4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 senum of old age till death as Varro distributeth the same Yeares of their age First In our childehood we are all alike the heyre differing nothing from a seruant though hee bee Lord of all all Lords or what you will but they must be vnder Tutors and Gouernors sayth the Apostle and because exultat leuitaete puer children are childish and apish rather delighting in toyes then imbracing instructions therefore they are kept vnder correction and brought vnto vertue by good discipline while they may be taught for as it is prouerbially sayd Flexilis est iuncus salices flectuntur amarae Robora dura minus the tender branch may bee easily bowed but the well-growne Oke Prouer. 29.18 and c. 4.3.4 will bee sooner broken then straitened so wee may teach a childe a trade in his youth but we shall hardly teach an old Horse to amble and therefore the wisest among the sonnes of men aduiseth all men to correct their children though they be neuer so deere in their sight because this is as necessarie vnto the children as their foode and as comfortable vnto the parents as the childe himselfe in as much as to haue a good childe is better then to haue a childe And yet this instruction and especially the correction is such an intollerable burthen so heauie for them to beare What a burthen correction is vnto children as that they thinke no creatures more miserable then themselues when they see all others free and themselues onely as they thinke bound vnder the rod and therefore would they giue all they haue to be once rid out of this seruile bondage Secondly In our youth we are like vntamed colts wilde and wanton vnable to rule our selues and vnwilling to be ruled by others and therefore wee doe loosen our bridles to all licentiousnesse and euery young man is for the most part as the Poet describeth him briefly Inuidus iracundus iners vinosus amator We burne with lust while we be youths How dissolute we are in our youth Ouidius l. 13. Metam Dum mihi laeâ—â— genas conuestit flore inuentus militiae ingredior castra cupido tuâ— and are still inflamed with that vntameable fire of wanton loue neque enim robustior aetas Vlla nec vberior nec quae magis ardeat vlla est Pleasure and youth doe smile on vs to woe vs To taste vaine lusts tasted they vndoe vs. Therefore S. Iere. sayth That it is almost impossible to find a young man that is not sometimes tempted with fleshly lusts and Saint Ambrose sayth Inter omnia certamina christianorum durissima sunt praelia caftitatis Prodigus curae vacuus temerarius audax Omne genus vitae liberioris amo Among all the combats of Christians it is the hardest thing for vs to ouercome and subdue our owne lusts and to keepe our owne flesh a chast and a modest virgin And as we are inflamed with lust so we are drowned in drunkennesse we swell with pride and we fill our selues with all filthynesse and thereby we doe many times as wee daily see in many desperate youthes by drinking whooring swearing quarrelling and such like effects of deboysnesse suddenly cut off our selues in our owne wickednesse and what greater miseries can there be then these and yet behold I will shew thee greater abhominations For The miseries incident to vs in our Manhood Nunc me ludus habet nunc me formosa puella nunc fera pro pacta praelia nocte gâ—ro Sedvelut herba perit sic flos cadit ipse inuentae faelix qui potuit dicere talis eram Thirdly In our manhood we are come to the midst of miseries so that quocunque afpiciam quocunque lumina vertam Wheresoeuer we looke and turne our eyes we shall see nothing but our selues swimming in a Sea of sorrowes and there tumbled and tossed with many waues of woes micat ignibus aether Cloudes of darkenesse are in stead of comforts and about our heads we shall finde haile-stones and coales of fire for now we finde the affaires of the world the feares of enemies the cares for families the discontents at home many times of thy Wife that lyeth in thy bosome many times of thy Children the fruits of thine owne bowels the wrongs of Neighbours abroad the suites of Law and a thousand such bitter fruits of sinne doe so vexe and affright the heart of man that they make him often sleepe like the Nightingale that is said to haue alwayes a pricke before her breast and then to rise vp early and late to goe to bed Psal 127.3 and to eate the bread of carefulnesse and all to no purpose for after we haue wearied and worne out our selues in the pursuite of this world all our workes and labours are but as the Spiders webbe it will make no garment for vs and when wee haue brought our yeares to an end as it were a tale that is tolde then notwithstanding all our former pompe and power wee shall be as poore as when we were borne euen as poore as Iob for The miseries incident to vs in old age Iob. 1.21 as we came naked into the world so naked wee shall returne againe and so this is not onely the misery but also the folly and madnesse of men And yet behold a little more For Fourthly In old age Vsque adeo grauis vxori gnatisque sibique vt captatori moueat fastidia Cosso Wee are troublesome to our selues and others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nunc mihi cum medicis res est iudice summo misere vitam semisepultus ago rixosae inuestant vetula execrabile vulgus inuidus in terra parta recondo sâ—num Eccles 12.1 An old man is troublesome vnto youths saith Menander yea our owne Wiues though they cannot leaue vs yet doe they loathe vs and indeed our selues doe now begin to hate our selues Laudat praeteritos presentes despicit annos For these be the dayes wherein there is no pleasure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because olde age is like an heauy burthen vnto men that makes them stoope downe to the earth Nec coelum spectare licet sed prona senectus Terram à qua genita est reditura videt and neuer suffers them to rise or scarce to looke vp towards Heauen vntill they returne to the earth Gen. 3.19 from whence they were taken Alas then what a misery is this to consider the miseries of olde age our bodies are weakned our beauty vanished our senses blunted the eyes cannot see the eares cannot heare the hands cannot worke and the feete cannot walke and then besides Circumsilit agmine facto morborum omne genus We are seized vpon by all kinde of diseases our heads ake our hearts faint and all our bodies tremble Coughes Rheumes and Feauers doe now seeme to be our vitall spirits and so the Heathens saw and so they said that no age was free from miseries yet
his graue and so forth if his body was not limited in any one place but incircumscriptiuely in euery place Therefore it is most manifest that the Body of Christ though glorified in Heauen is still a true Phisicall body limited with his dimensions and locally seated in his appointed place and therefore also seeing to be in one place and to be in euery place at the same time and in the same respect is such a palpable and grosse contradiction I conclude that it is vnpossible that God should be able to make the Body of Christ to be euery where in Heauen and in earth both at once What the Iesuites say to proue Transubstantiation Fourthly The pontificialls and Iesuites doe obiect that to transubstantiate bread into flesh or to make the Body of Christ to be in all those places where the Masse is celebrated and receiued of all those that doe communicate doth no wayes implie a contradiction Bellar de Euch l. 3. c. 4. p. 7. 297. in 8â—â— Quia ad esse circumscriptiue in loco nihil requiritur nisi vt locatum sit commensuratum suo loco non vt sit alibi in alio loco For that it is inough to shew the veritie of a body that it be circumscribed and limited with its place and time and not that it cannot bee in many places so it bee circumscribed in euery place where it is sayth Cardinall Bellarmine and therefore God can make the body of Christ to bee in many places though not to be in all places for to bee in many places doth include that he must be prescribed and limited in all those places where he is which is agreeable to the definition of a true Phisicall body but to be in all places doth necessarily conclude that he must be vnlimited and indefinite which is altogether contrarie to the definition of a true body and thus Clodius accusat Maechum Catilina Caethegum Ephraim will bee against Manasses and Manasses against Ephraim and both against Iuda Sol. But to this I answere First That to proue the vbiquitie of the body of Christ That we must not argue from the power of God vnlesse we can prooue it from the will of God or the transubstantiating of the bread into the flesh of Christ or any other point of Diuinitie Non licet theologicè positiuè argumentari ab omnipotentia Dei nisi praecedat voluntas Dei It is no wayes sufficient to argue Theologically and positiuely from the power of God that he can doe such a thing vnlesse wee haue some testimony of the Will of God that hee hath done or will doe such a thing for the secret things belong vnto the Lord our God Deut. 29.29 but those things which are reueiled belong to vs and to our Children for euer Secondly I say that in this their assertion of transubstantiation That there is a double contradiction in the doctrine of Transubstantiation there is a double contradiction which is vnpossible by all the wit of man to be reconciled First that Bread still remaining Bread should be notwithstanding transubstantiated into Flesh Secondly that the Body of Christ numerically one and locally in Heauen should be notwithstanding many thousand complete bodies and in many thousand places all at once and what greater contradictories can there be then these for First we confesse God can produce any thing of nothing God can change any substance into another substance Gen. 19.26 Iohn 2.9 Matth. 4.3 and reduce any thing into nothing and he can change any thing into any thing as to make stones Bread Bread flesh Lots wife a pillar of salt or any such like thing for wee see God hath done it and Christ changed the Water into Wine and the very diuell knew he could doe it when he said vnto our Sauiour If thou beest the Son of God command that these stones be made bread But that God should change one substance into another and yet that this thing which is said to be changed should remaine still the same thing which it was before it was changed and be also the substance of the thing into which it was changed it is so impossible as that there can be nothing more for when the Lord changed one substance into another Exod. 4.3 as Moses his rodde into a Serpent or Lots wife into a pillar of Salt or the Water into Wine Neither of these That the substance changed cannot be what it was and what it is both at once were both the things at the same time but when Moses rod was a rod it was no Serpent and when it was a Serpent it was no rod so when Lots wife was a Woman and Lots wife she was no pillar of Salt and when she was a pillar of Salt she was no more a Woman nor Lots wife and so when the Water was Water it was no Wine and when it was Wine it was no Water and therefore to say that the bread remaining bread should be transubstantiated or changed into Flesh and so for the same substance at the selfe-same time to bee two seuerall and distinct things Bread and Flesh I say that as it is incredible for vs to beleeue it so it is vnpossible for God to effect it For if these things be not direct contradictories I know not how any man can name any contradictories in the world But to this they answere that they doe not say that the same thing is both Bread and Flesh for they all know that this is vnpossible to be done but they say that the substance of the bread is vanished and reduced into nothing which God can doe as we all confesse and that the sole substance of the Flesh is there remaining to be receiued of the beleeuer of the Communicant be he faithfull or Infidell yea of Rattes Kattes Dogges and Serpents if they can come by it I answere that I doe admire the subtilty of Satan to sow such seed of strong delusions to deceiue simple soules and the more I follow these sophisticall shifts the more I doe abhorre these vile deceits for I beseech you marke what absurdities what contradictions what impossibilities doe still more and more accrew for The most ridiculous absurdities that must follow the doctrine of transubstantiation First the substance of the Bread is gone Nihil est It is reduced to nothing and yet behold the colour of it is there the forme of it is there the taste of it is there thine eye sees it Bread thy hand feeles it Bread thy mouth findes it Bread and yet it is no Bread I would faine know what Aristotle or all the Schoole of Philosophers would define this to be Bread and no Bread Bread in the iudgement of all the world and no Bread in the iudgement of all the Iesuites of the world a strange thing that God should worke such strong delusions I finde that Satan did them often but neuer that God did euer the
body but onely in the shew and shape of a body therefore he appeared in no true body to the Apostles To this I answere first that the minor is false Sol. That Christ appeared to the Patriarchs in a true body for he appeared vnto the Fathers in a true body as may be easily proued from those actions of eating drinking walking and such like and when he had ended that businesse for which he was sent of his Father he deposed that body which for that end hee had assumed and so he laid downe his body againe because hee had not as yet really and hypostatically vnited himselfe vnto the same Secondly Christ in former times did but assume a body for some speciall end now he was made flesh to remaine man for euer I say that if it were so that he appeared vnto the Fathers in a phantasme yet it followeth not that he did so likewise vnto the Apostles for before he assumed it onely for a time to performe some one speciall act but now he is made flesh which he hath really vnited vnto himselfe for euer to performe the greatest worke in the world the redemption of mankinde and therefore S. Iohn to expresse the truth thereof so fully as words could doe it saith that himselfe and the rest of his fellow Apostles did beare witnesse of that which they saw with their eyes and heard with their eares 1 John 21. and their hands had handled of the word of life and that this word was made flesh and dwelt among vs Iohn 1.14 which was neuer spoken of any of the formes that hee assumed in the Old Testament For though wee reade that hee appeared vnto the Fathers at sundry times and in diuers formes Heb. 1.1 yet we doe neuer reade that he made himselfe of no reputation by taking those formes vpon him Phil. â— 7 or that therefore he was made to be the things that he appeared to be because he neuer assumed them vnto himselfe as to vnite them personally vnto himselfe Ob. 3 Thirdly they say that the Scriptures teach not that he had a true naturall body but onely the shew and likenesse of a body for Saint Paul saith Phil 2.78 that Christ tooke vpon him the forme of a seruant and that God sent his Sonne in the similitude of the flesh of sinne Rom. 8 3. or of sinfull flesh and Saint Iohn saw one walking among the seauen golden Candlesticks Reuel 1.13 which was like vnto the Sonne of Man therefore he assumed no true body but onely a shew and a likenesse of a body Sol. I answere that these words and the like doe giue them no such ground nor any shew of reason to build any such conclusion thereupon for the Scripture saith that Adam did beget Caine Gen. 5.3 Christ in regard of his meane condition did appeare like a sinfull man but was without sinne Abel Seth in his owne image and likenesse but we might iustly account them very foolish that would hereupon inferre that neither Caine or Seth had not the very nature of Adam but onely a bare shadow and similitude thereof and therefore the Apostle in saying that hee was sent in the similitude of sinfull flesh giues vs to vnderstand that he was conceiued and borne without sinne and yet to haue flesh like vnto sinfull flesh because though it was without sinne yet it seemed to be full of sinnes by reason of the punishment that he was contented to vndergoe for our sinnes And this is most excellently declared by Tertullian Tertul. in l. de carne Christi c. 17. where he saith that Saint Paul affirmeth Christ to be made in the similitude of sinfull flesh not that he tooke the likenesse of flesh or the image of a body and not a true body but that he would giue vs to vnderstand that Christ tooke vpon him true flesh in the similitude of sinfull flesh Quia similitudo ad titulum peccati pertinebit Idem l. 5. contra Marcion Because the word similitude is to be referred to the iniquitie of sinne and not to deny the veritie of his substance for he would not haue added the word sinne if he had vnderstood and meant that the word similitude should be referred to the substance of his flesh to deny the veritie of the same but when he thus frameth his speech saying That hee came and tooke vpon him the likenesse of the flesh of sinne or of sinfull flesh Et substantiam confirmauit i. e. carnem similitudinem ad vitium substantiae retulit i. e. peccatum Hee doth confirme the veritie of his substance that is his flesh and he referreth similitude to the vitiousnes of the substance i. e. sin which in the sight of the Iewes he seemed to haue though in very deed hee had none So Cassianus saith Cassian collat 22. c. 11. that Similitudo non ad carnis veritatem sed ad peccati imaginem referenda est The word similitude hath relation not to flesh to denie the truth thereof for that was true flesh but to this word sinfull Quia in veritate corporis sed sine veritate peccati suscepit dominus speciem peccatoris Because that in the true nature of man without any sinne hee appeared and was so esteemed of many like a sinfull man Amb. de spiritu Sancto l. 3. c. 9. saith Saint Ambrose And so when the Apostle saith that Christ was made in the similitude of Man he doth not meane so to referre the word similitude Ad naturam humanam as that we should vnderstand him to be made onely in the likenesse of our humane nature The manhood of Christ seene by the sufferings of Christ but by the similitude of man he vnderstandeth Conditionem abiectam that abiect and meane condition of man whereby Christ was made like vnto all other men and therefore Saint Paul doth hereby more confirme the truth of his humane nature then any wayes weaken the same Iustin Martyr in expos fidei because as Iustin Martyr speaketh Deus quidem intelligitur ex prodigiorum operatione homo autem ostenditur ex aequalibus nostrae naturae perpessionibus His Godhead is sufficiently seene by the working of his miracles but his Manhood is chiefly seene by the like sufferings and infirmities of our nature And to that place of the Apocalyps I say that Saint Iohn saw him in a Propheticall vision his body being in heauen and not on earth and therefore this of all other is alledged most improperly to deny the truth of that flesh which Saint Iohn of all other had so plainely declared vnto vs. And so you may see that neither these places nor any other place though neuer so much wringed and wrested from the true meaning of the Holy Ghost no nor the gates of Hell it selfe can disproue the truth of this point that Christ hath a true and a naturall body CHAP. III. Of Christ his true and perfect
if we beleeue Master Harding came into the Chappell to helpe Saint Basil to say Masse though the doores were shut and therefore the opening of the doores by the power of Christs Deitie doth no way prooue the inpalpabilitie of his Body Ob. 3 Thirdly They doe obiect that he walked vpon the Sea like a Spirit Mar. 6.49 and therefore his Body was inuested with the leuity and agility of the Deity Sol. To this I answere that he walked vpon the Seas not by the alleuiating or making light his body or specially by the leesing of the properties of a true naturall body but by the consolidating and confirming or strengthening of the waters through the power of his Deitie to make them able to beare him vp and so they were strengthened to beare vp the body of Saint Peter vntill Saint Peters faith began to faile Ob. 4 Fourthly They doe obiect that the heauens must containe the Body of Christ vntill the restitution of all things Act 9.3 as Saint Peter saith and yet that Christ in respect of his humanity did appeare vnto Saint Paul Act. 22.6 as he went towards Damascus and therefore either the saying of Saint Peter cannot be true or Saint Paul did not see him or else his humanity by reason of the vnion with the Deity hath obtained those Diuine properties to be omniscient and omnipresent with the Deity Sol. To this some doe answere that Christ might for that time and to that end frame a body of the ayre to speake vnto Saint Paul as he did many times vnto the Fathers of the Old Testament and so the Heauens did containe the true and naturall body and he appeared vnto Saint Paul in a body that he assumed for that purpose Others thinke that Christ might for a short space of time leaue the Heauens and descend into the Ayre to speake with Saint Paul and yet the saying of Saint Peter to be still true thus vnderstood that the heauens vsually and alwayes without some rare and speciall dispensation doe containe him vntill the restitution of all things But it is vnlikely that he would assume any created forme vpon him after he had once really vnited himselfe to our nature and we haue no argument to proue that euer he did it and it is not probable that he would leaue his throne voide in heauen for the least moment of time after hee was once seated in that excellent Maiestie and therefore I thinke with Zanchius that Christ remaining in Heauen might appeare vnto Saint Paul as he did vnto Saint Stephen the heauens were opened and his eyes were indued with a most excellent sharpenesse of sight that he saw Christ standing on the right hand of God Act. 7.55 for Saint Paul doth not say that Christ appeared vnto him on earth That Saul saw no body on earth as he went to Damascus but that suddenly there shined round about him a light from Heauen and that he heard the voyce of the Lord saying vnto him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me and all this might be without any presence of Christs Body for Christ might speake in Heauen and cause that same voice to be head here on earth Matth. 3.17 or he might frame a voyce in the Ayre as the Father did at the baptisme of Christ where the voyce was framed and heard but no body seene nor assumed Fiftly They doe obiect that the Body of Christ doth viuifie Ob. 5 vs and raise vs vp and doe such other effects which are onely proper vnto the Godhead and therefore it is inuested with the properties of the Godhead To this Damascen answereth by this similitude Sol. Vrit ignitum ferrum non naturali ratione vstivam possidens actionem How the flesh of Christ is said to doe diuine operations sed ex vnione ignis ad ferrum illud obtinet That as a hot fiery iron will burne any thing not that it hath naturally the facultie or propriety of burning but by reason of the vnion of the fire vnto it So the humanity is said to doe many things not that it hath any property in it selfe to do theÌ„ but being vnited vnto the Deitie Damasc de fide orthodoxa l. 3. c. 17. it is said to doe the same though indeed as it is not the iron that burneth but the fire that is vnited vnto the iron So it is not properly the flesh that doth any of these but the Word vnto which the flesh is hypostatically vnited And therefore it is apparant mauger all that can be said against it that Christ by this communicating of properties hath neither lost the properties of a true naturall body nor that his humanity is really inuested with the properties of the Deity Secondly the benefits of the vnion of the two natures of Christ in respect of vs. Esay 1. Ephes 4.18 Secondly The other effects and benefits of the vnion of these two natures which are in regard of vs are our spirituall vnion with God and thereby the inriching of vs with all those graces that doe prepare vs and bring vs vnto euerlasting happinesse for our sinnes had seperated vs from God and made vs aliens and strangers from the life of God they were and are like a partition wall betwixt God and vs they keepe vs farre from God and make vs indeed to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men without God in the world but now as God made the personall vnion of soule and body for the constitution and continuation of the whole and common nature of mankind So he vnited the Word with our flesh that our nature might be restored in the person of Christ and that they which before were at variance God and Man might now be reconciled through this vnion of God and man in the person of Iesus Christ for seeing Christ hath personally vnited our nature vnto himselfe he hath thereby naturally vnited vs vnto God Quia natura nobis est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because by nature hee is of the same nature with vs and we are of the same with him though we be not carnally in him but as we are ingraffed Et consortes Christi per fidem Basilius â—p 41. ad Caesariens and pertakers of Christ by faith as Saint Basil saith And so now by reason of this vniting of our nature vnto the Sonne of God and thereby our communion and fellowship with God we receiue as all the members doe receiue life and motion by reason of their vnion with the head all those gracious motions and gifts that are necessary for sustaining of our spiritull life and shall hereafter fully attaine vnto the blessed fruition of God for euer And so you see the particulars of this great mistery of the words incarnation How the word was made flesh CHAP. VI. Of certaine reasons why these deepe doctrinall points were so largely handled NOw if any man doth maruell as no doubt but many doe and blame me too perhaps
Christ Thirdly He shall come though vnlookt-for by the wicked as a theefe in the night yet so apparantly that he shall be seene of all the world and with a great company of Angels 2 Pet. 3.10 Et cum milibus sanctorum and with thousands of his Saints as the Apostle saith for the chariots of God are twenty thousands Psal 68.17 euen thousands of Angels and the Lord shall be among them as in the holy place of Sinâ—y Fourthly he shall come with a blessing to reioyce the hearts of his Elect when he shall say vnto them Matth. 25. Come ye blessed of my Father receiue the Kingdome that was prepared for you before the beginning of the world And so much for the motion or his ascending vp CHAP. IIII. The place into which Christ ascended THirdly We are to consider terminus ad quem the place whether he ascended Quò inquit Augustinus nisi quô scimus Aug. in Psal 46. p. 174. b. 2. quô eum Iudaej non sunt secutâ— Where is hee gone but where wee know and where the Iewes shall not be able to follow after Quia in cruce exaltatum irriserunt ideo in coelum ascendentem non viderunt Because they mocked him being nailed on the Crosse therefore they saw him not when hee ascended vp to Heauen and where is he gone saith the Prophet Dauid but on high for thou art gone vp on high that is aboue all Heauens saith the Apostle And therefore by this one little sentence we find three damnable Heresies brought to death First Of them which said his body vanished in the aire Three heresies confuted before he ascended into Heauen for he ascended aboue all heauens Secondly Of them that said he ascended into the Orbe and Circle of the Sunne because it is said in solem posuit tabernaculum suum Psal 19.5 He hath set his Tabernacle in the Sunne which was the opinion of the Hermians and the Passionists as both Nazianzen and Saint Augustine doe affirme for here wee see hee is gone aboue all Heauens and therefore aboue the Orbe of the Sunne and they mistake that place of the Psalmist which is in them hath he set a Tabernacle for the Sunne and not he hath set his Tabernacle in the Sunne Thirdly Of them which teach an vbiquitary Heauen because he is ascended aboue such Heauens Ob. But then it may be obiected that if he be ascended aboue all Heauens then is he in no certaine place because as Aristotle saith Beyond Heauen Arist l. 1. de coelo there is no place Sol. I answere that the Scripture maketh mention of three Heauens That there be three Heauens First Of the Ayre as the Foules of Heauen Secondly Of the Coelestiall Orbes as the Starres of Heauen Thirdly Of the Receptacle of the blessed soules which is called the Kingdome of Heauen And this we must vnderstand to be either 1. Materiall 2. Spirituall 3. Supersubstantiall Christ ascended aboue the materiall Heauens First For the Materiall Heauen he is said to ascend aboue the same First In respect of Glory because the Body of Christ is more glorious then any Materiall Heauen Secondly In respect of the Continency because in nature it is infallible that contentuÌ„ superius est continente the thing contained must be higher then the place contayning Thirdly In respect of his blessed soule because the soule of Christ is more blessed then all things else whatsoeuer Christ ascended aboue the spirituall Heauens Secondly For the spirituall heauens i. e. all Angelicall or Heauenly perfections he is said to ascend aboue them all First In respect of perfection because the body of Christ is more noble and more excellent then any creature not in regard of his corporall substance but in regard of the hypostaticall vnion because it is vnited vnto the Godhead Secondly In respect of his humiliation because he hath vilified himselfe below all things therefore he is worthily exalted aboue all things Thirdly For the supersubstantiall Heauen i. e. God himselfe the place of God he is said in respect of his person to ascend into the same not that the humane nature is ascended to the equality of the Godhead for he is still inferiour to the Father and shall be still subiect to the Father as touching his Manhood but that the person of Christ God and Man sitteth on the right hand of God that is doth rest and raigne exalted aboue all things Vsque ad aequalitatem Maiestatis dei To be in all things equall vnto the Maiesty of God as Saint Augustine expoundeth it Descendit enim quo inferius non decuit ideo ascendit quo altius non potuit For he descended so low as it was not fit for him to goe lower and therefore he ascended so high as it was not possible for him to goe higher saith Saint Bernard And therefore Christ is ascended higher then all created things whatsoeuer Christ higher then all created things First In respect of the place because aboue all Heauens Secondly In respect of power Psal â— 6 because God the Father hath subiected all things vnder his feete i. e. as well things in Heauen as things in Earth Thirdly In respect of Dignity Heb. 1. because he is made more excellent then the Angels Fourthly In respect of this equality euen with God himselfe And so we see how Christ in respect of his person That Christ in respect of his manhood is in the highest part of the emperiall heauens is aboue all Heauens because he is an immeasurable and infinite person which the Heauen of Heauens cannot containe and therefore must needs be euery where but in respect of his humane nature assumed hee is in the highest part or place of the Emperiall Heauen which is the seate of the blessed soules for if he were in no place then much lesse should he be in the Earth in the Sunne or in euery place but Saint Augustine doth most excellently shew Aug. in ep ad Dardan that Vbi corpus ibi locum esse necesse est that wheresoeuer a body is there must needs be place because if we take away dimensions and places from bodies they shall be no where Et sinusquam erunt non erunt and if they be no where they shall not be at all and Saint Peter doth as plainely shew this truth when he saith that the Heauens shall and must containe him Act. 3.21 i. e. In respect of his Manhood for in respect of his Godhead it cannot vntill the restitution of all things and so we professe in our Creede that he sitteth on the right hand of God from whence he shall come i. e. in respect of his humanity for his Deity being euery where cannot be said to goe or to come any where to iudge both the quicke and the dead And therefore it is most certaine that the Body of Christ is in a place that is in the highest part of
the meanest among men to be equall with God yet there he is not vnmindfull of vs but sitting on the right hand of God he maketh continuall intercession for vs and sendeth his spirit to comfort vs for though corpus intulit Coelo he hath placed his body in Heauen yet maiestatem non abstulit mundo hee leaues his spirit which filleth all places heere on earth Mat. 28. vlt. for loe saith he I am with you vntill the end of the world that is to deliuer vs from all miseries and to giue vs all those good things that hee seeth good for vs And therefore though Abraham should forget vs or Israell be ignorant of vs or as Mardoceus sayd vnto Queene Hester if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time Hester 4.14 and doest nothing in the world for vs yet shall there inlargement and deliuerance arise vnto the Iewes from another place euen so though we should feare men will forsake vs and forget vs and do nothing for vs either to deliuer vs from any troubles feared or to helpe vs vnto any good desired yet this our good God which neither slumbereth nor sleepeth though he be ascended to heauen yet he will defend vs on earth and hee will lift vs vp out of the mire if we put our trust in him hee will send vs comfort out of some other place Feare you not but stand still Exod. 14 13. and see the saluation of God which he will shew vnto you Secondly the resurrection of Christ is our hope but his ascention is our glorification Si ergo rectè si fideliter si deuotè ascentionem domini celebramus ascendere debemus cum illo and therefore if we doe rightly if we doe faithfully and deuoutly celebrate and make a right vse of the ascention of Christ then must wâ—e labour and striue to ascend with him That in heart and affection we should alwayes ascend to Heauen and if by reason of the infirmitie of our flesh we are so detained and kept backe that we cannot ascend as we would to be where he is yet let vs indeauour to follow after passibus amoris et affectu cordis with the best paces of loue and the most earnest desires of our hearts And indeede it is not the lifting vp of our eyes nor the holding vp of our hands that is the right ascending into Heauen for this may bee as it is many times meere hypocrisie euen as the witch of Endor lifted vp Samuell to deceiue Saule so doth this witch hypocrisie cause many a one to lift vp their hands and eyes to Heauen to deceiue the world and to make vs beleeue they are true Saints whereas in deede they be very Diuells but we must haue sursum corda our hearts lifted vp for this is that chieffest place of man which both God and the Diuell laboreth most of all to attaine Prouerb 23.26 for God saith Sonne giue mee thy heart and lift vp the same to Heauen and so the Diuell seekes but the heart if riches increase set your hearts vpon them and therefore the heart of man is called by Macarius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Throne of God or els 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Throne of Satan for if we lift vp the same to God and set our affections on the things that are aboue then is our hearts the Throne of God but if our loue and affections bee on the things of this world then is our hearts the seat of the scornefull and the habitation of Diuells Psal 1.1 And therefore that we may the better learne how to ascend and to lift vp our hearts to God I will desire you to consider these three things first terminum secondly modum thirdly signum Three things to be considered touching our spirituall ascention vnto Heauen 1. The place from whence and vnto what we must ascend 2. By what meanes we shall raise vp our selues vnto God 3. The signe whereby wee may know whether wee haue ascended any way towards Heauen or not First the place from whence we must ascend is this world behold saith Christ I leaue the world and I goe to the Father so if we would goe to Christ we must leaue the world and neuer enuie at the prosperity of them quorum tectorum gloria attenditur labes autem animorum non attenditur whose outward glorie we doe see but whos inward miseries wee doe not see And the place where we must ascend is in altum vnto the Kingdome of Heauen where the eye hath not seene 1 Cor. 2.9 and the eare hath not heard the things which God hath prepared for them that loue him Secondly the meanes how to raise our selues from this valley of miseries vnto the height of Heauen is by casting from vs all the things that may presse vs downe and assuming the things that may helpe vs vp And you knowe that whatsoeuer is heauie presseth downe Nothing is so heauie as sin and we know that there is nothing so heauie vpon the soule as sinne this is like a Talent of lead it makes the whole world to reele to and fro like a drunken man Atlas en ipse laborat and it was so heauie vpon Christ his shoulders Mat. 27.46 that in the Garden it made him to sweate the drops of blood and vpon the Crosse it made him to crie out my God my God why hast thou forsaken mee and therefore if wee would ascend to Heauen then as Elias did throwe downe his mantle 2. Kings 2.13 and as the blinde man in the Gospell did cast offe his beggars cloake when hee would runne to Christ so must we cast offe the mantle of hypocrisie and disrobe our selues of all the beggarly ragges of sinne or els they will presse vs downe to Hell And as wee know sinne is that weight which keepes vs downe so we knowe wings are the best meanes to helpe vs vp and therefore Dauid prayes that hee had wings like a doue Psal 55.6 that hee might flie away and be at rest and Christ himselfe is said to haue fledde super pennas ventorum vpon the wings of the winde so must wee wee must get vs wings if wee will ascend to Heauen But what are those wings that will carrie vs thither Bern. in Ser. de asc they must not bee like Icarus his waxen wings the wings of pride and ambition but as Saint Bernard sayth they must bee What are the wings whereby we ascend to Heauen 1. Meditatio Consideration 2. Oratio Prayer for Meditatio quid desit docet oratio ne desit obtinet Meditation sheweth vs what wee want and prayer obtayneth whatsoeuer we want but we neuer knowe our estate because wee neuer consider in what estate wee are and wee haue not grace nor goodnesse because we aske not Saint Augustine saith these wings must be 1. The loue of God 2. The loue of our neighbours And it is not vnlikely that loue
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Created me in stead of possessed me but I thinke this could not be because Iust Martyr that liued before the Arians were hatched and Athanasius himselfe doth reade it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Created me and therefore Secondly Epiphanius Saint Basil Saint Hierome and others Epiphan heres 69 Basil l. 2. contr Eunom Hieron in ep ad Cypr. doe thinke that the vulgar Edition is not well translated for that the Hebrew word which Salomon vseth should not be translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a iota but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the middest of the word The first is He created me and the other is he possessed me and therefore Aquila translates it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Tremellius Whether the Hebrew word bee rightly translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 created Iehoua possidebat me principio viae suae or ab initio operum suorum as others will haue it And so is the vulgar Latine and our owne last English Translation The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way And if this be true then those ancient Fathers Saint Athanasius Saint Basil Saint Cyril and others that were much troubled about this place might haue easily answered vnto this obiection of the Arians if they had corrected the Greeke Translation out of the Hebrew Text. But the Iewes contend that the word in the Originall doth aswell signifie to create as to possesse as Rabbi Shelomo Iarchi vpon Genesis 14.19 doth declare for there Moses vseth the same word which Salomon vseth here and although our last English Translation reades it Possessor of Heauen and Earth yet the vulgar Latine and the Septuagint reades it Creator of Heauen and Earth and therefore Thirdly Fulgentius answereth Fulgent in resp ad hanc ob Arrian that although Salomon should say The Lord created me yet could that make nothing against the eternall being of the Sonne of God for that we may easily see Salomon speaketh here of a two-fold generation of the Sonne of GOD. That Salomon speaketh of a two-fold generation of Christ First Of his Incarnation in these words The Lord created me the beginning of his wayes and then Secondly Least we should with Arians imagine that he was not before he was incarnate He sheweth that Ante colles genitus erat Before the mountaines he was begotten and brought forth i. e. In respect of his Diuinity First of his incarnation to be made man That in the first place he speaketh of his incarnation and this making of him to be flesh there followeth none absurdity for though hee speaketh in the present tense or preterperfect tense after the Latines yet is it set downe for the future tense after the manner of the Hebrewes who doe oftentimes especially in things pertaining to God set downe the future tense for the present because they are as certaine to bee done as if they were already done as Tertullian obserueth And the words immediately following To be the beginning of his wayes doth make this exposition the more apparantly true for what is it to be the beginning of his wayes Nisi quod ipse via nobis est factus but that hee was made to be the way for vs to walke in for hee was not made that hee should create new Creatures but that hee might renue those that were lost And therefore Saint Iames vseth the like speech of the godly James 1.18 saying Of his owne will begate he vs with the Word of Truth that wee might be as the first fruites of his Creatures And the Prophet Dauid vseth the like speech of himselfe Psal 51.10 when he saith Create a new heart in me O God And therefore to be the beginning of the wayes of God is to be the first fruites of those that are renued and not of those that are created for if you looke into the workes of Creation you shall heare him say Before the mountaines were setled and before the hills was I begotten Secondly of his eternall generation as he is God That in the second place hee speaketh of his eternall generation it is most manifest for hee changeth his phrase and saith Ante colles genita eram Before the mountaines was I begotten as the Chalde paraphrase hath it or Filiata eram I was sonned his sonne as some translate it for wee must note that created and begotten in the person of the Sonne of God are to bee distinguished or otherwise if we make created and begotten to be the same wee may say that the World was begotten which is most absurd And therefore seeing hee saith that this wisedome of GOD was both created and begotten and that these two words doe signifie two distinct and speciall things wee should consider in what respect hee is said to be created and in what respect he is said to be begotten and then we should plainely see that he is said to be created as he is the Sonne of man and that he is said to be begotten as hee is the eternall Sonne of God for here Salomon sheweth that he is said to be created in respect of that nature wherin he calleth his Father Lord for the Lord saith hee created me But hee calleth his Father Lord in respect of his humane nature and neuer calleth him Lord in respect of his diuine nature for he that is borne a seruant of his Fathers handmaide according to the saying of the Psalmist Psal 116.14 O Lord I am thy seruant and the sonne of thine hand-maide is also begotten of his Fathers Essence according to the saying of Christ Iohn 8. I and my Father are one And therefore though he calleth his Father Lord in respect of his humanity yet doth he neuer call him so but alwayes Father in respect of his Diuinity as I came from the Father and wee saw his glory John 1. as the glory of the onely begotten Sonne of the Father And so you see that these words of Salomon Naz. or 4. de theolog Athan. ser 3. cont Arr. Cyril l. 5. c. 4. 5. 6. 7. Thesauri Aug. l. 1. c. 12. de trinit The Lord created me are to be vnderstood of his incarnation and therefore can proue nothing against his eternall generation And this exposition of Fulgentius is confirmed by Nazianzen Athanasius Saint Cyril Saint Augustine and others And yet Fourthly Saint Hillary in l. de Synodis Aquinas l. 4. c. 8. contra gentes and Bellarmine l. 1. c. 18. de Christo doe answere that the eternall generation of the Sonne of God is sometimes called generation and sometimes creation because it is so ineffable that it cannot be fully expressed by any one word for generation signifieth a production in the same substance but with a certaine mutation of the begetter How the Word may be said to be both begotten created but creation signifieth a production of another substance but without any mutation of the
vnto her sonne and what is it to be the fruit of the wombe but to be of the same substance as his mother was of for how can that be called the fruit of a tree that neuer had the nature of a tree for I would suppose it to bee madnesse to call a Pomegranate the fruit of the Orange tree and therefore it was as great a madnesse to call Christ the fruit of Maries wombe if he had brought his body with him either from Heauen or from any other place and the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrewes saith Heb. 2.14 That for as much as the children were partakers of flesh and bloud he himselfe also tooke part of the same And againe Heb. 10.5 he bringeth in Christ himselfe saying Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not but a body hast thou prepared me And therefore when the Apostles thought that they had seene a phantasme Luke 24.39 or a Spirit he said vnto them Handle me and see because a Spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me haue and aboue all Gal. 4.4 the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vsed by Saint Paul and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here vsed by the Euangelist which signifie to take our nature vpon him and to be made flesh if they be diligently marked and well vnderstood doe make it most apparantly plaine that the Sonne of God tooke vnto himselfe personally the true nature of man and the very substance of his mother for the Apostle doth not say Factus de muliere sed factus ex muliere Made in a woman but made of a woman as Nicolaus de Gorram well obserueth euen as the bread is made of the wheate and Wine of Grapes and therefore though Christ had his Principium formale His formall beginning from the Holy Ghost yet it is most certaine that hee had Principium materiale his whole matter and substance from the body of his Mother Thirdly the same truth is confirmed by the vniforme consent of all Orthodoxe antiquity as the great Councell of Chalcedon that had in it 630. Bishops Fulgentius l. 2. de persona Christi the Councell of Lateran the Councell of Toledo Tertullian in his booke De Carne Christi Fulgentius Saint Basil Saint Augustine Venerable Bede and diuers others whose pithy sayings Basilius in l. de hum Christi generat and vnanswerable arguments to confirme this point I might here alledge but that Theodoret Leo Vigilius and Gelasius haue so fully collected what the Fathers before them had written hereof Aug de trinit l. 13. c. 18. that more proofe neede not be required and more excellent arguments cannot be composed for the manifestation of any truth Beda in 11. Luc. l. 4. c. 48. and therefore not willing to write Iliads after Homer I referre my Reader vnto them if hee desires any further comprobation of this point And yet for all this Macedonius and Valentinus affirmed L. 2. de trinitate L. de diuina maiest humanitatis Christi that Christ brought with him a celestiall body from Heauen and that Dogge Seruetus and his fellow Memnon taught that the Body of Christ was begotten of the substance and essence of his Father and so Apelles Marcion and Apollinaris auouched that he had an aeriall body and a syderiall flesh So Gasper Swenkfeldius saith that Christ in respect of his humanity is a true God as if his very flesh had beene begotten of God as Seruetus said Bucanus lo. 2. p. 21. Loc. com so Manichaeus saith that he had but an imaginary body a phantasme only in shew and no true body in substance and so the Anabaptists of our time do now auouch it that he tooke not vpon him the very nature of man nor the very flesh of the Virgin but that he had onely the shew and phantasme of a man which passed the wombe of his Mother Cochlaeus in l. de erroribus Monaster Anabap. as water passeth through a Conduit and this is one of their most principall points as Iohannes Chochlaeus witnesseth And therfore to maintaine their damnable errors to obscure this cleere light of veritie and to shew themselues Grand Captaines of that Arch-Hereticke and aduersary of Christ and all Christians the Diuell they doe obiect Ob. 1 First that Christ himselfe saith No man ascendeth into Heauen but he that descended from Heauen Iohn 3.13 the Sonne of Man which is in Heauen And againe speaking of the Iewes he saith You are from below Iohn 8.23 1 Cor 15.47 I am from aboue you are of this world I am not of this world And that Saint Paul saith The first man is of the Earth Earthy but the second Man i. e. Christ was from heauen heauenly and therefore say they he had the substance of his flesh from Heauen and not from the substance of his Mother Sol. I answere that all these and the like places are spoken of the whole person of Christ to whom the properties of each nature in respect of the communication of properties which hereafter I shall more fully declare vnto you may be fitly ascribed and they teach vs that the Sonne of God descended from heauen not by any change of place but by his voluntary humbling of himselfe That we must not referre that to the body of Christ which is spoken of the whole person of Christ to receiue the forme of a seruant and that hee was conceiued after a Heauenly manner by the operation of the Holy Ghost and not after any Earthly generation and therefore they doe impiously and most falsly referre that to the substance of his flesh which is indeed spoken of the whole person of Christ and of the heauenly manner of his conception for though it be true that I should say I am a reasonable creature which doth both heare and vnderstand yet doth this no way proue that my Body alone without the soule is such or can doe either of these euen so though Christ saith that he descended from Heauen because he was a God that euer was in Heauen yet that doth no way proue that his flesh which he assumed on earth descended from heauen because hee had that from his Mother and brought it not downe from aboue And that he is not of this world but from aboue or from Heauen heauenly is nothing else but that he is not worldly minded or swayed with the lusts of the flesh or any wayes earthly affected and this though in a farre inferiour degree to him hee saith of the Apostles You are not of this world Iohn 15.19 because as Saint Paul saith of all Christians they minde not the things of this world but haue their conuersation in Heauen Phil. 3.30.20 Secondly they say that in what body he appeared to the Fathers Ob. 2 of the Old Testament he appeared in the like body to the Apostles and Disciples in the New Testament but he appeared vnto the Patriarchs in no true
things which for the present seeme harsh and bitter vnto vs will in the end proue to our great aduantage Thirdly For the manner of Christ his birth it is recorded Of the manner of Christs birth how meane it was in many respects that it was very poore and meane meaner then ordinary or extraordinary base for he was borne of poore Parents they trauelled on foote they had not an Asse to ride on in a poore Towne little Bethlehem which is by interpretation An House of Bread but such a poore House of Bread that there was scarce any bread in the House And then being come from darkenesse into light Non poterat verbum fari verbum This word could not speake a word but hee was wrapped in poore swadling cloutes it may be his Mothers ragges and then laid in a poore lodging euen in the Manger and so he was indeed made lower then the Angels for he was consorted and laid among the Beasts that perish Quia non erat locus in diuersorio Because there was no roome in the Inne for these poore innocent people among the drunken swaggering companions for these will be sure to haue roome Et pauper vbique iacet And the poore shall bee thrust out of doores And yet Christ was well contented he desired no better Why Christ would be born so meanely Psal 22.6 but chose indeede to come after this meanest manner First To fulfill the Scriptures for the Prophet Dauid said in the person of Christ I am a worme and no man a very scorne of men and the outcast of the people And the Prophet Esay saith He should grow vp as a roote out of a dry ground i. e. wrinckled and almost withered for want of radicall moysture He hath neither forme nor comelinesse and when wee shall see him there is no beauty Esay 53.2.3 that we should desire him he is despised and reiected of men Secondly To teach vs true humility Descendit quo inferius non decuit vt ascenderet quo superius non poterat For he made himselfe of no reputation that he might be exalted Phil. 2.9 and haue a name giuen him about all other names to shew vnto vs Luke 18.14 that Whosoeuer humbleth himselfe shall be exalted Thirdly To condemne the courses and desires of worldly men for they desire nothing so much as wealth honours and promotions and yet all the Monarchs of this World with all their pompe and power with all their riches and greatnesse cannot reconcile one soule to God They must let that alone for euer But Christ poore stript and naked hath so pleased God that through him God cannot be displeased with vs for it is goodnesse and not greatnesse to be void of sinne and not to be full of riches that our God respecteth Fourthly To procure true riches vnto vs for so the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 8.9 that Christ though he was rich yet for our sake he became poore that we through his pouerty might be made rich Fiftly To shew the difference betwixt his first and his second comming for now he came in pouerty but then hee shall come in maiesty Math. 16.27 He shall come on the glory of his Father with his Angels The Earth shall burne the Heauens shall melt and all the powers of the same shall be shaken And therefore seeing as Emyssenus saith Talis tantus sit horror venientis quis poterit terrorem sustinere iudicantis That comming of his shall be so terrible as that all the wicked crue of damned sort shall exceedingly howle and cry and pray the mountaines to fall vpon them and to hide them from that fearefull day let vs make the right vse of this his first comming that wee may escape the terror of his second comming And so you see the manner of his birth weakely poorely and meanely That we should be well contented with any state And this should teach vs to be euer contented with our poore and meane estate for if the Sonne of God who made all things and whose all things are All the Cattle vpon a thousand hilles was well contented and made choyce of this low estate why should we be discontented with the same for wee are vnworthy of the very Bread wee eate and of the very Light of Heauen wherewith we are illuminated we are very base and miserable beggars begging of God the very crummes that wee eate Math. 6.11 saying Giue vs this day our daily bread and yet such is our pride and haughtinesse that wee are ready to snatch it out of his hands and not to stay while he giues it vs Such is our disdaine and discontentednesse that the daintiest fare will scarce please vs and such is our desire and ambition that euery man still cryeth with the Daughters of the Horse-leech More more Our eyes are neuer satisfied with seeing nor our eares with hearing nor our hearts with enioying the vanities of this World But alas Beloued Beware of murmuring Wisedome 1. 11. which is nothing worth and let the same minde be in you herein as was in Christ Iesus If you would be happy remember how he came Phil. 2.5 Math. 8.20 poore and meane remember how he liued meane and miserable for He had not an House wherein to put his head We haue more then that and remember how hee was entertained cold and comfortlesse Math. 10.24.25 for He came amongst his owne and his owne receiued him not And therefore seeing he found such cold entertainement in the world why should wee looke for any better or be any wayes discontented at the like for The Seruant is not aboue his Master but it is enough for the seruant to be as his Master is CHAP. III. Of the testimonies which proue that Christ the Messias is borne THirdly Of the witnesses that testifie the birth and comming of the Messias For the testimony and witnesse whereby he was approued and confirmed vnto the world to be incarnate and made Flesh for to be the Sauiour and Redeemer of the World I finde the same especially to be two-fold 1. The Creatures 2. The Creator First The testimony of the Creature is three-fold 1. The Angels of Heauen 2. The Starres in the Skies 3. Men on Earth First An Angell said vnto the Shepheards Luke 2.11 Vnto you is borne this day in the City of Dauid a Sauiour which is Christ the Lord And immediately there were not sixe Cherubims as Esayas saw nor foure and twenty Elders Esay 6.2 as Saint Iohn saw but a multitude of heauenly Angels that by their heauenly Halelu-iah did confirme the same And therefore the truth hereof is infallible because the Angels though they bee mutable by nature yet they be now cōfirmed by grace Isidorus l. 1. c. 12. de summo bono Ne à veritate voluntatem auerterent That they cannot lye nor fall away from truth as Isidorus saith Secondly The gentile Prophet Baalam prophesied that there
or grieue the good by vpbraiding them with the faults of the bad Secondly to shew vnto vs Nazian orat 4. de theol that men may be called to eminent and holy places yet be cast-awayes because it is not the excellency or the Sanctity of the calling but our holy and vpright conuersation in our callings that makes vs acceptable in the sight of God Thirdly To testifie Christ his innocencie that had alwaies his enemie to behold his conuersation Fourthly For our example to be patient Aug. li. 18. c. 49 de Ciuitat to suffer wicked men amongst vs. But againe it may be demanded why he made him his Purse-bearer knowing him to be a thiefe To this Aquinas answereth Thom. in Iohn 12. that God vseth to commit his spirituall graces to his best seruants and his temporall gifts to those that are more worldly minded to see if by any meanes he may gaine them to serue him Why Christ made Iudas his Purse-bearer for the worldlings will serue God many times when God blesseth them with all manner of store therefore Christ knowing Iudas to be a couetous wretch he made him his steward and committed to his hands all their wealth to see if this might moue him to bee true and faithfull vnto him All this Christ did for him and yet as the Prouerbe is Improbus à nullo flectitur obsequio saue a thiefe from the Gallowes and he will be the first that will seeke to hang thee so Iudas had put all these blessings in a riuen dish and as the Leopard is saide to be most sauage vnto them that doe most good to him so doth Iudas here first betray his Master that was his best friend and had done most good vnto him but wee must consider Secondly why Iudas betrayed Christ Why Judas betrayed Christ The Euangelist sheweth briefly that because the oyntment which was poured on Christ was not solde for 300. pence and put into his bagge he went vnto the high Priests Lex talionis and sels Christ for 30. pence decorum pretium a goodly price to haue for the Lord of heauen and earth and therefore cleane contrarie we reade that 30. Iewes were sold for one pennie but for Iudas we see how the desire of money is the roote of all mischiefe What a horrible sinne is couetousnesse quid non mortalia pectora cogit auri sacra fames Or as Iuuenall saith Iuuen. Sat. 14. quae reuerentia legum quis metus aut pudor est vnquam properantis auari What will not couetousnesse cause a man to doe what feare of Law what loue of Vertue what shame or honestie can you finde in couetous wretches Boet. 2 5. Nam saeuior ignibus aetnae feruens amor ardet habendi For it made Achan hide the wedge of gold to the losse of his owne life it made Achab a murtherer of innocent Nabaoth it made Polymnestor kill his Nephew Polydorus and here it makes Iudas to betray his owne Lord and Master Iesus Christ yea and to bee the formost man of all the wicked companie to shew withall that as the old distich saith Non audet stygius daemon tentare quod audet Effraenus monachus plenaque fraudis ánus Jerem. 24.2 None is so bad as wicked Priests for they are like Ieremies figges either exceeding good or extreame euill either most faithfull for Christ or most feruent for Antichrist Thirdly the Euangelist tells vs how he did bring to passe his wicked fact for he gaue them a signe that whosoeuer hee should kisse That there are fiue kindes of kisses the same was he and wee finde that there are fiue kindes of kisses the first a whoorish kisse as Salomon saith of the Harlot that she caught a young man and kissed him the second a chaste kisse Prou. 7.13 Gen. 29.11 as Iacob kissed Rachel the third is a kisse of courtesie as our Sauiour said vnto Simon the Pharise Thou gauest me no kisse the fourth is a Symbolicall kisse for a signe of loue as the Apostle saith Luc. 7.45 Greet one another with an holy kisse the fift is a treacherous kisse 2 Cor. 13.12 as Ioab kissed Amasa and presently killed him whom he kissed and thus Iudas kissed Christ for he had said Whomsoeuer I shall kisse 2 Sam. 20. the same is he hold him fast Where obserue First That he gaue them a signe to know him Why Iudas gaue them a signe because it was night when they tooke him and because Iames that was called the brother of the Lord and was afterward Bishop of Ierusalem was so like him Ignat. in ep ad Joh. si vera ep Ignat. that it was very hard to know the one from the other and therefore lest they should mistake him and take â—ames or some other for him hee gaue them a signe to know him Secondly That this signe was a kisse Why the signe that Judas gaue was a kisse that he might the more cunningly worke his purpose Nam doli non sunt doli nisi astu colas for deceits are no deceits vnlesse they be cunningly carried and that if this way fayled he might as he thought haue still retained his place and credit because he had but dutifully saluted him And therefore he comes and kissed him saying Aue Rabbi Master God saue you but herein we see 1. His arrogancy 2. His iniquity First His arrogancy that he would presume with those lippes vnder which was the Poyson of Aspes to kisse those lippes in which was found no guile Iohn Baptist thought himselfe vnworthy to vntie the laâ—ched of his shooes and Iudas will presume to kisse his mouth and so all wicked men are euer more presumptuous then the godly and they are bold and impudent when the Saints doe feare and tremble Secondly His iniquitie is herein seene that in two words hee vttereth forth two lyes for hee saith Aue God saue you to him whom he desired to perish and he saith Rabbi Master to him whom he refused to follow and so you see sweet words from a poysoned heart a praying for his life and a betraying of him to death Ille mihi tam exosus est quam inferni portae Qui aliud animo occultat aliud ore profert An Act so horribly base that the very Heathen man could say he hates him as the gates of Hell that will say one thing and doe another thing And yet behold how our Sauiour deales with this wicked Traitor he kisseth him with the kisses of his mouth How our Sauiour sought to reclaime Iudas and to bring him to repentance and what greater signe of loue and whereas he might haue angerly and iustly reuiled him for his treachery he doth mildly and kindly salute him by the name of friend and what better name could hee vse for Father Wife or Children are but vaine names vnlesse they be friends O then Si honoras dulcis domine Inimicum
the Church the Eagles to be the Doctors and their gathering together to be their harmonious and ioynt-consent in truth and though Saint Ierome Theophylact and others Hieron in Matth. 4. and Theophylact. in Matth. 24. do by the body conceiue Christ crucified by the Eagles all the Saints and by their gathering together the applying of the merits of his passion vnto our soules yet Saint Chryostome Stella Ferus and Maldonate and many more euen of our Iesuites doe interpret these words of Christ his comming to iudgement and say that the body signifieth the personall presence of Christ the Eagles the Saints and their gathering together the meeting of him in iudgement and therefore by this reason Christ doth plainly intimate that they should not looke nor beleeue any personall presence of him in any secret places because hee is that body or that carkeise as both Theophilact and Beza vse the word vnto whom all the Saints shall be visibly gathered together and he at no time come bodily vnto them vntill they likewise come and be gathered vnto him And in both these reasons as you see he speaketh of a personall presence of himselfe publikely shewed and in this last nameth his body or carkeise and therefore in his predictions he forewarneth vs to beleeue not them which teach any personall or bodily presence of him in any secrets for otherwise it had beene to no purpose to bring these reasons of his not comming bodily vntill he should visibly come to iudgement to disswade vs from beleeuing any his spirituall comming for his not comming personally till the day of iudgement doth no way proue but hee may as he doth come spiritually euery day to bee present with his Saints in many secrets but his not comming personally till then is a sufficient reason to disswade vs from beleeuing any personall comming of him in secrets And That Christ willeth vs to beware of them that teach him to be bodily present in many places at once Thirdly that I say Christ forewarneth vs to take heed of such as teach him the true Christ to be thus personally present in many secret vnknowne places all at once for the very word which our Sauiour vseth to expresse the subtilties of these false prophets doth proue as much for First hee sheweth vs that they shall say he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in secrets which is a word that signifieth a most secret vnknowne place a little cupboord where they vse to set their bread and so the word vsed to expresse the same in the vulgar Latine in penetralibus doth signifie the most inward and most hidden place of any place Secondly he sheweth vs that those false prophets should tell vs that the true Christ is not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in some one secret place but in penetralibus in secrets i. e. in many places and in diuers secrets all at once That the defenders of Transubstantiation teach all these points which Christ bad vs herein to beware of And I say that I could neuer see how this prediction can be more properly applied to any heretickes old or new then to the teachers and defenders of Transubstantiation for First they perswade vs to beleeue no other Christ but onely the true Christ to bee there vnder the formes of bread and wine Secondly they perswade vs that he is personally and bodily there flesh bloud bones and all Thirdly they teach that he is there in so secret hidden and inuisible manner as that it can no wayes by any humane sense be conceiued but onely by a diuine faith to be beleeued And I am sure no false prophets in the world could or euer can teach a more mysticall and secret presence of Christ personally and bodily then this manner is and Fourthly they teach that he is thus wholly and hiddenly in many thousand places all at once euen wheresoeuer any bread in the Masse is consecrated there is Christ personally in all such secrets according to their ancient distich Constat in altari carnem de pane creari Hic panis Deus est qui negat hoc reus est The bread on th' altar as wee say is turned by the Priest his breath To be Christs flesh who euer saith nay is guilty of his death And therefore seeing the prediction of Christ concerning the practise of the false apostles is so plainely seene to be fully accomplished in these deceiued and deceitfull teachers I aduise all men to follow our Sauiours councell beleeue them not beleeue them not for though we doe acknowledge a true reall sacramentall presence of Christ effectually and really working How the body of Christ may be said to bee truly and really in the Sacrament by a true and liuely faith in all the worthy receiuers of that blessed bread because as the Angells are said truely and really to be not only where they diffinitiuely are but also where they doe effectually worke and as the Sunne is said truly and really to be not onely where he is locally fixed in heauen but also where it doth virtually shine and worke here on earth so the bodie of Christ may bee said to bee truly and really not onely in the heauens where it is locally present but also here in the sacred mysteries where he effectually worketh in all the worthy receiuers of the same yet for any other reall bodily presence of Christ in the bread and wine we vtterly deny he is not here for the same reason that the Angell vseth to proue hee was not in his graue because he was risen and gone to another place so we say he is not here because we know he is in heauen where he sitteth on the right hand of God and from thence he will not come personally into any hidden and secret place vntill hee comes apparantly like the lightening that commeth from the East and suddenly shineth vnto the West as himselfe doth testifie And so much for the confirmation of this Angells assertion that Christ was not there in the graue because hee was risen and gone to another place and so likewise of my application and inference thereupon that we are not to beleeue Christ to bee in the secret places of bread and wine because hee is ascended to another place where he sitteth on the right hand of God He that hath eares to heare let him heare for here I doe professe What the Author thinketh of transubstantiation before almighty God and before his sonne Iesus Christ that in all my poore reading which I desired might bee so much as my time and ability would giue mee leaue I did neuer finde a point more contrary to the truth more derogatory to the honour of God more destroying the nature of Christ and more dangerous vnto men in all the writings of our aduersaries then is this incredible and impossible point of Transubstantiation loe I haue told you what I beleeue And here likewise we must further note that as I
Heauen which Oecumenius calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The receptacle of him that is sent Aug. l de fide symbolo c. 6. Cyril in Leuit. l. 9. Vigilius contra Eutych l. 4. and this the Fathers Saint Augustine Cyrillus Alexandrinus Vigilius Theodoret and others haue most fully shewed and proued vnto vs and that for these three speciall ends First That we might be assured our Sauiour Christ remaineth still a true and a perfect man in glory Secondly That we might know where to seeke and where to finde our Sauiour Christ Nam pontifex noster non vtique in terrà quaerendus Orig. in leuit sed in coelo For our high Priest Iesus Christ is not to be sought for in Earth but in Heauen saith Origen therefore as S. Augustine said of Mary Magdalen Aug. de tempore Ser. 133. Quid quaeris in tumulo quem adorare debes in coelo Why seekest thou him in the graue below whom thou shouldest adore in the Heauens aboue so much better might I now say vnto many men Alas why seeke you Christ here on Earth in Bread and Wine and I know not where when as he is no where to be found in respect of his Manhood but in Heauen there is the place where he sitteth on the right hand of the Maiesty of God Thirdly That we might know where we shall be for so our Sauiour saith Iohn 17.24 Father I will that they also whom thou hast giuen mee be with me where I am Ob. But against this it may be obiected that Christ himselfe saith No man ascendeth vnto Heauen but hee that descended from Heauen Iohn 3.13 the Sonne of man which is in Heauen And therefore how shall we haue any hope to ascend vp vnto Heauen Sol. Saint Augustine answereth that we are not therefore to despaire because he ascendeth alone i. e. by his proper strength and power for we shall be eleuated and taken vp by the power of Christ who came therefore downe from Heauen that he might carry vs vp into Heauen that were falling downe into Hell or as the same Saint Augustine saith We ought therefore to be vnited vnto him That we must be vnited to Christ if we will ascend where Christ is that so it might be but one Christ which descended and ascended he descended as the head of his Church and he ascendeth with his whole body which is his Church hee descended naked and he ascendeth clothed with our flesh and he descended as a husband without a wife but he ascendeth married vnto his Church and so he and vs is but one one body one flesh Vnitas nos compaginat vni Aug. in Psal 122. p. 591. Our vnity with him makes vs one with him and therefore they onely shall not ascend which are not nor will not be made one with him but our conuersation is in Heauen and our life is hid with Christ in God and therefore he might well say No man ascendeth but he that descendeth if you vnderstand it of Christ mystically that is of him wholly of him and all his members because none but his members shall ascend into Heauen And so you see the place where Christ ascended into heauen Rupertus de offic diuin c. 8. Quomodo autem sit in coelo corpus domini curiosissimum est quaerere But to inquire how the body of Christ is in Heauen whether sitting or standing whether naked or clothed Aug. l. de fide sym which Clemens Alexandrinus denyeth because the Saints in Heauen shall haue no need of clothing or how he ascended into Heauen whether in a purple robe as Fredernus Nausea supposeth out of Esay Esay 63.2 whose meaning is far otherwise then Nausea thinketh and many other curious questions they are farre fitter to be buried in silence then to be once determined by any modest Christian because as Saint Augustine saith Curious questions ought not to be discussed Non est nostrae fragilitatis secreta coelorum discutere sed est fidei nostra de dominici corporis dignitate sublimia honesta sapere It is not possible for our weakenesse to vnderstand the secrets of Heauen it is inough that by faith we beleeue and conceiue worthy things Idem quo sup de fide symb and that holily and modestly concerning Christ And so much for the explication of the first part which is of the Ascention of our Sauiour Christ. Branch 2. BRANCH II. CHAP. V. Of the application of this Doctrine of the Ascention of Christ vnto our selues both in respect of consolation and imitation The Doctrine of Christs Ascention may serue for a double end SEcondly For the application of this Doctrine vnto our selues you must note that it may serue for a double end 1. Of Consolation 2. Of Imitation First Our Consolation is likewise twofold 1. That he is gone to Heauen For 2. That he is not vnmindfull of vs on earth For Aug. in Act. First Dum naturam humanam syderibus Christus importauit credentibus coelum patere posse monstrauit Whereas Christ hath caried our humane nature vnto heauen he hath thereby shewed that now Heauen is open for all beleeuers saith Saint Augustine O then how much should we reioyce hereat because now onely we see indeed which before we onely saw in hope the Chyrography and hand-writing of our damnation blotted out and the sentence of our corruption quite changed for now we see that nature Gen. 3.19 to whom it was said Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne to haue gone to Heauen and there to raigne without end Neither are wee onely made possessors of Heauen but we doe receiue more ample and more excellent things by this most ineffable glory of Christ then we haue lost by that inueterate enuy of the Deuill Nam quos diabolus de Paradiso eiecit Leo in Ser. de Ascent hos dei filius in coelo collocauit For whom Satan hath cast out of Paradise Christ hath brought them vnto euerlasting happinesse Secondly As it is our comfort that he hath giuen vs possession of heauen so it is as great a comfort vnto vs That Christ in Heauen forgetteth not his seruants here on earth that he being in Heauen is not vnmindfull of vs that are here on earth Indeed Pharaoh's butler forgat Ioseph when he ascended vnto his masters fauour and so it is an vsuall thing in the world for all great men that haue beene raised vp of nothing to be most vnmindefull of their poore friends and acquaintance they hold it a point of pollicie to know them not or at least to looke strangley and sternely vpon them whereupon it is most truely sayd Asperius nihil est humili cum surgit in altum None so disdainfull none so proud as they that haue ascended vp on high from meane estate but it is not so with Christ for though he be gone vp on high from
should carry vs vp vnto God because God is loue and loue brought downe God vnto men Huc me syderio descendere fecit olympo Hic me crudeli vulnere fixit amor And therefore no maruell that loue should carry vs vp into Heauen Aug. in Psal 83. p. 376. d. 1. wherefore Saint Augustine sayth that by loue we doe either ascend to Heauen or descend to Hell quia amando Deum ascendis in Coelum amando seculum descendis vsque ad abyssum because by louing God wee ascend to Heauen and by louing the world we descend downe to Hell Saint Gregory saith these wings are 1. The contempt of worldly things 2. The desire of heauenly things And this may well stand with Saint Augustines saying because as the same Saint Gregorie saith tanto ab inferioribus disiungimur quanto superioribus delectamur by how much the more earnestly we loue heauenly things by so much we are ascended and sequestred from earthly things And therefore if you would ascend 1. Iohn 2.15 Colos 3.2 then loue not the world nor the things of this world but set your affections on those things that are aboue and because our life is iust like a clocke that vnlesse his waight be alwayes wynded vp will soone stand therefore wee must be euer winding vp our affections and weaning them from these worldly things and with Noahs doue neuer suffer the soales of our feete to rest vntill our hearts and soules returne to him that gaue them vs. Thirdly for the signes whereby wee may know whether we haue ascended or doe ascend towards Heauen or not I might shew you many How we may know whether our hearts ascendeth to Heauen or not but now take this for all if things aboue our heads shew greater vnto vs then they did before and things beneath vs lesser that is an apparant argument that we ascend and grow higher and higher for so Saint Gregorie saith if a man were aloft in the cloudes it would appeare vnto him quam abiecta sunt quae iam alta videntur how base are the things of this earth which to a man on earth doe seeme so great for then hee should see mountaines no bigger then Mole-hills and the Sunne which before while hee was on earth did seeme but instar pilae pedalis like a footeball hee should now finde it to be a great and immens glorious body all bodies aboue him would seeme greater and all below him would seeme lesser euen so if our hearts and affections be ascended vp to Heauen then surely the things of this world doe seeme vnto vs but as they are indeede damnum stercora Dung and drosse Phil. 3.8 or as nothing and worth nothing as Nazianzen saith and the things of Heauen are the onely desires of our hearts and the delights of our soules but if folia venti lilia agri the vanities and the pleasures of this world the Titles of Honour and the confluence of wealth be the desires and delights of our hearts then certainely wee are fast bound in misery and iron wee are fastened and fettered here on earth and it may bee with Golden chaynes but fast inough from ascending vp to Heauen I will not iudge of any by this rule you may all iudge your selues if you doe highly esteeme of the preaching and Preachers of Gods Word If you make much of them that feare the Lord and loue good men and a good conscience and make none account of this world nor of the things of this world then is your heart ascended vp to Heauen but if not Nudus humi iaces Thou lyest poore and miserable fettered here in earth a flaue and captiue of the Deuill and hast neede to cry and call for Christ to lead captiuitie captiue which is the second part of my Text. And so much for the Ascention of our Sauiour Christ Part. 2 PART II. CHAP. Of the victory and triumph of Christ ouer our enemies of our deliuerance from them and of our restoring into the seruice of God againe SEcondly Touching the victory and triumph of Christ set downe in these words Thou hast led captiuity captiue we must vnderstand that this is taken two wayes 1. Passiuely 2. Actiuely And I say first Passiuely because our enemies must be vanquished before we can be deliuered and therefore How Christ ouercame death Hell sinne and Satan First This phrase may be taken Passiuely for the World Death and Hell and all other enemies of Mankinde which Christ hath conquered and led captiue that they should not raigne and rule ouer his seruants any more And thus Saint Augustine doth expound it saying Quid est captiuauit captiuitatem vicit mortem mortem procurauit diabolus ipse diabolus de morte Christi est captiuatus What is he led captiuity captiue but he ouercame death for the Diuell had procured death for sinne and now the Diuell himselfe is captiuated by the death of Christ For as Victors were wont to doe to leade in triumph those Tyrants that opprest their subiects or those enemies that they had vanquished being fast bound with chaines with their heads and feet bare for their greater shame and reproach so the Psalmist alludeth vnto the same when he saith Coloss 2.15 Thou hast led captiuity captiue and the Apostle doth more cleerely expresse it when hee saith that Christ hauing spoyled Principalities and Powers hath made a shew of them openly tryumphing ouer them in it Quest But here it may be demaunded how are they captiuated when as the Diuell compasseth the earth like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may deuoure And so doth the world still oppresse vs 1 Pet. 5.8 our flesh lusteth against the spirit and Death still raigneth ouer vs all I answere that Christ hath destroyed their Power Resp hee hath taken away their strength and hee hath quite subuerted the Kingdome of sinne and Satan and taken away the sting of death and yet they compasse about not as hauing any power ouer vs but as a Lyon tyed will teare vs in pieces if he can catch vs within his clawes so will sinne and Satan if wee yeeld vnto them for though Christ ouercame all our enemies yet hee hath not quite taken them out of our wayes but left them as it were aliue though bound that we might still beware to come within their reach if we would escape their teeth and therefore wee say that sinne is so taken away that it doth not raigne ouer the Saints though perhaps through their negligence it doth often wound them so Satan is bound though like a bridled horse he often fumes against vs and sometimes bites vs too 1 Cor. 15.54 if we beware not of him and so death is swallowed vp into victory and the sting thereof is taken away so that it can neuer hurt the Saints of God though it layes them stil into a sleepe because they shall all awake at the last day But if sinne and
innocent man yet his hope will neuer leaue him but as the Poet saith Iam mala finissem Letho sed credula vitam Spes fouet melius cras fore semper ait Hope still doth promise better fortunes vnto him and therefore this is a most excellent vertue though like other humane vertues it is defectiue in many points as first in respect of the things that they hope for wealth honours and such like So Alexander hauing giuen away almost all that hee had in Greece and being demanded what hee left for himselfe said hope i. e. of more honours and kingdomes and secondly in respect of the cause from whence they doe expect these things from themselues or such like but not from God whereas indeed that man is accursed which putteth his hope in man quia de Creatore desperare est Ierem. 17.5 spem in creatura ponere because that to hope in man is to forsake our God But Secondly diuine Hope The second i. e. the diuine hope which is wrought in vs by the Spirit of God is infallible for whosoeuer hopeth in him shall neuer be confounded Psal 22.4 5 6. Prou. 14.32 The wicked saith Salomon shall be cast away for his malice but the righteous hath hope in his death and what can be more then this for many things doe discourage vs in death for the dying man seeth his body is weake his friends weeping his Phisicians despayring and his conscience shewing him the Catalogue of his sinnes O wretched man that he is who shall comfort him yet hee whose hope is in the Lord his God doth euen then see the heauens open and the Angels ready to receiue him and though he knoweth his body is to be laide in the graue yet doth his flesh rest in hope and therefore what can be sweeter then hope O dearely beloued remember what the Psalmist saith blessed is the man whose hope is in the Lord his God But here you must know that all kindes of hope in God Euery hope maketh not happy makes not all men happy for there is a bold and a presumptuous hope a hope of wicked hypocrites that liue in sinne and yet doe hope for heauen And therefore wee must distinguish that there is a two-fold hope in God 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an opinionatiue hope 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a true infallible hope The first is the hope of wicked men Iob 8. Prou. 10. Wisd 5. and this shall melt away like a winter snow for the hope of the wicked shall perish they may looke for much but they shall haue nothing The second is the hope of the righteous and this shall neuer perish because it is grounded vpon a good foundation True hope springeth from the true feare of God that is the promise of God to them that feare him for so the Psalmist saith qui timetis Dominum sperate in illum you that feare the Lord hope in him And therefore if you would be sure to haue the true hope in God then feare the Lord because the testimony of a good conscience must be the ground of hope for so Saint Paul sheweth euen by his owne example saying I haue fought a good fight and I haue kept the faith there is the ground and therefore is laid vp for me the crowne of righteousnesse and there is the Anchor of his hope cast vpon that sure foundation and hee that thus hopeth in God is truely happy Thirdly Charity is rectissima animi affectio Thirdly of Charity the rightest affection of the minde whereby wee loue God for his owne sake and our neighbours for Gods sake Aug. de doct Christ and as Saint Augustine doth obserue it is proper onely vnto the Saints of God because as Saint Chrysostome saith Chris hom de char charity is optimum amoris genus the best kinde of loue and therefore Saint Augustine saith that habere omnia sacramenta malus esse potest habere autem charitatem malus esse non potest a man may be partaker of all Sacraments and be wicked but to haue charity and to be wicked is vnpossible and Saint Paul saith enough in the praise of this most excellent grace to write Iliads after Homer were to commend it after him and therefore I le say no more but what Saint Augustine saith charitas est quae vincit omnia sine qua non valent omnia charity is that which ouercommeth all things and without which all things will auaile vs nothing because as the Christian Poet saith Christicolas veros exprimit vnus amor It is loue and charity alone that proues vs to bee true Christians Well then wouldest thou know thy state whether thou beest in the state of grace or not thou needest not to ascend to heauen and search into the secret councell of God to see whether thy name be written in the booke of life but descend into thine owne heart and see whether thou hast perfect charity both towards God and man for if thou louest God with all thy heart The surest signe that wee shall be saued and thy neighbour as thy selfe I dare assure thee that in all the booke of God I could neuer finde yet a surer note or a more infallible signe of our eternall saluation then the same For hereby we know saith the Apostle that we are passed from death to life because we loue the brethren and hereby shall all men know that you are my Disciples 1 Iohn 3. saith our Sauiour if you loue one another but if thou louest not God or if thou louest not all men say what thou wilt doe what you will lift vp thine eyes hold vp thy hands and pray in euery corner yet I know no signe thou hast of sauing grace But here you must obserue that all kinde of loue towards God and men will not serue our turne for there is a generall kinde of loue to God which all wicked men in respect of their being and that manifold good which they receiue from him doe beare towards God and there is a speciall loue to God in a most vehement and a most excellent manner and there is an inordinate loue of men either too much or too little or not after the right manner and there is a true discreet and a fruitfull loue to be shewed towards them and this is properly called charity and therefore if we would be sure of Gods fauour we must vse no mediocrity in louing God we must vse no measure Quia modus diligendi Deum est sine modo because hee is to bee loued beyond measure with all our hearts with all our soules and with all our strength so as if we were rauished with the loue of God euen as the Church saith in the Canticles Stay me with flagons Cantic 2.5 and comfort me with apples for I am sicke of loue And so much for these three diuine graces which Christ giueth vs to sanctifie our
manner of his suffering these things 1. So as the Prophets foretold that he should suffer 2. So as the Apostles and his Disciples saw and declared vnto vs that he did suffer And so in respect of himselfe as it is incomprehensible vnto all men This Treatise sheweth 1. The malice of the Iewes 2. The deuotion of the women where is shewed 1. Their number Three and why 2. Their names 1. Mary Magdalen 2. Mary Iacobi 3. Mary Salome whereby is shewed 1. The fortitude 2. The fruitfulnesse 3. The peaceablenesse of the Church 3. The action where is considered 1. The matter a seeking of Christ 2. The manner which was a seeking him 1. Early 2. Earnestly 3. Mournefully 4 Onely 5. Continually 3. The end to embalme him 4. A question resolued how these women or one of them at least being so wicked became so deuout handled at large 3. The office of the Angell 1. In respect of Christ to doe him seruice 2. In respect of the keepere to terrifie them 3. In respect of the women 1. To comfort them 1. By the manner of their apparition 1. In white 2. On the right side 2. By their friendly alloc teach 1. Whom we ought to feare 2. Whom we ought not to feare 3. How we ought to feare 2. To instruct them 1. What they shold beleeue touching the resurrection of Christ where is handled 1. The resurrection it selfe is shewed 1. Neg. that C. was not in the gra 2. Affir that he was risen gone away therfore not there where the corporall presence of Christ is handled at large 3. Illustratiuely two wayes viz. * 1. A Priori from the predictions that Chr. should rise where is shewed 1. Why he was to rise in 1. resp of Sat. 2. res of Man 3. res of Him 2. Why to rise on the third day 1. of his Ene 2. of his Disci 3. of all Ch as ‖ To confirm their faith touching 1. The quality of his Person 2. The certainty of his resur 3. The maner of our restau 4. The declaration of our state and condition 2. A Posteriori from the subsequents of his resurrection and heere is shewed 1. The Iewes reasons why they will not beleeue 2. Our reasons why we beleeue him to haue risen 1. Angelicall assertion 2. Manifold apparitions 3. Many circumstantiall demonstrations 2. The place from whence he rose is discussed where the discention of Christ to hell is shewed the 1. Necessity requiring it 2. Scriptures prouing it 3. The consent of all antiquity confirming it 3 The manner how Christ rose in respect of the 1. The place from the dead 2. The time early 3. Person 1. Truely 2. Perfectly 3. Gloriously 4. The application of the whole doctrine where is shewed that the resurrection worketh 1. Our resurrection from sinne which must bee as his was 1. Speedily 2. Truely 3. Totally 4. Constantly 2. Our assurance of resurrection into glory 2. What they should doe where is shewed how necessary it is to ioyne practise vnto the profession of Christianity This Treatise sheweth 1. The glory or ascention of Christ which is handled 1. By way of exposition 1. Person ascending where is shewed foure sorts of ascenders 1. Angels 2. Diuels 3. Men. 4. God Man Christ Iesus 2. The ascension it selfe is shewed where is more fully expressed 1. Person ascending both in respect of his 1. Humiliation where is shewed 1. That he was in heauen before he descended 2. The extent of his humiliation 2. His exaltation 2. Particular circumstances concerning his Ascension viz. 1. Time 2. Place 3 Manner 3. The place where he ascended into Heauen where is shewed that there is a three-fold Heauen 1. Materiall 2. Spirituall 3. Supersubstantiall where is proued that the body of Christ is locall 2. By way of application 1. For our coÌ„solation which is two-fold 1. That Christ in our flesh is gone to take possession of Heauen 2. That being in Heauen he is not vnmindfull of vs that be on earth 2. For our imitatioÌ„ where is shewed 1. The place from whence we must ascend 2. The meanes how wee may ascend 3. The signes if wee haue ascended 2. The victory of Christ which is vnderstood 1. Passiuely for all our enemies Hell Death Sinne c. 2. Actiuely for all those men that are deliuered from sinne and set at liberty to serue their God 3. The bounty of Christ where is shewed 1. What maner of gifts Christ giueth free gifts to exclude merit 2. What gifts are here meant where is shewed that all gifts of God are either 1. Temporall gifts 2. Spirituall gifts they are 2 sorts viz. 1. To edifie the Church as 1. Ministers 2. Gifts to ministers especially 1. Tongues 2. Knowlege 3. Charity 4. Constancy 5. Contempt of the world 6. Perfect power c. 3. Ministers indued with these gifts 2. To sanctifie our soules which are 1. Common gifts 2. Speciall gifts which are 1. faith which is 1. Historicall 2. Of miracles 3. Temporary 4. Iustifying 2. Hope which is 1. Humane 2. Diuine 3. Charity 4. Prouidence 5. Patience c. 3. How God bestoweth his gifts viz. 1. the gifts for edifying the Church he giues not alwaies alike for 1. In the beginning of the Church visibly where is shewed how the holy ghost appeared viz. 1. Like a cloude and why 2. Like fire and why 3. Like a Doue and why 4. Like winde and why 5. Like tongues and why Where is shewed the filling of the Apostles wiâ—â— the holy Ghost 4. signes of their fulnesse and the effects thereof 2. Now and to the end sufficiently but with our great industry where is shewed how we may know whether we haue the gifts of God or not 2. Gifts for the sanctifying our soules he giues by 1. Hearing the Word 2. Receiuing the Sacrament 1. Baptisme 2. Euchar. 4. To whoÌ„ God bestoweth all these gifts to whoÌ„ it pleaseth him This Treatise containeth 1. A most friendly coÌ„pellatioÌ„ where is handled 1. The vnity of brethreÌ„ where is shewed 1. How deerely Heathen brethren in former times loued each other 2. How little loue and vnity is now among Christian brethren 2. The pollicy of the Apostle in seeking to winne the Thessallonians to pray for them Where is shewed that there be three sorts of Preachers * 1. Discreete 2. Parasites to Princes 3. Flatterers of the people 2. A most Christian request or exhortation wher is shewed 1. The pietie of the Apostle in perswading all men to pray where is handled concerning praier 1. The kindes of prayer 1. In respect of the matter 1. Inuocation 1. To remoue euill 2. To obtaine good †1. grace spirituall blessings 2. peace temporal blessings 2. Thankesgiuing which is inforced by many reasons c. 2. In respect of the forme 1. Mentall 2. Vocall 3. Sudden 4. Composed 5. Conceiued 6. Prescribed 7. Priuate 8. Publique 9. Ordinary 10. Extraord 2. The party to whom we shold pray
i. e. God for diuers speciall reasons as 1. Because hee onely is omnipresent 2. Because hee onely is omniscient 3. Because hee onely is omnipotent 3. The place whereto pray 1. Generally euerywhere 2. Specially the Church and that for fiue speciall reasons 4. The time when to pray 1. With our heart and affect alwaies 2. With our voyce at the appointed times 1. For our priuate prayers 2. For our publ prayers ‡ Where the neglectors of publique prayers are sharpely reprehended 5. The manner how to pray 1. In humility 2. In faith 3. In zeale 4. With constancy 5. In charity 6. In piety 6. The motiues to perswade vs to pray 1. In respect of God because prayer is an essentiall part of Gods seruice 2. In respect of our selues 1. To obtaine our request 1. Whatsoeuer we aske 2. More then we aske 3. Better then we aske 2. To preuent iudgements 3. To preserue al spiritual graces 4 To weaken finne 5. To sanctifie the creatures 6. To ouercome all creatures 7. To preuaile with God 1. When hee is pleased 2. When hee is angry Where is shewed that the gift to pray is the most excellentest grace that God bestoweth on man 2. The charity of the Apostle in shewing how we should pray one for another where is shewed that we must pray 1. Specially for our selues 2. Generally for al men for three speciall reasons and more particularly †; 1. For Kings and all Magistrates 2. For our ministers and that for three speciall reasons 1. Because we owe this dutie to pray for them 2 For our owne good 3. To helpe them ‖ to discharge that great charge which is laide vpon them where is shewed the dangerous estate of Ministers whatsoeuer they doe An Jntroduction to the whole BOOKE WHen Almighty God had decreed from all eternity to make certaine creatures partakers of his felicity he did in that very period of the decreed time by his eternall Councell create of nothing all the things that are subsistent and thereby he shewed himselfe to be as all Gentiles confest it optimus maximus the very best of all that is good and the very greatest of all that is great and as Pliny saith well especially hauing but the light of nature to enlighten him Plutarch in Panegyrico Traiâ—n dict he did herein shew himselfe to be prius optimus quam maximus because hee which was so eminently good that he could not be bettered did all this for them that were iust nothing but alas behold a relapsed creature from his most indulgent Creator and see how this goodnesse of God abused by the creature became through the iust iudgement of GOD an euitable cause of all miseries vpon all transgressors for wee not contented with that blessed state wherein wee were established did spurne against our God by a most ambitious vsurpation of his very Deity and so aspiring vnto a blessed life as we thought we brought vpon our selues a most accursed death as we all finde yet God still desiring to shew himselfe a God of mercy he promised to send a Sauiour to redeem vs Gal. 4.4 by taking our nature vpon him and suffering in our flesh whatsoeuer we deserued for our sinnes and to this end when the fulnesse of time came God sent his Sonne made of a woman made vnder the Law subiect to the curse of the Law which was death of body buriall in the graue and discention into hell that he might free vs from eternall death and then to rise againe the third day to ascend into heauen and to send his holy Spirit into our hearts to worke in vs faith to apply all this vnto our selues and all other graces whatsoeuer that might fit vs and bring vs vnto euerlasting life And this is the summe of all that is contained in this booke to know our selues to know God to know Iesus Christ borne dead raised ascended and now raigning in eternall glory to guide his Church and to confound his foes for euermore Perhaps this worke may seeme as the water boughs of a fruitlesse tree a superfluous branch vnto the Church of God I willingly submit it to the iudgement of Gods children they must all confesse it is the last houre of the worlds age wherein iniquity is increased impiety is enlarged and all charity is almost abandoned all things growing worse and worse by continuance Et satanas tanto feruentior ad sauitiam quanto se sentit viciniorem ad paenam and Satan hauing the greater rage to driue vs to transgression by how much the neerer he perceiues himselfe to destruction And therefore let men say what they will yet seeing we may truly demaund of them Quid audiam verba cum vidiam contraria facta What booteth all our knowledge seeing we doe nothing that we know nor know nothing indeed as we ought to know I say that it cannot be amisse to do what wee can to expresse those things that may best make for our happinesse and I know these points are necessary to be knowne Aetas parentum peior auis tulit nos nequiores mox daturos progienem visiorem Horat. car 3.6 Greg Moral l. 34. c. 1. and most profitable to be practised by all Christians Reade them then and I will pray to God that he will giue thee grace Faeliciter currere faelicius in Christi pietate cursam tuum consummare to vnderstand what thou readest to beleeue what thou vnderstandest and to practise what thou beleeuest that so thou mayest attaine vnto euerlasting life through Iesus Christ our Lord Amen Courteous Reader these errours and the like if you meet them I pray you correct them Pag. Lin. Errata Corrige 5 19 predicatum praedicatum 7 24 as some deleatur 15 21 infelicitas infaelicitas 18 13 predicatum praedicatum 22 30 nay no. 23 36 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 28 21 occulos oculos 29 20 Athenienes Athenienses 31 15 gnostrickes gnostickes  praemit premit 37 1 equalities equalitie 38 2 quaâ—a quantae  at as 44 9 seruat deleatur 45 10 meritrix meretrix 47 23 á as 71 8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 71 6 presentes praesentes 77 12 laethi lethi 81 18 soules sculles 84 16 are is  27 elephat elephante 86 37 it in 93 4 dilicijs delicijs 102 18 diliciae deliciae 128 14 future tens for the present present tens for the future 263 7 conquari conqueri 326 25 impleueâ— impleuit 452 4 faerox ferox 463 1 progeniere progenuere 471 26 eterchangably interchangably 480 25 penae poenae 482 25 manibus maenibus 462 10 Querentis quaerentis 559 35 tum tam 571 12 fugentes fugientes 579 7 eo eos 669 31 honestatatis honestatis 676 34 lepido tepido 692 after effusion of v. their deerest bloud to defend that in the field which they with the diffusion of c. 707 1 propter praeter Marginall faults P. Err. Corrige
those things that are dâ—ne of vs in darkenesse and therefore wee will vse all our skill to couer it and conceale it vnder the shâ—dow of the fig-leaues that if it be possible neither God nor the world may espie the same For sinne of it selfe is so vgly and so deformed a thing that the sinner himselfe if hee could but truely see the same would truely lothe it How Satan seekes by all meanes to conceale the light of Gods Word And therefore Satan laboureth by all meanes to put out either verbum predicatum the preaching of Gods Word which is the true light and candle that shineth vnto euery man and sheweth him the right wayes of godlinesse or else verbum applicatum the applying of this word vnto our soules which is as the eyes whereby we doe perceiue this light without which we are like blinde men that can see nothing in the clearest day the first of these he put out in the dayes of superstition when men walked in darkenesse and knew not where they went they knew not what was sinne And the second hee puts out now in the Sun-shine of the Gospell when the light shineth in darkenesse John 1. and the darkenesse comprehendeth it not and therefore he causeth more sinnes and more horrible sinnes to be committed now in the light of the Gospell We care not what great sinnes we doe so we may conceale them then euer were done heretofore in the night of ignorance for now hauing our owne eyes of the application of Gods light put out by that myst of malice which blindeth vs we care not how much how great sinnes wee doe commit so wee could put out the eyes of perspection that the world might not see the same As the Hypocrites care was altogether that their good works might be seene of men so all our care is that our euill works may not be seene of men Sinne creepes into vs as the Serpent crept into Paradise we know not how we may well demaund the question quomodâ— intrasti how camest thou in hither but we shall finde the resolution that it was most secretly and insensibly and therefore we will conceale it as cunningly either like Appollonius the Iugler who as soone as he was before the Iudge was presently vanished out of his fight Wee hide our sinnes that none mâ—y see them and we will stand in sinne that we haue not sinned and as Salomons harlot would wipe her mouth and it was not shee or as Pilate would wash his hands when he had condemned the Innocent blood So now the drunkard when he cannot stand will stand to it that he is not drunke and the swearer sweares and out-sweares all and if you tell him of it he presently sweares he swore not at all And thus as Rachel hid her fathers Teraphim vnder a smooth pretence Gen. 31.35 that it was with her after the manner of women or as Achan hid his wedge so doth euery sinner seeke to hide his sinnes And if we cannot hide them but that sinne it selfe like Abels blood will cry so loud that it must be heard then presently we will either lessen our sinnes with Saul and say we did it indeed but it was with no ill intent I saued the fattest but it was for a sacrifice for the Lord or else with Adam we will transferre our sinnes from our selues to others light where they will though it were on God himselfe For the woman that thou gauest me gaue it me and I did eate So cunning is euery man to conceale his sinne But alas Quid ille qui mundum quatit vibrans coruscat fulmen Aetneum manu stator deorum credis hoc posse effici inter videntes omnia vt lateas avos Senec. in Hipol act 1. Iohn 1. That we cannot possibly hide our sins from the eyes of God Psal 139. Iohn 1.18 Iohn 1.48 Melissa par 1. serm 16. Quid ille rebus lumen infundens suum matris parens What if thou couldest escape the eyes of men is it possible for thee to blinde the all-seeing eyes of God for hee is the true light that shineth and giueth light to euery thing and he beholdeth the ends of the world and seeth all things that are vnder Heauen saith holy Iob He is about our beds and about our pathes and espieth out all our wayes saith the Prophet Dauid and his name is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because hee seeth and beholdeth all things all things are naked in his eyes and therefore what aduantageth it thee to conceale thy sinnes from the knowledge of men when thou canst no wayes hide them from the eyes of God For though no man saw God at any time yet God seeth man at all times He saw Nathanael vnder the figge-tree when Nathanael saw not him and hee seeth thee committing sinne when thou seest no man but thy selfe And therefore beware of sinne though no man seeth thee Nam quemadmodum ignis si tunica tegatur For as the fire that is hid vnder thy coat or in the straw may bee concealed for a time but at last it will burst out to thy cost so thy sinne which thou doest in secret may be kept secret for a while but at last like an vnwedded Virgins pregnancy it will appeare to thy shame Claudian de 4. consul honorij Nam lux altissima fati occultum nil esse sinit latebrasque per omnes intrat obstrusos explorat fama recessus For there is no thought so secret that it shall goe for nought Sap. 1.7.10 because the Spirit of the Lord filleth the world and hath knowledge of the voyce and the eare of ielousie heareth all things the voyce of murmurings is not hid and therefore our Sauiour saith That whatsoeuer is done in secret shall be preached openly It may be in this life as the adultery of Dauid and almost all other horrible facts as Treasons Adulteryes Murthers and such like whereof we see almost none but God strangely and by vnknowne wayes doth bring to light or assuredly in the next life when God shall shew the Nations our shame and discouer all our most secret sinnes in the sight of men and Angels The longer we practice sinne the more impudent we grow in sinne 2. After that the Sinner hath accustomed himselfe to priuate and secret sinnes then he begins to grow bolder and bolder and as further and further from all goodnesse so worse and worse in all wickednesse For as Seneca saith Seneca in Hip. Obstare primum est velle nec labi via pudor est secundus nosse peccandi modum When we haue cast off all shame of sinne we are past all hope of goodnesse To withstand the sinne is the best and not to fall but if we haue fallen to be ashamed that we haue learned the way to sinne is the best planke after shipwracke to saue a man but when a man hath cast off all shame of his ill-doing
making but a mocke of God and of all godlinesse And therefore the Prophet sayth of such sinners that they haue made a couenant with death and an agreement with hell it selfe i. e. neuer to forsake that sinfull course of life till death doth send them quicke to Hell But I could wish that they would be herein false and as they haue broken the couenant of their God That wee should breake the couenant which we haue made with Hell if euer we would goe to Heauen which they haue made with him in Baptisme so they would break this agreement with Hell and cast off these cords from them for the reward of sinne is death and therefore much more of such fearefull sinnes as these bee And so you see the degrees by which sinne is increased CHAP. IV. Of the manner how euery Sinne is committed THirdly hauing seene how sinne is augmented The manner how euery sinne is committed is foure-fold and groweth more and more haynous by degrees like the Cockatrice egge that in a short time prooues to be a destroying fiery Serpent you must now vnderstand the manner how euery sin is committed and that we find to be 1. Of Ignorance 2. Of Knowledge 3. Of Infirmitie 4. Of Malice First The heathen man sayth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whosoeuer knoweth nothing sinneth nothing and Diuines say he that knoweth least sinneth least That ignorance is twofold But here you must vnderstand Ignorance to be twofold First Simple when a man therefore knowes not because he cannot learne Secondly Affected when a man therefore knowes not because he will not learne as those in Iob who said vnto God Discede à nobis quia scientiam viarum tuarū nolumus Job 21.14 Depart from vs for we will not haue knowledge of thy wayes and therefore the Prophet complaineth of such ignorant men quod noluerunt intelligere vt bene agerent that they refused to learne that they might doe well quod caeci licet ducem tamen non modo non quaerunt sed oblatum respuunt and that although they were starke blind and could see nothing Bern in ep ad magist Vincent yet not onely sought no guide but refused and contemned them that were offered as Saint Bernard speaketh The first may excuse vs à tanto licet non à toto That simple ignorance doth extenuate the sinne Acts 17.30 1. Tim. from the greater punishment though not from blame as Saint Paul sheweth of the Gentiles saying The times of this ignorance God regarded not and of himselfe That God had mercy vpon him because in persecuting the Church Hee did it ignorantly For this circumstance doth much extenuate a sinne when a man can pleade for himselfe with Abimelech Gen. 20.4 Lord wilt thou slay the righteous Nation As if he should haue sayd O Lord lay not this sinne to my charge for if I had knowne her to be his wife I would neuer haue intended to make her mine And therefore this moued our Sauiour at the time of his passion to say Father forgiue them Luke 23.43 for they know not what they doe Which is as if he should haue said if they knew that I were the Messias the sonne of God and the Sauiour of the world and would notwithstanding crucifie me Luke 24.43 then would I not desire thee to pardon them but now these things are concealed from them and therefore I desire thee that this sinne may not be imputed vnto them And so Saint Peter after he had declared their sinne how They had denied the Holy and Iust and had preferred before him a most vniust and wicked murtherer he deliuereth their comfort that if they would repent and beleeue in him they should obtaine remission and haue their sinnes done away at the time of refreshing Acts 3.17 Because they had done all this through ignorance And so the Lord himselfe sheweth this to be the reason why he spared Niniueh after the denouncement of her iudgement because There were sixescore thousand persons therein Ionas 4.11 which could not iudge betwixt good and bad which could not discerne betwixt their right hand and their left For a simple ignorance in a deuoted and well-meaning man such as Saint Augustine calls fidelis ignorantia a faithfull ignorance or the ignorance of a good faithfull man whose heart like Iehosophat 2 Chron. 20.32.33 is vpright towards God though he faile in many particular duties is either passed ouer in mercy as was the superstition of our forefathers Acts 10. or else is illuminated with knowledge in Gods appointed time Psal 50. vlt. as we reade of Cornelius and as the Apostle sheweth and the Psalmist promiseth To him that ordereth his conuersation right will I shew the Saluation of God Bosq de finibus bonarum l. 2. conc 12. p. 123. But the 2. that is affected ignorance Scaelus adcusat grauius non excusat augetque non minuit supplicium it doth inlarge the sin increase the punishment and it should treble the same sayth Bosquierus First For committing the sinne Secondly For neglecting to learne and Thirdly For affecting ignorance for when things are not knowne because men will not learne such ignorance is without excuse Quia aliud est nescire aliud est nolle scire Bernard in ep ad Valent Chrysost nescire ignorantia est scire noluisse superbia est Because this refusing to know is rather Arrogancie then Ignorancie as Saint Bernad sayth Gregor in Moral And therefore of such ignorant men quibus fuit inveniendi facultas si fuisset quaerendi voluntas Which had the meanes to know How dangerous a thing it is to be wilfully ignorant of the will of God if they had had the desire to learne the Apostle sayth si quis ignorat ignorabitur if any man know not God the same shall not be knowne of God for as the blinde and lame were not to enter into the Temple so the iudge biddeth vs educere foras populum caecum occulos habentes to bring forth and shut out of his kingdome those men which haue eyes and cannot see and which haue eares and doe not heare that is which are borne to know but will not learne and which are capable of discipline and yet will remaine vntaught Cokus de iure regis ecclesiastico And so in humane lawes we find the same truth Nam tantum abest vt ignorantia excuset c. For it is so far from reason that ignorance should any wayes excuse the fault of him which might know the truth that hee ought necessarily to haue knowne but through his negligence or wilfulnesse would not learne the same as that there is very great reason that he should be the more seuerely punished because that to be ignorant of those things which a man ought to know but will not learne non pro ignorantia sed pro contemptu haberi debet is rather to bee
as hee which beleeueth in Christ as sayth the Apostle and prouideth not for his familie hath denied the faith and is worse then an Infidell and as he which professeth Christian Religion and with his knowledge and Faith and Baptisme hath no good maners no holinesse of life and conuersation which may expresse the liuelihood of this doctrine but hath onely a certaine shew of Religion hauing denied the power thereof is farte worse then an Infidell so is he which sinneth wittingly through knowledge by so much worse then he is which sinneth through ignorance as an inexcusable sinne is worse then that which hath a iust excuse And so Saint Isidore sayth Jsidorus de summo bono l 2. that tanto maius peccatum esse cognoscitur quanto maior qui peccat habetur according to the quality of the offender so is the qualitie of the offence Criminostor culpa est vbi honestior status the greater the man is which sinneth the greater is the sinne which he committeth for as Plato sayth that ignorantia potentum robustorumque hominum hostilis atque teterrima res est the ignorance of great and mighty men is a most vile and hatefull thing Why the sins of great men of eminent place are the greatest sins because it may bee very hurtfull vnto many so may we say that the sinnes of great men and of those that are in place and authoritie are exceedingly sinnefull and doe deserue the greater condemnation not onely because their sinnes are exemplarie sinnes as the old verse sayth Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis and as the prouerbe is like Priest like People Matth. 6.23 but also because in them is required the more eminent vertue wee should bee the light of the world and the great men should be the defenders of the distressed and the helpers of the needy and therefore Si lumen quod in te est tenebrae sunt ipsae tenebrae quatae erunt If thou which shouldest be at patterne of all vertue committest sinne how great is thy sin and if they which should be Patrons of the poore Preachers become robbers of the Church and they which should be Releeuers of the needy become oppressors of their neighbours how intollerable is that cruelty Surely though these things should be but small sinnes in others yet in vs they are horrible transgressions Chrysost hom 24 in c. 7. Matth. Quia impossibile omnino nobis est ad ignorantiae praesidium aliquando confugere Because it is vnpossible for vs to finde any excuse for our selues And therefore though Gentlemen and Courtiers Citizens and worldlings doe leade their liues in lewdnesse and turne the graces of God into wantonnesse and thinke it no great sinnes but either the infirmities of their youth or but the custome of their times yet in vs that are the Preachers of Gods Word or in those that are the Gouernours of the people the least sinne or mis-cariage of our selues which perhaps alijs ignoscitur nobis imputatur is but a veniall sinne in others and shall be pardoned will be found a haynous sinne in vs for which we shall be surely punished Bern. l. 2. de consid ad Eugen. for so Saint Bernard saith Inter seculares nugae nugae sunt in ore sacerdotis sunt blasphemiae Triffles are but triffles among secular men but in the mouth of the Priests triffles proue to be blasphemies and therfore the wise man saith that the meane and the simple man shall obtaine mercy Wis 6.6 when the wise and the mighty shall be mightily punished CHAP. VI. How euery sinne and the least sinne of euery one bringeth death YOu haue heard the diuersity of sinners and the inequality of sinnes and therfore I might now proceed vnto the second part which is the reward of sinne but that I may not forget to obserue that the Apostle saith indefinitely the reward of sinne is death to teach vs these three speciall lessons 1. That euery One sinne brings death 2. That the sinne of euery one brings death 3. That the least sin of any one brings death for First He sayth the reward of sinne is death not of sinnes That any one sinne is sufficient to bring death vnto the Sinner 1 Sam. 17. 2 Sam. 20 9. Sueton. in vit Caesar One is inough if there were no more For as one leake in a shippe is sufficient to sinke it and one vaynes bleeding is inough to let out all the vitall spirits and one wound may kill Golias and Amasa as well as 23 did Caesar So one proud disdainefull thought may cast Lucifer out of Heauen one Apple may cast Adam out of Paradise and one sinne may bring death vpon any one of the sonnes of Adam And therefore seeing the puritie of God can abide no sinne and his iustice will so seuerely punish euery sinne Gen. 3.24 we should not giue way to any sinne for though we keepe the royall Law James 2.10 yet if we fail but in any one point we are guilty of all not that he which committeth any one sin committeh all sinnes but that he is as guilty of death by that one sinne as if hee had committed all sinnes and God can as easily spie out one sinne in man though he had no more as well as he could spie out one man amongst his guests which had not on his wedding garment Matth. 22.12 Secondly as One sinne so the sinne of any one brings death That the sin of any one man be he great or small brings death Gal. 3.10 Jerem 22 24. for cursed is euery one whosoeuer he be that continueth not in all things that are written in the Booke of the Law for to doe them saith the Lord and the soule which sinneth that soule shall die saith the Prophet and Coniah if he offend though he were as the Signet on Gods right hand yet will God cut him off saith the Lord. But what haue not Kings and Princes Lords and Ladies great men Knights and rich men haue not they any priuiledge to haue their pleasures nor any prerogatiue to commit any sinne must they haue no more liberty then the poorest peasant Yes that they haue for when the meane men cannot offend but presently they shall be reprooued and it may be punished whereby many times they are brought to repentance and are themselues cleansed and haue their sinnes pardoned the great men The dangerous estate of Great men because many of vs dare not reproue them for feare to offend them and so to be offended by them may goe on in their sinnes without controulement they may doe it without feare though with the more danger for though it be true of a poore fearefull Preacher dat veniam coruis vexat censura columbas that he dares not reprooue these mighty men yet with God there is no respect of persons but Veniam laeso numine nullus habet If Moses the Prince of Gods people
Praesbyt Iob 28.24 and his being vnconceiuable saith Thalassus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For he is euery where and he seeth euery thing when as nothing can see him Ob. But here it may be some will say that although now by reason of sinne that blindeth vs we can neither see his Essence nor comprehend his excellency Cor. 15.53 yet when this corruption shall put on incorruption and this vaile of ignorance shall be taken from vs we shall fully see him and comprehend him in his excellency 1 Cor. 13.12 for we shall see him face to face we shall see him as he is and we shall know him as we are knowne And therefore he is neither so inuisible nor so incomprehensible but that hee might bee seene and comprehended were it not for our sinnes and ignorance that doe so blinde our vnderstandings that we cannot perceiue him Sol. That the Essence of God shall not be seene in Heauen but in the face of Iesus Christ To this I answere that if Adam had neuer sinned yet could he neuer haue seene the essence of God vnlesse God would haue taken some visible shape vpon him to appeare vnto him and so I say that in the life to come when the Saints shall be free from all sin and indued with a farre more excellent measure of knowledge and vnderstanding then euer Adam was in Paradise they shall neuer see the Dietie any otherwise then in the face of Iesus Christ for so the Apostle sheweth that God who commanded the light to shine out of darkenesse hath shined in our hearts 2 Cor. 4.6 to giue the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ Iohn 14.7 9. 10. v. And our Sauiour himselfe more plainely saith when Philip desired to see the Father He that knoweth me knoweth the Father and hee that seeth me seeth the Father because I am in the Father and the Father in me And therefore I say that Visio Dei beatifica The blessed fruition of the Godhead which the Saints shall haue in Heauen shall bee no otherwise reueiled vnto vs then in the face of the Man Iesus Christ because the Deitie considered in it selfe Inhabitat lucem inaccessibilem 1 Tim. 6.16 dwelleth in the light that no man can attaine vnto And so you see the occasion of these words that God hauing told Moses he could neither see his Essence nor yet fully vnderstand his Excellency he would notwithstanding so farre satisfie his desire as to shew him all that he could possibly comprehend viz. that he was Iehoua Iehoua strong mercifull and gracious c. Et sic condescendit nobis Deus vt nos consurgamus ei And thus God doth most graciously condescend and make himselfe knowne to man that man might ascend and as much as possibly lyeth in him know his God In all this Diuine description of Almighty God The diuision of the Text. I find these two especiall things set downe 1. Quid est 2. Qualis est Deus i. e. 1. What God is and 2. What manner of God he is And in the handling of these two points I shall by Gods helpe spend and finish this whole Treatise CHAP I. Of the description of God how he maybe knowne what he is Part. 1. and of this speciall Name IEHOVA TOuching the first Part Danda imprimis opera est vt Deum noscamus quotquot faelices esse volumus It must be the chiefest care of all that would bee happy to know God which is the chiefest happinesse of all for to feare God and to keepe his Commandments Hoc est omnis homo This is the dutie and this is the felicity of euery man Bernard At non potes aut amare quem non noueris aut habere quem non amaueris But thou canst not either loue him whom thou dost not know or imoy him whom thou dost not loue Quia ignoti nulla cupido Because Knowledge is the ground of loue and whom we loue not we can neither seeke any helpe from him nor yet render any seruice to him Iohn 17 3. and therefore our Sauiour saith that this is eternall life to know him to be the onely true God and whom he hath sent Iesus Christ And this is the reason why so many thousands shall be destroyed 2 Thess 1.8 because they know not God And this the very Heathens perceiued though they could not attaine it when among all their Precepts this was their chiefest lesson 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Know God That there are three wayes of knowing God Now we must vnderstand that there are three wayes of knowing God I speake not of that knowledge which the Booke of Nature teacheth for that is too small to make vs happy but of that which we doe collect out of the Booke of God and those according to the Schooles are these Exod. 23.19.20.23 The first is according to that which he is in himselfe whereby he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vnspeakeable infinite and incomprehensible and thus none knoweth God but God himselfe and the reason hereof is that although Nihil magis intelligibile quam Deus Nothing of his owne nature is more intelligible then God because he is the first Zanch. de nat Dei l 3. c. 2. p. 199. the perfectest and the truest being most pure and simple and free from any matter yet is our vnderstanding towards God but as the eyes of the Owles or Reremouse which are not able to behold the brightnesse of the Sunne and therefore thus if we seeke to know him That we are not able to know God as he is in himselfe wee shall be but like Symonides that being commanded by the Emperour to tell him what God was demanded three dayes respite for to resolue so great a quaere and when hee came hee required sixe dayes more and being therefore asked why he prolonged so the time and thereby so deluded him he ingeniously answered because the more I search into him the further I finde my selfe from attaining to him And therefore in this respect we should Sapere ad sobrietatem Bee wise vnto sobriety and not curiously search into his ineffable Maiestie but rather with the Cherubims to couer our faces with two of our Wings Esay 6.2 because we are not able to know him as he is The second is according to that which may be knowne of vs and may be any wayes comprehended in our mindes and best vnderstandings And thus we conceiue him to be most admirable but yet by infinite degrees inferior to that which he is in himselfe and therefore we should striue and labour what we can to vnderstand and know him more and more for the more fully that we shall know him the more perfectly we shall loue him and the more perfectly wee loue him the more happinesse wee shall adde vnto our owne felicity The third is according to that which may be
neque sua natura simpliciter sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which are neither contrary to the Nature of God nor yet of their owne Nature simply impossible to be done What things are repugnant to the Nature of God First of the first kinde are all those actions which though they may be done of the creatures yet haue they no place with God and such are to sinne to moue to die to walke to eate and all other humane acts and so whatsoeuer doth repugne the nature of God or be any wayes contrary to his essentiall or personall properties because to be able to doe these things were to euert and destroy the nature and properties of God And therefore God cannot imagine any folly because this doth contradict his Wisedome August ser 119. de temp he cannot suffer any sinne to goe vnpunished because that is contrary to his Iustice neither can he lye because that is contrary to his Truth neither can he doe but he must be iust good wise pure inuisible incorporeall so forth not onely because that to be able to doe this would argue a defect of power but especially because the denyall and sublation or taking away of these properties is the negation and destruction of the Essence of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the taking away of the essentiall properties Theodor. Dialog 3. is the abolishing of the nature saith Theodoret And therefore these and the like things which doe repugne with the essentiall or personall properties of God cannot be done on Gods part nor by God though they may be done by the creatures because in very deede he cannot by any meanes will to doe these things for none can naturally will That God cannot will those things that are contrary to his nature to bee contrary to that which naturally he willeth to be as no man can naturally will himselfe to be miserable because euery man naturally willeth felicitie and therefore seeing God is naturally Wise True and Good it is most absolutely necessarie that hee should alwayes Will Wisedome Trueth and Goodnesse and cannot possibly Will the contrary as Theodoret doth most excellently say Dominus Deus nihil vult eorum quae non sibi suapte natura insunt potest quaecunque vult vult quae naturae suae apta conuenientia sunt God cannot will any of those things which are not naturally agreeable vnto him he can doe what he will Jdem quo supra and he can will whatsoeuer is apt and agreeable to his nature Secondly Of the second kinde are all those things How contradictories doe destroy each other which implie a contradiction as for a thing to bee and not to bee together because all such things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are simply and absolutely impossible as contradictorily repugning and so destroying one another and therefore can no wayes be done Quia res talis non potest habere rationem factibilis Because such a thing hath not the reason nor way nor possibilitie of being done as Thomas sayth and therefore wee doe say that God can neither doe nor will contraries as good and euill which in a nature absolutely and euery way simple cannot subsist Trelcatius in thesi de Deo Amand Polan in Synt nor yet contradictories as to make a thing to be and not to be which in the essence of God voide and cleere from all falsehood and most perfect in all trueth can haue no place sayth Trelcatius And so we doe affirme that God cannot make that a triangle should be a triangle and yet not to haue three angles or corners or that a triangle should haue three angles and not three angles that that which is while it is should not be that those things which haue beene made How all antiquitie teacheth that God cannot doe contradictories Mark 10.27 should not haue beene made that a body should be a true naturall body and yet destitute and free from all those naturall proprieties which doe as it were constitute the very being of the thing and without which the very diffinition of the thing is taken away and all other such things which doe simplie implie a contradiction And we finde all Men in all ages to haue confest and to haue taught the same trueth for venerable Bede expounding those words of Marke All things are possible with God sayth it is not so to bee vnderstood that the couetous proud men can with their pride and couetousnesse enter into the kingdome of Heauen because this is impossible vnto God because neither the Couetous nor the Proud as God himselfe doth testifie by the mouth of his Apostle 1 Cor. 6.9.10 shall inherite the kingdome of God but that it is possible for God as often it hath beene done and we daily see it to bee done so to worke in the hearts of these wicked and vngodly Men that by the preaching of his Word and the working of his spirit they should be conuerted and weaned from the loue of worldly things and be inflamed with the longing desire of Heauenly things Venera Bede in Marc. C. 11. Et à perniciosa superbia ad humilitatem saluberrimam reducantur And bee reduced from their aspiring and pernicious pride vnto that most wholesome practise of humilitie in which words hee plainely sheweth that God cannot doe those things which doe implie a contradiction So S. Augustine against Faustus the Manachie and in many other places and so Aquinas The most horrible impieties of them which say God can worke all contradictories and all Schoole-Diuinitie doe all of them teach the same trueth And they that say otherwise doe but mocke both God and Man and take away all trueth from Diuine and Humane things and lay open a most vnsufferable and vnrepairable gappe for all wicked Hereticks for God which is immutably and infallibly true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the verie trueth it selfe can neither will nor suffer that an affirmation should bee a negation that an yea should bee a nay or that trueth and falshood should bee mixed together in the very selfe-same simplest subiect as this is fire and not water and this very selfe-same thing is water and not fire at the same time and in the same respect or this is bread and not flesh and this is flesh and not bread that is one thing to bee two distinct things at the selfe-same time and in the selfe-same respect I say it is vnpossible for the trueth of God to doe Aug. cont Faustum l. 26. c. 81 as Saint Augustine doth most excellently and largely shew against Faustus Manichaeus And therefore I cannot sufficiently wonder who hath bewitched our Vbiquitaries which doe so stiffely contend that the Body of Christ remayning a true body and yet notwithstanding may bee and is euery where illocall inuisible and so forth for if these things be not meerely contradictorie
praecipua laudatio est c. This is one of the chiefest commendations of God that he hath no meane nor measure in him for his power his vertue his Maiestie How the Fathers doe extoll the power of God cannot be contained in place determined by time expressed in words nor conceiued in our best vnderstandings our sence is too narrow our wit is too blunt and our tongue too mute to performe so great a taske because as the Psalmist speaketh Psal 145.3 There is no end of his greatnesse And therefore Saint Augustine saith excellently well Demus Deum multa posse nos intelligere non posse That we must grant that God can doe many things Aug. ep 3. ad Volusian which we must confesse wee can neither search out the cause nor vnderstand the things because the power of God is not to be straitned within the compasse of our shallow apprehensions How great a sinne it is to say any thing derogatory to the Power of God And therefore we ought to take great heed that we neither say nor conceiue any thing derogatory to the power of God for if it be ordained by humane Lawes that he which should offend the Maiestie of a King though but a man should leese his head for his offence Quis finis contemnentium diuinam omnipotentiam erit Bernard in cant What should become of those that contemne or speake against the Diuine Omnipotency of God saith Saint Bernard Fourthly the very Heathens Poets Phylosophers and all of the learneder sort haue confest as much as is sufficient to proue the Omnipotent power of God Homer Odyss 3. p. 65. for Homer brings in Minerua speaking vnto Telemachus and saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which is as much as if shee said That God can doe what hee will and none can hinder him because as one saith Ille potest solis currus inhibere volantes How the very Heathens haue extolled the Omnipotency of God Ille velut scopulos flumina stare facit He can hold still great Phoebus wayne as he did in the days of Ioshua at he did at thered Sea And stoutest streames he can restraine For though as another saith Astra regunt mundum These sublunary Creatures are generally guided by the influences of the higher Orbes yet to conclude the verse he saith Sed regit astra Deus The God of Heauen doth rule the Heauens and rideth vpon the same as vpon an Horse And therefore an Indian Gymnosophist being demanded by Alexander what God did answered What he will Et quod nulla creatura facere potest And what no mortall man nor any other creature can doe for they daily saw how by his strength vnlikely matters haue come to passe the greatest imaginations haue beene dissolued with a blaste and dying hopes haue beene reuiued from their graues and therefore they all concluded that Ludit in humanis diuina potentia rebus It was an easie matter for Gods power to deale with all Creatures as he listed and How the very Diuels haue confest the Power of God Fiftly the very Diuels doe acknowledge and confesse and obey the power of God For Apollo being demanded of one by what meanes he might with-draw his wise from Christianitie He answered That he might easier flie through the Ayre or write in the Sea then plucke her away from Christ because God was so powerfull to preserue her Heydelf de Deo c. 2. and the Diuell so weake to striue against him and being requested by Augustus to informe him who should succeede him in his Empire hee saide Peucerus de Oracul p. 251. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Hebrew Childe hath inioyned me to silence and I must hence-forth obey his voyce And so the Scripture saith That the vncleane Spirits were obedient vnto Christ and as the winde and the waues so did they yeeld and doe whatsoeuer Christ commanded them Much more might be said to confirme this point Quid satis est cui Roma parum but all is but to light a candle before the Sunne And therefore seeing I am no wayes able to speake what I ought to expresse this truth I will proceede to see what the sonnes of darkenesse can say against this truth And as I distributed the adversaries into foure Classies so I finde their obiections to be foure-fold Obiect The Obiections that are made against the truth of Gods Power answered Sol. That there be three sorts of Agents First the Naturalists say that Ex nihilo nihil fit Of nothing nothing can be made And therefore God is not so powerfull as to be able to produce things of nothing and to create this Vniuerse out of no subsistent matter To this I answere that there be three sorts of workers 1. The lowest 2. The middlemost 3. The highest or else 1. Artificers 2. Nature 3. God First Artificers can doe nothing but of some body composed of the first matter and a substantiall forme into which they doe induce an accidentall forme as the Baker out of his Dowe makes Bread or the Potter out of his tempered clay makes his Potts Secondly Nature or naturall Agents can likewise produce nothing into being vnlesse there be first some matter or subiect whereunto it induceth a naturall forme so from any naturall seede is composed the fruit of each seede in his kinde as from the seede of man is ingendered man and so of all other things whatsoeuer And in these two sorts of Agents the axiome is most true That God can produce any thing of nothing that of nothing nothing can be made but of the third agent that is God it is most false for as he did create all things of nothing so he can yet as easily of no being produce any being as he can change any compleat being into another And therefore to argue from the creature vnto the Creator or from the faculty of the inferior agent vnto the faculty of the superior as the Artificer cannot doe it therefore Nature cannot doe it or Nature cannot doe it therefore the God of Nature cannot doe it is most absurd and foolish Euery Childe can perceiue the weakenesse of this childish reasoning Secondly Obiect the desperate men doe obiect against their owne soules that Gods Iustice is so strict that it requires euery sinne and the least sinne to be punished with eternall death and their sinnes are not onely few and small but most infinite in number euen as Manasses saith My sinnes are more innumerable then the sands of the Sea and most haynous for quality euen as Caine saith My sinne is greater Quam vt venia merear Gen. 4.13 Then I can deserue pardon or they be greater then can be pardoned And therefore say they God cannot pardon our sinnes but we must die and die eternally for our sinnes To this I answere first Sol. that it had beene very good for them they had reasoned
like and yet this is not all for here must be Flesh to though neither seene felt heard nor vnderstood If it be so let all men iudge For I blush to say more in a point so cleere Secondly we confesse that as God can produce any substance of nothing so he can multiply any one thing into a thousand things Matth. 14.17 as he did the fiue loaues to feede fiue thousand men besides women and children but that he should make that which is numerically one Mar. 6 36. to be fiue thousand things and yet to be but one thing John 6.5 at the very same time that it is fiue thousand things and that that one thing should be but in one place and yet at the same time should be in fiue thousand places we say there cannot be a greater contradiction How Christ multiplied the loaues of Bread for as when the loaues were multiplied if he multiplied them in number he did not multiply them to bee more then fiue and yet to remaine but fiue or if he multiplyed them in quantity which I rather thinke he did not make them to be of a greater quantity and yet to remaine of the same lesser quantity that they were before for this is meerely contradictory to be more in number then fiue and yet to be but fiue or to be augmented in quantity and yet to be but the same in quantity but when any part thereof was diminished he still multiplyed the remaining quantity into the same quantity as it was before or greater as he diâ— the meale in the barrell and the oyle in the cruse of the Widdow of Sarepta in the dayes of Elias 1 King 17.16 That it cannot be that one body should be but in one place and yet to be in a hundred places at the same time And herein is no contradiction euen so if God should multiply that one body of his Sonne to be fiue thousand bodies it cannot be that it should be one and fiue thousand both at once or if hee should cause that body which is in one place to be in fiue thousand places all at once it cannot be that it should be in fiue thousand places and yet but in one place as euery child almost may easily perceiue And therefore seeing it is apparant that Christ hath but one true naturall and Phisicall body else we shall make Christ to be no Christ and that it cannot be that that one should still remaine one and yet be fiue thousand millions of bodies and that that one must still remaine in one place Act. 3.21 as Saint Peter sheweth and yet should be at the same time in many millions of places I hope it is as plaine that these things are meerely contradictory and so simplie impossible to be done as that the Sunne doth shine at noone-day But they instance D. Hall relates it How they relate lies to boulster vp their errors that one Xauier as Tursellian reports it was at the same time seene both in a Ship and in a Boat and I read it alleadged out of Bellarmine that hee relates the like of Saint Antony of Padua that he was seene Preaching in a towne of Italy and at the same time was seene in another place and therefore a body may be commeasured to its place and yet be in other places at the same time To these Instances I say not onely with Plautus Plaut Amphyt Tun'id dicere audes quod nemo vnquam homo vidit nec potest fieri tempore vno homo idem duobus vt locis simul sit How dares any man say that which neuer any man did see nor can be that at the same time one man should be in two seuerall places but I say also with Aquinas of the locality of Angels Thom. in Mag. l 1. d. 32. q. 1. art 1. that by the same reason that he might be in two places he may be in a thousand places at once and therefore if Xauier or Antony was in one place it must needs be the Diuell that was in the other place to teach such lies to delude the credulous But yet still they will reply that we must not conceiue of Diuine things and especially of Gods Power by the rule of humane reason For subtill Philosophy doth many times obscure pure Diuinity and Aristotles Bookes of Nature haue caused many a Doctor to corrupt the Scripture for he made Aetius to follow Arrius saith Socrates Socrat. l. 2. c. 28. Eccles. hist and therefore we must attaine vnto the knowledge of these things not by the reason of man but by the rule of Faith That Faith seeth what Reason cannot conceiue which Philo calleth Fidem oculatum so well-eyed and so sharpe-sighted that as the Eagles eye being aloft in the cloudes can notwithstanding espie Sub frutice leporem sub fluctibus piscem Vnder the waues a Fish and vnder the shrubs a Hare so Faith here in earth can notwithstanding search into the deepe things of God in Heauen and can most perfectly see those things which humane sence can no way perceiue Aug. ep 3. ad Volusian To this I answere with Saint Augustine that wee confesse God is able to doe as he hath done many things which we are not able to vnderstand in all which we beleeue them without searching the reason of them because in such things as Saint Augustine saith Ratio facti est potentia facientis The whole reason of the deede is the Power of the doer but as for the ioyes of Heauen though it passeth all vnderstanding to know positiuely what excellent things are there yet negatiuely wee doe certainely know what is not there for there is no sorrow no sickenesse no euill and as we know not perfectly what God is yet wee doe certainely know what hee is not for hee is not the Sunne Danaeus Isagog de Deo the Moone nor any other creature whatsoeuer Euen so though we know not the height or greatnesse of Gods Power what infinite things he can doe aboue what we can speake or thinke yet we know many things that he cannot doe which I haue shewed vnto you before And therefore that bread should be transubstantiated into flesh and yet remaine bread that accidents should subsist without their subiects that Christ should sit in Heauen and lie in the Bread which we doe eate that hee should be visibly there and inuisibly here and that hee should be one and many continued and discontinued intire in one one place and at the same time intire in a thousand places and such like assertions which doe ouerthrow We beleeue not the assertions of the Iesuites not because we know not how they may be done but because we know they cannot bee done not onely the humanity of our Sauiour Christ but also the order of things and the very principles of Nature and doe exceede the bounds of all sence and reason and repugne indeede the very
he was contented to become Sanguinolentus propter te without forme or beauty for our sake Esay 52.3 Quando velauerunt faciem eius when the accursed Iewes buffeted and bespitted his glorious face yet was he alwayes gloriesissimus in se most gracious and glorious in himselfe and so the Apostles testifie that they saw his glory Iohn 1.14 as the glory of the onely begotten Son of God full of grace and truth And yet they saw the same but in part because of the infirmitie of their Flesh while they liued here in this life But Christ is the image of the Father Heb 1.3 That God is of an incomprehensible beauty and the ingraued forme of his person and therfore God must needs be gracious and amiable yea so amiable so louely that it is no maruell the very Saints Angels do so vehemently desire to see the face of God in Iesus Christ do esteem it their chiefest happinesse to be alwaies contemplating vpon the same And the reason why all men are not inflamed with the loue of his excellent Maiestie is because they know him not they haue not tasted how sweet the Lord is Quia ignoti nulla cupido for if men did know how graecious and how amiable the Lord is they would with Saint Paul long to be dissolued that they might but see him Secondly God is not onely gracious in himselfe That God is easie to be reconciled but he is also placable reconcileable vnto vs for though God be prouoked euery day yet doth his wrath indure but the twinckling of an eye he is ready to receiue vs into his fatherly fauour Psal 77.7.8.9 if we would but be willing to be reconciled vnto his Maiestie therfore the Prophet Dauid examining this point saying Will the Lord absent himselfe for euer and will he be no more intreated Is his mercy cleane gone for euer and is his promise come vtterly to an end for euermore Hath God forgotten to be gracious and will he shut vp his louing kindnesse in displeasure At last he concludeth Psal 77. v. 10. that it was his owne infirmity that is his vnablenesse to returne to God and not Gods vnwillingnes to be reconciled vnto him for the Lord is euer gracious ready to forgiue vs if wee were ready to receiue his grace yea hee beseecheth vs to be reconciled vnto himselfe and not wilfully to refuse his grace and fauour which he so louingly offereth vnto vs And therefore I wish to God that we had but that grace to accept his grace when it is so graciously offered vnto vs. That God is most bountiful vnto all his people Ezech. 16.7 Thirdly he is not onely ready to receiue vs into his fauour but he is also willing to inrich vs with all kinde of graces for though we be polluted in our owne bloud i. e. Loathsome in our selues and odious in his sight yet doth he wash v◠in the bloud of Christ and then indue vs with his most excellent graces faith hope and charitie and all the other vertues and good things that are in vs And though we be come naked into this World yet doth he clothe vs Job 1.21 and feede vs inrich vs and raise vs to all that we haue And in this kinde he is not onely gracious vnto the godly but also vnto the wicked for what hath any of them which he hath not receiued of the Lord It is he that filleth the Barnes of Diues as well as the Pallace of Dauid And therefore Saint Iames saith That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euery good giuing i. e. Euery temporall gift Iames 1.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and euery perfect gift that is Euery spirituall grace that is giuen to bring vs to perfection is from aboue and commeth downe from the Father of Lights The difference betwixt the gifts that God giueth to the godly and to the wicked Math. 6.16 But herein is the difference he bestoweth temporall graces vpon the wicked yea many times more plentifully then to the godly for hee seeth their desire is onely set on worldly things Therefore as he said of hypocriticall Fasters They haue receiued their reward that is Acceperunt suam sed amiserunt meam They haue what they would haue though they leese thereby what I would haue giuen them which is a losse not counteruailed with any gaine So he dealeth with the Worldlings God giueth temporall riches vnto the worldlings He filleth their hearts with his hidden treasure and he giues them often times especially to most of them their hearts desire that is the riches and the vanities of this life So foolish are they and ignorant euen as it were a beast before him But to the godly who loue not this World nor the things of this World hee shewes himselfe gracious after a more speciall manner in giuing them his heauenly graces that is graces which will bring them vnto Heauen and in giuing them worldly blessings too so much as hee sees needfull and conuenient for them Because Godlinesse hath the promise of the life that now is 1 Tim. 4.8 and of that which is to come And so you see how God is gracious in all respects amiable in himselfe placable vnto men and liberall vnto all his Creatures and in all these respects gracious after a speciall manner vnto his elected Saints and Seruants Psal 107.8.15 O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodnesse and declare the wonders that he doth for the Children of men And that as the Apostle saith We would not receiue the grace of God in vaine i. e. That wee would not vainely abuse the good gifts and graces which our most gracious God doth so freely and so graciously bestow vpon vs. And so much for the second particle of Gods goodnesse Gracious CHAP. VII Of the patience and long sufferance of God THe third Particle of Gods goodnesse here expressed is that he is slow to anger that is How slow the Lord is to reuenge our sinnes that he is such a one that although we by our daily sinnes doe giue most iust occasions to prouoke his wrath and indignation against vs to destroy vs and to consume vs from off the face of the Earth yet the fire of his wrath is not suddenly kindled and his furious vengeance is not speedily executed But he is slow to anger full of patience long suffering and in a word such a one as reioyceth not to see the sinne committed that he may punish but still expecteth if the sinner will at any time repent and amend that he may spare him For so the Prophet saith The Lord will waite that he may be gracious vnto vs i. e. Esay 30.18 He doth tary and stay and looke if at any time or by any meanes we will forsake our sinnes that hee may stay his iudgements and be gracious vnto vs. O most sweete and
hath most seuerely punished for their sinnes Ezek 18. and so in briefe he saith of euery one The soule that sinneth that soule shall die And therefore this should teach vs. First Not to frame vnto our selues a God all of Mercie and not to sing of mercy alone but of mercy and iudgement together that as we are to loue his mercy to be filled with grace so we might feare his Iustice to preserue vs from sinne For these be the two feet of God saith Saint Bernard whereupon hee walketh all his wayes That we should as well feare Gods Iustice as hope for his Mercie and these be the two wings of a Christian whereby he may flie vp into heauen Therefore seeing the one without the other is vnauaileable to support vs let vs not seperate those which God hath here euery where else ioyned together but let vs imbrace Gods goodnesse to keepe vs from despaire and let vs feare Gods Iustice to preserue vs from presumption Secondly This teacheth vs to expect a day of retribution for seeing the Iustice of God requireth that wicked men should bee punished as the Apostle sheweth and that here many of them doe scarce taste of Gods anger it must needs be That the Iustice of God requireth there should be a day of retribution 2 Cor. 5.10 Rom 2.5 2 Pet. 2.11 that all must appeare before the Iudgement seat of Christ that euery one may receiue the things done in his body according to that hee hath done whether it be good or bad and therefore what manner of men ought we to be in holy conuersation and godlinesse Secondly God will not onely punish wicked men in themselues for their sinnes That God punisheth wicked men in their children but he will also punish them in their children Tanquam in carne sua charissima As in the deerest things that they loue for he will visite the sinnes of the Fathers vpon the children And so punishing their children he plagueth them because euery man herein is like the woman of Canaan who said vnto our Sauiour Miserere mei Domine O Lord be mercifull vnto me my daughter is grieuously vexed with a diuel Matth. 15.22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil sel ser 19. For that the Deuils being in her daughter was a torment and a misery vnto her selfe Simon de Cassia in Euang. l. ◠c. 24. Quia amor natorum dolorem traijcit in parentes Because the loue which the parents beare vnto their children doth transferre the griefe of the children vnto the parents and therefore doth God punish a wicked man both in himselfe and in his children But although it be Iust with God to visite the sinnes of the fathers vpon the children yet this seemeth strange with men especially considering the Prophet saith Filius non portabit iniquitatem patris The sonne shall not beare the fathers sinnes neither shall it be said any more Ezek. 18. that the fathers haue eaten sower Grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge but euery man shall beare his owne sinne and the soule which sinneth that soule shall die And therefore to reconcile this clause of the Law with that of the Prophet wee must discusse this point more at large Saint Augustine disputes it How it stands with Gods Iustice to punish the fathers sinnes vpon the children how the child should beare his fathers sinnes but hee doth not directly as I finde conclude it Saint Gregory concludes it that if a child follow the sinnes of his fathers he shall not onely be punished for his owne sinnes but also for his fathers sinnes but he did not sufficiently dispute it And therefore that we may rightly conclude vpon sure premises I must with the Schooles distinguish 1. Of Fathers 2. Of Sinnes 3. Of children 4. Of Punishments First Fathers are either proximiores those that beget vs or remotiores those from whence we are deriued as Adam That the sinne of Adam was not onely imputed but also deriued into his posteritie experience it selfe makes it plaine and the reason is as Aquinas truely saith because Adam now stood not as a personall man but as specificall i e. as one bearing in himselfe as the stocke of a tree doth beare all the branches the whole species or race of all mankinde and therefore if this roote had continued holy Rom 11.16 the branches had beene likewise holy but hee sinning he produced a most sinfull of-spring like himselfe because an euill tree could neuer bring forth good fruit Matth. 7.18 but in euery other man there is onely the person of this or that indiuiduall man Sinnes are not traduced from the Parents vnto the children and therefore the Schooles conclude that no actuall sinne can be traduced from the next fathers vnto the children not vertue frō the good not vice from the bad for so experience sheweth that a good man doth not alwayes beget a vertuous child nor a drunkard alwayes beget a drunkard but sometimes the cleane contrary as when the sonne of a miserable wretched niggard proues to be the most dissolute prodigall spend-thrift in the world else would they ingrosse the whole world to themselues and their posteritie or when an euill man begetteth a most vertuous and a godly child which doth not vnusually happen among men And yet we say that seeing in euery child there is the elementall seed of all vices which we haue naturally and originally traduced from Adam there be two especiall things which doe commonly cherish and preserue the immediate and next fathers sinnes in their children Two things that further the sinnes of the Parents to continue in the children that is 1. Inclination 2. Immitation For First seeing we receiue our whole substance from our parents we are naturally inclined to follow either the vertues or the vices Sepesolet similis filius esse patri either the good qualities or the bad qualities of the same substance from whence we are produced as the child of a good father to be good and the child of a vitious father to be euill Secondly seeing children are like Apes apt to imitate Children very apt to imitate their Parents vices and the examples of our Parents are like Spurres to driue their children on to follow what they see the good carriage of a godly father is a great incitement and a most effectuall meanes to worke goodnesse in his children and the bad example of wicked Parents is as a hammer to driue sinne and wickednesse into their children for we see Quo semel est imbuta recens seruabitodorem testa diu Whatsoeuer vertues or vices doe take roote in our bones when we are children will hardly be rooted out of our flesh when we are men And if to these two wee adde instruction either in good or euill things I know nothing more that can be said to make a perfect man or a perfect sinner These be the inducements and the causes why
good and to bring them vnto the true sauing knowledge of their Sauiour but as God by his true Prophets did foreshew the comming and incarnation of this Word so would Sathan play the Ape and by his Prophets teach them like as Oedipus Seneca in Oedipo blindly seeking his Father did vnfortunately slay his Father by seeking thus after Christ to worship himselfe in stead of Christ and so to offer sacrifices vnto Diuels as the Apostle saith and not to God Thirdly They might by the continuall tradition of their Elders retaine some reliques of that promise made vnto Adam That the seede of the woman should come Gen. 3.15 and breake the Serpents head for wee finde by their rites and ceremonies their Priests and Sacrifices and such like that they had a kinde of corrupted Diuinity still remaining amongst them and that they did conceiue some thing by these outward things that should expiate their sinnes and appease the wrath of God for them Fourthly Their owne great diligence That the Phylosophers were wonderfull diligent to attain vnto all kinde of knowledge might bring no small knowledge and vnderstanding of diuine things vnto them for they were exceeding great searchers of all antiquities and most wonderfully greedy of all kinde of knowledge and learning and therefore they did search into the Oracles of the Caldeans Aegyptians and Hebrewes that so much as they could they might find out the truth both of humane and diuine things And so Theodoret Clemens Alexandrinus and Iustin Martyr doe plainely affirme that Plato read the Bookes of Moses and the Prophets and both Saint Ambrose and Eusebius say that Numenius a Platonist was wont to say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Plato was none else but Moses in the Graecian Tongue And Saint Augustine himselfe saith That Plato learned the Diuine Scriptures from the Prophet Ieremie Aug de Doct. Christa l. 2. c. 28. Jdem de ciuit Dei l. 8. c. 11. when the Iewes were in their captiuity at Babylon but I finde he retracted this opinion in his eight Booke and eleuenth Chapter De ciuitate Dei for there by the computation of their yeeres and times wherein both of them liued he findes that Ieremie dyed almost a hundred yeeres before that Plato was borne the captiuity being in the time of Cyrus and Darius Kings of Persia and Plato borne but a little before Alexander King of Macedon yet there he denies not but that Plato by his industry when he trauelled into Egypt might by some Interpreters learne the Scriptures for as yet the Septuagint had not translated them into the Greeke Tongue and yet Aristobulus as Eusebius citeth him saith that certaine parts and parcels of the Scriptures were translated by others before the Septuagint out of which Plato might learne many points of the diuine Truth Or if this knowledge was not had out of the Hebrew Bookes yet might hee learne much as Herodotus did in other points from the Egyptian Priests for it is not likely that the Egyptians had lost all knowledge of Diuinitie but that still there remained some reliques of that verity which Ioseph and the Children of Israel when they dwelt in Egypt did spread and leaue amongst them Psal 105.22 for God sent Ioseph to instruct the Princes of Pharaoh and to teach his Senators wisedome not onely to prouide foode for their bodies but also for the happinesse of their soules All these things being well considered it seemeth not absurd vnto me to say that Plato and other learned men among the Gentiles were not altogether ignorant of the knowledge of this truth concerning this eternall Word Nay they could not be ignorant of the same That the Gentiles expected the comming of a Messiah for it is well knowne that the Gentiles did expect the comming of the Messias as well as the Iewes though for want of the Diuine Oracles they had not the knowledge of many particulars of his comming so well as the Iewes had And therefore he is called Expectatio gentium The hope and expectation of the Gentiles And so those many multitudes that became Proselites of the Iewish Religion those Sybils and Prophets Zoroastres Baalam and others that prophecyed of his comming Numb 24.17 and those Magi that came from the East To worship him as soone as euer he was borne doe sufficiently proue that the Gentiles expected the comming of this Word Math. 2.1 c. before hee was made flesh And therefore seeing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word was most chiefly knowne or likeliest to be knowne both among the Iewes and Gentiles and that the Euangelist desired to apply himselfe to both Nations that he might winne and gaine the more to Christ he vseth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and saith The Word was made flesh And Secondly The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the fittest word that hee could choose to make way for him to expresse what hee meant immediately to declare for he intended presently to say that all things were made by him but he could not call him by whom all things were made by any fitter terme then the Word because all men did know that God made all things by his Word for by the Word of the Lord were the Heauens made Psal 32. when God spake the Word and they were made hee commanded Psal 148.5 and they stood fast And so you see these few obseruations touching 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word here vsed by the Euangelist to expresse the person that was made flesh Now seeing this Word What a shame it is for vs to be ignorant of this Word now already incarnate is the chiefest Word in the World and was the Word best knowne to all the best men of the World Kings Priests Prophets Phylosophers Orators and the like it should put vs euer in minde neuer to neglect the knowledge of this Word for what a shame is this to vs that we are so full of idle words yea of leud and wicked words and this Word God should be so strange vnto vs and that the very Heathens knew it euen before he came into the World and we should be so ignorant of it now after hee is come and is preached throughout all the whole World that they were so diligent to finde him out and we so negligent to accept him offered vnto vs and preached euery where to euery one of vs without doubt they shall rise in iudgement against vs and condemne vs. And so much for this Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here vsed and why that word is here chosen by the Euangelist CHAP. VII Of the chiefest Causes why this Word was made Flesh THirdly We are to consider why this Word was incarnate and made flesh Touching which I say that First Causa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why the Word was made Flesh the impulsiue cause in respect of vs was our most wofull miserable case and condition wherein we lay all depriued
of the grace and fauour of God and causa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the impulsiue cause in respect of God was his great loue and tender compassion towards mankinde so lying in misery vnder the tyranny and bondage of the Diuell and the performing of his promise Gen. 3 15. which he made vnto Adam Abraham Isaac and Iacob that the seede of the Woman should breake the Serpents head And therefore because he would not alter the thing that was gone out of his mouth Luke 1.72 nor suffer his truth to faile hee remembred his holy Couenant and the Oath that hee sware vnto our Fathers and at the fulnesse of time he sent this Word to be made flesh Secondly The finall cause in respect of vs was the restoring of mankind vnto the fauor of God againe And therfore we professe in our Creede Concil Nic. that for vs men and for our saluation he came downe from Heauen Matth. 20.28 and was made man And so our Sauiour saith Iohn 12.46 that he came not to be serued but to serue and to giue his life a ransome for many Aug. in Joh. gloss in 1 Tim. 1. And Saint Augustine saith Non eum de coelo ad terram merita nostra sed peccata nostra traxerunt It was not our goodnesse but our wickednesse our sinnes our grieuous sinnes that brought downe Iesus Christ out of Heauen And so Hugo saith Hugo in l. de sacrament Nulla causa veniendi fuit nisi peccatores saluos facere tolle morbos tolle vulnera nulla est causa medicinae There was no cause that he should come to vs but to saue vs for where there is no wounds where there is no diseases there is no neede of medicines there is no vse of playsters because the whole neede not the Physician To shew the errour of Osiander who saide that if man had not sinned this Word had beene incarnate because there was nothing that could bring him out of Heauen or to moue him to be made man but onely to bring vs into Heauen and to make vs the Sonnes of God through him And the finall cause in respect of God was his owne glory for hee made all things for his owne sake and he gaue his Sonne for vs that wee might ascribe all praise and thankes vnto him And therefore the Angels said vnto the Shepheards Luke 2.14 Glory be to God on high peace vpon Earth and good will towards men And reason good that seeing wee haue peace with God God should haue glory and praise from vs. Why God decreed the Incarnation of the Word for the saluation of man Gen. 1.26 But here first it will be demanded as Saint Augustine saith Quare non potuit Dei sapientia aliter homines liberare c. Why could not the wisedome of God deuise and the power of God effect some other way to deliuer and saue sinnefull men then by sending his Sonne to be made man to be borne of a woman and to suffer such shamefull things of shamelesse sinners To this Saint Bernard frameth this witty answere that as in the creation of man God did as it were consult with his wisdom how to make him when he said Let vs make man in our image So after the transgression of man there was as it were a consultation in Heauen what should become of man for truth and Iustice stood vp against him and said that man had sinned and therefore man must die Cap. 2.17 or else that they must needs be violated for thou saidst say they to God In what day thou eatest of the tree of knowledge of good and euill thou shalt die the death But Mercie and Peace rose vp for man and said Quo quisque est maior magis est placabilis ira regia crede mihi res est succurrere lapsis It is a royal thing to releeue the distressed and the greater any one is the more placable and gentle hee should be and that God himselfe had said he was the God of Peace and the Father of Mercies and therefore they concluded that although man had sinned yet man must be pardoned or else they must needes be abandoned therefore the wisedome of God became an vmpire and deuised this way to reconcile them that as one man had sinned and thereby destroyed all men So Vnus homo nobis patiendo restituet rem Bosquier de pass domini ser 13. p. 793. One righteous man should suffer for all men and so Iustice should be satisfied and then all that beleeued in that man should be pardoned and so Mercie should be shewed Then all thus contented God looked downe from Heauen vpon the children of men to see if there were any that would vnderstand and seeke after God Psal 14.4 but they were all corrupted and become abhominable and there was none that did good no not one and therefore the wisedome of God that had found out this way was contented to performe this worke himselfe and to be made man that mercy might bee extended and to suffer death for man that Iustice might be satisfied and so in him Mercie and Truth met together Righteousnesse and Peace kissed each other But Saint Augustine Aug. de trinit l. â—3 c 10. Gregor moral l. 20. c. 26. and Saint Gregory doe more solydly answere saying Omnia Deus poterat si voluisset That in regard of his wisedome God could haue deuised another way and in regard of his power he could haue performed the saluation of man without the incarnation of his Sonne But if he had done it otherwise it would no doubt haue likewise displeased our foolishnesse for God appeared visibly saith Saint Augustine that he might prepare vs to inuisible things and therein hee displeased the couetous man How hard it is for the wisedome of God to please foolish man because he brought not a body of gold he displeased the lasciuious because hee was borne of a woman he displeased the Iewes because he came so poore and the wise men of this world because he erecteth his Kingdome by the foolishnesse of preaching and so he should haue displeased man what other way soeuer he had inuented to saue man for the wisdom of God is not sufficient to satisfie the foolishnes of men Aug. de annunt Domini ser 3. And therefore he that knowes all things best Sic voluit ruinam vasis fragilis reformare vt nec peccatum hominis dimitteret impunitum quia iustus erat nec insanabile quia misericors So God would repaire the ruine of fraile and fickle man that neither the sinne of man should escape vnpunished because God is iust nor yet miserable man remaine vncured because he is mercifull and although he could otherwise haue saued man Quantum ad potentiam medici in respect of the power and skill of the Phisitian yet he saw there was no fitter way to doe it Quantum ad medicinam
a man of sorrowes and Ieremy may well demaund si fuerit dolor if euer there was or if euer we heard of any sorrow like vnto the sorrow of Christ and yet for all these paines and sorrowes these incredible sufferings both of body and soule he bore them patiently hee indured them quietly and as a Father saith Perdidit vitam ne perderet obedientiam hee would rather leese his life then faile in his obedience but as the sheepe before his shearer was dumbe so opened he not his mouth not for all the paines that hee endured not for all the sorrowes that hee sustained so great was his Humility according to the greatnesse of his Maiesty But CHAP. VII Of the gracious words that Christ vttered vpon the Crosse Of the seauen gracious words that Christ vttered vpon the Crosse FOr the second that is the gracious words that he vttered while he stood crucified vpon his Crosse as all the Annals and Records of time can neuer shew his paralell in his sufferings neuer man suffered as he suffered so in all the bookes and writings of men in all the words that were euer vttered by voyce we shall finde not one saying equalizing any one of the sayings of Christ Neuer man spake as hee spake Iohn 7.45 his owne enemies confesse it and as his words were euer gracious so neuer more gracious then now vpon the Crosse For First In the mids of all his sufferings the first words that hee spake were not against any man but an earnest suite for his greatest persecuters Pater ignosce illis i. e. illis qui dixerunt crucifige Father forgiue them for they know not what they doe The first words Christ spake vpon the Crosse A lesson neuer to be forgotten to teach vs all to be euer ready not onely to forgiue but also to pray for our enemies for here we see Christ prayes for them which mocke and persecute him and therefore we must doe likewise if we will be Christians And this may serue also for our exceeding comfort Bernard Heb. poenos How effectuall was the prayer of Christ for if hee thus prayed for them that not onely crucified him but also cursed themselues saying His bloud be vpon vs and vpon our children Yea if his prayer was so effectuall for his persecuters that it brought 3000. soules of them vnto his Father at the hearing of one Sermon of Saint Peter Act. 9.1 and made Saul that most violently breathed out slaughters against his Church to serue him most faithfully while he breathed vpon the earth and caused that very Souldier as some doe thinke which pierced his heart to be connerted by his Spirit and to become a Christian Chrysost in Matth. hom 88. Matth. 27.44 a Professor a faithfull Bishop and a constant Martyr of Christ then what may we thinke that he will doe or how powerfull will be his prayers for them that serue him for them that loue him Secondly The second saying of Christ vpon the Crosse After that the theeues had most contemptuously mocked and flouted him as Saint Matthew testifieth one of them seeing and considering not onely how vndeseruedly hee was condemned but also how patiently he endured all his paines and how piously he prayed for his greatest enemies Luke 22.42 hee began to relent and to repent him of his former reuiling of him and to conceiue some hope of some fauour from him and said Lord remember me when thou commest into thy Kingdome our Sauiour presently answered This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise a most sweet and comfortable answere Verse 43. vnto a most comfortlesse malefactor No sooner had he requested but he obtained pardon and was acquitted from the death of his soule though he suffered the death of his body yea and when he desired but to be remembred he was granted presently to be admitted vnto euerlasting happinesse for This day saith Christ shalt thou be with me in Paradise and from a malefactor on the Crosse thou shalt be translated to be a Martyr in Heauen To teach vs To giue to them that aske and from them that seeke neuer to turne away our face and to assure vs that if we pray to God we shall be heard we shall be helped The third saying of Christ vpon the Crosse Iohn 19.26 27. Thirdly After he had thus kindly dealt with his foes hee turnes himselfe vnto his friends and saith vnto his Mother Woman behold thy Sonne and to his beloued Apostle Saint Iohn hee saith Behold thy Mother to shew that as neuer man so pittyed his foes so neuer man so loued his friends as he did and to teach vs by his example neither in prosperity nor in aduersity to forget that dutie which we doe owe vnto our Parents The fourth saying of Christ vpon the Crosse John 4 34. Fourthly When he had gone ouer those in particular hee said I thirst not so much for any drinke as for the health and saluation of vs all for this was meate and drinke vnto him to doe his Fathers will to pacifie his Wrath and to satisfie his Iustice and so to bring many sonnes vnto glory to teach vs that if Christ in the mids of his sorrowes did so much thirst for our health how much more should we hunger and thirst after righteousnesse and after the saluation of our owne soules and not as we doe thirst and wither away for thirst after the pride and pompe of these worldly vanities The fift saying of Christ vpon the Crosse Fiftly Hauing shewed his loue to his foes to his friends to all mankinde he returned vnto himselfe for as yet he seemes to haue forgotten himselfe and his owne paine through the vehemency of his loue which he bare vnto others and not onely perfectly seeing but also sensibly feeling the incomprehensible paine and sorrow that through the fiercenesse of Gods wrath was throughly inflicted vpon him and which he had already so long sustained for our sinnes he lifts vp his eyes and sends forth those words with a dolefull voyce Matth. 27.46 My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Not that he was or could be forsaken of the Godhead so hypostatically vnited vnto it but to shew vnto vs what infinite sorrowes he then suffered aboue all that we can conceiue or thinke and to teach vs in all distresse to haue our chiefe recourse to God in all humility to expostulate with his Maiestie why he should create vs to forsake vs for so with Christ we may be sure to be heard and releeued in what we feare and in good time to be deliuered out of our distresse The sixt saying of Christ vpon the Crosse Sixtly When Christ saw that the Scripture in euery particular thing that was written of him vntill his death was fulfilled he said Consummatum est All is finished Iohn 19.30 not onely to declare vnto vs that by his death the royall Law was fulfilled
euery state 1. Of Grace Rom. 11.20 2. Of Laps Luke 23.40 First In the state of grace we must feare to leese the goodnesse of God for so the Apostle saith Thou that standest by faith be not high minded but feare Secondly In the state of laps wee must feare to feele the iustice of God for so the good thiefe said vpon the Crosse Fearest thou not seeing thou art in the state of condemnation Thirdly In the state of recouery God must be feared 3. Of Recouerie Psal 130.4 for his double fauour for so the Prophet saith With thee there is mercy that thou maist be feared That is Mercy to forgiue that we may be afraide to offend And thus Saint Bernard saith In statu gratiae time ne non digne opereris ex ea In the state of Gods fauour feare lest thou turne the graces of God into wantonnesse as the false Steward that wasted his Masters goods and the slothfull seruant that hid his Lords Talent Luke 16.1 In statu lapsus time quia reliquit te custodia tua spiritus Deus Math. 15.18 25. Angeli Dei In the state of sinne feare because God hath forsaken thee and the Angels of God haue no charge of thee In statu restitutionis time quia deterius est recidere quam incidere In the state of restauration feare to relapse because recidiuation is farre more dangerous then the first transgression And so you see the meaning of this Angels consolatorie words vnto the women Iames 2.19 Feare you not That is not me not men not deuils for they feare themselues and tremble and they cannot hurt you because you seeke Iesus that was crucified and you walke in the light therefore you cannot stumble for he that walketh in the light Iohn 11.9 stumbleth not saith our Sauiour but you may and should feare God with a filiall feare that is To stand in awe to offend his blessed Maiestie for this expelleth all sinne and wickednesse from vs and continueth the loue and fauour of God vnto vs. And so much for the Angels comforting of these weake and comfortlesse Women Euery benefit requires a dutie Secondly This Angell doth not onely comfort and shew benignity vnto these Women but he doth also instruct them and require a duty from them Quia beneficium exigit officium Because euery fauour shewed requires a willingnesse to haue our seruice performed and as Aristotle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristot aethic l. 5. 5. It behoueth the party gratified to be proportionably seruiceable to him that did him kindnesse so that euery good turne in nature is obligatory and whatsoeuer benefiteth ipso facto bindeth And therefore this Angel setteth downe vnto these Women two especiall lessons The first of Theorie which they must know The second of practice which they must doe CHAP. III. How the Angell informeth the Women of the Resurrection of Christ many wayes and how the vbiquity of Christ his Body is here confuted by this Angell FOR the first In the lesson of Theorie The Angell sheweth the resurrection of Christ three manner of wayes this Angell sheweth vnto these Women the Resurrection of Christ and that as you may see three especiall wayes 1. By way of Negation He is not here 2. By way of Confirmation For he is risen 3. By way of Illustration For he is risen as hee said and as you may see Come see the place where the Lord lay First The Angell saith Christ is not here that is That this assertion of the Angell quite ouerthroweth that doctrine of the vbiquity of Christs Body in respect of his corporall presence for otherwise as he is God he was there and in all other places of the World but as he is a man consisting of a true naturall body defined and measured with quantity and bounded with the limits of his trinary Dimensions bredth length and thickenesse and all other properties of a true body he was gone and was not there And therefore this onely place of Scripture if there were none other is sufficient to disproue all the vbiquitaries in the World for if his body was in euery place how could the Angell say that he was not in that place It is true that Christ may be said to be euery where and that the Virgins Sonne may be said to haue created the World Bonauent l. 3. sent dist 22. q. 2. but how Non per proprietatem naturarum sed per communicationem proprietatum Not by the propriety of Natures but by the communication of properties and that not as transfused the properties of the one Nature into the other but as predicated of whole Christ in respect of the personall vnion of the one Nature with the other For though the Apostle saith Coloss 2.9 That in him dwelleth the fulnesse of the God-head bodily yet we must note a difference betweene Diuinitatem communicari humanitati To communicate the Deity and all the diuine properties vnto the humanitie Bellar. de incar Christi l. 3. c. 16. Et diuinitatem inhabitare in humanitate And to haue the Diuinity and all the diuine properties to dwell in the humanity How Christ may be truely said to be euery where and so to dwell not as he doth in vs by his grace but by a personall vnion vnto his Nature And therefore as a House by reason of a mans dwelling in it cannot be said to goe or to speake but the man dwelling in the House may be said to doe the same so the body of Christ by reason of the inhabitation of the Deity cannot be said to know all things or to be euerywhere but the God-head that dwelleth in that body may be and is euery where for though the humanity of Christ subsisteth in the person of the Sonne of God and in that respect may be said to be euery where In what sense the manhood of Christ may be said to be euery where because that hauing no subsistence of it owne it subsisteth in a person that is euery where yet in respect of its Essence being a finite creature it is no wayes capable of the diuine properties And therefore though Christ personally may be said to be in all places or the Body of Christ vertually respectu virtutis seruatricis that is in respect of his sauing vertue as the Sunne which is essentially in Heauen but vertually in all inferior bodies may be said to be euery where yet the Body of Christ locally or the manhood of Christ solely considered must needes be in one place Otherwise how could his manhood be contained within the straights of the Virgins wombe if his manhood was euery where How could his body be nayled to the Crosse wrapped in clothes laide in the Sepulcher if that his body was so spacious as that no limits could containe him Or how could the Angell say Bellar. de incar l. 3. c. 12. He is not here if he was euery where
imbraced and most willingly granted vnto the Axe but the successe answered not the expectation of the Trees for instead of pruining the corrupted branches it soone wasted stocke and roote vntill it made way for the Plow vncontrolably to passe through the middest of the Forrest And so I feare saith Roffensis your Maiesty will proceede with the possessions of the Church So he did and so doth sinne deale with euery Man it demands but little but it still incroacheth vntill it destroyeth our soules And therefore we should withstand sinne at the first and neuer suffer it so much as to enter into our soules And we should follow the councell of the Bridegroome Cant. 2.10 Arise my Loue my Doue my faire one Make haste as the Angell said vnto Lot Gen. 19.22 to saue thy selfe and come away O come come with me from Lebanon my Spouse with me from Lebanon Cant. 4.8 looke from the top of Amana from the top of Sheâ—ir and Hermon from the Lyons dennes and from the Mountaines of the Leopards Secondly We ought to make haste to rise from sinne and to beginne betimes to serue the Lord by reason of the shortnesse and vncertainty of our life for as Hugo Cardinalis saith The way that we are to passe is long the place that we are to goe vnto farre and our time short and wee know not how soone God will call for vs And therefore we ought to worke the worke of God while it is day Iohn 9.4 For the night commeth when no man can worke That we should striue to be first in Gods seruice And here we must further obserue that as he rose early so he rose first of all for He is the first fruits of them that sleepe To teach vs that we should also striue to be the first in all goodnesse but we are loath to doe this we will doe as others doe we cannot abide to be singular such is our Nature we striue with the Pharisees to be first in honors Nec quenquam iam fere potest Caesarue priorem Pompeius ve parem We would faine be the first in reputation but we neuer striue to be the first in performing the duties of Religion It was otherwise with Iosua who called all Israel together and perswaded them all to serue their God or if they would not he told them plainely That he and his House would serue the Lord Iosua 24.15 And I would it were so with vs for it is our greatest honour to be the first in Gods seruice Thirdly In respect of his owne person Christ rose First Truly without hypocrisie not fainedly but certainly So should we for woe be vnto you hypocrites Matth. 23.13 and woe to him that goeth two manner of wayes that holds vp his hands and lifts vp his eyes to Heauen and yet hath his heart full of all vnrighteousnesse for though with men things are iudged as they seeme yet God seeth our hearts and we deceiue our selues if we thinke to deceiue him It is obserued in Nature that the Foxe nips the necke the Mastiue the throate the Ferret the liuer but God careth onely for the heart for he saith Sonne giue me thy heart Ecclus 2.12 That we shold raise our selues truely and not hypocritically from sinne and he is said to be a searcher and a tryer of the hearts And therefore we must not make Saint Pauls shew of godlinesse to be Saint Peters cloake of wickednesse to rise from sinne in shew and not in truth for these rise like Samuel fainedly not truly by a Witch not by God It is that Witch hypocrisie worse then the Witches of Thessalie that raiseth them vp a little to deceiue the World and to make vs beleeue they are true Samuels whereas indeede they be very Diuels Our Sauiour bids vs to beware of such 2 Tim. 3.5 that haue Iacobs voyce and Esaues hands the words of Saints and the workes of Iewes And I bid them beware of Satan 1 Pet. 2.16 for being raised vp by him and not by the power of Christ he will at last vnmaske their hypocriticall faces and then he will cast them downe and destroy them for though it is reported that in a certaine battell some lost their liuings for running away which notwithstanding were bestowed vpon others that fled ten leagues further yet it is not so with God for 2 Cor. 5.10 He will render vnto euery man according to his worke Secondly Christ rose totally without partition That we shold raise our selues from all sinnes for he left no part behind him So should we rise from all sinnes or else all is but in vaine for we reade that Herod at the preaching of Iohn Baptist did raise himselfe from many sinnes but from his deerely beloued Herodias he would not rise so many men can be perswaded by the Preachers to forsake many sinnes but from their bosome darling vsuall customary sinnes they will not rise And â—urely euery man is naturally inclined to some sinnes more then to others as some men to good-fellowship and drunkennesse some to wantonnesse and these could willingly be contented to refraine as they doe sometimes from all or most other sinnes but from these their naturally beloued or vsually practised sinnes they cannot they will not abstaine It is their infirmity and they cannot leaue them and therefore as Naaman the Syrian said vnto Elizeus 2 Reg 5.18 onely in this thing the Lord pardon thy seruant so say these men but in a worse manner onely in this sinne the Lord be mercifull vnto me and I will striue to raise my selfe from all other sinnes whatsoeuer Aulus Gellius attic noct l. 12. c. 1. It is reported by Gellius that Phauorinus seeing a mother sharing her duties betwixt her selfe and her nurse said Quodnam est hoc contra naturam imperfectum dimidiatum matrum genus What a strange halfe-kinde of mother against nature is this to bring forth and presently to cast forth from her the fruit of her owne wombe such halfe-kinde of Christians haue wee now a dayes that will scarce performe halfe their duties it were well if they were like Naaman Act. 26.28 or like Agrippa almost Christians if they were so and could goe in sincere practice as the young man in the Gospell went in proud profession all these things haue I done from my youth vp Matth. 19.20 yet because with that young man they want one thing all the other things will auaile them nothing for to be behinde in no gift as Saint Paul speaketh is the generall description of euery truly renued Christian and we know that as on what part soeuer of a man a Lion catcheth hold he will hold it fast and draw vs by that part vnto himselfe or we must suffer that part to be torne off from our selues and what gate soeuer the enemy findeth open hee can through that one gate leade in all his Army into our Citie euen so
others will haue this phrase to signifie his abode conuersation here among men thirdly others will haue it to signifie the state and condition of the dead as if the comparison were made betwixt those parts of the earth wherein the liuing doe inhabit and that place wherein the dead are buried and so they doe expound that place of Esayas that hee was cut off from the land of the liuing and so cast into the land of the dead Esay 53.8 which they say the Apostle vnderstandeth by the lower parts of the earth and fourthly others say that he descended into the place of the damned not to suffer Iohn 19.30 because that was finished on the Crosse nor to fetch any Fathers out of Lymbe but to signifie and to shew not onely by words but also by presence that seing by his death and Passion the wrath of God was appeased Satan was to haue no more power ouer the Elect which hee held captiue that he was now made Lord of all and that all power was giuen vnto him and a name aboue all other names Collos 2.15 and not onely to declare the same vnto them but also to subdue them and to spoyle principalities and powers and as my Text saith to leade captiuitie captiue And this is the exposition of most of the ancient Fathers for mine owne part I am of Zanchius minde Laâ—ch in Ephes c. 4. that in the word descendit all these foure expositions may bee comprehended because he descended into his mothers wombe to be conuersant here among men into his graue and into Hell and our very Creede expresseth all these foure he was conceaued by the holy Ghost i. e. in his mothers wombe there is the first hee was borne of the Virgin Marie and hee suffered vnder Pontius Pilate there is the second he was dead buried there is the third and he descended into Hell there is the fourth and these be the foure degrees of his humiliation That Christ descended into Hell and this the Apostle seemeth plainely to vnderstand by the antithesis by the coherence and by the scope of the words because hee saith that hee ascended to the highest part of Heauen and therefore this also that he descended into the lower parts of the earth is literally to bee vnderstood that he descended into Hell because no place of the earth is lower then Hell Secondly Touching the exaltation of Christ Saint Paul setteth downe two things 1. He describeth the Person ascending he which descended 2. He expresseth the action he ascended He which ascended is the very same person which descended First he saith that it is he which descended that hath ascended i. e. he which was made man which suffered was buried he ascended and who is he but God the Sonne the second Person of the Trinitie for so our Sauiour saith I went forth from the Father and I came into the world and againe I leaue the world and I goe to the Father and therfore it is the very self same Son of God and none other which both descended and ascended And so by these few words we finde two great heresies quite ouerthrowne first of them which say hee brought his body from Heauen because the Apostle doth not say he which ascended descended though this be true being truely vnderstood for he ascended God and Man which so did not descend but as God alone therefore he saith he which descended he ascended secondly hereby is ouerthrowne the heresie of Nestorius which said our Sauiour consisteth of two persons for if he which descended is the very same that ascended then it is apparant that by his descention That in Christ there cannot be two persons i. e. by the assumption of our nature hee is no other person then he was before but still remaineth one and the selfe same person and that the humane nature doth adde nothing vnto the Sonne of God for the constituting or perfecting of his person for otherwise he that ascended had bin another and not the same which descended for hee had descended a simple person and ascended compounded hee had descended an imperfect person and ascended perfect which is most hereticall either to say or think And this is the cause why we affirme that the person of Christ cannot be said to bee compounded of two natures tanquam ex partibus as of two parts Christ still remaineth a most simple person i. e not compounded but as hee was before the assuming of our nature so also now hee is still a most simple and a most perfect person bearing our nature as on â—â—areth on his garment but neuer to put it off againe because it is assumed into the vnitie of his person and so Saint Augustine saith that Christ descended like a naked man and when he ascended he ascended the same person but clothed with our flesh and therefore as he is not another man that taketh on a garment so the Sonne of God is not another person because he tooke vpon him the garment of our flesh and if the humane nature assumed did neither change nor perfect nor compound the person of the Sonne of God because he which descended is the very same that ascended and none other then by the same reason it cannot be said that Christ tooke man vpon him i. e. a humane person as Nestorius taught But therefore he vnderstood not the same How Nestorius was deceiued about the person of Christ because on the one side hee held that true philosophicall principle that the actions are of the persons and not of the natures and on the other side he held another principle which is also true if it be truely vnderstood that of contrary effects there must bee contrary efficient causes and hee saw that in Christ there were diuers and contrary actions and therefore he did thence conclude that in Christ there must needs be diuers persons whereof the one should be passible and the other impassible and so he made that hee which descended was not the same but another that ascended for he considered not quod idem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 potest diuersa pugnantia opâ—rari secundam diuersas in eo naturas that the same subsistent or person may worke diuers and contrarie acts in respect of the diuers natures that are in it as a man according to his soule doth vnderstand and according to his body hee doth not vnderstand in respect of his soule he is immortall and in respect of his body hee is mortall and so through his ignorance hee hath abused these true philosophicall principles being truely vnderstood to denie the truth of the Scriptures and to wrong the person of the Sonne of God but the Fathers truely explaining the sayd principles did confute his error and confirme this truth that he which descended is the very same that ascended and none other But from hence it is apparant that the word descendit is not to be taken in
the same sence as the word ascendit for hee descended as God and God filleth all places and therefore it is not phisically to be vnderstood of any locall descent but for his exinination and the assumption of our flesh but hee ascended as God and Man and therefore must phisically be vnderstood of a locall ascent and whole Christ is said to ascend by reason of the communication of the properties and the vnion of both natures into one person Secondly the action or ascending of Christ Secondly Saint Paul hauing thus fully described and shewed the person ascending i. e. he that descended expresseth the verie acte or motion in this word ascendit hee ascended vp on high touching which wee must consider these three especiall points 1. The time of his ascention 2. The place of his ascention 3. The manner of his ascention All which are fully shewed by Saint Luke in the first of the Acts. Acts 1.3 First he saith that hee shewed himselfe aliue after his Passion by many infallible proofes for the space of forty dayes touching which number The time when Christ ascended why he remained on earth iust forty dayes many men haue collected many mysteries Moses was in the Mount with God forty dayes the children of Israel wandered in the wildernesse forty yeeres Elias fasted forty dayes Niniue had time of repentance forty dayes our Sauiour fasted forty dayes and many other like examples might bee found of this iust period of forty dayes Bosquierus de monomachia Christi and I will not here search into the reason of these things he that will let him looke into Bosquierus but I will onely note those two reasons why he continued so long on earth after his resurrection which Saint Luke setteth downe vnto vs First to prooue the certanity of his resurrection therefore he saith thâ—t hee appeared vnto them Secondly to instruct his Apostles in faith hope charitie and all other points concerning the Kingdome of God as Eusebius noteth and the Euangelist plainely expresseth saying Eusebius l. 4. de praeparat Euang. that he was seene of his Apostles forty dayes speaking of the things pertayning to the Kingdome of God But here we must obserue that for this space of forty dayes he was not with his Apostles and Disciples after the same manner as he was with them before his Passion for that now hee was not continually conuersant with them but did onely at some times appeare vnto them If then you demaund where he was for that space while hee was not with his Disciples whetherin the Wildernesse as some doe thinke or in the terrestriall Paradise which Bellarmine affirmeth to remaine still though Pererius saith it was quite abolished by the deluge or in what place he secluded himselfe I will no wayes venter to determine for I will alwayes hold that excellent rule of Prosper Quae deus occulta esse voluit Prosper de vocat gentium non sunt scrutanda quae autem manifesta fecit non sunt negligenda ne in illis illicite curiosi in his damnabiliter inueniamur ingrati What God hath concealed they are not to be searched and what hee hath declared they are not to be neglected lest that in the former we shall be found to be vnlawfully curious and in the latter most damnably carelesse Secondly For the place from whence he ascended it is said The place from whence he ascended that he went from Galilee to Bethanie from Bethanie to Mount Oliuet and from Mount Oliuet vnto Heauen Galilee signifieth transmigration and Bethanie is interpreted the House of obdience to shew that as he descended by reason of our disobedience to suffer for our sins and to giue vs an example of obedience thereby parare nos mansioni to prepare vs for Heauen so by reason of his most perfect obedience in fulfilling all righteousnesse He ascended into Heauen Parare mansionem nobis Act. 14.12 to prepare a place for vs or else Bethanie may signifie the House of affliction to shew that by many afflictions and tribulations we must enter into the Kingdome of God And he ascended from Mount Oliuet because he would vse no miracle while the strength of nature serued and whosoeuer doth otherwise The manner of Christ his ascending Luke 24.51 tempteth God rather then trust in God Thirdly For the Manner Bonauenture obserueth that hee ascended First Blessing his Apostles as the Euangelist saith While he blessed them he was parted from them which is an exceeding comfort vnto vs the poore distressed Ministers of Iesus Christ for though the world hate vs and curse vs and say all manner of euill against vs yet behold Christ parting left his blessing with vs to defend vs against all their malice And he blessed them with his hands lifted vp to teach vs that in our prayers we doe with Moses fight with God we hold his hands and suffer him not to strike vs with the sword of vengeance and this is the Victory which ouercomes our God euen our prayers and to teach vs that when our mouth prayeth to God we should likewise moue our hands to doe the workes of God and further to teach vs that by this manner of praying with our hands spread and lifted vp Prudentius hymno 6. we should professe Christ crucified as Prudentius saith Secondly He was not suddenly snatcht from them as Elias nor secretly taken away as Enoch was Sed videntibus illis but in the presence of them all his Apostles and Disciples he ascended vp to Heauen Act. 1.9 Thirdly That as he ascended the cloudes receiued him out of their sight to shew that he was the Lord of alâ— his creatures he had already trampled vpon the earth walked vpon the Sea vanquished Hell Bern. Ser. 2. de ascent p. 192. and subdued all infernall things vnder his feet and therefore now the cloudes receiued him and the Heauens are opened to make way for this King of glory to enter in Fourthly He ascended in voce tubae in the sound of a Trumpet not on earth sounding Hosanna but in Heauen crying Haleluiah for God is gone vp with a merry noise and the Lord with the sound of a trumpet Psal 46.5 saith the Psalmist So You haue heard how he went and you shall see him comming after the same manner saith the Angell First With the sound of a trumpet that shall raise the dead and this great trumpet of God is the voyce of the Angels a voyce fearefully crying Surgite mortui venite ad iudicium Arise ye dead and come vnto iudgement a voyce that alwayes made Saint Hierome to quake and tremble whatsoeuer â—ee was a doing Secondly He shall come in the cloudes and we shall be taken vp into the cloudes 1 Thes 4.14 that as we see the cloudes protect vs from the heate of the Sunne so we may be ouershadowed from the heate of the wrath of God by that true cloude Iesus
of twelue Starres is the Symbole of her faith containing twelue articles of her beleife And fourthly her paine to be deliuered is that earnest desire and loue which euery Christian soule hath to increase and multiply the number of Gods children And so the holy Ghost hauing descended vpon the Apostles and remaining in their hearts it caused them first to beleeue and to compose that crowne of twelue Starres which is the glory of euery Christian soule i. e. the twelue Articles of our faith as the Church receiueth it Secondly to forsake all the world and to follow Christ as S. Peter sheweth Thirdly Matth. 19.27 to lead a most vpright and a godly life as Saint Paul auoucheth Heb. 13.18 And fourthly to labour incessantly night and day to send out their voyces into all lands and their words vnto the ends of the world as now the whole world testifieth And so you see how in the first beginning of the Church the gifts of the holy Ghost were visibly and abundantly giuen vnto these seruants of Iesus Christ according as it was prophecied long before Ioel 2.28 that he would powre out his Spirit vpon all flesh and so their sonnes and their daughters should prophesie But CHAP. VI. How the gifts and graces of Gods Spirit are now giuen vnto vs and how wee may know whether wee haue the same or not SEcondly Christ doth now giue his Spirit otherwise vnto the Pastors of his Church How God bestoweth his graces vpon vs sufficiently for the edifying of the same but through great paines and diligent searching after knowledge for now we must not looke for Exthusiasmes nor thinke to attaine vnto learning and knowledge by reuelations but orando quaerendo bene viuendo by earnest praiers by continuall watching and tumbling and tossing of many bookes and by wearing and wearying out our selues in reading musing and writing of many lines we must seeke to attaine to a little learning and when wee haue done all we can wee can get nothing but what this blessed Spirit please to giue vs for except the Lord build the house the builder laboureth but in vaine so except he doth blesse our studies Psal 127.1 all our paines and industry will proue no better then Aethiopum lauare to wash a blacke Moore a breaking of our braines but an attaining to no true knowledge But we may be certaine that if we do our duties in all humility to seeke and search for grace our God will most surely giue vs grace yea and the same graces though not in the same manner or according to the same measure which hee did giue vnto his Apostles And as here it was apparantly seene that these Apostles had the gifts of this Spirit by these signes and effects of this Spirit so wee may most certainely know if we will diligently search whether we haue these gifts and graces of Gods Spirit or not by the works that we doe and by the things that we finde in our selues for Si iniurias dimittimus The signes whereby we may know whether we haue the Spirit of God or not quod denotat columba si paenitentiae lachrymis irrigamur quod nubes si desiderium habemus rerum aeternarum quod ignis si magnalia Dei annuntiamus quod lingua tum habemus signum praesentiae Spiritus sancti If we water our couch with our teares and bee truly sorry for our sinnes which is signified by the cloud if we be purged from all the drosse of sinne and be eleuated to desire and loue heauenly things which is noted in the fire if wee bee carried against the naturall streame and current of our owne corruptions which is shewed by the winde if we remit and forgiue all wrongs done vnto vs and bee meeke and gentle vnto all men harsh and sullen vnto none which are the properties of the Doue and if we zealously preach and pray and talke of God and of his will his grace and goodnesse towards vs and render thankes and praise vnto him for the same which is the office of a fiery tongue then we doe with the Apostles shew the effects of Gods Spirit and we may to our endlesse comforts assure our selues that the Spirit of God is in vs. 1 Cor. 3.85 But if we finde none of these things no hatred of sinne no loue of vertue no loathing of the vanities of this world no lifting vp of our hearts to heauen no meekenesse with men no praising of God but rather finde our selues cleane contrary defiled with sinne deboist in our liues iniuring men offending God blaspheming his name with wicked oathes and breaking his Sabboths with great contempt then wee should not onely wonder to see the gifts and graces of Gods Spirit in others as the people did when they saw what had happened vnto the Apostles vpon the day of Pentecost but we should rather bewaile and lament the want of the same in our selues for it is vnpossible that they should haue any part or portion of Gods Spirit that doe shew no signe nor fruit of Gods grace And therefore euery man should try and examine himselfe whether he finde in himselfe the fruits and effects of Gods Spirit or not For First the holy Ghost being like water if he be in you That we should diligently examine whether we haue Gods Spirit or not Psalme 1.3 then you are washed and cleansed from all filthinesse and you are like the trees that are planted by the waters side and doe bring forth their fruits in due season but if you bee like a barren and drie ground where no water is or like fruitlesse trees that beare nothing but leaues then certainely the Spirit of God is not in you and you are fit for nothing but to be hewne downe Matth. 3.10 and to be cast into the fire Secondly the holy Ghost being like fire if he be in vs hee illuminateth the eyes of our vnderstanding and hee giueth light to them that sit in darkenesse and in the shadow of death that they may walke without stumbling in the way of peace but if our vnderstanding bee so darkened that wee neither know God nor the will of God then certainely the Spirit of God is not in vs 2 Cor. 4.3 for if our Gospell be hid saith the Apostle it is hid to them that are lost that being depriued and void of Gods Spirit are filled with the spirit of darknesse A most fearefull saying against them that vnderstand not the great mystery of godlinesse that they haue the marke of lost ones and if hee be in vs then we must needes be feruent and zealous to doe all good seruice vnto God as Apollo was who is said to be hot in spirit or as the twelue tribes were who serued God night and day instantly Act. 18.28 c. 26.7 saith the Apostle but if we be cold and carelesse to serue the Lord then surely we are destitute of this Spirit of God for
to be bountifull sixtly to be faithfull and true in all his promises and so forth Secondly In respect of our selues we ought to seeke vnto God by prayer because of the necessity and vtilitie of prayer for Mat. 7.7 this is the onely way to obtaine good things aske and you shall haue seeke and you shall finde saith our Sauiour and you haue not because you aske not saith the Apostle Iames 4.3 Prayer how auaileable it is for men And if we aske and pray we shall finde the same profitable First to obtaine whatsoeuer we aske more then we aske and better then we aske For First hee will giue vs whatsoeuer wee aske as our Sauiour sheweth Hetheâ—to you haue asked nothing but now Ioh. 16.23 Whatsoeuer you aske the Father in my name he will giue it you For though there be many semblances betwixt vs and Lazarus he being a beggar full of sores and we beggers full of sinnes Luke 16.21 and he desiring to be refreshed with the crummes of bread which fell from the rich mans boord Prayer obtaineth whatsoeuer we aske and wee hauing neede to be relieued with the crummes of mercy that fall from our masters Table yet herein we are in a farre better case then Lazarus was it was his hard hap to knocke at the doore of a cruell and a miserable Caityffe that would at no time open vnto him nor yet giue him any thing the least thing the crummes of bread that hee desired to saue his life but we knocke at the doore of a most kinde and mercifull Father who saith Aske Matth. 7.7 and you shall haue Seeke and you shall find Knocke and it shall be opened vnto you that you may enter into eternall life And so we finde the Publican did but aske for mercy and hee had it and went home more iustified then the Pharisee Luke 18.14 and Stephen did but knocke at the doore of Heauen and presently the heauenly gates were opened vnto him Act. 7.56 and he saw Iesus standing at the right hand of God and so whosoeuer truely and humbly besought Christ for any thing we neuer reade in all the Gospell that he was denyed it But it may be some will say I haue often called vpon God Ob. and he heareth not I haue asked and he granteth not and therefore how doth hee performe his promise to giue vnto vs whatsoeuer we aske I answere Sol. that God sometimes makes as though he heareth not not because hee resolueth to deny vs Why God deferreth to giue vs what we desire but he deferreth to grant our requests either First to let vs further know our owne wants and miseries which if he would helpe at the first wee should neuer perceiue it to the full Secondly to trie our faith and patience whether we will continue constant in relying on him though he kill vs as Iob speaketh or if he presently relieue vs not whether we be ready to kill our selues as desperate Saul hath done Thirdly to kindle in vs the feruor of greater deuotion and desire to obtaine the things that we perceiue wee want Et quod a nobis auidius desideratur eo de nobis suauius laetatur Greg in Moral Quia desideria dilatione crescunt because delayes doe increase desires Et diu desiderata dulcius obtinentur and the more earnestly we desire any thing the more ioyous it is being obtained and therefore as Laban kept Iacob a long while from his yongest daughter whom he loued best that his loue might be the more increased continually towards her so God oftentimes holdeth vs for a time in suspence that so he may the more sharpen our appetite and inflame our desire more and more to the thing that we doe desire And this the Prophet Dauid knew when he said I cry vnto thee in the day time and thou hearest not and in the night season and yet this is not to be thought folly in me as the Septuagint reades it For though the world perhaps might deeme it a point of great simplicity to call and cry to him that makes as though he heareth not by regarding not our prayers as it seemeth by not granting our requests yet he knew this folly of the faithfull to be farre wiser then all the wisedome of the world because as the same Prophet Dauid speaketh The Lord is a sure refuge in due time of trouble God knoweth best when to relieue vs. he is a sure refuge in trouble but especially in due time of trouble because as we know our troubles so the Lord knowes the due time to helpe vs out of our troubles when we our selues doe not well know the same And therefore if we call vpon God and God maketh as though he heareth not yet let vs not say Deus meus quare me dereliquisti My God my God why hast thou forsaken me but let vs still call and cry to God and say vnto our soules Quare dereliquisti deum Why hast thou forsaken God and giuen ouer to pray vnto him when it is an infallible rule that nunquam deus deserit hominem quovsque homo deserat deum that God neuer denies to heare man vntill man giues ouer and ceaseth to pray to God Or else I answere as Saint Iames saith that you aske and receiue not because you aske amisse Aut propter verbum aut non propter verbum either not for Christ his sake or not according to the word of Christ not as I shewed thee before in humility Why God denieth what we aske in faith in charitie in piety but as the Church in the Canticles sought him whom her soule loued and found him not because she sought him in her bed that is carelesly and negligently shee sought him where he was not Christ being not so easily found especially vpon beds of Downe but rather in the Temple where his Father found him or vpon the Crosse where the thiefe did finde him or in the bramble bush where Moses saw him so many men doe seeke many times and finde not because they seeke amisse it may be for worldly things where as they should first seeke for the Kingdome of Heauen as our Sauiour teacheth and then all other things should be giuen vnto them and they knocke and it is not opened vnto them because they knock amisse it may be too late when the doore of grace and of mercy is shut for otherwise it is most certaine that neuer man asked any thing at the hands of God but hee had his request granted vnlesse he fainted and grew weary of asking because the words of Christ must hold infallible Whatsoeuer you aske the Father in my Name he will giue it you Yea Secondly if we pray vnto him he will giue vs more then we aske for the Centurion besought Christ onely to speake a word that his seruant might be whole but he had not onely the word wherby his seruant was healed but also
it is 344 Angels for three things most excellent 535 Angels appeared like men but were neuer made men 534 Alwayes serued Christ 535 How they punish the wicked 536 How they comfort the women 537 Testifie of the resurrection of Christ 566 The birth of Christ 411. 411 Angell a name of office and Christ often called an Angell 330 Angels how they are said to ascend 609 Anger what euill it doth 229 That it is two-fold 355 Angell cannot beget another 4 Anselmus what he said 66 Christ why hee would not answere Pilate 477 AP. Approbation of sinne how euill it is 15 Apuleius his Asse what she said 92 Appearance and shew of truth how vaine it is 213 Apollinaris and some Arrians heresie 348 343 Apostles words He is the first borne of euery creature how vnderstood 290 Apelles his heresie 343 Application of Christs Resurrection is that onely thing which helpeth vs. 586 Apostacy what a fearefull sinne 595 Apostles onely filled with the holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost 658 To approue sinne in others what a great sinne 25 Appollodorus what he dreamed 55 Christ appeared ofen in the shape of man before he was made man 329 Christ appeared like a man vnto Adam 329 To Abraham 330. to Iacob and Ioshua 322 Christ appeared to the Patriarches in a true body 345 Chrâ—st appeared like a sinnefull man but without sinne 346 Christ how he appeared to Saint Paul going to Damascus 388 Apparitions of Christ after his Resurrection twelue times at least 505 Why he appeared first to Mary Magdalene 565 Why he appeared first to Saint Peter among the men 570 Why he appeared to Saint Iames. 574 AR. Arrius his heresie and obiections answered 248 c. 299 Arrians whether they corrupted the Text of Salomon God created c. 287 Armour of a Christian of two kindes 730 Arrogancy of Iudas seene 461 To argue from Gods power without testimony of his will not good 172 AS God made man to ascend 561 Christ ascended three times 615 Time place and manner of Christ his ascention 620. 621 Christ ascended aboue all heauens 624 Our ascention to Heauen depends vpon our vnion with Christ 626 Doctrine of Christs Ascention to what end it serueth 618 That we should alwayes ascend to heauen 630 Our wings to ascend what they be 631 Christ ascended for foure speciall ends 639 Christ before his ascention would not bestow the gifts of the Holy Ghost and why 640 That there be foure sorts of ascenders 609 Angels how said to ascend 609 Christ whether wholly destitute of all assistance from the Godhead 447 That Christ assumed our flesh 369 AT Athiests deny the power of God 136 AV First Author of our conuersion to God is God 529 Saint Augustine reading the death of Dido what he said 51 Christ borne in the raigne of Augustus and why 494 Desparagement to Augustus his worth to ioyne any other with him 504 What the Author thinketh of transubstantiation 549 BA BAcke-parts of God what it signifieth 117 Balaam prophesied of Christ 412 BE. Being of God not safe to search too farre into it 124 God giueth being to all creatures 125 Wee beleeue not the assertions of the Iesuites not because we know not how they may be done but because wee know they cannot be done 177 Beauty of God incomprehensible 191 We are begotten to God by the truth 215 Saint Bernards preaching two kindes of Sermons 266 The father alwaies begetteth the sonne 275 Christ made the beginning of our wayes 288 Benefits of Christs Incarnation 359 Benefits of the vnion of the two natures of Christ in respect of Christ 382 In respect of vs. 390 Gods benefits recommended to our memories 60 Benefits how many Christ bestowed on Iudas 458 Euery benefit requires a dutie 542 To beleeue in Christ is to eate and drinke him 681 Best men most hated in the world 435 Bethelem the place where Christ was borne 407 c. Christ why betrayed by Iudas 459 BJ Birds flying hardly catched 13 Birth of Christ how meane it was why 409 Why first reueiled to the Shepheards 412 BL How blinde sinners be 58 Our blindnesse seene and confessed by the Philosophers 59 A fable of a blinde widdow 58 Bloud of Christ shed fixe speciall times 164 Bloud of Christ the price that paid for all men 501 Blasphemy against the truth what a heauy sin 240 Shedding of mans bloud what a fearefull sinne 240 BO Bodies cannot beget soules 4 That Christ had a true body proued 341. 342 c. All the obiections to the contrary answered 344. 345. c. A naturall body must be locall 155 Body of Christ cannot be euery where 157 How it may be said to be euery where 169 To be a true body and to be euery where is meerely contradictory 170 Bodies glorified haue their dimensions 170 c. Body of Christ glorified from the first moment of his conception 171 Still a physicall body 172 For a body to be in one place and in many places at the same time is vnpossible 175 We may not referre that to the body which is truely spoken of the whole person of Christ 344 Christ appeared to the Patriarches in a true body 345 Body of Christ how said to doe diuine operations 38 Body of Christ how it may be truely said to bee in the Sacraments 549 Bodies raised at the resurrection of Christ testified of the resurection of Christ 579 Bodies in heauen shall be still quantatiue 171 What a bondage it is to serue sinne 99 Christ why borne in the raigne of Augustus and Herod 404 Why borne in December 405 Why vpon the Sabbath day ibid. And why presently after midnight 406. Why borne of a woman 334 And why of a Virgin ibid. A bountifull man is gracious 190 God most bountifull vnto all people 192 God not bound to giue power to the wicked to serue him 210 BR Brethren how variously taken 689 Brotherhood in respect of the Spirit greater then that in respect of flesh and bloud 689 Gentile brethren how they loued one another 690 CA. GIuing Canaan to the Israelites a type of giuing heauen to vs. 127 God calleth effectually none but the elect 203 God not the cause why the wicked serue not God 210 Causes of Christs sufferings 493 Instrumentally manifold 494 c. Efficient God himselfe and why 496 Finall 590 CE. Cerinthus his heresie 374 CH. Substance changed cannot be what it was and what it is both at once 173 God can change any substance into another 173 Charity most requisite for Preachers 642 Charity what it is 652 The surest signe of saluation ibid. Children liable to death 9 Tainted with sinne before they are borne 9 Childhood the miseries therof described 69 Our children to be married to the godliest men 109 The wicked shall bee punished in their children 245 How it stands with Gods iustice to punish the fathers sinnes vpon the children 245 ChildreÌ„ very apt to imitate their Parents 246 All
reproue great men 233 Who most subiect to dangers 433 Daughters of sinne are two 82 In the day of Christs natiuitie three things obseruable 435 DE. Death the fruit of sinne 2 Seauen deadly sinnes 40 By death is contained all that is vnder the curse of God 47 67 Death three-fold 49 Death of the soule three-fold 53 Death what it is 67 How largely it extendeth it selfe 75 How vnresistable it is ibid. How expressed by the Egyptians 76 How it shortens life diuers wayes 77 How it taketh men of all ages 78 How it smiteth in euery place 79 How comfortable it is to the godly 79 How terrible to the wicked 80 How it equalizeth the bodies of all men 81 Death of Christ the sole cause that maketh our death happy vnto vs. 84 Death eternall what it is 86 Death of Christ a sufficient satisfaction for the greatest sinnes 164 Death how little Christ respected it 446 Saints at their death supported by God 447 Death of the crosse grieuous in foure respects 479 480 Death of Christ maketh the wicked without excuse 504 Certainty of Christs death shewed in that her rose not til the third day 556 Deceit of sinne how great 44 Deceits no deceits vnlesse cunningly carried 461 Deformitie of sinne greater then we can comprehend 107 Deferring of Christs suffering grieued Christ 451 Wicked men how they deceiue themselues 517 God a debter to no man 531 To defend the truth with the hazard of all that we haue 217 Why God deferreth to giue vs what we desire 723 Delight in sinne maketh vs exceeding sinfull 15 Our deliuerances from punishments to be ascribed to Gods goodnesse 203 God deliuereth not alwaies his deerest Saints from afflictions 206 Christ deliuered from what he feared 448 To derogate from Gods power how great a sinne 161 God denieth his grace vnto the children for their Fathers sinnes 251. Why. 252 Why God denieth what we aske 725 To descend from the crosse easier then to rise from the graue 562 Descention of Christ into hell handled 580. 581 c. proued by Scripture and by the stimonie of antiquitie 484. 618 That Christ descended before hee could ascend 609 Why Christ descended not from the crosse 481 We ought to despaire of no mans conuersion 533 Descending of Christ signifieth the assuming of our flesh 301 Description of God by way of negation affirmation and super eminencie 121 Desire to sinne is an act done 96 Desperate men thinke God cannot forgiue them 139 We ought neuer to despaire of mercie 226 To despaire what a haynous sinne 228 Saints desired nothihg but Christ 264 Demosthenes his Parable vnto the Athenians of the wolues request vnto the sheepe 644 Of the young man that hired an Asse to Megara 678 DI. Christ whether hee died for all men and how 505 To die to sinne what it is 50 a punishment for sinne ibid. To die in sinne what it is 51 Difference betwixt spirituall and eternall punishment 250 How the word God differeth from our Word 309 A great difference betwixt appearing in the forme of man and to be made man 329 Difference betwixt assuming flesh and to bee made flesh 345 Difference betwixt the two-fold generations of Christ and of the Saints 364 Difference betwixt Law and Gospell 3â—4 Difference betwixt the sinnes of the godly and the wicked three-folde 35 Difference betwixt feare and sorrow 449 Philosophers most diligent to attaine to all kinde of knowledge 315 How diligent we ought to be to know Christ 393 Dirt nothing so foule as sinne 52 Diseases of the soule what they be 63 Discontent with God what a heauie sinne 239 Disobedience to God what a haynous sinne 293 Disobedience to parents what a fearefull sinne 240 To distinguish of Gods power reconcileth diuers Authors 150 Dispertion of the Apostles grieued Christ 453 In distresse how wee ought to seeke vnto God 488 Disciples whether they stole Christ from the graue or not 562 Discretion how needfull for Preachers 696 Diuels know God and Christ and the mysterie of the Trinitie 314 Confest Gods power 162 DO Doctrine touching the person of Christ how alwaies opposed by Satan 304 Doctrine of diuinitie how deepe and difficult 392 Whatsoeuer God doth is no sinne 166 Doores being shut how Christ came in 387 Doubting of Gods goodnesse what a fearefull sinne 239 That we should neuer doubt of Gods promises 130 DR To draw neere to vs how God is said 165 M. Drusus desired all men might see what he did 604 EA EArth accursed for the sinne of man 48 EF. The effects that Christs sufferings should worke in vs. 505 EG Egyptians how they expressed death 76 EL. Electionis of some men not of all 203 The elect onely are effectually called 203 Elizabeth the wife of Zacharias of what Tribe she was 397 EN Enemies that besot the godly 177 Enuie of Satan against Christ 493 and why he enuied him 434 Enemies of Christ ascribe to him in mockery what he was in deed 432 433 Enemies of Christ what they testified of him 578 Enemies of man especially three 582 EP. Epicurus confest the world had beginning and shall haue ending 137 EQ Equalitie of sinnes confuted 37 Equitie of eternall punishment for a temporarie sinne shewed in two respects 97 Christ equall with the Father 299 ER. Error of the Philosophers touching the etertie of the world 136 Error of the Vbiquitaries touching the power of God 141 Error of the Iesuites about the power of God 141 Error of Pellagius about the abilitie of mans nature 63 64 Error of Nouatus about sins after Baptisme 112 Errors of the vulgar about the absolute power of God 151 Errors expelled by truth 215 Errors boulstered with lies 175 Error of Saint Gregorie and Saint Bernard confuted 94. 95 Error of Lactantius and Pellagius confuted 63 Error of the Philosophers Stoicks Arist Seleucus Hermias Hermog confuted 136 137 c. Error of the Vbiquitaries shewed 141 Confuted 155. Their Obiect anws 165 Error of Bellarmine and the Iesuites shewed 141. Their Obiections answered 172 c. Error of Saint Hierom. 330 ES. Essence of God in heauen cannot bee seene but in the face of Iesus Christ 118 Essence of God not safe to search too farre into it 124 Essence of God distinguished into three persons 272 The word essence deriued our of Scripture and vsed in Scripture 294 Christ of the same essence with his Father 292. Vnpossible to escape out of the hands of the Angels 337 ET Eternity of Christ proued and the obiections against the same answered 278 279 280 c. Eternall punishment how inflicted for a temporary sinne 94 EV. Eua beleeueth the Deuill 3 The euill that oppresseth euery sinner two-fold 321 Euangelist why hee saith the Word was made flesh rather then man 349 Eutichian heresie what it was 367 c. EX Excuses of sinners to iustifie themselues 24 Excuses of sinners to lessen sinne 110 Examples of wilfull and spitefull sinners 33 Excellency of God cannot be conceiued
the offender 37 Curious questions not to be discussed 627 RA. RAge of the Iewes against the dead corps of Christ 482 Christ onely raised himselfe from the dead 552 RE. Regenerate men haue a double being 6 Repentance the best meanes to reuiue our dying soules 51 52 Repentance killeth sinne 82 God no respecter of persons 91 God easie to be reconciled 191 Men cannot repent when they will 242 Christ would not reueale himselfe vnto the world all at once 259 Certaine resemblances of the Trinity seene in the creatures 273 Christ how he reconcileth vs to himselfe 297 How the word God resembleth our outward and inward word 308 God reuealed many things concerning himselfe to the Gentiles 313 The Deuils reuealed many things concerning God to the Gentiles why 313 315 Christ would not reueale his seruants shame 466 Reiection of the Iewes grieued Christ 454 Regeneration not needfull vnto Christ 364 To receiue the outward Sacraments and not the grace of the Sacraments is nothing worth 681 Heretickes receiue neither Christ nor the Sacraments of Christ 682 Worthy receiuers of the Sacraments receiue Christ and all his graces 682 We may receiue Christ without the Sacraments 680 Request of the thiefe how soone granted 487 What small things God requireth of vs. 99 To relye on God in afflictions how safe 489 Redemption foure-fold 500 To redeeme vs how dearely it cost 50 Our redemption paraleleth our creation 557 Resurrection of Christ shewed by the Angell 543 Resurrection of Christ manifesteth the conquest of Satan deliuerance of men and Christ to haue ouercome all his enemies 551 Resurrection of Christ the third day foreshewed 553 How ascribed to each person of the Trinity ibid. Resurrection of Christ the third day confirmeth our faith in foure respects 556 Certainty of Christs Resurrection shewed in his rising the third day 557 Resurrection of Christ the third day is a patterne of our condition 544 Resurrection of Christ sought to be hindered by the high Priests 563 Resurrection of Christ beleeued of vs for three respects 566 Proued many wayes 567 c. Resurrection of Christ a patterne to teach vs how to rise from sinne 587 A cause of great ioy 598 An assurance of our resurrection to eternall life 598 Resurrection of Christians twofold 586 Relapsing or often falling into the same sinnes how dangerous 549 RI. Riches haue destroyed many men and what euill they doe 73 Riches or pouerty whether best ibid. No man truly Rich. â—81 Christ truly rich ibid. God loueth righteousnesse 90 The more righteous we be the more subiect to be afflicted 434 Christ to rise againe for three reasons 550 Typicall Testimonies that Christ should rise the third day 554 Christ himselfe shewed that he should rise the third day ibid. To rise from the dead greater then to descend from the Crosse 562 We should rise truly from sinne and from all sinnes 591 592 Ro. Rossensis his parable to Henery the eight of the axe that came to the trees for a handle 589 SA SAcraments a most excellent meanes to beget grace 679 They shew all that the Scriptures teach ibid. Euery sacrifice should be perfect 341 Sacriledge what a fearefull sinne 241 Saints preserued from sinne by the power of God 178 More glorious in aduersity then prosperity 207 They alwayes prayed to Christ 283 Saints at their death supported by God 447 Salomon speaketh of a two-fold generation of Christ 288 His words the Lord created me how vnderstood 286 Salomons posterity for his sinnes were finished in Iechonias 399 Saluation how we ought to thirst after it 488 Saluation by none but by Christ 501 Rabbi Samuel what he saith concerning Christ 579 Sanctification what it is 208 Samosatenian heresie 363 Satan how said to ascend 910 He lifteth vp the wicked to destroy them 612 His subtilty to deceiue the people 644 He ought to be spied before he comes too neere vs 13 He is the Father of sinne 14 He suggesteth sinne diuers wayes 12 He laboureth to conceale the light either of preaching or of applying Gods word 18 How he handleth the wicked at the time of their death 80 He cannot doe what he would 178 How he alwayes laboureth to vilifie the person of Christ 304 His insolency against Christ 322 His enuy against Christ and why 493 494 Without satisfaction no sinne can be pardoned 163 SC. Holy Scripture wholly true 215. 216 The best warrant for all Preachers 606 Scourging of Christ how grieuous it was 475 Christ how scoffed vpon the Crosse 481 SE. To search too farre into Gods essence is not safe 124 Seede of the parents the substance of the whole man 340 Seed of the man whether it falleth into the substance of the childe 340 God seeking after vs should make vs to seeke for him 181 God not to seene with any materiall eyes 117 Wee shall not see Gods essence in heauen but in the face of Iesus Christ 118 All men are euer seeking something 524 Godly men seeke onely for God â—25 Many seeke him amisse 526 Many seeke Christ amisse ibid. How we ought to seeke for Christ 526 521 c. That we cannot seeke for God vntill God doth seeke for vs. 529 Why the wicked seeke not God 531 Sensitiue facultie soone defileth the reasonable soule 17 Christ not sent by way of command 301 Seneca what he said 66 Sentence of Christ his condemnation 478 Senate of Rome lothe to derogate from the worth of Augustus 504 To serue sinne a most grieuous slauerie 22 Seruetus his heresie 343 To serue God the greatest good that wee can doe vnto our children 253 It procureth all blessings to vs. 132 Not to serue God heapeth all plagues vpon vs. 133 We were redeemed and preserued that we might serue him 132 It is the onely way to perpetuate our posterities 399 Late seruice God will hardly accept and why 587. 588 The seauen words of Christ vpon the Crosse 486 SH Shamefull handling of Christ how it grieued him 450 Shame of sinne cast off wee are almost past hope of goodnesse 20 Shedding of mans blood what a heauie sinne 240 Shepherds why first informed of the birth of Christ 412 SI Sight of sinne is no sinne 15 Sicknesse of the soule how worse then the sicknesse of the body 63 A signe why giuen by Judas 461 Signes how we may know whether wee bee ascended any thing towards heauen or not 632 Signes of a faithfull teacher 466 Similies expressing how the word alone assumed our flesh 327 A simile of Damascus and Theodorus shewing how the two natures of Christ though vnited doe remaine inconfused 388 Sinne is so vgly that at the first the sinner himselfe would faine conceale it 18 To be resisted at the first 23 It blindeth vs that we cannot perceiue it's vglinesse 42 At last it tormenteth the consciences of all sinners 42 How vgly and loathsome it is 47 Euerie sinne payeth the same wages 46 Sinnes the diseases of the soule 63 It extinguished all knowledge of God