The body suffered intolerably, and the soul suffered in the body; but not his divinity; he was

put to death in the flesh," but not in his divine person, for that is an uncreated spirit, and hath not flesh and bones as his human body had. The last Adam, the quickening Spirit, the Lord from heaven, could never die; "I live for ever," Deut.

xxxii. 40.

The resurrection of Christ is attributed to all the three persons in the Godhead. He is said to be raised up by the glory of the Father. He is also said to raise himself; "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." "I lay down my life of myself, and I take it again." And by the Spirit it is said to be done; "being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit." In short, he was raised by the Father's appointment, by his commandment, for the glory of his name, and by his joint power, who had received his soul, and now sent it back again to its tabernacle; when the Holy Ghost, through whom he had offered himself to God, now returned with the soul, and quickened the body in the tomb, animated it, and filled it with life; which life the second person in the Godhead took again. But it may be objected, if Christ commended his spirit into his Father's hands, and the Holy Ghost conveyed the soul immediately to the Father, and it went to heaven, how came the Saviour to say to Mary, "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father?" &c. By the same rule it might

be asked what Peter meant, when he said, "For David is not ascended up into heaven, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day." Doubtless David's soul was among the spirits of just men made perfect, though his body was not risen from the tomb. The soul of Moses was seen in glory with Christ on the Mount, though God had buried his body in the country of Moab, where it is to this day. Besides, though the Saviour's soul was offered to God, and was on the same day in Paradise, yet the body had not at that time ascended. Moreover, it was the body, not the soul, that Mary was going to touch. She was going to catch him by the feet, and worship him; but was forbidden, as he had other business for her to do; which was, to tell his brethren of his resurrection. At a more convenient time she might touch him, and handle him too, as he commanded them all to do. "See, and handle me, that it is I myself." Now it was that truth sprung out of the earth, when righteousness, well pleased, looked down from heaven. Now did God give that which is good, for the holy land had yielded her increase. His righteousness goes to heaven before him, and sets us in the way of his steps. Now was the branch of the Lord beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth excellent and comely, for them that are escaped of Israel, Isai. iv. 2. This is the handful of corn upon the tops of the mountains. "The mountains shall bring peace to the people." "And the little hills rejoice on every side." This is the

wave sheaf, and the firstfruits of them that slept; the first that ever was raised to an immortal life, and the first that ever saw the path to eterna. glory in heaven from the tomb. "Thou wilt shew me the path of life; in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore." These endless pleasures at the Father's right hand is the joy that was set before him; for which he endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God, Heb. xii. 2. And here we may clearly see the glorious work of each person in the Trinity. Here is the incarnate Word laying down the life of his humanity; the eternal Spirit, through which he offered himself, attending the soul into the Father's hands, and quickening the body at the soul's return to it; and God the Father accepting the sin offering, and by the blood of the covenant sending the prisoners forth from the pit, as a proof that the price was accepted. But I have run away from the subject; By the Spirit he was quickened,

And by which Spirit he went and preached to the spirits in prison. The spirits in prison, are the souls that are now in hell; the wicked, at their departure from this life, are said to go quick into hell, where they are gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit, or dungeon; and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited, Isai. xxiv. 22. Here they are confined, and after many days they are to be

visited; and this visit will be when death and hell deliver up their dead, and both body and soul appear in judgment, to receive their awful doom, when they will be sent away, body and soul, into everlasting punishment. Their resurrection is a resurrection to damnation. But then why, or to what purpose, should the Saviour preach to these prisoners, seeing the gulf of God's irrevocable decree is fixed, so that none can pass from thence to heaven? and, as for the elect, they are ransomed from the pit, and therefore can never go there. Besides, God declares that those that go down into the pit cannot hope for his truth, Isai. xxxviii. 18. And, if no hope for truth is laid, why should truth be preached to the hopeless? and, as they cannot hope for his truth, it is clear that truth was never preached to them; for Christ, by his Spirit, never preached the gospel to them that are in hell. The imprisoned souls mentioned in the text are what Peter calls the world of the ungodly, that perished by water; and the Spirit of Christ in Noah, who was a preacher of righteousness, preached to them in the antediluvian world, while the ark was preparing, and while the long-suffering of God waited. But Peter says they were disobedient; and God said,

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My Spirit shall not always strive with man, seeing he is flesh." For which disobedience, in resisting and quenching the Spirit of Christ in Noah, their souls, or spirits, are now in the prison of hell; to whom no gospel has ever been preached since

their imprisonment; no, nor ever will be. The grave cannot praise the Lord; death in the abstract cannot celebrate him, Isai. xxxviii. 18. It remains, therefore, that the time when the Spirit of Christ preached to them was while the ark was preparing.

.

Of two natures in Christ. This union took place in the purpose of God from everlasting; and the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, which he was to take on him, called sometimes the fruit of David's body, and the fruit of his loins, and which was the virgin's seed; yea, that individual seed was pitched upon, was chosen of God, and appointed, in his decree, to be united to the Word, even from all eternity. Hence he is called God's elect, in whom his soul delighteth. In that eternal decree he was appointed to assume that chosen seed in the fulness of time, and in that nature he was to be exalted to the high office of King Messiah, and only Mediator. On which account he tells us, respecting his Godhead, which was in the bosom of the Father, "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old." But, with respect to the appointed union, and his exaltation in the human nature to the office of mediatorial King, he speaketh to us on this wise, "I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was." Which must respect the manhood, for the Godhead cannot be higher than it is. Thus the Father viewed him as future man and Mediator; and, as such,