the truth with his own Bloud He was so far from disowning himself to be the Son of God that he continues in that profession to the last breath And when he hung upon the Cross he twice calls God his father when he prayed for his enemies and gave up the Ghost This did mightily confirm his Doctrine and was one great end of his sufferings Luk. 23.34.46 Hence it is that the bloud or the sufferings of Christ especially his death is reckoned among those who bear witness in earth And Jesus Christ is called the faithfull witness And we are then said to be partakers of Christ when we hold the beginning of our Confidence stedâ—ast unto the end 1. Joh. 5.8 Rev. 1.5 The bloud of Christ did not onely wash away our sins but did also clear the innocency of our Blessed Saviour And it was attended with so many rare circumstances and fulfilled so many prophecies and was born with such an admirable patience that it did convince men of the innocence of Jesus and consequently of the truth of his Doctrine The veil of the Temple was rent the earth did quake the rocks clave in sunder and graves were opened and the Sun drew in its light insomuch that the Centurion that beheld these things could not forbear to say Truly this was the Son of God Mat. 27.54 And no wonder after all this that those who renounced Christianity are said to count the bloud of the Covenant i. e. the bloud by which the new Covenant was ratified and confirmed wherewith he was sanctified that is Christ was consecrated or sanctified see Joh. 17.19 an unholy thing i. e. the bloud not of an innocent person but of a Criminal Heb. 10.29 Having considered the death of Christ as the death of a Victim or Sacrifice of a Testatour and of a Martyr or Witness 4. I shall now consider it as a Pattern and great example to us And thus the Scriptures represent it He suffered for us leâ—ving us an example that we should follow his steps Our Saviour gave us an example that we should follow his steps 1. Pet. 2.20 Our Saviour gave us a most excellent example in his whole life But then at his death he gave us also a very eminent example of the following vertues and graces 1. Of Patience and meekness under all his sufferings and reproaches And his example was without a parallel Never was there so great a mirrour of these graces He did no sin neither was there guile sound in his mouth Who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously In this Jesus was so conspicuous that when we are exhorted to Patience we are directed to look upon him the authour and finisher of our faith And it will be a very usefull meditation for us under all our sufferings and all the reproaches which we meet withall He was guilty of no sin but yet was numbred among transgressours He had but few followers and by one of them he is Letrayed denied by another and in his greatest extremity forsaken by all the rest He is pronounced innocent and yet sentenced to death by the same breath absolved and condemned by one and the same Judge He is forced to bear his own Cross reviled and buffeted derided and scoffed at by an inhumane multitude whom he came to save and whom he had obliged by the greatest benefactions He was innocent and deserved not this usage Omnipotent and able to revenge it But instead of that he does not so much as threaten those whom he could easily have destroyed He bears all with an unparallelled meekness and patience and made it appear that these vertues were as invincible as his cause was just He is silent under the greatest clamours of his Enemies His persecutours have less patience than he that suffers And when the whole creation trembles when the Sun withdraws its light and the rocks rend in pieces and the graves give up their dead and the Veil of the Temple is torn in pieces then is Jesus quiet and still This example does most powerfully reprove our peevishness and discontent our anger and our heat under the obloquy and other sufferings which we endure and generally have deserved 1 Pet. 2.22 23. Heb. 12.1 2. II. Of forgiveness of Enemies They were our Lord's enemies to whom he was the greatest friend And of all Enemies 't is the hardest to forgive them He that did eat of his bread lift up his heel against him His own Disciple betrays him and his own People thirst after his bloud and his wounds he receives from those whom he came to seek and save A robber is preferred before him and he is numbred with transgressours He had fed their hungry healed their sick dispossessed their Daemoniacks restored sight to their blind given strength to their infirm life to their dead Many good turns he had done them and yet they treat him rudely and barbarously they cry to have him Crucified and insult over him in his sufferings what doth our Lord do all this while does he call for Fire from Heaven to devour his enemies Does he menace them with an approaching destruction Does he exclaim against their proceedings No he opens not his mouth unless it be to pray for these his Enemies Father forgive them c. can we remember these things and bear a grudge against our Brother Can it now be hard for us to forgive our enemies when Christ with his last breath prayed for his Christ forgave and he died for our forgiveness and is it now a possible thing for us not to forgive even then when we commemorate the death of Christ Let all bitterness and wrath and aâ—ger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice And be ye kind one to another tender hearted forgiving one another Even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you Luk. 23.34 Eph. 4.31 32. III. Of the profoundest humility and condescension The world never beheld a pattern of this grace which could compare with this of our Blessed Saviour's He stooped from Heaven to earth when he was born From the immensity and happiness the power and infinity of a God to the limits of a womb the miseries of a man the proportions and infirmities of a Child the weaknesses of a Mortal and the humble circumstances of a poor and mean condition If we look upon Jesus in the manger we shall see a glorious example of humility But if we turn our eyes upon him as he hung upon the Cross we shall see an example great enough to extinguish out of our minds every proud thought for ever Here we may see him who was found in the fashion of a man humbling himself lower still as he was obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Philip. 2.8 Methinks after this we should never be in danger of a proud thought of our selves we cannot sure after this example think any
as most men bring to famous plays or comedies This contemplation would enforce the one to acknowledge that the prophecies in old time came not by the will of man The other that Jesus the Son of Mary was he of whom Moses and all the Prophets spake Christ was to be born of the Tribe of Judah and of the house and family of David And to that purpose that Tribe and that family must not onely continue but continue so distinct that it might be known who belonged to the one and the other It is not a common thing that any family and kindred continues so many hundred years And indeed it was not likely that they should have continued and continued distinct and separate considering the great changes that passed upon and threatened them either with utter ruine or confusion They were in great danger of one and the other in the days of Ahaz and in the captivity of Babylon And in after times the house of David lay neglected for many years but so it was they are not quite destroyed till this Son of David is born The birth of Jesus makes good what God had promised of old time And the Divine Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews does near the time when Jesus lived and to the Jews themselves who had the opportunity of knowing the truth in this matter affirm that it was Evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah Heb. 7.14 And Jesus was known to be and commonly owned to be the Son of David Mat. 1.1 What God had promised of old he and he was onely able to doe it in due time made good The Messias was to be born before the destruction of the second Temple and while the Jews were a distinct people and Polity He was to add Glory to the latter house and to appear before the Jews were quite scattered abroad This was foretold of the Messias Gen. 49.10 Hag. 2. Mal. 3. The Jews before Jesus was born were in great measure in the hands of the Romans and Herod of an Idumoean extraction had for some time lorded it over them but then he is born while the Jews continue a distinct people live by their own laws and in their own land and goes into that Temple which according to the foregoing Prophecies he was to enter into and render glorious by his presence and conversation The great deliverer comes at his appointed time viz. at the declension of the Jewish Polity and before the expiration of the times predicted of old And though the Jewish affairs were very low and their polity near to an end yet is Jesus born before their final destruction which was at hand For the Counsel of God that shall stand It was not very likely that he who was born at Bethlehem beyond the intention of his Mother and reputed Father should thence go into Egypt and at his return go into Galilee and live there but both the one and the other were predicted of the Messias and how unlikely soever they were to come to pass they were fulfilled in our Jesus He was carried into Egypt upon occasion of the cruelty of Herod and at his return thence into Galilee upon occasion of Archelaus his reign in Judaea and the warning which Joseph received from God in a dream Hosea 11.1 with Mat. 2.15 Isa 9.1 2 3. with Mat. 2.22 Who would have expected a Prophet then in Israel where prophecy had ceased ever since the days of Zechary and Malachy and there was now no such kind of men known among the Jews Or that this great Prophet who was born in Judaea and near the great City of Jerusalem should live in the remote and obscure Countrey of Galilee That he should live in a Countrey from whence there was hardly ever known any Prophet to proceed and where he was like to continue with little notice regard or observation And that he that lived in so obscure a Countrey should do so great and stupendious works to the wonder and astonishment of those that saw them That such an illustrious person should proceed from so obscure a Countrey Joh. 7.41 If we go on to consider the death of Jesus we shall find all things agree to the predictions of old and came to pass in such a manner as speaks a miraculous providence of God That he who was born should die hath nothing of wonder in it But it is very strange that he should deliver him to death who at the same time pronounced him innocent That he should dye upon a Cross whom the people were so forward to have stoned That he should be Crucified who if he had been guilty should by the law of the Countrey have been stoned That he who had so many enemies should yet be betrayed by one of his own disciples That he who had the bag and had all therefore that Jesus had should betray him for so vile a price as thirty peices of Silver That the money for which he was sold this price of bloud should be employed in a work of mercy to buy a field to Lury Strangers in That he should drink Vinegar on the Cross instead of a Narcotick potion of Myrrh-wine contrary to the constant custome and usage of the Countrey where he suffered That the Souldiers should cast lots for his Coat contrary to their constant custome when they had parted his Garments and did so by them who were Crucified with him That he should dye among thieves and malefactors who spent his time in doing good That he who lived so usefully should be scoffed and taunted at when he hung upon the Cross and that the multitude who are wont to pity the dying Criminal should put off all humanity and in a set form of words deride him in his greatest misery That Jesus should hold his peace who suffered wrongfully when his enemies were impatient and clamorous and the whole creation groaned and was disordered That when it was the custome to break the bones of the Crucified and 't was practized at that time upon them who suffered with Jesus and they who were concerned came with an intention to break his also that yet a bone of him should not be broken That he who was Crucified which was a Roman punishment Casaubon Exercitation p. 464. edit Francf 1615. and none of the Jewish capital ones should be buried also contrary to the practice of the Romans who did not bury those who dyed upon a Cross That he who dyed among malefactors should not be buried with them also That he who dyed so ignominious a death should have an honourable burial That persons of the highest rank and Character should agree together in his honourable interment These things are so strange and so surprizing so much beyond what any History besides does afford us that if we believe but the matter of fact which we have all the reason in the world to believe we cannot but find great cause to adore the all-wise God who accomplished in Jesus whatever was
entrance into the world to his going out The meanness of his Birth did not protect him from being persecuted by Herod He was after this a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and there hath been no sorrow like unto his sorrow He fasted and was tempted he was acquainted with hunger and with thirst with great poverty and contempt He met with false friends and implacabe enemies He was always doing good and recieveing evil And after all at the close of his life he was a most eminent sufferer If there be any suffering in great pains and agonies in being scoffed and derided in being buffeted and scourged in a bloudy sweat or a bitter cup In a crown of Thorns in the Spear and in the Nails He suffered if to be forsaken and betrayed to be unpitied in trouble and to be denied to be flouted and scoffed at be any thing of a suffering He suffered if to die be to suffer and to die upon a Cross among malefactors If the bloud of the Cross if the shame and curse of it if the pain and scandal of it speak any sufferings our Lord did indeed suffer From the sufferings of our Jesus it does appear that he is the Christ I do not mean that the bare sufferings of Jesus are an argument that he is the Christ For sufferings are not a sufficient argument alone And though the Messias were to suffer yet so might and so did Impostors also But as the Messias was to suffer so it was predicted what he should suffer and we shall find that our Jesus did suffer those very things which the Messias was to suffer and all things duely considered we shall find this especially in conjunction with what hath been and is to be said a very good proof that Jesus is the Christ And this I take to be the meaning of our Saviour's words to his Disciples going to Emmaus Ought not Christ to have suffered These things And of his words to the Apostles afterward Thus it is written and Thus it behoved Christ to suffer Luk. 24.26 46. St. Peter tells the Jews that those things which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his Prophets that Christ should suffer he hath so fulfilled Act. 3.18 Our Saviour himself said Thus it must be Mat. 26.54 56. To the same purpose we find the Disciples saying For of a truth against thy holy Child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together for to doe whatsoever thy hand and thy Council determined before to be done Act. 4.27 28. We shall find afterward that Jesus did suffer all that which the Christ was to suffer And some of these sufferings were such as were not likely to have been the portion of Jesus But so it was though Herod and Pontius Pilate though the Jews and the Gentiles had an hand in the sufferings of Jesus they did at the same time though they designed it not fulfill some Prophecies of old and this was so eminently done that we have from hence a very great proof that Jesus is the Christ I shall not look over all the sufferings of Jesus from the time of his birth to the moment of his death I shall begin no sooner than the last week of his life and shall more especially consider those particulars which attended upon his death We have a remarkable Prophecy in the Prophet Zechariah and the words are these Rejoice greatly O Daughter of Zion shout O Daughter of Jerusalem Behold thy King cometh unto thee He is just and having salvation lowly and riding upon an Ass and upon a Colt the foal of an Ass That this place is a prophecy of the Messias no Christian can doubt and the Jew ought not to deny R. Solomon confesses frankly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. It is impossible to interpret it but of King Messiah R. Solom in Zech. 9.9 And as it is very agreeable to the words to expound them of the Messias These words of R. Solomon are translated by Raymundus in his Pugio fidei pag. 656. in to words which contradict the sense of them viz. Non potest hoc exponi de Rege Messia when he affirms that they ought not to be expounded of any other person And that the Jews do understand these words of the Messiah is â—â—â—ved at large by Bochart de S. S. Animalibus lib. II. c. 17. so it well agrees with the sense of the Ancient Jews too For it was the sense of the Jews that this place was meant of the Messias and we find among the writings which we have of theirs plain intimations of it There is a fabulous relation that the Ass which Abraham sadled Gen. 22. was created on the evening of the Sabbath Pirke R. Eliezer cap. 31. and that Moses rode upon the same Ass when he came into Egypt and farther the Son of David shall ride upon the same they say hence it is said Rejoyce greatly O daughter of Zion c. From this fabulous relation it is evident that this place was understood of the Messias Beresith Rabb in Gen. 49.11 To the same purpose the words are understood by another ancient writer who represents it as the sense of their Rabbins It was upon the tenth day of the first month when our Saviour rode upon an Ass into Jerusalem and fulfilled this Scripture and in the Passeover-week in which he suffered Our Saviour was now ready to be Sacrificed for us and as the Paschal Lamb in Egypt was taken up on the tenth day so did our Lord our Paschal Lamb on that very day present himself in that City where the same week he was sentenced to death For the rest of the words of the Prophecy they do very well agree to our Jesus as it is certain they were meant of the Messias Thy King cometh unto thee he is just and having Salvation lowly Never were there any persons to whom these words could so duely belong as our blessed Saviour He was a King indeed and denies it not before Pontius Pilate though he professed that his Kingdom was not of this world As such a person the Messias was promised of old and it was foretold that he should erect an everlasting Kingdom in the Prophet Daniel The Jews expected a temporal Prince indeed they being themselves a carnal people Our Lord did not appear like an earthly Prince but as one born from Heaven and that would erect an heavenly and spiritual Kingdom in the world A King he was in the best and the highest sense and when he was crucified the main of his accusation written on his Cross was that he was King of the Jews That he was just malice it self cannot deny of our blessed Saviour He was for giving both God and Caesar their due He paid Tribute when it was demanded and would not excuse himself from the publick payment to which he was not yet strictly obliged And
and bruises due to them fell upon him The chastisement and stripes were his the peace and healing thereby procured belong unto us In a word though we finned and were liable to suffer upon that account yet he suffered for us If this be not plain enough let us proceed All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all v. 6. The plain and natural sense of which words is this that whereas we had sinned and had made our selves obnoxious to punishment yet God did not punish us as we deserved but the Messias in our room and stead To the same purpose we read afterward He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people was he stricken v. 8. And after those words we read that his soul should be made an offering for sin v. 10. It is certain that a sin or trespass-offering under the law of Moses was expiatory and piacular and the beast was offered instead of the offender and God did accept the bloud of the sacrifice in the room of the life of the person who had sinned Let us now consider what we read in the New Testament to the same purpose Our Blessed Saviour in his solemn prayer a little before his passion hath these words For their sakes speaking of his Disciples I sanctifie my self that they also might be sanctified through the truth That is Christ did offer up himself as a victim or sacrifice for them as the Greek word is observed to signifie And that sacrifice also is to be looked upon as a piacular and expiatory one And to that purpose it is well observed that the prayer Joh. 17.1 2 c. by which Christ consecrated himself unto his death is like unto that which the Jewish High Priest used when he consecrated or offered up the victims of the day of expiation before the Altar Joh. 17.19 Agreeably to what hath been said St. Paul speaking of Christ tells us that God hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin Of which words I can give no other sense but this viz. that though Christ were innocent himself yet God thought fit to give him up to death as a piacular sacrifice for our sins And to the same purpose St. Peter tells us that Christ bare our sins in his own body on the tree 2 Cor. 5.22 1 Pet. 11.24 The divine Authour of the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us that Christ did by himself purge our sins And that he was once offered to bear the sins of many And that he offered one sacrifice for sins Heb. 1.3 c. 9.28.1.10.12 And we find that the expiation of our sins is imputed to the death of Christ in the Holy Scriptures We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the Tabernacle For the bodies of those beasts whose bloud is brought into the sanctuary by the High Priest for sin are burnt without the camp Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctifie the people with his own bloud suffered without the gate By sanctifying the people nothing less can be meant than the expiation of their sins and as this was done under the law of Moses by an expiatory sacrifice so was it done by the bloud of Jesus the anti-type of those sacrifices which he speaks of in that place who suffered without the gate St. John tells us that the bloud of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin Heb. 13.10 11 12. 1 John 1. v. 7. And this is farther confirmed to us from this that our Saviour's bloud is said to be a price paid for us by which we are bought and redeemed For this cause he is the Mediatour of the New Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance To which I shall add those words of the Apostle to the Ephesians where speaking of Christ he saith In whom we have redemption through his bloud And to the Colossians In whom we have redemption through his bloud even the forgiveness of sins Heb. 9.15 Eph. 1.7 Col. 1.14 To what hath been said very much may be added to the same purpose viz. that our Lord himself hath said that he came to give his life a ransom for many Matt. 20.28 That of St. Paul to the same purpose 1 Tim. 2.6 And those words of our Lord This is my bloud of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins Matt. 26.28 Again these words of the Apostle Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us Gal. 3.13 Christ is elsewhere said to be the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 4.10 I shall not need to add any more Testimonies to those already named For though there are many others yet these are sufficient And indeed they do so plainly acquaint us with the end of Christ's death that he must use great art that can strain them to another sense For what the Socinians object against this doctrine viz. that it renders God's kindness less which yet is greatly magnified in the Scripture in giving his Son This objection I say can be of no force at all For though God thought fit for the honour of his justice that sin should not altogether go unpunished and gave us his Son to make our peace and redeem us from misery with his pretious bloud yet is this no diminution to the free grace and mercy of God 'T was the infinite mercy of God which moved him to find out this way in which we can claim nothing 'T was intirely the mercy of God that provided us this remedy Our pardon is free to us whatever it cost our Lord to procure it We have great cause to adore the love of God and the unparallelled charity of our Blessed Saviour Our free pardon and Christ's redemption the infinite mercy of God and the satisfaction of his justice are not things that are inconsistent The Apostles words teach us this truth with which I shall conclude this particular Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his bloud to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus Rom. 3. v. 24 25 26. And thus I have considered the death of Christ as a sacrifice for sin and consequently as a great instance of the love of Christ who was content to dye that we might live And therefore when we are exhorted to love one another we are pressed to it from this consideration Walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for an offering
and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour Eph. 5.2 2. The death of Christ is to be considered as the death of a Testator for so is Christ to be considered also He himself calls his bloud the bloud of the New Testament or the New Testament in his bloud I very well know that the Greek word which we render Testament does signifie Covenant but yet it does not always do so in the New Testament For sometimes it signifies the last Will or Testament of a Testator And when it does so it does not exclude the notion of a Covenant neither but rather imply it For the right we have to the inheritance is one part of the Covenant but then the declaration of that right is peculiarly and properly the part of a Testament which signifies the last will of a man by which he disposeth of his goods Matt. 26.28 Mark 14.24 Luk. 22.20 Our Blessed Saviour is said to be the heir of all things And we are elsewhere told that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand And we are farther informed upon what account it is that the Father loveth the Son and consequently hath given all things into his hands in these words of our Saviour Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life From whence it is Evident that upon the account of the voluntary death of Christ this full power and authority is given to Christ as the great Mediator between God and man Christ was in the form of God and thought it not robbery to be equal with God But made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Heb. 1.2 Joh. 3.35 10 17. Phil. 2.6 Thus low did the Son of God stoop for our Salvation from being equal with God to the likeness of men and from the form of God to that of a servant from life to death from glory to shame and contempt If you would know the effects of all this the next words will inform us Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name That at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father Our Blessed Saviour a little before his death bequeaths a Kingdom to his followers as a Testator in these words and I appoint unto you a Kingdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as my Father hath appointed unto me Luk. 22.29 But then by his death he procured our right to this glorious inheritance For where a Testament is there must also of necessity be the death of the Testator For a Testament is of force after men are dead otherwise it is of no strength at all whilst the Testator liveth 'T is the death of the Testator that makes way to the Heir He hath no claim till the Testator dye But upon his death his title is unquestionable and it is not in any man's power to alter what is thus setled and confirmed Though it be but a man's Testament yet if it be confirmed no man disanulleth or addeth thereto Heb. 9.16 17. Gal. 3.15 Our Lord suffered the most shamefull and painfull death He did this voluntarily and not by Constraint He dyed not intestate nor yet like other Testators who when they have made their Testaments do avoid death with all their care and skill and are not willing to part with their lives for the benefit of their Heirs or Successours 'T was otherwise with our Saviour I lay down my life says he no man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and have power to take it again Joh. 10.17 18. Now after Christ had suffered death and risen from the dead he tells his Followers of the plenitude of his power and authority All power is given unto me says he in heaven and in earth And a while after his own ascension into heaven he sends the Holy Ghost which is the earnest of our inheritance Mat. 28.18 Eph. 1.14 3. The death of Christ is to be considered as the death of a Martyr or a Witness Our Blessed Saviour had professed himself to be the light of the World the Messias whom the Scriptures had foretold and that he came from heaven and that he was the Christ the Son of the Blessed It is of great moment that these truths should be sufficiently confirmed to us Upon these things depends the whole Religion that he taught If these things be sufficiently proved we can make no doubt of the truth of any part of the Doctrine which Jesus taught Joh. 8.12 c. 5.39 6 40. Mark 14.61 62. Now it will appear that the death of Christ does mightily confirm these truths and that Jesus gave up himself to death for the same end and purpose When Pilate asked Jesus whether he were a King or not Jesus answered thou sayest that I am a King that is Jesus answered in the affirmative To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the World that I should bear witness unto the truth With respect to the undaunted courage of Jesus before Pilate St. Paul saith that before Pontius Pilate he witnessed a good confession Joh. 18.37 1 Tim. 6.13 'T was upon this account that Jesus was put to death He was accused indeed of something else that was charged upon him But the Testimony was weak and incoherent that with which he was born down was that he professed himself to be Christ a King Or as it is in St. John because he made himself the Son of God Our Saviour was silent when the false witnesses accused him But when the High Priest asked him if he were the Christ the Son of the Blessed and he answered I am c. We find thereupon the High Priest renting his Cloaths and saying what need we any farther witnesses ye have heard the blasphemy what think ye and they all condemned him to be worthy of death Luk. 23.2 Joh. 19.7 Mark 14.61 Our Saviour dyed for his adhering to this great truth and that he did so must be acknowledged a great confirmation of it and of the Religion which he planted Life is too sweet a thing to be trifled away for nothing Much less will a man in his wits dye in confirmation of a lye Had Jesus been disposed he might have kept out of the way of his enemies or have saved himself by denying the truth He had now a great temptation before him either to renounce what he had professed or by some trick or mean art or other to escape the danger But he is far from taking any such course to deliver himself but instead thereof confirms
office too mean for us in which we may do any good office to one another Here is enough to extinguish for ever all our ambition and pride and contempt of our poor Brother Nothing that we can do can be called a great condescension after this humiliation of the Son of God IV. Of resignation to the will of God This our Lord was the most conspicous mirrour and example of He was a man sin onely excepted like one of us sensible of hunger and thirst of pain and sorrow and these things pained his flesh as they do ours His soul was sorrowfull and very heavy His sweat was like drops of bloud great was his agony and his sorrow beyond expression He saw before his eyes a most painfull and a most shamefull death He is about to drink a most bitter cup. These things were grievous to his humane nature and therefore he prays that if it were possible this cup might pass from him but after all he submits himself to the will of God Not as I will but as thou wilt And how instructive is this to us We sinners may be ashamed to murmur when our Lord resigned himself Well may we submit under our little and deserved evils when he that was without fault resigned himself up to God Mat. 26.39 V. Of the greatest Charity to Mankind Greater love than this hath no man than that he lay down his life for his friend This is the highest flight of friendship and we have but a very few examples in our books of such a Degree of Charity Some few I'll grant have done this none have gone beyond this besides our Lord Jesus For he died for his Enemies and for the Ungodly This example should constrain us to do good to all even to evil men and to our greatest Enemies Rom. 5.6 VI. Of the greatest fortitude and the truest courage He bore witness to the truth with his bloud and was stedfast in the profession of it to his last breath The most sharp and shamefull death the most barbarous usage and treatment could not prevail upon him to deny the truth or to fall into an impotent passion and revenge himself He does in cold bloud chuse rather to dye the worst kind of death than to quit the profession of the truth or to destroy his Enemies This is indeed an argument of true greatness of mind We are much mistaken in our conceit about Valour or fortitude To Forgive an Enemy and to chuse to dye rather than to do an evil thing speaks a generous and a great mind and is a certain proof of Courage and true Fortitude But he is a man of a weak mind who will do an evil thing to save his life and revenge himself upon him that affronts him or does him wrong Revenge speaks a defect of wit and courage The meanest creatures they are who are peevish and waspish and prone to bite him that toucheth him Leniter qui saeviunt sapiunt magis Anger resteth it in the bosom of fools Non est magnus animus quem incurvat injuria They are but little and feeble folk that are ruffled by every injury or calumny The more impotent and weak any creature is the more easily provoked and nothing is a more certain sign of a narrow and mean soul than is revenge Quippe minuti Semper infirmi est animi exiguique voluptas Ultio continuò sic collige quòd Vindicta Nemo magìs gaudet quà m faemina c. Well so it was our Saviour shewed great Courage and resolution and hath given us therein a great example of Christian fortitude and resolution I shall now make some application of what hath been said I. What hath been said may serve to recommend to us a suffering condition which Christ hath sanctified by his own Sufferings When we suffer we are like the Author and finisher of our faith It becomes us not to be dismayed with our sufferings who profess a faith in a crucified Redeemer For by sufferings our Religion was planted by sufferings it grew up and prevailed in the World This was the way in which Jesus went before us into his glory And if we suffer with him we shall likewise be glorified together It is no little comfort to us to think that our Lord hath led us the same way and that he did overcome the world after this manner which is indeed the noblest conquest of it II. We may hence be exhorted to a frequent mediation of the death and sufferings of Jesus Christ Form what hath been said it appears plainly that we are nearly concerned in these things For Christ did not suffer upon his own account but upon ours and we are very much concerned in the benefits of his death 1. As we expect our pardon upon the account of his merit and satisfaction He was a sacrifice which made attonement and expiation for our crimes as he died for our Sins 2. As we hope for an eternal inheritance upon the account of the death of Christ who hath made way for us by his death and by death entered himself before into an eternal inheritance 3. As we are confirmed in the truth of his holy Religion by the Testimony of his bloud with which this new covenant between God and man was ratified and confirmed 4. As we are constrained by the glorious example he gave us in his sufferings to patience and charity and self-resignation c. of which he hath given us the most powerfull example III. We may hence be exhorted to a frequent and diligent partaking of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper which is appointed as a standing memorial of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ We ought not onely to embrace but welcome all these opportunities as those which lead us to the contemplation of Christ's death upon which our hopes to depend It is an unspeakable privilege that we are admitted to this favour And had we the due sense which we ought to have upon our minds of the love of God in giving us his Son and the love of our Lord in giving up himself to death for us and the unspeakable benefits which thence accrue to us we should need no words of persuasion no law or secular interest to invite us to the doing of that which is so plainly our duty and so much our interest to doe Our spiritual hunger and thirst are the onely safe and lasting principles as well as the acceptable ones from whence we ought to be moved If our souls be once possessed with an ardent love of God and our Blessed Saviour we shall not make excuses and shall be so far from that that it will not be an easie thing to stay away and nothing less than a violent detention will keep us back And thus I have from the sufferings of Jesus made it appear that he is the Christ Before I proceed to speak to the resurrection of Jesus I shall say something of his Burial Of the Messias it was foretold
the same time believe him to be the Christ and consequently that his precepts are divine that his promises are certain and his power and authority uncontrollable This is indeed the faith peculiar to Christians The Jews and the Heathens believed some other points relating to Religion That Jesus rose that he is the Christ the Son of God this is the great Article of the Christian faith Hence it is that so much is imputed to this faith and to the confession of this truth in the New Testament Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God And afterward whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God Whoever believed this believed all the Christian Religion and he that when those words were written did believe and profess this truth when 't was greatly dangerous so to doe as he gave proof of a sincere faith so he might be truly said to dwell in God and to be born of God Ro. 10.9 1 Joh. 4.15 2 Joh. 5.1 Had not Christ been a man he could not have died and had he not been Christ the Son of God he could not have risen from the dead Had Jesus been a deceiver he must have lain in the grave till the general Resurrection Nothing less than a divine power could raise him to life again it was the Godhead which raised the humane nature and then Christ raised himself as he foretold he would and gave a great proof of his Divinity Joh. 2.19 21. It is an easie thing to destroy life but to restore it again speaks an almighty power It is nothing short of Omnipotence which can bring so great a thing to pass The Key of the grave is one of those which God keeps in his own hand The Apostle in very Emphatical words expresseth the power by which Jesus was raised from the dead for speaking of the exceeding greatness of God's power to us-ward who believe he adds according to the working of this Mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead The words are very great as a learned man hath well observed on the one hand there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and on the other there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Here 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 two words to express power and that the power of God and as if these were too little 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is added to the one and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the other and still as if this were too short there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to this is added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all this mighty power is actuated and exerted also And who can now believe that God would have shewn such a power in raising up Jesus from the dead if he had not been the Christ But I proceed to consider the time when Jesus rose from the dead viz. the third day The death and Resurrection of Jesus were necessary toward our redemption and the belief of both these is necessary to our Salvation It is therefore fit we should be well assured of the truth of them both and to that purpose that there should be some distance between the one and the other For as he could not have revived if he had not first died so it was fit that we should be well assured of the first before we could be obliged to believe the second If Christ had revived as soon as he had been taken down from the Cross it might have been questioned whether or no he were really dead But for the better speaking to this matter I shall First enquire into the reasons why there was this distance of time between the death and resurrection of Jesus Secondly that Jesus did rise the third day after his death Thirdly I shall consider the third day as it was the first day of the Week I shall enquire into the reasons of this distance of time between the death and Resurrection of Jesus And we may take them in the following particulars 1. It was very fit that there should be some competent distance between the death and resurrection of Jesus that men might be assured that he dyed without which they could not be obliged to believe him risen from the dead 2. It was not fit that the body of Jesus should lie so long as to be corrupted It was enough that he was so long a time dead as might give assurance that when he did appear he was really risen from the dead Had he lain any longer in the grave he had continued so long there as would have brought corruption and putrefaction upon his body Martha tells Jesus concerning Lazarus By this time he stinketh and for a proof of it she adds for he hath been dead four days This long stay in the grave would have made too great a change in the body of Jesus Besides there was a Prophecy of the Messias to this purpose that though he should dye and be buried yet his body should not lie so long in the grave as to putrefie Thus St. Peter applies that prediction Thou shalt not leave my Soul in hell nor wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption to the resurrection of Christ Joh. 11.39 Act. 2.27 31. 3. That this precise time of the resurrection of Jesus is according to the Scriptures or writings of the Old Testament 1. Cor. 15.4 Among those persons who in the Old Testament were types of the Messiah Isaac was an eminent one He was born against the laws of nature the Son of the Promise called the onely Son and the beloved Son and the Heir He was given up by his Father to death and he bore the Wood which was to bear him and in these things he was a remarkable type of Christ And the Bereshith Rabboth expresseth his carrying the wood by his carrying his Cross upon his Shoulder Bereshith Rabb in Gen. 22. The same Authour upon those words on the third day c. reckons up a great many places of Scripture which mention the third day and many particulars for which the third day was remarked viz. the giving of the law c. and then tells us it was remarkable for the Resurrection of the dead and cites to that purpose the very words of the Prophet which we Christians alledge to the matter in hand After two days he will revive us in the third day will he raise us up and we shall live in his sight The same Authour in the same place mentions the third as remarkable upon the score of Jonas who was three days and three nights in the belly of the Whale Than which nothing could have been said more appositely to our present purpose that being an express type of the Messias as hath been noted before And 't is enough in this matter that we can shew the express prophecy of Hosea and the eminent type of the Prophet Jonas
Jews every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins And presently after that he added save your selves from this untoward Generation 1 Pet. 3.21 The same Apostle elsewhere speaking of the Ark of Noah wherein they were saved who entred into it adds the like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us c. And the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is also a pledge of God's favour and our reconciliation We are admitted to feast upon the great Sacrifice which was offered upon the Cross This was not allowed in Sacrifices under the Law that were expiatory to the People We partake of the body and bloud of Christ of that body which was offered upon the Cross and of that bloud of the New Testament which was shed for many for the remission of sins Matt. 26.26 6. Our Lord Jesus sent forth his Messengers into the World to declare pardon to the penitent He took care that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all Nations Luk. 24.46 They were entrusted with the Power of the Keys to bind and loose to let into the Kingdom of God and to exclude from it It were easie to shew that the Christian Religion does upon other accounts besides what have been named excell the Law of Moses It had a better Mediatour and was better confirmed It was more succesfull and farther spread and affords both more and more conspicuous Examples than are to be found under that Law It is attended with greater motives to obedience as well as greater motives of Credibility The Jews are pressed to obey God because he brought them out of Egypt The motive had great force but 't was peculiar to that People We are constrained by the Love of God in Christ Jesus We are moved by the love of Christ which passeth knowledge His death and passion the comforts of the Holy Ghost the unspeakable love of God and hope of pardon and of Eternal life these are our motives to obedience These are great enough to thaw and unlock the most obdurate heart to work upon the most benummed minds I proceed to consider The usefulness of the foregoing discourse And that is very great where it is duly weighed and considered It would be of great use to the Jew would he but consider it and lay it to heart And is of very great use to the Christian to awaken him to the greatest regard to his holy Religion and to a very hearty embracing of it I shall at present onely consider this one advantage which it will afford us viz. that it gives us a fair occasion of inquiring into the grâ—at Ends and Causes for which the Law of Moses was given I will not here undertake to insist upon all the Causes of the Law of Moses Much less will I goe about to inquire into the reason of the particular Precepts of that Law I make no doubt but that God gave the Jews that Law to keep them from Idolatry and to that purpose to preserve that People separate from the neighbour Nations Many of the rites appointed I doubt not were therefore prescribed because they ran Counter to those rites which did obtain among Idolaters then in being I will onely consider the ends of this Law as far as my present argument is concerned And that I shall doe in the following particulars 1. The Law was given to restrain the Jews and keep them from a loose and licentious Course of sinning The promise of the Messias was made to Abraham above four hundred years before the giving of the Law But though the Messias were then promised God did not think fit to send him presently In the mean time the Jews the Children of Abraham whom God had chosen for his Church were to be restrained from living as they list They were very prone to wickedness and needed a restraint in the mean time Therefore was the Law given and given with great solemnity and terrour It denounced many evils against transgressours and left them liable to a curse the more effectually to oblige them to obedience It was not given as God's last revelation nor to give life and to justifie them Gal. 3.19 Wherefore then serveth the Law It was added because of transgressions God did not think it fit that they should be left unrestrained 1 Tim. 1.9 with Gal. 5.22 The Law is not made for a righteous man but for the lawless and disobedient 2. The Law was given as that which contained types and shadows of good things to come and was therefore given that they might have among them a pledge of those spiritual good things to be bestowed in the days of the Messias The great promise which God made to Abraham was the promise of the Messias this promise was renewed afterward when Isaac was born it was repeated by Jacob to his Sons before his death The Messias was the desire and expectation of the more wise and devout Israelites They receive a Law in the mean time full of types and shadows of what they were to expect in the latter days or the days of the Messias Hence it is that the Gospel as it is distinguished from this Law is called truth not as truth is opposed to falsehood but as it is opposed to types and shadows and as it speaks the substance of what was but symbolically represented before Thus it is said that the Law was given by Moses and that grace and truth come by Jesus Christ John 1.17 And the Gospel is called the word of truth Eph. 1.13 Joh. 14.6 Joh. 4.23 Heb. 8.2 Our Saviour tells us that he is the way and the truth and tells the Woman of Samaria that the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth They that obey the Gospel are said to walk in the truth and obey the truth And Heaven is called the true Tabernacle Heb. 10.1 ch 8.5 The Law had a shadow of good things to come and not the very Image of the things The Priests under the Law are said to serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things Coloss 2.17 Heb. 3.5 That Law was a pledge of a better and the things therein commanded were but a shadow of things to come Moses was faithfull as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken viz. by Jesus and his followers For so the Syriack hath it for those things which were to be spoken by him 3. To dispose men for the reception of the Gospel of Christ It was well fitted for this end And that this was the end of it is very evident from the words of the Apostle Gal. 3.22 23 24. The Scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe But before faith came we were under the Law shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed wherefore the Law was our