Occasion to that fond Opinion of some that Christ descended into Hell and there underwent the Pains and Penalties of that infernal Place as full Satisfaction to the Justice of God and that these were the Pains God raised or loosed him from in his Resurrection But this Conceit is erroneous and extravagant and deserves no serious Confutation especially because it plainly contradicts Christ's Consummatum est upon the Cross for when Christ had undergone his Sufferings on the Cross Joh. 18.30 he said It is finished and so gave up the Ghost If Christ therefore did undergo any farther Sufferings and Pains than those Sufferings he underwent on the Cross those Sufferings would have been so far from being compleated and finished that they would have been but the Praeludium and Beginning of his Sorrows Having loosed the Pains of Death it implies no more but that God raised Jesus Christ from Death which after many dolorous Pains he suffered It follows It was not possible he should be holden of it This is that I intend principally to insist upon and here I shall shew upon what Accounts it was altogether impossible for Christ to be detained under the Power of Death and my Arguments for the Proof hereof are these that follow Reasons why Christ could not be held under the Power of Death First It was impossible Christ should be held under the Power of Death because of that great and ineffable Mystery of the Hypostatical Union of the Divine and Humane Nature in the Person of Christ Because of the Hypostatical Vnion There are three Unions the Belief of which are the Foundation of the greatest part of the Christian Religion which are wholly beyond the reach of Reason The Mystical Union of a Believer unto Christ The Union or rather Unity of the three Glorious Persons the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost in one Nature and this Hypostatical Union of two Natures in one Person in the Mediator It is a Mystery Angels pry into and adore with Wonder and Astonishment how the Eternal only begotten Son of God should assume Flesh to himself in so close and intimate a Conjunction that though he be Eternal yet he should be born though he be Immortal yet he should truly die and though he were truly dead yet he should raise himself to Life again These are things that seem very inconsistent one with another yet they truly come to pass through this miraculous Union which transcends the Reach of Reason as far as these things do that of Nature That the same Person that is Eternal should be young yea be born in the Fulness of Time That the same Person that hath Immortality and Life dwelling in himself should also die a shameful and accursed Death That the same Person that was truly and really dead yet had a power to quicken and recover himself Joh. 10.18 And this was it which declared him to be the Son of God with Power as the Apostle speaks Rom. 1 4â— even by his Resurrection from the Dead And indeed if he had not risen from the Dead the Deity would have suffered in the Opinion of the World nor would they have believed him to be the Son of God who would suffer himself to lie under the Dominion of Death longer than the End of his Death required it And this I shall demonstrate to you by two Arguments only premising this which is a common and true Maxim among Divines That when the Natural Union between Christ's Body and Soul was dissolved yet both Soul and Body did retain the Hypostatical Union to the Divine Nature The Divine Nature was united to the Body of Christ when the Soul was separated from it I. If Christ could not have raised himself it must have been either from a Want of Power or from a Want of Will to do it He could not want Power to raise himself because he was God equal in Power and in all other Divine Attributes with the Father As the Resurrection of the Dead is not impossible to the infinite Power of God so neither can it be that that God who had a Will to assume our Flesh should want a Will to raise it up That that God who so lov'd the Humane Nature as to associate it into Oneness of Person with himself should yet suffer it to continue under the power of Death which is of all things most contrary to his natural Inclinations We see Christ in his Agony prayed most fervently that the bitter Cup might pass from him insomuch that he strained clotted Blood through him and certainly one Ingredient into that Cup was the Separation of Soul and Body by Death which is that which even innocent Nature it self abhorred as destructive to him yet having taken our Nature upon him for this very End that by Death he might destroy him that had the power of Death that is Heb. 2 14. the Devil he voluntarily submitted himself to undergo it and this End being fully accomplish'd by his Death and the Truth of his Death likewise attested by his lying three Days in the Earth it was altogether impossible that that Person who had an Abhorrence of Death and a Power to raise himself should continue longer under the Arrest and Dominion of it And this is the first Demonstration of the Necessity of the Resurrection of Christ upon the Account of both Natures in one Person As Man so he abhorred the Separation of Soul and Body as God so he was able to re-unite them So that having as Man a Desire to live and as God a Power to live it was impossible for him to be holden of Death II. Because of the Union of the Divine and Humane Nature in the Person of Christ it was impossible that his Flesh should see Corruption which yet it must certainly have done had he not been raised in a short space after his Death For since Christ's Body was not a phantastical Body as some of old held but made of true Flesh and of the same Temper and Constitution with ours it must without a Miracle have undergone such Changes after Death as ours shall do and to imagine the contrary is but to feign one Miracle to avoid the necessity of another even of the Resurrection But now it was utterly impossible that that Body that was united to both Natures by so close and unconceivable a Bond should ever see Corruption that is a Putrefaction in the Grave This the Scripture clearly asserts to us Act. 2.28 Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see Corruption And also because all Bodies that are corrupted turn into some other Thing and some other Nature according to that undoubted Maxim of the Philosophers Corruptio unius est Generatio alterius And so this horrid and blasphemous Consequence would follow that the Divine Nature of the Son of God might have been joyned to some other So that it was necessary that Christ should be
raised again before any Corruption or Putrefaction by ordinary Course of Nature siezed upon him Thus I have proved by these two Arguments that because of the Hypostatical Union of the Divine and Humane Nature of Christ in one Person it was altogether impossible he could be holden of Death Secondly Another Argument is this It was impossible Christ should be holden of Death because of God's Veracity and the Truth of those Predictions which were before made concerning Christ in those many Types and Prophesies of the Old Testament all which God's Faithfulness stood engaged to fulfil I shall only mention that famous Prediction which St. Peter here subjoins as a Proof of the Subject I am now treating upon It was not possible Act. 2 25 27. says he that Christ should be holden of Death for God saith the Apostle as David saith concerning him Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell nor suffer thine Holy One to see Corruption And this Prophesie the Apostle quotes out of the Psalmist Psal 16.10 which that it did not belong to David nor did he speak it concerning himself when he indicted that Psalm the Apostle proves Act. 2.29 30. Ver. 29 30. of this Chapter where he proves that David was dead and buried and underwent the common Lot that all other dead Bodies did putrefying and mouldering away in the Earth and therefore he was not that Holy One that should never see Corruption because that Prophecy must belong to such an one who must so taste of Death and this is clearly implied in the former Expression Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell that is in the State of the Dead for so is Hell to be understood there as I shall shew more at large Neither could it belong to any of those who before Christ were raised miraculously from the Dead and brought back out of the State of Death yet was it not in such a manner that they were not to return again to it So that if they did not in the first yet in their second Dying they saw Corruption This then could belong to none of them and therefore must of necessity belong to Christ And since the Apostle lays so much stress on this Argument give me leave a little to consider the meaning of it and how it is applicable to him And here I shall not trouble you with the various Opinions of those that have attempted to interpret these Words Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell that by this Hell into which Christ descended is meant the place of the Damned where he preached the Gospel to them freeing those that would beleive from their Pains Others think that this Hell into which Christ descended was one great Partition of it called Lymbus Patrum the Repository of the Souls of those Fathers who died in Obedience to God and in Faith to the Messias before Christ came in the Flesh And the Reason of his Descent thither was that he might release those Souls from Chains and carry them with him to Heaven so that ever since that Mansion in Hell hath been left void without any Inhabitants But this Opinion is not capable of any sufficient Proof I shall therefore give you that Interpretation and Judgment which carries with it the strongest Current both of Scripture and Reason The Word Hades that we translate Hell is very often by the Septuagint in the Old Testament used to signifie the Grave or the State of the Dead So in Gen. 44. Ishades Gen. 44 31 we translate it the Grave but it is the same Word that is used for Hell in the Text. And thus the Word is used in other places of Scripture as also in other Authors to signifie the Place and State of the Dead and of separate Souls And for the leaving the Soul of Christ in Hades or in Hell we must know that it is a thing that is not unusual in Scripture to call a Man that is dead by the Name of Soul So the Septuagint translate that place in Leviticus Levit. 21.11 They shall not be defiled with dead Souls meaning dead Carcases neither shall they go into any dead Souls the Word is dead Bodies But not to detain you any longer on this Speculation though of great use for the right understanding of this excellent place of Scripture If we take Hell for the Grave we must take the Soul for the Body Thou wilt not leave my Body in the Grave But if by Hell be here understood the State of Death that is the State of Separation of Soul and Body the Interpretation will be more easie and natural Thou wilt not leave my Soul in a State of Separation from the Body but wilt certainly unite them together again and raise me up before I shall feel Corruption Thus I have given you the Interpretation of the Prophecy of David which upon the Account of God's Truth and Veracity was to take effect in the Resurrection of our Saviour and therefore being foretold he should not see Corruption the Faithfulness of God was obliged within that time inviolably to raise him up And that is the second Reason why it was impossible Christ should be holden of Death because it was foretold of him that his Soul should not rest in Hell that is either his Body in the Grave or his Soul in a State of Separation from his Body Thirdly God's Justice would not suffer Christ to lie in the Grave Another Argument is this It was impossible Christ could be holden by Death upon the Account of God's Justice For Justice as it doth oblige to inflict Punishment upon the Guilty so also to absolve and acquit the Innocent Now though Christ knew no Sin yet was he made Sin for us that is our Sins were imputed to and charged upon him and so through a voluntary Susception and Undertaking of them he became guilty of them Hereupon Divine Justice siezed upon him as being our Surety and demanded Satisfaction from him for our Offences Now no other Satisfaction would be acceptable unto God nor commensurate to our Sins but the bearing of an infinite Load of Wrath and Vengeance which if it had been laid upon us must have been prolonged to an Eternity of Sufferings for because we are finite Creatures we cannot bear infinite Degrees of Wrath at once and therefore we must have lain under those infinite Degrees of Wrath to an infinite Duration But now Christ being God he could bear the Load of infinite Degrees of Wrath at once upon him In that one bitter Draught the whole Cup of that Fury and Wrath of God that we should have been everlastingly a drinking off by little Drops Christ drank off at once Now it is the Nature and Constitution of all Laws that when a Person by undergoing the Penalty that those Laws require hath made satisfaction for the Offence committed the Person satisfying ought to be protected as innocent It could not therefore consist with the Justice of
have mention made of the Condemnatition of the Devil 1 Tim. 3.6 That is that state of Woe and Wrath to which the Devil is for ever sentenced And Damnation Mat. 23.33 How can you escape the Damnation of Hell And sometimes it is termed Judgment Heb. 10.27 Heb. 10.27 A certain fearful looking for of Judgment and Fiery Indignation And in Jude 15. Jude 15. to execute Judgment upon all the Ungodly Which denotes that their Punishment shall be inflicted upon them from God as he is a Just and Righteous Judg. And Secondly God is an Avenger as well as a Judge He is a Party concerned as having been wronged affronted and injured by their Sins And in relation to this the Punishments that God will inflict upon them are called Wrath and Fury smoaking Anger and Jealousy Deut. 29.20 Deut. 29.20 The Anger of the Lord and his Jealousy shall smoak against that Man Also Fiery Indignation Heb. Heb. 10.27 10.27 All which we find amass'd and heaped together Zeph. Zeph. 3.8 3.8 My Determination saith God is to gather the Nations to pour upon them mine Indignation even all my fierce Anger for all the Earth shall be devoured with the Fire of my Jealousy Now all these Expressions signify to us the terribleness of that Vengeance which God will take For when the Wrath of Man only stirs him up to revenge an Injury he will be sure to do it to the very utmost extremity of all his Power And if the Revenge of a poor weak Man be so dreadful a thing how insupportable will be the Vengeance of the great God who assumes it to himself as part of his Royalty Vengeance is mine See that terrible place Nah. 1.2 Nahum 1.2 God is jealous and the Lord revengeth the Lord revengeth and is furious the Lord will take Vengeance on his Adversaries and he reserveth Wrath for his Enemies God reserveth Wrath for Sinners and keeps it up in store even that Wrath which they themselves have treasured up against the Day of Wrath. Hâ—h Now this Revenging-Wrath of God hath these two things in it that justly make it dreadful First In that Revenge always aims at Satisfaction and seeks to repair Injuries received by inflicting Punishment on the Offender This gives ease to the Party grieved and if this Revenge be commensurate to the greatness of the Offence he rests satisfied in it And therefore God speaking of himself according to the Passions and Affections of Men solaces himself in the thoughts of that Vengeance he would take upon Sinners Isa Isa 1.24 1.24 Ah I will ease me of mine Adversaries I will avenge me of mine Enemies And O think how dreadful that Revenge must needs be that shall ease the Heart of God and give him satisfaction for all the heinous Provocations that Sinners have committed against him For consider First How great and manifold our Sins and Offences have been and every act of Sin yea the least that ever we committed is an infinite Debt and carries in it an infinite Guilt because committed against an infinite Majesty For all Offences take their Measures not only from the Matter of the Act but from the Person against whom they are committed As a reviling injurious Word against our Equals will but bear an Action at Law but against the Prince it is High-Treason and punishable with Death So here the least Offence against the infinite Majesty of the great God becomes it self infinite The Guilt of it is far beyond whatsoever we can possibly conceive and yet what infinite Numbers of these infinite Sins have we committed The Psalmist tells us They are more than the Hairs of our Head Psal 40.12 Psalm 40.12 Yea we may well take in all the Sands of the Sea-shore to cast them up by Our Thoughts are incessantly in Motion they keep pace with the Moments and are continually twinkling and yet Every Imagination of the Thoughts of our Hearts is evil What Multitudes of them have been grosly wicked and impious Atheistical Blasphemous Unclean Worldly and Malicious and the best of them have been very defective and far short of that Spirituality and Heavenliness that ought to give a Tincture unto them And besides the Sins of our Thoughts how deep have our Tongues set us on the score We have talkt our selves in debt to the Justice of God and with our own Breath have been blowing up our everlasting and unquenchable Fire And add to these the numberless crowd and sum of our sinful Actions wherein we have busily imployed our selves to provoke the Holy and Jealous God to Wrath and we shall find our Sins to be doubly infinite in their own particular Guilt and Demerit And now O Sinner when an angry and furious God shall come to exact from thee a full satisfaction for all these Injuries a Satisfaction in which he may eternally rest and acquiesce such as may repair and recompence his wronged Honour think sadly with thy self how infinitely dreadful this must needs be Assure thy self God will not lose by thee but will fetch his Glory out of thee and take such a Revenge upon thee as shall as much please and content him as his infinite Mercy doth in those whom he saves and glorifies And how great then must this Vengeance be Secondly Consider how dreadful a Revenge God took on his own dear Son our Lord Jesus Christ when he came to satisfy his Justice upon him for our Sins His Wrath fell infinitely heavy upon him and the pressure of it was so intollerable that it squeezed out drops of clotted Blood from him in the Garden and that sad Cry on the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And yet First Our Lord Christ was supported under all his Sufferings by the ineffable Union of the Deity He had infinite Power for him as well as against him infinite Power to bear him up as well as to crush him In Christ's Sufferings the Power of God seem'd as it were to encounter with it self and to run contrary to it self in the same Channel And as he had the support of infinite Power in his Sufferings so likewise had he in the greatest of his Angonies the Ministry of Angels to comfort him and to refresh the Droopings and Faintings of his Humane Nature And Secondly The infinite Dignity of Christ's Person being God as well as Man might well compound for the Rigour of his Punishments and stamp such a Value upon his Humiliation that less degrees of Suffering from him might be fully satisfactory For indeed it cannot be but an infinite Punishment for an infinite Person to be punished But thou that art but a vile contemptible Creature made up of Mudd and Slime hast nothing in thy Nature wherewith to satisfy the dread Justice of God but only the eternal Destruction and Perdition of it Thou hast no Worth nor Dignity the consideration whereof might perswade the Almighty to mitigate the least of his Wrath and