M~x u.r d u-~ ~x.pira11it ip[! JtcuntfHm m.i– u•am ad it!f~·r· nor fit{c ndit, Gulid Pa1ff. cup. 11 {tcur.– dlim tnnbmn. gatory be Paradife it felf, there is no fuch thing at all. Some there arc, that rath~. than fay nothing, fpeak thus: Ch;ift g•vmg "P theghoft, his foul defnndcd into heU,an;j the very fame day lVIlS thu MaltfaCrr,r parta~r flf Chrifts beatifica! v,tjion, rvith the othtr Patrianhs in Li111beu. But ?f howgreat difference is Paradife and Limbm, we fll~ll hear another time : futc 1t IS, Chnft prom1fed not a Dungeon in flead of a Kingdon'.c nor is Par~d,fe a place of pleafure, of any fuch imaginary melancholy nature: we con: elude then, 7'o dayJhalt thou be wuh me tn Paradife,]it is all one, as to fav To day (tl day of death) thou Jl:alt be with me in Heaven, and there enjoy me' in my Kiri~ dom. · But again, you may objcel:, That Chrill: rather th~t day defcended into hell, than af– cended into heaven: The Creed teacheth, that after he was crucified, dead, and bn~ ried, be dejcwded into hell. To anfwcr the objection, fome go about thus? by hell ( fay they) is meant Paradi[e where the foul of Chnft was all the tune that h1s body lay mthe grave: If this be not a.mifconflruclio.n, Iam fure it is n? literal Expofition ; and methinks a very ftrange k1nd of figure 1t IS, to exprefs E::hnfts afcent wto Parad1[e by h1s dffcent into hell, O– thers more probably underflancl Chrifis abode in the gr<ve for the fpace of three dayes· A•t· Epifl. 57 ./luftinafter fome turns and wrenches coucludcth thus: Eft antem fenjiu mnltuo exped1~ ttor, 6·c. It iJ afarre eajier fenfe, andfreer from all ambiguity, if we tak! Chri(f to[peak thefe words, Thu dayjiMit thou be Wtth me m Paradife] not of hu Manhood,but of hi; God– head;for the man Chrijf was that day in the~r•weaccording to thejlejl>,and in hella; touc/,. ~;;~~:on t!te ';[//:rtfi~' aft:' :~d{~;t:ej:;tth:y~~~:e 11 t~~;';g:~~~~i;~'The(e~~~rsd~C/ayB~~:~;s ~:~ be undcrftood of his Manhood, not his Godhead: and why fo? For tht)'are an anfiwrun– to a demand, and unto it they mttjl be fuitable ·' Now the Thief (feeing that Clmjt tvas ftrfl ofall crucified, and therefore in aft likelihoodfoculd Jirft of all dee) n~akfs his requeft to tht! ejftCf; Lord, thouJhalt j11ort ly enter into ,thy Kingdome, remember me rhen : to which Chnjls anfwcr (as the very words implirt) is thwmmh; 1Jludl enur into Paradi[e thM day, "nd thereJl~alt thou be with me: but the Godhead, whi<·h u at all times in all pldcet, w:– not be {aid properly to enter into aplace:~ 11nd therefore not into Parndife. Again, Jrhm Chrift faith, Thou ]halt be with me in Paradife] he dMh intimate a refcmblance bmveen the firft and fecond Adam : the firft Adam finned againft God, and IMJ prefently rajl out of Pt!lradife : the fecund hauing made afati.if'!Cl-ion for fmne,muft prl'(ently e?!ter into paradife, Now there is no entrance bm in regard ofthe fonl, or manhood, and thr:rtfr,re to apply it to th' Godhe4d, IV<re to ~bolif/, this analat)' betwixt the jirft andfccond Ad•m. Thefc reafons arc weighty; but lhould we fay with Augnftin, That Chrill: in his foul went down into hell, one ofour \Vorthies can tell us, that ChriflJ foul, united to his R Clcl k D. in Godh~ad, might do a!lth~<t, andyet be that day in Par,,d,fc: God wolf~! notla:uiy lil:,e man, D Set m. Satem l"OHld jhew Chrift all the Kingdomes of the rvorld in the rrvinkjin$ ofat; eye, and Gods expedition exaeds his. ·To this agrees another, that we have no 1varrnnt in Godr Word, fo to faftcn ChriftsJ(}ul into hell for all the time (}fhis dMth > but t!Jtu it might be in Para· B. Bil[r n, 1. dife b1fore it dcfccnded into hell. That he was in Paradife mull be r.eceived, becaufe of ,IJ, po• er of himfelf doth affirm it; and that he defcendedmto the dup mufl be received alfo; for the H,U de}lrwd, Apoftle cloth avouch it; but how he defccnded, or what time he de'cended, a£ alfo fol 2 '9· what manner of triumph he brought thence, connot be limited by any mortal man. To Rom. 10 ' 7 ' conclude, I wiU not deny, but that according to the Creed, he defccnded into Hell, yet howfoever we expound it, Metaphorically. or litctally, it hinders not this truth, but that immediately after death his foul went mto Parad1fc. fhil a g, The ObjcClions thus folvcd, now come we to the Thief thus comforted by Chrifl, To driJ] thou ]halt be~vith me in Paradi[e. What? To day? without all doubts or ddays? here is~ bleffed difpatch if we either confider the mifery indured, or the joy to be recc~vcd. . Firfl, inregardofhismiferieJ, he was a Th1cf condemne? and cructficd: we read of four kindes of deaths in ufe amongll: the ]e1~·es: /lrangltng, ftonmg, fire, and the fword:thc Croffe was a death whether for the pain,thc lharnc, the cu1 fe,farrc above all other: we may it fee in,that gradation ofthe Apoll:lc,Hebfcrom·•bedtemtodearh,even ~o the death of the Crojfe, Phi!. 2,8. What En&m~ of tonure was that? tt fpms om1p~m,tt llowcs his death, yet a little and a Lttlc, t1ll1t be more than any ma~ can thtnK. fc~ his hands bored, his feet nailed, hi• legs brd::n, cver·y part full of pam from. top to toe, and thus hanos this Thief the 11oyz of his body every moment incrcafing h1s paw, an~ b > r ~
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