"

a passage into eternal life: “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens," 2 Cor. v. 1. If it be asked, why God still inflicts death not only upon the ungodly, but also upon his people, when it is so bitter to them, seeing his Son hath fully satisfied his justice by suffering every punishment, and death also? we answer briefly, that God could indeed glorify the elect, and take them up into heaven immediately, without seeing death; for it doth not militate either against his power, or his justice, as he showed in the ascension of Enoch and Elijah; but God hath wise reasons for not doing this, since it is his will to apply the merits. of his Son gradually; and therefore he doth not sanctify them neither perfectly in a moment from their conception and birth, that they may observe his wonderful way in order; he desires by such a bitter fruit to show them, and cause them to bewail the abominable nature of sin, that they may humble themselves for it; to induce them to consider the exceeding grievousness of the suffering and death of Christ: he hath also ordered this so, that they may be conformed to the image of his Son in death; the Lord teacheth his people thus the greatness of his power by leading them through every opposition, and in such an unsightly way to life. Finally, we say also that it is a wonderful goodness of God, that he doth not take his people up into heaven in the body without death; for if he did, then those who remained alive, would know infallibly that all those who died, were lost. This would be an insupportable grief to those who remained alive, especially when they saw their dearest friends and relations die. That the Lord might now manifest his goodness, and not willingly afflict, or grieve the children of men, therefore he hath appointed it to all men once to die, the righteous as well as the wicked.

IV. But "what further benefit do we receive from the sacrifice and death of Christ on the cross?" Many and great benefits of the sufferings and death of Christ on the cross under Pontius Pilate are exhibited in the fifteenth Lord's day; but there are also other benefits, and particularly, that "by virtue thereof our old man is cruci fied, dead and buried with him, that so the corrupt inclinations of the flesh may no more reign in us, but that we may offer ourselves to him a sacrifice of thanksgiving."

The old man is the natural corruption of man, which possesseth him entirely from his birth, and is a continual source of evil lusts, which reign and rule over the sinner, as a king, according to a sinful law, which they prescribe to him, and under, and according to which

they hold him captive, and compel him, while he is neither able, nor willing to be delivered from his bondage. See Rom. vii. 5, 23, Eph. ii. 1, 2, 3. Which old man is also called "indwelling sin, the motions of sin, the law of the members, the flesh," &c. Rom. vi. and vii.

This is crucified, dead and buried, not only with respect to guilt by justification, since our guilt was nailed to the cross of Christ, slain, and thrust in his grave, Coll. ii. 14, of which we have treated on the fifteenth Lord's day, when we showed that he obtained redemption, the favour of God, righteousness and eternal life for the elect, and freed them from the severe judgment of God, and from the curse by his suffering; but also with respect to the power and dominion of the old man, which is crucified, dead and buried by sanctification, partly in this life, so that the evil lusts of the flesh do not reign any more: "For sin shall not have dominion over you," saith the apostle, Rom. vi. 14, whereby believers, being thus freed and separated, offer themselves a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God, Rom. xii. 1. beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." But after this life the old man will be perfectly crucified, dead and buried, Heb. xii. 23.

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The old man is crucified, dead and buried with Christ by virtue of his crucifixion, death and burial,

1. Because he by his death on the cross, and by his burial, depri ved sin of its strength, whereby it reigneth: "The strength of sin is the law," 1 Cor. xv. 56. The law condemns the sinner to be a slave of sin, it discovereth sin, yea, sin works effectually by occasion of the law. See this, Rom. v. 20. vii. 5, 13. Now Christ hath deprived this law, which is the strength of sin, of its strength, by his death on the cross, and by their burial, inasmuch as he satisfied it, and so it cannot hold the elect sinner any longer under sin. Therefore Paul saith, Rom. vii. 4. "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ." And thus "sin hath no longer dominion over believers, because they are not under the law, but under grace," Rom. vii. 14.

2. Christ hath merited satisfaction for them; for "he gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works," Titus ii. 14. For they are reckoned in him, when he is made sanctification to them, 1 Cor. i. 30, and so are said to be crucified, dead, and buried with him. “We are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead to the glory of the Father,

For if we have

even so we also should walk in newness of life. been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection; knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him," Gal. ii. 20. Coll. ii. 11. 12.

3. By his death on the cross, and his burial he hath also merited and given the Holy Ghost to them, Gal. iii. 13, 14, whereby they "mortify" their sins, the old man, and "the deeds of the body," Rom. viii. 13. So the apostle speaks, 1 Cor. vi. 11. "Ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."

4. The death of Christ on the cross, and his burial, affords them a powerful motive to crucify, mortify and bury the old man; for when they see the love of Christ, the grievousness of his sufferings for them and that their old man procured all this distress to him, they are then powerfully moved to dedicate and offer themselves up to him, in order to serve him, and to recompense that evil upon the old man, and to take vengeance of him: for "they who are Christ's have crucified the the flesh, with the affections and lusts,” Gal. v. 24. This Peter also intimateth, when he saith, "Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind, to wit, that he who hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin," 1 Peter, iv. 1.

5. The death of Christ on the cross and his burial is also a lively figure of the manner in which believers ought to crucify, mortify, and bury the old man. As Christ was sought until he was found, seized, arraigned before the tribunal, accused, reproached, spitten upon, scourged, stripped naked, tortured, deprived of food, slain, and taken from among men, so also must believers deal with the old man in this manner would Paul "be conformed to the death of Christ," Philip. iii. 10. For this end Christ also suffered, 1 Peter

ii. 21-24.

V. We must inquire further why it is said, "that he descended into hell." We must not understand this so, as though Christ descended properly into the place of the damned, to triumph there over the powers of hell, as the Lutherans imagine: or that he entered into a porch of hell, where the believing fathers of the Old Testament were kept, to deliver them out of it; for the word of God knoweth nothing of such a descending into hell. His body was in the grave, and his soul in the hands of his Father, during his death, when he should have descended into hell. It hath never been heard of that a general triumph before a prison; Christ triumphed on the cross, Coll. ii. 15, and in his exaltation, Psalm lxviii. 18.. The be

lieving fathers of the Old Testament entered into heaven in consequence of the suretiship of Christ, and by the reflex virtue of his sufferings; we see this not only in Enoch and Elijah, but also in Abraham, Luke xvi 22, in Jacob, Gen. xlix. 18. "Christ preached indeed to the spirits in prison," 1 Peter iii. 19, but he did not descend in the body into the prison, but by his Spirit, in which he went, and preached in the days of Noah, and by him, to the inhabitants of the old world, who are the spirits, and who were, when Peter wrote this, in prison, but not when Christ preached to them.

It is true, our creed saith that "Christ descended into he'l:" but we also know that this creed, being a human composition, must therefore be explained according to the word of God; that the descent into hell is not found in the most ancient creeds, and that it occurs indeed in the creed of Athanasius, but that then the burial is left out, as the burial is inserted in the creed of Nice, but the descent into hell is not found there. All which proves that the ancients understood by the descent into hell the burial; which is also agreeable to the word of God. David charges his son Solomon," not to let the gray hairs of Joab go down to the grave in peace," 1 Kings ii. 6. We must remember that the Hebrew word scheol, and the Greek word hades signifies hell and the grave both, for which reason they are translated sometimes by hell, and sometimes by the grave. And thus the descent of Jesus into hell is the same with his burial; therefore he saith, Psalm xvi. 10. "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy One to see corruption," Peter and Paul prove that he speaks here of the burial of his body, Acts in. 24—31. xiii. 35, 36, 37. But as his burial was expressed before in proper language, hence it is not suitable, at least not in such a short compend of the articles of our faith, to repeat the selfsame thing in the figurative words of descending into hell. And therefore we understand by this with the instructor the suffering of Christ's soul, "his unspeakable anguish, pains, terrours and hellish agonies, in which he was plunged during all his sufferings, but especially on the cross." As David also expresseth the suffering of his soul by the pains of hell, Psalm cxvi. 3. The pains of hell got hold on me: I found trouble and sorrow." See Psalm xviii. 4, 5. As he also truly suffered the anguish of hell; for "his soul was troubled," John xii. 27. xiii, 21. "How am I straitened ?" thus he complained, Luke xi. 50. "He was sor rowful and very heavy. Then said he to his disciples, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful," Matt. xxvi. 37, 38. Yea, "he was sore amazed," Mark xiv. 33, and "he was in a great agony," Luke xxii. 44. But he suffered still more grievously on the cross, when "he

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cried out" in such great distress, "with a loud voice, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Matt. xxvii. 46.

We showed briefly on the foregoing Lord's day wherein this suffering of his soul properly consisted: we will exhibit this now more fully. And that every one would earnest'y endeavour to obtain a proper understanding of this matter, that the believer may perceive from what the Son of God hath delivered him, and others what they must yet expect; for they will also be obliged to suffer that which Christ suffered, if they do not become reconciled to God in Christ. The suffering of Christ's soul, and his hellish anguish consisted in these things:

1. That he had a deep sense of the power and abominable nature of all the sins of all his dear elect, since he was made sin for them," 2 Cor. v. 21, for he had a deep sense of their guilt, the dreadful nature of sin, their aiming at the throne and crown of God, their breaking of his yoke, and bursting of his bonds, all this he was obliged to sustain now. Let a believer only imagine how he is pierced with sorrow, when he hath a feeling sense of sins, and when they become like a heavy burthen too heavy for him, but how then was the soul of Christ burthened, when all the sins of all the elect, with all the curses and penalties, which are threatened on account of sin, were laid with all their weight upon him, when he was nevertheless perfectly innocent? verily he was not insensible, but complained "I restored that which I took not away," Psalm Ixix. 4.

2. That he was obliged to eperience a deprivation of the ordinary and sensible influence, the kindness and love of his Father. He who was the Son of the Father's bosom, and brought up with him, who was wont to bathe in his Father's light and love, was now thrust far away from peace, and abandoned to hellish darkness; no pleasing sensations occupied his soul; nothing but darkness, distress and terrour possessed his mind; for he complained that he was forsaken; to this was also added,

3. That even his Father set himself against him; for he kindled his wrath against him, like a fire. Did Job complain, "The arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrours of God set themselves in array against me," Job vi. 4. “Thou art become cruel against me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me," chap. xxx. 21, how grievous was then the condition of Jesus, against whom God stirred up his whole indignation! The hardened sinner doth not apprehend this: but let him only represent to himself, that those whom he heartily loves, and without whose mutual love he cannot live, depart from him with