- ---- 374 An Expofition of tbe Epiftle ~~~------------------- ------------- ~ but it was not po!lible; there w2s fo mighty a power came for to have his MittiSermo?l mU!, that though they put forth all the power they could, yet it was not pollible XXVIII. they {hould hold him. ~ - Now to open the words a little unto yo~, I will give you what I think to be the fenfe of the place. The difficulty of raifing up of Chrift lieth in thefe words, that firft, the paws of 'Death were to be loofed. They are ,;Jl·,.,, as Beza and O thers, and I find that Zrmchy ran the fame way; the meaning of t hem is this, God raifed him 11p (fay .they) beillj!, loofed; it is not the pains of Death beingloofed, but l11m being loofed; Solt<JU! doloribUI mortis, tor Solt~tis dolo-_ •·zbzu mortis; he afcribeth that to the pains of death which properly belongeth to Chri(t; he was fr~ed from the pains of death, and then God raifed him up. As in the Gofpcl it is faid, Hu Leprojie wa< clermfed, that is not a proper fpeech l but he was cleanf<:d of his Leprofie: fo here, having loafed the pai11s of death, that is, he was loofed from the pains of deaeh, he had fcattered, he had dillip>ted all the pains of death , and then he was loofed, and he wa~: raifed. Now what is meant by the pai11s of 'Dtath here l Let us examine that :1 little, for if you mark it, the difficulty of his RefurreCl:ion lies in the pains of Death. After Chri(t was in the Grave (confider what I fay) there were no pains of death that held him, he had no pains in the Grave after he was dead. What Pains are they then that are ·here called the Pai11S of 'Death, which he was freed from,. and then God raifed him up, upon which he putteth the difficulty of his R.efurrcCl:ion ? The word in the Greek, ,:Ji~..,, it is the Birth·throws of 'Death. Then of J(aiah 11. interpreth it well, He jba!J (ee (faith he) of tbe travel of his So11l. They were the Birth·throws which his Soul bad, which he mu(t be loofed from and overcome before he is capable to be raifed up by God. It is not an ordinary death he is to undergo, or ordinary Sorrows of death that hinder his R.efur– reCl:ion, but there are the Birth· throws of death to be overcome. What are thofe Birth-throws of Death? The Travel of hi& Soul. All our ji11s met it~ him, mzd the cbafti{eme11t of our Peace WM t1po11 him, as you have it in the fifth andjixth Verfes of the fame nof Ijaiah. All thofepangsthat were in his Soul, they tended to death, they would have carried his Soul to Hell , kept him for ever rifing again, he had never come to Glory; there– fore they are called the Paitu of 'Death, held him: yea, they would have held his Soul, had he not been God; had not God upheld him, they would have carried his Soul inUaotly away, and held him from ever being capable of rifmg up again. Therefore before he be capable of being raifed, he mull: be freed from thefe P aitzs of' 'Death; therein lieth the difficulty of his Re· furreClion. They are called the Sorrows of .'DeJth too, not only of the fir!l: death, but of the fecond. I do not fay, he died the Second death, the Scripture cloth not fay fo: But that the So>'YOWS of the Second death took hold upon him, and · upon his Soul, to me it is a certain truth. My Sotll, faith he, (he points to what was it) i& heavy unto death; he doth not fay, My Soul dieth, but it is heavy tmto the d•ath; it was at the point of death, when our fins and the wrath of God came in upon him. Tn Jjai.)l· yo\J have his '1Jeaths mentioned (look into your Margents,) not 'Deathonly, but 'Deaths; and in Heb.2-4- it is fa id, Ht tafled of drath; what Death? It •PI'eareth by the following Verfes, that 'Deatbwhich the Devil ha1h power of; he taUed of 1t, but he was not overcome by it, that is the Seeond death. It is that Death which men are afraid of all their life long, which the .7ews were afraid of; Read the g, r3, and r )lh Vcrfes of that [eco11d to the Hebrews, and that was the Second death ; Now
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