thy Spirit is willing but thy Flesh is weak How ready and willing is the Saviour of the World to accept of any drowsy inclinations or endeavours of his Servants in his Service if their Hearts be but sincere The Disciples slumber yet Christ trims their Lamps O infinite Love of the Son of God! to excuse and save poor drowsy Sinners For this Cause was he toucht with our infirmities and took upon him our human Nature This was the Cause of our Saviours interceding for us with his Father for our Lives O infinite Love of the Son of God! that whilst we were yet Sinners Christ dy'd for us Now let us follow him to the Judgment-Hall Carry'd to the Judgment-Hall to be arraign'd but first to Anna's House and not like Peter stand at a distance from him and at last deny him but rather be a sharer with him in his Death and pray with the Thief upon the Cross for Eternal Life They carry him first before Annas the High-Priest Caiphas's Uncle and in the way to his House to see what he could find against him This was one of the Great Council that consulted how they might take Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews and put him to Death This was he that deliver'd to Judas the thirty pieces of Silver out of the Treasury after they had all agreed upon it but when he was brought before him and he saw the Witnesses could not agree together upon their Examination that they might have longer time to lay their Heads together and more readily agree in their Accusation sends them to his Nephew Caiphas they being both High-Priests that year When he comes before Caiphas he Examines him and finding they could not yet agree in their accusing him rather than he should want full Witnesses against him and for that let him go he with the rest of them that were assembled together for the very purpose all the High-Priests and Elders and the Scribes for many there were that did bear false Witness against him but their Witnesses agreed not yet together Now the Great Assembly being all met as I said before to this very end and purpose and consulted and agreed thus farther of him He hath of late raised Lazarus out of the Grave after he had been sour days dead and began to stink and many of the Jews believe on him already from the Miracles that he daily sheweth amongst them and more especially for this Miracle that he wrought even now of raising Lazarus from the Dead and it is not barely a Report to make a noise for a while but it is as to Matter of Fact a very great Truth and a Miracle for some of us both heard him say at the Graves Mouth Lazarus come forth and he immediately as soon as this Man had call'd thus to him he that was dead came forth bound hands and feet with Grave-Cloaths about him and a Napkin upon his Head And this Man Jesus commanded some that stood by to loose him and let him go and many of the Jews that were there believed on him and went away with Mary and Jesus but we came to acquaint you what we have both seen and heard John 11.43 Then the Chief Priests and Elders John 11.47 with the Scribes and Pharisees further consulted and said What do we for this Man doth many Miracles and if we let him thus alone all Men will believe on him and the Romans will come and take away from us both our Place and Nation Caiphas said unto them ye know nothing at all nor consider that it is expedient for us Caiphas prophesies against himself that one Man should dye for the People and that the Nation perish not and this he spake not of himself but God order'd it so that the Prophecy should come out of his own Mouth and this being Recorded as his Opinion doth still remain that out of his own Mouth himself should be condemn'd at last And so from that day forward they took Counsel together to put him to Death John 11.53 And when they saw that all their Machinations and Contrivances prevail'd nothing to the purpose at last they hir'd two Soldiers and gave them Money to come and swear against him in the High Priests Hall And they with a loud and clamarous Voice exalted above the rest with open Mouth say This Fellow said I am able to destroy the Temple of God and to raise it again in three days And so he were this being all Truth but he spake of his Body as the Apostle Paul saith Our Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost That in three days time he should raise it from the Grave But these two Fellows nor his Judges had not yet known the Scriptures nor the power of God Then said the High Priest Is it true what these two witness against thee But Jesus held his peace Then said the High Priest I adjure thee by the Living God to tell us whether thou art Christ the Son of the Living God And Jesus when it was put thus home to him in these three great Truths Art thou Christ the Son of the Living God Answered I am Then the High Priest rent his Cloaths and said What need we any further witness against him Ye have all heard now how he hath Blasphemed What think ye And they all with one consenting Voice condemn'd him to be guilty of Death Matth. 26.60 6 62 63 64. Mark 14.58 to thâ— 64. Then they began to spit upon him and to buffet him and strike him with the Palms of their hands and to revile him as a Pestilent Fellow and one that sow'd Sedition and Rebellion amongst them and they blind-folded him and smote him on the Face and said unto him Prophesie now unto us Christ who it was that struck thee And at last finding they could not agree together as to the putting of him to death and to pass Sentence upon him for they all acquiesc'd in the just Merits of his Condemnation yet he must be first sent to Pontius Pilate their Chief Governor But before we come to that we must observe the Words of our Blessed Jesus verify'd concerning Peter one of the beloved Disciples who follow'd after his Master to the High Priest's Hall to hear what they said of him and did with him And happy are they O Peter that have once deny'd their Saviour that bought them with Cursing and Swearing and bitter Execrations to find a door of Mercy ready open upon their Repentance to receive them again and immediately embrace them And now Peter what do I observe here But thou that wast the greatest Votary to thy Master and the forwardest to follow him to his dismal Trial where were all kind of the most wicked Profligate Wretches that could be pickt out amongst the Jews Scribes and Pharisees that were best and most notoriously qualify'd with Cursing and Swearing with Reviling Blasphemy and Perjury such that they had cull'd out on purpose that were qualify'd
THE Lama-sabachthani OR CRY OF THE Son of GOD Useful at all Times especially For PASSION Week AND At all other Times for a Devout and Pious Soul in its nearest Approaches and Addresses to its Saviour before and after it comes to be an Actual Partaker of the Body and Blood of its Redeemer The Second Edition LONDON Printed by Edw. Jones for Samuel Lowndes against Exeter-Change in the Strand 1691. To Her most Pious and Sacred MAJESTY Queen MARY The Author most Humbly Offers and Dedicates the ensuing Enchiridion of a Crucify'd Saviour Madam WHen I consider the unexpressible Honour I lately had of being frequently a partaker with You at the Throne of Grace in Your Chappel-Devotion at the Hague Where observing Your great Strength and Zeal of true Piety accompanied with a perfect Stability of Humility Meekness and Lowliness of Spirit as a compleat Follower and Imitator of our Dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ whilst on Earth it struck such a Dint upon me As St. Austin says melted down his Soul into Divine Affections and enforc'd such a Love of Religion in me that made me inspir'd to that height and Ecstacy of Devotion and Intention of Thought that did not only as it were withdraw my Soul from all Commerce with the Senses but in a manner separate it a while from the Body And made it with the Apostle Paul to have Antipasts of Heaven and a fruition of Coelestial Enjoyments Such Raptures Elevations and Influences of Anticipated Glory as the Apostle had had the Disciples of our Saviour whilst their Great Lord and Master was Predicting and Communicating his Passion to be an abiding Commemoration of himself amongst them after his Ascension into Glory as it is largely set forth by our Saviour himself throughout the 6th Chapter of John And as it was observ'd of Peter and the rest of his Brethren in the Transfiguration of our Saviour on the Mount that when he Pray'd earnestly to his Father the Fashion of his Countenance was alter'd which did beget immediately in them such a Participation of Raptures and Ejaculations that made them very unwilling to relinquish the Place where they had enjoy'd such a Beatifical Presence The like have I perceiv'd in Your Majesties Countenance as if it spake aloud the very Language of Your Divine Soul that made mine always wish in its Publick Devotion to live in the Presence of so Great and so Glorious an Exemplar No less perfect are all these Coelestial Qualifications in Your ever Ador'd and Dearly beloved Sister to enumerate them again were but Tautology they are all so essentially compact in You both that modestly and justly You are the Glory of the Vniverse The Hypostatick Council of Heaven having decreed it from all Eternity that You Two shouâ—d be Leaders and Patterns to all Sincere and Devout Subjects and Christians in all Virtue Piety and Holiness and that they be close Imitators and Followers of You as You are of Christ This makes it transcendently the Felicity of all Humble Pious Souls to have Two such Matchless Guardian Angels walk before us and to be eminent for God in Your Generations as the aforesaid Mary and Anna the Mother of Jesus and Prophetess of our Lord. How much more Glorious must the Protestant Religion necessarily appear in You Madam now You are by the All-wise Providence of the Great God most happily arriv'd at the Zenith of Sovereignty whose Sovereign Beams have already dispers'd all those Clouds and Mists nay Storms and Hurricans of Popery that of late had like to have subverted and over-whelm'd these Nations into a Bloody Deluge by Massacre and Murder had not God reserv'd Your Majesty for such a day as This and brought You safe through the dangers of the Seas and plac'd Your Royal Person with King William on the Imperial Throne of Your Ancestors whose undaunted Magnanimity and Resolution by the Omnipotent Power of the Almighty hath procur'd this re-establishment for us again That when all our hopes were sinking in the Autumn of Despair God was pleas'd through him by a stupendious Miracle to restore us again without the tedious and cruel Sieges of War or Blood to a Protestant Settlement and Blessing This is the only cause that emboldens me to present to You the following Meditations and Contemplations of the Agony and Crucifixion of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Entituled The Lamasa-bachthani or Cry of the Son of God wherein I have endeavour'd as succinctly and as perspicuously as possibly I could to set forth every Action and Transaction of the Chief Priests Scribes Elders and Soldiers towards their accomplishing of their wicked Design in perfecting of the so much hunger'd for Crucifixion of our Dear Lord and Saviour How he was hurry'd and carry'd from one Place Court and Council to another Spit on and Buffeted in one Array'd and Rob'd in another Scourg'd and Crown'd with Thorns in another mock'd and derided in all but acquitted and discharg'd by none and yet not found guilty of Death in any I have follow'd the Evangelists as close as I could and have rank'd them as well as I am able in so small a thing and have made the rough Draught as like the Original as I can possible in suitable Expressions and earnestly beg of God it may please all and displease none being all Divine Truths I most humbly present it to Your Majesty hoping it may receive a Candid and free Acceptation from You. It will lye in a little Room in Your Closet and at the Table of the Lord being more fitted for the Heart of a Devout and Pious Soul than Voluminous therefore may be as the Viand of the Soul in its nearest Addresses to its Saviour before and after it comes to be an actual partaker of the Body and Blood of a Redeemer whom I have end avour'd to Delineate as well as I am able in so small a Tract in the utmost extremity of his Crucifixion in his Agony and Bloody Sweat on his Cross and Passion in his Death and Burial and there left his most precious Body in the Grave with Holy Angels to attend his Call I may hereafter presume to write of his Glorious Resurrection and Ascension also if I can find my weak Endeavours are in any degree useful according to the Pious and Honest Intention of MADAM Your Majesties most Obedient and for ever most Devoted Humble Servant Anonymus THE Lama-sabachthani OR THE CRY OF THE Son of GOD. HEAR O Heavens and give Ear O Earth for the Lord hath spoken it O what is this I hear The Voice of the Son of God in the grievous Agony of his Soul just breathing out his last and crying to his God nay his Father to sustain and comfort him either O Holy Father take from me this bitter Cup of Vinegar and Gaul of thy high Displeasure or else forsake me not in the time of my drinking this bitter Portion Where is the Cry of the Son of God the
Judge that is now ready to cast both Soul and Body into Hell-Fire do produce Compassion And this is the present and perfect state and condition of all Men by reason of Sin For this and this alone is our dear Lord and Saviour conflicted in the Garden even to the extracting great drops of Blood trickling down his most sacred Hands and Face And when he saw his most Righteous Father would not reverse this eternal Decree and Punishment to Mankind for Sin without his own ever blessed Son's undergoing and suffering Death and Hell for us Saith he If this bitter Cup shall not pass from me without drinking of it Thy Will be done A Body hast thou prepar'd that is mounting the Cross and ready and willing to suffer all the Misery and Torment that the most cruel Rage and Malice of Men and Devils and an enraged God will permit to inflict rather than poor Man shall suffer the deep Pressures of Thy Eternal Wrath and Indignation in that Luke that burneth with Fire and Brimstone for evermore O blessed Father Thou art my Father from all Eternity and am not I thy Son Prov. 8.23 I was from everlasting before ever the Earth was While as yet he bad not made the Earth or the Fields nor the highest part of the Dust of the World When be prepared the Heavens I was there When he set a Compass upon the face of the Deep When be established the Clouds above When he strengthen'd the Fountains of the Deep When he gave to the Sea his Decree That the Waters should not pass his Commandment When he appointed the Foundations of the Earth Then was I by him as one brought up with him and I was daily his Delight rejoycing always before him Rejoycing in the habitable parts of his Earth And my Delights were with the Sons of Men when thou createdst them in a state of Innocency and Perfection And O Heavenly Father shall I now forsake them in a state of Sin and Misery and Eternal Destruction No O Holy Father for this very end did I come into the World I that immaculate Lamb slain from the beginning conceiv'd by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary as to human Nature am toucht with their Infirmities and therefore came to succour poor tempted Souls I know the Devil's Wrath and Power and continual Attempts to all Mankind For this cause was I carry'd into the Wilderness endur'd Hunger and Cold Fasting and Temptations and I cannot but succour and relieve and at last deliver those that are tempted As Man I my self O Righteous Father had fell by his Temptation but as God I overcame him and can I let them suffer when I know Man is not sufficient of himself to overcome the Devil nor Sin nor the Power of Death and Hell nor thy Eternal Wrath and Displeasure This was the Eternal Decree of the great Council of Heaven from everlasting That seeing Man was not able to recover his lost state That Man born of a Virgin conceived from his God-like Power by the Holy Ghost overshadowing her in the fulness of time should be born the Son of God fully qualifi'd God-Man to make compleat Satisfaction and Atonement for laps'd Man to the unsatisfi'd Justice and incensed Wrath and Indignation of God And for this Cause was I Born here on Earth and left the Bosom of my Heavenly Father and all Thrones and Dominions Principalities and Powers of Glorified Saints and Angels and took upon me Human Nature and came cheerfully leaping over the Hills and skipping over the Mountains as a Roe or young Hart upon the Mountains of Spices For this Cause came I as in the Volume of the Book it is written of me to do thy Will O God That poor Man might not be Eternally lost but thy incens'd Wrath might be appeas'd full satisfaction might be made the power of Hell might be broke and Devils themselves reserved in Hell bound in Chains of Darkness until the great Day and poor fallen Man acquitted and discharg'd and his Soul Eternally Sav'd This is Love indeed unbounded unlimited Love infinite inexhaustible incomprehensible Love of the Son of God the ever blessed Redeemer of the World O the Height Length Breadth and Depth of the Goodness of God to Mankind This is transcendent Love Love without comparison Now what must all this extort from us To see our dear Lord and Saviour just now mounting the Cross giving of himself up to the utmost Cruelty that the wickedness of Men and Devils can inflict upon him from the vehemency and Poison of their most barbarous Rage and all this for our Sins and to set us free Here is the Sentence of Pilate Take him scourg'd already accord-to your Custom and bound Take him and Crucifie him with this Inscription over his Head That every one that passeth by might understand it written in Latin Greek and Hebrew This is Iesus of Nazareth King of the Iews The Death of the Cross was the ancient Punishment of the Jews for their most notorious Malefactors Dr. Cave 's Primitive Christianity before Christ's time and therefore esteemed by the accursed Jews most fit for our Saviour to dye by Omitting all the various Forms and different kinds which were all us'd towards the Primitive Christians there were two things in this way of suffering rendred it very severe viz. the Pain and Ignominy of it Painful it must needs be because the Party suffering was fastned to it with Nails drove through his Hands and Feet the most sensible parts of Man from such a vast quantity of Nerves and Sinews uniting and terminating in those places And they were pierc'd only in those extream Parts so far distant from the Heart on purpose that the exquisiteness of their Torments and Death might be the more lingring and tedious Insomuch that some out of tender Compassion have caused some to be strangled before they were Crucified as Julius Caesar did the Pirats he had sworn to execute on the Cross Sueton. in Vit. Caesar Cap. 47. p. 76. But no such Favour was shewn to Christians they were suffer'd to remain during all these cruciating Pangs till mere Hunger starv'd them or the Mercy of wild Beasts or Birds of Prey dispatcht them Thus St. Andrew endur'd two whole days upon the Cross Martyrol Rom. p 736. Timotheus and his Wife Maura after many other Torments hung upon the Cross nine days together before they compleated their Martyrdom Nor was the Shame of this way of Suffering less than the Pain of it Crucifixion being the punishment of Slaves Traitors and the vilest of Malefactors Insomuch that for a Free man to dye thus was accounted amongst them the highest Degree of Ignominy and Reproach imaginable Therefore the Roman Historians call'd it Servile Supplicium a punishment only proper for Slaves But this punishment of the Cross Constantine took away out of Reverence to our Saviour not being willing that that should be the punishment of the vilest Malefactors which