I haue fullie shewed before the worthinesse of the person is the surest ground of our saluation and chiefest weight of our redemption and therefore his death is of infinite force and his bloude of infinite price euen as his person is For since all mens actions are and ought to bee esteemed according to the giftes which they haue and place which they holde from GOD whie shoulde not the death and bloud of Christ bee valued in Gods iustice according to the height and worth of his person and if in all thinges wee receaue honour not due to our fleshe wherein wee partake with Beastes but fitte for the soule wherein wee communicate with Angels howe seemeth it strange in our eyes that the dooinges and sufferinges of Christ Iesus which hath the natures of God and man in a surer and nearer coniunction then wee haue our soules and bodies shoulde not bee reckned and accepted in GODS iustice as the ACTIONS and PASSIONS of HIS OVVNE SONNE and haue their value from the diuiner and worthier parte of Christ As the death of Christes flesh ONELIE doth more expresse the TRVETH POVVER AND IVSTICE of God then if the death of the soule had beene ioyned with it so the same setteth forth Christes merites namelie his OBEDIENCE PATIENCE and LOVE in farre better sorte then if wee adde vnto it the death of the spirite which is the rewarde of all the reprobate and damned For what a man vnwillinglie suffereth that sheweth neyther obedience nor patience Obedience hath readinesse and patience if it bee perfect hath gladnesse both haus willingnesse If then wee bee forced against our willes to endure that which wee woulde gladlie auoide it is violence it is neither obedience nor patience and consequentlie it hath neither merits nor thankes with GOD. The death then of the soule which is a separation from the fauour and grace of God did Christ suffer it willinglie or vnwillinglie if willinglie there coulde bee no greater neglect of GOD then to bee willing to bee separated from God It were disobedience and insolence in the highest degree to be glad and forwarde to forsake God or to bee forsaken of him Christ therefore must not bee willing to suffer the death of the soule least wee wrap him within the compasse of contemning and reiecting the grace and fauour of GOD which are sinnefull enormities Was hee vnwilling to suffer it then coulde hee bee neither obedient nor patient in suffering it All vertue is voluntarie compulsion hath no merite God loueth a cheerefull giuer and sufferer Hee that murmureth in heart rebelleth though hee holde still his tongue So likewise I must aske if Christ suffered the death of the soule did hee suffer it iustlie or vniustlie if vniustlie God could not be the sole and immediate agent in imposing it and besides God no creature canne bereaue the soule of life Did hee suffer it iustlie then must hee be voide of all vertue for nothing but sinne deserueth the death of the soule Obedience and patience merite thankes with God and cannot wante the blessing of God where the death of the soule is the greatest curse that God inflicteth heere on earth And where they thinke it woulde greatelie increase the loue of Christ towardes vs if hee vouchsafed to taste the death of the soule for our sakes I replie that supposition woulde make Christ a sinner if not a lyar which God forbid shoulde once enter our thoughtes For â—irst Christ saieth Greater loue then this hath no man that one should laie downe his life for his friendes But God commendeth his loue towards vs that whiles we were yet sinners Christ died for vs. If it be loue for a man to loose his soule for his friend then is there found a greater loue then Christ euer knew for he saith there is no greater loue theÌ„ for a maÌ„ to laie downe his life And the Apostle applying it to Christ saith The height of Gods loue was this that Christ died for sinners that is for his enemies not for his friendes sinne beeing enmitie to God and sinners enemies to the holinesse of his will and glory of his kingdome This loue of Christ by which he died for vs we reiect as little worth vnlesse hee endured the losse of Gods fauour for vs which I take to bee sinne and not loue For loue is due first and aboue all to God then to men this order of loue if we breake it is no charitie it is iniquitie What doe all wicked ones but preferre the loue of themselues or of others before the loue of God to loue men so well that wee waxe willing to forsake the fauour and fellowship of God is transgression against God and not compassion towards men and therefore wee maie not bring the sonne of God within the listes of this loue no not for an houre by reason the loue of God afore all others may not faile in the hart of Christ not for a moment bee it neuer so short For our loue then he tooke flesh when he was God which was infinite humilitie and gaue his life for his enemies which was exceeding charitie and in the course thereof referred himself wholie to the wil and pleasure of God which was exact obedience willinglie but wrongfullie suffering whatsoeuer the malice of Satan and rage of the wicked contriued against him the wise and gracious counsell of God so turning the mischiefe of the diuell and his members to the generall good of mankind that Christes innocent and righteous bloud being furiously and vniustly shed by the hands of his enemies became the true sacrifice for sinne and the full price of mans redemption Farther then this if we will force the sonne of God with our fancies as namelie to the death or curse of the soule wee doe not onelie diminish the strength of his loue towardes God but we debase the price of his bloud and make it rather detestable then acceptable in Gods sight For nothing can please God but that which is RIGHTEOVS INNOCENT HOLIE VNDEPILED And in a dead or cursed soule what place leaue we for these giftes and graces of the holie Ghost Since then our high Priest must be holie harmelesse vndefiled and separate from sinners before his sacrifice coulde bee accepted the soule of Christ must necessarilie bee replenished with all goodnesse and embraced with all fauour before the death of his bodie could be an offering of a sweete sauour vnto God and so the power of Christes death is no whitte encreased but altogither weakened if wee conioyne it with the death of the soule The death of the soule then doth not encrease the obedience patience and loue of Christ towardes vs but doth rather decrease and endanger all the vertues of our Sauiour For if Christ suffered the death of the soule which is Gods immediate action since God will offer his owne sonne neither violence nor wrong wee must confesse that Christ deserued the death
obedient to the death euen to the death of the crosse By his humilitie obedience and charity hee purged the pride rebellion and self-selfe-loue which our first father shewed when he fell and we all expresse in our sinnes and therefore as wee all died in Adams transgression so we are all iustified that is absolued from our sinnes and receaued into fauour by the obedience of Christ. Yea the obedience of Christ did in farre higher degrée please God the Father then the rebellion of Adam did displease him For there the vassall rebelled here the equall obeied there earth presumed to be like vnto God here God vouchsafed to bee the lowest amongst men there the creature neglected his maker here the creator so loued his enemies euen his persecutors that hee tooke the burthen from their shoulders and laid it on his owne contentedly giuing his life for them who cruellie tooke his life from him to conclude those were the sinnes of men these are the vertues of God which doe infinitelie counteruaile the other and for that cause the iustice of God is farre better satisfied with the obedience of Christ then with the vengeance it might iustlie haue executed on the sinnes of men For God hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked neither doth hee delight in mans destruction but with the obedience of his sonne he is well pleased and therein euen his soule delighteth This is my beloued sonne in whom I am well pleased Loe my chosen my soule taketh pleasure in him In which words God doth not onlie note the naturall loue betwixt his sonne and himselfe but he giueth full approbation of his obedience as being thereby throughlie satisfied for the sinne of man By Christs obedience I doe not meane the holinesse of his life or performance of the lawe but the obedience of the person vnto death euen the death of the Crosse which was voluntarilie offered by him not necessarily imposed on him aboue and besides the lawe and no way required in the lawe For it could be no dutie to God or man but onelie mercie and pitie towardes vs that caused the sonne of God to take our mortall and weake flesh vnto him and therein and therby to pay the ransome of our sinnes and to purchase eternall life for vs. He must be a Sauiour no debter a redéemer no prisoner Lord of all euen when hee humbled himselfe to be the seruant of all his diuine glorie power and maiestie make his sufferings to be of infinite force and value And from this dignitie and vnitie of his person which is the maine pillar of our redemption if we cast our eies on any other cause or deuise any new help to strengthen the merits of Christ wee dishonour and disable his diuinitie as if the sonne of God were not a full and sufficient price to ransome the bodies and soules of all mankind On this foundation doe the scriptures build the whole frame of mans redemption GOD purchased his church saith Paule WITH HIS OVVNE BLOVD GOD noting the dignitie HIS OVVNE the vnitie of his person and both importing a price far worthier then the thing purchased God spared not his owne sonne but gaue him for vs all In that he was the sonne of God al nations are counted vnto him or in ballance with him lesse thē nothing and vanitie in that he was giuen for vs the ransome excelleth the prisoner as much as God doth man We are reconciled to God by the death of his sonne Maruell we to sée Christs death of that power price with God that it appeased his wrath when he was angrie with vs as with his enemies when as his owne son being equall with him in the forme of God humbled himselfe to the death of the crosse for our sakes Fairer or fuller causes of our redemption we neede not aske the holie Ghost doth not expresse God cannot haue If the son of God be not able with his bloud to redeeme vs wee must giue ouer all hope and despaire For heauen cannot yéeld vs a greater value and the earth hath none like Wherfore if any man be disposed to seale his own condemnation with his own heart let him distrust the merits of Christs death but all that will be saued must acknowledge the infinite price of his death and bloud aboue our worth and we must learne being sinfull and wretched creatures not to amend the wordes of God in the mysterie of our redemption but suffer him that is trueth to be the guider of our faith and not by figures to frustrate all that is written in the word of God touching our saluation purchased by the death and bloud of Christ Iesus I am not the first that obserued or vrged this doctrine it is auncient and Catholike Cum super omnes esset Dei verbum merito suum ipsius templum corporale instrumentum pro omniū ammis pretium offerens id quod morti debebatur persoluit Where as the word or sonne of God saith Athanasius was aboue al worthily then by offering his owne temple bodily instrument as a price for the soules of all men did he pay that was due vnto death Cyril Si non esset deus quomodo ipse solus sufficeret ad hoc vt sit pretiū Sed sufficit solus pro omnibus mortuus quia super omnes est deus igitur est morte suae carnis à mundo mortē depellens If Christ were not God how could he alone suffice to be the ransome for al but he alone dead sufficeth for all because he is aboue all he is therefore God by the death of his flesh driuing away death from the worlde And againe Redempti sumus Christo proprium corpus dante pro nobis Sed si vt communis homo intelligeretur Christus quomodo corpus eius ad rependendum omnium vitam sufficeret At si deus fuit in carne qui dignissimus sufficiens ad redemptionem totius mundi per suum sanguinē merito fuit We are redeemed Christ giuing his own body for vs. But if Christ be taken to be no more then a man how should his body be sufficient to restore life to al men but if he were God in our flesh worthily thē did he suffice to redeem the whole world with his bloud Austen Si propter hominē mortuus est deus nō est victurus homo cum deo quomodo mortuus est deus accepit ex te vnde moreretur pro te nōposset mori nisi caro nōposset mori nisi mortale corpus If god died for mā shall not mā liue with god but how died god he took of thine wherin to die for thee There could nothing die but flesh there could die nothing but a mortal body And elsewhere an anciēt writer vnder his name if not himselfe Indubitanter credamus quod totum mundum redemit qui plus dedit quā totus mundus valeret
inter redimenteÌ„ redemptum dispensatio non compensatio fuit Let vs vndoubtedly beleeue that hee redeemed the whole worlde which gaue more then the whole world was worth Betweene the redeemer and the redeemed there was a dispensation of humilitie no compensation of equality And to shewe the truth of his spéech he addeth Innocency was arraigned for the guiltie mercie was buffeted for the cruell piety was whipped for the vngodlie wisdom was mocked for the foolish righteousnes was condeÌ„ned for the vnrighteous truth was slaine for the liar life died for him that was dead And doe wee yet remembring who he was and what we were stagger to confesse with these Christian and Catholike Fathers that his bloud was a most sufficient price for all the world or woonder we to see death ouerthrowne by his death who was the fountaine of life and could no more bee swallowed vp of death then God himselfe could be conquered by the power of darkenesse The mightier Christs person the more able he was some will say to suffer death hell he would be partaker of our mortall infirmitie that by suffering death for the time hee might conquer the force thereof for euer but the gates of hel could not preuaile against him because the Prince of this world had nothing in him The inward man may be strongest when the outward man is weakest and when the flesh is nearest vnto death the spirit may cleane fastest vnto God Christ therefore in dying for our sakes shewed a most euident and eminent example of his obedience loue and patience but in suffering hel there is no signe of grace nor shew of vertue Uoluntarilie to forsake God or willinglie to be forsaken of God is the greatest impietie that can bee committed And against his will Christ neuer did nor might suffer anie thing for that had beene violence not obedience vengeance not patience force not loue But all constraint was farre from Christ that his sufferings might be a voluntary sacrifice to witnesse his loue and declare his merits which in compulsion could be none Since then the sonne of God neither willinglie would nor forciblie could be forsaken of his Father it is a dangerous deuise to subiect his soule to hell which is the totall and finall separation of the wicked from God and his kingdome And that wee may a little the better be thinke our selues before we growe too resolute in this assertion that Christes soule suffered the verie paines of hell I will obserue some things which the scriptures affirme of hell may not be applied to Christ without apparaÌ„t iniurie First hel is outward and inward darkenesse nowe Christ was light and in him was no darknesse of the soule As long as I am in the worlde I am sayth hée the light of the worlde Then as the light hath no fellowshippe with darkenesse no more had Christ with hell which is the power of darkenesse from whence hee hath deliuered vs. Secondlie hell is destruction both of bodie and soule Feare not them saith Christ which kill the bodie but cannot kill the soule feare him rather which is able to destroie both soule and bodie in hell In the Sauiour of both wee maie not admitte the destruction of both howe shall he saue vs that could hardlie and as some write MAXIMA CVM DIFFICVLTATEâ—punc with much a do saue himselfe But God sent his sonne to bee the Sauiour of the worlde We must not therefore wrappe him within the destruction of bodie and soule no not for an hower or an instant Thirdlie hell is the second death The first is of the bodie for a time the second is of the soule for euer The lake burning with fire and brimstone this is the second death saith Saint Iohn Of this death Austen saith De prima corporis morte dicipotest quòd bonis bona sit malis mala secunda vero sine dubio sicut nullorum est bonorum ita nulli bona Ideo vero secunda quia post illam primamest The first death of the bodie is good to the good and euill to the euill but the seconde death without doubt as no good man suffereth it so is it good to none and therefore it is called the seconde death because it followeth after the first Before the first death no man suffereth hell which is the seconde death and before wee maie auouch it of Christ wee must take all goodnesse from him for doubtlesse sayeth Austen no good man dooth suffer it And indéede howe pernicious it is to make the soule of Christ lyable to the death of the soule I shall afterwarde haue occasion to speake In the meane time S. Iohn affirmeth that hell goeth not before death but followeth after death I looked saith he and beheld a pale horse and his name that sate on him was death and HEL FOLLOVVED AFTER HIM and therefore it cannot stand with truth to subiect the soule of Christ yet liuing on earth to the very paines of the damned Fourthly their WORME in hell neuer dieth for so much as the remembrance of their sinnes committed against God euerlasting lie biteth and afflicteth the conscience Now in Christ as there was no taint of sinne so could there bee no touch of conscience accusing nor remorse of any transgression agaynst God With compassion of our sinnes he might be moued and troubled but worme of conscience hee could haue none who was priuie to his owne heart that he was holie harmlesse vndefiled and separated from sinners and therefore needed no sacrifice for his owne sinnes but as a faythfull and mercifull high Priest by the offering of him selfe once made an attonement for the sinnes of the people But what the paines of the damned are the sentence of the Iudge will best declare Discedite à me maledicti in ignem aeternum Depart from mee ye cursed into euerlasting fire prepared for the diuell and his Angels In which wordes there are foure things which by no meanes can agrée vnto Christ REIECTION MALEDICTION VENGEANCE OF FIRE CONTINVANCE THERIN FOR EVER As sin is a voluntary separation of man from god so hell is a totall and finall exclusion of the sinfull froÌ„ enioying the presence or patience of God anie longer The time of this life is the respite of Gods patience towards all the wicked with the ende thereof beginneth his eternall vengeaunce which wholie and for euer debarreth the workers of wickednesse from the kingdome of God This reiection the soule of Christ could not suffer beeing inseparablie ioyned to the Godhead of Christ. We must not in stead of a naturall and mutuall coniunction beléeue or teach a reall effectuall separation betwixt God and man in the person of Christ no not a perswasion thereof in the soule of our Sauiour which is all one with Desperation and sheweth the condition rather of the Reprobate then of the children of God much lesse of him that
euerie man according to his works our sauior for warneth vs not in vaine that hel fâ—er is VNQVENCHABLE EVERLASTING Since then neither the remorse reiection malediction nor desperation of the damned nor the darkenes destruction death fire of hel can without euident impiety be attributed to the soule of Christ I am farre from admitting into anie part of the Créed this ambiguous if not dangerous assertion that Christ in his soule on the crosse felt the verie paines and torments of the damned but I preferre the simple and plaine doctrine of the holie Ghost which teacheth vs that Christ died for our sinnes according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that hee rose againe the thirde daie according to the scriptures and by Christs so doing death was swallowed vp into victory and we may ioifully saie O death where is thy sting O hell where is thy victory thanking God which hath giuen this victorie through our Lorde Iesus Christ as it was forespoken by the prophet Esay The Lorde will destroy death for euer and by Osee O death I will bee thy death O hell I will bee thy destruction The manner of Christes offering is the second effect of Christs crosse which must be bloudie before it can be propitiatorie In this part I will deliuer you thrée thinges worthie to be obserued with what Sacrifice God was pleased for our sinnes with what price the Diuell was concluded for our ransome with what Seale the newe couenant of grace and mercie was confirmed vnto vs for our safetie These three depend eache on other God as the Iudge offended was to haue a sacrifice for our sinne that might content him the Diuell as the Iailour was to haue a ransome for vs that were by Gods Iustice deliuered into his handes Our selues as prisoners were to bee restored by GODS pardon and to be assured of his protection that the like miserie might not the second time preuaile against vs which is performed by the newe Testament of mercie forgiuing and grace repressing sinne that wee relapse not into the pit of perdition whence wee were deliuered What was the true propitiatorie sacrifice which God accepted for the sinnes of the world if the new testament did not plainelie declare the olde testament would sufficientlie witnesse vnto vs. For as well Patriarks as Prophets yea all the godlie from Abel to Christ did by their sacrifices and seruice of God professe and confirme their faith to be this that they looked for the Seede of the woman who by his death and bloud should purge their sinnes and make peace betwéene God and them This was the promise of grace which God made in Paradise to our first parents threatning the serpent with the séede of the woman in these words He shall crush thine heade and thou shalt bruise his heele As the heele of man is the basest part of his bodie and nearest the earth so the Serpent shoulde bruise the weakest and earthliest part of Christ but euen that bruized heele should bee of force enough to crush the Serpentes head For by the flesh of Christ wounded and bloud shed the power pride of satan should be conquered and confounded This sence of Gods promise made to his parents Abell the first martyr by faith accepted by sacrifice adored and in that respect his bodilie and bloudie offering was preferred before his brothers This faith did all the Patriarkes testifie by their bloudie sacrifices that they expected the bodie of the Messias to be bruized and his bloud to be shed for the remission of their sinnes And as they receiued it from their fathers so they deliuered it to their children for the shoot anchor of all their hope This God did ratifie by his lawe written suffering his people to haue no sacrifices for sinne but such as represented the bloudie offering of Christ on the crosse So that all the sacrifices and sacraments of Moses lawe were nothing else but figures and examples of better thinges as the Apostle calleth them namelie of Christes bodie once to bee offered and his bloud once to bee shed for the abolishing of sinne The FIGVRES of Christ before and vnder the lawe what else doe they point but to the death bloud and crosse of Christ to be the redemption and saluation of all mankinde Abrahams readinesse to offer vp Isaac for which the blessing was annexed to him with an othe what doth it import but the loue of God Not sparing his owne sonne but giuing him for vs all The blâ—â—d of the passeouer sprinkled on the postes of the Israelites fâ—â—uert the destroier doth it not represent the bloud of that immaculate lambe which saueth vs from the fiercenesse of Gods wrath The lifting vp the brasen serpent to cure the people that were stung with fierie Serpents doth it not foreshewe Christ hanging on the crosse to cure our soules from the poison of sinne which is the sting of that deadlie serpent The strength of Sampson pulling the house on his owne and his enemies heades doth it not declare the voluntarie death of Christ to be the destruction of death and hell which insulted at him on the crosse When the truth came expressed by all these sacrifices and resembled in all these figures what offering made he on the altar of the crosse Did he yeelde his soule to the paines of hell or his bodie to be crucified of the Iewes both they will saie for so they must saie except they will haue their supposall of hell paines cleane excluded from the sacrifice for sin But which of these two was beleeued of the Patriarks witnessed by the sacrifices shadowed in the figures of the law expected of the faithfull from the foundation of the worlde The bloudie sacrifice of Christes bodie is so plainelie proclaimed by them all that there can bee no question of their faith and expectation And were they deceiued in the obiect of their faith and hope Did they all mistake the true sacrifice for their sinnes and did God by his lawe confirme them in that errour And doeth the Apostle falselie conclude from the sacrifices of the lawe that Christes offering before it coulde take awaie sinne must of force bee bloudie These were verie strange positions in Christian religion and yet I sée not howe wee shall auoide them if we strictlie maintaine the suffering of hell paines to bee the chiefer and principaller part of our redemption without which the rest is nothing If their faith fastened on the death and bloud of Christ for the remission of their sinnes did saue them then was the death of Christ of force enough without the paines of Hell to release them from their sinnes and bring them vnto God And if it wrought that effect in them it is still of the same power and strength to worke the like in vs. If it were insufficient to release them from the rigour of GODS wrath then are the
other manner of purchases then the due paiment of mans debt Howe coulde that bee due vnto the lawe which ouerthrew the law Sinners such as we are were to die by the lawe but that the sonne of God should die for vs what lawe did or coulde require that at his handes you shall doe well therefore to leaue these â—angerous discourses and learne to saie with the scripture and fathers that loue not lawe desire not debt mercy not necessity brought the sonne of God from his throne in heauen to his crosse on earth Such was the sentence of the lawe you will saie that without death he could not redeeme vs. Naie such was his loue you should saie that euen with his death hee would redeeme vs. Cum posset nobis etiam non moriendo succurrere subuenire tamen moriendo hominibus voluit quia nos videlicet minus amasset nisi vulnera nostra susciperet nec vim suae dilectionis nobis ostenderet nisi hoc quod a nobis tolleret ad tempus ipse sustineret Passibiles quippe mortalesque nos reperit qui nos existere fecit ex nihilo reuocare etiam sine sua morte potuit à passione Sed vt quanta esset virtus Compassionis ostenderet fieri pro nobis dignatus est quod esse nos voluit vt in semetipso temporaliter mortem susciperet quam á nobis in perpetuum fugaret Christ when he might haue succoured vs without dying woulde rather helpe man by dying saieth Gregorie because he had loued vs lesse if he had not taken to himselfe our woundes neither had hee shewed vs the strength of his loue vnlesse hee had for a tyme sustayned that from which he deliuered vs. Hee founde vs miserable and mortall yet hee that made vs of nothing might haue recalled vs from our miserie without his owne death But that hee might declare howe greate the vertue of Compassion is hee vouchsafed to bee that which hee appointed vs to bee that receauing a temporall death in himselfe hee might chase it from vs for euer Those saieth Austen that aske did GOD so want meanes to deliuer men from the miserie of this mortalitie that hee woulde haue his onelie begotten sonne to bee made a mortall man and to suffer death It is not enough so to refute that wee shewe this waie to be good and agreeable to the diuine excellencie whereby God vouchsafed to deliuer vs by the Mediatour of God and man Christ Iesus verum etiam vt ostendamus NON ALIVM MODVM POSSIBILEM DEO DEFVISSE cuius potestati cuncta aequaliter sub iacent sed sanandae nostrae miseriae conuenientiorem alium modum non fuisse nec esse oportuisse but also that wee shewe God VVANTED NOT OTHER MEANES to whose power all thinges are subiect but that neither there was nor coulde bee a more conuenient way to heale our misery For what was so needefull to raise vp our hope and to free mens mindes from despairing immortalitie being alreadie deiected by the condition of their mortalitie as to make euident shewe vnto vs how much God esteemed vs and how much hee loued vs whereof what plainer or perfiter proofe could be made then that the sonne of God remaining that he was would take from vs for vs that which he was not and vouchsafe to be amongst vs and first without anie deserte of his to beare our miseries and vpon vs then beleeuing how greatly God loued vs and hoping where afore wee despaired to bestowe without all merit of ours yea when wee deserued euill at his handes the giftes of his grace with bounty no way prouoked by vs. And so Ambrose By one mans death the world was redeemed Christ might if hee woulde haue refrained from death but hee neither refused death as vnprofitable neither could he haue saued vs any better waie then by dying So that no legall necessitie much lesse Iudiciall seueritie brought Christ to his Crosse but to teach vs obedience to God by his example to demonstrato his loue to vs by refusing nothing for our sakes and to declare his owne power whose weakenesse was stronger then all his and our enemies and to strengthen our patience and giue vs comfort in all the troubles of this life he chose the paynefull and shamefull death of the Crosse and there shewed so perfitte a patterne of obedience innocence patience that the Angels themselues did admire it So farre you make Christ suertie for vs that in taking our person on him hee became by our sinne sinnefull defiled hatefull and accoursed Similitudes if you sucke nothing from them but that which is agreeable to y e truth in teaching may be tolerated in concluding they wil halt That Christ is a suerty we find it once mentioned in the scriptures but not to y e law to pay our debtes but of a better testament euen of the new couenant of grace established in his bloud wherof he is also the mediator priest Now he died for vs not as a suerty bound to y e law but as a mediator to God for vs he interposed himself of his own accord to yeeld such recompence vnto his father as hee should be pleased to accept for vs. If you wil needs vse similitudes vse rather the similitude of a mediator and Redeemer which the scriptures often call him then of a suerty therby to bind him not onely to suffer the paines of hell in our stéede but also to defile him with our sinnes and make him hatefull to God by our curse No similitudes can prooue Christ in taking our person on him to be SINNEFVLL DEFILED HATEFVL and ACCVRSED and therfore your vncleane mouth and vncleaner heart that thus speake and thinke of the sonne of God are worthier of castigation then of refutation I know you will pretend the Apostles wordes God made him sinne for vs that knewe no sinne but howsoeuer some late writers turne sinne into sinner and thence giue cause of these and the like speaches the church of God from the beginning hath warilie declined such irreuerent wordes and yet plainelie confesse the truth That God MADE HIM SINNE hath two good and approoued senses one that he made him a sacrifice for sinne and so the clenser of sinne and no waie defiled by our sinne the other that he punished our sinnes in him and vsed him as hee doth sinners They that know saith Austen the scriptures of the olde testament acknowledge this that I saie Not once but often and verie often it is found Sacrifices for sinnes are called sinnes Then him that knewe no sinne God made sinne for vs that is a sacrifice for sinne Christ was made sinne in that he was offered to abolish sinne And againe peccatum vocabatur in lege sacrificium pro peccato assidue lex hoc commemorat non semel non iterum sed saepissime Tale peccatum erat Christus Peccatum non habebat peccatum erat peccatum erat
and moste sufficient reasons there are why Christ neither did nor might die the death of the soule thou hast good Reader before in the Treatise it selfe if this fumbler either will skippe them or can not answere them I must not repeate them as often as hee will neglect them Yet to ease thee of going backe I will here giue thee the effect thereof The life and death of the soule is in manie hundred places learnedlie and trulie vouched and prooued by Saint Austen Mori carni tuae est amittere vitam suam mori animae tuae est amittere vitam suam Vita carnis tuae anima tua vitae animae tuae Deus tuus Quomodo moritur caro amissa anima quae vita eius est sic moritur anima amisso Deo qui vita est eius For thy bodie to die is to loose his life and for thy soule to die is to loose her life The life of thy bodie is thy soule The life of thy soule is thy God As the bodie dieth when the soule is departed which is his life so the soule dieth when God is departed which is her life And againe Quomodo ergo mortua est anima de qua viuit corpus Audi ergo disce corpus hominis creatura Dei est anima hominis creatura dei est De anima deus viuificat carnem ipsam autem animam viuificat de seipso non de seipsa Vita ergo corporis anima est vita animae Deus est moritur corpus cum recedit anima moritur ergo anima si recedit Deus Carnem iacentem sine anima vides animam miseram sine Deo videre non potes Crede ergo adhibe oculos fidei How dieth the soule then by which the bodie liueth Hearken and learne The bodie of man is the creature of God so is the soule By the soule God giueth life to the flesh but the soule her selfe God quickeneth by himselfe and not by herselfe The life of the bodie then is the soule the life of the soule is God The bodie dieth when the soule departeth ergo the soule dieth if God depart from her Thou seest the flesh lying dead without a soule and canst thou not see the soule wretched without God Beleeue then and open the eies of faith And speaking of the particular consequents to the life and death of the soule the same father saith Quomodo cum anima est in corpore praestat illi vigorem decorem mobilitatem Sic cum vita eius Deus est in ipsa praestat illi sapientiam pietatem iustitiam charitatem veniente itaque verbo audientibus infuso resurgit anima à morte sua ad vitam suam hoc est ab iniquitate ab insipientia ab impietate ad Deum suum qui est illi sapientia iustitia charitas As when the soule is in the bodie shee giueth vigour comelinesse and motion to the bodie so when God her life is in the soule he giueth her wisedome pietie righteousnesse and charitie The worde of God then sounding and infused to the hearers the soule riseth from her death to her life that is from iniquitie follie and impietie to her God who is to her wisedome righteousnesse and charitie If this were not plaine inough the Scriptures themselues are so euident that no man can mistake the life of the soule except hee will purposelie blinde himselfe least hee shoulde come to the knowledge of the truth For the sonne of God is life and comming down from heauen gaue life to the world quickning whom hee would with the waters of life that is by the spirite of life yea whosoeuer beleeueth and abideth in him hath life and beareth fruite in him For the iust shall liue by faith and he that dwelleth in loue dwelleth in God and God in him for God is loue So that not onely Christ is our life and he that hath the sonne hath life but with him and in him alwaies was and alwaies will bee the fountaine of life which neuer did nor can drie vp how then could Christ die the death of the soule whose soule was personallie vnited vnto the worde that was life in it selfe And if the grace and spirite of God in vs make vs liue by God and in God if faith and loue knitte men to the life of God howe coulde the soule of Christ alwaies full of grace and truth alwaies full of faith and loue and of the holie Ghost bee deade But this Refuter meaneth another death of the soule What his meaning is is not materiall but whether hee meane truth or no. If he wil frame vs a monster in christian religion what haue I to do with that but to detest it There is another death after this life mentioned both in scriptures and fathers which is the second death But I hope this Confuter will eate and sléepe vpon the cause before hee wrappe our Sauiour within euerlasting damnation That is a death in déed from which God blesse and saue vs all They must néedes bee good Christians that labour to bring Christes soule within the compasse of the second death Haec mortalitas est vmbra mortis vera mors est damnatio cum Diabolo Our death is here but a shadow of death the true death indeede is damnation with the diuell saith Austen And againe Quid est istamors Est relictio corporis depositio sarcinae grauis mors secunda mors aeterna mors gehennarum mors damnationis cum Diabolo ipsa est vera mors What is this death It is the leauing of the bodie and the laying downe of an heauier burthen for the second death the death that is eternall the death of hell the death of condemnation with the Diuell that is the true death Which of these two deathes of the soules you will haue the soule of Christ subiected vnto you must tell vs Sir Refuter if you will néedes haue him die the death of the soule and the choise is so good that take which you will you inâ—ur hainous and horrible blasphemie I wish you to bee better aduised then to procéede to the defence of so wilfull a frensie As for new deaths of the soule you haue no commission to inuent anie shewe what scripture or Father spake it before you or you must giue the godlie leaue to thinke you no fit founder of a newe faith S. Austen was of opinion that no Christian durst auouch that Christ died the death of the soule Nam quod Iesus anima mortificatus fuerat quis audcat dicere cum mors animae non sit nisi peccatum a quo ille omnino immunis fuit That Christ was dead in soule VVHO DARES AFFIRME IT whereas the death of the soule in this life is nothing but sinne from which hee was altogether free you not onelie auouch it but you thinke no man sober that will not consent to it
The effect of certaine Sermons TOVCHING THE FVLL REDEMPTION of mankind by the death and bloud of CHRIST IESVS WHEREIN Besides the merite of Christs suffering the manner of his offering the power of his death the comfort of his Crosse the glorie of his resurrection Are handled What paines Christ suffered in his soule on the Crosse Together With the place and purpose of his descent to hel after death Preached at Paules Crosse and else where in London by the right Reuerend Father Thomas Bilson Bishop of Winchester With a conclusion to the Reader for the cleering of certaine obiections made against the said doctrine 1. Corinth 3. I esteeme not to knowe any thing saue Christ Iesus and him crucified Athanasius de Incarnatione verbi dei Therefore the sonne of God tooke to him a bodie that might die that enduing it with a reasonable soule it might suffice for a full satisfaction to Death for all Imprinted at London by Peter Short for Walter Burre and are to be sold in Paules Churchyard at the signe of the Flower deluce 1599. To the Christian Reader IT is some time since good Christian Reader that lying in London and preaching at Paules Crosse as the feast of Easter drawing neer did admonish mee I made choice to speake of the redemption of mankinde by the death and bloud of Christ Iesus And because that Citie then had and yet hath as manie learned and religious preachers so some conceited and too much addicted to nouelties who spared not in their Catechisings and readings to vrge the suffering of the verie paines of hell in the soul of Christ on the crosse as the chiefest part and maine ground of our Redemption by Christ I finding how fast that opinion had increased since it was first deuised and doubting where it would end thought it my dutie publikelie to warne them that were forward in defending this fansie to take heed how farre they waded in that late sprong speculation For as these words of Dauid The sorrowes of hell besieged me and these of Ionas Out of the belly of hel I cried thou heardest my voice may be tolerablie applied to Christ if they be metaphorically interpreted of Christ as the scriptures meane them in Dauid and Ionas so if wee grow from the figuratiue vse of the worde HELL to the proper signification thereof and rise from the degrees of sorrowes and feares which pursue the Saints in this life to the highest sense and suffering of ALL and THE VERIE SAME paines and punishments which the damned do and shall endure for euer freeing Christ from nothing but from the place and continuance of hell vve make not a curious and superfluous but an erroneous and daungerous addition to the mysterie of our Saluation The better to slacke their inconsiderate heate I laboured to prooue these foure pointes vnto them First that it was no where recorded in the holie Scriptures nor iustlie to bee concluded by the Scriptures that Christ suffered the true paines of hell and so the Consciences of the faythfull coulde not iustlie bee forced to the necessarie beleeuing of anie such strange assertion Secondlie that as the Scriptures describe to vs the paines of the damned and of hell there are manie terrors and torments which without euident impietie cannot be ascribed to the Sonne of God as namely extreame Darkenesse Desperation Confusion vtter separation reiection and exclusion from the grace fauour and kingdome of God remembrance of sinne gnawing the conscience horrour of Diuels tormented and tormenting and flame of fire intolerablie burning both bodie and soule Thirdlie that the death and bloud of Christ Iesus were euidentlie frequentlie constantlie set downe in the writinges of the Apostles as the sufficient price of our Redemption and true meane of our reconciliation to God and the verie same proposed in the figures resembled in the sacrifices of the Lawe and sealed with the Sacraments of the new Testament as the verie grounde worke of our saluation by Christ and so haue beene receaued and beleeued in the Church of God fourteene hundred yeares before anie man euer made mention of hell paines to bee suffered in the soule of Christ. Lastlie where the Scriptures are plaine and pregnant that Christ DIED for our sinnes and by his DEATH destroied him that had power of death euen the Diuell and reconciled vs when we were strangers and enemies IN THE BODIE OF HIS FLESH THROVGH DEATH for wee are reconciled to God by the DEATH of his sonne and sanctified by THE OFFERING OF THE BODIE of Iesus Christ once who himselfe bare our sinnes in his BODIE on the Tree where hee was put to death concerning the FLESH Besides that the holie Ghost in these places by expresse wordes nameth the bodilie death of Christ as the meane of our redemption and reconciliation to God no considerate diuine might affirme or imagine Christ suffered the Death of the soule for so much as the Death of the soule must exclude Christ from the grace spirit and life of God and leaue in him neither faith hope nor loue sanctitie nor innocencie which God forbid anie Christian man shoulde so much as dreame Wee shoulde therefore do well to reuerence the manifest wordes of Gods Spirit in so high a pointe of Religion and suffer our selues as schollers to bee taught by the leader into all trueth what to beleeue and confesse in the mystery of our redemption and not to controle or correct the doctrine so cleerelie deliuered in the Scriptures so consonantlie retained of all learned and vnlearned in the Church of Christ for so many hundred yeares And if anie man to maintaine his deuise woulde inuent a newe hell and another death of the soule then either scriptures or fathers euer heard or spake of they shoulde keepe their inuentions to themselues it sufficed me to beleeue what I read and consequently not to beleeue what I did not read in the word of God which is and ought to be the foundation of our faith Thus farre I purposed when I first entered by Gods grace to proceede in this cause according to y e simple vnderstanding wherwith god hath endued me for the good of his Church The article of the Creed Christ DESCENDED INTO HELL I meant not to meddle with choosing rather to leaue y t vntouched then to presse any sense as a point of faith for vvhich I had not so full and faire warrant as for the redemption of man by the death and blood of Christ Iesus but the vehemencie of some contradicting that I taught and the importunitie of others requesting to knowe what they might safelie beleeue of that article made mee to alter my minde For whē some vrged others doubted that if Christ did not suffer the paines of hell whiles he hung on the Crosse that part of the Creed was added in vaine and the wordes of Dauid Thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell applied by Peter vnto Christ in
hell nor suffer thine holie one to see corruption Both these being iointlie spoken of Christ must both bee iointlie verified in Christ wherefore Christes soule must then not bee left in hell when his flesh lying in the earth sawe no corruption They may not bee seuered in performance which the holie ghost knitteth together in coherence Lastlie Peter in plaine words saâ—eth Dauid spake this of Christs resurrection If this concerned his resurrection then not his passion on the crosse but after death and before he rose as his flesh saw no corruption So his soule was not left in hell Yea God raised him vp as Peter saith breaking the sorrowes of death or hell before him of which it was impossible he should be held not that hee was euer in them and so loosed them as a man doth chaines where with hee was once bound but as the snares of hunters saith Austen are broken Ne teneant non quia tenuerunt before they take hold not after they haue taken holde For Christ was to rise againe not as others before him were restored to this present life but as the full and first conquerour of death and hell hee was to rise both in bodie and soule to eternall celestial glory and therfore he brake when he rose the paines and powers of death and hell that they should not preuaile for euer against him or his The other places of the Psalmes haue as manie aunsweres as they haue wordes for euerie word is an answere First Dauid speaketh of himselfe not of Christ and Dauids words to Christs person we may not refer at our pleasures without farther and better warrant Againe Dauid doth not saie the TORMENTS but the SNARES or STREIGHTS of DEATH as well as of HELL for the worde Sheol indifferentlie signifieth both if there bee none other circumstance to limite it to either and Dauid by the rules of diuinitie was neuer here on earth in the true paines of the damned haue FOVND me out or BESET and besieged mee but not oppressed nor ouerwhelmed me And if we take the name of HELL neuer so properlie it is no inconuenience that the gates of hell I meane the craft and power of Satan should hunt after the godlie heere on earth and seéke to entrap euen Christ himselfe but the true paines of hell the wicked and desperate do not suffer in this life much lesse the elect least of all Christ. It is a iudgement following death and maie no more be defended to bee here on earth then the ioies of heauen may be possessed in this life In the causes why Christ should suffer the paines of hell we may do well not to be too forwarde with the rules of reason as well for that there is no proportion betwixt the person of Christ and vs as also for that wee may not sit iudges with God and prescribe when or howe his iustice should bee satisfied It is requisite in our selues to confesse that as both parts of man sinned in Adam so the wages of sinne which is euerlasting death is due to both and as the soule shoulde haue principallie enioied God which is her life if shee had persisted in obedience so in falling from God her losse and smart must of the twaine bee farre the greater though the bodie shall not wante both grieuaunce and vengeance intolerable but if wee stretch these rules to Christ and subiect his person as our suretie to the verie SAME WAGES of sinne which we should haue suffered I knowe not howe in fewer wordes a man maie couch more grosse and open impiety For we should haue béene WHOLY SEVERED IVSTLY HATED and VTTERLY REIECTED from God yea ETERNALLY CONDEMNED BODIE AND SOVLE to hell fire May anie of these thinges be affirmed or imagined of Christ without hainous and horrible blasphemie This was the wages of our sinne must he endure THE SAME before wee can bee redéemed or Gods iustice be satisfied I hope no sound diuine will so conclude They will release eternall death to the dignitie of Christs person but he was as they saie for the time to taste the verie same death both in soule and bodie which wee should haue done and which in vs should haue béene euerlasting First by their leaues hell in the scriptures is an euerlasting torment and therefore if the excellencie of Christes person exempt him from euerlasting miserie that cléerelie quiteth him in bodie and soule from suffering hell Againe as sinne is the voluntarie defection of the soule from God so hell is the TOTAL if not FINAL EXCLVSION of the soule from all fellowship with God lesse thâ—n the death of soule it cannot be It is the wages of sinne and therefore it must bee the death as well of the soule as of the bodie and chiefelie of the soule because the soule of man is the principall agent in sinne S. Iohn calleth hell the second death If then the soule of Christ suffered either hell or the wages of our sinne of necessitie for the time it must be dead The wages of sinne is death If for the time Christes soule were dead it had no communion with God nor God with it no more then death hath with life or darkenes with light It lost for that time all faith and loue of God For by faith the iust doe liue and he that abideth in loue abideth in God And since God is the life of the soule Christ could not suffer the death of the soule which is the wages of our sinne no not for a day or an houre but he must be seuered from God forsaken of God Mors animae fit cum eam deserit deus the death of the soule is when God forsaketh it Mors est spiritus a deo deseri it is the death of the spirit to bee forsaken of God Mors animae deus amissus the losse of God is the death of the soule To lose God or to be forsaken of God is to haue no coniunction nor fellowship with God the soule then that is dead is excluded from the fauour and grace truth and spirit of God and if anie bee so irreligious or impious as once to affirme these thinges of Christ he may auouch that Christs soule suffered the true wages of our sin but if we abhorre these things as sacrilegious and monstrous absurdities as I doubt not but we do then certainelie the soule of Christ could not bee dead no not for an instant and consequentlie the true wages of our sinne the soule of Christ could not receaue nor suffer on the crosse or in the garden but wee must rather giue eare to Peter which saith Christ bare our sinnes in his bodie on the tree where he was quickened in spirite though mortified in flesh and strengthened in the inward man by the ioy proposed for which hee sustained the crosse and despised the shame thereof Christ then tooke the burden of our sinnes from vs and laied it
part which moderation I wish in you all What I reade in the word of God that I beleeue what I do not reade that I doe not beleeue In Gods causes wee maie not easily leaue Gods words and with a new kind of speach make way for a new kinde of faith We must learne from God what to beléeue and not by correcting or inuerting his words teach him how to speake Since therefore redemption and remission of sinnes are euerie where in the scriptures referred to the death and bloud of Christ I dare not so much as thinke the words of the holie ghost in one of the greatest mysteries of our christian faith to be improper or imperfect And that you may the better perceaue how plainelie and fullie this doctrine is deliuered in the propheticall apostolical scriptures I thinke it good to go forwardes with the effects of Christes crosse by which it shall appeare howe sufficient the price of our redemption is in the bloud of Christ without anie supplie of hell paines to be suffered in y e soule of Christ. The effectes of Christs crosse though I might recken manie yet to keep my selfe within some compasse I restraine to fiue chiefe branches the MERITE of his suffering which was INFINITE the MANER of his offering which was BLOVDY The POVVER of his DEATH which was mighty the COMFORT of his CROSSE which was NECESSARIE the GLORY of his RESVRRECTION which was heauenly These fiue will direct vs not onely what to beléeue but what to refuse in the person and passion of our Sauiour I will therefore take them as they lie in order The merite of Christs suffering must be simply infinite that it may worke two things for vs to wit redeeme vs from Sathan and reconcile vs vnto God cleere vs from hell and bring vs to heauen in either respect it must be infinite The wages of sinne is death both of bodie and soule héere and for euer With the Iudge of the world is no vnrighteousnesse He therefore punisheth no man without cause or aboue desert Since the reuenge of each mans sinne is eternall y t is infinite in time the waight of each mans sinne must needs be infinite as being rewarded with euerlasting death It may séeme much to carnal men that God should requite sin with euer during reuenge but if we seriouslie bethinke our selues what it is for earth and ashes to waxe proud against God after so manifold abundant blessings to cast off his yoake readily yea gréedily to prefer euerie vanitie and fansie before his heauenlie truth glory we shall presently perceiue how iust cause God hath infinitely to hate our vncleannes eternally to pursue the pride contempt rebellion of wicked and wilfull men against his diuine maiestie howsoeuer we digest it it is a thing determined with God and no doubt balāced in his vpright and sincere iudgment The soule that sinneth that soule shal die Death life are both eternall y t is infinite in length though not in weight in durance though not in degree and sence of ioy or paine Then in either respect to counteruaile our deliuerance from hell our inheritance in heauen she merit of Christs suffering must be infinite An infinite purchase cannot be made but with an infinite price For this infinite price whither shall we seeke to the paines of hell or to the powers of heauen◠y e paines of hel are neither meritorious nor infinite What thanks with God to be separated from God and the soule being alienated from God what other part of man can merite his fauor If any man fal away my soule shall haue no pleasure in him Hel paines therefore are accursed not accepted of God and hee that suffereth them is hated and no way beloued Depart from me ye cursed into euerlasting fire As they are not meritorious no more are they infinite I meane in waight but they must euerlastingly be suffered before they can be infinite For not only diuels but men of all sorts shal suffer them who cannot endure any infinite sence of paine All creatures are finite both in force to do strength to suffer Infinit is as much as God himself hath therefore God alone is infinite So that neither hel fire is of infinite force to punish nor men nor angels of infinite strength to suffer but the vengeance of sinne continueth for euer by reason no creature is able to beare an infinite waight of punishment Since then the paines of hel haue neither worth nor waight sufficient in themselues to satisfie the anger procure the fauor of God we must séeke to heauen euen to God himselfe for the true ransome for our sinnes and redemption of our soules which we no where find but in the person of Christ Iesus who being true God tooke our nature vnto him and by the infinite price of his bloud bought vs from y e power of hel brought vs vnto God For neither y e vertues of Christs humane soule though they were many nor the sufferings of his flesh though they were painful are simply infinite til we looke to his person then shall we find that God vouchsafed with his own bloud to purchase his Church that we were reconciled to God by the death of his sonne when we were his enemies Bernarde expressing the infinite merite of Christes death and passion saith Incomprehensibilis deus voluit comprehendi summus humiliari potentissimus despici pulcherrimus deformari sapientissimus vt iumentū fieri immortalis mori vt compendio absoluam deus fieri voluit vermiculus quid excelsius deo quid inferius vermiculo The incomprehensible God woulde be comprehended the highest humbled the most mighty despised the most beautifull deformed the most wise bee like a beast the immortall would suffer death to speake all in fewe wordes God would become a Worme what is higher then God what is baser then a Worme If betwéene the Creator and the best of his creatures there be an infinite distance what thinke yee then was there betwixt the throne of God in heauen and the crosse of Christ on earth not an infinite distance and so infinite that neither men nor Angels can comprehend it The ground of our saluation then is the obedience humility and charitie of the sonne of God yeelding himselfe not onelie to serue in our stéed but to die for our sinnes For when he was equall with God in nature power and glory hee refused not to take the shape of a seruant vpon him and to humble himselfe to the death of the crosse not onelie obeying his fathers will which we had despised but abiding his hand for the chastisement of our peace The Apostle noteth these thrée vertues in the person of Christ Let the SAME AFFECTION of loue bee in you which was in Christ Iesus vvho being in the forme of God emptied and humbled himselfe and became
secundum caeteraruÌ„ naturam sed etiam nullo mortificata peccato vel damnatione punita est quibus duabus causis mors animae intelligi potest Surely the soule of Christ saith Austen was not only immortall in nature as the rest but was NEITHER DEAD WITH ANY SIN nor PVNISHED WITH DAMNATION which two wayes the death of the soule may be vnderstood If then neither transgression nor damnation may be ascribed to the soul of Christ it is euident he suffered not the death of the soule yea to subiect the soule of Christ to either of these two deaths which onelie are the deaths of the soule were more horrible blasphemie then I hope anie Christian man meaneth to incurre But I mistake the death of the soule I must confesse I therein followe the sacred Scriptures and ancient fathers other kinde of death of the soule I know none because I reade none iustlie prooued These two are manifest in the scriptures That sinne killeth the soule besides manie other places before cited Saint Paule shortly sheweth in these words SIN REVIVED BVT I DIED for sinne deceiued me and slue me And likewise our sauiour except you beleeue you shall die in your sinnes That euerlasting death is the wages of sinne I take it to be as cleare a case as the former These shal go into euerlasting punishmeÌ„t saith Christ to the wicked They shall be punished with euerlasting perdition saith Paule of the ignorant and disobedient The smoke of their torments shal ascend euermore saith Iohn in his Reuelation The lake burning with fire and brimstone this is the second death Howe the ancient fathers define the death of the soule is soone séene by their writings Dicam audacter fratres sed tamem verum Duae vitae sunt vna corporis altera animae sicut vita corporis anima sic vita animae deus Quomodo si anima deserat moritur corpus sic moritur anima si deserat Deus I wil speake boldlie saith Austen but trulie There are two sortes of life one of the bodie another of the soule As the soule is the life of the body so God is the life of the soule as if the soule depart the body dieth so dieth the soule if God forsake it Mors proprie non est â—a quae animam à corpore sed quae animam à Deo separat â— Deus vita est quia Deo separatur mortuus est That is not properly death saieth Cyrill which seuereth the soule from the bodie but that which seuereth the soule from God God is life and therefore hee that is separated from God is dead Anima quae peccat moritur non vtique aliqua sui dissolutione sed merito moritur Deo quia viuit peccato Ergo quae non peccat non moritur The soule which sinneth dieth sayeth Ambrose not by anie dissolution of her substaunce but worthilie dieth shee vnto God because shee liueth vnto sinne The soule then which sinneth not dieth not Anima in corpore vita est carnis Deus vero qui viuificat omnia vita est animarum Sicut mors exterior ab anima diuidit carnem ita mors interior à Deo separat animam The soule in the bodie saith Gregorie is the life of the flesh but God that quickeneth all things is the life of the soule as the outwarde death diuideth the bodye from the soule so the inward death diuideth the soule from God Sicut anima vita est corporis ita Deus vita est animae Mors animae separatio à Deo mors corporis separatio animae à corpore As the soule is the life of the bodie so God is the life of the soule saith Bernard The death of the soule is to be separated from God the death of the bodie is the departure of the soule from the bodie Neither doe I sée howe this definition of the death of the soule can be auoyded or amended For can there be life from any other but onelie from God If it bee good it must come from the fountaine of all goodnesse andâ— none is good but onelie God Then the soule which is partaker of God is partaker of life and to be seuered from God is to be seuered from life which is the true description of death Rightly therefore do the auncient Fathers teach that Christ dying for our sinnes suffered ONLY THE DEATH OF THE BODIE but not of the soule and the scriptures wheresoeuer they mention the death of Christ must haue the like construction For the soule of Christ could not die so long as it had the presence and assistance of Gods spirit yea we leaue him neither faith nor hope loue nor ioy obedience nor patience nor any other merites or vertues if wee subiect him to the death of the soule for these are the buds and fruits of life From which if we cannot exclude the soule of Christ no not for a moment without sacrilegious impietie it remaineth that Christ neither suffered nor tasted the death of the soule but onelie the death of the bodie In his bodie he bare our sinnes on the tree and reconciled vs vnto God in the BODY OF HIS FLESH THROVGH DEATH when we were straungers and enemyes in heart by reason of our euill workes Quid est enim quod viniâ—icatus est spiritu nisi quod eudem caro QVA SOLA FVERAT MORTIFICATVS viuificante spiritu resurrexit Nam QVOD ANIMA FVERAT MORTIFICATVS IESVS hoc est eo spiritu qui hominis est QVIS AVDEAT DICERE cum mors animae non sit nisi peccatum à quo ille omnino immunis fuit Mortificatus ergo carne dictus est quia secundum SOLAM CARNEM mortuus est What is meant by this that Christ was quickened in spirite but that the same flesh IN WHICH ONELIE HE DIED rose againe quickened by the spirite For that Iesus was DEAD IN SPIRIT WHO DARE AVOVCH I meane in his humane spirite since as the death of the soule is nothing but sinne from which hee was altogither free And least wee shoulde thinke this slipte his penne elsewhere hee largelie and learnedlie handleth the same matter Diabolus per impietatem MORTVVS EST IN SPIRITV carne vtique mortuus non est nobis autem impietatem persuasit per hanc vt in mortem carnis venire mereremur effecit Quô ergo nos Mediator mortis transmisit ipse NON VENIT hoc est ad MORTEM CARNIS ibi nobis Dominus Deus noster medicinam emendationis inseruit quam ille non meruit By sinne the Diuell DIED IN SPIRIT in flesh he died not but to vs hee perswaded sinne and thereby brought vs to deserue the death of the flesh Whither then the mediator of death cast vs and came not himselfe that is to the death of the bodie euen there the Lord our God appointed a medicine to cure vs which the Diuell neuer
power and steadfast fauour of God for their perpetuall defence and eternall recompence So that in all thinges wee are more then conquerours through him that loued vs and gaue himselfe for vs who will tread downe Satan vnder our feete that God may bee all in all Uerie mightie then is the power of Christes death by whose BLOVD the Saintes OVER COME the greate Dragon that olde Serpent called the Diuell and his ouerthrow prooueth all the enemies of mans saluation to bee vanquished and impediments remooued since he was the first perswader and procurer and is the Prince and ruler of them all We haue seene the power of Christs death in subduing sin and Satan as likewise in ending abolishing the curse of the lawe which obliged man for his vncleannesse and vnrighteousnesse to euerlasting condemnation and find that hee which bare our sinnes in his bodie on the tree did in that mortall part which hee tooke of vs crucifie as well the flesh and sinne of man as the curse and death that raigned ouer man and so much hee performed in the bodie of his flesh through death by which hee reconciled vs vnto God to make vs holie and blamelesse in his sight let vs nowe see whether the death of the spirite and the curse of the soule will anie thing helpe the woorke of our redemption or whether the death of Christes bodie doe not more fullie demonstrate the mercies of God and merits of Christ then if the paines of hell had beene ioyned with it And where some men thinke it woulde much commende the TRVTH POVVER and IVSTICE of God and more amplie declare the OBEDIENCE PATIENCE and LOVE of Christ if hee refused not the verie torments of hell for our sakes shunning no part of the burthen that pressed vs I must confesse I am rather of a contrarie minde that the bodilie death of Christ on the crosse doth more plainlie expresse the vertues of God and Christ his sonne then if the terror and horror of hell were therewith coupled And first for the TRVTH of god his threatning Adam in this wise Thou shalt die the death or thou shalt certainely die was truelie performed in the bodie of Christ in the soule of Christ it could not without sinne or damnation neither of which with anie truth can be ascribed vnto Christ. That the mouth of God lied or the soule of Christ died is a choâ—se so hard that I wish all men that haue anie care of Christian religion to refraine either Next touching the POVVER of God the weaker the instrument which God vseth to ouerthrowe his enemies the greater is both his glory and their shame Then for flesh which was the feeblest part of Christ after it was deade and voide of all hope in shew to rise againe into a blessed and heauenlie life and to foile both death and Satan by recouering it selfe into the full possession and all his members into the ioyfull expectation of euerlasting glorie was farre a mightier conquest then for his soule with much adoe at length to escape and resist the assaultes of hell From the depth of hell here on earth manie sinnefull soules haue by grace struggeled and cléered themselues from the graue neuer rose none into an immortall incorruptible life before the flesh of Christ. Déeper in desperation and al other temptations of hel haue others been that yet were saued then anie man dare affirme of Christ déeper in death without corruption then the bodie of Christ neuer was nor euer shall be anie of the sonnes of men It was therefore an harder thing for the bodie of Christ past all sense to rise from death to immortalitie then for his soule voide of sinne and full of grace to repell the force of Satan and yet to repell it sheweth greater power then to suffer it to conquere it sheweth greatest of all But to beare the burden of Gods wrath due to our sinnes and to frée vs from it néeded greater strength they will saie then Christes flesh could haue To support and auert Gods iust indignation from vs the humane bodie or soule of Christ of themselues were not able but the DIGNITIE and VNITIE of his person must be placed in the gap to quench the flame of Gods iust vengeaÌ„ce against our sinnes which was euerlasting destruction both of bodie and soule yet for so much as the sincerity and sanctitie of Christes soule personallie ioyned quickened and blessed with the perpetual vnion communion and fruition of his deitie could feele no want of grace no lacke of spirit no losse of fauour with God in which thinges consist the inwarde death and curse of the soule the wrath of God was executed on the flesh of his sonne which hee tooke of purpose from Adam that the rein he might beare the sinne and curse of Adam and so by his death might satisfie the sentence and pacifie the displeasure of God against our vnrighteousnesse And this is more agréeable to Gods iustice then if Christs soule had suffered the death and curse of the soule For to take life from the soule must be Gods proper and peculiar action No creature can giue the grace or spirit of God to the soule of man which is the life of the soule but onelie God Therefore no creature can take it from the soule but God alone that GIVETH it must TAKE IT AVVAY Since then Christ might suffer nothing iustlie but as the iust for the vniust that is willinglie but vniustlie his death must come by the handes of the wicked who might wrongfullie take his life from him but not touch his soule and not by the immediate hande of GOD who will doe no wrong and can kill the soule I haue sinned saith Iudas in betraying the INNOCENT bloud You denied the HOLIE AND IVST and killed the Lorde of life saith Peter to the Iewes warning them howe great a sinne they had committed in putting Christ to death If hee were an INNOCENT and deserued no punishment if hee were HOLIE and IVST and could not bee persecuted or put to death without haynous impietie and iniurie wee may doe well to remember that the death of his soule had beene a farre greater wrong then the death of his bodie was And therefore if the iustice of God would not farther interpose it selfe in killing his bodie then by deliuering him into the handes of the wicked permitting them to shed his blond which hee woulde accept for the sinnes of the worlde much lesse woulde God with his owne mouth accurse or with his owne hande slea the soule of his sonne whome hee sent to restore and quicken those that were accursed and dead in their sinnes Againe corporallie or temporallie God punisheth one for anothers fault bicause he can recompence them eternally that thereby repent and turne from their sinnes but eternally or spiritually he punisheth no man but for his owne vncleannes either naturally sticking in him or
voluntarily committed by him Christ then beeing frée from all sinne might not suffer the inwarde or euerlasting death of the soule but corporall and temporall reproch and paine which God might and did recompence with eternall ioye and glorie Thirdlie that soule which sinneth that soule shall die This is the setled rule of Gods iustice and therefore Christs soule which sinned not could by no iustice die the death of the soule To laie down his life for vs was loue and thankes with God but willinglie to separate himselfe from God for vs was no waie to reconcile God to vs or to bring vs to God He must therefore cleaue fast to God in soule whose death shall bee pretious in Gods sight as was Christs If the soule bee seuered from God the death of the bodie is detestable in his eies as beeing the wages of sinne and therefore no more acceptable to GOD then sinne it selfe but where the soule hating the infection of sinne and loathing the infirmitie of the flesh resigneth it vnto death for Gods glorie and the good of others And in this respect the death of the bodie maie bee a sacrifice vnto God but not except the soule doe liue and cleaue to God without separation Then hatefull to GOD was the death of Christ if his soule were first hated or accursed if that were beloued and blessed of God it coulde not choose but liue for God is not the God of the deade but of the liuing So that the death of Christes bodie on the Crosse was by no iustice an acceptable sacrifice vnto God if his soule were first deade But his death was so precious in Gods sight that in the bodie of his flesh through death he reconciled vs vnto God his soule was therefore aliue and in fauour with God yea so abundantly blessed and highly accepted for the holines humilitie and obedience thereof that God was pacified and pleased and we all sanctified with THE OBLATION OF THE BODY of Iesus on the altar of the crosse Lastlie the flesh of Christ by Gods iustice must bee as able to purge vs from sinne as Adams was to poyson vs with sinne But the flesh of Adam infected all his posteritie with sinne and death ergo the flesh of Christ must haue as much force to clense and quicken the faithfull both in this life and the next Of this iustice Paul speaketh when he saith since by man came death by man must come the resurrection of the dead For as in Adam all die euen so in Christ shal al be made aliue The first Adam WAS THE FIGVRE of the second Adam that where sinne abounded there grace might abound much more As then by one mans disobedience manie were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many bee made righteous The obedience of Christ which here Paule mentioneth is his obedience vnto death euen to the death of the crosse and the righteousnesse of the faithfull is the forgiuenes of their sinnes through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus I wil not here dispute whether the soule be created and infunded or else traduâ—ed from Adam as well as the flesh I meane not with curious or superfluous questions to busie mens heades that which the scriptures deliuer touching the deriuation of sinne and death from our first parents I may safelie teach and you must necessarily beléeue That we were fashioned in iniquitie and conceaued in sinne the words of Dauid doe exactlie witnesse and no maruaile For who can make that to bee cleane which commeth from the vncleane yea sinne cleaueth so fast vnto our flesh that when the eies of our heart are lightened and the spirit of our minde is renued so that the inwarde man delighteth in the law of God EVEN THEN haue we an other law in our members rebelling against the lawe of our minde and leading vs captiue vnto the lawe of sinne the one so contrarie to the other that we cannot doe the things which we would by reason the affection or liking of the flesh cannot be subiect to the lawe of God This fight betwixt the flesh and the spirit is so durable that it cannot bee dissolued but onelie by death Though Christ bee in vs and the spirit liue for righteousnesse sake yet sinne so dwelleth in vs that is in our â— mortall bodies that whiles we liue in minde we serue the law of God but in our flesh the lawe of sinne From Adams flesh wee deriue this infection of sinne that sticketh so fast vnto vs after we are regenerate and new borne againe of water and the holie ghost and this is the roote and nurse of all sinne and the cause of death to al men If Christ be in you the bodie is dead because of sinne From Christes flesh then we must receiue the purgation of sinne both inherent in vs and committed by vs or else Adams flesh is stronger to wound vs then Christs is to heale vs which is repugnant to the iustice of God by which the grace of God must bee farre mightier vnto saluation in the bodie of Christ then the force of sinne was vnto condemnation in the bodie of Adam vnlesse wee make sinne of more power to kill then God is to quicken which is to exalt the diuell aboue God and his sonne For God was in Christ reconciling the worlde to himselfe by whose bloud the partition wal is broken down and hatred abrogated through his flesh that wee might bee reconciled vnto God in one bodie by his crosse But the death of the bodie they will saie hath no proportion to the death of the soule and therefore the one cannot in iustice excuse the other There is farre greater distance betwixt the sonne of God and the sonnes of men then betwixt the bodies and soules of men These differ as creatures and both inferiour vnto the angels but there is the excellencie of the Creator aboue the creature which is simplie infinite Whatsoeuer therefore it pleased the sonne of God to suffer for our sakes it was most sufficient for our redemption howbeit to demonstrate his loue hee would be partaker of our infirmitie and mortality least we should loath our condition or grudge at the chastisement of our sinnes but if we set a side the dignitie and vnitie of his person then is no waie the death of the soule or the paines of hell which they imagine Christ suffered proportionable in exact iustice to the true wages of our sinne For what equiualence hath one soule with all the soules of the Saints or one daies anguish which Christ felt in soule as they suppose with that euerlasting fire which wee shoulde haue suffered in bodie and soule for euer set aside I saie the respect of the person which suffered for vs and in the rest they shall neuer bee able to prooue anie proportion of iustice diuine or humane But as
of the soule and admitted it as due vnto him to which absurdities if wee come wee leaue nothing sound in our saluation Caâ—â— we him iust that deserueth or holie that desireth to be forsaken of God I thinke not Then all Christs sufferings must be INIVRIOVS before hee can be IVST and VOLVNTARIE before they can be a SACRIFICE vnto God Both which are witnessed by the worde of God as likewise by the ancient fathers THIS IS THANK-VVORTHIE saith Peter if a man for conscience towards God endure grief SVFFERING VVRONGFVLLY For what praise is it if when ye be BVFFETED for your FAVLTS ye take it PATIENTLIE But if when ye doe well ye suffer patientlie this is acceptable vnto God For hereunto are ye called for so CHRIST SVFFERED FOR VS leauing vs an example that we should follow his steppes Christ therfore suffered as well VVRONGFVLLY as PATIENTLY Malefactors may be patient but that is no merit with God He must be both innocent and patient that will haue thanks from God So was Christ He did no sin and so was innocent when he was reuiled he reuiled not againe when he suffered he threatned not which proueth his patience This verie testimonie the theefe on the crosse giueth him We receiue punishment worthie of that we haue done but this maÌ„ hath done nothing amisse Quod iuste debebat Adam Christus iniusté mortem suscipiendo persoluit What Adam iustly owed saith Austen that Christ vniustlie paied by suffering death Pergit ad passionem vt pro debitoribus nobis quod ipse noÌ„ debebat exsolueret Christ goeth to his passion to pay that for vs debtors which hee did not owe. De humanitate suscepta tantum beneficij collatum est hominibus vt à dei sempiterno filio eodemque hominis filio mors temporalis indebita redderetur qua eos a sempiternâ morte debità liberaret Peccata nostra Diabolus tenebat per illanos merito figebat in morte Demisit ea ille qui sua non habebat ab illo immeritó est perductus ad mortem Tantum valuit sanguis ille vt neminem Christo indutum in aeterna morte debita detinere debuerit qui Christum morte indebita vel ad tempus occidit By Christ taking mans nature this benefite men get that the eternall Sonne of God and the same also the sonne of man suffered a temporall death not due to deliuer them from an euerlasting death due The Diuell laide sure holde on our sinnes and by them helde vs deseruedlie in death Those hee remitted that had no sinnes of his owne and was without anie desert brought by the Diuell vnto death But such was the force of Christes bloud that the Diuell had no right to detaine anie man that put on Christ in eternall death due for so much as hee slue Christ with death for the time which was no way due Mediator noster punirâ— pro se ipso non debuit quia nullum culpae contagium perpetrauit Sed si ipse indebitam mortem non susciperet nunquam nos à debita morte liberaret Our Mediatour for himselfe ought not to bee punished because hee neuer sinned But if hee had not suffered a death not due hee coulde neuer haue freed vs from the death that was due If the temporall death of the bodie were not due to our Sauiour much lesse was the death of the soule due vnto him And if no death were due that which hee suffered was wrongfull Then might God bee the permitter directer orderer and accepter of Christes death on the Crosse but hee coulde not bee the immediate inflicter of it because it was wrongfull and vndeserued much lesse might GOD in iustice forsake his soule that with so great obedience patience and innocencie humbled himselfe to the will of his heauenlie father That likewise hee suffered nothing agaynst his owne liking his owne mouth testified when he said Nemo tollit animam meam à me sed pono eam à meipso No man taketh my life from mee but I lay it downe of my selfe And else where The sonne of God loued mee and gaue himselfe for mee Loue your wiues as Christ loued the Church and gaue himselfe for it If it were loue then was it no constraint nor violence that forced him thereto If hee gaue himselfe for vs it must needes bee voluntarie whatsoeuer hee suffered Demonstrauit spiritus mediatoris quà m nulla poena peccati vsque ad mortem carnis accessorit quia non eam deseruit inuitus sed QVIA VOLVIT QVANDO VOLVIT QVOMODO VOLVIT The spirite of the Mediator shewed that without anie punishment of sinne it came euen to the death of the flesh which hee did not leaue agaynst his will but BECAVSE HE VVOVLDE VVHEN HE VVOVLDE AND HOVVE HE VVOVLDE Et natus passus mortuus est nulla sua necessitate sed voluntate potestate Christ was borne and suffered and died not for anie necessitie that vrged him but of his owne will and hauing it in his owne power If Christ might suffer nothing but what hee woulde and as hee would the death of the soule hee did neuer suffer for thereto hee coulde not be willing without sinne by reason it is a separation from God and a losse both of his heauenlie fauour and holie spirite from which Christ willinglie would neuer be excluded The summe is since the TRVTH and IVSTICE of God might not release the sin of man without fulfilling the sentence of the Iudge THOV SHALT DIE THE DEATH and that by man for so much as man was the trespasser God so loued the world when none of the sonnes of Adam was able to restore his owne soule much lesse to ransome others that hee sent his owne sonne to become man and as by the dignitie and puritie of his person to counteruaile and ouerweigh the soules of all men so by his paines and death on the Crosse to verifie and satisfie the iudgement of God pronounced against man and to quit him from all danger following death And to trie the obedience shew the patience and augment the merits of the Redeemer the wisedome of God decreed that his sonne in our substance should violentlie and wrongfullie bee put to death euen by their handes for whose sakes he laid downe his life that his loue might so much the more excéede in praying for his persecutours and dying for his tormentors The shame and sharpenesse of the crosse so iniuriouslie imposed on the holinesse and worthinesse of Christes person and yet so obedientlie and patientlie endured by him God so highlie esteemed and recompenced that hee made his death the ransome of all mankinde and his bloud to bee the purgation and propitiation of our sinnes his obedience wyping awaie our disobedience his fauour quenching the displeasure his blessednesse alâ—ering the curse his death finishing the vengeance that was due to our iniquities This is the
manner and merit of Christs suffering death on the crosse to saue vs from the wrath of God that was kindled against our transgressions And since the scriptures mention none other meanes of our redemption but the DEATH and BLOVD of the SONNE of God I hold them wisest that leaue deuising any better or other help for our saluation then God himselfe hath reuealed And as for the death of the soule I take that to be the greatest hinderance that maybe to the worke of our redemption and to shake the verie foundation of our faith and hope in the crosse of Christ. Which least I should seeme to say no way to proue let vs view the COMFORT of Christes crosse and thereby see howe his soule was affected towardes God euen whiles his bodie suffered that grieuous and opprobrious death of the crosse I haue often mused what made men of great learning and iudgement otherwise to swarue so much from the plain tenor of the scriptures and to imagine in the soule of our sauiour such doubt and feare of Gods fauour such horâ—ors and torments of hell that they sticke not to match them with the paines of the damned considering there is no manifest ground nor euident proofe of so dangerous doctâ—ine in the word of God but contrariwise when the scriptures describe Christ on the crosse they propose his bodie martyred with al kinde of crueltie but his soule cleaning to God with all perfection of constancie Read the xvi and xxii Psalme who will which purposelie treate of Christes passion and tell mee whether there bee so much as a worde importing anie distrust of Gods fauour or anie suspicion of the paines of hell suffered in the soule of Christ The first entrance of the xxii Psalme you will say is My God my God whie hast thou forsaken me This is that Helen that hath bewitched the world I meane the misconstring of these words Of which though I haue spoken before as much as may content any man that is not fastned to his fancies more then to the truth yet let vs shortlie see whether the rest of the Psalme admit their new found exposition or no. It followeth in the same place Thou didst bring me out of my mothers wombe thou gauest mee confidence at my mothers breasts On thee was I cast from my birth THOV ART MY GOD FROM MY MOTHERS BELLIE Bee not farre from mee for trouble is neere and there is none to helpe Bee not farre O Lord my strength hasten to helpe me I will declare thy name vnto my brethren in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee for HE HATH NOT DESPISED nor abhorred the weakenesse or basenesse of the poore neither HATH HE HID HIS FACE FROM HIM but when he called vnto him HE HEARD HIM Is this the praier of a man whose soule is forsaken of God Did he doubt of Gods fauour that with such confidence pronounced Thou gauest me assurance at my mothers breasts thou art my God from my mothers belly Was he perswaded that god had refused and left him when as he saith God hath not DESPISED y e weaknes of the poore he hath not hid his face from him when he called God heard him If these be flat contradictions to their imaginations why wrest they the first verse to euert all the rest Christ therfore in the beginning of the Psalm might well complain that god had for the time of his passion withheld his PROTECTION or diminished his CONSOLATION but in no wise that God had decreased his loue or shut vp his fauor towards the humane soule of his sonne Yea the next words are an explication of the former Why hast thou forsaken me and art so farre from mine helpe Not to helpe in trouble is to forsake though God bee not angrie with the soules of such as suffer affliction The very words agrée to GO FARRE OFF froÌ„ a man is to FORSAKE HIM so he that desireth God not to be far off praieth not to be forsaken but rather to receiue helpe in time of néed Uerilie S. Ambroses iudgement and reason doth satisfie me whatsoeuer it doth others Ille nunquam derelictus est à patre cum quo pater semper erat Sed secundum corpus in quo traditus est passioni vox ista processit quoniam derelinqui nobis videmur quando sumus in periculis constituti Christ was neuer forsaken of his Father with whome the father alwayes was but this complaint came from his bodie which was left to suffer death for so much as wee thinke our selues forsaken when wee are oppressed with anie troubles If the xxii Psalme content vs not let vs examine the sixteenth and there marke what the holie Ghost doth attribute to the soule of Christ in the middes of his sufferings on the Crosse and then iudge which opinion draweth nearest to the truth of the sacred Scriptures I haue alwayes SET the Lord BEFORE ME for hee IS AT MY RIGHT HAND THAT I SHOVLD NOT BE SHAKEN therefore my heart is glad my tongue reioiceth my flesh also shall REST IN HOPE Because thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell nor suffer thine holie one to see corruptioÌ„ Thou wilt SHEVV ME THE VVAY OF LIFE THE FVLNES OF IOY IS IN THY PRESENCE and delectation at thy right hand for euer Thrée plentifull and wonderfull graces of the holie Ghost are here described in our Sauiour as he hung on the crosse in the middest of his miseries abundance of FAITH assurance of HOPE persistance in IOY The ground of our faith is the truth of Gods word sealed in our hearts by the working of his spirite The faith of Christ had a farre stronger foundation and clearer reuelation then ours can possible haue He was hoped for by the Patriarks searched after by the Prophets he was the end of all the lawe and truth of all the former testament He was serued by Angels acknowledged by starres seas windes beasts fishes and trees hee was obeyed by diseases death and diuels the holie Ghost visiblie descended on him when hee was baptised the father by thunder from heauen often proclaimed him to be his welbeloued sonne and commaunded all men to heare him he knewe the thoughts of mens hearts yea the secrets of heauen he was transfigured in the Mount and tasted of that heauenlie glorie prepared for him The confessing him to bee the sonne of God openeth heauen preuaileth agaynst hell supporteth his Church and obtaineth blessednes This he heard with his eares sawe with his eyes and wrought with his hands yea he spake with his mouth knew in his heart that God had sanctified him and sent him to saue the world I aske now a meane diuine was it possible that Christ Iesus after all this intelligence euidence and experience both of his owne person who he was and of his fathers loue and purpose how setled determined and euerlasting it was should feare or
doubt least he should be forsaken or want the fauor and help of god in those afflictions which he willingly suffered for our safetie For vs to distrust or doubt Gods promise coÌ„firmed by his word perswaded to our spirits by his spirit is diffideÌ„ce and incredulitie What hainous and horrible sinne then were it for the soule of Christ after so cleare perspicuitie so full certaintie so fiâ—â—e stabilitie of Gods COVNSEL and PROMISE OATH PERFORMANCE that in him all nations of the earth should be blessed to haue so much as a feare doubt or thought that God would faile him or forsake him Let me fatherlie aduise and brotherly intreate you all in the bowels of Christ Iesus that you take good héed how you venter on any such doctrine Ioine rather with S. Peter and stedfastlie beléeue that Dauid spake concerning Christ when he said I saw the Lord alwayes before me for he is at my right hande that I should not be mooued If ALVVAIES then was there no intermission If BEFORE HIS FACE then was there no obscuration If A HIS RIGHT HAND then God was neuer absent If hee COVLD NOT BE MOOVED then could he not be forsaken But Christ himselfe sayth he was forsaken hee doth not say he was forsaken either in soule or else of Gods fauour and grace as some in our dayes woulde faine make him speake but he saith My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And his words stand true if any kind of dereliction be confessed Quasi quaedam ibi derelictio fuit vbi nulla fuit in tanta necessitate virtutis exhibitio nulla maiestatis ostensio There was on the crosse a kind of forsaking in as much as there was in so great necessitie no declaring of his power no shewing of his maiestie Diuers other kindes of forsaking may bee verie well allowed and beleeued in the sufferings of our Sauiour but that he should be destitute of FAITH HOPE LOVE or IOY or forsaken of Gods FAVOVR GRACE or SPIRIT that is so dangerous to the office and pernicious to the person of Christ that it may in no wise bee admitted Whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne Then howe much we decrease faith in Christ so much wee increase sinne in Christ. VVAVERING STICKING DOVBTING are all rebatements of faith and degrées of diffidence and greater sinnes in Christ then in any other man because of his infallible REVELATION FROM GOD vnspeakeable FRVITION OF GOD and inseparable COMMVNION VVITH GOD. Modicae fidei quare dubitasti O thou of LITTLE saith why diddest thou DOVBT saith Christ to Peter Then doubting is the diminishing of faith Abraham saieth the Apostle did not DVBT of the promise of God THROVGH VNBELIEFE but was strengthned in faith and gaue the glorie vnto God being fullie assured that hee which had promised was able to performe it Then doubting by the expresse â—â—le of the holie ghost is VNBELIEFE and a DISHONOR VNTO GOD as if he were not able to make good his promise So that wee must in spite of our heartes either CLEERE CHRIST FROM DOVBTING or CHARGE HIM VVITH VNBELIEVING and DISHONOVRING GOD. If any man lacke wisedome saith Iames let him aske of God and it shall be giuen him but let him aske in faith and not doubt or dispute with himselfe for he that doubteth is like a waue of the Sea tost with the winde neither let that man thinke he shall receaue anything of the Lorde Doubtfulnesse differeth from incrodulitie in this that the incredulous as yet beleeueth not the doubtfull wauereth betwixt faith and infidelitie as a waue of the sea doth that is tost with the winde enclining sometimes one way sometimes another way But this man for his inconstancie shall obtaine nothing at Gods handes whose truth when we but DOVBT wee DENIE and whose promise when wee DISPVTE wee DISBELEEVE The soule of Christ then maie not bee touched VVITH ANIE DOVBT much lesse distrust of Gods fauour and loue towards him and to imagine or affirme so much of Christes person is to drawe him within the compasse of inconstancie infidelitie and Apostasie from GOD which I assure my selfe no Christian Diuine will attempt or endure If the humane soule of Christ must bee so setled and resolued in faith that it might not doubt of Gods fauour much lesse might it be perplexed or amazed with the feare terror or sense of Gods displeasure against himselfe as our surety For to that ende did it please the sonne of God to take our nature into the vnitie of his person that it shoulde vtterlie bee impossible for sinne death or hell to separate vs from him or him from God Whereof because hee was infalliblie assured hee must néedes be throughlie perswaded and in that perfect perswasion knowledge and assurance of Gods euerlasting purpose fauour and loue towardes him that he should be the Sauiour of the world if doubting bee not tolerable howe inexcuseable is feare and terror as if hee were forsaken of God which could not bee except God would breake his promise and othe giuen to Abraham and Dauid and falsifie his truth expressed with his own voice from heauen yea and reuerse his eternall counsell and decree forspoken by the mouthes of so many Prophets coÌ„firmed with so manie miracles and executed and accomplished so euidentlie in the birth of our Sauiour The soule of Christ must therefore bee farre from fearing or doubting least God woulde change his minde recall his worde frustrate his promise and violate his oath for these are blasphemies against God in the higest degrée wee must rather receaue Saint Peters assertion out of Dauid that Christ did ALVVAIES see God on HIS RIGHT HANDE that hee shoulde NOT BEE MOOVED And therefore his heart was gladde and his tongue ioyfull yea wee must not onelie leaue him faith but so perpetuall constant and strong that nothing might shake it or abate it For if wee giue vnto men faith that shal withstand and conquere al temptations much more must we allow the Sauior of the world faith as farre aboue ours in validitie stability and certainty as the rest of his virtues and graces exceede the measure of our gifts As therefore in wisdome and holines power and prudence counsell and strength righteousnesse and faithfulnesse no creature might excéed the humane soule of Christ so in patience and assurance hope and loue courage and confidence no earthlie wight might come néere him For hee had the fulnesse of Gods spirite as much as the creature was capable of we haue but a portion according to the measure of the gifte of Christ. Since then God did not giue him the spirit by measure it is an euident absurditie if not impietie to diminish his faith with doubting his loue with feare his hope with horrour of reiection alienation or separation from GOD but as constant faith STAGGERETH NOT perfect loue FEARETH NOT assured hope TREMBLETH NOT so the faith hope and loue of Christ
but relieued supported inwardly by the power of gods spirit in which he reioiced whiles his flesh indured bitter and sharpe torments And this rule When I am weake then am I strong was true in Christ and after his example shall be in all his members For Gods power is perfited in infirmitie Very gladly therefore must all the godlie reioice and take pleasure in their infirmities that the power of Christ may dwell in them How can this be called Christs power if he wanted it in his infirmities and afflictions And if we haue it from him why presume we to take it from him in the time of his sufferinges Shall the scholler be aboue his maister or the seruant more perfect then his Lord Yea then God manifested in the flesh But I hope men learned will take good héede howe they diminish the comfort of Christs crosse we must looke to Iesus the authour and finisher of our faith If he were amazed perplexed and forsaken in his afflictions who shal raise and comfort vs in our extremities Hee that himselfe was astonished and ouerwhelmed with his sufferings on the crosse It may then be said vnto him Phisition heale thy selfe Shall hee comfort vs that could NOT COMFORT himselfe Can wee REIOICE AND TAKE PLEASVRE in following his steppes when hee sanke vnder the burthen and suffered both his fayth and hope for the time to faile But farre be from vs these vnsauorie thoughts and vnséemelie spéeches It was fit that hee from whom and by whom are all things should CONSVMMATE BY AFFLICTIONS THE PRINCE OF OVR SALVATION that shoulde bring many sons vnto glorie the selfe same way that he went before them Which cannot be by doubting distrusting the fauor and help of god much lesse by suffering induring the paines of the damned but by desiring through loue and reioicing vnder hope to take vp Christs crosse and follow him delighting in reproches necessities persecutions and anguish for Christs sake that when his glorie shal appeare we may be glad and reioice with fulnesse of euerlasting ioy Do we then exempt the Lord Christ from all sense of his fathers wrath against our sins whiles we defend in him peace and ioy of the holie ghost as he hung on the crosse There is a feeling of gods wrath which may stand with the pacification consolation of the inward man and there is a sense of Gods wrath which ouerthroweth both and bréedeth a fearful apprehension of Gods displeasure towards vs in which is neither peace nor comfort All the miseries of mans life whatsoeuer they be came first froÌ„ the force of gods wrath reuenging sin and therfore not only death damnation but al kinds of troubles paines griefs in our states bodies and minds which shorten or sower this present life are degrees of gods wrath chasticements of our transgression and corruption When the plague was kindled amongst the people for murmuring against Moses AaroÌ„ Moses said to Aaron take y e censer put fire incense therein go quickly vnto the congregation and make an atonemeÌ„t for theÌ„ for there IS VVRATH GONE OVT FROM THE LORD the plague is begun When the prophet Iehu reproued Iehosaphat for aiding Achab the king of Israel he said wouldst thou help the wicked and loue them that hate the lord euen for this cause WAS THE VVRATH OF THE LORD VPON THEE The prophet Esay comforting the church saith Awake awake and stand vp ô Ierusalem which hast drunke at the hand of the Lord THE CVP OF HIS VVRATH By the prophet Micheas the Church humbleth her selfe vnder the hande of God in these wordes I will BEARE THE VVRATH of the Lord because I haue sinned against him vntill he plead my cause and execute iudgement for me Euerie where the like is vsed in the scriptures I VVAS VVROTH with my people and gaue them into thine hand saith God to Babylon and thou didst shewe them no mercie but didst lay a verie heauie yoke vpon the auncient So Ieremie complaineth to God Thou hast vtterly reiected vs thou art EXCEEDINGLY ANGRY VVITH VS These and many such places more mention the wrath of God which the saints seruants of god tasted and felt for their sinnes but they do not import that Gods eternall fauour and loue towards his children in heauenlie things was vanished or changed The foundation of God standeth sure yea the gifts and calling of God are without repentance And therefore it is vtterlie impossible that Gods election should alter or that hee should not loue his owne vnto the end but iudgement beginning at the house of God wee are chastened of the Lord that wee should not be coÌ„demned with the world And albeit y t bitternes of affliction some time bite so neere that the conscience of our sinnes accusing vs as vnworthie to bee the sonnes of God feare calleth Gods fauour in question for the time yet that temptation riseth from the guiltines of our hearts and weaknesse of our faith which giueth way to the diuel otherwise as we ought to béene god will be merciful to our iniquities remember our sinnes no more for his couenant made with vs in the bloud of his sonne so should we bee fallie perswaded that when we endure chastening bee it neuer so sharpe God offereth himselfe vnto vs as vnto sonnes for what sonne is it whome the father chasteneth not So that if wee bee without correction whereof all are partakers wee are bastards and not sonnes since God chasteneth vs for our profite that wee might be partakers of his holines This correction and chastisement of God because it seemeth greeuous for the present and not ioyous is called in the scriptures the rodde and wrath of God not that Gods loue ceaseth when he correcteth his children for whom the Lord loueth he chasteneth and he scourgeth euery sonne that hee receiueth But as the blessings which he abundantly bestoweth on vs do manifest his gracious and vndeserued mercy so the plagues with which he visiteth our sinnes do witnes his righteous and prouoked iudgement And in that sense must we reckon them to be the signes and effects of Gods wrath For as he is iustly offended with our iniquities because they resist his will dishonour his name and grieue his holie spirit by whoÌ„ we are sealed vnto the day of redemption so when hee chasteneth our transgressions the scourge which we feele is trulie said to be the wrath of God not that God is touched with anie peâ—turbation or alteration in himselfe but his iustice leadeth him to inflict that punishment on vs as well to bring vs to hate that we haue done by godlie sorrow as to make vs more warie how we attempt the like which is religious feare restraining vs from often and easie offending the maiesty and sanctitie of God But this vengeance of our sinnes because
laid or executed on him that is hanged This most apparantly was a publike punishment executed by the magistrate vpon the body of the offender and because by his open and shamefull death which Moses rightlie calleth the curse of God hee had satisfied the sentence of the Iudiciall lawe God commandeth no farther reproch to be offered his bodie in suffering it to hang in all mens eies any longer but to bee buried the same daie For that by his death the curse of God ceased The difference betwéene these two curses is soone perceiued Euerie sinne receaued the first curse whereof Paul spake before fewe crimes receaued the iudgement of this seconde kinde of curse which was to bee hanged The first was inflicted by God himselfe the second was executed by the magistrate The first touched bodie and soule in this life and the next the second ended with the death of the bodie The first was committing of sinne the seconde was suffering for sinne And therefore Chrysostomes exposition is verie true when hee saieth The people were obnoxious to another curse which was this Cursed is euerie one that continueth not in that which is written in the booke of the lawe for there was not one of them that had fulfilled the whole Lawe but Christ insteede of that tooke vpon him another curse which said cursed is euery one that hangeth on the tree He that should take away the first curse must not bee subiect to the same but vndertake an other in place thereof and by that dissolue the first As if one being adiudged to die for some crime an other no way guilty of the same but willing to die for him should deliuer him from the punishment So did Christ not being subiect to the curse of trāsgression insteede thereof he tooke an other curse and dissolued the curse that laie on them Before a man can be accursed by his death hee must you saie be iustlie hanged for manie Innocents and martyrs are hanged who are most blessed Innocentes and martyrs bee their soules neuer so blessed maie beare in their bodies a shamefull death as Christ did in his and that is a kinde of corporall curse though by men vniustlie inflicted euen as death in the godlie is a remnant of Gods curse vpon sinne though their soules bee blessed before and after death Yea the worde KALAL whence the Hebrewes deriue that which with them signifieth a curse noteth also to make vilde and contemptible as if shame reproch and contempt were the greatest outwarde curse that coulde befall anie man in this life The cause why wee suffer it shall make it iust or vniust but wee must call thinges by those names which GOD first allotted them Nowe death shame wrong reproch and such like God ordayned at first to bee punishmentes of sinne and so partes of the curse due to sinne If wee suffer at mens handes for piety that which God appointed to be the wages of iniquity so wee bee patient and willing to abide the triall which is righteous with God though iniurious from men the name is not altered but the reward increased Yea God it is that causeth iudgement to beginne at his own house oftentimes by the handes of persecutors hee doth vs right when men doe vs wrong and dealeth not with vs according to our sinnes in the greatest wrongs that can be done vs. Therfore martyrs and innocents may do well to remember that God hath cause enough though man haue none and so submit themselues as worthie of worse from Gods handes But none of these thinges may be saide of our Sauiour who alone among all the children of men wanted sinne and suffered wrong and therefore his punishments with God were iust not by his deseruing but by his desiring to suffer for man How then commeth it to passe that martyrs which are sinners before God are vniustlie hanged because they deserue no such thing at mens handes and Christ who was most innocent before men and most righteous before God you wil needs haue to be iustly hanged The suerty you say by his suertiship is a debtor to the creditor and to the law and so Christ though most innocent in himself yet was hee iustlie hanged as our suretie by the iust sentence of the law You mistake Sir Confuter as well the sentence of the lawe as the suertiship of Christ. For though mans lawe permit which is the rule of charitie that men should beare each others burdens and vndertake one for an other in money matters and such like things which God leaueth in each mans will and power yet tell me I praie what lawe Gods or mans permitteth a murderer or like offender to be spared and an other that is willing to bee hanged in his steede I thinke mans law will allow you no such suertiship I am sure Gods lawe will not As I liue saith the Lord the soule that sinneth that soule shall die The wickednes of the wicked shall bee vpon himselfe Hee shall haue then no suerties to die for him much lesse shall his suertie be compelled to die by the sentence of the law Their monie men may giue awaie but their liues they may not till God call for them and if not their liues much lesse their soules by anie sentence of the law The sonne of God did not by LAVV but by LOVE interpose himselfe to beare our sinnes So God loued the worlde that hee gaue his onely begotten sonne that whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perish but haue euerlasting life Yea the sonne of God loued vs and gaue himselfe for vs not by anie obligation to the lawe for hee was aboue the lawe and could not be bound by the lawe and we were condemned by the sentence of the law and not put to finde suerties The eternall wisedome and counsell of God then out of his inestimable loue towardes vs without the lawe and before the law decréed as to create vs so to redéeme vs by Christ his sonne And the sonne not as debtour to anie nor for anie but of his good will and fauour toward vs offered himselfe to suffer for vs whatsoeuer the iustice of his father would impose Wherein he became not a Suertie bound to the law but a Mediatour to God and a Redeemer of man Suerties that stand bounde and must paie the debt may not looke to be Mediators and he that redeemeth a prisoner from the enemie is not bound but content so to doe And that the death of Christ should be paide as a debt to the lawe whereto Christ was bounde is to mee a strange position I tooke Christes sufferings all this while for a voluntarie oblation to God and not for a due obligation to the lawe and himselfe to be a mediatour not a debtour his death I reckned to bee a richer offer then man coulde owe and a greater price then the lawe could exact And therefore the newe testament of mercie grace and glorie was made by his bloud which are
quia sacrificium pro peccato The sacrifice for sinne is in the law called sinne The lawe still so vseth the word not once nor twice but verie often Such a sinne was Christ he had no sinne and yet he was sinne He was sinne because he was the sacrifice for sinne So Ambrose Because Christ was offered for sinne worthilie is he said to be made sinne because in the lawe the sacrifice that is offered for sinne is called sinne This waie if you conster S. Paules words they conclude directlie against your irreligious supposition For if Christ when hee tooke vs into his bodie did clense our sinnes by the offering of himselfe hee became not defiled by our sinnes Hee did not clense vs that was defiled by vs. Howsoeuer you take those wordes Such an high priest it became vs to haue saieth the Apostle as was holy harmlesse VNDEFILED SEPARATE from sinners If the Priest were defiled the sacrifice could not be accepted If Christ were separate from sinners then was hee not polluted by sinners He tooke our sinnes vnto him not to drawe anie pollution from them but to make y e purgation of them He that coulde clense vs from our sinnes howe much more coulde hee kéepe himselfe from beeing defiled with our sinnes If we follow the other sense of S. Pauls wordes that Christ was made sinne for vs that is the punishment of our sinne wee must take héede that wee bring him not within the guiltinesse of our sinnes as we doe within the punishment of our sinnes Suscepit Christus sine reaâ—u supplicium nostrum vt inde solueret reatum nostrum siuiret etiam supplicium nostrum Christ vndertooke saith Austen our punishment without our guilt that so hee might remit our guilt and ende our paine Christ saieth Cyprian endured by Moses and his owne Apostle to bee called a curse and sinne pro similitudine poenae non culpae for the likenesse of the paine not of the fault Dilexit nos Christus dulciter sapienter fortiter Dulce nempe dixerim quod carnem induit cautum quod culpam cauit forte quod mortem sustinuit Christ saith Bernard loued vs sweetelie wiselie stronglie Sweetelie in that he tooke our flesh wiselie in that hee shunned our guiltinesse strongâ—ie in that he suffered death for vs. If Christ tooke the paine but not the guilt of our sinnes howe came hee to bee defiled by our sinnes It must needes be either in ioining and vniting himselfe vnto vs or in answering and suffering for vs. Our vnion with Christ doth sanctifie vs it defileth not him We are as neere ioyned to Christ nowe raigning in heauen as wee were to Christ suffering on the Crosse. As wee died with him then in the bodie of his flesh so wee sitte togither with him in heauenlie thinges But our vnion and communion nowe though wee bee sinfull and mortall doth no waie defile him no more did it then when hee suffered for vs. If you saie our sinnes were imputed vnto him when he was crucified for them that increaseth the perfection of his loue it argueth not anie pollution of his soule To die for wicked men did not touche him with anie taint of our sinnes but GOD saieth the Apostle setteth out his loue towardes vs in this that whiles wee were yet sinners Christ died for vs. The iust therefore did die for the vniust and was no partner of our iniustice hee that saued vs from our sinnes did not defile himselfe with them And where all this is grounded vppon a simple similitude that a suertie by vndertaking for a debtour maketh the debt his owne though hee neuer borrowed the money it is easilie and trulie aunswered that Christ did not vndertake wee shoulde not sinne nor that wee should paie the debt which wee did owe but when wee had sinned and were able no waie to aunswere the iustice of GOD but by our euerlasting destruction of bodie and soule it pleased the sonne of God to interpose himselfe and no waie bound to vs or for vs to intreate his father f that in his owne person hee might make recompence for our sinnes and so as a Mediatour allowed of God hee tooke our nature and freelie not indebted willinglie not constrained Hee gaue himselfe for vs a sacrifice of a sweete sauour vnto God As if the whole people of anie lande rebelling against their King and beeing subdued and readie to be destroied the Kinges sonne loath to see his fathers kingdome dispeopled and so manie wretched men women and children put to fire and sworde shoulde importune his father at his request to bee gratious vnto them and to laie on him though hee bee his onelie sonne what chasticement the father in his wisedome and iustice shall thinke fitte for the repressing of the like outrage hereafter maie anie of those subiectes without extreame ingratitude and intolerable contumelie reproch the Kings sonne when hee suffereth for their sakes that hee is guiltie of their treason and both DEFILED with it and HATEFVLL for it I will not applie because it will presse you too farre but as mine owne perswasion is that no such sinfull and hatefull wordes haue or should be vsed in the Church of God to the dishonour of his sonne so my counsell to the sober and wise reader is to stop his eares and shut his eies against such defiled and accursed speeches You proceede to another proofe and where the Apostle saith Christ spoiled Principalities powers and made a shew of them openlie triumphing ouer them vpon these words you inferre These principalities are the diuels therefore it is certaine Christ FELT THEM to bee the verie instruments that VVROVGHT THE VERIE EFFECTS of Gods wrath VPON HIM This is the first place where you specifie anie effect of Gods wrath against Christs soule for you will haue the soule of Christ properlie and immediatelie to suffer the effectes of Gods wrath and that you prooue learnedlie and wiselie like your selfe The diuels haue nothing to do with the soules of men but either to tempt them to worke in them or to torment them To tempt is to trie how fast y e saints stand in the feare and loue of God And for that cause the wisdome of god hath from the beginning suffered all his saints his owne sonne not excepted to be tempted of satan For Christ coulde not be tempted by the corruption of his heart as we are but by Satans voice or by Satans members Of vs Iames saith Euerie man is tempted when he is entised and drawne away by his owne concupiscence Concupiscence there was none in Christ. He had no law in his flesh rebelling against the lawe of his minde as wee haue It is in vs the rage of originall sinne from which he was frée and therefore he coulde not bee tempted but by the eare as he was in y e desart by satan himself by Satans members al the time of his abode on earth In the
from the life of God of which death the Diuell is sayde to haue the power and execution Therefore in the former place death signifieth so to euen the death of the soule that is the torments and sorrowes due to the damned and consequently Christ suffered the death of the soule And because this reason will seeme altogether vnreasonable and harsh in the eares of some to saie the least of it let them soberlie consider it and it is most true and euident Or if this will not perswade men to beleeue that Christ died the death of the soule men liuing being surprised with grieuous sorrowes and paines will saie as Terence witnesseth occidi perij interij they die they perish So likewise the death of the soule sometimes maie bee vnderstoode and that most sitlie for the paines and sufferinges of Gods wrath which alwayes accompanie them that are separated from the grace and loue of God And if Terence bee not authoritie sufficient Saint Peter against whome lieth no exception saith that Christ in his suffering for vs was done to death in the flesh but made aliue by the spirite And in the Scripture whensoeuer the fleshe and the spirite are opposed togither the flesh is alwayes Christes whole humanitie I saie not his bodie onelie but his soule also From hence nowe it followeth that Christes soule also died and was crucified according to the death and crucifying which soules are subiect vnto and capable of I haue Christian Reader neither peruerted the reasons nor pared the authorities on which this Confuter groundeth his conclusion that Christ died the death of the soule and that Christs soule was also crucified as well as his bodie I haue onelie sette them togither that thou maiest with one view behold both the deepnes and soundnesse of this vpstart writer and in thy secrete and vpright iudgement is it not patience enough to heare and endure a two legged creature to talke in this sort without all learning religion or discretion controlling all the fathers as fooles for thinking otherwise then hee doth commaunding the Scriptures pretor-like to serue his ignorant and lewd assertions and estéeming none to be sober or considerate except they confesse his shamefull absurdities to bee most true and euident But I haue not learned nor vsed to giue reuiling spéeches the Lorde reprooue his follie Though it bee not worth the answering yet for their sakes that bee simple I will not refuse to speake to it and to let them see what difference there is betwixt truth and errour Your maine reason Sir Refuter is this in these wordes of the Apostle Christ through death abolished the diuell that had power of death This worde DEATH say you hath the same meaning in both places the proofe you make for it is this verie fond it were to take it here otherwise Your assumption is but death in the latter place questionlesse signifieth the death of the soule Therefore Christ died the death of the soule It were as easie for mee to saie it is not so as for you to saie it is so but that course which you holde is but prating of euerie thing it is no proouing of anie thing Howe manie kinds of death there are wee shall better learne by the graue father Saint Austen then by the young louers in Terence Dicitur mors prima dicitur secunda Primae mortis duae sunt partes vna qua peccatrix anima per culpam discessit a creatore suo altera qua indicante Deo exclusa est per poenam à corpore suo Mors autem secunda ipsa est corporis animae punitio sempiterna There is a first death and a second Death Of the first death there be two parts one when the sinfull soule by offending departed from her Creator the other whereby the soule for her punishment was excluded from her bodie by Gods iustice The second death is the euerlasting torment of bodie and soule The same partes and kindes of death are often repeated by him in his 13. booke de ciuitate Dei as namelie Mors animae fit cum eam deserit Deus sicut corporis cum id deserit anima Ergo vtriusque rei id est totius hominis mors est cum anima à Deo deserta deserit corpus Ita enim nec ipsa vixit ex deo nec corpus ex ipsa Huiusmodi autem totius hominis mortem illa sequitur quam secundam mortem diuinorum eloquiorum appellat authoritas Nam illa poena vltima sempiterna recte mors animae dicitur The death of the soule is when God forsaketh her as the death of the bodie is when the soule forsaketh the bodie So y e death of both that is of the whole man is when the soule forsaken of God forsaketh her bodie For so neither she liueth by God nor the bodie by her This death of the whole man that other death followeth which the diuine scriptures call the second death for that last and euerlasting punishment is rightlie called the death of the soule Here are thrée kinds of death sinne which separateth vs from God bodilie death which separateth the soule from the body and eternall damnation which tormenteth body and soule for euer In the Apostles words to the Hebrues that Christ through death abolished y e diuell that had power of death you wil by no meanes haue the death of the bodie intended that is a benefite and gaine to the godlie Then of sinne and eternall damnation the diuell must be said to haue power and indeede so he hath For hee is the perswader and leader to sinne and the executioner and tormentor in damnation And so by your diuinitie Christ must sinne and be euerlastinglie condemned to hell fire before he can abolish the Diuell that hath power of both these For he must abolish him by the same kind of death whereof hee hath power Looke Sir Refuter what an wholsome exposition of the Apostles words you haue made vs which the diuell himselfe durst not aduenture it is so blasphemous God forbid you will say this should be anie part of your meaning But if such bee your ignorant rashnesse that you will so expound scriptures as these consequents shall necessarie followe you must leaue writing and fall to learning an other while till you be able to foresée what may iustly be inferred vpon your positions Deaths of the soule there are none mentioned in anie Scripture or father but sinne and eternall damnation Leaue the patheticall hyperbolicall metaphoricall phrases of Terence to boies in the Grammer schoole speake at least like a diuine though you bee none If your cause bee so holie a truth as you talke of it hath both foundation and approbation in the Scriptures You shall not neede to runne to heathen Poets to prooue that the Sauiour of the worlde died the death of the soule What the death of the soule is what consequentes it hath and what maine
But you did well to prophesie of this conceite of yours that it woulde seeme harsh and altogether vnreasonable in the eares of some to◠saie the least of it In the eares of all that bee wise and learned it will sound worse for it is a flat repugnancie not only to all the Fathere but euen to the christian faith that Christ died as well in soule as in bodie and as meane a man as I am I thinke I shall bee able to make that good which I saie For if the soule of Christ were alwaies perfectlie vnited vnto life fullie possessed of life and aboundantly able to giue life tell me I praie you howe it maie stande with the trueth of the scriptures that the same soule was for anie time deade you may euen as well defende that Christ sinned as that his soule died for the death of the soule is sinne in this life and damnation in the next Certe anima Christi nulla mortificata peccato vel damnatione punita est quibus duabus causis mors animae intelligi potest Surelie the soule of Christ was deade with no sinne nor punished with any damnation which are the two waies that the death of the soule may bee possibly conceaued The death of the soule say you may be vnderstood that most fitly for the paines and sufferings of Gods wrath which alwaies as company them that are separated from the grace and loue of God This death of the soule yee affirme Christ suffered yet hee himselfe neuer separated but most intirely beloued yea most holie most innocent and most blessed You contradict Sir Refuter not onlie the scriptures and fathers but euen your selfe in one and the same sentence and reele like a man whose braines are not steadie Secundum scripturas triplicem esse mortem accepimus Vna est cum morimur peccato deo viuimus Beata mors quae a mortali nos separat immortali conseruat Alia mors est vitae excessus cum anima nexu corporis liberatur Tertia mors est de qua dictum est anima quae peccauerit ipsa morietur Ea morte non solum caro sed etiam anima moritur haec mors non est perfunctio huius vitae sed lapsus erroris By the scriptures saith Ambrose we learne there is a triple death One when we die to sinne and liue to God This is a blessed death which seuereth vs from that which is mortall and ioineth vs to that which is immortall The second is the departure out of this life when the soule is deliuered from the bandes of her bodie The thirde death is that of which it is written the soule that sinneth shall die this death dieth not onelie the flesh but the soule also for it is not the ending of this life but the running into errour The first is the life of the soule and the death of sinne which is SPIRITVALL The second is the ceasing of this life which is NATVRALL the thirde is not onelie sinne but destruction which is PENALL Which of these agreeth to Christ Ambrose himselfe will tell you Quid est Christus nisi mors corporis spiritus vitae What is Christ but the death of the bodie and the Spirit of life Then Christ died not the death of the soule for the spirit of life cannot die vnlesse you will make life it selfe to bee death Yea they which in this worlde die the death of the soule are separated from Christ for did they abide in him they shoulde abide in life he is the waie the truth and not onelie liuing but life it selfe This testimonie our Sauiour giueth of himselfe Verilie verilie I saie vnto you hee that beleeueth in mee hath eternall life If they cannot die the death of the soule which beleeue in Christ howe mush lesse can Christ himselfe die that death And heere Sir Refuter you broch so grosse and palpable an errour that women and children will deride you For if the tormentes of hell and paines of the damned do alwayes accompany them that are separated from the grace and loue of God howe manie hundred thousand thousandes of all sortes sexes and ages in all kingdomes and countries shoulde bee disturbed distracted and confounded in all the powers of their soules and senses of their bodie where are the riches of Gods bounteousnesse patience and long suffering which the Apostle so highlie commendeth as leading vnto repentance How could Abraham with anie truth saie to the rich man in hell Sonne remember thou in thy life time receauedst thy good thinges and Lazarus paines where if your position be true the paines of Lazarus coulde not bee comparable to the tormentes and paines that ALVVAIES ACCOMPANIE the wicked I assure thee christian Reader a man could not with fewer and foolisher wordes then these more crosse the whole tenor of the scriptures For the wicked here in this life abound with all wealth ease and prosperitie insomuch that manie of the godlie haue beene and still are offended with it Reade the 72. Psalme and see whether these intolerable and horrible feares sorrowes paines and tormentes of hell and the damned do alwaies accompanie them heere in this life My feete were almost gone saith Dauid when I sawe the peace of the wicked There are no bands in their death they are Iustie and strong they are not in trouble nor plagued with other men their eies stand out for fastnesse they haue more then their heart can wish Lo these are the wicked yet PROSPER THEY ALVVAIE and increase in riches This was too hard for me till I went into the sanctuarie of God then I vnderstood their ende So that God with much patience suffereth the vessels of wrath prepared vnto destruction who according to their harde and impenitent hearts heape vp wrath vpon themselues against the daie of the declaration of the iust iudgement of God whose suddaine destruction is then nearest when they shal say peace and safety And what maruell you crosse the scriptures in confounding the wrath of God to come with the wrath of God present in this life when you doe not see your owne wordes to be contrarie one to the other For if Christ died the death of the soule which is an alienation from the life of God howe was he neuer separated but alwaies intirely beloued and most blessed If hee were neuer separated from the life of God howe came he to die the death of the soule which must néeds be a separatiō for the time from God vnlesse you can match light and darkenesse death and life together and make the one to be the other and both to cleaue to God himselfe But what cannot you do that can make the paines of the damned and torments of hell the onlie true and perfectlie accepted sacrifice to God These are your words Such a sorrow indeed of a broken and contrite heart is the only true and perfectly accepted
sacrifice to God and is in effect nothing but what we affirme You affirme that Christ died the death of the soule which you interpret to bee such paines and sufferings of Gods wrath as alwaies accompany them that are separated from the grace and loue of God You affirme that Christ suffered wonderfull and piteous astonishment forgetfulnesse and confusion of the powers of nature euen of all the powers of his soule and senses of his bodie yea he felt the verie diuels as the instruments that wrought the verie effectes of Gods wrath vppon him and though the wicked oftentimes find farre more intolerable horror of their sinnes then any other yet you doubt not but Christ as touching the vehemencie of paine was as sharply touched euen as the Reprobate themselues yea if it may be more extraordinarily All this you affirme and by your owne words all this is the ONLY TRVE and perfectly accepted sacrifice to God So then whosoeuer feeleth not all this hath no broken nor contrite heart nor anie longer then hee feeleth these hellish torments in his soule And if this be the ONLY TRVE sacrifice to God I will not aske what shall become of the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiuing but howe vnhappie are the godlie that at anie time are free from the paines of the damned and from the tormentes of hell since the suffering thereof is the ONLY TRVE and perfectlie accepted sacrifice to God Godly sorrow saieth the Apostle causeth repentance vnto saluation those wordes please you not such hellish sorrowes and intolerable horrors as the Reprobate themselues feele yea as the damned doe suffer this saie you is the ONIY TRVE and accepted sacrifice to God You must haue other sacrifices and those accepted before you come to heauen or else the Reprobate and damned will bee there as soone as you God send you his grace and grant your wits and senses bee not distempered and distracted you talke so much of hellish paines and torments executed by diuels as the only true sacrifice of a broken and contrite hart The Apostles wordes whereon you first grounded this odious assertion haue no such intention as you imagine By death Christ conquered him that had power of death that is the Diuel Aske the simplest childe y t is catechised in your charge if you haue anie what death Christ died for vs and hee will answere you out of his Créede Christ was crucified deade and buried and that is the death which the Scriptures describe and deliuer I deliuered vnto you saieth Paul that which I receiued how that Christ died for our sinnes according to the scriptutes what death if wee aske the Apostle he will answere the death of the Crosse. For we preach saieth he Christ crucified and I esteemed not to know any thing among you but Christ Iesus and him crucified Christ crucified then that is by his death on the crosse destroied him that had power of death Of what death you aske hath the diuell power as well of the second death which Christ coulde not suffer as of the first which hee did suffer Christ you will saie coulde deliuer vs from no death but from the verie same which he suffered himselfe If so you saie or so would saie it is no lesse then heresie or blasphemie Hee deliuered vs from euerlasting death which hee neither did nor coulde suffer If you saie hee deliuered vs not from euerlasting death it is open heresie if you saie Christ suffered euerlasting death it is blasphemie Yet hath the diuell power of both deaths as well temporal as eternall What power you aske hath the diuel of this death which our bodies die God made not that death but by the enuy of the Diuell it came into the world He was the first procurer of it by perswading sinne and still reioiceth in it as the verie gate to hel I shal goe said Ezechiah to the gate of hell which was the death of his bodie that waie the wicked passe to hell Yea the Apostle calleth the corruption of our bodies the sting of sinne wherewith the diuell pearced vs when this corruption hath put on incorruption ô death where is thy sting For the exposition of the Apostles words I may either say with S Austen Ipse Dominus mori voluit vt quemadmoduÌ„ de illo scriptum est per mortem euacuaret eum qui ptoestateÌ„ habebat mortis id est Diabolum liberaret eos qui timore mortis per tâ—tam vitam rei erant seruitutis Hoc Testimonio satis illud monstratur mortem istam corporis principe atque authore Diabolo hoc est ex peccato accidisse quod ille persuasit Neque enim ob aliud potestatem habere mortis verissime diceretur The Lord himselfe would die that as it is written of him by death he might destroie him that had power of death euen the diuell and deliuer them which for feare of death were all their life long subiect to seruitude By this testimonie it is sufficientlie prooued that this verie death of our bodies came from the Diuell as the Authour and chiefe dooer thereof that is from the sinne which hee perswaded He cannot for any other cause be said to haue power of death which here is most truly spoken Ambrose Chrysostom and Cyril referre death throughout that sentence to the death of the bodie In these wordes saie they the Apostle noteth an admirable thing that whereby the diuel had power thereby was he ouerthrown The weapons which were his strength against the world that is death by y t Christ strooke him Why treÌ„ble ye why feare ye death now death is not terrible but acceptable as the end of labor and the beginning of rest Chrysostom hath almost the same wordes Cyrill verie often expoundeth death in that place for the death of Christs bodie The sonne of God was partaker of flesh and bloud that yeelding his BODY to death he by nature as God being life it selfe might quicken it againe otherwise how had hee abolished the imperie of death vnlesse he had raised againe his dead BODY And againe Because it was aboue mans nature to abolish death yea rather it was subdued of death the son of God that is life took vnto him mans nature subiect to death y t death as a cruell beast inuading his flesh should cease froÌ„ his tyranny ouer vs that should thereby be abolished If by death in the second place we vnderstand the death of body and soule with Fulgentius I am not against it this being alwaies remembred that Christ died no death but the death of the bodie Mors filij Dei quam SOLA CARNE suscepit vtramque in nobis morteÌ„ animae scilicet carnisque destruxit The death which the sonne of God suffered ONLY in his flesh destroied BOTH DEATHS in vs as well that of the soule as that of the body The Confuâ—er hauing
Corinth 15 e Rom. 5. f Philip. 2. Rom. 3. verse g 25. h 24. i Psal. 51. k Iob. 14. l Ephes. 1. m Ephes 4 n Rom 7. o Rom. 7 p Galat. 5 q Rom. 8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r Rom. 1 s Rom. 7 t Rom. u Rom. 7 x Rom. 8. y 2. Corinth â— z Ephes. 2 z Ephes. 2 why the death of Christs body doth counteruaile all the bodies souleâ— of men The bodilie death of christ doth more coÌ„mend the merits of Christ then if y e paines of hell were ioyned with it In the death of the soule there could neither be obedience nor patience a 2. Corinth 9. It is no loue to renounces God for mans sakeâ— b Iohn 15 c Rom. 5 Christs loue towards vs in dying for vs. d Heb. 7. e Ephes. â— All Christs sufferings were INIVRIOVS in respect of the doers and VOLVNTARIE in respect of him selfe f 1. Peter 2. g 1. Pet. â— g 1. Pet. â— h Luke 23. i Augusti de tempore serm 101. k Idem de trinitate li. 13. ca. 14 l Ibid. cap. 1â— m Greg. 〈◊〉 3. ca. 11. n Iohn 10. o Galat. 2 p Ephes. 5. q August de trinitat li. 4. ca. 13 r August de 〈◊〉 contra Manichaeos cap. 26. The recapitulation of y e maner and merit of Christs death s Gen. 2. t Iohn 3. The coÌ„fort of Christs crosse taken out of the 22. Psalme u Psalm 2â— x Vers. 9. y 10 z 11 a 19 b 12 c â—4 d Vers. 1. e Ambros. in Psal. 118. ser. 1. The same oâ—â— of the 16. Psalme f Psal. 16. The ground of Christs faith g Act. 1. h Bernard de verbâ—â— I saiae serm 5. Rom. 14 Doubting of Gods fauour is sinne in Christ k Matth. 14. l Rom. 4. m Iacob 1. Feare is more intolerable in Christ then doubting n Actes 2. o Iohn 1. p Ephes. 4 q Iohn 3. Christ was not amazed on the Crosse. r Mark 14. s Iohn 18 t Iohn 19 u Luke 23 x Luke 23. y Iohn 19 z Luke 23 a Matth. 2â— b Marke 14 b Marke 14 c Luke 23. d Iohn 19 d Iohn 19 e Matth. 1â— f 1. Peter 2 Christ wauered not in his praiers in y e garden g 1 Galat. 5 h 1. Corinth 7 i Matth. 26. verse 44. k Esay 53â— Christ praied often and earnestly but with full assurance to be heard l Hebre 5. m Mark 14. verse 33. Christ might at the first be abashed with Gods maiesty or mans misery but he recouered himselfe before he entered into his praiers How and why Christ might be rauished n Mat. 20. Christs praier could not be reiected o Heb. 5. p Iohn 11. q Iohn 8. The cup did passe from Christ in that sense in which he prayed it might r Esay 5â— s Hebr. 5. s Hebr. 5. Christ on the crosse must be assured his sacrifice should be accepted t Matt. 1. u Phil. 2. x Colos. 1. y Colos. 1. vers 19. 20 z Phil. 2. ver 8. a Ephe. 5. b Heb. 12. c Acts. 2. Psal. 16. We must suffer as Christ did which I hope is not the paines of hell d 1. Pet. 2. e Rom. 8. f Phil. 3. g 1 Peter 4 h 2. Cor. 1. Christs affliction on y e crossâ— was full of consolation i 2. Cor. 4. k Ibidem l 2. Cor. 12. m Ibidem m Ibidem Heb. 12. o Luke 4. p Heb. 2. q 2. Cor. 12. r 1. Pet. 4. All miseries are the effectâ— of gods wrath s Num. 16. t 2. Chro. 13 u Esay 51 x Mich. 7. y Esay 47. z Lament 5. a 2. Tim. 2. b Rom. 11. c Iohn 13. d â— Peter 4. e 1. Cor. 11. f Heb. 8. g Heb. 12. h Heb. 12. Heb. 13. k Rom. 2. l Ephe 4. Gods wrath towards his â— mixed with mercy and iustice The wrath of God against our sinnes was very great in the crosse of Christ. m Hebre. 5 n Ibidem o 1. Peter 2. p Esay 53. It should somwhat moue vs y t hell paines were neuer added to Christs crosse for 1300 yeeres since the Apostles time The doctrine here deliuered is authorised by the lawes of this realme q Num 3. r Num 13. The fiâ—t effect of Christes crosse which is the glory of his resurrectioÌ„ Foure opinioÌ„ touching the article of the Creede he descended into hell s 1. Samuel 2 The â—eare of hell may fall on vs but not on Christ. How Christ in some sense may be said to haue suffered the paines of hel on y e crosâ—e Papists were the first brochers of this opinion that Christ suffered hell paines on the crosse t Nicholaus de Cusa Excitationum lib 10. ex sermone qui per spiritum sanctum semetipsuÌ„ obtulâ—s u Ibidem x August Iustinianus in scholiis Octapliâ— Psal. 30. y Ferus lib. 4. in Mat. cap. 27. in illa verbaâ— Deus meus deuenitus z Ibidem Charitie supposeth the best Sinful infirmities are more hainous in Christ then in vs. Christs soule â—reer from hel then either saints or angels This opinion is not false but impertinent and idle The third opinion can hardly auoid 〈…〉 Sheol as well hell as the graue a Psal. â— b 〈…〉 c Ibid. ver 24. d Iob. 11 The lowest place and farthest from heauen is hell e Psal. 85. f Deut. 32 The scripture maketh a descent to Sheol g Luke 16 h Genes 37 i Genesâ— 42. k Numb 16 l Psal. 9. The soules of y e wicked were in Sheol before Christs comming but not of the godly â—say 38 n Prouerb 15 o Prouerb 9 p Prouerb 23 q Psal. 89. r Psal. 49 s Psal. 49. Abraham bosome is no part of Sheol or hel t Prouerb 13 u Luke 16. x August epist. 99. y Luke 16. How y e words of the Creed are best expounded z 1. Corinth 15 1. Regum 17. b 2. Regum 4 Marei 5. d Luke 7 Iohn 11 Reuelat. 2. Christ the first that euer rose conqueror of sinne death and hell g Ephes. â—â— The conquest of Christ ouer sinne death h Rom. 4. i Reuel 14 In vaine is all that christ did for vs if hel be noâ— coÌ„quered The methode of handling Christs descent Christs conquest ouer Satan had these three effects The proofe of these three by the scriptures k Mat. 12. Mark 3. l Phil. 2. m Colos. 2. n 1. Cor. 15. o 1. Peter 3. On the crosse Christ obtained his triumph but he executed it at his resurrectioÌ„ p Mat. 28. q Philip. 2 r Reuel 1. s Psal 2. t Heq. 2. n Colos. 2. The fathers read in sâ—metipso in his own person and those y t reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 applie it to Christ not to the crosse saue onelie Occumenius Oâ—cumeniusâ—â— 2. cap. ad 〈◊〉 Christs resurrectioÌ„ was a famore glorious triumph ouer Satan then his passion was x 2. Corâ— y Româ— z 1. Cor. 15. 〈◊〉 â— Heb. 13. â— Heb. 12. Luke 24. Phil. â— The cause
be these wicked fancies either to the Créede or to Christian Religion Séeing therefore your Gréeke Poets with one consent make HADES to be a god below vnder the earth and put vnder his power as well the Elisian fields and seates for the iust soules as the prisons and dungeons for the vniust and this fantasticall conceite of Socrates touching a speciall place for himselfe and such Philosophers as hee was together with Swannes beasts trees flowers fruites as it was singular and secret to himselfe so it was most absurd and wicked you may by no meanes bring your Classicall writers that were Pagans to expounde the Créede much lesse must you binde the holy Ghost in the new Testament to vse the word HADES as the infidels did since the holy Ghost onely knoweth and speaketh trueth and their imaginations of the dead or as you speake of the world of soules was not onely false and foolish but impious and blasphemous And yet if you doe admit them to bée interpreters of the Créede which I vtterlie refuse for the causes I haue tolde you they make directly against you For HADES with them was the Ruler or place of soules that were beneath vnder the earth were they in rest or in paine and that Christian Religion will assure you must néedes be hell howsoeuer to beare out your broken matter you beginne halfe to doubt where hell is The authenticke authors of the Greeke tongue vsed hades for the place of the blessed soules you say and not properlie for hell So Leonidas cheered vp his men not to feare such a blessed death to suppe in hell had beene a colde comfort vnto them You reade nothing your selfe belike that you hit nothing right In Plutarch whome you alleage this is no comfort giuen by Leonidas but hée séeing the Persians now in sight as his men were dining and in number so infinite aboue his who were but an handfull willeth them to make short and saith So dine as men that must suppe in HADES that is care not for meate since death is so neere but prepare to fight for your Countrey It sheweth a resolution to dye but no consolation after death more than they knew before which was that in HADES were places as well for the good to rest as for the bad to bée punished but both were below vnder earth and in Plutoes kingdome as the Gentiles supposed Neither did Homer meane to make a new heauen for such as Achilles slue but to send them to the place where hée thought all soules did abide and therefore hée put Achilles soule in Plutoes region vnder the earth as well as the rest of the Grecians and Troians that died in that Battaile And because your Proctor will néedes haue the words that Achilles spirite spake to Vlisses at his descent to hell to bee a dictionarie for hades what place it is against which if the Creede had gone it had been a skoffe to all Hellas and had hindered all the proceeding of the Gospell Let vs sée whether his owne dictionarie will not returne all his allegations vppon his owne head If HADES in the Créede must bee the same place where Achilles spirite was whither Vlisses descended and where he saw and spake with so many Ghostes then apparantly HADES must bée the Poets HELL At Vlisses entrance Homer telling how the soules came about him saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The soules flocked together out of Erebus now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the very place where the Poets place Cerberus and whence the same Poet saith Hercules 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Was sent to fetch from Erebus the dogge of HATEFVLL HADES Againe Vlisses mother asking him how hee came to that place saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My sonne how camest thou vnder this darke mist Of Aiax Ghost who would not for anger speake to Vlisses Homer saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hee went away to other soules in Erebus There Vlisses saith hée saw Sisyphus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suffering grieuous torments as also Titius and Tantalus to endure the like There he saw 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hercules strength a Ghost for hee himselfe was in ioye with the immortall Gods There Achilles spirite tooke so small comfort that when Vlisses said There is none happier then thou Achilles before whiles thou liuedst wee honoured thee as a God and now art thou a great commaunder among the Dead bee not therefore so fadde hée replied Praise not death to mee Vlisses I had rather serue any poore man on earth as his drudge though hee were scant able to liue then to raigne here ouer all the dead If the place bee darke and déepe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If Cerberus bée there which the Poets make the very kéeper of hell if there bée grieuous and cruell punishmentes for such as deserue them if the best haue there so little ioye of the place as Homer maketh Achilles ghost here to confesse what place can this bée but that hell which all the Poets acknowledge though in some part thereof there hée worse punishmentes then in other This is not that Tartarus you will saye which the Poets make the â—ayle and Prison for the wicked What is that to the purpose if some punishmentes in hell bée worse than other Looke to those whome the Poets place without the dungeon and sée whether they bée in heauen or no And because you and your friends talke so much of the worlde of Soules and of heauen to bée found in HADES and INFERI and your selfe bring Virgill as one of your Classicall authors to proue this matter Who though hee were a Poet and fayned many things yet hee spake you say familiarlie and after the vulgar vse and for the substance of the matter vttered touching heauen and hell the opinion of the worlde then I must pray the Readers leaue and patience whiles I follow you in your owne fantasticall deuise though against mine owne liking to let the simple sée what your world of soules and your heauen is euen in those very writers which you produce for this purpose and whether they bée fitte things to bée Presidents for the Créede or no. In Plutoes kingdome vnder earth whether Aeneas went to sée his Father Anchises Virgil your authenticke author maketh besides Tartarus and your goodly Elisian fields the eternall habitation as you call it of the blessed many lodgings As first for sicknes care weeping pouertie labour warres discord dreames and death besides for Centaures Briareus Hidra Chimera Gorgon Harpies and Gerion and sundrie other monsters There wander the Ghosts whose bodies are not buried a hundred yeare before they can get ouer the foule and silthie riuer of Styx The other side of Styx is kept by Cerberus the Dogge with thrée heads where first are placed the soules of infants weeping and crying then such as were vniustly condemned to death
next such as being wearie of their liues killed themselues now willing to suffer pouertie or any paine on earth so they might returne to life againe In the fourth place are Lugentes Campi the wofull fields of such as died for loue in the fift Warriers and such as pursued each other with the sword where Aeneas saw all the Grecians and Troians that dyed at the siege of Troy Of all these places where yet are no punishments the Poet maketh Deiphobus to say to Aeneas what cause driueth thée Vt tristes sine fole domos loca turbida adires To come to the wofull housen without sunne and lothsome placesâ— Then leadeth the left hand to Tartarus which these men so much harpe at compassed with fierie Phlegeton and there are the punishments of the wicked then Plutoes palace and on the right hand Amaena vireta fortunatorum nemorum sedésque beatae The sweete springs of the fortunate woods and the blessed seats Here is the heauen which this confuter alleageth out of Virgil and here Aeneas found his father Anchises in a greene vale viewing the soules that dranke of the water of obliuion and were tâ— take new bodies on earth againe His words are Animae quibus altera fato Corpora debentur Lethei ad â—luminis vndam Securos latices long a obliuia potant The soules who by destinie are to take bodies the second time doe here at the Riuer of Lethe drinke the waters of vtter forgetfulnes no way remembring whatsoeuer they saw or knew either whiles they first liued or during the time of their abode vnder earth And because it séemed strange to Aeneas that soules should come to take other bodies though this be right Platoes fansie in his Phaedone Anchises telleth his sonne the secrets of Platoes Purgatorie heauen and resurrection as Virgil conceiued them who was a great Platonist When men die saith he all the infections of their bodies cannot presently be taken from their soules Ergo exercentur poenis veterúmque maloruÌ„ supplicia expendunt Therefore the soules of such as are curable for the desperate and insanable are cast into Tartarus and neuer come thence by Platoes owne words are purged with paines and abide the punishment of their former infection some are hanged vp to the winde some are plunged vnder water some are clensed by fier Quisque suos patimur manes exinde per amplum Mittimur Elysium pauci laeta aruatenemus Donec longa dies perfecto temporis orbe Concretam exemit labem purúmque reliquit Aethereum sensum atque auraï simplicis ignem Has omnes vbi mille rotam voluêre per annos Letheum ad fluuium Deus euocat agmine longo Scilicet immemores supera vt conuexa reuisant Rursus incipiant in corpora velle reuerti Wee euery one of vs suffer our clensing and after that wee are sent out into the large Elysian fieldes where but a fewe of vs inhabite these pleasant places vntill long time hath taken awaye the bodilie infection and leaueth the aethereall sense pure and the vigour of the fierie and simple ayre Then after a thousand yeares God calleth all these soules thus purged and placed in the fortunate seates to the flood of Lethe that they may goe to the earth againe with vtter forgetfulnesse of all things and beginne to desire to returne to new bodies To these Elysian fields when Aeneas should come the Poet maketh Sybilla say Ad genitorem imas Erebi descendit ad vmbras Aeneas descendeth to his father euen to the soules below in Erebus And that Erebus is one of the infernall Gods as the Poets call them can bee no question For when Dido minding to kill her selfe prepared Sacra Ioui stygio Sacrifices to the infernall Iupiter the Poet maketh her Priest to inuocate Tercentum tonat ore deos Erebúmque Chaósque Three hundred gods and Erebus and Chaos This is the worlde of Soules that Virgil deliuered in his time which hée collected out of Plato this is the heauen that is contayned in HADES and INFERI Iudge thou Christian Reader whether this be not the high way to Paganisme to tell vs that this is the heauen where the Saints of God are in rest and whether Christ ascended For my part but that I thinke this confuter talketh of that hée knoweth not I must haue proclaymed him for a Pagan and therefore after hée séeth it if hée persist to say that heauen is either Homers HADES or Virgils INFERI I may not spare to discharge the dutie of a Christian man to let the whole realme vnderstand that this is open infidelitie cloaked vnder the name of Puritie Platoes world of Soules where it altereth from this is rather worse than better For hée saith the soules of euill men are clogged with their bodilie vncleanenes and wander 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about tombes and graues as it is said and then put on the bodies of beastes birds or wormes And yâ—u Sir Confuter lighting on the first part of those wordes openly falsifie them and lewdly misapply them For in stéede of as it is said you translate as it is commonly said and by that worde COMMONLY of your owne adding and referred to the former words where there is a manifest distinction or pause betwixt them you bid the reader note that HADES is commonly called heauen For thus you write Againe Plato saith of heauen that it is an vnseene estate euen HADES as it is commonly called which you will by the side to be noted where Plato in that place speaketh not one word of heauen But such is the miserie of your cause you must belie your authors or else you will lacke proofes for your humours And touching the soules of all men that are borne Plato holdeth their soules had bodies before and staye in HADES vntill the time come that they must haue bodies againe and therefore all our knowledge heere is but the remembring of that wée knew before when our soules were in other bodies which is the opinion that Tertullian chargeth him with His owne wordes are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is an auncient assertion which wee remember that soules departing hence are there and come hither againe and are new borne from the dead And least you should thinke hée did not consent to it hée saith somewhat after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wee are not deceiued confessing all this but there is in very trueth a returning of soules to liue againe on earth and of the dead spring the liuing Consult you and your Instructor whether you will bring this HADES or world of soules into the Créede or whether the thiefe from the Crosse ascended to this heauen together with the soule of our Sauiour But if these bee intolerable and abominable heresies to haue soules passe from bodie to bodie and Platoes HADES be nothing else but a continuall chopping and changing of soules from life to death and from death to life againe hale