The Golden Key to Open Hidden Treasures
By Thomas Brooks, 1675
II. I shall now, in the second place, speak concerning
Christ's SPIRITUAL sufferings, his
sufferings in his soul, which were exceeding high and great. Now here I
shall endeavor to do two things: First, To prove that Christ suffered in his
soul, and so much the rather because that the papists say and write, that
Christ did not truly and properly and immediately suffer in his soul—but
only by way of sympathy and compassion with his body to the mystical body;
and that his bare bodily sufferings were sufficient for man's redemption.
Second, That the sufferings of Christ in his soul were exceeding high and
great. For the first, that Christ suffered in his soul, I shall thus
demonstrate.
(1.) First, Express Scriptures do evidence this:
Isaiah 53:10, "When you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall
see his seed," etc.; John 12:27, "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I
say? Father, save me from this hour—but for this cause came I unto this
hour;" Mat. 26:37-38, "He began to be sorrowful and very heavy."
These were but the beginnings of sorrow: he began, etc. Sorrow
is a thing which drinks up our spirits, and he was heavy, as feeling a heavy
load upon him; verse 38, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death."
Christ was as full of sorrow as his heart could hold. Every word is
emphatic—"My soul;" his sorrow pierced his heaven-born soul. As the soul was
the first agent in transgression, so it is here the first agent in
affliction. The sufferings of his body—were but the body of his sufferings.
The soul of his sufferings—were the sufferings of his soul, which was now
beset with sorrows, and heavy as heart could hold. Christ was sorrowful, his
soul was sorrowful, his soul was exceeding sorrowful, his soul was exceeding
sorrowful unto death.
Christ's soul was in such extremity of sorrow, that it
made him cry out, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass;" and this
was with "strong cryings and tears," Heb. 5:7. To cry, and to cry with a
loud voice, argues great extremity of sufferings. Mark 14:33 says, "And he
began to be filled with horror and deep distress!" Or we may more fully
express it thus, according to the original, He begun to be terrified with
horror, and to be satiated, filled brimful with heaviness—a very sad
condition! All the sins of the elect, like a huge army, meeting upon
Christ—made a dreadful onset on his soul! Luke 22:43-44, it is said "He was
in an agony." That is—a conflict in which a poor creature wrestles with
deadly pangs, with all his might, mustering up all his faculties and force
to grapple with them and withstand them. Thus did Christ struggle with the
indignation of the Lord, praying once and again with more intense fervency,
"Oh, that this cup may pass away! If it is possible, let this cup pass
away!" Luke 22:42-43; while an angel strengthened his outward man from utter
sinking in the conflict.
Now, if this weight which Christ bore, had been laid on
the shoulders of all the angels in heaven—it would have sunk them down to
the lowest hell! It would have cracked the axle-tree of heaven and earth. It
made his blood startle out of his body in congealed clotted heaps. The heat
of God's fiery indignation made his blood to boil up until it ran over; yes,
divine wrath affrighted it out of its accustomed channel. The creation of
the world cost him but a word; he spoke and the world was made!
But the redemption of souls cost him bloody sweats and soul-distress.
What conflicts, what strugglings with the wrath of God! With the powers of
darkness! What weights! what burdens! what wrath did he undergo when his
soul was heavy unto death "beset with terrors," as the word implies, when he
drank that bitter cup, that cup of bitterness, that cup mingled with
curses—which made him sweat drops of blood! which, if men or angels had but
sipped of, it would have made them reel, stagger, and tumble into hell!
The soul of Christ was overcast with a cloud of God's
displeasure. The Greek Church, speaking of the sufferings of Christ, calls
them "unknown sufferings." Ah Christians! who can speak out this
sorrow? "The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity—but a wounded spirit
who can bear?" Proverbs 18:14. Christ's soul is sorrowful—but give me
that word again, his soul is exceeding sorrowful—but if that word be
yet too low, then I must tell you that "his soul was exceeding
sorrowful—even unto death!" Not only extensively sorrowful, such as
must continue for the space of seventeen or eighteen hours, even until death
itself should finish it—but also intensively such. Of this sorrow is
that especially spoken, "Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my
sorrow which is done unto Me, with which the Lord has afflicted me in the
day of his fierce anger," Lam. 1:12.
Many a sad and sorrowful soul has, no question, been in
the world—but the like sorrow to Jesus'—has never been seen since the
creation. The very terms or phrases used by the evangelists speak no less.
He was "sorrowful and heavy," says one; "amazed, and very heavy," says
another; "in an agony," says a third; "in a soul-trouble," says a fourth.
Certainly, the bodily torments of the cross were much inferior, to
the agony of his soul. The pain of the body—is the body of pain.
Oh—but the very soul of sorrow—is the soul's sorrow, and the very soul of
pain is the soul's pain.
(2.) Secondly, That which Christ assumed or took of our
nature, he assumed to this end—to suffer in it; and by suffering, to save
and redeem it. But he took the whole nature of man, both body and soul;
consequently, he suffered in both.
First, the assumption is evident, and needs no proof;
that Christ took upon him both our soul and body, the apostle assures us,
where he says, "That in all things it became him to be like unto us," Heb.
2:17; therefore he had both body and soul as we have.
Secondly, concerning the proposition, namely, That what
Christ took of our nature, he took it by suffering in it properly and
immediately—to redeem us. Now this is evident by that blessed word, where
the apostle says, "Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in
their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power
of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in
slavery by their fear of death." Hebrews 2:14-15. Hence I reason thus, that
wherein Christ delivered us, he took part with us in—but he delivered us
from fear of death; accordingly, he did therein communicate with us. Now
mark, this fear was the proper and immediate passion of the soul, namely,
the fear of death and God's anger. And the text gives this sense, Because
the fear of this death kept them in bondage—but the fear only of the bodily
death does not bring us into such bondage; witness that Song of Zacharias;
"That we, being delivered from the hands of our enemies, should serve him
without fear," Luke 1:74. This then is a spiritual fear, from the which
Christ did deliver us; consequently, he did communicate with us in this
fear; for the apostle says, "Because he himself suffered when he was
tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted." Heb. 2:18.
Certainly that fear which fell on Christ was a real fear, and it was in his
soul, and did not arise from the mere contemplation of bodily torments only,
for the very martyrs in the encountering with them have feared little.
Assuredly there was some great matter that lay upon the very soul of Christ,
which made him so heavy, and sorrowful, and so afraid, and in such an agony.
But if you please, take this second argument in another
form of words, thus: what Christ took of ours, that he in suffering offered
up for us, for his assuming of our nature, was for this end, to suffer for
us in our nature—but he took our nature in body and in soul, and he
delivered our souls as well as our bodies; and the sins of our souls
did need his sacrifice as well as the sins of our bodies; and our
souls were crucified with Christ, as well as our bodies. Surely if our whole
man was lost—then our whole man needs the benefit and help of a whole
Savior; and if Christ had assumed only our flesh, our body—then our souls
adjudged, adjudged to punishment, had remained under transgression without
hope of pardon.
Several sayings of the ancients does further strengthen
this argument. Take a taste of some. "If the whole man perished, the whole
man needed a Savior. Christ therefore took the whole man, body and soul. If
he had taken only flesh, the soul should remain liable to punishment of the
first transgression, without hope of pardon. By the same reason, Christ must
also suffer properly in soul, because not by taking our soul—but by
satisfying in his soul, our soul is delivered."
"He took all our passions, or affections, to sanctify
them all in himself—but Christ was sanctified and consecrated by his death,
and so does he consecrate us," says Damascene. "For by one offering, he has
perfected forever, those who are sanctified," Heb. 10:14. Consequently, by
his offering of hid soul, and suffering in his soul, has he consecrated our
soul and affections.
He took my heart to amend it, etc. Now he has amended it,
in that he consecrated it by his offering, Heb. 10:14; He has taken that for
us, which was most in danger for us, etc., that is, our soul. But Christ has
not otherwise delivered us from the danger—but by entering into the danger
for us; this danger of the soul is the fear and feeling of God's wrath.
(3.) Thirdly, Christ bore our sorrows, Isaiah
53:4. Now what sorrows should we bear—but the sorrows due unto us for our
sins; and surely these were not corporal only—but spiritual
also, and those did Christ bear in his soul. The same prophet says, verse
10, "He shall make his soul an offering for sin;" accordingly, Christ
offered his soul as well as his body. Again, our Savior himself says, "My
soul is very heavy unto death," Mat. 26:38. Certainly it was not the bodily
death which Christ feared, for then he would have been weaker than many
martyrs, yes, than many of the Romans, who made no more of dying, than of
dining; therefore Christ's soul was truly and properly stricken with
heaviness, and not with the beholding of bodily torments only, as
some dream. But,
(4.) Fourthly, That whereby Adam and we ever since, do
most properly commit sin (in our souls)—by his soul sufferings, has Christ,
the second Adam, made satisfaction properly for our sin. But Adam did, and
we all do properly commit sin in our souls; our bodies being
but the instruments. Consequently, Christ by, and in his soul, has properly
made satisfaction.
[1.] First, The truth of the proposition is
confirmed by the apostle, "As by one man's disobedience we are made sinners,
so by the obedience of one, the many shall be made righteous," Romans 5:19.
Christ then satisfied for us by the same way wherein Adam disobeyed. Now
Adam's soul was in the transgression as well as his body, and
accordingly was Christ's very soul in his sufferings and satisfaction, and
Christ obeyed, that is, in his soul; for obedience belongs to the soul, as
one observes upon those words of the apostle: Phil. 2:8, "He became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross." "Who does not understand," says
the same author, "that obedience belongs to the human soul?"
That there is a kind of dying in the soul when it
is pierced with grief, besides the death of the soul, either by sin or
damnation—is not disagreeing to the Scripture. Simeon says to Mary, "A sword
shall pierce through your soul," Luke 2:35. Look, as then the body dies,
being pierced with a sword, so the soul may be said to die or languish, when
it is pierced with grief. What else is crucifying but dying? Now, the soul
is said to be crucified, as is evident by that passage of the apostle, "I am
crucified to the world," Gal. 6:14, when as yet his body was alive.
[2.] Secondly, For the assumption.
1. However it is admitted that the body is the
instrument of the soul, both in sinning and suffering—yet the conclusion
is this—that because sin is committed in the soul principally and properly,
therefore the satisfaction must be made in the soul principally and
properly. The bodily pains affecting the soul are not the proper passions of
the soul, neither is the soul said to suffer properly, when the body
suffers—but by way of compassion and consent.
2. We grant that in the proper and immediate sufferings
of the soul, the body also is affected: as when Christ was in his
agony in the garden—his whole body was therewith stirred and moved, and it
did sweat drops of blood. But it is one thing when the grief begins
immediately in the soul and so affects the body, and when the pain is first
inflicted upon the body and so works upon the soul, there the soul suffers
properly and principally; of which sufferings we speak here neither properly
nor principally, which is not the thing in question.
3. It is not the reasonable soul which is affected with
the body, for it is a ground in philosophy that the soul suffers not—but
only the sensitive part. But the grief that we speak of, which is an
atonement for sin, must be in the very reasonable soul where sin took the
beginning, and so Ambrose says upon those words of Christ, "My soul is heavy
to death." It is referred to the assumption of the reasonable soul, and
human affection.
Pride, ambition and infidelity began in Adam's soul,
and had their determination there. In the committing of those sins, the
body had no part. Indeed with the ear they heard the suggestion of
Satan—but it was no sin until in their minds they had consented unto it.
Therefore seeing the first sin committed was properly and wholly in the
soul—for the same the soul must properly and wholly satisfy.
Because sin took beginning from Adam's soul, the
satisfaction also must begin in Christ's soul—as Ambrose says, "I begin
there to win in Christ, where in Adam I was overcome." Then it follows that
the sufferings of Christ's soul took beginning there, and were not derived
by sympathy from the stripes and pain of the body. We infer, then, that
therefore Christ's soul had proper and immediate sufferings, besides those
which proceeded from sympathy with his body, and all Christ's sufferings
were satisfactory. Consequently, Christ did satisfy for our sins properly
and immediately, in his soul.
But if you please, take this fourth argument in another
form of words, thus—The punishment which was pronounced against the first
Adam, our first surety, and in him against us—that same punishment, did
Christ, the second Adam, our next and best surety, bear for us—or else it
must still lie upon us to suffer the punishment ourselves. But the
punishment threatened and denounced against Adam for transgression, was not
only corporal, respecting our bodies—but spiritual also, respecting our
souls. There was a spiritual malediction due unto our souls, as well as a
corporal, etc.
Look, as God put a sanction on the law and covenant of
works made with all of us in Adam, that he and his posterity should be
liable to death, both of body and soul; which covenant being broken by sin,
all sinners became liable to the death in both of body and soul; so it was
necessary that the redeemed should be delivered from the death of both by
the Redeemer's tasting of death in both kinds, as much as should be
sufficient for their redemption. O sirs, as sin infected the whole man, soul
and body, and the curse following on sin left no part nor power of the man's
soul free; just so, justice required that the Redeemer, coming in the place
of the people redeemed, should feel the force of the curse both in body and
soul. But,
(5.) Fifthly, "He shall see of the travail of his soul,"
Isaiah 53:11. Here the soul is taken properly, and the travail of Christ's
soul is his sufferings; for it follows, "and he shall bear their
iniquities." But,
(6.) Sixthly, Christ gave himself for his people's sins.
"Who gave himself for our sins," Tit. 2:14; "Who gave himself for us, that
he might redeem us from all iniquities," etc., Eph. 5:25; 1 Tim. 2:6. But
the body only is not himself; consequently, the apostle says, Phil.
2:7, "Christ did empty (or evacuate) himself;" or, as Tertullian expounds
it, "he drew out himself, or was exhausted himself," which agrees with the
prophecy of Daniel, chapter 9:26, "Messiah shall have nothing, being brought
to nothing by his death, without life, strength, esteem, honor," etc. Hence
we conclude that if Christ were exhausted upon the cross, if nothing was
left him, that he suffered in body and soul, that there was no part within
or without free from the cross—but all was emptied and poured out for our
redemption.
Again, we read that Christ, "through the eternal Spirit,
offered himself to God," Heb. 9:14. Whatever was in Christ, did either offer
or was offered; his eternal Spirit only did offer; consequently, his whole
human nature, both body and soul, was offered. Thus Origen witnesses in
these words, "See how our true priest, Jesus Christ, taking the censer of
his human flesh, putting to the fire of the altar—that is, his magnificent
soul, wherewith he was born in the flesh—and adding incense—that is, an
immaculate spirit—stood in the midst between the living and the dead. Thus
you see that he makes Christ's soul a part in the sacrifice."
(7.) Seventhly and lastly, Christ's love unto man, in
suffering for him, was in the highest degree and greatest measure that could
be; as the Lord says, "What could I have done any more for my vineyard that
I have not done unto it?" But if Christ had given his body only, and
not his soul for us—he had not done for us all he could, and so his
love should have been greatly impaired and diminished. Consequently, he gave
his soul also, together with his body, to be the full price of our
redemption. And certainly the travail and labor of Christ's soul was most
acceptable unto God. "Therefore I will give him a portion with the great,
because he has poured out his soul unto death," etc., "and bore the sins of
many," Isaiah 53:12. Doubtless the sufferings of Christ in his soul,
together with his body—does most fully and amply commend and set
forth God's great love to poor sinners. Before I close up this particular,
take a few testimonies of the fathers, which do witness with us for the
sufferings of Christ—both in soul and body.
It is evident that as his body was whipped—just
so, his soul was truly and truly grieved, lest some part of Christ's
suffering should be true, some part false. Consequently, Christ's soul as
properly and truly suffered as his body. The soul had her proper grief, as
the body had whipping; the whipping, then, of the body was not the proper
grief of the soul. Whole Christ gave himself, and whole Christ offered
himself; consequently, he offered his soul, not only to suffer by way of
compassion with his body, as it may be answered—but he offered it as a
sacrifice, and suffered all passions whatever incident to the soul. The same
author expounds himself further thus: "Because this God took whole man,
therefore he showed in truth in himself the passions of whole man; and
having a reasonable soul, whatever infirmities of the soul without sin he
took and bare." If Christ, then, did take and bear all the passions of the
soul without sin, then the proper and immediate grief and anguish thereof,
and not the compassion only with the body. To these let me add the consent
of the Reformed churches: "Christ did suffer both in body and soul, and was
made like unto us in all things, sin only excepted."
Now the testimonies of the fathers, and the consent of
the Reformed churches, affirming the same, that Christ was crucified in his
soul, and that he gave his soul a price of redemption for our souls. . . .
Who can then doubt of this—but that Christ truly, properly, immediately
suffered in his soul, in all the proper passions thereof, as he endured
pains and torments in his flesh; and if you please, this may go for an
eighth argument to prove that Christ suffered in his soul.
2. Secondly, That the sufferings
of Christ in his soul were very high, and great, and astonishing, both as to
the punishment of LOSS, and as to the punishment of SENSE. All
which I shall make evident in these four particulars:
[1.] First, That Jesus Christ did really suffer neglect
from God; that he was indeed deserted and forsaken by God is most evident:
Mat. 27:46, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" But to prevent
mistakes in this high point, seriously consider, 1. That I do not mean that
there was any such desertion of Christ by God as did dissolve the union of
the natures in the person of Christ. [Forsaken, 1. By denying of protection;
2. By withdrawing of solace: The union was not dissolved—but the beams, the
influence was restrained. —Leo.] For Christ in all his sufferings still
remained God and man. Nor, 2, do I mean an absolute desertion in respect of
the presence of God. For God was still present with Christ in all his
sufferings, and the Godhead did support his humanity in and under his
sufferings. But that which I mean is this—that as to the sensible and
comforting manifestations of God's presence, thus he was for a time left and
forsaken of God. God for a time had taken away all sensible consolation and
felt joy from Christ's human soul, so that divine justice might in his
sufferings be the more fully satisfied. In this desertion, Christ is not to
be looked upon simply as he is in his own person, the Son of the Father,
Mat. 3:17, in whom he is always well pleased, Mark 1:11—but as he stands in
the room of sinners, surety and cautioner, paying their debt; in which
respect it concerned Christ to be dealt with as one standing in our stead,
as one guilty, and paying the debt of being forsaken of God, which we were
bound to suffer fully and forever, if he had not interposed for us.
There is between Christ and God, 1. An eternal union
natural of the person; 2. Of the Godhead and manhood; 3. Of grace and
protection. In this last sense, he means forsaken according to his feeling.
Hence he said not, My Father, my Father—but, My God, my God; which words are
not words of complaining—but words expressing his grief and sorrow. Our Lord
Christ was forsaken, not only of all creature comforts—but that which was
worse than all, of his Father's favor, to his present apprehension, left
forlorn and destitute for a time, that we might be received forever. Christ
was for a time left and forsaken of God, as David, who in this particular
was a type of Christ's suffering, cried out, Psalm 22:1, "My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me? why are you so far from my help?" He was indeed
really forsaken of God; God did indeed leave him in respect of his sense and
feeling. ["My God, my God, why have you forsaken me." Christ spoke these
words that thereby he might draw the Jews to a serious consideration of his
death and passion, which he underwent, not for his own but for our sins.] So
was Christ truly and really forsaken of God, and not in pretense or show, as
some affirm. Athanasius, speaking of God's forsaking of Christ, says, "All
things were done naturally and in truth, not in opinion or show." Though God
did still continue a God to David—yet in David's apprehension and feeling he
was forsaken of God. Though God was still a God to Christ—yet as to his
feeling he was left of God, to wrestle with God, and to bear the wrath of
God, due unto us. Look, as Christ was scourged, that we might not be
scourged, so Christ was forsaken, that we might not be forsaken. Christ was
forsaken for a time, that we might not be forsaken forever (Ambrose).
Fevardentius absolutely denies that Christ did truly
complain upon the cross that he was forsaken of God; and therefore he thus
objects and reasons: "If Christ were truly forsaken of God, it would follow
that the hypostatic union was dissolved, and that Christ was personally
separated from God, for otherwise he could not be forsaken."
To what he objects we thus reply, first, If Christ had
been totally and eternally forsaken, the personal union must have been
dissolved—but upon this temporal and partial rejection there follows not a
personal or general dissolution. But secondly, As the body of Christ, being
without life, was still hypostatically united to the Godhead, so was the
soul of Christ, though for a time without feeling of his favor. The
forsaking of the one does no more dissolve the hypostatic union than the
death of the other. If life went from the body, and yet the deity was not
separated in the personal consecration—but only suspended in operation, so
the feeling of God's favor, which is the life of the soul, might be
intermitted in Christ, and yet the divine union not dissolved.
Thirdly, Augustine does well show how this may be when he
says, That the passion of Christ was the sweet sleep of his divinity; like
as when in sleep the soul is not departed, though the operation thereof be
deferred; so in Christ's sleep upon the cross the Godhead was not separated,
though the working power thereof were for a time sequestered. Look, as the
elect members of Christ may be forsaken, though not totally or finally—but
in part and for a time, and yet their election remain firm still; the same
may be the case of our head, that he was only in part forsaken, and for a
time, always beloved for his own innocency—but for us and in our person, as
our pledge and surety, deserted.
There are two kinds of forsaking; one is for a time and
in part; so the elect may be, and so Christ was forsaken upon the cross:
another which is total, final, and general; and so neither Christ nor his
members ever was nor never shall be forsaken. Christ, in the deepest anguish
of his soul, is upheld and sustained by his faith, "My God, my God," whereby
he shows his singular confidence and trust in God, notwithstanding the
present sense of his wrath.
QUESTION. But how can Christ be forsaken of God, himself
being God; for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all three but one and
the same God? Yes, how can he be forsaken of God, seeing he is the Son of
God? and if the Lord leaves not his children, who hope and trust in him, how
can he forsake Christ, his only-begotten Son, who depended upon him and his
mighty power?
Answer. 1. First, By God here we are to understand God
the Father, the first person of the blessed Trinity. According to the vulgar
and common rule, when God is compared with the Son or Holy Spirit, then the
Father is meant by this title God; not that the Father is more God than the
Son—for in dignity all the three people are equal—but they are distinguished
in order only; and thus the Father is the first person, the Son the second,
and the Holy Spirit the third.
Answer. 2. Secondly, Our Savior's complaint, that he was
forsaken, must be understood in regard of his human nature, and not of his
Godhead; although the Godhead and manhood were never severed from the first
time of his incarnation—but the Godhead of Christ, and so the Godhead of the
Father, did not show forth his power in his manhood—but did as it were lie
asleep for a time, that the manhood might suffer.
Answer. 3. Thirdly, Christ was not indeed utterly
forsaken of God in regard of his human nature—but only as it were
forsaken—that is, although there were some few minutes and moments in which
he received no sensible consolations from the Deity—yet that he was not
utterly forsaken is most clear from this place, where he flees unto the Lord
as unto his God, "My God, my God," as also from his resurrection the third
day.
Answer. 4. Fourthly, Divines say that there are six kinds
of forsakings—
1. By disunion of person;
2. By loss of grace;
3. By diminution and weakenings of grace;
4. By lack of assurance of future deliverance and present
support;
5. By denial of protection;
6. By withdrawing of all solace and comfort.
Now it is foolish and impious to think that Christ was
forsaken any of the first four ways, for the unity of his person was never
dissolved, his graces were never either taken away or diminished, neither
was it possible that he should lack assurance of future deliverance and
present support that was eternal God and Lord of life. But the two last ways
he may rightly be said to have been forsaken, in that his Father denied to
protect and keep him out of the hands of his cruel, bloody, and merciless
enemies, no ways restraining them—but allowing them to do the uttermost that
their wicked hearts could imagine, and left him to endure the extremity of
their fury and malice. And, that nothing might be lacking to make his
sorrows beyond measure sorrowful, withdrew from him that solace and comfort
that he was accustomed to find in God, and removed far from him all things
for a little time that might any way lessen and assuage the extremity of his
pain.
[2.] Secondly, That Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the
wrath of God which was due unto us for our sins. The prophet Isaiah, chapter
53:4, says, "That he was plagued and smitten of God"; and verse 5, "The
chastisement of our peace was upon him." To be plagued and smitten of God is
to feel and suffer the stroke of his wrath. And so to be chastised of God,
as to make peace with God or to appease him, is so to suffer the wrath of
God as to satisfy God and to remove it. And truly how Christ should possibly
escape the feeling of the wrath of God incensed against our sins, he
standing as a surety for us with our sins laid upon him, and for them fully
to satisfy the justice of God, is not Christianly or rationally imaginable.
And whereas some do object that Christ was always the
beloved of his Father, and therefore could never be the object of God's
wrath:
I answer, By distinguishing of the person of Christ, whom
his Father always loved, and as sustaining our sins, and in our room
standing to satisfy the justice of God; and as so the wrath of God fell upon
him and he bore it, and so satisfied the justice of God, that we thereby are
now delivered from wrath through him. Just so, the apostle, Romans 5:9,
"Much more, being justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath by
him;" 1 Thes. 1:10, "And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised
from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come."
It is a groundless conceit of some learned heads, who
deny the cause of Christ s agony to be the drinking of that cup of wrath
that was given to him by his Father, John 18:11, saying that the sight of it
only, and of the peril he saw we were in, was the cause of his agony; for
the cup was not only showed unto him, and the great wrath due to our sins
set before him, that he should see it and tremble at the apprehension of the
danger we were in—but it was poured not only on him—but into him, that he
for the sins of his redeemed ones should suffer it sensibly, and drink it,
that the bitterness thereof might affect all the powers of his soul and
body; for the Scripture does sufficiently testify that not only upon the
sight and apprehension of this wrath and curse coming on him the holy human
nature did holily abhor it—but also that he submitted to receive it upon the
consideration of the divine decree and agreement made upon the price to be
paid by him, and that upon the feeling of this wrath, this agony in his
soul, the bloody sweat of his body was brought on. [Heb. 5:7; Mat. 26:38,
39, 42, 44; 1 Cor. 6:20, and 7:23.]
QUESTION. But how could the pourings forth of the
Father's wrath upon his innocent and dear Son, consist with his Fatherly
love to him? etc.
ANSWER. Even as the innocency and holiness of Christ
could well consist with his taking upon him the punishment of our sins; for
even the wrath of a just man, inflicting capital punishment on a condemned
person, even if it is his own child, can well consist with fatherly
affection towards his child suffering punishment. Did you never see a father
weep over such a son that he has corrected most severely? Did you never see
a judge shed tears for those very people that he has condemned? There is no
doubt but wrath and love can well consist in God, in whom affections do not
war one with another, nor fight with reason, as it often falls among men;
for the emotions ascribed unto God are effects rather of his holy will
towards us, than properly called emotions in him; and these effects of God's
will about us do always tend to our happiness and blessedness at last,
however they are diverse one from another in themselves.
[3.] Thirdly, That Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the
very torments of hell, though not after a hellish manner. I readily grant
that Jesus Christ did not locally descend into hell, to suffer there among
the damned, neither did he suffer hellish darkness, nor the flames of hell,
nor the worm that never dies, nor final despair, nor guilt of conscience,
nor gnashing of teeth, nor great indignation, nor eternal separation from
God. These things were absolutely inconsistent with the holiness, purity,
and dignity of his person, and with the office of a mediator and redeemer.
But yet I say that our Lord Jesus Christ did suffer in his soul for our sins
such pain, horror, terror, agony, and consternation, as amounted unto, and
are in Scripture called "The sorrows of hell." "The sorrows of hell did
compass me about," Psalm 18:5, or the cords of hell did compass me about,
such as with which they bind malefactors when they are led forth to
execution. Now these sorrows, these cords of hell, were the things that
extorted from him who passionate expostulation, "My God, my God, why have
you forsaken me?" Mat. 27:46. Christ's sufferings were unspeakable, and
somewhat answerable to the pains of hell. Hence the Greek Litany, "By your
unknown sufferings, good Lord deliver us."
Funinus, an Italian martyr, being asked by one why he was
so merry at his death, since Christ himself was so sorrowful; "Christ," said
he, "sustained in his soul all the sorrows and conflicts with hell and death
due to us; by whose sufferings we are delivered from sorrow and the fear of
them all." It was a great saying of a very learned man, that "setting the
eternity of punishment aside, which Christ might not sustain, Christ did
more vehemently and sharply feel the wrath of God than ever any man did or
shall, no not any person reprobated and damned excepted." And certainly the
reason annexed to prove this expression is very weighty, because all the
wrath that was due for all the sins of the elect, all whose sins were laid
on Christ, Isa 53:6, was greater than the wrath which belonged to any one
sinner, though damned for his personal sinning. And besides this, if you do
seriously consider those sufferings of Christ in his agony in the garden,
you may by them conjecture what hellish torments Christ did suffer for us.
In that agony of his, he was afraid and amazed, and fell flat on the ground,
Mat. 14:33-34. He began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy; and says
unto them, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death," Luke 22:44; and his
sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. He did
sweat clotted blood to such abundance, that it streamed through his apparel,
and did wet the ground; which dreadful agony of Christ, how it could arise
from any other cause than the sense of the wrath of God, parallel to that in
hell, I know not.
Orthodox divines do generally take Christ's sufferings in
his soul, and the detaining his body in the grave, put in as the close and
last part of Christ's sufferings, as the true meaning of that expression,
"He descended into hell," not only because these pains which Christ suffered
both in body and soul were due to us in full measure—but also because that
which Christ in point of torment and vexation suffered, was in some respect
of the same kind with the torment of the damned. For the clearing of this,
consider, that in the punishment of the damned there are these three things:
1. The perverse disposition of the mind of the damned in
their sufferings;
2. The duration and perpetuity of their punishment;
3. The punishment itself, tormenting soul and body.
Of these three, the first two could have no place in
Christ. Not the first, because he willingly offered himself a sacrifice for
our sins, and upon agreement paid the ransom fully, Heb. 9:14, and 10:5-8.
Not the second, because he could no longer be held under sorrows and
sufferings than he had satisfied divine justice, and paid the price that he
was to lay down, Acts 2:24. And his infinite excellency and glory made his
short sufferings to be of infinite worth, and equivalent to our everlasting
sufferings, 1 Pet. 2:24; 1 Cor. 6:20. The third, then, only remains, which
was the real and sensible torments of his soul and body, which he did really
feel and experience when he was upon the cross. O sirs! why must you
question Christ's undergoing of hellish pains, when all the pains, torments,
curse, and wrath which were due to the elect—fell on Christ, until divine
justice was fully satisfied. Though Christ did not suffer eternal death for
sinners—yet he suffered that which was equivalent, and therefore the justice
of God is by his death wholly appeased.
It is good seriously to ponder upon these scriptures:
Psalm 18:51, "The sorrows of hell compassed Me about." Psalm 88:31, "My soul
is filled with evil, and my life draws near to hell;" Psalm 86:13, "You have
delivered my soul from the nethermost hell." In these places the prophet
speaks in the person of Christ, and the Papists themselves do confess that
the Hebrew word Sheol, that is here used, is taken for hell properly, and
not for the grave; therefore these places do strongly conclude for the
hellish sorrows or sufferings of Christ. Just so, Acts 2:27, "You will not
leave my soul in hell." If Christ's soul be not left or forsaken in hell—yet
it follows it was in hell; not that Christ did feel the sorrows of hell
after death—but that he did feel the very sorrows of hell in his soul while
he lived.
Certainly the whole punishment of body and soul which was
due unto us, Christ our Redeemer was in general to suffer and satisfy for in
his own person—but the torments and terrors of hell, and the vehement sense
of God's wrath, are that punishment which did belong to the soul;
consequently, Christ did suffer the torments and terrors of hell. By the
whole punishment you are to understand the whole kind or substance of the
punishment, not all the circumstances, and the very same manner. The whole
punishment then is the whole kind of punishment—that is, in body and
soul—which Christ ought to have suffered, though not in the same manner and
circumstance.
1. Neither for the place of hell locally; nor
2. For the time eternally; nor
3. For the manner sinfully.
When we say Christ was to suffer our whole punishment,
all such punishments as cannot be suffered without sin, as desperation and
final reprobation, are manifestly excepted. Christ bore all our punishment,
though not as we would have borne it—that is, 1. Sinfully; 2. Eternally; 3.
Hellishly. But he did so bear all our punishment as to finish all upon the
cross; and in such sort as God's justice was satisfied, his person not
disgraced, nor his holiness defiled, and yet man's salvation fully
perfected, Col. 2:14-15; Heb. 9:14, and 10:15. We constantly affirm that
Christ did suffer the pains of hell in his soul, with these three
restrictions—
1. That there be neither indignity offered to his royal
person;
2. Nor injury to his holy nature;
3. Nor impossibility to his glorious work. All such pains
of hell then as Christ might have suffered—
1. His person not dishonored;
2. His nature with sin not defiled;
3. His work of our redemption not hindered, we do
steadfastly believe were sustained by our blessed Savior. Consider a few
things.
First, Consider the ADJUNCTS of hell, which are these
four:
1. The place, which is infernal;
2. The time, which is perpetual;
3. The darkness, which is unspeakable;
4. The tormentors the spirits and devils, who are
irreconcilable. Now these adjuncts of hell Christ is freed from. For the
dignity of his person, it was not fit that the Son of God, the heir of
heaven, should be shut up in hell, or that he should forever be tormented,
who is never from God's presence sequestered, or that the light of the world
should be closed up in darkness, or that he who binds the evil spirits
should be bound by them, etc.
Secondly, Consider the EFFECTS, or rather the DEFECTS, of
hell, which are chiefly these two:
First, The deprivation of all virtue, grace, holiness;
Secondly, The real possession of all vice, impiety,
blasphemy, etc.
Now the necessity of the work of Christ does exempt him
from these effects; for if he had been either void of grace, or possessed
with vice, he could not have been the Redeemer of poor lost souls; for the
lack of virtue he could not have redeemed others; for the presence of sin he
would need to have been redeemed himself; and from fretting indignation and
fearful desperation, the piety and sanctity of his nature does preserve him,
who, being without sin, could neither by indignation displease his Father,
nor by desperation destroy himself. Just so, that, if you consider either
the adjuncts of hell or the effects, then I say we do remove all them as far
off from the holy soul of Christ as heaven is from hell, or the east from
the west, or darkness from light, etc.
Thirdly, Consider the punishment
itself. Now, concerning this, we say that our blessed Savior, as
in himself he bore all the sins of the elect: so he also suffered the whole
punishment of body and soul in general that was due unto us, for the same
which we would have endured if he had not satisfied for it; and so
consequently we affirm that he felt the anguish of soul and horror of God's
wrath, and so in soul entered into the torments of hell for us, sustained
them and vanquished them. Calvin, speaking in honor of Christ's passion,
says, "When he saw the wrath of God set before him, presenting himself
before God's tribunal laden with the sins of the whole world, it was
necessary for him to fear the deep bottomless pit of death." Again says the
same author, "Such an object being offered to Christ's view, as though God
being set against him, he were appointed to destruction; he was with horror
affrighted, which was able a hundred times to have swallowed up all mortal
creatures—but he, by the wonderful power of his Spirit, escaped with
victory." "What dishonor was it to our Savior Christ," says another Fulk,
"to suffer that which was necessary for our redemption," namely, that
torment of hell which we had deserved, and which the justice of God required
that he should endure for our redemption; or rather, what is more to the
honor of Christ, than that he vouchsafed to descend into hell for us, and to
abide that bitter pain which we had deserved to suffer eternally; and what
may rather be called hell than the anguish of soul which he suffered, when,
he being yet God, complained that he was forsaken of God? O sirs, this we
need not fear to confess, that Christ, bearing our sins in himself upon the
cross, did feel himself during that combat as rejected and forsaken of God
and accursed for us, and the flames of his Father's wrath burning within
him; so that to the honor of Christ's passion we confess that our blessed
Redeemer refused no part of our punishment—but endured the very pains of
hell, so far as they tended not neither to the derogation of his person,
deprivation of his nature, destruction of his office, etc.
Here it may be queried whether the Lord Jesus Christ
underwent the very self-same punishment that we should have undergone, or
only that which did amount and was equivalent thereunto? To which I answer,
that in different respects both may be affirmed. The punishment which Christ
endured, if it be considered in its substance, kind, or nature, so it was
the same with that the sinner himself would have undergone. But if it be
considered with respect to certain circumstances, adjuncts, or accidents
which attend that punishment, as inflicted upon the sinner, so it was but
equivalent, and not the same. The punishment due to the sinner was death,
the curse of the law, upon the breach of the first covenant. Now this Christ
underwent, for "he was made a curse for us," Gal. 3:13. The adjuncts
attending this death were the eternity of it, desperation going along with
it, etc. These Christ was freed from, the dignity of his person supplying
the former, the sanctity of his person securing him against the latter;
therefore in reference unto these, and to some other things already
mentioned, it was but the equivalent, not the identical sufferings. But
suppose there had been nothing of sameness, nothing beyond equivalency in
what Christ suffered—yet that was enough, for it was not required that
Christ should suffer every kind of curse which is the effect of sin—but in
the general accursed death. Look, as in his fulfilling of the law for us, it
was not necessary that he should perform every holy duty that the law
requires; for he could not perform that obedience which magistrates or
married people are bound to do—it is enough that there was a fulfilling of
it in the general for us. So here it was not necessary that Jesus Christ
should undergo in every respect the same punishment which the offender
himself was liable unto—but if he shall undergo so much as may satisfy the
law's threatenings, and vindicate the lawgiver in his truth, justice, and
righteous government, that was enough. Now that was unquestionably done by
Christ.
Objection 1.
But some may object and say, How
could Christ suffer the pains of the second death without disunion of the
Godhead from the manhood? For the Godhead could not die. Or what interest
had Christ's Godhead in his human sufferings, to make them both so short and
so precious and satisfactory to divine justice for the sins of so many
sinners, especially when we consider that God cannot suffer?
Answer 1. I answer, It follows not that because
Christ is united into one person with God, that therefore he did not suffer
the pains of hell; for by the same reason he should not have suffered in his
body, for the union of his person could have preserved him from sufferings
in the one as well as in the other, and neither God, angels, nor men
compelled him to undertake this difficult and bloody work—but his own free
and unspeakable love to mankind, as himself declares, John 10:17, "Therefore
my Father loves me, because I lay down my life;" verse 18, "No man takes it
from me—but I lay it down of myself." If Christ had been constrained to
suffer, then both men and angels might fear and tremble—but as Bernard says
well, "The willingness of him who died pleased God, who offered himself to
be the Redeemer of fallen man." Isaiah 53:12; Pa. 40:7-8; Heb. 10:9-10.
Answer 2. But secondly, I answer from 1 John 3:16,
"Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us."
The person dying was God, else his person could have done us no good. The
person suffering must be God as well as man—but the Godhead suffered not.
Actions and passions belong to people. Nothing less than that person who is
God-man could bear the brunt of the day, satisfy divine justice, pacify
divine wrath, bring in an everlasting righteousness, and make us happy
forever. But,
Answer 3. Thirdly, I answer thus, Albeit the passion
of the human nature could not so far reach the Godhead of Christ, that it
should in a physical sense suffer, which, indeed, is impossible—yet these
sufferings did so affect the person, that it may truly be said that God
suffered, and by his blood bought his people to himself; for albeit the
proper and formal subject of physical sufferings is only the human
nature—yet the principal subject of sufferings, both in a physical and moral
sense, is Christ's person, God and man, from the dignity whereof the worth
and excellency of all sorts of sufferings, the merit and the satisfactory
sufficiency of the price did flow, Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 1:18-20; 1 Cor. 6:20,
and 7:23.
O sirs! you must seriously consider, that though Christ
as God in his Godhead could not suffer in a physical sense—yet in a moral
sense he might suffer and did suffer. For he being "in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God—but made himself of no
reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself,
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross," Phil. 2:6-8.
Oh, who can sum up the contradictions, the railings, the revilings, the
contempts, the despisings and calumnies that Christ met with from sinners,
yes, from the worst of sinners!
Objection 2.
But how could so low a debasing
of the Son of man, or of the human nature assumed by Christ, consist with
the majesty of the person of the Son of God?
Answer. We must distinguish those things in Christ,
which are proper to either of the two natures, from those things which are
ascribed to his person in respect of either of the natures or both the
natures; for infirmity, physical suffering, or mortality are proper to the
human nature. The glory of power, and grace, and mercy, and super-excellent
majesty, and such like, are proper to the Deity. But the sufferings of the
human nature are so far from diminishing the glory of the divine nature,
that they do manifest the same, and make it appear more clearly and
gloriously; for by how much the human nature was weakened, depressed, and
despised for our sins, for our sakes, by so much the more the love of
Christ—God and man in one person—toward man, and his mercy, and power, and
grace to man, do shine in the eyes of all who judiciously do look upon him.
Objection 3.
How could Christ endure hell fire
without grievous sins, as blasphemy and despair, etc.?
Answer. 1. I answer, That we may walk safely and
without offence, these things must be premised: First, That the sorrows and
sufferings of hell be no otherwise attributed to Christ, than as they may
stand with the dignity and worthiness of his person, the holiness of his
nature, and the performance of the office and work of our redemption.
[1.] First, then, For the soul of Christ to suffer in the
local place of hell, to remain in the darkness thereof, and to be tormented
with the material flames there, and eternally to be damned, was not for the
dignity of his person, to whom for his excellency and worthiness both the
place, manner, and time of those torments were dispensed with.
[2.] Secondly, Final rejection and desperation,
blasphemy, and the worm of conscience, agrees not with the holiness of his
nature, "Who was a lamb without a spot," Heb. 9:14; 1 Pet. 1:19, and
therefore we do not, we dare not ascribe them to him. But,
[3.] Thirdly, Destruction of body and soul, which is the
second death, could not fall upon Christ; for this were to have destroyed
the work of our redemption, if he had been subject to destruction. But,
[4.] Fourthly and lastly, Blasphemy and despair are no
parts of the pains of the damned—but the consequents, and follow the sense
of God's wrath in a sinful creature that is overcome by it. But Christ had
no sin of his own, neither was he overcome of wrath, and therefore he always
held fast his integrity and innocency, Rev. 16:9, 11. Despair is an
unavoidable companion, attending the pains of the second death, as all
reprobates do experience. Desperation is an utter hopelessness of any good,
and a certain expectation and waiting on the worst that can befall; and this
is the lot and portion of the damned in hell. The wretched sinner in hell,
seeing the sentence passed against him, God's purpose fulfilled, never to be
reversed, the gates of hell made fast upon him, and a great gulf fixed
between hell and heaven, which renders his escape impossible; he now gives
up all, and reckons on nothing but uttermost misery, Luke 16:26.
Now mark, this despair is not an essential part of the
second death—but only a consequent, or, at the most, an effect occasioned by
the sinner's view of his remediless, woeful condition. But this neither did
nor could possibly befall the Lord Jesus. He was able, by the power of his
Godhead, both to suffer and to satisfy and to overcome; therefore he
expected a good outcome, and knew that the end should be happy, and that he
should not be ashamed, Isaiah 50:6-7, etc.; Psalm 16:9-10; Acts 2:26, 28,
31. Though a very shallow stream would easily drown a little child, there
being no hope of escape for it unless one or another should step in
seasonably to prevent it—yet a man who is grown up may groundedly hope to
escape out of a far more deep and dangerous place, because by reason of his
stature, strength, and skill he could wade or swim out. Surely the wrath of
the Almighty, manifested in hell, is like the vast ocean, or some broad,
deep river; and therefore when the sinful sons and daughters of Adam, which
are without strength, Romans 5:6, are hurled into the midst of it, they must
needs lie down in their confusion, as altogether hopeless of deliverance or
escaping. But this despair could not seize upon Jesus Christ, because,
although his Father took him and cast him into the sea of his wrath, so that
all the billows of it went over him, Isaiah 63:1-3, seq.—yet being the
mighty God, with whom nothing is impossible, he was very able to pass
through that sea of wrath and sorrow, which would have drowned all the
world, and come safe to shore.
Objection 4.
But when did Christ suffer
hellish torments? They are inflicted after death, not usually before it—but
Christ's soul went straight after death into paradise. How else could he say
to the penitent thief, "This day shall you be with me in paradise"? Now, to
this objection I shall give these following answers:
Answer 1. First, That Christ's soul, after his
passion upon the cross, did not really and locally descend into the place of
the damned, may be thus made evident:
[1.] First, All the evangelists, and so Luke among the
rest, intending to make an exact narrative of the life and death of Christ,
has set down at large his passion, death, burial, resurrection, and
ascension; and besides, they make rehearsal of very small circumstances;
therefore we may safely conclude, that they would never have omitted
Christ's local descent into the place of the damned, if there had been any
such thing. Besides, the great end why they penned this history was, that we
might believe that "Jesus Christ is the Son of God; and that thus believing
we might have life everlasting," John 20:31. Now there could not have been a
greater matter for the confirmation of our faith than this—that Jesus, the
son of Mary, who went down to the place of the damned, returned thence to
live in all happiness and blessedness forever. But,
[2.] Secondly, If Christ did go into the place of the
damned, then he went either in soul, or in body, or in his Godhead. Not in
his Godhead, for that could not descend, because it is everywhere, and his
body was in the grave; and as for his soul, it went not to hell—but
immediately after his death it went to paradise—that is, the third heaven, a
place of joy and happiness: "This day shall you be with me in paradise,"
Luke 23:43; which words of Christ must be understood of his manhood or soul,
and not of his Godhead; for they are an answer to a demand, and therefore
unto it they must be suitable. The thief makes his request, "Lord, remember
me when you come into your kingdom," verse 42; to which Christ answers,
"Truly I say unto you, Today shall you be with me in paradise." "I shall,"
says Christ, "this day enter into paradise, and there shall you be with me."
Now, there is no entrance but in regard of his soul or manhood, for the
Godhead, which is at all times in all places, cannot be properly said to
enter into a place, Psalm 139:7, 13; Jer. 23:23-24. But,
[3.] Thirdly, When Christ says, "Today shall you be with
me in paradise," he does intimate, as some observe, a resemblance which is
between the first and second Adam. The first Adam quickly sinned against
God, and was as quickly cast out of paradise by God. Christ, the second
Adam, having made a perfect and complete satisfaction to the justice of God,
and the law of God, for man's sin, must immediately enter into paradise,
Heb. 9:26, 28, and 10:14. Now to say that Christ, in soul, descended locally
into hell, is to abolish this analogy between the first and second Adam.
But,
Answer 2. Secondly, It is not impossible that the
pains of the second death should be suffered in this life. Time and place
are but circumstances. The main substance of the second death is the bearing
of God's fierce wrath and indignation. Divine favor shining upon a man in
hell, would turn hell into a heaven. All sober, seeing, serious Christians
will grant, that the true, though not the full joys of heaven may be felt
and experienced in this life: 1 Pet. 1:8, "Whom having not seen, you love;
in whom, though now you see him not—yet believing, you rejoice with joy
unspeakable and full of glory," or glorious; either because this their
rejoicing was a taste of their future glory, or because it made them
glorious in the eyes of men. The original word is glorified already;
a piece of God's kingdom and heaven's happiness aforehand. Ah, how many
precious saints, both living and dying, have cried out, "Oh the joy! the
joy! the inexpressible joy that I find in my soul!" Eph. 2:6, "He has made
us sit together in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus." What is this else—but
even while we live, by faith to possess the very joys of heaven on this side
heaven!
Now look, as the true joys of heaven may be felt on this
side heaven, so the true, though not the full pains of hell, may be felt on
this side hell; and doubtless Cain, Judas, Julian, Spira, and others have
found it so. That writer hit the mark, who said, "The judge's tribunal-seat
is in your soul, God sits there as judge, your conscience is the accuser,
and fear is the tormentor." Now if there be in the soul a judge, an accuser,
and a tormentor, then certainly there is a true taste of the torments of
hell on this side hell.
Answer 3. Thirdly, The place hell is no part of the
payment. The laying down of the price makes the satisfaction. This is all
that is spoken and threatened to Adam, "You shall die the death," Gen. 2:17;
and this may be suffered here. The wicked go to hell as their prison,
because they can never pay their debts, otherwise the debt may as well
be paid in the market as the jail. [Peter says, the devils are cast down to
hell, and kept in chains of darkness, 2 Pet. 2:4. And Paul calls the devil
the prince that rules in the air, Eph. 2:2. The air then is the devil's
hell. Well, then, seeing this air is the devil's present hell, we may safely
conclude that hell may be in this present world; and therefore it is neither
impossible nor improbable that the cross was Christ's hell.]
Now Christ did discharge all his people's debts in the
days of his flesh, when he offered up strong cries and tears, Heb. 5:7, and
not after death. Look, as a king entering into prison to loose the
prisoners' chains, and to pay their debts, is said to have been in prison;
so our Lord Jesus Christ, by his soul's sufferings, which is the hell he
entered into, has released us of our pains and chains, and paid our debts,
and in this sense he may be said to have entered into hell, though he never
actually entered into the local place of the damned, which is properly
called hell; for in that place there is neither virtue nor goodness,
holiness nor happiness, and therefore the holiness of Christ's person would
never allow him to descend into such a place. In the local place of heaven
and hell, it is not possible for any either to be at once, nor yet at sundry
times successively, for there is no passing from heaven to hell, or from
hell to heaven, Luke 16:26. The place of suffering is but a
circumstance in the business. Hell, the place of the damned, is no part of
the debt, therefore neither is suffering there locally any part of the
payment of it, no more than a prison is any part of an earthly debt, or of
the payment of it. The surety may satisfy the creditor in the place
appointed for payment, or in the open court, which being done, the debtor
and surety both are acquitted, that they need not go to prison. If either of
them go to prison, it is because they do not or cannot pay the debt; for all
that justice requires is to satisfy the debt, to the which the prison is
merely extrinsic. Even so the justice of God cannot be satisfied for the
transgression of the law—but by the death of the sinner—but it does not
require that this should be done in the place of the damned. The wicked go
to prison because they do not, they cannot, make satisfaction; otherwise
Christ, having fully discharged the debt, needed not go to prison.
Objection 5.
But the pains and torments which
are due to man's sins are to be everlasting, so how then can Christ's short
sufferings counterbalance them?
Answer 1. That Christ's sufferings in his soul and
body were equivalent to it; although, to speak properly, eternity is not of
the essence of death, which is the payment of sin and threatened by God—but
it is accidental, because man thus dying is never able to satisfy God,
therefore, seeing he cannot pay the last farthing, he is forever kept in
prison, Mat. 18:28, 35. Look, as eternal death has in it eternity and
despair necessarily in all those who so die, so Christ could not suffer. But
what was lacking in duration was supplied—
1. By the immensity of his sorrows conflicting with the
sense of God's wrath, because of our sins imputed to him, so that he
suffered more grief than if the sorrows of all men were put together.
Christ's hell-sorrows on the cross were meritorious and fully satisfactory
for our everlasting punishment, and therefore in greatness were to exceed
all other men's sorrows, as being answerable to God's justice.
2. By the dignity and worth of him who suffered.
Therefore the Scripture calls it the blood of God. The damned must bear the
wrath of God to all eternity, because they can never satisfy the justice of
God for sin. Therefore they must lie in hell, world without end. But
Christ has made an infinite satisfaction in a finite time, by undergoing
that fierce battle with the wrath of God, and getting the victory in a few
hours, which is equivalent to the creatures bearing it and grappling with it
everlastingly. This length or shortness of durance is but a circumstance,
not of any necessary consideration in this case. Suppose a man indebted
£100, and likely to lie in prison until he shall pay it—yet utterly unable,
if another man comes and lays down the money on two hours' warning, is not
this as well, or better done? that which may be done to as good or better
purpose in a short time, what need is there to draw it out at length? The
justice of the law did not require that either the sinner or his surety
should suffer the eternity of hell's torments—but only their extremity. It
does abundantly counterpoise the eternity of the punishment, that the person
who suffered was the eternal God. Besides, it was impossible that he should
be detained under the sorrows of death, Acts 2:24. And if he had been so
detained, then he had not "spoiled principalities and powers, nor triumphed
over them," Col. 2:15—but had been overcome, and so had not attained his
end. But,
Answer 2. Secondly, The pains of hell which Christ
suffered, though they were not infinite in time—yet were they of an infinite
price and value for the dignity of the person who suffered them. Christ's
temporal enduring of hellish sorrows was as effectual and meritorious, as if
they had been perpetual. The dignity of Christ's person did bear him out in
that which was not fit for him to suffer, nor fit in respect of our
redemption; for if he should have suffered eternally, our redemption could
never have been accomplished. But for him to suffer in soul as he did in
body, was neither derogatory to his person nor harmful to his work.
Infinitely in time Christ was not to suffer.
Times are in the world where the sun rises and sets.
Unto this time he died. But where there is no time, there he was found, not
only living—but conquering. Christ, God-man, suffered punishment in measure
infinite, and therefore there is no ground why he should endure it
eternally; and indeed it was impossible that Christ should be held by death,
Acts 2:24, because he was both the Lord of life and the Lord's Holy One, 1
Cor. 2:8; Acts 2:27. But,
Answer 3. Thirdly, If the measure of a man's
punishment were infinite, the duration needs not be infinite. Sinful man's
measure of punishment is finite, and therefore the duration of his
punishment must be infinite, because the punishment must be answerable to
the infinite evil of sin committed against an infinite God. O sirs,
continual imprisonment in hell arises from man's not being able to pay the
price; for could he pay the debt in one year, he needs not lie two years
in prison. Now the debt is the first and second death; and because sinful
man cannot pay it in any time, he must endure it eternally. But now Christ
has laid down the price to the full, for all his chosen ones, and therefore
it is not required of him, that he should suffer forever, neither can it
stand with the holiness or justice of God to hold him under the second
death, he having paid the debt to the utmost farthing. Now that he has fully
paid the debt himself, witnesses John, chapter 19:30, saying when he had
received the vinegar, "It is finished;" so verse 28, "After this, Jesus
knowing that all things were accomplished." Though there are many
interpretations given of this—yet doubtless this alone will hold
water—namely, that the heavy wrath of the Lord which did pursue Christ, and
the second death which filled him with grievous terrors, is now over and
past, and man's redemption finished. He speaks here of that which presently
should be, and in the yielding up his Spirit was accomplished.
And thus you see that Jesus Christ did feel and suffer
the very torments of hell, though not after a hellish manner; and you see
also that Christ did not locally descend into hell. We shall make a few
INFERENCES from hence:
1. First, then, Oh, how should these sad sufferings of
Christ for us endear Christ to us!
Oh, what precious thoughts
should we have of him! Psalm 136:17-18. Oh, how should we prize him! how
should we honor him! how should we love him! and how should we be swallowed
up in the admiration of him! As his love to us has been matchless, so his
sufferings for us has been matchless. I have read of Nero, that he had a
shirt made of a salamander's skin, so that if he did walk through the fire
in it, it would keep him from burning. Just so, Christ is the true
salamander's skin that will keep the soul from everlasting burnings, Isaiah
33:14; and therefore well may Christians cry out with that martyr Lambert,
"None but Christ, none but Christ!" So every believer should esteem nothing
worth a looking on—but that Jesus who has redeemed him with his own blood, 1
Cor. 6:20; Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 1:18-19.
Oh, then, what infinite cause have we to exalt and cry up
our dear Lord Jesus, who by the hellish sorrows that he suffered for us, has
freed us from that more dreadful bondage of sin, Satan, and wrath that we
lay under! Oh, prize that Jesus! Oh, exalt that Christ! Oh, extol that
Savior, who has saved you from that eternal wrath—which all the angels in
heaven, and all the men on earth could never have saved you from!
"The name of Jesus," says Chrysostom," has a thousand
treasures of joy and comfort in it, and is therefore used by Paul some five
hundred times." "The name of a Savior," says Bernard, "is honey in the
mouth, and music in the ears, and a jubilee in the heart." "Christ is a
whole paradise of delight," says Justin Martyr. "I had rather," says Luther,
"be in hell with Christ, than in heaven without him, for Christ is the crown
of crowns, the glory of glories, and the heaven of heaven." Austin says,
"that he would willingly go through hell to Christ." Bernard says, "he had
rather be in his chimney-corner with Christ, than in heaven without him."
One cried out, "I had rather have one Christ, than a thousand worlds!"
Jesus, in the Chinese tongue, signifies the rising
sun, and such a rising sun was he to Julius Palmer, that when all
concluded that he was dead, being turned as black as a coal in the fire, at
last he moved his scorched lips, and was heard to say, "Sweet Jesus!" Mal.
4:2. It was an excellent answer of one of the martyrs, when he was offered
riches and honors if he would recant: "Do but," said he, "offer me something
that is better than my Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall see what I will say
to you." Now, oh that the hellish sorrows and sufferings of Christ for us,
might raise in all our hearts such a high estimation, and such a deep
admiration, as has been raised in those worthies last mentioned! It was a
sweet prayer of him who thus prayed, "Lord, make your Son dear, very dear,
exceeding dear, and alone dear and precious to me." Whenever we seriously
think of the great and sore sufferings of Christ, it will be good to pray as
he prayed. But,
2. Secondly, If Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the very
torments of hell,
(though not after a hellish manner,)
then let me infer—that certainly there is a hell, a
place of torment provided and prepared for all wicked and ungodly people.
Danaeus reckons up no less than nineteen different kinds of heretics, which
deny the doctrine of hell; and are there not many erroneous and deluded
people, who stoutly and daily assert that there is no hell but what men feel
in their own consciences? Ah, how many are there that rejoice to do evil,
and delight in their abominations, and take pleasure in unrighteousness! [Jer.
11:15; Proverbs 2:14; Isaiah 65:3; 2 Thes. 2:11; Mat. 25:41; Isaiah 30:33.]
But could men do thus, dared men do thus—did they really believe that hell
was prepared and fitted for them, and that the fiery lake was but a little
before them? Heaven is a place where all is joyful, and hell is a place
where all is doleful. In heaven there is nothing but happiness, and in hell
there is nothing but heaviness, nothing but endless, easeless, and
remediless torments. Did men believe this, how could they go so merrily on
in the way to hell?
Cato once said to Caesar, "I believe that you think all
that is said of hell to be false and mythical." Just so, I may say to many
in this day, Surely you think that all that is spoken and written of hell is
but a story. Don't you look upon the people of God to be of all men the most
miserable, and yourselves of all men the most happy? Yes! Oh—but how can
this be, did you really believe that there was a heaven for the righteous
and a hell for the wicked? It is an Italian proverb, "He who has not seen
and lived some time in Venice does not understand what a city it is." This
in a sense is true of hell.