yet Christ Jesus himself and all judicious Christians cannot but take it very ill Dialogu Thus have I shewed unto you the dependance of the first part of this Psalm by which you may see how the scope of this Psalm doth set out the sufferings of Christ to proceed not from Gods wrath but from mans only Neither do I finde any thing of Gods wrath either in this or in any other Psalm and yet Christ doth make as dolefull complaint to God of his sufferings both in this Psalm and Psal 69. as any can be found in all the Bible Answ What you have said upon the first part of this Psalm of any weight against the sufferings of Christ as proceeding from Gods wrath hath been considered and its insufficiency to that end sufficiently manifested It hath also been proved out of part of the first part of this Psalm viz. ver 1.2.11 that Christ suffered the wrath of God yet because notwithstanding you cannot be ignorant of much that is spoken to that purpose you do as much as say that neither here or elsewhere you can finde this truth in the Scripture that the Reader may here see for proofs from other places are to be expected elsewhere how Christs suffering the wrath of God is argued from his dolefull complaints in his passion I shall close this discourse presenting him with a brief yet sad and serious view of the passion of our Lord Jesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It intends all the suffering of afflicting and conflicting affections under the sight and sense of great and eminent peril impending 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anima Christi fuit tristis usque ad mortem extensivè intensivè Gerharm in ◠a subject which the Angels themselves how much more should all beleevers desire throughly and narrowly to look into 1 Pet. 1.12 by considering 1. The nature 2. The effects 3. The adjuncts 4. The subject of these sufferings Luke expresseth the nature of his passion in generall by an Agony Chap. 22.44 it signifieth the sorrows of combaters entring the lists with the sense of the utmost danger of life a metaphor taken from the passion of conflicting affections in the greatest eminentest and most sensible perils and so holding forth the sharpest of the fears of men The parts of this Agony are 1. Extreme sorrow and he began to be sorrowfull and very heavy then saith he unto them My soul is exceeding sorrowfull even unto death Mat. 26.36 37. His sorrow was lethal and deadly both extensively and intensively extensively continuing unto the last gasp intensively killing of it self in time had there been no other causes resolving and melting the soul gradually as wax is melted with the heat My heart is like wax it is melted in the midst of my bowels Psa 22.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Amazement and he began to be sore amazed Mar. 14 33. which signifieth an universall cessation of all the faculties of the soul from their severall functions Physitians call it an Horripilation we usually a Consternation Like a clock in kelter yet stopped for the while from going by some hand laid upon it That such intermission of the operations of the soul the effect of this formidable concussion might be without sin is evident to him that remembers Christ slept Sleep ordinarily implying a cessation of the exercise of the intellectuall faculties for the time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. Expavefaction He began not meerly to be amazed but also to be very heavy the word notes expavefaction which was such a motion of his minde superadded unto his Consternation whereby for the time he was disenabled as concerning the minding of any thing else being wholly taken up with the dreadfull sense of the righteous wrath of God as the eye intensly fixed upon some object taketh no notice of any other object before it for the while 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4. Fear Who in the daies of his flesh i.e. of his infirm flesh before his death and resurrection when he offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that which he feared Heb. 5.7 his fear was an afflicting affection arising from the sight and sense of the greatest morall evil namely the fearfull wrath of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 5. Desertion or being forsaken of God that is left helplesse and succourless in his extremity Mat. 27.46 The effects of his passion were 1. Fervent prayer Mat. 26.36 earnest prayer Luk 22.44 being fallen upon his face ver 39. with strong crying and tears Heb. 5.7 three times saying the same words My Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me Mat. 26.44 2. Bloudy sweat and being in an agony he praied more earnestly and his sweat was as it were great drops of bloud falling down to the ground Luke 22.44 Nam ter humi strato contritio cordis ille Sanguineus sudor crux fuit ante crucem 3. That dolefull loud and lamentable cry and about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying Eli Eli lamasabachthani that is to say My God My God why hast thou forsaken me Mat. 27.46 The Adjuncts of his passion were 1. An Angel comforting him And there appeared an Angel to him from Heaven strengthening him 2. A miraculous Eclipse continuing three hours Aut Deus naturae patitur aut mundi machina dissolvitur so contrary to the course of nature as that an understanding Heathen at the sight of it cried out Either the God of nature suffereth or the frame of this world is dissolved Lastly The subject of all these sufferings namely Jesus Christ God-man Now sum up all these in order An Agony wherein were lethall sorrow consternation expavefaction fear desertion fervent praier bloudy sweat dolefull and loud cry need of strengthening from an Angel put all these together in a person who was not a meer creature but God-man having a perfect soul and body free from all morall infirmity of sound health and exact temper who not only was God but knew that God was his Mat. 27.46 fully understood the glory of the blessed that his soul immediatly upon its dissolution should be in Paradise Luke 23.43 that his body after three daies should rise again Matt. 16.21 and that in the interim it should not see corruption Psa 16.10 and then I appeal to the conscience of each Christian Reader whether such a passion in such a subject argueth not greater sufferings then of a meer naturall death or could argue lesse then the sufferings of the greatest evil that could befall him that could not sin namely the wrath of God CHAP. XI The Vindication of Gal. 3.13 Gal. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us as it is written Cursed is every one that hangs upon a tree Dialogu IN this Text the Apostle speaks of a twofold curse 1. He speaks
exceeded the bounds of naturall fear Answ His confidenee that he should not be moved by his sufferings either from his hope state or the good hoped for but that it should be with him as ver 10. sheweth us his certainty of victory which doth not oppose but rather suppose the matter of his sufferings which the Scripture manifests to be the wrath of God Neither can we apprehend that Christs fear exceeded the bounds of naturall fear understanding by natural fear regular fear in which sense this distinction is used by Divines after Damascene who distinguished fear into a fear according to nature this was in Christ and a fear besides nature adverse to reason this was not in Christ Dialogu These sentences of M. Calvin may advise us how we do attribute such a kinde of fear to Christ as might disorder his pure naturall affections which doubtlesse would have fallen upon him if he had undergone the pain of losse for our sins such as the damned do feel in hell as the common Doctrine of Imputation doth teach Answ It is vain labour to write so much out of Calvin to prove against us that the fear which was in Christ was pure and not impure it being the professed and known judgement of all the inference of impure and vicious fear in Christ from his undergoing of the pain of losse for our sins is your own Institution lib. 2. c. 16. s 10. See Willet synops and an errour nor have you any greater adversary then Calvin therein who not only affirms the fear and affections in Christ to be pure according to your citations but also that in his soul he suffered the terrible torment of the damned and forsaken men Yet because the sufferings of the damned differ in some things from the sufferings of Christ later Writers choose rather upon just reason to say he suffered the punishment of the elect who deserved to be damned then that he suffered the punishment of the damned Dialogu And if he had died without manifesting fear of death it would have occasianed wofull heresie yea notwithstanding the evident proof given of his humane nature sundry hereticks have denied the truth of his humane nature it was necessary therefore that he should be pinched with the fear of death as much as his true humane nature could bear without sin as Calvin well observeth Answ There 's difference between manifest fear and excessive fear to have feared naturall death with excessive fear and that such as never man or woman manifested was to have manifested something lesse then man It was a sufficient manifestation of Christ to be man that he was touched with the feeling of our infirmities that he was in all points tempted like to us His words are these speaking on Matt. 26.39 Sed quantū ferri potuit sana integra natura hominis metu percussus anxietate constructus fuit Dialogu yet without sin So far as I can finde in Calvin for you have not pointed to the place you put in the word Therefore and so force both it and the whole sentence to confirm your own premises contrary to his minde which is directly against you See Calv. Comment on Ver. 2.28 of the chapter mentioned If the fear of death which he expressed to his Disciples in the night before his death had risen on the sense of his fathers wrath inflicted upon him for our sinne then you must also say that he suffered his fathers wrath for our sins six daies before this for six daies before this he spake those words Luk. 12.50 where our Saviour doth expresse as much distresse of minde as here yet I know no expositor that ever gathered so much from this place of Luke Answ Expositors do generally agree that as in Mathew and Mark so also Luke 12.50 Christ speaks of his passion as likewise that the wrath of God was the principal matter thereof in Luke he 's troubled at the remembrance of his future passion of his fathers wrath the sense of that wrath had at present in great degree taken hold upon him Christ doth not expresse so much distresse of minde in Luke as here he saith he was straightned but here he professeth his sorrowfullnesse unto death together with consternation and expavefaction of which straightway Dialogu Our Saviour tells the two sons of Zebedee they must drink of his cup and be baptized with his baptism by these two expressions which are Synonima's or equivalent our Saviour doth inform the two sons of Zebedee what the true nature of his sufferings should be viz. no other but such only as they should one day suffer from the hands of tyrants Answ Herein is a fallacy confounding such things as should be divided this Text saith Piscator is to be understood with an exception of that passion in which Christ felt the wrath of God for the Elect Quod tamen intelligendum est cum exceptione passionis illius quâ Dominus pro electis sensit iram Dei Pisc in loc Dialogu Christ suffered both as a Mattyr and as a satisfier the sons of Zebedee drank of the cup of Martyrdom not of the cup of satisfaction or redemption James and John the sons of Zebedee were asleep whilest Christ was drinking of that cup. His son was not touched with any sufferings from Gods wrath at all except by way of sympathy from his bodily sufferings only Answ If his soul was touched with Gods wrath by way of sympathy then his body was touched with the suffering of his wrath properly then Christ suffered the wrath of God by your concession These sufferings in the soul were not by way of sympathy his soul suffered properly and immediatly Isa 53.10 Mat. 26.37 the cause of his sufferings required that his soul should suffer as well as his body we sinned in soul properly therefore our surety must suffer in soul properly The greatest of the sufferings of Christ were spirituall and such as immediatly seized on his soul As his active obedience was as properly spirituall as bodily so his passive obedience was as properly spirituall as bodily Much rather is their judgement to be embraced who say The body suffered by way of sympathy because the soul is sensible of sufferings without the body but not the body without the soul Dialogu If the circumstances of his agony be well weighed it will appear that it did not proceed from his fathers wrath but from his naturall fear of death only because he must be stricken with the fear of death as much at his true humane nature could bear he must be touched with the fear of death in a great measure as the Prophets did foretell Adde to these pains of his minde his earnest prayers to be delivered from his naturall fear of death the fear of death doth often cause men to sweat and earnestly pray as he was man he must be touched with the fear of death as he was Mediatour he must fully and wholly overcome his naturall
and we delivered from the dominion of death i. e. of the cursed death of the crosse therefore he suffered the curse i. e. the wrath of God Dialogu Neither doth the word Fear in this Text signifie such an amazed naturall fear of death as the other word Fear doth signifie Mar. 14.33 which word I have expounded to signifie our Saviours troubled naturall fear of death and no more Answ According to you Fear Mar. 14.33 signifieth naturall fear of death and no more but Fear Heb. 5.7 signifieth a godly fear lest he should offend God by his unwillingnesse to die that is Mark speaks of a naturall fear of a naturall evil the Authour to the Hebrews of a morall fear of a morall evill a distinction as vain as weak without any warrant The object of fear in both places is the same why should not the affection of fear at least for the kinde of it be the same He offered up prayers with strong cries Heb. 5.7 and Jesus cried with a loud voice Mar. 14.37 Dialogu And therefore it caused him in the daies of his flesh to offer up many prayers and supplications with strong cries and tears unto him that was able to save him from death namely from his natural fear of death and he was heard because of his godly fear Just now you interpreted the word Death in the Text properly he prayed say you to be delivered from the dominion of death now you interpret it figuratively namely for the naturall fear of death one and the same word especially not being typicall is capable but of one sense in the same place As concerning the meaning of the place There are no greater asserters of Christs suffering the wrath of God then those who translate the Greek word by Reverence understanding it causally viz. that Christ was heard for that humble reverence wherewith he was affected towards God in his prayers yet those who translate it Fear give many reasons leading thereunto How terrible is eternall death if naturall death be called the King of terrour Job 18.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beza in loc Cham. de descen Bellarm. enerv t. 1. l. 2. c. 2. 1. The proper signification of the word 2. The frequent use of it in this sense by Greek Authours both sacred and secular as also Philosophers Historiographers and Poets 3. Analogy of Scripture 4. The mention of death that great object of fear together with the affection of fear in the same verse And Lastly Because the Greek praeposition annexed thereunto doth not well agree with the translation of it by reverence For though the praeposition according to Bellarmines instances is read with a genitive case and noteth the internall cause of an action yet it never is observed to signifie the externall moving cause of an action which is the present case Pareus who disalloweth neither of the interpretations yet thinks the Syriack interpreter to have best understood the place and cleared the text rendreth it thus Vid. Bezam Paraeum in loc who also in the daies of his flesh offered prayers and supplications with strong cries and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard And though he were a son yet learned he obedience from his fear and the things which he suffered Tremellius followeth him and Beza dislikes him not herein the sense being the same CHAP. X. The Vindication of Psa 22.1 Psa 22.1 My God My God why hast thou forsaken me Dialogu MAny Divines conclude from this Text that God did forsake his son in his anger because he had imputed to him all our sins but yet other Divines differ from them M. Broughton saith My God My God sheweth that Christ was not forsaken of God but that God was his hope 2. Saith he The word forsaken is not in the Text but Why dost thou leave me namely why dost thou leave me to the griefs following from the malice of the Jews as they are expressed in the body of the Psalm 3. Saith he None ever expounded one matter and made his amplification of another but Psal 22. hath amplification of griefs caused by men and not from Gods anger Therefore the Proposition in the first verse is not a complaint to God that he forsook his soul in anger for our sinnes M. Robert Wilmot sheweth at large that the term forsaken is not so proper to this place as the term leave and he doth parallell it with the word leave in Psal 16.10 M. Ainsworth saith the Hebrew word which we translate forsaken may be translated why leavest thou me And he saith in a Letter to my self that there is no materiall difference between leaving and forsaking so as the meaning be kept sound Therefore it followeth by good consequence that Christ doth not complain Psa 22. that God had forsaken him in anger for our sins Answ The Hebrew word as also the Syriack used by our Saviour Mat. 27.46 and the Greek word used here by the Septuagint signifyeth to leave another helplesse in their necessity or extremiry which appeareth not only in its frequent use in the Scripture but also in that this very word per Antiphrasin it being one of those Hebrew words that have two contrary significations signifyeth to help up that which is down or fortifie Nehem. 3.8 4.2 and such leaving we usually expresse by forsaking and accordingly its read by Latin Expositors promiscuously who all do in effect say with M Ainsworth there is no materiall difference betwixt leaving and forsaking so as the meaning be kept sound which with M. Ainsworth was but with you is not therefore you chuse leaving which with us is more generall and refuse forsaking which is a more proper term The Hebrew word then signifying to Forsake the word forsaken is in the Text more proper then the word leave contrary to M. Broughton The leaving or forsaking here is not only bodily but chiefly spirituall The matter propounded in the first verse and amplified in the body of the Psalm is the same namely the passion of Christ Psa 22. hath amplification of griefs caused by men instrumentally and by Gods anger as the efficient cause Gods anger and mens herein are not opposite but subordinate one to another Anger in Scripture is taken sometimes for the hatred of God unto a person sometime for the execution of vindicative justice in the latter sense God was angry with Christ not in the former Separation from God in sense or feeling Absolute separation from God this second was in Christ Perk. Gal. 3.13 Forsaking is either totall and finall so God forsakes the Reprobate or partial and temporal as concerning the fruition and sense of the good of the promise so God forsook Christ and of this forsaking Christ complaineth in this place being a principall part of that punishment which Christ as the surety of the Elect was to undergo the words clearly holding forth this truth the Text neither according to Grammaticall sense nor Analogy of
morbo remedium in morte vitam in perditore â—ervatorem adumbratum voluit Paraeus in locum He that compareth Rom. 5.14 with Gen. 2.17 hath an unspeakable ground of consolation whilest he reades Gods purpose to redeem us in our first fathers sinning and we in him From hence Paul gathers an argument to conclude that all Adams posterity descended from him by way of ordinary generation to be guilty of Adams sin Whilest you acknowledge that in Gen. 2.17 God laid down a rule of justice to Adam you must needs imply the surety of the elect to have satisfied that rule of justice and consequently to have suffered the wrath of God and in conclusion you tacitely contradict your self and act our cause Dialogu The nature of death intended in this Text is such as it was altogether impossible the Mediatour should suffer it Answ The distinction premised concerning death in sin and death for sin is here to be applied and accordingly the castigatory part of death in sin was intended to the sinner not to the surety The essentiall part of death for sin was intended to the surety not to the elect sinner The essentiall and circumstantiall poenall part of death in sinne and death for sin was intended for the Reprobate The Text must needs proceed according to this interpretation in respect of the elect There iâ— as good and greater reason why it should so proceed in respect of Christ it being much more impossible that he should suffer death in sinne that is become a sinner then that the elect sinners should suffer poenall i. e. properly-poenall death for sinne that is be damned though both be impossible Dialogu The death here threatned must be understood primarily of a spirituall death or death in sin Answ All that you say concerning spiritual death befalling Adam in the day that he sinned and therefore primarily inflicted is vain and impertinent for that denyeth not the inflicting of eternall death to be intended afterward nay it rather argueth eternall death to be primarily intended because not executed according to that Proposition That which is first in intention is last in execution That which is of the essence or substance of the punishment of sin is primarily in the curse and therefore primarily to be understood but death for sin not death in sin is of the essence of the punishment of sin as we saw in the first Distinction Chapter the first Instead of proving your assertion viz. That it was impossible for Christ to suffer any of the cursed death intended Gen. 2.17 your arguing only proves another thing viz. that the death here primarily intended was spirituall death i. e. death in sinne which Christ could not suffer and so you lose your Question Though it be granted that death in sin be here understood primarily yet if death for sinne be understood secondarily then this argument concludes not against Christs suffering any death intended but only against his suffering the death primarily intended in the text Though death in sin compared with eternal death be primarily intended in regard of Adams reprobate posterity yet it cannot be said it was primarily intended in respect of Adam himself if you will yield him to be saved and his elect posterity because that would imply eternall death to be secondarily intended which was never at all intended as concerning them Howsoever certain it is that death for sin as concerning the essentiall poenall part thereof is solely intended concerning Christ and death in sin not at all Dialogu Calvin in Gen. 2.17 demandeth what kinde of death it was that God threatned to fall upon Adam in this Text he answereth to this purpose It seemeth to me saith he that we must fetch the definition thereof from the contrary Consider saith he from what life Adam fell at the first saith he he was created in every part of his body and soul with pure qualities after the image of God therefore on the contrary saith he by dying the death is meant that he should be emptied of all the image of God and possessed with corrupt qualities as soon as ever he did but eat of the forbidden fruit Answ It is a vain question saith Calvin upon the place how God threatned death unto Adam in the day wherein he touched the fruit since he deferred the punishment unto a long time afterward Your labour to confirm Adams falling into death in sin the same day that he sinned is altogether impertinent the Question being Whether â—uch poenall death for sin is not here intended as it was possible for Christ to suffer Mihi definitio petenda ex opposito videtur tenendum inquaÌ„ est ex quâ vitâ homo ceciderit erat enim omni ex parte beatus Calvin in loc That poenall death for sin is here intended Calvin proveth though you omit his proof by the nature of opposites thus The death that he fell into was opposite to the good he fell from But the good he fell from was all kinde of blessednesse Therefore the death he fell into comprehended all kindes of misery This is the scope of his argumentation your mistake thereof though it is easily pardoned yet your other defect in the citation the Reader that compareth Calvin and the Dialogue together can hardly excuse Dialogu If there be good and necessary reason as there is to exempt our Mediatour from suffering the first cursed spirituall death then there is good reason also to exempt him from suffering any other curse of the Law whatsoever Answ The sum is Christ could not sinne Therefore he could not suffer the punishment due to the elect for sin as a surety a most reason-lesse and sick consequence and the contrary true He could not as Mediator and Surety have suffered satisfactorily the punishment for sinne if he had not been without sinne Though Christ was not a sinner inherently yet he was a sinner imputatively whereupon the substantiall curse of the Law was justly executed upon him Dialogu Examine the particulars of any other curse of the Law and they will be found to be such as Christ could not suffer Diseases naturall death putrefaction of body after death eternall death are curses of the Law Christ did not bear diseases and bodily infirmities yet by the common doctrine of imputation you must affirm it nor suffer naturall death in our stead nor see corruption nor suffer eternall death therefore he did not suffer the cursed death meant Gen. 2.17 Answ We are to distinguish between the sufferings which are of the essence or substance of the curse and those the inflicting whereof in particular is not of the essence of the curse Bodily diseases Putrefaction the duration of punishment for ever are not essentiall to the curse because the wrath of God may be suffered where these are not The Devils are not sick the reprobate that shall not die but be changed therefore not see coruption yet shall suffer the wrath of God No reprobates endure all miseries
and his instruments were all instruments herein In those effects wherein Satan and men are instruments God is the first and universall efficient not a meer counseller fore-speaker and permitter The efficiency of the second cause is the effect of the first cause Satan the Sabeans and Chaldeans were subordinate causes and instruments of Jobs sufferings yet he saith God hath taken away Job 1.21 So Joseph Gen. 45.8 David Psa 39 9. in cases much alike Satan and men were Instrumens in inflicting such a stroak therefore it is no stroak of divine vindicative justice is no good consequence All evils inflicted upon the reprobate whether corporall or spirituall are stroaks or acts of vindicative justice So often then as Satan or men are instrumentall in inflicting such evils so often Satan and men are instrumentall in stroaks of vindicative justice judicial punishment of sin with sin is an act of vindicative wrath but of this parents are instrumental in the propagation of original sin to their Reprobate children The spiritual distres of an excommunicate person that is a Reprobate is an effect of vindicative wrath But in such distresses Satan is instrumental 1 Cor. 5.5 That delusion of which 2 Thes 2.9 10 11 12. is an act of vindicative justice But in working it Satan and men are instrumentall Casting the wicked men into hell is also an act of vindicative justice in which Gods Angels are instruments Matth. 13.42 Creatures then both good and bad may be instruments of Gods vindicative wrath inflicted both on body and soul Yet we must distinguish between the wounds bruises and stripes inflicted upon Christ and the sin in inflicting of them Satan and his agents were the sole authours and actors of sin yet as concerning the wounds bruises stripes themselves though Satan and men were the subordinate instruments yet God himself was the Authour and principall efficient of them The Lord hath laid upon him the iniquities of us all Isa 53.6 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him vers 10. The sufferings of Christ included in this Text are not only such wherein Satan and men were Instruments but some of them were inflicted immediatly of God without any second means as instruments thereof Not only the body but the soul also is capable of bearing wounds bruises and stripes hence we reade of a wounded spirit Pro. 18.14 A wounded conscience 1 Cor. 8.12 The broken and bruised in heart Luke 4.18 The plague of the heart 1 King 8.38 The words proceeding from the very same Hebrew roots with the very words used in this Text are in the Scripture applied to the soul My soul is wounded within me Psa 119.22 A broken and a contrite spirit Psa 51.17 Receive instruction or castigation and not silver Pro. 8.10 which words proceed not only concerning corporeal but also concerning spiritual chastening Should the soul be supposed to be uncapable of wounds bruises chastenings properly yet experience shews it is capable of them metaphorically Satan being a spirit may have accesse unto and consequently both may and doth afflict the spirit 1 Cor. 5.5 Eph. 6.12 16. If Satan could not God can Christ suffered not only in body but in soul Isa 53.10 when thou shalt make his soul a sacrifice for sin My soul is exceeding sorrowfull even unto death Mat. 26.38 Mar. 14.13 His great heavinesse sore amazement agony sweat as it were drops of bloud Mar. 14.33 34. Luk. 2◠44 cannot be looked at in a person that was God-man as lesse then the effects of soul-sorrows hell-sorrows Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell The soul is by judicious and learned Authors understood properly Rivet Hell metaphorically that is for pains aequivalent to the pains of hell it self Parker de Desc l. 3. n. 62. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vir dolorū His sufferings are in the plurall number called passions not a single passion 1 Pet. 4.13 Death 's not a single death Isa 53 9. to shew as some conceive his sufferings both of soul and body He was a man of sorrows Isa 53.3 The word All Act. 13.29 is to be taken in a limited sense as you were told before for all that he was to suffer by them there mentioned not for all that he was to suffer He bare our sins in his body 1 Pet. 2.24 therefore our sins were imputed to him he bare them in his body but not only in his body he hung upon the tree being made a curse Gal. 3.13 The curse is not only bodily but spirituall As we were delivered from our sin so he bare our sin But we were delivered not only from the bodily but also from the spiritual punishment of sin Therefore Most aptly from the example of Christs suffering patiently the punishment of our sins he committed not are we exhorted to suffer patiently our chastisement for the sinnes which we have committed With good reason did he appeal in his sufferings unto the righteous Judge because though he suffered justly in respect of God yet he suffered most unjustly in respect of men The demonstration of the Mediatorly obedience of Christ is truly acknowledged as a subordinate end of his sufferings but the supream end you leave out namely the manifestation of the glory of Gods mercy tempered with justice Mercy to the elect justice unto Christ To declare I say at this time his righteousnesse or justice that he might be just and the justifier of him that beleeveth in Jesus Whilest you so often affirm the obedience of Christ to be meritorious and yet all along deny it to be performed in a way of justice you so oft affirm a contradiction The very nature of merit including justice for merit is a just desert or a desert in way of justice as Chap. 1. Dialogu I hold it necessary often to remember this distinction namely that Christ suffered both as a malefactor and as a Mediator at one and the same time Answ Though the notions of a Mediatour and a Malefactour are clearly distinct in themselves yet your distinguishing between Christ dying as a Mediatour and as a malefactor is unsound because it implieth that in dying as a Mediatour he died not as a Malefactor no not imputatively whereas to be a malefactor imputatively was for the times a part of his Mediatorly office and essentiall to the death of the Mediator The Dialogue makes him a malefactor in respect of mens false imputations only but denies any imputation of sin unto him by God Dialogu He bare our sins in his body upon the tree 1 Pet. 2.24 Peter means he bare the punishment of sin inflicted according to the sentence of Pilate in his body on the tree sin is often put for the punishment of sin Answ True sin is here taken for the punishment of sin though not only so but for the guilt of sin also 'T is true also that Christ in enduring the sufferings inflicted upon him by the Jews bare as you say our punishments and our sins i. e. the
fear of death by prayers therefore there was a necessity for him to pray and to strive in prayer untill he had overcome it as I shall further explain the matter by and by in Heb. 5.7 Answ There can no reason be given why the fear of naturall death should be as much as the humane nature of Christ could bear without sin because the object of that fear may be and is much exceeded paenal-spiritual death is a greater object of fear incomparably Dialogu Again Because the humane nature of Christ whatever had been inflicted upon it could not have sinned there can no sufficient reason be given why Christ should fear naturall death either more or so much as other men there being therefore not such a measure of fear in Christ of naturall death as the Dialogue affirmeth there was no such fear foretold nor was his earnest prayer to be delivered from that fear which could not be what it was and what he praied to be delivered from we shall see where you promise us to explain Heb. 5.7 We must observe the due time of every action the manner the place and the persons and all other circumstances to fullfill every circumstance just as the Prophets had foretold nothing must fail if he had failed in the least circumstance he had failed in all and his humane nature could not be exact in these circumstances without the concurrence of the divine nature in all these respects his naturall fear of death could not chuse but be very often in his minde and as often to put him unto pain till he had overcome it Answ As things were foretold by the Prophets concerning Christ so he fullfilled them Act. 3.18 Luke 22.37 that there might be a ready concurrence of the divine nature with the humane for the enabling of it unto the fullfilling of them he was both God and man Heb. 9.14 Rom. 1.4 there could not therefore be in Christ any fear as concerning his failing to fullfill his office to the utmost Your mentioning other causes though false of Christs fear besides his naturall death is a secret acknowledgement that his conflict with the fear of naturall death only was not a sufficient cause of his exceeding sorrows felt before his death Dialogu Scanderbeg was in such an agony when he was fighting against the Turks that the bloud hath been seen to burst out of his lips with very eagernesse of spirit only I have heard also from credible persont that Alexander the great did sweat bloud in the couragious defence of himself and others The sweaeting sicknesse caused many to sweat out of their bodies a bloudy humour and yet many did recover and live many years after but if their sweating bloud had been a sign of Gods wrath upon their souls as you say it was in Christ then I think they could not have lived any longer by the strength of nature Answ The effusion of certain drops of bloud at Scanderbergs lips through the commotion of his spirits was no sweat Your information concerning Alexander in all probability is a mistake there being no such matter reported of him by the ordinary Historiographers of his life It was but a bloudy humour if so and in a time of sicknesse not bloud Arist l. 3. depart animal c. 5. l. 3. De Historia anim c. 9. Fernelius lib. 6. that you mention at the sweating sicknesse Aristotle reports of one that sometimes sweat a kinde of bloudy excrement which yet he looked at proceeding from an evil disposition of the body Theophrastus confirmeth the same Fernelius writes that he saw bloud effused out of the extremity of the veins through infirmity of the Liver and the Retentive faculty Lib. de dignosc morb c. 11. 8. Vid. Gerh. Herm. in Luc. 22.43 Rondelettius tels us that he saw in the year 1547. a kinde of bloudy sweat in a certain Student occasioned by some defects of the veins bones and thinness of bloud Maldonat upon Mat. 26. makes mention of a man at Paris strong and in health who having received the sentence of death was bedewed with a bloudy sweat But this bloudy sweat of Christ properly so flowing from such a person and free from all distemper either of body or minde and in such a manner and plenty as Luke reports differed much from all these Whether the sweat of Christ were naturall or miraculous we leave it to them that have leisure and skill to enquire though the Evangelist mentioneth it as an effect proceeding from a greater cause then the fear of a meet naturall death all which notwithstanding yet is not our doctrine built only or chiefly upon this Argument Dialogu Do but consider a little more seriously what an horrid thing to nature the approach of death is see in how many horrid expressions David doth describe it Psa 116.3 18.4 55.4 5. Answ There were many times many causes why David was much afraid of death none of which are to be found in Christ yet you make Christ much more afraid of death then David was Though death be horrid unto nature yet not so to faith much lesse so horrid as to cause affections of fear above the nature of the evil feared that is erring affections in an unerring subject Dialogu Suppose Adam in innocency had grapled with the fear of death like enough it would have caused a violent sweat over all his body Answ Adam being a sinner did grapple with death Genes 5.5 without any such sweat mentioned doubtlesse Adam innocent would not have been inferiour to Adam a sinner Christ was much superiour to Adam innocent though you make him inferiour in this matter to Adam a sinner Dialogu It 's no strange new doctrine to make the naturall fear of death to be the cause of Christs agony seeing other learned men do affirm it Christopher Carlile in his Treatise of Christs desceut into hell p. 46. saith thus Was not Christ extreamly afflicted when he for fear of death sweat drops in quantity as thick as drops of bloud John Fryth a godly Martyr saith thus in his answer to Sir Thomas Moor B. 2. Christ did not only weep but he feared so sore that he sweat drops like drops of bloud running down upon the earth which was more then to weep Now saith he if I should ask you why Christ feared and sweat so sore what would you answer me was it for fear of the pains of purgatory he that shall so answer is worthy to be laughed to scorn wherefore then was it Verily even for the fear of death as it appeareth plainly by his prayer for he prayed to his Father saying If it be possible let this cup passe from me Answ These Authours I not having by me cannot examine the quotations their words therefore rather better bearing the sense of the Orthodox then the sense of the Dialogue charity untill the contrary appeareth construeth in the best sense M. Fryth's other writings call to have it so But though
Authorities also are incomparably for us it is not mans Authority but Scripture and reason from thence deduced that conclude the question Dialogu It passeth my understanding to finde out how an Angel could support our Saviour under the sense of his fathers wrath Can Angels appease Gods wrath or can Angels support a mans soâ—â— to bear it It 's absurd to think so God will not afford the least drop of water to cool any mans tongue that is tormented in the â—ames of his wrath therefore that cannot be the reason why God sent an Angel to comfort him Answ Veteres dicunt Angelus confortat sed non portat Ger. Harm Had you accepted of that saying of the Ancients viz. the Angel comforted him but carried none of his burthen you might have spared the Reader these Quaeries The cause of the Angels apparition and consolation was to support the humane nature from utter fainting before the time and to strengthen it not only at present but so as it might be able to undergo the sufferings that remained the necessity whereof argueth his conflict to have been greater then could be caused by the fear of a meer natural death 'T is true God will not afford the least drop of water to cool any mans tongue that is tormented in the flames of his wrath viz. that is totally in torment He had a taste of consolation at present but but there were times wherein he had not a drop of consolation as In his totall desertion in respect of sense upon the crosse Christ had his interims of respit and here an intervall of consolation otherwise he could not have fullfilled that which was written of him It is no good argument to say he drunk not the cup off at once ergò He drunk it not up He tasted of it in the garden he drunk it off upon the crosse The pain of losse and pain of sense which make up the full measure of the essentiall wrath of God met both together in full measure upon him on the crosse Dialogu But on the contrary it 's evident that God doth often use to comfort his people against the fear of death by the Ministry of Angels Answ It followeth not Men have needed the consolation of Angels against the fear of death therefore Christs consolation by an Angel was only to support him against the fear of a naturall death who can say it was only the fear of death that men were allwaies in such cases comforted against there are other concomitants of death viz. the sting of death the curse guilt unbelief that are more terrible then death it self Though Angels comfort sometimes against the fear of death yet not only against the fear of death but according to other temptations and necessities of those whom they are sent to minister unto 1 Kin. 19.5 7 8. Dan. 10 17. Mat. 4.11 Dialogu The fathers sending of an Angel to comfort his son in his agony was not an evidence that the father was angry with him for our sin but it was a sure evidence to him that his Father was highly well-pleased with him even in the time of his agony Answ Those sufferings whence he needed an Angel to he sent unto him interpreted according to analogy of Scripture are an evidence that his father was angry with him for our sins As the love of God unto the person of Ghrist and the wrath of God that is the execution of justice upon him as a surety consist together so may evidence of that love and partiall execution of that wrath answerably consist and meet together Dialogu Good reasons there were why Christ should be more afraid of death then many Martyrs have been namely for the clear manifestation of his humane nature and also for the accomplishment of the predictions that went before him touching his sufferings if he would he could have suffered lesse fear of death and shewed more true valour then ever any Martyrs have done but then his death would not have been so usefull to his children which for fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Answ You make Christ not only more afraid of naturall death then many Martyrs but to shew more fear of death then any man yea then any Malefactor Your reasons are but deceptions what clearer manifestation of the truth of his humane nature can be desired then that he was in all things like unto us except sin It 's a fiction to assert any divine prediction that Christ should only suffer a bodily death There can be no reason given why the Martyrs or other men having received from Christ but a drop of that spirit which was in him out of measure should endure with joy the same death which he himself entring but into the Porch and suburbs of Cartwright in Rhem. Test Mat. 27.46 through anguish of his soul had clods rather then drops of bloud streaming down his blessed body a thing which neither was seen or heard before or since The true reason thereof is Christ died as a sinner imputatively pressed under the sense of the wrath of God and conflicting with eternall death The Martyrs died justified cheared with the sense of the love of God and conflicting only with a temporall death It is more usefull unto those who for fear of death i.e. eternall death are all their life time subject unto bondage that Christ conflicted with that death wherwith they principally conflict then otherwise CHAP. IX The Vindication of Heb. 5.7 Heb. 5.7 Christ in the daies of his flesh when he had offered up praiers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and he was heard in that which he feared Dialogu I Reverence your Authours who expound the word Fear to mean the Fear of Astonishment at the feeling of Gods wrath for our sin but I must tell you that there are other Learned and Godly Divines that are contrary to them in their interpretation of the word Fear K. James his Translators do reade it thus in the margent He was heard because of his piety M. Tyndal and M. Overdale translate thus He was heard for his reverence And the Geneva in other places translate the same Greek word Godly fear as in Luke 2.25 Act. 8.2 Heb. 12.28 and in this very sense must this Greek word be translated in Heb. 5.7 Answ It is sufficient that Christs suffering of the wrath of God be taught in other Scriptures though not in this it may be taught in this verse though not in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated In that which he feared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being a word that signifieth both Fear of reverence and a fear of evil impending notwithstanding the received rule of interpretation which orders such words to be expounded according to the nature and circumstances of the place many godly learned have taken it some one way some another yet all generally acknowledging that Christ suffered the wrath of
God though some acknowledge not this word to afford an argument thereof K. James Translators as they reade piety in the margent which you mention so they reade fear in the Text which you mention not M. Tyndall and M. Overdale though they translate the Greek as you say yet how far that translation is from helping your cause or prejudicing ours will fully appear in the sequel of this chapter If the Greek word be translated Godly Fear Heb. 5.7 it may only thence be inferred that this word affords not an argument but it no way weakens the cause which hath Arguments enough beside Dialogu The Greek word doth properly signifie such a fear as makes a man exceeding wary and heedfull how he toucheth any thing that may hurt him Answ Cartwright in Rh. Test Heb. 5.7 Your explication is too generall to give the property of the word the word signifieth both Reverence and fear but the proper signification of this word being saith Cartwright never severed from fear and yet sometimes disjoyned from reverence It followeth that the property of the Greek word serveth better for to note fear then reverence Dialogu I come now to explain the very thing it self from which Christ prayed to be saved which was that he might be delivered from death and this petition was the masterpeece of all his prayers Answ He prayed that he might be delivered from death Good but this death was the death of the crosse for unto it his strong cries refer Mar. 14.37 the principall matter whereof was the curse viz. the wrath of God wherefore also out of this verse from the word Death if not from the word translated Fear it is truly argued that Christ suffered the wrath of God Not Christs salvation out of his sufferings but the glory of God in the salvation of the Elect was the master-piece of his prayers Joh. 17. Dialogu But for the better understanding the very thing it self that he did so often and so earnestly pray to be delivered from we must consider him with a twofold respect 1. As he was true man so he prayed to be saved from death conditionally Mat. 26.39 2. We must consider him in this Text as he was our Mediatour and so he prayed to be saved from death absolutely namely to be saved from his natural fear of death when he came to make his oblation for he knew well enough that if there had remained in him but the least naturall unwillingnesse to die when he came to make his oblation it would have spoiled the mediatorial efficacy of his oblation Answ To consider Christ as man distinct from the consideration of Christ as Mediatour is to consider the Mediatour without the consideration of him as man that is to consider the Mediatour as not a Mediatour for it is essentiall to Christ as Mediatour to be Godman That praier of Christ Mat. 26.39 was as much the praier of the Mediatour as this Heb. 5.7 neither was the manhood more concerned in that then in this To understand by death Heb. 5.7 his naturall fear of death and by that his fear of offending God by his naturall unwillingnesse to die for so you expound your self beside the manifest and fearlesse violence offered thereby unto the text is that you may wave the true cause of his fear namely the wrath of God together with your silencing the wonted cause asserted by you namely the fear of bodily death to devise a new cause of the fear of Christ viz. lest he should offend God i. e. lest he should sin choosing rather to say that Christ was afraid of the evil of sin then of the evil of punishment for sin That which it was impossible for Christ to be touched with that Christ was not afraid of But to offend God by his unwillingnesse to die was impossible for Christ to be touched with Therefore Christ was not afraid of unwillingnesse to die Unwillingnesse to die in Christ had been a sin he having received a command to lay down his life Damasc de fide orthod l. 3. c. 23. Joh 10.17 Heb. 4.15 Naturall fear is either pure and without vice this was in Christ or impure adverse to reason this was not in Christ So Damascene long since This spoiling of the mediatorly efficacy of this oblation is a supposition of impossibility therefore could not be an object of fear to him who was only subject to pure and reasonable fear Significat timorem rationabilem Cham. de descen l. 5. c. 5. Dialogu The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is noted to signifie a reasonable fear For he had from eternity covenanted with his father to give his soul by his own active obedience as a mediatoriall sacrifice of atonement for our sins Joh. â—0 17 18. therefore he must not die a positive death by the power of man but he must die as Mediator by the actuall and joynt concurrence of both divine and humane nature no man could force his soul out of his body by all the torments they could devise but he must separate his own soul from his body by the joint concurrence of both his natures Answ If he covenanted only to suffer a bodily death as you say you must needs think very unworthily to say no worse of him that was God whilest you put upon him so great fear of breaking covenant upon so small temptation Notwithstanding he covenanted to suffer spirituall death i. e. the wrath of God yet because he was God it was impossible that he should break his word and consequently impossible that he should fear an impossibility He laid down his life as a surety whicâ— none could have taken away against his will but he took not away his life as an executioner If he had covenanted to take away his own life as an executioner neither then could he have broken his word because he was God nor had so covenanting opposed but engaged him to the suffering of the wrath of God his death being the cursed death of the crosse Dialogu Christ made his oblation an exact obedience unto Gods will both for matter manner and time and this mediatorial action of his was the highest degree of obedience that the father required or that the son could perform for mans atonement and redemption Answ True But in our sense not yours of which afterwards Dialog His obedience in his death was not Legall but mediatoriall Answ It was both mediatorly and legall It was the obedience of the Mediatour as such unto the Law Such a person obeying and such obedience from that person were both requisite for the meritorious procuring of our atonement and redemption Dialog 2. He prayed also to be delivered from the dominion of death after he had made his oblation and God heard him and delivered him by his resurrection on the third day Act. 2.24 27. Answ By death then here we are not only to understand the fear of death which elsewhere you seem to say He prayed to be delivered
term a sinne worthy of death namely of this death hence it is evident that not every sinne that deserved death is here meant but such as deserved a double death namely 1. Stoning to death 2. Hanging up of their bodies upon a tree after they were stoned to death Answ Though the person thus accursed was according to the Law a person worthy of death yet not the guilt of the person but the typifying of the morall curse was the reason of this ceremoniall curse For greater Malefactors as was intimated before then some that were hanged if they were not hanged were not accursed Though the manner of the Jews were to hang up those that were stoned to death yet we reade not in the Scripture of any that were both stoned and hanged though we reade of Achan that he was both stoned and burned but not that he was hanged Naboth was stoned but we do not reade that he was hanged The King of Ai was hanged but we do not reade that he was first stoned Josh 8.29 The like we may observe of Sauls sons 2 Sam. 29.4 The Gibeonites being Proselytes were bound to the same laws with the Jews Exod. 12.49 Those five Kings that were hanged were first slain but 't is not said they were stoned nor doth any reason in the text leade so to think and afterwards hanged Howsoever it is no consequence they were great offenders upon whom the ceremoniall curse was inflicted Deut. 21.23 Therefore the curse inflicted upon Christ whom we have already proved to be the greatest offender as being imputatively guilty of all the sins of the elect both hanged upon the crosse and others was not the morall curse Dialogu M. Calvin in Deut. 21.23 saith That the hanging of Christ upon a tree was not after the manner that is here spoken of for such as were stoned to death among the Jews were also hanged up upon a gibbet after they were dead M. Goodwin and M. Ainsworth from the Hebrew Doctors reckon 18 particular capitall sins for which men were first stoned to death and after hanged and M. Ainsworth doth also say that the Hebrew Doctors do not understand this hanging of being put to death by hanging but of hanging a man up after he was stoned to death which was done for the greater detestation of such heinous malefactors Answ M. Ainsworth upon Exo. 12.21 telleth us that the Hebrew Doctors say that all that were to be stoned death by the Law were 18. but he doth not there say that after they were stoned they were hanged The curse indeed fastened upon the person hanged shewed the hainousnesse of sinne charged upon the Antitype as our surety but that the Jews would not see though the Hebrew Doctors say there were 18 sins for which men were stoned and hanged not women see Ainsworth on Deut. 21.22 yet Moses doth not say so Who is ignorant that the Jewish and Romane manner of hanging was as Calvin saith diverse or who denieth the manner of the Jews for a long time to be according to their Doctors writings but we look at this discourse as impertinent It doth not appear that hanging by divine institution above all other punishments pointed out the detestation of the fact If it did the person hanged was so much the fitter to be infamed with that curse which might render him a type of the truth in controversie namely that Christ who was hanged upon the tree was the most hainous Malefactor imputatively Dialogu The rebellious son Deut. 21.21 is brought in as an instance of this double punishment he was first stoned to death and then hanged upon a tree Answ The Dialogue saith so but not the Text interpreters look at the Law concerning the disobedient son and the Law concerning the person hanged as distinct laws whether so or not is not materiall to the point in hand Dialogu Thou shalt not let his carkasse remain all night upon the Tree but thou shalt surely bury him in the same day at the going down of the Sun and the reason is added because he is the cursed of God namely because such sinners are more eminently cursed of God because they were punished with the heaviest kinde of death that the Iudges of Israel did use to inflict upon any Malefactors Answ All that were hanged and only those that were hanged in Iudea after this Law given were thus accursed without reference to any other punishment suffered or not Though hanging of it self concludeth the person accursed yet not punished with the heaviest kinde of death Stoning and burning were by the Hebrew Doctors themselves both distinguished from and accounted heavier then strangling or hanging See Ainsw on Exod. 12.21 If they were dead before they were hanged they felt not the pain of hanging All that were slain before they were hanged were not stoned Iosh 10.26 If a man were both stoned and hanged yet stoning and burning was as heavy if not a heavier punishment of which last execution we reade expresly Iosh 7. but not so of the first Even according to the Hebrew Doctors alledged by M. Goodwin and M. Ainsworth you may observe some offences punished with stoning and burning not so hainous as some offences punished by other deaths Lying with his daughter in law or a betrothed maid was according to them punished with stoning to death and hanging whereas lying with his daughter and that whilest his wife lived was punished with burning and murder was punished with the sword Ains on Exo. 12.21 The reason why such sinners as were hanged were more eminently cursed of God then other malefactors was not because they were punished with the heaviest kinde of death but for the typicall use of this death Dialogu I think I have sufficiently proved that God did not appoint the hanging upon a tree to be a type of the temporall curse Answ We think you have not and indeed that in all you have said you have said little to that purpose whose thoughts are right belongs to the Reader to judge Dialogu If hanging upon the tree had been appointed by God to be a type of the eternall curse then every one that is hanged upon a tree should be eternally accursed and then diverse Martyrs that were crucified as Christ was are eternally accursed and then the penitent thief was eternally accursed Answ Nothing so Neque enim maledictos vocat ac fi desperata esset corum salus sed quia maledictionis nota est suspensio Calv. in 5. lib. Mosis for the type as the type could not be the Antitype Canaan was a type of heaven but Canaan was not heaven Adam in his first sin was a type of Christ obeying Rom. 5.14 yet Adam was not Christ nor disobedience obedience Calvin often alledged by the Dialogue telleth you that the salvation of him that was hanged upon a tree was not desperate A person might be ceremonially accursed yet everlastingly blessed As if it were requisite to the being of a type or thing
signifying that it put on the nature of the Antitype or thing signified whereas the type as the type can no more put on the nature of the Anti-type then the adjunct can put on the nature of the subject Adam as a publike person disobeying and communicating guilt and punishment to his seed was a type 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 5.14 of Christ obeying and communicating righteousnesse and life unto his seed Did then the first Adam put on the nature of the second and so become a mediator or did obedience put on the nature of disobedience Moses the Minister of the Law dying before he came into Canaan as M. Ainsworth observeth on Numb 20.12 signified the impotency of the Law to save was therefore Moses no instrument of salvation unto any Cyrus was a type of Christ must therefore Cyrus not only be saved but also put on the nature of a Mediator who neither then Isa 45.4.5 nor afterwards for ought that appeared beleeved Who ever reasoned thus before that in any measure understood the nature of a type Dialogu But if the circumstances of the Text be well marked they will tell you plainly that this hanging upon a tree cannot be a type of the eternall curse for 1. This Law of Moses must not be understood of putting any man to death by hanging but of hanging of a dead body upon a tree after it was first put to death by stoning but Christ was crucified whilest he was alive 2. This hanging in Moses time was done by the judiciall Law and civil Magistrates and not by the ceremoniall Law nor the Priests 3. This hanging in Moses was commanded to be practised by the Magistrates of the Iews Common-wealth but the death which Christ suffered was a Roman kinde of death Answ Yet Paul who well marked and understood also the Circumstances of the Text telleth us plainly Gal. 3.13 that Christ hanging upon the Crosse though by the Romane power and also after a Romane manner was intended in and proved out of Deut. 21.23 The ceremoniall curse therefore was laid upon every one that was judicially hanged upon a tree in Judea from the time of the giving of this Law until the time of the passion of Christ by what lawfull authority soever or after what manner soever The principall scope of this Text is not to command putting to death by hanging upon a tree the ground whereof is had elsewhere but to give a Law concerning him that is hanged namely that he should in any wise be buried that day with the reasons thereof annexed Dialogu When the Romans did put Christ to that kinde of death which they used to inflict upon their base fugitive slaves they made him cursed in his death in the highest degree they could and yet at the self-same time Christ did redeem us from the curse of the Law even from the eternall curse because Christ died not only as a Malefactor by the power of Roman souldiers but he died also as a Mediator by his own Mediatoriall obedience Answ If he that only granteth Christ died as a Malefactor in the Romans and Jews account but denieth that he died a Malefactor in Gods account should not put in that yet Christ died as a Mediator he could expect no other but utmost abhorrence from every Christian man for such a tenet as did not secretly steal away by subtle sophisms but openly and before the Sun spoil them of their Mediator The curse laid upon Christ hanging upon a tree was not the curse of the Romans or a humane but a divine curse Gal. 3.13 Deut. 21.23 for he that is hanged is accursed of God Christs death as a Malefactor in the Jews and Romans account unjustly was a part though but a small part of the just punishment of God inflicted upon him as the great Malefactor imputatively in Gods account Christ died both as a Mediatour and as a Malefactor in Gods account Of his dying as a Mediatour and as a Malefactor in the sense of the Dialogue See before Ch. 10. Dialogu This act of Christ was an everlasting act of Mediatoriall obedience it was no legall obedience nor was it any humane act of obedience as all legall obedience must be but it was a supernaturall act of obedience it was no lesse then a Mediatoriall oblation and therefore it was the meritorious procuring cause of our Redemption from the curse of the Law even at that very same time when Christ was made a curse for us by hanging as a Malefactor upon a tree Answ Christ acted in his death not as his own Executioner but as our Priest and faithfull Surety yeelding up his life according to his voluntary pre-consent This act of Christ in laying down his life was an act of legall obedience because it was done in obedience to the Law This commandment have I received from my Father Joh. 10.18 He was obedient to the death he humbled himself and became obedient to the death even the death of the Crosse Phil. 2.8 He was made under that is subject to the Law Gal. 4.4 and fullfilled the Law Mat. 5.17 this act of laying down his life was supernaturall but not only supernaturall it was both divine and humane according to both natures for it was the act and obedience of him who was God-man as God-man-Mediator otherwise it could not have been effectuall This reasoning is as full of perill as empty of sound reason Dialogu Therefore the Tree on which Christ was crucified as a Malefactor cannot be the Altar neither were the Roman Souldiers the Priests by whom this mediatorial sacrifice was offered up to God but it was his own Godhead that was the Priest and his own Godhead was the Altar by which he offered up his soul to God a mediatorial sacrifice for the procuring of our redemption from the curse of the Law Answ Who saith the Tree was the Altar or that the Souldiers were the Priests when the crosse is sometimes in Writers resembled unto the Altar it is an illustration by way of allusion unto the type that is the Altar whereon the beast was laid but not unto the Antitype Christ was both Priest Sacrifice and Altar which yet is not to be understood as excluding either of his natures in any of these considerations He was a Sacrifice in respect of his humane nature yet he who was the Sacrifice was both God and Man He was the Altar in respect of his divine nature yet he that was the Altar was both God and Man He was Priest as God-man CHAP. XII Christ redeemed us not from the curse of the Law by his soul-sufferings only And of the meaning of Haides Dialogu GOod Divines do affirm that Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law not by his bodily but by his soul-sufferings only which God inflicted upon his soul when his body was crucified upon the Tree Answ I do not finde that any Orthodox Divine so affirmeth Willet cen 5. err 3. par 3.
for our sins therefore necessary that remission of sins might be without any prejudice to the truth and justice of God Paul telleth us that God hath set forth Christ to be a propitiation Rom. 3.25 The word is observed to signifie a just and propitiatory expiation of sin Ezek. 18.20 argueth for not against the justice of the death of Christ The soul that sinneth shall die Good Man sinned ergò man died Christ was a sinner imputatively though not inherently and the soul that sinneth whether inherently or imputatively shall die Mors animae absoluta vel bypothetica The death of the soul is either absolute so none die but such as are inherently guilty or Hypothetical viz. Cautionary in way of a Surety that undertakes for the satisfaction of justice so Christ suffered death Mors non conditionis sed criminis Park l. 3. n. 87. Willet cont 5. Err. 3. part 3. quaest 3. Austin calleth it a death not of condition but of crime It is clear according to this Text that every one shall bear his own iniquity Who seeth not saith Dr Willet that the Prophet maketh exception of the person of the Mediatour for the Scripture testifieth of him that he bare our iniquities Isa 53.11 Therefore as he bare our sins in himself so also in Gods justice he was to bear the punishment for the same Yet neither according to this Rule nor any other Rule of justice can either the torments of hell or any other no not the least punishment be inflicted upon a person simply innocent Christ though he was innocent in himself yet he was not innocent as our Surety until the guilt imputed to him was satisfied for It is no way repugnant to the justice of God saith Vrsinus and after him Paraeus that a person innocent in himself should die for the sin of another upon such conditions as were mentioned Chap. 3. Dialogu And as God doth tye himself to this Rule of iustice touching the everlasting state of mens souls so he doth appoint civil Magistrates to observe this Rule of iustice touching the bodiet of sinfull Malefactors they may not punish an innocent for a guilty person but that man only that sins must die as 2 Kin. 14. doth expound the meaning of the iudicial Law in Deut. 24.16 I hold it a point of grosse iniustice for any Court of Magistrates to torture an innocent person for the redemption of a grosse Malefactor Answ It is manifest that as God according to his own free constitution doth not so man according to Gods Law may not punish a person that is simply innocent concerning such an one that Law holds Deut. 24.16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers Every man shall be put to death for his own sin But we must here distinguish between an inherent judiciall guilt and an extrinsecal judiciall guilt if Thomas be judicially guilty of a capitall crime inherently though Peter be guiltlesse thereof inherently yet if he be guilty thereof extrinsecally it seemeth to be no injustice for the Magistrate in case to put Peter to death for Thomas his crime In some cases saith D. Willet Willet cen 5. gen cont 20. part 7. qu. 3. by the Law of God the surety gave life for life as the Prophet sheweth unto Ahab by this Parable A man was taken in battel and committed to another to keep under this condition If he be lost thy life shall go for his life or else thou shalt pay a Talent of silver A price of equall value to his life that went away But in the application of this Parable the Prophet leaveth out the Talent because God cannot be waged with money and saith unto Ahab precisely thy life shall go for his life 1 Kin. â—0 39.42 The justice whereof Ahab himself not yet considering it to be his own case readily acknowledgeth and pronounceth sentence accordingly ver 40. Hostages or pledges whose lives with their consenr are legally engaged for the security of the faith of that state whereof they are members may lawfully be put to death in case the state whose fidelity they are to secure break their faith for the consequence or inconsequence of securing or not securing the fidelity of States is a greater good or evil then the life or death of a pledge Besides that the part oweth it self unto the preservation of the whole That this position is subscribed unto by the common consent of Nations may be gathered from their carriages concerning and executions of Hostages diverse of which though they may be disputable or blameable yet they all serve to be founded on this generall truth namely that there are cases wherein a pledge though innocent in himself yet guilty by the legall contract of the violation of the state upon himself may be justly put to death The people of Spain howsoever inclined to joyn with with the Romans against the Carthaginians Tit. Livij hist lib. 22. lib. 24. yet durst not for fear they should lament the guilt of their defection in the bloud of their sons then pledges in Hannibals custody The Romans put to death the pledge of Tarentum for making an unlawfull escape out of custody Keepers of prisons engaged to the Common-wealth that the prisoners shall be forth-coming to satisfie justice in case of the escape of the prisoners through their default though the fault be in it self inconsiderable yet by reason of the circumstances may justly be put to suffer the punishment due to such an offender escaped and that the Romans thought so may well be collected from Act. 12.19 though Herods command in that place is unjust He that is legally guilty of a capital crime the Civil Magistrate may justly put to death but a person though inherently guiltlesse yet extrinsecally and judicially guilty of a capitall crime is legally guilty of a capital crime Therefore a person inherently guiltlesse and innocent but extrinsecally and judicially guilty may be put to death Neither do Histories afford instances only in publike but also in personal cases wherein the surety hath suffered the punishment of another and by so suffering delivered the person suffered for and that not only in inferiour grievances Quint. Declam 5. 9. Idem Declam 6. but even in the matter of life it self Quintilian makes mention of one friend that redeemed another by vice-labour i. e. by doing that servile work in his friends stead which he was to have done l and in another place of a son that redeemed his father by vice-handywork that is by doing with his own hands that work which his father was to have done Cham. de desecnsu l. 5. c. 21. Greg. lib. Dial. c. 37. referente Estio 1 Jo. 3.16 And Chamier reports out of others of one Paulicus Nolanus who enslaved himself unto the King of the Vandals for the redemption of a certain widows son Gregory telleth us of
and actual obedience the particle by Gal. 2.21 notes the manner not the matter obedience unto the Law neither ceaseth nor can cease to be the matter of justification only it is the obedience performed thereunto by Christ not by us that is not our own but the obedience of another imputed to us by grace and received by faith the effect of grace We have the righteousnesse of the Law but we have it not by the Law The argumentation of the Apostle proceeds thus if we be justified by works Christ died in vain but Christ is not dead in vain therefore we are not justified by works hereby expresly concluding against justification by our own obedience and implicitly for justification by Christs obedience to the Law Dialogu Christs Legal obedience was but the work of his flesh or of his humane nature therefore it could not be the procuring cause of Gods atonement for iustification for no obedience is meritorious but that obedience which is mediatorial I never heard that the Father required the Mediator to perform Legal obedience at a proper condition of his Mediators office nay our Saviour himself doth testifie that his flesh alone considered doth not profit us to life and salvation Joh. 6.63 therefore not his Legal obedience for that was but the work of his flesh or humane nature Answ To say Christs Legal obedience was the work of his humane nature only besides the absonousnesse of it in Divinity will hardly escape an implicat I mean a contradiction in reason as the humane nature of Christ did not subsist alone so neither doth it perform any humane operations alone dependance in respect of subsistance inferreth a dependance in respect of operations action includes being as essential to it we may as well affirm nothing to be something as to affirm that to act of it self that doth not subsist of it self From the personall union it comes to passe saith Ames that all the actions and passions of Christ are referred partly unto his person as unto the proper term of them Med. lib. 1. cap. 18. although some of them are to be referred to one nature and some unto another as unto the next principles To be incarnate was an act of Legal obedience God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the Law Gal. 4.4 a body hast thou prepared me In the Volume of thy Book it is written of me that I should do thy will and then said I Lo I come Heb. 10.5 But the Father required of the Mediatour to be incarnate as a proper condition of his Mediatorly office Gal. 4.5 to redeem such as be under the Law to fullfill the Law is Legal obedience but the Father required of the Mediatour to fulfil the Law Mat. 5.17 I came to fulfil it and that as a proper condition of his Mediators office as he came so he was sent but he was sent as Mediator for the Mediator to suffer death as our surety in a way of justice is an act of Legal obedience but the Father required of the Mediator as a proper condition of the Mediators office to suffer death for us in a way of justice if his soul shall set it self a sacrifice for sin he shall see his seed c. Isa 53. therefore the Father required of the Mediatour Legal obedience as a condition of his Mediators office to suffer death for us in a way of justice Dialogu There is great iarring among Divines about the right stating of the doctrine of imputation 1. Some affirm that God the Father doth impute Christs Legal obedience to sinners as their obedience for their full and perfect iustification 2. Others do affirm that Christs Legal obedience imputed is not sufficient to make sinners righteous and so they do affirm that God doth impute another kinde of Christs righteousnesse to sinners for their full iustification viz. the purity of his nature to iustifie us from original sin 3. Others go further in the point of imputation for they affirm that God imputes another kinde of righteousnesse to sinners for their full justification viz. the passive obedience and so by necessary consequence they do make sinners to be their own Mediators because they do make Christs Mediatorial obedience to be a sinners obedience by Gods imputation Answ The whole course of the active and passive obedience of Christ together with his habitual conformity to the Law is the matter of our justification the purity of Christs nature and his active and passive righteousnesse are not two but one and the same kinde of Legal obedience expressed by both its parts viz. habitual and actual The asserters of the last expresly are to be understood as asserting the former implicitly the act presupposing the habit then spake not heretofore exclusively the reason why later Writers speak more expresly is because opposers have acted more subtilly The inference of sinners being their own Mediators from the imputation of passive obedience ariseth from your misunderstanding our doctrine which imputeth the obedience of Christ in respect of its efficacy not in respect of its formality M. Forbes acknowledgeth no such great jarring with our imputation which he testifieth to be without impiety and any matter of strife in it self were this jarring not only great but greater then it is the Gospel remains the Gospel notwithstanding through mans corruption it becometh an occasion of contention Dialogu The actions of Christs obedience neither active nor passive can be made ours by Gods imputation no more then our sinful actions can be made his by Gods imputation but our sinful actions cannot be made his by Gods imputation as I have at large expressed in the opening Gen. 2.17 Answ Your supposed large proof is sufficiently disproved as I hope in the place and the contrary proved both there and in the vindication of 1 Cor. 5.21 Dialogu If God do make sinners righteous by the active obedience of Christ imputed then Christ must perform all manner of obedience for us that God doth require of us or else God cannot in iustice make us perfectly righteous by the active obedience of Christ imputed but Christ did not perform all manner of acts of obedience for us that God requireth of us because he was never married c. and yet we have as much need to be made righteous in such like actions as in any therefore God cannot in iustice make us perfectly righteous by the actions of Christs active obedience imputed Answ The matter of our justification is not an actual and formal performance of all duties commanded in the Decalogue but an obedience to that which is commanded as it is commanded viz. actually unto such duties as it calleth to the exercise of and habitually unto the rest otherwise it was impossible for man to be justified by the Law neither Adam himself nor any man sustaining all relations Christ being an infinite person and our surety in performing all that was required of him he performed more then not only