Christ's Valedictions OR SACRED OBSERVATIONS On the LAST WORDS Of our SAVIOR delivered on the CROSSE By JENKIN LLOYD Minister of the Gospel and Rector of Llandissil in Cardigan shire LONDON Printed by D. M. son D. Pakeman at the Rainbow in Fleeâ—â—â—â—â—et 1658. To the READER I Here present thee with such Pious and Plain Observations as I could collect on what our Saviour uttered on Mount Calvary where he consummated the grand Work of mans salvation through the blood of his Crosse Those precedent sufferings of his life were but introductions to his last great Passion nor did he ever produce more and greater miracles then even in his extreme weakness and when death seemed to be his conqueror Miracles on earth were too low to attend a business of so high concernment signs from heaven must descend to seal the infinite merit of his Passion which before the Jewes did most importunately desire but that transcended all other wonders that when he was enthralled to the black confines of death he most triumphantly returned from the furies of hell and by an inexpressible power re-enlivened his bemangled and wounded body and adorned it with the glorious dresses of an eternal life And now in the heat of his great sufferings he so pierced the hearts of his persecutors with such pithy and feeling sentences that many of them at length returned through an infusive knowledg of their owne guiltiness striking their brests and had they not so relented at those cruelties the very rocks would have stood up in condemnation of their injustice The Words are in number seven whereof three were spoken about the sixth hour before the obscuration of the sun which we shall first consider and then the other four that were delivered about the ninth hour when God had withdrawn those dismal curtains and reenlightened that great Luminarie of heaven For methods sake I use first an explanation of each word that the true sense of the holy Ghost may be rightly apprehended and therein I do endeavour to hold forth such a construction as may be most conducible to the glory of God to the Analogy of Faith the exaltation of Devotion and the conservation of peace and union among us so that if happly I may in some things differ from others I desire their charity to leave me to my liberty if I do but differ from them and not from fundamental truths After that I have laboured to satisfie thy judgment with the true meaning of the words my next work is to stir up thy affections by laying down the consequent duties with proper motives to induce us to the performance of them so that you want not those Doctrines and Vses that naturally flow from each Text. But because in vaine doth Paul plant and Apollo water unless God gives the increase I do therefore conclude each part with certain Ejaculatory Prayers pertinent to the precedent discourse that by the influence of Gods grace the whole may be fruitful and salvifical to our souls for indeed that is the chief end for which it is exposed to publick view neither as I believe shall I miss of my aim if fear reverence attend the perusal of the Treatise Thus have you the Occasion Method and Scope of the Work all that is desired of thee is That having the Idaea of Christs charity before thy thoughts as thou shalt track it in each page of this Book thou wouldst in some measure endeavour to parallel so divine a pattern and judge charitably of me the unworthy Author JEN. LLOYD ERRATA Page 9 line 9 read reason p 10 r cloud p 22 r by p 51 r deliciousness p 74 r that p 77 r solved p 104 r 1652 p 119 r of God p 134 r we p 145 r Euripus p 147 r woman p 149 r nourisheth p 159 r seem p 170 r hear p 174 r accurately ibid. r nefarious p 180 r Sun p 190 r occurres p 191 r loquitur p 204 r an Almighty p 211 r mactatur Christ's Valedictions OR SACRED OBSERVATIONS On the Last Words of our Saviour delivered on the CROSSE The First Word LUKE 23.34 Father forgive them for they know not what they do ALl Nations did ever in Nature acknowledg not only a guiltiness of sin but some means of Reconciliation to their gods in the remission of sins For they had al some formal Ceremonial Sacrifices and Expiations by which they thought their sins to be purged and washed away and the people of Israel were prescribed by God himself what and how to offer their religious Victims But the proper and true Propitiatory Sacrifice to take away the sins of the world was only Jesus Christ the Incarnate Word of the Eternal Father who much Coveting that Ineffable work of man's Salvation thought it not only enough to suffer but before he submits himself to those great undertakings deemed it also expedient to win the hearts of the people as well by Doctrine as Miracles His whole Life was a continued Lecture and Method of teaching and because the words of a dying man works commonly a great impression on the affections and judgments of the hearers therefore being now to seal the Lease of that inestimable purchase with his own blood on the Cross he delivered such divine Legacies such Soul-livening words as ought to survive in the hearts and actions of all true Christians The first whereof was this Father forgive them c. The Explication He called him Father not God or Lord because he well knew in this condition to be needful the Benignity of a Father not the Severity of a Judge the Smiles of Compassion not the Frowns of Justice And because to bend God to a Lenity who was without doubt much incensed for such grand iniquities it was convenient to present the amiable title of a Father the words seem to imply thus much I who am thy suffering Son do pardon them pardon thou also O Father their impieties and forgive me thy Son this offence though they deserve it not Take it to thy compassionate Remembrance that thou art their Father by Creation and Preservation O then let thy Paternal favour shine upon them for though they are evil yet they are thy sons though they are sinners thou art merciful The word Forgive which is the sum of the Petition may as well be referred to the Punishment as the Fault if to the Punishment this Prayer was heard whilst the Jews for this present iniquity deserved instant revenge yet was it defer'd for forty years and if in that interim they had repented they had remained safe and untouched but because they did not God permitted an Army of Romans Vespasian then Governing to come against them who overthrew their Head City and destroyed the Jewish Nation some by the Sword some by Famine some sold the rest Exiled into divers places of the earth as foretold by the Parable of the Vineyard and of the Kings inviting of guests to the marriage of his son
his humble and short Petition but behold a gracious return and grant Verily I say unto thee c. He begins his answer with a solemn word Amen or Verily a word which our Saviour used in any thing which tended to a serious concernment Aug. Tract 41 in Joan it hath the propriety of an oath and the reasons why he uses this importunate manner of speaking is because the thief might well doubt of the promise were it not for this earnest asseveration 1. In regard of his own person which could not seem any way worthy of so blessed a reward or so rich a blessing For who could imagin so bad a liver to pass so speedily from the Cross to a Kingdom 2. In regard of Christs present condition for then he was the miserable Character of poverty weakness and all sorts of humane Calamities And he might thus argue If he be not able whilest he lives to perform good offices for his friends how can he bestow them being dead This might have been his carnal reasoning 3. And then in regard of the thing promised Paradise which was then known to belong to the body only not to the soul So is the Etymologie of it according to the Hebrew An earthly Paradise It had been more credible if Christ had said To day thou shalt be with me in the place of Joy with Abraham Jsaac and Jacob. Therefore being so many scruples might occur unto this new convert Christ to remove them all confirms the the verity of his answer with this serious Protestation And his passage to Paradise was but short not a daies journey He does not say In the day of Judgment thou shalt be placed on the right hand with the Just nor does he say with the Millenarians after a thousand years sleep thy soul shall enjoy the pleasures of heaven nor doth he say Thou must first be refined in the Romish Purgatory or after some months or daies be beatified and that had been a happinesse beyond his expectation or merit but this day this very hour thou shalt transmigrate with me from the Tree of the Cross to the Joyes of Paradise Though it be Controverted by some what is here meant by Paradise yet it is the opinion of very Orthodox Divines That Christ the day after his death was with his Body in the grave and with his Soul triumphing on the infernal Spirits in hell but to neither of these can the name of Paradise be assigned the grave being but a gloomy receptacle for dead bodies where Christ's body only could be lay'd and under hell is intimated a place of torments But Paradise signifies a Garden of delight in the Terrestrial one there were flourishing Trees fruitful Waters Salubrietie of air and all the variety of deliousness that Adam could enjoy And in the Celestial one there are glorious and immortal Joyes frnitions of endlesse Beatitude an inaccessible light Seats and Mansions for the blessed The first was Local and Transient this is Spiritual and Eternal The joyes of the other were Corporal the Soul is Beatified in the latter by virtue of the Beatifical vision of God And this heavenly Paradise Christ promised the thief and that he would be with him and so he was according to his Divinity According to his Humane nature he was partly in the grave and partly in hell untill the third day upon which he ascended in a glorious and triumphant manner into heaven But according to the Divine as he was God he had an Ubiquitary Being he was then and alwayes in Heaven Paradise and all places Ioh. 3.13 Therefore very proper were the words of our Saviour when he saith not This day thou shalt be with me in my Kingdom because that day Christ was not to receive his Kingdom that is a perfect felicity of Body and Soul till after his Resurrection when he was to have a body glorious immortal impassible subject to no servitude or infirmity neither was the thief to enjoy this fellowship until the general day of Judgment but in Paradise because that day there was a community of glory to his soul and those of all true Saints And this is the perfect and essential felicity belonging to the Heavenly Paradise Neither doth Christ say We shall be there for he was then and before that time there according to the superiour portion of his soul but thou shalt be with me there that is even thy Soul shal also really be where now actually my divine Soul is .i. In the blessed joyes of Heaven Learn hence O man 1. How great and admirable is the mercy and liberality of Christ towards all his servants He being opprest with sorrows might not have heard the Religious thief but his charity had rather be insensible of his own torments then not to give ear to a miserable sinner confessing his delinquencies He was silent altogether at the maledictions and revilings of the Priests and Souldiers but to the humble clamours of a poor penitent he could not choose but give a gracious Audience He was silent at their Execrations because he was Patient and he was open-cared to the thief's Petition because he was Merciful Those that serve Temporal Lords do labour much but the rewards of their services are commonly far short of their expectations and we might observe many who have spun out their times in the Courts of Princes return home in their declining age either meer Mendicants or unregarded But this Holy Prince and President of true Liberality received nothing from this Penitential servant but a few good words and desires of serving him and behold what a Boon he confers upon him that very day he granted him a free pardon of all the sins he had committed in the whole course of his wicked life Then he prefers him to Abrahams â—â—som to a Quire of Saints anâ— Angels Patriarchs and Prophets were made his Associats and he himself made partaker of that Heavenly happinesse which is Undefinable and Eternal We read that the Roman Emperors gave vast treasures sometimes whole Provinces and Kingdoms to their Minions but this Prince bestowed on his new favourite more then they could either reach or conceive Neither was this goodness of Christ peculiar to this poor delinquent his Apostles deserted their small vessels their nets and cottages to serve him and then he appointed them Princes over the earth he subjected to their commands Divels Serpents Psal 44.2 3 Mat. 10 8 Principalities and Powers and all sorts of Diseases And he promises to all that shall leave their nearest relations for his sake and part with their dearest enjoyments for his service a hundred fold that is a reward incomparably greater then those particulars to wit Spiritual joys and blessings in this world and life Eternal in that to come We might reflect our thoughts on what great things the Lord wrought for Martyrs and Confessors of former ages how they came to honour by ignominy to riches by poverty to greatness by the
27.46 My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The Explication WE have Expounded formerly the three first Words which our Saviour uttered on the Cross about the sixth hour We will proceed in the following part of this Treatise to unfold four other Words which he spake after the Eclipse and silence of three hours But it seems very material to declare first what that darknesse was and from whence and to what end it was caused Our Evangelist saies Ver. 45 From the sixth hour was there darkness over all the earth unto the ninth hour and then he cryed with a loud voice ELI ELI LAMASABACH THANI i. My God my God c. And that this darkness was produced by the defect of the Sun is elsewhere expresly noted Luk. 23.45 And the Sun was darkned But here are some difficulties to be solved 1. For the Sun was wont to be deficient in the new Moon when betwixt the Sun and the earth there was an interposition of the Moon which at the death of Christ could not happen whilest the Moon was not joyned with the Sun which is usuall in the new Moon but was opposite to the Sun and in its fulnesse for then was the Passeover of the Jewes which according to the Law began the fourt eenth day of the first month 2. Besides if the Moon was joyned with the Sun at the passion of our Lord that darkness could not continue for three houres for the eclipse of the Sun cannot last long especially if it be a plenarie Eclipse and abscond the whole Sun for the Moon moves swifter then the Sun according to its proper motion and according to this it could not shadow the whole Sun unless it were for a very short Space for beginning to recede forthwith it leaves the Sun free that it might illuminate the earth with its accustomed fulgour as you might observe by the last greatest Eclipse that happened in our Horrizon in the year 16. And lastly there could never be an Universal darkeness occasioned through any conjunction of the Sun with the Moon for the Moon according to the judgment of all Astronomers is lesse then the Sun or the earth and therefore cannot by the interposition of its body so mantle the Sun that the whole earth should be darkned But if some do object That the evangelists meant this darkness to extend to the whole land of Palestina only and not absolutely to the universall earth That opinion might be easily refelled through the testimonie of Dionysius Arecpagita who in his Epistle to Polycarpus witnesseth himself to have seen that defection of the Sun and that horrible darknesse in the City of Heliopolis which is in Aegypt And Phlâ—gon a Greek Historian and an Heathen doth remember this Eclipse in these words Quarto anno ducentisimae secundae Olympiadis Lib. 2 magna excellent inter omnes quae antea acciderant defectio Solis est facta dies hora sexta ita in tenebrosam noctem versus est ut stellae in caeto visae sunt Among those great and famous things which fell out in the Annalls of the Olympiads there was such an Ecclipse of the Sun that the day about the sixth hour was turned into darknight that the Stars were seen And this Historian writ not in Judea Of this Author look Origen against Celsus Eus Chron ad annun Christ 30.3 and Eusebius in his Chronicle the same is testified by Lucian Martyr saying * search the Annalls and you shall find that in the times of Pilate the Sun being fled the day was interrupted with darkness these words of Lucian are quoted by Russiarus in his translation of the Ecclesiasticall History of Eusebius into Latin Tertullian also in his Apolegetick and Osorius in his History with others lib. 7. c. 4 do speak not only of Judea but of other parts of the world These things being premised we may conclude that though the Eclipse when it is natural is wont to happen in the new Moon and not in the ful but that at the death of Christ was singular and Prodigious and caused only by him who made Sun Moon and earth it proceeded not from any natural causes but from the hand of an omnipotent God who as he was able to bring the Moon after an insolite manner from the East by a most swift course to the Sun and after three houres be reduced to its place again so he could effect that the Moon should as it were stand unmoved under the Sun for that space so that it should not move flower nor swifter then the Sun And whereas it is said that this deficiency of the Sun could not be universall over the whole world by reason the Moon is lesser then the earth and much lesser then the Sun it is granted that what the Moon could not do the Creatour of Sun and Moon did supply only by not co-operating with the Sun in its illustration for without his aid and influence things Created have no power of themselves to be more Neither was this darkness occasioned from some extraordinary black and thick mists as some have imagined for the Ancients affirm that the stars were then seen in their proper Spheares whereas thick clouds would not only have obscurd the Sun but also those orbes of lesser lustre as the Moon and the stars Why God would have this darkness to be so Remarkable divers reasons are given but two especially the first was to signifie the marvellous excaecation of the Jewes Leo in Ser. 10. deâ— passionâ— Dem. which does to this day and shall endure according to the vaticinations of Esay who speaks thus of the beginning of the Gospel Arise O Jerusalem be bright for thy sight is come and the Glory of the Lord is risen upon thee for behold darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people the other cause was to demonstrate the greatness of the Jewes offence as Jerome teacheth Heretofore saith he evil men did persecute Jerom Comentar in Matth. vex and kill the good now God himselfe descending to be cloathed in Humane flesh they dare persecute and Crucifie Heretofore Citizens had discords with Citizens and from discords fell to chidings from chidings to wounds from wounds at length to murderous executions but now servants and slaves have risen against the King of Men and Angels and with an incredible audacity have nayled him to a Cross Therefore the whole world did tremble and the Sun it selfe drew back it's beames and hid its face as detesting so fowl so facinorous an Act as to put the Lord of Life to death and the darkness then was so terrible that it made a Pagan Philosopher cry out Aut deus naturae patitur aut mundi machina dissolvitur Dion Areop either the God of Nature suffers or the whole World is at an end And this was formerly typified in the daye of Pharaoh when there was a great darkness over the land of Egypt for three
above and this is not to be found in the Athens of the world but in the most Divine Academie of Gods Spirit Jam. 1.5 the Treasure and fountain of all true knowledg who gives liberally to all and reproacheth none Thither only we must make our humble addresses for this holy Gemme and not desist in our Prayers untill we have by our teares and cryes undeafed the eares of the Almighty 1 ANd now O God of all pity and Patience we are confounded to consider thy great goodness in suffering that extremity of thirst and pain for us on the Cross enable us to bear patiently all afflictions Corporal or spiritual and to submit our wills to thine in sickness as in health in woe as in wealth in death as in life 2. Make us to thirst after the Kingdom of heaven and its righteousness teach us to prize the salvation of our soules above all earthly possessions for they are spiritual immortal and precious these but transitory and subservient if we seek thee in the first place who art All in All no blâ—ssings whether corporall spirituall or eternal can be wanting to us for every good and perfect gift proceeds from thee above Iam. 1.17 O Father of lights The sixth Word JOHN 19.30 It is finished THIS implies no more in sound construction then that the wonderful work of the Passion is now consummated and completed for the Father enjoyned the Son two weighty offices or works one of preaching the Gospel the other of suffering for man of the first the Lord formerly said That he had finished the work which he gave him Joh. 17.5 6. and manifested his name unto men The other injunction is intimated in these words O my Father if this Cup may not pass away from me Mat. 26 42. except I drink it thy will be done Now he had fully exhausted that bitter cup of his Passion nothing remained but his dissolution and so with an inclining head he gave up the Ghost But being neither our Saviour nor S. John explained what was Finished occasion is given us to make such mysticall applications of the Word as may be fruitfull to our souls Aug. â—om in â—cum One of the Fathers affirmes That in this place is meant an impletion of the Prophecies foretold of Christ Esay 7. Mick 2. and that all those predictions were true as his conception of a Virgin his Nativity in Bethlehem Numb 23. the apparatition of a new Starr Psal 71. the Adoration of Kings the Preaching of the Gospell Isay 61. His Miracles his riding upon an ass Esay 35. Psal 21.68 Esa 53. Jer. 11. Zach. 12. And his whole Passion is described by parts by David in his Psalmes Esay Jeremy Zachary and others and this the Lord himself being to pass to his sufferings spake Behold Luck 18. we go up to Jerusalem and all things that are written by the Prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished which is also here averred that their Testimonies might he verrified and received as the dictates of the Holy Ghost 2. Another of the Fathers understands here Chrysost that the power which was permitted to Men and Angels against Christ was now consummated at his Death and to this effect he speaks to the Chief Priests and Captains of the Temple and the elders that were with him this is your hour Lu. 22.53 and the power of darkness now his laborious peregrination now the condition of his mortal life according to which he hungred and thirsted and was weary and obnoxious to injuries wounds and to death it selfe is fully ended and determined 3. Another makes this Construction Now the chiefest Sacrifice was Consummated that in which all the Sacrifices of the old Law as it were types and shadowes did rest and into which they run as Rivolets into the main Ocean or as the stars when the Sun appeares with his glorious rayes see no stars at all so those typical oblations all vanished at the presence of this Son of Glory when he was to be immolated Concerning these prefigurations one speaks thus Lord thou hast attracted all things to thy selfe Leo Serm. 8. de possion dom for the vaile of the Temple being rent the holy things of the most holy departed from the unworthy Priests that the figure might be turned into the truth Prophecy into manifestation and the law into the Gospel and a little after the variety of carnal sacrifices now ceasing the oblation of thy body and blood have made one perfect and entire sacrifice For in this Sacrifice the Priest is God-man according to his Hypostatical union Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedeck Psal 109.4 The Altar was the Cross which by how much the more base it was before by so much the more illustrious and noble it was made after Christs death the Sacrifice was the Lamb of God innocent and immaculate of whom the Prophet said That he was brought as a sheep to the slaughter Isa 53.7 and as a sheep before the shearer is dumb so he openeth not his mouth The fire of the Holocaust was his immense charity Cant. 1.8 which did so flame in his brest that the floods of persecutions could not extinguish it the fruit of the Sacrifice was the redemption of Mankind the expiation of the sins of all the sons of Adam for Isa 1.29 behold he is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world But here is the difference between the sacrifices under the Law and this of the Gospel there it was the Office of the Priest to kill and to prepare the Sacrifice but here Christ was both Priest and Sacrifice not that he layd violent hands on himself but because he willingly yielded to the slaughter for Gods glory and the propitiation of our sins their reconciliation was obtained by the blood of beasts Col. 1.20 here peace is made through the sacred blood of Christ Jesus not his as he claimes all the beasts of the forrest all the cattell upon a thousand hills Psa 50.10 and all the foules of the Mountains to be his not his as he is Lord and proprietary of all by Creation so all blood in his no nor his as the blood of all the Martyrs was his which is a neer relation and Consanguinity but his so as it was the blood of his Cross the precious blood of his body the seat of his soul the matter of his Spirits and the knot of his dear life 4. We may further understand in this place that at the death of Christ a great battell was finished between him and the Prince of this world of which he intimates in those words Now is the judgement of this world Jo. 12.31 now shall the Prince of it be cast out but this battell was judiciall not military the encounters were in litigations not armes for the devill did strive with the Son of God about
by the violence of any executioner nor by the seperation of his best soul if I may so call it the Godhead nor by such a separation of his natural and humane soul as that he would not or could not nor did not resume it again From what hath been premised thou maist learn O man First How that Christ shewed his Power his Wisdom and his Charity even then when he seemed to be infirm and void of all consolation They who naturally dye do by degrees loose their voice and strength but he in the last passage of his dissolution used a louder acclamation then formerly And not only that but as arguments of his further power he caused the basis of the universe to tremble the stones to be cleft the Sepulchres to be opened and the vail of the Temple to be disjoynted All which want not their several mysteries as the earthquake and the Scision of the Rocks signifieth that by the passion and death of Christ men should be moved to repentance and the obdurate hearts of the obstinate should be cut in pieces as it appeared by those who went from this sad spectacle Luk. 23. striking their breasts the apertion of the sepulchres denote the glorious resurrection of the dead bodies which were to be raised by vertue of his The renting of the vail of the Temple whereby the Sanctum Sanctorum did appear did imply that for the merits of Christs death the Caelestial sanctuary should be opened and that the holy should be admitted to enjoy the beatifical vision Neither did he shew his wisdome only in these shadowy Mysteries but also in that he produced life out of death which was typified by Moses when he made the water flow from the flinty rock And Christ for the same cause compared himself to a grain of wheat Numb 20.8 9. that dying fructifieth abundantly Jo. 12.24 for as from the corruption of that grain sprouts a living stalk and eare so from his death on the Cross issued a life of grace to many nations as the first man being gull'd with the sweet apple infected his whole posterity with death so the second man swallowing the most bitter apple of death brought all who were in him re-born to eternal life And what shall we say of his charity which was divers wayes wonderfully demonstrated at the instant of his death His life which was the most precious of all lives the life of a King the most powerful of all the life of the wisest and best of all the life of God-man he voluntarily laid down for his enemies for the wicked for the unthankful From the flames of hell he frees them that he might make them his brethren and Co-heirs and empale them within the blessed territories of heaven Is there any then so transported with cruelty to himself and so insensible of his own good as not to enbosome Christ with a thankful love Is there any so negligent of his own eternity as not to embrace him with a sweet recordation of his mercies Lord melt our stony hearts that they may take the impressions of such divine and unspeakable favours 2. Here offers it self also to our consideration the great obedience of our Saviour to his heavenly father in this recommendation of his spirit to his paternal protection whereby is verified what the Apostle sayes Phil. 2.8 That he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross It was so admirable that it had its imitation from his very conception and without intermission like an indivisible line lasted to his very death Neither was it determinated to one kind of work but extended to all those things which it pleased his Father to command to this do those expression of his tend Jo. 4.34 Jo. 6. It is my meate to do his will that sent me and to finish his work I came down from heaven not to do my own will but his that sent me And because Quia per victimas aliena Caro per obedientiam propria voluntas muctatur Gregor mor. l. 35. c. 11. Obedience is the best of sacrifices therefore as many works as he did during his peregrination on earth so many most pleasing sacrifices he offered to God Almighty Hence such varieties of them that sometimes we find him fasting in the desart and lodging with wild beasts sometimes in the frequency of men eating and drinking sometimes at home obscure and silent and that not for few years sometimes glorious as well in wisdome as eloquence and unclapsing his power of doing miracles sometimes with great indignation throwing the buyers and sellers out of the Temple sometimes as it were weak declining from the company of the multitude all which did require the noble qualities of an excellent soul which shewed him no way subject to the swayes of any passionate will of his own And as he practised so he taught the rule of perfect Obedience He that will follow me Mat. 16.24 let him deny himself Man must renounce his own before he can submit to the will of Christ The Celestial orbs do not resist the Angels that move them whether they be driven to the East or to the West because they have no proper propensitie either to one part of the heavens or to the other and the Angels themselves are at Gods beck to observe all his mandates because there is no repugnancy between their wils and his but seem to be so happily consolidated to him as if they and he were but one spirit And certainly if we will become Christs true disciples we must disband our own desires and natural affections and wholly resign our selves to his dispose and so become one with him 3. And lastly We may make this benefit of this last prayer of the Lord to use it as a holy Ejaculation upon all emergencies more especially at the hour of death for if the soul then leaving the body fals into the clutches of the Devil Ab inferis nulla redemptio there is no possibility of its redemption for as the felicity of the Saints so the torments of the damned are eternal but if it happily comes into the paternal hands of God the potency of enemies is not to be feared but it will be re-united to the body and both of them shall in the end enjoy a blessed and a glorious resurrection And herein lyes an ocean of comfort to all believers for as Christ the head did rise so shall every member of his mystical body be raised from corruption to incorruption 1 Cor. 15. 42 43. from dishonour to glory It is storied of an Indian King that when he had been Catechised so far in the articles of our Christian Religion as to come to the suffered and crucified and dead and buried impatient of proceeding any father asked only is your God dead and buried then let me return to the worship of the Sun for I am sure that will not die whereas if he had but
infamous punishment of the Cross to immortality by a bloody death and how he would still honor them that honor him What fools then are those who relinquish Christ the giver of all goodness and sacrifice to Mammon the author of all evil 2. We have here also represented unto us the power of Gods Grace and the Imbecility of the Humane Will This good thief was a remarkable sinner and persevered so even to the punishment of the Cross and in so eminent danger of Damnation there was none present that could afford him either the solace of advice or assistance For though he was most near the Saviour of the world yet he heard the high Priests and Pharisees affirming him to be a seducer ambitious and an usurper of anothers Kingdom and he heard his fellow thief as it were barking at him and there was none that bestowed a word of comfort on him or Christ but behold the prevalency of Divine Grace when he was thus bereft of all humane aid and seemed to have no hope of Salvation being on the next step to perdition the Spirit of God shined on him in a miraculous manner and in an instant so beautified and changed his heart that upon a sudden he confessed Christ to be an innocent sufferer and the King of the world to come and checkt his presumptuous companion and perswaded him to repentance and before the staring multitude committed himself to the protection of a dying Saviour Whereas the other Malefactor in whom is expressed to life humane infirmitie was not at all moved at the strangeness of those accidents not at the charity of Christ who prayed for his persecutors nor at his extreme sufferings nor at the admonition and example of his fellow thief nor at the unwonted darkness nor at the cleaving of the Rocks asunder nor at those who through just astonishment returned home striking their brests all which hapned after the conversion of the good thief yet was he not at all changed though he had the helps of so many perswading arguments Obj. But why was the one inspired at that instant with saving Grace the other not both were equally great sinners before that time and but one now a Saint Sol. No other reason can be assigned then why God loved Jacob and hated Esau but because it was the will of God we must be satisfied with that All other reasons are shut up in the secret Ark of God which we must rather admire in a divine honor and humble silence then endeavour to unlock or touch Shall the thing formed ask the Potter Rom. 9.80 Why hast thou thus fashioned me Shall not the Creator of all make some vessels of honour some vessels of dishonour yet all to his glory which is as much manifested in the condemnation of the bad as the salvation of the good There can be no iniquity with him for though his judgments are occult yet are they not unjust 3. But this Caution we are farther taught by the words Though we must embrace the example of the holy thief in our Consolation yet not in our Imitation It may minister this comfort to a sad and despairing Soul That God hath and can pardon a true penitent be his sins never so great but it must not lead us to defer our repentance until the utmost period of our lives The conversion of Saul the persecutor and this thief upon the Cross is become Proverbium Peccatorum the Sinners Proverb and serves him Gregor and satisfies him in all cases But thou presumptuous sinner that puttest off thy amendment upon confidence of these examples dost but delude thine own Soul It is not safe concluding out of single instances there is much disparity between thy case and this thief's 1. Thy time is not the same When thou canst find such another day look for such another mercy A day that cleft the grave-stones of dead men A day that rent the Temple it self A day that the Sun durst not see A day that saw the Soul of Christ depart from his body there shall be no more such dayes therefore presume not of that 2. Besides thou maist look at the thief as on a Turk or Heathen newly entred into Christianity Baptized from sin Confirmed by Christ so dying and saved but how often hast thou broke thy Baptismal vows and with Copronimus defiled thy Font Eccl. Hist by rejecting those means which God hath given thee to secure thy interest and hopes of heaven 3. The thief was not converted at last but at first Cyril Non in fine sed in prineipio conversus latro as soon as God afforded him any Call he came But to how many calls hast thou stopt thine ears O sinful man How often hath God called thee with a voice of Terror by Thunder and Lightning by Wars Plagues Famine and other Judgments How often hath he sweetly called thee by the pleasant promises of the Gospel by the motions of his Spirit and by the temporal blessings of peace and plenty Thou shalt find here that although it hapned to one to receive Grace in his very last gasp which was a Miracle of Mercy a Prodigie of Providence yet the other found his judgment the one Blessed the other Blasphemed so the one was Saved the other was lost And whosoever shall peruse Histories Sacred or Humane and observe Quotidian events shall find very few to end their dayes well that have loosly ran the whole course of their lives And as they can hardly escape the furie of a Divine Justice that have acted a negligent and a vicious life so there are but few after a life well spun but die in Gods fear and are made partakers of his Glory Begin then betimes O man to become a new man n = * Omnâ—m crede diem â—ibi deluxisse supremum Hor. make every day thy last day that thy last may be happy The Indian Gymnosophists caused their graves to be made before their gates that at their ingress and regress they might be put in mind of their last day and happy were we if in the daies of our youth and vanity we spent some time in the meditation of our Mortalitie and of the account we are to make at the day our Souls and Bodies are divorced For that day may be sudden and give us no time or distracted and take away our senses or cursed and keep away Grace Chrysologus Gregor a man as full of sin as he was of wealth being on his death-bed in a bitter Agony cryed out Inducius velusque mane truce but till the morning and with those very words breathed his last 'T is not a tear or a groan then can expiate the sins of a whole life nor every one that saith Lord Lord Mat. 7.21 shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven but he that doth the will of our Father which is in heaven Let these Reasons then move thee further to avoid all delayes in preparing thy self against
the last day 1. The uncertainty of its time It was the policy of Julius Caesar never to acquaint his Army aforehand with the time of their march that they might be ready on all occasions and such is the wisdom of our God that he hath concealed this day from us that we might alwayes stand upon our guard and be ready 2 No time is secure As no place no Sanctuary can exempt us from deaths approach it may come to us in the Church in the Street in our beds c. so no time can priviledge from its arrest in the night as well as in the day in youth as well as in old age 3. Sometimes when men least think of it it comes Whilst the Crocodile sleeps the n = * A kind of a Rat. â—cknewmon getteth in and â—eateth his bowels whilest the Theban Centinel was nodding Gen. Epiâ—ninondas came and thrust him through 4. All the time alotted before that day is little enough for so great a work We have scarce time to learn how to live well saith the Philosopher but we are streightned with time to learn the art of dying well saith the Divine 5. Thy Preparation for will be no Acceleration of the day Our death will not be the nearer but sweeter the blow will not come the sooner foreseen Premeditati mali malis ictas but it will be the easier thy life and death will be the more comfortable 6. That day will be most dismal and Exitial to all unprepared persons like that of the man whom when the King came in found without a wedding garment who was bound hand and foot and cast into utter darkness Mat. 22.13 Oh! that any or all of these Considerations might awaken our security and keep us from sleeping in those sins which will deprive us of Eternal life LORD We admire the deepness of the riches of thy mercy and goodness who wouldst condescend to be thus ignominiously tortured between two grand Malefactors for our sakes How thou didst abase thy self for our pride and humble thy self on earth to advance us to glory Teach us Lord who are but dust and ashes to be lowly-minded and never to exalt our selves before or against thee least by our pride we be excluded with the Angels out of Heaven or with Man out of Paradise But among all thy Attributes we most extol thy Mercy which was so transcendent to this poor penitent thief whom thou didst rescue from the jaws of hell through thy infinite Merits It had been enough O God if thou hadst but promised him to be with thee for where had been ill with thee or where had it been well without thee but thou hast crowned him with bliss and glory in the highest heavens By this we are taught Lord not to despair of thy Clemency for though Cherubins keep thy Paradise and thy gate of Mercy be guarded by Angels yet thou hast opened the door of it to as very sinners as our selves Though we have sinnes more numerous then the sands of the sea or the stars of the firmament yet is thy mercy more and above measure No stains or guilts can make us so vile but thy Sons blood can wash them off David Peter Magdalen Paul and this good thief were cured by the power of that mercie and virtue of that blood But because Lord we are too prone to presume of thy mercy which is so eminent over al thy works we therefore entreat thee to keep us from carnal security from a Lethargy in sin and the delayes of all religious duties When ever we fall into sin do thou Lord by thy Grace raise us up to a newness of life to a true and timely repentance lest we sleep and lie in our iniquities until we feel the horror of eternal death Raise us with David from the sin of wilfulness with Peter from those of infirmity with Paul from those of ignorance Thou calledst this penitent but once and he obeyed thy voice repented and was saved but Lord how often are we called how often wouldst thou have gathered us as a hen doth her chickings under thy wings but we would not O grant then that me may be either allured by thy mercies or terrified by thy judgments or converted by thy Word or won by thy Spirit that we may hate sin and forsake it love thee and never leave thee until thou hast brought us to that heavenly Paradise where thy Saints and Angels sing daily Halalujahs to thy blessed Name Grant this Father of Mercies and God of Grace even for his sake who suffered with sinners and dyed for our sins Jesus Christ The Third Word JOHN 19.26 27 He saith unto his mother Woman behold thy Son and to the Disciple Behold thy Mother A Question is here to be discust Why S. John did affirm the three women to have stood near the Cross of the Lord when S. Mark 15.40 and S. Luke 23.49 write they stood afar off But this is soon salved S. Aug. lib. 3 de Consen Evang. they may be said to have stood afar off in relation of the guard and souldiers who did even touch the Cross near because they could easily hear Christ Or they may be said to have stood afar off at the instant of Crucifixion the multitude hindring them but when his suffering began to be completed many giving way they might make a nearer approach The sum of the words is this Being I am now to pass from this loathsome world to my glorious Father and knowing thee to be destitute of all humane assistances I commend thee to my most loving Disciple John he shall be to thee a Son and thou shalt be to him a Mother The command was most pleasing to them both and S. John speaks of himself in the following words and from that hour the Disciple took her home But S. John was one of them who by his Masters mandate had relinquished father and mother all relations and possessions to follow Christ how comes he now having forsaken his own to take the charge of another mother Mat. 4.22 The resolve is easie The Apostles that they might follow Christ dismist father and mother as they were a hindrance to the preaching of the Gospel either in regard of carnal affection or worldly commodity but in what concerned their care and solemn duty they left them not and upon that account the Virgin Mary was committed to him having no other visible worldly support God without mans assistance could by the administration of Angels have procured her a livelyhood and protection but it was our Saviours pleasure to have it done by John as well in regard of an honour to him as a love to her God sent Elias to be fed by a widow not that he could no longer feed him by Crows as formerly but by this action he seemed to vouchsafe a blessing to the widow so it pleased the Lord to recommend his mother to this Disciple S. Aug Serm.
26 de Verb. Domini to demonstrate it was both a remarkable blessing to him and that he loved him above the rest and the exchange was happy when in lieu of a mother the wife of a Fisher he took the mother of a Saviour the best of women full of grace and blessed in her Sex But 1. He that diligently observes may gather hence Christs desires to suffer for our salvation to be infinite and inexpressible that thereby our redemption might be most full and copious Other men think it an augmentation to their sorrows to have their kindred friends and alliances spectators of their death especially of that which is violent and infamous but Christ not contented with his own real passion which was most cruel and full of dishonour would have his Mother and this Disciple to be also present that the Sympathetical sorrows of his dearest might add to and reduplicate his own personal sufferings Three Maries and a Disciple stood near the place of his sufferings that as four Fountains of blood issued from his body on the Cross so from their mournful eyes might spring four Fountains of tears so that it is questionable whether he felt more sorrow for the effusion of his own blood or their tears Methinks I hear Christ bemoaning himself The sorsows of death have compassed me Psal 17.9 but the sword foretold by Simeon which should pierce the soul of my innocent Luk. 2.35 mother doth as much Lacerate and wound my heart Most bitter death that separate not only the soul from the body but also a Mother and such a Mother from such a Son God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son for the Redemption of it and he so loved the Father that for his honour Rivelets of blood streamed from him that we should not perish but have everlasting life Yet we give such a disobedient resistencie to his goodness that we had rather be confounded in the just fury of an omnipotent God then tast the sweetness of his compassion One drop of his most precious blood might have been a sufficient Ransome for the Redemption of more worlds and yet he would sacrifice all for this one thereby as well to endear us as fully to satisfie the justice of his Father 2. But there are many considerations that arise from a mystery of the three women that stood near the Cross Some out of a petulancy of wit to maintain Paradoxes and such singularities have called in question the abilities and faculties of women in the Root thereof in the Reasonable and Immortal Soul but no man of Piety and conversation in Scripture can admit such a doubt Here are women that were sedulous and constant in their religious offices to our Saviour to the last gasp Mat. 28.6 and after that he was interred they came with a pious intention to see the Sepulchre and out of a civil respect to embalm his body in the Monument where they thought to find it When others even his own Disciples through timer ousnesse and infidelity had deserted their Master these like inseparable friends followed him to his grave and would not rest there till an Angel of heaven had assured them of his Resurrection The zeal and piety of women have equalled if not surpassed the best of men S. Paul testifies in their behalf that they were great instruments for the advancing of true Religion At Thessalonica Act. 17.4 of the chief women not a few great and many Neither do we read of any woman in the Gospel that assisted the persecutors of Christ or furthered his afflictions even Pilats wife disswaded it Jerome writ many letters to divers holy Ladies for the most part all of one Stock and kindred and all so Religious as that he sayes If Jupiter were their Cousin and of their kindred he believes Jupiter would be a Christian he would leave being such a god as he was to be their fellow servant to the true God Woman as well as Man was made after the image of God in the Creation and in the Resurrection her sex shall not diminish her glory Of which she receives one fair beam and inchoation at the Passion of Christ that women continued in their attendance on him to the last and that by the ministry of Angels the glad tidings of his Resurrection was communicated to them before any other 3. And because they were worthy to be known the Holy Ghost celebrates them by their names and qualities we will therefore consider who they were and what they were their Names first and then their Conditions There is an Historical relation and observation Badin de Repub. l. 6 c. 4 That in divers Kingdoms in Europe the Crown did fall at one time upon women of one name Mary It was so in England Scotland Denmark and Hungaria all four Maries Here we have but three Mary Magdalen Mary the wife of Cleophas and Mary the Virgin and yet such three as wear now Immortal Crowns in Heaven Indeed it is a Noble and a Comprehensive Name Mary It is the Name of woman in general according to some of the Learned Gen. 2.23 for when Adam sayes of Eve She shall be called Woman in the Arabick Translation there is this name She shall be called Mary and the Arabick is perchance a Dialect of the Hebrew But in pure and Original Hebrew the word signifies Exaltation and whatsoever is best in the kind thereof and worthily are they to be ever exalted for their diligence and perseverance in their devotion This is also like if not the same as Miriam the sister of Aaron and Moses that with her Quire of women assisted at that Eucharistical Sacrifice that triumphant Song of thanksgiving upon the destruction and subversion of Aegypt in the red Sea Exo. 15.20 As Joshua and Jesus is the same to men so Miriam and Mary is the same name in women according to some The word denotes Greatness not only in Power but in Wisdom And great are they in the eyes of God and to be magnified by men to all Posterity 4. But we intend not to dwell upon this circumstance but pass to another considerable that springs from the Quality of the women in relation to their Spiritual state We find Mary Magdalen personates the penitent or incipient the other Mary the proficient the Virgin Mary those who are perfect All three had need of Christ and to stand near the banner of the Cross The Incipients that are to war with many sins and concupiscences want the guidance and assistance of so great a General as Christ that beholding him struggling with so subtil and malicious an enemy as the old serpent and openly triumphing over him they might be animated to fight the Lords battel against all the assaults of the divel and not to desist untill they have obtained an honourable victory The Proficients who are represented by Mary of Cleophas who was a married woman and a mother of sons
dayes Exod. 10.21 which was a signification of their superstitious blindness and ignorance of the true knowledg of God and the obstinacy and disobedience to Gods Commandment And as then Meses brought the Israelites from the Egyptian bondage they were in under Pharaoh so the true Moses here Jesus Christ brings all that believe in him from the bondage of Satan unto everlasting happiness Let us now come unto the words themselves My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Psal 22.1 and these we find to be taken out of the Psalmist and in them Christ complains in a voice more then ordinary that he was relinquished of God the Father at that instant For the better clearing of the sense we must observe that Christs derelictions of the Father may be understood five several wayes whereof one only is true and here meant there were five conjunctions or unions in the Son of God The first is that of Essence between the first and second Person of the Glorious Trinity and that as it is natural and eternal so it is perpetual and inseparable of which Christ himselfe speaks I and my Father are one and therefore he said not My Father Joh. 8.16 but My God why hast thou forsaken me For the Father is not called God of the Son till after and by reason of the Incarnation 2. The second is the Conjunction of the Divine and Humane nature in the second Person and this can never be dissolved for what he once took he never puts off And the Apostle saies Christ that is God and Man suffered for us 1 Pet. 2.21 The third is the union of Grace Joh. 1.14 For Christ was a Man full of Grace and truth and this doth and shall remain The just dyed for the unjust 1 Pet. 3.18 the death of Christ had nothing profited us if there had been a separation of Grace The fourth is the union of Glory for the soule of Christ saw God from its very conception Joh. 1.14 and according to its superiour part was already truely blessed Aquin. 3. p. q. 46. ar 8. and therefore this conjunction could not be dissolved because a soule once truely blessed is alwayes blessed blessednesse being the summ and compendium of all goodness There remains a fifth union which is that of Protection whereof he speaks He that sent me is with me Joh. 8.29 and hath not left me alone And this for a short time was suspended and dissolved that the oblation of a bloody sacrifice might take place for the Redemption of mankind God was able divers wayes to have protected Christ and to have withstood his Passion according to that prayer of his in the Garden Marck 14.36 Father all things are possible to thee take away this cup from me nevertheless not what I will but what thou wilt Nay Christ could have defended himselfe and commanded Legions of Angels to have guarded his Person Mat. 26.53 No man could take his life from him but he laid it down himself Joh. 10.18 and he might as well bestowed on his body the gift of impassibility as that of incorruption But it pleased the Father it pleased the Son it pleased the Holy Ghost to permit the common decree that humane cruelty should prevail against him then he told his bebetrayers the hour was come Mark 14.41 in which the Son of man should be delivered into the hands of sinners God then so left and forsook his Son that he suffered his humanity for that Space to be without any consolation to endure for our sins most bitter sorrows yea the torments of hell it self And he put himself to those unspeakable sufferings by reason of the greatnesse of mans sin which he took on his body to expiate for us that we being delivered from sin 1 Pet. 2.24 should live in righteouseness by whose stripes we are healed And as this sin was infinite as being against a person of an infinite value the Lord God so the person Satisfying was to be of an incomprehensible dignitie and excellency And though one drop of his precious blood had been an ampler ansom for all mankind yet that his passion might be esteemed by us the more meritorious and gain more Souls he shed all because he did undertake for the sins of the whole world therefore it pleased him to suffer a world of torments when he laboured under that Dereliction of his father 1. Learn hence O man how infinite and inexpresible was the love of Christ to thee when he suffered with so much patience and humilitie such wonderful torments for thy sins His soul was very heavie unto death Man 26.3 There is no Christian but will acknowledge that our Saviour was ten thousand times more able to suffer then the most Constant Martyr that hath suffered for his Name and if he were more able to bear whence could it happen that he was prest with such sorrow such heaviness and such feare but that he alone suffered more then all the martyrs ever since righteous Abel to this day this should work an imitation in us to love the bitter cup of repentance and to reject the cups of Consolation and Secular delights to rejoyce in afflictions and to trample on the seeming felicities of this world Doth God visit our land with Plague Famine War or other judgements O! remember that these Calamities are but as a drop to that vast Ocean of sorrows the Son Gof od suffered for us and that they are far less then our sins deserved for they are but temporal and reach no further then our bodies but by his sufferings we are exempted from those miseries which might justly fall on our souls and bodies eternally We then are as prisoners once condemned for capital crimes but released again with our lives and only chastized with some few stripes have we not then great cause to rejoyce that we have escaped greater judgments 2. But though God seems for a while to forsake his friends and leave them in durances and to withdraw his grace and favour from them yet his indignation cannot last for ever in the end he will return unto them and shew them the light of his gracious Countenance and be merciful unto them if they call upon his glorious name in their distresses Christ upon the Cross suffered a great dereliction his Glory was obscured his divinity seemed to be hid the light of heaven was substracted from him in stead of a Diademe he wore a Crown of thorns in stead of a Scepter a Reed in stead of a statelyretinue belonging to a King they afforded him the ignominious fellowship of two theeves thus was he dejected and scorned and exposed to all imaginable crosses but behold upon his humble expostulation and prayer to God the sence was altered and a speedy Period put to all these calamities the heavens were unmantled the light appeared his last and worst enemy Death was conquered his body and soul
much facility Cyprian ser de patieut Charity which is the Queen of virtues the ground of peace the link of unity greater then either faith or hope or Martyrdom take from it Patience and it remains desolate take from it the substance of suffering and it hath no root no strength to persevere without this the chaste man cannot resist uncleanness the just cannot be free from corruption nor the peaceable from a desire of Revenge The Psalmist saies Psal 9.18 the expectation or Patience of the Poor or humble shall not perish for ever but the fruit of it shall be perpetually verdant the husband-man loses not the sweats of his brow when he beholds his seed flourishing in the eare And the patient souldier deserves as great trophies as the greatest Conquerour when by the sweetness of his sufferings he doth as it were trampled on the victories of his enemies he that endureth to the end shall receive a Crown of Glory Ja. 1.12 We need no other Motive to induce us to this Royal vertue then the King of sufferings Christ Jesus thirsting on the Cross for not to speak of all his afflictions and miseries which continued from his cradle to his grave this his tedious and vehement thirst is sufficient to enflame our souls with a religious patience in all our tribulations But least we should mistake the practice of it with the Romish Saint Macarius who having killed a gnat which pricked him Vitae P. P. as if he had committed a great act of impatience went for the space of six moneths exposing his naked body to all the flies gnats and wasps of the wilderness to be revenged upon himself let 's take these few directions 1. To bear a little with our selves and be content with those conditions and callings wherein we are placed it is the property of imprudent persons to be weary with the present and ever gaping for the future 2. To be full of mildness and lenity towards others bearing with their infirmities some hath more disturbances then the winding Eruipus hath waves but what unreasonableness is it that a man full of rebellions against God should desire that men and beasts serve him according to all his humours 3. 2 Sam. 16 10 11. To suffer calumny and slanderous words as David did those of Shemei 4. To endure all humane accidents as sicknesses loss of goods hunger and thirst imprisonments banishments death of friends and neer Relations and whatsoever hath sadness and horror in nature ever acknowledging that they are but scourges for our sins which deserves greater and that none of them happen without the permission of the divine power to which we must all submit that so the incensed God being appeased may vouchsafe us his benedictions and enbosom us as his sons by his paternal favour 2. But besides this corporal thirst the Lord seems to me to intend a spiritual one and to have spoken these words in the same sense as those to the women of Samaria Give me to drink Afterwards unlocking the mystery of his speech he adjoynes this if thou knewest the gift of God Io. 4.7 10. and who it is that saith to thee give me to drink thou wouldst have asked of him and he will give thee the water of life When I behold Christ upon the Cross as it were upon the high Mount looking on so many millions languishing through the inflamations of their sins I behold the same Lord commiserating their sad conditions and saying though I truly thirst for the exhausted and dried humour of my body yet I more thirst and covet that man at length may by faith acknoledg me to be the true fountain of that living water and that they may come to me and drink and so they shall not thirst eternally To this purpose are the words of the Prophet Ho Everyone that thirsteth come to the waters Isa 55.1 and he that hath no money come buy and eat come I say buy wine and milk without money without price That you may conceive they are not screw'd to too high a value he invites you with a second call these waters are said to be bought because they are not to be had without some labour and industry but they are had without any commutation because they are given freely neither can there be any price found to parallel the greatness of their worth what he first called Water he afterwards cals Wine and Milk thereby to display unto us the excellency and perfection of the gift what is called Water is divine Wisdom which quencheth the flames lusts of Concupiscence by Wine is meant that celestial calefaction which doth warm and brisk the soul making it to covet things heavenly and sublime and it is called Milk because it sweetly nourished the Infants in Christ with eternal food 1 Pet. 2.1 Some thirst with a most flaming desire and insatiable greediness after the transitories of this world which the vulgar call blessings as honours wealth and pleasures but our desires must mount higher and have these three Objects the glory of God the honour of Christ and the salvation of our souls that these were the vehement desires of Christ all his works all his preachings all his sufferings and all his miracles do voice and speak it The Prophet cries out As the hart brayeth for the rivers of water Psal 42.1 2. so panteth my Soul after thee O God My Soul thirsteth for God even for the living God when shall I come and appear before the presence of God Behold how this King who was clad with the rags of mortality and soyled with the vileness of carnal vanities thirsts after Gods honour and service here and to enjoy the beatifical vision of him hereafter Rom. â— 3 Pauls zeal towards Gods Glory was such that he would redeem the rejection of the Jews with his own damnation to testifie his great desire for their Salvation he wisht to be anathematized from Christ He had rather be deprived of the heavenly Glory then that Christ should be deprived of so great a fault of his passion which would have appeared in the conversion of so many thousand Israelites Now if Christ if Paul and others so eagerly thirsted for our salvation why do we our selves neglect it Why do we so vehemently covet these temporals which are weightless and momentaneous and not place our whole effections on that happiness which is glorious and eternal The reason peradventure is because everlasting Glory is not empaled within the dominion of sense we have not that external experiment of it as of corporal felicity which makes us earnestly covet this slightly desire the other and therefore the natural man who sees not beyond the Region of sense perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.14 for they are foolishness to him But he that is spiritual discerneth all things There must be a spiritual wisdome in us before we can long for the things
the patience to learn the following Article he might hear of his Triumphant Ascension into heaven and sitting there in Majesty and power on Gods right hand all the consolation of a Christian consists in this principally that after a troublesome warfare here he shall be carried to Abrahams bosome the Celestial Paradise to the durable Jerusalem to his Masters joy to an inheritance immortal undefiled reserved in the heavens to a rest from his labours and to behold the glory of God O how it behoves each man then to secure his interest in those felicities and daily and hourly commend his soul to that God that made it We are all careful enough when death approaches to put our houses in order and dispose of our temporals but few take a thought for that which is spiritual We had rather with King Asa seek to the Physitian then to the Lord 2 Chr. 16. when seized with sickness or with the Pharisees tithe mint and cummin and leave the weighty Matters of the Law undone but so we do but present God with maim not perfect with dead not living sacrifices Nothing can enter into the Kingdom of heaven but what is pure and immaculate and therefore our chiefest care should be if we desire to have admission there to prepare our souls by true faith and timely repentance without which our prayers and tears will nothing avail for without holinesse no man shall see the face of God He made our souls spirits let us not then make them carnal by feeding on corrupt lust He made them immortal let us not murder them with our sins and deprive them of eternal life He made them noble and after his own image let us not make them brutish and earthly by doting on the pleasures and vanities of this transitory world For what shal it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul TO thee therefore O thou Father of our Spirits do we make our humble addresses that thou wouldst be pleased to be a Protector of our souls and bodies both here and to all eternity Thou art our Rock and our Fortresse therefore for thy Names sake defend and guide us We have no confidence in saints or Angels for thou hast charged the best of them with folly but in the multitude of thy mercies for thou alone hast redeemed us O Lord God of truth Thou that didst shew thy power in weakness and shake the foundations of the earth when suffering on thy Cross make us to tremble through the horror of our sins and to fear thy judgments for them which we justly merit As thou didst then cleave the Rocks and rend the vail of thy sanctuary so melt our stony hearts with the beams of thy grace that they may receive the impressions of thy favors and that we may enter into the Holy of Holies above which thou hast prepared for thy chosen The height of our love is but to lay down our lives for our dearest relations but thou didst depose thy precious life for thy enemies that rebelled against thee Lord who by thy active and passive obedience wouldst leave nothing undone or unsuffered for our salvation O teach us to obey thy word to embrace thy metions to practise what thou commandest Let our wills be wholly resolved into thine and make us conformable to thee as thy saints and angels in heaven are We confess Lord that the wages of sin is deaeth and that we justly deserve to be reduced to our first nothing but O let not death which is the work of the divel have dominion over thy creatures who are the work of thine own hands Before we receive a summens to our end we pray thee furnish us with all requisite graces that we may be clothed with the wedding garment of holinesse and righteousness to meet thee the sweet Bridegroom of our souls Let us not commend unto thee foul sinful spouses but clean and sorrowful spirits for thou despisest not Lord humble and contrite hearts At the hour of death Lord speak comfortably to our souls and seal in our hearts by thy holy Spirit the pardon of all our sins Assist us with thy presence against all the assaults of our spiritual adversaries for if thou wilt be with us we shall neither fear nor feel any evil though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death And grant that though our souls and bodies be separated by death for a short space they may be re-united at thy great day and by vertue of thy Resurrection be raised to live in thy ever blessed eternity Grant this for his sake who lived and dyed and rose again for our salvation Jesus Christ Amen FINIS