustly reioice against all the power of Satan I meane sinne hell and death when the last enemie is in sight conquered though they be formerly freed from sinne and fully deliuered from the danger and feare of hell Your speech is very bad and scandalous where you say the bodies of the Saints lying in their graues are in the diuels walke For then the graues where bodies lie senselesse are a part of hell properly taken You told vs euen now that the aire on high was the place of diuels thinke you much that vpon occasion I should say the graues vnder the earth are within Satans walke The booke of Iob saith Satan compasseth the earth and walketh in it And Peter confirmeth the same saying He walketh about seeking whom he may deuoure So that the diuels walke for all your saying is farre larger then hell And if our Lord and master most truely said of the woman which was crooked and could not lift vp herselfe in any wise that Satan had bound that daughter of Abraham lo eighteene yeeres may not the dead bodies of Abrahams children be in Satans walk as well as their liuing bodies be in Satans bands And you that be so curious in other mens speeches doe you looke to your owne Doe not you defend that the soules of the blessed in heauen may be said to be in inferno and vnder the power of death whereof the Diuell hath the rule by the Apostles doctrine we being heere truely iustified by Gods grace are fully freed and deliuered from all the power of our enemies Are we so fully freed that we can neither sinne nor die or are sinne and death no parts of Satans power When I speake of a full conquest ouer hell and death in both parts of man soule and
on this place maketh an exact difference betwixt death and Hades for that Hades containeth soules and deadbodies where the Latin in both places hath death and no more The Latin Fathers you will say doe all follow the old Latin translator and he placeth the word sting last as you do There is no one place in the new Testament that hath receiued more varietie of translating and ordering then this Tertullian citeth it thrice in one booke after this sort Vbi est mors aculeus tuus vbi est mors aculeus Where is thy sting ó death Where is thy strife ô death reading 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strife for victorie Cyprian citeth it in the same order and words as Tertullian doth Ambrose returneth neerer to the Greeke and saith vbiest mors stimulus tuus vbi est mors victoria tua ô death where is thy sting ô death where is thy victorie euen as the interpreter of Ireneaus doth though he inuert that order in an other place and follow the Septuagint which Ierom and other of the Latin Fathers also doe And least you should thinke as you doe that the old translator who very scrupulously keepeth the word Infernum for Hades through out the Bible did heere translate it by death you shall see that Eusebius lighted on a Greeke copie where the word Thanatos death was twice repeated and the parts changed as they stand in the Latine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ô death where is thy victorie ô death where is thy sting Elsewhere the same Author keepeth the word death twice but altereth the order 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ô death where is thy sting ô death where is thy victorie In this diuersitie of reading and relating the Apostles wordes it is eche mans duetie not to runne which way he will though perhaps he may bring some one president for his purpose but to hold that for the true and Authenticke text to which most copies and writers agree And therefore since your exposition of hades death to be Synonymas dependeth vpon your priuate changing the order of the apostles words I see no need to make any answere to it specially when as the Latin translator might and no doubt did light on such a copie as Eusebius did which had the word Thanatos death twice in that place Otherwise it could not be that he who was ouer diligent in all other places would be so negligent in this A farder answere to the frame of your wordes as you haue placed them if any man for his satisfaction would receiue the name of death which compriseth both temporall and eternall death and by sinne gaâ—… the victorie of our first parents but that the elect by Christ haue againe recouered the victorie ouer all sorts of death giueth answeare enough For sinne which the Apostle heere calleth the sting of death did not onely sting Adam and his ofspring with the death of the body but also with the death of the soule the wages of sinne being death in all parts of man and in all places of his abode and therefore sinne of his owne nature and force till it be pardoned by Christ is the sting no lesse of hell as in all the wicked then of bodily death as in all the Saints And heere by the way the Reader may obserue that for aduantage you are content to make bodily death in the Saints the sting of sinne which I trust is as much as the punishment of sinne since it stingeth vnto death The graue of the wicked is not to be named or reckned hell properly Whom doth the Apostle make to speake in that place the godly who haue the victorie ouer sinne hell and death or the wicked ouer whom those three get the conquest since the wicked doe not rise from death to life as the Saints doe but their bodides rising out of one pit fall into a farre worse which is the bottomlesse pit of eternall death damnation Hades is aduersary to the resurrection But hell heere would not be aduersary to the resurrection Therefore hades heere is not hell no not to the wicked Doth the Apostle dispute heere of the resurrection of the wicked to death euerlasting or of the Saints to celestiall blisse and glory though it be true that the bodies of the reprobate shall rise vp from the earth where they rested and be cast with their soules into euerlasting fire yet the Apostle heere debateth and prooueth the raising vp of Christs members to beare the image of the heauenly Adam and to haue death swallowed vp in victory Looke on the Apostles reasons and comparisons in this whole chapter and if any one of them naturall or theologicall agree to the resurrection of the wicked then let the Reader thinke you haue some vnderstanding of this place which now is vtterly none If Christ be not risen your faith is in vaine saith Paul and you are yet in your sinnes As in Adam all died so in Christ all shal be quickened euery one in his order Christs as the first fruits then those that are Christs at his comming There is one glory of the Sunne another of the Moone and another of the Starres So also shal be the resurrection of the dead The body is sowen in corruption dishonor and weakenesse it shall rise in incorruption in glory in power When this corruptible hath put on incorruption and this mortall hath put on immortalitie then shal be performed that which is written Death is swallowed vp in victory and the Saints shall haue iust cause to say ô death where is thy sting ô hades hell where is thy victory Thanks be to God which hath giuen vs victory through our Lord Iesus Christ. How farre are these things from all communion of the wicked though hell at that day shal be increased and aduanced as you call it with the bodies of all the wicked yet may the godly Saints of whom the Apostle speaketh most iustly reioice against hell and death as being now swallowed vp in victory that is vtterly defeated of all force to kill the body any more or to stay the soule any longer by meanes of death from her crowne of glory For the victory which God will giue vs through Christ our Lord against hell and death is not yet full till our soules and bodies be brought to eternall blisse And were it possible which is not that the soules of the Saints could for euer enioie the rest and blisse which now they haue without their bodies euen in this want of one halfe Satan should still haue some victory ouer them that is ouer their bodies though not ouer their soules Wherefore the victory is then full when both parts of man are freed from all things that hinder their heauenly inheritance And this the best interpreters confesse Peter Martyr Interim videas ordine quodam nostros iâ—…micos
after his resurrection all power in heauen and earth that is in all places and ouer all things created is giuen vnto me Since then without question Christ had the keyes as well of death and hell as of heauen and so that sense of his words is most true let vs see which of our expositions hath best reason When Iohn for feare fell as dead at Christs feete would Christ to comfort Iohn in that plight say no more but that he himselfe was once dead and now aliue and had power to die no more as you expound Christs words how could this strengthen or restore Iohn that was euen dead for feare or did Christ rather encourage Iohn not to feare without cause seeing he himselfe not onely was risen from the dead but had all power ouer death and hell that is the keyes of both to dispose of ech mans life and Soule at his pleasure when therefore Christ that had all power of life and death Saluation and damnation laid his right hand on Iohn to protect him and bad him not feare but write the things which he saw had not Iohn iust cause to cast away all feare and cheerefully to obey the voice of him that was so able and ready to rescue him from all feare and danger whatsoeuer Christs power ouer death you will say was enough to preserue Iohns life and therefore mention of the key of hell was superfluous Iohn was to see and write the things that were and after should be in heauen earth and hell as is euident in his Reuelations yea the opening and shutting of the bottomelesse pit the chaining of Satan there the comming of the Locusts and the beast from thence and the lake of fire and brimstone euerlastingly burning there and who should be throwen into it were to be reuealed vnto him Lest therefore the sight of these things should amaze Iohn or the reporting of them should want credit with vs Christ did professe which is most true that he had the keyes that is all power euen ouer these secret and fearefull places so that Iohn should neither shrinke at the vision nor we distrust the Relation of them And though my reason of mentioning here the keyes of hell be such as you shall neuer counteruaile yet doe I not runne proudly and peremptorily as you doe in mine owne conceits I haue the iudgement of the best Interpreters old and new that haue intermedled with the opening of these reuelations Andreas Arch Bishop of the same Caesaria that Saint Basil was and within 600. yeeres after Christ though you skornfully reiect him as you doe that venerable writer Bede expounding these words of Christ I haue the keyes of death and of Hades saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is of the death of the Body and of the Soule Primasius expoundeth them thus I haue the keyes of death and hell idest Diaboli totius corporis eius that is ouer the diuell and all his body or societie The exposition of the Apocalyps extant in Saint Austens works thus I haue the keyes of death and Hell because he that beleeueth and is baptised is deliuered from death and from hell Haymo thus By the name of the keyes is shewed Christs eternall power by death the diuell is vnderstood by whose enuy death came into the world And by hell his members that shall come to the torments of hell Lyra. I haue the keyes of death and of hell that is power to deliuer thence the iust which Christ did in his Resurrection and to inclose there the wicked which he shall chiefly doe in the last iudgement Of our new writers Bullingere Christ then hath the keyes of death and hell because whom he will he deliuereth from the perpetuall damnation of death and whom he will he suffereth iustly to remaine in that perill of damnation Christ hath the supreme gouernment of the house or kingdome of God to quicken whom he will and to draw them from hell and damnation and whom he will damne with his iust iudgement to destroy For he hath most full power ouer death and hell He conquered and disabled both as it is Osee. 13. and 1. Corinth 15. Aretius He that resembled the Sonne of Man in the Apocalyps said I haue the keyes of hell and death hoc est in damnatos damnandos damnatorum loca that is ouer those that are damned or shall be damned and ouer the places of the damned Chytreus Christ deliuereth his Church from the captiuitie of death and hell casteth the wicked into the Dungeon of hell and of eternall death For he hath the keyes that is most full power ouer death and hell Sebastian Meyer whom Marlorate followeth I haue the keyes of death and hell that is power to pardon sinnes which being abolished both death and hell are depriued of their strength Osiander I haue the keyes of death and hell that is it is in my hand to kill and quicken to damne and sauc These men had both learning and reason to say as they did neither will any pick them ouer the pearch as you doe Andreas Caesariensis and Bede but he that hath neither Againe one sitteth on a pale horse whose name was death and Hades destruction the world of the dead or the kingdome of death followed after him This in no wise can be hell because the Text addeth power was giuen them to slay with the sword and with famine and with death and with wild beasts Hell slayeth none in that sort these are not the weapons of hell You lacke three Gennets to set your three poppets on horsebacke If by these three destruction the world of the dead the kingdome of death you meane in effect nothing but death as you vse to expound your selfe that is expressed before and Saint Iohn saith Hades followed after him Doth any thing follow after it selfe Againe will you bring your world of the dead that is all the Soules in heauen and hell to ride on horse-backe and that in the shew and shape of one person you would make good dumb shewes you haue such pretie fansies to make death goe first alone and his kingdome to come after him But though you play with Saint Iohns visions you haue no warrant to mistake Saint Iohns words and to muster your owne errors vnder his colours Saint Iohn doth not say that power was giuen to death and Hades to kill with the sword with famine and with death as you dreame but Saint Iohn hauing represented the sword or warre by the red horse verse 4. and famine by the blacke horse verse 5. and all sorts of diseases and pestilences by the pale horse verse 8. he saith power was giuen to them that is to the riders on these three horses to kill the fourth of the earth with warre hunger and sicknesse And because these three come not one after another but when God is greatly prouoked with
you to expresse it rightly But you varie so often and say nothing in the end that your hearers can hardly sound the bottome of your Hades That God hath no handes as we haue this euery meane Christian doth or should know Since then this similitude is taken from men and with them it is not strange to put those on their right hand whom they will honour and aduance it is easie for the simple to learne that Christes sitting at the right hand of God is as much as his sitting in glorie and Maiesty with God which though they cannot presently perceiue how great it is yet may they readily coÌ„ceaue what the meaning thereof is In your descending to Hades it is nothing so Your inconstancy and varietie in expounding that phrase is a proofe what difficultie there is in it and your predicament of twelue parts at the end of your booke is a laborinth long enough for simple Christians to loose themselues therein Though therefore your deuices be familiar to your selfe who night and day dreame thereof yet that maketh them no whit the easier to the simple who can quickely apprehend that Christ was content to die for their sinnes and to be buried for the more certaine triall of death and to haue his soule bestowed where pleased himselfe till his resurrection when he raised himselfe from death as the vanquisher and commaunder of death and of the whole power and Dominion of Satan death and hell but that Christe soule after death descended to Hades that is to the generall indefinite condition and Dominion of death without any mention of the place where it abode this is more like one of Aristotles Metaphysicall abstracts then any part of the Christian faith Heerein all the later famous and godly restoarers of religion in a manner doe ioyne with vs as Master Bucer P. Martyr Bullingere Oleuian c. yea master Caluine liked this also well enough though yet he seemeth to leane more to another sense If you meane those learned men were of opinioÌ„ that descending to Sheol which the Septuagint cal hades referred to the bodies or liues of good or bad did in the old Testament signifie their going to the graue I am of the same opinion with them I haue not once nor twice professed as much but if any of them did thinke as none of them doe that Sheol in the Hebrew tongue or in the Scriptures importeth not hell but onely the graue I must haue leaue to dissent from such as be of that mind Howbeit neither Peter Martyr nor Bullingere nor Bucer nor Oleuian nor Caluine are of that mind notwithstanding they diuersely expound this Article What Caluine thinketh of Christes suffering hell paines is not to this purpose but most certainely hee taketh Hades in the Creede for hell and for the paines thereof Of the rest excepting Oleuian I haue spoken before and Oleuians reasons to prefer his sense before all other senses of this Article are very weake and not worthy a man of his learning He layeth this for the maine ground thereof which is not graunted and cannot be prooued That this Article of Christes descending to Hades was Christs extreamest and lowest humiliation and no part of his exaltation Which way will you or Oleuian prooue that and yet this is the onely cause why he would haue Hades signifie the ignominious state of Christes bodie in the graue where he lay oppressed and as it were swallowed vp of death But Oleuians suppositioÌ„ that certainly Peter in the second of the Acts spake of Christs extreamest humiliation and deriued it from Dauids wordes is vtterly void of all iust proofe For Peter proposeth the manner and power of Christes resurrection Now that was no part of Christes humiliation Againe the words which Peter citeth out of Dauid argue rather the singular prerogatiue which Christ had ouer death aboue Dauid and others that his flesh saw no corruption nor his soule was for saken in hell which things whatsoeuer their meaning be sound rather to Christs honor and Soueraignitie then to his abasement and humilitie Thirdly Oleuian referreth this to the basenesse of the graue where I hope Christes soule was not And if you make heauen or Paradise where Christes soule was the lowest abasement that Christ could suffer you will proue a mad merrie diuine Lastly where Oleuian would haue the shame of the graue to be the victorie of those hellish paines which he supposeth Christ suffered on the crosse call you that the victory of hell ouer Christs soule when it ascendeth with honour and blisse to heauen and the society of all the Saints These things must hang better together before I can be induced to admit them whosoeuer offereth them though I make it as lawfull for me to refuse Oleuians coniectures as he maketh it for himselfe to leaue all the Fathers and the reformed churches of the Augustane confession expounding that article of the Creed as I doe But we are to know that as you cite them and vrge them they haue no such authority and credit as hitherto we haue yeelded vnto them And that for three causes First for that your translating and turning them he descended into hell is corrupt partiall and vntrue The exceptions which you take against these words are three First that they are ill translated by me Secondly that they were lately put into the Apostles Creed Thirdly that they conteine an error which was Christs going to Limbus to fetch the Patriarks thence If the rest be no truer then the first we shal soone haue done with them Is this my translation of the Creed he descended into hell Can you shew vs since this Realme spake English or since it receaued the Christian faith that euer it had any other word in this place of the Creed but hell or a word equiualent to it The Saxons before vs said And he ny 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…o helle and he downe went to hell The Britons before them if that tongue be not changed Descenawdd y yffern he descended to inferne So that in calling this translation corrupt partiall and vntrue you shew that you haue lately deuised a sense of that article which these parts of the Christian world neuer heard before And where you would haue me euidently and soundly conuince you by Greeke authority that hades is neuer applied to the state and condition of the godly deceased and then you will yeeld I like well your wit that wil be sure to say what you list without warrant or proofe and then lay the burden on others Must I prooue the negatiue or you rather not be beleeued till you haue iustly prooued by the Sctiptures and by the auncient Greeke fathers that hades with them did signifie the place where the soules of the righteous were receaued after Christs resurrection or that hades with them was not a place of darkenesse vnder the earth which what that be in Christian religion besides hell I leaue to the
mortall and miserable life in this world but to be conformed to his glorious body that is to incorruption and immortality g Thus I vnderstand your Thaddeus also Athanasius in his Creed as it seemeth most reasonably and necessarily because they expresse neither his death nor his buriall at all in any other words saue these he descended to hades You runne so fast on your owne conceits that you see not what you passe by Hath Thaddeus no words touching Christs death what make you then of these scant a line before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how Christ humbled himselfe and died And though the Creed prouided for the simpler sort distinguisheth Christs crucifying death buriall and descent to hell yet what need is there that the learned euery time they talke of Christs crosse or death should number all these seuerally and orderly as they stand in the Creed crucifying is enough to note his death for they crucified him vnto death Christs buriall had in it no more but the certainty of his death and by Gods prouidence the vigilancâ—…e of his enemies that his body should not be thought to be stolen away by his owne Disciples Other moment or matter of our redemption there was none in Christs buriall The goodly words with which you would feed vs that in the graue he came vnder the power strength dominion and kingdome of death are rather variations for a nouice then any points of sensible doctrine for a diuine So that Athanasius expressing Christs suffering for our saluation his descending to hades and rising the third day from the dead fully compriseth all the principall works which Christ performed for our saluation from his crosse to his resurrection Now what Athanasius meaneth by hades since his works are extant in Greeke we shall not need to depend on your partiall coniectures We haue many plaine and perspicuous places which deliuer his sense and meaning vnto vs. I haue shewed before which I must not so often repeat that Athanasius maketh two places of condemnation whither man after death was adiudged for sinne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the graue and hades And of Christs body and soule he directly saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The bodie of Christ went to the graue the soule to hades these places being diuided with a great distance and the graue receauing the presence of his body for there was his body present and hades receiuing his humane spirit Thinke you this to be plaine enough that Christs descent to hades was not his buriall where his body lay but the going of his soule to hades whither man was condemned for sinne and which Athanasius saith The Diuell kept as the onely place of his strength The enemie saith he fallen from heauen remoued from the earth expelled from the ayre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 euery where vanquished determined if he could to keepe hades safe For this place was yet left vnto him But as soone as Christ died the world wanted the light of her Sunne the Vaile of the temple rent the earth trembled the Rocks did cleaue in sunder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the souldiers together with the keepers of Hades did shake for feare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Diuell thiâ—…ing to carry Christ to hades was himselfe throwen out of hades 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For it was not long after but Christ loosed the sorrowes or paines of hades Athanasius then without peraduentures taketh hades for hell and Christs descent thither in soule to worke the subuersion of Satans kingdome and deliuerance of all his elect thence were they liuing dead or yet vnborne Your seeking to peruert this reason because the auncient Creedes want sundry other Articles which now are in our Creede is to no purpose For so much as they all do euermore intend to set downe perfectly the summe of Christs accomplished Redemption and mediation at the least Not any of those his maine workes are in them omitted If your pride were not greater then your skill we should haue a great deale lesse prating from you How shall the Reader beleeue your report of Fathers and their meanings when you neuer saw so much as the Creedes of the auncient Councels and yet pronounce so boldly of them as if you had perused them all but yesterday The great Nicene Creede maketh no mention of Christs death or buriall but saith He suffered and rose the third day The first generall Councell of Constantinople whose Creede was after vsed in the Church Seruice saith Christ suffered and was bâ—…ied and rose the third day omitting his crucifixion and death The great Councell of Aphrica and the generall Councell of Ephesus concurre with the Nicene and say he suffered and rose the third day What truth then is there in your words where you say they all doe euermore intend perfectly to set downe the Summe of Christs Redemption for vs not any of those his maine works are in them omitted Is the death of Christ none of his maine works for our Redemption finde you now that his buriall may be omitted and yet the Creede not be imperfect These things good Sir are implyed as consequent or antecedent to the parts expressed For if Christ did rise the third day he rose from the Graue where he had lien three daies and buried he was not before he was dead As also he rose not but from the dead Wherefore in his resurrection are both his death and his buriall comprised Besides he suffered vnto death Which things were all plainly proposed to the simple in their Creede called Aposto like but not in the Creedes concluded by the learned Pastours in their Councels The same course kept the Greeke and Latin Fathers sometimes expressing Christs death buriall and descent to hell sometimes omitting some of them as the cause required Epiphanius saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ saith he speaking of the things as they were done is crucified buried he descended to the places vnder the earth in his Deitie and in his soule he leadeth Captiuitie Captiue and riseth the third day Vigilius Constat Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum sexta feria crucifixum ipsa die ad Infernum descendisse ipsa die in sepulâ—…hris iacuisse ipsa die Latroni dixisse hodie mecum eris in Paradiso It is certaine that our Lord Iesus Christ was crucified on the sixt day and that day descended to hell that day lay in the graue and that day said to the Theise This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise And declaring how this was verified in Christ ergo dicimuâ—… Dominum iacuisse in sepulchro sed in sola carne Dominum descendisse ad infernum sed in sola anima Then we say that the Lord lay in his graue but with his Body alone and descended to hell but with his Soule alone without his Body Howbeit to speake plainly your Thaddeus whom
other Looke to the Story of Daniell and see whether he doth not say of him selfe that King Nabnchad-nezzar fell vpon his face 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and bowed himselfe to Daniell and willed them to offer Sacrifice and sweete odours vnto him This the King profered by Daniels owne confession and though we doe not doubt but Denâ—…el refused it and otherwise aduised the king yet there is no such thing recorded in the Text. Hence if you will conclude Daniel to be a false Prophet you shall shew your selfe to be a rash false and wicked teacher but if you will excuse him because he was one that feared God and knew his duty though there be no mention made of his deniall what spleene mooueth you to condemne Thaddeus being not him selfe the writer of the Storie and one that was not onely trained vp in Moses Law but a Disciple of Christs and sent by him to preach and which more is endued with the power of the holy Ghost to heale the sicke to plant the Gospell and conuert nations vnto the faith Fourthly I doe not see how it can possibly be true which this Thaddeus saith that Christ ascended vp to his Father with a great multitude seeing the Scripture sheweth how after fortie dayes he ascended in all their sights alone vp to heauen Might Christ doe nothing but he must first acquaint you with it that you take so straight a view who went vp to heauen with him The Apostle noteth that God said of his Sonne when he brought him into the world Let all the Angels of God worship him Can you tell when this was done Christ spoiled powers saith Paul and principalities and made an open shew of them It would trouble you to tell how where and when So Christ ascending on high led captiuitie captiue Who knoweth how farre or how many that he ascended to his Father with a multitude may be referred either to Angels or men If all the Angels adored him when he came into the world what did they when he ascended to heauen Nazianzene saith If Christ ascend to heauen ascend thou with him and ioyne thy selfe to the Angels that accompanie him or receiue him So Cyprian Non indiget vectoribus Angelis sed precedentes subsequentes applaudebant victori Christ ascending needed not Angels to beare him but they going before and following applauded him as a conquerer And Austen Sublatus est Christus in manibus Angâ—…lorum quando assumptus est in caelum non quia si non portarent Angeli ruiturus erat sâ—…d quia obsequebantur Regi Christ was caried vp by the handes of the Angels when he ascended to heauen not that he should haue fallen if he had not beene stayed by Angels but that they might serue their King And touching men why might not Thaddeus speake this of those that were raised out of their graues when Christ rose from the dead since they were partakers of Christs resurrection why should they be reiected from his ascension They rose from the dead not to die againe much lesse to bee left wandring on the earth Ascend before Christ they could not he was in all things as the head to haue the preeminence Then must they ascend with him or after him neither of which is expresly mentioned in the Scriptures It appeareth by Tertullian the Church in his time was opposite to his conceit and made him this answere Our abode after death which there is called sleeping is in Paradise quò iam tunc Patriarchâ—… Prophetae appendices dominicae resurrectionis ab inferis migrauerunt whither the Patriarkes and Prophets that were dependents on the Lords resurrection pâ—…ssed euen then with him FROM THE PLACES BELOW Cyprian saith of Christ spolians Inferos captiuos praemittens ad superos spoiling the places below and sending the captiues before towards heauen Austen saith Reddunt Infernavictorem superna suscipiunt triumphantem Hell restoreth him a conquerer and heauen receiueth him a Triumpher Where then the Apostle saith that Christ triumphed ouer powers and principalities in his owne person and likewise that he ascended on high leading captiuitie captiue which prooueth his ascent to heauen to be the fulnesse and perfection of his triumph since triumphes amongst mortall men are not secret nor solitarie shall we thinke that Christs triumphant ascension to heauen was the close conueying of him alone into heauen neither Angels nor man attending nor magnifying him or rather as Peter saith he went to heaâ—…n hauing Angels powers and mights subiected to him that is all sorts and orders were they neuer so excellent high or mightie seruing submitting confessing and applauding his humane nature as the subduer of all his enemies and Sauiour of all his Elect Where you would faine perswade the world that the Apostles Creed was not in the primitiue Churches which we haue now yea that at â—…irst it had no exact for me at all This is the way to discredite all thinges besides your owne deuices You may say as much against some parts of the Scriptures as you do against some parts of the Creed For the Scriptures themselues were not fully receiued in all places no not in Eusebius time He saith the Epistle of Iames of Iude the second of Peter the second and third of Iohn are contradicted as not written by those Apostles The Epistle to the Hebrewes was for a while contradicted by the Church of Rome not to be Pauls Eusebius report is the truer because the Churches of Syria did not receiue the second Epistle of Peter nor the second and third of Iohn nor the Epistle of Iude nor the Apocalypse as appeareth to this day by the translation of the new Testament into their tongue which wanteth all these bookes as no approoued parts of Scripture The like might be sayd for the Churches of Arabia Will you hence conclude that these parts of Scripture were not Apostolike or that we neede not receaue them now because they were formerly doubted of The Creede we doe not vrge as vndoubtedly written by all the Apostles for then it must needes be Canonicall Scripture but we vrge it as the best and perfectest forme of faith which was deliuered to the Christians at the first planting of the Gospell by the direction and agreement of the Apostles and kept and professed in some of the most famous places which when the Church of Christ had well considered and examined she receiued and preferred before all others Now that this forme of faith which we haue was both in auncient times and diuers places preserued and professed as comming from the first erectors of the Churches you haue seene the testimonies of Cyrill for Ierusalem of Chrysostome for Antioche of Austen for Africa of Ruffine for Aquileia of Venantius for Poyctiers and this very Article he descended to hell is by them witnessed to haue beene then in their Creedes of whom
doubtlesse he went not thither You profere vs reasons very seldome but when you push them forth they want all things that should support them Your maior heere hath no force in it your minor hath no trueth and so your conclusion is like a forward bud that shrincketh before it bloweth That Christ should triumph ouer powers and principalâ—…ies and all knees of those in heauen earth and hell bow vnto him was aswell for his soueraignty as for our safety Your maior then must haue both those parts in it that if Christs descent thither were neither for his glory not our good then was it needlesse But it was both He was to rise superiour to all his and our enemies that as in the crosse he submitted his life to the rage fury of Satan his members so when he rose he might be made Lord ouer heauen earth and hell It was therefore his right to haue the keyes of death and hell wherby Satans kingdom aswell in hell as in earth should be subiected to the power of his humane nature which could not be but beneficiall for vs whose redeemer and Sauiour he was Againe what need is there that you should know the depth of Gods counsels and reason of Christs doings in euery thing as though you were to take an account of him what cause he had to doe as he did If the Scripture beare witnesse that Christs soule was not left in hell though we could not discerne the precise purpose of his descent thither we may not therefore reiect it as superfluous But what say you to those two maine points expressed in Scripture the destroying of Satan and deliuering of vs from feare of death which Christ performed by his death The benefits all and euery one which you euery where rehearse I most vnfeinedly and religiously beleeue but what is this to his locall being in hell You acknowledge the words but not the deeds of Christs destroying and spoiling Satan through but not after his death and so in name but not in proofe you make him Lord ouer hell as where he neuer shewed the power and prerogatiue of his humane nature but onely by taking his body from the graue Now this doth not answere the reall and actuall subduing of Satans strength and kingdome mentioned in the Scriptures with so magnificent and euident words as the Apostle vseth that Christ led captiuity captiue and made an open shew of powers and principalities and triumphed ouer them in his owne person You call these blasts of vanity because I say they were performed on euery part of Satans kingdome and euen in the place where his chiefest strength and power was which was hell but your replies are rather beesoms of infidelity which would sweepe away whatsoeuer the Apostle saith of Christs most glorious triumph ouer Satan and his whole kingdome with the taking of his flesh out of the graue where it lay dead and ascribe no more to Christs conquest ouer death and hell then you doe to all the faithfull when they shal be raised from the earth to the fruition of eternall life This I say is not sufficient in Christs person For he must not onelie be free himselfe and the freer of all his from death and hell but all infernall places and powers were to stoope to him as Lord of all when God would bring him to the glory of his resurrection This conquest you say Christ purchased by his Passion but hee did not execute it till his resurrection If hee executed nothing till his resurrection and purchased all by his Passion then he did nothing in hell For his resurrection was distinctly after his supposed being in hell The Apostles wordes are plaine that Christes crosse was his humiliation Christ humbled himselfe being obedient to death euen the death of the crosse Then Christes Passion and death were parts of his debasing and not his triumphing ouer death or hell After death must his triumph beginne and not before nor at the time of his breathing out his soule but when the time of his resurrection came God loosed the sorrowes of death before his humane soule which was not left destitute of glory soueraintie in hell and raised his bodie from the graue restoring him to life as the subduer and Lord of all his enemies that is as well of hell as of death You would calculate the minutes and see what distance of time there was betwixt the returne of Christes soule from hell and the raising of his bodie from the graue but this is like the rest of your vanities to be more then audacious in blasing your owne deuises and curious in searching Gods secrets reserued to himselfe What time the soule of Christ ascended to Paradise or descended to hell we doe not know we must leaue that to God it sufficeth vs that Christes Soule by the witnesse of holy Scripture was not lest in hell nor his flesh in the graue but both restored to life as conquerers of death and hell Christes resurrection therefore containeth the bringing of hissoule from hell and the ioyning of it to his bodie that both might be restored to celestâ—…all and perpetuall glory and consequently the subduing of hell as his soule returned to his bodie is iustly reputed a part of the glorie of his resurrection I would willingly beleeue you but alas who sayth so besides your selfe or onely such as can tell no better then you If auncient Fathers and later writers if prouinciall generall Councels did not professe the same that I doe you might beleeue as you list but if they all concurre that this is testified in the Scriptures which you labour to elude with phrases and figures then pitie your selfe as stretching and shrinking the Scriptures at your pleasure pitie not me who haue the maine consent of all ages and Christian assemblies from the Apostles to this very time wherein we liue to interpret the wordes of the holy Ghost as I doe and to make Christes subduing of hell consequent to his death and precedent to his resurrection Neither can the Apostles wordes that Châ—…ist through death destroyed him that had power of death and deliuered all them which for feare of death were all their life long subiect to bondage haue any full or effectuall performance if Christ after death and before the raising vp of his bodie did not in that part of his humane nature which lay not in the graue shew himselfe the conquerer of Satan and his Infernall kingdome that by Christes subduing eternall death and taking the whole power thereof into his hands we might be assured of our deliuerance from that which we most feared which was not the death of the bodie but the destruction of bodie and soule in hell fire This Conquest we both beleue neither may we much differ about the time since it must be through his death and so after he was dead and before his resurrection the manner is all that is
of death and hell And where you thinke it absurd that one part of Christ his soule should gloriously triumph the other his body ALL THIS WHILE lying in humiliation the time was not so long as you would haue it seeme since these things were done in that shortnesse and neerenesse of â—…me which pleased God and the soule once remoued from the body whether in heauen or in hell was first to goe towards and to the body before that could receaue life from the soule and so of force the glory of the soule must begin before the glory of the body And euen according to your owne conceit if the soule were in heauen all the while that the body lay dead in the graue did not the exaltation of the soule in heauen begin a good while before the body which the third day was restored to life and till that time lay senselesse in the dishonor and dominion of the graue as you conceaue And is this so strange a thing with you in Christian religion that Christs soule should enioy honor blisse and glory before the body when the soules of the faithfull so many hundred yeeres before their bodies are partakers of heauenly ioy Your likelihoode that Christ would cleere himselfe first wholy and intirely in both parts before he would begin to strip and spoyle Satan for vs seeing it is a greater degree of victorie to spoyle the enemy and to treade him vnder foote then to get freedome to himselfe Hath no likelihood but in your owne eyes If Christ were in doubt of the victorie or afraide of the enemie it were good policie first to make him selfe sure and after to helpe others but the Sonne of God hauing no such doubt nor dread might destroy and spoile those Infernall places and powers when as pleased him selfe with the most dishonour and shame that might be to Satan and his kingdome For as he would dieâ—… shew his power in raising himselfe from the dead so when he was dead he would conquere Satan that his strength might the more appeare in dissoluing the sorrowes of death and returning to life with the full command ouer death and hell And therefore your strong likelihoods as you call them are childish conceits and distrusts of Christs power and habilitie to performe his victory Like to these are those other points which you aske Why might not one part of Christ haue sufficed in his sufferings righteousnesse obedience which Apollinaris an heretick affirmed as well as that one part serued to triumph for vs in hell Christ suffered for vs in this life where body and soule were ioyned together in suffering and meriting but he conquered hell by death that is after death when the Soule was yet seuered from the Body What Apollinaris the Heretick affirmed you vnderstand not if you thinke he did hold that the Soule of Christ did suffer or merite for vs his heresie was that Christ had no humane Soule but his Deitie did mooue and rule his body in steede of a Soule Next you aske Why the body ouer comming corruption in the graue which I call a part of Satans kingdome did not thereby destroy the whole kingdome of Satan and so saue our Soules that Christ might not haue needed to haue come to hell for that purpose He that hath nought else to doing may intend to aske such idle questions Why God would haue the flesh of his Sonne by resisting corruption in the graue to assure our bodies of incorruption and his Soule by subduing hell to free our Soules from the power and feare of hell you were best aske him a reason whose will is the rule of all things but since we were in danger and feare of both deaths least the one should lead vs to the other which was most to be feared what reason can you bring against the Counsell and wisdome of God confirming vs against the power of death and hell by the conquest of both parts of Christs manhoode ouer both his and our enemies You would otherwise haue ordered our safetie and indemnitie from death and hell if your aduise had been asked but nourish these impieties at home in your bosome blaze them not so busily to the world as if you would beleeue nothing till you saw a reason thereof that fitted your fansie What God might haue done is not for you nor me to aske what improportion or discohaerence with the Christian faith is there in this that the power of Christs Soule and Body superiour to hell and to the graue should assure our Bodies and Soules the victorie ouer both in such sort and at such time as God hath appointed If they meane that Christs flesh being in the graue and his soule being in hell did seuerally and distinctly saue our flesh and our soules then how will you be reconciled to them who doe denie that point You would faine put downe Fulgentius Athanasius and others as if they did not vnderstand the first points of their Catechisme that the ioynt Redemption of our Soules and Bodies was obtained by the ioynt-sufferings of Christ in Soule and Body on the Crosse but yet since we are to die when our Soules shall be seuered from our bodies to assure vs that our Soules are freed by the merits of his passion from the danger of hell and our bodies shall be raised from the dust of the earth why might it not please the Sonne of God by the presence of his body in the graue without corruption to confirme the Resurrection of our bodies from corruption and by the presence of his Soule in hell subduing the power and kingdome of Satan to strengthen our faith that our Soules seuered from our bodies shall be free from all danger and feare of hell which he hath conquered in his owne person and whereof he hath taken the keyes into his hands as him selfe affirmeth This was no new sauing of our Soules and bodies as you suppose but rather the securing of vs by his example that our Soules and bodies seuered by death shall be subiected to neither but be reserued to eternall life that we may be partakers of his victorie Further why was it needefull that an actuall presence of his manhoode should be in hell seeing indeede it is certaine that the whole actuall triumph of Christ ouer Satan proceedeth not of the proper vertue of the manhood but only from the vertue power of the Godhead of Christ Conflict between the godhead of Christ Satan there neither was nor might be any but as by Adams disobedience Satan gained vs into his possession so by the obedience of Christs manhood euen to the death Satan lost vs out of his power and dominion Neither might the Deitie of Christ through death be made Lord ouer all his enemies except you will touch on a trick of Arianisme but the manhoode of Christ for his submission vnto death receiued the keyes of death hell and power to dispose of
Satans kingdome at his pleasure Now had not those Infernall powers been subiected to the Soule of Christ after death how should it haue appeared that his manhood not his godhead had the conquest ouer Satans strongest holds and that the keves of death and hell were resigned vnto him for since the Scripture beareth witnesse that his Soule was not for saken in hell that is not there left destitute of his diuine power glory what resistance could be made that he should not returne thence the Lord and Ruler of all his enemies whereof hell and Satan were the chiefest His godhead then was the giuer but his manhoode was the receauer of this power and preâ—…minence ouer hell Satan that they for euer should stoupe to him and see both what wrong they did him and what vengeance was heaped on them as also how righteous mans redemption was by the Crosse and death of the Sonne of God Lastly why did not the presence of his flesh in the graue keepe ours that it should not come there or at least that it should neuer putrifie nor rot as his flesh did not Euen because such was Gods will it should not God by his sentence pronounced on Adam and his ofspring adiudged them to returne to dust from which Christ shall raise them at the last day and not before And from dust to restore them sheweth greater power in Christ then to preserue them from dust This therefore verifieth the iustice and magnifieth the power of God and for you to aske why it might not be aswell otherwise as so is to enter more saucely then wisely into those things which you should religiously and faithfully beleeue And where you say all these sequels are as good and as liâ—…ly as my assertion you shew your accustomed boldnesse if not haughtinesse that condemne so many learned and auncient fathers for plaine fooles in not seeing what â—…urd consequences depended on their assertion How beit in the midst of your pride you shew little wit that all this while you can light on none other reason of Christes descent to hell but onely this that we should neuer come there This indeed was one of the causes euen to secure vs by his conquest that hee hath the keyes of death and hell and therefore we shall not need to feare either since both are wholy subiected and submitted to his power though he stay the time prefixed by his father when we shall be partakers of his victorie ouer death at the end of the world as we are ouer hell at our departing hence assuring vs in this life by faith in him that we neede not feare either death or hell both which he hath conquered I made this argument in my former Treatise that Christes descending into hell if euer he did so could not be iudged any part of his exaltation or glorification To which your reply is I know not whether more strange or skornefull But you resolue that these words hee descended to hell importeth his exaltation and triumph This argument was drawen from your imagination taking vpon you to dispose of the parts of the Creede as best pleased you which because I reiected as wanting all warrant besides your owne note booke you interpret it to be a strange and skornefull answere Howbeit there is no strangenesse in mine answere but to him that neuer peeped farder then in his owne shell The Fathers with one consent referre that clause to Christs Conquest ouer hell Christ had power saith Athanasius in the graue to shew incorruption and in his descent to Hades hell to dissolue death and to proclaime to all resurrection Cyprian When in Christs presence hell being broken open captiuitie was captiuated his conquering soule presented to the sight of his Father returned to her bodie without delay Epiphanius Christ was crucified buried he descended to hell in his Deitie and his soule he tooke captiuitie captiue and rose the third day with his holy bodie That he was free among the dead signifieth hell had no power ouer him but that of his owne accord he descended to heli with his soule because it was impossible he should be held of it So Austen Reddunt Inferna victorem Hell restored him a conquerer and whiles his bodie lay in the graue his soule triumphed ouer hell The Councels prouinciall and generall do the like Christ descended to hell deuicto mortis imperio and subduing the kingdome of death rose the third day Euen as the generall Councels of Ephesus and Constantinople say Yea the later writers as Innocentius Durandus and others ioyne this clause with Christs resurrection and make them both but one Article of our faith as descendit ad inferna tertia die resurrexit he descended to hell and rose the third day they set for the fift Article of the Creede euen as that auncient writer among Saint Austens workes did before them So that neither Elder nor later writers ioyne with you in this conceit of yours that Christes descent to hell was the lowest part of his humiliation they directly professe it to be the first part of his exaltation and a preamble to his resurrection And where you thinke it much that his descending should belong to his exaltation not the place but the purpose of his descent maketh that alteration The Scripture saith The Lord himselfe shall descend from heauen with a shoute and with the trumpet of God when he shall come to iudge the quicke and dead and yet that descent shall be the greatest part of his glorie You skoffe at me for the like as if I had said his descending was ascending and heauen was Hell But herein you affirmevntruely First I say though his soule leauing his bodie ascended yet this is not meant by that phrase he descended to Hades Secondly I neuer sayd that Hades signified heauen although some in Hades are in heauen Thirdly much lesse did I euer say that hell is heauen The interpretation which you made of the Article Christ descended to hell I sayd had none other matter of faith in it except you thought the Church in her Creede went to varying of phrases but that Christs soule ascended to heauen For where Hades in the Creede must signifie not a priuation nor a generall and indefinite condition as if Christ went some whither yet no man knew whither but a determined place whither Christs soule after death repaired that place of force must be heauen or hell And since by no meanes you will haue Christs soule descend to hell as the whole Church hath hitherto receaued and beleeued you must acknowledge the meaning of that Article to be that Christs soule ascended to heauen and so whether you will or no if that be the effect and intent of those wordes in the Creede descending must be taken for ascending and hell for heauen This is not meant you say by that phrase It is one of
your skilles to bring Articles of the Creede to be phrases as if the Apostles and their followers which were the first planters of Churches had ment to teach the simple people not principles of faith but certaine Greeke or Hebrew phrases He that will suffer you to turne his faith into a phrase let him take heed that insteed of heauen he light not on hel which is one of your chiefe phrases But you neuer said that Hades signified heauen You may saue this from a lie if you be not he that wrote this part of your booke as by the crossing and changing of your owne assertions it is euident to euery wise man you did not but otherwise if the quoting of other mens authoritie to prooue Hades to be heauen may conuince you to be of that mind with them whom you cite for that purpose you haue most plainely auouched hades to import and containe heauen Whose words are these I pray you in your Treatise This most singular place sheweth that Hades with them is not properly for hell but for the world of the dead and SOMETIMES AS NAMELY HEERE EVEN FOR HEAVEN So in the next page Againe he saith of heauen that it is an vnseene estate EVEN HADES AS IT IS COMMONLY CALLED Wherefore it is plaine by Plato Hades sometime may bee vnderstood for heauen yea and with the Grecians it was a common phrase And Stephan â—…iteth Plutarch concerning the godly departing being in hades that is in heauen he meant I thinke and not in hell Infinite places might be brought to like purpose but these may suffice which whether they you by them auouch hades to be taken for heauen or no I leaue to the iudgement of the Reader as also whether this be not impudent facing and worthy of other wordes at which you take so much offence Yea this very Article Christ dâ—…scended to Hades you expound by pretence of Bullingers wordes he did goe to Abrahams â—…osome that is into heauen That you auouch Philip. 2. for it is more strange where we haue not one word of his locall being in hell And that the Coloss. 2. should prooue it passeth all the rest Where though we graunt you your reading yet the expresse text referreth that triumph to Christes crosse which you openly deny You doe well to make an Apologie for your impudency and facing the next sentence before but if you reclaime those tâ—…ades of yours you renounce the most part of your obiections and probations in this your defence For doe I cite either of these places in the Pages which you quote to prooue Christes descent after death to the place of hell When you in your proud and scorneâ—…ull humour mocked at Christes actuall conquest and tâ—…iumph ouer hell in generall and called it a woorthie priuiledge surely and very honâ—…rable 〈◊〉 to â—…iumph and insult vpon the â—…ice miserable wofull wretches in their preâ—…t vnâ—…eakable damnation adding All the world knoweth it is the most in glorious and vilest debasing to represse this disdainfull and proud conceit of yours I told you The Apostle made it a part of Christes high exaltation that euerie knec as well of things vnder earth as of things in heanen should bow vnto him and did you thinke it a matter to be mocked and derided and of the place to the Colossians I said What lâ—…iteth then since these wordes were not verified on the crosse but they did take place in his resurrection and therein as by the effects it was most euident and apparant to the eies of all men he did spoile powers and Principalities and made a shew of them openly and triumphed ouer them in his owne person When I speake of things euident and apparent to all mens eies I speake not of things done in hell where no man liuing was present but prooued against you as well by your own wordes as by the Apostles that this triumph was not perfourmed and executed on the crosse though there deserued and purchased For you your selfe debase Christs triumph on the crosse with woorse wordes then I doe you say it was a miserable triumph yea a piteous triumph it was indeede where himselfe remained in such woefull torment where appeared no shew of conquest I say not so but that on the crosse Christ humbled himselfe euen vnto death and thereby merited to be exalted aboue all names and sorts of creatures which God after death most gloriously perfourmed vnto him when euerie knee of those in heauen on earth and vnder earth bowed vnto him and confessed him to be their Lord. This was all I said in those places which you traduce and yet if I had said more and applied them to the actuall triumph of Christes soule after death I wanted not better authoritie so to haue done then you haue any for so many cart-loades of concâ—…its as you haue brought vs. But of both these places I haue spoken before what may suâ—…ce and he that will see more thereof may read what Zanchius hath learnedly and soberly written of those places Ephes. 4. vers 9. and Coloss. 2. vers 15. Where he likewise affirmeth Patres serè sic explicant ex nostris non pauci neque vulgares The Fathers for the most part doe so expound it and of our writers not a few nor the meanest That of the Councels how Christ rose againe hauing spoiled hell I easily yeeld seeing that prooueth not his locall being there Then first you yeeld that Hades with all these generall Councels signifieth hell Next you yeeld that hell was spoyled by Christ before he rose for he rose hauing spoyled hell Thirdly you yeeld that this was done by Christes manhood since his Godhead can be said in no wise to rise from the dead and consequently by his soule since he spoiled hell before he rose when yet his bodie was dead in the graue There remaineth no more but this question whether the soule of Christdid this absent from the place or present in the place which was spoiled And since the scriptures auouch that Christs soule was in Hades which was spoiled as these three generall Councels assirme it is without question that Christes soule present in hell spoiled hell before his resurrection and so returned to his bodie which is the very point you all this while denied and with so much lost labour impugned And least this cause should depend on your slipper turnes and returnes we must vnderstand that not only the generall Councell of Ephesus confirmed and allowed these wordes in the Synodall Epistle of Cyrill to Nestorius but the Councell of Chalcedon and the second Councell of Constantinople ratified the same So that what sense Cyrill had in these wordes the same did the Councell of Ephesus follow Cyrill himselfe there sitting and declaring his owne meaning Yea the Treatises of Cyrill expounding these wordes are inserted into the Acts of the Councell of
it aliue and then the words of Peter runne more easily for Christs descent to hell then for his preaching in the daies of Noah There is no doubt but Austens sense hath some difficulties and must haue some open additions to the text before it will agree therewith as by which he went and preached to those that now are spirits in prison and were once disobedient in the daies of Noah Againe neither wicked men liuing on earth are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spirits by the course of the Scriptures neither were the despisers of Noahs preaching then in prison when he preached Besides that Peter heere purposely speaking of the death of Christ verse 18. persueth the consequents thereof in order as his descent to the spirits in prison vers 19. his resurrection vers 21. his ascension and sitting on the right hand of God vers 22. The impediment to the former sense is that they onely are mentioned which were disobedient in the daies of Noah where if we make the former words to be generall in which he went and preached to the spirits in prison and the next speciall as the point between may entend and to the disobedient in the daies of Noah or if this example be produced as the most famous wherein the whole and first world was drowned and so likest to the time of preaching the Gospell the contempt whereof should bring destruction on the second world and the iust be saued by water as Noah was through the resurrection of Christ that impediment is likewise remooued Howbeit I leaue it indifferent to euery man to follow what sense he liketh best the rather for that many old and new interpreters referre these words of Peter that Christ preached to the spirits in prison and the Gospell was preached to the dead to Christs descent to those places where these dead were both good and bad though I thought not fit to presse them when Austen had once resigned them And where you cite Master Nowels Caâ—…echisme to prooue that the later Synod misliked not the applying of Peters words to Christs descent to hell what doe you therein but as your manner is take the paines to refute your selfe For if they liked that which Master Nowell hath written of Christs descent to hell they allowed as much as I defend and consequently they did not apparantly renounce the doctrine of Christs going down to the hell of the damned as you did openly I must not say arrogantly pronounce It may be you will turne about when you see your selfe thus angled and say Master Nowell teacheth no more but that the power and efficacie of Christs passion was reuealed to the damned but the first point he teacheth is this ChristuÌ„ vt corpore in terrâ—… visâ—…era it a anima à corpore separata ad inferos descendisse Christ as in body he went to the â—…wels of the earth which was his graue so in soule seuered from his body he descended ad inferos to hell The ends of Christs descent he maketh to be three where he saith Simuâ—… etiam mortis suae virtutem atâ—… efficacitatem ad â—…ortuos atâ—… inferos adeo ipsos it a 〈◊〉 vâ—… incredulorum animae c. And with all that is together with his soule the vertâ—…e â—…nd force of his death so pâ—…arced to the dead and euen to hell it selfe that firsâ—… the â—…ules of the â—…ithlesse pâ—…rceaued the condemnation of their inâ—…delity to be most sharpe but 〈◊〉 iâ—…st Secondly and Satan the ruler of hell saâ—… all the power of his tâ—…ny and of 〈◊〉 to be weâ—…ened 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thirdly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the deceâ—…d 〈◊〉 in their lifâ—… 〈◊〉 beleeue in Christ perceaued the worke of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thereof with most sweet and â—…tain conâ—…ort Heere is as much as I desire grant this and I vrge you no farder And thus much the late Synod liked and appâ—…ued if you doe admit as you doe when pleaseth you Master Nowell for their interpreter Neither misliked they his tarying there till his resurrection which also Austen holdeth as firmely as that he was there If you speake of the later Synod you speake more then you can prooue If of others you must tell vs whom you meane It is not true that Austen fastened Christs soule to hell for three daies but rather confessed him to be free amongst the dead and so left to his owne liberty though the Scripture in Austens opinion nameth no place where Christs soule was after death besides hell If the soule saith he be straightway called to Paradise when the body is dead thinke â—…e any man so wiâ—…ked as to dare say that the soule of our Sauiour was for those three dâ—…ies of his bodily death restrained to the custody of hell Gregorius Nyssenus doth the like That the soule of our Lord commended into his Fathers hands quum it a bonum commodum illi visum esset etiam ad inferos descendit went also to hell when it seemed good and coâ—…nient vnto himselfe that 〈◊〉 might publish saluation to the soules in hell and be Lord ouer quicke and dead and spoile hell and might prepare a way for mans nature to returne to life after hee himselfe had beene the first fruits and first borne from the dead may be perceaued by many places of Scripture Anselmus a thousand yeeres after Christ sheweth that the Church in his time held not this so firmely as you imagine For asking by way of a Dialogue whither went Christs soule after death He answereth to the heauenly Paradise as he said to the Thiefe this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise When then went he to hell at midnight before his resurrection at what hower the Angell destroyed Egypt at that houre euen at midnight Christ sâ—…oiled hell and made their dâ—…kenesse as bright as day So that you talke out of time when you talke so much how long time Christ staied in hell The time and manner of his descent we leaue to God â—…t suâ—…iceth vs that the Scriptures witnesse he was there and rose both Sauiour of his owne and Lord of all That our English Clergie generally did or doe beleeue Christs locall descent to hell although they read and rehâ—…arse these words so translated certainly no man will nor ought to acknowledge That al did I neuer sayd we haue to much experience of you and some others that loue alwaies to be opposite to Lawes Creeds Canons and whatsoeuer pleaseth not your fansies but that all should I doe auouch by reason the Church of England in her publike seruice the Synod in their Articles and the Parliament of this Realme in their confirmation of both enioynâ—… all men not onlâ—… to reade those words so translated but to beleâ—…ue that Christ descended to Hell If â—…ou 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are bound to belâ—…eue your emphaticall phrase or your phantasticalâ—… imagination oâ—… you know not what generall indâ—…finite
priuatiâ—…e condition of death they wâ—…l â—…ile at your presumptuous folly If it be a matter of faith it â—… no phrase if we must beleeue as they teach that Christ after his death and buâ—…all deâ—…cended to hell you must shew vs some other hell to which Christ descended after death or els I conclude that the Lawes of this Land bind all men to beleeue and professe that Christ descended to that hell which the Scriptures acknowledge and not â—…hich your roling concâ—…its and totterâ—…ng tonguâ—… would establish against the warrant and word of God whose only will should be the line whose only trueth should be the guide whose only praise should be the end of all our professions and actions THE TABLE SERVING for their vse that are desirous with more ease to finde out the speciall contents of this booke as they are handled in their seuerall places A A Brahams bosom pag. 552 the place therof vnknowen 656 Aâ—…yssus in the Newe Testamenâ—… is hell 6â—…9 Aâ—…sed iâ—…nocents and penitâ—…nts â—…re not though hanged on a tree 238 Châ—…t was noâ—… Aâ—…sed how great soeuer his paines weâ—… 164. 165 S. Auâ—…s iâ—…dgement how Châ—…ist was accursed 241 Men câ—…n not be truly blâ—…ssed and accursâ—…d 253 Thâ—…t is â—…ccâ—…ed whâ—…ch God hateth 257 A sacâ—…ifice for sinne is not acâ—…ursed but accepted of God 258 Adam sinned aswell by bodie as by soule 183. 184 Was punished for his sinne after Christ was promised 147 What God threatened to Adam if he sinned 177. 178 Aeternall death fâ—…r whom Christ might feare 484 Against aeâ—…rnall death as due to him Christ could not pâ—…ay 378. 379 Aeternally God doth not punish one for anothers â—…ault 336 Affections are pâ—…infull to the soule 4â—…9 make sensible alterations in the heart 193. 194 Good affections of loue and zeale are not painfull 26 Euill affections are punishments of sinne 31 Inward affections make outward impressions in the heart 193 The heart is the seat of mans affections and actions  Christ couâ—…d represse and encrease his affections as he saw cause 400 The Aâ—…xe cleaueth to the Verbe and not to the Noune 216 Afflâ—…ctions of the godly are moderated punishmeÌ„ts 9. 10. 11. 17. manifest Gods displeasure against sinne 14â—… Agony what it is 339 Tâ—…e paines of hell were not the cause of Christs agony 58. 59 The causes that might be of Christs agony in the â—…ardeÌ„ 9â—… they crossâ—… not one another 97 I diâ—… not resolue what was the cause of Christs agony  The precise cause of Christs agony is not reuealed in the Scriptures 338. 346. though the general occasions may be coniectured 346 The parts of Christs agony 339 An agony proueth rather zeale then feare 339 Feare and sorrow the Scriptures witnesse in Christs agony 342 Submission to God and compassion on men the generall causes of Christs agony 347 The first cause coÌ„curring to Christs agony 347 The second 354 The third 370 The fourth 371 The fiâ—…th 375 The sixt 399 The Fathers determâ—…ne not the exact cause of Chrâ—…sts agony 371 How some vse the word agony 403 The different affâ—…ctions in Christs agony had different causes 558 Amazâ—…d neither Moses nor Paul were in their praâ—…ers 368 Christ was not amazed in his praier 369. 479 Christs praier prooueth hee was not then amazed 469 Christs â—…raier was no amaze 467 The Defender yeeldâ—…th perfect knowledge to Christ in his amazednes 481 Angry God was with our sinnes but not with Christs person 463 God is truely angry with his childrens sinnes 14 Angels sinned in their whole nature as men doe 197 Angels and good men receaued the bowing of the body 662 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth For as well as From. 501 The Apostle 1. Cor. 15. speaketh onely of the resurrection to glory 640. What his wordes Hâ—…b 5. inferre 498. 499. 500 Beleeuers may not iudge of the apostles words 89 More Apostles then twelue 651 The diuers reading and translating of the apostles words 1. Cor. 15. 55. 639 Astonishment what it is 441 What astonishment with feare is 468 Christ did not pray in astonishment 441 Why Christ might be somewhat astonished 468 Athanasius lewdly falsified by the Defender 275 taketh Hades for hell 569. 600. 601 What Athanasius speaketh of Adam the Defender referreth to Christ. 275 Augustine not ignorant of the Greeke tongue 608 his iudgement how Christ was accursed 241 keepeth the sense of Peters word Act. 2. 626 is grossely mistaken by the Defender 627  Christ tooke our naturall but not sinfull affections 330 Christ might beholde the power of Gods wrath and yet not feare the vengeance due to the wicked 348 Christ prayed for vs and against Satan 352 Christ knew the burden of our sinnes must lie on his shoulders 353 Christ and his members must drinke of one and the same cup. 353 Christ wept for the desolation of Ierusalem and sorowed for the reiection of the Iewes 354 Christ wept and sorrowed when he would 355 Christ grieued at the wilfulnesse of the Iewes 357 Christ sorowed that his death should be the ruine of the Iewes ibid. Christ chose the time and place to shew his vehement affections 358 Christ could not be content to be separated from God for vs. 367 Christ suffered the likenesse of our punishment not of our sinne 273 Christ was not ordained to be damned for vs. 364 Christ feared not death but his Fathers power 370 Christ might pray to haue the deepnes of his sorrowes comforted paines asswaged 374. 375 Christ might pray against the sting of death which he was to feele before he died 381 Christ could not pray against eternall death as due to him but vnto vs. 378. 379 Christ was most earnestly to aske what God had faithfully promised to graunt 384 Christ felt all our affections not of necessitie but according to his owne power and will 386 Christ shewed in the garden how mans soule strugleth with the panges of death 388 Christ was weake to comfort the weak but stronger then the strongest on the crosse 388. 390 Christ saw the whole danger from which hee should redeeme vs. 392. 393 Christ teacheth all his to feare Gods power as himselfe did in the garden 393. 394 Christ presented and dedicated his body in the garden which he sufâ—…ered on the crosse to be done to death 399 Christ died not in the garden 400 Christ could represse and increase his affections as he saw cause 400 Christ found no ioy in his paines but comfort in his hope 411 Christ emptied himselfe of glory not of grace 412 Christ citing the 1. vers of the 21. Psalme noteth the whole to appertaine to his passion 434 Christ was mortified in flesh but not in soule 507 Christ might passe from hell to heauen 550 Christ needed no long time to deâ—…cend to hel 551 Christ presented himselfe in euery place 564 Christ was to rise full conquerer of hell and death 668 How Christs death was like the godlies 7 How Christ laid downe his soule for
vs. 132. 133 How Christ shall the second time appeare without sinne 27 How far Christs sufferings must be extended 343 How Christs soule was in his Fathers hands 549 How Christ was in Paradise the day of his death 549 How Christ was like vs in all things sinne excepted 86 How Christ might feare and yet be freed from it 486. â—…87 How Christ loosed the sorrowes of death 624 How Christ must rise from the dead 627 What Christ discerned in all his sufferings 317 What Christ vndertooke for vs. 324 What things Christ inwardly beheld in the garden 387 Why Christ might dislike the death of the body 398 The ioynt sufferings of Christ in his bodily death most auaileable for our saluation 68 Euery thing in Christ was meritorious but not satisfactorie for sinne 179. 180 Both body and soule must suffer in Christ. 130. 131 Christs bodily death part of the punishment of our sinnes 11 By Christs corporal punishment we are freed from spirituall and eternall 222. 223 Christs blood could not be shed but by Satan and his instâ—…uments 231 Christs recompence for the wrong receaued at Satans hands 232 Christs suffering without the gate of the city 113. 114 Christs death was most iust with God in respect of his will to saue vs. 262. 263 Christs death not exacted as a debt but â—…eceaued as a voluntarie sacrifice 264 Christs doings aboue mans reason 310 The nature measure and purpose of Christs sufferings 332 The paines of Christs soule as of his body were equall to the strength of his patience 334 Christs faith did not faile in the sharpest of his paines 335 All Christs sufferings were righteous and holie 344. 438 Christs words Iohn 12. auouch not contraries 482. are expounded 483 Christs senses were not ouerwhelmed with feare and sorrow 477 Christs feares and sorrowes not like the reprobates 448. 449. 450 We must not increase Christs sufferings at our pleasure 478 Christs passió did not kil his soul but his body 528 Christs conquest secureth our soules seuered from our bodies 670 Christs Soule was not tormented with Gods immediat hand 34 Christs Soule suffered but died not for vs. 133 Christ soule suffered by all her powers but not the death of the Soule 136. 137. 140 Christs Soule chiefe patient in paine and agent in merit 179 Christs Soule could not merit if it wanted vnderstanding and will 480 Christs Soule in her greatest paines did most shew the life of patience and obedience to God 524 Christs Soule was passible but died not 533 Christs Soule was not fastned to hell three daies 551 Christs Soule was in glory before his Body 669 Christs Soule liuing by grace could no way be dead 523 Neither Scriptures nor Fathers vnderstâ—…nd Christs Soule by his Body 426. 427 Christs Soule was not crucified through infirmity 510 Christâ—… Soule was not vnder the dominion of death 650 What wee must beware in the sufferings of Christs Soule 536 Many writers teach the sufferings of Christs Soule without the paines of hell 536 Why Christs Soule and not his Body was to conquere hell 668 It is not against the faith that Christes Soule should conquere hell 622 Christs manâ—…ood praied for that with all humilitie which hiâ—… person by â—…ight might haue chalenged 378 Christâ—… manhood might feare the glory of Gods iudgement 380 Christs manhood miâ—…ht feare the power of Gods wrath against our sinnes which he was to beare 380 Christs manhood might feare the sting of death as horrible to mans nature 381 Christs manhoode was to conquere hell 667. though by power of his Godhead 670 Christs flesh found no ease in death though his Soule were full of hope 424 Christs flesh was weake though his Spirite was willing 508 Christs flâ—…sh could not putrifie 623 Christs praier in the Garden was well aduised 397 Christâ—… praier was no maze 4â—…7 Christs praier was not against his Fathers will 397. 465. 466. 470. 471. 472 Christs praier was full of faith 474. 475 Christs praier was with condition and reseruation of Gods will 382 Compassion and pittie are alwaies painfull 27 Compassion is affliction though it be a vertue 438 Christ more compassiâ—…nate then Moses or Paul 359 Christs complaint on the Crosse. 409 How many senses it may beare 418. 420. 421 The first sense 416 The second sense 418 The third sense 421 The fourth sense 430 The fift sense 432 The sixt sense 433 The Saints compâ—…aint in their afflications 418 The euent of Christs coâ—…plaint on the Crosse. 419 No shame for Christ to complaine on the Crosse as he did 420 Leo maketh Christs complaint on the Crosse an instruction no lamentation 432 We were conceaued in sin before we were quickned with life 173 Mans flesh is defiled in conception before the soule is created and infused 174. 175 None can be euerlastingly condemned for anothers fault 363 Christs conquest ouer hell and death 667 was ordered most to Satâ—…ns shame 669 Contradictions obiected by the Defender are easily answered 69 Contradictions in the Defender 320 A shamefull contradiction of the Defender 423 The words of the Creed examined 648 How long this clause of Christs descent to hell hath beene in the Creede 653. 654 Hades in the Creede muâ—…t signifie hell 649 Hell in the Creede is no new translation 652 The Creede continued from the Apostles times 664 Twelue parts of the Creede â—…64 What Crâ—…sse of Christ it was that Paul so much reoiyced in 73. 74 75 How the Fathers and new writers expound that place 76. 77 How farre the Crosse of Christ extendeth it selfe by the Scriptures 79 We reioyce in the effects of Christs Crosse. 81 Christ was not voâ—…de of all comfort on the Crossâ—… 410. 411 What comfort Christ had on the Crosse. 412 The death of the Crosse the greatest exâ—…anition of Christ. 433 Christs Soule was not Crucified through infirmitie 501 Figuratiuely the Soule may be said to be Crucified 80 What Cup Christ dranke of 373 What Christ meant by the houre and Cup of his Passion 443 Christ and his members must drinke of one and the same Cup. 353 What part of the Curse Christ bare for our sinnes 234. 235 Hanging on a tree was not the whole Curse of the Law 236 A double Curse of sinne 236 Two kindes oâ—… Câ—…rses in the Law 239 The bodily death which Châ—…ist suffered was the Curse which he sustained 240 Cursing and blâ—…ssing compared doe manifest each the other 249 What is true Cursing and blessing from God 250 How Christ was made a Curse for vs. 257 Christs death was a kinde of Curse 259 Christ vndertooke to satisfie but not to suffer our Curse 260 The Curse for sinne is triple 266 Cyprian wrested by the Defender 274 D D Amnation What paines are essentiall to it 37. 39 The horror of Gods iudgements not neere the paines of the Damned 227 The Godly in this life feele not the paines of the damned 320 Sharper paines are reserued for the damned then now they feele 334 Christ was not
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
bodilie death which God had irreuocably pronounced and executed on Adam and his ofspring by returning him and them to the earth for manie thousand yeeres before Christ came but rather in that to partake with vs that he might saue vs from the rest which in all the wicked did accompany this death and in the end to raise vs againe to a better life lest we should faint vnder the hand of God who fastneth vs to the afflictions of this life by the example and fellowship of Christs sufferings For if we suffer with him we shall raigne with him and we must first die in Adam before we can be quickned againe in Christ. They are now profitable for vs you will say and so rather helpe vs than hurt vs in this corruption of sinne with which we are compassed I doubt not thereof and so were they from the first instant that they were imposed on Adam but how came this corruption of our nature if not as a punishment of sinne in Adam and consequently the remedies thereof do also witnesse Gods displeasure against sinne though they be farre more holesome for vs than to rot in the sores of our inward corruption Can any man doubt but God was and is able to cleere vs though neuer so corrupt from the infection and dominion of sinne by the working of his Spirit more mightilie and casilie than by troubles and griefs if it had so seemed good to his wisdome and iustice And had he determined to shew vs onlie loue without all regard to his iustice how readie was it for him in Christ to haue released as well all corporall and temporall affliction to his elect as he did spirituall and eternall But he resolued otherwise in his most wise counsell for the conseruation of his iustice and so now healeth our corruption with the salue of affliction to let vs haue continually presented before our eyes and impressed in our bodies what our sinne at first did and still doth deserue though he neuer withdrew his mercie from vs which in the end shall most abundantly recompense all Wherefore it is no reason that because troubles are profitable or necessarie for our corrupt state therefore they are not effects of Gods displeasure against sinne yea rather because God could haue otherwise cured sinne in vs and would not but by perpetuall affliction it is an argument that God so hated sinne in our first parents that he would haue the verie remembring curing thereof to be alwayes in this life painfull and grieuous to our outward man though he would also comfort vs in Christ whiles heere we liue and heereafter crowne vs with glorie for Christes sake Neither is this a question of words whether they be proper or improper in the Scriptures but a point of doctrine necessarie to be receiued of all men that the corruption and dissolution of our nature and life in this world doth manifest the exceeding hatred that naturallie God hath of sinne who rewarded it in all mankinde so seuerely that he spared neither the bodies soules states nor liues of his elect from sensible signes of his detesting sinne in them though for his sonnes sake in whom they were beloued and adopted he would by his wonderfull power rather further than indanger their saluation euen by those maladies and corrosiues of sinne This sheweth the greatnesse of Gods power and goodnesse of his mercie towards vs but this altereth not the iudgement which God pronounced and punishment which he inflicted on Adam and all his ofspring for sinne The corruption and infection of sinne which naturally and continually dwelleth in all the godly called by Diuines concupiscence is it no punishment of sinne because the guilt thereof is remitted in Baptisme and now it is left in vs to humble vs and awake vs to call for grace and to resist sinne that striuing with it we see not only the danger of sinne assaulting vs but the Spirit of God assisting vs and bountie of God rewarding vs The actuall sinnes of the faithfull shall we thinke them no sinnes but fauors from God because by them God worketh repentance submission conuersion yea faith zeale ioy and thanksgiuing in his elect God worketh sayth Austen all things for the good of those that loue him and so farre forth vtterly all things that if any of them stray and for sake the right way euen that God turneth to their good because they returne more humble and better taught The like I say of death and other miseries of mans life pronounced first by Gods mouth and still inflicted by Gods hand They are as they were degrees or effects of Gods anger against sinne in Adam pursuing him and all his posteritie for the confirmation of his iustice though by Gods mercie towards his they now serue as they did euen at the first in Gods children to represse sinne to worke repentance to raise confidence in God and contempt of all earthly things and to exercise the graces of Gods Spirit giuen them as patience obedience and such like and to giue them assurance of a better life The Church of Christ euer was and is of the same minde with me that the death of the bodie with her seeds and fruits in this life first entred and still remaineth as a PVNISHMENT of sin Men shunned saith Austen the death of the flesh rather than the death of the spirit that is the punishment rather than the cause of the punishment We came vnto death by sinne Christ by righteousnesse ideo cum sit mors nostra poena peccati mors illius facta est hostia pro peccato and therefore where our death is the punishment of sinne his death was the sacrifice for sinne Theodoret speaking of the separation of bodie and soule wherby that which is mort all sustaineth death the soule remaining free from death as being immortall asketh his aduersarie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doest thou not thinke death to be a punishment Who answering The Diuine Scripture teacheth so much Theodoret inferreth Is death then the punishment of sinners The other yeelding that this is granted of all men Theodoret concludeth Why then since both the soule and bodie sinned doth the bodie alone sustaine the punishment of death Fulgentius Nisi praecessisset in peccato mors animae nunquam corporis mors in supplicio sequeretur Except the death of the soule had gone before by sinne the death of the bodie had neuer followed after as a punishment And therefore of our flesh he sayth Nascitur cum poena mortis pollutione peccati It is borne with the punishment of death and pollution of sinne And of yoong children By what iustice is an infant subiected to the wages of sinne if there be no vncleannesse of sinne in him or how do we see him strooken with death if he felt not the sting thereof which is sinne Maxentius in the confession of his faith We beleeue sayth he that not only the death of
and soft beddes but in Martyrdomes Where following not onely the fansies but the very phrases of Montanus prophesies as I haue formerly shewed he maketh no difference as touching the place betweene Ethnicks and Christians after death except they be Martyrs and thereby fastneth all the faithfull that die in their beddes or of any sickenesse be it neuer so grieuous to Inferi the Region vnder the earth which error was alwayes condemned by the Church of Christ. Thus also is Augustine well vnderstood where he denieth that the Patriaâ—…kes were apud â—…nferos in hell namely the place of the damned because they were in Abrahams bosome Which yet elsewhere he graunteth vnto that they might bee apud inferos in the world of the dead and namely where the godlie dead should be So that thus if you had but distinguished these and other Fathers like words as you ought to haue done there needed no such follie of contradiction to be imputed vnto them as you doe lay to their charge in this point alâ—…ogether vndeseruedly Indeed if I would follow your example in drawing the Fathers wordes from their plaine and true meaning and force them to a sense which they neuer thought yea which they directly rerute I might easily make the fathers say what pleased me as you doe But this with me and with all that be wise is the peruerting not the producing of Fathers And therefore I did them lesse wrong to shew where they differed amongst themselues in some secret points not fully reuealed to men in this life then to falsifie them and abuse them after this manner Neither said I any worse of them then they say of themselues that these things are vncertaine and no man might be offended if they were not able to bring any setled or assured expositions or resolutions in these points which Austin openly professed of himselfe as I told you in that place which you cite But let vs heare how you medicine these matters and by that we shall sound the depth of your skill If I would take Inferos in some places for hell in other places for the world of the dead and namely where the godly dead should be all were safe you thinke Saint Austin did no way disagree from him in those places which I cited which were Epistola 99. 57. de Genesi ad literam li. 12. ca. 33. de ciuitate Dei li. 20. ca. 15. To him that catcheth but after a word and neuer looketh what is precedent or consequent this may seeme plaister of Paris to amend this breach but he that readeth three lines on either side shall soone perceaue how foolishly and grossely you make Saint Austin 〈◊〉 to crosse himselfe and yet euidently to subuert your whole building Beginne with that place which you quote last in your margine and see how well you reconcile S. Austins words to make for your assertions Si enim non absurde credi videtur antiquos etiam sanctos qui venturi Christi tenuerunt fidem locis quidem à torment is impioruÌ„ remoâ—…issimis sed apud Inferos fuisse donec eos inde sanguis Christi ad ea locadesceâ—…sus erueret profecto deinceps boni fideles effuso illo pretio iam redempti PROR SVS INFEROS Nâ—…SCIVNT donec etiam receptis corporibus bona recipiant quae merentur If it seeme witâ—…out absurditie to be beleeued that the Saints of the old Testament which kept the faith of Christ to come were in places most remote from the torments of the wicked and yet apud inferos in infernall or lower places vntill the bloud of Christ and his descent thither did deliuer them thence certainly after that time the godâ—…y beleeuers now redâ—…med with that price of his bloud shed neuer know or trie any inferi to the time that recouering their bodies they receaue the good things deserued by them or prepared for them If here we take Inferi for the world of the dead as you would haue vs doe not your eares glow to heare so vehement and violent a gunne shot against all your deuices and namely against your world of the dead that certainely after the time that Christ dscended to Inferi the godly beleeuers PROR SVS INFEROS NESCIVNT neuer come to any Inferi Where if you put your world of the dead for Inferi say the godly dying neuer come to be dead or to the place where the godly dead should be the world of the liuing will thinke you out of your wits that so tempestuously tumble out falsehoodes and contradictions And what will you doe with that position of Austins so often repeated and vrged as the ground of his resolution that he neuer found Inferi in the Scriptures taken in any good signification Ne ipsos quidem Inferos vspiam Scripturarum in bono appellâ—…tos potui inuenire I neuer could find in any part of the Scriptures Inferos vsed in any good sense And so againe Illud me nondum inuenisse confiteor Inferos appellatos vbi iustoruÌ„ animae requiescunt I confesse I haue not yet sound that the place where the soule of the righteous do rest is called inferi The like he saith in his fiftie seuen â—…pistle You will expound Inferi in Austin for the place where the godly dead should be Austen himselfe vtterly disauoweth it and expressely saith he neuer could find the word taken in the Scâ—…iptures for any good and therefore neuer did vse it in any such sense Call you this the clearing or the crossing of Saint Austins words Euen so another of your maine masts is ouerthrowen by Saint Austin though you in your rancor or rage make it a wicked and hereticall thing to thinke Christ went where the damned were that is into hell which yet S. Austen beleeued professed in those very places which you vndertake to reconcile Quaeri solet si non nisi paenalia rectè intelliguntur Inferna quo modo animam Domini Christi piè credamus fuisse in inferno Sed bené respondetur ideo descendisse vt quibus oportuit subueniret Some vse to demaund if Inferna be rightly taken for none other but for the places of punishments after this life how may we safely beleeue that the soule of the Lord Christ was in Inferno in hell but it is wel answered he descended thither to succour those that were to be succoured And so elsewhere Christi quidem animam venisse vsque ad ea loca in quibus peccatores cruciantur vt eos solueret a tormentis quos esse soluendos occuli à nobis sua iustitiâ iudicabat non immerito creditur That Christs soule came euen to those places in which sinners are tormented to deliuer them from torments whom his iustice vnknowne to vs thought fit to deliuer is belieued not without good cause Austen acknowledgeth the Church belieued it in his time howsoeuer your tongue ouerrunneth your teeth to make it a wicked hereticall
no death of the Soule 519 The Fathers professe true fire to be in hell 46 The Fathers plainly remoue the death of Christs Soule from the worke of our redemption 330. 331 All Christs Feares were holy 215 Feare and sorrow in Christ were sufferings for sinne 345 Christs Feare in the Garden was religious 371 Christs â—…eare and sorrow were painfull but religious sufferings 372 What Feare and sorrow Christ was to yeelde vnto God when he offered the ransome of our sinnes 374 What things Christ might iustly and greatly feare in the Garden 380 â—…eare may be intellectâ—…ue or sensitiue 383 Christ might feare many thinges besides hell paines 385 Why Christ feared more then Mattyrs doe 395 Christ might iustly feare the pâ—…wer of Gods wrath 380 Figuratiuely the Soule may be said to be crucified 80 Fire in hell is not allegoâ—…icall 40. 41. 42. 43 The Fathers professe tâ—…ue fire to be in hell 46 It is possible that brimstone may bee mingled with fire in hell 47 The same fire punishâ—…th the wiâ—…ked both bâ—…fore and after iudgeâ—…ent 55 What fire did signifie in sacrifices 112. 113 What fire might note in the holocaust 116 How Christ was Forsaken on the crosse 409 How farre and wherein Christ was Forsaken are the things questioned 414 What forsaking could not be found in Christ 414 We were forsaken of God till Christ 〈◊〉 vs by his death 417 Christ neuer forsaken of hope and comfoâ—…t â—…7 God shewed by the present euent that he had not forsaken hâ—…s sâ—…nne 419 We stâ—…iue not for the word but for the sense and maner of forsaâ—…ing 431 G GEhenna was not vsed in speaking to the Gentiles 618 God can doc more then he will 23 Gods loue to Christ appeared euen in his death 20. 21 Gods purpose in the death and crosse of Christ. 154. 155. 156 God vseth meanes and instruments in punishing 33 God tempereth loue and iustice in punishing his elect 147. 255 God worketh good by euill 254 God is iust as well in forgiuing as in punishing sin 262 God was able to saue vs otherwise then by Christs death 287 God was the author of all Christes afflictions but not with his immediate hand 298. 299 God vieth his creatures to performe his iudgements 302 God is the principal agent in all our sufferings but not with his immediate hand 302 Gods hand worketh whatsoeuer meanes he vseth 300. 301 Gods loue to his sonne ouerswaied his hatred to our sinnes 268 Gods iustice in subiecting Satans kingdome to Christs manhood 230 The Gospell differeth much from the Law 264 How the Graue is aâ—… habitation for the godly 575 God would not haue our flesh as yet freed from the Graue 670 Christ was not Guilâ—…y of our sinne though he took our punishment on him 162. 163 The whole man is guilty of all sinne 185. 186 187. 208 Guilty stretcheth as well to the punishment as to the fact .266 A mediator not guilty of the sinne for which he doth mediate 276 H HAdes what it signifiâ—…th with the Greeke Fathers 589. 590. 591. 592. 593 Hades what it is with Chrylostom 589 Athâ—…nasius taketh Hades for hell 599. 6â—…0 Hades in Athanasius Creed is not the graue 659 Hades with Ignatius is not the graue 657 The soules of the godly are not in Hadâ—…s 602 Hades is a place of darkenesse 609 How Hades is vsed in the new Testament 629 Hades with new writers is the graue or hell 609. 610 611 Hades is a place vnder the earth 613 Hades an vnseene and darke place 618 Hades in the Creed must signifie hell 649 Hades is not the ignominie of the graue 651 Hades was first the name of the diuell 615 Hades is hell or the diuell in the new Testament 619 Hades is hell in the new Testament without any figure 621 Why Hades signifieth hell in the new Tâ—…stament 647 Hades with the Pagans was the place not the state of the dead 616 The whole created world is Hades with the Defâ—…nder 615 Hades in effect is nothing but death with the Defender 624 How 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Inferi concurre in signification 579 How the Defender wauereth about Hades 619 How Hades is vsed in the Reuelation 642 How Hades shall be cast into hell fire 644 S. Luke maketh Hades a place of torment 621 What Hades Matth. 11. 23. is threatned to Capernaum 630 Many Greeke copies haue Act. 2. 24. the sorrowes of Hades 625 Hades in the Scriptures opposed to the highest heauens 635 Christ loosed the sorrowes of Hades 625. 626 The wall of Hades not broken but by Christ. 657 Hades hath not all the dead 646 Hades followeth after death 643 Hades taken for the rulers or persons in hell 647 The soules of the godly are not in Hades 602 Hanging on a tree was not the whole curse of the law 236 Hanging on the crosse a cursed kind of death 237 Innocents and penitents not truely accursed though Hanged on a tree 238 Hard speeches should rather bee qualified then strained to the highest 271 All affections make sensible alterations in the Heart 1â—…3 194 The heart is the seat of mans affections and actions 2â—…3 The Hâ—…art suggesting euill sinneth 311 The ioyes of Heauen are proper to the place 455 456 The sight of God in this life â—…uch differeth from the sight of his face in Heauen 456 The Saints of God had some sight of God in earth but not comparable to that in Heauen 460 The soules â—…re not yet in the same height of Heauen where Christ is 5â—…0 541 How many Heauens the Scriptures make 541. 542 The graces of God in earth are not the ioyes of Heauen 461 Why the Heauens are compared with hell in the Scriptures 634 God is not the immediate and principall inâ—…cter of Hell paines 2â—… 29 The sentence of the iudge containeth the essence of Hell paines 35 Christ suffered not the substance of hell paines 36 Reiection from Gods kingdome essentiall to Hell paines 37. 38 Malediction essentiall to Hell paines 38 Hell fire is not allegoricall 40. 41 42. 43. 49. 53 54 I neuer said Hell fire was materiall 44 The Fathers professe tâ—…ue fire to be in Hell 46 51. 52 So doe later Diuines 49. 50 It is possible that brimstone may be mingled with fire in Hell 47 Chaines there are in Hell though not of iron â—…7 Whether there be true fire in hel before the iudgment is not the question 54 Christ suffered not the essentiall part of hell paines 56 Hell paines not the cause of Christs agonie 58. 59 The sharpnesse of Hell paines 60 The foretast of iudgement in Hell is neither full finall perpetuall nor genâ—…rall 210 Positiue punishment now in Hell 214 The suffering of Hell paines no way necessarie to our saluation 220 Men may feare but not feele the truâ—… paines of hel in this life 320 The paines of hell are no naturall affections 383 Christ might feele somewhat extraordinarie yet not the paines of hell 391 The vehemencie of hell