stand sure before thee much lesse wee silly vessells of clay Have mercy on us O Redeemer which art easie to bee intreated not that we be worthy of thy mercy but give thou this glory unto thine owne Name Suffer not that the Jews Turks and the rest of the Panims which either have not known thee or doe envy thy glory should continually triumph over us and say Where is their God where is their Redeemer where is their Saviour where is their Bridegroome that they thus boast on These opprobrious words upbraidings redound unto thee O Lord while by our evills men weigh and esteeme thy goodnesse they think wee be forsaken whom they see not amended Once when thou sleptst in the ship and a tempest suddenly arising threatned death to all in the ship thou awokest at the outcry of a few disciples and straightway at thine Almighty word the waters couched the winds fell the storme was suddenly turned into a great calme the dumbe waters know their makers voice Now in this farre greater tempest wherein not a few mens bodies be in danger but innumerable soules wee beseech thee at the cry of thy holy Church which is in danger of drowning that thou wilt awake So many thousands of men doe crie Lord save us we perish the tempest is past mans power yea we see that the indeavours of them that would help it doe turne cleane a contrary way It is thy word that must doe the deed Lord Jesu Onely say thou with a word of thy mouth Cease ô tempest and forthwith shall the desired calme appeare Thou wouldest have spared so many thousands of most wicked men if in the City of Sodom had been found but ten good men Now here be so many thousands of men which love the glory of thy Name which sigh for the beauty of thy house and wilt thou not at these mens prayers let goe thine anger and remember thine accustomed and old mercies Shalt thou not with thy heavenly policy turne our folly into thy glory Shalt thou not turne the wicked mens evills into thy Churches good For thy mercy is wont then most of all to succour when the thing is with us past remedie and neither the might nor wisedome of men can help it Thou alone bringest things that bee never so out of order into order againe which art the onely Author and maintainer of peace Thou framedst that old confusion which wee call Chaos wherein without order without fashion confusely lay the discordant seeds of things and with a wonderfull order the things that of nature fought together thou diddest ally and knit in a perpetuall band But how much greater confusion is this where is no charity no fidelity no bonds of love no reverence neither of lawes nor yet of rulers no agreement of opinions but as it were in a misordered quire every man singeth a contrary note Among the heavenly Planets is no dissention all foure Elements keep their place every one doe their office whereunto they bee appointed And wilt thou suffer thy Spouse for whose sake all things were made thus by continuall discords to perish go to wrack Shalt thou suffer the wicked spirits which bee authors and workers of discord to beare such a swinge in thy Kingdome unchecked Shalt thou suffer the strong Captaine of mischief whom thou once overthrewest againe to invade thy tents and to spoile thy souldiers When thou wert here a man conversant amongst men at thy voice fled the devills Send forth we beseech thee O Lord thy Spirit which may drive away out of the breasts of all them that professe thy Name the wicked spirits masters of riot of covetousnesse of vaine glory of carnall lust of mischief and of discord Create in us O our God and King a cleane heart and renew thy holy Spirit in our breasts pluck not from us thy holy Ghost Render unto us the joy of thy sauing health and with thy principall Spirit strengthen thy Spouse and the Herdmen thereof By this Spirit thou reconciledst the earthly to the heavenly by this thou didst frame and reduce so many tongues so many Nations so many sundry sorts of men into one body of a Church which body by the same Spirit is knit to thee their head This Spirit if thou wilt vouchsafe to renew in all mens hearts then shall also these forreigne miseries cease or if they cease not at least they shall turne to the profit and availe of them which love thee Stay this confusion set in order this horrible Chaos O Lord Jesu let thy Spirit stretch out it self upon these waters of evill wavering opinions And because thy Spirit which according to thy Prophets saying cōtaineth al things hath also the sciēce of speaking make that like as unto all them which bee of thy house is all one light one Baptisme one God one hope one Spirit so they may also have one voice one note and song professing one Catholique truth When thou diddest mount up to heaven triumphantly thou threwest out from above thy precious things thou gavest gifts amongst men thou dealtest sundry rewards of thy Spirit Renew againe from above thy old bountifulnesse give that thing to thy Church now fainting growing downward that thou gauest unto her shooting up at her first beginning Give unto Princes and Rulers the grace so to stand in awe of thee that they so may guide the Common-Weale as they should shortly render accompt unto thee that art the King of kings Give wisdome to bee alwayes assistant unto them that whatsoever is best to bee done they may espy it in their minde and pursue the same in their doings Give to the Bishops the gift of prophecy that they may declare and interpret holy Scripture not of their owne braine but of thine inspiring Give them the threefold charity which thou once demandedst of Peter what time thou didst betake unto him the charge of thy sheep Give to the Priests the love of sobernesse and of chastity Give to thy people a good will to follow thy Commandements and a readinesse to obey such persons as thou hast appointed over them So shall it come to passe if through thy gift thy Princes shall command that thou requirest if thy Pastors and Herdmen shall teach the same and thy people obey them both that the old dignity and tranquillity of the Church shal returne again with a goodly order unto the glory of thy Name Thou sparedst the Ninevites appointed to be destroied as soone as they converted to repentance and wilt thou despise thy house falling downe at thy feet which in stead of sackcloth hath sighes and in stead of ashes teares Thou promisedst forgivenesse to such as turne unto thee but this self thing is thy gift a man to turne with his whole heart unto thee to the intent all our goodnesse should redound unto thy glory Thou art the maker repaire the work that thou hast fashioned Thou art the Redeemer save that thou hast bought Thou art the
leade him away to the water and ought not this daughter of Abraham whom Satan hath bound loe eighteene yeares be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day Luk. 13.14 15. This bodily disease was a work of Satan which the Sonne of God came to dissolve Satan had thus bound her to the end that hee might by these bonds draw her to some unlawfull practise for her ease as to ask counsell of some cunning woman or to adventure upon the pretended mysteries of some unhallowed Art Of diseases meerely naturall the cunning Tempter makes use or way by them for his temptations though he have no finger in the inflicting of them yet hee moveth such as are grievously afflicted with them to repine or murmure against God and all such repining or impatiency in sicknesse though occasioned by sicknesse meerely naturall is a work of Satan which the Sonne of God came to dissolve or prevent But how did hee dissolve or prevent them by taking them upon him Though Satan could lay these and the like bonds of bodily afflictions upon this woman and upon many others both men and women in Judea in these times could he therefore lay the like upon the body of the Sonne of God It is certaine he could not How then did the Sonne of God in bodily maladies or grievances either parallel Iob whom Satan had smitten or those miserable creatures whom he loosed from Satans bonds Hee did not parallel them at all in the matter of the disease or bodily grievance that could not breed in his body it could not be produced in it by Satan yet did hee parallel Iob and all the parties whom he cured though smitten or bound by Satan in the griefe or paine of the disease whose matter could not fasten upon him Hee which commands us by his Apostle to weepe with them that weepe did out of all question exhibite a more reall paterne of this precept than the Apostle could practice Yet saith the Apostle of himselfe and he said it without hypocrisie without boasting Who is weak and I am not weak who is offended and I burne not Such was his care of all the Churches that every mans griefe was in some measure the Apostles griefe every mans infirmity did in some portion weaken him yet was it not foretold of this Apostle by any Prophet that he should beare our griefes or take our infirmities upon him This was the peculiar Character of the Sonne of God manifested in the flesh expresly foretold by the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 53. ver 4. and the accomplishment of it related by S. Matthew Chap. 8. ver 16 17. The maner of his curing others of their sicknesses and infirmities was by taking them upon himselfe not in kinde but by sympathy As the eye takes the forme or shapes of objects visible without participation of the substance whence they flow so our Saviour tooke the griefe or paine of every disease which he cured without the matter or corruption which did breed griefe in the diseased patient In all mens griefes he was grieved in all their paines he was tormented Hee wept with those that wept and mourned with such as mourned Who did grone and he was not troubled in spirit who did sigh and hee was not sad in heart Hee tooke their sighes and sorrowes at a lower key than they themselves did which had matter of affliction or sorrow in them Yet doe wee not reade that hee sighed groned or often wept when hee cured others but the reason was because such as besought his helpe did not beseech him with sighes with teares or grones At the raising of Lazarus from the dead he wept and groaned what was the reason Not to prejudice the allegories and mysteries which some ancient Fathers have hence observerd the principall reason according to the literall sense why at this time he wept was because Mary and her comforters came to him with weeping eyes So saith the Text Ioh. 11.13 When Iesus saw her weepe and the Iewes also weepe which came with her hee groaned in the spirit and was troubled in himselfe and said Where have yee laid him They said unto him Lord come and see and Iesus wept Lazarus no doubt had sighed and groaned in his absence had wished his presence with these and other like expressions of sorrow and now that he finds Lazarus dead and Maries cheeks for his decease bedewed with teares hee sympathizeth with her in her present griefe and by tuning his heart to Lazarus his dying pangs or throbs he looseth him from the bonds of death and freeth Mary and her good friends from matter of griefe and sorrow by taking her sorrow upon him 2. And as the care of all the Churches which he had planted was not the least part of S. Pauls griefe and vexation so the sorrow which the Sonne of God did conceive for such as would not seeke unto him for helpe for such as did not sorrow for their sinnes was a great part of his sufferings Thus hee wept for Jerusalem whilest Jerusalem went mad with mirth and resolved to banquet al her guests at that great Passeover with his blood When he was come neere he beheld the Citie and wept over it saying If thou hadst knowne even thou in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace but now are they hid from thine eyes Luk. 19.42 These teares were shed in publique for the City and Nation but how many more hee shed in private or with what sighes hee deplored their estate that would not implore his helpe that would not feele their misery being bound by Satan as well in body as soule this I leave to the Readers consideration and conjecture Even when the full weight of bodily misery did seize upon him when he was bearing the Crosse unto the place wherein hee was crucified hee pitied Jerusalem more than hee would suffer others to pitie him Weepe not for mee yee daughters of Ierusalem but weepe for your selves Thus hee did more than beare our griefs for he was grieved at their miseries which did not grieve for themselves Nihil miserius misero non miserante seipsum But in all these sufferings by sympathy there was no violence they were not mingled with disgrace or scorne Albeit his cures were often slandered by the Scribes and Pharisees yet were they still magnified by the parties cured or by the people But when his houre was come the houre wherein hee was to enter combate with the enemy of mankinde hee was not one minute free from violence or indignity The greatest evills which can befall men in this mortall life are tortures of body indignities or disgrace and it is disputable whether a wise man would not rather chuse death it selfe than either lingring torture perpetuall disgrace or a foule indignity But wee need not dispute this question in the case of the Sonne of God disgrace and paine indignities and torture did not come single upon him one of them was anothers second whilst
little before his death My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The collections which many learned writers of the Romish Church have drawen from Calvins Comments upon these words are too plentifull to be here inserted and the imputations which they lay upon him and his followers unanswerable if he meant or spake as they expresse his meaning to wit that these words should argue a sensible experience of Hell paines or the worst symptomes of such paines as either despaire distraction of minde or discontent I should be very sory to reade them in Calvin or in any other writer of the reformed Churches very unwilling distinctly to call to memory some passages in late English Writers which to my remembrance incline too much this way All I can say in Calvins defense if hee peremptorily affirme that our Saviour did suffer the paines of Hell upon the Crosse is this If it be an heresie as the Romish Church doth make it and I cannot gainesay them if it bee stifly maintained the heresie was broached by a great and learned Romish Cardinall before Calvin wrote And when the Pope who is the pretended Judge of all heresies shall condemne his books for hereticall or his opinion in this particular for an heresie I shall be ready to perswade the Church of England as farre as I am able to doe the like The true importance of our Saviours exclamation or proclamation rather upon the Crosse for hee uttered it voce magna with a proclamatory voice will come to bee scanned in the next Treatise But if Satan either by his owne strength or by speciall permission from God the Father did tempt our Saviour upon the Crosse whether immediatly or mediatly by the malicious stratagems of the Jews and by the prophanesse of the Roman Souldiers so farre as to proclaime his owne despaire or diffidence of Gods favour towards him or to the least degree of impatience or discontent it would bee hard to make any construction of our Saviours prediction Ioh. 14.30 The Prince of this world commeth and hath nothing in me or as some have more fully exprest the Hebraisme nothing against mee As certainly he had no matter to work upon no occasion of solace either to himselfe or to his infernall associats as if they had moved him to the least degree of diffidence or impatience For our Saviour questionlesse was more then certaine by a more excellent certainty than the certainty of faith that he should be saved from the second death that he should never fall away from Gods favour nor be for a moment forsaken of him Otherwise he had been a lesse faithfull servant of God lesse mindfull of speciall revelations made to him as man then they are who beleeve their owne speciall election or predestination onely upon application of Gods generall promises to themselves in particular For besides the internall revelations made to him as man he had many publique assurances such as others besides himselfe did heare none of which hee did ever distrust or doubt much lesse could hee feare lest his Father should be so farre displeased with him as ever to forsake him Now his pains upon the Crosse were grievous and the indignities done unto him to flesh and blood intolerable yet his apprehension of celestiall joyes due unto him was never interrupted And out of this never interrupted apprehension or rather view of these joyes hee endured the Crosse and despised the shame as our Apostle tells us Hebr. 12.2 Not onely his apprehension of these but his most circumspect observance of all opportunities to doe his Fathers will and to see all the Scriptures concerning him fulfilled was neuer more conspicuously remarkable whilest hee was upon the Crosse than in his last conflict with death The fulfilling of the Prophecies concerning his sufferings requires a peculiar Treatise For his extraordinary circumspection about that very point of time wherein hee uttered these words Eli Eli lamasabacthani My God my God why hast thou forsaken me that is abundantly testified by S. Iohn who was an eare witnesse of his speeches Now there stood by the Crosse of Iesus his mother and his mothers sister Mary the wife of Cleophas and Mary Magdalene When Iesus therefore saw his mother and the Disciple standing by whom hee loved hee saith unto his mother Woman behold thy Sonne Then saith he to the Disciple Behold thy mother And from that houre that Disciple took her unto his owne home Joh. 19.25 26 27. CHAP. XIII The bloody Sacrifice of the Sonne of God was all sufficient to make full satisfaction for the sinnes of the world without his suffering of any supernaturall or unknowen paines 1 BUt however the former pretended conclusion concerning Christs suffering the paines of Hell or any of their symptomes cannot bee inferred either from his bloody sweat in the garden or from any speeches of his or any effect related by the Evangelists yet the favourers of this conclusion rather than they would give it over endeavour to prove it by reason drawen from the finall cause of all his sufferings The suffering of the paines of hell say they was necessarily required to the full satisfaction for all our sinnes which all good Christians confesse hee did beare both in his Agony and upon the Crosse But the very foundation of this assertion is very weak and the superstructive worse most derogatory to the infinite worth of Christs bloody Sacrifice First it is not required by the rules of equity whether Divine or humane that satisfaction for wrongs done should alwayes be made in kinde or by way of counterpassion It is in many cases more full and more sufficient when it is made by equivalencie than if it were made in kinde As in case a man in his rage should cruelly beate his neighbour or butcher his cattell to permit the party which suffered the wrong whether in his person or in his goods to exercise the like rage or cruelty upon his person or live-goods which did the wrong could be no true satisfaction either to the law or party wronged but rather beastly revenge The best satisfaction which in this case could be awarded to the party wronged would be to give him such contentment in one kinde or other as might in reason though not to passion be as beneficiall and usefull to him as the effects of his fury and rage which did the wrong were in just estimation hurtfull and yet such withall as should make the offender as unwilling to doe the like wrong againe as the party wronged or any in his case would be to suffer it This is the onely true satisfaction which in the same or like case could be justly made to the Law whose true intendment alwayes is to make all men willing to doe to others as they desire should bee done unto them unwilling to doe any thing to others which they would not have done unto themselves Our father Adam had wronged our common nature and all of us had offended
reverentia nulla opinionum consensio sed quasi in perturbatissimo choro unusquisque diversum canit In coelestibus planetis nulla est dissensio elementa suas sedes tenent unumquodque constitutum sibi officium facit sponsam suam cujus causa omnia facta sunt continua sic dissensione perire labefactari permittis Malósne spiritus seditionis authores atque administros in ditione tua sine ulla reprehensione ita regnare permittes potentemnè illum iniquitatis ducem quem semel dejeceras castra invadere milites tuos spoliare sines Cum hic in hominibus versabaris vocem tuam fugiebant daemones Emitte quaesumus Domine Spiritum tuum qui è pectoribus omnium nomen tuum profitentium malos spiritus magistros intemperantiae avaritiae vanae gloriae libidinum scelerum discordiae abigat Crea in nobis Rex Deus noster cor mundum Spiritum sanctum tuum in pectoribus nostris renova nec Spiritum sanctum tuum auferas à nobis Restitue nobis fructum salutaris sanitatis tuae Spiritu principali corrobora Sponsam Pastoresque ejus Hoc Spiritu reconciliasti coelestia terrestribus hoc formasti ac reduxisti tot linguas tot nationes tam diversa hominum genera in unum corpus Ecclesiae quod corpus eodem Spiritu copulatur capiti Hunc Spiritum si in omnium hominum cordibus renovare digneris tum externae hae quoque miseriae cessabunt aut si non cessaverint ad fructum saltem utilitatemque diligentium te traducentur Siste hanc Domine Iesu confusionem hoc horribile Chaos in ordinem adducito expande Spiritum tuum super aquas malè fluctuantium opinionū Et quia Spiritus tuus qui juxta Prophetae sententiam continet omnia scientiam etiam habet vocis effice ut quemadmodum omnibus qui in domo tua sunt unum lumen unus Baptismus unus Deus una spes unus Spiritus sic unā quoque habeant vocē unam cantilenā unū sonū unā catholicam veritatē profitentes Cum in coelum gloriosè ascendisti demisisti de caelo res preciosissimas dedisti dona hominibus varia munera spiritus divisisti renova Domine de Coelo veterem bonitatem da nunc Ecclesiae labefactatae inclinatae quod illi emergenti exorienti initio dederas Da Principibus Magistratibusque gratiam timoris tui ut ita Rempublicam suam gubernent quasi statim tibi Regi Regum rationem reddituri Da sapientiam semper assistricem illis ut quodcunque optimum factu fuerit animo provideant factis persequantur Da Episcopis tuis donum prophetiae ut sanctas Scripturas non ex suis ingeniis sed tua inspiratione declarent interpretentur Da triplicem illis charitatem quam à Petro requirebas quando illius curae oves tuas commisisti Da Sacerdotibus tuis temperantiae castitatisque amorem Da populo tuo studium sequendi mandata tua promptitudinem obediendi iis quos tu super illos constituisti Ita fiet ut si largitate tua principes ea imperent quae tu praecipis pastores eadem doceant populus utrisque pareat veteris Ecclesiae dignitas tranquillitasque cum ordinis conservatione ad gloriam Nominis tui restorescat Ninivitis pepercisti morti addictis statim ut ad poenitentiam conversi fuerant domum tuam inclinantem jam corruentem despicies quae vice sacci gemitus vice cinerum lachrymas profundit promisisti remissionem conversis ad te at hoc donum tuum est ut quis cum toto corde suo ad te convertatur ut omnis bonitas nostra ad gloriam tuam redundet Tu factor es refice opus tuum quod formasti Tu Redemptor es serva quod emisti Tu Servator es ne sinas perire qui tibi innituntur Tu Dominus es possessor vendica possessionem tuam Tu caput es opem fer membris Tu Rex es da nobis legum tuarum reverentiam Tu princeps pacis es aspira nobis fraternam charitatem Tu Deus miserere supplicum tuorum sis ut beatus Paulus loquitur omnia in omnibus ut universus Ecclesiae tuae chorus consentientibus animis vocibus consonantibus gratias de misericordia inventa agant Patri Filio Spiritui sancto qui pro perfectissimo concordiae exemplo personarum proprietate distinguuntur conjunctione naturae adunantur quibus laus gloria ad omnem aeternitatē Amen LOrd JESUS CHRIST which of thine Almightinesse madest all Creatures both visible and invisible which of thy godly wisdome governest and settest all things in most goodly order which of thine unspeakable goodnes keepest defendest furtherest all things which of thy deep mercy restorest the decaied renewest the fallen raisest the dead vouchsafe we pray thee at last to cast downe thy countenance upon thy welbeloved Spouse the Church but let it be that amiable and mercifull Countenance wherewith thou pacifiest all things in heaven in earth and whatsoever is above heaven and under the earth vouchsafe to cast upon us those tender and pitifull eyes with which thou diddest once behold Peter that great Shepherd of thy Church and forthwith he remembred himself and repented with which eyes thou once diddest view the scattered multitude and wert moved with compassion that for lack of a good Shepherd they wandred as sheep dispersed straied asunder Thou seest O good Shepheard what sundry sorts of Wolves have broken into thy sheep-cotes of whom every one crieth Here is Christ here is Christ so that if it were possible the very perfect persons should be brought into error Thou seest with what winds with what waves with what stormes thy silly ship is tossed thy ship wherein thy little flock is in perill to be drowned And what is now left but that it utterly sink and wee all perish Of this tempest and storme we may thank our own wickednesse and sinfull living we espie it well and confesse it we espy thy righteousnesse and wee bewaile our unrighteousnesse but wee appeale to thy mercy which according to the Psalme of thy Prophet surmounteth all thy works wee have now suffred much punishment being soussed with so many warres consumed with such losses of goods scourged with so many sorts of diseases and pestilences shaken with so many flouds feared with so many strange sights from heaven and yet appeare there no where any haven or Port unto us being thus tired and forlorne among so strange evills but still every day more grievous punishmēts and more seeme to hang over our heads We complaine not of thy sharpnesse most tender Saviour but we espy here also thy mercy forasmuch as much grieuouser plagues we have deserved But O most mercifull Jesu we beseech thee that thou wilt not consider ne weigh what is due for our deservings but rather what becommeth thy mercy without which neither the Angels in heaven can