wise with the same mind. For he that hath suffered in the flesh, hath ceased from sin; that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh, to the lusts of men, but to the will of God." (1 Pet. iv. 1, 2.) And so his death was necessary for the confirmation and completion of his prophetical office. Secondly, It was necessary that Christ should die, and by his death perform the sacerdotal office. "For every high-priest taken from among men, is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins." (Heb. v. 1.) But Christ had no other sacrifice to offer for our sins than himself. "For it was not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins;" (Heb. x. 4.) and therefore when" sacrifice and offering God would not, then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God;" (Ibid. 8, 9.) then did Christ determine to offer up himself for us. And because the sacrifices of old were to be slain, and generally "without shedding of blood there is no remission ;" (Heb. ix. 22.) therefore if he will offer sacrifice for sin, he must of necessity die, and so "make his soul an offering for sin." (Isa. liii. 10.) If Christ be our passover, he must be sacrificed for us. We were sold under sin, and he who will redeem us must give his life for our redemption for we could not be "redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but only with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." (1 Pet. i. 18, 19.) We all had sinned, and so offended the justice of God, and by an act of that justice the sentence of death passed upon us; it was necessary therefore that Christ our surety should die, to satisfy the justice of God, both for that iniquity, as the propitiation for our sins, and for that penalty, as he who was to bear our griefs. God was offended with us; and he must die who was to reconcile him to us. "For when we were enemies (saith St. Paul), we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son." (Rom. v. 10.) We "were sometimes alienated, and enemies in our mind by our wicked works; yet now hath he reconciled us in the body of his flesh through death." (Col. i. 21.) Thus the death of Christ was necessary towards the great act of his priesthood, as the oblation, propitiation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world: and not only for the act itself, but also for our assurance of the power and efficacy of it ("for if the blood of bulls and goats sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh; how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge our consciences from dead works?" Heb. ix. 13, 14.), and of the happiness flowing from it (for " he that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" Rom. viii. 32.) Upon this assurance, founded on his death, we have the freedom and "boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh." (Heb. x. 19, 20.) Neither was the death of Christ necessary only in respect of us immediately for whom he died, but in reference to the Priest himself who died, both in regard of the qualification of himself, and consummation of his office. For " in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren; that he might be a merciful and faithful High-priest, and having suffered, being tempted, might be able to succour them that are tempted." (Heb. ii. 17, 18.) So that passing through all the previous torments, and at last through the pains of death, having suffered all which man can suffer, and much more, he becanie, as an experimental Priest, most sensible of our infirmities, most compassionate of our miseries, most willing and ready to support us under, and to deliver us out of, our temptations. Thus being qualified by his utmost suffering, he was also fitted to perfect his offering. For as "the high-priest once every year" for the atonement of the sins of the people "went" into the Holy of Holies, "not without blood;" so so "Christ being come a High-priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, by his own blood entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." (Heb. ix. 7. 11, 12.) And this is the grand necessity of the death of Christ in respect of his sacerdotal office. Thirdly, There was a necessity that Christ should die in reference to his regal office. "O king, live for ever," (Dan. ii. 4. iii. 9.) is either the loyal or the flattering vote for temporal princes; either the expression of our desires, or the suggestion of their own whereas our Christ never shewed more sovereign power than in his death, never obtained more than by his death. It was not for nothing that Pilate suddenly wrote, and resolutely maintained what he had written, "This is the King of the Jews." (Matt. xxvii. 37.) That title on the cross did signify no less than that his regal power was active even there: for "having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it;" (Col. ii. 15.) and "through his death destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” (Heb. ii. 14.) Nor was his death only necessary for the present execution, but also for the assecution of farther power and dominion, as the means and way to obtain it. The "Spirit of Christ" in the prophets of old "testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." (1 Pet. i. 11.) "He shall drink of the brook in the way, (saith the prophet David, Psal. cx. 7.) therefore shall he lift up his head." ." "He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above (Phil. ii. 8, 9.) "For to this end Christ both every name. died and rose, and revived, that he might be the Lord of the dead and living." (Rom. xiv. 9.) Thus it is necessary to believe and profess our faith in Christ who died for by his blood and the virtue of his death was our redemption wrought, as by the price which was paid, as by the atonement which was made, as by the full satisfaction which was given, that God might be reconciled to us, who before was offended with us, as by the ratification of the Covenant made between us, and the acquisition of full power to make it good unto us. After which exposition thus premised, every Christian is conceived to express thus much, when he makes profession of faith in Christ Jesus which was dead: I do really and truly assent unto this, as a most infallible and fundamental truth; That the only-begotten and eternal Son of God, for the working out of our redemption, did in our nature, which he took upon him, really and truly die, so as, by the force and violence of those torments which he felt, his soul was actually separated from his body; and although neither his soul nor body was separated from his Divinity, yet the body bereft of his soul was left without the least vitality. And thus I believe in Jesus Christ that was crucified and DEAD. And Buried. WHEN the most precious and immaculate soul of Christ was really separated from his flesh, and that union in which his natural life consisted was dissolved, his sacred body, as being truly dead, was laid up in the chambers of the grave: so that as we believe him dead, by the separation of his soul; we also believe him buried by the sepulture of his body. And because there is nothing mysterious or difficult in this part of the Article, it will be sufficiently explicated when we have shewn, first, That the promised Messias was to be buried; and secondly, That our Jesus was so buried as the Messias was to be. That the Messias was to be buried, could not possibly be denied by those who believed he was to die among the Jews; because it was the universal custom of that nation to bury their dead. We read most frequently of the sepulchres of *It is observed by Tacitus of the Jews, in opposition to the Roman custom: Corpora condere, quam cremare, e more Egyptio.' Hist. 1. v. c. 5. As of the Egyptians by others: Θάπτουσι δὲ Αἰγύπτια μὲν ταριχεύοντες, ̔Ρωμαῖοι δὲ καίοντες, Παίονες δὲ εἰς τὰς λίμνας ῥιπτοῦντες. Laert. Pyrrh. p. 258. But the Jews received this custom no more from the Egyptians than from the Persians, whom they may be rather said to follow, because they used not the Egyptian rapixos: neither were they more distinguished from the Romans than from the Grecians, who also burned the bodies of the dead. Διελόμενοι κατὰ τὰ ἔθνη τὰς ταφὰς, ὁ μὲν Ἕλλην ἔκαυσεν· ὁ δὲ Πέρσης ἔθαψεν· ὁ δὲ Ἰνδὸς ὑάλῳ περιχείει· ὁ δὲ Σκύθης κατεσθίει· ταρι χεύει δὲ ὁ Αἰγύπτιος. Lucian. περὶ πένθους, . 21. Although therefore it be not true, that the Jews received their custom of burying their dead from the Egyptians, because Abraham at first purchased a burying-place; yet it hath been observed, their fathers: and though those that were condemned by their supreme power were not buried in their fathers' graves, yet public sepulchres there were appointed even for them to lie in; and not only they, but all the instruments which were used in the punishment, were buried with them. And yet besides the general consequence of death among the Jews, there was a perfect type in the person of Jonas: for as that prophet "was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so was the Messias, or the Son of man, to be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matt. xii. 40.) Nor was his burial only represented typically but foretold prophetically, both by a suppositive intimation, and by an express prediction. The Psalmist intimated and supposed no less, when speaking in the person of the Christ, he said, "My flesh shall rest in hope, for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." (Psal. xvi. 9, 10.) That flesh is there supposed only such, that is, a body dead; and that body resting in the grave, the common habitation of the dead; yet resting there in hope that it should never see corruption, but rise from thence before that time in which bodies in their graves are wont to putrefy. Beside this intimation, there is yet a clear expression of the grave of the Messias in that eminent prediction of Isaiah, "He was cut off out of the land of the living, and he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death." (liii. 8, 9.) For whatsoever the true interpretation of the prophecy be (of which we shall speak hereafter), it is certain that he who was to be cut off, was to have a grave: and being we have already shewn that he who was to be cut off was the Messias; it followeth, that by virtue of this prediction the promised Messias was to be buried. Secondly, That our Jesus, whom we believe to be the true Messias, was thus buried, we shall also prove, although it seem repugnant to the manner of his death. For those who were sentenced by the Romans to die upon the cross, had not the favour of a sepulchre, but their bodies were exposed to the fowls of the air, and the beasts of the field; or if they escaped David: for his flesh saw corruption; nor of any other but the Messias. And although the Rabbins are wont to say, that the worms shall never eat the just, in opposition to the last words of Isaiah; yet they must confess there is no difference in the grave and therefore that worm must signify nothing else but the corruption of the body. Well therefore are those words paraphrased by Didymus: Ἐπ ̓ ἐλπίδι κατεσκήνωσεν ἡ σὰρξ, διὰ τὴν εὐθέως ἐσομένην ἀνάστασιν. To this custom Horace alludes: 'Non hominem occidi. Non pasces in cruce corvos.' Epist. 16. l. i. ver. 48. their voracity, to the longer injury of the air and weather.* A guard was also usually set about them, lest any pitying hand should take the body from the accursed tree, and cover it with earth.+ And Juvenal: ⚫ Vultur, jumento et canibus crucibusque relictis, Ad fœtus properat, partemque cadaveris affert.' So Prudentius: Sat. xiv. 77. -Crux illum tollat in auras, wig ETIQ. Hymn. xi. 65. This punish- Nor Augustus once said: 'Cuidam sepultu- Lucian for that reason, c. 1. but ordinarily they hung so low upon the CROSS, that the ravenous beasts might reach them, as Apuleius describes : Patibuli cruciatum, cum canes et vultures intima protrahunt viscera.' de Aur. Asin. 1. vi. ad fin. So the bodies were often left upon the cross till the sun and rain had putrefied and consumed them. As when the daughter of Polycrates did see her father's face in a dream, to be washed by Jupiter, and to be anointed by the sun, when he hung upon the cross, it was performed. Πολυκράτης δὲ ἀνακρεμάμενος ἐπετέλει πᾶσαν τὴν ὄψιν τῆς θυγατρός· ἐλοῦτο μὲν γὰς ὑπὸ τοῦ Διὸς ὅμως ὅοι, ἐχρίετο δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου, ἀνιεὶς αὐτὸς ἐκ τοῦ σώματος ικμά da. Herod. Thalia, c. 125. Of which Tertullian, de Anim. c. 46. Ut cum Polycrati Samio filia crucem prospicit de Solis unguine et lavacro Jovis.' And which is farther thus expressed by Valerius Maximus: Putres ejus artus, et tabido cruore manantia membra, atque illam lævam, cui Neptunus annulum manu piscatoris restituerat, situ marcidam, Samos lætis oculis aspexit.' l. vi. c. 9. Thus were the bodies of the cruci fied left; ut in sublimi putrescerent. 'At gente in Scythica suffixa cadavera truncis Thus whether by the fowls or beasts, or rentes, ut viderunt laxatam custodiam, detraxere nocte pendentem, supremoque mandaverunt officio.' Satyr. c. 111. Where we see the soldier set for a guard, and the end of that custodia (which the Greek lexicographers do not well confine to the στράτευμα τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ ἐπικείμενον), το keep the body of him which was crucified from being buried by his friends. Thus when Cleomenes was dead, his body was fastened to a cross (another example of the ignominy of this punishment), by the command of Ptolemy ; 'Ο δὲ Πτολεμαῖος, ὡς ἔγνω ταῦτα, προσέταξε, τὸ μὲν σῶμα τοῦ Κλεομένους κρεμάσαι καταβυρσώσαντας. Where ngeμáca is again to be observed |