The whole curse of the law containeth infatuation of minde obduration of heart desperation damnation and what not did Paul meane that Christ was made these thinges for vs or could hee haue redéemed vs if in these things he had beene yoked with vs But that I thinke Sir Refuter you sinne of ignorance not meaning to maintaine these blasphemies and yet including them within the largenesse of your words through the weaknesse of your wit I must by the duty which I owe to God and his truth haue giuen you other termes then now I do but I had rather fatherly warne you to take heede of these â—â—ies in time least they bring the whole curse of God vpon your owne souâ—e which you would so â—ame fasten on Christs Notwithstanding your follie thus to presume without all proofe vpon the Apostles meaning besides his wordes you haue a good conceit of your self like a proper man you say I vrge then let it be noted Christ is said to be made a curse for vs and before I shewed this curse was Gods curse And againe The Scripture it selfe affirmeth hee did all that for vs therefore who dareth denie it Who either man or Angel shall presume to say nay You haue vrged it I haue noted it and so haue manie wise and good men more and will you heare what I conceiue Trulie this you haue more néede of Phisicke to cure your braines then of labour to rebate your arguments So many and those speciall reasons so proudlie proposed so weaklie performed so â—alselie concluded did I neuer reade as long as I haue liued Thou wilt thinke perchance christian Reader I speake this to disgrace the encounterer and so to preiudice his cause with thee mine heart God knoweth but if thou bee not of the same minde with mee before I ende with his speciall reasons as hee calleth them I much deceiue my selfe speciallie if thou thy selfe bee intelligent and indifferent I hope though I vaunt not as he doth there can bee no doubt but the curse of God for sinne containeth these partes which I propose to wit the externall corporall spirituall eternall plagues and punishments wherewith God pursueth the wicked that rebell against him I count it as cleare that neither the eternall nor the true spirituall curse of God couâ—d take hold on the soule of our Sauiour For as the greatest blessings that God giueth vs in this life after he hath by mercie pardoned our sinnes are the faith of his truth to direct vs the strength of his grace to assist vs the earnest of his spirite to perswade our hearts of his fatherlie clemencie to vs and to inflame vs againe with the loue of his name hope of his promises and desire of his kingdome so the greatest curse for sinne that in this life maie befall men is to haue his holie spirite taken from them with all his graces and gifts that anie waie tende to saluation and to bee giuen ouer into a reprobate sense that with blindnesse and hardnesse of heart they may runne headlong to their owne destruction With these impieties and blasphemies I trust no Christian will burthen the soule of our Sauiour and yet these are the true spirituall curses of God against sinne If then the soule of Christ were alwayes full of grace and truth and the abundance of his spirite such that wee all receiue of his fulnesse If in the perfection of his holinesse innocencie and obedience there coulde bee no defect nor anie feare or doubt in that stedfast assurance of faith hope and loue which our Sauiour alwayes retained howe could hee beeing so fullie and perpetuallie blessed of God bâ—e also trulie accursed of him The curse of God is not in wordes but in déedes Then euidentlie saint Paules meaning is and must be that Christ voluntarilie vndertaking some part of the curse due to our sinnes for the whole hee could not vndertake without reprobation and damnation not onlie discharged vs of the whole but gaue vs the blessing of God promised to Abraham And to this ende I brought the testimonies of saint Austen Chrysostome and others fullie confirming that I said to which you replie as your custome is It is vaine and senselesse to thinke that the Apostle here speaketh of two seuerall kinds of curses Indeede it is vaine and fruitlesse to reason with him that preferreth his ignorant imagination before the iudgements of all the learned and auncient fathers in Christs church but Sir your follies will sticke fast by you when their expositions shall passe with all wise men for currant and good You quarrell as your manner is with those parts of the curse which I say Christ indured For where I proposed a SHAMEFVL VVRONGFVL PAINFVL death to be that part of the curse which Christ suffered for vs you skirre at euerie one of these And of the first you say Will any man of common reason affirme that to be openly hanged on a tree was all the curse that Christ bore for vs Nothing but the shame of the world because it was an ignominious death Whether you account saint Austen and saint Chrysostome men of common reason I know not The Church this 1200. yeeres hath taken them for reuerend and learned fathers You adde It is more then absurd so to say Iudge thou Christian reader whether this Prater be well in his wits that in his â—renzie thus reprocheth not onelie the fathers of Christes church but euen the Prophets and Apostles themselues as men more then absurd and not of common reason Moses from Gods mouth threatneth such as transgresse the lawe that God will send them trouble and shame and will make them a wonder a prouerbe and a common talke among all people Esay foreshewing Christs sufferings reckoneth this not for one of the least He was despised reiected numbred among sinners we did iudge him plagued and smitten of God and turned our faces from him Dauid in the person of Christ complaining of the wrongs receiued at the time of his passion putteth this as the first and the chiefest I am as a worme and not a man a shame of men and the contempt of the people All they that see mee haue mee in derision they make a mowe and nod the heade saying he trusted in God let him deliuer him let him saue him They gape vpon mee with their mouthes Saint Paule himselfe vrgeth as much the shame as the paine of the crosse Looke to Iesus the authour and finisher of your faith who for the ioy set before him endured the crosse and despised the SHAME He endured such contradiction of sinners least you should faint in your mindes How often doth God threaten shame and confusion of face to those that fall from him How earnestly doth Dauid euery where pray against it Howe truly doth Daniel make this confession to god O Lord to vs belongeth OPEN SHAME because we haue sinned against thee the
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
him alone in the power of his pursuers vntill he died Vt homo loquitur meos circumferens metus quod in periculis positi a domino deseri nos putamus Christ speaketh as a man saith Ambrose bearing about him my feares for y t we when we are in danger think our selues forsaken of God Ne mireris querimonias derelicti cum scandalum crucis videas Maruaile not at Christes complaint that he was forsaken when as thou seest how he was vsed on the crosse Derelictus est Christus pro parte carnis Christ was forsaken in his passion as touching his flesh A third is that Christs godhead together with his humane soule were then departing from his bodie and leauing it vnto death Tertullian Deus Filium dereliquit cum hominem eius tradidit in mortē Ita relinqui a patre fuit mori filio God forsooke his sonne in that he deliuered his humanity vnto death So for the sonne to die was to be forsaken of his father Hilarie Habes conquerentem se esse relictum ad mortem quia homo est vt intelligentia nostra sit homo mortuus deus regnans Thou heardest Christ complaine that hee was left vnto death that we should conceiue he died as a man he raigned as a God And againe Clamor ad deum corporis vox est recedentis a se verbi dei contestata dissidium relinquitur quia erat homo etiam morte peragendus Christes complaint vnto God that hee was forsaken is the voice of his body testifying the separation of the diuine nature from it for a time He is forsaken because he was a man to be consummated by his death Epiphanius saith hee spake these words When he saw his deitie with his soule readie to depart from the person of his humanity to forsake his body A fourth is that where God for sin had refused and forsaken man euen from the fall of Adam Christ nowe exalted on the tree reconciled mankind vnto God and slue hatred making peace by his prayer betwixt God man Cyril whē Adam transgressed the diuine commaundement mans nature was after a sort forsaken of God and therby subiected to a curse and death These words of Christ therfore Erant soluentis manifesté derelictionem quae nobis acciderat quasi placantis in hoc patrē c. Were the manifest remouing of that derelictiō which fel on vs and as it were an appeasing his father and procuring his fauor towards vs as towards himself Basil Dicit haec dominus primitiae humanae naturae pro vniuersa The lord speaketh these words for all mankind as being the first fruits of mās nature Otherwise of his own person it is true that Athanasius saith Neque enim à patre derelinqui potuit quia semper est in patre antequam hanc vocem ederet post quam edidisset Ecce enim dicente cur me dereliquisti ostendit pater sevt semper antea ita tum quoque in filio fuisse He could not be forsaken of his father who was alwaies in his father both before and after he spake these words Behold as hee vttered these words why hast thou forsaken me the father shewed himselfe to be euen then in his sonne as he was at all times before For the earth feeling the weight of her Lord straight wayes trembled the vaile rent the Sunne darkened the stones claue the dead rose The fift that Christ putteth vs in mind by these wordes to acknowledge the cause why God doth often not heare our prayers but in refusing our desires prouideth better for vs then if we had our wils Vox ista quare me dereliquisti doctrina est nō querela Nam cum in Christo dei hominis vna sit persona nec ab eopotuerit relinqui à quo non poterat separari pro nabis trepidis infirmis interrogat curcaro pati metuens exaudita non fuerit This speach saith Leo My God my God why hast thou forsaken me is an instruction and no complaint For where in Christ there is but one person of God and man and he could not be forsaken of God from whom he could not bee separated he asketh the question for vs that are fearefull weak why flesh fearing to suffer is not heard Vnde ipsa vox non exanditi magni est expositio sacramenti quod nihil humano generi conferret redemptoris potostas si quod petebat nostra obtineret infirmitas The verie wordes of him that was not heard open to vs a great mysterie to witte that the power of the redeemer coulde doe mankinde no good if our infirmitie might obtaine what it woulde aske Origen sayth In respect of that in which consisted the inuisible forme of God Christ was forsaken of his father where hee tooke the shape of a seruant and came to the death of the Crosse which amongst men was most shamefull So that for Christ to become man and to suffer on the Crosse was to bee forsaken of God in comparison of that glorie which hée had with his Father before all worldes The last exposition is that when the Iewes reproched Christ on the Crosse as reiected of God he with a loud voice that all might hear sang or cited the beginning of the 21. Psalme wherein it was by the Prophet Dauid foreshewed that the true Messias and sauiour of the worlde should suffer all those wronges and shames which they had heaped on him and thereby taught them that they had gathered themselues togither to do whatsoeuer the hand and counsaile of God had determined before to be done The Lord saith Ierom hanging on the Crosse vseth this verse My God my God why hast thou forsaken me by which wee perceiue that in the Crosse he sang the whole Psalme as directly pertaining to his passiō Christ spake these words saith Chrysostom that the Iewes might know hee honoured his father to the last breath and that God was not his enemie as they obiected for which cause he vsed the Prophet Dauids words to verifie or fulfill the scripture of the old testament All these interpretations are sound and stand well with the rules of christian pietie without dishonouring the person or disturbing the faith of Christ therfore I cannot but maruel what reason our late writers had to refuse them all and deuise another exposition of their owne which imploieth not onlie desperation in Christs soule if wee presse the wordes and the dissolution of Christes person but an euident contradiction to all that Christ did or saide on the crosse or in iudgement after the Iewes had once laide handes on him For if these words be referred to the soule of Christ and unport a generall and true dereliction which must be supposed before the paines of hell can thence be concluded Christ féeling and confessing himselfe to bee forsaken of God coulde haue neither faith nor
hope For he that beléeueth and hopeth in God cannot trulie saie that God hath forsaken his soule he may complaine that God doth not deliuer him from dangers and troubles assaulting him which the weakenesse of man thinketh a kinde of forsaking Mine enemies saith Dauid take counsell saying God hath forsaken him pursue him there is none to deliuer him But this is no forsaking of the soule so long as that part of man trusteth in God which is created chiefelie to enioie God Nowe by faith hope and loue the soule of man enioieth God in this life and hee that enioieth God is not forsaken of God Yea whosoeuer hopeth in him neither is nor euer shall be forsaken For hope doth not confound was there euer any confounded that put his trust in the Lorde or who hath continued in his feare and hath beene forsaken or whome did he euer despise that called vpon him Then if out of these wordes we will infer that Christes soule was truelie forsaken of God it cannot bee auoided but this inwarde perswasion in Christ that his soule was forsaken during from the time of his agonie in the garden till his complaint on the crosse which was aboue 18. houres was manifest desperation vnlesse wee saie Christ was deceiued in so thinking which is as great an errour on the other side For if his faith hope and loue were still fixed on God and no waie decaied he could with no truth saie that his soule was vtterlie forsaken Againe the soule that is forsaken of God must néedes be separated from God For he that cleaueth vnto the Lorde is one spirit with him so not forsaken of him Yf then Christs soule were seuered from God it could haue no mutuall congruence much lesse naturall coherence with God There must bee a spirituall communion in grace or else there can be no personall vnion in nature As the soule doth communicate her effects to the bodie with which shee is coupled so must the deitie make the humane nature of Christ partaker of those graces and giftes which maie come from the godhead before we can trulie saie that the one is personallie ioyned with the other The participation and fruition of God is not in words or thoughtes but in déedes and effects In whom then the spirit of God dwelleth not with his force and fruites let him neuer deceiue his hart that he hath any fellowship with God Nowe in Christ was the fulnesse of Gods spirit and grace God measured not his spirit to him but of his fulnesse we all haue receaued So that if the fulnesse of grace failed in the soule of Christ the vnitie of his person was vtterly dissolued For without a communion there can be no coniunctioÌ„ of two natures in Christ. If there were an effectuall and full communion there could be no reall nor generall dereliction Insomuch that the verie flesh of Christ though it were left vnto death yet was it not vtterlie forsaken of the deitie but preserued euen in the graue from corruption and raised againe with greater perfection then before besides the wonderfull conquest it had ouer death Which plainelie proue the Godheade was neuer separated from the bodie of Christ though the soule for a time departed that death and hell might bee destroied If the deitie did neuer forsake the bodie no not in death much lesse did it euer forsake the soule which alwaies had an vnseparable coniunction and vnceaseable communion with the godhead of Christ. Lastlie no sence could bee deuised more repugnant and opposite to all that Christ saide or did after his agonie then this last found exposition or rather deprauation of his words To the high priest asking him whether he were Christ the son of y e blessed God he answered I am and ye shall see the son of man sit at the right hande of the power of God and come in the cloudes of heauen Christ was and must be farre from distrusting or doubting that which he resolutelie affirmeth shal come to passe euen in the eies of his enemies When they fastened him to the crosse hee said Father forgiue them they know not what they do Could he intreate and obtaine pardon for others that found himselfe to be forsaken of God To the thiefe that hung by him and desired to be remembred when he came to his kingdome he answered Verilie I saie to thee thou shalt this day bee with me in paradise Could hee giue paradise to others with so great confidence that coulde not then assure himselfe of Gods fauour yea as these men will haue it that was abandoned and forsaken of God The Centurion that had the charge to see him put to death and heard him speake these words neuer conceiued that he was reiected or estranged from God but contrariwise confessed Truelie this man was the sonne of God Christ himselfe Knowing all thinges that should come vnto him saide to his disciples Behold the houre is come that ye shall be scattered and leaue me alone but I am not alone for the father is with me Now if God were with him when his disciples left him as he himselfe witnesseth howe could his soule be forsaken of God of Christ crucified Dauid saith as Peter expoundeth his wordes I alwaies beheld the Lord before me euen at my right hand that I should not bee shaken If Christ had all the time of his passion the fauour of God so constant and the power of God so present that hee coulde not be so much as mooued or swaied to and fro for so the wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doe signifie that I should not waue vp and downe but stâ—nd fired and assured how could that parte of Christ which enioied so manifestlie the sight of Gods countenance and strength of Gods assistance be forsaken or refused of God And out of this complaint that he was forsaken if we inferre the paines of hell wee conclude directlie against Christes wordes in the 16. psalme Non derelinques animam meam in inferno Thou wilt not forsake my soule in hell Christs soule was not forsaken in hell if then it were forsaken on the crosse it is euident that there it suffered not hell for in hell it was neuer forsaken And therefore turne and winde the wordes of Christ which way they will or can this expositionâ—punc which they fasten vnto them is a manifest contradiction to all that Christ did or saide on the crosse and namelie to that assertion of Dauid in the person of Christ Thou wilt not forsake my soule in hell Then are there in the sacred scriptures neither anie predictions that Christ shoulde suffer the paines of hell in his soule here on earth nor causes why he must suffer them nor Signes that he did suffer them and consequentlie whatsoeuer is pretended no proofe that these sufferings must be added to the crosse of Christ before the worke of our saluation can be perfect And for my
was God and man As the Sonne of God coulde not bee REIECTED no more could hee bee ACCVRSED He that is ioyned with God must needes bee partaker of Gods goodnesse God is the fountaine of all bliâ—â—e hee therefore filleth with his blessing all that are vnited vnto him And if we when we cleaue vnto him by faith and loue must needs deriue from him ioy and blisse coulde the soule of Christ bee personallie ioyned with him and not be perpetuallie blessed by him Though then it pleased our Sauiour to suffer a cursed kinde of death for our sinnes and by receyuing that curse in his flesh to quench the spirituall and eternall curse that hung ouer our heades yet his souls was neuer accursed since he was alwaies beloued and the curse of God compriseth not onelie the anger and hatred but the intolerable and vnceaseable vengeance of God which pursueth the souls and bodies of the wicked with flaming fire for euer For how could al nations of the earth be blessed in him if he himselfe were accursed but God sent him to blesse vs hee must therefore be stored with fulnes of blessing first for himselfe then for vs all And could we frame our tongues which I hope all Christians with heart detest so much to dishonour the person of Christ as to auouch him to be trulie reiected and accursed of his Father for the time bee it neuer so short yet we must not shew our selues so void of al sense as to say that Christs soule suffered HEL FIRE which is the perpetuall and essentiall punishment of all the damned Let vs not come within that danger of so desperate follie not to knowe or not to care what we defend or affirme It should haue some proofe it should haue some truth whatsoeuer is held for matter of faith That Christes soule was tormented with hell fire I aske not what proofe or truth but what shewe can bee pretended The fire of hell they will say is metaphoricall they that go thither shall find it no metaphore It is no good dallying with Gods eternall and terrible iudgements The Scriptures are so plaine and so full of the parts and effects of fire in hell that I dare not allegorize them Christ maketh the rich mans soule in hell to saie I am tormented in this flame Saint Iohn saith it is a lake burning with fire and brimstone Daniel saith a firie streame issued from before Christ sitting in iudgement Paul saith it is a violent fire which shall deuoure the aduersaries God himselfe saith a fire is kindled in my wrath and shall burne to the bottome of hell and shall enflame the foundations of the hilles If therefore the paines of the damned come in question it is not safe to measure them by our imaginations but to giue eare to the holie ghost who can best expresse them and by him wee learne that if anie man worshippe the beast and his image he shall drinke of the wine of the wrath of God and shall bee tormented in fire and Brimstone before the holie Angels and before the lambe And the smoke of their torment shall ascende euermore and they shall haue no rest night nor daie Into this fire if we cast Christes soule we must take heede our proofes bee sound and sure least our presumption exclude vs from the place where Christ is and leaue vs in the lake where hee neuer was there to learne what it is rashlie to conclude the thinges that are not confirmed by the word of God But I perswade my self few men of learning or religion will venter on this desperate resolution that Christs soule here on earth suffered hell fire and therefore to propose it is inough to confute it The last thing in hell fire is that it is eternal For as there is no remission of paine so thence is no redemption but once adiudged thither is euerlastinglie fastened to that place of torment And this is cause inough to staie all men that bee soberlie minded from defending that Christs soule suffered the paines of hell which the holie Ghost saith are endles They which knowe not God and obey not the gospell shall suffer paines euen euerlasting perdition from the presence of the Lord saith the Apostle to the Thessalonians And so Peter to whom the myst of darkenesse is reserued for euer And Iude Sodome and Gomorrhe are set for an example which suffer the punishment of euerlasting fire Yea Christ himselfe pronounced that fire to be vnquenchable Wherefore vnlesse we can shew a later and better warrant then I yet see we shall do well not to enterprize to quench hell fire but to let it burne eternallie and to confesse with Peter that God raised Christ breaking the paines of death and hell of which it was impossible he should be held For since he was and is the Sauiour of his body the paines of hell which are eternall could not take hold on him He was mightier then hell that saued vs from hell hee could not frée vs from the chaines of darkenesse but he must first breake them in sunder His deliuering vs from the power of Satan proueth him to be stronger then Satan and the stronger could neuer be bound by the weaker but contrariwise he entred into Satans house where his chiefe strength was and bound him and so spoiled him This comparison Christ maketh betwixt Satan himselfe by which he concludeth that he was stronger then Satan and consequentlie could not himselfe bee bound by death or hell but ouercame satan and tooke all his armour from him wherein he trusted and deuided the spoiles And where some men begin to doubt whether eternal continuance be of the nature substance of hell or no they shall doe well to leaue these dangerous and fruitelesse speculations For whether they looke to the persons for vvhom or the crimes for vvhich or the Iudge by vvhom it was prepared they shall euerie waie find it must be eternall It was prepared for the diuell and his Angels and to them coulde no punishment be allotted but euerlasting except we will giue possibilitie of grace and hope of repentance vnto diuels It is the wages of sinne which being an infinite contempt of the diuine maiestie must by the balance of iustice haue infinite vengeance in waight or in length And since no creature is able to beare an infinite burden and sence of paine of force all sinnefull creatures must bee condemned to an infinite length of punishment which is hell fire Lastlie as God is eternall and cannot change no more can his iustice or iudgement alter with time but as his truth abideth for euer so his iudgment being iust and good is irreuocable consequently the vengeance of sinne can neuer cease as proceeding from the righteous iudge of the world in whom is no shadowing nor varying And therefore Paul calleth the iudgement aeternal wherby God shall rewarde
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
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
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
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
it is temporall when it should iustlie be eternall and afflicteth the bodie where it might worthilie kill the soule it is rather the chastisement of a father then the rigour of a Iudge And yet the scriptures call it wrath because God neuer proceedeth to punish but when he is prouoked and despised in such sort that were it not for smart of correction wee would fall to the rage of open rebellion Wherefore the displeasure of God against our sinnes was verie great that pursued our suertie beeing innocent and obedient and euen his owne and only sonne with all maner of corporall and temporall scourges vnto death before it could bee pacified but that Gods fauour towards his sonne was altered or diminished or that Christ in feare and terror apprehended anie such change in his father or so much as doubted the constant and eternall counsell and decree of God to make him the Sauiour of the worlde and by the bloud of his crosse to make peace in heauen and earth these are so dangerous doctrines that I thinke no learned diuine will vndertake them Though he were the sonne yet learned he obedience by that which he suffered saith the Apostle Now obedience could not breed diffidence but confidence and was the vertue that so highlie pleased God in Christ that hee was made the authour of eternall saluation vnto all that OBEY HIM A double sense then of Gods wrath Christ Iesus had The first that pursued his bodie vnto death on the trée where hee bare our sinnes that is the chastisement of our peace the STRIPES of our iniquities and VVOVNDES of our transgressions The next was the serious contemplation of that eternall and intolerable vengeance which the iustice of God had in store for vs by reason of our manifold sinnes whose danger and destruction touched him as néere through the tendernesse of his loue and pietie as if it had beene imminent ouer his owne heade And therefore euen sicke with sorrowe for vs trembling at the terror of Gods wrath prepared to reueÌ„ge our vnrighteousnes he neuer left SVVEATING VVEEPING and CRYING to God for vs that his stripes might heale vs his anguish excuse vs his death quicken vs and his person sustaine and suffer for vs whatsoeuer the iustice of God would laie on him till he was heard and allowed of God to offer the sacrifice that should propitiate the sinnes of the worlde In these paines and feares whiles hee felt the arrowes of God sticking in his flesh and sawe the terror of eternall death readie to swallow vp all his members we maie grant that the CONSOLATION and IOIE which the humane soule of Christ before had of his Fathers continuall presence and assistance was for the time somewhat diminished his heart being oppressed with sorrow his bodie afflicted with sharpe and bitter paine his soule besieged with feare and care for vs that neither the dreadful wrath of God ouerwhelmed vs nor the deceitefull fraude of Satan vndermined vs but by no meanes we maie admit in Christ either feare or doubt of his owne saluation nor forgetfulnes of his person or function but the harder the work he vndertooke the stronger his faith that performed it the more terrible our danger the more stedfast his loue that shrunke not from vs in so great extremitie Might not yet the soule of Christ in this constant and full assurance of Gods loue towardes him and mercie towards vs feele the torments of hell for the time without anie distrusting or doubting of his saluation or our redemption The essentiall torments of hell are the absolute losse of Gods kingdome without recouerie and exquisite sense of hell fire euerlastinglie without release Neither of these without horrible blasphemie can be imagined in the soule of Christ the â—est that are consequents to these as desperation murmuration darkenesse horrour and such other impressions are like to these and coulde no more haue place in Christes person then the antecedentes might And since it is no where witnessed in the Scriptures nor anie waie prooued that Christ suffered the paines of hell whie striue we to establish a méere conceite of men neuer written or spoken of before our age beare wee so small regarde to the Church of Christ and to all the learned fathers and teachers in the same that for thirtéene hundred yéeres no man euer knew or heard the right waie and true meane of our redemption and reconciliation to God till the paines of hell were latelie deuised Abuses and errours did by little and little creepe into the church by the wilinesse of Satan and wilfulnesse of men but that the gates of hell shoulde so much preuaile against it as from the Apostles time to this present age no christian should euer trulie teach or rightlie beléeue how we are saued by the crosse of Christ is to me so strange that I wil be ten times aduised before I will once admit it Let vs giue thankes to God for dispelling the mist of darkenes and ignorance that ouerspred the world vnder Antichrist but let vs neuer glorie that we first inuented a newe faith neither testified in the scriptures nor mentioned in anie ancient writers nor euer heard of amongst christians before our time It is no corne but cockle that springeth so late in the Lordes field it is no saith but fansie that neuer before was in y â— foundation of Christs church The simplicitie therfore of the scriptures continually PRESSING the DEATH and BLOVD of Christ as the TRVE CAVSES of our saluation redemption and the consonancy of all antiquity according therewith do so chalenge my faith and establish my hart that I will see this new deuise of hel paines suffered in the soule of Christ better warranted before I wish it to be beléeued And as for the doctrine of the church of England which some men would faine infect with this late fansie giue mee leaue men and brethren to admonish you shortlie but trulie that who so will reade the sermon of the saluation of al mankinde in the first volume of Homilies and likewise the two Homilies concerning the death and passion of our Sauiour Iesus Christ contained in the second tome of Homilies shall finde that the doctrine which I haue deliuered you hath the publike approbation of Prince and Parliament the consent and agreement of all the Bishops and the subscription of all the clergie of this kingdome to bee taught as truth in all the churches of this realme and so hath had as well in the daies of king Edwarde the sixt as all the time of her maiesties most happie raigne whatsoeuer some forward nouices haue told you to the contrarie And thus much let me speake in the Honor of her maiestie and this realme I see no cause why the doctrine of the church of England so plainelie warranted by the Scriptures so fullie confessed by all the Fathers so long continued in Christs church without contradiction so
to his suffering them for the time he might breake them and dissolue them for euer Naturall infirmities which are outragious in vs by reason of our corruption Christ might suffer to arise within him and there temper them as Cyrill other ancient fathers do teach but sinfull extremities as desperation confusion reiection damnation Christ must conquere by repelling not by suffering least the fellowship of our sinnes be more hainous in him then in vs. For as his faith hope and loue must by manie degrées exceed ours in perfection so the quenching or slaking of these graces in him is greater sinne then in vs. Doubt and distrust is farre more impious in Angels by reason of their excellent knowledge and strength then in men and most impious in the soule of Christ who by his personall vnion with God deriued clearer intelligence in knowing Gods will and greater assurance to persist therein then either man or Angell For the verie Angels haue but the condition of their creation from which some fell and confirmation of grace in which the rest stand but no creature euer had so fast coniunction and full communion with the godhead as the soule of Christ. And therefore DVBITATION DESPERATION TREPIDATION in his soule are more hainous sinnes then in any other creature for somuch as they beleeue not y e truth trust not the promise rest not secured in the VOICE and OATH of God which all are immutable and impossible to bee false and feare least Gods goodnesse and loue will faile and in fine doe depriue him of his diuine nature since without veritie bonitie and constancie there can be no God It then Christs soule could not be infected with sinne nor haue anie societie with euill no not for an instant these doubts and feares of Gods fauour and his saluation must be farre from him and in the full perswasion and steadfast expectation of eternall ioy and blisse howe desperation should lodge I yet vnderstand not God might reueale and the soule of Christ in this life beholde as all ours shall when we appeare before the face of God after this life what cup was prepared for the wicked to drinke and the sight thereof as it is most fearefull so might it make him tremble though he were neuer so frée from it but more then the VISION of Gods wrath and COMMISERATION of mans danger if wee attribute to the soule of Christ we must either grant he was tempted as well with our iniquities through lacke of grace as with our infirmities through want of strength or else cast him into a traunce at the time of his passion as some doe to excuse him from sinne For that in the fulnesse of Gods fauour grace and spirite the soule of Christ shoulde feele the flames of hell fire can neither bee prooued nor defended by the worde of God The proofe I leaue to them that like the position which if anie man affirme he were best bee sure of his footing It is no small arrogancie and blasphemie to sit Iudge in Gods place and to condemne Christs soule to hell fire without a sounde and cleare commission to warrant that assertion Besides hell fire in the Scriptures being ETERNALL by what authoritie will they quench it at their pleasure and make it temporarie And if Christes soule beeing personallie ioyned to the Deitie notwithstanding might feele the furie of hell fire when shall the Saints of God that can neuer bee so vnited vnto his glorie nor assured of his societie nor so endued with his sanctitie bee free from the flames of hell If that vnion and communion which Christ had with God coulde not exclude hell fire what shall hinder but that the Angels in heauen maie for the time likewise feele the flames thereof Can they haue faster coherence or fuller presence of God then hee which was ioyned with God in vnitie of person They come not neere the fauour and grace knowledge and truth power stedfastnes of the manhoode of Christ which here on earth they did serue and adore But none of these things can be intended in the Creede for there the articles are placed in ORDER and TIME as they were performed And therfore when Christ was DEAD AND BVRIED he then DESCENDED INTO HELL The second opinion is that Christs descent to hell is all one with his buriall for that SHEOL in the olde testament doth most commonlie if not continuallie signifie the graue But this is nothing to the Creede whose authoritie and antiquitie if wee reuerence it is soone concluded that hell there doth not signifie the graue For first it is absurde that in a short rehearsall of the faith made for the simplest to conceiue one article shoulde bee twice repeated and after a plaine and knowne worde hee was buried which no man could doubt of a darke and enigmaticall phrase of spéech HE DESCENDED INTO HELL which fewe men did vnderstande should bee added rather to obscure then to expound the former Againe HE DESCENDED signifieth a voluntarie motion where as the bodie dead hath neither VVILL nor MOTION Thirdlie HELL in the new testament is so vnusuall for the graue that I thinke no example can be shewed thereof Though therefore this exposition cannot be charged with falsitie for Christ was trulie buried yet may it not bee endured by reason of the idle repetition and strange circumloquution which troubleth and confoundeth the hearer besides the improprietie and incoherence of the worde that a deade corps should descend and speciallie vnto hell The third opinion doth neither mistake the TIME nor the PART which descended for they referre the words of the Creede to Christes SOVLE after DEATH but they change the name of hell into the state of the deade and so conâ—esse that Christes soule after separation from the bodie endured THE STATE OF THE DEAD To this a number of learned men incline because they would auoyde Limbus patrum disliking by all meanes that the soules of the righteous and faithfull before Christes suffering shoulde be kept in a region or part of hell and thence deliuered by his descent I see well enough what they woulde faine decline but what if by their farre fet exposition they fall into that errour which they seeke to flie Doe they not fairelie profer and quite besides the marke Let vs looke a little into their conceite Christ descended into hell that is saie they his soule after death conuersed among the soules of the iust that were dead before him But where were the soules of the iust In a place or no Without a place can nothing be but onelie God All creatures be they soules or angels are desined with place though they doe not replenish their places as bodies do yea what soeuer is not circumscribed within a place is infinite which no creature can bee The soules then of the righteous must of necesstie bee in a place And what call you that place by your opinion Forsooth euen HELL For Christs
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
harts of men when y e diuel preuaileth with temptation there he worketh leading such as consent and yéeld vnto him into all wickednesse euen with greedinesse So he worketh in the children of disobedience as the Apostle testifieth This can haue no place in Christâ— because he did no sinne neither was there anie guile found in his mouth He that committeth sinne saith saint Iohn is of the diuel and for this purpose appeared the sonne of God that hee might dissolue the workes of the diuell Then since inward temptation by the hart Christ could haue none and outward temptation by the mouthes hands of the wicked is no effect of Gods wrath but rather a triall of Gods gifts and graces bestowed on vs It remaineth that if Christ felt the diuels as the very instruments that wrong he the verie effects of Gods wrath vpon him that is vpon his soule for that part of Christ you say must properly and immediateliâ— feele the wrath of God it resteth I saie by your owne wordes y e Christ FELT the DIVELS TORMENTING HIS SOVLE And indeede for so much as in executing the true paines of hell and of the damned God hath none other instruments but diuels you cannot defend that Christ suffered the paines of hell but you must graunt that Christ felt the diuels as instruments executing those paines on his soule Nowe the bodie of man they may torment with touching as they did Iobs the soule they can not but by possessing it For they can not woorke but where they are and therefore they must possesse the soule which they torment Is not here Christian Reader an wholesome clearke and an holie cause that concludeâ— Christes soule was possessed and tormented of diuels on the Crosse And the proofe is as ridiculous as the position is impious Christ spoiled principalities and powers and openlie triumphed ouer them ergo say you hee felt them the instruments of Gods wrath by tormenting his soule If your learning and Logicke serue you so well you may procéede Doctor in doâ—age when you will For my part christian Reader I will giue none other answere to these lewd and wicked absurdities but that which Iacob said to Simeon and Leâ—i Into their secret my soule shall not come To strengthen thee thou maiest remember what Peter saide of Christ. God anointed Iesus of Nazareth with the holy ghost with power to heale all that were oppressed of the diuell for God was with him or else what Christ said of himselfe The prince of this world commeth and hath naught in me or at least what the diuels themselues said to Christ Iesus the sonne of God VVHAT HAVE VVE TO DO VVITH THEE Art thou come to torment vs before the time And so in the Gospell of saint Luke the soule spirit when he saw Iesus cried out what haue I to doe with thee Iesus the sonne of God most high I beseech thee torment me not But perchance I mistake him would God there were so much grace in him as to reuoke it or refuse it I woulde gladlie confesse mine errour in mistaking his wordes but what if he go on from bad to worse What if he heapeth vp reasons as he thinketh but indeede trifles void of sense and reason to confirme the same This reason will proue the same saith hee taken from the lesse to the more Thus do the members of Christ suffer Therefore of necessitie Christ our head suffered the like Yea to the Hebrues hee sheweth a reason which can neuer be refuted by the witte of man Christ succoured vs not but wherein hee had experience of our temptations and infirimities but he succoureth vs euen in these our temptations of feeling the terrours of God and the sorrowes of hell Therefore hee himselfe had experience of the same Adde hereunto that of all absurdities this is the greatest that meere men should suffer more deepely and bitterly then Christ did You haue more words then witte Sir Confuter that propose these childish arguments for inuincible reasons Your selfe shall sée the weakenes of them What soeuer the members of Christ say you did or shall suffer of necessitie Christ our head suffered the like Meane you in bodie or in soule or in both If in bodie thâ—n Christ had his eies put out for so had Sampson he was swalowed vp by a whale for so was Ionas hee was cast into a burning furnace for so were Sidrac Mishac and Abednego he was stoned to death for so were Naboth Steuen and others You meane not in bodie meane you then in soule Inwarde assaults of error lust and sinne Christ neuer had He was â—ree from all conflicts of heart that rise in vs from the roote or remorse of sinne that increase with weakenesse of faith want of grace and quenching of Gods spirite The terrors of minde which wee feele through conscience of our vnworthinesse ignorance of Gods counsell and distrust of Gods fauour hee neuer felt his faith admitted no doubting his loue excluded all fearing his hope reiected all despairing So that howe you shoulde make a falser proposition and more repugnant to the Apostles wordes which you alledge then this which you haue made I by no meanes can conceiue Hee was tempted in all thinges a like except sinne Then neither the rootes partes nor fruites of sinne must bee in him But the Apostle that excepteth sinne excepteth all sinnefull adherentes The punishment of sinne which proceedeth from the iustice of GOD and is no sinne that Christ might and did beare but in no wise those terrours and feares of conscience which proceede from sinne and augment sinne as doubting distrusting despairing in which GOD reuengeth sinne with sinne these muste bee farre from Christ vnlesse wee will wrappe him within the snares of our sinnes The feare of Gods Maiestie armed with mightie power to reuenge sinne is profitable to keepe vs from sinne therein Christ may communicate with vs though not to that ende â—or he could not sinne but fearing doubting or distrusting that God wil for our manifold sinnes cast vs from his presence and condemne vs to hell commeth in vs from the guiltinesse of conscience and weakenesse of faith and hope which in Christ neither had nor coulde haue anie place But the Apostle you saie sheweth a reason which can neuer bee refuted by the witte of man Christ succoured vs not but wherein he had experience of our temptations Are those wordes in the Apostle No you will saie but collected from the Apostles wordes where hee saith In that Christ suffered being tempted he can helpe those that are tempted Hence you conclude vpon your owne warrant that Christ can succour vs in no temptation but whereof himselfe had first experience and this you proclaime to be irrefutable Such lips such lettice such doctors such diuinitie Your collection Sir Refuter is not onelie farre different from the Apostles wordes but euidentlie repugnant to the christian
an other time and place and his wordes import a deliberation of two partes proposed by our Sauiour with his resolution in the ende what shall I saie Father deliuer me from this hower that is shall I saie deliuer me from this hower but therefore came I into this hower Father glorifie thy name Chrysostom thus expoundeth Christes wordes NON DICO libera me ex hac hora sed pater glorifica nomen tuum I SAIE NOT deliuer me from this hower but father glorifie thy name And so doth Epiphanius Quid dicam pater serua me ex hac hora hoc inquit dicam at propterea veni in hanc horam What shall I saie Father saue mee from this hower shall I saie so but therefore came I into this hower But what better expositor canne wee haue then Saint Paul who plainely saith that Christ in making this praier was heard deliuered from that he feared Hee praied not against the knowne will of God whose praiers God heard and performed And where you flie to this hellish confusion to saue Christ from sinne by pretending to cléere him from sinne you charge him rather with sinne For the praier which is not made in faith is sinne Nowe can the heart be assured it shall receaue that it asketh at Gods hands if it bee neither directed to aske according to the will of God nor prepared to aske with that deuotion which is fit for God So that when you make Christ to triple his praiers with vehement teares and cries still repugnant to the will of God you chalenge the sonne of God with open sinne from which you would seeme to excuse him And as for your double relapse into the same astonishment still when Christ was twice cléere from it it is a foolish deuice of your idle braines as if the Lorde no sooner returned to his praiers but your hellish confusion did waite at his heeles to interrupt and ouerwhelm him and within sixe wordes againe to leaue him If your cause be holie iest not thus prophanelie with the sonne of God nor bereaue him of his wits when you thinke good If it were a necessarie effect of Gods wrath then after it lighted on our Sauiour in the garden it must continue till man was redéemed and Gods wrath appeased which was not done but by the death of Christ. And therefore make your choise either let the wrath of God cease in the garden when Christ ended his praiers or if that still continued to â—he death let also this astonishment still continue or at least bee no necessarie effect of Gods wrath One of these you must take take which you wil the rest will serue to subuert your tower of Babell I doe you wrong you will saie to call your opinion the tower of Confusion you do your selfe wrong Sir Refuter in the chiefest point of Christian religion to leaue the faith confessed by the whole Church of Christ for these 1500. yeares and to walke in such ambiguities and absurdities as your selfe doe not vnderstande For I praie you Sir this wonderfull confusion and astonishment in all powers of the soule and senses of the bodie is it a necessarie consequent to the wrath of GOD or no If it bee for you saie Christ coulde not but sinke and bee confounded vnder that burden howe commeth it to passe that the reprobate and desperate feeling the sense of GODS wrath vpon them doe not loose their wits and senses as Christ by your assertion did will you affirme they are astonished and all confounded as Christ was then if you excuse Christ from sinne in disâ—iking and declining his Fathers knowne will because hee was astonished you must likewise excuse all the wicked and Reprobate from their sinnes after they once feele the sense of Gods wrath because they cannot but bee astonished and confounded vnder that burden Againe coulde Christ not sinne whiles hee felte the wrath of God vppon him because he was astonished Ergo neither coulde hee merite all that while and so neither his obedience patience humilitie nor charitie coulde haue anie place or vse so long as the sense of GODS wrath dured Haue you not deuised vs a goodlie sense of Gods wrath that shall exclude Christ Iesus from the exercise of all his graces vertues and merites This palpable absurditie you thinke to skippe Sir Refuter but your wit is too weake or your cause not good it will not bee If a man in distresse fall a sleepe saie you or be astonished with some violent blowe on the heade in such an one there is no decaie of faith nor of obedience nor of patience nor of loue euen so in Christ there was no defect of grace but an infirmitie of nature Was Christ a sléepe or in a swoune astonished you thinke he was Was hee so astonished that his senses were taken from him did hee not walke did he not speake did hee not pray whie then compare you this to a sléep or a swoune wheras in Christ was neither and though you plainelie faile in your comparison yet were it so as you would haue it for your life you cannot auoide my conclusion For a man in a sleepe or a swoune though he loose not the habite of faith and patience obedience and loue yet hath hee no vse of them for that time much lesse doth hee serue God with them But Christ Iesus by all his sufferinges must merite which a man a sleepe or amazed cannot doe And therefore remember Sir Refuter this reason amongst the rest is yet vnanswerd and I thinke wil somwhat trouble your braines before it bee answered All that Christ suffered for our Redemption was and must bee meritorious with God But the suffering of hell paynes which astonish and confounde all the powers of the soule and senses of the bodie neither was nor coulde bee meritorious with God Christ therefore did not suffer such hellish paynes as did confounde and astonish all the powers of his soule and senses of his bodie And thus by your amazed position you haue wholie confounded your owne opinion Thou hast heard good Reader a number of the Refuters speciall follies I haue some fewe more to trouble thee with and so I will leaue him to his holie cause and thee to the mercies of God To shewe himselfe learned as well in the Gréeke tongue as in philosophie hee vndertaketh an other reason that I made and sporteth himselfe somewhat handsomlie with it Out of the fift to the Hebrewes where the Apostle saieth Christ in the daies of his flesh did offer vp prayers and supplications with strong cryes and teares vnto him that was able to saue him from death and was heard in that he feared or deliuered from his feare I collected two things First that Christ in his praiers made in y e garden for to those the Apostle pointeth did but feare and not as then suffer that he feared The nexte he was deliuered from his feare and consequentlie neuer
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
Sâ— enim mortuus est dominus immo quia mortuus est Dominus mortuus est enim pro nobis in cruce sine dubio caro ipsius expirauit animam Hoc est ergo ponere animam quod est mori Cum ergo exit anima a carne et remanet caro sine anima tunc homo ponerâ— animam dicitur Carni hoc tribue caro ponit animam suam caro iterum sumit eam Caro ponit animam suam expirando Ipse Dominus Christus dictus est sola caro Audeo dicere et sola caro Christi dictus est Christus Confiteris illud quod habet fides in eum Christum te credere qui crucifixus est sepulâ—ns Ergo sepultum Christum esse non negas tamen sola caro sepulta est Ergo Christus erat etiam caro sine anima quia non est sepulta nisi caro Disce hoc etiam in Apostolicis verbis Humiliauit scmetipsum factus obediens vsque ad mortem Iam in morte SOLA CARO a Iudaeis est occisa tamen carne occisa Christus occisus est Ita cum caro animam posuit Christus animam posuit cum caro vt resurgeret animam sumpsit Christus animam sumpsit What did the Passion what did the death of Christ but separate his bodie from his soule If the Lord died for vs yea rather because indeede the Lord did die for vs for hee died for vs on the crosse doubtlesse his flesh did breath out his soule Soe that to laie downe his soule and to die is all one When the soule departeth from the flesh the flesh remaineth any soule then a man is said to lay downe his soule VnderstaÌ„d this of the flesh for the flesh laieth down her soule taketh it againeâ— the flesh laieth down her soule by breathing it forth The Lord Iesus is called his flesh alone I dare be bold to auouch it THE ONLY FLESH of Christ is called Christ. Thou confessest as it is in thy Creede that thou beleeuest in that Christ which was crucified buried Then thou acknowledgest Christ to be buried yet only his flesh was buried Therefore flesh without a soule was Christ because nothing of him but his flesh was buried Learne the selfe same in the Apostles words Christ humbled himselfe was obedient vnto Death Now in his death ONLY HIS flesh was killed of the Iewes and yet the flesh being slaine Christ was slaine So when the flesh laid downe her soule Christ laid downe his soule and when the flesh tooke her soule againe to rise Christ tooke his soule againe To men that do not wilfullie blind themselues these words are cleare enough and they haue for their warrant the full consent of Scriptures Councels Fathers for 1400 yeares without dissenting from it Christ suffered for you saith Peter leauing you an ensample that you should follow his steppes who himselfe bare our sinnes in his bodie on the Tree that we being dead to sinne should liue in righteousnes Then when Christ died to sin his body died on the tree his soul liued in righteousnes So must we do for so did he when he left vs an example how to follow his steppes Our soules must not die before we can resemble his death they must liue in righteousnes as he did Euery where saith Paul we beare about in our bodie the dying of the Lord Iesus that the life of Iesus might also be made manifest in our bodies which he thus expoundeth afterward Therefore we faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is daily renewed Then in our bodies we carrie about the death of Christ who for our example died in his bodie vnto sinne that we should follow his steppes And why doubt we hereof since the same apostle doth in as plain expresse words as might be spoken testifie that Christ when we were enimies reconciled VS IN THE BODY OF HIS FLESH THROVGH DEATH to make vs holy and without fault in his sight grounded and stablished in faith and not mooued awaie from the hope of the Gospell What could the hart of Paul inuent or his toong vtter more effectuall then this that Christ THROVGH DEATH IN THE BODIE OF HIS FLESH reconcileth vs to God and maketh vs holie and without fault in his sight If you can quarrell with these words Sir Refuter you maie do what you will with the Scriptures No words will bind you that take bodie for soule life for death faith for amazed feare hope for intolerable horror descending for ascending and hell for heauen What is this els but to make a confusion of all Religion and giue open defiance to the trueth by taking one contrarie for the other You do not so you will saie Leaue so doing and these Questions will soone be determined I prooue there was alwaies in Christ euidence of faith assurance of hope Ioy of loue euen in the midst of his paines on the crosse and you graunt there was not anie the least diminution in Christ of his faith patience or obedience to God neither was Christ so much as touched with anie wauering much lesse fearing in his trust and confidence of Gods loue and protection towards him How then can the horrour of Gods seuere iustice and wrath like them that indeed be separated from the grace and loue of God bee in Christ Or how can the sorrowes of the damned which are separated from the life of God bee found in Christ how could Christ suffer the same terrours of Gods wrath and assaults of the Deuill yea far greater then the godlie féele in their consciences for want of faith and feare of Gods displeasure What are these but plaine contrarieties Againe in Christ you saie was no defect of grace how then could the soule of Christ replenished with the spirite of life and liuing in all fulnes of grace and trueth bee dead can you make one and the same part of Christ both aliue and dead Soe likewise if Christ had but feared to bee vtterly forsaken with the hatred of his Father that indéed you saie were desperation which God forbid And yet you doe not doubt but Christ was as deepelie touched with the vnspeakeable horror of Gods seuere wrath due to sinne as the Reprobates themselues A number of these hogepots you haue made vs speaking of things which your selfe cannot or dare not expresse Sometimes you would faine affirme it in generall words and when you come to particulars you renounce it againe In the verie case that gaue vs occasion of this rehearsall when the Apostle saith we are reconciled to God by the death of his sonne and explaining himselfe saith the death that reconciled vs to God was the death which Christ suffered in the bodie of his flesh Is it not as cleare as daie light that the bodilie death of Christ which he suffered on the crosse is by
their philosophicall follies and Rabbinicall fancies the one sorte being strangers the other enimies to the faith of Christ shall draw mee from my Creede And so I wish thee Christian Reader as my selfe mercie and grace from the Lord Iesus and commit thee to God FINIS a Psa. 18. 116 b Ionas 2. c 1. Corin. 13. d Hebre. 2 e Colos. 1. f Rom 5. g Hebr. 10. h 1. Pet. â— i Psal. 16. k Acts 2. a 1. Corinth 8. The crosse of Christ despised both of Iewes and Gentiles What it is to the beleeuers b Galath 6 c Rom. 1â— d Hebr. 11 e 1. Iohn 4. The methode of this treatise f Luke â— g Matth. â—â— h De passi dom cap. 5. The crosse taken for all kind of affliction The church of Rome honoreth the croâ—se and dishonoreth the death of Christ. What the scriptures meane by the croâ—se of Christ. i 1 Peter 2. k 1 Peter 1 The paines of Christs crosse l Iohn 19 m Matth. 27. Marke 15. n Psaâ— 22. o Socrates lib. 1. cap. 17 p De pass dom cap. 7. Christ had no pangs of death but perfect sense of paine vnto the end q Bernard de pass dom ca. 41. He died voluntarily r Iohn 19. s Serm. 4. Hebdomaâ—ae pâ—nosae t Luk. 13. u quaest 8. ad Hedibium x Tract 119. in Iohan. y Iohn 10. How the opinion of Christs suffering hell paines hath growen by degrees Ionas 2. Psal. 18. Psal. 116. How many impressions the paines of hell make in the soule of man 2. Tim. 1. The proofes which are brought that Christ suffered the paines of hell a Psal. 16. b Psal. 18. Predictions that Christ should suffer y e paines of hel â—â—gust epi. 99 Psal. 16. d Psal. 16. e Acts 2 f Ibidem g August epist. 99. h Psal. 18. 116. The causes why Christ must suffer the paines of hel Christ could not suffer the death of the soule which was the chiefe wages of our sinne i Apocal. 2. k Rom 6. l Galat. 3 m 1. Iohn 4. n August decinitate dei lib. 13. cap. 2. o Idem de Trinitate lib. 4. c. 14 p Idem de verbis domini super Matthaeâ—til serm 6. q Pet. 2. r Iâ—say 53. The signes y t Christ did suffer the paines of hell are his agonie in the garden and his complaint on the crosse Sixe causes that might be of Christs agony in y t garden s Ioel. 2 t Hebre. 12 u Psalm 119 x Iohn 12 y Esay 6 The reprobation of y e Iewes z Luke 19 a Exod 32 b Rom. 9. c Ambros. in Lâ—cam lib. 10. de tristitia dolere Christi d Hieron in Matth. cap. 26 d Peda in matth cap. 26. e August in Psal. 87. The dispersion of his church f Luke 2â— g Ibidem h Ambros. in Iuâ—cam lib. 10. de tristitia dolere Christi i Hilarius de â—rinitate lib 10 k Ibidem k Ibidem His sorrow for our sinne l Ambrose de fide lib â— cap. 3. m 2. Cor. â— n Psal. 5. 1. The depreâ—ation of Gods wrath o Psal. 75 Christ might pray against the eternal malediction of our sinnes p Heb. 5. q Theodoret in c. 5. epist. ad Heb. Christ praied as the heade of his bodie and so one person with his members Galath 2. Rom. 6. Colos. 3. Matth. 26 Christ might desire the punishment of our sinnes to be proportioned to the strength of his humane flesh Christ might pray against death not as weaker but as perfecter then others s August tract 60. in Iohanneth Christ cured our infirmitieâ— in his owne person t Cyril thesaurâ— lib. 10. cap. 3. Ambrosius in Lucam lib. 10. de tristitia dolâ—re tâ—edio Christi We must prefer Christs suffering before all martyrs not for his paines but for his patience Christ mighâ— by his agony voluntarilie dedicate his bloud to mans redemption x Hilar lib. 10 de trinâ—â—ate y August in Psalm 93. z Prosper sentent ex August sent 68. a Rede in Luc. cap. â—2 Bernard in raâ—â—s palmarâ—â—â— sermon 3. b Hebe 5. Or sanctifie his person to offer the true sacrifice for sinne c Iohn 17 d Exod. 29 The suffering of hell paines not y e cause of Christs agony e Hebre. 10 f Ioh. 11. g Hieron in Matth. ca. â—â— h Matth. 2â— What is mean by Christs coÌ„plaint on the crosse that he was forsaken i Iohn 14 The wicked are here forsaken and yet not in hell k Genes 4 l Hebre. 12 m Rom 9. n 1 Samuel 28 o Iohn 17 p Iohn 6 q Ephes. 4.18 r Ephes. 2 12. How the godly are forsaken s Esay 49. t Esay 54 u Psalm 89 x Psalm 60 Diuers expositions of the fathers how Christ was forsaken on the crosse z August epistola â—20 a Idem in Psalâ—â—â— 21. b Leo de passio serm 16. c Athanasius de incarnaâ— Christi d August epist. 120. e Ambros. de fide lib. 2. cap 3. f Hieron in ca. 27 Matthae g IdeÌ„ in Psal. 21 h Tertul. aduersus Praxeam i Hilar. lib. xâ— de Trinitate k Idem in Matth. Can. 33. l Epiph. lib. â— â— 2. conâ—ra Ariomanitaâ— m Cyril de recta â—ide adâ—eginas n Basil. in Psal. 32. o Athan. contra Arrianos serm 4. p Leo de Pass serm 16. q Ibidem r Origen in Mat. cap. â—â— s Act. 4. t Hieron in Psa. 12. Chrysost. homâ— in Mat. â—9 If Christs soule were forsaken he had neither faith hope nor loue x Psal. â—1 y Rom. 5. z Ecclesiâ— â— a 1. Cor. 6. If Christs soule were forsaken the vnion of his two natures was dissolued b Iohn â—â— Christs words deeds proue his soule was not forsaken of God c Mark 14. d Luke 25 e Luke 23. f Matth 27. g Iohn 18 h Iohn 16 i Acts. 2. The effects of Christs crosse The merite of Christs passion must be infinit in two respects k Eâ—ech 18. Hell is not infinite but onlie in time l Hebre. 10. m Matth â—â— Nothing infinite but only God The merite of Christ is infinite in respect of his person n Acts. 20 o Roman â— p Bernard de passione cap. 17 q Philip. 2 Christs obedience doth more then counteruaile Adams disobedience r Ezech. â—â— s Matt â—â— t Esay 4â— u Acts. 20 The scriptures ground our saluation on the dignitie of Christs person x Rom. 8. y Esay 40. z Rom. 5. And so do the fathers a Athanasius de incarnatione citatura Theodoreto dialogo 3. b Cyril de recta fide ad reginas in 1. Timothei 2. dedit semetipsâ— pretium pro nobis c Cyril ibidem in 1. Petri. 1. pretiosâ— sanguine Christi redempti estis d August in psa 148. e August de tempore 114. f Ibidem The mightier Christs person the fitter to conquer but not to suffer hel Eight things in hel paines which by no means Christs soule might suffer g Iohn 9. h 2. Cor 6. i