be but a man would not be troubled to behold this miserable condition of Christ whereas godly men can hardly hold from weeping when they see deserved punishment inflicted upon others But Jesus takes no notice of the raging multitude but knowing who are his he turneth himself to the women who did both love and lament him and forbids them to weep Not that it was evil to lament so great suffering and such wrong that was done to Jesus but because it was not comely to bewail and weep for him as they use to do for others that are justly punished Daughters of Jerusalem faith he ye need not weep for me who am now finishing this my sad progress For I do not suffer these things for my own faults yea this my going away though you know it not shall bring joy and great good to all the world Mourning doth not sa it with Triumph nor doth sorrow become Victory But if ye are resolved to lament do it for your selves and for your children although ye go not or be not with me in this progress For I would have ye know that in this very place I foretell you of such sad dismall and dangerous times which are coming that all as well men as women as well yong men as old both rich and poor shall come into such great streights that they shall wish they had never been born Happy saith he shall that woman be who hath neither sons nor daughters for whom she must suffer so great sorrow Yea so great shall be the perplexity and distress that you will wish your selves under ground and to be hid in the close caverns of the Mountains and clefts of the Rocks where none might see or find you out For whatsoever shall be seen or found shall not escape death no though it had a thousand heads O therefore ye Citizens of this bloody City consider of what I say and weep and wail for those things that shall come upon you For if they do these things in the green tree what shall be done in the dry tree He calleth himself his Elect the green Tree but the dry Tree signifieth sinners and wicked If I saith he who have committed no sin who am justly called the Tree of life because I bring forth the fruits of Grace all the twelve moneths Rev. 22. If I leave not the world without passing thorow the fire of my Passion what torment do you think they shall have who are not only barren themselves but are so bold and so bad as to set on fire and burn down the very Tree of life it self If this be the time that Judgement begin at the house of God and all they that live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution 2 Tim. 3. What shall be the end of those that obey not the Gospel of God 1 Pet. 4. But you will ask Whereto tendeth that terrible Prophesie of Christ Mat. 24. I answer It hath respect to the war of the Jews that is unto the great misery and desolation the like whereof was never read of or seen before which after fourty years did totally ruine the Jews even that notable and destructive war of the Romans against the Jews under the Emperors Vespasian and Titus which War neither Josephus nor Egesippus were able fully to describe This distress and utter ruine of the Jews Christ foretold not only here but elsewhere Luke 19. 21. And if Titus in his rage smote the Jews with such fear and lamentation with what terrour shall Christ who is the Judge of the quick and of the dead smite all Nations when he is angry who shall judge righteously as he was unrighteously judged Christ then is that green and fruitfull Tree spoken of Psalm 1. 52. For what was better and more fruitfull then he The Jews on the contrary were the dry and barren Tree Mat. 3. Luke 13. Men will not suddenly out down young and flourishing Trees especially if they be fruitfull but if such be hewen down wo to the barren fruitless old dry Trees And if the Roman souldiers dealt so cruelly with innocent Christ it may easily be concluded how miserably the wicked and sinfull Jews were to be destroyed Thus the Word of Christ is made good and effectually fulfilled Whence we learn 1. To lament and bewail our selves in and over Christ We should not weep for Christ but for our own sins which were so great that they caused Christ who was and is the Son of God to be put to death And if the Son of God was so cruelly punished for other mens sins what should we have endured for our own sins The days will come indeed when sinners shall wish that they had never been born c. Let us therefore lament us of our sins here The Passion of Christ doth certainly denounce this misery against us before hand except we convert and turn to him and so escape and be delivered by vertue of his sufferings 2. We are here taught that the present evils of this life which are but for a moment ought not to be any cause of our mourning or heaviness but that we should rather weep in consideration of future and eternal misery These are they that should be feared and bewailed Christ did deplore the misery of others upon the Cross and put them in mind of the Judgement to come who did not only refuse but persecute the Grace of God which was then offered them that thereby they might be terrified from sin It follows And there were also two other Malefactors led with him to be put to death Luke 23.32 And they bring him unto the place which in Hebrew is called Golgatha that is being interpreted the place of a Skull Mar. 15.22 John 19.17 And they gave him Vineger to drink mingled with gall Mat. 27.34 They gave him Wine mingled with Myrrh Mar. 15.23 And when he had tasted thereof he would not drink Mat. ibid. And they crucified him and with him two theeves one on the right hand and another on the left and Jesus in the midst Mat. 27.38 John 19.18 And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith And he was numbred with the transgressors Mar. 15.28 Dearest Brethren we are almost now come with our Lord Christ unto the very place where he was willing to die a most bitter death for all sinners and have followed hard after him treading in every step that he trode yet have we not gone without grief for our sins which were the cause of all this suffering to Christ inasmuch as it was not he but we that deserved the death The place where Christ suffered is exactly described by the Evangelists that all men might not doubt but give the more credit to the truth of the History Now that place in the Hebrew was called Gulgoleth or in the Chaldee Golgoltha which signifieth something that is round as is the head of a man or the Skull Brain-pan or Shell of the head And that place was so
Psalm 51.5 it will not be altogether lost labour to consider whether that Text will not admit of another genuine reading besides that which our Translators render The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here rendred I was fashioned may as well be turned I have been afraid sore troubled grieved c. And so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In sin hath my mother conceived me may be read In sin hath my mother warmed me or Calefacta est mater de me my mother hath been warmed heated by me so Pagnin My mother hath brought me forth with sorrow and pain Cum dolere parturiit me mater so Symmachus and Aquila two of the ancientest Translators as Theodoret cites them So thaet the Text with the Context may admit this Paraphrastical reading i. e. Against thee thee only have I not my mother but I sinned taking all the shame and guilt upon himself not charging his Mother with the cause of his sin against Uriah and his Wife And now behold in by or for this iniquity viz. the sin of evil concupiscence as the Chaldee cals it the Original of his Actual sin I am exceedingly afflicted and very much grieved My Mother indeed brought me forth with sorrowfull labour and painfull Travel Gen. 3.16 for she hath sinned against thee and she perhaps being in sin conceived me But her sin was not the cause of my Adultery and Murther that was my own Act nor did her sin make me guilty for the child shall not bear the iniquity of the Father but when I had lusted I sinned and when I had committed the sin I became liable to the condemnation of death My father and mother are not to be blamed To this purpose Anselmus reasoneth the case If Adam saith he could not traduce or convey over his original Righteousness to his posterity neither could be transmit his original unrighteousness but he could not the one nor the other But this may seem to contradict what was said of Adams begetting Seth. Therefore I say that it is not in the Will and at the pleasure of man to beget Children which shall prove either good or bad however a good or a bad man may beget such as may be good or evil And they are good either as they continue as God made them or else by returning again into that state by Repentance and Faith in Christ or they are bad by consenting unto the motions aâ—d temptations of sin and Satan So Cain was not evil as he came out of Gods hands but as he was born and became a child of the devil That heat wherewith David warmed his mother as Pagnin reads it was not any sin of him in her womb for there the child doth not defile the mother but as they say the mother the child But his mother might well be troubled to see her son commit such hainous sins as Adultery and Murder and say as another doth Prov. 31.1,2,3,4 5. What my son the son of my womb Give not thy strength unto women c. It is not for thee O David my son it is not for thee to commit such wickedness against the Lord who hath saved thee from the Lion the Bear and the uncircumcised Philistin and hath made thee King over Israel it is not for thee so to requite thy God it doth not become thee I am sorry to hear such things of thee So that David might justly complain against himself and say Against thee only have I even I sinned and done this evil in thy fight for which I am now so greatly perplexed and for which my mother is incensed and so highly displeased with me What violence is offered to this Text and Context or to the general scope of the whole Scripture by this manner of reading I do not yet understand This might further be insisted upon but that I am not about a Treatise but a Preface I do not peremtorily and arrogantly impose these things but meekly offer them to the consideration of those who are more learned and illuminate if happily the Truth aud glory of God by this occasion may be brought more to light I know I have trod besides the beaten road but if curiosity and singularity rather then simplicity and integrity were my guides I should not adventure any further 7. Wherefore I rather take that place of the Prophet Ezek. 16. to signifie and demonstrate the corrupt fallen and sinfull state of man into which he is begotten by the deceitfull and destructive spirit after he hath received the natural life from his Parents Not denying but that literally and historically it holds forth the Idolatrous state into which Judah and Jerusalem were then degenerated Canaan signifieth Humility or a Merchant And this spiritual sense seems to be most aimed at by the Allegory For there is a time when we all wander into the land of Canaan when we are seduced by a voluntary shew of Humility Col. 2.18 to become Merchants for Heaven by our chosen Righteousness and legal works are rather Factors for Satan selling our selves to iniquity and sin for naught and parting with our precious souls for no money In this Cananitish Countrey we find ten native lusts answerable to the number of the Inbabitants in Canaan Gen. 15.19,20,21 standing in opposition to the ten Precepts and seed of God These disobedient properties are begotten by that Amorite the vain Talker great Pratler cruel Rebel that Father of lyes the Devil who was a lyar from the beginning who by his sleights and cunning craftiness fair speeches and subtile delusions lay in wait to beguil our first parents and cheat them of the pearl of their innocency being now an Amoritish father unto them begetting them into the disobedience and rebellion of his own nature having been himself a cursed Rebel before To this Amoritish father the Hittite our whorish heart the true Hittite being broken asunder from God joyneth and becomes a mother is bring forth the sinfull brood Lust when it hath conceived bringeth forth sin and when it is finished bringeth forth death James 1.15 And thus we come to be denominated sinners and Children of wrath And so neither do I deny original sin but grant there is a time for sin to have its original and beginning in us as it had in Adam 8. Thus we have found out mans sickness what it is how he catcheth it and is infected with it His Remedy and Recovery is there also described I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness yea I sware unto thee and entred into Covenant with thee saith the Lord God and thou becamest mine verse 8. The skirt wherewith God covereth us before he entreth into Covenant with us is the death of Christ the blood of the everlasting Covenant as will appear anon when the signification of the skirt shall be explained I have yet further to shew you that all our freedom from sin is by the death and blood of Christ whether we consider sin First In respect
of spirit shall say We fools accounted the righteous mans life madness but we have erred from the way of Truth we have wearied our selves in wickedness what hath pride profited us Wisd 5.1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 Nor do we anywhere read that the Devils themselves do charge their Lapse and Ruine upon God or his impulsive Decree And the Apostle Jude verse 6. tels us that they kept not their original state be doth not say God thrust them from it but they left and forsook it 58. Wherefore my Friends let me discharge the Office and Duty of afriend to you suffer ye the word of Exhortation and seriously consider of it Shall we impute unto God or charge him with that which the worst of men no nor the very Devils themselves ever did Shall we say that men do sin because God hath reprobated and resolved to deny them his Grace What is this else but to make God the first cause of mans transgression Let us rather magnifie the riches of Gods Grace extol the bounteousness of his gift the liberality of love as well in the largeness and extent as the freeness and undeservedness of it Let us as is said of them Mat. 9.8 glorifie God which hath given such power such gifts unto men Or in the man such gifts whereby the Lord God might dwell even among the rebellious Psal 68.18 Let us give the Gospel its free passage let us not stop or hinder the current and flowings of Christ blood from the utmost parts of the earth Let us not lay a stumbling block or discouragement in the way of Gods people God hath been mercifull unto man in his Son let his way of Mercy and love be made known and not hid from the children of Adam upon earth nor his saving health from any Nation Psalm 67.1,2 59. Doth not the river of Gods Eden his Paradise his Pleasure Delight and Joy Gen. 2.10 Psalm 147.11 Luke 15.7 distribute it self unto the four ends of the earth Psalm 104.10,11 And do not the Well springs of salvation which run out of the hills of Gods divine Nature and Attributes descend and flow into the lowest valley and meanest condition of humanity May not all the wild Asses of the mountains and all the beasts of the field drink thereof May not the fouls of Heaven make their habitation by them May not unruly fools trusting in their own mountain of folly strength be tamed the brutish and beastly luxurious men in the field of this worldly nature have the heat of their fierce passions quenched the high-soaring proud men in aery notions be brought down and made to dwell with the meek and lowly Spirit of Christ Let us not become Atheists or rather Polytheists making more Gods than one which is done by dividing and so destroying the Vnity in the Will of the one only God The doing of which we cannot avoid if we place two Wills in God viz. One secret determining some men to destruction and the other open professing protesting swearing that he would net that any should die 60. Let none now conclude from what I have said that I deny Election and Reprobation in any sence For I know and verily believe that there are Things which God foresaw would displease him and thereupon did Reprobate them from all Eternity and resolve that they should never have communion or fellowship with him such as are Ambition Tyrannie Cruelty Persecution Lying Pride Hypocrisie Malice Vncleanness Theft Murther Drunkenuess and all manner of sin and unrighteousness Of which things there have been persons that may be saved which have born the Type and Figure As there have been Persons that in all likelyhood were Rejected who have stood in the Figure of Things most excellent Thus Ishmael and Esau who were more than probably saved as might easily be demonstrated out of their History in the Scripture did bear the Type of Things that were rejected For of one of them the Apostle speaks punctually that he was an Allegory Gal. 4.24 c. Can. 5.10 1 Sam. 9.2 So on the other hand Saul who is said to rejected did Represent the glorious person of our Saviour Christ in the beauty and comliness of his person who is the fairest among ten thousand and excelleth all others by the head and shoulders in wisdom and strength These things dear Friends I have written and made publique in love to the Truth and to your souls Consider what I have said and the Lord give us all a right understanding of the Holy Mysterie of Life So be it Yours in the Labour and Lovâ—… of our blessed Mediator H. P. BRINKVVORTH Decemb. 30. 1657. If any desire to be further satisfied and informed in the glorious Mysterie of our Lord Jesus Christ and his Cross let them seriously peruse that accurate Discourse intitled PHILOSOPHY REFORMED sold by Ll. Lloyd at the sign of the Castle in Corn-hill London wherein they may find that heavenly Mysterie Chymically extracted out of the works of God in the Creation very pleasant and profitable to all those who delight to search out the Wonders of the most High Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity Scriptures insisted upon in this TREATISE MAT. 26. Vers Pag. 2 3 3 4 5 5 8 6 9 8 9 15 10 19 15 24 15 16 28 17 30 18 32 20 41 22 24 22 26 27 45 28 29 41 35 131 36 137 37 139 40 c 147 47 155 49 183 50 169 52 54 173 56 181 58 194 59 215 63 220 67 226 71 74 209 75 210 MAT. 27. Vers Pag. 1 2 232 3 237 11 250 12 271 15 17 274 19 24 26 304 28 30 281 31 304 32 314 34 326 36 341 37 337 38 326 40 344 MAR. 14. Vers Pag. 1 1 5 15 7 21 8 22 9 23 11 28 18 41 18 19 21 92 26 27 28 29 30 31 130 210 33 139 37 c 147 41 42 154 43 155 45 168 50 188 56 215 60 62 64 220 65 226 70 71 210 MAR. 15. Vers Pag. 1 232 3 250 7 274 15 304 16 19 281 20 21 314 22 23 28 326 26 337 29 344 LUK. 22. Vers Pag. 1 1 3 4 24 7 30 10 11 32 13 35 15 16 17 18 41 19 45 23 92 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 105 31 32 33 34 35 36 117 37 38 124 40 139 41 c 147 43 151 45 154 47 155 48 168 49 51 173 52 181 56 194 58 59 210 63 65 226 66 232 LUK. 23. Vers Pag. 1 232 2 5 250 6 264 13 271 18 275 24 25 304 26 27 314 32 326 35 344 38 337 JOH 12. Vers Pag. 4 15 6 16 7 19 JOH 13. Vers Pag. 1 36 2 3 4 5 63 6 7 8 9 10 11 70 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 79 21 22 92 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 98 31 32 33 34 108 35 36 37 38 117 JOH 14. Vers Pag. 1 126 31 129 JOH 18. Vers
of Christ i. e. to acknowledge him both God and man not daunted with death or danger Of Charity that they may learn to anoynt Christs feet with Oyntment viz. to succour their Neighbour with works of mercy and to wipe their feet with their hair that is so to supply the wants of the needy with the abundance of their riches without impoverishing themselves as they pole themselves without pain Here we see how an immortal name may be gotten to wit by godliness and good works For as wicked men die with a noise only and leave nothing but a nasty name behind them so the Righteous are in everlasting Remembrance Some there be saith the wise man which have no memorial Eccl. 44.9 who are perished as though they had never been and are become as though they had never been born But the name of mercifull men abideth from generation to generation Thus this woman by one good deed got her both a perpetual and precious name which shall never be blotted out For as long as the Gospel lasteth so long the praise and memory of this woman shall endure If thou therefore wouldst have a perpetual name and memory strive to imitate this Mary in good works who as she is commended in Luke for hearing the word of God Luke 10.39 so here she is praised for her care of good works Do thou therefore joyn both together a love of Gods Word and a zeal of good works Thus much of this History it follows in the Text Luke 22.3,4 Then entred Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot being of the number of the twelve and he went his way and communed with the chief Priests and Captains Mat. 26.15 And said unto them what will ye give me and I will deliver him unto you When the Evangelist would describe the person of the Traytor he doth fitly premise that Satan entred into him otherwise it had been most strange that any man could be so wicked and act so villanously and cruelly against his Lord. But because we hear that Satan entred into this man it is the less to be admired that he should dare do so horrid a thing for where that most abominable guest is there no good can be expected As the Holy Spirit stirs them up in whom he dwelleth to all good so that wicked spirit spurs them on to all evil Where we see 1. That the Devil was the cause of Christs death and suffering first by this Traytor then by the hands of sinners as the Jews and Gentiles Whence he is rightly called Satan or Christs Adversary 2. We see how dangerous it is once to give place to the Devil for he will never leave haunting us when once he findeth that our faith is feeble and that our unstable heart is intangled with strange cares as we see here in Judas who because he first yielded to the Devil when he tempted him to covetousness he is now wholly possest by him But the Evangelists do exactly describe the person of this Traytor as well by his name as his office that the greatness of his sin may the more appear His proper name was Judas his furname was Iscariot which the Evangelist did carefully add to distinguish him from Judas the brother of James who is called both Thaddaeus and Lebbaeus He was called Iscariot either from the Tribe whence he came viz. Isachar or as some think from a little Village where he was born Some are of opinion that the Evangelists did therefore add this surname of his to shew that he was born for this villany For Isachar whence Iscariot seems to be derived signifieth Reward or Wages Others think that Iscariot is derived from Ish which signifieth a Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Carath which signifieth to beat down to destroy to root out c. So that Iscariot is as much as to to say a slaughter-man which name doth too well sute to this man for indeed he shewed himself to be such a one He had also another name to wit Simon as appears by John for saith he he gave the sop to Judas Iscariot the son of Simon John 13.26 These three names fully set forth the condition of this man aggravating also his sin and are a Picture of all false Christians 1. For first he was Simon in that he heard the Gospel of Christ for Simon signifieth Hearing 2. He was also Judas in that he profest himself a Disciple of Christ for Judas signifieth Confessing 3. but indeed and in truth he was Iscariot i. e. a Murtherer Thus false Christians hear the Gospel and profess Christ but in their practice deny him Tit. 1. and so are like the Traitor Judas It will not serve the turn to hear and make Confession if thou play Judas in thy practice So much for the Traitors name now consider his office It is said that he was one of the twelve Apostles whom Christ had chosen out of all the world for his intimate friends to whom he shewed all his Secrets 1. This by others was counted a great honour to be one of Christs Apostles But 't was little praise to this man it was rather his utter tisgrace for his malice appeared so much the more abominable in that he was an Apostle of Christ Who can but tremble to hear that the Devil entered into an Apostle If that wicked one durst set upon the Apostles nay if he could hurry one of them into horrid baseness which of us can be safe Wherefore Pauls admonition is not in vain 1 Cor. 10. 1 Pet. 5. That he that standeth should take heed lest he fall And Peter exhorteth Be sober and watch knowing that your Adversary the Devil goeth about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he way devour 2. Again Who can but tremble to think that in so small and so holy a company so vile a wretch should be found Let none therefore trust in man or in the sanctity of place office or robe If the Apostleship did not sanctifie Judas neither will a place office or garment make thee holy If thou haâ—… not first sought and receive Holiness from God thou mayeâ—… be the worse for thy Calling And if Judas was not good though he dwelt among good men and had a good office so neither art thou the better for a holy Calling or Cloathing 3. Besides If there were so bad a fellow in that little Colledge which Christ himself founded no marvail if there be many unworthy men in the great Colledges of mens building Let every man beware that he be not in his Fellowship or Congregation as Judas was among the Apostles 4. Lastly Is it not strange that Christ should be betrayed by one of those that came with him and was honorably entertained at Bethany and sate at Table with him This is that which the Psalmist complaineth of Psalm 55. It was thou a man mine equal my guide and mine acquaintance We took
all thy bruisings and of all thy confusions Thy love and my sin made thee become so weak Consider this O thou miserable sinner consider of this when thou makest provision to fulfill the lusts of the flesh Here we see how that 1. We were not redeemed with corruptible things as Silver and Gold But with the precious blood of the unspotted Lamb 1 Pet. 1. 2. How Christ made satisfaction for the sins of the flesh 3. How the lost sheep is not only found but brought home again upon the shoulders of the good shepherd with great labour and toyl Wo to those miserable men that polluted their hands in the blood of the innocent And wo be to us also if we be not thankfull But there is something else to be taken notice of in this whipping of Christ for while the world is so busie about scourging of Christ God is not idle or neglecting his care in the mean time towards those that are his The Lord is wont to do his work when wicked men are active in theirs for the trouble and affliction of the godly When the Patriarchs sold their harmless brother Joseph and fulfil'd their lust upon him then did God carry on his design and accomplish his work For under that sale of him did God secretly advance Joseph to have dominion over his brethren So here When Pilate and the Jews did their business in this whipping of Christ mean while also God doth his work as fast For 1. He hath so sanctified and blessed all stripes and all afflictions by these scourgings of his Son that what afflictions soever do now befall a godly man they do him more good than hurt and help him forward in the way of holiness 2. By these stripes wherewith Christ was beaten God the Father hath so ordered it that all the scourges of a godly man shall prosper to his good 3. God hath here declared in his only begotten Son what usage his adopted and elected Children must look for in this world For if he suffered his only begotten Son to be whipt shall he not much more let his adopted Children be slasht For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth Prov. 3. And scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth What will they say to these things who live in pleasures and never think of adversity so far are they from being willing to suffer the least and lightest cross as if they went about to build another Paradise in the earth Behold saith he That which I have built I will break down and seekest thou great things for thy self Jer. 45. They whose Judgement it was not to drink of the cup have drank of it and dost thou think to escape Learn therefore O Christian from this scourging of Christ to bear the scourge of God patiently and say with David In flagella paratus sum I am ready for the Rod as the vulgar reading is Psalm 38.17 And with Paul I am ready not to be bound only but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus Act. 21. Hitherto we have heard of the whipping of Christ which indeed had been sufficient for the redemption of all mankind But all is not at an end yet the wickedness of perfidious men as well of the Jews as of the souldiers is not yet satisfied but affliction is added to the afflicted and the injuries of our King abound the pain of his manifold punishments and reproaches increase more and more Assoon as they had done whipping him Pilates souldiers who were then under the Roman pay and kept garrison at Jerusalam under the Governour because of the frequent seditions and mutinies of the Jews they begin to mock and make sport with Christ and that with such looseness and sawciness that the like was never seen or heard of before no nor were it to be believed if the Evangelists had not so punctually set down every particular We do not read that Pilate commanded these things to be done but the souldiers did it of their own accord to gratifie and curry favour with the Jews However Pilate winks at it holds his peace takes no notice of it he doth not restrain or forbid them Whence some suspect that Pilate all this while did but with a counterfeit mind defend and plead for Christ but really and indeed did conspire his death with the Jews And therefore we heard before that the Governour sent a band of Roman fouldiers to take Christ Whereas if the souldiers had done this without Pilates privity yet Pilate could not be excused who did not so much as check them or speak one word in dislike of their great malice against the innocent Wherefore O Christians seriously consider again and think upon this so great suffering but withall take notice that our sins were the cause thereof Eight jeers That Prophecy of David was here many ways fulfilled in Psal 22 39. 69. There are eight manner of jeers reckoned up which these knaves put upon Christ for which no doubt the Jews did well reward them nor would they march out to take Christ for nothing For truly Officers of an Army are but vassals to Gold That side which allows the best pay hath the justest cause But these were Tiberian and heathen Souldiers What then are ours and what do our souâ—diers do who are baptized for Christians What people under the sun are worse and less fearing God Those souldiers of Tiberius did scourge crown mock spit on and at last crucifie Christ But our souldiers whom we daily see before our eyes do no less to Christ by swearing and blaspheming the blood and wounds of Christ c. No wonder if such souldiers were always worsted not only by the Turks but also if the earth had swallowed them up alive And no question but the earth and the people therein are the worse for such kind of Blasphemies For is it not a diabolical thing that Christians know not what else to swear by but by that by which they are redeemed But of this we shall speak elsewhere Let us now consider those eight things which Christ suffered from those souldiers 1. They muster up the whole devilish band together to make the greater mockery and derision of it Surely 't is no small vexation to be jeered at by one single person alone how much more to be made a laughing stock before so many men 2. The band being called together they clothe and put on him a purple robe which was a military garment of a red colour which Commanders use to wear The military attire of other souldiers was called a Corslet or Coat of Male. This they did scoffingly to signifie thereby that he was a King Herods servants put a white robe upon Christ these clothe him in scarlet 3. They plat a Crown of Thorns and set it on his holy head for a royal Diadem Who can imagine the pain that reverend Head indured by so many prickly thorns fastned on it when we are so tormented with the prick
up the ghost He bowed his head First as taking his leave of the world Secondly he would thereby comfort us by letting us know that he is not cross or froward towards us First it is very significantly expressed in that it is not said that he died but that he gave up the ghost for he had power to lay down his life John 10. Secondly he is said to give up the ghost to let us know that when our souls are loosed from the flesh they should be commended to the Divine Goodness as into the hands of a most dear Father Thus innocent Abel is slain by his brother Thus is Isaac offered Gen. 4. 22. Thus Joseph escapes naked to his fathers protection being spoiled of his garment of flesh by the Adulteress Synagogue Thus our High-Priest hath finished his evening Sacrifice Thus the Life of the world died the Fountain of true Light was ecclipsed thus the Spring of all Life in whom all things live waxed dry that he might deliver them that were subject to death Thus that celestial Wedlock between the holiest soul and the purest flesh was dissolved and divorced by the sword of Death that we who were condemned might be recovered to the indissoluble Union of his Beatitude Thus the Organ of Divinity the Harp of the true David the most melodious Voyce of Jesus sunk into the silence of cruel Death Thus those Heavenly Lights of his most gracious Eyes were darkened by Death Thus that most sacred Breast of Eternal Wisdom and the Store-House of the Treasures of Grace is deprived of his life Thus he Redeemed us from our sins with so great a price a greater then which is not to be found among all the creatures in the world thus did he satisfie the Father for our disobedience with such obedience as was even unto death O how great was that grief when that most holy Soul which was Wedded and United to that most holy Body with an indissoluble bond of Love must be separated now and torn asunder by a violent death and that most holy Life die Never was there death more bitter because never was there man so sensibly sensible of it 1. Wo be to thee therefore O thou ungodly Synagogue who art more fierce and cruel then any wild beast thou hast devoured the life of Jesus who out of the Paternal Piety was sent unto thee to be thy Father and thy Husband 2. O how grievous will thy Accusation be for rending and tearing the body of Christ And wo be to thee thou ingratefull heart thou hard heart harder then any stone who dost not break and melt at the remembrance of so great a Sacrifice for the expiating thy hainous sins how strictly will that innocent blood be required at thy hands Here then O man O generation of Adam here knock thy bosom and beat thy breast consider well and think of this death The chiefest and choisest good doth here hang upon the Cross Here the Eternal Wisdom offereth it self to be seen naked Here the tree carried the Treasure and Price of the whole world O sinners here dieth the Son of God I say here the Son of the most High the King of Heaven and Lord of Earth dieth Nay he dies on the Cross like a Malefactor in the midst of Thieves in greatest misery and anguish and shame It was we O ye sons of men that brought this just One to this unjust and unworthy suffering Our sins were the cause of this his great Passion Here the word of the Sacrament is made good This is my body which is given for you This is my blood which is shed for you for the remission of sins Here now we understand what Christ meant by these sacred and holy words because all things are here seen with the eyes Here that Article of our most holy Faith hath its Foundation He suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried Think on this O man imprint these things in thy heart that thy very inward parts may be made sensible how that we men we sinners were guilty of this death We should have hung on the cross and died yea and have been eternally scorcht in Hell but that our most holy Lord stept in and said I will hang on the cross and die for all men Take me and smite me the Shepheard but let the sheep go free I will pay what I own not I will undertake other mens debt I will even all accounts I will make peace and bring all things to a good end and issue Think seriously on these things Believers Be pleased to accept this Ministry of Christ and highly prize it For this his death is your life For us thus to die is to live and escape death This weakness is our strength and fortitude These wounds and scars are our health and soundness This malediction is our benediction this cursing is our blessing This shame is our glory This cross is our celestial Court and Palace These Nayles are our Salvation Lift up your hearts O ye Faithfull lift up your hearts in consideration of these wonderfull things There was War between Christ and the Devil the field was pitched the battel set and Christ got the Victory Let us therefore give him thanks who was pleased through his infinite love with such hazard and hardship to Redeem us 1. In this expiation of Christ first we see that verified which he said before in John 10 I have power to lay down my life 2 Here we see that the works of God are against reason For who ever hearing that Christ was the son of God and seeing such great Miracles which he had done before could at all believe that God should so far wink at wicked men as to let them kill so great and so worthy a man Again who would believe that the true had then its beginning seeing him die so shamefull a death But this is the ancient and usual custom of God to promote and carry on his works by strange unlikely and contrary means It was indeed the pleasure of God to cause great and mighty boughs and limms to grow on this tree of Christ He intended to build up and quicken the Church This he did by a work disagreeable and repugnant to life and nothing of kin to it to wit the death of Christ by which he quickened and made the Church alive Hence is that of John 12. Except a grain of wheat die it bringeth forth no fruit but if it die it beareth much fruit The Edifice or building of the Church did not then indeed appear while Christ yet hanged on the cross for here you see nothing but his death and burial as at Seed-time there is no shew of Harvest But as in Summer the seed that was sown doth spring up so after the Resurrection the living Church sprouted out of the dead and dry body of Christ 3. From this Expiation of Christ we are diligently to confider what punishments we shall endure if we