the ambitious higher to hurle him downe lower But if thou hadst been sure to have had such fast footing and hand-grasping that thou shouldst never have slipped from the Ladder of preferment yet so much as thou hadst added to thy honours thou hadst added to thy Stewardship also Et quicquid tihi impensum est exigetur à te qualiter expensum est every mite every minute every title every tittle of dignitie must bee accounted for Thy ambition would have added to thy accounts a thousand for one when thou shouldst not have been able to answer one for a thousand Good men do save themselves and those that heare them Great men doe account for themselves and for those that serve them Honours being atchieved if Maximus and Optimus could meet in one man yet even Hee shall bee glad while he liveth to use this prayer of this Publican God be mercifull to me a sinner and when hee dyeth to pray as a great and good man of this kingdome did pray dying Lord forgive me Mine-Other-mens sins Now all these groundlesse boundlesse endlesse fruitlesse unlawfull unlimited sinnefull desires of pleasure profits and preferment whither did they doe they would they lead thee O my miserable soule to be a Cain Homicida a killer of a man to bee an Absalom parricida a supplanter of thy father to be a Baanah regicida a rebell against thy King yea yet more execrable to be one of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to fight against thy God For what is all this but an aversion from the Creator and a conversion to the creature a trampling on the instruction of his precepts a spurning at the direction of his providence To resist Jehova my Maker Jesus Christ my Redeemer and the Holy Ghost my Paraclete my Sanctifier and blessed Comforter Oh ure seca in hoc saeculo ut parcas in futuro nay Ure seca in hoc saeculo ne peccem de futuro Lord wound burne my body so that my soule may not sinne lay upon me obscurity infamy ignominy poverty weakenesse sicknesse death any thing but sinne and hell but sinne the cause of hell and hell the effect of sinne If now that eternall Judge should injoine me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an eternall silence for my eternall demerit I would begge but one word to be left to the liberty of mine utterance which should never be out of my mouth nor out of his Eares PECCAVI I have sinned Peccavi I have sinned against heaven and against thee and am no more worthy to be called thy sonne Peccavi I have sinned Lord I have sinned and these sheepe what have they done Peccavi I have sinned but Propitius peccatori God be mercifull to me The sinner By this second point I have shewed sinne to bee a burden indeed Such a burden as neither wee nor our Forefathers were ever able to beare Howbeit hitherto I have onely touched that Burden with my little finger In the third point following I will set my shoulder to it and then my heart shall tell you how I feele the weight of it Wee see thus that sinne is a burden yet ordinary sinners feele it not For where sinne is growne into a custome Mulus mulum scabit the sinner reacheth a cushion to the divell and by a reciprocall courtesie the divell reacheth a cushion to the sinner The sinner biddeth the divell take his ease and spare his temptation the divell biddeth the sinner take his ease and feare no damnation for sinne must bee freely and secarely committed Your Urinatores expert Swimmers being under water feele not the weight of a full fraighted ship of a thousand runnes riding perpendicularly over the very head of them But so soon as they put their heads above water the least touch of the least part of the ship will stemme them and tumble them headlong into the bottome of the Ocean So whilest miserable men swimme in the custome of any pleasing or profitable sinne they are insensible of the burden of any crime though it be as bigge as a Carrick or as one of those vaste Sea-carts at Lepanto But so soone as they shall begin but to lift up their heads out of the Ocean of their habituall offences but to looke towards heaven they will be ready to sinke with feare to be drowned in despaire at the very apprehension thereof This applicative phrase Mihi peccatori to Me a sinner will instruct us to ponder this point Here I propose My selfe Your looking-glasse The sight of my frailties may reflect to you your infirmities either the very same or some very like shadowed by this example Irrideant me arrogantes ego tamen confitebor tibi dedecora mea in laudem tuam although confession to God produce derision from man yet will I say Mihi peccatori to Mee the sinner and let mee have the shame God the glory and you an Item for your conversation To looke backe to the very Aest of my Nativity and lower also I was a sinner before I was I was borne in sinne and my mother conceived mee in iniquity In my swadling clouts those cradle-cryings and inarticulate complainings were the actuall froth pumped from the dregges of my originall pollution Afterwards being but Infans Mendaciis Paedagogum fallebam pomorum furta faciebam being not able to speake plainely nor to goe strongly yet then I had a tongue to tell a lye for feare of the rod and an hand to plucke other mens fruit for the love of my palate These little sinnes shewed that being but a little childe I had too little regard or knowledge at the least of our great God and his holy commandements My carefull parents putting me to Schoole how did I play away that price lesse Treasure my Time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how often did my sports add feathers to those nimble houres and afterwards how faine would I have clipped the wings of those birds which God knoweth were then flowne away too farre from being caught againe At the University I had no lips to kisse those hands which clothed and fed mee there I did not onely want a purse but which is worse an heart also to be sufficiently thankfull to those instruments now with God which gave me that blessed education Being chosen Fellow in our Colledge and taking Pupils I gave them too much libertie and tooke my selfe too little paines I was an Heli when I should have been a Gamaliel I considered not that University Tutors should bee like the Latine Tutores Tuitores Defenders of younglings against barbarismes in their language and barbarousnesse in their lives I considered not that the inde fatigable industry of vigilant diligent Tutors should make every Colledge both like Atheâ—â— which taught men to know well and like Lacedaemon which taught men to doe well When the University had fitted mee for the Ministry I entred that Calling with joy and hope fastning my expectation on
truth Yes I trow Why then it is cleere I thinke how ever some heretickes have broached the contrary that the good benefit emolument which doth redound unto us by Christ his sacrifice must surely in reason bee somewhat else needs besides our confirmation in what hâ—e had taught Why and somewhat else also must it needs be besides our institution in holinesse and besides our instruction by his example in obedience patience and brotherly love For as St. Bernard sweetly Quid prodest saith hee quod nos instituit si non restituit wherein are we profited by Christ his instruction if wee bee not also rescued by him from destruction Indeed Christ his crosse I must confesse was our copie Christ his passion our patterne and therefore St. Peter tells us how that Christ did suffer for us 1 Pet. 2.21 leaving us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Example ut nos vestigia ipsius insequeremur that wee might tread in his steppes Phil. 2.5 both incheerfully submitting our selves unto Gods appointments and in enduring patiently all wrongs as also which St. John pointeth at in effectually loving one another even unto the death 1 John 3.16 Well but if Christ his passion doth no way benefit us at all but by way of patterne onely and ensample what then shall we say of infants very hard surely must it goe with them needs little fruit little profit will there from Christ his death here arise to them for can they conforme themselves unto Christ his death who have never heard as yet of Christ his life or can they imitate may wee thinke their Saviours vertues who have never imitated as yet their first parents sinne In all likelihood pro qualitate vulneris allata est medicina in all probabilitie by the nature of the wound it is that we can give the best ghesse at the plaister But now sure I am some way else it was that Adam damnified us by his transgression quà m ex sola ostensione peccati than only by opening a gap before us unto all lewdnesse and therefore questionlesse some way else it was that Christ did benefit us now by his passion quà m ex sola ostensione virtutum than onely by chalking out a way before us unto all goodnesse Why and so it was indeed for the truth is Christ our Passeover we may say was sacrificed for the remission of our sins for our reconciliation with the Father and which followeth necessarily upon these two for our redemption from hell Whence else is it I would faine know that Christ his bloud in holy scripture is stiled our ransome our attonement and the propitiation for our sinnes Is is not to make it plaine unto us how that Christ his death here was as well expiatorie as exemplarie and that Christ our Passeover was now slaine we must know as well ut daret justitiam as ut doceret as well ut infunderet charitatem as ut ostenderet pro nobis redimendis or as it is in one of our Church her collects if you have observed it that he might be a sacrifice for sinne 2. Sunday after Easter as well as pro nobis instituendis that he might be an ensample unto us of godly life But now if any shall question us how Christ his death here could be the expiation of our sinnes and not rather intruth being so execrable a sacriledge as it was a further aggravation of our guilt it cannot bee improbable since God was so highly offended with our first parents and in them with the whole world only for the eating of that forbidden fruit that he hath farre greater cause we must think in all likelihood to bee much more enraged now against mankind for this so horrid this so inhumane a murther acted upon the person of his only Sonne For answer hereunto know thus much that Christ his death here we say was our attonement not as out of malice and most unjustly it was procured by the Jewes but as most obediently and in meere love it was taken upon him by himselfe Christ his charitie being of more force we are sure to acquire and purchase for us Gods favour than the spite rancour of the whole world could be to incense against us Gods wrath To this purpose what saith S. Bernard in his 119. Epist against Abailardus Mary Non mors saith he sed voluntas placuit sponte morientis it was not simply death that did here so please God but the will of him that so freely died and that by death did both unsting death and work salvation and restore righteousnesse and ransack hell enrich heaven and vanquish principalities and subdue powers pacificantis omnia quae in coelo sunt quae in terra and that did gather together in one all things both which are in heaven and which are in earth By all this it is most cleere and evident as I suppose that Christ was sacrificed here for our good yea for our good not as some hell-bred hereticks have vented of edification only and instruction but of remission also and of reconciliation and of redemption from hell Yea but what then is this all you will say No marry is it not you must know this is not all yet for what thinke you I pray of that in Virgil Unum pro multis dabitur caput Is it not a phrase I beseech you of the same force with unum multorum loco dabitur caput What againe of that in Terence I will marry thee for him Is it not as much in every respect as if he had said in other words I will marrie thee in stead of him In the 9. to the Rom. St. Paul wisheth that for his brethren he were cursed for his brethren doth he say pro fratribus that is fratrum loco in his brethrens place Againe in the 2. to the Corinth S. Paul tells us how that for Christ wee are ambassadours for Christ doth hee say pro Christo that is Christi vice in Christ his stead But the truth is if in this my text here Christ were not sacrificed for us now in this sense how commeth it to passe then that by one of the Fathers he is said nostro nomine suscipere supplicia how that by an other he is said nostra pro nobis luere debita yea how commeth it to passe then that he is stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the pledge and hostage for our soules Doth not all this make plaine unto us what himselfe hath taught us in S. Matthewes Gospel viz. that he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stake his soule downe in the roomth of ours and so by consequent that Christ was sacrificed we may say very well for us for us that is vice nostrâ by way of commutation in our stead But now that to be sacrificed in our stead is more than to be sacrificed for our good this is plaine because whereas hee that dieth for our good may yet not die perhaps in our stead
Boyes of Jericho to have a bald-head some scornefull nick-name for the Prophets of the Lord but the mercie of the Lord hath a little prevented them and a little touched their hearts as he did the heart of Lidia that they doe in some sort esteeme them to be the Horsemen of Israel and the Chariots of the same Have we not beene angry too often too suddenly too much And this is a prologue to Murder But blessed be that mercie which as often prevented us Immoderate diet fantasticall fashions too loose speeches if Gods mercie prevented not who dare say that they might not lead us to uncleannesse Yee know our desires cares and indeavours to thrive our selves and to raise our Posterity if we doe this without covetousnesse admire Gods preventing mercy indeed beyond admiration Corrupt nature hath framed us with broad eares and wide mouths with a strange aptnesse to speake of the absent more than becommeth the innocent Have we learned the lesson of holy David in any measure so to take heed to our waies that we offend not with our tongue Reverence Gods preventing mercie as our onely instructor in that singular vertue And that our Bosome Aetn◠our continuall concupiscence if we can 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quench those desires in any degree that they Flame not forth into actuall Ambition Covetousnesse and Voluptuousnesse the voice of our Praise and Prayer must ascribe all this to Gods preventing mercie in the phrase of this Publican God is ever hath beene and ever may hee bee a God mercifull to us miserable Sinners The consideration of Gods mercy in generall but of his preventing mercie in especiall may incline our hearts to treasure up this precious Praier for our perpetuall practice It were well if like the Israelites wee could write it as a select Scripture in our Phylacteries and verges of our garments It were well if like that Emperour we could paint it as a choyce sentence in our windowes and Walles of our houses It were well if like that Father wee could carry it as an Obvious Poesie on our Tables and Trenchers All this were well but it were farre better if with the blessed Virgin we could Lay it up in our Hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God not in the tables of stone but in the fleshly tables of the Heart That Nulla dies sine linea that every houre we may utter this Prayer God be mercifull to Me a Sinner God be mercifull to us Surely God Hath Been Appl. and Is Mercifull unto us alreadie That we are here now met together at this time in this place it is the Lords mercy It is Gods mercy that the substance of this Text which is writ in this verse was not written upon all our Houses as it was upon some of our poore Neighbours LORD HAVE MERCIE UPON US What am I that I did not fall amongst those eight hundred which died this yeere in my owne poore Parish and what are you that you servive those eight and twentie thousands which were buried within the circuit of your famous Citie That our eight hundreds arose not to eight thousands and that your eight and twenty thousands did not multiply to eightscore Thousands and that we were made but Cyphers among those numbers appointed to die that the Lord swep us not All away with that besome of his indignation the Plague that they were scopae dissolutae that we escaped this was Gods mercie Gods great mercy That the Tower of Siloam fell upon eighteen and upon no more of the Inhabitants of Jerusalem it was Gods mercy unto them That the Plague hath destroied so many of the Inhabitants of London but no more this is Gods mercie unto us Yea Gods mercy was to us as preferment should be to men of merit Fugientem sequitur it did follow us when we did flee from it Stulti Stoici cum misericordiam quasi vitium devitabant when the foolish people did forsake their owne mercies and did pluck down Lord have mercy upon us from their Doores even then God did write over their Heads Miserebor cujus miserebor I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and preserve many from the Plague Gods mercy Gods miraculous mercie Nay whilest our provoked Judge did destroy us with the plague even then also hee shewed mercy in his Judgements That in our parish and in your Citie there dyed so many it was too many had not God designed it to bee so but that there dyed no more this was citra condignum lesse than wee did deserve Gods mercy and that I and you were Titiones ab incendio Brands snatched out of that fire that wee dyed not of the plague this was supra condignum more than we did deserve Gods gracious mercie Carnall consultations it may be may conclude that so many children died of the plague this was a cruell affliction But I say Deus fecit nihil inaniter nihil inhumaniter that these judgements were not without wisdome they were not without mercies That Infants were destroyed carnall men may call it cruelty but it was crudelitas parcens in verity very mercy Although they did not know their right hand from their left yet God it may be did know that they would patrizare imitate the sinister dealings of their naughty Parents and therefore to withhold them from a sinfull life by a timely death this was Gods mercy and wee who have escaped the plague if we continue in our sinnes it is misericordia puniens to incurre greater judgements if we be not prevented by Gods mercy But now if the Lord would be pleased to say a Consummatum est to our Crosse to say of the plague It is finished that our inhabitants might safely and securely return to their houses follow their trades and frequent their Churches in the feare of God without feare of one another that we might no more be destroyed by the plague devoured by poverty afflicted for our friends affrighted in our mindes and which is most miserable hindered from comming to Church this would bee the mercy the tender mercy of our God whereby from on high he hath visited us and delivered us from that heavie visitation Then as the last yeere in the plague the heart of every good Christian was like Aristotle booke rasatabula a Faire folio wherein the letters of this text were written in text letters God bee mercifull to mee a sinner so this yeere being freed from the plague we should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all of us should be one heart to be one booke that book of Ezekiel scriptus intus foris written within and without like Psalme 136. every line For his mercy endureth for ever Now that God may cease plaguing and that we may cease sinning God be mercifull to us All for Evermore Amen Finally to make my Exordium my Conclusion I may re-enforce this exhortation from this present occasion of hearing
it was a sacrifice offered in remembrance of that same passage in the truth of the thing done Israels first-borne you see were preserved in figure of that same truth a certaine Lamb you see was slain Yea but in the meane while where is nostrum you will say Where is that same Passeover which I said was Ours For all this while have we been only in Israel you know and what is Israels I am sure is nought to us True it is not I must confesse but yet for all this have but patience I beseech you for a little time and I nothing doubt but with Gods assistance to repay with interest what erst I promised and to make it cleare unto you how that as well as Israel even we Christians also have a Passeover a passage over from as great an evill a passage over to as great a good For proofe hereof I pray tell me what think you I beseech you of our soule Is not that a thing we must needs grant every whit as deere unto us as our first borne Yea a thing in truth for whose salvation for whose safe passage I meane from hence to Heaven there is no man I thinke so devoid of reason that will not give both first borne and all hee hath too Againe what think you I beseech you of Gods vengeance continually hovering over us for our sinnes and every houre every moment ready to powre us downe to hell Is not that a thing as much to bee dreaded by us as that destroying Angell was by the Israelites yea and by so much the more too by how much wee are to feare eternall death more than temporall But now when by reason of Adams sinne we were all liable to condemnation expecting hourely when Gods justice should have ceazed upon our soules that God in mercy was then pleased not to destroy us with the Egyptians that is as S. Paul phraseth it not to condemn us with the world but to passe over us to spare us as he did his own children some times the Israelites not suffering the Exterminator to have any power at all upon us that thus it was what is more plaine I beseech you throughout the whole body of the New Testament Where read wee not if you have observed it in many places of our being delivered from wrath 1 Thess 1.10 Of our being freed from the Law Rom. 8.2 Gal. 3.13 Ephes 2.5 Of our being redeemed from the Curse Of being saved by Grace And in the fift of St. John the 24. vers where wee have both the terminos of this happy passage of ours reade we not expresly how that each true beleever is already passed from death to life Well then that a Passeover we have that is most certaine you see even we Christians as well as the Jewes yea and that such a Passeover in truth if wee well examine it as wherewith the Jewish Passeover must not compare No neither in respects of that evill which in either Passeover was avoyded the evill in theirs being only a bodily danger wheras it was a spirituall danger you see that wee escaped in ours nor yet in respect of that good which in either Passeover was effected the good in theirs being only a temporall deliverance whereas it was an eternall deliverance you see that was wrought in ours What will you say now unto the meanes ordained by God in either Passeover for the effecting of this good for the avoiding of this evill for the working of this deliverance for the escaping of this danger Even in this respect too is not their Passeover far inferiour alas to ours even as farre as the earth is inferiour unto the heavens even as farre as the creature is inferiour to the Creator Yes for whereas the meanes in theirs was only agnus as saith Saint Ambrose irrationabilis naturae behold in ours it was agnus divinae potentiae whereas the meanes in theirs was only a lamb that was taken by them out of the fould behold in ours it was that Lambe that descended for us downe from heaven even that very Lamb which both S. Peter speakes of and S. John the Baptist points at namely Christ Pascha nostrum Christus est 1 Pet. 1.19 our Passeover saith my text is Christ 2 And the truth is if wee well consider with our selves what was to be done for us in our Passeover what the state we were to passe from what the state wee were to passe unto wee must needs grant how that in all reason none could have been our Passeover save onely Christ alone none the meanes of our passage from the state of wrath to the state of grace none the meanes of our passage from the state of death to the state of glory save onely that Lambe qui tollit peccata mundi even that Lamb of God Joh. 1.36 qui in sinu Patris est that most holy immaculate Lambe Christ For alas alas in the case wee were in could any other lamb have served the turne think you could a lamb out of the stock have beene a sufficient ransome for a mans soule for that which is of more worth than all the lambs in the whole world are yea in truth than the whole World it selfe is or a whole world of worlds besides Why 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Proclus of Constantinople 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the redemption of a soule is a greater purchase than either the wealthiest Saint could have compassed or the mightiest Angell how much lesse then could a common lamb trow you have a considerable recompense and counterprice I say not for all the soules in this or that onely particular Kingdome but even for all the soules of all the people in all the Kingdomes under Heaven But now such a Lambe it was that wee wanted such a Lambe that we stood in need of even a Lambe by whose meanes and merit the destroying Angell might bee made passe over not the soules onely of some few Israelites in our little Angle only of the Land of Egypt but over all the soules of all mankinde that either are or have beene since the world began Why and blessed be God and we have cause to feast for it I think such a Paschal Lambe it is that we now have God in mercy having so provided for us that even his onely Son you see should be our Lambe for Pascha nostrum Christus est our Passeover saith my text is Christ Christ I say and in very deed such a true Paschal Lamb is Christ such a perfect Passeover our Passeover such a compleat Passeover ours as that to ours the Jewish Passeover was but as the shadow unto the substance the Jewish Lambe to ours but as the type unto the truth For proofe hereof doe but see the Parallels I beseech you betwixt their Passeover and ours betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they call it and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 betwixt our crucifigible Passeover and their legall one and I
us For us Not for himselfe then no there was no cause of death God wot in him Ipse non meruit si non pro pietate mori even his very Judge himselfe being his witnesse there was nothing worthy of death to be found in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Theodoret in the person of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee that owed not a death tooke death now upon himselfe and hee subjected himselfe unto death here over whom death in truth had not any right at all And to speake sooth well for us was it that Christ suffered not for himselfe well for us yea very well that he was not sacrificed for himselfe For if the way of that old Serpent had been ever found upon this rocke Prov. 30.19 if this our Lambe had had any spot in him and so had deserved death in himselfe could hee ever then have been a fit Passeover to have now been sacrificed as hee was for us No Si ipse indebitam mortem non susciperet saith Gregorie nunquam nos à debita morte liberaret if Christ I may say in any respect had bin sacrificed for himselfe impossible then had it been that in any respect he should have thus satified as hee did for us but now so it is that in this my Text here Christ was sacrificed we reade for Us. For Us Not for Angels then no as not for himselfe so not for them neither their nature he assumed not their person hee sustained not hee for them was not sacrificed they by him were not delivered It was for Us for us men saith our Creed that the Son of God came downe from heaven that he was incarnate by the holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary that he was made man for us men for us it was that he was made lower than the Angels quod expertus infirma quod passus indigna quod demum per mortem crucis ad sua reversus and that at the last he was thus sacrificed according to this Scripture The truth is had this my Text here been either penn'd or spoken unto us by some Angel why then questionlesse as well for Angels as for Us might wee have said that Christ was sacrificed but now the words you know are Saint Pauls and Saint Paul you know was a man why then for us men it was that Christ was sacrificed you see for us men I say for us Yea but Saint Paul you will say was a Jew and if Christ was sacrificed for Jewes onely very little God knowes will be the benefit that will arise from hence to us True he was so indeed himselfe hath told us how that hee was an Hebrew of the Hebrewes but here is the comfort yet and without this small heart should wee have to keep the feast now here is the comfort I say that this Epistle of his whereof this my Text here is a part portion is not beati Pauli ad Hebraeos the Epistle of S. Paul the Apostle unto the Hebrewes no but ad Corinthios prima his first Epistle unto the Corinthians Now the City of Corinth stood in Greece you must know above seven hundred miles from Judea and therefore questionlesse the people wrote to here were meerly Gentiles no Jewes Why and so they were indeed and because they were so we may from hence gather therefore to our comfort how that for us Gentiles it was that Christ was sacrificed for us Gentiles for us For us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 11. O the depth of the riches of the wisedome and goodnesse of our God! how unscarchable are his judgements how his waies past finding out Could it ever have been beleeved that Christ should have been thus sacrificed as he was for us for us sinners of the Gentiles for us that were farre off for us that were without God in the world that the Son of God should be thus slain for us Indeed had it bin for the Jews only that Christ had died here the wonder questionlesse had not been so great for they were Gods inheritance Gods chosen the seed of Abraham Gods friend and if for a friend a man may chance to die sometimes why not sometimes then for a friends seed too But now as for us wee were not only abalienati à Deo not only quoad statum externum strangers but we were also we must remember hostes quoad dissidium internum enemies yea that as well in an active as in a passive sense as well directly as by interpretation as well for that we rebelliously hated Gods rule over us as for that we were in all things contrary unto his will and is it not most strange and admirable in this case we were in that Christ should be sacrificed yet for us the innocent for the guilty the home-borne for strangers the only Son for enemies Christ for us Yet so it was and that now it was so it was no more than was fore-told no more than in Numb 9. ver 10.11 God himselfe had signified that so it should be For besides that first Passeover there in the first moneth reade we not also of a second Passeover if you mark it in the second moneth of a Passeover allowed by God to be slaine purposely for those persons who during the celebration of the first Passeover were in a journey a farre off Yes But now if you will but suffer S. Paul to unvaile Moses his face if you will but expound the Law there by the Gospel Num. 9. ver 10. by Ephes 2. ver 14. you shall then find how that not without a mysterie it is that the Hebrew of this word far off is observed by the learned for some speciall consideration to have extraordinary prickes over it because by that second Passeover there permitted by God to those in a journey farre off God did prefigure unto us Christ here sacrificed you see for us even for us Gentiles in the flesh strangers for us who at that time were farre off both from the kindred of the Jewish nation and from the Covenants also of the promise Sacrificatus est pro nobis Christ is sacrificed saith my Text for us Well then Christ died not you have seen for himselfe here nor yet for Angels no nor yet onely for Jewes neither for Saint Paul writing you see unto Gentiles saith that Christ is sacrificed for us For us he saith not for some few of us under such a Romane Prelate onely or of such a faction for us within the verges onely of the Romish Hierarchy or for us of the Congregation onely in New England No sanguis Christi pretium est saith St. Augustine the Lambe here sacrificed you see is Christ and therefore at too high a rate do they value themselves and the bloud of Christ doe they prize too low qui dicum aut illud tam parvum esse ut solos Afros emerit aut se tam magnos pro quibus solis illud sit datum who being themselves