reckonings between God and us Therefore it is said That in his blood we have Redemption even the forgiveness of sins Eph. 1. 7. Quest Whether it were not against the justice of God that Q. Christ who was in himself innocent without all sin a Lamb without a spot should bear and endure all thâ—se punishments for us who were the offending and guilty and obnoxious persons only Or if you please thus Whether God was not unjust to give his Son Jesus Christ Q. to be our Surety and Mediator and Redeemer and Saviour for as much as Christ could not be any one of these for and unto us but by a willing susception of our sins upon himself to be for them responsible unto the justice of God in suffering those punishments which were due for our sins I shall speak a few words to this main Question I say then that it is not always and in all cases unjust but it is somtimes and in some cases very just to punish one who is himself Innocent for him or those who are the â—nocent and guilty Grotius in his Book de satisfactione gives divers instances but I shall mention only two First In case of Conjunction where the innocent party and the nocent party do become legally one party and therefore if a Man Marries a Woman indebted he thereupon becomes obnoxious to pay her debts although absolutely considered he was not obnoxious thereunto But Secondly In case of Surety-ship where a person knowing the weak and insufficient condition of another doth yet voluntarily put forth himself and will be bound to the Creditor for him as his Surety to answer for him by reason of which Surety-ship the Creditor may come upon him and deal with him as he might have dealt with the principal Debtor himself and this course we do ordinarily take with Sureties for the recovery of our right without any violation of justice Now both these are exactly applicable to the business in hand for Jesus Christ was pleased to Marry our Nature unto himself he did partake of our flesh and blood and became man and one with us And besides that he did both by the Will of his Father and his own free consent become our Surety and was content to stand in our stead or room so as to be made sin and curse for us that is to have all our debts and sorrows all our sins and punishments laid upon him and did engage himself to satisfie God by bearing and suffering what we should have born and suffered And therefore although Jesus Christ absolutely considered in himself was innocent and had no sin inherent in himself which therefore might make him lyable to Death and Wrath and Curse yet by becoming one with us and sustaining the office of our Surety our sins were laid on him and our sins being laid upon him he made himself therefore obnoxious and that justly to all those punishments which he did suffer for our sins I do confess that had Christ been unwilling and forced into this Surety-ship or had any detriment or prejudice risen to any party concerned in this transaction than some complaint might have been made concerning the Justice of God But First There was a willingness on all sides for the passive work of Christ First God the Father who was the offended party he was willing which Christ assures us of when he said Thy Will be done Math. 26. 42. Act. 4. 25 26 27 28. Secondly We poor Sinners who are the offending party are willing We accept of this gracious and wonderful Redemption and bless the Lord who so loved us as to give his Son for us And thirdly Jesus Christ was willing to suffer for us Behold I come Psal 40. 7. And shall I not drink of the Cup which my Father hath given me to drink Joh. 18. 11. I have a Baptisme to be Baptised with and how am I straitned till it be accomplished Luk. 12. 50. He calls the death of his Cross a Baptisme partly because it was a certain immersion into extream calamities into which he was cast and partly because in the Cross He was so to be sprinkled in his own Blood as if he had been drowned and Baptised in it the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is here rendred strained signifies to be pained pressed or pent up not with such a grief as made him unwilling to come to it but with such as made him desire that it were once over There seems saith Grotius to be a similitude implyed in the Original word taken from a Woman with Child which is so afraid of her bringing forth that yet she would fain be eased of her burden Joh. 10. 11. I am the good Shepherd The good Shepherd giveth his life for the Sheep Christ is that good Shepherd by an excellency that held not his life dear for his Sheeps safety ver 15. I lay down my life for the Sheep vers 17. Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life vers 18. No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self A necessity there was of our Saviours death but it was a necessity of immutability because God had decreed it Act. 2. 23. not of coaction He laid down his life freely He dyed willingly But Secondly No parties whatsoever were prejudiced or lost by it we lost nothing by it for we are saved by his death and reconciled by his death and Christ lost nothing by it ought not Christ to have suffered these things and enter into his glory Luk. 24. 26. The Captain of our Salvation is made perfect through sufferings Heb. 2. 10. You may see Christs glorious Rewards for his sufferings in that Isa 53. 10 11 12. And God the Father lost nothing by it for he is glorified by it I have glorified thee on Earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do Joh. 17. 4. Yea he is fully satisfied and repaired again in all the honour which he lost by our sinning I say he is now fully repaired again by the sufferings of Christ in which he found a price sufficient and a Ransom and enough to make peace for ever In the day of account a Christians great plea is that Christ has been his Surety and paid his debts and made up his accounts for him Now from what has been said last a Christian may Eccles 11. 9. cap. 12 14. Math. 12. 1â— cap. 18. 23. Luk. 16. 3. Rom. 14. 10. 2 Cor. 6. 10. Heb. 9. 27 cap. 13. 17. 1 Pet 4. 5. form up this second plea to the ten Scriptures in the Margent that refer either to the general Judgment or to the particular Judgment that will pass upon every Christian immediately after death O blessed Lord upon my first believing and closing with Jesus Christ thou didst justifie me in the Court of glory from all my sins both as to guilt and punishment Upon my first act of believing thou didst pardon all my sins
to deliver and therefore though he did suffer death for us in the substance of it yet he neither did nor could suffer death in the circumstances of it so as for ever to be held by death for then in suffering death he should not have conquered death nor delivered us from death neither was it necessary to Christ's substitution that he should undergo in every respect the same punishment which the offender himself was liable unto but if he underwent so much punishment as did satisfie the Law and vindicate the Law-giver in his holiness truth justice and righteousness that was enough Now that was unquestionably done by Christ as the Scriptures do abundantly testifie It must be readily granted that Christ was to suffer the whole punishment due unto sin so far as it became the dignity of his person and the necessity of the work but if he had suffered eternally the work of Redemption could never have been accomplished and besides he should have suffered that which could no ways beseem him And therefore the Apostle saith Heb. 2. 10. It became him to be consecrated through sufferings Christ was only to pass through such sufferings as became him who was ordained to be the Prince and Captain of our salvation It became him to be man and it became him in our humane nature to suffer death and it became him to sustain for us the substance of those punishments that we should have undergone and accordingly he did what our sins did deserve and what justice might lay upon us for those sins all that did Christ certainly suffer or bear Jesus Christ did so suffer for our sins as that his sufferings were fully answerable to the demerit of our sins And I think I may safely say that God in justice could not require any more or lay on any one more punishment than Jesus Christ did suffer for our sins and my reason is this because Christ bare all our sins and all our sorrows and was obedient unto the death and made a Isa 53. Gal. 3. 13. curse for us and more than this the Law of God could not require and if Christ did suffer all that the Law of God required then certainly he suffeed so much as did satisfie the justice of God viz. as much punishment as was commensurated with sin But Seventhly and lastly the meritorious cause the main 7. Isa 53. 4 5. There were other subordinate ends of his sufferings as 1. To sanctifie sufferings to us 2. To sweeten sufferings to us 3. To succour us experimentally under all our sufferings Heb. 2. 17 18. 4. That he might be prepared to enter into his glory Luk. 24. 26 5. That he might be a Conquerour over sufferings which was one piece of his greatest glory c. end and the special occasion of all the sufferings of Christ were the sins of his people Christ was our surety and he could not satisfie for our sins nor reconcile us to God without suffering Isa 53. 5. But he was wounded for our transgressions the Hebrew word for wounded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath a double Emphasis either it may signifie that he was pierced through as with a dart or that he was tormented or pained as women or other creatures are wont to be that bring forth with pain and torment at the time of their travail for the word in the Text last cited comes regularly from a root that signifies properly to be in pain as women are when they bring forth It was our transgressions that gave Christ his deadly wounds it was our sins that smote him and bruised him Look as Zippora said to Moses Exod. 4. 25. Surely a bloody husband art thou to me so may Christ say to his Church surely a bloody spouse hast thou been to me Christ's spouse may look upon him and say It was I that have been that Judas that have betrayed thee it was I that was the souldiers that murdered thee It was my sins that brought all sorrows and sufferings all mischiefs and evils upon thee I have sinned and thou hast suffered I have eaten the sower Grapes and thy teeth were set on edge I have sinned and thou hast died I have wounded thee and thou hast healed me It is the wisdom and oh that it might be more and more the work of every believer to look upon an humble Christ with an humble heart a broken Christ with a broken heart a bleeding Christ with a bleeding heart a wounded Christ with a wounded heart according to that Zech. 12. 10. Christ was wounded bruised and cut off for sinners sins When Christ was taken by the souldiers he said If ye seek me let these go their way Christ was willing that the hurt which sinners had done to God and the debt which they owed to him should be set upon his score and put upon his account and the Apostle mentions it as a remarkable thing That Christ died for the ungodly Rom. 5. 8. The just for the unjust 1 Pet. 3. 18. our sins were the meritorious cause of Christ's sufferings Christ did not suffer for himself for Heb. 4. 15. cap. 7. 26. he was without sin neither was guile found in his mouth The grand design errand and business about which Christ came into the world was to save sinners He had his 1 Tim. 1. 15. Mat. 1. 21. name Jesus because he was to save is people from their sins he died for our sins not only for our good as the final cause but for our sins as the procuring cause of his death He was delivered for our offences Christ died Rom. 4. 25. 1 Cor. 15. 3. for our sins according to the scriptures that is according to what was typified prophesied and promised in the blessed Scriptures Gal. 1. 4. He gave himself for our sins 1 Pet. 2. 24. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body upon the tree by whose stripes ye were healed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The whole Testament hath not the like two relatives at once in the original as if I should say by whose stripes of his we are healed Peter saith Estius alludes to the stripes that servants receive from their cruel masters therefore he return to the second person ye are healed here you see that the Physician 's blood became the sick man's salve we can hardly believe the power of sword-salve But here is a mystery that only the Gospel can assure us of that the wounding of one should be the cure of another Oh what an odious thing is sin to God that he will pardon none without blood yea without the blood of his dearest son Oh what a Hell of wickedness Heb. 9. 22. 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. must there be in sin that nothing can expiate it but the best the purest the noblest blood that ever run in veins Oh what a transcendent evil must sin be that nothing can purge it away but death but the death of the Cross no death but an
Law he did come up to perfect and universal consâ—rmity to it he did whatever the Law enjoyns and he suffered whatever the Law threatens Christ by his active and passive obedience hath fulfilled the Law most exactly and completely Gal. 3. 13. As he was perfectly holy he did what the Law commanded and as he was made a curse he underwent what the Law threatned and all this he did and suffered in our steads and as our Surety what ever Christ did as our Surety he made it good to the full so that neither the righteous God nor yet the righteous Law could ever tax him with the least defect And this must be our great Plea our choice our sweet our safe our comfortable our acceptable Plea both in the day of our particular accounts when we die and in the great day of our account when a crucified Saviour shall judge the World Although sin as an act be transient yet in the guilt of it it lies in the Lord 's high Court of Justice filed upon record against the sinner and calling aloud for deserved punishment saying Man hath sinned and man must suffer for sin but now Christ hath suffered that plea is taken off Lo here saith the Lord the same Nature that sinned suffereth mine own Son being made flesh hath suffered death for sin in the flesh the thing is done the Law is satisfied and so non-suits the action and casts it out of the Court as unjust Thus whereas sin would have condemned us Christ hath condemned sin he hath weakned yea nullified and taken away sin in the guilt and condemning power of it by that abundant satisfaction that he hath given to the Justice of God by his active and passive Obedience so that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus for Rom. 8. 1 3. the blood of the Mediator out-cries the clamour of sin and this must be a Christians joy and triumph and plea in the great day of our Lord Jesus As Christ was made 2 Cor. 5. 21. sin for us so the Lord doth impute the sufferings of Christ to us that is he accepts of them on our behalf and puts them upon our account As if the Lord should say unto every particular believer My Son was thy Surety and stood in thy stead and suffered and satisfied and took away thy sins by his blood and that for thee in his blood I find a ransom for thy soul I do acknowledge my self satisfied for thee and satisfied towards thee and thou art delivered and discharged I forgive thee thy sins and am reconciled unto thee and will save thee and glorifie thee for my Sons sake in his blood thou hast Redemption the forgiveness of thy sins As when Simile a Surety satisfies the Creditor for a debt this is accounted to the Debtor and reckoned as a discharge to him in particular I am paid and you are discharged saith the Creditour so it is in this case I am paid saith God and you are discharged and I have no more to say to you but this Enter into the joy of your Lord Matth. 25. 21. The Fifth Plea that you are to make in order to the 5. Eccles 11. 9. cap. 12. 14. Mat. 12. 14. cap. 18 23. Luk. 16. 3. Rom. 14. 10. 2 Cor. 5. 10. Heb. 9. 27 cap. 13. 17. 1 Pet. 4 5. Ten Scriptures in the Margin that respects the account that you are to give up in the great day of the Lord is drawn from the imputed Righteousness of Christ to us the Justification of a Sinner in the sight of God upon the account of Christ's Righteousness imputed to him whereby the guilt of sin is removed and the person of the Sinner is accepted as righteous with the God of Heaven is that which I shall open to you distinctly in these following Branches First That the Grace of Justification in the sight of God is made up of Two parts 1. There is Forgiveness of the offences committed against the Lord 2. Acceptation of the person offending pronouncing him a righteous person and receiving him into favour again as if he had never offended This is most clear and evident in the blessed Scriptures First there is an Act of absolution and acquittal from the guilt of sin and freedom from the condemnation deserved by sin the desert of sin is an inseparable accident Rom. 8. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is a forensick word relating to what is in use amongst men in their Courts of Judicature to condemn 'T is the sentence of a Judge decreeing a mulct or penalty to be inflicted upon the guilty Person or concomitant of it that can never be removed it may be truly said of the sins of a justified person that they deserve everlasting destruction but Justification is the freeing of a sinner from the guilt of his iniquity whereby he was actually bound over to condemnation as soon as any man doth sin there is a guilt upon him by which he is bound over to the wrath and curse of God and this guilt or obligation is inseparable from sin the sin doth deserve no less than everlasting damnation Now forgiveness of sin hath a peculiar respect to the guilt of sin and removal of that when the Lord forgives a man he doth discharge him of that obligation by which he was bound over to wrath and condemnation Rom. 8. 1. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus vers 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect it is God that justifieth vers 34. who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died Beloved the Lord is a holy and just God and he reveils his wrath from heaven against Rom. 1. 18. Gel. 3. 10. Râ—m 1. 32. Rom. 6. 23. all unrighteousness and there is a curse threatned to every transgression of the Law and when any man sinneth he is obnoxious unto the curse and God may inflict the same upon him but when God forgives sins he therein doth interpose as it were between the sin and the curse and between the obligation and the condemnation When the sinner sins God might say unto him sinner by your sinning you are now fallen into my hands of Justice and for your sins I may according to my righteous Law condemn and curse you for ever but such is my free my rich my sovereign grace that for Christ's sake I will spare you and pardon you and that curse Jer. 31. 20. and condemnation which you have deserved shall never fall upon you Oh! my bowels my bowels are yearning towards you and therefore I will have mercy mercy Jâ—b 33. 13 24 28 30. upon you and will deliver your souls from going down into the pit when the poor sinner is indicted and arraigned at God's bar and process is made against him and he found guilty of the violation of God's holy Law and accordingly judged guilty by God and adjudged to Job
as a God of compassion God is infinite in all his attributes in his justice as well as in his mercy these two cannot interfere as justice cannot intrench upon mercy so neither may mercy encroach upon justice the glory of both must be maintained Now by the breach of the Law the justice of God is wronged so that although mercy be apt to pardon yet justice requires satisfaction and calls for vengeance on sinners Every transgression Heb. 2. 2. must receive just recompence and God will not in any case absolve the guilty till this be done the hands of Exod. 34. 7. mercy are tied that she cannot act And seeing satisfaction could not be made to an infinite majesty but by an equal person and price therefore the son of God must become a curse for us by taking our nature and pouring out his soul to the death and by this means justice and mercy are reconciled and kiss each other and mercy now being set at liberty hath her free course to save poor sinners God will have his justice satisfied to the full and therefore Christ must bear all the punishment due to our sins or else God cannot set us free for he cannot go against his own just will observe the force of that phrase Christ ought to suffer And thus it behoved Christ to suffer Luk. 24. 26. and Mat. 26. 54. Thus it must be why must but because it was 1. So decreed by God 2. Foretold by the Prophets every particular of Christ's sufferings were foretold by the prophets even to their very spitting in his face 3. Prefigured in the daily morning and evening sacrifice this Lamb of God was sacrificed from the beginning of the world A necessity then there was of our Saviour's sufferings not a necessity of coaction for he died freely John 10. 11 14 17 18. and voluntarily but of immutability and infallibility for the former reasons mentioned An earthly Prince that is just holds himself bound to inflict punishment impartially upon the malefactor or his surety it stands upon his honour he saith it must be so I cannot do otherwise this is true much more of God who is Justice it self God who is great in counsel and excellent in working had store of means at hand whereby to set free and recover lost man-kind yet he was pleased in his infinite wisdom to pitch upon this way of satisfaction as being most agreeable to his holy nature and most suitable to his high and sovereign ends viz. Man's salvation and his own glory and that God doth stand upon full satisfaction and will not forgive one sin without it may be thus made evident First from the nature of sin which is that abominable 1. â—eâ— 44. 4. God could not â—salvâ— jure pass over the sin of man so as absolutely to let it go unpunished thing which God hates The sinner deserves to die for his sins Rom. 6. 23. Tho wages of sin is death every sinner is worthy of death They which commit such things are worthy of death Rom. 1. 32. Now God is just and righteous It is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you 2 Thes 1. 6. yea and God did therefore set forth Christ to be a propitiation through faith in bis blood Rom. 3. 25. To declare his righteousness that he might be just vers 26. Now if God be a just and righteous God then sin cannot absolutely escape unpunished for it is just with God to punish the sinner who is worthy of punishment and certainly God must deny himself if he will not be just 2 Tim. 2. 13. but this he can never do sin is of an infinite guilt and hath an infinite evil in the nature of it and therefore no person in heaven or earth but that person our Lord Jesus who is God-man and who had an infinite dignity that could either procure the pardon of it or make satisfaction for it no prayers no cries no tears no humblings no repentings no resolutions no reformations c. can stop the course of Justice or procure the guilty sinners pardon 't is Christ alone that can dissolve all obligations to punishment and break all bonds and chains of guilt and hand a pardon to us through his own blood Eph. 1. 7. we are set free by the blood of Christ By the blood of thy Zach. 9. 11. covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit 't is by his blood that we are justified and saved from wrath Rom. 5. 9. Much more being justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath by him Pray tell me what is it to be justified but to be pardoned and what is it to be saved from wrath but to be delivered from all punishment Eph. 2. 13. Colos 1. 20. and both these depend upon the blood of Christ But The veracity of God requires it Look as God cannot but be just so he cannot but be true and if he cannot but be true then he will make good the threatnings that are gone out of his mouth Gen. 2. 17. In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Heb. in dying thou Under the name of death are comprehended all other calamities miseries and sorrows shalt die death is a fall that came in by a fall and without all pâ—radventure every man should die the same day he was born for the wages of sin is death and this wages should be presently paid did not Christ reprieve poor sinner's lives for a season upon which account he is said to be the Saviour of all men not of eternal preservation but of a temporal reservation He will by no means clear 1 Tim. 4. 10. the guilty The soul that sinneth it shall die Ezek. 18. Exod. 34. 7. 20. The wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him Rom. 2. 6. He will render to every man according to his deeds Oh sirs God can never so far yield as to abrogate his own Law and quietly to sit down with injury and loss to his own Justice himself having established a Law c. The Law pronounces him cursed that continues not in all things Gal. 3. 10. that are written therein to do them Now though the threatnings of men are frequently vain and frivolous yet the threatnings of the great God shall certainly take place and have their accomplishment though many ten thousand millions of sinners perish not one tittle of the Mat. 5. 18. dreadful threatnings of God shall fail till all be fulfilled Josephus saith that from that very time that old Eli heard those terrible threatnings that made their ears tingle 1 Sam. 3. 11 12 13 14. and hearts tremble that heard them Eli never ceased weeping ah who can look upon the dreadful threatnings that are pointed against sinners all over the book of God and not tremble and weep God cannot but in justice punish sinners neither is it in his choice
or freedom whether he will damn the obstinate impenitent sinner or no Look as God cannot but love holiness where-ever he sees it so he cannot But loath and punish wickedness where-ever he beholds it neither will it stand with the infinite wisdom of God to admit of a dispensation or relaxation of the threatnings without satisfaction God had passed a peremptory doom and made a solemn declaration of it in his word that he that sinneth shall die the death and he will not he cannot break his word you know he had fore-ordained Jesus Christ and set him forth to take upon himself this burden to become a propitiation Rom. 3 35. 1 Pet. 1. 20. for sin through his blood and made known his mind concerning it in his written word plainly Isa Exigitur as Junius and some others read it 53. 7. If we read the words it is exacted or strictly required meaning the iniquity or punishment of us all vers 6. It is required at his hands he must answer it in our stead and so he is afflicted and this affliction reacheth even to the cutting him off vers 8. Therefore when Christ puts this work upon an ought and must be he lays the weight of all on the Scriptures thus it is written as you may see in the texts lately cited as if he should say God hath spoken it and his truth engageth him to see it done so God hath threatned to punish sin and his truth engageth him to see it done Oh sirs there is no standing before that God that is a consuming fire a just judg a holy God except I have Heb. 12 9. one to undertake for me that is mighty to save and mighty to satisfie divine justice and mighty to pacifie divine Isa 63. 1. wrath and mighty to bear the threatnings and mighty to forgive sin when God forgives sin he does it in a way of Isa 19. 20. righteousness 1 John 1. 9. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness he doth not say he is merciful but just to forgive us our sins because they are satisfied for and God's justice will not let him demand the same debt twice of the surety and of the debtor too it will never stand with the unspotted justice and righteousness of God to require such debts of us which Christ Rom. 3. 25. by shedding his most precious blood hath discharged for us Mark the maledictory sentence of death denounced by the Law against sinners was inflicted by God upon Christ this is that which the Prophet Esay positively asserts where he saith the chastisement that is the punishment called a chastisement because inflicted by a father and only for a Isa 53. 5 7. time of ourpeace was upon him and again he was oppressed and he was afflicted which according to the genuine sence of the Original is better rendred it was exacted to wit the punishment of our sin and he was afflicted or he answered to wit to the demand of the penalty The curse to Theod. disp l. 15. c. 5. which we are subject saith Theodorus he assumed upon himself of his own accord the death that was not due Gr. mer. l. 3. c. 13. to him he underwent that we might not undergo that death which was due to us saith Gregory he made himself Arnol. de sep verb Tr. 1. a debter for us who were debtors and therefore the Creditor exacts it from him saith Arnoldus Now God's justice being satisfied for our offences it cannot but remit those offences to us As the Creditor cannot demand that of the debtor which the surety hath already paid so neither can God exact the punishment of us which Christ hath suffered and therefore it is just with God to forgive us our sins It will be altogether needless to enquire whether it had been injustice in God to forgive without satisfaction St. Austin's determination is very solid there Aug. de Trinit l. 13. c. 10. wanted not to God another possible way and if it were unjust it were impossible but this of satisfaction was most agreeable to divine wisdom before God did decree this way it might be free to have used it or not but in decreeing this seemed most convenient and after it became When you are forgiven you are then released and for ever acquitted from any after reckonings with the justice of God divine Justice hath no more to say or do against you for remissa culpa remiâ—ttur paena if the fault be forgiven then also is the punishment forgiven nay let me speak with an holy and humble reverence God cannot in his justice punish when he hath pardoned necessary so that there can be no remission without it and however it might not have been unjust with God to have forgiven without it yet we are sure it is most just with him to forgive upon satisfaction Indeed the debt being paid by Christ God's very justice as I may say with reverence would trouble him if he should not give in the bond and give out an acquittance The believing penitent sinner may in an humble confidence sue out his pardon not only at the throne of grace but at the bar of justice in these or the like expressions Lord thou hast punished my sins in thy son wilt thou punish them in me thou hast accepted that suffering of thy son as the punishment of my sin therefore thou canst not in justice exact it of me for this were to punish twice for one offence which thy justice cannot but abhor Oh sirs God doth not pronounce men righteous when they are not but first he makes them so and then he pronounces them to be such so that if a man will be justified he must be able to produce such a compleat righteousness wherewith he may stand before the justice of God ah sinners the Lord is infinitely just as well as merciful and if ever your sins be pardoned it must be by an admirable contemperament or mixture of mercy and justice together it was one of the great ends of the Gospel-dispensation that God might exalt his justice in the justification of a sinner Rom. 3. 26. To declare Isay at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus But Thirdly The only matter of mans righteousness since the fall of Adam wherein he can appear with comfort before the Justice of God and consequently whereby alone he can be justified in his sight is the obedience and suffering of Jesus Christ the righteousness of the Mediatour there is not any other way imaginable how the Justice of God may be satisfied and we may have our sins pardoned in a way of justice but by the righteousness of the Son of God and therefore this is his name Jehovah-Tsidkenu the Lord our Righteousness this Jer. 23. 6. is his name that is this is the Prerogative of the Lord Jesus
by charging them all upon Christs score That is a great expression of Nathan to David The Lord hath put away thy sin But the Original runs thus The Lord hath made thy sins to pass over that is to 2 Sam 12. 13. pass over from thee to his Son he hath laid them to his charge Now Christ hath discharged all his Peoples Debts and Bonds There is a two-fold debt which lay upon us one was the debt of Obedience unto the Law and this Christ did pay by fulfilling all Righteousness Math. 3. 15. The other was the debt of punishment for our transgressions and this debt Christ discharged by his Death on the Cross Isa 53. 4 10 12. and by being made a Curse for us to redeem us from the Curse Gal. 3. 13. Hence it is that we are said to be bought with a price 1 Cor. 6. 20. chap. 7. 23. and that Christ is called our Raâ—som Lutron Math. 20. 28. and Antilutron 1 Tim. 2. 6. The words do signifie a valuable price laid down for anothers Ransom The Blood of Christ the Son of God was a valuable price a sufficient price it was as much as would take off all Enmities and take away all Sin and to satisfie Divine Justice and indeed so it did and therefore you read That in his blood we have Redemption even the forgiveness of our sins Ephes 1. 7. Col. 1. 14 20. and his death was such a full compensation to divine Justice that the Apostle makes a challenge to all Rom. 8. 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect and vers 34. Who is he that Condemneth it is Christ that dyed As if he had said Christ hath satisfied and discharged all The Greek word Antilutron is of special Emphasis The vulgar Latine renders it Redemptionem Redemption Beza Redemptioms precium a price of Redemption but neither of them fully expressing the force of the word which properly signifieth a counter-price when one doth undergoe in the room of another that which he should have undergone in his own person As when one yields himself a Captive for the Redeeming of another out of Captivity or giveth his own life for the saving of anothers There were such Sureties among the Greeks as gave life for life body for body and in this sence the Apostle is to be understood when he saith that Christ gave himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Ransom a counter-price paying a price for his people Christ hath laid down a price for all Believers they are his dear bought Ones they are his choyce redeemed Ones Isa 51. 11. Christ gave himself Antilutron a counter-price a Ransom submitting himself to the like punishment that his redeemed Ones should have undergone Christ to deliver his Elect from the Curse of the Law did subject himself to that same Curse of the Law under which all man-kind lay Jesus Christ was a true Surety one that gave his life for the life of others as the Apostle saith of Castor and Pollux that the one redeemed the others life with his own death So did the Lord Jesus he became such a Surety for his Elect giving himself an Antilutron a Ransom for them Joh. 6. 51. Tit. 2. 14. 1 Pet. 1. 18. Rev. 1. 5. chap. 5. 9. O what comfort is this unto us to have such a Jesus who himself bare our sins even all our sins left not one unsatisfied for laid down a full ransom a full price such an expiatory Sacrifice as that now we are out of the hands of Justice and Wrath and Death and Curse and Hell and are reconciled and made near by the Blood of the everlasting Covenant the Blood of Christ as the Scripture speaks is the Blood of God Act. 20. 28. So that there is not only satisfaction but merit in his Blood there is more in Christs Blood than meer payment or satisfaction there was merit also in it to acquire and procure and purchase all spiritual good and all eternal good for the people of God not only immunities from sin Death Wrath Curse Hell c. but priviledges and dignities of Sons and Heirs yea all Grace and all Love and all Peace and all Glory even that glorious Inheritance purchased by his Blood Ephes 1. 14. Remember this once for all that in justification our debts are charged upon Christ they go upon his accounts you know that in sin there is the vicious and staining quality of it and there is the resulting guilt of it which is the obligation of a Sinner over to the Judgment Seat of God to answer for it Now this guilt in which lies our debt this is charged upon Christ Therefore saith the Apostle God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself not imputing their Trespasses unto them 2 Cor. 5. 19. And hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin ver 21. You know in Law the Wifes Debts are charged upon the Husband and if the Debtor be disabled than the Creditor sues the Surety Fide jussor or Surety and Debitor in Law are reputed as one person Now Christ is our Fide jussor He is made sin for us saith the Apostle for us that is in our stead A Surety for us one who puts our scores on his accounts our burden on his shoulders so saith that Princely Prophet Isaiah Isa 53. 4 5. He hath born our griefs and carried our soroows how so He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities that is he stood in our stead he took upon him the answering of our sins the satisfying of our debts the clearing of our guilt and therefore was it that he was so bruised c. You remember the scape-Goat upon his Head all the Iniquities of the Children of Israel and all their transgressions in all their sins were confessed and put And the Goat did bâ—ar upon him all their Iniquities Lev. 16. 21 22. What is the meaning of this Surely Jesus Christ upon whom our sins were laid and who alone died for the ungodly Rom. 5. 6. and bear our burdens away Therefore the Believer in the sence of guilt should run unto Christ and offer up his Blood unto the Father and say Lord it is true I owe Thee so much yet Father forgive me remember that thine own Son was my Ransom his Blood was the price he was my Surety and undertook to answer for my sins I beseech thee accept of his Attonement for he is my Surety my Redemption Thou must be satisfied but Christ hath satisfied thee not for himself what sins had he of his own but for me they were my debts which he satisfied for and look over thy book and thou shalt find it so for thou hast said He was made sin for us and that he was wounded for our transgressions Now what a singular support what an admirable comfort is this that we our selves are not to make up our accounts and reckonings but that Christ hath cleared all accounts and
he died chearfully and comfortably without murmuring or repining O what a wonder of love is this that Jesus Christ who is the Author of life the Fountain of life the Lord of life that he should so freely so readily so cheerfully lay down his life for us c. About four in the Afternoon he was pierced with a Spear and there issued out of his side both blood and water John 19. 34. And one of the Souldiers with a Spear pierced his side and forthwith came thereout blood and water Out of the side of Christ being now dead there issues water blood signifying that he is both our Justification Sanctification Thus was fulfilled that which was long before foretold Zach. 1â— 10. 1 Jâ—◠〈◊〉 Zach. 12 1. They shall by water and by blood Thus was there a Fountain opâ—â—ed to the house of David and the Inhabitants of Jerusalem even to all the Elect for sin and for uncleanness The Souldiers malice lived when Christ was dead The water and blood forthwith issuing out as soon as 't was pierced with a Spear did evidently shew that he was truely dead The Syriack paraphrase saith he pierced his rib that is the fifth rib where the pericardium lay It is very likely that the very Pericardium was pierced now the Pericardium is a film or skin like unto a Purse wherein is contained clear water to cool the heat of the heart The blood saith one signifies the perfect expiation of the sins of the Church and the water the daily Ambrose on Luk. â—â— washing and purging of it from the remainder of her corruption Water and blood issued on t of Christs side saith another to teach us that Christ justifieth none by his merit but such whom he sanctifieth by his Spirit Christ was pierced with a Spear and water and blood presently issued out of his side that his Enemies might not object that he rose again because he was but half dead on the Cross and being so taken down he revived to testifie the contrary truth John so seriously affirmeth the certainty of his death he being an eye-witness of the streaming out of Christs blood as he stood by Christs Cross O Gates of Heaven O Windows of Paradise O Palace of Refuge O Tower of strength O Sanctuary of the just O flourishing Bed of the Spouse of Solomon Me-thinks I see water and blood running out of his side more freshly than these golden streams which ran out of the Garden of Eden and watered the whole world But here I may not dwell c. But to shut up this particular about five which the Jews call the eleventh and the last hour of the day Christ was taken down and Buried by Joseph and Nichodemus But Thirdly As the death of Christ on the Cross was a lingring death so the death of Christ was a painful death this appears several ways First His Legs and Hands were violently racked and pulled out to the places fitted for his fastenings and then pierced through with Nails his Hands and Feet were nailed which parts being full of sinnews and therefore very tender his pains could not but be very acute and sharpe Secondly By this means he wanted the use both of his Hands and Feet and so he was forced to hang immoveable upon the Cross as being unable to turn any way for his ease and therefore he could not but be under very dolorous pains Thirdly The longer he lived the more he endured for by the weight of his body his wounds were opened and enlarged his Nerves and Veins were rent and torn asunder and his blood gushed out more and more abundantly still Now the invenomed Arrows of Gods wrath shot to his heart this was the direful Catastrophe and caused that vociferation and out-cry upon the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The Justice of God was now inflamed and heightned to its full 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8. 32. God spared not his Son God would not abate one farthing of the debt But Fourthly He dyed by piece-meals he dyed by little and little he dyed not all at once he that dyed on the Cross was long a dying Christ was kept a great while upon the rack it was full three hours betwixt his affixion and expiration and certainly it would have been longer if he had not freely and willingly given up the Ghost I have read that Andrew the Apostle was two whole days on the Cross before he dyed and so long might Christ have been a dying if God had not supernaturally heightened the degrees of his torment Doubtless when Christ was on the Cross he felt the very pains of Hell though not locally yet equivalently But Fourthly As the death of Christ on the Cross was a painful death so the death of Christ on the Cross was a shameful death Christ was in medio positus he hung between two Thieves as if he had been the principal Malefactor Math. 27. 38. Here they placed him to make the world believe that he was the great ring-leader of such men Christ was crucified in the mid'st as the chief of Sinners that we might have place in the mid'st of Heavenly Angels the one of these Thieves went railing to Hell the Zach. 3 7. other went repenting forth right to Heaven living long in a little time If you ask me the names of these two Thieves who Q. were crucified with Christ I must answer That although the Scripture nominates them not yet some Writers give them these names Dismas and Gâ—smas Dismas the happy and Gesmas the miserable Thief according to the Poet Gesmas damnatur Dismas ad astra levatur That is When Gesmas died to Dives he was sent When Dismas died to Abraham up he went Well might the Lamp of Heaven withdraw its light and mask it self with darkness as blushing to behold the Sun of Righteousness hanging between two Thieves He shall be an Apollo to me that can tell me which was the greater The blood of the Cross or the shame of the Cross Heb. 12. 2. It was a mighty shame that Sauls Sons were 2 Sam. 21. 6. hanged on a Tree O what a shameful death was it for Christ to hang on a Tree between two notorious Thieves But Fifthly and lastly As the death of Christ was a shameful death so the death of Christ was a cursed death Cursed is every one that hangeth on a Tree The death on Deut. 21. 23. the Tree was Accursed above all kinds of death as the Serpent was Accursed above all Beasts of the field both for Gen. 3. 14. the first transgression whereof the Serpent was the instrument the Tree the occasion Since the death of any Malefactor might be a Monument of Gods Curse for sin it may be questioned why this brand is peculiarly set upon this kind of punishment that he that is hanged is Accursed of God To which I Answer that the reason of this was because this was
being without sin could neither by Indignation displease his Father nor by Desperation destroy himself So that if you consider either the adjuncts of Hell or the effects then I say we do remove all them as far off from the holy soul of Christ as Heaven is from Hell or the East from the West or darkness from light c. Thirdly Consider the punishment it self Now concerning this we say That our blessed Saviour as in himself he bare all the sins of the Elect. So he also suffered the whole punishment of body and soul in general that was due unto us for the same which we should have endured if he had not satisfied for it and so consequently we affirm that he felt the anguish of soul and horror of Gods wrath and so in soul entred into the torments of Hell for us sustained them and vanquished them One spaking in honour of Christs passion saith Cum iram Dei Calvin in Math. 2â— 39. sibi propositum videret When he saw the wrath of God set before him presenting himself before Gods tribunal loaden with the sins of the whole world it was necessary for him to fear the deep bottomless pit of death Again Calvin in Math. 27. 46. saith the same Author Cum species Christo objecla est c. Such an object being offered to Christs view as though God being set against him he were appointed to destruction he was with horror affrighted which was able an hundred times to have swallowed up all mortal Creatures but he by the wonderful power of his spirit escaped with Victory What dishonour was it to our Saviour Christ saith another to suffer that which was necessary for Fulk in Act 2. Sect. 11. our Redemption namely that torment of Hell which we had deserved and which the Justice of God required that he should endure for our Redemption Or rather what is more to the honour of Christ then that he vouchsafed to descend into Hell for us and to abide that bitter pain which we had deserved to suffer Eternally and what may rather be called Hell then the anguish of soul which he suffered when he being yet God complained that he was forsaken of God O Sirs this we need not fear to confess that Christ bearing our sins in himself upon the Cross did feel himself during that combat as rejected and forsaken of God and accursed for us and the flames of his Fathers wrath burning within him so that to the honour of Christs Passion we confess that our blessed Redeemer refused no part of our punishment but endured the very pains of Hell so far as they tended not neither to the derogation of his Person deprivation of his Nature destruction of his Office c. Here it may be query'd whether the Lord Jesus Christ underwent the idem the very self-same punishment that we should have undergone or only the tantundem that which did amount and was equivalent thereunto To which I Answer That in different respects both may be affirmed The punishment which Christ indur'd if it be considered in its substance kind or nature so 't was the same with that the Sinner himself should have undergone but if it be considered with respect to certain circumstances adjuncts or accidents which attend that punishment as inflicted upon the Sinner so 't was but equivalent and not the same The punishment due to the Sinner was death the curse of the Law upon the breach of the first Covenant now this Christ underwent For Gal. 3. 13. he was made a Curse for us The adjuncts attending this death were the Eternity of it Desperation going along with it c. These Christ was freed from the dignity of his Person supplying the former the sanctity of his Person securing him against the latter therefore in reference unto these and to some other things already mentioned it was but the tantundem not the idem but suppose there had been nothing of sameness nothing beyond equivalency in what Christ suffered yet that was enough for it was not required that Christ should suffer every kind of Curse which is the effect of sin but in the general accursed death Look as in his fulfilling of the Law for us it was not necessary that he should perform every holy duty that the Law requireth for he could not perform that obedience which Magistrates or Married persons are bound to do It s enough that there was a fulfilling of it in the general for us So here it was not necessary that Jesus Christ should undergo in every respect the same punishment which the offender himself was lyable unto but if he shall undergoe so much as may satisfie the Laws threatnings and vindicate the Law-giver in his Truth Justice and Righteous government that was enough Now that was unquestionably done by Christ But some may object and say How could Christ suffer Obj. 1 the pains of the second death without dis-union of the Godhead from the Man-hood for the God-head could not dye Or what interest had Christs God-head in his humane sufferings to make them both so short and so precious and satisfactory to Divine justice for the sins of so many Sinners especially when we consider that God cannot suffer I Answer It followeth not that because Christ is United Answ 1 into one Person with God that therefore he did not suffer the pains of Hell for by the same reason he should not have suffered in his body for the Union of his Person could have preserved him from sufferings in the one as well as in the other and neither God Angels nor Men compelled him to undertake this difficult and bloody work but his own free and unspeakable love to Man-kind as himself declares Joh. 10. 17. Therefore my Father Isa 53. 12. Psal 40. 7 8. Heb. 10. 9 10. loves me because I lay down my life ver 18. No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self If Christ had been constrained to suffer then both men and Angels might fear and tremble but as one saith well Voluntas Bernard sponte morientis placuit Deo The willingness of him that dyed pleased God who offered himself to be the Redeemer of fallen man But secondly I Answer from 1 Joh. 3. 16. Hereby Answ 2 perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us The person dying was God else his person could have done us no good The Person suffering must be God as well as man but the God-head suffered not As if you shoot off a Cannon in the bright ayr the ayr suffers but the light of it suffers not Actions and passions belong to persons Nothing less then that person who is God-Man could bear the brunt of the day satisfie Divine justice pacifie Divine wrath bring in an everlasting Righteousness and make us happy for ever But Thirdly I answer thus Albeit the passion of the humane Nature could not so far reach the God-head of Christ that it
cannot be satisfied for the transgression of the Law but by the death of the Sinner but it doth not require that this should be done in the place of the damned The wicked go to Prison because they do not they cannot make satisfaction otherwise Christ having fully discharged the debt needed not go to Prison Object But the pains and torments that are due to mans Obj. 5 sins are to be everlasting and how then can Christs short sufferings countervail them Answ That Christs sufferings in his soul and body Answ were equivalent to it although to speak properly Eternity is not of the essence of death which is the reward of sin and threatned by God but its accidental because man thus dying is never able to satisfie God therefore seeing he cannot pay the last farthing he is for Math. 18 28. 35. ever kept in Prison Look as eternal death hath in it eternity despair necessarily in all those that so die so Christ could not suffer but what was wanting in duration was supplyed 1. By the immensity of his sorrows conflicting with the sense of Gods wrath because of our sins imputed to him so that he suffered more grief then if the sorrows of all men were put together Christs Hell sorrows on the Cross were meritorious and fully satisfactory Isa 53. for our everlasting punishment and therefore in greatness were to exceed all other mens sorrows as being answerable to Gods justice 2. By the dignity and worth of him that did suffer Therefore the Scripture calls it the blood of God The damned must bear the wrath of God to all Eternity because they can never satisfie the justice of God for sin therefore they must lye by it world without end but Christ hath made an infinit satisfaction in a finit time by undergoing that fierce battel with the wrath of God and getting the Victory in a few hours which is equivalent to the Creatures bearing it and grapling with it everlastingly This length or shortness of durance is but a circumstance not of any necessary consideration in this case Suppose a man indebted a 100 l. and likely to lye in Prison till he shall pay it yet utterly unable if another man comes and lays down the money on two hours warning is not this as well or better done that which may be done to as good or better purpose in a short time what need is there to draw it out at length The justice of the Law did not require that either the Sinner or his Surety should suffer the Eternity of Hells torments but only their extremity it doth abundantly counterpoise the eternity of the punishment that the person which suffered was the eternal God Besides it was impossible that he should be detained under the sorrows of death Act. 2. 24. And if he had been so detained Then he had not spoiled principalities and powers nor triumphed over them Col. 2. 15. but had been overcome and so had not attained his end But Secondly The pains of Hell which Christ suffered though they were not infinit in time yet were they of an infinite price and value for the dignity of the person that suffered them Christs temporal enduring of Hellish sorrows was as effectual and meritorious as if they had been perpetual the dignity of Christs person did bear him out in that which was not meet for him to suffer nor fit in respect of our Redemption for if he should have suffered Eternally our Redemption could never have been accomplished but for him to suffer in soul as he did in body was neither derogatory to his person nor prejudicial to his work Infinitly in time Christ was not to suffer as one well observes Christ dyed secundum tempus Ambrose in 5. ad Rom. 6. in time or according to time Tempora in mundo sunt c. Times are in the world where the Sun riseth and setteth unto this time he dyed but where there is no time there he was found not only living but conquering Christ God-Man suffered punishment in measure infinit and therefore there is no ground why he should endure it eternally and indeed it was impossible that Christ should be Act. 2. 24. holden of Death because he was both the Lord of life and the Lords holy One 1 Cor. 2. 8. Act. 2. 27. But Thirdly If the measure of a mans punishment were infinit the duration needs not be infinit sinful mans measure of punishment is finit and therefore the duration of his punishment must be infinit because the punishment must be answerable to the infinit evil of sin committed against an infinit God O Sirs continual imprisonment in Hell arises from mans not being able to pay the price for could he pay the debt in one year he needs not lye two years in Prison Now the debt is the first and second death and because sinful man cannot pay it in any time he must endure it eternally but now Christ has laid down ready pay upon the nail to the full for all his chosen Ones and therefore it is not reâ—uired of him that he should suffer for ever neither can it stand with the holiness or justice of God to hold him under the second death he having paid the debt to the utmost Farthing Now that he hath fully paid the debt himself witnesseth Joh. 19. 30. saying when he had received the Vinegar It is finished so vers 28. After this Jesus knowing that all things were accomplished Though there are many interpretations given of this place by Augustine Chrysostom Jansenuâ— and others yet doubtless this alone will hold water viz. That the heavy wrath of the Lord which did pursue Christ and the second death which filled him with grievous terrors is now over and past and mans Redemption finished he speaketh here of that which presently should be and in the yielding up his Ghost was accomplished And thus you see that Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the very torments of Hell though not after a Hellish manner and you see also that Christ did not locally descend into Hell Shall we make a few inferences from hence First then O! how should these sad sufferings of Christ for us endear Christ to us O! what precious thoughts should we have of him O! how should we Psal 136. 17 18. prize him how should we honour him how should we love him and how should we be swallowed up in the admiration of him as his love to us has been matchless so his sufferings for us has been matchless I have read of Nero that he had a Shirt made of a Salamanders skin so that if he did walk through the fire in it it would keep him from burning So Christ is the true Salamanders skin that will keep the soul from everlasting burnings Isa 33. 14. and therefore well may Christians cry out with that Martyr None but Christ none but Christ Tigranes in Zenophon Lambert coming to Redeem his Father and Friends with his
all the men which have been from Adams time till this day and which shall be to the end of the world and all the piles of grass in the world were turned into so many men to augment the number and that puntshment inflicted in Hell upon any one were to be divided amongst all these so as to every one might befall an equal part of that punishment yet that which would be the portion of one man would be far more grievous than all the cruel deaths and exquisite tortures which have been inflicted upon men ever since the world began A Heathen Poet speaking of the multitude of the pains and torments of the wicked in Hell affirmed That although he had a hundred mouths and as many tongues with a voyce as strong as Iron yet were they not able to express the names of them But this Poet spoke more like a Prophet than a Poet. The Poets tell you of a place called Tartarum or Hell where the impious shall be eternally tormented This Tartarum the Poets did set forth with many fictions to affright people from vicious practises such as of the four Lakes of Acheron Styx Phlegethon and Cocytus over which Charon in his Boat did wast over the departed souls of the three Judges Aecus Minos and Rhadamanthus who were to call the Souls to an account and judg them to their state of the three Furies Tisophone Megaera Alecto who lashed guilty souls to extort confession from them of Cerberus the Dog of Hell with three heads which would let none come out when once they were in and of several sorts of punishments inflicted as iron chains horrid Purchas his Pilgrim 3d. 〈◊〉 pag. 407. 408. stripes gnawing of Vultures Wheels rowling great stones and the like In the Chappel of Ticam the China Pluto the pains of Hell were so desciphered that could not but strike terrour into the beholders some rosted in Iron beds some fryed in scalding Oyle some cut in pieces or divided in the middle or torne of Doggs c. In another part of the Chappel were painted the Dungeons of Hell with horrible Serpents Flames Devils c. In Hell saith Mahomet there is the floore of Brimstone Alchoran c. smoakie pitchy with stinking flames deep pits of scalding pitch and sulphurous flames wherein the damned are punished daily There the Wicked shall be fed with the Tree Ezecum which shall burn in their Bellies like fire there they shall drink fire and be holden in Chains of seventy Cubits In the midst of Hell they say is a Tree full of fruit every Apple being like to the head of a Devil which groweth green in the mid'st of all those flames called Zoaccum Agacci or the Tree of bitterness and the souls that shall eat thereof thinking to refresh themselves shall so find them and by them and their pains in Hell they shall grow mad and the Devils shall bind them with chains of fire and shall drag them up and down in Hell with much more which I am not free to transcribe Now although most of those things which you may find among many Poets Heathens and Turks concerning the torments of Hell are fictions of their own brains Yet that there is such a place as Hell and that there are diversity of torments there the very light of nature doth witness and hath forced many to confess c. And as there are diversity of torments in Hell so the torments of Hell are everlasting Mark every thing that is conducible to the torments of the damned is eternal 1. God himself that damns them is Eternal Deut. 33. 27. 1 Tim. 1. 17. 2. The fire that torments them is Eternal Isa 30. 33. cap. 66. 24. Jud. 7. 3. The Prison and Chains that holds them are Eternal Jude 6. 7 13. 2 Pet. 2. 17. Melancthon calls it a Hellish fery 4. The Worm that gnaws them is Eternal Mark 9. 44. 5. The sentence that shall be passed upon them shall be Eternalâ— Math. 25. 41. Depart from me ye Cursed into everlasting fire You know that fire is the most tormenting Of this fire see more in my Londons Lamentation on the late fiery dispensation part 2 page 105. to page 131. Element Oh the most dreadful impression that it makes upon the flesh Everlasting fire There is the vengance and continuance of it You shall go into fire into everlasting fire that shall never consume it self nor consume you Eternity of Eternity is the Hell of Hell The fire in Hell is like that stone in Arcadia which being once kindled could never be quenched If all the fires that ever were or shall be in the world were contracted into one fire how terrible would it be Yet such a fire would be but as a painted fire upon the wall to the fire of Hell For to be tormented without end this is that which goes beyond all the bounds of desperation Grievous is the torment of the damned for the bitterness of the punishments but it Dionys in 18. Apocalyps fol. 301. is more grievous for the diversity of the punishments but most grievous for the eternity of the punishments If after so many millions of years as there be drops in the Ocean there might be a deliverance out of Hell this would yield a little ease a little comfort to the damned O but this word Eternity Eternity Eternity this word Everlasting Everlasting Everlasting this word for Ever for Ever for Ever will even break the hearts of the Damned in ten thousand pieces O that word Never said a poor despairing Creature on his Death-bed breaks my heart The Reprobate shall have punishment without pity Drexel misery without mercy sorrow without succour crying without compassion mischief without measure and torment without end Plato could say That whoever are not expiated but prophane shall go into Hell to be tormented for their wickedness with the greatest the most bitter and terrible punishments for ever in that Prison of Hell And Trismegistus could say that souls going out of the body defiled were tost too and fro with eternal punishments Yea the very Turks speaking of the House of Perdition do affirm That they who have turned Gods grace into Wantonness shall Aâ—â—wan Mahâ—m c. 14. p. 160. c. c 20. p. 198 c. abide eternally in the fire of Hell and there be eternally tormented A certain Religious man going to visit Olympius who lived Cloistered up in a dark Cell which he thought uninhabitable by reason of heat and swarms of Gnats and Flyes and asking him how he could endure to live in such a place he answered All this is but a light matter that I may escape eternal torments I can endure the stinging of Gnats that I might not endure the stinging of Conscience and the gnawing of that Worm that never dyes this heat thou thinkest grievous I can easily endure when I think of the eternal fire of Hell these sufferings are but short but the
yeâ— the unprofitable servant into outer darkness Into a darkness beyond a darkness into a Dungeon beyond and beneath the prison The darkness of Hell is compared 2. Pet. 2. 4. Juâ—le verâ—â— 6. Acts 12. 10. This priâ—on was without the gate near mount â—alâ—â—ry and it was the loathsoâ—est and vilest prison of all for iâ— it the Thieves who were carried to Calvary to be executed were kep't and Christ alludeth to this prison in that Matth. 8. 12. and that Matth. 22. 13. and that Matth. 25. 30. Cast him into utter darkness Which allusion could not be understood unless there had been a dark prison without the City where was utter darkness to the darkness of those prisons which were often times out of the City By outer darkness the Holy-Ghost Would signifie to us that the wicked should be in a state most remote from all heavenly happiness and blessedness and that they should be expulsed out of the blessed presence of God who is mentium Lumâ—n It is usual among the Greeks by a comparative to set forth the superlative degree by outer darkness we are to understand the greatest darkness that is as in a place most remote from all light They shall be cast into outer darkness that is they shall be cast into the corporal and palpable darkness of the infernal prison Immediately after death Sinners Souls shall be cast into the infernal prison and in the day of judgment both their souls and their bodies shall be cast into outer darkness Darkness is no other thing than a privation of light Now Light is twofold viz. 1. Spiritual as Wisdom Grace Truth now the privation of this light is internal darkness and ignorance in the spirit and inward man 2. There is a sensible and corporal light whose privation is outer darkness and this is the darkness spoken of in the three Scriptures last cited For although there be fire in hell yet it is a dark and smoaky fire and not clear except only so as the damned may see one another for the greater encrease of their misery as some write Now I shall leave the ingenious Reader to conclude as he pleases concerning the place where Hell is desiring and hoping that he will make it the greatest business of his life to escape Hell and to get to Heaven c. Thirdly and Lastly If Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the very torments of Hell though not after a hellish manner then let me infer that certainly the Papists are greatly out they are greatly mistaken and do greatly err who boldly and confidently assert that Christs Soul in substance went really and locally into Hell Bellar. de Christ Animâ— lib. 4. cap. 10. 11 12 13 14 15 16. Teâ— 1. Vide Calvin in Instituâ— lib. 2. cap. 16. Sect. 9. Bellarmine takes a great deal of pains to make good this assertion but this great Champion of the Romish Church may easily be confuted First because that limbus patrum and Christs fetching the fathers from the skirts of Hell about which he makes so great a noise is a meer fable and not bottomed upon any solid grounds of Scripture Secondly because upon Christs dying and satisfying for our sins his soul went that very day into Paradise as Adam sinning was that very day cast out of Luke 23. 43. Gen. 3. 23 24. John 18. 30. Heb. 9. 12. 1 Thâ—s 1. 10. Eph. 4. 8. Heb. 2. 14. 15. Coloss 2. 14. 15. 'T is a plain allusion to the Roman Triumphs where the Victor ascended to the Capitol in a Chariot of State the prisoners following on foot with their hands bound behind them c. Paradise and his soul could not be in two places at once Thirdly because this descent of Christs Soul into Hell was altogether needless and to no end what need was there of it or to what end did he descend not to suffer in Hell for that was finished on the Cross not to redeem or rescue the Fathers out of Hell for the elect were never there and Redemption from Hell was wrought by Christs death as the Scriptures do clearly evidence not to triumph there over the Devils c. For Christ triumphed over them when he was on the Cross Christ in the day of his solemn inauguration into his Heavenly Kingdom triumphed over Sin Death Devils and Hell when Christ was on the Cross he made the Devils a publick spectacle of scorn and derision as Tamerlane did Bajazet the great Turk whom he shut up in an Iron Cage made like a Grate in such sort as thaâ— Turk Hist 220. â—e might on every side be seen and so carried him up and down all Asia to be scorned and derided by his own people By these few hints you may see the vanity and folly of the Papists who tell you that Christs soul in substance went really and locally into Hell I might make other inferences but let these suffice at this time Fourthly As Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the very torments of Hell though not after a hellish manner so Jesus Christ was really certainly made a curse for us Jesus Christ did in his soul and body bear that curse of the Law which by reason of transgression was due to us Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law Gala. 3. 13. being made a curse for us for it is written cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree He saith not Christ was cursed but a curse which is more it shews that the curse of all did lie upon him The death on the tree was accursed above all kinds of deaths as the Serpent was Gen. 3. 14. accursed above all the beasts of the field This Scripture Not that all that are hanged should be damned for the contrary appears in that Luke 23. 43. Neither is hanging in it self or by the law of nature or by civil law more execrable than any other death refers to Deut. 21. 33. His body shall not remain all night upon the tree but thou shalt in any wise hury him that day for he that is hanged is accursed of God The holy and wise God appointed this kind of punishment as being the most cruel and reproachful for a type of the punishment which his Son must suffer to deliver us from the curse Hanging on a tree was accounted the most shameful the most dishonourable the most odious and infamous and accursed of all kinds of death both by the Israelites and other nations because the very manner of the death did intimate that such men as were thus executed were such execrable base vile and accursed wretches that they did defile the earth with treading on it and would pollute the earth if they should die upon it and therefore were hang'd up in the air as persons not fit to converse amongst men or touch the surface of the ground any more But what should be the reason why the ceremonial Law affixed the curse to this death rather than any
Christ be not God yea God-man then we shall never be able to answer all the challenges that either divine Justice or Satan can make upon us whatsoever the justice of God can exact that the blood of God can discharge now the blood of Christ is the blood of God as I have evidenced in the second Reason by reason of the hypostatical union the humane nature being united to the divine the humane nature did suffer the Divine did satisfie Christ's Godhead did give both Majesty and Essicacy to his sufferings Christ was sacrifice Priest and Altar He was Sacrifice as he was man Priest as he was God and man and Altar as he was God it is the property of the Altar to sanctifie the thing offered Mat. 23. 19. on it so the Altar of Christ's divine nature sanctified the sacrifice of his death and made it meritorious Man sinned and therefore man must satisfie Therefore the humane nature must be assumed by a surety for man cannot do it If an Angel should have assumed humane nature it would have polluted him Humane nature was so defiled by sin that it could not be assumed by any but God Now Christ being God the Divine nature purified the Humane nature which he took and so it was a sufficient sacrifice The person offered in sacrifice being God as well as man This is a most noble ground upon which a believer may challenge Satan to say his worst and to do his worst let him present God as terrible yea as a consuming Heb. 12. 29. fire let him present me as odious and abominable Zecha 3. 2 3. in the sight of God as once he did Joshuah let him present me before the Lord as vile and mercenary as once he did Job let him aggravate the heighth of God's displeasure Job 1. 9 10 11. and the heighth and depth and length and breadth of my sins I shall readily grant all and against all this I will set the infinite satisfaction of dear Jesus this I know that though the justice of God cannot be avoided nor bribed yet it may be satisfied Here is a proportionable satisfaction here is God answering God 'T is a very noble plea of the Apostle who is he that condemneth Rom. 8. 34. it is Christ that died let Satan urge the justice of God as much as he can I am sure that the justice of God 1 John 1. 7 8 9. makes me sure of Salvation and the reason is evident because his justice obligeth him to accept of an adequate satisfaction of his own appointing The justice of God maketh me sure of mine own happiness because if God be just that satisfaction should be had when that satisfaction is made Justice requireth that the person for whom it is made shall be received into favour I confess that unless God had obliged himself by promise there were no pressing his justice thus far because Noxa sequitur caput There was mercy in the promise of sending Christ Gen. 3. 15. Had not Christ stept in between man's sin Gods wrath the world had fallen about Adam's ears out of mercy to undertake for us otherwise we cannot say that God was bound in justice to accept of satisfaction unless he had first in mercy been pleased to appoint the way of a surety Justice indeed required satisfaction but it required it of the person that sinneth Gen. 2. 17. But of the tree of the knowledg of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die or dying thou shalt die or as others read the words thou shalt surely and shortly or suddenly die and without controversie every man should die the same day he is born The wages of sin is death and this wages Rom. 6. 23. should be presently paid did not Christ as a boon beg poor sinners lives for a season for which cause he is called the Saviour of all men not of eternal preservation 1 Tim. 4. 10. but of temporal reservation it was free and noble mercy to all mankind that dear Jesus was promised and provided sealed and sent into the world that some might be eternally saved and the rest preserved from wrath for Jâ—hn 6. 27. a time Here cometh in mercy that a surety shall be accepted and what he doth is as if the person that offended should have done it himself Here is mercy and salvation surely bottomed upon both ah what sweet and transcendent comfort flows from this very consideration That Christ is God But Fourthly the great and glorious majesty of God required it that Christ should be God God the father being a God of infinite holiness purity justice and righteousness none but he who was very God who was essentially one with the father could or durst interpose John 10. 30. cap. 14. 9 10 11. c. between God and fallen man The Angels though they are glorious creatures yet they are but creatures and could these satisfie divine justice and bear infinite wrath and purchase divine favour and reconcile us to God and procure our pardon and change our hearts and renew our natures and adorn our souls with Grace and yet all these things must be done or we undone and that for ever Now if this were a work too high for Angels then we may safely conclude that it was a work too hard for fallen man Man was once the mirrour of all understanding the Hicroglyphick of Wisdom but now quantum mutatus ab illo there is a great alteration for poor sorry man is now sent to school to learn wisdom and instruction of the beasts birds and creeping things he is sent to the Pismire to learn providence Prov. 6. 6 To the Stork and to the Swallow to learn to make a right use of time Jer. 8. 7. To the Oxe and the Ass to learn knowledg Isa 1. 3. And to the fowls of the Air to learn confidence Mat. 6. Man that was once a master of knowledg a wonder of understanding perfect in the science of all things is now grown blockish sottish and senseless and therefore altogether unfit and unable to make his peace with God to reconcile himself to God c. But Fifthly and lastly that Christ's sufferings and merits might be sufficient it was absolutely necessary that he should be God The sin of man was infinite I mean in finitely punishable if not infinite in number yet infinite in nature every offence being infinite it being committed against an infinite God No creature could therefore satisfie for it but the sufferer must be God that so his infiniteness might be answerable to the infiniteness of men's offences There was an absolute necessity of Christ's sufferings partly because he was pleased to substitute himself in the sinner's stead and partly because his sufferings only could be satisfactory Now unless he had been man how could he suffer and unless he had been God how could he satisfie offended Justice
Look as he must be more than man that he may be able to suffer that his sufferings may be meritorious so he must be man that he may be in a capacity to suffer die and obey for these are no work for one who is only God A God only cannot suffer a man only cannot merit God cannot obey man is bound to obey wherefore Christ that he might obey and suffer he was man and that he might merit by his obedience and suffering he was God-man just such a person did the work of Redemption call for That Christ's merits might be sufficient he must be God for sufficient merit for Mankind could not be in the person of any mere man no not in Christ himself considered only as man for so all the grace he had he did receive it and all the good he did he was bound to do it for he was made of a woman and made under the Law not only Gal. 4. 4. under the Ceremonial Law as he was a Jew but under the Moral as a man for it is under that Law under which we were and from which we are redeemed therefore Gal. 3. 13. in fulfilling it he did no more than that which was his duty to do he could not merit by it no not for himself much less for others considered only as man therefore he must also be God that the dignity of his person might add dignity and vertue and value to his works in a word Deus potuit sed non debuit homo debuit sed non potuit God could but he should not man should but he could not make satisfaction therefore he that would do it must be both God and man Torris erutus ab igne as the Prophet speaketh Is not this a fire-brand taken out of the fire you know that in a fire-brand taken out of the fire there is fire and wood inseparably mixed and in Christ there is God and man wonderfully united He was God else neither his sufferings nor his merits could have been sufficient and if his could not much less any man 's else for all other men are both conceived and born in Original sin and also much and often defiled with actual sin and therefore we ought for ever to abhor all such popish Doctrines Prayers and Masses for the dead which exalt mans merits man's satisfaction For no man can by Psal 49. 7. 8. v. any means redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom for him for the redemption of their soul is precious and it ceaseth for ever And therefore all the money that hath been given for Masses Dirges Trentals c. hath been cast away for Jesus Christ who is God-man is the only Redeemer and in the other world money beareth no mastery Let me make a few inferences from what has been said and therefore First is it so that Christ is God-man that he is God 1. 1 Pet. 1. 21. and man then let this raise our faith and strengthen our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ faith is built on God Now Jesus Christ is very God and therefore the fittest foundation in the world for us to build our faith upon God manifest in the flesh is a firm basis for faith and comfort Heb. 7. 25. ad plenum saith Erasmus ad perfectum say others He is able to save to the uttermost Christ is a thorow Saviour he saves perfectly and he saves perpetually he never carries on Redemption-work by halves Christ being God as well as man is able by the power of his Godhead to vanquish Death Devils Hell and all the enemies of our Salvation and by the power of his Godhead is able to merit pardon of sin the favour of God the heavenly inheritance and all the glory of the other world for this dignity of his person addeth vertue and Acts 20. 28. efficacy to his death and sufferings in that he that suffered and died was very God therefore God is said to have purchased the Church with his own blood Christ having suffered in our nature which he took upon him that is in his humane soul and body the wrath of God the curse and all the punishments which were due to our sins hath paid the price of our Redemption pacified divine wrath and satisfied divine Justice in the very same nature in which we have sinned and provoked the holy one of Israel so that now all believers may triumphingly say There is no condemnation to us that are in Râ—m 8. 1. v. Christ Jesus Christ having in our nature suffered the whole curse and punishment due to our sins God cannot in justice but accept of his sufferings as a full and compleat satisfaction 1 John 1. 7 9. for all our sins so that now there remaineth no more curse or punishment properly so called for us to suffer either in our souls or bodies either in this life or in the life to come but we are certainly and fully delivered from all not only from the eternal curse and all the punishments and torments of Hell but also from the curse and sting of bodily death and from all afflictions as they are 1 Cor. 15. 55 56. curses and punishments of sin that Jesus who is God-man hath changed the nature of them to us so that of bitter curses and heavy punishments they are become fatherly chastisements the fruits of divine love and the Heb. 12. 5 6 7. Rev. 3. 19. promoters of the internal and eternal good of our souls Oh! how should these things strengthen our faith in dear Jesus and work us to lean and stay our weary souls wholly and only upon him who is God-man and who of God 1 Cor. 1. 30. is made unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption Among the Evangelists we find that Christ had a threefold entertainment among the sons of men some received him into house not into heart as Simon Luk. 7. 44. the Pharisee who gave him no kiss nor water to his feet some neither into heart nor house as the graceless Mat. 8. 34. swinish Gergesites who had neither civility nor honesty some both into house and heart as Lazarus Mary Martha John 11. 16. c. certainly that Jesus who is God-man deserves the best room in all our souls and the uppermost seat in all our hearts But Secondly If Jesus Christ be God-man very God and very man then what high cause have we to observe admire wonder and even stand amazed at the transcendent love of Christ in becoming man Oh! the firstness the freeness the unchangeableness the greatness the matchlesness of Christ's love to fallen man in becoming man men many times shew their love to one another by hanging up one another's pictures in their families but ah what love did Christ shew when he took our nature upon him Heb. 2. 16. For verily he took not on him the nature of Angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
and if so then what would become of us what would become of our salvation then our faith would be in vain and our hope would be in vain and our hearing preaching praying and receiving would all be in vain yea then all our Religion would vanish into a mâ—re fancy also when a man's conscience is awakened to see his sin and misery and he shall find guilt to lay like a load upon his soul and when he shall see that divine justice is to be satisfied and divine wrath to be pacified and the curse to be born and the Law to be fulfilled and his nature to be renewed his heart to be changed and his sins to be pardoned or â—lsâ— his soul can never be saved how can such a person venture his soul his all upon one that is but a mâ—re crcature certainly a mere man is no Rock no City of refuge and no sure foundation for a man to build his faith and hope upon woe to that man that ever he was born that has no Jesus but a Socinian's Jesus to rest upon oh 't is sad trusting to one who is man but not God flesh but not spirit as you love the eternal safety of your precious souls and would be happy for ever as you would escape Hell and get to Heaven lean on none rest on none but that Jesus who is God-man who is very God and very man Apollinaris held that Christ took not the whole nature of man but a humane body only without a soul and that the Godhead was instead of a soul to the Manhood Also Eutyches who confounded the two natures of Christ and their properties c. Also Apelles and the Manichees who denied the true humane body and held him to have an aerial or imaginary body Though the popular sort deified Alexander the great yet having Plutarch in vita got a clap with an Arrow he said ye stile me Jupiter's son as if immortal sed hoc vulnus clamat esse hominem this blood that issues from the wound proves me in the issue a man this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the blood of man not of God and smelling the stench of his own flesh he asked his flatterers if the God's yielded such a scent so may it be said of Jesus Christ our Saviour though Myriads of Angels and Saints acclaim he is a God ergo immortal and a crew of Hereticks disclaim him to be man as the Marcionites averred that he had a phantastical body and Apelles who conceived that he had a sydereal substance yet the streams of blood following the arrow of death that struck him makes it good that he was perfect man of a reasonable soul and humane flesh subsisting And as this truth looks sowerly upon the above mentioned persons so it looks sowerly upon the Papists who by their Doctrine of the real presence of Christ's body in the Sacrament do overthrow one of the properties of his humane nature which is to be but in one place present at once This truth also looks sowerly upon the Lutherans or Ubiquitaries who teach that Christ's humane nature is in all places by vertue of the personal union c. I wonder that of all the old Errours swept down into this latter Age as into a sink of time this of the Socinians and Arrians should be held forth among the rest O sirs beware of their Doctrines shun their meetings and persons that come to you with the denial of the Divinity of Christ in their mouths this was John's Doctrine and Practise Irenaeus saith that after he was returned from his banishment and came to Ephesus he came to bathe himself and in the bath he found Cerinthus that said Christ had no being till he received it from the Virgin Mary upon the sight of whom John skipped out of the Bath and called his companions from thence saying let us go from this place lest the Bath should fall down upon us because Cerinthus is in it that is so great an enemy to God ye see his Doctrine see his words too 2 John 10 11. If any come to you having not this doctrine receive him not into your house neither bid him God speed For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds What that Doctrine was if you cast your eye upon the Scripture you shall find it to be the Doctrine of the Divinity of Christ shew no love where you owe nothing but hatred I hate every Psal 119. 113. false way saith David And I shall look upon Auxentius as upon a Devil so long as he is an Arrian said Hilarius We must shew no countenance nor give no encouragement to such as deny either â—ne divinity or humanity of Christ I have been the longer upon the Divinity and humanity of Christ 1. Because the times we live in require it 2. That poor weak staggering Christians may be strengthned established and setled in the truth as it is in Jesus 3. That I may give in my testimony and witness against all those who are poysoned and corrupted with Socinian and Arrian Principles which destroy the souls of men 4. That those in whose hands this book may fall may be the better furnished to make head against men of corrupt minds who by slight of hand and cunning craftiness lie in wait to deceive Eph. 4. 14. Sixthly As he that did feel and suffer the very torments of Hell though not after a hellish manner was God-man so the punishments that Christ did sustain for us must be referred only to the substance and not unto the circumstances of punishment The punishment which Christ endured if it be considered in its substance kind or nature so 't was the same with what the sinner himself should have undergone Now the punishment due to the sinner was death the curse of the Law c. now this Christ underwent for he was made a curse for us Gal. 3. 13. but if you consider the punishment which Christ endur'd with respect to certain circumstances adjuncts and accidents as the eternity of it desperation going along with it c. then I say it was not the same but equivalent Whether the work of man's redemption could have been wrought without the sufferings and humiliation of Christ is not determinable by men but that it was the most admirable way which wisdom justice and mercy could require cannot be denied And the reason is because though the enduring of the punishments as to the substance of them could and did agree with him as a surety yet the circumstances of those punishments could not have befallen him unless he had been a sinner and therefore every inordination in suffering was far from Christ and a perpetual duration of suffering could not befall him for the first of these had been contrary to the holiness and dignity of his person and the other had made void the end of his suretiship and Mediatorship which was so to suffer as yet to conquer and
esteemed the most shameful the most dishonourable and infamous of all kinds of death and was usually therefore the punishment of those that had by some notorious wickedness provoked God to pour out his wrath upon the whol Land and so were hanged up to appease his wrath as we may see in the hanging of those Princes that were guilty of committing Numb 25. 4. Whordom with the Daughters of Moab and in the hanging of those Sons of Saul in the days of David when 2 Sam. 21. 6. there was a Famine in the Land because of Sauls perfidious oppressing of the Gibeonites nor was it without cause that this kind of death was both by the Israelites and other Nations esteemed the most shameful and accursed because the very manner of the death did intimate that such men as were thus Executed were such execrable and accursed wretches that they did defile the Earth with treading on it and would pollute the Earth if they should dye upon it and therefore were so trussed up in the Ayre as not fit to live amongst men and that others might look upon them as men made spectacles of Gods Indignation and Curse because of the wickedness they had committed which was not done in other kinds of death And hence it was that the Lord God would have his Son the Lord Christ to suffer this kind of death that even hence it might be the more evident that in his death he bare the Curse due to our sins according to that of the Apostle Christ hath Redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us for it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on a Tree The Gal. 3. 13. Chaldee translateth For because he sinned before the Lord he is hanged The Tree whereon a man was hanged the Stone wherewith he was stoned the Sword wherewith he was beheaded and the Napkin wherewith he was strangled they were all Buried that there might be no evil memorial of such a one to say This was the Tree Sword Stone Napkin wherewith such a one was Executed This kind of death was so execrable that Constantine made a Law that no Christian should dye upon the Cross he abolished this kind of death out oâ— his Empire When this kind of death was in use among the Jews it was chiefly inflicted upon Slaves that either falsly accused or treacherously conspired their Masters death But on whomsoever it was inflicted this death in all Ages among the Jews hath been branded with a special kind of ignominy and so much the Apostle signifies when he saith He abased himself to the death even to the Phil. 2. 2. death of the Cross I know Moses's Law speaks nothing in particular of Crucifying yet he doth include the same under the general of hanging on a Tree and some conceive that Moses in speaking of that Curse sore-saw what manner of death the Lord Jesus should die and let thus much sussice concerning Christs sufferings on the Cross or concerning his corporal sufferingâ— I shall now in the second place speak concerning Christs spiritual sufferings his sufferings in his Soul which were exceeding high and great Now here I shall endeavour to do two things First To prove that Christ suffered in his Soul and so much the rather because that the Papists say and write That Christ did not truly and properly and immediatly suffer in his Soul but only by way of simpathy and compassion with his body to the Mystical body and that his bare bodily sufferings were sufficient for mans Redemption 2. That the sufferings of Christ in his Soul were exceeding high and great for the first that Christ suffered in his Soul I shall thus demonstrate First Express Scriptures do evidence this Isa â—3 When thou shalt make his Soul an offering for sin he shall see his Seed c. Joh. 12. 27. Now is my Soul troubled and what shall I say Father save me from this hour but for this cause came I unto this hour Math. 26. 37. 38. He began to be sorrowful and very heavy These were but the beginings of sorrow he began c. Sorrow is a thing that drinks up our spirits and he was heavy as seeling an heavy load upon him v. 38. My Soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death Christ was as full of sorrow as his heart could hold every word is Emphatical My Soul his Psal 6â— 1. 2. sorrow pierced his Heaven-born Soul As the Soul was the first Agent in transgression so it is here the first Patient in affliction The sufferings of his body were but Christs Soul was beleagured or compassed round round with sorrow as that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sounds 26 Math. 28 the body of his sufferings the soul of his sufferings were the sufferings of his Soul which was nòw beset with sorrows and heavy as heart could hold Christ was sorrowsul his Soul was sorrowful his Soul was exceeding sorrowsul his Soul was exceeding sorrowful unto death Christs Soul was in such extremity of sorrow that it made him cry out Father if it be possible let this Cup pass and this was with strong cryings and tears To cry and to cry Heb. 5. 7. with a loud voyce argues great extremity of sufferings Mark 14. 33. Mark saith And he began to be amazod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to be very heavy or we may more fully express it thus according to the original He begun to be gastred with wondersul astonishment and to be satiated filled brim full with heaviness a very sad condition All the sins of the Elect like a huge Army meeting upon Christ made a dreadful on-set on his Soul Luk. 22. 43 44. 'T is said He was in an Agony That 's a conflict in which a poor Creature wrestles with deadly pangs with all his might mustring up all his faculties and force to grapple with them and with-stand them Thus did Christ struggle with the Indignation of the Lord praying once and again with more intense fervency O that this Cup may pass away if it be possible let this Cup pass away while yet an Luk 22 42 43. Angel strengthened his outward man from utter sinking in the conslict Now if this weight that Christ did bare had been laid on the shoulders of all the Angels in Heaven it would have sunk them down to the lowest Hell it would have crackt the Axel-tree of Heaven and Earth It made His blood startle out of his body in congealed cloddered heaps The heat of Gods fiery Indignation made his blood to boil up till it ran over yea Divine wrath affrighted it out of its wonted Channel The Creation of Geâ— 1. the world cost him but a word he spake and the world was made but the Redemption of Souls cost him bloody sweats and Soul-distraction What conflicts what struglings with the wrath of God the powers of darkness what weights what burdens what wrath did he undergoe when his Soul