The RejurreElion qf Chriji. 353 Sometimes it is afcribed eo the Son, who by the infinite Power of his Divinity, raifed up hisHumane Nature from the Grave: So. our Saviour himfelf reils us, [ layduwnmyLifeofmJ/tlf: lbti<ut Po?vertolay If down, and I hav e Power to joh.].II• take it up again. The fame may be collected of the Holy Ghofl, from the Words of the Apo!Ue • Ij the Spirit of him that raifed up J •fu; from the Deud dwell in Rom. 8. ou, he that raijeJ up Cbrifl from the Dead, ~a/J 1d[o quic~tn your mortal IJ_o~ies . by u. i;, Spirit. Now if the Stirit of God can qutcken our Bod1es, the ~ame Sptnt alfo can quicken the Body o L.hrifr, fincc it is the fame Spirit chat qutckens boch the Head and the Members. Havin,., lcofeJ the Pains of Death: In fome Copies it is, Hav:ng loo[td t he Pains of HtO • ~hi eh pofiib!y gave Occafion m chat fond Opinion of fome, that Chrift aefcen'ded into Hell, and there underwent the Pains and Penaldes of that infer~al Place as full 5atisfad:ion to the Juftice of God; and that thefe were the Patns God ;aifed or loofed him from in his Re{urreflion. But this Conceit is erroneous and extravagant, and defcrves no ferioui Confutarion, efpecially beca~fe it plainly con'traditls Chrift's Ctn{ummatum efl upon the Crofs; for when Chnft had undergone his 5ufferings on the CrofS, he taid, It is fini{hed, and f og av e up thr: 6hoff. joh.IS. 11 . If Chrift therefore did undergo any farther Sufferings and Pains than thofe Suffering:s he underwent on th7 Crofs, thofe Sufferings woul.d have been fo far from being compleated and fimfhed, that they would have been but the PraluJium and Beginning of his Sorrows. Having lor;fed the Pains of Dtt~ th, it implies no O:ore but that God raifedjefus Chrififrom Death, which, after many dolorous Pains, he fuffered. It follows, It was not po.ffible he Jhould be holden of it. This i!i that I intend principally to infift upon; and here I ihal! ihew upon what Accounts it was altogetherimpoffible forChrillto be detained under the Power of Death · and my Arguments for the Proof hereof are thefe that follow. Frfl, It was impoffible Chrifi ihould be held underthe Power of J)eath,becaufe R•.f'"' of that great and ineftable My fiery of theHypoftatical Union of the Divine and ~by cm-;p Humane Nature in the Perfon of Chrifi. There are three Uniuns, the Belief of ti~d n~;"' which are the Foundation of the greateft part of the Chriflian Religion, which are ;ZeP:;e:( wholly beyond the reach of Reafon: The My{tical Union, of a Believer unto Dt• :h. Chrift : The Uni cn, or rather Unity of the three Glorious Perfons, the Father, l the Son, and the Ho/1 Ghoff, in one Nature; and this HypojlaticaJ Union of two B,:c-ai{to/ Natures in one Perfon, in the Mediator. It is a Myftery Angels pry into, and ft;ric•!J;;.. adore, with Wonder and Aftoniihment, how the Eternal, only be!]Otten Son oi nim. God ihould affume Fleih to himfelf, in fo clofe and intimate a ConJun<tion,that though he be Eternal, yet he ihould be born ; though he be immortal, yet he ihouldtruly die; and though he were truly dead,yet he ihould raife himfelf to Life again. Thefe are things that feem very inconfiftent one with another, yet they truly come to pafs through this miraculous Union, which tranfcends the Reach of Rea [on, as far as thefe t~ings do that of Nature. That the fame Perfon that is 'Eternal, ihould be youn~; yea,be born in the fulnefs of Time : That the fame Perfon that ·hath Immof!ality and Life dwelling in himfelf, !hould alfo die a lhameful and accurfed ,Death. That the fame Perfon that was truly and rea lly dead, yet had a Pow;r to quicken and recover himfelf, ]•hn ro. r 8. And this was i~ which declllreJ hi"?_ to be the Son of God with P(J?J)er, as the Apojllt fpeaks, even Rom 1 . b his RejurrefliiJn fr6111 tht Dead. And indeed, if he had not rifen from the · ·+ Dead, the Deity would havefuffered in the Opinion of the World; nor would they have believed him to be the Son ofGod, who would fuffer himfelf to lye under the Dominion of Death, longer than the End of his Death required it : And this I ihall demonftrate to you by two Arguments ; only premifing this, which is a common and true Maxim among Divines; That when tht Natura/Union 6tnvetn Chrifl's Botly tmJ Sotd was dij]OJveJ, yet both Soul and Body did retain the Hjpoftatical Union to tht Divine NlltNrt. The Djvine Naturt Wlls united to the BDJy of Cbrifl, when ,the Soul was {eparated from it. ; l If Chrifl: could not have raifed himfelf, it mufl: haTe been either from a Wane of Power,or from a Want ofWill to do it. He could not want Power to raife himfelf, becaufe he was God, equal in Power,and in all other Divine Attributes with the Father. As ~he Refurr~Elion of the Dead is not impoffible to the infinit~ Power of God, fo netther can tt be that that God who had a Will to affume our Fleih, ihould want a Will to 'raife it up : That that God who fo lov'd the Humane ' .. - Z zz Nature,
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