may no longer rule over us, and that we may offer up ourfelves to him a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving.”

The 44th Question of the HEIDELBERG CATECHISM.

Q. WHY is added, That he defcended into Hell? A. "That I may be ftrengthened under my

"greatest Tryals and Temptations, and reap intire "Comfort in the Confideration, that my Lord Jefus Chrift by the inexpreffible Agonies, Pains, Terrors

and Sorrows, into which he was plunged during his "whole Paffion, but especially when he was cruci"fied, delivered me from the Agonies and Torments" of Hell."

Q. What do you learn out of thefe Questions?

A. How Chrift has fuffered for poor Sinners; how he has been crucified, buried, defcended into Hell, i.e. how he hath fuffered under the inexpreffible. Agonies, Pains and Terrors of Hell; and allo, how he has obeyed his Father, to the End, that by his Sufferings as a Propitiatory Sacrifice, he might redeem our Bodies and Souls from eternal Damnation,

Q. What are the States and Condition of our Redeemer ?

A. They are two-fold; namely, his State of Hu miliation, and his State of Exaltation, Phil. ii. 8. And being formed and fafbioned as a Man, he humbled bimfelf, and became obedient unto Death, even the Death of the Crofs; wherefore God hath highly exalted him, and given him a Name above every Name.

Q. What belongs to the State of Humiliation? A. 1, That he has been crucified 2dly, Died.. 3dly, Buried And 4thly, Defcended into Hell. Q. How many Times has he fuffered?

A. He was in a State of fuffering during all the Time he lived upon the Earth, from the Time he was born, cipecially in his Death, 1 Pet. iii. 18. For

Chrift

·Chrift hath once fuffered for Sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.

Q. Should not the leaft fuffering of Christ, yea, a Drop of Blood, have been enough to fave us?

A. No, he muft undergo Death itself; 1, Because the Juftification of God requires Death, Rom. i. 32. and Rom. vi. 23. The Wages of Sin are Death. 2dly, That the Truth of God fhould appear, who has predicted his Death, Ifa. liii. 8. How he was cut off out of the Land of the Living, and therefore he is crucified and flain, Acts ii. 23.

Q. Why did he suffer under the Judge Pontius

Pilate.

A. To fhew by that, that he was the true Meffias, who must suffer when the Sceptre was departed from Judah, Gen. xlix. 10. The Jews being then under the Government of the Romans, their Conquerors. QWhy must be be crucified?

A. Because the Death of the Crofs was curfed by God, Deut. xxi. 23. For he that is hanged is accurfed of God. And Gal. iii. 13. Chrift hath redeemed us from the Curfe of the Law, being made a Curfe for us; for it is written, curfed is every one who hangeth on sa tree; as it was neceflary the Nature which hath finned, fhould fuffer that Curfe.

Q. In what Nature must be fuffer?

A. Only in his human Nature, both in Body and Mind.

Q. How can you prove it, that Chrift bath only fuffered in his human Nature?

A. It is teftified by the holy Scripture, 1 Pet. iii. 18. Being put to Death in the Flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. And also, 1 Pet. iv. 1. Chrift hath fuffered in the Flifb.

Q. Hath he alfo fuffered in his Mind?

A. Yes; this was foretold, Ifa. liii. 10. When thou fall make his Saul on Offering for Sin; he shall fee his Seed. Alfo, Verfe 11, And which is fulfilled, Matt.

xxvi. 38, Then faid he unto them, My Soul is exceeding forrowful unto Death.

Q. What hath be fuffered in his Body?

A. Various Pains and Sorrows, fuch as whipping Strokes, Wounds, and at laft the Death of the Crofs, Ifa. liii. 3.

Q. How acted his Godhead in this?

A. By the Power of his Divinity only was he able to bear the great Weight of the Wrath of God in his human Nature, and to be delivered from the fafne. Q. Did not his Godhead fuffer?

A. By no Means; his Godhead could not fuffer, which is immutable and all-powerful, always, remaining the Bleed and only Potentate, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, 1 Tim. vi. 15. His Godnead fupported him to bear the Wrath of God, fanctifying his Sufferings by the infinite Digni with which he bore them, fo as to be thereby a fufficient Ransom for our Redemption, Acts xx. 28. God has purchafed his Church with his own Blood.

-Q. For whom bath Chrift fuffered?

A. The Catechift alledgeth, that he hath borne the Wrath of God for the Sins of all Mankind.

Q. Doth the Catechift mean hereby, that he hath borne the Wrath of God for every individual?

A. No. But that he hath borne the Wrath of God for the fame Sins to which, by the Fall of Adam, all Mankind are fubject; not that he has fuffered for every individual, but for the Elect only, out of all Mankind, as we fee by John vi. 38. Matt. i. 21. John xvii. 9. John x. 27, 28. Acts xx. 28, &c. And as already is demonftrated in the 20th Question; befides, Experience teacheth us, that not every one is delivered from the Wrath of God, or fanctified or converted as the End of Chrift's Death in redeeming his People, John xvii. and Eph. v. And St. Paul teftifies, that he for whom he is made Redemption and Juftification, for them alfo is he made Sanctification, 1 Cor. i. 30.

And

And fince it evidently appears, that fuch Operations, as the End of Chrift's Suffering, are not to be feen. in every one, confequently it muft follow, that Chrift has not borne the Wrath of God for all Mankind.. Further, if we fhould be of that Opinion, certainly it muft follow, that Chrift has fhed his Blood in vain, because every one is not juftified and fanctified; and it would be the greatest Abfurdity to affert fo, because his Ranfom is too precious to be paid for one only Soul in vain.

How do you apprehend then the Scripture Paffage, by which our Adverfaries defend that Chrift has died for all?

A. The Word, All, is taken fometimes for one limited Generality of the Elect, to which the Get nerality of the Reprobates is opposed, Rom. v. 18. 2. Cor. v. 14. Sometimes it fignifies as much as all Sorts of Men, Jews and Heathen, Tit. ii. 11. Even also the Word, World, is of the fame Signification, John i. 29. 1 John ii. 2.

Q. But must not every one believe that Chrift has died for him?

A. No. Faith is a Duty required of us in the Covenant of Grace, and fuppofed an internal Calling and Converfion by the Spirit of God; which Faith therefore cannot be in the wicked and ungodly Per fons, as long as they continue in their Sins, and at leaft in fuch who never have heard of Chrift.

Q. Is it the Wrath of God alone which Chrift hath borne for his Elect?

A. No. He hath been alfo obedient to the Law: of God, coming as well to minifter, as to give his Life a Ranfom for many, Matt. xx. 28.

Q. Why hath Chrift fuffered fo much, and demeaned himself unto perfect Obedience to the Law of God?

A. To redeem his People from all temporal and eternal Punishment; and to acquire for us the Grace of God, Juftification, Sanctification, and a blessed Immortality. Q: What

Q. What is the meaning of Chrifl's having defcended into Hell?

A. By this are meant not only the inexpreffible Agonies, Pains, Terrors and Sorrows, into which he was plunged during his whole Paffion, especially when he was crucified; but also his fubmitting to the State of Death, of which Solomon speaks, Eat xii. 7. His Body being buried, and his Soul being departed from his Body, returning to God, until his Juftification was declared by his Refurrection from the Dead.

Q. Why do you call those Sufferings, a defcending into Hell?

A. 1ft, Because we find them revealed to us by those Expreffions in the holy Scripture, Pf. xviii. 5. The Sorrows of Hell encompaffed me. And Pf. cxvi. 3. The Pains of Hell got hold upon me. He having experienced an Extract, as it were, of the torrid Wrath of God, wherein the Mifery of Hell confifts.

Q. Did the Body of Chrift remain upon the Cross?" A. No; it was begged of Pilate, by one of his Difciples, and committed to the Earth, Matt. xxvii. John xix.

Q. Why was he buried?

A. To fhew thereby that he was really dead. Q. What Benefits do we receive by the Sacrifice of Jefus Chrift, and by bis Death on the Crofs?

A. Unto this the Catechift has anfwered; Queftion 43, and fignified, That by the Sacrifice of Chrift, the Bonds of Sin are broken, our Sanctification made perfect; or Righteousness is given us, by Virtue of which, we may have free and welcome Accefs to God; the Merit of which we may plead for obtaining all the Bleffings of Time and Eternity; and that by his Sufferings we have an Example how our outward Man, i. e. our corrupt Nature, must be crucified, die, and be buried, that our carnal Appetites may no longer rule over us, 1 Pet. iv. 1, 2. Rom. vi. 6. But that we give ourselves to him as a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving, Rom. xii. 1. Q. But