' Fulk. in Act ii. sec. 11. [Fulke or Fulkius or Fulcones. — G.]
106 THAT JESUS CHRIST DID SUFFER TORMENT,
other things already mentioned, it was but the tantundem, not the idem; but suppose there had been nothing of sameness, nothing be- yond 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 requireth ; for he could not per- form that obedience which magistrates or married persons 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 rio-hteous government, that was enough. Now that was unquestion- ably done by Christ.
Object. 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 ?
Ans. 1. I answer. It followeth 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 X. 17, ' Therefore my Father loves me, because I lay down my life;' ver. 18, ' No man taketh 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 one [Bernard] saith well, Voluntas sponte morientis placuit Deo, The willingness of him that died pleased God, who offered himself to be the Redeemer of fallen man, Isa. liii. 12 ; Ps. xl. 7, 8 ; Heb. x. 9, 10.
Ans. 2. But secondly, I answer from 1 John iii. 16, * Hereby per- ceive 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. As if you shoot off a cannon in the bright air, the air suffers, but the light of it suffers not. Actions and passions belong to persons. 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 for ever. But,
Ans. 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 suffer- ings did so affect the person, that it may truly be said that God suf- fered, and by his blood bought his people to himself ; for albeit the proper and formal subject of physical sufferings be only the human
THOUGH NOT AFTER A HELLISH MANNER. 107
nature, yet the principal subject of suiferings, both in a phj^sical 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 xx. 28 ; 1 Pet. i. 18-20 ; 1 Cor. vi. 20, and vii. 23.
0 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, ii. 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, yea, from the worst of sinners !
Object. 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 ?
Ans. We must distinguish those things in Christ, which are proper to either of the two natures, from those things which are as- cribed 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 that judiciously do look upon him.
Object. 3. How could Christ endure hell fire without grievous sins, as blasphemy and despair, &c. ?
Ans. 1. 1 answer, That we may walk safely and without offence, these things must be premised: First, That the sorrows and suffer- ings of hell be no otherwise attributed to Christ, than as they may Btand 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, agreeth not with the holiness of his nature, ' Who was a lamb without a spot,' Heb. ix. 14 ; 1 Pet. i. 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
108 THAT JESUS CHRIST DID SUFFER TORMENT,