Psalm 51.5 it will not be altogether lost labour to consider whether that Text will not admit of another genuine reading besides that which our Translators render The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here rendred I was fashioned may as well be turned I have been afraid sore troubled grieved c. And so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In sin hath my mother conceived me may be read In sin hath my mother warmed me or Calefacta est mater de me my mother hath been warmed heated by me so Pagnin My mother hath brought me forth with sorrow and pain Cum dolere parturiit me mater so Symmachus and Aquila two of the ancientest Translators as Theodoret cites them So thaet the Text with the Context may admit this Paraphrastical reading i. e. Against thee thee only have I not my mother but I sinned taking all the shame and guilt upon himself not charging his Mother with the cause of his sin against Uriah and his Wife And now behold in by or for this iniquity viz. the sin of evil concupiscence as the Chaldee cals it the Original of his Actual sin I am exceedingly afflicted and very much grieved My Mother indeed brought me forth with sorrowfull labour and painfull Travel Gen. 3.16 for she hath sinned against thee and she perhaps being in sin conceived me But her sin was not the cause of my Adultery and Murther that was my own Act nor did her sin make me guilty for the child shall not bear the iniquity of the Father but when I had lusted I sinned and when I had committed the sin I became liable to the condemnation of death My father and mother are not to be blamed To this purpose Anselmus reasoneth the case If Adam saith he could not traduce or convey over his original Righteousness to his posterity neither could be transmit his original unrighteousness but he could not the one nor the other But this may seem to contradict what was said of Adams begetting Seth. Therefore I say that it is not in the Will and at the pleasure of man to beget Children which shall prove either good or bad however a good or a bad man may beget such as may be good or evil And they are good either as they continue as God made them or else by returning again into that state by Repentance and Faith in Christ or they are bad by consenting unto the motions aâ—d temptations of sin and Satan So Cain was not evil as he came out of Gods hands but as he was born and became a child of the devil That heat wherewith David warmed his mother as Pagnin reads it was not any sin of him in her womb for there the child doth not defile the mother but as they say the mother the child But his mother might well be troubled to see her son commit such hainous sins as Adultery and Murder and say as another doth Prov. 31.1,2,3,4 5. What my son the son of my womb Give not thy strength unto women c. It is not for thee O David my son it is not for thee to commit such wickedness against the Lord who hath saved thee from the Lion the Bear and the uncircumcised Philistin and hath made thee King over Israel it is not for thee so to requite thy God it doth not become thee I am sorry to hear such things of thee So that David might justly complain against himself and say Against thee only have I even I sinned and done this evil in thy fight for which I am now so greatly perplexed and for which my mother is incensed and so highly displeased with me What violence is offered to this Text and Context or to the general scope of the whole Scripture by this manner of reading I do not yet understand This might further be insisted upon but that I am not about a Treatise but a Preface I do not peremtorily and arrogantly impose these things but meekly offer them to the consideration of those who are more learned and illuminate if happily the Truth aud glory of God by this occasion may be brought more to light I know I have trod besides the beaten road but if curiosity and singularity rather then simplicity and integrity were my guides I should not adventure any further 7. Wherefore I rather take that place of the Prophet Ezek. 16. to signifie and demonstrate the corrupt fallen and sinfull state of man into which he is begotten by the deceitfull and destructive spirit after he hath received the natural life from his Parents Not denying but that literally and historically it holds forth the Idolatrous state into which Judah and Jerusalem were then degenerated Canaan signifieth Humility or a Merchant And this spiritual sense seems to be most aimed at by the Allegory For there is a time when we all wander into the land of Canaan when we are seduced by a voluntary shew of Humility Col. 2.18 to become Merchants for Heaven by our chosen Righteousness and legal works are rather Factors for Satan selling our selves to iniquity and sin for naught and parting with our precious souls for no money In this Cananitish Countrey we find ten native lusts answerable to the number of the Inbabitants in Canaan Gen. 15.19,20,21 standing in opposition to the ten Precepts and seed of God These disobedient properties are begotten by that Amorite the vain Talker great Pratler cruel Rebel that Father of lyes the Devil who was a lyar from the beginning who by his sleights and cunning craftiness fair speeches and subtile delusions lay in wait to beguil our first parents and cheat them of the pearl of their innocency being now an Amoritish father unto them begetting them into the disobedience and rebellion of his own nature having been himself a cursed Rebel before To this Amoritish father the Hittite our whorish heart the true Hittite being broken asunder from God joyneth and becomes a mother is bring forth the sinfull brood Lust when it hath conceived bringeth forth sin and when it is finished bringeth forth death James 1.15 And thus we come to be denominated sinners and Children of wrath And so neither do I deny original sin but grant there is a time for sin to have its original and beginning in us as it had in Adam 8. Thus we have found out mans sickness what it is how he catcheth it and is infected with it His Remedy and Recovery is there also described I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness yea I sware unto thee and entred into Covenant with thee saith the Lord God and thou becamest mine verse 8. The skirt wherewith God covereth us before he entreth into Covenant with us is the death of Christ the blood of the everlasting Covenant as will appear anon when the signification of the skirt shall be explained I have yet further to shew you that all our freedom from sin is by the death and blood of Christ whether we consider sin First In respect
live on the earth 3. But specially let the Ministers of the Churches consider themselves who by the greatest contempt of worldly things ought to follow a poor Christ Let them consider I say how far they come short of the example of Christ and the Apostles and withall think of what Isay saith of such men Wo to them that joyn house to house c. and as it is in Habakkuk Hab. 2. Wo to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house that he may set his nest on high c. Is it not an unseemly thing for a Christian to build stately houses when his Lord had not where to hide his head in all the earth But let us hear what place Christ chose to sup in for though worldlings strive to scrape all to themselves yet Christ and those that are his find some place of Reception for so it followeth Luke 22.8,10 And he sent Peter and John saying Go and prepare us the Passover that we may eat Behold when ye are entered into the City there shall a man meet you bearing a pitcher of water follow him into the house where he entereth in verse 11. Mat. 26.18 Luke 22.11 And ye shall say unto the good man of the house The Master saith unto thee my time is at hand I will keep the Passover at thy house with my Disciples Where is the Guest-chamber where I shall eat the Passover with my Disciples 1. Here is first the place of the Passion to wit the City Jerusalem which Christ chose for his suffering as he did Bethlem for his Nativity Mâ—c 5. that the Scripture in all things might be fulfilled Micha prophesied that Christ should be born in Bethlem and Moses commanded to sacrifice nowhere but in the place which the Lord had chosen which was the Temple at Jerusalem Christ therefore in obedience to the Law would not offer his sacrifice anywhere but at Jerusalem Deut 12. 2. Again Christ would rather suffer in that City because there it was where the old Prophets did suffer as it is said in Luke Luke 13. Matth. 23. It cannot be that a Prophet should perish without Jerusalem Now this City had an ill report for this long since in that it killed the Prophets and stoned them that were sent unto it Let us now see in what order things were carried on 1. He sendeth two of his Disciples but specially Peter and John Luke 22. as Luke saith that is the chiefest of all the Disciples which is not without a Mysterie John 21. John 20. Acts 3. John 13. We often find these two Disciples coupled together Peter was a very great lover of Christ and John was more beloved of Christ than any other these two ran together to the Sepulchre after the Resurrection When the Holy Ghost was given they went up together into the Temple At the Supper t was Peter not the other Dsciples that beckoned to John to ask who should betray their Lord These two also left most excellent Epistles behind them viz. 1 Pet. 1 John in which they did and still do teach great Mysteries Peter sheweth that Christ is the Rock John teacheth that he is the Grace of God both of them according to their Name Peter signifying a Rock Iohn the Grace of God These two then are sent to make ready the Passover but for whom even for Christ yet not for him only but for his Church too Which they did with all industry For who but the Apostles framed and prepared for us the Communion-table and Altar of the Church viz. by their preaching and writings 2. But observe they do not this without command from their Lord. For unless the Lord call and send forth Teachers Jer. 16. 23. they run in vain and do no good Nor can we of our selves partake of the Lords Supper except God send us Apostles How shall they hear without a Preacher Rom. 10. 3. Whereas Christ so undoubtedly foretold all things that should happen concerning the Water-bearer and the readiness of the master of the house it was more than from his humane nature It was a sure sign of the Divinity of Christ before whose eyes all things past present and to come are naked and bare Heb. 4. Otherwise when he was at Bethany he could not have so well known that not a maid but man-servant should meet his Disciples with a pitcher of water much less could he know whether he was going c. By this therefore he would shew his Godhead as he did another time when he said to his Disciples Matth ye shall find an Ass tyed Chap. 17. John 1. And to Peter when thou hast opened the mouth of the fish thou shalt find a piece of money So to Nathaniel I saw thee under the fig-tree Every Christian should diligently observe all such things in Christ which surpassed the humane Nature for thereby he will come to think more highly of Christ notwithstanding he was like a servant and crucified 4. The Disciples are not commanded to say any thing to the Water-bearer but only to follow him and deliver their charge to the Master of the House A servant cannot deny or grant any thing that belongs to the Master only Let all things be done decently and in order 5. Christ tells them in express words what they should say to the Master of the House A Gospel Minister must not preach any thing but what his Lord commandeth him nor must add to or diminish from the words of his Lord else he doth not his Masters business but his own 6. He commandeth them to make him known by the title of Master and that he would come after who was then so called For the world had then no higher thoughts of him but as one who preached the Truth as Nicodemus and others said of him John 3. 7. Whereas he saith that his time was at hand it is to be understood of his death and the Redemption of Mankind as formerly he had often spoken John 2. 9. saying his hour or time was not yet come Whereby he doth again declare his Deity in that he foreknew and foretold what was to come For no man can of himself tell the hour of his death The times and the seasons God the Father hath put in his own power Acts 1. t is not for man to know these things 8. Again He doth not send word to the good man of the house by way of intreaty but as it were commandingly that he would keep the Passover at his House as when he sent his Disciples for the Ass Matth. 21. they were not to pray or ask leave to take him but as if they had authority to say the Lord hath need of him Whereby he would shew that he was Lord of all and could if he pleased command all No doubt but he to whom he sent his Disciples was a
Vagabonds upon the earth like Cain Gen. 4. And no doubt but ye have felt the smart of it long since how sorely this blood of Christ hath lain upon you But now 1659. years and opprest you and your Children now more than these fifteen hundred years Nor shall you ever have rest and quiet till ye be converted and turn to him and acknowledge your iniquity After Pilate had washt his hands and thought himself whiter than the snow then he gives sentence against Christ to put him to death He thought it a small matter to adjudge a poor mean man to die He thought no body would revenge his blood but he found it otherwise at last What matter is it if a godly man hath no man to take his part or none to revenge his quarrel so long as he hath God to avenge his wrong Vengeance is mine saith he I will repay Deut. 32. Thus Barabbas the Robber is let go without any punishment but innocent Jesus is whipt and judged to death even the death of the Cross The just for the unjnst So those sons of men Whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword did prevail and get the day because they stifly stood it out and held on their clamour so long till at last he was delivered to them to be crucified And so he that gives life to all bare the sentence of death for us For in the righteous Judgement and Court of God this sentence of death was due to us But Christ took it upon himself Thus I say He to whom the heavenly Father had committed all Judgement John 5. And who shall call to the Heavens from above and to the earth that he may judge his people Psalm 50. 2 Pet. 2. At whose Judgement the Powers of Heaven shall be shaken and the firmament shall pass away with fervent heat Hell shall give up its dead and every creature shall tremble he it this day set at naught and despised as the vilest fellow in the world and condemned to die But wo and alas 1. How were the hearts of his Disciples and the rest of his friends overcharged with sadness and grief when all hope of life was taken away and they heard that their faithfull Master their Lord and Helper was condemned by a most unrighteous Judgement 2. On the contrary what a frantick fit of jollity and howling exultation were these mad dogs put into when they had at last prevailed with the Judge by their importunate clamours to grant them their most abominable and horrid request which he had so often denyed them before when the wicked Judge delivered up Jesus the Saviour to the cursed and most cruel will of those who thirsted so much after his blood 3. How did the hopeless sadness of his friends and the furious mirth of his foes torture and afflict this meekest Lamb now in the midst of Wolves 1. Here we see Christians what we must have expected at Gods Judgement day even the Sentence of Eternal Death if Christ had not took pity on us and taken it upon himself 2. We see what little confidence we are to put in the World when Pilate who had hitherto so often stood in defence of Christ now to gratifie and please the Iews doth crucifie him without any other cause in the world So Herod heard Iohn willingly yet cut off his head at last Mark 6. This unrighteous Sentence Christ took and accepted of to free us from the most just Sentence of damnation and to teach us not to fear the unrighteous judgement of the World Let us alwayes remember this Judgement that we may with all our might and whole hearts give thanks to our Lord Christ who would be condemned to death for us and be delivered to the will of the wicked Iews yea he delivered himself that we might be able to stand before the Judgement of God And they took off the purple from him Mar. 15.20 and put his own cloaths on him and led him out to crucifie him And he bearing his cross went forth John 19.17 And as they came out they found a man of Cyrene Simon by name Mat. 27.32 who passed by coming out of the Countrey the father of Alexander and Rufus Mark 15.21 and they laid hold upon him Luke 23.26 him they compelled to bear his cross Mat. ibid. and they laid the cross on him that he might bear it after Iesus And there followed him a great company of people and of women which also bewailed and lamented him And Iesus turning unto them said Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but weep for your selves and for your children For behold the dayes are coming in the which they shall say Blessed are the barren and the Wombs that never bare and the paps which never gave suck Then shall they begin to say to the Mountains fall on us and to the Hills cover us For if they do these things in a green Tree what shall be done in the dry Luke 23.27 Dearest Brethren and friends of God you who wait to hear the end of the saving crucifying of the blessed Lord and beloved Jesus the good God imprint in your hearts the memory of this great suffering that thereby you may not only be more strengthened in your Faith but also animated and encouraged in patience to undergo the like if need so require Amen Invocate the Lords mercy and with most fervent minds pray for all Iews Pagans Hereticks sinners and sinneresses that God the Father and Creator of all would bestow his Grace and Mercy upon all men whereby they may be converted from unbelief to the Faith and from a wicked life to godliness O thou most high God remember this so infinite Passion and be not angry with us for ever These things I thought good to premise to stir up your minds and make ye more attentive to those things which now follow We have heard first what our Lord suffered before finall sentence was past upon him We have heard secondly what that sentence was to wit that he should be crucified Now thirdly we shall hear next how that sentence was put in execution Here then let us give all attention not so much with the ears of our body as of our mind The next thing to be done is to open the Veins of the Fountain of living Waters that that precious balsam which pierceth and softeneth the hearts of all the godly may flow out After that wicked sentence was pronounced those truculent and bloody Wolves took that meekest Lamb Jesus to rend him in pieces and destroy him utterly a thing which they had long desired and now at last had obtained So that what Christ had foretold was now fulfilled to wit that the world should rejoice in his sufferings Ioh. 15. Then is the world glad when it may do what it listeth without controul when there is none to reprove it when it hath those that rebuke it under its own power they took Christ
that every man shall rise again in his own time The Evangelist doth Emphatically add that they who thus arose came into Jerusalem and appeared unto many that none might think it was a phantasme or delusion By this likewise was foreshewed that many snners should rise out of their sins and the death of their souls to a new life Rom. 6. so as to be seen afterward in the holy Church exercising themselves in the works of Life and Spirit to wit good works whereby others may be moved to glorifie the Father Mat. 5. The graves were therefore opened to shew that death was swallowed up by the death of Christ for so it was foretold by the Prophet O death I will be thy death Hos 13. Thus we see 1. That when Christ died every creature suffered with him Only the Jews hearts remained hard whom obstinate sinners also do now imitate who by their sins do still crucifie the Son of God notwithstanding they have heard and seen so many signs and wonders they do not yet fear nor rend their hearts so far are they from rising again and confessing Christ to be the Son of God 2. Here we see that the glory or glorifying of Christ did begin presently upon his death so also will our glorifying begin immediately after our death and we who now seem to be despised in this life shall then appear gloriously in glory as may be seen in the begger Lazarus who when he lived was hated of all men but when he died he was carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosom Luke 16. It is to be noted that at the death of Christ there were seven Signs which do yet likewise concur in every justified person For the Sun is darkened at noon the vail is rent the earth shaketh the Rocks cleave asunder the Graves open the Dead arise and the Gentiles make a good confession For 1. Whosoever will be justified must have no hope or confidence in any worldly thing he must loath and cast them out of his sight this is to have darkness made when worldly things seem to be colourless and dark unto us 2. Internal things must be revealed to him that is he must have a true sight of his sins acknowledge his own filthiness this is to rend the Vail under which such sins were hid that they did not appear so foul and filthy as they are 3. Then he must fear and be astonished at the sight of such ugly sins and so defiled a conscience this is for the Earth to quake for no man is afraid or troubled in conscience but he that sees his sin and feels the weight thereof 4. The rending of the Rocks is next to wit Contrition Hatred and dislike of sin and he that before was a Rock is now cleft and broken and so the Rock sendeth forth waters of weeping and tears 5. The Graves are opened when the mouth maketh confession and discloseth what was before concealed 6. He must come forth by Absolution and go into the City Jerusalem i. e. the Holy Church and be again reconciled unto it by a spiritual Life 7. Lastly He must confess and witness by word and work that Christ is the Son of God as the Centurion here did concerning whom it follows Now when the Centurion which stood over against him Mat. 27.54 Mar. 15.39 Luke 23.47 and they that were with him watching Iesus saw that he so cryed out and gave up the ghost and saw the Earth-quake and those things that were done they feared greatly and glorified God saying Truly this was a Righteous man and the Son of God And all the people that came together to that sight beholding the things that were done smote their breasts and returned And all his acquaintance and the women that followed him from Galilee stood afar off beholding these things Among whom was Mary Magdalen and Mary the mother of James the less and the mother of Joses and Salome the mother of Zebedees children who also when he was in Galile followed him and ministred unto him and many other women which came up with him from Galile to Jerusalem Hitherto of the Signs which happened at Christs death Now we shall see what fruit followed from thence First the Centurion and they that were with him which were Romans were hereby converted to the Faith glorified God confessed that Jesus who was crucified was a just man and the Son of God consequently that he was put to death wrongfully And what wonder Should such great Miracles which were wrought in Heaven and in Earth and in the Temple and on the Dead have no effect and bring forth no fruit Blessed therefore are they that search out his wondrous things Psalm 119.18 Now if Christ could do these things with the Elements at his death what might he have done upon them that crucified him What Iew can say but that God did here manifestly shew himself Great were their ancient Miracles in Aegypt in the red Sea at Mount Sinai and in the Wilderness But compare them with those that were here wrought at the death of Christ with those at his Resurrection which was the greatest Miracle of all with those for forty dayes after at the Ascention and sending of the Holy Ghost and you will see that the rise and beginning of the New Testament was far more excellent and glorious then that of the Old Testament 1. The Centurion and they that were with him could think no other but that all these signs were wrought for the sake of this Jesus Therefore they excuse his innocency pronounce him Righteous and do not conclude him to be such a one as the Jews accused him to be and as Pilate had condemned him And which is more they confess him to be the Son of God which they gathered and concluded from the signs which they saw Lo this did the Gentiles believe who had neither the Law nor the Prophets 2. The people which came together to that sight for so is Christ truly with those that are his made a Spectacle to the world 1 Cor. 4. A sign and wonder Isa 8. smote their breasts and returned as if they had said O God what strange and new things have we seen and heard to day Truly truly this shall be our Messias O how basely have we used him to whom we did owe and should have done all honour and respect This innocent blood will be required of us and our generation Here then was fulfilled what Christ had foretold When ye have lift up the son of man then shall ye know that I am he John 8. even the Messias Here we see that he that dieth for the Truth doth more at his death then when he lived Thus Christ converted more at his death then in his life For when he shed his blood it never ceased crying Whence it is that the Elect who do through ignorance afflict the godly yet obtain they mercy but the Reprobate are damned His acquaintance especially those Women
discouragements resolving within our selves that if we may but touch this hem of his garment we shall be whole Mat. 9.20,21 Mar. 5.27,28 For doubtless all that do touch it really truly believingly spiritually and indeed are made perfectly whole Mat. 14.36 17. The necessity of descending into this low estate of self-denial Humiliation Mortification and Death is fully and significantly proposed by our blessed Lord and Redeemer John 10. where he saith that he is the door of the sheep The door is the entrance into the house and is placed in the lowest part thereof at the bottom not at the top of the house Christ is our new and living way When Longinus the souldier pierced his side with the spear there was an entrance a door made for us into the holiest that we might go into it with liberty or boldness to be saved and go in and out and find pasture John 10.7,9 chap. 19.34 Hebrews 10.19,20 18. But wo and alas how many spiritual Thieves and Robbers are there now adays in the world How many pass by the door and seek to climb into the sheep-fold some other way There are too many who profess the death of Christ with their tongue but in their deeds deny and make void the same Men can talk much of free Grace and Justification by the death of Christ but continue hypocrites deceitfull proud envious ambitious covetous contentious c. Corruptio optimi pâ—ssima This is to turn the Grace of God into wanttonness and corrupt the best things which is the worst thing of all These are Thieves and Robbers who think to steal into the Sheep-fold of the divine Nature without crucifying the flash with the affections and lusts Such thieves cannot enter into the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.10 For such men rob Christ of the vertue of his sufferings and death and make him die in vain in that they refuse to fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in their flesh Col. 1.24 and deny to bear about in their body the dying of the Lord Jesus 2 Cor. 4.10 Psalm 76.4 But God is of more Honour and Might then the hills of the Robbers more glorious and more excellent then the mountains of prey he will pull down these mighty ones from their seat he will abase these high lofty vain conceited men and exalt the humble and meek Eph 4.28 Wherefore let him that stole steal no more but rather let him labor in Gods Vineyard doing his work and will not slothfull in this great business but fervent in spirit serving the Lord and working out his own salvation with fear and trembling Romans 12.11 Phil. 2.12 5. Fifthly 19. So long as men continue in the old state of their sinfull nature they can have no assurance of the life to come therefore it is necessary that they know and conform to the death of Christ for the crucifying of that which hindreth their assurance When Hezekiah was sick the sign of his recovery was the Suns going back ten degrees 2 King 20.10 This retrogradation of the Firmamental Sun in the Dyal of Ahaz the Jewish Doctors do mystically apply to the Exinanition of the Sun of Righteousness to Christs emptying himself till he became of no reputation whose declination from the height of his fathers glory till he came under the contradiction of sinners against the shame of the Cross they distribute it into ten degrees The first gradual descent towards his abasement was into an Angel for he is the Angel or Messenger of the great Counsel of God who came out of the bosom of the Father to reveal him unto the sons of men and is as willing a Messenger from man to present his desires with much incense unto God John 1.18 Rev. 8 3. His second descent was into the Patriarcks the figures of himself filling them with the Mysterie of himself for he that ascended did also first descend into the lowest parts that he might fill all things The third degree was in giving the Law in which he spake to the Jews and which was disposed by Angels in the hand of a Mediator Fourthly Into Joshua as being the true Joshna or Jesus that leadeth the whole Israel of God into the spiritual land of Promise His fifth descent was seen in the Judges it being he that governed that people by those men who is the great Judge of the quick and the dead before whose Judgement seat all must appear to give an account of things done in the body His sixth in the Kings of the Jews in whom he reigned over that people as the true and rightfull King of the inward and faithfull Jew Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews was his unrepealable title upon the Cross John 19.19,22 Psalm 2.6 He it is that is set as King upon the mount of Gods holiness to reign in Righteousness Isa 32.1 To be Ruler in Israel Mic. 5.2 Who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords Rev. 19.16 Seventhly In the Prophets It is he that spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets which have been since the world began Luke 1.70 This is the Prophet which Moses said should come up after him whom we ought to hear Deut. 18.15 To fulfill that saying And they shall be all taught of God Isa 54.13 John 6.45 Eighthly In the high Priests for they were all but shadows of whom Christ was the substance read the Epistle to the Hebrews Ninthly In man when he assumed our nature It was for us men and our salvation that the Almighty Word of God leapt down from Heaven like a fierce man of War into the midst of a land of destruction and was incarnate by the holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and pitcht his Tent among us or in us Wisd 18.15,16 John 1.14 Tenthly In his Humiliation unto that ignominious death of the Cross Here was the winter Solstice or shortest day of the year at which time some say Christ was born This is the tenth degree of descent in the Dyal of Ahaz the lowest and utmost declination of thâ— Sun of Righteousness was in his death burial descention into hell 20. What censure soever the eight first Degrees may undergo as Cabalistical conceits is not much material There can be no Dspute about the two last by any that acknowledge Christ to be come in the flesh For he was truly a man in our nature with which nature of ours he harnessed himself like a man of War Exod. 15.3 and fought it out hand to fist in a single Duel with the Devil in which Combate he stood it out unto the death and thereby overcame him that had the power of death to wit the Devil Heb. 2.14 And withal vanquishing death and hell 1 Cor. 15.55 Hos 13.14 Read Col. 2.14,15 Thus he put off his harness of flesh and blood of which he took part with the Children Heb. 2. as well as put it
his death was a passing to the Father therefore so shall ours be also even as Christ himself said John 20. I ascend to my Father and to your Father Note 1. He doth not say that his time but his hour was come to teach us that there is a certain hour appointed to every man as it is said Job 14. The number of his moneths are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass Note 2. Secondly To shew that his suffering would not last long So he saith to the Jews Matth. 26. this is your hour q.d. I have but one hour to suffer and you but one to spend your rage Thus the Scripture calleth the whole time of this life but an hour If thou dost well know that thou hast but an hours time here that is but a very little while do not therefore begrudge thy labour And even thy effliction lasteth but an hour let it not then be tedious Psalm 37. So the prosperity of the wicked continueth but an hour Fret not thy self because of the evill doers for yet a little and he shall be no more But as the feast of the Passover was Christs hour when he would suffer and dye so forty years after at the same feast was his hour when he inflicted vengeance on the Jews For when they were assembled at the Passover the Romans besieged them and shortly after ransack'd their City We also have two hours one of Mercy another of Judgement as certainly as there is a time of mercy so certainly may we expect the hour of Judgement Briefly the Evangelist John calleth the death of Christ a going away 1. That he might shew his power and might For he could pass over all those things which yet hindred his approach to the Father Psal 107.16 as it is said of him He hath broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron in sunder Before his death there was no clear passage out of this world unto Heaven And this therefore is the fruit of his death he opened thereby and prepared for us a passage to the Father It is significantly said not to God but to the Father that we should not be afraid to draw nigh unto God who by Christ is now become our Father 2. Again This going away may thus be understood viz. that John would hereby give an account of the Passover it self which signifieth a passing over as if he had said This feast hath hitherto been celebrated in remembrance of those things that were done in the passing or going out of Aegypt Now there is another passing out at hand even out of the world unto the Father In the former going out Moses was Leader in this second Christ Jesus is the Captain As they followed Moses so let us follow Christ The Jewish Passover is to go out of Aegypt the Christian Passover is to go out of the world to the Father But what did Christ when he knew that the hour of his going away was at hand surely he did not forget his friends He did not leave loving them for whose sake he was going to suffer such a bitter death And why should he withdraw his love from them who are so hated and contemned by and in the world What then doth Christ do When he had loved his he loved them unto the end He did truly love them and he continued this his love to them indeed unto the end In the first clause Christ sheweth the reason why he was made man and came into the world It was not our worthiness that was any motive thereof Psal 143.2 for we were not worthy to receive so much as corporall blessings from him much less were we worthy of eternall Nor had we any merit to move him for we were altogether born in sin Neither was it our righteousness that availed any thing for who shall be justified in the sight of God But it was his boundless love his infinite charity wherewith he embraced us that allured and invited him thereto For as the Father out of his great and abundant love sent his Son so the Son out of his abundant charity undertook and performed that Embassie of the Father So saith John herein his love 1 John 4. not that we loved him but that he loved us first Most significantly doth John say having loved his own which were in the world All creatures were his by creation John 1. It is said of the wicked He came unto his own and his own received him not But by his own is here meant those whom he chose to be his from Eternity of whom it is said Thine they were John 17. and thou gavest them me He saith further which were in the world lest any should think he spake here of the Angels who also are Christs But he took not the Nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham Heb. 2. Phil. 2. He did not appear in the likeness of an Angell but was found in fashion as a man And it is said in generall having loved his own which were in the world lest any should think that he loved none but his Apostles How he loved his own may be seen by this one thing in that he came down from Heaven for their sake to say nothing of the great tokens of his love which he shewed to them when he was in earth But what meaneth that He loved them to the end It was to shew why Christ took the Cross in his way as he went back again to the Father when he might have returned without danger His love constrained him He saw that his coming down from Heaven was not sufficient unless also he made satisfaction for the sins of men So that he loved them to the end i. e. he persevered in his love 1. First in that he left not loving them even to the death the ungodliness of the Jews did not hinder him he was not disheartened when his own fled from him and denyed him leaving him all alone to suffer by himself 2. He continued his love to them in that death it self did not put an end to it Many waters could not quench it Cant 8. 3. His love to them lasted to the end that is he sheweth signs of it to them in the very last day 4. He loved them to the end that is with the highest and most perfect love than which none could be greater Greater love hath none than that a man lay down his life for his friends which Christ did do John 13. Or 5. He loved them to the end that is he gave not over till be had perfectly saved them sully overcome sin death and all the curses of the Law Now then John doth so singularly commend the love of Christ and set it forth in the beginning or entrance of his Passion and his last Supper 1. To shew that all things which followed after proceeded from nothing but the
the pestle of his Passion and in the press of the Cross that his precious blood might flow forth every way 4. The Manna tasted like Hony Christ is sweet to all that are afflicted having the same smack in the Word and Sacrament 5. Manna pleased every ones palat and relished according to his desire that did taste it In Christ and in the Sacrament every mans desire is answered The sick find health the sinner pardon the Righteous sweetness the afflicted find comfort therein 6. Manna came down from Heaven Christ and this Sacrament are given to us from Heaven That descended with a dew Christ came down with Grace and Truth 7. Manna made all men wonder and admire So this Sacrament is truly most worthy of all admiration 8. The Manna was common to all so is the Sacrament it sufficeth all as the Manna did 9. The Manna fell every day Christ is alwayes with us in the Sacrament even to the end of the world Mat. 28. 10. He that gathered much of the Manna had nothing over and so on the contrary The poorest Believer hath as much as the richest in the Sacrament c. 11. When the Israelites came into the Promised Land the Manna ceased There will be no Sacraments in the world to come We shall have no need of them then For we shall have and see Christ before us when that which is perfect is come that which is imperfect shall be done away 12. Lastly The Manna was said up in the Temple for a Memorial to Posterity The Sacrament continueth for ever in the Church for a memorial of Christ Now concerning the gathering of the Manna the Scripture saith 1. They were commanded to seek it very early in the morning and we are bid to seek the Kingdom of God before all things which is by hearing the Word of God and receiving the Sacraments 2 They gathered it every day so we should never neglect the Sacrament 3. They were to go forth of their tents so we are commanded to go out of the old life and out of all curiosity of sence lest we judge by our sight taste or touch whether the Body of Christ be there or no but we are simply to believe the Word of God 4. They were commanded to gather it not for curiosity but sufficiency so should we do in this Sacrament 5. Lastly They gathered a double proportion on the sixth day because of the Sabbath following Rom. 13. We are commanded not to sleep in this last hour but to provide for the future by the Example of that Steward in the Gospel Luke 16 1. The way to use this Manna was to beat it in a Morter The use of Manna or to grind it in a Mill and so boyl it We should consider the Mysteries of this Sacrament in every piece and fragment of it and receive them with a contrite heart seething them with the fire of divine Love and so rest satisfied with their sweetness 2. As all were not alike affected with the old Manna yea some indeed loathed it so is it now in the Sacrament c. 3. Good and bad did eat of the old Manna but to a different end for many perished in the Wilderness So good and bad receive the Sacrament but some to life others to death c. Christ is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel Luke 2. 4. Lastly The Manna stank and became nothing worth to some This Sacrament doth little good to some nay it is the condemnation of those that receive it unworthily See now how our Manna answereth in all things to that of old and how much more excellent it is then that was for it hath the Fountain of all good essentially in it self nor doth it feed the body only but specially it nourisheth the soul It giveth Eternal Life the old Manna had no such thing Let us then be thankfull and take heed we abuse not this Heavenly bread Hitherto I suppose I have made it clear how expresly the mysteries of this Sacrament were foreshewn in those two figures the Paschal Lamb and Manna Let us here add a third figure the Oblation of Melchisedeck Gen. 17. Heb. 7. of which we read in Genesis for he did most exactly typifie Christ in Name and Office It is said he was without Father without Mother without beginning without end also King of Zedek i. e. of Righteousness and Prince of Salem i. e. of Peace and Priest of the most high God Christ truly and most absolutely had all these Titles And as Melchisedeck brought bread and wine to Abraham when he came from the battel so Christ in his last Supper gave the Sacrament of bread and wine to his Disciples he ordained and instituted it especially for the comfort and refreshment of those who bicker and fight with the Devil And as Melchisedeck first of all offered bread and wine unto God and afterward fed Abraham and his company therewith So this our Sacrament is not only a refreshing of the weak and weary but also a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to be continued to the end of the world This do saith he in remembrance of me 1. Most properly is it called a Sacrifice because the true use of this Sacrament is to offer thanks and praise to God when we receive it 2. Secondly Because here that only sacrifice is represented and as it were set before our eyes even that sacrifice which Christ offered on the Cross whereby the wrath of God was stayed by his crucified Son who putteth him still in mind that he would vouchsafe to be propitious unto us for his death and Passion-sake 3. To say nothing that we by this Sacrament are also put in mind to offer our selves to God as Christ gave himself for us Thus it may fitly be called a sacrifice So then this figure doth every way answer to our Sacrament All this I have spoken the rather to affect us with the greater Faith and Devotion toward that most sacred Supper of our Lord. But enough of that To the Text again And supper being ended the Devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot Simons son John 13.2 to betray him Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he was come from God and went to God verse 3. He riseth from supper and laid aside his garments verse 4. and took a towel and girded himself After that he poureth water into a Bason verse 5. and began to wash the Disciples feet and to wipe them with the Towel wherewith he was girded Here Jesus sheweth his love to his Disciples Surely he could not hate them whose feet he washed Now we may suppose that this thing was not done quite after Supper but as they were yet at supper as may seem first in that t is said He rose from supper Secondly it is said after the washing he sate down again Thirdly t is not said
if he had now essentially some glory which he had not before but because it was now cleared up by the Passion and Resurrection of Christ of which Son God was the Father 2. As also because by the Passion and Resurrection God got him Glory among men whom the world knew not before but now by Christ they knew that he was their Father and Helper c. And lest any should question how Christ came to know so clearly and certainly beforehand that God would glorifie him He answereth If God saith he be glorified by him God also shall glorifie him in himself He cannot doubt of Glory hereafter who glorifieth God now in this life 1 Sam. 2. For that word stands stedfast He that glorifieth me him I will glorifie but they that despise me shall be dishonourable Christ did glorifie God by his Doctrine setting him forth by most worthy and magnificent Titles For Believers now call God Father by Christ whom before they lookt on as a Judge under the Law which condemned sin By Christ he is called our Saviour who before was a condemning Judge On the other hand God also glorifieth Christ bestowing great Titles on him as a Conqueror triumphing over the Law Curse Cross Sin Death Hell and Satan This is that Name above every name Phil. 2. which God the Father hath given to Christ at which every knee should bow c. In the close of this clause Christ saith And shall straightway glorifie him for presently even at the Passion he began to glorifie him with Miracles when the Sun was darkened c. whereby the Centurion and many others knew that he was the Son of God So while he yet hung upon the Cross God heard his prayer for us which is the greatest Glory of Christ See now all along how wisely the Wisdom of God did speak Before he would speak of his suffering and death he premiseth his glorifying 1. lest the Disciples should be too much sadned 2. And lest they should think him utterly lost in his Passion 3. That they also in times of adversity might learn to look at the glory to come and not so much on the present misery Hitherto he spake of his future glory Now consequently he begins to speak of his death but very sweetly for the comfort of his Disciples whom he knew would be exceeding sorrowfull at his death For as a good son doth not so much delight himself in the succession of a great Inheritance as not to mourn for his Fathers death So although the Disciples were sure that the death of Christ would be of great advantage and give a large Inheritance yet they could not but be much grieved for his death Therefore he speaks of his death with as sweet words as possibly he could 1. And first he calls them Children to shew his Fatherly grace of Love toward them 2. And withall to shew the fruit of his Passion By his Passion and Death we have right to be called 1 John 3. and to be the sons of God Therefore we never read before that he called them children but now when he was about to suffer and die Nor doth he simply call them children but little children which is a sign of greater affection because of the tenderness of love and because as yet they were but weak and tender Babes They were children when they were grown strong and armed with the Holy Spirit But now because they were fearfull and not able to follow their Father they are called little Children or Babes Gal. 4. So Paul calleth the Galatians little children because they were weak in the Faith and had yet need of milk But what is it then that Christ would say to these his so much beloved little ones Yet a little saith he and I am with you And 't was but a little while indeed but till he who went forth but just now was gone to the Jews and came again with a band of Souldiers and the Priests servants He was then presently apprehended condemned to die and executed from which time he might say now I shall be no longer with you unless I come to see you again and stay an hour with you This he thus said 1. That they might more enjoy him whilst they had him 2. And that what he spake at his going away might take the deeper impression in their hearts But it must not be so understood that Christ went away for good and all and is now no more in the world when elswhere he saith expresly Lo Matth. 28. I am with you all the dayes even to the consummation of the Age. The meaning then is yet a little while I am with you in this visible and mortall body as hitherto I have been Henceforth indeed I shall be with you but not as formerly not visibly not mortal not as a stranger in this world but as a Prince and a Father of that which is to come And would ye know what shall become of you Ye shall seek me q.d. ye shall be sadly grieved for my departure and with great anguish and thought of heart ye shall earnestly desire my presence because both Jews and Gentiles will most furiously abuse you At that time ye shall seeke me and desire my assistance This he saith not to affright them but to prepare their minds for the trouble they should meet with As a cruel beast if he should suddenly rush upon a man would not only terrifie but tear him being unarmed and unprovided but if a man see him and be aware of his coming he will arm and fit himself so that he shall do him little or no hurt at all So when temptations and trials are foreshewn and foreseen they do less disturb and trouble us Hence saith David I made hast c. Psal 119.60 Paratus sum non sum turbatus saith the vulgar reading I was ready and not troubled By this we see that the whole life of a Believer in this world is nothing but sighings groanings and a longing desire after Christ The godly mourn like Doves in this world and say Cant. 5.6 My soul melted when my beloved spake I sought him and found him not c. And lest any should say if we shall speed no better why dost not take us along with thee It were better for us to go with thee than be left here behind all alone Whither I go saith he ye cannot yet come q.d. I am going to suffer and ye cannot follow me thither because of your infirmity You had need be first endowed with power from the High One. Again I go to the Father but as yet you cannot follow me thither for the door is shut I must first open it for you with the Key of my Death But what shall become of us the while how shall we bear or escape the present hatred and envy of the world and be able when the time doth come to follow thee
recourse to God And not only so but he sheweth also the best way of praying For 1. first he with-drew from the Apostles He that will pray must go into his Chamber Mat. 6. 2. Secondly He kneeleth down yea falleth on his face Prayer ought to be made in humility So much the more humble so much the sooner it peirceth Heaven and is heard 3. Thirdly He doth not pray once only but often nor did he give over till the Angel comforted him Teaching us thereby to persevere in prayer 4. Fourthly He prayed in assurance therefore he did so sweetly repeat the name of Father He that believeth not let him not think to receive any thing James 1. 5. Fifthly He committeth all to God We must not prescribe time or manner unto God 6. Lastly Peter James and John were not far from him by whom those three vertues are signified which are necessary for every one that prayeth to wit Faith by Peter Courage by James and the Grace of God by John As often then O Christian as Satan tempteth thee remember this Garden and this prayer of Christ in the Garden Avoid the tumults of men go a little aside kneel down fall on thy face for by these gestures the faithfull express the servency of their mind and that they have no hope counsell or help in the world but only in God open thy mouth and utter words from thy heart lay open thy anguish and pain before God with sighs and supplications against the violence and wrongs of Satan Here thy sorrow and anguish of heart will do thee no harm Yea though it afflict thy body a little it will do thy soul good But remember to temper thy prayer so even as Christ here did who in all humility threw himself upon the ground and as man he resigned and offered himself wholly to the Will of God that the Father should do with him as he pleased Thou also pray for what thou wilt cry intreat make known thy wants but conclude alway as here Not mine but thy will be done for thou knowest best what is good and profitable for me Believe me our prayer is well accepted if it be granted to us according to the will of God The Evangelists do not without cause so diligently set down this that Christ put the whole event of his Prayer in the will of God If Christ did thus whose will yet was not divided from the will of his Father nor could he will any thing but what the Father willed how much more ought we to do so whose will most commonly is against and resisteth the will of God To say nothing how pernitious and destructive for the most part it would be to us if God should alwayes grant us what we desire The will of our flesh is not good but that which the Spirit willeth in us cannot be evil because the Spirit is not evil Briefly Let the Prayer of Jesus be the Form and Pattern of our Prayer Let him teach us how to pray as he shew'd us how to suffer Let us now weigh the words First he saith in the Chalde Tongue Abba which in Latine is as much as Pater Father and this name he doubleth It is a great comfort in affliction to believe that God is our Father and that our troubles come upon us by his good pleasure 1 Cor. 11. So Paul when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with this world Heb. 12. Again Yee have not yet resisted unto blood and ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as children Prov. 3. my son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord c. Secondly He saith If it be possible and all things are possible unto thee Here none doubteth but that God to speak absolutely could have restored man some other way than by the death of his Son but this was the way which from Eternity was resolved on and therefore it must be that Christ should dye And it was not without reason why God should be best pleased with that way For 1. Divine Justice must be satisfied We deserv'd to be punisht but God the Father set his Son in our stead who could owe nothing upon his own score and therefore might make the fuller satisfaction As the person of Christ was more pleasing to God than all other men so his Passion merited more than all ours can do 2. God therefore made choyce of this way to redeem mankind that he might make his power known For he did not defend Christ against his strong enemy yet he overcame him 3. That he might make his love so much the more manifest to us to provoke our love 1 John 4. In this was his love manifest that he sent his Son c. Wicked men prate that God took no pains to create them But here let them consider that they were not easily Redeemed Christ took a great deal of care and pains to make man a great debtor to him in much love and that he might become more thankfull by the difficulty of his Redemption who was grown so cold in his devotion because of the easiness of his creation God made all things and man among the rest in six dayes but he was full three and thirty years working out our Salvation in the midst of the earth See how justly we may be complained of who lightly esteem this greatest Token of Love whereby we exceedingly provoke his wrathfull indignation against us Whereas Christ prayeth that the Cup might pass from him by the Cup he meaneth his Passion 1. For as much drinking makes men drowsie so Christs Passion made him sleep in Death 2. Or as free drinking makes men jocund so the sufferings of Christ make us above all things most cheerfull in that it brought everlasting Salvation to us In this sense the Cup is taken elswhere I will take the Cup of salvation c. Again Psalm 116. Can yee drink of the Cup that I shall drink of Mat. 20. But thou wilt say was not Christ willing to suffer Or did he suffer against his will in that he prayes here against the Cup of his Passion Far be it from us so to think How could he be unwilling to suffer who at his last Supper said that the blood of his Body was to be shed for the Remission of sins Mat. 26. Who also said I lay down my life for my sheep John 10. And reply'd to Peter when he disswaded him from suffering Get thee behind me Satan for thou savourest not the things of God Matth. 16. We say that Christ did not suffer unwillingly but freely of his own voluntary consent as his Prayer concludes Thy will be done He prayed that if it were possible the Cup might pass from him 1. First to shew that he was a true man who by Nature is afraid of Death As there are divers affections in man to wit
with the late miracle which he saw when Christ with a word hurl'd all his enemies to the ground and not thinking of Christs answer draws his sword and falls about him as if he would valiantly perform what he promised Who would not take Peter for a very stout and valiant man that durst signly incounter such a company of armed men If we consider him carnally then he did notably discharge his Engagement that he would die with Christ Did he not lay down his life for Christ when he hazarded it in charging an army of men But his Lord did not so construe it Peter did this more out of carnal confidence than of spiritual faith Now indeed he was bold so long as he saw a divine Power in Christ but presently after Christ hid his Power Peters courage quickly grew cold Whence 't is plain that this his valour proceeded not from faith if it had it would have held out in danger For Faith is most couragious in difficulties There was love and zeal in Peter but not according to knowledge Christians are forbid to fight Mat. 5. If we would overcome the world it must be with another kind of weapon we can do little or nothing with a corporal sword Peter saw that the sons of Zebedee were chid for saying Master Wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume these Samaritans as Elias did Luke 9.54 Know ye not saith he of what spirit ye are of The son of man came not to destroy but to save mens lives This Peter heard and yet now he layes about him as if he would kill them all if he could The flesh ever loves fighting it seeks to revenge it self Peter did not yet understand that Christ must suffer Nay he did not know that Martial Discipline was never taught in the school of Christ but that patient submission was alwayes learned there Whereas Peter did that servant no more hurt no thanks to Peters good will but to Christs goodness who useth to do good to unworthy and unthankfull men otherwise fire from Heaven might more justly have consumed this servant or the earth have swallowed him up alive But whereas Peter did in special cut off this servants ear it was not by chance but by the Providence of God and that not without a Mysterie too 1. For First It signified that the Jews should from henceforth lose the true and right hearing or obedience of the Law and Prophets and should interpret all things in a wrong and not in a right sense which also is come to pass 2. But secondly Whereas Christ healed that servant it shewed that in due time they should be inlightned again by Christ when the fulness of the Gentiles was come in Rom. 11. 3. Thirdly Whereas he whose ear was cut off was the servant of the high Preist it she weth that this sort of men viz. the Parasites of great persons have for the most part but one ear only and that the left one whence it is that they only hear and report to their Masters those things only which are false wicked worldly c. but they will neither hearken to nor tell their Lords the truth the Word of God the Righteousness and good service of others 4. But lastly Whosoever is an enemy to Christ hath but one ear for he understandeth all things in a wrong sense and never cometh to the light of Truth The name also of this servant is exprest because of the miracle that was wrought on him in curing his ear again But let us return again to Peter who was now fallen under the power of the sword because he had taken up the sword And no doubt but he had felt the force of other swords if Christ had not protected him by his divine Power What doth Christ therefore do He reproved Peter and forbids him to use any such force or violence and that with many Arguments for Peter by this fact was many wayes to be reproved 1. First because every private person is forbid to use the sword 2. Secondly Because having been so long in the school of Christ he should have learned that the weapons of our warfar are spiritual mighty through God 2 Cor. 10. 3. Thirdly He was an Apostle yea the chief of the Apostles whose duty is to save not to destroy 4. Lastly Peter was most blame worthy in that he gave the first blow before any hurt was done either to him or to Christ Therefore Christ doth justly blame him more than the rest He speaks but one word to the rest Suffer ye thus far saith he q.d. It is a great work of Charity to preserve the life of our Neighbour and to defend him from violence but there is another business now in hand My Father hath appointed me to suffer and to die Let me alone therefore that I may suffer and accomplish those things which the Father hath determined to do by me for the salvation of men Suffer ye yet that I may be apprehended and perfect the work of your Redemption this he said to the other Disciples But he saith more to Peter at first Put up thy sword into his place q.d. Knowest thou not that I did chide thee before and called thee Satan for this very thing Mat. 16. Do not hinder my death but rather study to conform to it Throw away this thy sword with which thou dost kill and slay men My sword which I gave thee doth destroy and cut down sin but preserveth men Put up therefore that outward sword into the sheath or as the other Evangelists say into its place Now the proper place of the material sword is the ordinary Power Therefore hide thy sword here Let that Power use it not thou If the body be sick the Physitian is to cure it not the Plow-man So if any thing be amiss in the Mystical or rather the Politick body it concerns the Power to deal with it not every private person 1. Christ then doth hereby forbid all revenge to private persons as it is written Vengeance is mine I will repay it Deut. 32. 2. Secondly He teacheth us to overcome evil with good according to that Mat. 5. Ye have heard that it hath been said An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth But I say unto you Do good to them that hate you Christians ought not to defend themselves with swords and staves but with Humility Patience Gentleness Courtesies Learn of me saith he for I am meek and lowly in heart Mat. 11. 3. Again Christ doth hereby condemn our wrath and impatience who cannot put up and pass by a hasty word nor be content to requite with the like loss but must revenge our selves double and trebble contrary to that of Paul Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good Rom. 12. 4. Fourthly We are here taught that the Gospel is not to be fought for with worldly weapons and
men laid hold on him And he left the linen cloath and fled from them naked Here we see what great cruelty was exercised in the taking of Christ at which the very pillars of Heaven shaked when they saw it For if they had not dealt so barbarously with him the Apostles would not have fled so suddenly from him Doubtless they were very unwilling to forsake their Lord but the excessive cruelty terrified and overcame them So that Christ is left alone amongst his enemies who before was guarded with his Disciples when the people honoured him Now was fulfilled that which he spake before concerning smiting the Shepheard and scattering the flock Now that was fulfilled which he spake elswhere The world shall rejoyce but ye shall be sorrowfull Surely this was a very sad and dolefull parting of the Apostles when these holy men were forc'd to forsake him for whom they had forsaken all things No doubt but they did often look back and make their moan to Heaven with weeping eyes Nor this did flight and scattering of the Disciples whom he so dearly loved a little encrease the Passion of Christ he having as it were born them thus long in his Bosom Can a Mother forget her child saith he Isa 49. though she may yet will not I forget thee Here then might Christ say as David long since in his person wailingly warbled Lover and Friend hast thou put far from me and mine acquaintance into darkness Psalm 88.18 Again My lovers and friends stand aloof from my sore they that seek my life lay snares Psalm 38. And again Reproach hath broken my heart and I am full of heaviness and I looked for some to take pitty but there was none and for comforters but I found none Psalm 69. And in Isa 63. I have trodden the Winepress alone and of the Nations there was not a man with me So in Job 19. Mine acquaintance are utterly estranged from me 1. Here then we see how true David and Paul spake when they said all men were lyars but God only was true Psal 116. Rom. 3. The Apostles promised with great vehemency that they would never be offended at Christ But Christ on the contrary had told them before that they should all be offended because of him Who was now the Lyar It is a lively picture of persecution when any is cast into bonds by the Magistrate and none will own him In a rainy day men sit alone without company Tempora si suerint nubula solus eris but when the Sun shines we have many visiters 2. By this flight of the Disciples we see what man is if God with-hold his hand It is most true what Christ saith Without me ye can do nothing Joh. 15. Again Except the Lord build the house they labour in vain that build it Psal 127.1 So what Christ said to his Disciples at Supper Whither I go ye cannot follow me yet Joh. 13.33 3. Let the godly hence learn to call upon God from the bottom of his heart when they are in imminent danger Lord save us we perish Without his help we cannot hold out Again if we have done any good let us say Not unto us O Lord not unto us bnt unto thy name give the praise Psal 115. 4. Learn we also to take it patiently if friends forsake us in our necessity What befell Christ may also happen to us So saith the wise man Some friend is a companion at the Table and will not continue in the day of thy affliction Eccl. 6.10 5. Let us not for the fear of man forsake Christ or righteousness and truth but if it chance that we should flee being overcome with any lust or fear let us not despair but with the Apostles timely return to Christ again by repentance Let us return I say without delay lest we out-slip our time 6. But above all let us pray that we never be separated from Christ Now whereas Mark doth here annex the history of the young man on whom the enemies of Christ laid hold this was done to shew that there is no age or time exempted from the Cross so long as the Power of Darkness reigneth but all must suffer as was plain enough to be seen in those children of Bethlehem that were slain for Christ Mat. 2. as also in Joseph heretofore when he was yet but young Gen. 37. But who that young man was the text doth not express nor can any easily determine nor doth it much matter Yet Theophylact is of opinion that it was one of that house where Christ supt that night But two things Mark writeth of this young man whosoever he was 1. That the other young men endeavoured to lay hold of him It had been a shame for the ancient men to pursue and run after children They signifie therefore such boyes as were ill bred whose Parents were too indulgent to them and let them do what they listed letting loose their reins to all wickedness and never correcting or restraining them from their evil and lewd courses as here no man checkt these sawcy fellows from laying hands on this harmless young lad Such were those boys who mockt Elisha 2 King 2. though they scaped Scot-free from man yet God met with them with a witness 2. It is said of this young man that he left his linnen clothes and fled away naked chusing rather to be stript stark naked than to be apprehended by them Thus Joseph fled from his adulteress Mistris and left his cloak behinde him Gen. 39. He that would escape the hands of wicked men must leave the things of the world to the world and follow Jesus with all his heart Christians ought to leave all for the Kingdom of heaven much more their linnen raggs It follows in the Text And they led him away to Annas first for he was Father in law of Caiaphas which was the High Priest that same year Joh. 18.13 Now Caiaphas was he that gave counsel to the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people We have attentively heard how the Lord Christ was taken by wicked men whereto also he willingly yeelded himself as knowing what great good would thence arise to all men Those night-warriours could do no more but take binde and lead him away It was not their work to murther him for so the Princes had resolv'd that he should be brought to them alive And this they did 1. That none should say he was put to death unjustly Therefore they would first hear him under colour of judging him justly 2. They determined to send his whole Answer to the Roman Court But they had no purpose to release him if he had answered never so well but were fully resolv'd to put him to death For dead men cannot bite They stood in aw of him whilst he lived because he reproved their hatred The good God keep all Governours from following this example They did not presently put Christ to death at
life to glorifie that Christ which the Jews contemned c. Here endeth the second Part of our Lords Passion Here beginneth the third Part of the Passion of our Lord. Dearly beloved Brethren I See an earnest desire encreaseth in your to hear more of the Passion of our Lord And there is as fervent a desire kindled in us to treat yet further of the same Subject Although I confess ingennously that your devotion doth deserve such a Preacher who is able and can tell how by the sound of his voyce to pierce so into your souls and so to quicken and rouze ye up as that you may yet stand more strangely amazed at this unparallel'd Fact and suffer all your inward parts to break forth even to a flood of tears Christians should be most of all affected with the Passion and sufferings of our Lord especially seeing all that was done was done for us This we believe for a truth therefore we may well be moved at it God grant that we be not only moved with the Passion of Christ but edified too and also strengthened with patience to undergo the like We have finished two parts already come we now to the third part of Christs Passion to wit from the evening to the night and from the night to that joyfull and happy day of our Redemption For this day will shew us the Judgement of death passed upon the innocent blood yet for our eternal salvation Thus far then we have seen that fulfilled in Christ which he prophesied of by David Many bulls have compassed me strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round Psal 22.12 By these Calves and Bulls which were counted clean creatures are meant the Jews who first fastened upon Christ and were the prime Authors of his sufferings Now you shall hear how that was fulfilled in Christ which David in the same Psalm presently addeth Many dogs compassed me about These dogs were the Gentiles who finished those sufferings of Christ which the Jews had begun You shall bear I say what Christ suffered afterward from the Gentiles Wo unto all High Priests Scribes Priests Pharisees Elders of the Jews c. who sat in this Council and by this Councill delivered up Jesus to the civil Magistrate as one guilty and worthy of death For so saith the Text When the morning was come Mat. 27 1. all the chief Priests and Scribes and the Elders of the people and the whole Council Mar. 15.1 came together Luke 22 66. against Jesus to put him to death And led him into their Council saying Art thou the Christ Tell us And he said unto them if I tell you you will not believe and if I also ask you you will not answer me nor let me go Hereafter shall the son of Man sit on the right hand of the power of God Then said they all Art thou then the Son of God And he said unto them ye say that I am And they said what need we any further witnesses for we our selves have heard of his own mouth And the whole multitude of them arose Luke 23.1 and led Jesus bound from Caiaphas into the Hall of Judgement and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the Governour Matth. 27.2 John 18.28 All these things yet passed in the house of Caiaphas The Council held all night But toward the morning it grew more hot and fierce and they now flock together in swarms For now the news of Christ being taken was noysed all abroad Their rage encreased and the better Christ answered the more outragious were they The more patiently he bore their injuries the more they vexed at him Therefore as soon as it was day-light they consult again what was requisite to be done These prying busie-bodies mist their aym and this Nocturnal and dark Council came short of sufficient evidence to accuse him as guilty of death before Pilate Although there were men and they wise ones too yea enemies yet could they not invent or forge any thing so much as like a crime against the innocency of Christ and his Gospel which they sought to condemn and cut off He confessed that he was the Son of God but that was not a sufficient cause or ground enough to accuse him before a Pagan Judge and an Idolater Therefore they call the Council together again if peradventure they might find out something more certainly whereof to accuse him before the Governour Christ therefore is brought bound again before them that so they might even satiate and glut their wicked cruel and greedy eyes at least by gazing and staring upon his misery For as the affectionate force and strength of love is not satisfied with one glance or look nor contented with one address to its beloved one so the rancour of malice still â—…steth to exercise yet more revenge on him whom it hateth â—…is morning then was not the rising but the setting of the true Light unto the Jews nor did the wonted day break forth before their eyes and shine upon them but a night of black darkness and blindness covered and fell upon them This morning threw down their Temple and Altar cut off their Prophets took from them their Kingdom and Priesthood and turned all their Festivals into an eternal lamentation and wo and that justly too forasmuch at that day they began their barbarous and bloody Counsel like mad dogs and savage beasts that they might deliver the Author of Life and Lord of Glory unto death They press it therefore upon him further and urge him yet once more whether he were the Christ and the Messiah They knew that the Messias was so promised in the Scriptures that he should be the King of Israel which if Christ had confessed then they knew they should have just cause to accuse him for a Traytor and as one that intended to rebell against Caesar Now as this question Whether Jesus was the Christ held in debate all night untill the morning so is it yet canvassed and doth still remain doubtfull with the Jews This is it that is the scruple now and doth most perplex and trouble them viz. who and where the Messias should be and when he should come c. But they Quere to no purpose forasmuch as they would neither believe nor receive this Jesus of Nazareth to be that Messias As for our part we need not question any such thing for we believe and know that he is the true Christ and Messias Matth. 11. Nor do we or ever will we believe any other Matth. 24. Christ therefore when he was asked again makes almost the same answer as he did before except what Luke addeth that he said this more If I tell you you will not believe and if I ask you ye will not answer me nor let me go This wise and well contrived evasion doth sufficiently hint out what wicked Judges were in this Council such as would hear nothing that was just and true and who knew nothing but how to oppress and condemn To what
end should he multiply words to such cruel minded men who intended nothing but mischief to him A man shall get nothing of such men nor prevail any thing with them no though God himsâ—… were his Advocate to plead for him For thou wilt be compelled to be not what thou art but what they feign and fancy thee to be So that thou hast need of nothing but patience to deal with such men No good could have been expected from them although Christ had spoken never so excellently of the Incarnate Word surely nothing but scorn and blasphemy had come of it and consequently greater wrath and rage in these furious men And it had been to as little purpose if he had askt them about those Prophetical Scriptures none of them would or could have answered him What did they answer him when he askt them about Johns Baptism Matth. 21. And so concerning the son of David and of that verse in the Psalms The Lord said to my Lord c. Also when he asked them whether it was lawfull to heal on the Sabbath Day Mat. 22. Luke 14. Christ must answer either as one accused or ask as one contriving his defence The belief of his Judges was requisite to his answer but to his question their answer only was sufficient But in this Council Christ had neither credit given to his words nor an answer to his questions why they should he speak much especially seeing he knew that they were peremptorily and obstinately resolved to kill him and never more to let him scape alive out of their hands And indeed how should they believe the words of Jesus who would not believe his Divine Works which were more effectual to perswade Therefore this was a time to keep silence so that he answered nothing but Ye say so by which reply he doth send them again to their own consciences Besides he doth thereby again inculcate that they must come to judgement for what they did Hereafter saith he the son of Man shall sit c. q.d. I shall say no more but this the time will come when ye shall see me Judge you and all the world though now you most unjustly Judge me At this they made a fearfull and hideous out-cry again What need we any further witness we our selves have heard out of his own mouth And what was it O ye blind and wicked men which ye did hear from his own mouth I dare say you heard no blasphemy come out of his mouth for which he deserved death but an awfull reverence of Gods Name for which he was much to be honoured and will ye for all that pass sentence of death against him Are ye so forward to commit that grand sin even to murther the innocent Son of God O ye High Priests and sons of Aaron what 's become of your Unction now Where is your Clemency Have ye cast away all pity and compassion from you David could not go forward with the Temple because he had shed the blood of enemies and dare ye who offer Sacrifices daily ye that so swell and are puffed up with such a conceit of sanctity who glory in the sanctimony of your life and height of honour how dare you I say to pass sentence upon that most innocent and spotless one the very Fountain of life as one worthy of death Herod who was a stranger and otherwise a very bloody beast yet gave him more reverence then ye and would not pollute his hands with the blood of this harmless man Pilate also that barbarous bruit was terribly afraid and excused himself and washt his hands from his blood But you and shall like your holiness you holy high Priests affirm that he is guilty of death O the Religion O the Righteousness that shines in you Doubtless the very Heathen and the Samaritans will be your Judges Nay out of your own mouth shall ye be judged how much your ungodliness hath beed more cruell then the unrighteousness of Herod and Pilate But let us leave those vile men and proceed The conclusion of that bloody Counsell was Jesus of Nazareth doth deserve to die The reason is because he proved himself to be the Messias and the Son of the living God who is blessed for ever and that by the very Testimony of their own consciences besides the Signs and Wonders which he had wrought This was the Judgement which was given by those holy Pharisees at Jerusalem in that Counsell And now they have no need of any more evidence For they carryed their own cause but Jesus lost his Wherefore they hale him out of hand before the secular Court and set him before the Roman Governour bound with cords chained spit on and therefore irrevocably determined to be worthy of death the scullions and rafscallions with a great concourse and clamour of the people egging on against him that it might be fulfilled which Christ said Mat. 20. The son of man shall be delivered to the chief Priests and they shall condemn him to death and shall deliver him to the Gentiles This they now fulfill The whole multitude saith he arose c. viz. to set the fairer gloss upon the proceedings that their cause might seem to be the more just and honest Then they present him bound to the Governour thereby to shew that they had condemned him already They carry all things with much pomp and state that so they might the better cloak their hatred and malice Lo here he that came to loose all mens bonds is now the third time bound himself He is often bound and manicled because we had many fetters and chains which he was to break with his bonds Here then let us a little remember and consider our selves For as Christ is here brought to his Judgement and Trial for life and death by one consent and with great rejoycing of his Adversaries without any mercy or pity without all hope of acquitment or release no man owning him or opposing the sentence against him so should we have been brought before Gods dreadfull Tribunal if Christ had not put himself in our place and stood in our stead Wherefore if thou wouldst stand with boldness in Gods Judgement cast thy self on Christ by Faith For without him none can stand before God in the day of Judgement For no man living is justified or found righteous before God Psalm 143.2 Let us therefore follow our Lord Christ also as he was tossed too and fro from Caiaphas to Pilate from the spiritual Court to the civil Magistrate from the Jews to the Gentiles from the wicked to the ungodly from the superstitious to the Idolaters Nor is there any cause why we should be afraid All things shall work for our good in the end But first let us hear what end Judas came to who was the Ring-leader and incendi ary of all this mischief It follows in Matthew Then Judas which betrayed him Mat. 27.3 when he saw that he was condemned repented himself and brought again
q d. the evidence and clearness of the Fact committed needs no further accusation Do thou Justice there 's no need of any more examination Dost thou question our righteousness Dost thou think we will not do Justice Dost not see who and what we are who have brought this man bound before thee Is this all the respect thou givest to the Priests of the most High God Dost thou make no difference betwixt us and the common Rabble Do not think that we would bring one before thee that were not guilty of death Thou mayst see how strictly we keep the Law for we will not so much as come into thy house we dare not tred within thy doors Nor think thou that we have done any thing in this matter either out of envy or hatred or too precipitate without deliberation and good advice We have considered all things and finde that he doth deserve to die thou hast nothing to do but to pronounce Sentence For if he were not a malefactor c. O the hypocrisie O the lyes and malice of these men Should things be thus carryed Is this to execute Justice Is every prisoner a malefactor and guilty of death Who sees not that they distrust the goodness of their Cause Therefore 1. They go about to blind and delude the Judge with vain and empty words lest they should be put upon it to prove him a malefactor Consider well O Christian the malice of these men They would fain seem to be just and righteous even against the check of their own conscience as if they had never attempted any such thing and never went about to destroy any but a Malefactor when t is evident that they were the men that did most unjustly put all the Prophets to death 2. In this also they shew their malice in that they would have Christ cut off before he was examined or convicted nay they think him not worthy that the Judge should so much as give him audience or that he should be tryed according to any Rule of Law 3. They openly charge him as a Malefactor before the common Barr and in the face of the open Court who had healed all their sick Ask the Lepers whom he cleansed and the blind whose sight he restored c. whether he were a Malefactor c. But thus it is written They rewarded me evil for good and hatred for my love Psalm 35. Again For my love they are my Adversaries but I prayed for them Psalm 109 Christ did here truly pray even when he held his peace considering with himself our sins for which he suffered all this wrong But Pilate being now incensed and moved with some chollar at such proud and unrighteous expressions cryes out to them again Take ye him and judge him after your own Law as if he had said if he be a Malefactor as you say he is but do not prove it why then put your own Law in execution against him The Roman Laws prohibit me to condemn any man before he hath a full hearing Truly Pilate the Law of Moses did enjoyn the same too but so it is by the malice of these men that the Heathens Laws are now prefer'd before the Law of God The Jews very well know it from Exod. 23. and we also know the same from the words of Nicodemus that the Law of Moses judgeth no man untill he be first heard and convinced John 7. But see how they evade it It is not lawfull for us say they to put any man to death Well but who then I pray put Stephen to death Act. 7. What Authority put him to death Therefore they lye grosly Was not this to put Christ to death when they delivered him up to be sentenced to die and laboured with all importunity to have him put to death But they would have him put to death by the laws of Rome that so as well they as their laws might be acquitted from doing any such thing Their Law was to stone to death but the Roman Law was to crucifie This is that they would have They would not barely have Christ put to death but they would have it done with the greatest reproach shame that might be Nor did it so fall out by chance or by their consultation but that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled when he certainly foretold that he should be delivered to the Gentiles and be crucified by them Mat. 20. Christ also had said that the Son of man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the Serpent John 3.12 Again When I am lifted up I will draw all unto me Joh. 12. And again When the son of man shall be lifted up then shall ye know that I am he John 8. Now when the Jews perceived that they should miss their aym and that there was no good to be done with Pilate unless they brought some Accusation and certain proof of clear crimes against Christ They began to accuse him of many things Luke 23.2 Mar. 15.3 saying we found this fellow perverting our Nation and forbidding to give Tribute to Caesar saying that he himself is Christ a King Then Pilate entred into the Judgement Hall again and called Jesus and said unto him Art thou the King of the Jews John 18.33 Jesus answered standing before him Mat. 27.11 Sayest thou this thing of thy self or did others tell it thee of me Pilate answered am I a Jew thine own Nation and the chief Priests have delivered thee unto me what hast thou done Jesus answered my Kingdom is not of this World If my Kingdom were of this World then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews but now is my Kingdom not from hence Pilate therefore said unto him Art thou a King then Jesus answered thou sayest that I am a King To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the World that I might bear witness unto the Truth every one that is of the Truth heareth my voyce Pilate saith unto him what is Truth And when he had said this he went out again unto the Jews and saith unto them I find in him no fault at all And they were the more fierce saying he stirreth up the people teaching throughout all Jury beginning from Galilee to this place Luke 23.5 This was Christs first examination in Pilates Court where the Jews Accusations are first laid down Lest thou shouldst think O Pilate say they that we have nothing to lay to this mans charge hear we pray thee what just cause we have to hate and abhor him He is a seducer of the Nation the Author of all mutinies he fâ—ribids men to pay Custom and Tribute he calls himself King of the Jews which is no less then high Treason against his Imperial Majesty And is not this crime and cause enough against him What wouldst thou have more Every one of these Accusations is sufficient to condemn him Here thou seest O Christian how truly David said The
in the use of Temporal things For those things which were given only to be used in these the world place their love and confidence Christ by reproving this falsity bare witness to the Truth 2. The Jews erred in a wrong understanding of the Law The Gentiles were deceived by their Idolatry 3. Christ in reprehending bearing down both their errors did bear witness to the Truth Well then might he say that therefore he came to that end was he born For this cause saith he I became man for this purpose am I now here that errour iniquity may be destroyed that truth and righteousness may raign This I do and this I will do it is and ever shall be my business to beat down keep under and crush the Devil that God alone may be exalted and Raign If thou therefore art a child of Truth if thou dost love the Truth if thou desirest nothing but the Truth thou wilt hear my Voyce with joy and gladness For I am Truth it self and can speak and teach nothing but the Truth Which thing we that are Christians and are of the Truth do not only believe it but are also the thing it self The Voyce of Christ is Truth which abideth for ever yea though Moses Jupiter Mahomet Hereticks and Antichrist die nay Tyberius and Pilate too yet this liveth for ever Therefore every one that is of the Truth heareth my Voyce Hereby teaching us who they be that belong to his Kingdom He doth not say every one that truly is or hath truly a being for the Devil and wicked men have truly a being but he saith he that is of the Truth A lye is that which is not or is not manifest Adam is not the World is not He then that is of Adam of man or of the World is of a lye He is of the truth that loveth the constant truth that seeketh the everlasting Good that thirsteth after Righteousness and eternal Life This is he that heareth my Voyce this is he that belongeth to my Kingdom and one that subjecteth himself to my Government Christ therefore is no Lord and King to those who covet Riches aspire to the Honours of this world and hunt after pleasures Nor is he their King who are mutinous and raise seditions but he is their King who thirst for Righteousness earnestly breath after the Celestial Joy and willingly hear and obey the Truth From all which it is plain and evident that Christ had not at all offended against Caesar When Christ had given so high a commendation of the truth Pilate being somewhat moved and taken therewith and as an Ethnick to whom such things were somewhat uncouth he asked Jesus what was Truth An excellent question indeed if it had proceeded from his heart and that he had been in earnest For what is more profitable and pleasant to search after then the truth All the world invocateth the truth as we read 1 Esdras 4. Yea wicked men themselves though they be lyars and false yet will press others to speak the truth and would not be cheated and deceived Much more beautifull is truth in spirituall things But Pilate did not ask this question heartily but as it were scornfully and disdainfully as if he had said Dost thou broach any other truth then what your High Priests and our Priests teach Thou hast said enough and more then enough there 's no need of any more at this time I came not hither to hear a Sermon There are other matters in hand We have more Irons in the fire Wicked men loath nothing more then the Word of God and those things that tend to their good and salvation here they stand upon thorns and think long ere they be at liberty 1. Pilate should have been warmed and encouraged by Christs Word But he was no more moved then if he had offered Gold or most Orient Pearls to a blind man he was as blind as a beetle the Sun was darkness to him He whose understanding is darkened cannot discern the splendor of Truth which darts the rays of its lustre into the minds of the godly Pilate indeed was not worthy to hear an answer to his question He heard enough if he would have believed it 2. But Christ would no longer linger out his Passion And what need was there to enquire what was truth Lo Christ that stood there present was and is the Truth Whatever Idolatrous Priests trifle about Vertue or the Jewish High Priests teach concerning fleshly righteousness they are all but lyes nothing but Christ and the Gospel only is Truth and what follows and is drawn by consequence from the Gospel But Pilate having not received an answer to his mind went out to the Jews again He supposed that the Laws of Caesar would have served his turn and that he needed no other knowledge of the truth Secondly He perceived that this did not much concern the case in hand Thirdly He saw the Jews were in haste and t was no time to talk any longer with Christ For the Jews were afraid lest Christ should mollifie the mind of the Judge with his words which they knew were very efficacious and penetrating Lastly He had now learned by experience that there was nothing in Christ whereby he might defend himself if he were put to death and complaint thereof should be made to Caesar against him for his unjust punishment for the Prince of all just men and the King of Righteousness had put on Righteousness for a Brest-plate and true Judgement for an Helmet and equity for an invincible Bâ—…kler that no man could by any means catch him in his words Therefore he who first went forth that he might hear some Accusation against him doth now go out to excuse Jesus before his Accusers I find saith he no fault in this man Here we find again a civil Righteousness in Pilate For 1. Although there were rich and potent men on one hand from whom he might hope for gain or fear some loss but Christ was all alone a poor man quite cast off by all his friends from whom he saw no ground to expect any advantage or fear any detriment yet he takes Christs part against the Jews which is the duty of a Righteous judge though such be rare to be found Whence it is that the Princes of the Jews are so often reproved for not judging the cause of the Fatherless Isa 1. Therefore Moses would have such Judges that hated covetousness Exod. 23. For bribes will make men blind Hence it is that Judges are so often call'd upon to fear the Lord Be instructed ye that judge the earth serve the Lord in fear Psalm 2. 2. Pilate doth not only take his part and stand for Christ but he doth clearly confound his Adversaries by proclaiming him guiltless and that after he had throughly examined the whole business although they had bound him as a Felon and one that deserved to die 3. He doth plainly prove them lyers
such a Rogue before Christ 1. Now Barabbas signifieth a Son of the Father that is of the Devil or Antichrist for according to Matthew he was not simply but notoriously wicked He was a seditious fellow a Thief and a Murtherer Hence Peter saith ye desired a Murtherer to be granted to you and have killed the Prince of Life Act. 3. 2. Barabbas also may be interpreted the son of a multitude or the son of a Master For he had the same Father to be his Master which taught Iudas to betray his Lord. 3. He is truly a son of the multitude that is a son of the World To this fellow then is Christ likened and compared the most innocent man with the most notorious robber yea the most precious Son of God with the very child of the Devil himself This was figured forth by the two Goats under the Law upon which the Priest Levit. 16. was commanded to cast Lots which should be slain and which should be the scape-Goat Barabbas was that one stinking Goat the other Goat was Christ who according to his innocency was a Lamb but according to our iniquities and in reference to our sins which he took upon him he was as it were a Goat This is slain and the other is let go But as he that slew the Goat did sprinkle his blood upon the Altar that God might be propitious but he that led away the scape-Goat was thereby made unclean till he had washed himself with water So by the blood of Christ the Fathers anger is pacified and alaid again But the Iews who desired Barabbas to be released unto them are become unclean and never can be clean untill they be washed by the blood of Christ But hear the Vote and how the Lot falls Pilate did not doubt but that they would adjudge Christ to be set at liberty rather then a common Cutter upon the High way but he was much mistaken herein For the chief Priests had otherwise perswaded the common Rabble of people to wit that they should desire Barabbas to be released to them but that Jesus should not only be kept in hold but also condemned to a most filthy and shamefull death This saith he those Princes and prime men perswaded the people unto Therefore they especially are guilty of shedding Christs blood more then the rest See here how pestilent and pernitious an evil Counsellour is The multitude of the people at first were wholly for Christ and did generally follow and cleave to him But now these wicked men having prevailed with them they cry out against him and desire to have him put to death The whole multitude saith he cryed out Away with him and release unto us Barabbas O notorious blindness or madness rather For what else was this but to say kill him that raised the dead and set him at liberty who killed the living put out the light and let us sit in darkness Away with the Peace maker and let the mutinous and seditious alone We will not accept of Life we desire Death rather Let Truth be banisht we chuse falshood before it Finally they scorn so much as to mention the very Name of Christ but they cry out for Barabbas to be set at liberty they had rather celebrate the Passover with him then with Jesus for although he were a lewd and wicked fellow yet he was more tolerable to them because he never used to reprove them for their faults but Christ was an intolerable man not to be born by them because he rebuked them for their Vices This then is that complaint made in Isaiah I looked for Righteousness but behold a cry Isa 5. So in Jeremy Mine heritage is unto me at a Lyon in the Forrest it cryeth out against me therefore c. Jer. 12. For as the Lyon terrifieth the other creatures with his roaring voyce so these men by their out-cry did force the Lord unto the Cross This people therefore did here commit two evils as it is said in Ieremy the second They have forsaken me the Fountain of living water and have digged to themselves broken Cisterns that can hold no water The first evil was in that they thought a guilty person more fit to be released then an innocent man The second was in that they would offer to condemn their best Benefactor It is not so bad to desire the inlargement of an offender but to chuse it and that rather to desire the freedom of a wicked man then of a godly man this can never be good in any sense We that are Christians ought to pray for all men yea for Infidels but mean while willingly to forget those that are of one Faith together with us this must needs be evil 1. The Iews by this their out-rage did notably lay open their ingratitude in that they did so basely esteem of him who set so great a rate on them as to chuse them for his people before all others 2. They did betray the madness of their malice which was so great that they rather desired all righteousness should be utterly ruined and that all malice should have its swinge then that the current of their hatred should be stopt 3. Here they bewray their great blindness because they desire that which by all means they should have feared avoided and prayed against to wit that their Saviour might not be cut off and a Robber released to them But as they desired both so it befell them They chose a Thief and rejected a Saviour justly therefore are they exposed to the Sword and Robbers without any Saviour They asked a Murtherer to be given them but killed the Prince of Life for which very thing they perished by seditions and murthers and were and are involved in such great calamities that none is able by Pen or Tongue sufficiently to express them And for this very fact the Prophets call that Nation the daughter of a Robber Well doth Isaias also speak of them Ah sinfull Nation a people laden with iniquity a seed of evil doers children that are corrupters they have forsaken the Lord c. Isa 1. Here we see 1. That there is nothing but a wicked mind will prefer it before Christ and the truth if it doth but know and hope it shall get never so little by it 2. We are taught not to trust in the applause of the world For they who but a little while since did sing before Christ Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord now cry out as loud Away with him c. 3. Here we see the disposition of the world which doth ever make choyce of the worst and reject the best It is alway more favourable to the guilty then the innocent But all that we here see or hear of did not fall out by chance but by the Decree and Counsell of God For it behooved Christ to be made the lowest of men and to fall under the greatest contempt that he might be most highly exalted and
glorified over all Isa 53. The lowest descent of Christ was to be accounted more base and wicked then a Thief or a Robber but this Descention is a means of his Ascention and the true and only way for him to be more highly exalted If thou therefore art despised and reckoned worse then the worst have recourse presently to Christ who in the sence of so great contempt transfer'd it on himself and overcame it that thou by Faith in him mightest overcome it also No marvell then if guiltless men be sometimes punished and the guilty escape Scot-free So it was with Christ And as it here fell out in Pilates Court the very same happened in Gods Court Adam that notorious Thief with his whole posterity stood accused before God all of them guilty of Death So did also the most innocent Son of God Now one of them must be punished with Death Divine Justice did so require it But God of his great mercy spared him and delivered his own innocent Son to Death for him 1. Brethren let us embrace this mercy of God and be thankfull unto him for it 2. Let us take heed that Christ that is the Righteousness of God be not taken and kept prisoner in us and the Thief that is unrighteousness be not let go at random But what doth Pilate do when he saw this frantick obstinacy of the Jews He little thought that they would desire Barabbas to be released unto them And nothing seemed more strange unto him then this unworthy behaviour of them Therefore he saith What then shall I do with Jesus c. q.d. If ye think it meet and just that a Thief should have his inlargement much more he that is proved to be innocent or with what justice can I condemn this man if a Thief must be released instead of him ye desire that he should be sent packing but require a Thief to be set at liberty Nay in requiring a Thiefs enlargement ye do necessarily desire this mans releasment For he that would an offender let go would much more that a Righteous man should not be kept prisoner And so is it indeed with those that are in their right wits but malice had blinded these mens eyes Therefore they cry out again Crucifie him Crucifie him These wicked Husbandmen had a will and a resolution to kill the Lord of the Vineyard thinking that then they should possess his Inheritance safely and hold it sure enough and so brave it out with great gladness and glory Mat. 21. Wherefore they sharpened their Tongues like Serpents But first of all they determine what kind of death he should dye Where again they discover their wickedness in that they would prescribe what manner of death to put him unto whereas this did not belong to the Accusers but to the Judge And t was not for nothing that they would have him crucified For thereby they thought to delude the people and alienate them from Christ that whereas it is written in the Law Cursed is every one that hangeth on a Tree they might shew them that Christ also was accursed of God and so by that means Christ might wholly perish not only in his person but in his good Name and repute among the people and the clearness of his Miracles and whatever else was good in him This was that which that wicked crew did plot and purpose even that the whole memory of Christ might utterly be abolished But God crossed their contrivances For the curse of the Cross was far from clouding Christs Renown that his Glory did the more sparkle and spread thereby Let not us think shame of the Cross of Christ but esteem it our greatest honour Let us now glory in nothing save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ Gal. 6. For this will turn all cursing into blessing to us But how madly soever they cry out Pilate doth yet withstand them and doth the third time publiquely protest Christs innocency What evil saith he hath he done I find no fault in him For he knew and now had sufficient experience by the fact it self that for envy they had delivered him Nothing but envy I say was the ground of all this clamour For this had so blinded them that they could not see the Law of God or of Nature A manifest and plain Sign and Token of this their envy was in that they took no notice of the Judges excusing him but still cryed out more and more and what else should they do when they had nothing else to prove their charge In like manner the world afterward cryed out against the Martyrs of Christ The curse of the Cross light on them Away with them Throw them to the beasts make dogs meat of them Hence with these Malefactors c. How should they scape better then their Lord But though Ravens or Lyons devour us although the fire burn us or the water drown us let us never deny Christ or desert his Church It follows in the Text Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him John 19.1 Mar. 15.16 Mat. 27.28 And the Souldiers led him away into the Hall called Pretorium and they call together the whole band And they stripped him and put on him a scarlet Robe And when they had platted a Crown of Thorns they put it upon his head and a Reed in his right hand and they bowed the knee before him and mocked him saying Hail King of the Jews And began to salute him Hail c. Mar. 15. And they smote him with their hands John 19.3 And they spit upon him and took the Reed and smote him on the head Mat. 27.30 And bowing their knees worshipped him Mar. 15.19 The Devil now at last through the furious rage of the Jews so far prevailed with Pilate who endeavoured to carry on things in a politique way of Justice to lay violent hands on Christ I say he laid hands on him whom he had so often excused For so the Scripture must be fulfilled Pilate knew well enough that for envy they had delivered him and yet he doth so far gratifie and condescend unto them that for their sakes and in favour to them he doth suffer and command innocent Jesus to be scourged And how many such Pilatists are there to be found now adayes in every Countrey who commonly Apprehend Oppress Spoyl Kill and condemn even the innocent for no other cause but because it will please their Princes Pilate might have rescued Christ out of the hands of the Jews having power and force sufficient to have done it as Lysias the Tribune or chief Captain did rescue Paul Act. 21. But thus it must be Christ foreknew and foretold his scourging long before Mar. 10. Luke 18. And Isaiah prophesied the same long before the Incarnation of Christ I gave my body to the smiters and my face to them that plucked off the hair c. Isa 50. The Apostles also in like manner were thus scourged and whipt afterward Acts 5.
scattered Jer. 10. Because the Flock that is the people were not only not brought to the Knowledge of Christ but withall were stirred up to seek his death therefore they fell into the pit and perished But all the fault was in their Leaders and Governours Pilate took nothing more hainously at their hands then this obstinate envy of the Jews Therefore when he saw there was no hope to do any good by fair means he doth try to restrain their fury with big words and sharp threatnings Take ye him saith he and do you crucifie him q.d. Shall I O ye bloody men who are more cruel then any bruit beasts and because ye envy the Roman Laws shall I kill and cut off the innocent Do you think to affright me with your clamorous out-cryes and make me act the part of a Murtherer I am a Minister of Law and Justice I am not to maintain or vindicate the spleen and envy of others but to punish Offenders by my Authority I am no Executioner to torment the innocent I have hitherto yielded to your hatred I will no longer be perswaded by you to exercise any more cruelty against the innocent Amongst all our Lawyers I can find no such Law that doth command to put any man to death who hath not deserved it And therefore if it be so capital a crime and such an high offence with you to be innocent and if you have any such Law among you that punisheth the guiltless with death do you execute them your selves I cannot nor will I consent to this fool-hardiness and gross indiscretion I don't intend to defile my Hall which is the Roman Court and Empire in this place with innocent blood Take ye him at your own perill and lead him away and do you crucifie him if ye think it best I do not use to crucifie any but Malefactors and naughty fellows But as for this man I can find in him no crime worthy of the Cross This Sentence of Pilate were much to be commended indeed if he had persevered and continued in his resolution But we shall quickly see the wind turned and hear other things of him For all this the Jews never so much as blush at the Justice of this Heathen man Nay when they heard the Judge favour and defend Jesus with such diligence and industry they verily thought that one way or other Jesus would slip from them and get out of their hands and therefore they forge another new crime against him which to a Judge that was not versed in their Laws might seem to be a most notorious offence We have a Law say they c. True you have a Law but none of you keepeth the Law as Christ did most truly and justly upbraid you John 7.19 Thus the greatest Transgressours of the Law do most cry up and make their boast of the Law But what is it that ye alledge against Christ out of your Law By the Law say they he ought to dye And wherefore I pray for what cause Because he made himself the Son of God But what 's become of your former Accusation that he should say he was King of the Jews They were found lyers in the first therefore now they invent a new charge against him And what great crime had it been if Jesus of Nazareth did say that he was the Son of God If he did the works why might he not profess the Name of God It was extream hatred in them to accuse him with such a clamour and noyse of words because he only said that he was the Son of God They speak not a word all this while of those Divine Works which he did and whereby he proved himself to be the Son of God And they tell a lye too in saying that he made himself the Son of God For he did not glorifie himself that he might be made High Priest Nor did he think it any Robbery for him to be equal with God but the Father glorified him The Lord saith David said unto my Lord sit thou on my right hand untill c. Psalm 110.1 Mat. 22.44 See here also how malice and envy doth disagree with it self They had said before It is not lawfull for us to put any man to death But now they say we have a Law and by our Law he ought to dye So forgetfull and ignorant is envy that it can neither tell what it did say or what it should say the Law which they alledge must either be that of putting a blasphemer to death Levit. 24. or that concerning a false Prophet seducing the people by lying signs and wonders from the worship of the one and true God Dent. 18. But neither of these Laws take hold of Christ For he was neither a blasphemer nor a false Prophet Therefore it was not sufficient to alledge that Law which was for the putting of a blasphemer or a false Prophet to death but they were to prove that Christ was such a one for otherwise he would truly and fully clear and quit himself from both Imputations The Jews thought that Pilate would presently pronounce Sentence of death assoon as ever he heard but this one crime charged upon Christ but it fell out far otherwise For when he heard this saying he was the more afraid For he thought thus with himself Who knows who or what this man is For certainly none can make himself the Son of God unless first he were so And if he be the Son of God surely t is not lawfull for me to pass sentence of death upon him Therefore of necessity I must sift out this matter more narrowly yet Wherefore he brought the Lord of Majesty into the Judgement Hall again to enquire further of this thing Here then we see 1. That even a Heathen Judge gave more honour to the Name of God then the Jews who made their boast of God as doth here plainly appear by Pilate who if not really and in Truth yet was at least civilly just and honest and if not religiously yet did he morally fear and reverence his Gods as many honest and harmless men do who are of opinion that there is a God but have no true and right faith in him 2. But observe that Pilate was afraid indeed yet did he not repent Whence t is plain that his fear was servile not filiall and proceeding from Faith he was afraid lest he had done too much in scourging the Son of God For he believed as the Gentiles do that the Gods descended from heaven and ascended thither again as the Poets fain of Jupiter Mercury c. And therefore that he might not seem to be so wicked against his Gods as to condemn the son of Jupiter or Vulcan he doth narrowly pry into the truth of the business and asketh Whence art thou He beats about the bush and questions him afar off to fish out the truth But Christ makes him no answer For 1. It was nothing either to Caesar or to Pilate whether he
I have suffered many things in a dream this day because of him When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing verse 24. but that rather a tumult was made willing to content the people Mark 15.15 gave sentence that it should be as they required Luke 23.24 He took water and washed his hands before the multitude saying I am innocent of the blood of this just person see ye to it Then answered all the people and said His blood be on us and on our children Then released he Barabbas unto them who for sedition and murder was cast into prison whom they had desired but he delivered Jesus to their will Luke 23.25 When he had scourged him Mat. 27.26 and mocked him ver 31. to be crucified Behold dear Brethren how the Devil prevailed first in Judas then in the Jews and lastly in Pilate also he is greatly importunate to bring the business to an issue but he little thought that he should have the worst of it in the end The Judge then sits upon the Bench ready to Judge him whom God the Father had appointed to be Judge of the quick and of the dead Acts 10.42 And albeit Pilate well knew that all meances were to no purpose and what was this way attempted was but in vain yet because he saw first the implacable malice of the Jews against Jesus and secondly the strange consent of the people and Princes for the ruin of one man withall thirdly seeing Christ himself that although he was harmless indeed innocent yet he was a mean man and of a slender estate and did not much plead for himself but fourthly this stuck much in his stomack that many though falsly accused to Caesar thorow envy and malice were yet much in danger to lose their places and fisthly he thought that he had now done enough and sufficiently endeavoured himself against all the confederates of the whole Nation that had conspired his death and that he had put forth his utmost in defence of the innocency of innocent Christ therefore he now resolved to serve their turn and yield to their hatred So that Pilate was seduced by the Favour and generall Vote and consent of the people the contemp and meanness of Christ and the fear of Caesar He gets upon the Bench again not regarding Law now nor considering that he had so often proclaimed Christ innocent What right Judgement can be expected when the Judges breast lyes open to the passions of hatred covetousness and the fear of man Pilate was afraid lest he should be falsly traduced to Caesar as one that favoured Caesars enemy and for that cause should be thrown out of his Office and place of a Magistrate But what the wicked feareth that doth come upon him For afterwards he was thrown out of his praefectureship and banished as Josephus saith lib. 18. c. 7. and so miserably was he tortured that he killed himself with his own hands and violently cast away his abominable and filthy life as Eusebius witnesseth in his Ecclesiastical History lib. 7. c. 8. Thus the Judgement of the Lord though it tarry a while yet is it not quite taken away But John doth not only describe the Judgement but withall the Tribunal and place of Judgement as also the day and hour that the History might have the greater crrdit both with those that knew the proceedings and with those that were not acquainted with them He expresly nameth the place both in Greek and Hebrew for Lythostrotos the Pavement is a Greek word and Gabbatha is an Hebrew word Yet these two words do not signifie the same thing Lythostrotos is a Causey or Pavement a place pitch'd or laid with stone but Gabbatha is as much as to say a High or Eminent place so called either from the Height and Ascent of it or because a Judge should sit in an high place above the rest in the Court that is he ought to have his mind raised unto God and lifted up to him on high that he may so judge others even as he himself would be judged of God The Day when Christ was sentenced to death John calls it the preparation of the Passover The Day when these things were done was the very Feast of the Passover as we have proved in the entrance to this Discourse And it is called the Preparation because of the Sabbath which alwayes followed in which it was not lawfull for the Jews to dress any meat Exod. 16.23 But in other Feasts they might even on the Feast of the Passover This Day then was both a festival in it self as also a preparation to the following Sabbath wherefore that year it fell out on the sixth day of the week this day therefore was the Iews preparation of the Sabbath But to us it was Parasceve and the preparation of Eternal Life which was prepared for us on that day Most Emphatically therefore doth John so diligently set down and name the day of Christs death 1. To shew that the work of Redemption was compleated upon that day on which the work of Creation was finished and that man was Redeemed the same in which he was made to wit on the sixth day Gen. 1. 2. He doth so punctually describe this day and hour as well in respect of the Resurrection as of the three dayes space in which Christ lay in the grave that the saying of our Lord to the Iews might be found true As Jonas saith he was three dayes and three nights in the belly of the Whale so shall the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth c. Mat. 12. But the Evangelists seem to disagree about the hour of Judgement For Mark saith it was the third hour Iohn saith it was the sixth However there is no contradiction between them although the Ancients have taken great pains to reconcile the Evangelists especially Augustine and Theophylact. The later of whom is of opinion 1. That there was a mistake in the Pen-man putting one letter for another For the Greeks signifie their numbers by letters 2. Augustine speaks of the two-fold crucifying of Christ One by the tongues of the Jews who cryed out Crucifie him The other by the hands of the souldiers one was at the third the other at the sixth hour 3. But this knot may more easily be untyed another way thus Whereas Pilate gave sentence that Christ should be crucified this was about the beginning of the third hour and continued till the sixth so that the crucifying of Christ was begun and ended between the third and sixth hour And because these two hours comprehended the whole business of the Cross therefore Mark nameth one and John another as the beginning and end of the crucifying of Christ In short The crucifying and passing sentence was within three hours to wit the third and the sixth From the sixth there was darkness till the ninth hour when Christ gave up the Ghost Or thus It may be collected out of Mat. 20. that the whole
day was divided into the Morning Third Sixth Ninth and Evening hour Whatever was done between the third and sixth hour is said to be done at the third hour because the sixth was not yet come John therefore doth not say that Christ was adjudged to die at the sixth hour but about the sixth hour signifying that yet it was the third hour as Mark saith it was But the third was almost out and the sixth hour now was at hand Now the Hebrews had a far other Computation of their hours than we English or Germans have For then the sixth hour was about noon Their day had twelve hours and the night as many John 11. But enough of this Let us return to the Court of Judgement When Pilate sate on the Judgement seat the place day and hour aforesaid before he would pronounce sentence he speaks again to the Jews For he was very unwilling to pass sentence of death And therefore he delayed and put it off so long contrary to those who make nothing to shed mans blood Behold your King saith he whom ye have delivered Prisoner to me under that inditement Why are ye so implacably bent against him Look upon him he is whipt buffeted mockt spit on here he stands before you full of derision and reproach Behold your King What hurt hath he done you What harm can he do to you He could not help himself in vain therefore do you fear him If he did say he was a King see now he is brought low enough If he was indeed your King loe he is subjected to Judgement If he fain would be a King Behold what a worthy King he is just such a one as Boyes use to make Nay In this respect he is so much worse in that he hath indured more punishment and reproaches Behold therefore your King What do you see in him What are you resolved to do with him Are ye satisfied with what he hath suffered Will ye desist from your wicked intention lest you unjustly destroy him and consequently incur your own utter ruine See here with what unwillingness Pilate yielded to the rage of the Jews For although they threatened him with Caesars displeasure yet he doth try all means if possibly he might to rescue and deliver the innocent Certainly he was more righteous and just than many in our times who rave against and fall foul on the innocent before they have any command or commission from Caesar so to do But 't is to be observed that Christ had three names and those very eminent and famous too even from unbelievers For First Pilate said before Behold the man Now Secondly he saith Behold your King The Jews Thirdly add Behold be made himself the Son of God These three a Man King God or the Son of God are the most true names of the one only Christ whom his enemies indeed did scoffingly confess but his friends who reverence and truly adore him do seriously acknowledge And in these three names all our faith hope and comfort do consist As it is the costome of envious men to interrupt ones speech when any thing is spoken which they would not hear of willingly as it happened to Paul Acts 22. When he made his defence and gave an account of himself at Jerusalem So the Jews here interrupt Pilates speech crying out Away with him away with him Crucifie him Thus he that did so mercifully visit the children of men he that dealt so gently and sweetly with the weak among them is grievous to them to behold They rest not at once crying Away with him but they cry out twice to shew their greater disdain and indignation against Christ Although this their bawling rebounded on their own bosom For their Saviour was taken from them both in this world and that which is to come When those wretched Caytiffs cryed out to have Christ taken out of their sight they brought this misery upon themselves even to be deprived of their King Prince and Priest Then was fulfilled that of Hosea The Children of Israel shall be many days without a King and without a Prince and without a Sacrifice Hos 3. Again They shall go with their flocks and with their heards to seek the Lord but they shall not find him he hath withdrawn himself from them Hos 5. And that justly too because they cryed Away with the Saviour Crucifie the Propitiator so that they have lost their salvation and have no defence left them Pilate When he heard these unclean dogs bark and these cruel Lions roar a fresh he doth again make mention of their Kingdom Shall I crucifie your King as if he had said What strange men are ye who will needs crucifie your own King It will be a perpetual blot and stain to you He speaks this more in jest than in earnest how be it be doth still endeavour to break their fury with such kind of Ironies or Riddles He did yet tremble to shed innocent blood But the Jews were not in jest this was no matter of mirth to them We have no King say they but Caesar q.d. Why dost thou talk so much of our King to us as if we Jews would have a King of our own We will not be tainted with this suspition We will not have this man either for a King or for Ceasar We are well enough contented with Tiberius Caesar We acknowledge him for our Soveraign and do pay toll and tribute to him as thou Pilate dost very well know Thus ye miserable Jews have denyed your Messias and rejected him and have chosen Caesar in his stead whom yet ye ever hated and have traduced him for a very Edomite or Idumaean Him therefore ye shall have to be your King whether ye will or no and him indeed ye have This our Jesus would never have tyrannized over you with such cruelty as Vespasian and Titus have since done But if ye are so addicted to the Roman Caesar why have ye so often rebelled Why have ye made so many mut nies against him But such was their hatred against Christ Zach. 9. Mat. 21. that out of envy to him they would applaud and commend Caesar whom they did mortally and most of all hate See what malice will do If they might but destroy Christ they would perpetually enslave themselves as if they had said We had rather be vassals to Ceasar than Free-men under this King Well then ye shall be his slaves that you may learn the difference between the service of God and the service of men By these words they cast off both Christ and God both of which are called their King in the Scriptures They say of God The Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King Isa 33.22 And of the Messias the Scripture saith plainly that he should be King Behold thy King cometh to thee meek c. Zach. 9. And again I will raise unto David a righteous branch and a King shall raign and prosper c. Jer. 23. But here they
a long time forborn the Lord doth by these and such like words shew that the wicked do prevail and get the upper hand in this world but so as that they kill themselves with their own Weapons The more they prosper in their projects the juster they take their cause to be Being blinded therefore they run headlong into the most heavy Judgement of God For as it is with a man in his sleep that dreameth he is fighting with and beating his enemy but when he awaketh he finds that he hath buffetted himself with his own fists so he that doth wrong a godly man doth seem indeed to have the better of him either because of the godly mans weakness or because vengeance is prolonged But if we well weigh it he doth wound himself with his own Weapon Pharaoh oppressed the Israelites but to speak more properly and more truly he did thereby oppress himself Saul persecuted David one may better say in so doing he did persecute himself The Iews pierced Christ but in deed and in truth they did more deeply pierce their own hearts according to that Whoso casteth a stone on high casteth it on his own head Eccl. 27.25 The wicked therefore shall look on him whom they have pierced and shall see that they did not kill and condemn the righteous but themselves It follows And now when the even was come because it was the Preparation Mar. 15.42 Mat. 27.57 Luke 23.50 Iohn 19.38 that is the day before the Sabbath Joseph of Arimathea a rich man an honourable Counsellour a good man and a just The same had not consented to the counsell and deed of them who also himself waited for the Kingdom of God being a Disciple of Jesus but secretly for fear of the Jews he came and went in boldly unto Pilate and besought him that he might take away the body of Iesus And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead and calling unto him the Centurion he asked him if he had been any while dead And when he knew it of the Centurion he gave the body of Iesus unto Joseph and Joseph bought fine linnen And there came also Nicodemus who at the first came to Iesus by night and brought a mixture of Myrrhe and Aloes about an hundred pound weight It was now time to bury the body of Christ but scarce any man durst undertake it because of the raging madness of the Jews Yet lo here are two who as it were unthought of offer themselves to do it but not without the counsell and pre-ordination of God The Evangelists do diligently set down and exactly describe both their person and their care in the burial of Christ It was and is a matter most worthy for us to know and imitate which was not done without great danger The first was called Ioseph who was of Arimathea whence Elkanah also in the first of Samuel had his beginning Now this Joseph was an honest and a just and a Rich man which three may well stand together though they are very rare to be found Nicodemus is not so much commended here because he is otherwise mentioned to his praise elswhere in the Gospel He was a Lawyer but Ioseph was a Senator But in this they agreed that both of them did affect and love Christs Doctrine and esteemed it as the Word of God yet they chose rather to be Christs Disciples secretly then openly And the reason was because of their riches and reputation wherein they did excel and which they could not presently forsake nor yet would they reject Christs Doctrine But that both of them loved Christ did sufficiently appear by what they did for him Nicodemus had formerly stood up in the Council of the Pharisees in desence of Christ Iohn 7. And Ioseph openly refused to consent to the death of Christ They were just men indeed endowed with great gifts of Nature in whom also the Spirit of the Lord did begin to sparkle out I wish we had more such men now in our Councils Parliaments Conventions Convocations Assemblies that would withstand wicked men and their Designs and would do but as these two here did We are therefore diligently to take notice of these two persons For first we see here that there is no time or age so bad but God doth preserve and deliver those that are his and that some good men at least are to be found in the worst of times Thus in the dayes of Elias when every place was full abounded with Idols and false Worships yet then God reserved to himself seven thousand men that had not bowed their knees to Baal So at the time of Christs death there was nothing but scandal impiety and distrust of Christ For some did wickedly revile others out of weakness denyed him Some were offended at his shamefull death and never expected any more good from him But these two Ioseph and Nicodemus do here openly shew themselves who stedfastly continued in the Faith being nothing shaken either by the impiety or unbelief of others Indeed the Faith of these men was to be admired which is made more manifest by the Antithesis or opposition For they were both rich men both Potent both accounted just men before the world The one a Senator the other a Pharisee But all these Riches Authority Power Repute and Worldly Honour they neglected regarded not and exposed themselves to trouble and danger to serve Christ even when he was dead Who compelled them to do this Who forced them to it Was it it their kindness towards Jesus Civil Friendship will go but to the Altar Death will put a period to it Faith only carried them thus far which is of such force and power that it will draw a Believer from all sensible things and set him upon things insensible Riches Power and Senatorian Dignity were sensible things But Faith fixt these two upon eternal Power and Wealth having pluckt them off from those things The same Energy and vigour of Faith was there in Abraham who forsook his Countrey his Fathers estate and his Friends and followed after those unknown and invisible things which God had promised Joseph therefore being instigated and strengthened with this Faith went boldly to Pilate and confidently craved of him the body of Jesus which none of his Disciples durst ask for Pilate presently grants it him for so was the Divine Grace pleased to work and order it Pilate had adjudged Christ to die but fore against his will Now he enquires of the Centurion whether Christ were already dead before he would grant his body to Ioseph He could not easily be perswaded that Christ should be dead so soon whereas others oftentimes use to live till the next day with their legs whole And because they were so long a dying they used to set Souldiers to watch the cross to keep them lest they should chance to make an escape which here also they did as the Evangelists witness But Pilate knew not that Christ had power to
this Counsel but brought him into the City that they might put him to the more disgrace and punishment What tongue can express what a wretched convoy this was they dragg'd him along with great shoutings in much hast and with many flouts as if he had been the most notorious villain that ever lived so fast bound that he could scarse fetch breath And although he would have gone to suffer of his own accord yet no doubt but they justled and thumpt and thrust him from one side to another for how should they favour when they first took him who had no pity on him when he was dying So truly might he say Is it nothing to you O all ye that pass by Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow Lam. 1.12 See I say how basely I am dragg'd how cruelly I am buffeted how patiently I take it Behold a company of mad Dogs merciless murtherers and me a most meek Lamb in the midst of them See what a face their fists have made me how it is besmeared with my bloody sweat and the Jews spittle how bedew'd it is with tears my feet galled and torn with stones c. Thus he who alone was able and willing to lead us to heaven was here led along in a most reproachful manner on earth First to Annas then to Caiaphas for these were the chief of the Priests and bare the sway in the Temple and spiritual things in all Ecclesiastical affairs Now because the matter concerning Christ was spiritual for it respected faith and doctrine therefore according to law they thought it belonged to that Court. Thus they deatl afterward with Paul when they brought him before Annanias the High Priest Act. 23. So they did to the other Apostles when they convented them before these same men Annas and Caiaphas John and Alexander Act. 4. And for this reason Gallio the Deputy of Achaia refused to judge Pauls case because it did not seem to be civil but spiritual These two men had an ill report and were suspected to have given Herod an yearly sum of money for the Priestly Honour and Office like true Simonists and Giezites yea the Father of all Simon acal men Nor would they pass this over in silence calling Caiaphas the High Priest not simply as the law required but only saith that he was the High Priest for that year For these two men did Farm the Priesthood of the Romans at an yearly rent Whence we may guess that they had little godliness but much arrogance and vain glory He was first led to Annas 1. For honours sake out of respect to him for he was the elder man and Father in law of Caiaphas 2. That Christs condemnation might appear more just if he were sentenced by more than one 3. But chiefly that this wicked crew might rejoyce together over the common enemy whom they had now taken Annas perhaps could not be present at the next Common-Council by reason of his age therefore would feast his eyes in the mean time with that desired object So had Christ foretold The world shall rejoyce that is it shall triumph in my Passion Thus the wicked rejoyce to do evil and delight in the frowardness of the wicked Prov. 2.14 But little do they think how short their joy will be Thus they would heap honour one upon another and secure their sacriledge by common consent lest if one should undertake to do it alone he might according to the Roman laws be impeached as the Author of that wicked fact 4. Therefore was Christ first brought to Annas that men might not hate and blame Caiaphas only if he being the first that gave counsel should also be the first that condemned him O Pharisees ye do all to be seen of men But whereas Christ was brought before many Judges it was not so much the plot of the Jews as the providence of God For in that he was examined by many his innocency was the more cleared Thereby he made even all his Judges to be witnesses of his innocency and profess it openly which is the strongest testimony of all And 't is not for nothing that John doth make mention both of Caiaphas and his counsel before Christ was brought to Caiaphas his house For this bare counsel only of Caiaphas was the chiefest cause why not only the Rulers conspired the death of Christ but also why the people fell out of conceit with him John therefore first nameth him as wondering that so vile a man should be in so good an Office and still continue so ungodly 2. He admireth that this High Priest did so greedily thirst after the blood of Christ that when others were at a stand he should presently proclaim and give his verdict for his death whereas nothing doth less become a Priest then to be a blood-thirsty man 3. John wondered that so true and divine a sentence should proceed out of the mouth of so wicked a man For what is more true What is more comfortable than that Christ dyed for the people And that wicked man was the first that uttered this sentence but much against his intention Therefore John saith that he spake not this of himself but by the holy Ghost Joh. 11. 4. Lastly John holds forth Caiaphas and his counsel to us that we might see the righteous and strange judgement of God concerning this man For in him we truly see the Scripture fulfilled that which the wicked do fear shall fall upon them Again they that fear the frost shall be covered with the snow Qui timent pruinam irruet super eos nix so the Vulg. Lat. reads that in Job 6.16 Caiaphas was afraid that Christ would get his place and Priesthood from him And because he endeavoured to hold his honour by unlawful means it was not long ere he lost his honour himself too and the whole Nation besides He feared a temporal loss and fell into an eternal and temporal both at once This Caiaphas then is a most notorious president of all impiety for he is not named by way of honour but infamy It was he and his Father in law on whom that word of Christ was principally fulfilled ye have made of the house of God a den of theeves Matth. 21. It were these two chiefly against whom Christ did more than once thunder out that eternal woe Mat. 23. Therefore they hated Christ and desired his death more than any For he was grievous to them to behold because he upbraided them with their offending the Law Wis 2. Wherefore Caiaphas by that his counsel endeavoured by all means to estrange the people from Christ They did not fear God but the people only And they did not a little prevail therein for by their means the people were fully satisfied that if they suffered Christ to live he would be an occasion of destruction to that place and the Nation of the Jews which when the carnal people heard who loved their present temporal in joyments