[3.] Thirdly, That Jesus Christ did feel and suffer tJie 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 amongst 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 impatient indignation, nor eternal separation from God. These things were absolutely inconsistent with the holi- ness, 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 cruciatus infernales, and are in Scripture called ' The sorrows of hell' ' The sorrows of hell did compass me about,' Ps. xviii. 5, or the cords of hell did compass me about, such as where- with they bind malefactors when they are led forth to execution. Now these sorrows, these cords of hell, were the things that extorted from him th^t passionate expostulation, ' My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?' Mat. xxvii. 46. Christ's sufferings were unspeak- able, and somewhat answerable to the pains of hell. Hence the Greek Litany, ' By thine unknown sufferings, good Lord deliver us,' A I a/yvcbarcov <tov Tradrjfjbarcov. Funinus, an Italian martyr, being asked by one why he was so merry at his death, sith Christ himself was so sor- rowful ; ' 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. 2 It was a great saying of a very learned man, that setting iniquity and eternity of punishment aside, which Christ might not sustain, Christ did more vehemently and sharply f;3el 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
t Heb. V. 7; Mat. xxvl 38, 39, 42, 44; 1 Cor. vi. 20, and vii. 23. ' [Foxe] Acta and Mon., fol. 853.
THOUGH NOT AFTER A HELLISH MANNER. ' 103
were laid on Christ, Isa. liii. 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. xiv. 33, 34. He began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy ; and saith unto them, ' My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death,' Luke xxii. 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 ; and 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. ix. 14, and x. 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 ii, 24. And his infinite excellency and glory made his short sufferings to be of infinite worth, and equivalent to our everlasting sufferings, 1 Pet. ii. 24 ; 1 Cor, vi. 20, The third, then, only remaineth, which was the real and sensible torments of his soul and body, wliich he did really feel and experience when he was upon the cross, 0 sirs! what need you question Christ's undergoing of hellish pains, when all the pains, torments, curse, and wrath which was due to the elect did fall on Christ, and lie on Christ till 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 : Ps. xviii. 51, ■ 'The sorrows of hell did compass me about;' Ps. Ixxxviii. 31, 'My soul is filled with evil, and my life draweth near to hell ;' Ps, Ixxxvi. 13, ' Thou hast 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. So Acts ii. 27, ' Thou wilt 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
104 THAT JESUS CHRIST DID SUFFER TORMENT,