are delivered from Satan Now shall the Prince of this world be cast out said Christ when the time of his death was at hand Joh. 12. 31. For asmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himselfe took part of the same that thorough death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the devill Heb. 2. 14. The devill is there said to have the power of death though that properly belong unto God for it is he that killeth and he that maketh alive 1 Sam. 26. Deut. 32. 39. because by the malice of the devill man became guilty of sin and so liable unto death Christ by his death hath vanquished Satan and freed those that belong unto him from Satans power Therefore they that believe in Christ are said to be brought from the power of Satan unto God Act. 26. 18. and to be delivered from the power of darknesse Col. 1. 13. 3. We have right unto eternall life Had not Christ died we had been uncapable of life that life which is to come This was signified by that Gen. 3. 24. where it is said that Adam having sinned God drove him out viz. of Paradise and he placed at the East of the garden of Eden Cherubins and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life By reason of sin the life to come eternall life which was shadowed by that tree of life was inaccessible unto us we could have no accesse unto it but Christ by his blood hath made a new and living way for us Heb. 10. 20. And for this cause he is the mediator of the new Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternall inheritance Heb. 9. 15. And in the two verses following is shewed why the new Covenant that God hath made with his people is called a Testament because it is of force by Christs death For where a Testament is there must also of necessity be the death of the testator For a Testament is of force after men are dead otherwise it is of no strength at all whiles the testator liveth Neither doth this make for the Popish opinion of Limbus Patrum as if before Christs death none did go to heaven and enjoy the happinesse of the life to come For Jesus Christ yesterday and to day and the same for ever Heb. 13. 8. The death of Christ was of force as well before as since Christs coming they that did believe in Christ to come did enjoy the benefit of his death as well as they that now since his coming do believe in him Ob. But may some say notwithstanding Christs death yet still all die Answ True but not so as otherwise had it not been for Christs death they should have died For 1. By the death of Christ all that believe are altogether freed from the second death over such the second death hath no power Revel 20. 6. 2. The first death to believers is as no death but an entrance into life even life eternall Blessed are the dead which die in our Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours c. Revel 14. 13. The souls of the faithfull being separated from their bodies do immediately enter into happinesse which made the Apostle say that to die was gain unto him Phil. 1. 21. And v. 23. that he desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ which was far better And the bodies of believers shall also in due time be raised up and together with their souls be made partakers of eternall blisse Christ by his death hath overcome death so that they that believe in him shall not be overcome by it not so as for ever to remain under the power and dominion of it I will ransome them from the power of the grave saith Christ I wil redeem them from death O death I will by thy plagues O grave I will be thy destruction Hos 13. 14. To which place the Apostle alludeth saying O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory And he addes the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law But 〈…〉 ks be unto God who giveth us victory thorough Jesus Christ our Lord 1 Cor. 15. 55 56 57. Vse 1. Here then is consolation for us in respect of the guilt of sin and the fear of wrath as due for sin Do our consciences accuse us doth Satan throw his fiery darts at us The meditation and application of Christs death is sufficient to quiet our consciences and to repell Satan and all his assaults Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect it is God that justifieth Who is he that Turbatur conscientia sed non perturbabitur qui◠vulnerum Domini recordabor condemneth it is Christ that died Rom. 8. 33 34. My conscience saies one is troubled but it shall not be orewhelmed for I will remember the wounds of the Lord Jesus Vse 3. But as Christ died for sin so must we die unto sin thus must we be conformed to his death or els we can expect no benefit by it We thus judge saith the Apostle that if one died for all then were all dead And that he died for all that they that live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him that died for them and rose again 2 Cor. 5. 15. They are therefore most foolish and absurd who think that because Christ died for them therefore they may live as they list As if Christ by his death had purchased not freedome from sin but freedom to sin this is to turn the grace of God into lasciviousnesse and to deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ Jude v. 4. But we have not so learned Christ Ephes 4. 20. our very Baptism doth teach us another lesson The Apostle having said Where sin abounded there grace hath abounded much more Rom. 5. 20. To prevent the abuse of this doctrine he addes presently after What shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound God forbid How shall we that are dead unto sin live any longer therein Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death Therefore we are buried with him by baptisme into death c. Rom. 6. 1. 2 3 4. So Col. 3. 2 3. Set your affections on things above not on things on the earth for ye are dead viz. unto sin and v. 5. Mortifie therefore your members that are upon the earth fornication uncleannesse inordinate affection evill concupiscence and covetousnesse which is idolatry This mortifying of sin and dying unto sin imports 1. A serious and setled purpose to eschew sin I said that is I purposed I resolved I will take heed unto my waies that I offend not with my tongue Psal 39. 1. I am purposed
nature is not of God 1 Thes 4. 3. This particle as is not alwaies a meer note of similitude but sometimes is used to set forth the truth of a thing as Joh. 1. 14. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten Son of God c. That as the glory c. imports that the glory of Christ which S. John speaks of was indeed the very glory of the only begotten Son of God So Philem. v. 9. being such a one as Paul the aged saies Paul of himself it is therefore as much as if he had said being Paul the aged So likewise Mat. 14. 5. They counted him as a Prophet it is spoken concerning John Baptist and the meaning is they counted him indeed a Prophet as his Father Zacharias prophecied of him when he was newly born saying And thou child shalt be called the Prophet of the highest c. Luk. 1. 76. So here it being said that Christ was found in fashion as a man the meaning is that he was very man indeed like other men sin only excepted Heb. 4. 15. The scope of the Apostle is to shew how low Christ did humble himselfe 1. Unto death 2. Such a kind of death even the death of the Crosse First therefore observe from hence That Christ Doct. was obedient unto death where three things are to be shewed viz. 1. That Christ did suffer death And 2. That it was the will of God that Christ should suffer death And 3. That Christ in obedience to the will of God did suffer death 1. Christ did suffer death So all the Evangelists record and so S. Paul preached 1 Cor. 15. 3. So the Prophets fore-shewed Saying none other things then those which the Prophers and Moses did say should come that Christ should suffer viz. death as appears by the words following and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead Acts 26. 22 23. Daniel fore-told Christs death saying After threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off Dan. 9. 26. So Isaiah prophecied of him saying He was cut off out of the Land of the living Esa 53. 8. And v. 12. He hath powred out his soul unto death Christs death also was prefigured in the Law which was given by the Ministery of Moses all the sacrifices were figures of Christs death therefore he is called the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world Joh. 1. 29. All the Lambs and so other beasts that were sacrificed in the time of the Law did typifie and prefigure Christ who as a Lamb was to be slaine and sacrificed for us The Author of the Epistle to the Hebrewes shews Christ in this among other things to have differed from the Priests that vvere in the Law that whereas they offered often Christ offered but once and that because he offered himself his offering was his suffering so that if he should have offered often he must also have died often whereas men use to die but once and so was Christ to die but not oft'ner See Heb. 9. 25 26 27 28. Ob. But it may be objected that some places of the Old Testament speaking of Christ seem to import that he should not die Thou art a Priest for ever c. Psal 110. 4. His dominion is an everlasting dominion c. Dan. 7. 14. Ans Indeed some from those and the like places did inferre that Christ should not die For when they heard Christ speak of his death they objected against it saying We have heard out of the Law that Christ abideth for ever Joh. 12. 34. As if because he should abide for ever as was signified in the * The Law is sometimes put for any part of the Old Testament as Joh. 15. 25. and 1 Cor. 14. 21. Law that is in the writings of the Old Testament therfore he should not die but they erred not rightly understanding the Scriptures which speak of Christs abiding for ever For the meaning of them is not that Christ should not die but that although he did die yet he should soon rise again and so abide for ever Christ being risen from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him Rom. 6. 9. 2. It was the will of God that Christ should suffer death There is nothing whatsoever comes to passe but by the will of God Who hath said Nihil fit nisi omnipotens fieri velit vel ipse faciendo vel permittendo ut fiat ab aliis Aug. and it cometh to passe and the Lord commandeth it not Lam. 3. 37. otherwise then by the will and pleasure of God not so much as a sparrow doth fall to the ground Mat. 10. 29. much lesse could so great a thing as Christs death have been had it not been the will and pleasure of God that it should be Pilate condemned Christ to die and others did execute the sentence which Pilate had pronounced but neither Pilate nor others did any thing to Christ but as God had before determined to be done Acts 4. 27 28. 3. It being the will of God that Christ should suffer death Christ in obedience to the will of God did suffer it This Commandement have I received of my Father said Christ Joh. 10. 18. viz. that he should lay down his life and therefore he would and did lay it down And Joh. 18. 11. The cup which my Father hath given me to drinke shall I not drink it As if he should say Shall I not suffer death seeing he will have me suffer it True it is Christ considering death in it self would have avoided it but considering it as that which his Father would have him to suffer so he was willing to suffer it Mat. 26. 39 42. Q. But why would God have Christ to suffer death A. 1. For the satisfying of his Justice God had determined declared death to be the punishment that should be inflicted for sin Gen. 2. 17. 3. 19. Rō 6. 33. Christ was to satisfie for sin and therefore he was to suffer death His soul was made an offering for sin Esa 53. 10. Without shedding of blood is no remission Heb. 9. 22. And v. 26. He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself Thus Christ died for our sins 1 Cor. 15. 3. 2. God would have Christ to suffer death for the magnifying of his mercy God commendeth his love towards us sets it out in this that whiles we were yet sinners Christ died for us Ro. 5. 8. By Christs death first we are reconciled unto God When we were enemies we were reconciled unto God by the death of his Son Rom. 5. 10. In whom we have redemption thorough his blood even the forgiveness of our sins Col. 1. 14. And v. 21 22. And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind thorough wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death 2. VVe
the power of death but wilt raise me againe from the dead And so consequently the Article of Christs descending into hell whereof these words are the foundation imports no more but that Christ went into the other world was in the state of the dead and under deaths dominion to wit untill his Resurrection This Exposition keeps the propriety of the words and the order of the Creed neither is there any thing that I know of weight against it The Hebrew word Sheol and the Greek Hades which are rendred sometimes hell do signifie the estate of the dead or the power of death Hell and destruction are before the Lord Prov. 15. 11. Jansenius a learned Writer of the Church of Rome upon the place notes that by hell and destruction Per infernum perditionem significatur status mortuorum non solum damnatorum ut nos ferè ex his vocibus auditis concipimus sed in genere status defunctorum Jansen ad loc is signified the state of the dead and not onely of the damned as we usually when we hear these words do conceive but the state of those in generall that are departed out of this life Thus also Genebrard another Romish Author and a skilfull Hebritian on Psal 30. 3. as we reckon Ab inferno id est è statu mortuorum liberasti Geneb ad loc where David sayes O Lord thou hast brought up my soul from Sheol hell our Translators have the grave Genebrard I say interprets it thus From hell that is out of the state of the dead hast thou delivered me And so that Psal 89. 48. What man is he that liveth and shall not see death and shall he deliver his soul from the hand of Sheol of hell So * Viz. That in the Booke of Common-Prayer Infernus significat totum mortuorum statum Gen. ad loc one of our Translations hath it the last Translation hath of the grave that likewise doth Genebrard expound in like manner though first he would draw it to their fained Limbus before-mentioned yet upon second thoughts which use to be wiser he addes Hell doth signifie the whole state of the dead And it is evident that by hell there cannot be meant the hell of the damned for David would not make it a thing impossible for any to escape that hell as he doth make it for any to escape the hell that he speaketh of Therefore by hell he must needs mean either the grave and then the word soul is not taken properly or the state of the state of the dead from which without extraordinary dispensation none is exempted Thus also is the Greek word Hades used 1 Cor. 15. 55. O Hades O hell so our Translators in the Margent render it though the Textuall reading be O grave where is thy victory There is no other hell but the state of the dead and the power of death which is vanquished and destroyed at and by the Resurrection of which the Apostle there speaketh So Rev. 20. 16. Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire that is death and the power of death For the hell of the damned the place of torment cannot there be meant by hell that hell being the lake of fire into which hell there spoken of is cast The meaning of the words is that at the Resurrection there shall be no more death nor any power of death any where but only in that lake of fire the place where the damned are in torment whose condition because of the wretchednesse of it is called death the second death Rev. 20. 6. And thus both Ecclesiasticall and Heathen Authors do use the word Hades making all that are dead and so under the power of death to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in inferno See B. Usher in hell as we English it And thus have some of the ancients expounded Christs descending into hell This is the Law of humane necessity saith Hilary Humanae ista Lex necessitatis ut consepultis corporibus ad inferos animae descendant Quam descensionem Dominus ad consummationem veri hominis non recusavit Hil. in Psal 138. that when the bodies are buried the souls descend into hell he means by hell the state of the dead in generall and the power of death keeping the soul separated from the body which descent the Lord Christ to prove himself true man did not refuse in like manner other of the Ancients S. Peters words also do confirm this Exposition Acts 2. 24. where speaking of Christ he saith Whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be holden by it The word in the Originall signifies to be holden 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by force and strong hand to be holden under ones power and dominion And to prove that Christ could not possibly be thus held by death he alledgeth the testimony of the Prophet David who speaking in the Person of Christ said Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell So that by Peters Commentary upon these words of David it appears that Christs not being left in hell signifies nothing els but his not being left under the power of death from which he was freed by his Resurrection of which Peter saith that David did speak in those words Acts 2. 31. And consequently Christs being in hell which is implied in these words of David Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell and expressed in the Creed imports nothing els but his being under the power of death under which he was kept for a while though not long So that of S. Paul Rom. 6. 9. Christ being risen from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him that also intimates that Christ being dead untill he rose from the dead death had dominion over him not whether he would or no but through his own permission Joh. 10. 18. Ob. But may some say according to this Exposition there is nothing more signified in the Article of Christs descending into hell then in the other that he died Answ I answer Yes there is more signified in the one then in the other For that Christ died imports only that his soul was separated from his bodie but that he descended into hell imports that his soule and bodie continued for a while in the state of separation to wit untill his Resurrection when they were again united one to the other Such difference as there is betwixt B. Usher birth and life here such also is there betwixt death and descending into hell Death performs its work in a moment but hell continues this work to wit the separation of the soule from the body untill the body rising again the soule and it are reunited together Therefore it may seem to be said Rev. 6. 8. that hell followed after death and thus both soul and body are said to be in Sheol or Hades or hell whilest they remaine separated one from
the other Object But again it may be objected that if the soul whilest it is in a state of separation from the body be said to be in hell then it is in hell even when it is in heaven Answ It is granted nor is this uncouth or inconvenient as some may think it to be because of the usuall sense and signification wherein the word hell is taken For as the word flesh is in B. Usher our ordinary speech taken strictly in opposition to fish yet sometimes and in propriety of speech it is of a more large extent For there is a flesh of fish 1 Cor 15. 39. So though we usually take the word hell in opposition to heaven taking hell for the place of torment as heaven for the place of happinesse yet the word hell as answering the Hebrew Sheol and the Greek Hades is so large as to comprehend even heaven it self in the notion of it Not indeed as heaven is the place of blisse and happinesse nor as it shall be after the Resurrection when the soul and body shall be in heaven but as heaven is the receptacle of souls separated from their bodies which state of separation though it reaâ—h to heaven as it doth in respect of the souls of the godly yet appertains to the dominion of death and the imperfection of the Saints who are not set free from that dominion of death and that imperfection untill the Resurrection Object Some may yet again object That the word descended which is used in the Creed argues that hell is below whereas heaven is above and how then can it be said that Christ in respect of his soul descended into hell whenas his soul went to heaven Answ To this it is answered divers wayes 1. That although when the godly die in respect of Licet ex mortuis aliqui ascendunt in coelum omnes tamen qui sepeliuntur descendunt in terram unde à conditione prima descensus cadaverum totus reliquus mortuorum status appellatur descensus Alsted in Theol. Catechit in Exposit Symb. their souls they ascend up to heaven yet because generally all in respect of their bodies when they are buried descend down into the earth therefore from that first condition of the descending of dead bodies the whole estate of the dead is called a descent 2. That the word which signifieth to descend is often used for to remove from one place to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another though it be not from a higher place to a lower which is properly to descend As B Usher Acts 13. 4. So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost departed unto Seleucia The word in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Originall rendred departed is that which properly signifieth descended So Acts 18. 5. When Silas and Timotâ—â—us were come from Macedonia in the Originall the same word rendred were come is used And so in other places so that whereas it is said in the Creed he descended into hell the word descended is not to be pressed but to be taken as if it were said he went to hâ—ll And this may suffice for the explicating of the Article of Christs descending into hell which was the thing I aimed in the handling of these words Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell THE NINETEENTH SERMON ACTS 10. 40. Him God raised up the third day THese words were spoken by Peter and I need not tell of whom he spake them for they that know any thing in this kind know that it is Christ whom God raised up the third day Him God raised up viz from the dead as it is expressed Rom. 8. 11. The third day viz. after that he died as appeares by the context Whom they slew and hanged on a tree Him God raised up the third day Here then we have 1. The Resurrection of Christ Him God raised up 2. The time of his Resurrection the third day First then let us observe this That Christ did Doct. rise again from the dead The Resurrection of Christ is an Article of main concernment Peter told the Disciples that one was to be chosen in the place of Judas the traitour and why to be a witnesse with us said he of his that is of Christs resurrection Act. 1. 22. The Apostles were to testifie other things besides the resurrection of Christ but this is mentioned as a principall point to which they were to give testimony So Act. 4. 33. And with great power gave the Apostles witnesse of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus The Jews the professed enemies of Christ believe that he died even died the death of the Crosse but they will not believe that he rose again therefore Christ Resurrectio Christi est fides Christianorum crucified is a stumbling block unto them as the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 1. 23. But Christs resurrection is the faith of a Christian He that doth not believe this doth believe nothing to any purpose If Christ be not risen saith S. Paul and he is as not risen to those that do not believe him to be risen then is our preaching vain and your faith also is vain 1 Cor. 15. 14. And again v. 17. If Christ be not raised your faith is vain It behoves every one therefore not only to say that he believeth the article of Christs resurrection but to believe it indeed and to know upon what grounds he doth believe it Let us therefore see what grounds we have for this in and from the Scripture 1. Christs resurrection was tipified and prefigured Some conceive Isaac to have been a type and figure of Christ in this respect Isaac I say who as the story shews Gen. 22. was bound and laid upon the Altar and as good as dead yet was raised up and delivered whence it is said that Abraham received him from the dead in a figure Heb. 11. 19. Some understand it thus in a figure of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eras resurrectionis typo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Occumen Christs resurrection But I insist not on that place which others more probably interpret otherwise That Ionas his deliverance out of the whales belly wherein he was as it were buried was a type of Christs resurrection from the dead we have Christs own testimony As Jonas was three daies and three nights in the whales belly and then was delivered out of it so shall the son of man be three daies and three nights in the heart of the earth that is in the grave and then be raised up out of it Mat. 12. 40. 2. Christs resurrection was prophecied and foretold Christ himself the great Prophet did foretel it in those words even now cited And so in other places Mat. 17 22 23. The son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men and they shall kil him and the third day he shall be raised again And Joh. 2. 19. Jesus answered and said unto them destroy this Temple and in three daies I will raise
it up This he spake of the Temple of his body as it follows there v. 22. And when he was risen from the dead his Disciples remembred that he had said this unto them v. 22. Although Christs owne Disciples it seems did not understand the meaning of those words untill they were fulfilled that is untill Christ was risen from the dead yet Christ had so plainly at other times foretold his resurrection that the chief Priests and Pharisees could say unto Pilate when Christ was crucified dead and buried Sir we remember that that deceiver said while he was yet alive after three daies I will rise again And so the Prophets that were before Christs coming in the flesh did foreshew as other things concerning him that he should rise from the dead David in those words Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell nor suffer thine holy one to see corruption Psal 16. 10. did speak of Christs resurrection as is testified by S. Peter Act. 2. 31. He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in hell nor his flesh did see corruption And so by S. Paul Act. 13. 35 36 37. Wherefore he saith also in another Psalm Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption For David after he had served his own generation by the will of God fell asleep and was laid unto his fathers and saw corruption But he whom God raised again saw no corruption So all the Prophets speaking of Christ his Priesthood and Kingdome induring for ever did consequently speak of Christs resurrection As * Or Solomon who by the title seems to have been the composer of that 72. Psalme David Psal 72. 17. 110. 4. And Daniel chapt 7. v. 14. Some from those and the like places of the Prophets falsly undâ—â—stood did infer that Christ should not die Joh. â—â— 34. But the Prophets had no such meaning but that though Christ did die yet he should rise againe and so abide for ever And therefore Christ called them fools and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets had written who would not believe his resurrection when they were told of it Luk. 24. 25. And Paul professed that he did say no other things then those which the Prophets and Moses did say should come That Christ should suffer and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead Act. 26. 22 23. 3. All the foure Evangelists as we call them Matthew Mark Luke and John have carefully recorded Christs rising from the dead Though as in other of their relations so in this they differ in circumstances some relating one cireumstance some another yet they agree in the substance all relating this that he rose again They shew us also that Christ after his resurrection by many infallible proofs did shew himself alive as S. Luke speaks Act. 1. 3. That when his Disciples thought him to have been a spirit he said unto them Behold my hands and my feet that it is I my self handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have And when he had thus spoken he shewed them his hands and his feet Luk. 24. 39 40. And presently after it follows that he called for meat and did eat before them S. Iohn also relates how when Christ had appeared after his resurrection to the Apostles Thomas not being among them when he heard of it he would not believe it professing that except he should see in his hands the print of the nails and put his finger into the print of his nails and thrust his hand into his side he would not believe And that afterward Christ appeared unto them again Thomas being with them and that he spake unto Thomas saying Reach hither thy finger and behold my hands and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side and be not faithlesse but believe And that then Thomas cried out My Lord and my God Joh. 20. 24 25 26 27 28. The Evangelists also record that Christs resurrection was witnessed by an Angel from heaven Mat. 28. 5 6. Mar. 16. 5 6. Yea by more Angels then one Luk. 24. 4 5 6. 4. The Apostles did no lesse diligently preach and publish Christs resurrection Paul preached it as he testifieth 1 Cor. 15. 4. Where also in the verses following he doth largely insist upon the proof and demonstration of it So Act 13. 30. c. We find that in one of his Sermons he was much upon this point And so also was Peter Act. 2. 24. c. And it is said of all the Apostles in generall except Paul who was called to the Apostleship afterward that with great power they gave witnesse of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Act. 4. 33. And Paul urgeth the force of this argument drawn from the preaching of the Apostles Yea and we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ whom he raised not up if so be that the dead rise not 1 Cor. 15. 15. 5. Divers reasons and arguments grounded upon Scripture prove that Christ did rise from the dead For 1. It was meet that as Christ did freely and voluntarily humble himself so again he should be exalted Those that honour me I will honour saith God 1 Sam. 2. 30. Therefore as Christ did honour God by submitting himself unto death so God would honour him by raising him from the dead He humbled himself became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him Phil. 2. 8. 9. Mansit in separatione inseparabilis unitas Bern. de Consid l. 5. c. 10. 2. Although when Christ died his soul and body were separated one from the other yet the divine nature was separated from neither the one nor the other Come see the place where the Lord lay said the Angel speaking of the grave where the dead body of Christ was laid Mat. 28. 6. which shews that the divine nature was still united to the body though the soul were separated from it And otherwise we could not rightly confesse as we do in the Creed that Christ the only son of God was buried Now there being this union betwixt the divine nature and Christs body it was not only meet but necessary that his body should be raised up and not be held under deaths dominion Though being man he died yet being God he rose again being put to death in the flesh his humane nature but quickned by the spirit his divine nature 1 Pet. 3. 18. 3. For the working out of our redemption it was requisite that Christ should not only die but also rise again Some when Christ did hang upon the Crosse blasphemed saying He saved others himselfe he cannot save Mar. 15. 31. Whereas that he might save others himself he would not save viz. not so as not to die But had he so died as not to rise again his death
would have been of none effect For how could we have believed that he by his death had redeemed us from death even eternall death and destruction if he himself had been so swallowed up of death as for ever to lie under the power and dominion of it Therefore the Apostle saith that Christ was delivered for our offences and rose again for our justification Rom. 4. 25. And if Christ be not risen your faith is in vain you are yet in your sins 1 Cor. 15. 17. And as Christs resurrection was thus necessary in respect of our redemption the forgivenesse of our sins Ephes 1. 7. Rom. 8. 23. so was it also in respect of the redemption of our body How could we have expected the resurrection of our bodies if Christs body had not been raised up If the Head had not risen again how should the members rise again The resurrection of the members depends upon the resurrection of the Head the resurrection of Christians upon Christs resurrection as the Apostle shews at large 1 Cor. 15. Vse 1. Now if Christ rose again then how wretched and miserable are the Jews who wil not believe Christs resurrection but as their fathers did so do they still impugne and oppose it S. Matthew relates that when the souldiers that were set to guard Christs sepulcher went and told the chief Priests what had happened they gave them large money that they might say that whiles they slept Christs Disciples came and stole them away And this saying saith he is commonly reported among the Iews untill this day Mat. 28. 11. 15. Now consider a little what an absurd and foolish fable this was which yet the Jews were so ready to believe 1. How improbable that a few weak timorous men who but a few daies before did forsake yea one of them forswear Christ yet now should be so valiant or rather fool-hardy as to adventure to steal Christ out of the grave knowing that a guard of souldiers was purposely set to prevent such a designe 2. Suppose they should have so far adventured as some of them to espie whether the souldiers were asleep or no yet how could they assure themselves that the souldiers should continue asleep untill they had dispatched that for which they came Yea how could this be there being a great stone for them to roll away from the mouth of the sepulcher which could not be done without making such a noise as to awaken some of the souldiers at least if they were asleep before 3. Grant the Disciples should have had such courage as to attempt the businesse and such happinesse as to effect it yet would they have been so foolish and unwise as to stay at the sepulcher to unloose the cloaths in which Christs body was wrapped Would they not rather have hasted away with the body as it was buried and have loosed the cloths then when they had more leisure to do it and might do it with more safety But the linnen cloths were found lying in the grave and the napkin that was about Christs head not lying with the linnen cloths but wrapped together in a place by it self Ioh. 20. 6. 7. And 4. if the Disples could break thorough all difficulties and get Christs body away with them yet could they put life into it when they had it But Christ after his passion by many infallible proofs shewed himself alive Act. 1. 3. otherwise it is senslesse to imagine that the Disciples having so deserted Christ when he was alive would have so constantly preached and avouched his resurrection as they did And lastly the very tale doth sufficiently confute it self and shew its own absurdity For if the souldiers as they said were asleep how then could they tell that Christ was taken away by his Disciples it might be otherwise as indeed it was for any thing thar they did know Vse 2. Secondly Christs resurrection serves to demonstrate Christs divinity The divinity of Christ and his resurrection so mutually help to demonstrate each other His resurrection is demonstrated by his divinity as the effect by the cause and his divinity by his refurrection as the cause by the effect That which God the Father speaks unto Christ Psal 2. 7. Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee the Apostle refers to Christs resurrection Act. 13. 32. 33. And we declare unto you glad tidings how that the promise which was made unto the Fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto us in that he hath raised up Iesus again as it is also written in the second Psalm Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee The Apostle by this day shews that the day of Christs resurrection is understood not that then Christ was first begotten of the Father and became the Son of God for he was so from all eternity Mic. 5. 2. but then when Christ rose again he appeared to be the Son of God his begotten Son God of God one and the same God with the Pather Thus the same Apostle saith plainly that Christ was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holinesse by the resurrection from the dead Rom. 1. 4. Christs divine nature before did lie hid under the infirmity of his humane nature but by his rising from the dead it did look forth and shew it self Ob. Some may say many others as we find recorded both in the old and in the new Testament did rise from the dead besides Christ yea many before Christ and how then doth his resurrection demonstrate his divine nature Answ I answer Christs resurrection did excell the refunction of others in a twofold respect For 1. Others did rise again but so as to die again the life to which they rose was this mortall life But Christ arose to life immortall Christ being risen from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him Rom. 6. 2. Christ arose by his own vertue and power which none ever did or shall do but he only Destroy this Temple said Christ meaning his body and in three daies I will raise it up Joh. 2. 19. I lay down my life said he that I may take it up again No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up again Joh. 10. 17. 18. Now except Christ were God it had not Resurrexisse per se ex mortuis in vitam nisi Dei natura non potuit Hilar. de Trin. l. 7. been possible for him to raise himself from the dead this is not competible to a meer humane nature Ob. But may some object it is said in the Text and in other places that God raised up Christ therefore it seems he did not raise himself but was raised by another Answ This doth not follow Christ both was raised of God and also did raise himself As man so God did raise him up as God so he rose of himself
Christ and the Father are one Joh. 10. 30. That which the Father doth he doth also Joh. 5. 17. 14. 10 11. Therefore Cum eadem fit divina virtus operatio Patris Filii haec duo se mutuò consequuntur quòd Christus fit suscitatus divinâ virtute Patris sui ipsius Aquin part 3. quest 53. art 4. ad 1. these two are so farre from crossing one the other Christ was raised up by the power of his Father and Christ arose by his own power that they confirme one the other they follow one upon the other Vse 3. Thirdly by Christs Resurrection our faith is confirmed in him as a most perfect Redeemer For seeing that Christ died for our sins he as our Surety was arrested by death as Gods Serjeant and cast into the prison of the grave in that he was not still detained there but released and set free it clearly shewes that the debt is discharged Gods justice satisfied and we through faith in Christ reconciled unto God and at peace with him The two Disciples that knew Christ to be dead but knew not that he was risen again seemed to have but small hope of redemption by him We trusted said they that it had been he that should have redeemed â—srael Luk. 24. 21. They did trust so before but now it seems they did in a manner despair of it And indeed had Christ so died as not to rise againe we could have had but a dead hope as I shewed before But now our hope is a lively hope as S. Peter calls it Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope how by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 1 Pet. 1. 3. So S. Paul having said that Christ was delivered for our offences and rose again for our justification he addes immediately Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 4. 25. 5. 1. And Acts 13. 38 39. having immediately before confirmed Christs Resurrection he thereupon inferres Be it known unto you therefore men and brethren that thorough this man is preached unto you forgivenesse of sins And by him all that believe are justified c. And Rom. 8. 34. he cryeth out Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again And Heb. 7. 25. Wherefore he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them Vse 4. Fourthly by the Resurrection of Christ we may be assured of our owne Resurrection The Apostle 1 Cor. 15. to convince some among the Corinthians who denied the Resurrection of the dead first proves at large Christs Resurrection and from thence inferreth the resurrection of Christians Now if Christ be preached saith he that he rose from the dead how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead But if there be no resurrection of the dead then is Christ not risen 1 Cor. 15. 12 13. And v. 16. For if the dead rise not then is not Christ raised And v. 20. c. But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept For since by man came death by man also came the Resurrection from the dead For as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive But every man in his own order Christ the first fruits afterward they that are Christs at his coming So 2 Cor. 4. 14. Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus c. And 1 Thes 4. 14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him The force of this inference viz. of the resurrection of Christians from Christs resurrection consists in that near relation and union that is betwixt Christ and Christians he being their head Quod praecessit in caepite impletum erit in corpore Bern. and they his members As in the naturall body though all the members be under water yet the head being above they are safe and there 's no fear of drowning so is it in the mysticall body Christ our head being risen though we his members lie in the dust yet there is a sure and certain hope of our resurrection For the members must be with the head and conformed to it Father I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am said Christ Joh. 17. 24. We know that when he shall appear we shall be like unto him 1 Joh. 3. 2. Christ shall change our vile bodies and shall make them like unto his own most glorious body Phil. 3. 21. THE TWENTIETH SERMON Vse 5. FIftly and lastly as Christ rose corporally so ought we to rise spiritually viz. from the death of sin to the life of grace There is a death of the soul by sin and a resurrection of the soul by grace Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Ephes 5. 14. And that we must be conformed unto Christ by a spirituall resurrection the Apostle sheweth Rom. 6. 4. Therefore we are buried with him by baptisme into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newnesse of life And v. 11. Likewise reckon ye also your selves dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God thorough Jesus Christ our Lord. We must thus be conformed unto Christ by the resurrection of our souls here or els we shall not be conformed unto Christ by the resurrection of our bodies hereafter For though all shall corporally rise again yet not so as to be conformed unto Christ in glory and happinesse No thus shall none rise corporally but only such as now rise spiritually so as to be conformed unto Christ in grace and holinesse Only they that whiles they are upon earth have their conversation in heaven can expect that the Lord Jesus will change their vile bodies and make them like unto his own most glorious body Phil. 3. 20 21. Now if we would know whether we be partakers of this spirituall resurrection we may try and discern it by these marks 1. Heavenly mindednesse If ye be risen with Christ seek those things that are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God Set your affections on things above and not on things on the earth Col. 3. 1. 2. 2. Love of Gods children We know that we are passed from death to life because we love the brethren 1 Joh. 3. 14. This is meant of loving the godly eo nomine in that very respect as they are godly not for by ends or carnall respects which they may do who are not godly 3. A sense and feeling of spirituall wants and infirmities VVhere there is such a
coming shall so remain and they vvho vvere before dead shall be raised up and together vvith the other shall be judged and in this sense is it said that Christ shall judge both quick and dead not that any shall be dead when they are judged but where as they were dead they shall be raised up and so be judged Thus is that to be understood Revel 20. 12. I saw the dead small and great stand before God viz. to be judged as it there followeth the dead that is those who had been dead And in opposition to these are the quick that is they who are found living when Christ cometh and so remaining alive come to judgement For the Lord himself saith S. Paul shal descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the ayre c. 1 Thes 4. 16. 17. Here the Apostle sheweth that the Elect Electi qui relinquimur non moriemur sed de vitâ corporali transferemur in vitam immortalem Hoc n. clarè significat repetendo qui vivimus simul rapiemur cum illis Hoc consonat verbis Petri Act. 10. Ipse est qui constitutus est à Deo judex vivorum mortuorum Et ideò in symbol cantamus c. Cajetan ad 1 Thes 4. vide etiam Cajetan ad 2 Tim. 4. 1. ad Act. 10. 42. for of them only he here speaketh that remain and are alive at Christs coming shall not die but shall together with those that were dead but then are raised up be conveyed unto Christ and be with him for ever viz. after the judgement which shall passe upon them Austin indeed having alledged these words of the Apostle makes a question whether Aug. de Civ Dei l. 20. c. 20. they whom Christ at his coming shall find alive in that very space whilest they are caught up as the Apostle speaks shall not have their souls separated from their bodies and presently re-united unto them But there is no ground at all for any such conceit and that other parallel place of the Apostle is against it viz. that 1 Cor 15. 51 52. Behold I shew you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in a moment in a twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible aâ—d we shal be changed Here the Apostle plainly shewketh that the Elect of which likewise he here speaeth that are alive at Christs coming shall not sleep that is not die but only shall be changed that is as he after explaineth it of mortall shall be made immortall and of corruptible incorruptible Indeed this place to the Corinthians is diversly read and that was it that did mislead Austin he followed another and a contrary reading viz. We shall all rise again or We shall all sleep but we shall not all be changed But these readings are false and the other which we have in our Translations and is found in the Greek is the true reading See Cajetan on 1 Cor. 15. 51. 522. as may appear by divers reasons 1. Otherwise this place to the Corinthians and that other to the Thessalonians should but ill agree and therefore for the reconciling of them Austin was fain to make that strange quaere before mentioned and to imagine that which neither by Scripture nor by reason hath any probability for it 2. If we should read it thus we shall not all be changed then the Apostle should comprehend himself in the number of those that perish for the change there spoken of is a change unto glory and happinesse as appears by the words following and therefore all the Elect have that change only the reprobrate have it not though a change also they shall have but a wofull and miserable change and not that which the Apostle there intendeth 3. That which seemeth to me most convincing is this that except we should read it as we do We shal not all sleep but we shal al be changed that preface which the Apostle useth were impertinent improper Behold I shew you a mystery For what mystery is there in this that all shall sleep and die but not all be changed that is inherit glory eternall life If this had been that which the Apostle was to say he would never have brought it in Verè hoc est magnum mysterium quòd aliqui electorumabsque morte intercedente assequentur omnes immutationes supra scriptur c. Cajetan iâ— 1 Cor. 15. with such a preamble he would never have spoken of it as a mystery for surely nothing is more obvious to every understanding then that though all shall die yet all shall not enjoy the life to come But this is a mystery indeed except the Apostle had by the spirit of God revealed it we should have been ignorant of it that all shall not die but that some shall be exempted from death and without the intervention of death shal passe from this life to another incomparably better Ob. Some may object that Heb. 9. 27. It is appointed unto men to die once And how then should the Apostle say We shall not all sleep that is die Answ But this objection is easily answered Cajetane speaks briefly but pithily Statutum regulare Cajetane ad Thes 4. 17. est illos autem non mori singulare est That is the Statute or appointment for men to die is regular and ordinary but for those who remain at Christs coming not to die is singular and extraordinary And so necessarily those words It is appointed unto men to die once must be understood of Gods usuall and ordinary dispensation for by once there is meant onely once as appears by the context yet we know that Lazarus and some others who were raised from the dead to this mortall life did die more then once and besides the Scripture shews that Enoch and Eliah were so translated See Calvin on 1 Cor. 15. and taken from the earth as not to die once Some further answer that the change which the Apostle speaks of shall be as a kind of death but being no separation of soul and body it is not properly death I therefore rather acquiesce in the former answer And so also is that to be understood which Austin objecteth That which thou sowest it is not Quomodo quos viventes hic Christus inveniet per immortalitatem in illo vivificabuntur etsi non moriuntur cum videamus propter hoc esse dictum Tu quod seminas c. Aug. de Civ Dei l. 20. c. 20. quickned except it die 1 Cor. 15. 36. The Apostle there also speaks of that which is regular and ordinary and so it is true regularly and ordinarily none are quickned that is inherit eternall
Chapter containes Deinde etiam hoc adjiciendum quod non tam propheta dicendus sit quam Evangelista Ita enim universa Christi ecclesiaeque mysteria ad liquidum prosecutus est ut non putes eum de futuro vaticinari sed de praeteritis historiam texere Hieron prefat in Isaiam in it a most famous prophecie of Christs suffering and humiliation the sacred Pen-man of the holy Ghost Esay writes so clearly and so fully that as Hierome said of him he might seem rather like an Evangelist to record things past then as a Prophet to foretell things to come The Chaldie Paraphrast and the Rabbines of old were convinced that the Prophet here did speak of the Messiah that is of Christ and so some of the later Rabbines also as witnesseth Abrabaneel upon the place though he as divers others of them would pervert and wrest it another way Yea so clear and Jo. Isaacus Defen hebr verit adversus Liâ—dan convincing is this prophecie contained in this Chapter that John Isaac a learned Iew of late years as himself testifieth was converted from Iudaisme and became a Christian by the very reading of this Chapter It was a part of this Chapter that the Eunuch read as he was riding in his Chariot and he not at first understanding of whom the Prophet spake Philip expounded it unto him and let him know that it was of our Lord and Saviour Christ Iesus Act. 8. 30. 35. The Prophet in the beginning of the Chapter foreshews that few of the Iews would believe that which he did write of Christ Who wil believe our report c. v. 1. For as the Apostle saith Christ crucified was unto the Jews a stumbling block 1 Cor. 1. 23. Therefore they despised and rejected him because he came in an humble despicable manner and not in that pomp and state as they expected So much the Prophet here foreshews For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground he hath no forme nor comelinesse and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him He is despised and rejected of men a man of sorrowes and acquainted with grief c. v. 2. 3. A man of sorrowes that is a man wholly subject to sorrows a man most full of sorrows As a man of understanding Prov. 24. 5. that is a man full of understanding A man of strife Ier. 15. 10. that is a man subject to strife a man with whom every one striveth for the phrase is there taken passively And acquainted with grief In the originall it is word for word and knowing grief or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and known of grief the phrase imports that he was so continually exercised with grief that grief and he were become as it were familiar and were well acquainted one with the other These words as considered with reference to those Chap. 52. 12. where this Section concerning Christ begins as also with reference to what followes in the last Verse of this Chapter afford this observation That Christs sorrow and humiliation Doct. went before his joy and exaltation Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory Luke 24. 26. First he was to suffer such things and then having suffered them to enter into his glory Now that he ascended what is it but that he descended first c. Eph. 4. 9. His descension was before his ascension He was made perfect through sufferings Heb. 2. 10. It was necessary that if Christ should have any estate of humiliation at all it should be before his estate of exaltation For being once exalted and in glory he could not possibly be subject to any sorrow or suffering The estate of glory is inconsistent with sorrow and suffering Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him Rom. 6. 9. So had he at first entred into glory before his suffering neither death nor any affliction which seems to make way for death could have laid hold on him Quest But may some say why should Christ be subject to any sorrow at all Answ I answer There was reason for it in divers respects 1. God so determined it was his will and pleasure it should be so It pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief Esa 53. 10. It was the cup that his Father gave him to drink Joh. 18. 11. Herod and Pilate with the Gentiles and the Jewes did but what God had before determined to be done Acts 4. 27 28. 2. God not only determined but also signified and made it knowne before-hand that so it should be that Christ should suffer Saying none other things then Moses and the Prophets that is God by them did say should come that Christ should suffer c. Acts 26. 22 23. Those things that God before had shewed by the mouth of his Prophets that Christ should suffer he hath so fulfilled Act. 3. 18. Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer c. even therefore because it was so written Luk. 24. 46. Thinkest thou said Christ to Peter who sought to keep him from suffering that I cannot now pray unto my Father and he shall presently give me more then twelve Legions of Angels But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be Mat. 26. 53 54. 3. Our case and condition did require that so it should be Christ was to suffer that so we might not suffer I mean not suffer so as otherwise we must have suffered even so as to lie down in sorrow so as to suffer eternall woe and misery Esa 50. 11 God was injured and offended and his Justice would be satisfied we were utterly unable to make satisfaction without lying under everlasting condemnation Therefore that we might not perish it was requisite that Christ should suffer and by suffering satisfie for us Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrowes He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes are we healed All we like sheep have gone astray and turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all Esa 53. 4 5 6. God made him to be sin an offering and a sacrifice for sin for us who knew no sin that is was guilty of none that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him a Cor. 5. 21. Vse 1. If it were thus with the Head then so also it must be with the Members if thus with Christ then so also with Christians For whom he did fore-know he also did predestinate to be conformed to the Image of his Son c. Rom. 8. 29. God hath predestinated us to be conform'd unto Christ viz. first in sorrow and suffering and then in glory and happinesse If so be that we suffer
that my mouth shall not transgresse Psal 17. 3. 2. A care to avoid the occasions of sin Depart from me ye wicked for I will keep the Commandements of my God Psal 119. 115. 3. A diligent use of the means whereby to subdue sin Thy Word have I hid within my heart that I might not sin against thee Psal 119. 11. Vse 3. As Christ was obedient unto death so we must learne by his example to be obedient also as well in suffering as in doing and that in suffering death it self if God call unto it You have not yet resisted unto blood Heb. 12. 4. As if he should say in obedience unto God you must resist striving as there it followes against sin even unto blood the shedding of your blood if need be so did Christ who is there propounded as a pattern for our imitation Looking unto Jesus c. v. 2. Consider him v. 3. Not that we are to expose our selves to danger when we may avoid it by good and honest means without dishonour to God and his truth When they persecute you in one City flee into another so did Christ counsell his Disciples Mat. 10. 23. And Christ himself did so when some being offended at his Doctrine would have throne him down from the brow of the hill on which the City was built he conveyed himselfe away from them and escaped their hands Luk. 4. 29 30. And so when Paul was like to be apprehended by the Governour in Damascus he was let down in a basket thorough a window and by that means escaped 2 Cor. 11 32 33. But if God call us to suffer if it appear to be his will if it cannot be avoided without dishonouring of God and his Gospell in this case we must be willing to submit unto God and to be obedient unto death as Christ was to lay down our lives for God and for his truth as Christ did Fight the good fight of faith lay hold on eternall life whereunto thou art also called and hast professed a goood profession before many Witnesses I give thee charge in the sight of God who quickneth all things and before Iesus Christ who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession that thou keep this Commandement without spot unrebukeable untill the appearing of our Lord Iesus Christ 2 Tim. 6. 12 13 14. As if the Apostle should say Christ bare witnesse to the truth before Pontius Pilate unto death so must we also if need be bear witnesse to it though we die for it He that loveth his life to wit inordinately so as that he will not part with it when God doth call for it but doth preferre it before Gods glory he that so loveth his life shall lose it and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternall Joh. 12. 25. See the like saying Mat. 16. 25. 10. 39. And Christ would have all that take upon them the profession of his Name to consider this that for his sake they must be ready if the case so require to forgo whatsoever is neare and deare unto them even life it self So S. Luke shewes us saying And there went great multitudes with him and he turned said unto them If any man come to me hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters and his own life also he cannot be my Disciple Luk. 14. 25. 26. THE FIFTEENTH SERMON PHILIP 2. 8. Even the death of the Crosse THus the Apostle shews the greatnesse of Christs humiliation and obedience in that he not only humbled himself and was obedient unto death but such a kind of death even the death of the Crosse that is death on the Crosse he was crucified nailed alive to the Crosse and so did hang upon the Crosse untill he died This point then offers it self to be considered That Christ was obedient even to the death of the Crosse In the handling of this point I shall shew 1. That Christ suffered death on the Crosse 2. That this was a great aggravation of Christs suffering 3. What use is to be made of the point For the first That Christ suffered death upon the Crosse it is a thing clearly recorded by all the foure Evangelists So Paul in his Epistles often speaks of the Crosse of Christ that is of Christs death on the Crosse and of Christ crucified See 1 Cor. 1. 18. 23. 2. 2. 8. Gal. 6. 14. Phil. 3. 18. So Peter saith that Christ bare our sins on his body on the tree that is on the Crosse 1 Pet. 2. 24. David also prophecied of this saying They pierced my hands and my feet Psal 22. 16. He spake those words prophetically in the person of Christ as the very beginning of the Psalm doth shew My God My God why hast thou forsaken me which words as the Evangelists record Christ uttered when he was upon the Crosse So v. 18. They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture Which as appears likewise by the history of the Gospell was fulfilled in Christ when he was crucified Christ also himself did foretell what kind of death he should suffer to wit the death of the Crosse Behold said he to his Disciples We go up to Jerusalem and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief Priests and to the Scribes and they shall condemn him to death And they shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucifie him Mat. 20. 18 19. So Joh. 12. 32 33. And I if I be lifted up will draw all men unto me That by his lifting up he meant lifting up upon the Crosse to die upon it the Evangelist immediately declares saying This he said signifying what death he should die Christs death upon the Crosse was likewise typified and prefigured by the brazen Serpent of which we read Num. 21. There the sacred history tells us how God when the Israelites sinned against God and provoked him by murmuring he plagued them by sending fiery Serpents among them but in wrath remembring mercy he commanded Moses to set upon a pole a brazen Serpent the similitude of a serpent made of brasse that whosoever was stung by a fiery serpent by looking up to that brazen serpent might be made whole This brazen serpent so lifted up was a type and figure of Christ lifted up upon the Crosse that whosoever are stung by that old serpent the devill may look up to him with the eye of faith and be saved This Christ himself doth signifie unto us saying As Moses lift up the Serpent in the wildernesse so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3. 14 15. Ob. But it may be objected that among the Jews this kind of death was not in use The Iewish Talmud tells us that Sanhedr c. 7. they had foure kinds of capitall punishments to wit stoning burning killing with the sword and
strangling They make no mention of crucifying neither do we find it mentioned any where in the old Testament There indeed we read of hanging but it was not a hanging of any whilest they were alive but only a hanging of them after that they were otherwise put to death to wit for the greater infamy of those who were hanged and for the greater terrour of others Joshua first smote and slew the five Kings of Canaan and then hanged them upon trees untill evening for by the Law Deut. 21 23. none were to hang longer Jos 10. 26. This hanging was quite another thing much different from crucifying For they that were crucified were hanged alive being nailed to a crosse and so did hang untill they were dead It 's said indeed that the Iews slew Christ and hanged him on a tree Act. 5. 30. 10. 39. But that is not so to be understood as if they did first slay him and then hang him on a tree that had not been crucifying neither doth that agree with the sacred history of the Gospell The meaning of those places is that they slew him by hanging him on a tree The particle and in those places is exegeticall or explicative rather then copulative it shews how they flew him to wit so as that they hanged him on a tree Answ Some of the Iewish Rabbines indeed think by this argument to wit that crucifying or putting to death by hanging upon a Crosse was not used among the Iews they think I say to convince the Gospell of falshood but they bewray either their ignorance or malice or both For in the R. Lipman in Nizzaction ut est apud Munster in Mat. Hebr. time of our Saviour and some while before the Iews were under the power and jurisdiction of the Romanes as appears not only by the new Testament Luk. 2. 1. 4 5. 3. 1. and so other places but also by forraign Writers as Josephus a Iew and Tacitus a heathen man Now crucifying was a punishment which was much used among the Romanes and they brought it into use among the Iews when they had dominion over them And those forementioned Authors to wit Josephus and Tacitus do both of them record how Christ was put to death by Pontius Pilate being Governour Ioseph Antiq. l. 18. c. 4. Tacit Annal. l. 15. in Iudea under the Roman Emperour Tiberius and one of them namely Iosephus expressely saith that Pilate caused him to be crucified Christ himself foretelling his death and the manner of it shewed how it should come to passe that he should be crucified to wit that the Iews should deliver him to the Gentiles namely the Romanes and they as their custom was should crucifie him Mat. 20. 18 19. So it was as the Evangelists relate Pilate willing to content the people released Barabbas unto them and delivered Jesus when he had scourged him to be crucified And the souldiers led him away c. And when they had mocked him they took off the purple robe from him and put his own clothes on him and led him out to crucifie him Mar. 15. 15 16 20. S. John also having said that Pilate bade the Iews take Christ and judge him according to their Law and that the Iews answered that it was not lawfull for them to put any man to death he addes That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which he spake signifying what death he should die Joh. 18. 31 32. Christ had signified that he should die the death of the Crosse which was fulfilled by the Iewes delivering of Christ unto Pilate who being a Roman condemned him to that kind of death which was in use among the Romans Peter indeed told the Jewes that they had crucified Christ Acts 2. 22 23. 36. 5 30. But that was because it was done thorough their instigation See Luk. 23. 20 21 22 23 24. And Acts 3. 13 14 15. the Jewes are justly charged with it because they were the workers and procurers of it Thus then the objection is sufficiently answered and the first thing propounded is sufficiently cleared to wit that Christ suffered death on the Crosse 2. The next thing to be considered is that this was a great aggravation of Christs suffering The Apostle we see in the Text aggravates his suffering by this that he not only suffered death but even the death of the Crosse This death was more grievous then other kinds of death in divers respects For first it was a more painfull death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lxx. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vulg. Lat. Fodcrunt Crucis nomen à cruciatu Lipsius de cruce Acerbissimum inter supplicia censebatur Lips Ibid. He indured the Crosse So it is said of Christ Heb. 12. 2. which intimates that the death of the Crosse was very grievous and hard to be indured It is grievous to indure any death that is violent but especially the death of the Crosse to have the hands and the feet which by reason of the multitude of sinewes are of all parts most sensible of pain pierced thorough with nails yea digged as the word used Psal 22. 16. doth indeed signifie and so to be fastened to a Crosse and to hang for many hours together this must needs be very dolourus and painfull The Latine word for a Crosse comes of a word that signifieth torment of all punishments that of the Crosse was accounted most bitter and most tormenting And in the Scripture-phrase the Crosse is put for all affliction whatsoever If any man will come after me said Christ let him deny himself and take up his Crosse and follow me Mat. 6. 24. And Luke 14. 27. Whosoever doth not bear his Crosse and come after me cannot be my Disciple For one to beare his Crosse is as much as patiently to indure any affliction that shall come upon him 2. The death of the Crosse was a most shamefull death It 's said of Christ that he indured the Crosse despising the shame Heb. 12. 2. Any death that is inflicted as a punishment is ignominious and carries shame along with it but the death of the Crosse especially it was called a slavish punishment because it was at first only inflicted on slaves afterwards it was also inflicted on others yet but seldome and only Servile supplicium Lips de cruce Primùm receptum in servos iisque quodammodo approbrium Ibid. Et si interdum in liberos homines sic animadversum reperio sed raro non nisi ob insigne scelus ut in latrones grassatores transfugas Lips Ibid. on such as were notorious malefafactors as robbers murtherers and renegadoes When Verres being the Romane Governour in Sicilie put some of the Romanes to this kind of death Cicero pleading against him aggravated this as a most great and horrid crime It is hainous thing said he to Facinus est vincire civem Romaâ—um scelus verberare propè parricidium necare quid dicam in crucem tollere
his owne power but by the touch of some other who had been buried in the same grave before As we read of one who being cast into the grave where the Prophet Elisha was buried by the touch of the dead bones of the Prophet revived 2 King 13. 21. And again the Evangelists record that Christ was laid in a sepulchre which was hewen out of a Rock and that a great stone was rolled to the door of the sepulchre and that the stone vvas sealed and a watch set to keep the sepulchre Mat. 27. 60 66. So that it could not with any probability be pretended that either by undermining or otherwise Christ was stolne out of the sepulchre 3. Christs burial was a further degree of his humiliation It was much for him to die and more to die the death of the Crosse and yet more to condescend and stoop so low as to be laid in the grave the common receptacle of the dead Job speaking of a man that is high and eminent in the world vvhile he liveth shevves that yet vvhen he dieth he shall be brought so low as to be laid in the grave Who shal declare his way to his face and who shal repay him what he hath done Yet shall he be brought to the grave and shal remain in the tomb the clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him c. Iob 21. 31 32 33. 4. This served to make Christs victory over death over him that had the power of death that is the Devill the more glorious that he not only died but also was buried death seemed to have ful conquest over Christ having gotten him into its den yet even there did Christ vanquish and subdue it Thus did he most gloriously triumph fulfilling that O death I will be thy plague O grave I will be thy destruction Hos 13. 14. Vse 1. This point concerning Christs buriall doth make much for the confirming of our faith in Christ to assure us that our sins are fully expiated and abolished by Christ that as they were nailed to his Crosse Col. 2. 14. so also buried in his grave never to rise up against us to our condemnation Christ bare our sins in his body on the tree 1 Pet. 2. 24. Therefore Christ being buried our sins also were buried with him so that we being united by faith unto Christ and having interest in him we are freed from sin and need Ioh. 1. not fear the imputation of it Ionah being cast into the sea and buried as it were in the belly of the fish presently the storm ceased and the Sea was calm So Christ being laid in the grave and buried our consciences though otherwise by reason of the guilt of sin full of vexation and horror have good cause to be calm and quiet Vse 2. Again here is good comfort and incouragement for us if we belong to Christ against the fear of death and the horrour of the grave Christ hath grapled with death and the grave and hath overcome them and therefore we need not to be afraid of them Christ having followed death into its den and there gotten victory over it we may assure our selves that though death prevail so far over us as to draw us into it's den yet it shall not be able to keep us there but Christ will make good that which is promised Hos 13. 14. I will ransome them from the power of the grave I wil redeem them from death So Christ assures us that the houre is coming in the which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice and shall come forth Joh. 5. 28. 29. In like manner the Apostle saith Then shall be brought to passe the saying that is written Death is swallowed up in victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law But thanks be unto God who giveth us victory thorough Jesus Christ our Lord 1 Cor. 15. 54 55 56 57. The graves of the Saints are called beds wherein they lie and rest for a while but at length arise and come out of them They shall rest in their beds Isai 57. 2. So by Ecclesiasticall writers burying places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caemiteria are expressed by a word that properly signifies places to sleep in even as in Scripture death is usually termed sleep Vse 3. But if we would have such hope in Christ in that he was buried then we must be conformed unto him in respect of his buriall as he was buried literally so must we be buried mystically We are buried with him by baptisme saith the Apostle Rom. 6. 4. Our Baptism is a seal of our ingrafting into Christ and of our communicating with him and conforming unto him even in his buriall So Col. 2. 12. Buried with him in baptisme This is in respect of our old man as it is called Rom. 6. 6. that is our corrupt nature this must be crucified mortified and buried so as not to serve sin as there the Apostle doth expresse it Even as a dead body is laid in the ground and overwhelmed with earth so the corruption that is in us must be subdued and brought under that it may not reign in us nor have dominion over us Let not sin therefore reign in your mortall body Rom. 6. 12. The greatest tyrants and oppressours being in the grave all their tyranny and oppression ceaseth There the wicked cease from troubling Joh. 3. 17. So we being in the sense before expressed by way of analogy and resemblance buried with Christ sin shall not have that power over us as over the unregenerate I say not so as over the unregenerate But we must not think that whiles we are here we can be so conformed unto Christ so dead and buried with him as to be without sin to be quite free from it No If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves 1 Joh. 1. 8. In many things we offend all Iam. 3. 2. But if we have the spirit of Christ And if any have not the spirit of Christ the same is none of his Rom. 8. 9. then we are so in a spirituall sense dead and buried with Christ as not to be under the reigning power of sin and the dominion of it Sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the Law but under grace Rom. 6. 14. Again there is not the like reason of spirituall death and buriall and of that which it corporall For corporal death and buriall is finished at once but not so that which is spirituall this is done by degrees by little and little He that is already dead and buried in a spirituall sense that is he whose old man whose imbred corruption is as it were put to death and laid in the grave yet must still die in that kind and be buried still more and more because he hath still some reliques of the old man still some sin and
29 30 31 49. 29. c. And 50. 26. But that was not out of any superstitious opinion that they had as if the welfare of their souls did depend upon the place where they were buried but only to shew that they died in faith being fully assured that God would at length perform what he had promised viz. that he would give them in their posterity the Land of Canaan God will surely visit you said Joseph speaking of this very thing Gen. 50. 25. And besides they looked on Canaan not as a bare earthly Countrey but as a type of heaven To conclude therefore let it be our care to live and to die in faith and then however it fare with us in respect of buriall we are happy our souls enter into â—lisse immediately 2 Cor. 5. 1. And so also shall our bodias at length be made parâ—akers of it 1 Cor. 15. 53. THE SEVENTEENTH SERMON PSA 16. 10. Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell THe Article of Christs descending into hell is grounded upon this Text wherein as S. Peter shews Act. 2. 25. c. David spake concerning Christ And therefore Austin might Quis nisi infidelis negaverit fuisse apud inferos Christum Aug. Epist 99. wel say who but an infidel wil deny that Christ was in hell For this that Christs soul should not be left in hell doth necessarily presuppose that his soul was in hell For it is most irrational and absurd to say that one shall be left there where he never was nor should be All therefore as Bellarmine observes Omnes conveniunt quòd Christus aliquo modo ad inferos descenderit Bell. de Christi anima lib. 4. cap. 6. agree in this that Christ some way in one sense or other was in hell But for the manner how Christ was in hell there is much difference among Divines and all arises from the word hell which some take in one sense and some in another I shall as briefly and perspicuously as I may set down the several opinions that there are about this point confuting those which I hold to be erroneous and confirming that which I judge to be true First therefore because the word Hell is sometimes The first opinion about Christs descending into hell in Scripture used metaphorically for most great grievous affliction which is indured here in this life the sorrows of hell compassed me about saies David Psal 18. 5. So Psal 116. 3. The pains of hell got hold on me Some by Christs descending into hell spoken of in the Creed understand the inward sufferings of Christs soul which of all his sufferings were most grievous But to omit other arguments against this opinion it is sufficiently overthrown by this that these words of David Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell as cited and expounded by Peter in the second of the Acts are the ground of that Article in the Creed for else it hath no ground in Scripture as I think I am sure there is no place which doth so clearly hold out unto us by necessary consequence Christs being in hell as this doth And therefore though Calvin a prime Author of this first opinion and a man most deservedly renowned in the Church of God spake consentaneously to his opinion when in his Commentary upon this sixteenth Psalm he liked not that upon occasion of these words of David any should fall upon the point of Christs descending into hell which is mentioned in the Creed yet I can by no means assent unto him For if not these words of David which we have now in hand no place in all the Scripture I dare say will afford occasion to treat of the Article But it appears that Calvin being a man very acute did well perceive that these words of David Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell as commented upon Act. 2. will not admit that Christs descending into hell should be expounded of the sufferings of Christs soul For by hell in the words of David must needs be meant something that concerned Christ when he was dead Peter tells us that in those words Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell David spake of the Resurrection of Christ Act. 2. 31. Now if this that Christs soul should not be left in hell import that Christ should rise from the dead then it must necessarily follow that Christs being in hell which is implied in Davids words imports something that concerned him being dead And consequently the sufferings of Christs soul which were before his death cannot be meant by it Secondly the Papists take hell here for Limbus The second opinion Patrum as they call it a place where they say the souls of the godly that died before Christ were For they divide hell into four severall regions 1. The hell of the damned the place of eternall torment 2. Purgatory where they say the souls of such are as were not sufficiently purged from their sins whiles they were upon earth and therefore for the thorough purging of them are there in torment equall for the time to that of the damned 3. Limbus Infantium a place where they place such Infants as die without baptisme whom they make to suffer the losse of heaven and heavenly happinesse but no pain or torment 4. Limbus Patrum where in like manner the Fathers before Christ as they hold were suffering no pain but only wanting the joys of heaven To that place say they did Christs soul when it was separated from his body descend to deliver the souls from thence and to carry them to heaven this is their opinion and their exposition of the Article of Christs descending into hell But not now to contest with them about those other regions of hell viz. Purgatory and Limbus Infantium as for this Limbus Patrum it is a place of their own devising we see no ground for it in Scripture but strong reasons against it For 1. Christs death was efficacious to believers before his coming as well as it is now since his coming Jesus Christ yesterday and to day and the same for ever Heb. 13. 8. We believe that thorough the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they said Peter speaking of those that were before Christ He doth but equall us to them in point of salvation thorough Christ 2. The faithfull before Christ did account this life upon earth a pilgrimage and did expect heaven as their country when this life was ended These all died in faith it is spoken of Abraham Isaac and Jacob having not received the promises that is the things promised but saw them afar off and were perswaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a Countrey And truly if they had been mindfull of that country from whence they came out they might have had opportunity to have returned But now they
desire a better country that is an heavenly wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City Heb. 11. 11. 14 15 16. 3. Abrahams bosome as the place is called where the souls of the godly were before Christ could be no such place as that which they call Limbus Patrum For 1. Lazarus was carried thither by Angels Luk. 16. 22. But Angels the good Angels as they were should rather carry to heaven then to hell as they make their Limbus to be 2. It was a place of comfort Luk. 16. 25. But where hell Nondum inveni adhuc quaero nec mihi occurit Inferos alicubi in bono posuisse Scripturam duntaxat Canonicam non autem in bono accipiendum sinum Abrahae illam requiem quò ab angelis pius pauper ablatus est nescio utrùm quisquam possit audire Aug. de Gen. ad lit l. 12. c. 33. in Scripture is taken for a place of comfort let them look Augustine confesseth that he did seek but could not find it and thought this a good argument why by hell should not be meant Abrahams bosom 3. There was a great space a great gulfe betwixt the place called Abrahams bosome where Lazarus was and the place of torment where the rich man was Luk. 16. 26. Whence also Austin inferreth that Abrahams bosome is no part and as it were a member In his ipsis tanti magistri verbis ubi ait dixisse Abraham Inter vos nos Chaos magnum firmatum est satis ut opinor ipparet non esse quandam partem quasi membrum inferorum tantae illius faelicitatis sinum Aug. Epist. 99. Jansen Concord cap. 97. of hell which the Papists make it to be Jansenius a learned Papist being much more ingenious then Bellarmine and Gregory Martin who would gladly fasten upon Austin that which is quite contrary to his meaning confesseth that Austin by discourse and argumentation did gather that Abrahams bosome was no part of hell neither doth he nor any other that I know indeavour to answer the reasons that induced Austine to be of this judgement 4. Christ promised to the believing thief saying This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Now Bellarmine himselfe handling another Bellar. de Beatitud Sanct. l. 1. c. 3. point holds Paradise there to be heaven as the word is used 2 Cor. 12. 4. compared with v. 2. Now how doth this stand with that assertion of theirs that the souls of the Saints were not in heaven untill Christs ascension or that Christs soul went to Limbus a place very farre distant and different from heaven Some say that the Thief to whom Christ spake descended with Christ into Limbus and that it was then Paradise when Christ was there But this as a reverend Author saith well B. Vsher of Christs descent into hell Bellar. de beat Sanc. l. 1. c. 6. is to turn the third heaven into the third or fourth hell 5. Bellarmine proves that the faithfull now since the coming of Christ go immediately after death to heaven except Purgatory stop them a while and that because God is not more prone and ready to punish then he is to reward therefore seeing the wicked go immediately to hell there is no reason to conceive but that the godly go immediately to heaven And that the wicked when they die go immediately to hell he proves by the example of the rich man mentioned Luk. 16. Now if this argument be of force as I grant it is then it proves as much for the faithfull that were before Christ For that of the rich man Luk. 16. shewes that then before Christs death the wicked immediately after death went to hell where the damned are in torment and neither will the Papists however deny that And therefore why should they deny that the godly then did go immediately to heaven God being no lesse ready to reward then to punish These reasons there are against that Limbus which they speak of and so against their Exposition of the Article of Christs descending into hell But some Objections they make which are to be answered Object They object that Gen. 37. 53. I will go down to the grave to hell as they read it to my Son c. Thus spake Iacob concerning his son Joseph when his brethren had sold him and made Jacob believe that some wild beast had devoured him The Hebrew word there used viz. Sheol which we sometimes translate grave somtimes hell they say cannot there signifie grave but must signifie hell viz. that part of hell which they call Limbus Patrum Jacobs meaning say they was that he would go mourning thither whither Joseph as he supposed was gone before him And they prove that the grave cannot there be meant because Jacob imagined Ioseph torne in pieces by some wild beast and so not to have been buried Answ But this place makes nothing for their purpose all that Iacob meant was that in vain did they go about to comfort him for he would not be comforted but would mourn unto death even as Joseph he thought was dead It 's not unusuall for those that mourn for their friends being dead to say that they will go unto them Aben Ezrae a Jewish Rabbin doth upon that very place Gen. 37. 33. reprove them that take Sheol for hell See B. Usher of Christs descent meaning that they also will die as they died As for the word Sheol it signifies the estate of the dead as hereafter I shall shew and so the grave yet not properly an artificiall grave but a naturall grave such an one as nature one way or other doth provide for every one whatsoever the manner of his death be It 's reported of the Hyrcanians that they were so barbarous as to cast dead bodies unto doggs to be devoured And that thereupon Diogenes used to say that if he were torne in pieces by dogs yet he should have an Hyrcanian buriall so if Ioseph had been devoured by a wild beast the very belly of the beast had been a grave unto him Object But again they object likewise that Joh. 14. 2. I go to prepare a place for you thence they infer that before Christs ascension none did go to heaven Answ But this inference is not good for as was shewed before Christs death and so his resurrection and his ascension was effectuall from the beginning as by vertue of Christs death the faithfull that were before Christ had their sins remitted so also by vertue of his ascension did they go to heaven Object But say they againe the Scripture plainly tells us that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as the first Tabernacle was yet standing therefore during that time none did go to heaven Answ This doth not follow the meaning of those words is only this as Aquinas himself Acquin ad loc doth expound them that Christ who is
The Apostle saith that Christ humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse Phil. 2. 8. And it is unquestionable that Christs death was a part and a chief part of his humiliation Therefore so long as he remained dead that is untill his Resurrection he was in the estate of humiliation 6. It appears by Scripture that when Christ died his soul went to heaven and therefore not to hell as taken for the place of torment which is most opposite and contrary unto heaven This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise said Christ to the penitent malefactour Therefore Christs soul being separated from his body went to Paradise which is all one with the third that is the highest heaven as was before shewed Some answer that Christ meant of himself in respect of his divine nature which is in all places and in Paradise or heaven in a more especiall manner in that respect they say Christ did promise the repentant thief that he should be with him that day in Paradise But first Bellarmine doth well refell this Bellar. de Beatitud Sanct. l. 1. c. 3. answer for that Christ promised that the thiefe should be where he was but in respect of his divine nature Christ was with the thief here in this world even then when he played the thief so that in this sense Christ in those words with me had promised no new thing unto him 2. The word of Christ cannot without doing violence unto them be otherwise taken then to import this that as the thief was then in respect of the body partner with Christ in pain and torment so that same day both their souls should be together where they should injoy blisse and happinesse Some therefore yeelding that those words with me have reference to Christ in respect of his soul say that Christs soul betwixt his death and his Resurrection might be both in heaven and in hell the place of torment one while in the one another while in the other But this is a groundlesse conjecture the Scripture Act. 2. clearly Videtur quòd usque ad horam resurrectionis manserit in inferno Aquinas part 3. qu. 5. art 4. enough sheweth that Christs soul from the time of his death was in the hell that it speaks of untill the time of his Resurrection Again some of the ancients do not without cause infer from those words of Christ which he spake when he gave up the Ghost Father into thy hands I commend my spirit For though Christs soul even in the hell of the damned might yet be said to be in the hands of the Father yet much Eusebius Emisenus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Juenricus Tunc clamor Domini magno conamine missus Aetheriis animam comitem commiscuit auris rather might it be said to be in his hands being in heaven Some arguments used in defence of this opinion are to be answered Ob. As first that drawn from Mat. 12. 40. As Jonas was three daies and three nights in the belly of the whale so shall the son of man be three daies and three nights in the heart of the earth Here by the heart of the earth they understand hell the hell of the damned which they suppose to be in the heart or midst of the earth The Papists also make use of this place for their Limbus before spoken of but it makes for neither opinion For 1. The Scripture doth not declare where hell the place Qui ignis gehennae cujusmodi in quâ mundi vel regionum parte futurus sit hominem arbitror scire neminem nisi fortè cui Spiritus divinus ostendit Aug. de Civ Dei lib. 20. cap. 16. of torment to which the Papists make their Limbus to be contiguous is seated Austin speaking of the fire of hell saith that he supposed no man could tell of what kind it is or in what part of the world except perhaps Gods spirit did reveal it 2. In those words of Christ which are objected by the heart of the earth is meant the grave For Christs abiding so long in the heart of the earth was to be a sign to the Jews as the context sheweth therefore it was to be a thing apparent unto them which his abiding so long in the grave was but not his abiding so long either in Limb or in the hell of the damned For if ever Christ were there yet it was more then the Jews could see but they might see that at such a time he was laid in the grave and that he continued there untill such a time after Ob. Against this it is objected That the heart is put for the midst of a thing and therefore the grave being not the midst of the earth cannot be the heart of it Answ But in the Scripture that part of a thing which is betwixt the extremes though it be not equally distant from the extremes is called the midst or the heart Ezek. 14. 14. 16. 18. 20. where its said if Noah Daniel and Job were in it c. in the originall it is word for word in the midst of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it where by the midst of the Land is not meant precisely the middle part of the Land but any place within it S◠Ezek. 27. 4. Tyrus is said to be in the midst of the sea in the originall as the margent notes it is in the heart of the sea Yet this heart or midst of the sea was not exactly the middle of it for Tyrus as it is said there v. 3. was situate at the entry of the sea Ob. But Bellarmine yet further objects that Christs sepulcher seems to have been above the earth and not at all within it because it was hewn out of a rock as the Scripture telleth us Answ But this hindreth not why it might not be within the earth and that it was so the Scripture sheweth relating how a great stone was rolled to the mouth of the sepulcher Mat. 27. 60. and that John stooped down to look into the sepulcher Ioh. 20. 5. These circumstances argue that the sepulcher was beneath in the earth and therefore might well be called the heart of the earth Ob. Again they argue from Ephes 4. 9. where it is said That Christ descended into the lower parts of the earth which some will have to signifie hell the place of torment and the Papists will have Limbus Patrum to be meant Answ But 1. why the lower parts of the earth should denote the hell of the damned or Limbus Patrum if there had been any such place at all I do not see it being unknown to us as I said before where that hell is seated 2. Therefore Cajetans exposition is much better that by the lower parts of the earth Ad inferiores partes terrae i. e. ad inferiorem partem mundi terram Cajet ad loc Comparatur non una pars terrae cum altera sed tota terra cum caelo
Ob. But it is objected that in these words Thou wilt not leave my soule in hell the grave cannot be meant by hell because here the Scripture speaks of Christs soule not being left in hell whereas it is not the soul but the body that is in the grave Answ To this it is answered that some learned Papists themselves in these words Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell by hell understand the grave and by soul the body And therefore Bellarmine others had no reason to exagitate Beza * See B. Vsher whocites Pagnine Vatablus Arias Montanus and Isidorus Clarius for interpreting those words in that manner But may some say Is the soul sometimes put for the body I answer yes that it is Gen. 46. 26. All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt which came out of his loins c. There by souls are meant bodies for according to the opinion generally received of Papists and Protestants the bodies and not the souls of children are from the loins of their parents If any shall say that there in that place of Genesis by souls are meant persons who are called souls the part and that the better part being put for the whole I reply 1. That yet the persons there are called souls in respect of their bodies for that in respect of them it was that they came out of Jacobs loins 2. That the same may be said here that soul is put for the person whereof the soul is a part Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell that is thou wilt not leave me in hell where by hell may still be meant the grave But some may yet further inquire and say Is the body alone when the soul is departed out of it any where in Scripture called soule I answer yes it is Levit. 21. 1. There shall none be defiled for the dead c. In the originall the word rendred the dead is Nephesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the Text and usually is rendred soul The same word also is used for a dead body Num. 19. 13. Whosoever toucheth the dead body of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bellar. de Christo lib. 4. cap. 12. any man c. Bellarmine answers that there is great difference betwixt the Hebrew word Nephesh and the Greek word used Act. 2. Psyche for that Psyche and so the Latin word anima he saith is not of so large acception as Nephesh but nothing could be said more absurd then this is For as here in the Text the Hebrew word Nephesh is in Greek rendred Psyche that is soul even so is it also in those other places to wit Levit 21. 1. Num. 19. 13. where Bellarmine confesseth Nephesh to signifie either the whole man or the body apart by it self the same must therefore necessarily be confessed of the Greek word Psyche And thus also sometimes is the Latin word anima used to wit for the body when it is dead as in that of the Prince of Latin Poets Virgil. animamque sepulchro Condimus that is word for word And we lay the soul in the sepulcher where by the soul must needs be meant the dead body Austin useth a fit similitude whereby to illustrate the reason why the Sicut appellamus Ecclesiam Basilicam quâ continetur populus qui verè appellatur Ecclesia ut nomine Ecclesiae id est populi qui continetur significemus locum qui continet Ita quòd animae corporibus continentur intelligi corpora filiorum per nominatas animas Gen. 46. 26. possunt Sic enim melius accipitur etiam illud quod Lex inquinari dicit cum qui intraverit super animam mortuam hoc est super defuncti cadaver ut nomine animae mortuae mortuum corpus intelligatur quod animam continebat quia absente populo id est Ecclesiâ locus tamen ille nibilominus ecclesia nuncupatur Aug. Epist 57. ad Optat. soul is sometimes taken for the body and that even when the soul is departed from it As we commonly call the place where the people of God assemble together for religious exercises the Church whenas properly the people themselves are the Church So the soul contained in the body is put for the body in which it is contained And as the place is called the Church even when the people which is indeed the Church is out of it So also the soul is sometimes put for the body even when the body is dead and the soul separated from it Ob. But against this exposition it is objected that in the Creed Christs buriall is spoken of before and that plainly and therefore it is not probable that it should be mentioned over again and that in such obscure words as these he descended into hell Answ This objection seems to be of much force and in this respect I am inclined to think that the meaning of these words he descended into hell is not the same with that which went immediately before and buried but that something more is signified in Christs descending into hell then in his buriall yet they that follow this Exposition do not altogether want what to answer to the Objection For 1. When as anciently as before I noted only one of these either Christs buriall or his descending into hell was mentioned in the Creed it might so come to passe that afterward both were joyned together and yet the same thing be signified by them 2. Christs funeration or preparing for his burying may be understood in the Creed by the word See B. Usher buried She did it for my burial so we read Christs words Mat. 26. 12. where be speaks of the woman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that powred ointment upon him The words in the Originall which are rendred for my buriall properly signifie to prepare me for buriall And by Christs descending into hell may be meant his interring or laying in the grave 3. If these answers do not satisfie as I confesse I am not satisfied with them it may be said and so some do interpret their meaning that they who expound those words Thou wilt not leave my Ames in Bel. Ener soul in hell so as by hell to understand the grave do not by Christs being in hell or descending into hell simply understand his be laid in the grave which is his buriall but his abiding in the state of death which in respect of the body was his abiding in the grave But this last answer falls into another Exposition of Christs descending into hell which though it be neare a-kin to this last mentioned yet is distinct from it The fifth Opinion Fifthly therefore some by Christs being in hell understand his being in the state of the dead and under the power and dominion of death And this I hold the best and most genuine Exposition of these words Thou wilt not leave my soule in hell that is thou wilt not leave me in the state of the dead or under
to which night must be added the day following which we call Sunday as being a part of that naturall day to which it belonged and so there are three daies and three nights and yet Christ rose the third day Thus are those three daies and three nights to be understood that Esther and the Jews fasted Esth. 4. 16. For the fast ended the third day as is clear by this that then Esther put on her royall apparell and went to the King c. Esth 5. â—â— c. 2. It was requisite and necessary that Christ should rise again the third day because it was so prophecied Thus it is written said Christ to his Disciples after his resurrection and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day Luk. 24. 46. So S. Paul saith that Christ rose again the third day according to the Scriptures 1 Cor. 15. 4. Quest But may some say where in the Old Testament is it prophecied that Christ should rise the third day Ans 1. Those words of David which he spake of Christ and of his resurrection Thou wilt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption Psal 16. 10. though they do not precisely mention the third day yet they plainly shew so much that he should not remain long in the grave but should speedily rise again And by this S. Paul proves that the words were not meant of David himself but of Christ for that David saw corruption but Christ being raised from the dead the third day saw no corruption Act. 13. 35 36 37. In the like manner did S. Peter argue Act. 2. 29. 30 31 32. â— There is expresse mention of the third day in reference to Christs Resurrection Hos 6. 2. Aster two daies he will revive us in the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight Although those words be directly and immediately understood of Gods people as it seems both by the words themselves and also by the words going before and after yet it is with reference unto Christ and his Resurrection for otherwise why should the third day be specified Neither do I know how it could be said that Christ rose again the third according to the Scriptures viz. of the old Testament if in this place there be not an allusion at least to Christs rising again the third day seeing that in all the old Testament the third day in this respect is no where mentioned except in this place And therefore not without cause I think in the margent of our Bibles over against this place of Hosea is noted that place 1 Cor. 15. 4. as having reference the one to the other and so many of the Ancients have expounded this place in Hosea of Christ and this is to be considered that there is such a near union Lactant. Iustit l. 4. 1. 19. Aug. de Civit. Dei l. 18. c. 28. Bern. Serm. 1. de Resurrect And so others cited by Râ—herâ— upon the place betwixt Christ and believers that sometimes that which belongs to believers is spoken of Christ As Saul Saul why persecutest thou me said Christ when Saul did persecute those that believed in Christ Act. 9. 4. And so on the other side that which belongs to Christ is spoken of believers as here in the Prophet the third day he will raise us up whenas properly Chrâ—st was raised up the third day but believers are said to be raised up in him and with him Even when we were dead in sins God hath quickned us together with Christ by grace ye are saved And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Ephes 2. 5 6. Now from the time of Christs Resurrection the third day after that he died it is worthy to Bern. Ser. 1. de resurrect be observed as Bernard hath noted that the same day of the week whereon Christ as God did make man viz. the sixth day the same day did he also as man die to redeem man and as on the seventh and last day of the week Christ did rest having finished the work of the Creation so also did he rest the same day in the grave having by his death finished the work or the Redemption and the third day being the first day of the week as the Evangelists expressely call it he rose again as being the first fruits of them that slept as the Apostle calls him 1 Cor. 15. 20. And as the seventh day of the week called Saturday was observed by the Jews in memory of the Creation so the first day of the week called Sunday is observed by Christians in memory of Christs Resurrection * And so of the Redemption which Christ wrought for us by his death and made it appear by his resurrection and it 's called the Lords day Revel 1. 10. Of the observation of this day in the Apostles time we read also Act. 20. 7. 1 Cor. 16. 2. The one and twentieth SERMON EPHES. 4. 10. He that descended is the same also that ascended farre above all heavens that he might fill all things THe Apostle having v. 8. spoken of Christs ascending up on high and having v. 9. noted that his ascending did presuppose his descending he returns here to speak again of his ascending and to shew how high he ascended far above all all Heavens and why that he might fill all things He that descended either from heaven to earth by his Incarnation in which respect it is said that he came down from heaven Joh. 3. 13. or from the upper part of the earth to the grave in which respect it seems to be said v. 9. that he descended into the lower parts of the earth though that also may be meant of Christs Incarnation as was shewed before pag. 214. c. Is the same that ascended The same Person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oecumen ad loc whence as Oecumenius observes the heresie of Nestorius is confuted who would divide the Person of Christ denying one and the same Person to be both God and Man For if this descending here spoken of be meant of the Incarnation then Christ as God descended viz. metaphorically and as man ascended yet he that descended is the same that ascended therefore God and Man in Christ are but one Person And if this descending be meant of of Christs death and buriall yet still it serves to the same purpose for so Christ descended as man in that respect he died and was buried but ascended as God that is by the power of his divine nature by which also as was shewed before he rose from the dead Far above all Heavens viz all visible heavens as the aire and that wherein are the Sun Moon and Stars above which two heavens there is the third Heaven as it is called 2 Cor. 12. 2. And thither is Christ ascended Whom the Heaven must receive untill the time of restitution of all things Acts 2.
die illo judicabitur Idem unprepared at the last judgement As death leaves a man so will the day of judgement find him Yea there is as hath been shewed a particular judgement upon the soul immediately after death and as it fares with the soul then in the particular judgement so must it after fare both with body and soul in the generall judgement But further as the consideration of judgement to come should deter us from all sin and provoke us unto all obedience so there are divers particular duties which it both serves to admonish us of and incite us unto As 1. To take heed of judging censuring and condemning one another This is not so to be taken as some are apt to mis-interpret and misapply it as if we might not admonish and reprove one another He will needs make himself a Judge said the Sodomites of Lot when he said to them Nay my brethren I pray you do not so wickedly Gen. 19. 9. So when Moses reproved one for doing his fellow wrong presently the man took him up saying Who made thee a Iudge and a Ruler over us Exod. 2. 14. But all in their places and callings ought to do this Ministers must do it These things teach and exhort and rebuke with all Authority Tit. 2. 15. Preach the word be instant in season and out of season reprove rebuke c. 2 Tim. 4. 2. So also private Christians Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdome teaching and admonishing one another Col. 3. 16. Warn them that are unruly 1 Thes 5. 14. Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour and not suffer sin upon him Levit. 19. 17. But though this be required of us yet are we forbidden to be censorious judge not that ye be not judged Mat. 7. 1. Yea because vve must our selves be judged therefore vve must not take upon us to judge others Why doest thou judge thy brother or why doest thou set at nought thy brother we shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ As it is written As I live saith the Lord every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confesse to God So then every one of us shall give an account of himselfe unto God Let us not therefore judge one another any more Rom. 14. 10 11 12 13. There is one Law-giver who is able to save and to destroy who art thou that judgest another Jam. 4. 12. And how must we refrain from judging because of that judgement that is to come we must take heed of judging further then we know as of mens purposes and intentions further then they manifest them by their actions Judge nothing before the time untill the Lord come who will bring to light the hidden things of darknesse and will make manifest the counsels of the heart 1 Cor. 4. 5. If mens actions be good we must take heed how we judge their intentions as to say that they do things for by ends and earthly respects for profit credit and the like And if their actions be doubtfull we are to interpret things in the best sense Charity thinketh no evill 1 Cor. 13. 5. VVhere it seeth none it thinketh or suspecteth none Neither if mens actions some of them be apparently evill must we therefore presume to judge so of their persons for so we shall offend against the generation of Gods children Psal 73. 15. The wicked may do some things that are good and so the godly some things that are evil for in many things we offend all Jam. 3. 2. Finally though it be evident that any for the present are in a damnable estate in that they set themselves Psal 36. 4. Isai 3. 9. in a way that is not good and do not abhor evill They declare their sins as Sodom and hide them not yet may we not therefore be peremptory to judge of their eternall condition we may not therefore say that they are reprobates castawaies damned wretches and that there is no hope of them For this is more then we know we must leave it unto him Who hath mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth Rom. 9. 18. There are two sorts of people who are especially faulty in this kind 1. Such as take upon them to judge and censure others that so themselves may seem the more pure and the more perfect As the depressing of the one scale is the lifting up of the other so they think that what they detract from others they shall adde unto themselves See Absalons hypocriticall censoriousnesse 2 Sam. 15. 3. 4. But thou art inexcusable O man whosoever thou art that judgest for wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest thy self for thou that judgest doest the same things But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them that commit such things And thinkest thou this O man that iudgest them which do such things and doest the same that thou shalt escape the iudgement of God Rom. 2. 1 2 3. If a man think himself to be something when he is nothing he deceiveth himself But let every man prove his own work and so shall he have reioycing in himself alone and not in another For every man shall bear his own burthen Gal. 6. 3 4 5. My brethren be not many Masters knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation For in many things we offend all Jam. 3. 1 2. 2. Such as wittingly and wilfully traduce and slander others whose conversations they know to be holy and good and even therefore they seek what they can to defame them They think it strange that you will not run with them to the same excesse of riot speaking evill of you Who shall give an account to him who is ready to iudge both the quick and the dead 1 Pet. 4. 4 5. 2. To beware of abusing that power that we have over or above others For though they be not able to plead their own cause and to vindicate themselves yet God at the last judgement if not before will plead their cause for them and will avenge them on those that have done them wrong Rob not the poor because he is poor neither oppresse the afflicted in the gate For the Lord will plead their cause and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them Prov. 22. 22 23 He that doth wrong shall receive for the wrong that he doth and there is no respect of persons Col. 3. 25. Therefore Masters give unto your servants that which is iust and equall knowing that ye also have a master in heaven Col. 4. 1. This consideration of Gods judgement to come wrought so upon Iob that he durst not oppresse either servants or others If I did despise saith he the cause of my man-servant or of my maid-servant when they contended with me What then shall I do when God standeth up and when he visiteth what shall I answer him Job 31. 13 14. If I have lift up my
How is the faithfull City become an Harlot Isai 1. 21. So may I say How is Rome degenerate and quite changed from what it was in the Apostles time Certainly if the Apostle were now upon earth he would never acknowledge the present Church of Rome to be that or any thing like that which he did so much commend in his Epistle to the Romanes Did the Church of Rome then worship Images did it pray to Saints did it pray for the dead did it perform divine worship in an unknown tongue did it withhold the Cup from people in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper was the Church of Rome then in the Apostles time guilty of these and many other such like errours and absurdities which are now maintained by the Romish Church But our adversaries think themselves able to evince any thing by the subtilty of their wit and their strength in arguing They would not be accounted inferiour unto those who would make make men believe that snow is not white nor that the heavens do move and the earth stand stil but that all is quite contrary to what vve imagine Ob. There is no change say they in the Church of Rome but it is now the same in point of Religion as it was in the Apostles daies And to prove this they say that in every change of Religion six Bellarm. de Eccles l. 4. c. 5. things may be demonstrated 1. the authour of the change 2. the new opinion brought in 3. the time when 4. the place where 5. who opposed it 6. the smal company by which the new opinion was first embraced Now these circumstances they say cannot be shewed concerning a change of Religion in the Roman Church and therefore they conclude there hath been no such change in it Answ But say I the change may be certain and evident though these circumstances be uncertain and unknown neither need we be solicitous about them Christ did not think it requisite to stand about these circumstances when he shewed how the Jewish Doctors had of a long time corrupted the true meaning of the Law with their false glosses and interpretations Mat. 5. So in the parable of the tares Mat. 13. there is no inquiry after these circumstances yet it plainly appeared that there were tares and that was sufficient though these particular circumstances were not known And it is to be observed that it is there said that while men slept the tares were Mat. 13. 25. sown Errours often creep in secretly when men are not aware because they do not watch and seek to prevent them as they should do And Antichristian Doctrine especially is called a mystery 2 Thes 2. 7. it came in slily under a colour of piety and so was not at first so easie to be discerned Some of the Papists themselves are forced to confesse that great and notable change there hath been and yet they cannot tell when it first began nor by whom and the like Cassander confesseth that in the Roman Church Cassand Consult art 22. for above a thousand years after Christ the Sacrament of the Lords Supper was administred in both kinds so that people received both the bread and the cup now we know it is otherwise though the first introduction of this change cannot be shewed So for private Masses as they call them that is such as wherein the Priest alone doth receive the Sacrament the people being by and looking on but not communicating with him the same Authour cites another Romanist viz. Hoffmester saying that the thing it self doth shew that both in the Greek and Latin Church the people did use to communicate with the Priest and that it is a Res ipsa clamat quodqitomodo cessaverit mirandum est ut bonus ille usus in Ecclesiam revo cetur laborandum Hoffmest apud Cassand Consult de miss Solitar wonder how this custome ceased and to be indeavoured that it may be restored Yet concerning many erroneous opinions and practices of the Church of Rome our Divines have by records and monuments of antiquity shewed who first brought them in and when they did it as also who opposed them c. But this sufficeth to convince them of novelty that we can easily make it appear that as Christ said concerning the matter of divorce as used among the Jews from the beginning it was not so Mat. 19. 8. Ob. But however our Adversaries think to lay us flat on the ground and to strike us dead by saying Where was your Church before Luther Answ Truly this is as idle and ridiculous a question as if a Masse of gold having contracted much drosse and after being purged one should ask Where was that gold before it was purged Or as if a body having been ful of sores and diseases and after being made whole one should ask Where was that body before it was made whole Luther and others whom God stirred up and made instrumental and subservient unto him in that kind did not erect a new Church but reform the old As it is the same gold now as before but more pure and the same body but more sound so it is the same Church but reformed The Papacy differs from the Church as the drosse from the gold and the botch from the body Quest And hence also that captious question of our adversaries is easie to be answered What is become of your Fore-fathers who lived and died before Luther Answ Our Fore-fathers we hope well of they might live and die in the Church of Rome and yet be free from many errours that are in it Even now since the Councell of Trent some on their death beds at least are found to renounce that grand point of Popery concerning Justification disclaiming all confidence in their own inherent righteousnesse and flying wholly to the mercy of God in Christ Jesus which Bellarmine himself after a long and contentious dispute against it confesseth Propter incertitudinem propriae justitiae periculum inanis gloriae tutissimum est fiduciam totam in solâ Dei misericordiâ benignitate reponere Bellarm. de Iustit l. 5. c. 7. propos 3. to be the safest course Because saith he of the uncertainty of our own righteousnesse and the danger of vain-glory it is most safe to repose our whole trust in the sole mercy and goodnesse of God Much more may we well suppose before the Councell of Trent when people were more free the doctrines and practices of the Church of Rome being not so established as afterwards many in this and other points did keep themselves pure Besides errours and corruptions being now more clearly and fully discovered then before it is not safe now to continue in the Communion of that Church though God might graciously passe by and pardon the ignorance and weaknesse of our Fore-fathers It is now clear as the Sun at noon day that the Church of Rome is that Babylon concerning vvhich the precept is expresse Come out of
their sins behind his back he will no more condemn them for their sins then if they were quite removed out of his sight and he had no knowledge of them 5. When sins are remitted they are said to be cast into the bottome of the sea Thou O Lord wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea Mic. 7. 19. This shewes more emphatically how when God forgives sins they are done as it were quite out of his sight that which is cast into the depths of the sea is not like to be found again nor to be seen any more In those dayes and in that time saith the Lord the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none and the sins of Judah and they shall not be found for I will pardon them whom I reserve Jer. 50. 20. 6. Sins in this case are said to be forgotten and never more to be remembred I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more saith God Jer. 31. 34. God wil no more take vengeance on his people for their sins then if he had quite forgotten them and had no remembrance at all of them All his transgressions that he hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him Ezek 18. 22. Ob. Some may object that after David had truly repented of his sin and also had the pardon of it declared unto him by the Prophet he was punished for it 2 Sam. 12 13 14. Answ I answer the Papists abuse this and the like examples inferring from them that God remitting the fault yet doth not remit the punishment but that still vve must one vvay or other either here or hereafter make satisfaction unto God for sin committed against him But as the Antinomians erre in denying castigatory punishment to be inflicted upon Gods children so doe the Papists erre in affirming satisfactory punishment to be inflicted on them God afflicts sometimes them whom he pardons not as exacting satisfaction of them for how then are they pardoned but as chastening them that they may the better learn to beware of sin afterwards and that others seeing them to smart for it may beware of it When we are judged we are chastned of the Lord It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we should not be condemned with the world 1 Cor. 11. 32. So that God doth execute judgement he doth inflict punishment upon his children yet it is but a chastening of them for their good not that he doth take vengeance on them or exact satisfaction of them Vse 2. Secondly seeing this great benefit belongs unto the people of God let us take heed least we come short let us make sure that we may be partakers of it To stir us up hereunto let us consider 1. How much the purchasing and procuring of this benefit hath cost even no lesse then the bloud of the Lord Jesus This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins said Christ when instituting the Sacrament of his Supper he gave the Cup unto his Disciples Mat. 26. 28. How shall we escape if we neglect so great saluation Heb. 2. 3. If we make light of that which did cost Christ so dear 2. What account the Saints have made of this benefit The Prophet Mica admiring the goodness of God in this respect cries out Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage he retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy Mic. 7. 18. How earnestly did David sue unto God for it Have mercy upon me O Lord according to thy loving kindnesse according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sinne Psalme 51. 1 2. And v. 9. Hide thy face from my sinnes and blot out mine iniquities And Verse 14. Deliver me from blood-guiltinesse O God thou God of my salvation and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousnesse And how exceedingly did he rejoyce when he was assured of this benefit Blesse the Lord O my soule and all that is within me blesse his holy Name Blesse the Lord O my soule and forget not all his benefits Who forgiveth all thine iniquities and healeth all thy diseases who redeemeth thy life from destruction and crowneth thee with loving kindnesse and tender mercies Psalme 103. 1 2 3 4. 3. That forgivenesse of sins is such a benefit such a blessing as even blessednesse it selfe the greatest blessednesse that we are capable of here in this life doth consist in it Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered Blessed is he to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity Psal 32. 1 2. Sin being forgiven nothing can doe us hurt all affliction will be light and easie death it selfe will be advantage to us see Rom. 8. 33 34 35 36 37. This is it that makes affliction grievous and hard to be indured then usually a mans conscience will flie in his face and set his sins before him Thus it is sometimes even with the godly themselves Thou writest bitter things against me said Job unto God and makest me to possesse the sins of my youth Job 13. 26. Mine iniquities said David are gone over my head and are as a heavy burthen too heavy for me to bear Psal 38. 4. Woe unto us that we have sinned said the people of God Lam. 5. 16. And they adde v. 17. For this our heart is faint for these things our eyes are dim O what a happinesse then is it in time of affliction to have sins forgiven and to be assured of the forgivenesse of them So also when death approacheth For the guilt of sin lying upon the conscience will make death terrible it will cause us to say unto it as Ahab said to Eliah Hast thou found me O mine enemy Whereas if we be assured of interest in Christ and of forgivenesse of sinnes thorough him we may say with old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Luke 2. 29 30. This blessednesse here to have our sinnes forgiven doth make way immediately for the blessednesse of the life to come for that inheritance of the Saints in light as the Apostle calls it Colos 1. 12. Forgivenesse of sinnes and an inheritance among them that are sanctified are immediately joyned together Acts 26. 18. Therefore as we desire the inchoation of happinesse here and the consummation of happinesse hereafter as wee would live comfortably die chearfully and after death injoy immortality and glory let us make sure of this benefit the forgivenesse of our sins and then nothing can debar us from all blisse all happinesse The four and thirtieth SERMON HEB. 6. 2. And of the Resurrection of the dead THe Author of this Epistle speaking of the principles of the doctrine of Christ
this world and much more in the world to come And he said unto them Verily I say unto you there is no man that hath left house or Parents or brethren or wife or children for the Kingdome of Gods sake who shall not receive manifold more in this present time and in the world to come life everlasting v. 29 30. The point to be observed is this That as there Doct. is a temporall life for all here in this world so there is an eternall life for some hereafter in the world to come Both the Old and the New Testament beare witnesse to this truth life everlasting is asserted in both yet more sparingly and obscurely in the Old Testament more frequently and clearly in the New Testament As for the Old Testament I do not find that everlasting life is expresly mentioned in it save only once viz. Dan. 12. 2. Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life c. Yet though not in such expresse words the Old Testament doth afford many proofs that after this life there is another life to come not as this induring only for a time but for ever God did shew this unto his people first by types figures and resemblances As first the tree of life mentioned Gen. 2. 3. That was a type and figure of everlasting life as appears by that Rev. 22. 14. Blessed are they that do his Commandements that they may have right to the tree of life c. And so Rev. 2. 7. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God In these places by the tree of life is meant eternall life whereof that tree called the tree of life was a figure What further use that tree was ordained for is over-curious and not necessary to inquire As for that Gen. 3. 22 23. where it is said that Adam having sinned God cast him out of Paradise least he should put forth his hand and take of the tree of life and eat and live for ever that I say the best Expositers take as spoken onely in respect of that opinion which Adam had viz. that if he did eat of that tree he should never die like as when God said as is there related Behold the man is become as one of us to know good and evill it was spoken ironically in respect of that which the Serpent said unto the woman that if they did eat of the forbidden fruit they should be as Gods knowing good and evill Gen. 3. 5. Some have thought that if man had eaten of the tree of life he should have thereby been free from death But certainly the tree in it selfe could have no such vertue in it onely God appointed it as a Sacramentall signe of everlasting life and man having by his transgression made himself unworthy of the thing God would not suffer him to meddle with that whereby the thing was signified 2. The Sabbath spoken of in the fourth Commandement and in other places of Scripture did also prefigure eternall life it was a figure of that everlasting Sabbath or rest for so the word Sabbath doth signifie as much as rest which the godly shall keep in heaven This is evident by the Apostles discourse Heb. 4. where having spoken of Gods rest when the workes of Creation were finished in memory whereof God instituted the Sabbath he saith v. 9. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God the word there rendred a rest imports as is noted in the Margent a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 keeping of a Sabbath So that in the very word there used there is a manifest allusion to the Jewish Sabbath as a type of that Sabbath or rest there spoken of viz. eternall in the world to come Which is further evident by that which followeth v 11. Let us therefore labour to enter into that rest c. 3. The Land of Canaan into which God brought the Israelites after that he brought them out of Egypt as is recorded in the book of Ioshua that likewise did typifie heaven and that rest which the Israelites after a long and wearisome travell in the wildernesse enjoyed in that Land did typifie that rest which the Saints having passed thorough the wildernesse of this world shall enjoy in heaven This also is clear by comparing the words of David Psal 95. 11. with the Apostles discourse upon them Heb. 4. 7 8. David saith that God being provoked by the Israelites that came out of Egypt sware in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest And David alledgeth this to deter others in after ages from provoking God in like manner saying To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts c. Psal 95. 7 8. The Apostle hence proveth that by Gods rest cannot be meant the Land of Canaan or rest in that Land for that the people to whom David spake were then in that Land and did enjoy that rest and so the Israelites had done long before Again he limiteth a certain day saying in David To day after so long a time viz. that the Israelites had rested in Canaan as it 's said to day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts For if Iesus that is Iosua as the margent noteth who brought the Israelites into Canaan had given them rest then would he not afterward have spoken of another day That is if that rest in Canaan which Josua as their Captaine and Leader brought them into had been all the rest which God intended for his people then he would not so long after by David have said To day c. threatning them that except they were obedient unto him they should be debarred from entring into his rest This argues that God by his Rest meant another rest viz. an everlasting rest in heaven whereof that rest in Canaan was but a figure Thus the Apostle there immediately infers There remaineth therefore a rest unto the people of God v. 9. and addes v. 11. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest least any man fall after the same example of unbelief And hence it was that the Patriarkes did make such account of the Land of Canaan Jacob caused Joseph to swear that he would not bury him in Egypt where he died but carry him into Canaan and bury him there Gen. 47. 29. 30 31. And the same charge he gave to all his sons immediately before his death Gen. 49. 29. c. And they did what he enjoyned them as is related Gen. 50. where also v. 25. is shewed how Ioseph likewise made his brethren to swear that they would carry his bones with them into Canaan when they went And Exod. 13. 19. it is said that Moses took the bones of Joseph with him when he and the Israelites went out of Egypt Stephen also shewes that so the rest of Jacobs sons though they died in Egypt were carried
the regenerate be so grievous as the complaints of the Saints do shew it is mine iniquities are gone over mine head as an heavy burthen they are too heavy for me to bear said David Psal 38. 4 And Paul by reason of those reliques of corruption that were in him cried out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me c. Rom. 7. 24. How great a happinesse then will it be to be altogether freed from sin as they are that do partake of the life to come Then shall the Church indeed be glorious when it shall be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing Ephes 5. 27. 2. Neither shall there be any affliction in the life to come All tears shall be wiped away Revel 7. 17. There shall be no suffering no sorrow there But to be exempt from evill all evill this is but one and the lesser part of happinesse To enjoy good all good this is it indeed that which doth make happy And therefore 2. The life to come is not only free from all evill but also full of all good VVhat good can be desired but there it shall and that in full measure be enjoyed There God is enjoyed to the full and they that enjoy him enjoy all There are riches the true riches Luke 16. 11. There is glory a far more exceeding and eternall weight of glory 2 Cor. 4. 17. There is joy and pleasure even fullnesse of joy and pleasures for evermore Psal 16. 11. Peter having but a glimpse of this celestiall happinesse when he saw Christ transfigured in the Mount was so ravished with it that he said Lord it is good for us to be here if thou wilt let us make here three Tabernacles c. Mat. 17. 4. How then shall they be ravished who shall have the full and perfect enjoyment of this happinesse Vse 1. Now if there be such a life as the Scripture speaks of in the world to come how great then is the folly and madnesse of the most who only look after the things of this life but heed not the things of the life to come They live so as if there were no life after this or as if it were not worth the looking after or as if they were sure of it though they never labour for it they spend their thoughts cares and endeavours upon the profits pleasures and preferments of this life and they forfeit their hope of the life to come for every toy every trifle O ye Sons of men how long will ye turne my glory into Ocurâ—s hominum quantum est in rebus inane Pcrs Ocurvae in terras animae coelestium inanes Idem shame how long will ye love vanity and seek after leasing Selah Psal 4. 2. Behold all ye that kindle a fire that compasse your selves about with sparks walk in the light of your sire and in the sparks that ye have kindled solace your selves in your earthly injoyments this shall you have of mine hand you shall lie down in sorrow Isai 50. 11. O that they were wise and understood this and would consider their later end Deut 32. 29. Vse 2. Let us be wise and consider it VVhat soever we do let us be sure to lay hold on eternall life 1 Tim. 6. 12. However it fare with us in this life let us make sure of that life that is to come Let us consider that 1. It is life and skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life even this temporall life as Satan said truly in respect of the thing which he spake though falsly in respect of the end for which he spake Iob 2. 4. But what is this life in comparison of that to come what is life temporall in comparison of life eternall Life and good death and evill are joyned together as terms equivalent Deut. 30. 15. and so v. 19. life and blessing death Non est vera vita nisi ubi foeliciter vivitur Aug. Enchirid. c. 92. In damnatione novissima quamvis homo sentire non desinat tamen quia sensus ipse necvâ—luptate suavis nec quiete salubris sed dolore poenalis est non immeritò mors est potius quà m vita appellata Aug. de Civit. Deil. 13. c. 2. and cursing therefore the estate of the damned in hell is called death because it contains in it nothing but pain and misery and on the other side the estate of the Saints in heaven is called life because there is nothing but joy and delight in it 2. It is eternal Methusela and others lived many hundred years yet at length they died Gen. 5. But they that obtain this life shall never die They cannot die any more for they are equall unto the Angels Luke 20. 36. then shall be brought to passe the saying that is written Death is swallowed up in victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory 1 Cor. 15. 54 55. And eternity is that which both makes the misery of the reprobate misery indeed and the happinesse of the Elect happinesse indeed the reprobate shall be punished with everlasting perdition 2 Thes 1. 9. But the Elect shall be ever with the Lord 1 Thes 4. 17. all the misery and happinesse of this world is as nothing because it is but temporall but the misery and happinesse of the world to come is misery and happinesse indeed because it is eternall 3. The assurance of everlasting life will make all the sorrows and sufferings of this life light and easie to be indured The godly here are subject to crosses and afflictions as much as any yea more then any which made the Apostle say If in this life only we had hope in Christ we were of all men most miserable 1 Cor. 15. 29. But we faint not saies he but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternall weight of glory Whilest we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things that are seen are temporall but the things that are not seen are eternall 2 Cor. 4. 16 17 18. This made the Saints take joyfully the spoiling of their goods they knew that they had in heaven a better and an enduring substance Heb. 10. 34. This made them indure the sorest torments that could be inflicted on them they knew they should obtain a better Resurrection Heb. 11. 35. the Resurrection of life John 5. 29. even everlasting life Dan. 12. 2. 4. Every ones portion must be either the one or the other of these two either everlasting life or everlasting damnation there is no middle estate betwixt these whatsoever they of the Church of Rome would perswade us Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire Revel 20. 15. Could we seriously consider this that we must
his coming 2 Pet. 3. 3 4. They mean of Christs coming to judgement where is it say they as if they should say We have heard much of it but we cannot see it and because they do not see it neither will they believe it so the Prophet Zephany tells of some that are setled on their lees and say in their heart the Lord will neither do good neither will he do evil Zeph. 1. 12. But the Prophet there shews that the Lord will punish such as these Prov. 19. 29. Judgements are prepared for scorners Esa 28. 22. Now therefore be ye not mockers lest your bonds be made strong he speaks of temporall Judgments that shall be inflicted on them how much lesse shall they escape eternall judgement Enoch also saith S. Iude the seventh from Adam prophecied of these saying Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to execute judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Jude v. 14 15. 2. Hypocrites and formall professors who have a form of godlinesse but deny the power of it 2 Tim. 3. 5. Who think it enough to carry it fair outwardly in the eyes of men not considering nor caring what they are in the sight of God But God will bring every work to iudgement with every secret thing whether it be good or evill Eccles 12. 14. He will bring to light the hidden things of darknesse and will make manifest the counsells of the heart 1 Tim. 4 5. 3. Such presumptuous ones who though they be foolish ignorant froward disobedient yet doubt not but that when they die they shal go to heaven But be not deceived God is not mocked as a man soweth so shall he reap Gal. 6. 7. Christ will come in flaming fire taking vengeance on those that know not God and obey not the Gospell of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thes 1. 8. And therefore woe unto all that remain either in their ignorance or in their disobedience Vse 2. The consideration of this judgement Aug. Confes l. 6. c. 6. should therefore stir us up unto repentance and provoke us unto all holy obedience What can work upon us and prevail with us if not the consideration of the judgement to come Austin in his Confessions testifies that it was Metus Mortis futuri judicii the fear of death and of judgement after death which did bring him out of the deep gulf of sin and sensuality wherein he was almost swallowed up and drowned And he saith that disputing with his friends de finibus bonorum malorum of the chiefest good and evill he should have given the garland to Epicurus who made happinesse to consist in sensuall pleasure and delight but that he was perswaded that after this life is ended men shall receive of God according to their waies and doings which Epicurus would not believe Oftentimes in the Scripture is this consideration used and urged as a forcible motive to repentance and circumspect walking Rejoyce O young man saith Salomon in thy youth and let thine heart chear thee in the daies of thy youth and walk in the waies of thy heart and in the sight of thine eys As if he should say I know this is that which thou desirest and art prone unto well do so if thou wilt but know that for all these things God will bring thee unto judgement Eccl. 11. 9. So Eccl. 12. 13 14. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his Commandements for this is the whole duty of man for God shall bring every work to judgement So S. Paul And the times of this ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousnesse c. Act. 17. 30 31. And 2 Cor. 5. 9 10 11. Wherefore we labour that whether present or absent that is whether alive or dead we may be accepted of him For we must all appear before the Judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in the body according to that he hath done whether it be good or evill Knowing therefore that terrour of the Lord we perswade men As if he should say surely this if any thing will perswade them to have a care what they do seeing there must be a judgement wherein God will render unto them according to their deeds So also S. Peter having spoken of this judgement infers from â—hence What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godlinesse 2 Pet. 3. 11. But let us take heed lest we put far away the evill Amos 6. 3. day thinking that this judgement will not come yet that there is time enough to prepare for it The Scripture in many places tells us that the day of the Lord the day of Judgement will come as a thief suddenly when it is little expected by many and therefore it behoves us to watch and prepare for it continually that it may not surprize us ere we be aware Your selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night For when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction shall come upon them as travell upon a woman with child and they shall not escape 1 Thes 5. 2 3. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night 2 Pet. 3. 10. If thou shalt not watch I will come on thee as a thief and thou shalt not know what houre I will come upon thee Revel 3. 3. Behold I come as a thief blessed is he that watcheth Revel 16. 15. Watch therefore for you know not what houre your Lord cometh But know this that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken up Therefore be ye also ready for in such an houre as you think not the Son of Man cometh Mat. 24. 42 43 44. Take ye heed watch and pray for you know not when the time is Mar. 13. 23. Take heed to your selves least at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfetting and drunkennesse and the cares of this life and that day come upon you unawares For as a snare will it come upon all them that dwell on the face of the earth Watch ye therefore c. Luk. 21. 34 35 36. We see how earnestly Christ admonished those that lived so many hundred years ago to take heed least the day of judgement should come on them ere they were aware And good reason for he that is unprepated at his death shall be Imparatum inveniet ille dies quem imparatam invenerit vitae hujus ultimas dies Aug. Qualis â—â— die istoâ—â—isque moritur talis in