Psalm 51.5 it will not be altogether lost labour to consider whether that Text will not admit of another genuine reading besides that which our Translators render The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here rendred I was fashioned may as well be turned I have been afraid sore troubled grieved c. And so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In sin hath my mother conceived me may be read In sin hath my mother warmed me or Calefacta est mater de me my mother hath been warmed heated by me so Pagnin My mother hath brought me forth with sorrow and pain Cum dolere parturiit me mater so Symmachus and Aquila two of the ancientest Translators as Theodoret cites them So thaet the Text with the Context may admit this Paraphrastical reading i. e. Against thee thee only have I not my mother but I sinned taking all the shame and guilt upon himself not charging his Mother with the cause of his sin against Uriah and his Wife And now behold in by or for this iniquity viz. the sin of evil concupiscence as the Chaldee cals it the Original of his Actual sin I am exceedingly afflicted and very much grieved My Mother indeed brought me forth with sorrowfull labour and painfull Travel Gen. 3.16 for she hath sinned against thee and she perhaps being in sin conceived me But her sin was not the cause of my Adultery and Murther that was my own Act nor did her sin make me guilty for the child shall not bear the iniquity of the Father but when I had lusted I sinned and when I had committed the sin I became liable to the condemnation of death My father and mother are not to be blamed To this purpose Anselmus reasoneth the case If Adam saith he could not traduce or convey over his original Righteousness to his posterity neither could be transmit his original unrighteousness but he could not the one nor the other But this may seem to contradict what was said of Adams begetting Seth. Therefore I say that it is not in the Will and at the pleasure of man to beget Children which shall prove either good or bad however a good or a bad man may beget such as may be good or evil And they are good either as they continue as God made them or else by returning again into that state by Repentance and Faith in Christ or they are bad by consenting unto the motions aâ—d temptations of sin and Satan So Cain was not evil as he came out of Gods hands but as he was born and became a child of the devil That heat wherewith David warmed his mother as Pagnin reads it was not any sin of him in her womb for there the child doth not defile the mother but as they say the mother the child But his mother might well be troubled to see her son commit such hainous sins as Adultery and Murder and say as another doth Prov. 31.1,2,3,4 5. What my son the son of my womb Give not thy strength unto women c. It is not for thee O David my son it is not for thee to commit such wickedness against the Lord who hath saved thee from the Lion the Bear and the uncircumcised Philistin and hath made thee King over Israel it is not for thee so to requite thy God it doth not become thee I am sorry to hear such things of thee So that David might justly complain against himself and say Against thee only have I even I sinned and done this evil in thy fight for which I am now so greatly perplexed and for which my mother is incensed and so highly displeased with me What violence is offered to this Text and Context or to the general scope of the whole Scripture by this manner of reading I do not yet understand This might further be insisted upon but that I am not about a Treatise but a Preface I do not peremtorily and arrogantly impose these things but meekly offer them to the consideration of those who are more learned and illuminate if happily the Truth aud glory of God by this occasion may be brought more to light I know I have trod besides the beaten road but if curiosity and singularity rather then simplicity and integrity were my guides I should not adventure any further 7. Wherefore I rather take that place of the Prophet Ezek. 16. to signifie and demonstrate the corrupt fallen and sinfull state of man into which he is begotten by the deceitfull and destructive spirit after he hath received the natural life from his Parents Not denying but that literally and historically it holds forth the Idolatrous state into which Judah and Jerusalem were then degenerated Canaan signifieth Humility or a Merchant And this spiritual sense seems to be most aimed at by the Allegory For there is a time when we all wander into the land of Canaan when we are seduced by a voluntary shew of Humility Col. 2.18 to become Merchants for Heaven by our chosen Righteousness and legal works are rather Factors for Satan selling our selves to iniquity and sin for naught and parting with our precious souls for no money In this Cananitish Countrey we find ten native lusts answerable to the number of the Inbabitants in Canaan Gen. 15.19,20,21 standing in opposition to the ten Precepts and seed of God These disobedient properties are begotten by that Amorite the vain Talker great Pratler cruel Rebel that Father of lyes the Devil who was a lyar from the beginning who by his sleights and cunning craftiness fair speeches and subtile delusions lay in wait to beguil our first parents and cheat them of the pearl of their innocency being now an Amoritish father unto them begetting them into the disobedience and rebellion of his own nature having been himself a cursed Rebel before To this Amoritish father the Hittite our whorish heart the true Hittite being broken asunder from God joyneth and becomes a mother is bring forth the sinfull brood Lust when it hath conceived bringeth forth sin and when it is finished bringeth forth death James 1.15 And thus we come to be denominated sinners and Children of wrath And so neither do I deny original sin but grant there is a time for sin to have its original and beginning in us as it had in Adam 8. Thus we have found out mans sickness what it is how he catcheth it and is infected with it His Remedy and Recovery is there also described I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness yea I sware unto thee and entred into Covenant with thee saith the Lord God and thou becamest mine verse 8. The skirt wherewith God covereth us before he entreth into Covenant with us is the death of Christ the blood of the everlasting Covenant as will appear anon when the signification of the skirt shall be explained I have yet further to shew you that all our freedom from sin is by the death and blood of Christ whether we consider sin First In respect
be but a man would not be troubled to behold this miserable condition of Christ whereas godly men can hardly hold from weeping when they see deserved punishment inflicted upon others But Jesus takes no notice of the raging multitude but knowing who are his he turneth himself to the women who did both love and lament him and forbids them to weep Not that it was evil to lament so great suffering and such wrong that was done to Jesus but because it was not comely to bewail and weep for him as they use to do for others that are justly punished Daughters of Jerusalem faith he ye need not weep for me who am now finishing this my sad progress For I do not suffer these things for my own faults yea this my going away though you know it not shall bring joy and great good to all the world Mourning doth not sa it with Triumph nor doth sorrow become Victory But if ye are resolved to lament do it for your selves and for your children although ye go not or be not with me in this progress For I would have ye know that in this very place I foretell you of such sad dismall and dangerous times which are coming that all as well men as women as well yong men as old both rich and poor shall come into such great streights that they shall wish they had never been born Happy saith he shall that woman be who hath neither sons nor daughters for whom she must suffer so great sorrow Yea so great shall be the perplexity and distress that you will wish your selves under ground and to be hid in the close caverns of the Mountains and clefts of the Rocks where none might see or find you out For whatsoever shall be seen or found shall not escape death no though it had a thousand heads O therefore ye Citizens of this bloody City consider of what I say and weep and wail for those things that shall come upon you For if they do these things in the green tree what shall be done in the dry tree He calleth himself his Elect the green Tree but the dry Tree signifieth sinners and wicked If I saith he who have committed no sin who am justly called the Tree of life because I bring forth the fruits of Grace all the twelve moneths Rev. 22. If I leave not the world without passing thorow the fire of my Passion what torment do you think they shall have who are not only barren themselves but are so bold and so bad as to set on fire and burn down the very Tree of life it self If this be the time that Judgement begin at the house of God and all they that live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution 2 Tim. 3. What shall be the end of those that obey not the Gospel of God 1 Pet. 4. But you will ask Whereto tendeth that terrible Prophesie of Christ Mat. 24. I answer It hath respect to the war of the Jews that is unto the great misery and desolation the like whereof was never read of or seen before which after fourty years did totally ruine the Jews even that notable and destructive war of the Romans against the Jews under the Emperors Vespasian and Titus which War neither Josephus nor Egesippus were able fully to describe This distress and utter ruine of the Jews Christ foretold not only here but elsewhere Luke 19. 21. And if Titus in his rage smote the Jews with such fear and lamentation with what terrour shall Christ who is the Judge of the quick and of the dead smite all Nations when he is angry who shall judge righteously as he was unrighteously judged Christ then is that green and fruitfull Tree spoken of Psalm 1. 52. For what was better and more fruitfull then he The Jews on the contrary were the dry and barren Tree Mat. 3. Luke 13. Men will not suddenly out down young and flourishing Trees especially if they be fruitfull but if such be hewen down wo to the barren fruitless old dry Trees And if the Roman souldiers dealt so cruelly with innocent Christ it may easily be concluded how miserably the wicked and sinfull Jews were to be destroyed Thus the Word of Christ is made good and effectually fulfilled Whence we learn 1. To lament and bewail our selves in and over Christ We should not weep for Christ but for our own sins which were so great that they caused Christ who was and is the Son of God to be put to death And if the Son of God was so cruelly punished for other mens sins what should we have endured for our own sins The days will come indeed when sinners shall wish that they had never been born c. Let us therefore lament us of our sins here The Passion of Christ doth certainly denounce this misery against us before hand except we convert and turn to him and so escape and be delivered by vertue of his sufferings 2. We are here taught that the present evils of this life which are but for a moment ought not to be any cause of our mourning or heaviness but that we should rather weep in consideration of future and eternal misery These are they that should be feared and bewailed Christ did deplore the misery of others upon the Cross and put them in mind of the Judgement to come who did not only refuse but persecute the Grace of God which was then offered them that thereby they might be terrified from sin It follows And there were also two other Malefactors led with him to be put to death Luke 23.32 And they bring him unto the place which in Hebrew is called Golgatha that is being interpreted the place of a Skull Mar. 15.22 John 19.17 And they gave him Vineger to drink mingled with gall Mat. 27.34 They gave him Wine mingled with Myrrh Mar. 15.23 And when he had tasted thereof he would not drink Mat. ibid. And they crucified him and with him two theeves one on the right hand and another on the left and Jesus in the midst Mat. 27.38 John 19.18 And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith And he was numbred with the transgressors Mar. 15.28 Dearest Brethren we are almost now come with our Lord Christ unto the very place where he was willing to die a most bitter death for all sinners and have followed hard after him treading in every step that he trode yet have we not gone without grief for our sins which were the cause of all this suffering to Christ inasmuch as it was not he but we that deserved the death The place where Christ suffered is exactly described by the Evangelists that all men might not doubt but give the more credit to the truth of the History Now that place in the Hebrew was called Gulgoleth or in the Chaldee Golgoltha which signifieth something that is round as is the head of a man or the Skull Brain-pan or Shell of the head And that place was so
in the letter and in the Law the Scribes Pharisees and Lawyers who forsook the royal Law of Love and Obedience yet were literally zealous it was by these that Christ suffered and still doth suffer There are that are called Jews and yet are of the very Synagogue of Satan Thus the Law without the spirit of life is a dead and killing letter a Ministration of Condemnation If the spiritual Jacob be not with us at Dothan we shall plot and contrive our dearest brother Joseph's death 13. But here 2 Kin. 6. we have Elisha conversing in Dothan with the sons of the Prophets who being inflamed with his presence importune him for greater inlargement Doubtless there is a time when our true Elisha Christ Jesus walketh with his Children in low legal literal and fleshly Ministrations nurseth them up with milk like babes and alloweth them Tutors and Governors in their Non age Only let us beware that we do not with the Scribes and Pharises stick to the empty letter that we ramble not to Dothan when neither old Jacob our father nor Elisha our Prophet is there let us not run after the servant when he is cast out of doors nor hearken to Moses when Christ is come for then though we make our boast of the Law yet shall we dishonour God by breaking it Rom. 2. Now we shall know if Christ be yet with us under the Law if so our hearts will be inflamed and long for greater inlargement and complain of our present straitnings whereas a meer literal and formal Christian loves his ease is content to stand at a stay will not indure to hear of removing farther then he hath already attained cries out against all notions more spiritual then his own as Delusions Dreams Enthusiasms c. But the true sons of the spiritual Prophet are still groaning after the manifestation and glorious freedom of the sons of God Rom. 8. And therefore they are ever crying out My father my father O Christ O Lord Jesus thou everlasting father I am straitned inlarge my heart that I may run the ways of thy Commandments I am straitned where I now am make room give place that I may dwell in the everlasting habitations Isa 49.20 I am content to break thorow death to come to those Mansions I am weary of this Tabernacle remove my Tent uncloth me that I may be clothed and let mortality be swallowed up of life Go with me to Jordan baptize me in that river how am I straitned till it be accomplished Mortifie the sinfull lusts and affections of my flesh crucifie my old man day by day rend his vail of flesh that with open face I may behold thy glory be changed into the same image and come to the spirits of just men made perfect and to the Spirit of the Lord where is liberty and perfect freeedom 2 Cor 3.17,18 Heb. 12.23 14. This is the nature and property of them that are taught of God and have learned and obeyed the truth as it is in Jesus But then there are some even among these Children of the Prophets the true Professors of Godliness who go along for a while undiscerned like Cain Judas the man at the marriage-feast and this man here among the sons of the Prophets they make a great shew and bustle about Religion a great stir and noyse there is about Christ crucified and subduing of their lusts they hack and hew at the tree and talk much of mortification but before they can effect it the Axflies from the helve their gifts and parts fail them and the work is at a stand And why Surely their gifts were borrowed and did not flow from their obedience to Christ and experience of his Doctrine but they pickt a notion from one a sentence from another they laid a great many good words in the memory and these they made use of in the self-will and wisdom in the lust of the flesh the pride of life vain-glory and ostentation seeming to be wise but knowing nothing as they ought to know patching up a self-conceited Righteousness thereby deluding their own souls And then they will be made to acknowledge and say Alas Lord they were borrowed Now there is no remedy for such till these fall off from a mans self and fall into Jordan the river of Judgement and Condemnation till a man deny himself and sell or lose all that he hath then the true Elisha makes the Iron to swim that he may go and finish his work Thus he that loseth his life shall save it and he that parteth with House Land Goods Father Friends Gifts Parts Indowments c. shall receive them again in this life an hundred fold Happy are they whose loss is their gain But fourthly 15. There is no ascending to the highest injoyment except we first descend into the deepest abasement It is said of Christ that he humbled himself even to the death of the Cross and for that cause God hath highly exalted him and given him a name above every name Phil. 2,8,9 If we also would have a name better then that of sons and daughters if we would be called Hephtzi-bah and Beulah Isa 62.4 Ruth 3.7,9 let us do as Ruth did unto Boaz let us lie down at the feet of Christ and desire him to cast the skirt of his garment over us as one nigh of kin unto us Christ hath a two-fold garment the one of Glory and Majesty in which he walketh among the Angels and the spiritual Church He clotheth himself with Light as with a garment Psalm 104.2 His rayment is white as the Light Mat. 17.20 Rev. 1.13 His other garment is of shame and baseness With this he conversed among men upon earth He was found in fashion as a servant Phil. 2.8 In the likeness of sinfull flesh Rom. 8.3 He was made sin for us 2 Cor. 5.21 In this humane nature of ours was his Diety clothed and hid for a season The lowest state of this humanity the very border hem or skirt of which garment that toucheth the ground was the great humiliation of Christ humbling himself to the most ignominious and shamefull death of the Cross 16. If therefore we would have Christ do the office of a kinsman to us for he is our kins-man nigh unto us flesh of our flesh and bone of bone one that is not ashamed to call us brethren who hath right to redeem us if we would have him take away our reproach of barrenness and make us fruitfull in the knowledge of himself let us lie down at his feet humble our selves to walk as he walked desire him to spread his skirt over us to conform us to his death that we may be transformed into the likeness of his Resurrection If we would have our sinfull name our name of shame blotted out if we would have our bloody issue stopped let us do as the woman in the Gospel let us press through the press of all worldly and fleshly incumbrances and
would not hide this from ye Nor is there any cause for ye to be afraid No man will or can hurt you though they be never so mad against me For it is not your hour but mine that is come The Son of man shall be delivered In these words Christ foretold both the day and manner of his death that his Disciples when they saw it might not fear and faint in their mind as if some unexpected thing had come upon them Observe he doth not name the person The Son of man shall be delivered he doth not express who should deliver him and that not without cause For it was not one only that delivered him 1. Joh. 3.16 Rom. 8.32 Our heavenly Father moved with mercy and love delivered him for us 2. The Son out of his abundant charity delivered himself He delivered himself saith Peter 1 Epist ch 2. v. 23. to him that judged unjustly So the Vulg. Lat. hath it and then it must be understood of Pilate 3. Judas out of covetousness delivered him 4. The chief Priests full of envy delivered him to Pilate 5. Pilate out of humane fear delivered him to those that crucified him 6. We also have delivered Christ to death yea we most of all For neither had the Father delivered him for us Nor could his adversaries have done any thing against him if he had not taken our sins upon him Therefore he doth justly say to us Es 43.24 Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities Again 53.6 the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all And Paul saith 2 Cor. 5.21 He hath made him sin for us who knew no sin And Jeremy Lam. 4.20 The breath of our mouth the Lord Christ was taken in our sins Vulg. Lat. And in the Psalm he saith Psalm 69.9 The reproaches of them that reproached thee have faln on me ver 4. I restored that which I took not away Christ puts us in mind of all these when he saith The Son of man shall be delivered c. It is also to be noted that this word Passover is not taken from passion or suffering as some think but from the Hebrew word Phase which signifieth a passing over for the reason before mentioned And the same word Pascha or Passover is not alwaies taken in the same sense For sometime it signifieth the Lamb to be offered as when it is said Mar. 14.12 Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou maist eat the Passover Sometime it signifieth the feast day as Joh. 2.23 When he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Sometime it signifieth all the Paschal week as Act. 12.4 Intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people Sometime it signifieth the unleavened bread as where it is said Joh. 18.28 They themselves went not into the Judgement Hall lest they should be defiled but that they might eat the Passover Mat. 26.3,4 Then assembled together the chief Priests and the Scribes and the Elders of the people unto the Palace of the high Priest who was called Caiaphas and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty and kill him Here the Evangelist discovereth what kind of men they were who for envy could not endure to see or suffer the Lord Christ to live He calleth them Priests Scribes and Elders of the people as also Princes and principal men from whom nothing less should have been expected For they were they that had the knowledge of the Law To them the predictions of the Prophets were known They I say were they whom one of them Nicodemus by name personated and said Joh. 3.2 Master we know that thou art a Teacher come from God for no man can do these Miracles that thou dost except God be with him Yet their envy so quelled all these things in them that they chiefly yea they alone were they that hunted Christ to the Cross Who can but wonder at such gross blindness of so many wise men Yea who can but tremble at that terrible judgement of God whereby he blinded them Esa 6.10 that seeing they might not see and hearing they might not hear yea that they should both shut their eyes and stop their ears against a most clear truth Observat Whence we may learn that the free gifts of God do more hurt then good to them that believe not Thus knowledge without faith puffeth up 1 Cor. 8.1 power without faith gives liberty to all wickedness It is not enough then to have knowledge or power unless there be also those justifying gifts Faith Hope and Charity Observat Hence also we see that the wise and great men of this world are for the most part nothing but vessels of Gods anger Thus Paul saith of the wise ones God gave them over to a reprobate sense Pharoah was therefore blinded that God might shew his power in him Boast not therefore of wisdom or power but fear It is one of Gods greatest works to Luke 1.51,52 scatter the proud in the imagination of their hearts and to put down the mighty from their seat The Evangelist doth neatly pile up their sin malice and blindness even in every word Then He begins first with an Emphasis when he saith Then were gathered together Then I say when Christ had omitted nothing that might make them happy Then when they had often seen the excellent doctrine and wonderful miracles of Christ Then I say when he came with godly works to be prepared worthily to celebrate the feast of the Paschal solemnity Thus wicked men have no regard of any Thing or Time but only how to fulfill their own lusts Assembled together But what did they They assembled together This had been no new or strange thing if this had not been added that they gathered themselves against Jesus nor simply so but that they might take him by subtilty and kill him They are truly evil that gather together againist Jesus Happy had they been if they had met together for Jesus to search the Scriptures Whether he were indeed the Messias as the first believers did Acts 17. And for what cause did they desire to take and kill Iesus the true Saviour who saved so many miserable men in body and soul Nothing is here exprest But it may be plainly collected out of John where when they consulted they said John 11.47,48 What do we for this man doth many miracles If we let him alone c. But more fully out of the Book of Wisdom where it is said Wisd 2.12 The wicked assembled against the righteous saying Let us lye in wait for him because he is clean contrary to our doings he upbraideth us with our offending the Law he was made to reprove our thoughts he is grievous unto us even to behold c. You see what they hated in him even the Light and Truth John
c. ye shew the Lords death ill he come Thus ye see after what manner at what time and with what words Christ instituted the Sacrament all which are of such concernment that t is strange if they kindle not in us a desire of so great good inflame our love to God and encourage us to give praise and thanks unto him We commend and thank him that giveth us an estate at his death to make us rich Why should we not do so here But sometimes we may find ingrateful heirs in the world so alas for it doth Christ find by experience that we are too unthankfull unto him Now the sleighting what is set before us is no small cause of this our ingratitude And so that is too often fulfill'd in us which Elisha once said to the incredulous Noble man 2 King 7.2 Thou shalt see it with thine eyes but thou shalt not eat thereof Are not these things fulfill'd in us We see and have these great things before our eyes and in our hands yet we perceive them not we taste them not What greater evil can befall a man than to have riches and not enjoy them Two things yet remain to be considered about this Sacrament viz. to what end it was ordained and how it ought to be received It was ordained 1. That our heart should more closely cleave to the words and Promises of God The Prophets promised that the time should come when God would dwell in us and that Christ by his death would take away our sins c. All which and the like Promises are confirmed by this Sacrament He instituted this Sacrament that we should not doubt of these things 2. It is a standing Monument of his Charity that so we might never doubt of his good will to us Whensoever then our consciences are ready to flag and fail which often happeneth specially at death they should be strengthened by this Sacrament 3. It is a perpetual Remembrance and Representation of that only sacrifice which was offered for us upon the Cross The benefit of this Sacrament may be taken out of the words of Paul when he saith 1. The bread which we break is it not the Communion of the body of Christ c. 1 Cor. 10. Whereby he sheweth that by this Sacrament we partake of all the good things of Christ 2. Another fruit of it is that we also are made one bread and one body even all that partake of one bread and of one cup that is This Sacrament doth put us in mind that we are made one meat and one drink and that we should wholly devote our selves to the good of our Neighbours that we should make the poverty of others our own and account the faults of others as our own c. Therefore in Greek it is called Synaxis that is a communication Whence we may easily gather what is requisite to the worthy receiving of it which is nowhere more clearly exprest than in the figure of the Paschal Lamb and the Manna The Paschal Lamb. Both which figures I shall briefly open Concerning the Lamb consider 1. The house must be sprinkled with the blood of the Lamb in three places Exod. 12.7 on the door and both the posts So he that will come to the Sacrament must first be sealed with the Seal of the holy Trinity which is done in Baptism Or thus he must be marked in three places that is he should have the three Sacraments Baptism Confirmation and Repentance Or the blood of the Lamb must be on his doors i. e. he should alwayes have the remembrance of Christs Passion before his eyes when he goeth out and when he cometh in according to that of Paul 1 Cor. 11. As oft as ye eat ye shall shew the Lords death c. Or he should have the Lambs blood on the doors i. e. he must not be ashamed of the Cross of Christ nor blush to keep the Commands of Christ but openly confess that he doth believe and keep them To that which the Author hath here observed The Translators Supplement Heb. 10.29 concerning this first circumstance the Translator further addeth viz. They were not to strike any of the Lambs blood on the threshold nor should we tread the blood of the Son of God under foot But they were to strike the blood on the lintel So should we alwayes have the blood of Christ over our heads above our own reason in higher estimation than the reach of our natural capacity or growth and stature of our earthly man our carnal mind It should be over our head to be seen only by Faith lifting our heads upward from earthy things thoughts desires affections confidence righteousness c. unto heavenly things looking on it as a Propitiation a Reconciliation a Mediation something between Heaven and earth between God and man as that which reconcileth us unto God Heb. 12.24 and giveth us boldness at his Throne of Grace speaking better things than that of Abel Again they were to strike both the side posts one as well as the other We should have the blood of Christ on either hand that we may see God on the lest hand where he worketh and on the right hand where he hideth himself Job 23.9 that we may be kept in prosperity and adversity knowing how to want and how to abound both in respect of the outward and inward man preserved from excess and all extreams swallowed up neither with presumption nor despair but fighting the good fight of Faith having the Armour of Righteousness on the right hand 2 Cor. 6.7 and on the left Now we proceed with the Author 2. They must eat the flesh roasted with fire that night The flesh of Christ must be eaten by night It must be by Faith alone and the eyes of Reason must be shut T is true our flesh would eat it in the day that is it coveteth to see all things but all in vain The flesh of Christ is eaten invisibly and in a Mysterie And the flesh of our Lamb may well be said to be roasted for it is roasted with the fire of Tribulation as also with the fire and operation of the Holy Spirit 3. It was to be eaten with unleavened bread The flesh of the Lamb must not be eaten alone that is we must not only consider what Christ did but what we also ought to do 1 Cor. 5. we must first of all cast out the leaven of malice and wickedness the Sacrament must be received with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth For this food is not provided for dogs but for Children only not for filthy persons but such as are clean They sin therefore who come to it not having first repented of their sins 4. With wild Lettice so the vulg Lat. bitter herbs or as it is in the Hebrew with or upon bitternesses i. e. with a bitter remembrance of our sins Thus the
to shew that it is easie to know but hard to believe and hardest of all to observe and hold it fast that the servant is not greater than his Lord neither should be In outwards none will presume to go before his Lord or fare better than he But in spiritual things we see it far otherwise Every man coveteth and desireth to be in a better condition than Christ For though Christ was in the form of God yet he humbled himself we that are but wretched creatures run away from humility Christ served us servants we scorn to serve any man or minister to him Christ did good to his enemies we will not to our brethren Christ was obedient and took pains we love our ease Christ patiently bare the reproaches of men though he was the brightness of the Fathers Glory we behave our selves far otherwise Christ the Judge of all men suffered himself to be judged we disdain that any should judge or reprove us Christ entered into his Glory by the Cross and death we think to get thither by luxury and lasciviousness What else do we but prefer our selves before our Lord and covet better things then he enjoyed T is not without cause you see that he doth so oft and so earnestly press this word upon us For First He would have us take our selves for servants And secondly to consider and think upon what he hath done and suffered for us He that doth seriously mind these things will be most forward to all good and most patient under all evil Therefore Christ saith If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them See how earnestly he urgeth the work as if all knowledge were nothing without it Lest the Disciples should say we knew this long agoe that we must be humbled why dost thou teach us that now as if we had not known it before Well saith Christ if ye do know these things t is the better for you but this Knowledge is not attained without obedience I pronounce no man blessed for his knowledge but for his work If ye that have knowledge desire to be happy then do what ye know Ye have seen the very Work in me I also desire to see it in you From this of Christ you see that we have ground according to the Faith to teach and preach good works in the Church against them that are enemies to works For what else can we do but what Christ himself did No Christian that will keep to the words of Christ can condemn us Thou therefore whosoever thou art hold fast the sure Word of God and stir not a jot from it Read Mat. 5. Luke 6. Jam. 1. c. and thou shalt see most plainly that Christ and the Apostles taught good works What have we then to do with the vain boasting of false Gospellers though they have learnt much out of the Gospel and know all the Scriptures when they will not do the least good work Know therefore that the perfection of a Christian doth not consist in knowledge but practice Not the forgetfull hearer but the doer of the work he is blessed in his deed Again Jam. 1. 4. Matth. 7. Psalm 103. To him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is sin So Christ he that hearech my words and doth them is like a wise man c. His righteousness is unto childrens children to them that keep his Covenant and to those that remember his Commandments to do them As Christ had separated and exempted Judas before from those that were clean Ye are clean saith he but not all so here he excepteth and separateth him from those that are blessed I speak not of you all saith he q.d. I told ye that you should be happy if ye would follow and imitate me But all of ye shall not partake of this happiness There is one of you that hath no part in this word He is so far from helping his fellow servants that he becomes cruel to me his Lord. He will be no Minister but a Thief no imitator but a Traytor not an Apostle but a Devil and this in a word is that most miserable Judas who neither hath Lot here among the pure nor shall have there among the perfect 1. By this word Christ pricks him again if happily he might amend 2. He speaks in general and doth name no man to terrifie them all for at that time they contended for supremacy as we shall see anon Quest But why did Christ say I know whom I have chosen Answ I answer Lest any should think Christ had mistaken in receiving such a one as Judas into the number of the Apostles A twofold Election The Election of God is twofold First to present Grace Secondly to finall Grace To the first Judas was elected to wit to be an Apostle but not to the second he was not elected to happiness If you ask why he was not chosen to blessedness also I answer with Paul Rom. 9. Who art thou O man that answerest God Rom 9. Let it suffice us that we know God is just and disposeth all things wisely Object But some will say why did Christ suffer this wicked man whom he knew to be such a one to tarry so long among the Disciples Solut. Christ answereth that the Scripture might be fulfilled He that eateth bread with me hath lift up his heel against me q.d. Therefore have I with much patience forborn this vessel of wrath fitted for destruction that now that which was determined from the beginning concerning me might be fulfilled without any new purpose intervening but in a direct course as it was foreknown and determined of old This must not be so understood as if Judas were compelled to betray Christ lest the Scriptures should be found false for then he had not been to be blamed but commended and his sin must have lighted on God But because he would do this of his own accord therefore the Holy Spirit foretold it knowing it beforehand The place here quoted is taken out of Psalm 41.9 He hath lift up his heel against me 'T is a proverbial speech For so we use to say when we would shew how greatly we scorn a man The meaning then of the word is He that was most friendly to me who lodged long with me who walked stay'd eat drank slept watched with me as a near and dear friend whom I thought I might well trust yea whom I had loaden with many courtesies he he hath thus requited me as now to become my worst enemy And not content therewith he useth all means to supplant and ruine me This complaint might well be made of Judas for he indeed sought to undermine Christ so that his name might be clean put out Yet Christ expresseth this sin of Judas more favourably than the Psalmist doth for there it is not simply said he hath lift up his heel against me but he hath magnified a supplantation
that so from every bodies charge they might patch up a just accusation against him Caiaphas his Counsel was enough to stir up the people but it was not sufficient to regulate the Office of a Pagan Judge Yet Caiaphas would not have it spoken of him that he oppressed the innocent and therefore had tyrannically put Christ to death Wherefore he laid his plot so that because they could find no just cause yet at least they should seek out some fair pretence to destroy Christ For he knew that the first thing that would be enquired into about the death of the man would be for what cause he suffered and what his crime was that made him deserve to die and if no just reason were given for it the power would be accused of Tyranny This Caiaphas knew well enough therefore he doth first hunt after a sufficient ground to kill Christ The next way to obtain this is by Evidences Testimonies prove the crime and the crime makes lyable to death Thus innocent Naboth was hated by King Ahab to the very death 1 King 21. but that he might rid him out of the way there must be good ground for that and to bring this about there were false witnesses suborned and so sentence of death was pronounced against the innocent The same did some ungodly men attempt against Daniel whom truth it self miraculously delivered from his false witnesses Dan. 6. So Saint Steven was stoned to death by false witnesses Act. 7. The like proceedings were there in the judging of Christ See what righteous Judgement and what a holy Council was here Christ was now in hold bound buffered and many wayes abused by the servants and yet no man knows why or wherefore he was accused Wicked men use to condemn before they know the crime Thus Saul cut off the Priests of the Lord before he heard them or before they were convinced by any 1 Sam. 22. So Jehoiakim slew Vrijah the Prophet Jer. 26. Ungodly men say as they did Jer. 18. Come let us smite him with the tongue and let us regard none of his sayings Thus Satan hurryeth the hearts of wicked men with a spirit of giddiness But these men exceed and do more For they labour all they can to find out false witness against Christ knowing they could find no true evidence And all this they do in the night of the Passover when they should have eaten the Lamb. Mean while they accuse Christ as a transgressour of the Law whereas but of late he had eaten his Lamb with great devotion But those wicked men did most notoriously neglect the Law and greedily thirst after innocent blood In this Council there was nothing but wrath envy hatred and violence raigned All the cry was kill slay destroy crucifie c. This is that Council of which the holy Patriarch Jacob of old spake saying Simeon and Levi are Instruments of cruelty O my soul enter thou not into their secret cursed be their anger for it was fierce c. Gen. 49. In this Council was fulfilled that which David in the person of Christ foretold long since in many of his Psalms They gaped upon me as a ramping and roaring Lyon Psalm 22. Again They that seek my hurt speak mischievous things and imagine deceits all the day long Psalm 38. Again They have sharpened their tongues like a Serpent Adders poyson is under their lips Psalm 140. Their throat is an open sepulchre c. Psalm 5. False witness did rise up they laid to my charge things that I knew not Psalm 35. They opened their mouth wide against me and said Aha Aha our eye hath seen it ver 21. This thou hast seen keep not silence O Lord be not far from me False witnesses are risen up against me and such as breath out cruelty Psal 27. See how many things David prophesied of this Council Their rage was nothing humane but altogether hellish and devilish for they did not rave to satisfie their rage but rather to kindle and inflame themselves more yet Therefore they let nothing slip that may encrease their fury But what good did they get by forging false witness against Christ For however many false witnesses came yet no full proof could be made of any charge For what one witnessed for a truth the next varied from him so their witness did not agree just as it was in the story of Susana And no wonder for when Testimonies are false in themselves they can never agree together Here then the great and unblemishable innocency of Christ was cleared and fully proved to all men as one whom so many false witnesses were not able to accuse falsly and so many enemies that took their oaths against him could not find so much as the shadow of any cause against him First then let Christians here learn so to live that their enemies may not be able to speak ill of them Secondly but let Bishops and Ministers be here taught by this Example that they behave themselves blamelesly Finally That Christs innocency may yet shine more brightly two false witnesses arise this was their proper name by which they wree called inasmuch as they did not rightly relate the words or meaning of Christ These stand up and are confidently perswaded that they shall bring in just ground enough to make away with Christ O desperate knaves how durst ye lye so against the very Truth yea against God himself to curry favour with a wicked man Is this your keeping the Law which commandeth that none should bear false witness against his Neighbour Go to speak on we will hear what ye have to say We say they did hear him say that he could destroy the Temple of God c. Here they tell a lye at first they speak false not only as base fellows but as per jur'd Rogues Our Lord Christ never spake those your words how then could you hear them from him But thus indeed he did say Destroy this Temple and in three dayes I will raise it up And that we may know of what Temple he spake John saith He spake this of the Temple of his Body John 2. The Jews Temple was built with hands but Christs Temple that is his Body was built without the workmanship of man How do these words of Christ agree with the Testimony of these Villains Christ speaks of his Body which not he but the Jews would destroy he would only raise up the same again But these witnesses speak of the Temple of stone which was built in the dayes of Esdras and Zorobabel which Temple also Christ highly honoured as Haggai prophesied chap. 2. The dissolution and destruction of this Temple belonged to Titus the Emperour and the Romans Why do ye not hale him before your Tribunals and produce your witnesses against him who did indeed destroy your Temple Could ye find no claw at Christ but your Temple Thus did ye afterward to Saint Stephen Act. 6. But what 's become of your Temple now We
end should he multiply words to such cruel minded men who intended nothing but mischief to him A man shall get nothing of such men nor prevail any thing with them no though God himsâ—… were his Advocate to plead for him For thou wilt be compelled to be not what thou art but what they feign and fancy thee to be So that thou hast need of nothing but patience to deal with such men No good could have been expected from them although Christ had spoken never so excellently of the Incarnate Word surely nothing but scorn and blasphemy had come of it and consequently greater wrath and rage in these furious men And it had been to as little purpose if he had askt them about those Prophetical Scriptures none of them would or could have answered him What did they answer him when he askt them about Johns Baptism Matth. 21. And so concerning the son of David and of that verse in the Psalms The Lord said to my Lord c. Also when he asked them whether it was lawfull to heal on the Sabbath Day Mat. 22. Luke 14. Christ must answer either as one accused or ask as one contriving his defence The belief of his Judges was requisite to his answer but to his question their answer only was sufficient But in this Council Christ had neither credit given to his words nor an answer to his questions why they should he speak much especially seeing he knew that they were peremptorily and obstinately resolved to kill him and never more to let him scape alive out of their hands And indeed how should they believe the words of Jesus who would not believe his Divine Works which were more effectual to perswade Therefore this was a time to keep silence so that he answered nothing but Ye say so by which reply he doth send them again to their own consciences Besides he doth thereby again inculcate that they must come to judgement for what they did Hereafter saith he the son of Man shall sit c. q.d. I shall say no more but this the time will come when ye shall see me Judge you and all the world though now you most unjustly Judge me At this they made a fearfull and hideous out-cry again What need we any further witness we our selves have heard out of his own mouth And what was it O ye blind and wicked men which ye did hear from his own mouth I dare say you heard no blasphemy come out of his mouth for which he deserved death but an awfull reverence of Gods Name for which he was much to be honoured and will ye for all that pass sentence of death against him Are ye so forward to commit that grand sin even to murther the innocent Son of God O ye High Priests and sons of Aaron what 's become of your Unction now Where is your Clemency Have ye cast away all pity and compassion from you David could not go forward with the Temple because he had shed the blood of enemies and dare ye who offer Sacrifices daily ye that so swell and are puffed up with such a conceit of sanctity who glory in the sanctimony of your life and height of honour how dare you I say to pass sentence upon that most innocent and spotless one the very Fountain of life as one worthy of death Herod who was a stranger and otherwise a very bloody beast yet gave him more reverence then ye and would not pollute his hands with the blood of this harmless man Pilate also that barbarous bruit was terribly afraid and excused himself and washt his hands from his blood But you and shall like your holiness you holy high Priests affirm that he is guilty of death O the Religion O the Righteousness that shines in you Doubtless the very Heathen and the Samaritans will be your Judges Nay out of your own mouth shall ye be judged how much your ungodliness hath beed more cruell then the unrighteousness of Herod and Pilate But let us leave those vile men and proceed The conclusion of that bloody Counsell was Jesus of Nazareth doth deserve to die The reason is because he proved himself to be the Messias and the Son of the living God who is blessed for ever and that by the very Testimony of their own consciences besides the Signs and Wonders which he had wrought This was the Judgement which was given by those holy Pharisees at Jerusalem in that Counsell And now they have no need of any more evidence For they carryed their own cause but Jesus lost his Wherefore they hale him out of hand before the secular Court and set him before the Roman Governour bound with cords chained spit on and therefore irrevocably determined to be worthy of death the scullions and rafscallions with a great concourse and clamour of the people egging on against him that it might be fulfilled which Christ said Mat. 20. The son of man shall be delivered to the chief Priests and they shall condemn him to death and shall deliver him to the Gentiles This they now fulfill The whole multitude saith he arose c. viz. to set the fairer gloss upon the proceedings that their cause might seem to be the more just and honest Then they present him bound to the Governour thereby to shew that they had condemned him already They carry all things with much pomp and state that so they might the better cloak their hatred and malice Lo here he that came to loose all mens bonds is now the third time bound himself He is often bound and manicled because we had many fetters and chains which he was to break with his bonds Here then let us a little remember and consider our selves For as Christ is here brought to his Judgement and Trial for life and death by one consent and with great rejoycing of his Adversaries without any mercy or pity without all hope of acquitment or release no man owning him or opposing the sentence against him so should we have been brought before Gods dreadfull Tribunal if Christ had not put himself in our place and stood in our stead Wherefore if thou wouldst stand with boldness in Gods Judgement cast thy self on Christ by Faith For without him none can stand before God in the day of Judgement For no man living is justified or found righteous before God Psalm 143.2 Let us therefore follow our Lord Christ also as he was tossed too and fro from Caiaphas to Pilate from the spiritual Court to the civil Magistrate from the Jews to the Gentiles from the wicked to the ungodly from the superstitious to the Idolaters Nor is there any cause why we should be afraid All things shall work for our good in the end But first let us hear what end Judas came to who was the Ring-leader and incendi ary of all this mischief It follows in Matthew Then Judas which betrayed him Mat. 27.3 when he saw that he was condemned repented himself and brought again
q d. the evidence and clearness of the Fact committed needs no further accusation Do thou Justice there 's no need of any more examination Dost thou question our righteousness Dost thou think we will not do Justice Dost not see who and what we are who have brought this man bound before thee Is this all the respect thou givest to the Priests of the most High God Dost thou make no difference betwixt us and the common Rabble Do not think that we would bring one before thee that were not guilty of death Thou mayst see how strictly we keep the Law for we will not so much as come into thy house we dare not tred within thy doors Nor think thou that we have done any thing in this matter either out of envy or hatred or too precipitate without deliberation and good advice We have considered all things and finde that he doth deserve to die thou hast nothing to do but to pronounce Sentence For if he were not a malefactor c. O the hypocrisie O the lyes and malice of these men Should things be thus carryed Is this to execute Justice Is every prisoner a malefactor and guilty of death Who sees not that they distrust the goodness of their Cause Therefore 1. They go about to blind and delude the Judge with vain and empty words lest they should be put upon it to prove him a malefactor Consider well O Christian the malice of these men They would fain seem to be just and righteous even against the check of their own conscience as if they had never attempted any such thing and never went about to destroy any but a Malefactor when t is evident that they were the men that did most unjustly put all the Prophets to death 2. In this also they shew their malice in that they would have Christ cut off before he was examined or convicted nay they think him not worthy that the Judge should so much as give him audience or that he should be tryed according to any Rule of Law 3. They openly charge him as a Malefactor before the common Barr and in the face of the open Court who had healed all their sick Ask the Lepers whom he cleansed and the blind whose sight he restored c. whether he were a Malefactor c. But thus it is written They rewarded me evil for good and hatred for my love Psalm 35. Again For my love they are my Adversaries but I prayed for them Psalm 109 Christ did here truly pray even when he held his peace considering with himself our sins for which he suffered all this wrong But Pilate being now incensed and moved with some chollar at such proud and unrighteous expressions cryes out to them again Take ye him and judge him after your own Law as if he had said if he be a Malefactor as you say he is but do not prove it why then put your own Law in execution against him The Roman Laws prohibit me to condemn any man before he hath a full hearing Truly Pilate the Law of Moses did enjoyn the same too but so it is by the malice of these men that the Heathens Laws are now prefer'd before the Law of God The Jews very well know it from Exod. 23. and we also know the same from the words of Nicodemus that the Law of Moses judgeth no man untill he be first heard and convinced John 7. But see how they evade it It is not lawfull for us say they to put any man to death Well but who then I pray put Stephen to death Act. 7. What Authority put him to death Therefore they lye grosly Was not this to put Christ to death when they delivered him up to be sentenced to die and laboured with all importunity to have him put to death But they would have him put to death by the laws of Rome that so as well they as their laws might be acquitted from doing any such thing Their Law was to stone to death but the Roman Law was to crucifie This is that they would have They would not barely have Christ put to death but they would have it done with the greatest reproach shame that might be Nor did it so fall out by chance or by their consultation but that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled when he certainly foretold that he should be delivered to the Gentiles and be crucified by them Mat. 20. Christ also had said that the Son of man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the Serpent John 3.12 Again When I am lifted up I will draw all unto me Joh. 12. And again When the son of man shall be lifted up then shall ye know that I am he John 8. Now when the Jews perceived that they should miss their aym and that there was no good to be done with Pilate unless they brought some Accusation and certain proof of clear crimes against Christ They began to accuse him of many things Luke 23.2 Mar. 15.3 saying we found this fellow perverting our Nation and forbidding to give Tribute to Caesar saying that he himself is Christ a King Then Pilate entred into the Judgement Hall again and called Jesus and said unto him Art thou the King of the Jews John 18.33 Jesus answered standing before him Mat. 27.11 Sayest thou this thing of thy self or did others tell it thee of me Pilate answered am I a Jew thine own Nation and the chief Priests have delivered thee unto me what hast thou done Jesus answered my Kingdom is not of this World If my Kingdom were of this World then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews but now is my Kingdom not from hence Pilate therefore said unto him Art thou a King then Jesus answered thou sayest that I am a King To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the World that I might bear witness unto the Truth every one that is of the Truth heareth my voyce Pilate saith unto him what is Truth And when he had said this he went out again unto the Jews and saith unto them I find in him no fault at all And they were the more fierce saying he stirreth up the people teaching throughout all Jury beginning from Galilee to this place Luke 23.5 This was Christs first examination in Pilates Court where the Jews Accusations are first laid down Lest thou shouldst think O Pilate say they that we have nothing to lay to this mans charge hear we pray thee what just cause we have to hate and abhor him He is a seducer of the Nation the Author of all mutinies he fâ—ribids men to pay Custom and Tribute he calls himself King of the Jews which is no less then high Treason against his Imperial Majesty And is not this crime and cause enough against him What wouldst thou have more Every one of these Accusations is sufficient to condemn him Here thou seest O Christian how truly David said The
if Christ had suffered nothing before this only misusage of him had been sufficient to redeem the world For we see by experience that if a little woollen cloath be clapt on a green wound it will make it fester and if it be suddenly snatcht off it puts the party to far greater pain and torment and is intolerable in comparison of the pain when it was first inflicted 2. It was no small aggravation of the pain that his most tender body being again wounded a fresh and dyed blood red all over should be exposed naked to the wind and cold with the skin all flea'd off 3. To say nothing of that confusion which doubtless was most exceeding great thus to be stript bare and naked before all his friends and foes too Most truly therefore may he say to every one of us For thy sake have I suffered reproach shame hath covered my face Psalm 69. See here O man what thou hast stood thy God in and what it cost him to save thee But hearken and I will tell thee more yet listen and thou shalt hear greater things When they had thus stript the Lord naked they make ready the Cross before his face to increase his sorrow and the floor or place is prepared and fitted where the true Lamb is to be offered for the whole world The wicked Officers then bore holes in the Cross And then presently in a mad rage they sling up Christ to the top of the Cross naked and nothing upon him but the crown of thorns O Heaven O Earth O Sea never did ye see a more sad spectacle before First They catch his left hand and with an Hammer and sharp nail of an inch thick they fasten it to the Cross so that the nail carried with it the very palm and flesh of his hand into the hole that one would think it rather soldered with the Iron than nayled With like cruelty but more cruel torture they serve his right hand The holes were made too far asunder so that his hands could not reach to them when his arms were stretched forth Besides The sinews as is usual did so contract and shrink up to assist each other that when his right hand was to be put against the hole in the cross it could not come to it by much Therefore they use other Instruments of cruelty and with cords fastened thereto they extend and rack out his arms Some bind his left hand again and hold it with all diligence that it may not slip Others stretch out his right hand till it come to the place where the nail was to be put in and then peirce and fasten it Then they torture and rack his feet with the same cruelty drive in the nail extend rack stretch him till all his joynts and Ham-strings break so that one might tell all his Nerves Veins Fibers Strings and Bones and there was not a wrinkle to be seen in all his body Thus Davids Prophetical Harp is scrued up and tuned and that fulfilled here which he prophesied They peirced my hands and my feet I may tell all my bones Psalm 22. This immaculate Lamb did not in the least bleat or open his mouth when he was led to the slaughter to be offered upon the Altar of the Cross fast bound and fastened thereunto Isa 53. Listen then O Christian and observe with all diligence Christ hitherto suffered many things but it was only in the flesh Now we come to the very extremity to the marrow and in most pain and grief of Christ Now his Nerves and Bones are tortured which is a most vehement pain in the hands and feet where the sinews and bones are so near together that they cannot be disjoyned without extream torture But this way must Christ cure our sins because there was no soundness in man from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot neither outwardly nor inwardly therefore must Christ be exposed to suffer in all parts of his body He spread forth his arms to shew that he did voluntarily and out of the highest love indure all these things He let his feet be pierced and fastened to shew that he would never stand still or give over till he had made full satisfaction for us He offered up his whole body for a burnt Offering to reconcile the Father unto us and to teach us to give up every Member unto the obedience of Christ How well then might Christ here speak and complain against the Jewish people O my people What have I done unto thee or wherein have I wearied thee I smote Aegppt with its first born for thy sake and thou in Requital hast delivered me to be scourged I fed thee with Manna in the wilderness and thou hast beaten me with Cuffs and Scourges I gave thee water of life to drink out of the Rock and thou hast given me Vineger Call to drink I smote the Kings of the Cananites for thee and thou hast smitten my head with a Reed I gave thee a royal Scepter and thou hast set a Crown of thorns upon my head I exaited and lifted thee up in great strength and thou hast hanged me on the Gibbet of the Cross What should I have done more that I have not done for thee I planted thee indeed my noblest and choicest Vineyard and thou art turned into the greatest bitterness against me c. But let us leave the Jews and come to do our own business Consider therefore O man this holy spectacle Those hands which in Wisdom founded the Heavens which were wont to loose the Prisoners to raise up the fallen and to cure all men wich their touch are now stretched out upon the Cross His feet with which he walked upon the sea whose very foot-stool is to be reverenced those feet I say which never stood in the way of sinners but ever walked in the Law of the Lord are now peirced with picked nails His purest body in which the hid treasures of all Grace are laid up and kept is stript quite naked and bare and fastened to the Tree His face that is fairer than the sons of men which did comfort all afflicted and sorrowfull Ones that face which the Angels desire to behold is now turned into the paleness of a frightfull death Sweetest Babe what was thy offence that thou shouldest be thus judged and so unmercifully dealt with What was thy hainous fact What was thy Crime What was the cause of thy sorrow 'T is I I am the cause of all thy pain and grief I did eat the sower grape and thy teeth were set on edge I wretched Creature wretch that I am do now laugh prate c. whilst thou dost lament suffer thirst c. for me I run after merry meetings and love jovial Pastimes when thou dost hang fast upon the Cross for me I anoint powder and perfume my head I paint my face adulterate my skin when thou dost hang like a Leper all to besmeared with filthy spittle
persevere in iniquity inasmuch as God did suffer his innocent Son to be so cruelly and inhumanly dealt with for others sins Daughters of Jerusalem saith he weep not for me but for your selves i.e. Learn ye by my suffering what ye have deserved If this be done to me who am guiltless and harmless and blameless what shall be done to you who are faulty and guilty The Text follows 〈◊〉 27.51 And behold the Vail of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom and the earth did quake and the Rocks rent and the graves were opened and many bodies of Saints Which slept arose and came out of the graves aster his Resurrection and went into the Holy City and appeared unto many Hitherto we have seen the weak things of Christ Now his Majesty shines forth and shews it self discovering who what and how great a one he is that now hangeth on the tree Here then consider what mighty Signs and Wonders were wrought at the death of Christ For those signes do shew the Righteousness and Innocency of Christ and withall do reprove and condemn the hard hearts of unbelievers Men would not be troubled at the death of this man but lo the Elements are much disquiered at it Flinty stones were here softened yea broken and thou heart of flesh art thou turned into a stone dost thou stand gazing on the Passion of thy Lord and art nothing afflicted or moved thereat There are some who say we should be jocund and jovial laugh and be merry at the Passion of Christ Surely it was then no time for the Inhabitants of Jerusalem to laugh when Heaven and Earth were thus disturbed and moved at the death of Christ Indeed afterwards we may well rejoyce for the saving death of Christ as that by which we are redeemed from eternal death But nevertheless the same Passion ought to affect and move us as we are men unless we should altogether become inhumane and from men be degenerated into stones to say nothing of what great joy it might be unto us if we did but consider the cause of this miserable Death even our sins which ought bitterly to be bewailed in this Passion of Christ Now all these terrible Signs which are here described were both within and without the Temple and did manifestly declare the wrath of God against the unrighteousness of the whole world for the purging where of the most High Majestie gave his only begotten Son to die And because men would not acknowledge the same therefore the Elements publish it If these saith he should hold their peace the stones would cry out Besides by the Passion of Christ and after it God intended to make a great alteration in the world Which alteration these Signs did foreshew and usher in 1. The Vail of the Temple was rent to shew that by the death of Christ the Holies of Holies are revealed that by Christ there is an open entrance for us unto God that the way to the Temple of God is made open and plain that the flaming Sword is removed from Paradise that the Wall of partition is broken down that those things that separated us from God are taken out of the way that what was hid and kept close before Ephes 3. is now made known to wit that the Gentiles should be co-heirs copartners and incorporated and become one body with the Jews Finally that all shadows and figures were now ceased and that the Truth it self was come and did shine forth Therefore the Vail of the Temple was rent So that now we may look into the Sanctuary which the Vail hindered before The Mysteries of the Kingdom of God which in the Old Testament were vailed and covered are now brought to light by Christ who came a Light into the world Henceforth therefore the Gentiles may behold the Mysterie of God that is they may acknowledge and learn the word and truth of God because the Vail is rent and the Jew is not better then the Gentile Would to God also that Vail that is upon the hearts of the Jews were spiritually rent that they might truly both hear and understand the Scripture 2 Cor 3. And that they also might acknowledge Jesus Christ Origen speaks of a twofold Vail as Paul also doth the first of which is rent already and taken away but the second yet remaineth and hideth those things which we shall see in the life to come For now we know but in part only but then we shall know perfectly 1 Cor. 13. I say the first Vail is taken away so that we may know many things of God which before were kept close from us But the second Vail yet remaineth therefore at present we cannot perfectly know the things of God In brief Moses and the Prophets are now made clear and plain but as to the Historical part the vail of the Temple is rent already Therefore the Romans might enter as also they did The High Priests of the Jews were wont to rent their garments when they heard any thing that was wicked or blasphemous This doth the Temple of God also now do renting its garment being as it were amazed and taking in great indignation the wrong and injuries offered to Christ 2. A second sign was the Earth-quake the earth abhorring as it were that such wickedness should be committed upon it and abominating the impiety of the Jews done to the Universal Creator of all things It did also foreshew that the whole Earth should be moved and shaken at the preaching of the Apostles as was foretold in Haggai I will shake the Heaven and the earth and the desire of all Nations shall come Hag. 2. 3. A third sign was the renting of the Rocks This was somewhat more then the other For we read of many earth-quakes but not of any Rocks rent before which was now done to reprehend the obstinacy and hardness of the Jews And it did foreshew either that the writings of the Prophets should be so rent at the coming of Christ that all might see what was in the inside of them Or rather it did signifie that the hard hearts of the Gentiles should be rent that they might receive the seed of Gods Word For the Word of God and his Divine Power was now about to pierce all things that were never so hard never so fast and firm 4. A fourth sign was the rising of some dead bodies This exceeded all the foregoing signs In this sign there was a special kind of Gods power seen These dead Joh. 5. heard the voyce of the Son of God when he with a loud cry gave up the ghost At this cry their graves opened that the dead which yet lived might again go out of their graves not before but after the Resurrection of Christ For he was the first born of the dead and the first fruits of them that slept Whereby was foreshewed first that the hope of our resurrection is only by the death of Christ secondly
Pag. 1 2 c 137 10 11 173 12 183 13 190 15 194 19 200 18 24 25 26 210 28 232 33 250 JOH 19. Vers Pag. 1 3 c 281 13 304 17 314 18 326 19 337 23 341 The seven last words of Christ page 351. The First Word Pag. 354 The Second Word Pag. 360 The Third Word Pag. 368 The Fourth Word Pag. 376 The Fifth Word Pag. 386 The Sixth Word Pag. 390 The Seventh Word Pag. 392 The History of the Passion of our Lord gathered out of the four Evangelists and digested into four Parts The first Part. Luk. 22.1 NOw the Feast of unleavened bread drew nigh which is called the Passover Whereas Luke saith here it drew nigh c. Mark expresseth it thus Mar. 14.1 After two daies saith he was the Passover and unleavened bread Which Feast was honoured with a double name It was called the Passover because of the offering of the Lamb which in Exodus is called the Lords Passover Exod. 12.11 because the destroying Angel that smote the first born of the Aegyptians did pass over the Israelites houses which were sprinkled with the blood of the Lamb and that same night brought them out of Aegypt And it was also called the feast or daies of unleavened bread Exod. 12. 13. Lev. 23.6 Num. 28.17 because all the time of that feast which lasted seven daies the Jews were forbidden to eat leavened bread or to have it in their houses and were commanded that they should eat none but sweet or unleavened bread Now this Jewish solemnity began from the evening of the fourteenth day of the first moneth and continued until the evening of the one and twentieth day When the first moneth beginneth But the Jews did not begin the first moneth from the Calends of January as the Romans do but from the first new moon after the Spring-Equinox which with us is in April So that the feast of the Passover began at the evening of the fourteenth day of that moneth which was the fift day of the week that year that Christ suffered The next day which we rightly call Good-Friday Christ was Crucified And on that very day was a feast of the Jews after which the Sabbath immediately followed even another feast yea a double feast Whence John saith of it Joh. 19.31 That day was an high day Every Sabbath was very solemn of it self yea greater then all other feasts For the Jews might not so much as dress their meat on the Sabbath which was lawful for them to do in other feasts though never so great unless it fell on the Sabbath Thus the Sabbath only had its preparation that is a day to make ready victuals And besides this that Sabbath of which we now speak was the more famous in that it fell among the daies of unleavened bread perhaps from some Pharisaical tradition by reason of the rich booty they had from the multitude of people that then flocked thither from all parts From whence also it was called the Sabbath of the Passover not that the feast of the Passover was on that day but because it fell out in the Passover-week as we use to say now the third fourth fifth day of Easter Briefly the Jews called every sixt day the preparation though some feast fell thereon So the Paschal feast or solemnity happened on this sixt day which very day was also the preparation of the following Sabbath It is certain therefore that Christ was crucified on the very feast day Nor doth it prove the contrary in that they said Mat. 26.5 Not on the feast day c. For they regarded not the feast but were rather afraid left the multitude should hinder their wicked design Therefore they did not say Not on the feast day because it is not lawfull but lest there be an uproar among the people nay they had not forborn their purpose the Sabbath following though it was a great one if there had not been some other occasion such was their rage They might as doubtless they did pretend that God could not be better served or have a greater sacrifice then to crucifie so notorious a transgressor of his Law And that in other offences they might and ought to defer or remit the punishment but Gods wrong they were to avenge on the very Sabbath it self To this was added the occasion given by Iudas who blinded with malice resolved to betray Christ to them to be bound in the evening of the solemnity then beginning What should they now do They might well fear an uproar of the people if they should keep him bound till the end of the feast There is no way but to put their cursed plot in execution out of hand without any respect to God or the time This was the counsel of an hateful heart Yet not without the wonderful providence of God so ordering it that Christ should suffer at that feast Not only that the truth might answer the figure but also that many might be present when the high-Priest offered his blood to God without Jerusalem for the redemption of Jew and Gentile Thus much I thought good to premise concerning the day and feast of unleavened bread Let us now return to the story The appointed time was come when the Lord Jesus was both willing and ought to depart out of the world to go to his Father by suffering death after he had prerched the Gospel And this was the very time when the Jews kept the Passover and did offer and eat the Lamb in remembrance of their former deliverance The time of the general redemption of mankind being now at hand not from an Aegyptian but devilish bondage there was another Lamb to be slain even be which taketh away the sins of the world Joh. 1.29 and of whom Paul saith 1 Cor. 5.7 Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us Of this Christ saith Mat. 26.2 Ye know that after two daies is the feast of the Passover and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified As if he should have said Seeing ye are born and bred Jews and Hebrews ye know what kind of feast draweth nigh even the feast of the Passover and there is not a man in all the Countrey of Judea but makes preparation for it But to ye that are my Disciples I will reveal something that others know not that is that I the Son of man must be betrayed and crucified at this very feast to wit to be slain and offered as a Lamb on the Altar of the Cross for the welfare of the world I say it must be at this feast of the Jews as I have often told you long since The time is at hand my hour is now come and I am so far from refusing it that I willingly embrace it for therefore came I into the world that I might shew my obedience to my Father even to the death of the Cross This shall now be done at this feast I