sheweth that ioy sorrow hope desperation confidence feare loue hatred mercie enuie anger wrath waspishnesse rage shamefastnesse blushing staggering hastinesse humanitie morositie and such like haue their MOTIONS in the hart heating or cooling it and so dilating or contracting it more or lesse according to the differences and degrees of their impressions Zanchius a wise and worthy Diuine treating of the parts of the Body saith The second vse of the hart is to impart vitall spirits specially to the head in which the mind properly worketh and so to minister matter whence the sensitiue spirits are produced in the braine by which motion sense and cogitations are stirred The third vse of the hart is that it should also be the seate fountaine and cause of all our affections For there are in the hart two motions the one of pulse to maintaine life by the ordinary breathing in and out of the ayre the other of affection which followeth the thought of man and is made by the extraordinarie dilating of the whole hart as in ioy or compressing it as in sorow With sorow and griefe we pine away with ioy we reuiue Whereupon the hart in one affection is opened and cheered in the other it is shut and dryed Hereby we perceiue why the Scripture by the name of the hart vnder standeth the WILL and all the affections of man as by the name of the minde it noteth all the thoughts and knowledge of man Wherefore as motion sense and cogitations spring from the braine or head so all affections from the hart Then from the hart ascend to the braine vitall spirits whence sensitiue spirits are engendred By these sensitiue spirits thoughts are mooued and knowledge planted in the mind Againe those sensitiue spirits by cogitations and conceptions strike the whole hart and kindle diuers affections and raize diuers motions in it And this hath great profit in Diuinitie For besides that we vnderstand how the Soule vseth the Body and worketh by the Body two chiefe points of true godlinesse are illustrated by this Doctrine the KNOVVLEDGE and LOVE of God whence commeth obedience and the obseruance of all his commaundements For the holy Ghost sliding into our harts first lightneth the minde which worketh in the head and with that effectuall knowledge kindleth in our hart the affection of loue And from thence commeth the motion of all the parts to performe the will of God By this meanes God truely dwelleth in our mind in our hart and in our whole Body There is then neither good nor euill affection in the soule of man which is not somewhat communicated to the hart of man expressed by the very motions of the hart that the body may iustly be drawen by consenting and seruing in either to the reward and punishment of either The READY SVBIECTION of the Body to the Soule in all sinne is the last point that I mentioned of their mutuall communion For though vnderstanding and will were giuen at first with all facilitie to rule and gouerne the other powers and parts of Soule and Body yet the corruption of sinne once entering not onely diuided the Body against the Soule but euen the Soule against it selfe So that in good things this corruptible Body is now an heauie burden loading the Soule when it is lightned with grace and the inferiour and sensitiue powers of the Soule rebell and striue against the spirit which renueth the inward man of the hart Some ignorance infirmitie and selfeloue remaine still in the mind as defects till we come to the place where our knowledge and loue shall be made perfect but when we would doe good euen then the law of sinne in our members REBELLETH against the law of our mind and leadeth vs captiue to the law of sinne that is in our members The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are repugnant the one to the other so that we can not doe the things which we would For which cause the Apostle professed of himselfe that he did presse downe his body and bring it into subiection least the Body rebelling and preuailing against the spirit he should become a cast-away This sharpe and strong resistance which our earthly members make against the mind and will delighting in the law of God and guided by his spirit sheweth the willingnesse and readinesse of the flesh to conspire and ioyne with the WILL in the seruitude of sinne to make her members the weapons of vnrighteousnesse so that the will no sooner consenteth to any euill but the sensitiue and motiue powers of the Soule permixed with the bodily spirits attend with delight and forwardnesse to promote and execute ech sinfull purpose This is that greedinesse which the Apostle noteth in some to vncleannesse from which if either feare or grace restraine it is not without some sensible griefe to the flesh disappointed of her desires and lusts We see the manifest and manifold coniunction and communion of the soule with the bodie as well in good as in euill which is strange to none neither Philosophers Physitians nor Diuines but onely to this Discourser to whom all sound and true learning is strange For not onely vertues and vices are common to both but spirituall graces as faith hope and loue the soule in this life receiueth perceiueth and practiseth together with her bodie and by her body Vertue and vice saith Athenagoras can not so much as be conceiued in the soule without the bodie For the vertues that are we know to be the vertues of men as also the vices that are contrarie and not to be in the soule apart from the bodie or consisting by her selfe Of faith we said before it commeth by hearing and so doth hope since that is expected which is beleeued Touching loue God by his law commandeth himselfe to be loued with all our mind with all our heart with all our soule with all our strength not making an emptie variation of words but binding all the parts and powers of bodie and soule capable of that affection or seruiceable to it with one common duetie to perfourme him loue The soule then beleeuing and louing the promises and graces of God openeth the heart and diffuseth the spirits to accept and imbrace the goodnesse of God in like maner as she did before dilate it to entertaine the desires of earthly things and God detesting an h hard and frozen heart as voyde of all loue requireth to haue the bowels mooued towards him and the heart kindled with a vehement flame describing zeale and deuotion by the naturall motions and passions which are felt in the heart when it is affected with vehement and strong loue So in repentance the soule depresseth and humbleth the heart raising it againe with hope which before was exalted with pride and incensed with selfe loue by the same naturall meanes and motions testifying the one that she did the other
Patriarkes and Prophets partakers of him selfe habes regionem inferûm subterrane am credere thou must beleeue the place or region of inferi to be vnder the earth If you draw these words to your world of the dead then are the soules of the iust neither in heauen nor in Paradise but vnder the earth euen in the heart or midst thereof and there shall remaine vntill the resurrection for so Tertullian resolueth of his inferi Which yet is farder most cleerely to be seene Lazarus apud inferos in sinu Abrahae refrigerium consecutus Lazarus in the world of the dead enioieth comfort in Abrahams bosome contrariewise the rich man is in the torments of fire both of them there receauing their diuers rewards How cleere is this that he maketh hades and inferos euen in Luke also to be nothing but the common state and world of the dead It is farre cleerer that you neuer read Tertullian with indifferent care to trie the trueth of his meaning and words but only to abuse the Reader with a seelie shew not of his writings but of your wrestings For there can be no directer speach to prooue that inferi are neither heauen nor Paradise but places vnder the earth and in the midst thereof where bad and good excepting onely Martyrs are kept in rest or paine till the generall day of iudgement then is found in these bookes of Tertullian from which you would gather your world of the dead For euen in the fiue and fiftie Chapter of his booke De Anima whence you first beganne to weaue your world of the dead he positiuely auoucheth Nulli patet caelum terra adhuc salua ne dixerim clausa Heauen is opened to no man so long as the earth is continued that I say not closed ouer them Together with the end of the world shall the kingdome of heauen be opened And touching Paradise he admitteth no soules to be there but onely Martyrs And therefore to this obiection But thou wilt say the dead are in Paradise whether the Patriarkes and Prophets that rose with our Lord passed euen then ab Inferis from the places below he answereth How then was the region of Paradise which is vnder the Altar reuealed to Iohn in the spirit to haue none other soules in it besides Martyrs how did Perpetua the most valiant Martyr the day before her suffering when Paradise was reuealed to her see there onely her fellow martyrs but because the glittering sâ—…ord that keepeth the gate of Paradise yeeldeth to none saue to such as die in Christ that is as Martyrs for Christ Tota Paradisi clauis tuus sanguis est The only key to open Paradise is thine owne bloud shed in Martyrdome So that in as plaine words as Tertullian vseth any Inferi are neither heauen nor Paradise but Regio subterranea a place or Region vnder earth and in the heart of the earth where some soules are in rest as he thinketh and some in torments which if you can turne to your generall and priuatiue Hades you shall worke wonders That other position of his constituimus omnem animam apud Inferos sequestrari in diem Domini we resolue that euery soule is kept in Inferi till the day of the Lord or of iudgement as it is priuate to himselfe and sauoring of Montanisme so it is different from the rest of the Fathers who confesse not onely Martyrs as he doth but all good Christians after this life to bee receiued into Paradise This error if you be disposed you may mainetaine with Tertullian but you shall neuer thence establish your world of soules which you seeke for Whereupon the learned Iunius noteth thus Inferos Latini Patres vt Graeci Haden pro omni loco aut statu mortuorum dixerunt promiscué The Latine Fathers vse Inferi as the Greeke doe Hades for euery place and state of the dead indifferently That Iunius was very learned I doe not denie but that learned men may be partiall and many times addicted to their priuate collections and opihions I would God we had not so much experience as wee haue If Iunius meane that Hades or Inferi were taken for euery place and state of the dead vnder the earth before Christes comming Iunius wordes are very true that many of the Fathers tooke Hades Inferi for the place of al the dead which they thought to be vnder the earth before Christs comming but that they called heauen or Paradise which are places for the Saints deceased in Christ by the name of Inferi or that they tooke Inferi for the state of the blessed soules since Christes resurrection this I say neither Iunius was nor any man liuing is able to prooue And for Tertullians meaning his wordes are so plaine that neither Iunius nor whosoeuer might or may ouerrule them I repeated them before the effect is this Inferi saith he are beleeued of vs to be a vastitie in the depth of the earth and an hidde profunditie in the bowels thereof for we reade that Christ was the three dayes of his death in the heart of the earth that is in the inward and middlemost receit thereof couered in the earth and hollowed or compassed on euery side with the earth and seated vpon the lower gulfes If these words be not plaine enough he addeth Habes Regionem Inferûm subterraneam credere thou must beleeue the Region of Inferi to be vnder the earth I shall not need many wordes to shew that Iunius obseruation out of Tertullian is not true except you adde euery place and state of the dead vnder the earth thereby to exclude the place and state of the blessed in heauen and in Paradise I leaue it to the Iudgement of any man that hath learning or vnderstanding whether these words of Tertullian do not define and describe a certaine place vnder the earth and within the earth in which he thought the soules of all men Patriarkes and Prophets not exempted were before Christes comming and should bee till the resurrection saue such as rose with Christ or suffered Martyrdome for Christ for that is his exception afterward as I haue shewed the good in rest the badde in punishment To that end he saith Omnes ergo animae penes inferos inquis Velis ac nolis supplicia iam ILLIC REFRIGERIA habes pauperem diuitem Cur enim non putes animam puniri foueri in Inferis interim sub expectatione vtriusque iudicij All soules then you suppose are in Inferi Will you â—…ill you you haue THERE alreadie both punishment and comfort the poore man and the rich For why should you not thinke the soule to bee punished and cherished in Inferis in the places below meane while vnder an expectation of either iudgement These wordes you can alleage and neglecting how plainly Tertullian hath taught besore that Inferi are places in the heart of the earth and a region vnder the earth you wilfully change condition
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
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
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
because it is neuer inflicted but after the first death and likewise wrath to come for that the state of this present life is not capable of thâ—…se extreame torments which are reserued for another world And least I should seeme to make degrees and parts of eternall death out of mine owne head let vs briefly view whether the word of God do not witnesse the same There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth sayth Christ when you shall see Abraham Isaac and Iacob and aâ—… the Prophets in the kingdome of God and your selues thrust out at doores Many of those that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall awake sayth Daniel to perpetuall shame and reproch Their worme shall neuer die sayth Esay The Lord that willed his good and faithfull seruants to enter into their masters ioy when he came to the slouthfull and vnprofitable seruant commanded to be taken from him euen that he had and to cast him into vtter darkenesse The Iudge himselfe forwarneth he will giue this sentence on the wicked in the last day Depart from â—…e ye cursed into euerlasting â—…ire prepared for the diuell and his angels They shall be tormented in fire and brimstone sayth Iohn and the smoke of their torments shall ascâ—…nd euermore and they shall haue no rest night nor day This is that euerlasting perdition and vengeance of eternall fire which the wicked shall suffer in hell and this is the full and complete punishment and wages of sinne repaying the reprobate according to their deserts when their sinnes come once to that ripenesse and fulnesse that they may no longer be endured by Gods iustice the two former kinds of deaths in this world being such as are either despised or desired by the wicked For nothing is more acceptable to them than without all feare or care of God to follow their willes and pursue their lusts which iâ—… the death of the soule and the death of the bodie which they can not decline they labour to neglect and though they murmuâ—… at God for it as if man had beene framed at first mortall yet finde they no great hurt in it because they know not the sequel of it and perceiue it to be common to good and badde and to leaue no sense of paine behinde it And indeed the outward punishments of this life are by Gods bountie and patience so tempered not only with comfort to the godly but with moderation to the wicked that they warne all men to feare and flie the wrath to come and giue time and place for amendment The old inhabitants of the holy land thou Lord diddest hâ—…te sayth the Wiseman for they committed abominable works as sorceries and wicked sacrifices neuerthelesse thou sparedst them also as men and didst send the forerunners of thine host euen hornets to root them out not that thou couldest not destroy them with one rough word but in punishing them by little and little thou gauest them space to repent The Apostle sayth the same Despisest thou the riches of Gods bountie and patience and long suffering not knowing that the bountie of God leadeth thee to repentance but thou after thine hardnesse and heart that can not repent heapest vnto thy selfe wrath against the day of wrath and of the declaration of the iust iudgement of God who will reward euery man according to his works The wrath of God is also diuersly taken in the Scriptures sometimes for the inward dislike and hatred that God in his holinesse hath of all iniquitie sometimes for his iudgements threatned or executed against sinne whether they be tempered with loue or patience to worke or expect repentance as in his owne and in this life or proportioned to the deserts of wicked and impenitent sinners for substraction of grace as to the reprobate in this world or infliction of vengeance as to the danmed in hell Such is the holinesse of God that he can loue no wickednesse but by nature and of necessity doth and must hate all vnrighteousnesse in whomsoeuer Thou art not a God that loueth wickednesse sayth Dauid neither shall euill dwell with thee What fellowship hath righteousnesse with vnrighteousnesse or what communion hath light and darknesse What fauour then and allowance should iniquitie finde with God that is the very fountaine and flaming fire of all holinesse To declare Gods perfect hatred against all sinne as well of the faithfull as faithlesse the Scripture witnesseth not only that his soule abhorreth the outrages of the wicked which are an abomination vnto him but also that he is displeased and grieued with the sinnes euen of his elect These things the Lord hateth sayth Salomon yea his soule abhorreth them All these are the things that I hate saith the Lord by the Prophet Zacharie The foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all them that worke iâ—…iquitie sayth Dauid to God The Lord will abhorre the cruell and deceitfull man Yea God is displeased and grieued with his owne when they sinne against him The Lord saw it sayth Moses and was stirred to anger with the prouocation of his sonnes and his daughters When Dauid had slaine Vriah and taken home his wife the thing displeased the eies of the Lord sayth the Scripture Likewise when he numbred the people God was displeased with that deed Esay remembring the mercies of the Lord towards the house of Israel sayth hee was their Sauiour in all their troubles he was troubled and the angell of his presence saned them but they rebelled and grieued the spirit of his holinesse The Apostle confirmeth the same Grieue not the Holy spirit by whom ye are sealed vnto the day of Redemption Then as the loue of all righteousnesse is a naturall and necessarie consequent to Gods holinesse so the dislike and hatred of all sinne is rightly and properly appertinent to his diuine puritie neither must the godly take it for an improper kinde of speech but fully beleeue and plainely confesse that God is truely and greatly displeased with their sinnes lest in their hearts they bring him within compasse of liking or allowing their vncleannesse and when they repent they must not onely tremble at the prouoking of so righteous and fearefull a Iudge but chiefly sorrow for the displeasing and offending the holinesse of so gratious and louing a father This dislike and detestation of disobedience euen in his owne children which God of his holinesse hath the Scripture often expresseth by the name of Anger though no punishment follow The Lord was very angrie with Moses sayth the Scripture when he so long refused to goe at Gods appointment to deliuer the children of Israel out of Aegypt God was likewise verie angrie with Aaron and Miriam his sister for speaking against Moses though Aaron was not punished for it and Miriam quickely healed of her leprosie So God himselfe professed to Eliphaz the Temanite saying My wrath is
the wicked shall presently beholde and see themselues reiected thence they shall inwardly grieue with vnspeakable sorrow and outwardly mourne with gnashing their teeth for very anguish of heart as perceiuing themselues excluded from that inestimable blisse for euer This collection our Sauiour confirmeth in expresse words There shal be weeping and gnashing of teeth when ye shall see Abraham Isaac and Iacob and all the Prophets in the kingdome of God and your selues thrust out at doores Yea where there are two sorts of paines in hell Losse of heauen and sense of euill the learned and ancient Fathers haue professed the former to be a greater and grieuouser paine than the latter There are some saith Chrysostome of an absurd iudgement who only desire to escape hell contra ego multo durius esse tormentum quoddam assero quà m gehenna est hoc est non assecutum esse tantam gloriam illinc elapsum esse But I on the contrarie aâ—…firme there is a farre worse torment than hell it selfe is to wit the losse of so great glory and the falling there-from Neither doe I thinke that we ought so much to grieue at the euils in hell as at the losse whereby we fall from heauen qui nimirum est cruciatus omnium durissimus which doubtlesse is the bitterest anguish of all the rest S. Austen in like sort To perish from the kingdome of God to be banished from the citie of God to want so plentifull abundance of the sweetnesse of God as he hath layd vp in store for those that feare him tam grandis est pâ—…a vt ei nulla possint tormenta quae nouimus comparari is so grieuous a punishment or paine that no torments which we know may be compared vnto it NAZIANZENE Those that rise to iudgement this amongst other or rather ABOVE other punishments shall torment them that they are reiected of God And Basil. The estranging and reiecting from God is an euill more intolerable than all that is feared or expected in hell If the griefe shall be so great to be excluded from the kindome of God and the same be comprised in the sentence of the Iudge where he saith Depart from me ye cursed then is there no doubt but it is an essentiall part of the paines of hell since it is not only generall and perpetuall to all the damned but a necessarie precedent to the rest of their torments which can neither take full hold of them nor afllict them in the highest degree till they be wholly depriued of all consolation and expectation of any fauour from God and vtterly confounded with the griefe and shame of that reâ—…ection which they shall suffer at the hands of Christ before men and Angels Malediction the second part of the Iudiciall sentence against the wicked noteth as well the cause of their condemnation to be sinne for which onely both men and Angels are accursed as the sequels of sinne in the condemned whom this curse excludeth from all sense and hope of Gods blessings eternall and temporall for euer and wrappeth in the fearefull remembring and feeling the number and horrour of their offences that before flattered delighted and encouraged themselues in their wickednesse For where shame sorrow and feâ—…re are by Gods wisedome and trueth appointed as waiting mates on sinne and offered to the consciences of all men to stay them from sinne or leade them to repentance when they haue sinned if they doe not harden their hearts the wicked to take their full foorth in their vncleannesse cast these behind them and not onely conceale and excuse their sinnes but quench all reuerence and remembrance of God least any thing should hold or hinder them from their pleasures And therefore the Iustice of God arising to take finall vengeance of their rebellion against him causeth extreame and inward shame remorse and feare which they so much shunned when they might haue repented and desisted from their euill wayes most dreadfully to inuade them and as mightie streames to ouerwhelme them till they sinke to the bottome of all confusion compunction and desperation Which is a most iust reward of their dalliance with God and yet a most painefull torment to the damned who in their life time wilfully renounced God to enioy their delights but there and for euer after shall without remedie or mercie behold the lothsomenesse of their sinnes and grieue at the follie and furie of their disobedience God punishing the soule of euery such transgressour with the remembrance and remorse of his madnesse with the euidence and conscience of his vncleannesse and with the sight and assurance of his perpetuall wretchednesse Quae pâ—…na grauior quà m interioris vulnus conscientiae What paine more grieuous sayth Ambrose then the wound of the conscience within Amongst all the afflictions of mans soule there is none greater saith Austen then the conscience of sinne Howe thinkest thou saith Chrysostome shall our consciences be bitten and is not this worse then any torment what soeuer The most grieuous torment of all saith Basil shall be that reproch and eternall shame Omni tormento atrociùs desperatio condemnatos affliget Worse then all other torments shall desperation afflict the condemned Giue them griefe of heart euen thy curse vpon them saith Ieremie to God No doubt then the sting of conscience and shame of sinne which so extreamely shall grieue the heart is a part of that eternall curse which shall light on the wicked and so painefull and grieuous shall it bee vnto them that they shall curse the day of their birth time of their life and all the workes of their hands that occasioned or leasured them to come within the compasse of this fearefull and euerlasting curse Torments and sorrowes shall take holde on them in the day of iudgement or of death and they shall be pained as a woman in labour with child By which it appeareth saith Ierome they are tormented with their owne conscience Tunc ipsa conscientia proprijs stimulis agitatur atque compungitur Then the very conscience of the wicked is pricked and pierced with her owne goades and stinges Magna paena est impiorum conscientia The conscience of the wicked is a great paine or punishment vnto them You did well vtterly to exempt the Sauiour of the world from both these I meane from reiection and malediction you must otherwise haue depriued him of all grace and glorie and plunged him into the shame of sinne and remorse of conscience neither of which without open impietie can be ascribed to the soule of Christ and yet both these are essentiall paincs to the damned and not circumstances as you pretend of time and place How painefull they are I leaue the Reader to consider by that which is already said essentiall they cannot chuse but be to damnation and hell not onely because they are comprised in the sentence of the Iudge which
of it The end and vse of parables which are allegoricall similitudes ouâ—… Sauiour confessed when his disciples asked him Why speakest thou to them in parables Who answered because it is giuen to you to know the secrets of the kingdome of heauen but to them it is not giuen To them that are without all things are done in parables that seeing they may see and not discerne and hearing they may heare and not vnderstand Then serue parables and allegories which are both one to hide the meaning of the speaker and to darken the vnderstanding of the hearer But the Iudgement of Christ hath cleane contrarie purposes and must haue plaine and proper speech that the whole world may heare it with their eares vnderstand it with their hearts and see it executed with their eyes For how should allegories or metaphores be executed by Gods Angels who shall be the ministers in that iudgement or how shall all the elect concurre with Christ in iudgement if he vse metaphores and allegories knowen onely to himselfe It is euident therefore the generall and finall sentence by which the wicked shall be adiudged to euerlasting fire must haue in it no figures nor allegories but onely plaine and proper speech which must be heard and vnderstood of all good and bad and be presently put in execution by the ministers that attend that Iudgement A third is that where parables by reason of their darknesse must be expounded before they can be conceiued when Christ doth declare the meaning of them his exposition of necessitie must be in plaine and proper words lest a darke and doubtfull exposition breed a further confusion in the mindes of the hearers than the parable it selfe The parable of the good seed sowed by the owner of the ground and of tares sowed by the enemie as also of the haruest and reapers when the Disciples of Christ prayed him to declare vnto them he expounded it in these words The sower of the good seed is the sonne of man the field is the world the good seed are the children of the kingdome the tares are the children of the wicked the enemie that soweth them is the diuell the haruest is the end of the world and the Reapers be the Angels As then the tares are gathered and burned in the fire so shall it be in the end of the world The Sonne of man shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather out of his kingdome all offences and the workers of iniquitie and shall cast them into a furnace of fire there shal be wailing and gnashing of teeth And vpon occasion of the parable of the draw-net cast into the sea and gathering all kinds of men and after seuering the good from the bad our Sauiour repeating the same exposition in the same words So shall it be in the end of the world the angels shall go forth and seuer the bad from among the iust and shall cast them into a fornace of fire sayd to his Disciples Vnderstand ye all these things and they sayd to him Yea Lord. The parable they vnderstood not but this they vnderstood The fire therefore into which the wicked shall be cast is no parabolicall but a plaine and proper speech Againe Christ expoundeth the parable by it it is therefore no allegorie but a true and proper speech by which Christ opened the obscuritie of the parable and his Disciples presently conceiued his meaning by the proprietie and perspicuitie of his words Then that the Angels of God in the end of the world shall seuer the wicked and cast them into a furnace of fire is an euident plaine and proper speech easie to be vnderstood of euerie Christian by the verie hearing of the words vttered without recourse to you Sir Deuiser to helpe allegorize them or to bring in stead of them the immediat soules suffering which you still auouch but neuer take the paines to proue or vse the meanes to vnfold Fourthly your new conceit hath no coherence with the sense or words of the Holy ghost but either he must correct his speech wheresoeuer he mentioneth the fire of hell or you must recall your fansie who suppose an inward paine in the soule from the immediat hand of God to be hell fire For if that which you call hell fire be only within the soules of the wicked how can they DEPART GO or BE CAST INTO HELL FIRE which by your imagination is cast into them not they into it And therefore when our Sauiour so often affirmeth that the wicked shall be cast into hell fire and iudicially willeth them to depart from him into euerlasting fire you must set him to schoole and teach him to speake righter and according to your opinion to say that hell fire shal be cast into them But if these be fooleries most vnfit for any Christian man to controll the sonne of God in his speech and to condemne him of open and childish ignorance as not knowing the difference betwixt an externall and internall fire then learne to reuerence the veritie and grauitie of the word of God and to confesse that he which seeth and setleth all things in heauen earth and hell cannot so forget himselfe as to mistake the one for the other For if the fire be a violent externall and locall agent into which the wicked shal be cast then are the words of our Sauiour and of the Prophets and Apostles most proper and pertinent to the matter but if that fire which shall torment the damned be nothing but an internall paine rising within the soule by the immediat hand of God then are all the speeches of the Holy ghost expressing their punishment wide from the sense and dissonant from the truth of that which you suppose they would deliuer Dauid describing the vengeance that God at the last will execute on the wicked sayth Vpon the wicked God will raine snares fire and brimstone This raining vpon them sheweth that the meanes and matter of their torment shall be without them and not an anguish onely rising within them as you imagine of hell fire The diuell that deceiued them was cast sayth S. Iohn into a lake of fire and brimstone and whosoeuer was not found written in the booke of life was cast into the lake of fire The Holy ghost by your direction must haue sayd the lake of fire was cast into the diuell and into euery one that was not found written in the booke of life It is better sayth our Sauiour to enter into life maimed than hauing two hands to goe into hell into the fire that neuer shall be quenched Our Sauiour by your doctrine is not well aduised so to speake when he should haue sayd It is better to enter into life maymed than hell fire to goe into you And when Christ foretelleth that the Angels shall seuer the badde and cast them into a furnace of fire he committeth two great ouersights by your new Diuinity the first
no sinnes but onely such as Adam did and we still doe commit ioyntly with Soule and body though most properly in the soule the body being her Instrument or accessarie to follow her direction and will And would you wrie and wrangle neuer so much from sinnes common to Soule and Body most proportionably followeth punishment likewise common to Soule and Body though in that common punishment the Soule perceiueth and feeleth greater and grieuouser hurt and smart then the body can doe If now you adde a farder meaning then you there expressed your reason remaineth as weake as it was at first and your new meaning must haue a new answere For which I must pray the Reader to stay till we haue more fully examined Adams fact where you first began and wherein you would seeme to haue some great aduantage Howbeit if you marke well either your own purpose which you offer to prooue or your Assumption which you bring for proofe thereof or my words depending thereon you will haue but a cold suite of all this hoate challenge Your purpose was to prooue that Christs sufferings for sinne must be proper to the Soule and not with from or by the Body which you reiect as common to vs with beasts The reason which you brought for it was that Adam first we euer since so sinned that is MOST PROPERLY in our Soules our Bodies being but the Instruments of our Soules to follow the Soules direction and will Now because your wonted phrase MOST PROPERLY is so loosely set in your assumption that a Man can not tell whether you meane most properly in the Soule together with the Body being the Instrument of the Soule as your words lye or else most properly in the Soule without and besides the Body which is it that you intend must conclude before you can thence inferre the proper sufferings of Christs soule without and besides his body I asked you which of these twaine you ment If the former then Adam first and we euer since committed sinne ioyntly with Soule and Body the Soule being the Principall and the Body her Instrument and accessarie This I said was most true but repugnant to your purpose as I before haue shewed But if you ment OTHERVVISE that Adam transgressed the Commandement of God MOST PROPERLY in his Soule without his Body concurring to the same transgression which is more pertinent to your purpose then you contradicted the fact of Adam and Gods precept both which doe plainly witnesse that Adam disobeyed as well by Body as by Soule If you will needs examine my words vpon this your intention and assumption I am well content That Adam sinned in soule and bodie I say is most true There is my full resolution Against this I neuer goe But if you meant OTHERVVISE that Adam brake the commandement of God not by his body properly but by his soule only as your words most properly might intend then your assumption was a manifest contradiction to the fact of Adam and to the precept of God That the bodie alone without the soule doth or can commit actuall sinne which hath neither life sense motion nor action without the soule is a position so absurd and false that I thought it not woorth the mentioning I asked you then whether you meant that Adam brake the commandement not by his bodie properly as by an instrument to his soule which is proper to the bodie as your selfe confesse but by his soule without his bodie that is by his soule onely For what is by the soule and not by the bodie but by the soule onely I asking you that question of your meaning you as eclipsed of your wits suppose that I say Adam sinned onlie by his bodie and not by his soule as if Adam when he sinned were a body without a soule or his bodie did any thing without the direction and operation of his soule This is therefore a verie foolish dotage of yours to dreame that I defend Adam sinned by his bodie without his soule when I prooue and inferre by Adams fact and Gods precept that Adam transgressed not by his soule only but by his bodie also euen as in murder theft and adulterie these facts men commit by their bodies as instruments and not by their soules alone or without their bodies For can men commit these facts without their bodies or are their bodies requisite as well as their soules before they can commit these facts Adam was as well forbidden â—…o desire or like that fruit as to eat it which you denie To proue that Adam sinned not onely by his soule but also by his bodie I brought the words of Gods precept Thou shalt not eat thereof Which commandement since Adam wholly transgressed the words had more in them than the prohibition of desiring or liking and Adams sinne reached farder than to liking or lust euen to the complete fact whereby the commandement of God was thorowly in euerie part of man broken which could not be done without the ioynt actions of Adams bodie Wherefore take backe the heresie of the Pharisees to your â—…elfe and bestow it among your friends that haue lent you their labours in this Defence I am not to seeke that Gods law is transgressed as well with heart and tongue as with hand and deed Howbeit I distinguish facts from words and thoughts and auouch that FACTS can not be performed without the bodie And yet are there speciall reasons which you see not why the wisdome of God would not giue this commandement without euident mention of an outward fact For the breaking of this precept was the transgression that should subiect Adam and all his posteritie to the dominion of sinne and death in euerie part of bodie and soule Wherefore God would not haue the first sinne to be secret within the soule alone that all Adams of-spring should openly behold and confesse the wickednesse vnworthinesse and vnthankfulnesse of their first parents that so lightly regarded and presently transgressed the charge and precept that God gaue vnto them Secondly since Adams cariage in this case should be the retaining or loosing of all Gods graces and blessings for him and his children bestowed on man in his first creation the transgression must reach to all the senses and faculties of bodie and soule that should infect and corrupt all the parts and powers of bodie and soule Thirdly the first sinne was to extend as well to bodie as to soule lest the soule sinning should be adiudged to euerlasting death and the bodie not sinning reserued for eternall life and so man be diuided contrarie to his creation the one part in hell and the other in heauen which was vtterly impossible And if Adam after liking had yet remembred Gods precept and threat and so refrained the eating of the forbidden fruit it would trouble your wits to make a true answer whether Adam had obeyed or transgressed the commandement But it sufficeth for my purpose that Adam sinned ioyntly
direct and comfort others as also stretch out our hands to aide and relieue our selues and our brethren and with all the partes of our bodie to performe all outward actions and dueties of pietie and charitie To which ends because sense and motion both externall and internall were requisite as well as reason the wisedome of God hath placed in the body and specially in the head and heart the seates of vnderstanding and will certaine thinne quicke and aeriall vapours or spirits which rise from the blood and are brought by the braine to a marueilous force and agilitie that they should carie to the minde of man with incredible celeritie the resemblances of all things subiected to sense and with like vehemencie stirre and excite the heart and will of man with consent to imbrace and with all the powers and partes of soule and bodie to follow after that which prouoketh and delighteth the sensitiue spirits So that these corporall and actiue spirits are the meanes whereby particular things and circumstances together with their profites and pleasures are in a moment presented to the mind and the heart and will likewise mooued and inflamed to accept and allow that which contenteth and pleaseth the senses For according as the things obiected to sense or remembred after sense seeme good or euill to the powers of the soule vnited with these spirits so is desire or anger kindled by pleasure on the one side and dislike or griefe on the other which presently and violently preuaile with the soule where grace wanteth and lust and striue euen in the Saints against the spirit of God This is that part of the soule which in the faithfull is not regenerate whiles here they liue lusting still after the things of this world euen the delights of the flesh the desires of the eye and the pride of life and by these baits and snares fighting against the Soule The third power of the Soule is intellectiue that is the mind endued with vnderstanding and will which in the naturall man is ignorant of God and auerse from God by corruption of sinne and so caried through the loue of it selfe either to carnall pleasures at the prouocation of the senses or to vaine desires vnder color of humane reason and glorie This part in the faithfull is lightned and perswaded by the Spirit of God to see and acknowledge the good and acceptable will of God and strengthned with a measure of grace to resist the dominion of sinne dwelling in our mortall bodie that is in the sensitiue powers and affections of the soule mixed with the members and spirits of the body though in this life the mind euen of the regenerate hath not that perfection of knowledge and loue which the law of God requireth and therefore shrinketh often from the leading of Gods spirit by ignorance and infirmitie but neuer by rebellion and obstinacie This much being said touching the powers of the Soule which may more largely be perused in that learned worke of Zanchius alleaged by this Discourser It is most euident by the very grounds of humane and Diuine learning and experience that the principall part of the Soule which is the mind enabled with reason and will hath in all sorts of sinnes a manifest communion with the Body either by information of the senses or by tentation from the affections or by impression on the spirits and parts of the body or by the ready subiection of the whole body to the will besides originall corruption which the Soule draweth from the Body sufficient of it selfe to make the Body guiltie of all euill committed by the Soule and actuall execution whereby the Soule needeth and vseth the Body to effect and accomplish whatsoeuer she intendeth And first of information for the senses The knowledge of good and euill which the Soule of man hath in this life is not infused by creation as it was in Angels to whom that kind of knowledge is peculiar but collected from the sense and taught by time as we see by experience in all mankind without exception I still reserue the reuelation and inspiration of Gods Spirit when where and to whom pleaseth him A plaine proofe of the former point we dayly behold in children who vtterly know nothing no not their right hand from their lâ—…ft as God himselfe testifieth till by sense and vse they learne to distinguish and at length to conceaue the things set before them The Rule of naturall Philosophie expressing that the vnderstanding hath nothing which came not from the sense you would faine tumble out of your way but it is very true and consonant to the Scriptures if it be taken as it was ment and the reuelation of Christs Spirit thence excepted of which in deed the Philosophers knew nothing For that was not spoken of conclusions in reason as if they must be first in sense before they could be inferred by consequent nor of the diuiding and compounding things in mans imagination that came from the sense as dreames and fictions but of the principles or premisses in reason which must be plaine to the sense and of the naturall and true proprieties and differences of all particular things which the sense must first apprehend before the mind can rightly discerne them So that the mind conceaueth truely no singular things which were not first apparent to the sense since man hath no naturall meanes giuen him of God to get the true knowledge of any thing that is not reuealed or inspired from aboue but onely his senses To this the Scriptures beareth witnesse where the meanes to informe mans Hart of good and badde in which sinne consisteth are set downe to be the eyes and the eares still sauing to God what he reuealeth by the power of his spirit Ignorance and neglect of Gods will whence all sinne commeth are described in the Scriptures by the dulnesse of the eare and blindnesse of the eye God hath giuen them saith Paul the spirit of slumber euen eyes that they should not see and eares that they should not heare vnto this day Our Sauiour confirmeth the same out of the Prophet Esaie The Hart of this people is wexed fatte they heare dully with their eares and winke with their eyes least they should see with their eyes and heare with their eares and so vnderstand with their harts But blessed saith he to his Disciples are your eyes for they see and your eares for they heare In so much that the Apostle doubteth not to assure vs faith commeth by hearing when the hart beleeueth vnto righteousnesse and without hearing there is no beleeuing How shall they beleeue in him of whom they haue not heard And God requiring his people to be wise and learne saith Heare ye deafe and yee blind behold that yee may see As God then vseth no outward meanes besides his works and his words to teach vs his will so hath he giuen vs no naturall course to learne but by the eyes and
the eares by which we must come to the knowledge of all heauenly and much more of all earthly things The loosing and decaying of mans knowledge in this life after he hath gotten it will proue the same no lesse then the lacking thereof before he doth by sense attaine it For when the sensitiue spirits in the braine be either grosse and heauie as in fooles or extreame hoate and whirling as in madde men or obstructed and choked as in Lethargies and Apoplexies men want the vse of reason because the obiects whereon the minde worketh are by these meanes hindered and hid from the vnderstanding This is the true resolution both of Philosophers and Diuines Ad facultatem intelligentem exercendam non eget mens organo tanquam medio per quod intelligat quanquam eget obiecto in quod intueatur ex quo intellectionem concipiat Hoc autem obiectum sunt phantasmata seu rerum a sensibus perceptarum simulachra ad phantasiam perlata To exercise the facultie of vnderstanding the mind of man saith Zanchius needeth no instrument as a meane by which she may vnderstand but she needeth an obiect whereon to looke and whence to conceaue the act of vnderstanding This obiect are the sensitiue apprehensions or the resemblances of things receaued from the senses and caried to the phantasme or imagination of man And to this obiection that vpon the hurt or wearinesse of the braine we find by experience our mind can not vnderstand and worke in those things as it did before he answereth Ideo non potest lesis aut defatigatis turbatisque organis mens nostra intelligendis contemplandisque rebus operam dare quia phantasmata ipsa quae sunt in organo corporali quae sunt ceu obiectum intellectus turbato ipsorum organo videri percipi non possunt Therefore our mind can not contemplate and conceaue when the instruments are hurt wearied or troubled because the resemblances of things which are in a corporall instrument and are as an obiect to the vnderstanding can not be seene and perceaued For the resemblances of things in mans Imagination are to his vnderstanding and mind as colours are to his sight Now the eye seeth nothing but the colour of euery thing though therewithall it distinguish number quantitie motion and figure and so taketh the knowledge of euery sensible thing In like manner without the similitudes and shapes of things caried from the sense to the phantasiue imagination or apprehension and there remaining the mind vnderstandeth nothing of those things that are without it and no knowledge is naturally within it but what God hath reuealed to it His conclusion is Haec partis sensitiâ—… facult as propinqua est intellectiâ—… huic suppeditat materiam cogitandi intelligendi denique omnia sua officia faciendi This facultie of the sensitiue part is placed neere vnto the intellectiue and ministreth thereunto matter of Cogitation vnderstanding and performing all her dueties In inward tentation to euill Saint Iames rule doeth generally take place Euery man is tempted being drawne away and entised by his owne concupiscence And lust conceiuing bringeth foorth sinne So that lust naturally dwelling in vs and conceiuing and bringing foorth sinne is the very mother and nurse of all sinne in vs. Austen maketh two chiefe rootes of sinne in man desire and feare Omnia peccata duâ—… res faciunt in homine cupidit as timor Cogitate discutite interrogate cordâ—… vestra perscrutamini conscientias videte vtrum possunt esse peccatanisi cupiendo aut timendo Two things cause ALL SINNES in men desire and feare Bethinke your selues discusse examine your hearts search your consciences and see whether there can possible bee any sinnes but by desiring or fearing Where least Austen making two fountaines of all sinnes desire and feare should iarre with Saint Iames that setteth downe lust for the first spring of euery tentation to sinne we must either take tentation of which Saint Iames speaketh for a delightfull prouocation to sinne resting within vs and terrour which Austen addeth for a violent and externall induction thereto proceeding from others or else wee must deriue desire and feare from the loue of our selues which originally dwelleth in vs and lusteth after euery thing that liketh vs or lastly wee may ioyne the one as a consequent to the other since the naturall desire wee haue of our owne ease and welfare breedeth in vs that dislike and feare of euill which so much vrgeth and forceth vs. If then desire and feare be the motiues and inducements to ALL SINNES that men commit as most resolutely Saint Austen auoucheth and these two desire and feare on which depend the rest of our affections be passions of the sensitiue part of the Soule permixed in this life with corporall spirits certainely all sinnes in men haue their prouocations and incitations from and by bodily senses spirits or motions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By bodily spirits saith Clemens Alexandrinus man hath sense desire reioyceth and kindleth to anger yea and by the same spirits doe the thoughts and resolutions of the minde proceede to action 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Where is it iust sayth Athenagoras that DESIRES pleasures FEARES and sorrowes should haue their motion or rising from the body and the sinnes occasioned by them and the punishments for the same sinnes should lie on the Soule alone Damascene defining the passions or affections of the Soule saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A passion or affection of the Soule is a sensible motion of the desiring or appetitiue facultie vpon the imagination of good or euill In which description are three plaine proofes that the passions of the soule which by the confession of Damascene and all other Diuines are DESIRE FEARE ioy and sorrow doe not mooue in this life without the body First in that they are sensible motions they must be perceiued in the body next in that they rise from the sensitiue appetite they are conioyned with the body thirdly in that they come vpon the phantasiue imagination of good or euill they are kindled from the senses of the body What sensible motions these affections of the soule doe raise in the outward and inward parts of man we shall anon perceiue when we come to the impressions that the soule maketh on the body in the meane time it is not amisse to know how Satan who hath that name from his desire and power of tempting worketh and preuaileth in his temptations vpon men It is euident by the Scriptures that God alone searcheth and changeth the heart of man because he alone is the maker of it and therefore Satan though he be a spirit yet can hee not by himselfe either discerne the thoughts or alter the will of man but in the one he obserueth the secret impressions of the soule on the bodie and in the other he stirreth and vseth the spirits and affections of the
bodie against the soule So that when he will put any euill thoughts into the hearts of men as he did into Iudas and Ananias and dayly doth into the children of disobedience and often time into the godlie themselues when he is so permitted he can not of himselfe turne and winde the heart as pleaseth him that is proper to God alone but he abuseth our eares and eyes or els he stirreth the humors and spirits of the bodie and by tempering and mixing the resemblances of things receiued from the sense and reserued in mans imagination he obiecteth to the mind what he listeth and incensing the affections that are likewise bodilie he trieth whether he can draw the heart to consent Which he discerneth not by any inward power of his owne but by the different motions of the heart where the will of man is seated and according as he findeth his temptations to be either refused or admitted in the heart of man so he either desisteth from his lost labour or persueth the suggestion once allowed till the sinne be performed S. Austen discussing how diuels could diuine at mens thoughts and induce mens hearts sayth Suadent miris inuisibilibus modis corpora hominum non sentientium penetrando seseque cogitationibus eorum per quaedam imaginaria visa miscendo siue vigilantium siue dormientium The diuels persuade by maruellous inuisible means entring the bodies of men when they feele it not and by certaine resemblances or sights of the imagination intermingling themselues with the thoughts of men either waking or sleeping Of discerning our thoughts the writer of Ecclesiasticall opinions amongst S. Austens works sayth Internas animae cogitationes diabolum non videre certi sumus sed motibus eas corporis ab illo affectionum indicijs colligi experimento didicimus We be sure the diuell seeth not the inward thoughts of the heart yet finde we by experience that he collecteth them by the motions of the bodie and the shewes of mens affections To which S. Austen agreeth Sicut apparet concitatior animi motus in vultu vt ab hominibus quoque aliquid forinsecus agnoscatur quod intrinsecus agitur Ita non debet esse incredibile si etiam leuiores cogitationes dant aliqua signa per corpus quae obtuso hominum sensu cognosci non possunt acuto autem damonum possunt As a vehement motion of the minde appeareth euen in the countenance that men may outwardly perceiue what is inwardly purposed so ought it not to be incredible that the lighter thoughts of men giue some signes by the bodie which can not be descried by the dull sense of men but yet may be discerned by the quicke sense of diuels By themselues then diuels can not infuse any thoughts into vs that onely belongeth to the spirit of God immediatly to inspire the heart of man neither can they so much as discerne our secret thoughts which none can do but he that framed the heart yet as the soule getteth her knowledge by resemblance and informance of things carried from the senses to the imagination and thence presented to the minde so the diuell hath his meanes to worke in the outward and inward senses which haue corporall seats and spirits and by the similitudes and shewes of things there found to offer suggestions to the minde of man Whether it be therefore the world without vs the flesh within vs or the diuell both without and within that tempteth vs our senses imaginations and affections are the meanes which are vsed by all those three and these haue such vnion and communion with the bodie that after death there is no meanes for new temptations to be offered nor new sinnes to be committed but ech man shall receiue iudgement for the things done in the bodie and not after or before the bodie That all the thoughts of man be they neuer so light giue signes in the bodie I by no meanes affirme for so the diuels should easily discerne thoughts and S. Austen wisely did moderate that assertion and make some doubt how thoughts are knowen to diuels but in sinnes of which I speake not of thoughts it is more manifest that the diuell hath his meanes to see whether his temptations take place in the heart or no. For when S. Iames sayth Resist the diuell and he will flee from you surely the diuell must see when he is resisted in the heart of man els how shall he flee Giue no place to the diuell sayth Paul Then doth the diuell perceiue when place is giuen vnto him that he may enter and possesse the heart neither are his temptations so vainly offered that he can not discerne when the heart imbraceth them The soule therfore pleased or displeased with euill causeth certaine naturall motions and impressions on the bodie by which the wicked spirits obserue the inclination of the heart and that to them is as cleere as the outward carriage of the countenance is to men or the inward feeling of our affections is to our selues Of outward motions and impressions Iesus the sonne of Syrach sayth The heart of man changeth his countenance either to good or euill A cheerefull face is the token of the heart for good and when the countenance falleth the heart is displeased Why is thy countenance cast downe sayd God to Cain reprouing his dislike that Abels sacrifice was preferred And when Labans heart altered towards Iacob Labans countenance was not as it was before I haue seene thy face as the face of God because thou hast accepted me sayd Iacob to Esau and vsually in the Scriptures to finde grace in the eyes noteth a fauourable and louing respect had to any Nature teacheth vs as well as Scripture that anger and fauour sorrow and ioy feare and shame and all the affections of the heart appeare in the verie faces of men and so doe pride enuie luxurie aâ—…arice impudencie and such like vices betray themselues by the very lookes The loftie eye of man shall be humbled that is his pride shall be abased The wicked enuieth to see with his eye and turneth away his face and the eye of the couetous is not satisfied with any part Of wantons Peter sayth They haue eyes full of adulterie By what outward signes of face eyes gostures and motions of the bodie the inward affections and dispositions of the minde may be gathered would be long to deliuer Tertullian sayth truly Facies intentionum omnium speculum est The face is the glasse of all our intentions or affections And Ambrose Habitus mentis in corporis statu cernitur The disposition of the minde is perceiued by the state of the bodie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What is more deformed sayth Basil and more displeasing euen to the sight then the soule when she is in her affections Obserue an angrie man and the fiercenesse of his looks Marke a man sorrowing
and the basenesse and deiection of his soule One that is subiect to luxurie or gluttonie or amazed with feare who can endure to beholde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The disposition of the soule piercing to the very outsides of the bodie euen as the prints of the seemlinesse of the soule appeare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the composed behauiour and gesture of the godly The alterations of the bloud and motions of the spirits within the bodie which the soule raiseth in all her affections are not so open to the eye as the former yet are they the causes of all outward mutations and sensible enough to the parties themselues when they grow any thing vehement For this is Gods ordinance in all things which haue sense or reason that good any way perceiued should delight stirre and inflame the will and appetite of beasts men and angels with desire and loue thereof and euill contrariwise should not onely auert and quench the will and appetite with hatred but offend and oppresse the patient with feare and griefe When then the soule of man vnited to her bodie liketh any thing obiected or apprehended vnder the shew of good she kindleth and moueth her selfe to attaine her desire and therewithall incenseth the vitall and animall spirits which warme the bloud enlarge the heart and diffuse themselues to persue or embrace the good that is approching or present And when she seeth any euill which she can not decline but must endure she staggereth and sincketh for feare which quencheth the spirits cooleth the bloud and closeth the heart depressing all three with a slacke colde and heauie remisnesse If she may withstand or requite the euill that is towards she raiseth her selfe to anger which maketh the bloud to boile the heart to swell and the spirits to flie to the outmost parts as readie to resist or reuenge So that LOVE and HATRED of good and euill obiected to the sense or minde of man are the two chiefe springs of all his affections and actions and the branches thereof which are desire feare ioy griefe and anger moued either by the sense or vnderstanding haue their manifest or secret alterations of the bloud and motions of the heart by the intension or remission of the spirits kindled or quenched more or lesse according as the obiect of good and euill is greater or nearer By this meanes the soule affected and mooued with good or euill affecteth and moueth her bodie and sheweth her inward disposition and inclination to either and the heart of man which is the seat of will hath his naturall and different motions raised by the soule vpon het liking or disliking of good or euill perceiued by sense or by vnderstanding These alterations and motions naturally impressed by the soule on the bodie not onely Philosophers and Physitians haue obserued but the Diuines of all ages that haue waded therein haue fully confessed Aristotle by the rules of nature collected and inferred thus much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The beginning of motion is that which in our actions must be persued or declined and of necessitie heat and cold do follow vpon the cogitation or imagination of either That which is grieuing is declined that which is pleasing is persued Howbeit in small things this is scant sensible So that almost all things grieuing and pleasing vs bring with them a sensible kinde of colde and heat as it is euident by our affections the parts enlarging by heat and shrinking with colde This alteration either the sense or the imagination or the cogitation can make Wherefore some shake and feare onely vpon the cogitation of things The euill or good which grieueth or pleaseth vs bringeth naturally colde or heat to the bloud and so enlargeth or shrinketh the heart which alterations do come as well vpon cogitation and imagination as vpon sense Galene an exact and skilfull obseruer of mans bodie writeth that the first and principall cause of shaking is the recourse of the naturall heat to the inward and outward parts which is found in manie affections of the soule and with the same are as well the spirits as the bloud caried sometimes inward to the fountaine of the heart and there compressed sometimes extended to the outward parts and there diffused Those spirits and bloud together with the heat that is in either or both the soule vseth for her first instruments in all her operations or els dwelleth in them and those motions of the soule we may plainly beholde in manie other things but chiefly in the affections of the soule For feare presently driueth the spirits and the bloud to the inward parts and presseth them to a narrow roome by cooling the outsides of the bodie Anger doth hastily send forth diffuse and heat the bloud and spirits and therefore the beating of the arteries and the heart in them that feare are small and weake but very great and vehement in them that are angrie That feare doth straiten and contract the hart and ioy dilate it and make it leape and the signes of either preuaile and appeare in the body the auncient Father Saint Basile did long since obserue Teares the effect of griefe doe rise saith he when an impression against our wils doth strike the Soule and draw it together the spirit about the heart being compacted and straitned Ioy is as it were the leaping of the Soule exulting or aduancing it selfe for things answerable to our mind Wherefore the Soule sheweth signes in the Body accordingly For in those that sorrow the masse of flesh is pale wanne and cold In those that reioyce the habite of their body is floorishing and ruddy the Soule euen leaping and for pleasure offering to rush to the outmost parts Thomas Aquinas a man well learned though led with the errors of his age very truely noteth First Quod in omni passione animae additur aliquid vel diminuitur a naturali motu Cordis in quantum cor intensiùs vel remissiùs monetur That in all the passions of the Soule somewhat is added to or diminished from the naturall motion of the hart in as much as the hart mooueth either swifter or slacker Secondly that From the loue of temporall things all sinne proceedeth all our affections being caused by loue which melteth and mollifieth the hart that the thing loued may pearce it contrary to coldnesse and hardnesse of hart which is a disposition repugnant to loue whose perfection is to be zealous and feruent The cause of all sinne then which is the loue of our selues and of temporall things delighting vs so flameth in our harts that it seeketh all occasions and vndertaketh all actions to content our appetites and this heate and motion of loue being impressed in the hart by the soule it is manifest that the consent of sinne is communicated from the Soule to the Body Leonardus Fuchsius a learned Phisitian of our time and a professor of true Religion in his institutions of Phisicke
soule that without it the soule doth not sinne If by naturall dreames you would prooue the perpetuall operation of the soule euen when the bodie is at rest for celestiall dreames come not often and but to few remember first that all ages and persons do not dreame 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It hath hapned to some sayth Aristotle that they neâ—…er dreampt in all their life Plinie and Plutarch confirme the same To some sayth he dreames happen when they grow in yeeres who before that time neuer dreamed Next in those that vse it straight vpon meat whiles sleepe is sound they dreame not but vpon distribution and reuocation of the naturall heat vp to the head Thirdly in dreames except they be from God it is certaine that mens imaginations which haue corporall spirits and seats worke as well as their minde and so the operation of the soule in sleepe is no way continuall nor excludeth the bodie though the outward and common sense be bound and oppressed with sleepe And euen the first ordaining of sleepe for man by God proueth that in meditation contemplation the spirits of the braine which are aeriall yet corporall are vsed by the soule in this life For with inward and earnest intension of the minde and vnderstanding those spirits waxe hoat and drie and therefore of necessitie must be cooled and tempered with sleepe otherwise if men lacke sleepe long frensie disturbeth both reason and remembrance By the maner of curing Lethargies Apoplexies Epilepsies Frensies and such like Galen resolutely concludeth that the discourse of reason and remembrance of sensitiue imaginations haue their seat in the bodie of the braine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the first instrument of the soule to all sensible and voluntarie operations is the spirit that is in the hollownesse or celles of the braine Damascene being a Diuine sayth as much The power of imagination receiuing the resemâ—…ances of naturall things from the sense deliuereth the same to the cogitation and consultation of the minde for they both are one which taking them and iudging of them sendeth them to the memorie The instrument of the cogitatiue and consultiue part of the soule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the middle celle of the braine and the animall spirit that is there and the instrument of the part mâ—…moratiue is the hinder celle of the braine and the animall spirit that is in it Where the instrument is taken for the seat in which the soule worketh and obiect from whence the soule receiueth the representations of things on which she worketh If the soules operations hang so necessâ—…rily on the bodie the doubt is how she may be separated from the bodie The power by which the soule discerneth and iudgeth of things offered by sense or by reuelation is internall and essentiall so that when she is seuered she is fully possessed of that facultie as part of her nature The meanes by which she commeth to the knowledge of externall and particular things in this life are naturally her senses and spirits by which she worketh in the body supernaturally the power of God which now and hereafter lightneth the eyes of the soule and not onely continueth her knowledge here obtained but increaseth the same and representeth to the mind and conscience all things good or bad here obscured neglected or forgotten The separation of the soule from the bodie and her knowledge after this life depend not vpon her naturall power and strength but vpon the worde and hand of God who can diuide the spirit from the soule euen in this life and either take or giue both sense and reason from her or to her as pleaseth him From Nabuchodonoser God tooke all cogitation and operation of humane reason and sense hee doth the same to others when it liketh him Paul liuing was rapt into the third heauen whether in the bodie or out of the bodie he could not tell but either way was easie to God as also Iohn when he was in the bodie was willed to ascend vp to heauen and was there in his spirit his bodie not dying in the meane space whiles his spirit was absent To children that vtterly know nothing in this life God will giue exact and perfect knowledge of their States by reuealing vnto them either his mercies or their miseries In vs all God will lighten the secrets of darkenesse and as he is trueth so suffer no trueth to lie hid in his presence We shall not onely remember all the workes of our hands and counsels of our hearts which now we haue forgotten but we shall see each others deedes and thoughts which is no way possible for our naturall abilitie so farre as shall be needefull for the declaration of his iust iudgement For nothing is secret that shall not be open neither is there any thing hid that shall not be knowen and come to light Therefore neuer doubt whether the soule hauing left her naturall and corporall meanes of knowledge shall sleepe till the day of resurrection shee shall haue an other manner of knowledge then here shee had either to her euerlasting comfort or confusion She shall then perceiue and discerne the things which eye neuer sawe nor eare euer heard nor euer ascended into the heart of man here on earth Howbeit neither the separation nor intellection of the soule pertaine directly to this question I speake not of cogitations nor of operations of the soule except they be sinnefull and those cease after this life though the knowledge of the soule remaine and in this life when sense discretion or memorie doe wholy faile vnlesâ—…e it be by our owne fault as in gluttonie drunkennesse immoderate passions of loue or anger and such like there also the committing of actuall sinne faileth Further you commit two grieuous faults 1 Tertullian the principle ground which you haue for your opinion here is wonderfully ill vsed 2 you are strangely contrarie to your selfe in your verie winding vp of the matter It seemeth that Tertullian cited before the reason of the Heretikes holding that the soules slepâ—…â—…ill the day of iudgement and receaued no reward at all in the meane time for want of the societie of their flesh but Tertullian answereth and renounceth all the same And so those were the Heretikes words against Tertullian which you alleage out of him in steede of Catholikes It is no fault in you to reade so loosely and erre so grossely that you see neither Tertullians intent methode nor proofes but wilfully taking the words that are his owne anâ—… common to him with the rest of the ancient and Catholike Fathers as if they were the wordes of Heretikes to blurre him and the rest with the spot of heresie when they speake a trueth receiued and beleeued in the Church of Christ. It seemeth you say Tertullian cited the reasons of the Heretikes houlding the soule slept till the last iudgement It is past
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
did but to giue place to the diuel to fill his hart with wicked spirituall motions as you call them which God forbid should come within any Christian mans hart And therefore if ignorance carie you to thâ—…s conceite recall it in time if Pride for my part I must needs deâ—…st â—…t as much as I doe any point in all your Defence Defenâ—… pag. 83. li. 37. Thus tâ—…en it was possiâ—…le and most likely it is also that Christ was assaulted and wrastlâ—… withall by the diuels spirituall suggestions now when in his most bitter Agonie he hanged on the Crosse. In steedâ—… of full and infallible proofes to iustifie your strange conceits you pretend possibilities and probabilities which to me are nothing else but ignorant and absurd impâ—…eties For you labour tooth and nayle to shew the holinesse of your cause by drawing the Sonne of God within the limites of our sinnes not onely aâ—…â—…earing them on the Crosse in his Body which the Scriptures affirme but as desiâ—… with thâ—…m and hatefull to God for them and guiltie of them not by Imputation alone where you first began but by the violent and inward impression thereof in Christs hart and on Christs Spirit through the working of Satan And the sinnes wherewith you would haue Christs owne hart by Satans Instigation assault him in the Wildernesse were no lesse then distrust in God presumption to tempt God and blasphemous adoring of the diuel besides a manifest and malitious dishonor to God that Satan gaue all the kingdomes of the earth to whom he would And on the Crosse you ascribe to Christ in like manner the spirituall and inward cogitations of reprobation dereliction malediction confusion desperation and damnation wherewith his owne hart tempted him as you would haue it by the diuels spirituall suggestions since this is the inward conflict which you dreame Christ had with the powers of hell not outwardly filling his eares with these reproches from the mouthes of his blaâ—…phemous Persecutors as the Scriptures witnesse but the diuell inwardly so distracting and diuiding Christs thoughts that his own cogitations by your vngodly resolutions prompted and suggested these things vnto him as thereto stirred and incensed by Satan k Defenc. pa. 84. li. 5. You say he was tempted of Satâ—…n all the time of his abode heere on earth I haue no doubt but Satan did what he could as well by flatteries as by contumelies to sift the soule of Christ all the time of his abode heere on earth but he did not this with his owne voice saue onely in the wildernesse by others he did it and sometimes by such as were neere about Christ as when Peter l Matth. 16. tooke him aside and said Master spare thy selfe this shall not be vnto thee To whom Christ replied Get thee behinde me Satan thou art an offence vnto me because thou sauourest not the things that are of God bâ—…t of mâ—…n Where Christ sharpely rebuked Peters counsell and loue as stirred by Satan vnder shew of good will to hinder him in his purpose of mans Redemption But I neuer said as you alleage my words that Christ was tempted by Satan all the time of his â—…ode on earth by which you would haue men beleeue that I confesse Satan inwardly tempted Christ all his life long My words are He m Conâ—…lus pa. 283. li. â—…4 was tempted in the desert by Satan himselfe and by Satans members all the time of his abode on earth n Defenc. pag. 84. li. 6. Then you denie not but now euen on the crosse Christ was tempted and assâ—…lted by Satan that is by Satans instruments mooued and enraged by him That men may be the diuels instrumens in perswading or persuing others both which are called temptations there is no cause why any man should doubt and if these externall temptations could haue sufficed your humorous head you needed not to haue plunged your selfe so dangerously as you haue done into the spirituall cogitations of Christs heart leading and moouing him to sinne in Satans steede Yea rather you would haue seene that as men cannot be Satans willing instruments in this case but they must be partakers of Satans wickednesâ—…e so the heart and thoughts of Christ could not be Satans meanes to suggest any sinne to Christ in Satans place because euerie part and thought of Christ was holie and vndefiled God himselfe conceaueth and considereth of all mens wickednesâ—… when he reprooueth or punisheth the sinnes of men To conceaue therefore or consider what Satan by his owne voice or by the mouthes of his members saide vnto Christ was no way vnfit for Christes humane integritie and puritie but that Christs heart or inward thoughts should suggest or perswade the same vnto him which Satan and his members did if you know what you say you cannot auoide either haynous impietie or monstrous stupiditie o Defenc. pag. 84 li. 9. This is none other indeed but that which in the entrance of this Question here I obserued which as I haue before shewed sufficeth to prooue Christs combating as it were wrastling with the powers of â—…ell on the crosse Ment you no more al this while but that in tormenting reuiling Christ on the crosse the Iewes were Satans instruments What needed then so many foolish and lewd speeches of Satans p Defenc pag. 83. li. â—… 14. 27. â—…7 inward spirituall motions and â—…mptations spiritually suggested into the heart of Christ And what proofe is this of Gods proper wrath and indignation laid on the soule of Christ that the wicked derided him as they doe God himselfe Or is this all the spoile and triumph that Christ had ouer hell and Satan that he endured whatsoeuer mockes and paines they could deuise This no doubt he did and so did frustrate all the force of hell with his patience and confidence in God his Father but he had an other manner of triumph and recompence for the wrong which he suffered at Satans hand except you list to deface his glorie as you doe his innocencie Howbeit the Reader may heere perceaue on what conceits and coniectures your new redemption by the paines of hell is founded euen on your owne dreames and deuices which you cannot expresse and daâ—…e not specifie for feare of hatefull absurdities and impieties q Defenc. pag. 8â—… li. 12. But you obiect against this that outward temptation by the mouthes and hands of the wicked is no effect of Gods wrath No is Heere you are cleane contrarie to your selfe and the trueth Were it newes to see you wander either from the trueth or from your owne positions heere a man might take a full view of your idle and forgetfull rouing and snatching at euerie thing where not taking the paines to peâ—…use the whole reason or to looke fower lines farder to the knitting of the conclusion or to weigh the wordes themselues which you bring you foolishly mistake my words grounded on your assertion as if they were mine
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
110. li. 28. exceeding generall and constant ioy and had as Dauid foreprophesied of him i 34. constant and continuall ioy in God was there no feeling of all this triumph and ioy so exceeding constant and continuall May a man be so franticke as to confesse that Christ felt all this and yet to say he had no comfortable feeling This may be called the death of the soule To him that calleth light darknesse good euill faith feare ioy discomfort this may seeme death which by all the rules of the sacred Scriptures is called the life of the soule heere on earth but by no man that vnderstandeth or careth what he sayth can this be called or defended to be the death of the soule k Defenc. pag. 113. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As it is life to the soule to feele and to enioy the glory of God Psal 16. 21. so it is death to feele the want and absence thereof vtterly Hauing abused the Fathers at your pleasure you offer now the like if not worse to the Scriptures The sixteenth Psalme vers 11 not 21 as you quote it sheweth vs that there is a way to life reuealed here on earth but the fulnesse of ioy is in Gods presence when we shall behold his face as the Angels doe in heauen The way to life is grace wherewith Christ was replenished from his mothers wombe and in greater measure then all his members For he had the fullnesse thereof in this life where the perfectest men haue but a measure thereof and we l Iohn 1. all haue receaued of his fulnesse The plenty of pleasure which is at Gods right hand is euerlasting glory both of soule and body into which Christ entred after his Resurrection How doth this prooue that Christs soule was dead during the time of his Paâ—…sion if a man would seeke out a place to confirme the contrarie he cannot light on a better For these words pertaining directly to Christ on the crosse conclude that euen in the midst of his sufferings m Psal 16. v. 11 the waies of life were made knowen to him by God and that after his rising againe God would Replenish him with the ioy of his countenance which was euerlasting glory in the heauens The one he possessed the other was promised more then which the soule of man cannot enioy in this life Now except this be your rage rather then your reason that all mens soules are dead till they come to behold God face to face in the heauens I see not what you can hence collect touching the death of Christs soule The contrarie may be soundly concluded out of this place For the wayes of life were made knowen to him here on earth and by him to all men liuing since he prosessed himselfe to be the n Iohn 14. Way and the Truth and the Life and the promises of God to him as farre exceeded all honour and glory reserued for men as it was possible for the head to excell his members o Defenc pag. 113 li. 1â—… This heauenly life Christ tasted a while in his transsiguration this death he felt besides his bodily death on the Crosse. If Christ neuer tasted an heauenly life but in his transfiguration then all the time of his conuersing heere on earth he felt your hellish death and not in his passion only but what madnesse is this to affirme either of Christ or of his members that their soules are dead till they come to behold Gods face in the glory of his Kingdome If these be your best proofes for the death of Christs soule 〈◊〉 heed you be not estrâ—…nged from the life of God through the ignorant wilfullnesse or your heart that thus confound heauen and earth life and death to maintaine your fansies against both Fathers and Scriptures But of the death of Christs soule we shall haue better occasion afterward to speake when we come to handle it at large where I will by Gods grace let the Reader see how resolutely and absolutely the Fathers ioyning with the Scriptures repell the death of Christs soule as a pestilent point of false doctrine vnlesse we take it as a figuratiue kind of speach which is nothing to the principles of our faith nor to the true price of our Redemption since we must not conuert the truth of Christ to figures and phrases p Defenc pag. 11. li 〈◊〉 Your fourth exposition for any thing I see may be granted for it seemeth to be the same in effect that we hold If the fourth exposition be granted then two of your chiefe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the 〈◊〉 grounds on which you raise your hell paines suffered in the soule of Christ vtterly sincke For then Christ spake these words of his members not of his owne person and it was no such dolefull and vncomfortable mourning and 〈◊〉 his owne soule as you suppose but a praier full of power fauour and grace whereby the sonne of God auerted from vs the separation that was betwixt God vs and made peace in heauen and earth reconciling man to God that before was forsaken of him q Pag. 113 li. 2â—… Was it remooued from vs then surely it was laid on some body els Now that must needes be vpon himselfe You fall to rouing in steed of reasoning Euerlasting death and hell fire it selfe were remooued from vs. On whom then were they laid Desperation confusion reiection were likewise remooued from vs. Were they therefore laid on Christ 〈◊〉 of sinne and corruption in the graue shal be likewise remooued from vs. Were these also laid on Christes person or did he suffer the very same that we should keepe such reasons for your hellish mysteries they haue no force in true religion nor I think with any sober or well aduised reasoner The punishments of this life imposed on all mankind Christ suffered for vs and by them freed vs from euerlasting damnation and destruction which were the due wages of our sinnes He therefore paied a price for vs which was the shedding of his bloud vnto death on the Crosse and by that ransomed vs from the captiuitie and miserie that otherwise were appointed for sinne r Defenc. pag. 113. li. 30. Where you obiect Athanasius that he could not be forsaken of his Father who was alwaies in his Father it is meerely wrested Athanasius speaketh against Arius also that Christs deity could not be for saken of his Father and so was not inferiour to his Father What talke you of wresting that neuer yet conceaued any Fathers words rightly no more then you doe that of Athanasius which I brought You catch at a piece and runne your way as though you were cleerely acquited but returne to the text and looke on the rest with shame enough Who was he that spake those words Why hast thou forsaken me I trust he was the sonne of God though now incarnate who before his incarnation was equall with his father in the forme of God Els Peter was
indeed reueale some reall tast of his heauenly ioies to his children euen in this life I haue already shewed but am not answeared You slide from some blessed men to all the children of God to whom you affirme God doth reueale indeed some reall tast of his heauenly ioies euen in this life What you meane by a reall tast we must learne from your owne mouth by such doubtfull phrases which you may after wrangle about you vse to deliuer your doctrine If you meane ioy in the holy Ghost whiles by hope we expect the promises of God at his determined time that indeed is common to all the children of God in their measure but that teacheth a maine difference betwixt the things heere enioined and reserued for vs in heauen and quite crosseth the new heauen which you would establish For we learne by the Scriptures that our z Coloss. 3. Life is hid in Christ and when Christ who is our life shall appeare then shall we also appeare with him in glory a 1 Iohn 3. Now we are the sonnes of God but yet it doth not appeare what we shal be and we know that when he shall appeare we shal be like him for we shall see him as he is Our knowledge loue and ioy of God and in God beginne heere by the preaching of the Gospell and the working of his spirit but the Scripture neuer calleth those the ioies of ueauen though they shall there continue yet so augmented and accompanied with heauenly brightnesse and glory that they shall not be the same they were For as our naturall vnderstanding and sense and corporall life and flesh shall not be abolished in heauen but abide and be glorified and yet no man is so senselesse as to thinke or say the glory of our creation is the glory of our resurrection so our knowledge loue and ioy which heere are weake and wanting all perfection as being mixed with ignorance and error lust and vnlawfull desires feare and griefe and often obscured and almost ouerwhelmed with infirmity iniquity and misery no wise man will defend to be the ioies of Gods heauenly kingdome where is no want nor defect of any good nor feare nor doubt of any euill inward or outward but as God shall then be all in all so shall we be filled with the sight and fruition of God our loue and ioy increasing according to our knowledge which then shal be the manifest vision of God face to face who is the vnceasing and vnsearchable fountaine of all goodnesse and blessednesse The b Treatis pa. 80 proofe on which you stand as yet not answered is a place of the Apostle to the Corinths applied by many men to the preaching of the Gospel then it maketh nothing for your purpose but if it be referred to the ioyes of heauen as you would haue it it maketh quite against you For c 1. Cor. 2. eye hath not seene saith the Apostle neither eare hath heard neither hath mans heart conceaued the things which God hath prepared for them that loue him If those be the ioyes of heauen which the Apostle there meaneth then is it euident that men are not capable of them whiles they are compassed with sinne and infirmitie but God hath reserued them in the heauens for vs when we shall come to his presence though in the meane time d 1. 2. he hath reuealed to vs by his spirit that such things are kept in store for vs which then shall appeare that is be apparently and perfectly bestowed on vs and we euerlastingly inuested with them The Reuelation which the Apostle here speaketh of is the reuelation of knowledge whereby these things are promised and assured vnto vs not the reuelation of glory whereby we shall see that which we now hope for and enioy that which we now expect This doctrine howsoeuer you would delude it with your reall tasts is plainely deliuered in the Scriptures When Moses besought God to shew him his glory God answered e Exod. 33. ver 20. Thou CANST NOT SEE my face and liue for there shall no man see mee and liue Where God doth not meane that men shall not see him in heauen when they come to be f Matth. 22. as the Angels of God who g Mat. 18. v. 10. alwayes behold the face of God in heauen his owne sonne hath sayd h Matt 5. blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God and his Apostle likewise i 2. Cor. 13. Now we see through a glasse darkely then shall we see face to face But he meaneth that no man liuing in this mortall flesh can see his face Otherwise it is the cleere resolution of the Scriptures that we k 1. Iohn 3. shall see him as he is that is not by faith as now we doe nor by some created shew of his glory as Moses Elias Esai and other the Prophets and Patriarkes did see him for the confirmation of their callings or consolation of their miseries but as the Apostle speaketh face to face Vpon these words of S. Iohn we shall see him as he is S. Austen learnedly and truely sayth l August in 〈◊〉 Iohan. Tract 101. Ista visio non est huius vitae sed futurae non temporalis sed aeterna Hunc totius laboris sui fructum Ecclesia nunc parturit desiderando tunc paritura cernendo This vision of God as he is is not in this life but in the life to come not temporall but eternall This fruite of her whole labour the Church now trauelleth with by desiring it but then shall attaine by beholding it Now if the sight of God himselfe face to face that is of his substance and glory in plaine full and perfect manner and measure be the same with the darke and enigmaticall beholding his graces and promises by the glasse of faith then haue you some reason to say the ioyes of heauen may be had in this life but if in the manner measure obiects and effects of our sight of God in this life and the next there be so great difference then you deceiue both your selfe and your Reader to affirme we haue the ioyes of heauen heere in this life when not onely our sinne our ignorance our miserie mutabilitie and mortalitie but euen our faith and hope do clearely prooue that we haue not that which we desire nor as yet enioy that which we expect and beleeue wee shall haue m August epist. 112. Non corda munda suae substantiae contemplatione fraudauit cum haec magna summa merces Deum colentibus diligentibus promittatur dicente ipso Domino quando corporalibus oculis visibiliter apparebat inuisibilem se contuenaū mundis cordibus promittebat qui diligit me diligitur a Patre meo ego diligam eum ostendā meipsum illi God hath not defrauded cleane harts of the sight of his substance since that is promised to those which serue
and loue God as the great and chiefe reward the Lord saying when he appeared visible to the eyes of their bodies promised himselfe inuisible to be seene of cleane hearts he that loueth me shal be loued of my Father and I will loue him and will shew mine owne selfe vnto him n Defenc. pag. 120 li. 7. The transfiguration of Christ on the mount declareth that some reall part of heauenly glory may be heere on earth which you your selfe somewhere confesse cleane against your selfe You would needes tell vs in you Treatise that heauen was some foretaste of the infinite ioy prepared for the godly which you attempted to prooue by the Apostles words common to all the children of God and thereupon concluded thus you o pa. 80. li. 23. see that as there is heauen in this life in some measure euen so there may be hell I replied that if you p Conclu pag. 337. 〈◊〉 34. affirmed of heauen as you did of hell that the VERY SAME IOYES which are in heauen or EQVALL with them are heere sometimes found in vs liuing on earth it was a wicked error flatly repugning to the trueth of Gods promises and to the very nature of our Christian faith and hope We reasoned not of Christs manhoode which q Colos. 1. in all things had the preeminence aboue and afore all the sonnes of God but OF THE CODLY whom you expressely named and of whom I accordingly replied and to whom those words of the Apostle cited by you for proofe of your purpose doe precisely pertaine For of Christ they are most false that his eye neuer saw nor his eare neuer heard nor his hart neuer conceiued the things which God hath prepared for them that loue him Now when you should prooue that mortall men and no more then men though the members of Christ liuing heere on the earth haue THE VERY SAME IOYES which are in heauen or EQVALL with them you run to Christes transfiguration on the mountaine and by that you would inferre that there was heauen euen in this life in some measure But first where can you shew that Christes transfiguration on the mountaine is called heauen in the Scriptures Next what deriuation can you make from Christs power knowledge and glory to ours heere on earth Christs soule had many parts and degrees of heauenly perfection in this life which ours haue not he was free from sinne and error which abound in vs he was full of trueth and grace which want in vs saue what we receiue from his fulnesse he was the way the light and the life that leadeth lightneth and quickeneth euery man comming into the world yea the crosse of Christ was the wisdome and power of God These and many other maine differences the Scriptures expresse betwixt Christ and vs so that from his perfection and preeminence to our weakenesse wickednesse and wretchednesse in this world no comparison can be made nor any consequent but that beleeuing in him louing him and obeying his commandements as we are heere regenerate and renewed by his spirit so we shal be conformed to his image to raigne with him in the next life if we suffer with him in this life Christs transfiguration then is not called heauen in any Scripture neither had it the perfection or condition of heauen since heauen is not a transitory taste of mutable ioy or glory but a full and euerlasting possession of all power honour and blisse communicable from God and proportionable to the receauer But if Christ had the reall fruition of heauen in his flesh heere on earth how much more in his soule which was alwaies full of trueth and grace light and life and hauing so reall a tast as you speake of and so immeasurable a fulnesse of life and grace as the Scriptures speake I greatly maruaile how you come really to place hell and heauen in one soule together and specially in the soule of Christ on which you inflict the very substance of hell paines when yet the abundance and continuance of heauenly ioy could not want in him As for my somewhere confessing cleane against my selfe that Christ transfigured in the mount tasted of that heauenly glory prepared for him I see not how that crosseth any thing auouched by me in the 337. and 338. page by you noted You shall do well when you challenge contrarieties not to let the report rest on your crackt credit but produce the words that your Reader may be iudge of both You are sharp enough to catch hold of any thing if there were any cause I called indeed Christs transfiguration on the mount a taste of that heauenly ioy prepared for him I called it not heauen A taste of things neither abideth nor sufficeth which heauen fully doth therefore it is rather a contradiction then a confession of your conceit For if you thinke that Christs heauenly glory may be defectiue or mutable as his transfiguration was you broch a wicked and impious error Christs transfiguration did not exempt him from feare sorrow shame and death following which if you imagine of his glorification in heauen it is a right hellish impiety And whatsoeuer we affirme of Christ touching his preeminence aboue all the children of men as that he was free from sinne and full of grace and had the perfect knowledge of Gods trueth and will aboue men and Angels I hope you will not deriue it to his members heere liuing in the flesh least you leaue no ground of Christian religion vnshaken r Defenc. pag. 120. li. 10. Onely this you haue to obiect touching men that faith and hope is the euidence of things not seene neither are our greatest ioyes the same nor equall to them which we shall possesse in the next world I haue also to obiect that it is not lawfull for you nor for any man liuing to determine of Gods kingdome without his warrant nor to auouch that to be heauen which the Scriptures doe not Take heed it is no pastime to play with heauen and hell as you do without better aslurance than you haue Know you not what that learned Father sayth s Tertullianus de praescrip aduersus haereticos Nobis nihil ex nostro arbitrio indulgere licet It is not lawfull for vs that be Christians to deuise any thing of our owne heads But t Cyril de fide ad Reginas li 2. it is necessarie for vs as Cyril sayth to follow the diuine Scriptures and in nothing to depart from their praescription u Defenc pag. 120 li. 14. I answere our reasons before do proue more than only hope in the faithfull sometimes And I replie that none of your reasons do any way proue the ioyes of heauen Gods answere to Moses must stoppe your mouth and the presumption of all such as you are x Exod. 33. Thou canst not see my face for there shall no man see me and liue Moses saw as much as in this mortall life any
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
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