it It is very true that as they who believe the evill of Adam and the good of Christ passe through the evill of Adam the good of Christ is in part suspended in thē so they who doe not believe neither the evill of Adam nor the good of Christ passe through the good of Christ and the evill of Adam is suspended in them In as much as they who believe passe through the miseries of this present life and through death which are things of the evill of Adam and whilst they stand in this present life and whilst their bodies abide in the sepulchres the good of Christ is in part suspended in them And in as much as they who doe not believe passe in this present life through the good of Christ enjoying many things together with them that believe the good of Christ and in eternall life because they shall be raised up the evill of Adam shall be suspended in them So I understand that as the evill of Adam was efficacious to make us all dye from which death notwithstanding they who believe are free so the good of Christ is efficacious to raise us all up of which Resurrection notwithstanding they shall have no joy who doe not believe because they shall not be in good estate therein In Adam we all dye in Christ we all arise And in the evill of Adam shall they all remaine who shall not accept the good of Christ But in the good of Christ none shall remaine but only they who have believed him and shall have accepted and felt it For in effect the Resurrection of Christ shall not be glorious but only for them who believing to be dead in Adam and raised up in Christ shall give themselves to live in this present life as dead and raised up beginning even now to live a life much like unto that which they have to live in life everlasting in such manner that as the Vivification is an imperfect Resurrection so the Christian living in the state of this Vivification is imperfect albeit in respect of the living in the state of Depravation it is most perfect And the draught of living in the state of the Resurrection in as much as it is imitable in the state of Vivification we see in Iesus Christ our Lord in his purity bounty sidelity obedience and charity And here I learne two things The one that sinee a man believing the evill of Adam frees himselfe from it and believing the good of Christ enioyes it It belongs to every one to believe this evill and this good not expecting for all that to feele it that he may believe it for this were to pervert the order which God hath set who will that we shall believe before we feel but believing that he may feele it For believing together both the evill and the good the efficacy of the good will deprive us of the feeling of the evill in this present life in part and altogether in life eternall in as much as we shall be then altogether free from the evill of Adam and altogether intent to enioy the good of Christ. The other thing which I here learne is that they who in this present life doe not give themselves to live as dead and raised vp imitating the life of Christ doe not believe that they dyed in Adam and that they rose again in Christ how much soever they say and affirme to believe both the one and the other thing For if they did believe them there is no doubt but they would apply themselves to live as dead and raised up this being properly the efficacy of Faith to reduce by litle and litle them that believe in truth to be dead in Adam and raised up in Christ to live as dead and as raised up not because they intend to become just but because they doe now know and feele themselves just in Christ and because they hope for the crowne of justice that is immortality and life eternall And here I will adde this that as the acceptation of the indulgence which a King makes unto them that being fled for some excesse out of his Kingdome remain in the service of another King is efficatious to make them that leaving the stranger Kingdome and the service of the strange King they should returne to their own Kingdome and to serve their own King so the acceptation of the Gospell is efficacious to make that all men who accept it leaving the Kingdome of the world and the service of the world should come unto the Kingdome of God and to the service of God And that leaving to live according to the flesh they should live according to the spirit so that they who leave not the Kingdome of the world and the service of the world and the living according to the flesh give testimony of themselves that they have not well accepted the Gospell however much they say to believe it no otherwise then they who doe not leave the strange Kingdome and the service of the strange King returning into their own Kingdome to serve their own King give testimony of themselves that they doe not accept the indulgence of their King how much soever they say to acceptit and to believe it since they doe not the will of the same King which would the selfe same from them which God would from us that is that we should leave the Kingdome of the world and the service of the world and that we should come unto the Kingdome of God to serve God in holinesse and justice and in the Gospell of his only begotten sonne Iesus Christ our Lord. CGNSID CIX The Conceit which as a christian I have at present of Christ and of them who are the Members of Christ. DEsiring to resolve my selfe in my selfe in the conceit which as a Christian I ought to have of Christ I goe on considering in him two generations the one divine and the other humane And two times the one of approbry and the other of glory According to the divine generation I know that Christ is the word of God the son of God of the same substance with the Father and one selfe same thing with him so like unto him that he might wel say to Philip Philip he that seeth me sees my Father also Iohn 14. This as I understand is that Word with which God created all things according as Moses saith God said let there be light And according to that which David saith by the word of the Lord were the Heavens made Psal. 33. With this selfe same word I understand that God maintaines all things conformable to that In him was life Iohn 1. And to that upholding all things by the word of his Power Heb. 1. This selfe same word I understand that by the work of the holy spirit in the wombe of the most holy Virgin God cloathed with flesh with intent to repaire all things by him as he made all things by him and maintaines all things with him And I
on getting that which they see in their new good and heavenly Father leaving both to appeare and to be like their mother And as before they came unto the kingdome of God◅ they had and represented in them the image the likenesse of depraved nature so likewise being entered into the kingdome of God they haue and represent in themselves the image and similitude of God recovering that which the first man lost By this I understand in what sort a man was created unto the likenesse and similitude o God and in what doth consist the benefit that men haue received by Iesus Christ our Lord. CONSID. XXXV Whence it is that that difficulty comes which pious persons haue to continue in that whith appertaines to Piety and Justification Considering that the duty of Piety is for a man to content himselfe of every thing which God doth perswading himselfe and holding for certain that all that so comes to him is Good and Holy and Iust And believing that all that which comes to passe in this present life comes to passe by divine providence without admitting that anything should come to passe by chance And considering that the duty of Christian Faith is to accept with his minde and to confesse with his mouth the Gospell of Iesus Christ our Lord. And seeing on one side in many men that haue not the spirit much conformity to the will of God in such manner that they neither grieve themselves nor resent out of measure the death of those persons whom they greatly loue nor for the losse of goods nor for the losse of Honour and that they themselves are content to dye And seeing likewise in many other men that haue not the spirit much acceptation and much confession of the Gospell without any scruple of doubt at all And seeing on the other side that some spirituall persons grieve themselves resent themselves and are very sorrowfull for the death of those persons whom they loved for other inconveniences that befall them and they cannot bring themselves to be willing to dye and that they feel the losse of estate and the losse of Honour And seeing also in other persons who haue the spirit much wavering in the acceptation and confession of the Gospell that they cannot certifie nor confirm themselves of all that is therein I haue many times set my self to consider the causes whence these contrary effects should proceed forasmuch as it seems that in him who hath not the spirit there should not be conformity with the will of God nor should he giue credit to the Gospel and in him that hath the spirit there ought to be both the one and the other And after I haue considered the matter I understand that however flesh doth sometimes a litle contradict flesh yet in the end flesh suffers her selfe to be overcome and subdued by the flesh whereupon there being a man that hath not the spirit as well an aff◅ction of the flesh willing to conform it selfe with God as to grieve to be sorrowfull and to resent it selfe for the inconveniences that offer themselves in this present life it comes to passe that one affection overcomming the other it seems that such a man doth conform himself with the will of God and it is not true For hee doth not conform himselfe but with his own proper will by which for his own satisfaction and for his own designes he doth determine to content himselfe of every thing and to cōform himselfe in all things with the will of God That this is true wee read in many Books of the Gentiles and we heare and see it in many other Nations altogether Infidels and others that counterfeit faith Likewise I understand that there being a man that hath not the spirit as well an affection of the flesh to accept and confesse the Gospell as not accept nor confesse it it comes to passe that one affection overcomming the other it seems that such an one believes the Gospell and it is not true for he doth not belieue but only his own opinion and imagination as the Iew that stands stubborn in his Law and as the Moore that believes his Alcoran On the other side I understand that the flesh alwaies repugnes against the spirit alwaies contradicts it and alwaies struggles with it by reason of the great enmity that is between them two Whereupon it comes to passe that there being in a man that hath the spirit an affection of the spirit that makes him willing to conform himselfe with the will of God contenting himself of every thing that God doth and repugning and contrasting with the flesh which suffers not it selfe to be overcome but after a long space it comes to passe that the man who hath the spirit laments resents and is grieved for the corporall incommodities and for all those other things in which the flesh suffers and aboue all things for death even as we see that the saints of the Law did grieue themselues and as S. Paul a Saint of the Gospell would haue resented it as himselfe saith if that friend of his had died and as the proper son of God our Lord God Iesus Christ did resent himselfe In like manner I understand that there being in the man which hath the spirit an affection of the spirit to be willing to accept and confesse the Gospell and the Flesh repugning and contradicting because it hath no part in such desire nor in such will it comes to passe that a man that hath the spirit feels a weaknesse in his faith goes wavering and doubting in it as wee haue read in some Saints and as we our selues see it in others in such sort that as from the small contradiction which the affections of the flesh haue amongst themselues there comes forth an appearance of Piety and appearance of Faithin them that haue not the spirit so from the great contradiction that is between the Flesh and the Spirit there proceeds in them that haue the spirit a weaknesse in faith that befalling in a man which befalls in the world in a Province or in a common-wealth I would say that as it comes to passe that when any person speaketh or publisheth any thing with an affectiō of the spirit he presently findes a contrast a contradiction and outward persecution although it be a thing which is ordinarily spoken practised but without the spirit and out of humane affections so likewise when a man goes about through the motion of the spirit to perswade himselfe and confirme himselfe in any thing pertaining to piety or iustification he suddenly findes an inward contrast and contradiction for his own affections his own appetites which are mortall enemies to the spirit rise up against him And this comes to passe not withstāding that the selfe same things haue been formerly accepted and believed of him by his own proper affection and opinion Whereupon I gather this conclusion That it is a signe that it is the holy Spirit which
serving God and Christ in those things which are not required of them nor are acceptable unto him and by which they doe peradventure more procure the wrath of God against themselues In this errour I understand it all men come who govern themselues in Gods affaires with humane wisdome not knowing God nor knowing Iesus Christ our Lord. CONSID. XXXIX That Quickning answereth to Mortification and the glory of the Resurrection answereth to Quickning THis is certain that as soon as a man being inspired of God accepts the covenant of justification by Iesus Christ our Lord he begins to dye unto the world and to liue unto God to dye unto Adam and to liue unto Christ to come out of the kingdome of the world and to enter into the kingdome of God And that at that time which a man dyes the soule being separated from the body hee doth accomplish his dying to the world his dying to Adam and his comming out of the kingdome of the world and that when he shall arise again his soule returning to unite it selfe with the body he shall liue perfectly and entirely unto God he shall liue unto Christ and shall abide in the kingdome of God Whereupon considering the difference that is betwixt the state of a man however much mortified he be to Adam and to the world whilst his soul remaines with his body and the estate of another man already dead his soul being severed from his body I understand the difference that shall be between the estate of a man how much soever mortified he be to God to Christ whilst he continues in this present life from that estate in which he shall stand being raised to God to Christ in eternall life understanding that there shall be without all compare greater difference between the state of the Resurrection and that of Vivification then is between the state of Death and that of Mortification although this should be never so great I would say that much greater is the difference between a man raised up and him that is quickned then that which is between a man that is dead aâ—…d him that is mortified understanding that the mortified stands as it were dead standing â—…rucified unto the world and unto himselfe rather in the other life then in this and that he who is quickned stands as it were not raised up standing subject to passions and to death from all which he is free in the Resurrection And understanding all this I use so to call Mortification an imperfect death and vivification an imperfect resurrection And I understand that such shall the resurrection â—…e in eternall life as the Vivification is in the present I would say that the glory of the resurrection shall answer to the perfection of the Vivification Whence I gather that since Vivification answereth to mortification in this present life and that the glory of the resurrection in eternall life shall answer unto vivification it belongs to the pious Christian who desires to liue eternall life to attend to mortify himselfe much to become much like to Christ in his death that he may be likewise much like to Christ in his surrection in which a man shall perpetually abide in the kingdome of God together with the son of God himself Iesus Christ our Lord. CONSID. XL. Two Wills in God one Mediate and another Immediate IN God I consider two Wills one Mediate and Generall and another Immediate Particular With one I understand it he governs the universe And with the other I understand he governs those who are redeemed by Christ. Of the one I understand all the creatures are the executioners every one in his degree and office and of the other I understand the holy Spirit is the executioner and the persons which are partakers of the selfe same spirit Furthermore I understand that men doe oftimes grieue themselves for those effects which result from the Mediate Will of God because it seems to them to redound unto their dammage And I understand that of those effects which result from the Immediate Will of God those persons to whom they appertain doe alwaies rejoyce because they alwaies redound to their good The effects of the Mediate Will I understand to be those which result from the heavenly influences and other naturall causes which following the order that God hath set doe sometimes hurt and sometimes help This order and this course I understand is sometimes altered by the Immediate Will of God and I understand it is sometimes restrained by the selfe same Will And in this alteration and restraint I understand that one part of that Will of God which we call Immediate doth conâ—…ist because it followeth not the common and generall order The other part of the Immediate Will of God I understand consists in those things which he himselfe doth by his word and by the holy Spirit such as are the Creation of the world and particularly that of Man the Reparation of mankinde by Iesus Christ the Vocation of the participation of this good the Iustification with all the other spirituall knowledges and feelings To this Immediate Will of God I understand a man was subject in his first creation And I understand that in sinning hee made himselfe subject to the Mediate Will of God under which subjection I understand all evills doe consist and all troubles to which our humane nature is subject amongst which death is a most principall one In this discourse that hath been said I understand two things the one that Adam disobeying God made us subject to that Will of God which is Mediate and theâ—…eupon to evils and to death And that Christ obeying God returnes his to the subjection and to the Will of God which is Immediate and therefore he frees them from evils and from death From death he frees them habilitating them unto the Resurrection in which they shall liue an eternall life And from evills he doth sometimes free them causing that those should not touch them which should touch them according to ordinary course At other times depriving them of the feeling of them and othertimes mortifying them therewith In such sort that the evill is converted into good in such sort that like as he doth not in such manner free them from death that they should not dye but he doth abilitate them to a most happy everlasting life so neither doth he free them from evills in such sort as they should not touch them but hee doth abilitate them to draw good out of these evills The other thing which I understand is that the continuall sighing of a man that feels or begins to feel in himselfe the benefit of Christ ought to be desiring and demanding to be freed from the subjection of Gods Mediate Will and return under that Will which is Immediate For God being soveraignly good or rather good it selfe in that Immediate Will of his there can be nothing but that which is such as he himselfe And I think assuredly
being helped by the holy spirit in the proper occasions they are mortified not avoiding any of them and therefore they are the same in the occasions as out of the occasions The eight Difference is That they who mortifie themselves by their proper industry doe principally attend unto the mortification of the flesh they that be such having no intent to mortifie the minde not knowing that from thence ariseth all the evill And they who are mortified by the holy Spirit attend principally unto the mortification of the minde knowing that from thence comes all the evill And knowing that the minde being mortified the flesh remaines mortified By the examination of these Differences may a person know whether he mortifies himselfe or whether hee be mortified by the holy Spirit Being advertised of this that there are three estates in those persons who are mortified by the holy Spirit The one is when the holy spirit mortifies them without that they know or feel the vertue of the holy Spirit in them And in this estate that belongs to them which is said in the fourth difference The other is when the holy spirit mortifies them and they feel and know in themselves the virtue of the holy spirit And in this estate there appertaines unto them that which is said in the first Difference The third is when through the absence of the holy Spirit or because they doe not feel and know his presence they goe mortifying themselves with their own industry And in this estate they feel a good part of that which is said in the First the Third the Fourth and the Fift Difference to be felt by them who mortifie themselves by their own proper industry It is very true that to them who are mortified by the holy spirit their owne industries in mortification are profitable unto them It being indeed true what S. Paul saith That to them that loue God all things work for good to the glory of God and of the Son of God Iesus Christ our Lord. CONSID. LIX That in the motions to pray the Spirit doth certifie a man that he shall obtaine that which he demands REeading in Isaia that death being intimated unto Hezekiah a pious King on Gods behalfe hee resented himselfe was grieved and lamented praying God with teares that he would not take away his life And reading a litle after that the destruction of Hierusalem being intimated on Gods behalfe unto the selfesame King with the Babylonian captivity without resenting himselfe nor being grieved nor lamenting without praying God that he would revoke the sentence he was contented that the will of God should be executed accepting it as a benefit of God that those evills should not come in his time And considering that God prolonged the time of Hezekia's life and that he did execute his sentence upon Hierusalem I come to certifie my selfe that pious persons being governed by the spirit of God and chiefly in their prayers in as much as S. Paul saith The spirit of God prayes by them and in them they doe never as it were pray to God but for that which it is Gods will to grant them of which the holy spirit which inspires them to pray is certain According to the judgement of humane reason it had been more just and more convenient that Hezechiah should haue resented himselfe and lamented and been moved to pray God for the revocation of the sentence given against Hierusalem then for the revocation of that sentence which was given against his own proper life And Hezechias a pious King moved by the holy spirit prayed for his own life for that which touched Hierusalem he conformed himselfe with Gods will whereby I understand that it behoues pious persons to keep good accompt with their motions I would say they ought to bee well advertised being moved to pray to God for any thing whether that motion be of humane spirit or of the holy spirit And I understand likewise that the proper countersigne whereby they may be able to judge between these motions is the Inward certainty or uncertainty with which they shall finde themselves in prayer Finding themselves uncertain that they should obtain of God that which they demand they shall judge that the motion is of humane spirit And finding themselves certain to obtain it they shall judge that the motion is of the holy spirit For as much as the motion of the holy spirit drawes alwaies with it the certification a man judging in this manner if the spirit of God which hath moved me to pray did not know that it is the will of God to grant me that which I demand it would not haue moved me This certification I certainly hold was in Hezekiah at that time when he demanded his life to bee prolonged And because he did not feel in himselfe this certification I doe certainly hold that the selfe same Hezekiah did not demand that the sentence against Hierusalem should be revoked With this assurance I see that Christ prayed raising up Lazarus and praying for the conservation of his Disciples And with doubtfulnesse I see he prayed in the Garden and because he felt whence this motion did arise in praying he remitted himselfe unto the will of God And if the son of God himselfe felt these two motions and in one of them he found himself certain and in the other doubtfull every one may think whether it be not necessary to be watchful over himselfe in them albeit they only shall know them that shall bee true members of the same Son of God Iesus Christ our Lord. CGNSID LX. Whence it proceeds that the superstitious are severe and the true Christians are Mercifull Pittifull THE severity and rigour that I see and know for the most part in those persons which the common people holds for devout and spirituall they being in very truth superstitious and ceremonious in as much as appertaines to the chastising or desiring to chastise the vices defects of men I understand proceeds from two causes The one is the proper nature of a man who is inclined to prize and esteem his own things and to condemne and despise others And the other is the proper nature of superstitions and ceremonies to which is annexed severity and rigorousnesse And so it is that these such like superstitious and ceremonious persons desiring that their superstious and ceremonious living should be esteemed and prised are forced to be severe rigorous with workes and words against them who being not as they are haue outward defects and vices that so their manner of life which they hold for vertuous may be the more prised and esteemed And it is likewise true that superstitions and ceremonies having their originall and beginning from some kinde of law which men haue imagined and severity and rigour being annexed to the nature of a law for by these it is maintained and sustained it comes to passe that as well those who attend to the observation of the law or
which they could giue him of themselves even as a man that hath discretion when he saw that a Father should put the goverment of his estate upon an ignorant and unwise son of his holding the Father for wi◅e he would judge that he had not intent to make his son the Lord but to cause him to loose the estate So much difference is the judgement which the spirit of God makes in the judgement of God from that which humane wisdome knowes in the selfesame things And here I understand that for the selfesame causes for which God demands of men that which they cannot of themselves giue him it comes to passe that to thē to whom he begins loue and faith and augmentation in the one and in the other thing through some acknowledgments and feelings and through some tasts of spirituall and divine things he doth not giue so much evidency and so much cleerenesse in them as they themselves would and as much as might serve to make that they should comprehend him with their understandings I would say that as he demands of them that which they cannot give him to the intent they should not enter into pride as they would enter if he should demand of them that which they could give him and so their salvation would be hindred so he doth not let them intirely comprehend spirituall things which he sometimes makes them feele to the end they should not pride themselves and so hinder their salvation God knowes our evill Lumpe and desiring our salvation he deales with us as he sees it convenient we should be dealt with herein doing that with us which we doe with a child when we would have him to love us and depend on us I would say that as we give not the child at one time all that which he would from us and which we meane to give him nay rather some things we give him altogether others in part and others we only shew unto him so much as to breed in him a desire to them and to enamour him of them to the end he may goe enamouring himselfe of us may follow and depend on us knowing that if we gave him at once all that which we have to give him he would grow proud and would not love us nor depend on us so God giveth not unto us at once all that which we would from him nor all that which he will give us but some things he gives us altogether and others in part and others he lets us see so much as sufficeth to breed a longing in us for them to enamour us of them to the intent we may follow him love him and depend on him This he doth because he knowes us to be such that if he should give us at once all that which he hath to give us we should become proud and so he should not have from us what he would that is that we should love him with all our heart and that for the obtaining of eternall life firmely believing we may make ours the justice of his only begotten sonne Iesus Christ our Lord. CONSID. LXXXI Two weaknesses in Christ and in his members and two powers in him and them IN Christ I consider two weaknesses the one is that which he felt in the inward and the other is that which he shewed in the outward That which he felt in the inward I con◅ider in the teares which he shed over Ierusalem and in those which he shed in the death of Lazarus and in the Agony with which he prayed in the garden sweating-drops of blood And that which he shewed in the outward I consider it seeing he was held for base for vulgar for vile yea and also for an ill a pernitious and for a Scandalous man seeing that he was mocked outraged and persecuted untill he was crucified for a malefactor and as a malefactor And I understand that without any comparilon the weaknesse that Christ shewed in the outward was greater then that which he felt in the inward I would say that the inward which he felt was not in that degree of weaknesse which the outward was that he shewed In the selfe same Christ I consider two Powers two virtues and Efficacies The one is that which he felt in the Inward the other is that which he shewed in the outward The power which Christ shewed in the inward I consider in this manner that he said to S. Peter when he reprehended him for cutting of Malchus his eare saying unto him thinkest thou not that I can pray my Father and he shall send me more then twelve Legions of Angels c. And I consider it in many speeches which I read in S. Iohn when Christ spake of his Vnion which he had with God And the power which Christ had in the outward I consider in the miracles which he did and in the authority with which he did them and in the Power and Maiesty with which he spake and taught And I understand that without all comparison the power the vertue and the efficacy that Christ felt in the inward was greater then that which he shewed in the outward I would say that the outward which he shewed was not in that degree of power as the inward was which he felt In every one of them who are Christs members I consider the same as it were that I consider in Christ. I will put the example in S. Paul in whom after the selfe-same manner I consider two weaknesses one which he felt in the inward and the other which he shewed in the outward That which he felt in the inward is well known by that which he saith of sinne that dwelt in him Rom. 7. and for the selfe-same I understand that he saith 2. Corinth 2. I will gladly glory in my infirmities For the selfe-same I understand that he saith when I am weak then am I strong For the selfe-same I understand that it was said unto him on Gods behalfe My grace is sufficient for thee for my grace is perfected in weaknesse And that which he shewed in the outward was well shewen by the evill opinion that almost every one had of him every one persecuted him every one reviled him evill intreated him martyrized him as is read in the Acts of the Apostles as he himselfe writes 1. Cor. 4. and 2. Cor. 11. And I understand that the weaknesse which S. Paul shewed in the outward was much greater then that which he felt in the inward I would say that which S. Paul felt in the inward was not in that degree of weaknesse as that was which he shewed in the outward In the selfe same S. Paul I consider two Powers two vertues and efficacies the one which he felt in the inward and the other which he shewed in the outward That which he felt in the inward he published saying I can doe all things in him who enableth me And he shewed it very openly Rom. 8. saying that there was no creature
able to separate him from the love of God And that which he shewed in the outward is seen by the miracles which he did and by the many people that he converted And I understand that the power which S. Paul felt in the inward was much greater then that which he shewed in the outward I would say that which S. Paul shewed in the outward was not in that degree of power as that which he felt in the inward The selfe same which I consider in S. Paul I consider in every one of them which are the members of Christ more or lesse according as is that part of faith and of the spirit which every one of them possesseth understanding that from S. Pauls being a member of Christ it proceeded that he was in all that hath been spoken like unto Christ. Farther I understand that the consideration of the two weaknesses considered in Christ workes the same effect in him that considers them I that the weaknesse which he feeles in the inward goes abating in him in as much as his affections and appetites goe on dying and the weaknesse which he shewes in the outward goes increasing in as much as he is esteeâ—…ed more vulgar more vile and more of litle regard and is more mocked more outraged more persecuted and worse intreated And I understand also that the consideration of these two powers vertues and efficacies considered in Christ workes that effect in him that considers them that in him growes increasing the power the vertue and the efficacy that he feeles in the inward in as much as he hath more peace in conscience hath more spirit and more other knowledges divine conceptions of God and of the things of God And there goes abating in him the power the vertue the efficacy which he shewes in the outward in as much as he only shewes himselfe when he is inspired and moved of God to shew himselfe in such manner as that so much iâ—… one the more like to Christ in as much as he is more weak in that which is seen and in as much as he is more powerfull in that which is not seen I will adde this that the saints of the world know the power in God by the power that Christ shewed in the outward knowing weaknesse in God through the weaknesse that Christ shewed in the outward They know power in God through the transfiguration of Christ. And they know weaknesse in God by the death of Christ. And I understand that the Saints os God know without all comparison greater Power in God through the weaknesse which Christ shewed in the outward then through the power which Christ shewed in the outward and it is so indeed that they knew greater Power in God by the grace of Christ then by the transfiguration of Christ knowing that it is so indeed And so it is perceaved that from Christs shewing himselfe weak his death on the Crosse did result and from his death on the crosse is resulted all the good of the world all the felicity and the prosperity which they who are Christs members doe enioy and shall enioy together with Christ there being in them that which was and that wich is in Him to whom be glory for ever CGNSID LXXXII In what properly consisteth that Agony which Jesus Christ our Lord felt in his Passion and in his Death HAving oftimes heard speak of the Agony of the feare and loathing and sorrofulnesse which Jesus Christ our Lord felt in his passion and death by persons who pretended to shew the cause why Christ felt so much his sufferings and his death many other men having suffered and died some as men and some as Christians some of them without having shewed so much sence others having shewed none at all and others having made shew to rejoyce and delight themselves in their suffering and to rejoyce in their Death And never having remained satisfied in my minde neither with that which I heard say nor with that which I read in their books which handled this matter Last of all joyning that which I heard a Preacher say with that which is read in Isaia and in S. Peter I have made this resolution That God having put all our sinnes on Christ to chastize them all in him and he having taken them all upon himselfe and known them all in generall and in particular he felt for every one of them that confusion that shame and that griefe which he should have felt if he himselfe had committed them Whereupon seeing himselfe in the presence of God contaminated and defiled with so many and so abominable sinnes it came to passe that he felt all that Agony all that feare all that sorrowfulnesse within himselfe and all that shame and confusion which appertained to every one of us to have felt for every one of our sinnes had we been punished for them Whence proceeded that he sweat drops of blood in the garden for the anguish which he felt not because he saw himselfe neere unto death but to see himselfe in the presence of God full of so many sinnes for which reason he prayed putting his face to the earth as if he had been ashamed to have looked up to heaven knowing that there lay upon him so many offences committed against God And this truly is the cause why Christ shewed more sense of griefe in his Passion and in his death then any of the Martyrs that have suffered for the Gospell and then any other man of the world that hath dyed for the world And of this shame and confusion which Christ felt seeing himselfe defiled with our sinnes he may have felt some litle parcell that hath seen himselfe in the presence of some great Prince praying him for the pardon of one that hath been a Traytor he feeling the shame that belonged to the other to have felt Now that it is true that God hath laid on Christ all our sinnes and that Christ hath taken them all upon him is plain by Jsaia where he saies He took our infirmities and our griefes he suffered And a litle after he was scourged for our Rebellions and beaten for our iniquities And a litle after he took on him the sinnes of many And more then this he saith we were healed by his blewnesse of stripes And this selfe-same is proved by Saint Peter who seeling the selfesame which Isai felt saith as it were the selfe-same which Jsaiah doth And wretched man that I am for now am I well aware of the evill that I have done offending God not living according to the will of God in as much as with every one of my offences and with every one of my sinnes I have augmented the Agony the fears and the sorrowfulnesse which my Christ suffered in his death and passion Hereby I understand two most important things The one that if the rigour of the justice that was executed on Christ as well in the outward as in the inward had been executed upon
depravation and that they shall be restored in mans Reparation REading S. Paul I finde hee toucheth many secrets worthy of much consideration And amongst others I esteemed it for most worthy that which hee toucheth of the Restauration of the creatures in the glorious resurrection of the sonnes of God into the consideration of which secret I haue ofttimes entred and it hath befallen me that by how much the more I would haue understood it so much the lesse haue I understood it My spirit came to this understanding that as man in his dèpravation marred all the creatures so in the reparation of man all the creatures shall be repaired That the first Adam subjecting all men unto misery and unto death marred all the creatures and that the second Adam Iesus Christ our Lord conducting men unto felicity and to eternall life shall repaire all creatures But as I did not understand in what sort all the creatures were marred in mans depravation I did not neither understand in what sort they shall be repaired in mans reparation In which thing that secret which S. Paul meanes doth consist which secret it seems Isaia had formerly understood chap. 65. where God promised to create new Heavens and a new earth And the selfe same secret it seems S. Peter understood in the last chap. of his 2. Epistle And the selfesame seems to bee understood in the Revelation chap. 21. Then I understand that God having â—…reated man in a state of immortality and soveraigne happinesse he created all things with such order and with such temper that they did all of them accord to make man immortall and most happy Farther I understand that man subjecting himselfe to misery by eating the fruit of the Tree of the knowledge of good evill and committing himselfe to death in having been disobedient to God eating the fruit of the tree against the commandement of God and it was necessary that all the creatures should leave their being and their temper with which they were created to make man immortall and most happy and take another being and another temper whereby they should all accord to make man miserable and mortall From hence I understand proceed the evill influences of the Heavens and the poysonfull and unhealthfull things which the earth brings forth all which augment mans misery And from this that all creatures took upon them to make man miserable and mortall I understand that S. Paul saith that all of them doe anxiously desire to be free Vnderstanding this I come to understand that men being to be immortall and most happy in the Resurrection of the just all the creatures shall return to recover that being that temper and that order with which they were created to make men in their reparation immortall and most happy as in their depravation they did pervert their being their temper and their order to make them miserable and mortall In this generality of creatures I doe not understand the good Angels to be comprised for not being marred they haue no necessity of being repaired nor the evill Angels for not having been marred with man to make man miserable and mortall they shall not bee restored with man to make him immortall and most happy In this consideration more then in any other of these which I haue hitherto considered me thinks I see the most high obligation which not only all men in particular but all the creatures in generall haue to Christ. For as much as through Christs obedience men shall return to that being of immortality and felicity which they lost by Adams disobedience And by the selfesame the creatures shall return to recover their being and their most perfect temper which they lost through the disobedience of Adam And so this remaines imprinted in my minde that Adam disobeying God depraved all men and condemned them unto death and marred all the creatâ—…res and subjected them aâ—… S. Paul saith to vanity And that Christ obeying God repaired all men and gaue unto them immortality and restored all the creatures and put them into their firme and stable being I speak of this that shall be in the Resurrection of the just as though it were already for as much as to Godward it is already after Christ raised up And by how much I the more remember this so much the more doe I abhor all manner of inobedience to God and so much the more doe embrace my â—…elf with all manner of obedience to God And I feele that in as much as I goe applying my selfe to this so much the image of Adam goes abating in me the image of Christ goes on reforming and likewise that of God to whom be glory everlasting Amen CONSID. LXXXVIII What the cause may be that God commanded man that he should not eat of the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evill OFâ—…times I haue deliberated to understand why God when he set man in earthly Paradise commanded him that He should not eat of the fruit of the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evill not being satisfied with that which commonly is understood that God commanded this to the end man should acknowledge him for superiour which cause shall not be sufficient to me albeit I refuse it not and as oft as this desire hath come upon mee I haue as often driven it from me holding it for curious as I hold for curious all the desires which go seeking out the wherefore in Gods works And it is befallen me that having been now free from this curiosity reading with other intent the first chapters of Genesis I suppose to haue understood what I desired For the first I understand that God created man in an entire perfect estate in which he had the spirituall light which served him for that for which the naturall light now serves him which was the selfe same that the knowledge of good and evill Farther I understand that in the midst of that earthly Paradise there were two Trees of which the Scripture calls the one the Tree of life and the other the Tree of the knowledge of good and evill In which I understand God had set this naturall vertue that the one of them should make them who eat thereof immortall and that the other should giue the knowledge of good and evill to them that did eat thereof And understanding that as the immortality was supreme felicity so the knowledge of good and evill was extreme misery That which I say of the Tree of life I understand by this that God having given man the curse for his sin the Scripture saith that he said that hee droue him out of the earthly Paradise that he should not eat of the Tree of life and so liue for ever Neither was God content to have driven man out of Paradise but hee set for guardian a Cherubim whereby it seems that this Tree had that naturall vertue to giue immortality That which I say of the Tree of knowledge of good and evill I
understand by that which I read that the selfesame instant in which our first Parents being deceived by the Serpent did eat of the fruit of the Tree they had the knowledge of good and evill in such sort as suddenly their eyes were opened and suddenly finding defect in the works of God they knew themselves to be Naked Whence I come to understand that God did with the first man as the mother doth with her litle son I would say that as a mother seeing her litle son hath a knife by him fearing if he take it in his hand he would cut himselfe with it commands him that he should not come nigh unto it telling him if he come neer shee will knock him So God setting the first man in earthly Paradise and knowing the inconvenience wherein he was to fall if he did eat of the fruit of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evill commāded him that he should not eat thereof telling him that if he did eat he should dye Furthermore I understand that as the child comming nigh the knife cutting himselfe falls into the inconvenience of which his mother had given him warning and his mother beats him for his disobedience ac◅ording as she had threatned him so that the child falls into two inconveniences the one is of having cut himselfe through the propriety of the knife and the other is of blowes for the disobedience towards his mother So the first man eating of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evill fals into the inconvenience which God gaue him warning of and God chastised him with death as he had threatned him in such sort as man falls into two inconveniences the one is of having his eyes opened to know good and evill whereby he lost the spirituall light and got the naturall light he lost the divine science and got science and humane discourse and that was through the proper nature of the Tree by which he should without the commandement haue done the same effect And the other inconvenience is that of death and that was for the disobedience with which he did eat the fruit of the Tree disobeying God Whence I come to gather that God shewed most exceeding great loue to man in commanding him that hee should not eat of the fruit of that Tree I understand that he commanded him because hee should not fall into the inconvenience in which he ◅ell at the knowing of good and evill Which inconvenience I understand is much greater then that which we can imagine This is conformable to what S. Paul saith that sin entred by disobedience and death entred by sin which was executed on all the descendents of the first Adam For in his disobedience they all disobeyed and so all sinned therfore all dy As on the cōtrary by the obediēce iustice or iustification entered and by the iustification life entred unto which all the members of the second Adam Iesus Christ our Lord shall be raised up glorious For he obeying all they obeyed and so they are all justified and shall therefore all of them be raised up to glory and immortality This intelligence which I haue set of the vertue of these two Trees satisfies me in as much as thereby the benefit of Christ i◅ illustrated For the rest I remit my selfe to better intelligence In this Consideration some things offer themselues to me which I would desire to know but holding them for curious I leaue them untill it shall please God to make me to understand them And this I hold for certaine shall be when the desire of knowing shall be mortified in me in every thing and altogether For God will that as the first man desiring to know lost himselfe so wee should gain our selves mortifying and slaying every desire to know contenting our selves only to know Christ crucified who is to us the Tree of life to him be glory for ever Amen CONSID. LXXXIX Six causes for which it seemes necessary that the Son of God should liue in that manner and that forme of life wherein he did liue AT present I finde six causes in the Consideration from which it seems to mee to see the marvellous counsell with which the only begotten Son of God being made man lived amongst men in that forme of life we read that he did li◅e The first cause is this that God having determined t◅ deceive humane wisdome in saving not them that were wise but them that believed as Saint Paul understands it 1. Cor. 1. It was necessary that Christ should take upon him in the world a form of living in which hee could by no means be known by humane wisdome If Christ had taken on him S. Iohn Baptist his form of life humane wisdome would haue found in that outward austerity whereon to found it selfe to accept him for the sonne o◅ God And if hee had taken upon him Moses his forme of life humane wisdome would in the selfesame manner haue found in that outward greatnesse whereon to found it selfe to accept him for the son of God And therefore it was necessary that he should take upon him that form of life which he took wherein was no appearance at all of austerity nor of greatnesse And so it comes to be that by how much the more humane wisdome considers it so much lesse doth it finde whereon to found it self to come to accept Christ for the son of God And hereto squares fitly a letter which I remember to haue written pretending to shew the cause wherefore Christ did sometimes shew his divinity and at other times hid it The second cause is this that the life of Christ being to be as it were an example of life for them whom he came to make the sons of God it was necessary that hee should take that form of life which was most imitable of all the rest If Christ had taken the forme of S. John Baptist his life he would haue frighted many with the asperity and austerity And if he had taken that of Moses few could haue been able to imitate it And therefore it was necessary that he should take that which he did take so imitable to all sorts of people that no man can excuse himself say◅ng I cannot imitate Christ I cannot liue as Christ lived I doe not understand that Christ taking that forme of life which he took did pretend that every one who was to be the Sonne of God should imitate him in that outward living but that amongst all others it should be the most easy to imitate by them who would altogether imitate him in his outward and in his inward living as for the inward in his obedience to God in charity in meeknesse and in humility of mind and as for the outward in living without austerity and without greatnesse but with poverty basenesse and vilenesse The third cause is this that Christ coming to save all sorts of people it was necessary he should take a forme of life in which he