Groans louder Outcryes There was Poena animi as well as Poena corporis And a wounded spirit who can bear Else would he not have cryed out and that with so loud a voice before his remorsless Enemies whose proud rejoycings were the eccho's of his Sighs and Groans My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The repetition of God shewed the vehemency of his Passion as if he felt himself wounded with God's wrath and abandon'd of his own Father for our sins our impieties carved greater wounds in his disconsolate soul than those of his Body his Feet and Hands were but once nailed to the Cross but his Soul-piercing Wounds forced a tontinued Distillation for every levity he paid a Groan and the least sentiment of sin cost him a sob a tear 16. If Christ paid so costly a rate for our Peccadillo's our Venial Sins it must be keener than a two edged Sword more loathsome than the baneful juice of Aconite to see the Borish Gergasites prefer the saving of their Swine before the imparadising their souls the Buyers and Sellers in the Temple pollute so sacred a place rather than lose a convenient Exchange for their Merchandise Could any sorrow be like unto his sorrow to find Unbelief a Disease so Epidemical and in his own Country where so near a Relation should have at least paid him equal respect with remoter parts there to have his Pedigree scornfully rip'd up Is not this the Carpenter's Son As if God who measureth not as man doth in deceitful Ballances were a respecter of persons or he that fabricked this admired Machine without matter could not Royalize with a Commission the abjects of the people to act his high Commands or to use the Apostles Phrase make known the riches of his Glory on the Vessels of his Mercy H. 1. Could any sorrow be like unto his sorrow to hear Peter that great Corner-stone who had so solemnly promised to wear his Master's Cognizance even to death to discard him when his greatest extremity challenged his best and stoutest observance not once but thrice heightened with direful Oaths and horrid Execrations and that to a silly Maid in the presence of his Lord Master and obstinately persist in it till the Warning-piece went off the third time and shot remorse into him Could any sorrow be like unto his sorrow to see the Holy City Jerusalem the Metropolis of Jewry with its Glorious Temple now the beauty of Nations ere long to suffer such a Dilapidation as not to have one Stone stand upon another making good what was sung at the Funerals of another Sceptred City Ruit Ilium ingens gloria Teucrorum 2. When Hector Captain of Troy Was despoiled of his life the Trojans and their City became a Prey to the Neighbouring Nations so soon as those Regicâ—des destroyed their Native Prince the Roman General both conquered and crucified them In verticem ipsius recurrit pernicies Our just God making the hands of Heathens instrumental to vindicate the cause of Heaven Could any sorrow be like unto his sorrow to see himself every where bespattered with bitter Sarcasms who should have been Deliciae generis humani the Honour of the Emperor Titus and a Murderer reprieved one that destroyed the living before their Christ who had raised the dead 3. Could any sorrow be like unto his sorrow to see the seduced Populacy who should have been so bold in the cause of their salvation as to have vyed tears with the drops of his most precious Blood tun'd their Sighs and Groans to the loud tenor of his Out-cryes and rivings of his Soul carelesly pass by shaking their Heads To see those Rabbies the Scribes and Doctors so far from applying a Sovereign Cure to their tainted Souls that unless he would shew them another Miracle by an immediate descending from the Cross they would not believe As if all those mighty Works he had already shown and same had brought home from remoter parts were clean forgot Could any sorrow be like unto his sorrow to see his Kinsfolks and Familiars stand afar off and made so unfit to pay a full Tribute of Commiseration as that they could not with safety own a clouded Countenance 4. If he eat with Zachens he is accounted a Friend to Publicans and Sinners there they unawares speak truth for he seeks their Conversion I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance If on the Sabbath he cures the diseased and gives them a Reprieve to complete their Calcule for that great and general Audit 't is a breach of the Law of Moses If he speaks mystically to them by wresting it to their own sense form it into matter of Accusation When the Tyrians and Sydonians heard the Harangue of Herod the King they raised their Notes to the highest Acclamations styling it The voice of God and not of man But if Christ embroider his Speech with Tropes and Figures though never man spake as he spake his Friends say He is mad his Enemies cry out He hath a Devil O quae mentis acerbae moestitudo But why should we wade farther in this since we are no more able to fathom the depth of his sufferings either of Soul or Body than S. Austin's Child could lave out the immense Ocean with a little Spoon 5. Some will say much may be undergone in good company but for Christ who before he assumed this Body of Flesh was a companion to the great and mighty Jehovah and well might be so when there was an equality of Greatness waited on by Myriads of Saints and Angels now to be placed between two Thieves two notorious Delinquents could not but mount his thoughts to the summit of sorrow That Virtue is seated betwixt two Evils is a Maxim undeniable since 't is so notably verified by our Saviour's hanging on the Cross between two Malefactors likely companions are these then for extenuating miseries when their natures admit of such perfect contrarieties as good and evil in their several Abstracts who there instead of an ingenious Confession revile their Fellow-Sufferer Christ Jesus with this tart Satyr If thou beest the Son of God save thy self and us 6. A strange Object had they found out for their scorn and derision who was wholly composed of Meekness and Gentleness but a stranger time had they made use of to vent it in when death had them on his Shoulders but the one of them to the wonderful demonstration of the readiness and prevalency of his Mercies presently turn'd Convert reproving his Companion Fearest thou not God seeing thou art in the same condemnation And in the nick of time while the Iron of Contrition was hot hammered on t a well form'd Petition Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom Words fitly spoken hanging like Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver 7. They needed not have made so curious a scrutiny for new fashion'd punishments to afflict him Qui poenis occurrit atrocibus ultrò For when
excressency of Blood for those holy hands that had been so often extended to give comfort to his afflicted people lifted up to his father to reach down mercies from Heaven for his persecuting enemies so Charitably dispos'd to deal Almes to so many Thousands are now fast bound and they who should have guarded him as Prince of Jury not Prisoner in Jerusalem are already voting his destruction in their hasty leading him away to Pontius Pilate the Governor O hard hearted Jewes not only cruel to your Saviour but pittiless to your selves in refusing to be washed in the laver of regeneration spill so much Nepenthe and not cool the tip of your Tongue with one drop make of it no cherishing Cordials to strengthen your enfeebled souls wound this Balsom tree lance this Wing Palm and hang no bottles to gather the distilling liquor but let it fall like a box of rich Spicknard on a parched hearth not to be gather'd up 9. The morning being now come too bright to look upon such black deeds they set the great Judge of Heaven and Earth to receive his Condemnation from men Little hopes to receive the benefit of Clergy when the High Priests and whole Sanhedrim are his Prosecutors Pilate might have sayed the pains of denouncing sentence against him who in his present sufferings represented the truest figure of death O quantum mutatus ab illo Hectore 10. But 't is decreed this Holocaust must be off'red up to attone the incensed Majesty of Heaven Caiaphas the High-Priest prophesieth the same Womens assaults many times batter down mens strongest resolutions Strange then if Pilates wifes Petition carry not a prevailing Sed oportet Christum pati The sentence of Heaven is irrevocable no appealing to a higher Tribunal Her Petition then for this time shall be rejected and though she suffer many things in a dream by reason of him Nevertheless like the neglected Prophesies of the Trojan Cassandra it shall pass but for a dream to cleer a small scruple of Conscience He will not enter the Lists alone with the Jewish Nation and so run into a Premunire against Caesar And now no sooner had Pilate made clean the outside of the Platter the inside still streaked and purpled with the Blood of Christ washed his hands in token of Innocency but they presently cry out for his Crucifying as if nothing could rebate the edge of their craving Appetites unless they carous'd full Draughts of his Blood O miseri quae tanta insania cives 11. They must needs go whom the Devil drives some whose Feet are swiftest to shed Blood are already run to the place of execution and there proclaimed him coming Others thrust him out of the Old and accompany him as far as Golgotha to the New Jerusalem and instead of sable Vestments a decent attire for a departed Friend or the Romans sacred Velles and Infules mention'd by Livy signs of submission and humble demanding of Mercy put on Crimson Robes dyed in the Blood of Christ instead of solemn Dirges ring loud Peals of Acclamation And they that not long before ushered him with Triumph into the Holy City singing Hosanna to the Son of David presently change Note crying Crucifige eum crucifige eum Though he lie weltring in his own Blood yet is he forc'd to try the strength of his bruised Limbs and he that to the admiration of Beholders reanimated the dead and enabled them to take up their Beds and walk must take up his Cross and walk his last Peregrination For Holy Writ informs us that Malefactors among the Jews carried the Cross whereon they were to be crucified to the place of Execution Christ for the first Stage carried his own which afterward with a cruel requital bore him 12. Would not so nefarious a death expiate so small a crime so slenderly proved have fed their meager Appetites even to Satiety but there must be added to it a Ceremonious Mockery Bellerophon like bear the Warrant signed for his own Destruction embrace that Altar on which he presently shall be offered up a Victim Isaac carried his own Funeral Pile to the Mountain where he was to be sacrificed but had a timely Reprieve by an Exchange from Heaven It fared not so with Christ He was so far from escaping that sharp potion the Hand of God had imbittered that before he came to receive his grand Tortures his whole Body was one main Wound without the least Parenthesis of Soundness Never such Indications of Love Cernitur in toto corpore sculptus amor 13. Every where Engravements and Sculptures the indelible Characters of his superabounding Mercies In horribili stat cruce nostra salus And now is this our immolation laid on the Altar of the Cross and that Man should not surfeit to damnation by eating the fruit of Eden Christ climbed that accursed Tree which bears nothing but bitter and deadly Fruit so inexpressive as Cicero undertook not lest he should spill colours to decipher the Tortures of the Cross else would not his exuberant Style have quitted a Subject so abounding with so few words Quid dicam in crucem tollere A bloody Tragedy must needs ensue where the Devil digests the Plot and the High-Priests Scribes and Elders are the chief Actors in it the avenging God letting loose and unmuzzling the whole powers of Hell 14. Certainly those Fiends could not so soon forget the many Affronts put on their Delegates by our Saviour as being thrown out of their possession of Men and glad to be humble Petitioners to have admittance into a Herd of Swine too good a dwelling for such unruly Guests Where we may observe that though they at present could not disgorge their full swollen malice yet to shew how ill they resented this disgraceful expulsion threw a whole Herd of Swine into the bottom of the Sea to provoke the greedy Gadarens to defire our Saviour as the Author of that Loss to depart out of their Coasts No marvel the Prince of Darkness endeavoured to cloud this bright Star of the East proclaimed open War against the Prince of Peace But that his Companions in the flesh what 's more the terrours of his Father should set them in array against him 'T will not then misbecome this man of sorrows in the height of his dolorous passion to break forth into this bitter Complaint to upbraid those unrelenting Passengers with this though too mild exprobation Have ye no regard all ye that pass by Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me c. 15. Our Saviour's naked Body hanging now on the Cross modesty for a while bids me draw the Curtain and if you look back you will see greater things than these for we have as yet but walked the round and at a distance taken a slight survey of the out-lines of this great Peice of sorrow but if we make a nearer approach we shall find the inmost and more sensitive parts sending forth deeper
retire into himself and appeal to the Chancery of Heaven for Mercy 9. We have no reason then to be sadded or cast down if we see another wear richer Robes bespangled with brighter Glory because the Merchandise he trafficks for hath such a supervaluation so strange an impost set upon it He that sufficiently batteled in the pleasures of a luxuriant life bids us Envy not at the glory of a sinner for thou knowest not what shall be his end O consider what real and substantial sorrow they exchange for counterfeit pleasures for fleeting vanity an endless misery If Dives in his life time had seen those pits of confusion heard the shrietches and yellings of the damned put his Finger in that scorching flame been stretched upon the wrack but for one moment he would have made his life more tragical torn off his Purple and Fine Linnen and put on a Pilgrim's Habit would have fasted himself to a Skeleton set Lazarus at his own Table and sate himself at the Gate 10. 'T is not a Hell hereafter that excuses but here a corroding conscience must center within them that like the Hand-writing upon the Wall imbitters their delicious fare damps their Frolickings puts them into shiverings and tremblings though encircled with a Corone of Princes finds them out in their Retirements and in a croaking Mandrake Groan pronounces their accounts must be ballanced their pleasures audited that there must be sorrow in its Achme misery pulled up to an unimagined height It ends not here but commonly they close up all with some sad Catastrophe A Plebeian hath seldom any eminent part in a Tragedy but mighty Princes fond Lovers warlike and haughty Heroes compose the Scenes We cannot call that a fair day which hath a ruddy Morn and bright Noon if the Evening shuts up it self with adismal blackness Attend but the Exits of those wretched persons see this Squib run to the end of the Rope and it shall bespatter it self in pieces Let us not pass a Judgment upon a Pomegranade by a fair out-side denote him happy that flutters in an opulent fortune for their Jealousie and Fear ought to run parallel with their felicity O unhappy is our condition if God thinks us not worthy to wrastle with miseries to bear in our Bodies the Marks of our Lord Jesus 11. The Destroyer must needs come in upon us if the Scarlet Line hang not in the Window or finds not blood sprinkled upon the Lintel and Side Ports God's anger is screwed up to a strange pitch when he passeth by us with his Rod when he will not so much as brandish his Sword at us S. Austin saith That an offender sometimes so exasperates his Maker that he will not chastise him in this life Their condition is very forlorn whom the Lord leaves to a future punishment How deadly will the blow be when God shall put fire to the Mine he hath been so long digging How deep the Cup how bitter the Potion that he hath been so long brewing If many of the Saints of God out of the Sence of their own unworthiness have had strange Titubations in the naming of that great and terrible day of the Lord a day that the powers of Heaven shall be shaken how much should an Impenitent tremble quake when he considers that at this grand Assize the Lord will come with Fire and with his Chariots like a Whirlwind to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with Flames of Fire 12. 'T is now time that we remove from the Waters of Babylon take down our Harps from the Willows and prepare to sing the Songs of Sion in a Glorious Land wade out of this Valley of Tears and get up unto Mount Nebo Moses glorious prospect that we may see the Riches of the Celestial Jerusalem and yet we can view but an imperfect Landskip For if the knowledge of all the Sages in the World concentred in one person he could give but a blurred Copy a dark Figure a faint resemblance of that extasied Glory prepared for the Saints and Servants of God 'T was the most desired wish of S. Austin to have seen Rome when she was the Worlds Metropolis heard S. Paul in the Pulpit and seen our Saviour in the Flesh But there he shall have his wish strangely superlative see a City whose Foundations are garnished with all manner of precious Stones where the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it and in that Temple hear S. Paul and Myriads of Angels tuning their Harps and singing perpetual Hallelujahs to the Glorious Trinity and which transcends admiration see the Lamb wear the same Dress checkered with the rich Robes of the Deity 13. There we shall have those Dotes Beatorum which the Schoolmen so much talk of Visio Dilectio Fruitio in such perfection as no Line or Plummet wrought by natures hand can fathom their Abyss When there is Summum bonum in summo gradu it will be hard defining how good how great they are Here we speculate and spell our Saviour in his Word in his last Will and Testament But there we shall behold the Word it self Christ Jesus God hid Moses in a Cleft of the Rock and covered him with his Hand while his Glory passed by he saw his Back parts only in transitu But when the great day of exaltation cometh that the Lord maketh up his Jewels he will take us out of the Clefts and Vaults of the Earth the Cabinets where he treasures up his Dust and set us on such elated Thrones as Zacheus his little Stature shall be no hinderance to take a full view of the Beatifical Vision We shall not look with admiration only but with love and delight Here our eyes are commonly bleared with envy when they behold the Grandeur of another but we shall rejoyce at the Saints Coronation have not the least tincture of emulation if we see a bigger Crown a brighter Glory Our love to Christ must needs be insuperable which made us Coheirs with him in Glory that when one drop of his Blood had more of value than to make an adequatory Oblation for the sins of the whole World he would set a running all the Sluces and Rivulets of his Body nay would have abated nothing of the whole series of his passion if but for the laving of thy one individual person And if Christ so loved us in the flesh espoused us when we were full of loathsomeness and deformity he will flame out with greater Fires put us into his own Bosom when the Refiner hath melted off our Dross washed us with his Fullers Soap when he seeth us mounted to the Zenith of our Glory 15. Aeneas though esteemed pious among the Heathens never had a nearer access to Apollo's Temple than to the Threshold or Porch of it The Israelites durst not touch the Borders of the Mount for fear of being stoned or thrust through with a Dart. And the Jews entred not into the Sanctum