heauenly power so goe like dogges to their vomite spues out the light they had receiued they are as guiltie of the blood of Christ as Pilate trampe the blood of the Couenant vnder their feete Woe to them that resist the Gospell woe to the apostate Lordes of this Land for thus resisting the light there is no light but this to leade thee to heauen I denounce woe to them if they continue the treasure of wrath and woe shall bee heaped on them they shall be as guiltie as Iudas or Pilate or the Iewes hastie sudden shall be their judgement except the Lord preuent them with repentance they their posteritie shall be cursed vnderly a terrible vengeance Woe to their friends who will joyne with them Separate thee frō them as thou wouldest see saluation Away out of Babylon Yee would thinke this a light worde Let his blood bee vpon our head As they wish the blood of the innocent to light on them so it neuer leaues them nor shall neuer leaue so many of them as repented not the blood of the innocent shall lye vpon their backes euerlastingly This should learne vs to take good heed to our wordes it was but a worde to cast off the God of glorie and to take on a Tyrant They got Caesar to be their King and he spoyled them Take good heede to thy words for thou who vsest against thy selfe imprecations and cursings and wilt say God plague mee Gods vengeance light vpon mee I giue my soule to the Deuill if this or that be not Well hast thou giuen thy soule to the Deuill he shall get it hast thou taken a curse vpon thy selfe thou shalt bee cursed it is a wonder that the earth should not open to swallowe such men The Lord makes these thinges to come to passe nowe and then Hee makes the cursed creature that vses such speaches to bee a terrible example And if thou be a prophane person who wilt say I giue my soule to the Deuill I saye and if the Deuill get thee not then and thou be not thrust into Hell but gettest repentance it is a wonder Such is the judgement of God that oft times He will let no reuersion be except that earnestly thou seeke for grace and mercie the Lord I say shall make that worde which thou sakest to haue no reuersion wilt thou or wilt thou not but like as thy foule mouth spake it so thou shalt bee giuen to the Deuill for there is nothing more effectuall to a mans destruction than the wordes which proceede out of his owne mouth Well Pilate is lying in securitie and hee thinkes himselfe well enough when he hath once disburthened himselfe he sits downe and giues out sentence and absolues a seditious vagabonde He letteth Barabbas loose vnto them Woe to them who will absolue a seditious lowne and a murtherer The next thing is more woefull he begins to giue out the sentence against the innocent he comes on and strikes Him hee scourges Him this is the seconde time and when hee hath done hee giueth Him into the handes of the Jewes to satisfie their wicked appetite As long as thou hast a wakened conscience and so long as it telles thee This is good and this is euill thou wilt not goe so boldly and forwardly in euill Well is that bodie who hath a wakened conscience suppose it terrifie thee and holde thee waking But after it bee once lulled in a sleepe and securitie then thou runnest on as the arrowe doeth out of the bow to a mischife there is nothing to holde thee but thou runnest swiftly to mischiefe Ephes 4.19 After they once lost feeling they ranne out to all wantonnesse commiting all vncleannesse with griedinesse There was neuer any creature so griedy of any thing in the world as men who liue without conscience will be of filthinesse As thou wouldest keepe thy selfe so keepe feeling in thy conscience count it more precious than all thinges in the worlde Nothing can guarde thy soule from Sathan but the approbation of a feeling conscience Thou wilt come out with thy Pearles and with decked cloathing but if thou want this conscience thou art a preye to the Deuill Fy on these men who lye in such a senselesnesse shame and confusion shall light vpon them Was there euer such a dead and senselesse Generation as this It is a token that Hell is ouer-taking them seeing they lye all in such a senselesse securitie Marke notes a word here that would bee considered Chap. 15. vers 15. Pilate did this to gratifie an euill people hee would not displease the Jewes This is the common fashion of Princes to seeke to be populare to seeke the fauour of the people Looke that a Prince seeke not by euill meanes the fauour of the people for he will hang an innocent man and let a murtherer goe free for the fauour of the people thou buyest it too deare with the losse of the fauour of God Woe be vnto the man though he were a King that mischieuously falles abacke from the Trueth and so looses the fauour of God for the fauour of Idolaters But will yee come on yet Got Pilate the fauour of the people No they persecuted him to the death they delated him to the Emperour and hee was banished and for feare of greater shame hee put handes in himselfe and slew himselfe Yea if he were all the kings in the world who seekes to gratifie a wicked people in an euill cause namely in Idolatrie and if the LORD haue not mercy on him that same people shall be his destruction The Lord graunt Kinges and Princes to see that howbeit they haue the fauour of the people by vnlawfull meanes and want the fauour of God that all the fauour of the people that they can haue without Gods fauour is nothing that they may seeke Gods fauour aboue all things And the Lord be mercifull to our King for Christes sake To whom be all Honour and Glory foreuermore AMEN THE XIII LECTVRE OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST MATTH CHAP. XXVII verse 27 Then the Souldiers of the Gouernour tooke IESVS into the common hall and gathered about him the whole bande verse 28 And they stripped him and put about him a skarlet robe verse 29 And platted a crowne of thornes and put it vpon his head and a reede in his right hand and bowed their knees before him and mocked him saying God saue thee King of the Jewes verse 30 And spitted vpon him and tooke a reede and smote him on the head verse 31 Thus when they had mocked him they tooke the robe from him and put his owne rayment on him and led him away to crucifie him verse 32 And as they came out they found a man of Cyrene named Simon him they compelled to beare his Crosse MARC CHAP. XV. verse 16 Then the souldiers led him away into the hall which is the common hall and called together the whole band verse 17 And clad
they would say It is impossible to Him who now hangs so ignominiously to saue Himselfe After them came the men of warâ—e and in derision They offer Him vineger to drinke And they say this is very like a King How can He doe the dutie of a King to deliuer the people who cannot deliuer Himselfe This they saide because Hee had called Himselfe a King to the prejudice as they thought of Cesars Kingdome And lastly one of the thieues rayled on Him to wit He that hang at His left hand saying So like as thou art that Christ who can neither saue vs nor thy selfe Nowe because the rayling of the whole is all to one effect therefore shortly I shall obserue some things in generall as the Lord shall offer In all this rayling out against Him yee see the extreame humiliation of IESVS CHRIST for our sinnes Hee is made of no reputation No He is trodde on as a worme And no question that extreame torment of bodie was not so grieuous to Him as was this rayling on Him They speake to Him as a verie reprobate and so farre as lay in them they endeuoured to make Him to despare of all helpe So yee may seee this rayling was a thing most grieuous to Him And Dauid beeing His type he complaines on this shame that they heaped on Him in the 22. Psalme All this lets vs see howe dearely the Lord hath bought our life and Saluation And wee are more than miserable if we see not this And also it lets vs see what should haue become of vs if He had not satisfied for vs and what should become of thee if thou bee not in CHRIST in that great day And it tells thee seeing all this is for thy sinne that thou shouldest haue a sadde heart to haue such a Redeemer made such a spectacle and thou shouldest groane vnder the burthen of sinne and when thou readest of the Crosse thine heart should bee sorrowfull that euer thou shouldest haue moued the GOD of glorie to such vengeance of His deare Sonne for thee Thinke not that euery man shall bee relieued of his sinne by Him No onlie those who learne to groane vnder the burthen of their owne sinnes by the which they haue pierced Him and turne to the LORD vnfainedly and get fauour So if thou learnest not at one time or other to groane vnder the burthen of thy sinne thou shalt neuer be relieued by Him But to marke something of this railing I see that these things they cast vp to Him is the verie verdict whereupon they accused Him They accused Him because He called Himselfe the Christ and because He called Himselfe the King of the Iewes and because He said that He would destroy the Temple and build it vp againe the third day So the very thing y t they cast vp to Him in despite is y e very crime wherefore they condemned Him Men would thinke y t it should haue coÌ„tented them to had Him hanging in torment but Brethren alas the malice of the enemies of Iesus Christ is endlesse there is none end of it it will not bee the death of one Christian y t wil satisfie them it wil not be thy blood that wil quench their thirst but in thy torment they will raile on and striue to cause thee to despare that thy soule may perish There is such an extreame despite in their heartes that they would haue thine ashes and thy bones to be exponed to opprobrie and shame which hath lyen so long in the graue See wee not this howe the bones of faithfull Christians haue beene taken vp and burnt by the Antichrist The LORD saue vs from their crueltie But here I lift vp mine eyes and looke vnto GOD. The Lord Iesus He suffered most justly who was cled with our sinnes and bare them on the Crosse for our cause and it learnes thee this that if thou sufferest opprobrie and shame and men raile on thee that thou goe euer to see if thou be in Christ in thy suffering for if thou be out of Christ woe is to thee for that is but the beginning and forerunner of that paine and shame that thou shalt suffer in Hell I tell this more in that latter day when y e reprobate shal be coÌ„demned their sin which was the cause of their death shall euer be had in memory but if once thou goest to Hell y e remembrance of thy sin shall neuer be buried but thy verdict shal be cast in thy teeth thy coÌ„science shal taunt thee and shal say to thee Murtherer thou delitedst in murther now goe to murther nowe free thy selfe out of Hell if thou canst and to them who followed Harlots Thou delitedst in Harlotrie and in offending of GOD thou vvho couldest not bee satisfied in pleasuring thy foole lustes nowe satisfie thy selfe vvith these extreame tormentes nowe goe to thy harlotrie let see And to the blasphemer Thou delitedst in blaspheming of GOD nowe let see if thou dare blaspheme goe thy way nowe and blaspheme And to the Idolater Thou delitedst in worshipping of Idolles and leftest the worshipping of the true GOD nowe goe thy waye to Idolatrie c. Nowe woulde to GOD the worlde coulde thinkâ— Hell to be earnest This torment and rayling in the death of CHRIST is an image of the torment of Hell I see heere further that besides this there is a grounde of all their opprobrie to wit that shamefull Crosse which IESVS was hanging on They thought that seeing IESVS was crucified it was impossible for Him to cast downe the Temple and to build it vp againe They thought it was impossible for Him to saue the worlde seeing Hee coulde not saue Himselfe and that Hee coulde not doe the duetie of a King vvho was alreadie hanged How becomes it a King to bee hanged The cause of their offence vvas that shame which Hee suffered and that they sawe that Hee could not deliuer Himselfe The Crosse of Iesus is foolishnesse to the worlde blessed are they who will not take offence at the Crosse of Christ Looke howe they are deceiued in their judgements Because the Crosse was the onely meane whereby Hee shoulde haue done all things when Hee was hanging was He not destroying the Temple of His body that after three dayes by His glorious resurrection Hee might builde it vp againe And when Hee was on the Crosse did Hee not the office of Christ that is of an anointed Priest for then Hee was offering that Sacrifice of His body to the Father And was He not by the Crosse purchasing to Himselfe and to vs a glorious Kingdome Yea on the Crosse Hee like a glorious King triumphed ouer the Deuils and made an open shew of them for Hee had a battell with the Deuils on the Crosse and triumphed ouer them all Col. 2.15 This same blindnes of the world remaines still in it for when the world sees a body vnder afflictioÌ„ in pouerty buâ—nt or martyred for Christs sake then the world thinkes
liked of by many that sundry hearing that they were in hands longed to see them come to light we haue takē some paines in reuising correcting them not only for the loue duty that we ought to that faithfull reuerend Author of them who was our master but also that with the greater liking profite they might be read by al them that desire to be edified And what our paines herein hath bene few can well iudge but those who haue bene acquainted with such cases we haue endeuoured to giue the true meaning of the Author clearly to make his methode plaine we haue omitted many superfluous repetitions we filled out vnperfect sentēces we cleared things obscure we rectified the sentēces which were inuerted we endeuoured so far as was possible to giue out his owne phrase stile and matter As for the matter this we may boldly affirme that it is fully set down and that it is as good at least if it be not better than his Latine Commentarie set foorth by himselfe yea we doubt nothing but the matter shall satisfie all men who craue edification but as for the phrase stile we dare not say that it will be found so absolute and exact in all thinges as if it had beene finished by himselfe before he ended his course neither as we would wish and other men woulde require And what maruell seeing neither did hee deliuer them of purpose to bee printed neither did hee euer see them thereafter neither were they receiued by his Schollers vpon that purpose but onely for the helping of their owne memorie yea and at the first time after that vpon your request Sir wee tooke paines vpon them we foūd such hardnes imperfections that his own phrase elegancy was not obserued that we feared to hazard the name and credite of the learned iudicious Author who deserued so well of vs yea of the whole Church of God had left off the worke as vnperfect if the earnest request of you of some other of the learned whose iudgmēts are to be reuerēced had not encouraged vs therto Yet we trust that the stile shal not be much blamed except by those who beeing delicate eared regardes language more thā matter for there is here an easy methode with a familiar stile condescēding to the capacity of the meanest answerable to the matter entreated to wit the crosse of Christ which refuses to be decored with humane eloquēce that y e matter be not obscured by the stile but may appeare aboue it as oft times M. Rollocke himselfe was wont to speake Yea albeit it may be that the stile in some few of the first Sermons be somewhat hard and vnpleasant which we might easily haue amended if we had not thought it vnmeete to haue set out his matter in our words yet if any will read forward especially from that part where the Harmony of all the Euangelists is taken in all the foure are in such sort conferred together that no circumstāce of the history of Christs death resurrection is omitted he shall euer find more more contētment in all things And as we haue taken paines for the profite edificatiō of many so we doubt not but the successe euent shal answere to our desire For to speake nothing of the history it selfe which is so plesāt sweet plaine easy forcible to moue all the affections of the soule here ye will find how euery clause sentēce of euery one of the Euāgelists are linked together depend one vpon another according to the order of nature here ye will see a plaine and an easy methode here ye will see how clearly the doctrine resultes off the doctrine laid down here ye will see fit applications to these times here ye wil see when occasion offers how the enemies of the trueth of God are pithily conuinced and confuted And now if we would presume to dedicate this worke our labours therein to any other than to you Sir whose deseruings haue bin so great both towards the Author himselfe vs also we might be iustly blamed and could haue no shew of reasonable excuse for first who knew M. Robert Rollocke but they also knew what entire affectiō you caried towards him how carefull you were in all things to please him euen frō the time that first your acquaintance began till the time that he finished his course none loued him more tēderly none vsed him more familiarly none delited more to conferre with him priuately to heare his preachings publikely none shewed greater gratitude towards him for it was knowne by many that it would haue bene your pleasure if from your hand he would haue receiued a testimony of your loue as a fruite of your faith wrought by his Ministerie yea he himselfe did acknowledge that none was to be cōpared with you for gratitude goodwill towards him but chiefly you declared your loue towards him whē in his last disease you would haue him to come to your house where you entertained him for his cause many that came to visite him liberally honourably to his last breath without any regarde of expēses euen as a louing sonne entertaineth his father Next seeing the wil of the Testator should be sacred inviolable in his testamēt he ordained that whatsoeuer of his works should see the light thereafter should be dedicate to you with these solemne words expresly dyted by himselfe GVLIELMO SCOTO in perpetuum testimoniū amicitiae nostrae dedico cōsecróque that where euer his works were read your kindnes affectiō towards him might be knowne your memoriall might endure to the posterity who can iustly be offended that this worke be dedicate vnto you who can enuie your praise herein thirdly if there were no more this one cause may be more than sufficiēt to make this worke to come out vnder your patronage protectiō that you haue bene the only instrumēt to make it to see the light for through your great care earnest endeuoure large expēses these Lectures were collected gathered from all the partes of the Countrey East West South North how far distant that euer they were from the hands of his schollers who wrote them from his mouth by your dealing procurement they were written ouer and ouer againe reuised corrected now made apt for the Printing so that by your means they now go abroad in the hands of mē we trust to the cōfort of many lastly we for our own parts offer our trauels in this worke vnto your patronage as a monument that we acknowledge our selues to be more obliged vnto you thā we can requite of minds desirous not to be foūd vnthākfull for the vndeserued fauour you shewed to vs particularly to speake nothing of the testimonies of your loue which you shewed many wayes towards them whō the Lord hath set in his seruice both far near which they thēselues doe
power of GOD and liueth nowe in glorie at the right hande of the Father How great a power must this bee that proceedeth out from Christ glorified Alas if the worlde saw this if the blinde men saw the thousand part of that terrible power that commeth from Iesus Christ glorified thinke ye that for all the world they durst confederate with the King of Spaine the Pope and his power and enterprise anie thing against Christ and his Church but alas this blindnesse and induration letteth them not see nor feele but in the ende they shall feele it if the Lord in mercie conuert them not to their euerlasting shame confusion Well to goe forward IOHN to this purpose alleadgeth an olde prophecie which was prophecied before of Iesus Christ long before hee came into the world and this is the prophecie Of them which thou gauest me haue I lost none Nowe Iohn draweth this prophecie to the preseruation of Christes disciples at this time because the disciples that were concredite vnto him escaped at this time Marke Brethren It is true indeed that the prophecie properly is to be vnderstood not so much of a safetie in this life presently as of a spirituall safetie to life euerlasting this is the meaning Yet it hath pleased the Spirit of God to apply this prophecie to this bodily preseruation the cause is this At this time the bodily safetie of his disciples importeth that spirituall safetie the life to come as by the contrarie the indangering of the present life indangered the life to come If the disciples had bene taken at this time to haue suffered with their Master they had all reuolted and denied their Master Wee may see the proofe of this in Peter and so they had hazarded not onely this life but also the life to come because that the disciples were as yet but children in Iesus Christ and were not strengthened enough with the power of Christ and woe is to that soule that will denie Iesus Christ and chiefly in death There is not one who will suffer their litle finger only to be burnt for the cause of Christ except he be strengthened with the power of Iesus Christ and there is not one that will now suffer affliction but they who are guarded with the power of God and therefore yee see heere Gods mercie towardes his disciples This is the mercifull dealing of God with his owne hee will neuer let one of his owne bee tempted but hee will giue them power to beare out the temptation and Hee will neuer suffer them to be tempted till He giue them abilitie and when Hee hath giuen them strength then the LORD will lay on the burthen It is a wonderfull thing the heauier the burthen be that the Lord layes on his owne the greater strength Hee giues them to sustaine it The world hath wondered at the Martyres of God who had so great comfort in the time of their burning in the fire and how in suffering they would sing Psalmes vnto their latter breath The world wondereth at this The heauier that the death hath bene the greater hath the power of God bene and the greater hath the life of Iesus beene in the Martyres And these disciples whom he spared now when He saw that they were ripe Spared He them then No no what was the whole lifetime of the disciples after that Christ departed out of this world but a perpetuall suffering till the life was taken from them they died all by persecution and then by the lossing of this life they got life euerlasting in dying they died not but in dying they entered into a more glorious life So this is that mercifull power of God It appeares that in this countrey there is litle ripenesse because of this litle suffering and therefore the Lord hath dealt mercifully with vs and in great mercie hath holden mens handes off vs therefore wee should pray if it shall please him to bring any to the triall to suffer for his glorious Names sake Lord I am not able to behold the sight of the fire much lesse to suffer the crueltie of the fire therefore if thou wilt haue mee to suffer giue me strength whereby I may bee able to suffer Now I goe to Peters part he setteth downe his action certainly it is worth nothing albeit it seemeth to bee verie zealous What doeth hee hee hath a sword about him he seeing them rush on his Master shevveth his manhood And he striketh the seruant of the high Priest whose name was Malchus and he cut off his right eare The rest of the Euangelists Mat 26. Marke 14. Luke 22 speake of some thing that was done before this When the Lord was communing vvith them that tooke Him then comes the traitour Iudas to the Lord and cryes Rabbi Rabbi Master Master with that he kisseth Him now this was a signe that hee had giuen vnto his companie that that man whome hee should kisse was the man that they should take Now what doth the Lord He makes no signe of anger and there is none of vs but wee thinke that He should haue vttered great anger to the traitour fie on thee traitour for of all men he is most detestable but the Lord in mildnes meeknes of Spirit for all this whole time He takes purpose to suffer patiently as Esay sayeth Hee was as a Lambe before the shearer as a sheepe led to the slaughter openeth not his mouth He sayes friend betrayest thou the Sonne of man with a kisse He assayeth if the conscience will bee brought to remorse There is a wonderfull patience of God to the most vile sinner whē he hath giuen them a signe the whole companie russhed vpon Him Then the disciples said Master shal we defend thee by the sword but Peter not staying vpō an answere he was hardie striketh off the eare of Malchus the high Priests seruant Nowe Brethren albeit that this Malchus the high Priests seruant deserued that not only his eare should be cut off but also that the head the life should be taken from him for he was in a very euill action indeed he was cled with authority but with an euill authoritie if thou hadst the authoritie of all the kings in the world it wil neuer excuse thee before God if thou shouldest get a subscriptiō to do euil against an innocent man the Lord shall not alow thee but His judgmēt shal ouertake thee whether Peter did this of zeale for no doubt he loued his Master exceeding well he would haue had his Master out of his hands yet for all this the Lordes owne wordes testifie that this fact of Peter is to be condemned If ye will examine the zeale it is a very preposterous and vnskilfull zeale the zeale is nothing worth if a man go beyond the boundes of his calling What was Peter but a priuate man this cōpany being sent by the Magistrats superior power Peter ought not
to haue resisted them to recompense this injurie by reason of his calling albeit it was the greatest injurie that euer was done in the world Then the words of Christ doe declare that he did it of blindnesse for hee did that lay in him to stay the worke of the redemption of the world hee tooke no heede to his hand Now to marke something There is nothing more common to men than this to cloake their actions with the pretence of zeale he or she will say I did it of zeale but the Spirit of God in this place and marke it letteth thee see if thy zeale be a naked zeale if it go beyond the bounds of thy calling albeit it be in a good cause yet thy zeale is worth nothing if thy zeale be with ignorance if thou hast not the warrand of this worde thy zeale is of no value it will not warrand thine action if yee would haue surer rules of actions nor zeale is take heede to thâ—se two thinges First to thy calling Looke that thou go not beyond the bounds of thy calling Shalt thou that art a priuate man strike with a sworde Is that thy calling Then next to Gods word What auaileth it vnto a man to goe forward in blindnesse if he be not illuminate with the light of God it is but a blinde zeale and if thou wouldest haue thine actions well ruled then take that lanterne of the word going before thee to warrand thy conscience in all thy proceedings for of all graces this is one of the greatest to haue the worde of God thy warrand in all thine actions As for zeale I cast it not awaye it is ouer rare to be casten away for it is a speciall grace of God but take heede if thou wouldest haue zeale looke that it be moderate and passe not the boundes of thy calling and then looke that thou haue a warrande of the word of God looke that the eye of thy soule bee illuminate Ioyne these two together and then goe forwards to the worke of the Lord. Certainly experience hath taught vs that this zeale hath had an euill successe no man by this zeale did euer get commendation of God It may be that men will runne forwards rashly in zeale and will haue a good entrie but the ende will tell thee that it was but foolish hardinesse it will forthinke them And no doubt Peter when hee got this answere of his Master he repented No man hath neede to finde fault with men of this age for there are few Peters nowe adayes where yee shall finde one like Peter who hath zeale ye shall find ten who haue none The zeale of God is awaye that did eate vp the heartes of the men of God of old Then againe ye shall see in this fact of Peters Peter was a good man and one who loued Iesus Christ very well and hee was loath to leaue Him and when as the Lord said to His disciples Will yee depart also from mee Peter answered and saieth LORD Whither shall wee goe thou hast the wordes of life hee was verie loath to depart from Him And this action also which hee hath in hand is a good action in the defence of Christ Yet for all this in this good action and in the cause of God see how hee is miscarried the Lord findeth fault with him Well this is our nature that when we would doe the worke of the Lord our corruption defileth it and oftentimes in doing it we will sinne and we will blot it with some foule blotte And Peter doing this with some preposterous zeale he is not allowed for an vncleane man as hee is vncleane so hee shall make the worke of the Lord vncleane So the chiefe thing that a man should be exercised withall is prayer that y e Lord would sanctifie the person that the worke that y e Lord hath employed him in may be holily done and marke againe the greatest default that was in Peter was his too great zeale We need not to be afraide for this in this lande Nay we may be afraide for default of it that the worke of the Lord should perish and wee are to pray that the King and those whom he hath employed in this worke may haue an vpright heart and such an heart as Dauid and good Ezechias had an heart louing God and hating Gods enemies I would not doubt then but the worke in his hande should take a good end and hee should report honour and glorie Now the Lord seeing what Peter did Hee forbiddeth him and sheweth a greater anger against him than against Iudas Hee spake not so angrylie against Iudas or any of them that pursued Him as Hee did to Peter and He sayeth Put vp thy sword into the sheath and then he subjoyneth the reason Shall I not drinke of the cuppe that my Father hath giuen me Thou doest what lieth in thee to holde off the cuppe I will drinke of the cuppe that my Father hath giuen me of necessitie I must drinke it for it was preordinate before all times that I should drinke it and seeing it is so I will drinke it Shall any thing be injoyned to vs to doe of necessitie and shall we not doe it willingly The Father hath propined vnto mee a bitter cuppe of affliction and I shall drinke it out dregges and all Matthew in his 26. Chapter giueth mo reasons wherefore the Lord disallowed Peter and this is one Hee who strikes with the sword at his owne hande whom the Lord hath not armed to strike he shall be strucken with the sword It is a dangerous matter to slay if the Lord put not the sword into thine hand then he giues another reason will I be defended with the arme of man No if I would pray to my Father Hee would send me twelue legions of Angels and lastly sayeth He Shall not the Scripture bee accomplished of mee Shall I make the worde of the Lord false which hath foretolde of my suffering and therefore stay thy rashnes And note what Luke sayeth in his 22. Chapter verse 51 He takes vp the eare and puts it on againe Ye may see here that the Lord will haue no man hurt in his taking the Lord will haue no vnjust defence Iesus Christ will not bee defended with vnlawfull meanes He will not bee defended with Peters sword for he had no power giuen him of the Lord for to strike He will not haue injurie repressed with injurie Nay He will not haue the man that hath the just cause to represse an authoritie This guarde came from the authoritie from the Romane empire and Christ will not haue Peter a priuate man to meddle with the superiour power He will not haue him to defend Him against the authoritie It is a dangerous thing to resist authoritie albeit it be vnlawfully vsed chiefly a priuate man and albeit that the authoritie had done wrong yet a man who hath not authoritie should not represse
giuen out In this Text wee enter into the thirde part of the suffering of Christ vnder PoÌ„tius Pilate the Romane gouernour First in the Text wee haue read howe the Lord is led into the Common Hall of Pilate then vve haue what confereÌ„ce was betwixt Pilate the Iewes coÌ„cerning Christ Then it is said They led him into the common Hall which is as vve call it the Session-house where the Romane Gouernour sate for the time and ministrated judgement Now Brethren it would be well marked when it is that they ledde Him to Pilate it appeares plainly in the writings of the EuaÌ„gelists namely Mat. 26.59 Mark 14.55 Luk. 22.63 that they led Him in after they adjudged Him to bee worthie of death They led Him not in thinking that Pilate should sit downe trie whether He was worthie of death or no but that Pilate vpon their word should giue out the sentence of condemnation against Him Marke coÌ„sider how they abused y e judge a man better thaÌ„ theÌ„selues they make him but a torturer the best is a damner to giue out the senteÌ„ce Ye may see here a liuely image of him who wil be called the hie priest in y e Kirke this day I meane that beast of Rome the Romane antichrist Indeed this day there is no hie priest but Iesus Christ onely who did put an end to that office amoÌ„g the Iewes there is no hie priest or small priest great or small in the world all is but vsurped authority He is that only hie priest according to the order of Melchisedeck who endureth for euer But he who falsely takes vpon him that stile followes the fact example of Caiaphas first condemning Christ and then giuing Him ouer to Pilate to execute the sentence for he will sit downe in his councell adjudge the innocent to death as Caiaphas did Christ then he will vse the power arme of the Emperour for what is the Emp. so many kings who haue giuen theÌ„selues ouer to his slauery but like as many hangmen to the Pope What is the king of Spaine but a Burrio to the Pope he dare not but execute the decree of the inquisition was he not compelled to pleasure the Pope his crue in putting his own sonne to death Ye saw neuer two things liker to other than the Pope Caiaphas The time is noted when the Lord Iesus is led to the Common Hall first it is in the morning after the rising of the Sunne and after the councell of the hie priest and of the Elders was loosed The manner of the deliuery is noted wheÌ„ they come to the place of judgmeÌ„t the Iewes will not enter in because they wil not defile theÌ„selues if it were with the touching of a profane ethnik or the walles of an house O hypocrites The cause is set downe They were in a preparatioÌ„ to eat the passeouer y t same night now wil ye see these holy folk they wil not be polluted with the touching of Pilate they had polluted theÌ„selues miserably with touching of Iesus that innocent polluted both haÌ„d heart in taking him leading him to the judge accusing him abusing him yet wheÌ„ they haue done al this they will not be defiled with Pilate they are profane in the greatest thing in the world to slay the Lord Iesus they are religious in a light ceremonie of their owne inuention Looke the nature of Hypocrites Paul Ephes 5.12 It is ashame euen to speake of those things which an Hypocrite will doe in secret and if ye will come to ceremonies and outward obseruations no man is so precise and will seeme so holy as they the faithfullest creature will not be so holy in bodily exercise as they yea I say vnto you if there be no more but this bodily exercise keeping of ceremonies the Lord countes all but abominations as ye may see in Esay Chap. 1. Preaching and hearing speaking conferring the Lord countes no more of them than if He had neuer ordained them if there be no more but this outward action and as before euen so nowe I say we haue a viue image of the deceiuers of the world The Popes religion is nothing but a deceiuing of the world by keeping of vaine and vnprofitable ceremonies inuented by him will yee come to trifles of their owne inuentions they appeare to be very religious and exceeding holy touch not handle not taste not but their Cloyster Monkes are so defiled that they defile the world offer him golde or siluer hee will not touch it and if a woman come into their Cloyster all must be purified with fire after that she is come out though she were a Queene there is the lounes religion I pronounce that in Popedome there is but a shew of godlinesse haue denied the power thereof follow the Papistes who will they haue nothing almost but trifles their own inuentions Well then come to the conference betweene the Iewes Pilate Pilate yeelding to their vanitie superstition not so much to their religion He cometh out to them seeing he must judge the Lord He asketh if they had any accusation against Him because they would not come in It is not enough to judge a man except the pursuer haue an accusation Pilate would not sit down to judge except hee saw the accusation indeed the Iewes tooke him bound Him and in the high Priests hall handled Him vnworthily before they had any accusation against Him they bring Him in judgement but Pilate an Ethnicke a sinner as they called him wil not proceed that way he is more formall he wil not sit down in judgement till he heare the accusation an Ethnicke who liues without God in the world and without the promises as Paul speakes he is more just formall in judgement than all the Iewes who professed the true God This falls out oftentimes that a â—urke or Pagane who liuing without God in the world will deale more vprightly in judgement and especially with Christians who are persecuted for the Name of Christ than they that take vpon them the name of the Church It is better for a Christian to fall into the handes of the Turke than of the Pope or of the Inquisition of Spaine let them assay it vvho please Well Brethren there is no crueltie or vvrong comparable to the crueltie of these vvho take vpon them the name of the Church Experience hath prooued this Nowe hee requires a vardict of the Iewes but vvhat answere they If hee had not beene an euill doer wee had not deliuered him vnto thee They answere presumptuously What needest thou to doubt of his deseruing or of vs Thinkest thou that this man vvould haue bene condemned by vs vvithout a sufficient cause of death So yee see it is not that hee shoulde sit downe and trie vvhether Hee vvere innocent or no that they brought Him to Pilate but that vpon their vvordes hee
hurt him not which are done by the hands of the Emperour Who executes them in the Inquisition The Kinges the Popes holy hāds are cleane of all Excuse as they will I pronounce and the Lord shall ratifie it in that Great day that they are greater murtherers than the secular power Away with their vaine excuses When they haue murthered the man they will put the fault in the Magistrate Wil God accept such excuses In the next vers Iohn subjoynes wherfore y e Iewes would not take vpon them to judge of y e life or death of Iesus Christ and saies that they answered so that that might be fulfilled that the Lord spake signifying what death he should die When He was conuersant with His Disciples He fore-told them that He should die vpon the Crosse Now the Iewes will not take vpon them the right of the judging Him that these words might be fulfilled If the Iewes had taken it vpon them they would not haue crucified him because it was not vsuall among the Iewes they vsed to stone a deceiuer or blasphemer to the death according to the lawe as they did Steuen afterwards This death of the Crosse was familiar and vsuall among the Romanes Then Brethrē we see here the God of Heauen is the disposer of the whole action of the persecution passion of Christ what euer be mans part There is not a word vttered nor an action done either by Pilate or any of the Iewes which the Lord did not dispose All that Pilate did all that the Iewes did as that spitting and buffeting of Christ were all disposed by the Lord And this is it that ye reade in that prayer in y e Acts of the Apostles cap. 4. vers 28. The princes of the earth are gathered against thine anointed Herode Pilate and the Gentiles Whereto That they should doe that thing that thine hand and thy councell hath ordained Neither Herode Pilate nor any of the Iewes or Gentiles did anie thing in this execution but that vvhich God appointed The vnderstanding herof serues to this that there was nothing done to our Redeamer but that which His father appointed they were but persecuters appointed by God euen as the hang-man the Iewes Pilate Herod were like as many hangmen to execute that decree of God This would seeme a very light word that the Iewes say We haue no power to sit ouer the life or death of men yet this is a meane whereby the Lord bringes to passe that forme of Cursed death Brethren we may speake as lightly of thinges as wee please and many times to little purpose but there is nothing that passes GODS decree Looke to that prouidence that GOD hath in His creatures The LORD disposes the lightest wordes that thou speakest He rules thine hand so that whatsoeuer thou doest He makes al to effectuate produce that which He hath decerned the thing that thou wilt speake or doe it will serue for some purpose to Him how beit little for thee In the meane time let no man thinke that when men speake or doe euill that they shall bee the more excusable for if there were no more but this it shall make thee vnexcusable because in speaking euill and in doing euill thou hast not the LORD before thine eyes Thou doest it not for obedience to His vvill Take this lesson Let euerie man and vvoman take good heede that they bee vvell exercised and if our GOD employe vs let vs take good heede that vvee bee in a good seruice in speaking good and doing good Lende not thine heart thine hande nor thy tongue to the Deuill in vnrighteousnesse And seeing thou canst not sleepe from morning to euening but must bee speaking and doing praye that the LORD maye employe thee to doe vvell and to speake vvell and saye LORD let mee bee an instrument to doe well And more in doing vvell bee not content of the outwarde face of the action but in doing vvhether it bee little or much goe euer to the heart and see the disposition thereof and looke thou doe it in sinceritie hauing regarde to GOD. Thinke it not enough and if the LORD vvorke a good vvorke by thee as an instrument but looke still that Hee vvorke in thee that thou mayest finde a good motion in thine heart For alas vvhat auaileth the outwarde action if the heart bee foule vvhich defileth all Indeed vvee maye not thinke that there is anie perfection in vs or in our actions in this life but this is the perfect ground that makes that action to smell sweetelie in the sight of GOD to vvit Faith in IESVS CHRIST If that thou findest that thou hast IESVS CHRIST in thine heart by Faith albeit vvith great vveakenesse in thy selfe yet in CHRIST all the imperfection and vveakenesse is hidden and vvhen the action commeth before the LORD it is pleasant and acceptable to Him All thinges are pleasant that come to the Father thorowe the Sonne there is the grounde of all grace and acceptation Sticke to the LORD IESVS and haue Him not in thy mouth onelie as the Hypocrites doe but let Him also bee inclosed in thine heart and dwell therein for then thou shalt bee acceptable to GOD through Him To vvhome vvith the Father and the Holie Spirit bee all Praise Honour and Glorie for euer and euer vvorlde vvithout ende AMEN THE SIXT LECTVRE OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST IHON CHAP. XVIII verse 33 So Pilate entered into the common Hall againe and called IESVS and saide vnto him Art thou the King of the Iewes verse 34 IESVS answered him Sayest thou that of thy selfe or did other tell it thee of mee verse 35 Pilate answered Am I a Iew Thine owne nation and the high Priests haue deliuered thee vnto mee What hast thou done verse 36 IESVS answered My Kingdome is not of this world if my Kingdome were of this world my seruants would surely fight that I should not bee deliuered to the Iewes but nowe is my Kingdome not from hence verse 37 Pilate then saide vnto him Art thou a King then IESVS answered Thou sayest that I am a King for this cause am I borne and for this cause came I into the world that I should beare witnesse vnto the trueth euerie one that is of the trueth heareth my voyce THE last day Brethren we entered into the suffering of Christ vnder Pontius Pilate the Romane Gouernour Ciuill Iudge in Iudeae for the time Iesus is led into the Common Hall to the House of Iustice as ye heard where Pilate sate Now Pilate is not rash in judging but before he sit downe to judge hee will haue an inditement and will see what things the Iewes haue to lay to the charge of the Lord He saw the accusers of Him the Iewes in multitudes he saw no accusation therefore he goes out vnto them because they would not come to him and asketh what accusation haue they against Him hee receiueth little answere or at least little
King he should haue asked what a King He was where his kingdome was that He might haue gotten a part of it there is y e coÌ„fessioÌ„ that Iesus gaue vnder Pontius Pilate as is saide 1. Tim. 6.13 Pilate should haue bin inquisitiue of these things and followed out that purpose about his kingdome but he breakes off the conference by an accusation of Iesus An earthly hearted man knowes not things heauenly so he cannot speake of them but rather he will stay an heauenly purpose Ye see earthly hearted men when one will begin to speake of heauenly things hath no more pleasure in them than Pilate had begin once to speake of heauenly things to a prophane man then he cannot keepe purpose with thee but hee will breake off purpose speake of earthly things Paul 1. Cor 2. sets down the grouÌ„d here The naturall man sayes he knowes not the things of the Spirit of God yea he will wonder what that means when thou speakest of Heauen yea he hath no power nor spirituall sense for they are but foolishnes to him the most wise things of God are but foolishnes to the naturall man he delites not in them because he hath not tasted how sweet the Lord is So Pilate interrupteth Christ Christ answeres He sayes Thou sayest that I am a King In the which answere the Lord denies not that He is a King but He takes the mouth of Pilate to be witnes that He was a King Then he lets vs see for what cause He came into the world not to be an earthly King Came I into the world but that I might beare witnesse of the trueth I came not to be an earthly King as other Kings are but I came from the throne of a King a glorious Kingdome that I may play the part of a seruaÌ„t in bearing witnes to the trueth Iesus Christ was God equall with the Father thought it no robberie but He made Himselfe of no reputation by taking on the forme of a servant Phil. 2.6 As though he would say I came into the world tooke on the flesh of man to be a seruant to my Father to be a witnes to the trueth then He subjoynes lest that Pilate should thinke that office of litle effect that He laboured in vaine sayes They who are of veritie to wit begotten of the word the immortal seed of the word of God for by veritie here is meant the word of veritie as Chap 17. vers 17. preceeding They heare my word He draweth neâ—re vnto Pilate if thou be such an one as is begotten of the trueth thou wilt heare my word albeit Christ be stayed from speaking Pilate would haue put Him off Hee leaues not but speakes againe to Pilate He would haue winne Pilate it had bene possible Albeit we be interrupted when we speake of heauenlie things to profane men and women wee ought not to leaue off by the example of Christ but howbeit wee bee interrupted wee should returne againe and follow out the thing we haue begun to see if some wordes will sinke in their hearts or if they will not returne that they may be vnexcusable Speake of Christ and of Heauen it shall neuer be in vaine but as Paul saies 2. Corin. 2. it shall bee a sweet odour to God either to their saluation or damnation that God may be glorified either in mercy in winning of them or in justice in their perdition And therfore it is good to speake of things HeaueÌ„lie the soule is nourished therby A man that redresses himselfe to a kingdome would euer take delite to speake of it if thou hast no pleasure at no time to speake of Heauenly things it is a sure token that thou hast no part of that kingdom thou hast neuer tasted the sweetnes of it for they who haue tasted thereof will haue somtimes a delite to speake of thinges Heauenly and will desire that sincere milke of the word as Peter speakes So if thou findest the worde of life sweet why shouldst thou not desire it continually for it is that only food by the which y e life of God is nourished within thee here and one day it shall present vnto thee such satiety of all pleasure and joy in the face of God as the heart cannot thinke of now howbeit thou gettest but scant in this world Alas that we should let such a joy passe away for fault of feeling tasting What is the veritie saies Pilate he askes this not with pleasure but loathing disdaining taries no answere but goes his way His stomack loathes Christ Then in Pilate we haue an example of naturall men if any will speake of things Heauenly vnto them of Christ and of His benefits they will stay the speach so farre as they can and if thereafter any will insist and yet speake on then at the last if thou wilt vrge them they must speake something but they will speake as Pilate did lightly and disdainfully and when they haue asked they will leaue off and will not care for an answere but askes for the fashions cause when they are constrained thereunto We are by nature like to Pilate either we will not speake one word of things Heauenly or else if wee bee compelled to speake and wordes bee throwne out of vs wee will speake with a loathing and disdaining of the heart There vvas neuer any thing in the world that could moue the naturall man more to loathing than y e word of God he will heare it with such disdain that when one thing is saide in word hee will say another in heart and he vvill thinke him vvho teaches him the most foolish man in the vvorld And he vvho is vvisest if he be not regenerated and renewed hee shall count Christ and things Heauenly most foolish A simple bodie is sooner vvonne than hee vvho is vvise in his owne conceit in the vvorld If thou vvouldest be an hearer or speaker of Heauenly things striue alwayes to get a reformation of thine own corrupt nature and let thy meditation and prayer be thus Lord reforme mine heart that thy vvord maye bee fruitfull in mee so that both I may heare vvith pleasure and also that the vvords come not from the teeth forward but from the deepnes of mine heart when I speake of Thee and things Heauenly that so thy vvord may edifie both mee and others It is a more dangerous thing to come to heare if vve be not duely prepared than to tarrie away and better not to speake at all than to speake of thinges Heauenly vvithout the inward sense of the heart Now the Lord grant vs grace that in hearing speaking of things Heauenly vve may haue this Heauenly disposition in some measure for Christes sake To vvhom vvith the Father and Holy Spirit be all Praise Honour and Glory both now and euermore Amen THE SEVENTH LECTVRE OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST IHON CHAP. XVIII verse 38 Pilate said vnto him What
into the handes of the Pope and those sillie soules that lye in the Holie house would exchaunge the one with the other The judgement of GOD is lying vpon these doers on HERODE on PILATE on the High Priestes and vpon the IEWES yet PILATE gettes this grace that hee hath some conscience and it is holden waking and sounding in his eare and staying him from that wicked action and then Pilate gettes a pittifull heart But come to them to wit the Iewes and High Priestes the judgement of GOD lyes so vpon them that they proceede from degree to degree to fearefull induration till the action bee finished and the heartes of them are locked vp from all pitie and their consciences are blotted awaye so heauie is the judgement that lies vpon the Iewes Therefore thinke not that wee are free from judgement when wee are sitting in ease eating and drinking in wealth honour and glorie for I affirme that the heauiest judgement that euer GOD layes vpon anie creature is a senselessenesse For when as a man or a woman is doing euill and hath no sense of that their evill doing O! that is the moste miserable estate that can bee for it is a sure fore-runner of eternall damnation No outwarde crosse neither sicknesse nor pouertie is so sure a token of GODS judgement as to bee rocked vp in securitie and to bee lying sleeping in sinne Senselessenesse is a sure token of a sore judgement which shall ouertake thee so that thou shalt not bee able to open thy mouth to saye GOD helpe mee and therefore beware of senselesnesse Now the LORD holde our consciences waking although it should trouble vs that we may cease from going forwardes in sinne for CHRISTES sake To whome bee all Praise Honour and Glorie for euermore AMEN THE NINTH LECTVRE OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST IHON CHAP. XIX verse 7 The Iewes answered him Wee haue a Lawe and by our Lawe he ought to die because hee made himselfe the Sonne of GOD. verse 8 When Pilate then heard that word hee was the more afraid verse 9 And went againe into the common Hall and said vnto IESVS Whence art thou But IESVS gaue him none answere WEE heard in the beginning of this CHAPTER Brethren how Pilate the Iudge insisted earnestlie to get IESVS whom his conscience dited to bee innocent set free and loosed and therfore first he commandes Him to bee taken and scourged to bee crowned with a Crowne of Thornes and clad with a purple Garment in derision of His kingdome thinking thereby to haue satisfied the Iewes Then when he had done this he commeth foorth himselfe and in presence of all the people protestes the fourth time that He was innocent Thirdly when hee bringes Him foorth with a Crowne of Thornes and with a purple rayment hee vtters a pittifull voyce saying Beholde the man to mooue the Iewes to be content but their malice could not be satisfied but the Iewes and Priestes cried out Crucifie him crucifie him Thus much we haue heard alreadie Now in the beginning of this Text wee haue the replie of Pilate to the Iewes and the communication betwixt him and them Take yee him saies he and crucifie him as for mee I finde no fault in him He answeres indeed with an anger for he is commoned with the obstinacie of the Iewes because nothing woulde mooue them but still they cried out Crucifie him but he saies If ye will take it on your coÌ„science crucifie ye Him as for me albeit I have right to crucifie Him I had rather giue my right to you than to deâ—ile mine hands with the blood of the innocent Ye heard when they vrged Pilate to condemne Him without a verdict hee answered on this manner Ye haue a law judge Him according to your law Before I judged a man without a crime I had rather resigne my right to you Ye see there Pilate had rather giue ouer his right that he had of the Romane Emperour in judging and executing before he had condemned an innocent man this had bene very commendable in this Ethnicke man if it had not beene forced out of him by the guiltinesse of his conscience his conscience cried within him Iesus is innocent So this is forced out of him for Brethren ye shall vnderstand that men doe things in conscience two wayes either against their will when they are compelled violently to doe it or els with their will when they doe any thing willingly when the heart is as readie to doe it as the conscience charges When a man doeth a thing vpon constraint hee getteth litle praise before God when a man doeth willingly then there is matter of true praise if yee compare Pilate with the Iewes who had lost their conscience he hath his owne praise for it is better to be commoned on conscience to doe any thing than to doe against conscience But let him who would haue the true praise not do any thing on coÌ„straint of coÌ„science only but also with a willing heart as the conscience requireth that he doe it so let him be as glad to doe it Naturall men will haue a conscience and doe vpon conscience albeit they were neuer so prophane but if the heart agree willingly to do God seruice there is more than nature there if thou wouldest haue praise of God take not onely heede to thy conscience but looke also that thou haue a joy in thine heart in well doing Will ye marke through this whole discourse that the Lord lets not the conscience of Pilate sleepe Iudges now who will be counted Christians haue not such a conscience and as it is waking so it lets him not rest but causes him speake if thy conscience be wakned thou shalt bee speaking and shalt be compelled to say the good cause is the good cause But looke to the High Priests there is as great difference betweene them and Pilate as it betweene the heauen the earth ye shall see nothing in them but the conscience sleeping locked vp in a sound sleep the more that Pilate testifies of the innocencie of Christ they are the more hardened This is a wonder Pilate was but a naturall man who had none illumination but through the light of nature ye must know that it is knowledge that makes a conscience As for the High Priests they had light by the word of God yet come to the conscience Pilate had a better conscience than they had all Would ye search the ground of it the High Priests albeit they had the word of God and light and illumination there thorow yet the malitiousnesse of their hearts put out that light corruption blotted it out and when once a man is illuminate and then beginneth to extinguish that light it coÌ„meth by the just Iudgement of God that the light of nature is put out and then all conscience is scraped out and then hee becommeth like a beast and so falleth into a reprobate sense keepe the light that ye haue gotten by
hands then marke what hee sayes I am innocent of the blood of this iust man See yee to it Well is this out of his owne mouth both the speaking and doing of Pilate testifieth that Iesus was innocent he confesseth that he was going to condemne an innocent man so I see that the conscience of the innocencie of Christ neuer leaues Pilate I doubt not but hee would gladly haue wanted it It is a maruell that during all the time of the suffering of Iesus Christ the Lord will haue the innocencie of His deare Sonne to appeare in the beginning in the mids and in the ending thereof All the time of His accusation Pilate preaches His innocencie when it commeth to condemnation the Iudge both by word and deed testifies that He was innocent it is not a common person that protestes this but the Iudge himselfe then againe looke to the end of this worke when Iesus is lifted on the crosse then the Father froÌ„ the heauen testifies that He was innocent then the Centurion with the burrio the men of warre seeing the wonders are compelled to say this is the Sonne of God and the people seeing this goe home thumping on their breasts say alas so they had cause so the innocencie of Iesus Christ is declared all this whole time out of the mouth of the Iudge himselfe of many others What meanes all this No doubt but y e Father herein had respect to y e honour of His Son for indeede the most honourable death is to die as an innocent and if thou wouldest die honourably die not as a guiltie person but die innocently And this was to aggreadge Pilates damnation and the damnation of the Iewes But brethren there is another cause that pertaines more to vs and serues more to our comfort euen that we should haue faith in this Mediatour the Lord Iesus for except He had died as an innocent I would neuer lay my sinne on Him the thing that makes mee to beleeue that Hee hath made satisfaction is because He suffered innocently and had no sinne in Himselfe Heb. 7.26 and as Peter sayes Hee bare our sinnnes because I am perswaded He bare my sinnes vpon Him I beleeue in Him so this redounds to the comforte of the members of the Church of God Yet I see more here Pilate he hath not only the coÌ„science of the innocencie of Iesus but this same very coÌ„science it makes him to turne to the Iewes to summond them before that terrible tribunall See yee to it sayes he I tell you ye will giue an account of this dayes worke so this is a citation of the Jewes before that terrible tribunall and they haue found it and shall finde it No Brethren take heede thou shalt neuer want summonding let Kings and them who are in authoritie cease to summound thee let thine owne conscience neuer speake a worde to thee nor charge thee the Lord shall not let thee bee without a citation if thy conscience will not waken thee He will waken the conscience of a Turke or a Pagane and he shall charge thee to appeare before that terrible Tribunall Thou thinkest when thou sleepest and thy conscience accuses thee not that all is well no the Lord shall raise vp the conscience of a Pagane to summound thee and I say to thee albeit thou thinkest thou art at rest when thy coÌ„science is sleeping wilt spend thy time thou wilt eat drinke be merrie take thy pastime yet it is one of the most heauiest judgements y t euer God laid on any then wheÌ„ He hath raised the conscience of another man to warne thee it is a sore warning that if thou sleepe on and repent not thou shalt be wakened that thou shalt not get leasure to say God be mercifull to mee This world knowes not what it is doing Yet marke further Notwithstanding all this conscience of y e innocencie of Iesus Alas I sâ—e not this that his owne conscience accuses him or sayes to him Woe to thee Pilate thou art going an euill way thou wilt make thy selfe guiltie of that innocent blood that will burthen thee euerlastingly his conscience is busier to accuse the Iewes as himselfe hee shoulde not bee so busie to accuse the Iewes as himselfe for if his conscience had accused himselfe sharply had he euer said Thus I am cleane of the blood of this just innocent one By the contrary it had vrged out another confession sentence There is nothing but damnation for me for the coÌ„demning of the innocent What should haue bene the cause of this He vvas buâ— a silly naturall man his conscieÌ„ce was wrong informed concerning that thing hee thought himselfe well enough seeing he had striâ—eÌ„ so long yeelded thorow necessity All this sluggishnes of his conscieÌ„ce came of a wrong information he knew no better The more thou knowest the better informed conscieÌ„ce thou hast Striue ay to get knowledge Alas that blindnes that man lyes in by nature that makes thee think that sin is no sin that is deceit Striue ay to get a cleare mind a well informed conscience whereof thou should excuse thee and whereof to accuse thee Get this out of the word of God which is the only rule of our life of all our actioÌ„s from that light that comes from Heauen for the light of nature will beguile thee and it will say that thou art blessed when the malediction of God is vpon thee and it wil say Thou doest well when thou doest euill Therefore get that light that comes from Heauen to make thee to see This for Pilates part Now let vs come to the part of the Iewes Their part is far worse This is a great deformitie vvhen these vvho haue the Oracles of God are warned by Turkes and Paganes This is to turne the vp-side of the vvorlde downe Looke howe readie Pilate is to laye off the burthen from himselfe vpon the Iewes as readie are they to laye it both vpon their owne backes and vpon their posteritie If this exoneration of himselfe vvhen hee disburthens himselfe of the blood of Iesus testifies that hee had a conscience of His blood that vvas innocent It must followe if the Iewes vvere readie to take on this burthen then they had no sight of His innocencie neither vvere they touched therewith in conscience and therefore like blinded bodies seeing nothing vvith an imprecation they translate the burthen from Pilate and laye it vpon themselues Ignorance is euer temerarious the blinder the bodie is the more rashly vvill it endanger it selfe A blind bodie vvithout knowledge will run it selfe speedily without remorse into Hell and will take on such a burthen that it shall neuer bee able to laye it off againe What meanes all this running so speedilie in vvicked courses but that men vvant conscience and their owne corruption hath blindfolded them Is there anie man that hath light that will run on to their death to
Christes will that the ground of their lameÌ„tation shuld not be so much His suffring for them as the sense of their owne misery sinne which brought Him to such a misery The Lord would haue the women considering the greatnesse of their owne misery which made Christ for their cause to bee so miserable that should haue beene chiefelie the cause of their mourning that shoulde haue beene the cause of their dolour for as Iohn saies out of Zacharie They shall see Him whome they pearced Our sinnes haue pearced Him The godly in the latter daye when they shall see Him they shall mourne It was not so much the Souldiours that pearced Him as thy sinnes Haue not therefore thine eye so much on Pilate Herode or the Iewes or on the men of warre or Hang-man as on thy selfe and on thine owne sinnes for it was thy sinnes that pearced Him thorowe and in the latter day when the godly shall see Him whome they haue pearced they shall weepe Turne thine eyes on thy selfe and let the ground of thy weeping bee for thine owne sinne that pearced the Innocent There is another thing heere worthie to bee considered I see it is a good thing to bee in heauinesse and yee see that the LORD speakes nothing to the men of warre nor to anie others in the way but onely to the poore women who were weeping Hee comfortes them and instructes them Hee leades them to the grounde of their weeping to the ende that they shoulde repent and haue recourse vnto Him The best estate of men and women is to bee sadde in heart and mourning either for their owne misery or the misery of others for the Lord saies Blessed are they that mourne for they shall bee comforted And GOD dwelles in a coutrite heart ESAY CHAP. 66. VERS 2. PSAL. 51. VERS 19. Thou who laughest thou needest no comfort Thou who art mourning for thy sinnes and the sinnes of the worlde the Lord Hee shall speake to thee and giue thee consolation with His owne mouth Nothing becommeth a Christian better than sadnesse and to haue his sinnes before his eyes and to bee sadde both at noone and at Euen for all this joye that a true Christian hath is sadnesse Awaye with wantonnesse mocking and jesting there is no true joye there and the Lord vses not to comfort such nor speake to such for they neede it not I fore-warne thee that thou shalt neuer gette the taste of that joye but in teares and then vvhen the heart is broken and casten downe then the LORD is mighty to raise thee vp and to comfort thee The Lord therefore giue vs grace when wee looke to the death and passion of CHRIST that wee maye gette a sense of our owne miserie and that wee maye bee in sadnesse and mourne that our sinnes pearced the sides of the innocent vvho vvas the GOD of Glorie and that vvee maye haue recourse to this suffering and gette grace in our LORD To vvhom with the Father and the Holie Spirite bee all Honour Praise and Glorie for euer and euer AMEN THE XIV LECTVRE OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST MATTH CHAP. XXVII verse 33 And when they came vnto the place called Golgotha that is to say the place of dead mens skulles verse 34 They gaue him vineger to drinke mingled with gall and when he had tasted thereof he would not drinke MARKE 15. verse 22 And they brought him to a place named Golgotha which is by interpretation the place of dead mens skulles verse 23 And they gaue hâ—m to drinke wine mingled with myrrhe but he receiued it not LVKE XXIII verse 32 And there were two others which were euill doers led with him to be slaine IOHN CHAP. XIX verse 17 And hee bare his owne crosse and came into a place named of dead mens skulles which is called in Hebrewe Golgotha NOwe ye haue heard Brethren of the accusation of CHRIST before the Iudge Pontius Pilate and of His condemnation out of the mouth of the Iudge Pilate and then wee heard that after the sentence of damnation was pronounced he deliuered Him into the handes of the Iewes to bee crucified they take Him and first of all they leade Him in againe to a moste secret part of the Common Hall and there they handeled Him more freely yea more vilely than euer before seeing Hee was a condemned man and when they had vsed whatsoeuer indignitie they pleased against Him they leade Him to the place where Hee should be executed In the Historie wee haue marked three or foure things that fell out in the way First how the Lord is bearing His owne Crosse to the place of execution Next Hee beeing wearied vnder the burthen one Simon of Cyrene comming from the Countrey to the towne is compelled to take vp one ende of the Crosse to helpe him So Iesus goes before and beares the one end of the Crosse Simon of Cyrene followes bearing the other end thereof The third thing the multitude followes men of all countreyes that were conueened and come out of Ierusalem at such a solemne time at the Passeouer Amongst the rest there were women of Ierusalem better than the rest of the multitude who followed him and wept for him Wee haue heard what answere the Lord gaue them and how he instructed them in the right cause of their weeping Now the last thing that is marked it is this that we haue read out of the Gospel of Luke there were led out two thieues with him Then in this dayes exercise we shall heare of these points The first concerning the two thieues that were led out with him The next is concerning the place The third is concerning the sowre bitter drinke that they gaue him to drinke The fourth concerning the act of the suffering and fiftly concerning the houre To returne to the first As hee goes out to the place where hee should suffer There are ledde out with Him two thieues to suffer with him in that same place Iesus is ledde out to the place of execution like a thiefe beeing innocent and ledde out with thieues to suffer with thieues Amongst all the rest of the things that Iesus Christ suffered beside the paine that he suffered in soule and bodie he suffered extreame shame as we say hee was shamed and shent I shewed to you that shame followed alwayes vpon sinne Iesus Christ tooke vpon him the sinnes of the world and therefore hee behooued to suffer shame before the worlde The Lord Iesus Christ was ignominious in respect of the painfull and ignominious death for hee was mounted vp vpon the Crosse in presence of them all and in respect of the multitude all the worlde was gazing vpon him and in this respect when hee goes out to suffer hee is counted a thiefe among the thieues and the Lord was also ignominious in respect of the place Brethren in this matter I looke not so much to the Iewes or to the souldiers as I looke to his Father in heauen
the day in the which He was crucified MARKE names it to haue bene about the third houre of the daye which according to our reckoning and our fashion of diuiding of the daye fell about the twelfth houre of the daye which manifestes a verie hastie dispatch and a short space betwixt the doome and the execution yea all this matter was very hastilie dispatched for Hee was taken in the night in the which Hee gotte no rest but was hurried first to Annas and from him to Caiaphas Hall and then before Pilate the Romane Iudge and there before him condemned So that Hee is taken in the night and the next day before twelue a clocke Hee is crucified In the night Hee is taken and brought before the Iudge The accusation passeth The doome is giuen and He is crucified on the morrow following before twelue of the clocke Nowe to passe by the malice of the Jewes and their earnestnesse to haue the Lord put to death we shall marke that all this judgement wee maye see the swiftnesse of the wrath of the Father which pursued the Sonne because He bare the sinnes of the worlde It lets vs see plainlie that the judgement that shall bee in the latter daye to the which this is proportionate it is a type of the latter judgement that judgemeÌ„t also I say shall passe ouer swiftlie and the reprobate in that judgement when the Lord is once entred into judgement shall not gette leaue nor leasure to draw their breath till they be casteÌ„ into Hel. And after that the terrible Iudge shall once enter into accompt with them and giue out that sentence Depart from mee yee cursed of my Father with the Deuill and his angelles immediatelie those damned soules shall bee hurled to Hell If the wrath was so swift vpon the Sonne of God Himselfe what shall bee the swiftnesse of the wrath vpon the reprobate in that Great daye Then come to the Text which we haue read and to goe forwardes to speake of the thinges and circumstances that fell out in the time that the Lord did hang quicke nayled vpon the Crosse for as I haue already declared Hee hung the â—pace of three houres quicke nayled vpon the Crosse ere Hee gaue vp the ghoste The first thing we haue to speake of is concerning the two Thieues that were crucified with Him the one at the one hande and the other at the other hand Next wee shall speake of that prayer that Iesus conceiued whilest Hee was hanging on the Crosse before His enemies And thirdly wee shall speake of that title and inscription that Pilate commanded to bee fixed on the Crosse to wit IESVS of Nazareth the King of the Iewes and this contained the crime and cause of His suffering Last wee shall speake of the diuiding of His garmentes and howe they cast lottes on His coate All these heads are plaine they offer plaine doctrine Then to come to the first It is saide that They crucified with him two thieues two vagabondes two throat-cutters and they crucified the one of them at his right hand and the other at his left hand And Hee hung on the Crosse in the middest betweene them both They crucifie not the Lord Iesus Himselfe alone but betwixt two Thieues and not at the side but one of them at each side and Him in the middest gâ—uing out thereby to bee vnderstood by all the worlde who looked on Him and there was an hudge multitude of Iewes Romanes and Gentiles looking on that of all Malefactors He was the greatest Brethren I see this thorowe all the Historie of the Passion of Iesus Christ euer His dolour encâ—easses till it come to the ende to the height And I see this that as His paine growes continually So shame is heaped on His head continually and whilest Hee is hanging on the Crosse at the same time the greatest shame is heaped on His head for Hee hanges vpon the Tree betwixt the euill doers as Prince of all euill doers in the worlde To let you see that as the paine of the reprobate shall bee extreame so the shâ—me and confusion that they shall suffer in Hell shall passe all measure In this circumstance as in all the rest I looke not so much to the Iewes and to their malice as I looke to His Father in Heauen to His wrath and to His Iustice it is Hee who is the chiefe worker of all these things All theâ—e men Pilate Herode the men of warre and the High Priestes they are like as many burrioes to that Iudge The LORD hanges on the Crosse in extreame paine of bodie and soule and as Hee hanges in extreame paine so there is extreame shame joyned with it Nowe if the shame and paine was extreame it must followe that Hee bare an extreame but then of sinne these goe together in GODS Iustice extreame burthen of sinne extreame paine and extreame shame for the Iustice of GOD requires that extreame sinne bee punished by extreame paine and shame It is true the Martyres suffered greater shame paine than euer murtherer did or malefactour yet it followes not that their sinne was greater than the sinne of them who suffers not so great paine Why The Martyres suffered not for sinne Non eo nomine Neuer a Martyre suffered for sinne but for the testimonie of the same Lord Iesus Christ who suffered for their sinne and therefore in their suffering they had an exceeding great joy assuring them that they had a remissioÌ„ of their sinnes in the blood of the Lambe IESVS CHRIST But IESVS CHRIST suffered for sinne Eo nomine it is one thing to a sinner to suffer it is another thing to suffer for sin No if the Lord make thee to suffer for the least sin if it were but for an euill thought thou shalt feele howe terrible a Iudge Hee is The LORD suffers and is shamed for sinne the Lord IESVS suffered extreame shame and paine therefore the consequent followes He bare an extreame but then of sinne When I looke to this vtter shame as I call to minde all the sinnes that IESVS suffered for so chiefly I looke to that high pride of Adam and of vs all in Adam whereby wee aspire to bee like to that High and glorious Majestie that pride whereby we would haue spoyled that great GOD of that honour and glorie which was due to Him Therefore in this vtter shame the Father of Heauen meetes randers and requites that high pride of Adam and for that Hee heapes shame on the head of His Sonne As thou aspirest to dishonour Him by pride so Hee meetes thy pride in His deare Sonne If thou be not found in IESVS in that great day the prouder thou bee in the worlde the greater shall be thy shame beside that vnspeakable torment of soule and bodie Now will yee see in this extreame paine shame that the Lord suffers how the wonder of our saluation is wrought it is so farre from that that it is wrought
places of the Newe Testament as namely 2. COR. 12.4 where PAVL speakes of his rauishing to Paradise and also REVEL 2.7 But to leaue the vvordes and to come to the meaning This Paradise signifies none other thing but that House of the Father in the which is manie mansions as wee saide in the foureteenth Chapter Nowe woulde yee knowe the place of it PAVL saies It is farre aboue these visible heauens where Christ himselfe ascended EPHES. 4.10 It is the place of the Throne of that Majestie of that Glorie and of that euerlasting rest of the Kirke of Iesus Christ and of His Sainctes where they shall rest in a wonderfull glorie euerlastinglie The vvorde is borrowed from that Paradise that Parke of pleasure in the vvhich ADAM and EVAH vvere planted to liue in a vvonderfull pleasure for euer if they had stoode vvithout sinne But to come to the matter First in this answere that the Lord makes to the penitent Thiefe yee may see a vvonderfull readinesse in Christ to heare the petition of a miserable sinner for hee hath scarcely spoken the worde when the Lord makes an answere and no maruell for Hee that preuentes thee with grace ere thou thinkest of grace Hee will followe after with grace Hee who giues grace to begge grace Hee will giue a gracious answere ROMAN 8.26 The Spirite of GOD interceadeth for vs with sighes vnspeakeable That is the first grace Then hee subjoynes The Lord who searcheth the heart knoweth the sense and meaning of his owne Spirite There is the seconde grace Thou shalt not so soone open thy mouth to speake to Him with the Spirite but Hee shall as soone heare thy vvorde thou shalt not so soone haue a meaning but it shall as soone touch the heart of the Lorde as it touches thine heart because it is not thy spirite but the Lordes Spirite who speakes in thee So all the difficultie and hardnesse is to gette the first grace to praye there is no difficultie of the next And there are wonderous fewe vvho gettes this grace to begge to sigh to sobb c. yea where one hath it ten wantes it and when this is once gotten the other followes of its owne will for if thou askest spirituall graces of necessitie thou shalt gette thy petition graunted And if wee aske earthly thinges either shall wee gette our petition or else the Lord once shall shewe vs why Hee will not graunt it and so wee shall haue contentment to vndertake His will and shall heartily thanke Him There is more yet in this answere Besides this easinesse to heare marke an abounding mercie and exceeding liberalitie of the Lord passing aboue the petition The Thiefe onely prayed the Lord to remember him when He came in His Kingdome The Lord aunsweres Beholde euen I giue thee more than thou requirest for thou shalt be with me this day in Paradise so thou needest not to feare that I forget thee The Thiefe seekes but a little thing the Lord giues him more than hee can seeke the hande of the Lorde is not so scarce Wilt thou seeke a litle thing the Lord shall giue a thousand times more than thou canst seeke the Lord hath neither scant nor want Brethren the glory which we shall finde one day shall bee greater than we can looke or hope for in this world No things Heauenlie which He shall giue surmountes further aboue our capacitie than the Heauen does aboue the Earth Yea if thou speakest of earthlie things findes not many by experiēce that they get such an estate in the world as they would neuer haue looked or hoped for I sought but life saies Dauid Psal 21. 5 yet the Lord gaue me to be a king that is He gaue me not only a priuate obscure life but a glorious life in the sight of the people Besides this easinesse and liberalitie of the Lord to grant to a poore man aboue that that he durst presume He prescribes no time but this same day I know not if he durst haue bene so bold as to haue sought such a time that same day Marke further here a wonderfull power in the Lord at that time when Hee was in a most vile and ignominious death which was the image of Hell to pull a man quicke on the Crosse to breake Him on a Crosse The Lord is weakned the Iewes thought more of the dirt they trode on than of Iesus yet ye see what a wonderfull power which strikes out from Him to the thiefe this is the power of a King This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise What Emperour durst speake this Yea He vtters the power of GOD Himselfe This promise is proper to GOD only to promise participation of that heauenly Kingdome What Angell durst doe this None but the eternall and immortall GOD. It is true the LORD Iesus whilst as Hee hang vpon the Crosse was wonderfully weakned and that glorious Godhead that dwelt in the humane Nature kept it selfe closse for a time and held in the beames of His glorie for a time within that vaile of His bodie for if Hee had not kept closse that Glorie of His Godhead the world could not haue crucified Him yet He kept Him not so closse but in the Crosse Hee manifests Himselfe Hee does the part of a King and fought a fiercer battell than all the Kings in the world Hee fought against all the enemies and in the ende Hee triumphes in that Crosse as in a Chariote and leades them all as thieues before Him And if there were no more to shewe that Hee was a King than this hastie conuersion of the thiefe it may tell you if Christ had such a power whilst as Hee hang in such weaknesse on the Crosse What power hath He now when He is in the Heauen exalted in the Throne of glorie If it bee so that wee feele not CHRIST powerfull in vs to life as the thiefe felt Blame not IESVS as if Hee wanted power sufficient nowe in glorie who had such power in His humilitie but blame thy selfe Thou wants that which the thiefe had thou wants Faith in Christ glorified the thiefe may shame thee who beleeued in Him whē He was in extreame ignominie Then to end all this y t hath bin spokē of this answere in a word Seeing y e Lord of lords y e Lord Iesus is so readie Neuer was there King so ready to heare a subject as Iesus is if thou werest the vilest bodie that goes a Thiefe a Harlot c. yet if thou wilt saye this Lord remember on mee and giue mee a part of thy Kingdome if thou prayest to Him from a penitent heart with confidence and assurance I promise vnto thee Heauen and Earth shall goe together ere thou vvantest thine asking Seeing our Lord Iesus is so liberall then seeke more than enough more than a Kingdome and thou shalt get more The only cause why we want is in vs we haue no hearts to seeke it And last Seeing He is so
it that we count not much of them but that â—e behold that heauenly life Paul 2. Cor. 5.16 When he was speaking of the redemption that the Lord bought with His precious blood sayes From henceforth I will knowe no man according to the flesh and if I did know Jesus sometimes according to the flesh now I will not know Him hee giues a reason Who euer is in Christ let him bee a newe creature the olde creatures are past away behold all things are made new Fye on thee that hast thine heart fixed on these earthly thinges and forgettest Heauen This for the stile that He giues her Come to the words He sayes Behold thy sonne As if He had said Woman I am to depart this life and I put Iohn in my stead and I ordaine him to take the protection of thee and to doe the dutie of a sonne to thee in my steade then Hee turnes Him to Iohn and Hee sayes Beholde thy mother As if Hee had said I goe out of the world and I leaue my mother to thee and I ordaine that thou be a sonne to her and she a mother to thee and that thou keepe her and intertaine her so long as thou and she liue together It may be asked The LORD IESVS CHRIST going to Heauen might Hee not from the Heauen haue kept His owne mother might Hee not haue taken the defence of His owne mother might He not haue preserued Her from all dangers No question He might haue kept her well eneugh yet He committes her to Iohn whom Hee loues because He loues His mother well Hee commends her to a man whom He loued intierely He will not contemne the ordinarie meanes and manner of doing this same Hee does dayly the LORD IESVS hath power to saue His Church and all the members of the same to protect and defend them but He will not contemne these ordinarie meanes He will haue euery one to keepe another as Hee commended His mother to Iohn to bee kept And woe bee to thee who may if thou keepe none And namely the LORD hath a care of that infirme sexe that women bee kept by the protection of men who are faithfull She who is kept vnder the protection of any in the worlde let her giue CHRIST glorie for it for it is by His direction as Marie was directed to Iohn Consider heere further The LORD at this time is in the seruice of His heauenly Father and there was neuer a man so occupied in His life as He was at this houre and He was neuer so occupied all His time as now and Hee was now occupied chiefly in suffering It is an easie thing to bee occupied in performing duties of the seruice of GOD in respect of suffering it is a sore thing to suffer as to be cast in a fire to bee nailed on a Crosse yet in suffering albeit He is occupied so that He forgets His owne selfe yet when Hee sees His mother Hee forgets not her I would all men should marke this lesson The malediction of GOD shall fall on these that deserue the curse of their mother who glorie in it let them glorie in it as they will our dutie to GOD prejudges nothing our dutie to father or mother thou was neuer so occupied in the seruice of GOD as was Iesus Christ at this houre who in the middest of all this did His dutie to His mother and Christ will let vs see that our dutie to our GOD stands well with our duetie to man Wilt thou pull the first and the second Table asunder the one from the other Wilt thou say that the first prejudges the second thou doest lie But looke the order That CHRIST keepes in these duties doth He first His dutie to His mother No first He doth His dutie to His Father Hee is obedient to His Father to the death and in the middest of that obedience to the Father Hee doth His dutie to His mother Beginne at thy GOD if thou wouldest doe thy dutie and next come to man and if thou passest by GOD to doe thy dutie to man thou shalt doe nothing of loue nor of sinceritie Fye on thee and that loue and that dutie thou vtterest to man followe not on that loue thou bearest to GOD and wilt thou say this I see my dutie to the King and to my father bindes me I will doe my dutie to them and last I will serue GOD any thing will serue Him wilt thou jest so with the LORD I say to thee if thou beginnest at man euen at the King or at thy father or mother and postpone the LORD I say to thee the LORD will haue none of thy seruice And if thou hatest not sayes CHRIST father and mother for my cause thou art not worthie of mee Luke 14.26 Then what shall become of them who preferre father and mother to GOD he is but a knaue that will take on him the name of a Christian and will serue men before GOD No that name shall turne to thy shame Therefore vnder the paine of thy life doe thy dutie first to GOD and then for GODS cause doe thy dutie to man that GOD may haue the glorie of it Further there are some in the houre of death that will take so litle care of the worlde and of them whome they leaue behinde them that they are destitute of naturall affection that they regard not if they die though all the world should fall in one moment for men wanting that naturall affection will say What care I if once I bee gone from the world Nowe there are others albeit they loose not altogether that naturall affection who haue their senses so occupied and exercised about the present paine that they will not know their parents kinsfolks or any that appertaine vnto them Who was euer in such a paine as Iesus was And yet out of the middest of torment of blasphemies of wrastling with death euerlasting with the wrath of the Father and with all the Infernall powers Hee is carefull of His Mother No man was euer borne that had such a naturall affection as Hee no sonne in this worlde euer loued his mother so well as Hee And except thou be in Iesus Christ and He sanctifie thy affections that in the houre of death thou mayest sleepe in Him sweetly either thou shalt loose altogether this naturall affection or else it shall bee suffocate that albeit thy Parentes and all thy kinred were about thee thou shalt haue no care of them No thou shalt not once by thine head and countenance vtter anie meaning that thou hast a care of their weale IESVS CHRIST honoured His Mother beyonde anie man euen on the Crosse in such a paine and such a displeasure And this testifies that naturall affection was greater in Iesus than in anie man Further Seeing Iesus from the Crosse in shame in torment in that fearefull battell c. commendes His Mother to Iohn it telles vs that the duety which wee owe to
the Lord in His death Hee was euen in the extreamitie of His humiliation Hee was weakned made of no reputation the Lord of glorie was tread vpon by the feete of death death stamping on Him He could not be further humbled there is nothing so ignominious as death except it be sanctified it is terrible and ignominious so that if it be not sanctified in the death of the Lord Iesus it is but a curse to thee a vengeance from Heauen yet for all this casting downe of Him His heauenly Father leaues Him not but in His greatest humiliation the Father giues the greatest tokens of His glory and He testifies that He was not only innocent but that He was the Lord of glory y t Godhead neuer left Him in that ignominious death nor neuer shall leaue Him albeit it kept the selfe close y â— He might suffer that ignominious death because it was not expedient that Hee should vtter His power yet y t Godhead in His death wrought such wonders that He testifies before the Iewes that y t same man which hung there was the Lord of glorie and the Lord of life Will yee come further that albeit that miserable people had not a tongue to speake and would not giue a testimonie of the glory of CHRIST the dumbe and senslesse creatures who had not mouth nor tongue nor life will not bee silent but will doe their homage to the Lord. Fye on thee and woe is thee that euer thou got y e mouth or tongue the dumbe creatures in their kinds do homage to their God glorifies Him shames all the world they shame all y e disciples for al were offeÌ„ded at Him now So now y e earth and the rockes shame them all fye on them The Lord as Hee came riding to Ierusalem like a glorious King to giue them a shew of His glorie Luke 19. When the disciples cryes Hosanna Blessed be he that comes in the Name of the Lord the Pharises were angrie at it they were offended to see the Lord glorified Then Iesus answered if these would holde their tongue the stones would cry These stones senslesse creatures shall cry and glorifie Me there should not be a wall in Ierusalem but they should haue cried if the disciples and the multitude had holden their tongue and if men had their tongue and glorifie not God the stones shall rise vp and shame them and glorifie Him Now the mouth of the people is close and not one of the disciples cried Hosanna yet the earth forgets Him not shee cries in her owne manner Hosanna the rockes cry the vaile of the Temple cries Hosanna whilst it rent asunder Well Brethren blessed is the soule y e hath a mouth to glorifie God woe to thee that hath gotten a tongue to glorifie the Lord does it not if the Lord in humiliation was glorified by the dumbe creatures can Hee want His glory now in Heauen if thou glorifiest not God another shal glorifie Him if no man shall glorifie Him the sea the earth the sunne the moone shall glorifie Him thou albeit thou were a King shalt be thrust in Hell to thine euerlasting shame Now Brethren there is not one of these foure wonders but particularly they would be coÌ„sidered first The renting of the vaile of the Temple The vaile of y e Temple was a faire wall ouergilt w t fine gold there was neuer a thing so glorious outward in this world as y t Temple vpoÌ„ y e which hang a glorious Tapestrie wrought curiously it diuided y e most holy place called the Sanctuarie wherein the Lord gaue His presence it was y e type of that heauenly Sanctuary wherein Iesus Christ entred by His blood it got the name from the office vse it was called a vaile a couering because it hid the Sanctuarie from the sight of the people of the Priests only the High Priests excepted who entred in it once in the yeere and that not without blood No for his life hee durst not enter in it without blood Nowe when the LORD giues vp the Ghost this Vaile cleaues in twaine and in a manner he makes an answere to the voyce of the Lord. Wilt thou who hast life reason mouâ—h and tongue answere Him He will make the vaile to answere Him The Lord saide a litle before He gaue vp the Ghost Consummatum est All is ended the ceremonies of the Law of Moyses are ended the shâ—ddowes are away there is no more vse of that vaile When the vaile heares this The vaile sayes Amen it is true my Lord here for my part I giue ouer my office and I giue the sight of the Sanctuarie to the people and shall not hide it any moâ—e for Iesus Christ hath openeâ— vp the Vaile and pulled it downe and madâ— an entrie to the Sanctuarie by His blood Well this is the preaching of the Vaile to the Iewes But heard they this Take the High Priâ—stes any hâ—ed to this langâ—age of the Vaile No they were neuer busier in the Ceremonies than after they heard this speech They saw the Vaile rent but they tooke no lesson by it there is a wonderfull induration Paul 2. Cor. 3. tells the cause There was another vaile laide on their heartes so that they could neither see not heare It was harder to rent that vaile than an hundreth vailes of stone Lord keepe vs from that reprobate sense alas that wee should not take heede to this The earthly vaile rent asunder at the voyce of the Lord but the vaile of their heart could not bâ—e rent neither for the voyce of the Lord nor yet for the wonders This is the lesson Euery one of vs should take heede to our heart after that once a man bee giuen vp to a reprobate sense as this people was after that once thou beginnest to doe against thy knowledge either in manners or in religion after that once thou beginnest to doe against conscience thou wilt do the contrarie of all that it biddes thee thy conscience telling thee when thou art going to murther to harlotrie to oppression to anger thy God all is wrong doe it not yet thou wilt trampe on the belly of thy conscience In the first Chapter to the Romanes yee may read the end of this As thou wilt not heare thy conscience and the voyce of God the Lord catches thy conscience from thee and casts thee ouer to a reprobate sense so that thou art past feeling that it were better to speake to a stone than to thine heart and when I speake to that piller it shâ—ll rather rent than thine heart Wouldest thou see a wonder The Papists would bring in wonders but bring in a man who is regenerate that is a wonder yea it is a great wonder to alter thine hard and stonie heart than to cleaue the hardest rocke that euer was Let mee see an regenerate man from whom that scroofe is taken away it is a
multitude of the wicked and persecuters of IESVS CHRIST in crucifying Him in taunting and scorning Him Doubtlesse there were in that companie some of the godlie who loued the LORD IESVS but seeing we haue heard nothing of them as yet therefore this daye wee shall speake somewhat in their behalfe Nowe what are they doing in the meane time They are standing afar off Some men many women who all that time had followed Him before standing to see that sadde spectacle yet with sadnesse they had joye no question And this is the first part of our TEXT which wee haue read out of MATTHEVV MARKE and LVKE After this wee enter into the Historie of Christs buriall But before we come to His buriall wee haue in the XIX CHAPTER of IOHN the Historie of the taking downe of His bodie from the Crosse So at this time by Gods grace wee shall speake of these two to wit Of the part of the godlie who loued Him and next Of the taking downe of that blessed bodie from the Crosse after it was dead Then to come shortly to the purpose It is saide And all his acquaintance stood afarre off There is the generall Then comes on the particular Manie women particular mention is made of them Manie women are standing afarre off looking on Wee heard of before in the XIX of IOHN vers 23. of three women chiefely Marie the Mother of Iesus and other two Maries together with His well-beloued Disciple IOHN and they were standing at that time when Hee hung quicke vpon the Crosse so neare hand Him that He speakes to them from the Crosse and they hearde Him So Brethren this standing afarre off at this time as I take it hath beene after the Lord had giuen vp the ghost when the women are returning home againe being loath to part companie with Him and as they were going home they turned about looked to Iesus hinging on the Crosse on Moūt Caluarie They stand first near thē turning home again they stand afar off No questiō it was y e loue they bare to the Lord that drue thē after him whē he went to be crucified y t same loue y t they bare to him was so tender entire y t it made them to stand look on him when he hung on the Crosse and y t loue they bare to y e Lord Iesus made thē to seuer frō the rest of the multitude and to gather themselues together and looke backe to Him where Hee was hanging For this is a sure thing Those that meete together in one faith and loue in the Lord Iesus of meere force they must meet together among themselues and be linked together by the band of loue in one bodie By the contrary those who meet not together in one faith in Iesus Christ their hearts will neuer be joyned in this world they will neuer meet to make one body they will neuer separate themselues from the multitude of this world No if it were all my kinred father and mother brother and sister if they loue not the Lord Iesus mine heart and his shall neuer bee linked together in this worlde nor in the worlde to come Hee that loueth not the Lord Iesus as Paul saies 1. Corin. Chap. 16. let him be Anathema maran-atha that is cursed for euermore But hee who loues the Lord Iesus and meetes with mee in Him let him bee what hee will let him bee in the vtmoste corner of the worlde mine heart and his is linked together and there is a conjunction which neuer shall bee separated neither in the Heauen nor in the Earth it shall last for euer Brethren when I consider this multitude heere standing looking vpon Him when Hee hung vpon the Crosse I thinke I see an image of the whole worlde for it is a worlde of people who are standing about Him there are Gentiles there are Jewes and the false adulterous kirke there are Priestes Pharises Elders blinde guides of the people a prophane multitude enemies of all sorts And as there are manie enemies to Christ So there is a sillie handfull of godlie men and women gathered together looking vpon that sadde spectacle who resembled the true Kirke militant heere vpon the face of the earth And as in all this multitude like drawes to like The vvicked and the vngodlie ranke themselues together The Priests ranke themselues together The souldiours ranke themselues together and also the godly ranke themselues together and looke vpon that sadde spectacle their Lord crucified Well this is common to all all are standing looking to CHRIST hanging on the Crosse vpon the toppe of the Mount Caluarie Jewe and Gentile wicked and godlie all are looking But in looking there is a great difference There are some delighting their eyes vvith the spectacle there are some feeding the malice of their heartes and drinking the blood of IESVS CHRIST the Priestes the Pharises and the Elders But the godlie are looking on vvith sadnesse of their heartes And I doubt not but as with sadnesse so also they are looking on Him vvith joy by faith in His glorious resurrection There are manie this same houre who haue their eyes fixed on Christ both Turkes and Paganes and the true Kirke and the false Kirke but one cause mooues not all Take heede therefore howe thou lookest either to His Crosse or to His glorie looke that thy soule bee set on Him and see that by looking vnto Him thou preasse to bee partaker of the fruite of His death and resurrection for if thou lookest to Him for the fashion or in malice as the Turkes doe and the Pagans and the Papistes enemies to His Crosse thou shalt perish better had it bene to thee neuer to haue heard of Iesus or neuer to haue seene Him Further this would be well considered We see if we haue a friend whō we loue well if he betaken out to a shamefull death there was neuer such a shamefull death as this we will thinke shame of him and he will thinke shame that his friendes shoulde see him in that estate Who would thinke but that the acquaintances of Iesus should haue thought shame of Him to haue conuoyed their friend to such an ignominious death and to haue seene Him so shamefully demained So that Brethren when I cōsider this matter well I perceiue that those His familiars and acquaintance haue seene further into Christ than men women doe commonly No doubt but the friends of Christ who came to see Him hanging in ignominie sawe life in that death they sawe glory in His ignominie otherwise they had neuer come to see Him hanging in ignominie And no doubt they felt a sweete perfume flowing from that Sacrifice It was the sweetest smelling Sacrifice that euer was offered All the perfume and incense that euer was offered passed not vp with such a sweete smell in the nosethrilles of the Father as that one blessed sacrifice did And as it smelled sweetly in the nosethrilles of the
good many suters to crucifie Him many suters to breake Him many suters to hold Him down in the graue ye read of none but of one Ioseph vvho makes sute to get the dead body of Iesus buried Read all the Ecclesiasticall Histories and ye shall finde these same things that fell out in Christ to haue fallen out in His members when a godly man hath beene drawen out before the ciuile Iudge or to martyrdome there hath bene sundrie suters for him some suters good some euill yet euer moe euill than good Therefore a Pâ—ince or Magistrate was neuer in such danger in any judgement as wheÌ„ he gets a good man fallen in his hands Pilate was neuer in such danger as he was into through this action for it lost him his life present the life to come When the action of a thiefe or a murtherer comes before a King there is no such danger but when a godly man is brought before him for the cause of CHRIST then he should take good heede where he shall get one to giue him a good counsell he shall get many to giue him euill counsell many shal crie crucifie Him woe to him if he assent as Pilate did for he shall inuolue himself in that same guiltines with them that cried crucifie him It is true indeede that Pilate granted a good suite hee gaue leaue to Ioseph to burie the body of Christ yet did this any good to Pilate saued it him No Thinkest thou when thou hast executed an innocent that thou doest enough when thou hast giuen His bodie to bee buried No that shall not excuse thee nor free thee from guiltinesse O how gâ—eat and weightie is the burthen of Magistrates Therefore they had neede euer to haue good men about them and we should pray the Lord earnestly to guide them and direct them in judgement This much for the suters now come to the sute the wordes are these The deceiuer said whilst as He was aliue that within three dayes He should rise command therefore that the sepulchre bee made sure vntill the third day lest His disciples come by night and steale Him away and say to the people that He is risen froÌ„ the dead so shall the last eâ—rour be worse than the first In effect this is as much as if they had said these wordes this man said that He should rise the third day therefore appoint Him a guard to testify of His glorious resurrectioÌ„ y e Lord so directed their words albeit their meaning was flat contrarie Marke therefore a good lesson euer more the Lord hâ—th snared the reprobate in their wicked deuises hath euer turned them from that mischieuous end they aymed them to the manifestation of His owne glory The Priests Pharises thought to obscure y e glorie of Christs resurrection if it had lyen in their hands to hold Him by force in the graue but the Lord who workes light out of darknesse makes their sute to serue for the clearer manifestation of His resurrection for they could haue done no more for the manifestation of His resurrection if they had bene hired for that purpose so looke what interprise wicked men will deuise to dishonour Him I say the Lord shall turne it in end to His glory but to their destruction I will say further it may seeme marueilous peruerse deuises of the wicked often times do serue more to His glory than the good purposes deedes of the godly for it is not a greater glory to GOD to bring light out of darknes than to bring light out of light the Lord is a most skilfull and mightie workeman Hee makes His glory to appeare by bringing light out of darknesse by bringing life out of death and by calling the thinges that are not as if they were all the deuises of the wicked are darknesse the doings of the godly are light so the Lord will sometimes bee more woÌ„derfully glorified in the doings of the wicked than in the doings of the godly But this doth y e wicked no good nor it serues nothing for their benefite for in y e meane time they are more malicious against y e Lord than euer they were they call Him a deceiuer this is a wonderfull thing they saw the Lords povver in obscuring of the sun in renting of the rockes in opening of the graues they saw His great glory shine in all these wonders yet such is the maliciousnes of these wicked men they call y e Lord of glory a deceiuer in so doing not onely they oppone themselues against God but also they doe so far as in them lay as to haue spitted in the face of God yet these miserable creatures I meane the Scribes Pharises came not on a suddaintie to this extreame maliciousnes but they shew some meane small beginnings of it wheÌ„ Christ first manifested Himselfe began to preach amongst them then they proceeded froÌ„ worse to worse continually all the time He was conuersant amongst them thereafter in His Crosse death they taunted mocked Him put Him to the most shameful death they could deuise now when He is buried laid in y e graue they vtter more maliciousnesse than euer they did they come to the extremitie of maliciousnes and induration they call the Lord a deceiuer Cursed be y t mouth that calles the Lord a deceiuer as Paul sayes He that loueth not the Lord Iesus Christ let him be anathema maranatha 1. Cor. 16.22 This lets vs see the nature of their sinne it was a sinne against the Holy Spirit and this is the nature of that sinne when once thou shalt enter in it thou vvilt hardly get backe againe vntill thou commest to extreame excecation and induration to thine euerlasting destruction My lesson is this If the Lord giue vs grace to learne it When it pleases the Lord to shine vnto thee albeit thou vverest a King or Earle or Lord looke as thou vvould eschevv Hâ—ll damnation that thou repine not to this light but greedily embrace it and vvalke in it for if thou step forvvard in repining thou shalt haue an hard backe-comming againe and thou shalt come from excecation to excecation vntill thou come to vtter destruction Novv I doubt not but ye are sorrovvfull vvhen ye heare the Lord a deceiuer yee are sorrovvfull to heare light called darknesse but comfort our selues vvith this the Lord vvho vvas free of all guile and deceit suffers Himselfe to bee called a deceiuer to purge vs from guile and deceit for it might seeme marueilous that the Spirite of God shoulde register this name of a deceiuer suppose they called Him a deceiuer for this name defiles the aire to call the Lord of Trueth a deceiuer Yet no question the Spirite hath left it in register to bee hearde and read of all Christians to the ende of the worlde that thou mayest knowe what the Lorde hath suffered for thee And doubtlesse this name was heauier to Him
rolling away of the stone froÌ„ the doore of the graue they foresaw not this impedimeÌ„t ere they came froÌ„ home but being carried with an earnest desire to anoint the Lords dead body they were not mindfull of any impedimeÌ„ts We know wheÌ„ a man or a womaÌ„ would faine haue a thing done they will not forecast for all perils but it is better to prouide foresee in time y e impedimeÌ„ts ere thou begin the worke Yet a man or a womaÌ„ who hath the worke of the Lord should not cast for all perils for if he put not his hand to the work of the Lord except he see al impedimeÌ„ts remoued he will neuer do any thing to the glory of God for in performing of y e Lords work we must not think y t He will remoue all impedimeÌ„ts at y e first as these womeÌ„ fouÌ„d al impedimeÌ„ts to be takeÌ„ away Now these women came forward as they came they perceiued the stone to be rolled from the graue Marie Magdalene seeing the stone away she ran back shewed the matter to Peter Iames in Jerusalem where they laye lurking she brings in her conceit euill tidings to them saies The body of the Lord is stolleÌ„ away out of the graue we know not where they haue layed him So Brethren in this Text y t we haue read we haue first a particular Historie of Marie Magdalene registrate by Iohn TheÌ„ we haue the History of the rest of the women As concerning Mary Magdalene wee note of her these foure thinges out of the Gospel of Iohn First her outcomming Next what she sees when she is come to wit the stone rolled away Thirdly what shee does when she sees the stone remoued she returnes to Peter fourthly what she saies she brings no good tidings to Peter and Iames but she saies They haue stollen away the body of the Lord and I know not where they haue layed him Touching the going out of Marie I stay not on it for she came out with the rest of the first coÌ„pany of womeÌ„ only this if any maÌ„ would aske wherfore the women got this honour aboue men ye euen the Apostles to be made first witnesses of this Resurrection of Christ I answere So it pleased the Lord y t directed theÌ„ this only one cause makes their witnessing also to be autentik y t no man should except against it Ye see in ciuil things womeÌ„ are not admitted to be witnesses but here ye see in this spiritual mâ—tter they are made witnesses before all the world their testimony is so auteÌ„tik y t if Iohn or Peter or any of th'apostles had refused this testimony they had hazarded their part portion in the resurrectioÌ„ of Iesus Christ if thou reject their witnessing this day thou shalt neuer haue part of His resurrection To come to the Text What sees she the rest when they come to the graue They see the stone rolled away so they are relieued of y t care y t troubled theÌ„ by the way Mary Magd. the rest came of a great zeale to the graue to anoint the Lords dead body yet I wil not coÌ„mend this purpose because they had no warrand of the word of the Lord for He told He would rise the third day therfore they shold not haue come out to anoint Him y e third day Yet wheÌ„ they go out the third day to anoint Him ere they came to the graue they find y e impedimeÌ„t to be takeÌ„ away the stone to be remoued Mark this well If they y e came to this action without any warrande got all impedimeÌ„ts remoued How much more if any man or woman of zeale to God to His glory haue a good purpose haue an expresse warraÌ„d of His word shal they find al impedimeÌ„ts to be takeÌ„ away God is the same to vs now y t He was to theÌ„ then Yet I see again it is not to be too wise in the work of the Lord but assoon as we know what is the Lords will we shuld addresse our selues to perform the same commit the successe to Him who can remoue al impedimeÌ„ts for in so doing thou honourest God giuest Him the glory y t is due to Him when vnder hope against hope thou beleeuest as AbrahaÌ„ did Rom. 4.18 But ye will say Albeit Marie Magd. fouÌ„d the stone rolled away yet she fouÌ„d not the body of the Lord which she meant to anoint with odours I answere she fouÌ„d not the thing she sought but what lost she She found a better thing than shee sought she seekes the Lord among the dead and she findes Him among the liuing the faithfull who seeke the Lord shall neuer be disappointed if thou missest that thing that thou seekest thou shalt get a better thing if thou seekest this life if thou be in the Lord if thou loose it what loosest thou thou shalt finde a better life Marie seeing y e stone rolled away she goes not forward but returnes home again Now certainly I caÌ„not deny but this came of zeal but I will not excuse her but she shuld haue stayed with y e rest haue looked into y e graue to heare the Angels informatioÌ„ but on a suddenty she returnes Brethren this falles out in y e best most godly they will oft times be miscaried for a while not y t there is any fault to be found with their zeale or w t their affection to y e Lord but y e hastie sudden doing comes more of a blindnes ignorance than of zeale therefore marke y e lessoÌ„ Who euer would be zealous in a good cause would vtter their affectioÌ„ toward y e Lord ere they begin they shuld beware know well what they are doing let knowledge goe before let it be borne as a torch to shew the way then let zeale follow for if zeale follow not I wil not giue a penny for thy knowledge zeale without knowledge is better thaÌ„ knowledge without zeale a great zeale w t a sober measure of knowledge is better thaÌ„ al y e knowledge in y e world without zeale knowledge without zeale serues for nothing but for damnatioÌ„ if y u vnderstood couldest tel ouer y e whole Bible without zeale that serues thee for nothing I had rather haue one y t can speake two words w t zeale than haue all thy knowledge litle knowledge w t zeale wil saue thee but if y u hadst all y e knowledge in y e world without zeale it wil not saue thee Now y e last thing concerning Marie wheÌ„ she hath returned back to Peter Iohn here she begins to make a sad narratioÌ„ coÌ„plaines sayes alas They haue stollen away the body of the Lord we know not where to seeke it speaking in the plurall nuÌ„ber she makes a mone looke to y e affectioÌ„ of the woman toward y e Lord she could not be separate froÌ„
it The word of a King is much and of great might then how weightie is the word that comes from the King of kings Heauen and earth shall perish ere one jote of that worde perish or fall to the ground and as Hee forgets not so Hee will haue it called to the remembrance not only of the godly but also of the wicked but marke the difference When Hee brings it to the Elects memorie Hâ—e brings it euer with great joy as He did to these women But as to the wicked it is euer a dolefull and wofull remembrance with paine and griefe and this is no small part and cause of the paine of Hell that all the words which God spake to them whilst they liued and which they contemned shall bee brought to their memorie that booke of remembrance shall bee holden euer before their eyes that there they may see and reade all the wicked workes that they haue done in their life yea the least euill worde shall bee laide to their charge and then the conscience shall stand vp and accuse them euerlastingly No if thou bee out with Christ I say to thee terrible shall that sight bee that thou shalt see for the least euill thought shall bee laide to thy charge let be euill deedes and that forgetfulnesse of the worde of God whilst thou liuedst shall be a great parte of thy paine and griefe but the forgetfulnesse of the godly shall bee hid as all the rest of their sinnes shall be hidde in Him and in that blood they shall bee counted as cleane as if they had neuer sinned nor had forgotten Gods word Thus farre for the part of the Angell Now I returne to the women When the Angell hath spoken and informed them of the Resurrection They returne and tell to the Apostles what they had heard and seene Marke this lesson They cannot keepe it within their brest but they will communicate it to others they will tell the Apostles Brethren after that once a man or a woman hath conceiued that spirituall joy all the worlde will not holde their tongue put them in a fire they cannot but speake of it Many Martyres haue proued this to be true if it were but a woman she must preach it to others I say more if thou hast not pleasure one time or other to speake with joy of Christ to others to speake of His Passion and Resurrection thou neuer heardest with joy We all haue pleasure enough to talke with joy of vaine and prophane tales but of that pleasure of pleasures litle or no delite haue vve to speake I condemne not only the world but also the children of GOD and my selfe with the first Alas too litle pleasure haue wee in our heartes to speake of Christ and His Resurrection But to whome go they Goe they to tell the wicked people No that people was not worthie of it they steale in to the Apostles and them who loued Christ who were lurking in Ierusalem So the lesson is this A man that findes joy will not communicate it to the prophane man he will knowe well that he communicates it to such one as will haue joy with him if any man bee sad yee see they will not communicate it but to them that will bee sad with them so it is with joy they will not tell to euery man the joy but to such as wil haue joy with them Looke the twelfth Chapter to the Romanes and the fifteenth verse hee wishes them To reioyce with them that rejoyce and to bee sadde with them who are sadde Marke this thing also Is not this joye a precious thing Nothing so precious in the worlde as joye and maruell yee not that they shoulde bee so liberall of it And if thou hadst all the worlde it is nothing in respect of this joye and yet they are liberall of it Paul Rom. chap. 1. vers 11. hee answeres to this J long saies hee to come to you to impart some spirituall gift to strengthen you No this hurt not him for hee expones himselfe saying That I might bee comforted together with you through our mutuall faith both yours and mine So when hee commeth to giue grace hee gotte grace No it is a vvonderfull thing vvhen two holie bodies meete what joye the one vvill poure into the heart of the other Put all the Infideles together they cannot minister this joye one to another So in a word Communication of joye shall not empaire but it shall enlarge the joye in thee Whereto shoulde one stande vp to preach CHRIST but that by his joye hee maye minister joye to them that heare him Nowe the LORD graunt that both Preachers and hearers may finde in their heartes this joye which is in CHRIST Nowe I goe forwarde As they goe in the part where the Apostles lurked they finde before them that first companie of vvomen who had returned from the sepulchre Marie Magdalene and Marie the mother of Iames and Salome and as they enter in they finde them telling these same newes to the eleuen Apostles So that the eleuen Apostles wanted not witnesses women after women testifying that the Lord was risen Will yee consider this well and ye shall see that it imports a deadlie securitie in the Apostles alas it should haue beene they who shoulde haue come to the women to haue tolde them of the Resurrection of Christ When Hee sendes so vvomen after women it testifies that they were in a dead securitie and so it testifies a great mercie of the LORDE vvho vvill not let them sleepe in that carnall securitie Brethren this same mercie of God towardes His owne abideth as yet for in vs is nothing but sleeping and if thou feelest it not thou feelest nothing Pastors people and all sleepes in securitie as the Apostles did And I saye to thee that if the LORDE vvoulde let thee alone and vvoulde sende to thee no vvitnesses to vvaken thee and to saye to thee Sinner vvake and arise No there is none of vs but wee woulde sleepe to death So looke to the LORDS mercy in this thy miserie He sendes men to thee He sendes crosses and troubles to vvaken thee Take men awaye take awaye these cloudes of vvickednesse take awaye câ—osses I giue the vvorlde their doome no exception from the King to the Begger and if thou vvantest vvitnessing that CHRIST died and rose againe thou shalt sleepe to destruction Thou thinkest that this needes not to bee preached but thou shalt see one daye that there vvas neuer anie thing so needefull in the earth as this preaching and thou shalt curse the time that euer thou vvast sette in the vvorlde except thou compt this preaching the greatest earnest that euer was So this is a token of great mercie towardes them and yee will vvonder that they shoulde bee so sluggishe vvho hearde him so long and that nowe they cannot bee vvakened Alas they were not as yet so vvell skilled that Heauenlie vvit vvas not as yet in their
of necessitie loue caused them to mourne for Him And this sponke of loue that was couered kept down afore in end it brake out burnt thorowe all their imperfections It is a wonder to see howe the LORDE will keepe in a sponke of grace vnder an hundreth imperfections And this shoulde make vs to bee loath to judge and to giue out sentence for all the euill that wee see in anie it maye bee that the LORDE will let thee see that there was some sponke of grace in that man couered which sponk will breake out in its owne time Nowe I haue ended the Historie of MARIE MAGDALENE who loued the LORDE so well and so entirelie In the words following to wit in the Gospell of MATTHEVV there are two discourses The first is of the two companies of women at their turning home againe as they met with the Angels afore nowe they meete with the LORDE Himselfe In the next discourse wee haue a piece of an Historie of them that were set to keepe the graue who returned to the Scribes and to the High Priestes vvith these same tidinges Hee is risen againe Nowe I shall goe thorowe this daye the first discourse and piece of Historie as GOD shall giue vs grace Then to returne to the women It is saide that as they returned home The LORDE met them but Marie was returned before these women came foorth shee had met with CHRIST and returned home againe This company meetes with the LORDE as they returned homewarde Ye will perhaps aske what was the cause that Hee met with Marie Magdalene No doubt this was the cause She loued Him best shee loued Him aboue them all and shee had the greatest languor to see Him and shee rested neuer till shee had seene Him and met with Him What was the cause that these women sawe Him afore the Apostles No question their languor to see IESVS was next to MARIE The Apostles languor was last and therefore they got the last sight of Him Nowe the lesson is easie Thou that longest moste for the LORDE IESVS shalt see Him first with MARIE MAGDALENE A man will thirst for earthlie thinges and bee disappointed of them but it is vnpossible if thou thirst for CHRIST and to see thy LORDE but thou shalt see Him So Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousnesse for they shall be satisfied Matth. Chapter 5. verse 5. So if thou vvouldest see CHRIST first long for Him and thou shalt neuer get that blessednesse till thou seest Him Then if thou canst not be the first in care and desire to see Him vvith Marie Magdalene yet bee next in care vvith the rest of the vvomen and if thou canst not attaine to the first nor second looke that thou be in the third roome at least that thou long vvith the Apostles and thou shalt get the thirde sight for blessed are they that get any sight yea the last sight Blessed are they that come either first or last to Heauen but thinke not that this dravving neare of ours to Him is the cause that Hee dravves neere to vs No if Hee drevve not neare vnto vs first vve vvould neuer thinke of Him let be to dravv neare vnto Him So Brethren the cause vvherefore our heartes doe dravv neare vnto the LORD is not in vs but in Him because He thirstes for vs and dravves vs vnto Him and vvouldest thou haue an argument that the LORD is neare vnto thee looke if thine heart dravves neare vnto Him and if thou findest thine heart longing and thirsting for Him then the LORD is neare vnto thee and Hee is present with thee and if thou findest no sense nor feeling of Him in thine heart nor no desire of Him nor no languour for His presence in the vvhich is sacietie of joy and if thou haue no languour bee sure the Lord is farre from thee for if Hee be farre from thee albeit thou hadst all the world about thee thou art but a miserable body When Hee meetes vvith these vvomen Hee is not dumbe and Hee speakes not to the eare only but also to the heart He sayes God saue you the word in the own language would be wel marked it signifies rejoyce Is not this a great thing that Hee that hath joy to giue thee should bid thee rejoyce and no doubt it was an effectuall vvord and it made them to haue joy vnspeakable A man when Hee bids thee rejoyce hath no power to worke joy in thee but the LORD is joy it selfe who hath joy to giue but the LORD Himselfe or who can giue peace but the LORD assoone as He drawes neare to any person and giues His presence to Him to y e end that His presence may worke He giues a joyful word the word of the Lord is of power as Paul sayes Rom. 1.16 The Gospell is the power of GOD vnto saluation vnto euery one that beleeueth So if thou contemnest this word that bids thee rejoyce thou shalt get no portion of that grace that is with Him so this word is the only minister that ministers joy to the soule all the thinges in the world shal neuer minister joy to the soule that is afflicted Whē He hath spoken this word and no question it was very effectuall they are so filled with joy that they tarie not to make answere but they fell dovvne at His feete And embrace Him by the feete and adore and worship Him as Thomas did vvhen hee put his hande in His side he said Thou art my Lord and my God IOHN Chapter 20. verse 28. Hee refuses not this honour because Hee vvas their LORD and GOD. Yee see heere how effectuall the presence of the LORD is albeit it were but one worde Reioyce the povver that is in that worde workes such a joy in the heart of a sinner that the poore sinner must meete Him the LORD cannot meete thee but if thou feelest that joy but thou must meete Him againe and striue to haue Him in thine armes No svvord nor fire nor hunger nor nakednesse nor nothing can separate thee from Him if thou feelest Him in thine heart but thou must meete Him againe and cleaue fast to Him The feeling of this joy which is through the presence and worde of GOD mooues vs to desire to embrace Him and makes our conjunction vvith Him vvhereupon arises our joy againe farre greater than before The joy that wee haue novv is but by Faith and a farre meeting as farre as is betvvene the Heauen and the Earth yet sayes Peter in his first Epistle the first Chapter and the eight verse Wee not seeing Him but beleeuing in Him reioyce with a ioy vnspeakable and glorious So beleeuing in Him vvee finde joy but vvhen thou shalt see Him face to face Alas lookest thou not for this then thorovv thy conjunction with Him by sight there shall be praise honour and glory for euer No such shall bee thy joy as eye neuer savve eare neuer heard nor neuer
and Hee bindes vp their eyes so that they could not knowe nor discerne Him suppose they had followed Him and had beene with Him long time before Thus farre wee hearde the last daye Nowe wee followe out the rest of this Historie and in this Text which presentlie wee haue read wee haue the communication which was betwixt the Lorde and them while they vvent out the waye they knewe Him not and Hee makes Him not to knowe them so each one of them is a stranger to others The Lord beginnes the conference and Hee demaundes of them first What manner of communication it was that they had while as they were in the waye And next seeing their countenance sadde Hee demaundes of them Wherefore they were so sadde These are the two things which Hee demaunded of them Nowe to note something of them As they walked out the waye yee see they haue beene sadde and their speach and communication by appearance hath beene a monefull complaint which they made concerning CHRIST Not vaine and ydle talke nor rejoycing in the tidinges but all their talke and speach came from sadde and heauie heartes But whilest they are sadde the LORD comes to them and Hee comes to comfort them Well is that soule that is sadde and mournes for Christ and His Kirke for that soule shall get consolation out of Christes mouth But if where there is matter of mourning thou be merrie then the Lord will not come to comfort thee It is true these men were sadde for Christ without a cause for that was the moste joyefull daye that euer was and therefore they shoulde especiallie haue beene joyefull that daye yet suppose they were sadde without a cause the Lord comes comforts them No it is better thou bee sadde for Christ for a matter that is joyfull than to bee gladde in a sadde matter choose rather to bee sadde for Christ than to bee merrie or ouer wanton And if thou bee sadde albeit there be no matter the LORD will pittie thee but if thou laugh rejoyce and take thy pastime the LORDE will let thee laugh on for a time but He will leaue thee destitute of all consolation when thou hast neede of it I tell you this aye There is no matter of laughing in this miserable Lande it were better for vs to mourne and to bee sadde for sinne that wee might gette comfort from GOD. Nowe to come forwarde CHRIST perceiuing these men to bee sadde Hâ—e drawes neare vnto them and Hee askes the cause of their heauinesse and what mooued them to bee so sadde and Hee desires them to reueile their mone and care vnto Him Suppose Hee makes Himselfe vnknowne vnto them and speakes to them as though Hee had no care yet no question this is His vvill that they shoulde reueale the cause of their care and sadnesse vnto Him that they might finde comfort in Him Brethren are yee sinners are your heartes filled vvith care it is the will of thy GOD and Sauiour IESVS CHRIST that thou poure out thine heart to Him let Him see thy sadnes Mark this It is no small matter to knowe GODS will vvee are slowe and sloathfull to turne vs wee will consume our selues and pine awaye in our sorrowe and griefe ere wee make our complaint and mone vnto Him who onelie maye furnishe vs with consolation and Hee knowes vs well enough and therefore Hee awaites not till we first reueale our griefes vnto Him and poure them into His bosome but Hee prouokes vs first and Hee will enter in and seeke them out as yee will heare He sought them out of these men with great difficultie Come yee to mee sayes Christ Matth. 11.28 all yee that are wearie and I shall refrâ—sh you I here is His will If thou be wearied come to Him and get rest and ease to thy soule If thou goe not to Him thou shalt neuer get rest nor ease whether thy trouble bee within thee or without thee Yea not onelie by word inuites and prouokes Hee vs but also by His doing Hee drawes vs Ioh. Chap. 6. vers 44. there Hee sayes No man can come to mee except the Father drawe him It is His will that thou shouldest come vnto Him but if Hee put not out His hande and drawe thee thou vvilt neuer come to Him in all thy life time And therefore vvhensoeuer yee heare this voyce Sinner come vnto mee then saye this againe vnto the LORDE LORDE drawe mee put thine hande to mine heart and drawe mee or else J cannot come to thee No except the Lord put out His hand and draw thine heart to Him thou art not come All the Kinges in the worlde are not able to drawe a sinner except GOD onelie Nowe consider their answere and see this communing The one named Cleopas takes the speach in hand the other disciple is silent and he answeres the Lorde verie roughlie not knowing with whom hee had to doe thinking Him to haue beene a passenger and stranger walking out of the waye hee sayes vnto Him Art thou a stranger in Hierusalem and hast not knowne the thinges which haue fallen out within these fewe dayes In these wordes because hee tooke the Lorde to bee a stranger and passenger going out of the waye yee cannot blame him in making such an answere And as he tooke him to bee a stranger he answeres well for when such wonderfull workes fall out in anie Countreye it becomes no man to bee ignorant of the wonderfull workes of GOD and if euer there was a wonderfull worke that worke of the Crucifying of the Lorde was moste wonderfull And if thou bee ignorant of the wonderfull workes of GOD thou merites a rebuke And as Cleopas marueiled so will the godlie maruell at thee who canst neither bee seeing nor hearing nor consider the wonderfull workes of GOD. It is a wonder to see the illumination of a sinner and the conuersion of the heart of a man to GOD and to see a regenerate man yea the raising of a deade man to life is not so marueilous as is the quickening of thee who art deade in sinne and trespasses as the Apostle PAVLE sayes to the EPHES. Chap. 1. vers 21. And as the quikening and illumination of a sinner is a wonder so also the blinding of a sinner is a wonder Is it not marueilous that though thou crie to him as thou wilt and albeit heauen and earth shoulde goe together hee will neither heare nor see As the Lorde is more than wonderfull to his owne in mercie to cause them to heere and see thou wonderest liâ—tle at his mercie but all the Angels wonder at it euen so in blinding and hardening of the wicked the LORDE is wonderfull Sittest thou heere nowe and seest not nor hearest not the LORDE All the world maye wonder at thee So the LORDE maye bee vvondered at either in mercy to his own or in justice to the wicked as th'Apostle speaking in the eleuenth Chap. to the Romanes hee wonders at it and
and feele sensibly vvith mine hand a body then shall I beleeue otherwise no Papist will cause me beleeue that I eate CHRIST really and bodily with my mouth no more than the disciples would beleeue that CHRIST was a body till they felt Him and sawe Him I will be of the Faith of the disciples Beleeue them who will I shall neuer beleeue them by the grace of GOD. Let mee see a bodie not the roundnesse and whitenesse of the bread and let me feele this that CHRIST let His disciples feele if thou vvilt not let mee feele that I will neuer beleeue thee holde thee content and I am not bound to beleeue thee yea more if I beleeued thee I vvere faire in the wrong I should sinne against the LORD and against the trueth of His body Why If I beleeue thee neither seeing nor feeling such a thing then I should beleeue the body of Christ to be vnuisible and vntractable and to beleeue that is to beleeue the body of CHRIST to bee no bodie That bodie that is not seene nor handled is not a body these properties beeing taken avvay from a bodie there remaines no bodie yea sight and feeling are such vnseparable accidents of the bodie that the verie glorified bodie cannot be vvithout them The Papists cast vnto vs a friuolous distinction betwixt the glorified body of CHRIST and His vnglorified bodie No the verie glorified bodie is as vvell visible and tractable as an vnglorified bodie The godlie in the latter daye shall see whether it be visible or not Goe thy way with thy bodily presence thou debarrest thy selfe from that presence that the godlie shall see one daye to their consolation Furthermore Brethren There is another thing to be marked I see IESVS CHRIST after His glorious Resurrection to haue kept the markes of the wounds Hee shewes His handes and His wounded hands Hee shewes them His feete and His wounded feet He shewed His side to Thomas when he would not beleeue made him to put his handes in His side Yee woulde maruell that Christ rising vp in glorie shoulde haue kept the markes of infirmitie When the Lord rose it became Him to shake off all infirmitie and the markes of His woundes are a part of infirmitie See ye not howe it hath pleased the Lorde to humble Himselfe for our cause to the ende that vvee should beleeue Not onelie rose Hee and appeared vnto them but also after He rose Hee keepes the marks of His vvoundes that no vvayes they shoulde doubt but fullie beleeue that it vvas Hee and none other It is a vvonderfull thing to see the humilitie of Christ for our cause as all His life vvas but an humbling of Himselfe so after His Resurrection for thine exaltation vvhen Hee should haue gone to glorie Hee abides fourtie dayes to cause His Disciples beleeue Art not thou who art dust and ashes bound to humble thy selfe for Him seeing that Hee who is so glorious humbled Himselfe so low for thee Now whether the Lord keepe these markes or no or vvhether vve shall see Him come vvith them or no in that great day I vvill not be curious but this I knowe the fresh memorie of the vvoundes and of the Crosse shall neuer vanishe out of the hearts of the Elect and in the Heauen thou shalt remember a thousande times better than in the earth vvhen thou shalt see Him as Hee is when thou shalt beholde Him vvhom thou hast pearced thorowe thou shalt mourne sayes the Prophete Zacharie There is the remembring of the vvoundes And as that Crosse shall neuer goe out of the eye of the Father for it is as present now before the eye of the Father as it was that houre that He was crucified So vvhen thou shalt come to Heauen alwayes thou shalt haue a memorie of the Crosse And in this respect He is called an euerlasting Sacrifice and an euerlasting Priest And as the sight of that Crosse pacifies the vvrath of GOD vvere it out of the eye of the Father the flame of His vvrath vvoulde deuoure and consume thee for the pacifying of the vvrath standes in the sight of the Crosse So the joye and peace of thy conscience in Heauen shall stande in an euerlasting remembrance of the Crosse and His bloodie vvoundes There are two groundes of our Eternall joye and peace in Heauen First our joye and peace standes in the sight of that present glorie of Christ in Heauen Next after the sight of that glorie they stand on a remembrance of His by-gone Crosse These shall bee the two pillars of the euerlasting joye and happinesse vvhich the Sainctes shall haue in Heauen So Hee shall stand in as good stead to thee in the Heauen as Hee did in the earth Learne to seeke Him to embrace Him and to bee homelie with Him for in Him standes thy joye euerlastinglie and euer thou bee happie thou must bee vvith Him Now this for Christs part Hitherto hath Hee taught them by the senses and thinges sensible But looke vvhat this vvorkes in them It is saide That for joye they coulde not beleeue and they fell out in a wondring There is the effect that it vvrought There is something heere vvrought to vvit a joye and a vvondering Yet the thing that they shoulde haue is not as yet vvrought that is Faith for joye and wondring by appearance stayes their faith So harde a matter is it to cause a man to beleeue It is an easie thing to thee who knowest not what Faith is to saye I beleeue but when thou art put to the proofe thou wilt finde howe harde a thing it is to cause thee to beleeue There is as great contrarietie betwixt our nature and faith in Christ as is betwixt water and fire And if thou beleeuest there must bee as great chaunge in thy nature as to change water into fire and fire into water Nature must bee turned into grace But howe comes it to passe that joye and wondering shoulde staye Faith Consider it That which one would faine haue comming to passe yee knowe hee cannot easilie beleeue it when one telles him that it is come to passe And that which least wee woulde haue comming to passe we most easilie beleeue that it hath come to passe A man that feares euill will credite an euill report readilie but hee that earnestlie wishes a good thing will not so soone credite a good report hee will thinke it almoste impossible But yet when a man heares tell of a thing which hee would faine haue comming to passe although hee beleeue it not yet the heart will leape for joye This was the disposition of the Apostles The thing that fainest they would haue cōming to passe was a sight of IESVS And if thou were acquainted with Christ as these men were if Hee were taken out of thy sight thou wouldest gette no pleasure till that thou sawest Him as PAVL sayes I desire to be dissolued and to bee with CHRIST Hee had such a thirst to
that as those things befell to Him of necessitie so of necessitie those things behooued to be preached to the world So He instructes them in these two necessities Then Hee comes on in the second part of His preaching and giues direction to them to be preachers and witnesses to the worlde of all these thinges promising againe to them that Spirit which He had promised them before His Passion and that they should haue the greater securitie He giues them commandement not to depart out of Ierusalem vntill they were endued with vertue out of Heauen this is the effect To come to the first part When they heard Him speake with a voyce familiar wherewith they had beene acquainted and that homely salutation Peace bee vnto you yet they would not knowe Him when they had seene His hands and feete yet they beleeued not that it was He when they had handled Him and felt Him yet they beleeued Him not for all this they were rauished with joy yet they beleeued not The Lorde will not leaue them in this vnbeliefe but He will let them vnderstand that it was He He teaches them by the sight of a bodily action Hee askes if they had aâ—y meâ—t They present to Him A piece of rosted fish and that was all the delicate they gaue Him and with it A piece of hony combe Hee takes and eates in their sight Hee eates the piece of the rosted fish and the hony combe Not that the Lord after His Resurrection had any need to eate any of their meat Hee who nowe vvas immortall after His Resurrection that was glorious and that vvas full of God and had all the powers of His soule filled with God What needed He their piece of fish or their hony combe to eate So it was not for any need He had that Hee eated but that He eated in their sight that they should beleeue that the Lord was a body a Spirit eates not neither drinkes The Lord therefore shewes them that He vvas no Spirit In doing this Brethren no question He humbled Himselfe beeing now immortall and glorious and full of God Was not this a humbling of Him an immortall bodie to take that mortall bread It is a wonderfull thing to see how Iesus Christ humbled Himselfe ay whilst He vvas yet still in this vvorld Beeing sayes Paul Philip in the forme of God thought it no robberie to be equall with God He made Himselfe of no reputation taking on Him the shape of a seruant That is the nature of man in the nature of man became obedient to the Father for vs to the death to a vile death euen to the death of the Crosse a foule deâ—th and a sore death Then vvhen after He vvas once â—â—ade and risen againe â—nd should haue entred to His glory and haue passed to Heauen immâ—diately after His Resurrection to sit at the right hande of that Majestie Hee would not immediatly doe so but did deferre and delay it the space of fourtie dayes and all this time humbling Himselfe it was a small thing that when He was mortall to humble Himselfe but when He was immortall that Hee should haue continued so long humbling Himselfe for the cause of man it is a wonder amongst all the partes of His humiliation this is one part that He ate this mortall food And thou when thou shalt be glorified thou shalt not bee so farre humbled as to eate any food of this world thou shalt not be so farre humbled as IESVS CHRIST was humbled Was this Brethren for the Apostles cause only Was it for Peters cause Iohn Iames and the rests cause No Paul sayes All is yours speaking to the Church whether it be Paul or Apollo or Cephas or thinges present or things to come or life or death all is yours and ye are Christes and Christ is Gods 1. Epist to the Corinthians the 3. Chapter and the 21. and 22. verses So all the Apostles themselues were for the Churches cause I speake to you Paul Iohn Iames c. were for your cause and all this homelinesse of Christ with them was for your cause as they were for your cause so seeing the LORD hath so farre and so many wayes humbled Himselfe consider if wee haue not great cause to meete Him or not If any will bowe so lowe as to take thee by the hand wilt thou not put out thine hande againe and meete Him and thinke ye that this humbling of the LORD of glorie hath taken an ende it endes not so long as this Ministerie continues Know yee what this Ministerie and this preaching is It is but an humbling of GOD from Heauen and that for thy cause looke what Paul sayes in the 2. Epistle to the Corinthians the 5. Chapter and the 20. verse We are Ambassadours for Christ as though GOD did beseech you through vs we pray you in Christs stead that ye be reconciled to God There ye see that by this Ministerie GOD humbles Himselfe to pray thee to be reconciled with Him is not this an humbling of God euen that He should pray thee to be reconciled with Him He becomes a suter and solister for thy cause sayes the Apostle We pray you that yâ— should be reconciled to Him what is it to God to humble Himselfe if not this when He beseeches and requests vs by His Messengers and Ambassadours that wee bee reconciled to Him This exceeding humbling of the LORD as it lets vs see His loue vnspeakable towardes vs so it requires a meeting on our partes as wee would eschew fearfull judgements If the first humbling of GOD when He humbled Himselfe in our nature will not mooue thee to make Him a meeting it shall bring on a judgement If the second wherein He humbled Himselfe after His Resurrection so many wayes will not mooue thee it shall double thy judgement if the third humbling of Him now in the Ministerie will not mooue thee if thou contemnest the word and the Ministerie it shall triple the judgement albeit thou werest the King of the world O that judgement and wrath that shall bee heaped vpon thee thou shalt be thrust downe and plunged in Hel to be tormented for euermore Can GOD humble Himselfe for nothing No either shall it be for passing mercie or els for a passing judgement to thee for euer more Then Brethren yee shall marke in this place and I shall onely touch it by the way The Lord after His glorious Resurrection eated the meate they gaue Him Hereof it followes That after His glorious Resurrection Hee kept these naturall powers as eating and drinking if Hee kept them not how could Hee eate at this time if there was not a power attractiue in His stomacke how could the meat goe ouer to His stomacke This I speake to let you see when we shall rise be glorified and see our Lord vvhen this humbled bodie shall be translated to the likenesse of His glorious body as vvee shall keepe the same
be ministred by preaching thou who contemnest this preaching I denounce to thee thou shalt neuer taste of that Spirit thou vvho vvilt stand vp and saye I haue the Spirit and then contemnest the Ministerie I say thou liest albeit thou vverest the Emperour of the vvorld Now to goe forwarde there is a great necessitie of preaching But take heede to this preaching He describes this preaching by sundrie circumstances First it must bee in some name and in some authoritie a man that standes vp and preaches to the people hee must preach to the people in some name an Herauld vvill stande vp at the market crosse and make his proclamation it must bee in some name for if hee stande vp and proclame in his owne name he is but a knaue deserues to be hanged So vvhosoeuer stands vp to preach looke that hee preach neuer a vvorde in his owne name CHRIST sayes there must be preaching in my Name Looke that all preaching be in the Name of Iesus Christ Nowe vvhat is the name of CHRIST The Name of CHRIST is His power O that passing power His authoritie What power Euen that power that Hee speakes of in the last Chapter of Matthew All power in Heauen and Earth is Mine Then in the second Chapter to the Philippians and the ninth verse Wherefore GOD also hath highly exalted Him and giuen Him a Name aboue euery name He is exalted in a wonderfull sublimenesse O that high sublimenesse that the Lord hath receiued Hee hath gotten a Name aboue all names and a power aboue all powers and none shall haue such a power then he sets out this power All knees must bowe at the Name of IESVS all powers must bow to that power and all knees must bee folded before it bowe thy knee before that power or els thou shalt be thrust in Hell all knees shall be bowed before that Tribunall that Name vvill cause all the Deuils in Hell bow and stoupe It is written in the 4. Chapter of the Actes There is none other Name vnder Heauen able to saue men but the Name of Iesus Christ thou shalt neuer see life but by this power and this Name Marke it No life I vvill tell againe No saluation to man or vvoman in the vvorld but by the Name of Iesus and His power and therefore how great shall the power of this His Name as yee may well see by the word vvhich sets it out euen the Gospell The Euangel that speakes of the Name of Iesus Paul calles it to the Romanes Chapter 1. verse 16. The power of God vnto saluation Speake of Caesar and this Kingdome or that Kingdome will it be powerfull vnto life Will all the speaking of all the creatures in the world bee powerfull vnto life Speake of the Crosse of CHRIST what seemes to bee more base yet it is the power of God and the vvisdome of God vnto saluation So the power must be wonderfull when a word will haue such a power that it will saue a soule The LORD when Hee was in the worlde Hee preached in His owne Name and the Iewes marked that He preached with authoritie and Hee sayes Amen Amen I say vnto you That is in mine owne Name As for all other teachers all their preaching must be in the Name and authoritie of Iesus and not in a creatures name When a man hath this LORD in His eye without regard of himselfe when hee goes to set out that Name ye will not beleeue how the LORD will be with him and how He will make his authoritie to be seene But by the contrarie if a man haue no sinceritie and haue not the authoritie and Name of IESVS before him but seeke himselfe in his preaching hee will haue no spirit no grace none authoritie his language will be vnsauourie his preaching will be of litle value Paul because He preached Christ and Him crucified therefore sayes Hee that his preaching was with euidencie and demonstration of the Spirit on the other part because the Corinthian Doctours had themselues not Christ before their eyes therefore hee sayes that they preached with ostentation and humane eloquence all their preaching was but winde The Philosophers of old spake much of matters of vertue but because they neuer spake one worde in the Name of Christ therefore all their speaking was but babling neither were they changed themselues nor yet changed they others they might teach men to bee Hypocrites and to couer their vices but they could not bee instruments of Regeneration because they spake not in that powerfull Name of Iesus Christ I put the Papists in this same rancke that vvill speake in the Popes name I say all their doctrine and their speaking of saluation is more in the name of man nor in the Name of Iesus Christe and therefore it may well worke errour and hypocrisie in thee but no saluation thou mayest well thinke that thou hast something but in effect thou hast nothing Then we see of necessitie there must be preaching but whereof must this preaching be The LORD sayes it behooued that preaching bee in my Name Of repentance and remission of sinnes There is the summe of the Gospell Would yee knowe the effect of all preaching The whole Gospell is summed vp in those two Heades Repentance and Remission of sinnes It is not my purpose to insist largely in these pointes but I shall speake of them shortly Repentance is none other thing but a preparation to the soule Whereto To receiue grace to receiue remission of sinnes saluation and life euerlasting It is but a making straight the wayes of the Lord who is comming with grace and mercie to the soule This Repentance is wrought partly by the Law and partly by the Gospell The Law sayes Cursed be he that continueth not in all which is written in the booke of the Law to doe them and because the conscience of all flesh accuses them as guiltie of the transgression of the Lawe therefore there arises in the soule horrours and terrours vnspeakable Then the Gospell comes in to comfort the casten downe soule and it sayes Whosoeuer beleeues in Iesus he shall be saued for this is the summe of the Gospell When the soule heares this it conceiues an vnspeakable sorrowe and sadnesse for the offending of so mercifull and louing a Father and this the Apostle calles a godly sorrow 2. Cor. Chapter 7. verses 9. and 10. Now it is this godly sorrow properly which workes repentance and turnes the heart to God that before was farre away from Him The other sorrow that is by the Lawe properly is not the cause of repentance but it prepares the heart thereunto Therefore seeing this godly sorrowe turnes the heart to God of necessitie it must be accompanied with faith for without Faith there is no conuersion to God The preaching of Iohn Baptist telles vs how necessarie the doctrine of the Gospell is to worke repentance for He sayes Repent for the Kingdome of God is at hande
beleeue There are two sortes of contumacie and stubburnesse in sinne and vnbeliefe the one is conditionall and such vvas the vnbeliefe of Thomas the other sort is absolute vvithout any condition vvhen in no case vpon no cause nor vvarrand vvill beleeue and of this sort vvas the sinne and vnbeliefe of the Priestes and the Pharises for vvhen the souldiers that vvere appointed to keepe and guarde the sepulchre came in to the towne and tolde them that IESVS CHRIST vvas risen out of the graue not only did they not beleeue but also they stroue to keepe themselues in such vnbeliefe and hardnes of heart that in no cace nor condition they vvould suffer themselues to bee reformed so they deteined the vvord of GOD into vnrighteousnesse There is a great difference betweene these two sortes of vnbeliefe The first sort may obtaine mercie Thomas obteined mercie the LORD pardoned his vnbeliefe The other sort verie hardly can obtaine mercie the Priestes and the Pharises found no mercie their vnbeliefe vvas laide to their charge the LORD forgaue them not but as they remained in vnbeliefe so they perished in their infidelitie The LORD saue vs from this cursed sinne of vnbeliefe and infidelitie and namely from this absolute vnbeliefe that in no cace vvill suffer reformation for through processe of time it brings on this sinne against y e Holy Ghost which neuer will be forgiuen neither in this world nor in y e world to come Now last ere I leaue these words of Thomas we may see what is y e grouÌ„d fountaine of this vnbeliefe obstinacie and pride of Thomas the grouÌ„d of all was he leaned too much to his grosse bodily senses to his seeing feeling handling he makes his eyes his hand to be y e ground of his faith Thomas indeede failed not in this that he desired to see y e Lord with his eyes to handle him with his hands for ye heard before how y e Lord by y e sight of the eyes y e feeling of Him with their hands perswaded y e Apostles of the certaintie of His ResurrectioÌ„ Luke 24.39 likewise we see that y e Lord hauing regarde to y e infirmitie of His owne pitying the weaknesse of their faith dayly in y e Sacrament teaches them by y e outward senses as by the seeing tasting handling of y e Elements But herein Thomas sailed that he addicted tied himselfe so to his senses to his sight to his handling that he affirmed professed plainly except he saw him with his eyes handled him with his hands he would neuer beleeue that y e Lord was risen againe from the death notwithstanding of the witnessing of so many so godly so faithfull persons who euery one after another testified of the Lords Resurrection Then marke it Bâ—ethren It is not vnlawfull for a man to desire to see the Lorde euen with his bodily eyes No that desire is lawfull and acceptable to God for all the Sainctes that euer haue beene since the beginning of the world desired to see our LORD face to face Manie Kings and Prophets haue desired to see Him and yet sawe Him not Luke Chapter 10. verses 23.24 Abraham the father of the faithfull desiâ—ed to see Him and olde Simeon who got a reuelation that hee should not depart while he saw the LORD earnestly waited and thirsted for to see Him Luke 2 25. So that it is a lawfull and acceptable thing to desire to see the Lord. But in desiring to see Him we must beware that our faith be not so tied to the outward senses that we refuse altogether to beleeue except wee see the Lorde with our eyes and handle Him with our hands No I say more thou must be so farre from tying thy Faith to the outward senses that thou must not tie it to the very inward feeling of the soule thou must not say except I ay feele I will no wise beleeue for albeit that at all times thou haue not a feeling findest not grace into thy soule albeit thou findest not the Holy Spirite who is the earnest pennie of thy saluation to be presently working within thee and sealing vp thine adoption yet thou art obliged to relie and depend vpon the bare word and naked promise of God and so to seale in thy soule that the Lord is true for he hath made a verie small progresse in Faith that will not trust in GOD and depend vpon His naked worde except ay hee haue some feeling of grace of joy of comfort and of the Holy Ghost The Sainctes of God many times vvhen they had no feeling depended vpon the worde of promise and waited vpon the accomplishment of it Job when he felt not the Lords fauour but conceiued that the Lord was angrie with him he sayes Although thou slayest me yet will I trust in thee Iob 13.15 And Abraham when hee saw none appearance that the Lords promise concerning his seed could be performed yet it is said of him That aboue Hope hee beleeued vnder Hope Rom. 4.18 Likewise Dauid vvhen he vvas in great danger of his enemies and sawe litle appearance of deliuerie still trusted in God and depended vpon His promise for he sayes I will reioyce in God because of His word I trust in God and will not feare what flesh can doe vnto me Psal 56.4 It may be that the Lord exercise thee with the conscience of sinne and with the terrours of His vvrath in such sort that thou findest no sense of grace nor of His fauour yet in this case despare not but by the example of the Sainctes learne to depend vpon the worde and promise of God till thou findest the performance of it to the comfort of thy soule Now to goe forwarde and to end shortly After that the Euangelist hath set downe after this manner as ye haue heard the historie of the incredulitie of Thomas hee comes to another appearing of the Lorde after His Resurrection which is the sixt in number for of fiue wee haue heard alreadie and this appearing seemes chiefly to bee for Thomas cause The time of this appearing is noted It was eight dayes after that is from that day in the which Thomas had plainely professed that hee would neuer beleeue that the Lord was risen except that both hee sawe Him and felt Him and His wounds and it was the eight day likewise after the Lords Resurrection for the former fiue appearings of the Lord whereof we haue alreadie spoken were al vpon the first day in the which the Lord rose from the dead So ye see that Thomas the space of whole eight dayes interueening remained in incredulitie vnbeliefe This example of Thomas le ts vs see what is the disposition of the soule of a man after he hath committed a sinne against the Majestie of God after he hath once sinned he is wrapped vp in a senslesse securitie hee sleepes sound in his sinne there is a vale casten ouer the
great daye when our LORD shall appeare then shall it bee seene how blessed the estate of them shall be who beleeued for then when wee see Him as He is we shall be like to Him in glorie The world countes them who beleeue in Christ Iesus to be vile and contemptible bodies but one day they shall see their happinesse their glorie to their shame and confusion But heere it may be asked What mooues the Lord so highly to commend the Faith of them who beleeue and yet see not What can be the cause of this I answere The reason is because Faith without sight is more hardly obtained than Faith by sight The man that beleeues without sight he must ouercome many moe impediments and tentations than the other who beleeues that which he sees and this is commonly true that which is obtained most hardly and acquired with greatest difficultie is most precious most excellent and most worthie of praise and so this Faith that wants sight is farre to be preferred more praise worthie than the other for it is sundrie wayes tried and fined before it appeare 1. Pet. 1.7 Now to goe forward The Euangelist in the end of the Chapter by the way meetes some things which curious men might haue objected First they might haue asked Whether if all the miracles which the Lord Iesus wrought while Hee was in the world were set downe in write and extant in the Gospell written by him Iohn answeres No they are not all written for he sayes Many other signes also did Iesus in the presence of His Disciples which are not written in this Booke They might haue saide againe to Iohn then by appearance this Euangell that thou hast written is not perfect but vnperfect To this hee answeres My Gospell is perfect enough because all things are written that are necessarie to Faith and Saluation These words are casten in only by the way in this Historie of the Resurrection for albeit hee seemes to breake off the Historie of the Resurrection of CHRIST and to conclude in a manner the whole Gospell yet he returnes againe to the same Historie of the Resurrection in the Chapter following and in the ende thereof hee concludes the whole Gospell almost in these same words that are set downe heere But to returne and to speake of the miracles whereof Iohn speakes heere hee sayes Many other signes and Miracles wrought the LORD which are not written in this booke Then it may be asked Wherefore are they not written Were they vnprofitable Serues the knowledge of them to no vse To this I answere That these miracles were profitable and steadable to confirme and strengthen the faith of them who liued in that age and sawe them done yea further they are also steadable to the faith of them who liued in the ages following for when we read and heare that there was such a great multitude of miracles wrought by the Lord albeit wee know not distinctly and particularly what they were that serues very much to strengthen and confirme our Faith so that wee see these miracles which are not written are not left out of write as though they were vnprofitable and as though they serued for no vse or were vnworthie to be remembred No they were profitable and worthie but they are left out because the miracles set downe in write by Iohn and the rest of the Euangelists which indeed are very many are sufficient to Faith and Saluation But because the Euangelist sets downe in this place the ende of the miracles that the Lorde wrought therefore we shall speake more largely of them CHRIST when Hee came into the worlde was many wayes marueilous and therefore amongst many other glorious stiles Hee gets this also to bee called wonderfull Isaiah Chapter 9. verse 6. For first if wee looke to His person Hee was wonderfull for He was GOD and man in one person the like whereof neuer was nor neuer shall bee Next if we looke to the doctrine which Hee brought out of Heauen and to the worde which Hee preached to the worlde Hee was wonderfull for wonderfull was the light of His doctrine whereby Hee brought a marueilous light to the darke worlde and this made the officers to say to the High Priestes Neuer man spake like this man Ioh. Chapter 7. verse 46. and in the 7. Chapter of the Euangell of Matth. verse 29. Hee teached them as one hauing authoritie and not as the Scribes Last if we consider the things that Hee did and the wonders that Hee wrought in the world He was wonderful for they declared plainly that He was not only a man a creature but that He was God the great Creator and that Eternall IEHOVAH And these miracles serued to confirme His doctrine for the doctrine and the word of the Gospell preached by CHRIST serued to worke and beget Faith in the heart but the miracles serued to confirme the doctrine the word which He preached for they were steadable either to prepare the hearts of men to receiue the word and doctrine of the Lord or els to confirme them in that word which they had reeceiued alreadie Now both the word and doctrine of Christ and also His Miracles are set downe and left in register to vs by the speciall will direction of Christ to the well of them that were to liue in the ages to come that they might beleeue get life and saluation and therefore this written word doctrine should be receiued by vs as the viue voyce of Christ Himselfe and wee should count no lesse of it than if wee heard Christ Himselfe speaking to vs with His owne mouth and likewise wee shoulde count of the miracles written in the Gospell as if wee had seene the Lord Iesus working them before our eyes and therefore nowe in our age we neede not any new miracles to confirme of new againe the doctrine of Christ and His Apostles Indeede miracles were very necessarie to them that liued in the Primitiue Church when the Gospell was first preached and when it appeared vnto the world to be a new doctrine when the Church was in her infancie then miracles were very needfull but now seeing the doctrine of Christ and His Apostles is sufficiently confirmed alreadie by all these miracles that were wrought in these dayes by Christ His Apostles we need no miracles Why should we desire them except we thought that the doctrine is not yet sufficiently confirmed and as yet is but a new doctrine If we thinke that it is the same doctrine which Christ and His Apostles taught it needes no new confirmation Many vaine and fantasticke men but especially the Papistes this daye are not content with the Miracles that haue bene wrought by the Lord Iesus His Apostles to confirme the doctrine of the Gospell but they craue new miracles to confirme the doctrine of the Gospell as if it were not sufficiently confirmed alreadie But I say vnto thee Vaine man goe seeke miracles as
The Lord who euer hath a regarde of His owne makes all their actions and their sufferings to tend to their vvell and comfort yea to serue and further them to eternall life When thou goest to performe any thing vvhen thou addressest thy selfe to any worke vvhat euer it be vvhether it be husbandrie fishing marchandise or any other exercise I giue thee my counsell endeuoure euer to entertaine in thy soule a sense and perswasion of the loue of God and if thou so doest thou shalt finde that when the members of thy body are exercised in their labour that thy soule likewise shall make a progresse straightway to Heauen Well they goe to the fishing but vvhat successe haue they at the first Not very great their successe was very slender for it is said That night they caught nothing How came this to passe Was it through their vnskilfulnes No it was by the secret prouidence and direction of God who often times delayes the successe of the labours of His owne and will not answere their expectation at the first to the ende that in His owne appointed time He may giue it more aboundantly to their greater coÌ„fort for this is the Lordes accustomed dealing vvith His owne children Of set purpose He vvill disappoint them for a time to their greater benefit and comfort thereafter When Paul vvrites to Philemon concerning his seruant Onesimus vvho had fled away from him he sayes It may be that he hath departed for a season that thou mightest receiue him for euer Next the Lord vses to disappoint the hope of His own for a season because that serues more to the glory of God than if they got it at the first time for vvhen men finde a prosperous successe in all their vvayes and all thinges answering to their desire scarcely doe they consider and discerne Gods blessing yea manie times it comes to passe that in such cases men ascribe the praise of all to themselues to their owne vvisedome their trauels and laboures they flatter themselues sacrifice to their owne nette But vvhen they see themselues notwithstanding of all their trauels disappointed of their hope and thereafter finde a blessing and good successe then they plainly discerne that all things proceed from the blessing and fauourable prouidence of God and therfore giues to the Lord the praise and glory of all Last vvhen He delayes the successe vvhich His owne hope for in their laboures Hee giues them a faire recompence for the vvant of the temporall benefit for a season and He giues them a spirituall benefit to their soule for vvhen thereafter He giues them a successe He makes them to see His blessing and opens their heartes and looses their mouthes to sounde His praise vvhich is better than any earthly benefit that can be bestowed vpon man When the Disciples had long laboured without successe at last the Lord comes for th'Euangelist sayes When the morning was nowe come Iesus stood on the Sea shore Howbeit the Lord vvill long absent Himselfe from His own and giue them no sensible blessing in their trauels yet at the last hee vvill come in his owne due time to their great comfort Nowe the time is marked vvhen the Lord comes to vvit in the morning hee tarries away all the night and comes in the morning The Scripture compares the time in the vvhich vvee liue vvithout Christ vnto the darke night for as in the night no man can vvalke nor be exercised in the vvorke of his calling no more can any man vvithout Christ vvalke in the vvay of saluation nor doe anie thing acceptable to God Againe his presence and comming is compared to the morning for as in the morning vvhen the Sunne rises men may see the way and walke in the way and bee exercised in the workes of their calling So when CHRIST that Daye-starre beginnes to arise that Sunne of Righteousnesse beginnes to shine vâ—to the soules of His owne then they see the way of saluation and they haue courage and pleasure to walke therein and to doe the workes of light which are acceptable vnto GOD when Hee is absent there is nothing but night and darknesse when He returnes againe there is light DAVID seemes to allude vnto this prâ—sence of Christ by His Spirite in the soule when hee sayes in the xxx PSALME vers v. Weeping may abide at euening but â—oye commeth in the morning Nowe howbeit the Lord stood before them on the shore Neuerthelesse the Disciples knewe not that it was IESVS Howe this comes to passe that they knawe Him not it is vncertaine for the cause is not set downe neither will wee curiouslie inquire for it it may bee and it is likelie that their eyes were closed that they could not discerne and knowe Him whome otherwise they sawe present before them The example of these Disciples lets vs see what is the naturall disposition of the children of God They sought not the Lord fiâ—st yea when Hâ—e offers Himselfe vnto them they know Him not So it is with vs all by nature neither can we seeke God neither can wee so much as once thinke of the seeking of Him neither when Hee offers Himselfe vnto vs vnsought can we dâ—scerne Him and knowe Him by nature Except God by His Spirite preuent vs and illuminate the eyes of our mindes open our hearts and make vs to knowe Him wee will neuer seeke Him nor knowe Him but wee shall euer remaine in darknesse Yet albeit they knowe not the Lord Hee beginnes to shew Himselfe vnto them and Hee breakes off conference vnto them Sirs have yee anie meate And by this speach Hee pâ—epares them to that good successe and blessing which He was to giue to their trauels And this Hee does by bringiâ—g them to a confession of their want and needfulnesse for when hee inquires at them if they had anie meate they answered him No. They confesse their want for marke Brethren how the Lord will haue thy soule to bee prepared before Hee communicate His blessing Thy skant thy neede and thy pouertie though it were neuer so great will not doe the turne it will not mooue the Lord to blesse thy trauels if there be no more No Hee requires further of thee Hee will haue thee to acknowledge to feele and to confesse thy pouertie The Lord pitties not but abhorres proude and sturdie beggers Hee does to His owne as a louing father does to his sonne Albeit the father see his sonne in great pouertie and neede lacking foode and rayment yet if hee come proudly and stubburnly by the doore presence of his father hee will not know him nor helpe him howbeit hee haue substance wealth enough vnto such time as he is humbled and come to himselfe Euen so the Lord when wee are in miserie in great want and neede and will not acknowledge nor confesse it vnto Him He will not know vs nor bestowe His blessinges vpon vs till we be humbled Now wheÌ„ the Lord has prepared
it not saide The violent take the Kingdome of Heauen by force Matth. Chap. 11. vers 12. And doth not the Lord recommend importunitie and earnestnesse in crauing by the Parable of the widowe who importunated the vnrighteous Iudge To this I answere It is lawfull indeede to seeke continually the increase and growth of knowledge as well as of all other spirituall graces yea it is a thing that the Lord recommends vnto vs commands But of what knowledge should we seeke the increase Only the knowledge of these thinges that are reueiled and set downe in the Olde and New Testament it is the Lords will that wee euer grow in knowledge of these thinges and that we goe from knowledge to knowledge But this increase of knowledge is farre different from curiositie in seeking new reuelations besides the thinges that are reueiled in the writes of the Prophets and the Apostles The Lord likes well growth of knowledge but Hee mislikes curiositie yea I say to thee if thou seekest a clearer and more ample reuelation than that which is alreadie set downe in the Olde and New Testament thou offendest highly the Majestie of God for by so doing thou deniest that Christ when Hee came into the world brought with Him a full and perfect reuelation of all things necessarie Read what the Apostle Paul sayes Rom. 10.6 Now to end shortly In the last wordes of our Text wee haue set downe the Conclusion of this appearing of Christ whereof we haue spoken wherein hee telles that it was the third in number for hee sayes This nowe is the third time that Iesus shewed Himselfe vnto His Disciples after He was raised againe from the dead I thinke he calles it the third in number not absolutely but in respect of the Disciples and so the words import for it is said This is the third time that He shewed Himselfe vnto His Disciples for if we number precisely the particular appearing of Christ after His Resurrection vnto this time whereof wee haue any mention made in the Scripture we will finde that this is the eight in number He shewed Himselfe first to Marie Magdalene Next to other certaine women Thirdly to the two Apostles who were going to Emmaus Fourthly to Simon Peter Fifthly to lames as we may read 1. Cor. 15.6 Sixtly to the Disciples assembled together in Ierusalem Thomas only being absent Seuenthly to the same Disciples assembled together Thomas beeing present with them Eightly He appeared vnto these sâ—uen at this time when they were fishing Nowe it was not without cause that the Lord reueiled Himselfe so oft after Hee rose againe No question Hee did it not onely to confirme the Disciples of the trueth of His Resurrection but also for our cause that wee might haue stedfast faith and full assurance that Hee is risen againe for our comfort And it is the Lords will that when wee reade that there were so many that saw Him with their eyes heard Him spake with Him handeled Him and haunted with Him wee should bee fully perswaded and assured of His Resurrection But I will not insist in this matter because I haue spoken of it alreadie Nowe seeing the Lord has had such a great care of our faith that by beleeuing we might haue comfort seeing so oft times and to so manie Hee appeared the LORD make these meanes effectuall to worke and to encrease faith in vs that both in our life and especiallie in the houre of death wee may haue matter of rejoycing in Him To vvhome vvith the Father and the Holie Spirit bee all praise and honour AMEN THE L. LECTVRE OF THE RESVRRECTION OF CHRIST IHON CHAP. XXI verse 15 So when they had dined Iesus said to Simon Peter Simon the sonne of Iona louest thou me more than these He said vnto him Yea Lord thou knowest that I loue thee He said vnto him Feede my lambes verse 16 He said to him againe the second time Simon the sonne of Iona louest thou me He said vnto him Yea Lord thou knowest that I loue thee He said vnto him Feede my sheepe verse 17 He said vnto him the third time Simon the sonne of Iona louest thou me Peter was sorie because hee said to him the third time Louest thou mee and said vnto him Lord thou knowest all thinges thou knowest that I loue thee Iesus said to him Feede my sheepe WEE haue hearde these dayes past Beloued in the Lord Iesus of the third generall appearance of the Lord Iesus after His glorious Resurrection The place we heard was by the Sea of Tiberias The persons to whom He appeared we heard were seuen in number The manner how He appeared was by miracle by wonderfull working He shewes a miracle in the Sea by taking of many great fishes there Then by land by the extraordinary preparation of meat fire to His disciples comming off the sea to the land To this He joyned y e third miracle in keeping whole the net so that there was not a threed broken notwithstanding of the great number of fishes taken therein Thereafter as He manifested Himselfe in His Godhead diuine power in working of miracles so He comes on more familiarly manifestes Himselfe in His humane nature lets theÌ„ see y t He was a maÌ„ ate drunk with theÌ„ as other men therfore He sits down dines with them Hee eates Himself giues them to eat also Then hauing dined He enters in conference with Peter which conference we haue to entreat of this day as God wil giue vs grace The end of His conference with Peter was not to make him an Vniuersall Bishop His Vicar here on y e earth as the Papists speake that is to say To make vp a Popedome for the Papists make these words relatiue to that promise which they saye He made to Peter before Matth. 16.18 I say vnto thee Thou art Peter vpon this Rocke I will build my Kirke That was not the end but y e end of it was to restore him again to his own rowm of th'Apostleship from the which he fell for Peter had made a foule defection froÌ„ his Lord he denied Him thrise so by this defection threefold denial he depriued himselfe of his rowm of th'Apostleship wherunto he was called Looke how verily Judas fell by his traitorie as verilie did Peter fall for he that denies the Lord Iesus vnto the time he bee restored againe he cannot be a Christian man let bee an Apostle or Minister So in a word the ende of this conference was to restore Peter again by taking out of his own mouth a threefold confession of his loue to the Lord of the hatred of that foule sin which hee committed by denying of the Lord. Indeed it is true at Christs first meeting with His disciples at HierusaleÌ„ in a maÌ„ner he was restored because he got a dâ—rection with the rest to go foorth preach the Gospel where Christ sayes As my Father sends me so send J
haue Christ going before vs bearing our crosse suffering for our sins theÌ„ we following Him bearing His crosse Hee dying first takes away the bitternesse of death and makes our death an entrie to life euerlasting There is a comfort that Peter gettes in death so that death is made sweet to him and a port to life euerlasting Brethren ye must vnderstand That Christ goes before vs not onelie in His death but in His Resurrection and life for at this time Hee vvas risen So PETER followes Him in His Resurrection There is a double comfort Wee followe IESVS CHRIST not onelie in His death but also in His Resurrection to raise vs to life againe for it is by vertue of that life of IESVS CHRIST that vvee rise to life after our death Whereto intendes all this Euen to encourage vs to suffer Martyredome and seale the Gospell with our blood if it shall please the Lord to call vs and happie art thou if the Lord shall honour thee so that Hee will haue thee to beare His Crosse to suffer as an innocent who for a thousand of thine own sinnes art worthy of an ignominious death desperate departure for if He goe before thee if He beare thy Crosse the bitternesse of death is taken from thee because the guiltinesse of thy sinne is forgiuen Now the Lord furnish vs strength courage that we shame not His cause if it shall please Him to call vs to suffer for the Name of Iesus To whome with the Father and Holie Spirit be all praise and glorie for euer AMEN THE LII LECTVRE OF THE RESVRRECTION OF CHRIST IHON CHAP. XXI verse 20 Then Peter turned about and saw the Disciple whom Iesus loued following which had also leaned on His brest at supper and had saide Lord which is he that betrayeth thee verse 21 When Peter therefore saw him he said to Iesus Lord what shall this man doe verse 22 Iesus said vnto Him If I will that he tarie till J come what is it to thee follow thou Me. verse 23 Then went this word abroad among the brethren that this disciple should not die Yet Iesus saide to him he shall not die but if I will that he tarie till J come what is it to thee verse 24 This is that disciple which testifieth of these things and wrote those things and we know that his testimonie is true verse 25 Now there are also many other things which Jesus did the which if they should be written euery one I suppose the world could not containe the bookes that should be written Amen WEE haue heard Brethren that after the Lord had restored Peter to the dignitie of the Apostle shippe from the which hee had fallen by his threefold deniall of his Master in the Hall of the High Priest he addes to his absolution restitution a premonition and forewarning forewarning him that in the end of his Apostleship when he should become an old man he should close vp and seale his Apostleship with his blood When thou wast young sayes the Lord to Peter thou girdedst thy selfe thou knittedst thy clothes when thou wast wont to goe any way and wentedst whither thou pleasedst but when thou shalt be olde thou shalt not get credence to gird thy selfe to put thy girdle about thee but thou shalt stretch out thine hands and another shall giâ—d thee with cordes and chaines and shall lead thee away not where it shall please thee but where it shall please him he shall lead thee to the death We heard Iohn opened vp the meaning of these words and told vs that Christ thereby signified that Peter should glorifie God by a violent death and thereafter to encourage him the Lord goes before him bids Peter follow Him signifying thereby that His death had taken away the bitternesse of death and that by vertue of His Resurrection he should liue againe Now in the wordes that we haue read in the first place we haue set downe a new conference betweene the Lord and Peter for while they are in the waye the Lorde going before and Peter following there they fall againe in a new conference and Peter as he was ay too rash albeit very zealous so here rashly he demandes a curious question and it is about Iohn the writter of this Gospell the question is What should Iohn doe What shall this man doe Shall he not follow the Lord The Lord had not bidden him follow Him it might haue contented Peter well enough that the Lord had kept silence of Iohn and he to haue done the thing that the Lord bade him Nowe Brethren ere I come to the question yee must marke the occasions of this curiositie of Peter I perceiue the first occasion that brings Peter to this question is this When they are going together Peter lookes ouer his shoulder and turnes him about and turnes his eye from the Lord and looked to Iohn that apparantly followed a farâ—e off vpon which followes this curiositie and this learnes vs this lesson If the Lord bid thee followe Him in any calling what euer it be as Hee bade Peter followe Him to the death that was his calling for a man followes God in his calling all lawfull callings are but a following of the LORD learne here to be wiser than Peter hold thine eye constantly vpon Him thine heart vpon Him in thy calling followe Him foot for foot tread thou in the same footsteps so farre as He shall giue the grace decline not neither to the right hand nor to the left as to thine eye looke that it be neuer drawne froÌ„ Him looke not ouer thy shoulder to see what is behind thee but look constantly on the Lord for if thou doe this thou loses y e sight of Him that of need force shall make thee to settle backe in thy calling Peter but once turning goes one foot backward falles back froÌ„ y t course wherin he should haue walked Paul Philip. 3.14 considered this well in that race he ranne to be partaker of ResurrectioÌ„ life euerlasting he sayes I neuer looke behind me I neuer looke ouer my shoulder to see what is behind but mine eye is euer vpon the marke to get the price of the high calling of God Seeing then we haue taken vp a course to walke in to that life Iesus Christ beeing the forerunner and breaking vp the Heauen holde thine eye continually vpon the forerunner follow Him in thine own calling and see that thine eye goe neuer off Him It is the felicitie of the creature to follow Him and thou must follow the Lord in thine owne calling there is the first occasioÌ„ VpoÌ„ this followes another for piece piece he comes to his curiosity turning himselfe about looking to John Whom the Lord loued who was very familiar with the Lord apparantly hath vsed the Lord more homely than any of the rest for he was the man which leaned on Iesus brest at supper for wheÌ„ y e Lord
retuâ—ne to Hierusalem with great joy when they come there they goe vp to an vpper chamber but they stay not there but they goe to the Temple remain there continually praising lauding God and last they went out preached the Gospel euery where and the Lord gaue them a good successe for He wrought with them and confirmed the word with signes that followed Luke in th' Acts telles vs that while they looked stedfastly toward heauen as he went behold two men stood by them in white apparell As they were worshipping Him the Lord sent incontinent from His Heauenlie Throne Legates Ambassadours And who were they eueÌ„ Angels two in number and in forme outward shape like to men therefore they are said to be two men and were clothed in white and glorious apparell Marke the lesson in a word Christ sits no sooneâ— down at the right hand of the Father but He makes His disciples whom Hee left in the earth behind Him not only to know y t He had a kingly power whereby He commands the very Angels themselues but also to know that singular care affection that Hee caried to them which He testifies by sending these Angels from heauen for their cause for their consolation This kingly power of Christ this care that He hath of His own continues eueÌ„ this day in the Kirk euery of y e faithful find the proofe experience of it to their great joy comfort Now let vs see what these Angels say to y e Apostles in their speech to them First they reprooue then they comfort them first they said Ye men of Galile why stand ye gazing vnto Heauen they reprooue them because they stood idly gazing looking to the heaueÌ„ whereas the Lord had coÌ„manded them to returne to Jerusalem that there they might wait for the Spirit that was promised them that hauing gotten the Spirit they might goe out to the world preach the Gospâ—l to euery creature as the Lord had commanded them This reproofe of th'Angels imports that they contented themselues too much w t idle looking gâ—â—ing that they were too vnmindfull of that great high calling whereunto the Lord had ordained them Of this reproofe we learn this lessoÌ„ it is not the Lords wil that any maÌ„ should be idle in the world nor that he content himselfe w t a bare idle contemplatioÌ„ of y e creatures of God No not of y e best of them it is not the Lords will y t we stand idly gazing vpon the very heauens whereunto the Lord hath ascended now is in glory No it is His will that all men all their dayes be painfully exercised in some calling wherein they may both glorifie God doe good vnto men Indeed it is true it is the Lords wil that men should alwaies haue their affectioÌ„s set aboue their hearts lifted vp to heaueÌ„ that they haue their eyes set vpon God vpon Christ vpon that glory which is to be reuealed but in the meane time while men are thus exercised they should be exercised likewise in some honest lawful calling Th' Apostle Paul by his practise lets vs see what should be the behauiour of a Christian While hee looked not to the things that are seene but to the things that are not seene 2. Cor. 4.18 While he choosed to remoue out of the body to go dwell with Christ 2. Cor. 5.8 While he minded not earthly things but had his conuersation in heauen from whence he looked for his Sauiour euen the Lord Iesus Philip. 3.20 contented hee himselfe thinke ye with this speculation Was he in the meane time idle had he not another calling Yes hee was very diligently exercised in the Ministry For sayes he we couet that both dwelling at home remoouing from home we may be acceptable to Him for we must all appeare before the Iudgement seat of Christ that euery man may receiue the things which are done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or euill therefore knowing that terrour of the Lord we perswade men bring them vnto the faith 2. Cor. 5.9 10 11. So Paul wheÌ„ he was looking to heauenly things he was in the meane time diligeÌ„tly exercised in his Apostleship in bringing men to Christ eueÌ„ so it becomes euery faithfull man so to haue his heart his affections set vpoÌ„ heauen heauenly things y t in y e same meane time in some honest lawful calling he may be doing some good in y â— earth on the other part wheÌ„ he is busie labouring exercised in his calling he shuld haue his eyes lifted vp to God should haue his heart his affections conuersatioÌ„ in y e heauens for except that in all things which we do we haue y e Lord His glory before our eyes it is not possible y t we can do any thing well vprightly Then in a word ye see here y e Lord by these Angels coÌ„demnes idle speculatioÌ„ coÌ„templatioÌ„ without any exercise in any lawfull calling This serues to coÌ„demne these idle bellies y e Monks of y e Romane Kirk who coÌ„tent theÌ„selues w t bare idle speculatioÌ„ hauing no regard in y e meane time y t they may be exercised in any lawful calling wherin they may either glorify God or do good to meÌ„ yea they are so far froÌ„ doing good y t by y e coÌ„trary they hurt y e Kirk of God exceedingly by bringing in their dreames faÌ„tasies y t they haue deuised in their idle braines to corrupt peruert mens minds y e Lord neuer allowed nor blessed such a life y e Lord abhors such idlenes if y e Angels reproue y e Apostles for gazing to heaueÌ„ where they saw w t their eyes y e Lord Iesus to ascend which by appearaÌ„ce to maÌ„s judgment was a very good exercise to haue their hearts fixed on Christ their eyes vpoÌ„ y e place whither He ascended what wold y e Angels say to these idle belly gods who withdraw theÌ„selues froÌ„ all honest callings liue vpoÌ„ y e sweat of other meÌ„s browes vnder y e preteÌ„ce of spiritual exercise now after y e Angels haue reprooued y e Apostles next in y e 2. part of their speech they raise theÌ„ vp coÌ„forts theÌ„ while they say This Iesus which is taken vp froÌ„ you into heauen shall so come as ye haue seene Him goe into heauen They comfort them by putting them in hope that Hee shal returne yea returne in glorie and such a glorie as they saw Him ascend vvith and so vpon hope of His glorious returning in that great daye they wil th'Apostles to comfort themselues against all trouble distresses that they might be subject vnto y e time of their remaining in y e earth Whereupon we may perceiue what is the ground whereupon the solide consolation of a Christian soule arises It arises euen