A64611:540
The sum of Christian religion, delivered by Zacharias Ursinus first, by way of catechism,…The summe of Christian religion, delivered by Zacharias Ursinus first, by way of catechism,…
The sum of Christian religion, delivered by Zacharias Ursinus first, by way of catechism, and then afterwards more enlarged by a sound and judicious exposition, and application of the same : wherein also are debated and resolved the questions of whatsoever points of moment have been, or are controversed in divinity / first Englished by D. Henry Parry, and now again conferred with the best and last Latin edition of D. David Pareus, sometimes Professor of Divinity in Heidelberg ; whereunto is added a large and full alphabetical table of such matters as are therein contained ; together with all the Scriptures that are occasionally handled, by way either of controversy, exposition, or reconciliation, neither of which was done before, but now is performed for the readers delight and benefit ; to this work of Ursinus are now at last annexed the Theological miscellanies of D. David Pareus in which the orthodoxall tenets are briefly and solidly confirmed, and the contrary errors of the Papists, Ubiquitaries, Antitrinitaries, Eutychians, Socinians, and Arminians fully refuted ; and now translated into English out of the original Latin copy by A.R.The summe of Christian religion, delivered by Zacharias Ursinus first, by way of catechism, and then afterwards more enlarged by a sound and judicious exposition, and application of the same : wherein also are debated and resolved the questions of whatsoever points of moment have been, or are controversed in divinitie / first Englished by D. Henry Parry, and now again conferred with the best and last Latine edition of D. David Pareus, sometimes Professour of Divinity in Heidelberge ; whereunto is added a large and full alphabeticall table of such matters as are therein contained ; together with all the Scriptures that are occasionally handled, by way either of controversie, exposition, or reconciliation, neither of which was done before, but now is performed for the readers delight and benefit ; to this work of Ursinus are now at last annexed the Theologicall miscellanies of D. David Pareus in which the orthodoxall tenets are briefly and solidly confirmed, and the contrary errours of the Papists, Ubiquitaries, Antitrinitaries, Eutychians, Socinians, and Arminians fully refuted ; and now translated into English out of the originall Latine copie by A.R.
London: printed by James Young, 1645
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
The Explication.
IT was requisite that our Mediator should be not only man, 1and that true and very man, and that man perfectly just; but besides all this, that he should be God also; and that a true and mighty God, not an imaginary, and only adorned with excellent gifts above all the angels and saints, as heretics decipher him. The reasons hereof are these which follow: §12That by the power of his divinity he might sustain in his flesh the infinite wrath and indignation of God against sin, and endure such a punishment, as in durance should indeed be temporal, but infinite in weight, worth, and value. For certainly he had been brought to nothing by reason of infirmity, whosoever, being but mere man, had adventured to undertake the huge heap and heavy burden of Gods indignation. It was therefore behoovefull that our Mediator should be of infinite strength, and so to be God, who should suffer, without falling into despair, or being brought unto nothing,3 so unmeasurable punishment. Now it was necessary that the punishment of the Mediator should be of infinite value, and equivalent to eternal, that there might be a proportion betwixt the sin and the punishment thereof. For there is no one sin amongst all the sins committed from the beginning of the world to the end thereof so little, as that it deserveth not everlasting death: they are all so exceeding evil, that they cannot be expiated and done away by the endless destruction of any creature. Notwithstanding this punishment ought to be finite in respect of time; because it behooved our Mediator not to be shut up in death for ever, but to wrest himself out of the power thereof, to the intent that he might accomplish the benefit of our redemption; that is to say, that he might merit perfectly for us our redemption; and now, when it was perfectly merited, apply it, or bestow it upon us by his forcible working, and effectually save us. For it became our Mediator to perform both; namely, to merit first, and then to bestow righteousness, that thence he might prove a perfect Saviour as well in efficacy and fruit, as in merit and desert. These things could not have been done by a mere man, who, of whatsoever strength he be, cannot by his own force or power wrestle out of the hands of death.