Death, and condemn'd our Saviour to be Crucified. 3.2. Why do you take notice of the Perfon, under whom Chrift Suffered ? A. For feveral Reafons. 1. To fix the Time of his Suffering, which had been particularly foretold by the Prophet Daniel, 490 Years before it came to pals. 2. To fhew that at that time the Sceptre was departed from Judah, and fo the time of Jacob's Prophecy, concerning the Coming of the Meffiah, accomplish'd. And, 3. To account for the Manner of Chrift's Death, which was alfo extraordinary, and foretold by the Prophets: Crucifixion being not a Jewish, but a Roman, kind of Punish ment. 4. 2. How came Pontius Pilate to condemn a Ifai. liii. 5, our Saviour to this Death? 6. Rom. iv. 2 1 Cor. xv. .25. A. He did it to fatisfy the Importunity of the Jews, after having plainly declared, that he was Heb. vii. 26, not worthy to die. Mat. xxvii. 23, 24. Luke 27. ix. 28. xxiii. 14, 15, 20. --X. 10. 1 Pet. ii. 21, 5. 2. What do you obferve from this? A. The fame which the Providence of God evidently defign'd to declare by it; viz. a That xxvi. 2, 24, Chrift Suffer'd for our Sins, not for any Evil that 47, 69, 5. Himself had done. Luk. xxii. 22,48,57.61. 6.2. Did Chrift fuffer any thing before his Cor. xi. 23. Crucifixion; that you fay, first, he Suffered; and d Mat. xxvi. then he was Crucified? 56. Mar. xiv. 50. A. Yes very much: He b was Betrayed by One of his Own Apoftles; c was Deny'd by Luk, xxiii. Another; d was forfaken by them All. e He 2,5. was Accused as a Rebel, and False Prophet Jo. xix. 12. Mat. xxvi. by the Jews; f was Evil-intreated by the Soldiers; Hurried from the Chief Prieft to Pilate; thence to Hered; from him back to Pilate again. He was Blindfolded, Buffeted, Scourged, Crown'd with Thorns, Spit up xxvii. Luke xxii. xxiii. Jo. xviii. xix. on : on: He carry'd his own Crofs through the City: And befides all this, underwent that inward Grief and Anguifh of Mind in the Garden, which much furpafs'd all that he endured upon Mount Calvary. Mat. xxvi. 37, 38, Mark xiv. 33. 34. Luke xxii. 44. comp. 7o. xii. 27. 7. 2. Wherefore was Chrift Crucified? A. To fulfil both the Types and Prophecies concerning his Death. Gen. xxii. 6. Numb. xxi. 9. comp. Jo. iii. 14. Pfal. xxii. 17. Zech. xii. 10. And, in the next Place, to deliver Us from the Curfe of the Law, by making himself a Curfe for Us. Gal. iii. 13. 8. 2. How did Chrift fuffer all this? A. Only in his Humane Nature: His Body 1 Pet. iii¿ endured all the Inflictions of the Jews, and Sol- 18. diers, without: His Soul was the Seat of all iv. I. his Fears, and Horrors, and Pains, which he felt within. The + Divine Nature only gave + A&s xx. worth and value to what the Humane bare. The 28. fame Perfon was God, and Man, who underwent 1 Cor. ii. 8, all this But the Man only Suffered; the Divine Nature neither did, nor could Suffer any thing. 9.2. Wherefore to his being Crucified, do you add, that he Died? Mar. xv. 37, A. Because though Crucifixion was a Capital Luke xxiii. Punishment, and extended unto Death, yet it 46. was not neceffarily in itfelf, Mortal. So that 44. Christ might have been Crucified, and yet for all Äts ii. 23. that, not have Died. 10. 2. Was it neceffary to our Redemption that Chrift fhould Die? V. 30, &c. 19. A. It was, Heb. ix. 16, 23. For the Wages of fa. liii. 1o. Sin is Death: Rom. vi. 23. and without shed. 1 Pet. i. 8, ding of Blood there is no Remiffion: Heb. ix. 22. And therefore we could not have been deliver'd from Death on any other Terms than by Chrift's viii. 32. Rom. v. 6. to 10. 22. Col. i. 21, dying in our ftead. Mat. xxvi. 39. Whereas by dying, He has made a full Satisfaction for our Sins; has taken away the Sting of Death; And conquer'd him who had the Power of Death, that is the Devil. Heb. ii. 14. ix. 13, 14, 26. Rom. v. 6, 8. 1 Cor. xv. 55, 57. a b Gen. xxxvii. 35. xlii. 38. 11. 2. How was Chrift's Body difpofed of, after he was Dead? A. It was decently, and honourably Buried, by Jofeph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus, principal Men among the Jews; and that according to the Prophecies of God to that purpose. Mat. xxvii. 60. Mark xv. 43, to 46. Jo. xix. 38, &c. comp. Ifa. liii. 9. 12. 2. What became of his Soul, while his Body lay in the Grave? A. He therein Descended into hell. Pfal. xvi. 10. Acts ii. 31. 13. 2. What does the Word Hell fignify?. A. It is diverfly used in the Holy Scriptures. Sometimes it fignifies the a Grave: b Sometimes the State of the Dead: And fometimes (efpeci1 Sam. ii. 6. ally in the New Teftament) it denotes the Place of the Damned, wherein they are to be tormentcPfal. ix. 17. ed for Ever and Ever. b. Pfal. xvi. 10. xlix. 15. Mat. v. 22, 29, 30. 33. 14. 2. In which of these Significations do you here understand it? A. In the first it cannot be taken: For of the Burial of Chrift's Body, there was mention before; and a Soul cannot Go into the Grave. 2 Pet. ii. 4. Neither can it well be taken in the laft; for Chrift finished all his Sufferings upon the Crofs: Jo. xix. 30. and had nothing to undergo in the Place of Torments. 15. 2. But might not Chrift defcend thither, to triumph over the Devil in his Own Place? Or to deliver from thence, all fuch as fhould there Believe in Him? A. This A This has been the Opinion of many of the Ancients, but I think without any fufficient Arguments, or Authority, from the Holy Scriptrues, to fupport it. 16. 2. What then do you take to be the true Meaning of this Article? A. I fuppofe that it must refer to the Place whither Chrift's Soul went in its State of Separation: Acts ii. 31. Now what that Place was feems clearly pointed out to us in the Holy Scriptures. For, Firft, Our Bleffed Saviour promised the Penitent Thief, but a little before his Death, that That Day he should be with him in Paradife: Luke xxiii. 43. And, Secondly, As he was Expiring, he gave up the Ghoft, with thefe Words, Father, Into thy Hands I commend my Spirit: Luke xxiii. 46. Chrift therefore having now finished his Paffon, expired upon the Crofs: His Body was laid in the Sepulchre; his Spirit returned unto God that Ecclef, xii. 7.gave it; and, together with the Soul of the Penitent Thief, was carried by the Holy Angels into Paradife, where the Souls of the Righteous reft till the Day of the Refurrection. And from thence it return'd on the third Day, and was again Re-united to its Body, as Ours also shall be, at the Day of Judgment. 17. 2. What is your Opinion of the Limbus Patrum, or Prifon, in which thofe of the Church of Romne fuppofe the Souls of Holy Men, who died before the time of Chrift, to be shut up: And to deliver whom, they fay, our Saviour now went down thither? A. As of a mere Fiction, for which there is not the leaft ground in Scripture, * but much to the contrary; and fit to keep Company with their Other Dream of Purgatory fince. 11. Mat. vi. Luke xvi. 22, 23. Of bis Refur rection, the Third Day, from the Dead. xv. 15. Gal. i. I. 20. I Thef. i. 10. SECT. XII. 1.2. WAS Chrift to continue always under the Power of Death? A. No: But on the contrary, it was foretold concerning Him, That God would not leave his Soul in Hell, not fuffer his Holy One to fee Corruption. Pfal. xvi. 10. Acts ii. 31. 4 2. 2. How was he deliver'd from the Power of the Grave? A. He Rofe again the Third Day from the Dead. 3. 2. How do you understand thefe Words? A. That upon the Third Day after his Death, his Soul and Body, which had been separated Acts ii. 24. from One Another, were by the mighty Power i.15. iv. 10. x. 40. xiii. of God brought together again, and vitally Unit30. xvii. 31. ed to One Another: And fo the fame Jefus who Rom. iv. 24. was dead, became again alive; or, as it is in my 1 Cor. vi. 14. Creed, Refe again the third Day from the Dead? 4.2. Did Chrift Raife Himself from the Dead? A. I before faid, That he was Raised by the mighty Power of God; a Nor could any thing lefs than a Divine Power have done it: Eph. i. 19, Heb. xiii.20. 20. Yet as Chrift was God as well as Man, fo a Acts ii. 24, he did alfo, in that Respect, concur to his Own 32. xiii. 30. Refurrection. And thus the Scripture tells us, John ii. 19. Destroy this Temple (lays Chrift to the Jews) and in Three Days I will Raife it up. John x. 17, 18. Therefore doth my Father Love me, becaufe I lay down my Life that I may take it up again. No Man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself: I have Power to lay it down, and I have Power to take it up again. Which is alfo by the way, another Evident Argument to prove that Chrift is God. Gal. i. I. John v. 21. 5. 2. How does it appear that He did thus Rife from the Dead? A. By |