A30167:408
Light for them that sit in darkness, or, A discourse of Jesus Christ, and…
Light for them that sit in darkness, or, A discourse of Jesus Christ, and that he undertook to accomplish by himself the eternal redemption of sinners also, that the Lord Jesus addressed himself to this work, with undeniable demonstrations that he performed the same : objections to the contrary answered / by John Bunyan.
London: printed for Francis Smith, 1675
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
What, I say, should be the Reason, but that death assaulted him with his Sting. If Jesus Christ had been to die for his Virtues only, doubtless he would have born it lightly, and so he did as he died, bearing witness to the Truth, He endured the Cross, and despised the Shame, Heb. 12. 1, 2, How have the Martyrs despised death, and as it were, not been careful of that, having peace with God by Jesus Christ, scorning the most Cruel Torments that Hell and Men could devise and invent; but Jesus Christ could not do so, as he was a Sacrifice for sin, he died for sin, he was made a Curse for us. O my Brethren, Christ died many deaths at once, he made his Grave with the Wicked, and with the Rich in his Deaths. Look how many thousands shall be saved, so many deaths did Jesus die; yet it was but once he died. He died thy death, and my death, and so many deaths as all our Sins deserved, who shall be saved from the Wrath to come.
What, I say, should be the Reason, but that death assaulted him with his Sting. If Jesus Christ had been to die for his Vertues only, doubtless he would have born it lightly, and so he did as he died, bearing witness to the Truth, He endured the Cross, and despised the Shame, Heb. 12. 1, 2, How have the Martyrs despised death, and as it were, not been careful of that, having peace with God by Jesus Christ, scorning the most Cruel Torments that Hell and Men could devise and invent; but Jesus Christ could not do so, as he was a Sacrifice for sin, he died for sin, he was made a Curse for us. O my Brethren, Christ died many deaths at once, he made his Grave with the Wicked, and with the Rich in his Deaths. Look how many thousands shall be saved, so many deaths did Jesus die; yet it was but once he died. He died thy death, and my death, and so many deaths as all our Sins deserved, who shall be saved from the Wrath to come.
Now to feign that these Sorrows, and this Bloody Agony was not real, but in show only; What greater Condemnation can be passed upon Jesus Christ, who loved to do all things in the most feigned Simplicity? It was therefore because of sin; the Sin that was put into the Death he died, and the Curse of God that was due to Sin; That, That made death so bitter to Jesus