〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God-man And therefore is it said that he descended into Hell as 't is in our Creed and that he humbled himself and became obedient to death even the death of the Cross Phil. 2. 8. And that by himself he purged our sins Heb. 1. 3. And that he himself suffered Heb. 2. 18. And that he offered up himself Heb. 7. 27. Heb. 9. 26. And that he gave himself a ransome for all that do in believe him 1 Tim. 2. 6. 2. Because as a demonstration that he had fully satisfied the justice of God by what he had done and suffered for his peculiar people 1. God let him out of Prison at his Resurrection He rose again the third day with the same Numerical body that he suffered in 1 Cor. 15. 3 4. Joh. 20. 25 26 27. And he ascended up into heaven 2. He advanced him to the Government of the World Heb. 1. 3. When he had by himself purged our sins sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high Phil. 2. 9 10 11. Wherefore God also hath exalted him and given him a name which is above every name Where by Name Calvin Beza Diodate Dr. Featly and many others understand dignity and authority and renown as the word is * Jacet sine nomine truncus commonly taken as Calvin saith And it signifieth that the highest authority is given to Christ and that he is placed in the highest degree of honour and authority and that there is not the like dignity to be found in heaven or in earth Which I take to be an Exposition of Mat. 28. 18. And Jesus came and spake unto them saying All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth which is not to be understood of his Essential but of his Mediatory power whereby he hath power to gather govern sanctifie justifie and glorifie his Church and in order hereunto to subdue and rule all his and their enemies and make them all to be subject to him that at the name of Jesus that is not at the * The Ceremony of bowing at the Name of Jesus was revived to crush the Puritans as our reverend Dr. Heylin saith that the Prelates and Clergy assembled in Convocation Ann. 1603. Seeing the Puritan faction to get ground among us revived the old custom used in time of Popery ordered the uncovering of the head in all the acts and parts of publick worship Can. 18. When the Name of Jesus shall be mentioned due and lowly reverence shall be done by all persons present as it hath been accustomed Introduct to his Cyp. Anglic. p. 18. naming of the word Jesus as the Sorbonists would have which saith Calvin is ridiculous the honour here by Paul required being due to Christ our Lord and Saviour All creatures in heaven and earth in the whole world are and shall be subject to the power and authority of Jesus Christ God-man And this honour and authority Christ acknowledgeth is given to him Mat. 28. 18. and is clear here Phil. 2. 9. which is an undeniable evidence That he hath fully satisfied Gods justice and pacified his wrath and procured his favour for those for whom 〈◊〉 died upon the Cross And further 't is said That from thence he shall come 〈◊〉 judg both the quick and dead 3. God hath declared That in â—iâ— he is well pleased Mat. 3. 17. Mat. 17. 5. And that we are compleat in him Col 2. 18. That we are justified in and by him Rom. 3. 24. Act 13. 39. That we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ and access to this grace wherein we stand 〈◊〉 rejoice in hope of the glory of God Rom 5. 1 2. That there is 〈◊〉 condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8. 1. And that he saves his people from their sins to the uttermost Mat. 1. 21. Heb. 5. 2â— And that none of them the Father gave him is lost Joh. 17. 12. Yea what need any more proofs of this Truth Papists themselves hold that Christs merits are sufficient to save the whole world and therefore they are sufficient to save his own peculiar people from their sins and consequently from these temporal punishments of their venial sins Christus Deus quantum * Medina in 3. partem q. 1. a. 2. p. 98. ad sufficientiam satisfecit pro omnibus quantum efficatiam verò pro iis qui salvi fiunt tantum Thomists hold That satisfactio †Medina in 3. partem q. 1. a. 2. p. 99. Christi Domini fuit sufficiens perfectè immo excedens peccata multoque omnium debita omnium hominum ex toto rigore justitiae that is That Christs merits are sufficient to satisfie for the sins of all men but efficacious only to them that are saved And that the satisfaction of Christ the Lord was perfectly sufficient yea exceeding all sins and the debts of all men and that in rigor of justice that if Christs merits were put in one scale and the sins of the whole world were put in the other scale Christs merits would out-weigh them all Now all these things laid together and well considered do make it manifest that Papists Purgatory a covetous fiction of their own brains is not only without but also against Sacred Scripture injurious not only to believers souls and blasphemous against God making him unjust but also abominably sacrilegious against Christ robbing him of the honour of his full perfect and sufficient satisfaction which he hath made unto God for all the sins of Gods Elect and contrary to their own Doctrine in other * Wisdom 3. The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God and there shall no torments touch him points Lastly many other things might be objected against their Doctrine of Purgatory As 1. that their Purgatory-fire being as they say material cannot work immediately upon separated souls which are immaterial 2. That by their own confession there remains nothing to be purged away but punishment which is not a sin nor doth it beget a spot and therefore needs no purging and cannot be purged away by inflicting it it 's impossible that Purgatory should take away punishment and inflict it together But I have been too long upon this selfish covetous blasphemous and antichristian Romance because it is so much against the glory of God and the honour of Jesus Christ and is the source and spring from whence many other Popish Errors do flow and by overthrowing it their Papal Indulgences Prayers for the Dead their selling of Masses their doing of many good works to merit to release souls out of Purgatory will fall to the ground Obj. But Bellarmine answereth That there is no injury done to Christ hereby that is by putting man to make satisfaction for himself for saith he the whole virtue of good works and satisfaction doth depend upon Christs merits and that which we do his Spirit doth do Answ To this 't is answered 1 That there is
are willing to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord which necessarily implies that they did believe that as soon as ever their souls were gone out of their earthly homes they should be present with the Lord in heaven for of that they say we are confident And. 10. Of this opinion and belief was St. Pauls as you may see in Phil. 1. 21 23. For to me to live is Christ and to die is * Mori lucrum quaesi dicat mors est lucrum heatitudinis mortem ergo non timeo quia si occidar moriar vitam aeternam lucrabor inevolabo praesensque sistar ac fruar Christo So Chrisostom Anselm Theophilact Oecumenius Thomas Aquinas in locum gain How could his death begain to him if he must not go immediately to Heaven but to Purgatory there first to suffer hellish punishments for his sins Yet if I live in the flesh this is the fruit of my labour yet what I shall chuse I wot not for I am in a strait between two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Here you see the Apostle Paul desired to depart out of the Tabernacle of his body and why that he might be with Christ he believed that as soon as his soul was departed out of his body she would presently be and remain with Christ but where not in the Popes Purgatory for there Christ was not but in heaven there he believed he was whom the heavens must receive till the restitution of all things Act. 3. 19. He believed that his soul would presently be with Christ in Heaven and therefore he saith that death temporal would be better for him than temporal life Certainly had St. Paul believed that after his soul had ended her work in his body here she should be carried into the Popes Purgatory and there be punished for his sins for a time it may be till the day of judgment he would have easily resolved himself that it had been better for him as well as for the Philippians to abide in the flesh and not to die I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ is as if he had said thus I am now bound q. d. Jam alligatus sum corpori si hoc vinculo solvar ero cum Christo illique astringar Cor. a lapide in locum to my body but if I were loosed from this bond I should be with Christ and bound to him saith Cor. a lapide Hence note saith he that souls altogether pure do presently when they leave the body not sleep but are with Christ in heaven and eternal life and therefore the Apostle desired to be dissolved and dye that he might be with Christ but if he ought to expect after death the day of judgment that then at length he might enjoy Christ he had in vain desired to be dissolved rather than live because then after his dissolution and death he should be absent from Christ as much as if he had remained in this life much more he there speaks out of Chrysostome Theophilact Oecumenius and Cyprian to the same purpose 'T is observable that he saith that souls that are altogether pure pass presently out of their bodies into Heaven and this he saith is the opinion of Turrian and of Suarezius and that St. John Apoc. 14. 13. speaks of souls perfectly just Now this I say is their shift to put off all our Protestant Divines have alledged from sacred Scripture against their Purgatory for they hold that those that are cast into Purgatory are not perfectly purged but must be purged perfectly by suffering temporal punishment and thereby making penal satisfaction to the justice of God of the fondness of which hereafter but I 'le close with them and assume Position 2. That the souls of those persons that are justified by faith is Christ's blood are perfectly purged from their sins if not immediately before yet at the moment of their death and that therefore by their own concessions and affirmations they go not into the Popes Purgatory but to Heaven as I have proved before and for the clearing of this know that not only their Angelical Doctor as Papists call Thoâ—â— Aquinas but our own Divines hold that there are three effects of sin 1. Reatus the guilt 2. Macula the spot or stain 3. Paâ—â— the punishment of it Now 1. The guilt worthiness or desert of sin which obligeth the sinner to the sustaining of just punishment for his sin is washed away in our justification by the perfect satisfaction and merits of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as the Church of England abundantly testifieth in her books of Articles Homilies and Common-Prayer and the Canonical Scriptures plainly declare as in John 1. 29. Beâ—â— the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world 1 John 1. 7. 〈◊〉 the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin 1 John 2. 12. If 〈◊〉 man sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation that is the propitiator for our sins who doâ—â— make atonement expiate satisfie and purge away the guilt of oâ—â— sins and make peace and pacifie his wrath and make him propitiâ—â— merciful favourable and good unto us and 1 Tim. 2. 6. He gâ—â— himself a ransome for all Himself God-man a ransome for all Hâ—â— 9. 14 15. How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God and lest the adversary shoâ—â— say that he did not perfectly purge away all sin read Heb. 10. 〈◊〉 and by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified 〈◊〉 Apoc. 1. 5. 't is said of Christ that he washed us in his own blood 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 3. 11. Such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God And upon this account doth the Apostle declare and infer Therefore there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus God in our justification imputeth * 2 Cor. 5. 19. not our sins unto us and consequently not our guilt but he imputeth the righteousness of our Saviour Jesus Christ unto us and doth repute us just as though we had no sin and consequently no guilt upon us but Papists do acknowledg by Christ Jesus a freedom from sin according to the guilt of sin but they deny it according to the punishment of which hereafter 2. Macula the spot stain or filth of sin which deprives the soul of its spiritual beauty which it should have and is made vile Mat. 15. 11. Apoc. 21. 11. is taken away by sanctification 1 Cor. 3. 11. But ye are washed but ye are sanctified Eph. 5. 26 27 That he might sanctisie and cleanse it i. e. His Church with the
the History if it may be so called for the Text saith that 't was acted and therefore pen'd after the captivity yea after the return of the Jews to Jerusalem as is clear in chap. 4. 3. and chap. 5. 19. and then there was no true Nabucodonosor King of the Assyrians as may be gathered from the Books of Daniel Ezra and Nehemiah And 't is therefore thought to be but a * Bishop Prideaux Fascic controvers c. 1. q. 2. p. 16. fiction or meer Romance and was intended to procure favour from the Roman Emperour or his Deputy in the Jews Country for the distressed Jews which was the drift of Achiors good speech and counsel or else to work their ruin by some such crafty and deceitful and bloody woman as Judith was and by such wicked practises as she is said to use as may be gathered from Chap. 8. 35. in chap. 9th 2. Judith prayeth unto God and therein commends the deceitful and cruel fact of Simeon Gen. 34. which God the Holy Ghost by righteous Jacob condemns Gen. 49. 5. And also prayeth God to prosper her feigned tales and lies Give into my hand the power that I have conceived smite by the deceit of my lips the servant with the Prince and the Prince with the servant break down their stateliness by the hand of a woman and make my speech and deceit to be their wound and stripe who purposed evil things against thy Covenant Chap. 12. 3 4 9 10 13. And chap. 10. 12 13. she tells two or three lyes to compass her design And she said I am a woman of the Hebrews and am fled from them for they shall be consumed There is one lye at least And I am come to Holophernes the chief captain of your army to declare words of truth There 's another lye And I will shew him a way whereby he shall win all the Hill-country without losing the body or life of any man There 's another lye And in chap. 11. there are many more lyes yea a most abominable series of treachery swearing flattering aequivocating and dissembling and all covered with the fair pretence of Religion to the great dishonour of God and the scandal of Religion the opening of the mouths of the wicked to blaspheme and speak evil of God Religion and good men I pray read the words and seriously consider them and then judg whether they do not tend more to the destruction than the edification of the ignorant hearers and readers and teach more evil than good manners vers 5. Then Judith said unto Olophernes receive the words of thy servant and suffer thine handmaid to speak in thy presence and I will declare no lye unto thee this night v. 6. And if thou wilt follow the words of thine handmaid God will bring the thing perfectly to pass by thee and my Lord shall not fail of his purposes v. 7. As Nebucodonosor King of all the earth liveth and as his power liveth who hath sent thee for the upholding of every living thing for not only men shall serve him by thee but also the beasts of the field and the cattel and the fowls of the air shall live by thy power under Nebucodonosor and all his house v. 8. For we have heard of thy wisdom and thy policies and it is reported in all the earth that thou only art excellent in all the Kingdom and mighty in knowledg and wonderful in feats of war v. 9. Now as concerning the matter which * Chap. 5. 18 1â—â— Achior did speak in thy counsel we have heard his words for the men of Bethulia saved him and he declared unto them all the words that he had spoken v. 10. Therefore O Lord and Governour reject not his word but lay it up in thine heart for it is true for our Nation shall not be punished neither can the sword prevail against them except they sin against their God v. 11. And now that my Lord be not defeated and frustrate of his purpose even death is now fallen upon them and their sin hath * It meets not overtakes them if this be true overtaken them wherewith they will provoke their God to anger whensoever they shall do that which is not fit to be done 12. For their victuals fail them and all their water is scant they have determined to lay hands upon their cattel and purposed to consume all those things that God hath forbidden them to eat by his Laws v. 13. And are resolved to spend the first fruits of the corn and the tenths of the wine and oyl which they had sanctified and reserved for the Priests that serve in Jerusalem before the face of our God the which things it is not lawful for any of the people so much as to †Did not David and his men eat the shew-bread and did he sin in so doing did not our Saviour justifie them in eating of it in that extremity Mat. 12. 3 4. and were not these besieged Bethulians in as great extremity as David and his men were Which place plainly shews that a rigorous observation of Ceremonies must give place to necessity saith Diodate upon the place touch with their hands v. 14. For they have sent some to Jerusalem because also they that dwell there have done the like to bring them a license from the Senate 15. Now when they shall bring them word they will forthwith do it and they shall be given thee to be destroyed the same day But now comes the double iniquity 16. Wherefore I thine handmaid knowing all this aâ—â— fled from their presence and God hath sent me to work * Had King James who discovered the Papists Powder-treason heard her he would have examined her a little and found out her dissimulation Had any Nonconformists uttered such words in any of their works Mr. Debater would no doubt have cried out Treason treason c. and yet to the reading of this he gives assent and consent for instruction of people in manners Art 6. B. Prideaux Fasc cont c. 1. q. 2. p. 16. things with thee whereat all the earth shall be astonished and whosoever shall hear it 17. For thy servant is religious and serveth the God of heaven day and night Now therefore my Lord I will remain with thee and thy servant will go out by night into the valley and I will pray unto God and he will tell me when they have committed their sins v. 18. And I will come and shew it unto thee then thou shalt go forth with all thine army and there shall be none of them that shall resist thee v. 19. And I will lead thee through the midst of Judea until thou come before Jerusalem and I will set thy throne in the midst thereof and thou shalt drive them as sheep that have no shepherd and a dog shall not so much as open his mouth at thee for these things were told me according to my foreknowledg and they were declared unto me