kind are the proper fruits and necessary effects of Satans victory over sinners the finall wages of sinnes unrepented of or not actually expiated by the blood of our Redeemer In all other tribulations distresses or persecutions which are not the wages of sinne We are as our Apostle saith Rom. 8.35 37. more then Conquerers through him that loved us if so we endure them with patience But how more than Conquerers in these which are in themselves evill distastfull to our nature Therefore more than Conquerers because these afflictions suffered with patience doe testifie our conformity to the Sonne of God in his most grievous sufferings and the dissolution of the works of Satan in us doth seale unto our soules a full Acquitance from hell paines from which questionlesse our high Priest was free in that great Combat with Satan and his infernall powers Otherwise he had not been full Conquerer over hell and the second death which is no other than the paines of Hell or hellish torments Nor could the sufferings of such torments bee any part of the Sonne of Gods qualification for dissolving those works of Satan which cannot be dissolved but by the exercise of his everlasting Priesthood which was the last end or finall cause of his sufferings or consecration by afflictions CHAP. XV. Christs suffering of the unknowen paines or of paines greater than ever any of his Martyrs or others in this life have suffered requisite for his qualification as hee was to become the high Priest of our soules 1 THe Sonne of God was to suffer all the afflictions which wee in this world can suffer in a farre higher degree than we can suffer them to bee more strongly tempted by all the meanes by which wee are tempted unto sinne whether by feare of evill or by hope of things good and pleasant unto nature that hee might even to our apprehension bee a more faithfull and mercifull high Priest in things concerning God than ever any before him had been or can be But Satan we know tempteth no man in this life unto sinne either with the feare or sufferings of any evill or vexations whereof our mortality can have no experience Hee labours to withdraw no man from Gods service by giving them any taste or touch of the paines prepared for the damned in the life to come Such as are in the deepest bonds of thraldome to him would quickly abandon his service if hee should tender them such a true symbole or earnest of their everlasting wages or such a momentany taste of Hell paines as the Spirit of God in this life exhibiteth to some of his children of their everlasting joyes And it is questionable whether our nature whilest mortall bee capable of such paines or whether the first touch or reall impression of them would not dissolve the link or bond betweene mans mortall body and his immortall soule in a moment For as flesh and blood cannot inherite the Kingdome of God but this mortall must put on immortalitie ere we can bee partakers of celestiall joyes so it is probable that our corruptible bodies must bee made in another kinde incorruptible before they can bee the proper Subjects or receptacles of Hell paines But though no man in this life be tempted to ill or withdrawen from the service of God by sufferance of such paines yet in as much as many are oft times tempted to despaire of Gods mercies by the unknowne terrors of Hell or representations of infernall forces there is no question but the Sonne of God not in his Divine wisdome onely by which he knoweth all things but even as man had a more distinct view of all the forces and terrors of Hell more full experience of their active force and attempts than any man in this life can have to the end that he might bee a faithfull Comforter of all such unto the worlds end as shall bee affrighted or attempted with them If wee consider then onely the attempt assault or active force by which Satan seeketh to withdraw us from God unto his service not the issue or impression which his attempts makes upon us sinfull men there was no kinde of temptation whereto the Sonne of God was not subject whereto he did not submit himselfe for our sakes that hee might have full experience or perfect notice as man of all the dangers whereunto wee are obnoxious By that which was done against the greene tree hee knoweth what will become of the drie if it bee exposed to the like fiery triall It was requisite that this great Captaine of Gods warfare with Satan and of our salvation should have a perfect view of all the forces which fight against us that hee might bee a faithfull Solicitor to his Almighty Father for aid and succour unto all that are beset with them unto all that offer up strong cries unto him as hee in the dayes of his flesh did unto his Father and was saved from that which hee feared 2. The greatest comfort which any poore distressed mortall man can expect or which our nature is capable of in oppression and distresse must issue from this maine fountaine of our Saviours Agony and bloody sweat of his Crosse and Passion For whatsoever hee suffered in those two bitter dayes he suffered if not for this end alone yet for this especially that hee might bee an All-sufficient Comforter unto all such as mourne as having sometimes had more than a fellow feeling of all our infirmities and vexations as one who had tasted deeper of the cup of sorow and death it selfe then any man before him had done or to the worlds end shall doe It would bee a great comfort to such as have suffered shipwrack to have an Admirall a Dispenser of Almes unto Seafaring men who had sometimes suffered shipwrack or after shipwrack had been wronged by his neighbours or natives And so it would bee to a man eaten out of his estate by usury or vexations in Law to have a Judge or Chancellor who had been both wayes more grievously wronged a just or upright man whose heart would melt with the fellow-feeling of his calamities Experience of bodily paines or grievous diseases inclineth the Chirurgion or Physician to bee more compassionate to their Patients and more tender of their well-fare than otherwise they would be And for these reasons ever since I tooke them into consideration and as often as I resume the meditations of our Saviours death I have ever wondred and still doe wonder at the peevishnesse or rather patheticall prophanesse of some men who scoffe at those sacred passages in our Liturgie By thy Agony and bloody sweat by thy Crosse and Passion c. Good Lord deliver us as if they had more alliance with spells or formes of conjuring than with the spirit of prayer or true devotion Certainely they could never have fallen into such irreverent and uncharitable quarells with the Church our Mother unlesse they had first fallen out and that fouly with Pater
hence follow that he should at all times know either the true quality or exact measure of the paines which hee was at the time appointed by his Father to suffer for accomplishing this great worke undertaken by him For of all things that can bee knowen by men the knowledge of paines either for quality or the distinct measure of them is least possible without experimentall knowledge or sensible feeling of them Many Physicians haue learnedly discourst of the severall sorts of feavers and calculated their degrees more mathematico as Mathematicians doe the quantity of figures or solid bodies or revolutions of the Heavens But the reall paines or languishments of hecticall pestilentiall or other feavers the most learned Physician in the world cannot distinctly know or calculate unlesse hee feele them Or in case by sensible experience he knew the nature or quality or severall degrees of every feaver he is not hereby enabled distinctly to apprehend the maladies which attend the Gout untill he feele them Or suppose he knew these maladies from the highest to the lowest degree this will not indoctrinate him to know the extremities of the Stone so perfectly and distinctly as his meanest Patient doth which hath sensible experience of it though in a middle degree Our Saviour long before his last resort unto the garden of Gethsemane was a man of sorows had plentifull experience of humane infirmities or bodily maladies For he had felt the griefe and paine of all the diseases which he had cured by most exact and perfect sympathy with the diseased His heart was tunable to every mans heart that did seriously impart his griefe of minde or affliction of body unto him Onely in laughter or bodily mirth hee held no consort for ought we reade with any man But the griefe and sorow which in the garden he suffered could not be knowen by sympathy The protopathy was in himselfe and no man not the Apostles themselves could so truely sympathize with him in this griefe as he had done with them or the meanest of their brethren in other grievances or afflictions For never was there on earth any sorow like unto the sorow wherewith the Lord had afflicted him in this day of his wrath Yet was his obedience more than equall to his sorow and this obedience he learned by his sufferings 7. But if in this houre or any other hee learned obedience this seemes to argue that he was either disobedient before or at lest wanted some degree or part of obedience For no man can be said to learne that lesson which he hath already most perfectly by heart To this wee say That how ever the Sonne of God or the man Christ Jesus did never want any degree or part of habituall or implanted obedience yet the measure of his actuall obedience was not at all times the same The obedience which the Apostle saith hee learned was obedience passive and all passive obedience doth properly consist in patient suffering such things as are enjoyned by lawfull authority or in submitting our wills and affections not our bodies onely unto the just designes of Superiours Our Saviour at all times wholly submitted his humane will unto his Fathers will had alwayes undertaken with alacrity whatsoever his Father had appointed him to undertake or undergoe but his Father had never called him to such hard service as in this houre was put upon him Now if obedience passive consist in patience of suffering it must needs increase as the hardnesse of the sufferings increase in case the hardest service bee borne with equall patience or undertaken with the same measure of submission unto his will which enjoines them that meaner services are Againe if the true measure of bodily paines or sorow of minde cannot otherwise be knowen than by experience the Sonne of God himselfe as man and in the forme of a servant was to learne obedience at lest some new degrees of it by gaining experience of unusuall paines and sufferings And such questionlesse were those anguishes whether of soule or body which he suffered in the garden That hee had often prayed before this time wee reade and no doubt had alwayes tendred his petitions to God as to his Father with such humility of spirit as became an obedient Sonne and faithfull servant as did best befit the Ideall paterne of all true obedience But we doe not reade nor have wee any occasion or hint to conjecture that at any time before this hee did so humble himselfe in prayer as at this time he did whether we respect the forme or tenour of his supplications or his voice or bodily gesture in the delivery of them All the circumstances of these his supplications are accurately recorded by the Evangelists He was withdrawen or did withdraw himselfe from his Apostles about a stones cast And yet in this distance his Apostles though drousie and heavie did heare him pray distinctly who had taught them and us to pray for our selves in secret so secretly as that none besides our heavenly Father might heare them As for his gesture or posture of body that at the first delivery of his prayer and supplications was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So S. Luke Cap. 22. ver 41. Hee went forward saith S. Mark a little and fell on the ground and prayed Mark 14.35 So hee might doe and fall on his knees as S. Luke relates But S. Matthew addes he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed saying O my Father if it bee possible let this cup passe from me That he thrice used this forme or tenour of prayer whether at each time hee used the same posture of bodie or rather falling on his knees than on his face is not so cleare though most probably hee did so Now that which these three Evangelists doe intimate or imply in the accurate relations of these circumstances is more expresly recorded by S. Paul Heb. 5.7 to wit that in the dayes of his flesh hee offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares And no wonder if streames of teares gushed from his eyes when his whole body as S. Luke informes us did distill blood The full importance of this sacred passage of S. Paul Heb. 5. from the fourth verse to the ninth seeing it containes matter of deeper mysteries than most Interpreters which I have read have taken any great paines to sound must be part of the subject of another following Treatise concerning his consecration to his everlasting Priesthood Thus much in the meane time I take as granted that the forecited seventh verse of the fifth Chapter to the Hebrews doth in speciall referre unto the supplications made by our Saviour in his Agonie and will be the best Comment I know upon the Evangelists for clearing that point now in question what Cup it was for whose removall hee thrice so earnestly prayed 8. Hee offered up these his prayers saith the Apostle unto him who was able to save him from death This is exactly parallel
the conflict betwixt the Serpent and the womans seed continued As it is the property of some biting Serpents to make way or entrance by their venemous teeth for the infusion of more deadly poison from some other parts of their body so this generation of Vipers which persecuted the Sonne of God used the civill power of Pilat and the Roman souldiers to open his veines and lance his flesh that their tongues might instill the poison of Aspes into his glorious stripes and bleeding wounds But with the bitter taunts and indignities offered unto him even whilest he was upon the Crosse I am not to meddle in particular they have proper seasons allotted for their memoriall It sufficeth therefore to observe that the obedience and patience of the Sonne of God in these most grievous sufferings were so absolute that wee must borrow the patience of Iob not in the second temptation by bodily grievance but in his first temptation by losse of goods or worldly substance for a scale to set it forth In all his sufferings in all that his enemies tongues or hands could doe or say unto him this servant of God did not sinne so much as in word but offered the sacrifice of prayers and supplications with the sacrifice of his soule and spirit for his persecutors 3. Yet admit Iobs patience in his bodily afflictions had been more perfect than in the first temptation it was for losse of bodily goods and his obedience most compleat both without mixture of impatiencie without staine of disobedience the full measure of both had not been equivalent to the least scantling of the obedience or patience of the Sonne of God made man for those acts though otherwise equall are alwayes best which are done ex officio Prayers or solemn services officiated by a Priest and justice awarded by a Magistrate are more acceptable unto God and more beneficiall unto men than if the same Act or Offices were more accurately performed by private men without a calling Now Iob and other holy men became pro modulo in some sort the servants of God by obedience It was the greater measure of their obedience which made their service more acceptable But the obedience of the Sonne of God made man did result or issue from the forme of a servant which hee voluntarily and on purpose tooke upon him that hee might in it and by it performe obedience more than sufficient for dissolving the force and strength of that disobedience and rebellion which the Devill had wrought in the Father of mankinde which with its curse became hereditary to his sinfull posterity The first Adam was created in the image of God not in respect of holinesse onely but in respect of soveraignty and dominion The second Adam though he were the Son of God was molded in the forme of a servant even from his first conception For as the Apostle saith he who was in the forme of God did empty or annull himselfe taking upon him the forme of a servant This was the terminus ad quem the intrinsecall terme of the Sonne of Gods first humiliation for as was said before the Sonne of God did not humble or empty himselfe onely in his manhood or according to his manhood after it was assumed but in the very assumption of the manhood thus moulded in the forme of a servant His humility as man was the humility of a servant it was not affected but a native branch of his present calling His obedience was not forced by constraint or feare it was more than a branch the very essence of his calling For he tooke upon him the forme of a servant it was not put upon him against his will as it was upon Iob. Nor was his obedience as man more excellent than any other mans had been in respect of its root or originall onely as being the formall effect of his calling that is of the forme of a servant which he tooke upon him but most compleat in respect of the end or finall effect For having annulled himself by taking upon him the forme of a servant hee further humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death even to the death of the Crosse Other servants may with their earthly Masters consent be set free and supreme authority may in some cases command their Masters to set them free But the forme of a servant was so closely united or wedded unto the Sonne of God manifested in the flesh that it could not bee cut off or divorced from him save onely by death and by the death of the Crosse which was a servile death and the accomplishment of his service But in what peculiar acts was the obedience or exercise of the forme of a servant which the Sonne of God tooke upon him most conspicuous or more remarkable than they have been in other men 4. It is a great deale more usuall to our Saviour than to any Prophet to any sacred Writer or other Messenger of Gods will to tell his hearers that hee came not of himselfe but was sent that being sent he came not to doe his owne will but the will of him that sent him that hee spake nothing of himselfe but as his Father had appointed him so he spake and so he did What was the reason that hee that spake as never man spake and did those works which none besides could doe should so often use these or like speeches to his Auditors Sure his speeches unto this purpose are neither apologeticall nor preventive as if his authority had been more questionable or his practices more suspitious than the authority and practices of the Prophets and other holy men had been And what was it then that gave occasion to this peculiar forme of speech or made the use of it so familiar and frequent All his speeches to this purpose are but the characters or expressions of the forme of a servant which hee tooke upon him His whole course of life his undertakings and encounters with this stubborne people or with Satan and his instruments might have testified to any considerate unpartiall man that no man being left free to himselfe would have adventured upon them out of the deliberate choise of an humane or reasonable will Specially his last sufferings were such as no wise man how godly soever would have undergone unlesse they had been put upon him by authority supreme and irresistable We may further observe how the forme of a man and the forme of a servant which had layed quiet for three and thirty yeares without any Crisis of their difference did upon the approach of his death and passion begin to struggle but without all strife or hostile dissention as Esau and Iacob towards the time of their birth had done in their mothers wombe Even in the height of that triumphant and more than royall entertainment which the multitude made him at his entrance into Jerusalem as if hee had then come to take possession of the Crowne of his father David even whilest his
prayer for himselfe Father if thou bee willing remove this Cup from mee The question is what Cup this was whose removall hee desired It was a deadly cup as all agree but of what death naturall or supernaturall death of body onely or of soule Had the Cup which he so feared to drinke been onely a death naturall or such as other men had or may taste of his serious reiterated deprecation of it would in some mens collections argue lesse courage or resolutiō in him than many others though generous yet but meere men have exhibited either at the approch or onset of death or in the very conflict with deadly pangs or terrors Or if Peter at this time had not been amazed with heavinesse of spirit hee might thus have crowed over his Master dulce bellum inexpertis when I forewarned you to bee good unto your selfe and not to let these things come upon you all the thanks I had for my paines was this Get thee behinde mee Satan for thou savourest not the things which are of God but the things which bee of men And yet now thou prayest unto thy Father that these things which I advised thee to beware of may not fall upon thee Wherein then I beseech thee did I offend unlesse it were in foreseeing or foretelling that in time it would repent thee of thy forward resolution But admit this Cup whose removall hee now prayes for were more than either the feare or feeling of a naturall death though accompanied with more grievous symptomes than any man before him had either felt or feared was it possible that the horror of it should not bee duely apprehended by him from the time wherein he had resolved to suffer those things which Peter counselled him not to suffer If he were ignorant how dearely his future sufferings would cost him why did hee undertake to make satisfaction for our sinnes by them For to undertake any businesse of greater consequence out of ignorance or out of knowledge in part commendable without due and constant resolution how ever the successe fall out doth alwaies prejudice if not elevate the just esteeme of the undertakers discretion The undertaker in this great businesse of mans Redemption was the Sonne of God whose wisdome no man can too highly estimate whose undertaking for us all men besides himselfe doe esteeme too low Shall wee say then hee was not ignorant of any thing that should befall him yet ignorant of them as man or that hee was ignorant of them in part in part did foreknow them Surely as hee was God hee did know all things before they were before they could have any title to actuall being For infinite knowledge such is the knowledge of the Deity and of every Person in it can neither be ignorant or nescient of any thing whether future present or past or of any thing possible to have been or possible to be either for the present or future If the least degree of knowledge of any thing past present or future could accrue or result de novo unto the Divine nature either in it selfe or in any person in it whether ab extra from occurrences which happen in the revolution of time or from the supposed determination of his owne will from eternity we should hence be enforced to deny that the wisdome or knowledge of the Divine nature or of any Person in it were absolutely infinite For that unto which any thing can accrue or bee added is not truely infinite for the present or in it selfe can be no otherwise infinite than by succession or by addition of somewhat to it besides it selfe If it were true which some avouch that God doth not or rather cannot foreknow contingents future otherwise than by the determination of his owne will this supposed determination of his will being indeed but a fancy or transformation of his will to the similitude of ours doth make his knowledge absolutely infinite being of it selfe onely capable of true infinity by this addition 5. That God the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost is of wisdome and knowledge truely infinite not by occurrences ab extra from the Creation but in himselfe I firmely beleeve As for the manner how hee doth know or foreknow things future contingents especially is a point which I could wish were not at all or more sparingly disputed as being assured that this point of all others now questioned cannot possibly be determined by any man or Angel unlesse he be every way as wise as God or somewhat wiser God the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost I verily beleeve did more perfectly know the degrees and qualities of all the suffrings of our Saviour in the flesh than he himself as man did either know or foreknow them Yet did not the Divine nature or any Divine person as Divine know them by experience or painefull feeling as the man CHRIST JESUS did but by a knowledge as supereminent to the knowledge of sense or humane reason as the Divine nature is to the nature humane or as ubiquitary being or immensity is to circumscriptive or locall presence The Divine nature whether wee consider it in the Person of the Father Sonne or Holy Ghost could learne nothing which they knew not before by the sufferings of the Sonne yet the Son himselfe as man did learne obedience by the things which hee suffered in the flesh Whatsoever may be thought or said of other knowledge communicated to the man CHRIST JESUS by the vertue of the Personall union yet his sensible or experimentall knowledge as of pains and sorrow whether incident to body onely or to both body and soule was not from his cradle infinite was not so compleat at his baptisme as at his last Supper nor then so exact as in the garden or upon the Crosse it was A growth or increase in this kinde of knowledge is granted by such of the Schoolemen as did not know or consider what it was for the Sonne of God to be in the forme of a servant but tooke this to bee all one as to bee in the forme of a mortall man But such as duely consider his peculiar estate or condition whilest he was in the forme of a servant will easily conceive his voluntary renouncing that full measure of knowledge which hee now hath as man and his obedient submission of his manhood unto the feeling of our infirmities to haue been a necessary part or rather the very depth of that humiliation or exaninition of himselfe whereof the Apostle speakes For it is one speciall good quality of a servant not perfectly to know his errand not to be too inquisitive after the particular contents of it before hee be sent but to expect instructions from him that sent him though it be in an Ambassage 6. If wee take it then as granted that our Saviour as man did from his infancy most clearly foresee or distinctly know that hee was to redeeme mankinde by tasting the bitter cup of death for them it will not
to the preamble which our Saviour used before the full ingruence or paroxysme of his Agony Abba Father all things are possible to thee take away this Cup from mee c. No man doubts but that his Father was able to save him from dissolution of body and soule that is from death it selfe whether it had come by course of nature or by violence But from this death it is plaine he did not save him Of this cup or kinde of death he tasted to the full in the utmost extremity upon the Crosse How then is it true which S. Paul in the forecited place addeth that after hee offered up prayers with strong crying and teares hee was heard in that hee feared Or as others reade for his piety Whether reading we follow this or that the just importance of our Apostles words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is thus much at least that hee was delivered from that which hee so much feared though with a pious feare for out of such a feare hee offered up his prayers with strong crying and teares The Cup then which hee so earnestly prayed might passe from him was not the cup of violent death simply considered nor as accompanied with all the indignities done unto him by the Jewes Romanes and others the very next day For what then did hee at this time so earnestly pray for speedy release or deliverance from the heavinesse of soule or anguish of spirit which now had suddenly seized upon him The very first draught of this Cup had cast him into a bloody sweat and had hee been enforced to have taken a second or third deepe draught of it or if his present anguish had been for some few houres continued hee had prevented the cruell tortures of the Crosse and the indignities done unto his person by the Jews or Roman Souldiers This was that Cup which Peter counselled him not to taste of for whose removall hee never prayed as being fully resolved to pledge the utmost extremity of their malice with a farre greater measure of patience And for this reason when Peter drew his sword for his rescous as he intended he checks him againe as he had done Matth. 16.23 Put up thy sword into the sheath the Cup which my Father gives mee shall I not drink it Ioh. 18.11 But that cup which he so earnestly did pray might passe from him did certainely vanish with his Agony and his Agony did endure no longer than he offered up his supplications and prayers about the space of an houre There remained no signe or symptome of it after the Traitor had delivered him up into his enemies hands Or if wee ponderate S. Lukes relation of his Agony aright his prayers were heard upon the first or second uttering of them Seeing ease or deliverance from the ingruence of paines is all that they pressed for the present desires it is all one whether the burthen bee lessened or his strength to beare it be increased His ease and comfort is either way the same Admit then the heavy burthen laid upon the Sonne of God in the dayes of his flesh had continued the same or perhaps increased from his first entring into the garden yet his prayers were heard in that an Angel was sent whether to strengthen him or to comfort him Luke 22.43 The word in the Originall is often used for such internall strength as men recover by some comfortable refection when they are faint for want of meat or by gathering their spirits after they have been dissipated or dejected by sudden feare or amazement It would perhaps be accompted impertinent to make inquiry what Angell it was which was sent to comfort or strengthen the Sonne of God in that extremity of his Agony Yet many of the Ancients and of moderne Interpreters not a few are of opinion that it was the same Angel which did annunciate his birth and conception and that was the Angel Gabriel Who though perhaps hee did not take his name from his foreseene deputation to his function yet did hee never brook it better in any former acts of his ministery then in the performance of this present service His name imports as much as the strength of God and at this time hee strengtheneth the man CHRIST JESUS who then was and now is the Sonne of God as truely God as man Now if he who was the Sonne of God did receive strength or comfort from an Angel it is no paradox or soloecisme to say that hee learned obedience by the things which he suffered or that these present sufferings were unknowen to him as man untill he felt them For no reason can be to my apprehension conceived why hee who was the Sonne of God might not be capable of some growth in knowledge experimentall especially as well as in bodily quantity or strength of body Concerning the nature and quality of those sufferings wherein hee was strengthened or comforted by an Angel as whether they were naturall or supernaturall or if supernaturall whether they were the very paines of Hell or such as wee should have suffered without his satisfaction cannot be inferred either from the unusuall forme of his prayers uttered with strong cries or from his gesture in the garden 9. Some there be who take his bloody sweat in that grievous Agony to be a symptome of infernall paines But from what grounds either in Philosophy or Divinity I know nor If the paines of Hell or hellish paines so some distinguish be procured by the fire of Hell bee that materiall or immateriall bloody sweat can bee no probable effect of the one or other fire Nor is such sweat any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or demonstrative signe of paines more grievous than may bee inflicted by agents or suffered by patients meerely naturall For however in colder Countries bloody sweats bee as rare in mens bodies as showres of blood in the aire yet as a good Philosopher hath long agoe observed to sweat blood is not unusuall to Italians yet usuall onely as I take it to men of that Climate in some peculiar diseases The most remarkable instance which I have read of bloody sweat in a man not opprest with any disease is of a Captaine an Italian if I mistake not who being surprized by the subtilty of his Enemy whom hee had trusted too farre upon a tryste of Parly and thereby inforced either to yeeld up the Fort which he had stoutly maintained or otherwise to be presently hanged the consideration of this perplexity wherewith through his owne folly hee had intangled himselfe did make such deepe impression into his generous spirits that it squeez'd blood out of his veines Our Saviour no doubt as man had a more full apprehension of all the malicious disgraces and cruel indignities which his enemies could put upon him than this Captaine had The measure of his bodily sufferings and personall wrongs were in number farre more and for quality farre more grievous than ever were intended to this Captaine or to
fitly pretended for the first composing of it then the extraordinary joy of the whole Communitie of the people of Juda and Israel aswell Priests as Laicks upon the erection or finishing of the second Temple For within the compasse of this season Haggai had prophecied that the desire of all Nations should come unto that Temple The precise time according to exact calculation of his comming to Jerusalem and of his death there had beene notified by Daniel not long before The sacred history of the times wherein Zerubbabel Ieshua Haggai and Zechariah lived beare plentifull record that the people of Judah Benjamin or Israel had no just cause or great occasions of rejoycing according to that scale of joy and gladnesse which is charactered in the 118. Psalme immediately after their returne from Babylonish captivitie For both neighbour Nations and the principal Officers of this side Euphrates of those kings unto whom they were subject did partly by violence partly by malicious suggestions for divers yeares prohibite the erection of the Temple and the re-edifying of Jerusalem More feare then joy did possesse this great people when they begun to erect the Altar of the Lord as may appeare from Ezra 3.4 And that was divers months before the foundation of the Temple was laid at which time indeed there was much joy especially amongst the people and younger sort Yet joy mixt with many teares of the Ancient especially Priests and Levites which had seene the former Temple at least the foundation of it Ezra 3.12 13. 5 However it is probable that this 118. Psalm was in part composed upon the sight or view of the first foundation of the second Temple For Ezra tells us that the Priests and Levites after the ordinance of David King of Israel sung together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord because he is good and his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel And in this forme of thanksgiving the 118. Psalme begins and ends O give thanks unto the Lord for his mercy endureth for ever Let Israel now say that his mercy endureth for ever ver 1. O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever ver 29. I am not forgetfull nor can the Reader be ignorant that there is another Psalme videlicet 136. in which this forme of praise is more perpetuall as being the close or fall of every verse But that Psalme as I have many inducements to conceive was composed long before the foundation of the Temple was laid But other Psalmes of thanksgiving there are besides these two which were composed upon speciall occasions and afterwards continued in their solemne feasts with further additions and amplifications as the like occasions of publique joy did minister For later Prophets or men otherwise inspired by the holy Ghost for that purpose to intersert or adde more plaine or fuller expressions of Davids or former Prophets intent or meaning in their forme of thanksgiving or to paraphrase upon them was never unlawfull although they had added the same curse to such as should adde unto or diminish their writings which is annexed unto the law of Moses and the booke of the Revelations For no addition is forbidden but such as includeth a vitiation of the text or such as pretendeth Divine authority when it hath it not 6 But however this 118. Psalme or most part of it might be begunne upon the occasions forementioned by Ezra yet some passages in it there are which in particular refer unto some one of the three great and anniversary solemnities as that This is the day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it Save now O Lord I beseech thee c. ver 24 25. Now after the foundation of the Temple was laid there was no solemn feast in which this peoples expression of joy and thanksgiving was so remarkeable or so peremptorily required as in that feast of Tabernacles or booths recorded by Nehemiah cap. 8. A feast of Tabernacles there was some few months after the foundation of the Temple was laid by Zerubbabel and Ieshua the sonne of Iozadeck recorded by Ezra 3.4 c. But that feast of Tabernacles was solemnised secundùm quid onely in respect of the peculiar daily sacrifices which the Law in that month appointed to be offered There is no mention in Ezra of their dwelling in boothes either in their publique streets upon their publique houses or in the Courts of the Lords house which was not at that time builded This part of that great solemnity had not beene observed from the daies of Ioshua the sonne of Nun untill Nehemiah had put his peremptory commission for re-edifying Jerusalem in execution Nehemiah which is the Tirshatha and Ezra the Priest the Scribe and the Levites that taught the people said unto all the people This day is holy unto the Lord your God mourne not nor weepe for all the people wept when they heard the words of the Law c. And they found written in the Law which the Lord had commanded by Moses that the Children of Israel should dwell in boothes in the feast of the seventh month And that they should publish and proclaime in all their Cities and in Ierusalem saying Goe forth unto the Mount and fetch Olive branches and pine branches and myrtle branches and Palme branches and branches of thick trees to make booths So the people went forth and brought them and made themselves booths every one upon the roofe of his house and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God and in the street of the water gate of Ephraim And all the congregation of them that were come againe out of the captivity made boothes and sate under the boothes for since the dayes of Ioshua the sonne of Nun unto that day had not the Children of Israel done so and there was very great gladnesse Also day by day from the first day unto the last day he read in the booke of the law of God And they kept the feast seven dayes and on the eighth day was a solemne Assembly according unto the manner Nehem. 8.9 10 11. c. This great day of the feast was that anniversary solemnity wherein our Lord and Saviour after the revolution of many years how many I leave to the calculation of Chronologers did make that solemne proclamation unto the people assembled at the feast of Tabernacles Iohn 7.37 In the last day that great day of the feast Iesus stood and cryed saying If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink He that beleeveth on mee as the Scriptures have said out of his belly shall flow rivers of running water But this spake he of the Spirit which they that beleeve on him should receive For the holy Ghost was not yet given because that Iesus was not yet glorified 7 It is very observable which is recorded by Saint Iohn Chap. 7.14 That about the midst of the feast Iesus went into the
the Jews whilst they had liberty and opportunity to celebrate this feast especially from Nehemiah his time And in asmuch as the great multitude assembled at the feast of Passeover wherein our Saviour did accomplish the lawes and rites of the Paschall lamb did present him with this kinde of honour accustomed in the feast of Tabernacles they evidently declare unto the world though not by expresse confession or distinct apprehension of his eternall Deity as was said before yet by gesture and deportment put upon them by secret instinct that this JESUS whom they thus welcommed in the Mount of Olives was that very God and Lord of hoasts who had given them victory over Pharaoh and his hoast in the red Sea who had protected them and refreshed them in the wildernesse in all their distresses and in their whole journey to the land of Canaan that very onely God in memory of whose gracious goodnesse towards them the feast of Tabernacles was first instituted by Moses afterward more solemnely celebrated by Ioshua and upon some interruption in matter of ceremonies revived or restored by Nehemiah 6. As for the doctrine of the later Jews such I meane as from our Saviours time have recollected the practice of their Forefathers in this feast of Tabernacles I referre the ingenuous Reader to the Commentators upon Leviticus 23. and upon Nehemiah The garb and gesture of the Jews in bearing of Palme branches at the feast of Tabernacles if wee may beleeve these mens relations was not much unlike the deportment of the ancient Grecians after victory whether in serious warres or in Olympick games or rather the deportment of the ancient Grecians was by superstitious imitation borrowed from the lawes and customes of the ancient Hebrews The practice of the Grecians and most other Nations in their victories is recorded by Pausanias Wreathes or branches of Palmes are a set reward for many Prizes and in every place doth adorne the right hand of the Vanquishers which custome is said to have had its first originall after this wise It is reported that Theseus being returned from Crete did institute certaine games at Delos in the honour of Apollo and did reward the Victorers with Palms Of which Palms Homer also maketh mention in those verses wherein he recites the mournfull Oration of Vlisses to the daughter of Alcinous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pausanias in Arcadicis Lib. 8. That the bearing of Palme branches in their right hands was a generall Embleme amongst most Nations of victory I willingly assent to this learned Antiquary for Palmam obtinere is as much in Latin Writers as Victoriam obtinere But that this devise should take its originall from Theseus I cannot be perswaded because the sacred story of the old Testament and the Prophecies or Visions in the New doe testifie this custome to bee more ancient then Theseus amongst Gods people and an Embleme of the victory of Gods Saints over death and the grave To omit other places that of S. Iohn Apoc. 7. is most pregnant After this I beheld and loe a great multitude which no man could number of all Nations and kinreds and people and tongues stood before the Throne and before the Lamb clothed with white robes and Palmes in their hands And cried with a loud voice saying Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb verse 9.10 This maner of congratulation used by the Saints is but a more distinct and full expression of the peoples voice when they cried Hosanna to the Sonne of David which as was observed before was both precatory and congratulatory and did withall according to the propriety of the Hebrew import thus much Lord grant salvation to the Sonne of David that hee may save us So that both the people though they unwittingly and more unconstantly and the Saints of all Nations expresly and constantly doe honour the Sonne even as they honour the Father CHAP. XXII That the honour done to our Saviour at his comming to Ierusalem did though not in the distinct apprehension of the multitude or of his Disciples concludently declare him to be the Sonne of God or the God of their Fathers 1 THe former Assertion concerning the reall exhibition of that honour unto the Sonne of David at this memorable Passeover which by the intendment of the Law Levit. 23. was directed unto God alone in the feast of Tabernacles is more remarkably implied in the undoubted accomplishment of the feast of Dedication next before the same Passeover especially if we compare the often mentioned congratulations of the people crying Hosanna to the Sonne of David with our Saviours actions and doctrine both of them being accurately recorded by the Evangelists between his entring into the Temple and the time of his Agony The feast of the Dedication or Encaenia in the ninth moneth heretofore handled in part was a Feast instituted in imitation of the feast of Tabernacles whose anniversary celebration was immediatly and peremptorily commanded by God himselfe Moses at that time being his sole Agent or Ambassadour whereas the feast of Dedication or Encenia was instituted by the visible Church at a time wherein there was no Prophet in Israel no man endued with the spirit of Moses nor no immediat or extraordinary Revelation from God For a little before the institution of the feast of Dedication the Author of the 74. Psalme had thus complained Wee see not our signes there is no more any Prophet neither is there among us any that knoweth how long And this Psalme as best Interpreters are of opinion was composed in the time of Antiochus his raging tyranny over Jerusalem over the people of God and his Temple Both parts of this observation may be confirmed by the Author of the first Book of Maccabees Then Iudas appointed certaine men to fight against those that were in the Fortresse untill hee had cleansed the Sanctuary So hee chose Priests of blamelesse conversation such as had pleasure in the Law Who cleansed the Sanctuarie and bare out the defiled stones into an uncleane place And when as they consulted what to doe with the Altar of burnt offerings which was profaned they thought it best to pull it downe lest it should bee a reproach to them because the Heathen had defiled it Wherefore they pulled it downe and laid up the stones in the Mountaine of the Temple in a convenient place untill there should come a Prophet to shew what should bee done with them 1. Maccab. 4.41 42. c. And after they had cleansed the Sanctuary they restored the holy vessells and furnisht the Temple of the Lord. On the five and twentieth day of the ninth Moneth which is called the Moneth Casleu in the hundred forty and eighth yeare they arose up betimes in the morning and offered sacrifices according to the Law upon the new Altar of burnt offerings which they had made Looke at what time and what day the Heathen had prophaned it even in that day it was dedicated
see one joyfull day the light of Gods Countenance did not shine upon them as the history of the Old Testament especially of the Bookes of Kings and Chronicles do sufficiently testifie Nor did this Nation from the day of our Saviours death enjoy one quiet or secure day not one houre wherein there either was not apparent danger or some secret breeding of new calamities nor shall they enjoy any till it please him whom they crucified to restore them againe to the land of their Inheritance from which they are scattered or at least to their spirituall state from which they are fallen 6 That the forementioned lamentation or threne did in the literall and historicall sense referre unto the untimely death of good Iosiah that the calamities which ensued upon his death did typically portend just matter of greater sorrow for the death of the Lords Anointed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Messias that one place of the Prophet Zachariah to omit others perswades me They shall mourne for him as one who mourneth for his onely sonne and shall be in bitternesse for him as one that is in bitternesse for his first borne In that day shall there be a great mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo Zachar. 12.10 11. c. For in the valley of Megiddo Iosiah was slaine as it is recorded 2 Chron. 35.22 23. And all Ierusalem and Iudah mourned for Iosiah and Ieremiah lamented for Iosiah and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Iosiah in their Lamentations to this day and made them an ordinance in Israel and behold they are written in the Lamentations This disaster occasioned by his owne oversight or forwardnesse to fight with Necho befel Iosiah after he had wrought that remarkable reformation in the house of the Lord and after hee had celebrated the Passeover with such solemnity as had not been seen before in Jerusalem nor after It was the eminency of Iosiah his zeale and fidelity in setting forth that solemnity and other services of God which occasioned this people even the Prophets first to conceive that they should prosper under his shadow and after these hopes had failed to lament his death in such passionate expressions as the faithfull amongst his people even our Saviours Disciples did his death But we trusted that it had beene he who should have redeemed Israel Luke 24.20 The extremity of sorrow upon our Saviours death foreshadowed by the Lamentations for Iosiahs losse was fulfilled pro illâ vice in that compunction of heart and spirit in Saint Peters Auditors Acts 2.37 Now when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles Men and Brethren what shall we doe But the full accomplishment of those mournfull Lamentations for our Saviours death whether foreshadowed or foretold or inchoated whether in the Old Testament or in the New is not to be expected before the conversion of the Jews which will not be publick or Nationall untill they seriously and publiquely repent them of their owne sinnes and of the sinnes of their forefathers for putting the Lord of life and King of glory to a bitter and shamefull death Nor is the Nation of the Jews onely but all the kinreds of the Earth to bewaile him and repent for all were causes of his death Behold he commeth saith Saint Iohn with clouds and every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him and all kinreds of the earth shall waile because of him Rev. 1.7 7 A fitter Subject for meditations to make either a private Christian truely wise or wise men especially Governors whether Ecclesiasticall or civill truly Christian I could not commend unto the one or other though bound so to doe upon my deathbed then the sacred historie concerning the estate of Judah from the death of good Iosiah to the end of the Babylonish Captivitie and the history of Iosephus and others who have decipherd the estate of the Jews since they put the Lord of life to death This parallel betweene Jerusalems two progresses to her first and second destruction was the maine theame of my first ministerial meditations the contents wherof would bee too laborious to collect and their expressions too long to bee interserted in this Treatise To returne therefore to the former path from which I have somewhat though not impertinently digressed 8 Of that glory of Christ which shall be revealed when every eye shall see him when they that crucified and pierced his body shall mourne after such a manner as Zacharie and St. Iohn in the places forecited import Hee himselfe in the houres of his greatest humiliation immediately after his agony in the garden and as I take it before Iudas did deliver him up to the high Priest and Officers did exhibite some rayes or glimpses by striking the Armed band which came to attach him backwards downe to the ground with the sole words or breath of his mouth And again by the deliverance of his followers from such rage and tyranny as they practiced against him that the words of the Prophets not their projects and his exposition of their meaning might be fulfilled I will smite the Shepheard and the sheep shall be scattered This prophecy wee have Zachar. 13.7 The accomplishment of this prophecy was in part exemplified by the scattering of his Apostles and Disciples upon his apprehension and death And so were the words immediately following in the Prophet punctually verified and really exemplified in recollecting them again after his Resurrection and the feast of Pentecost next ensuing The full accomplishment of the prophecy as it concerns the scattering of the flock or sheep was not publiquely declared or exemplified before the destruction of the second Temple and dispersing of the Jewish Nation The other parts of the same prophecy must be afterwards accomplisht in the conversion of the Jews CHAP. XXIIII Of the predictions or prefigurations of our Saviours sufferings after his apprehension in the High Priests hall c. 1 ALL these rayes or glimpses of the Sun of Righteousnesse did interpose themselves in the dayes of his humiliation and obscuritie before he was led bound to Caiaphas the high Priest But after Iudas of a close Ahitophel or cunning traitour became an open Dalilah and had betrayed his Master into their hands with a kisse this Sampson the Sun of righteousnesse became like another man or like the moone in eclipse More weak and impotent for any attempt of resistance or escape then Samson was after the razor had gone over his head and taken off the Ensigne of the Nazarite These enemies of the God of Israel did sport themselves more cruelly with the bodily miseries and calamities of the true Nazarite then the Philistines had done themselves with Sampson untill he resumed his former strength by dying So then Sampson in his strength and weaknesse or dejected estate was a lively type of JESUS of Nazareth in both his estates and conditions of life whilest he
My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee Mark 15.33 34. S. Matthew relateth the same story in the same order and circumstance of time onely with this variation in words Eli Eli lamasabacthani Matt. 27.46 S. Mark it seemes relateth the words in the Syriack or Chaldee then usuall S. Matthew in the same syllables our Saviour spoke them and as they are in the Psalmist for Eli comes neerer to the name of Elias then Eloi and might more easily occasion that mistake in the multitude which both the Evangelists relate then if hee had cried Eloi for that was the usuall appellation of God in those times Some of them that stood by saith S. Mark when they heard it said Behold he calleth Elias Mark 15.35 Some of them saith S. Matthew that stood there when they heard that said This man calleth for Elias And straightway one of them ranne and took a sponge and filled it with vineger and put it on a reed and gave it him to drink the rest said Let bee let us see whether Elias will come to save him Matth. 27.47 c. Betweene S. Matthew and S. Mark in this last clause concerning vinegar which was given unto him there is some variation in words And one ranne saith S. Mark and filled a sponge full of vinegar and put it on a reed and gave him to drink saying Let alone let us see whether Elias will come to take him downe Mark 15.36 S. Mark appropriateth that speech unto the party which ranne to give him vinegar which S. Matthew ascribeth to the rest of the multitude seeking as his words seeme to import to inhibite him from doing that which he did This variation in words betwixt these two Evangelists hath occasioned a question more proper to the Schooles of Physick then of Divinity as Whether the drinking of vinegar be more effectuall to prolong life or hasten death in bodies fainting specially for want of blood S. Marks relation seemeth to imply that the intention of the party which rann to give him vinegar was to prolong his life for a while to trie whether Elias would come and take him downe from the Crosse But from S. Matthews relation of the same story it is probable that the multitude which heard him utter these words My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee did presume that vinegar would shorten his life and for this reason as much as in them lay did inhibite the other to give him vinegar lest it might have been replied that Elias would have come to releeve him if he had not hastned his death But vinegar as it is thought by Galen himself if some good Commentators doe not misquote him mingled with hyssop is a strengthener and that the vessell of vinegar which S. Iohn saith stood by the Crosse was set there on purpose to keepe such as were crucified from fainting However there is no contradiction betweene the Evangelists For the multitude did therefore inhibite him that ranne for vinegar lest by thus doing hee should prolong his life as if they had said Seeing he calls for Elias stay thine hand and see whether Elias will come to recover him in his fainting And he which gave him vinegar after he had given it him did conforme himself unto the rest as if hee had said I have done this kindnesse for him to prolong his life a while let us see whether Elias will come and take him downe and free him from the Crosse The truth is that albeit he which made such hast to minister vinegar unto him did doe this feat at the same time or about that instant wherein our Saviour cried out Eli Eli lamasabacthani yet this exclamation did no way cause him to make such speed but rather moved the rest which heard these words perhaps better then hee did to disswade him from doing that which he intended upon another occasion That which moved him to doe as he did was another speech of our Saviours uttered by him when he was on the Crosse either immediatly before or immediately after hee cried out Eli Eli c. though not with such a loud voice as hee uttered that And this speech is mentioned onely by S. Iohn 19.28 29. Iesus knowing that all things were now accomplished that the Scripture might bee fulfilled said I thirst Now there was a vessell full of vinegar and they filled a spunge full of vinegar and put it upon hyssope and put it to his mouth When Iesus therefore had received the vinegar he said It is finished So that the intention of him that filled the spunge with vinegar and put it upon hyssop and put it to his mouth was to quench his thirst whereof hee complained But whether St. Iohn meaneth the same thing by hyssop which the other two Evangelists meane by the reed or whether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Ecclesiasticall Greek bee the same with that which wee call hyssop or rather rosemarie which is rather a frutex then an hearb and better resembleth a reed then hyssop let professed Criticks or such as have leasure to peruse Herbalists or such as write of plants determine Many probabilities there are and to my remembrance alledged by Gerard not the famous Herbalist but that learned Divine yet living which half perswades me that the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Ecclesiasticall Greek seems to be derived was the branches or stalks of Rosemary But these are points wherein a man may bee altogether ignorant without any detriment or very skilfull without any great advantage to the knowledge of JESUS CHRIST and of him crucified But unto this Ocean of celestiall knowledge the fulfilling of every prophecie of every legall ceremonie of every historicall type or shadow maketh some addition 8. Amongst other prophecies or testimonies typically propheticall which remained to be fulfilled after our Saviour cried out with a loud voice Eli Eli lamasabacthani that complaint of the Psalmist 69.22 was one They gave mee also gall for to eate and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink Hee saith not They gave him gall to eate in his hunger and for this reason haply hee would not receive the wine which was mingled with gall by way of scorne or mocking at S. Luke instructs us 23.36 as being then neither hungry nor thirstie But S. Iohn informeth us hee received the vinegar offered unto him at the ninth houre because he was in extremity of thirst At this houre and not before that of the Psalmist 22. was remarkably fulfilled in him My strength is dried up like a poâ—sheard and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws Thou hast brought me to the dust of death verse 15. As after his fasting forty dayes in the wildernesse hee was tempted with hunger so after his lingring paines upon the Crosse hee was truely thirsty and upon this sensible experience of the greatest bodily grievance that can befall a man hee said I am athirst but not with a loud voice or
stand sure before thee much lesse wee silly vessells of clay Have mercy on us O Redeemer which art easie to bee intreated not that we be worthy of thy mercy but give thou this glory unto thine owne Name Suffer not that the Jews Turks and the rest of the Panims which either have not known thee or doe envy thy glory should continually triumph over us and say Where is their God where is their Redeemer where is their Saviour where is their Bridegroome that they thus boast on These opprobrious words upbraidings redound unto thee O Lord while by our evills men weigh and esteeme thy goodnesse they think wee be forsaken whom they see not amended Once when thou sleptst in the ship and a tempest suddenly arising threatned death to all in the ship thou awokest at the outcry of a few disciples and straightway at thine Almighty word the waters couched the winds fell the storme was suddenly turned into a great calme the dumbe waters know their makers voice Now in this farre greater tempest wherein not a few mens bodies be in danger but innumerable soules wee beseech thee at the cry of thy holy Church which is in danger of drowning that thou wilt awake So many thousands of men doe crie Lord save us we perish the tempest is past mans power yea we see that the indeavours of them that would help it doe turne cleane a contrary way It is thy word that must doe the deed Lord Jesu Onely say thou with a word of thy mouth Cease ô tempest and forthwith shall the desired calme appeare Thou wouldest have spared so many thousands of most wicked men if in the City of Sodom had been found but ten good men Now here be so many thousands of men which love the glory of thy Name which sigh for the beauty of thy house and wilt thou not at these mens prayers let goe thine anger and remember thine accustomed and old mercies Shalt thou not with thy heavenly policy turne our folly into thy glory Shalt thou not turne the wicked mens evills into thy Churches good For thy mercy is wont then most of all to succour when the thing is with us past remedie and neither the might nor wisedome of men can help it Thou alone bringest things that bee never so out of order into order againe which art the onely Author and maintainer of peace Thou framedst that old confusion which wee call Chaos wherein without order without fashion confusely lay the discordant seeds of things and with a wonderfull order the things that of nature fought together thou diddest ally and knit in a perpetuall band But how much greater confusion is this where is no charity no fidelity no bonds of love no reverence neither of lawes nor yet of rulers no agreement of opinions but as it were in a misordered quire every man singeth a contrary note Among the heavenly Planets is no dissention all foure Elements keep their place every one doe their office whereunto they bee appointed And wilt thou suffer thy Spouse for whose sake all things were made thus by continuall discords to perish go to wrack Shalt thou suffer the wicked spirits which bee authors and workers of discord to beare such a swinge in thy Kingdome unchecked Shalt thou suffer the strong Captaine of mischief whom thou once overthrewest againe to invade thy tents and to spoile thy souldiers When thou wert here a man conversant amongst men at thy voice fled the devills Send forth we beseech thee O Lord thy Spirit which may drive away out of the breasts of all them that professe thy Name the wicked spirits masters of riot of covetousnesse of vaine glory of carnall lust of mischief and of discord Create in us O our God and King a cleane heart and renew thy holy Spirit in our breasts pluck not from us thy holy Ghost Render unto us the joy of thy sauing health and with thy principall Spirit strengthen thy Spouse and the Herdmen thereof By this Spirit thou reconciledst the earthly to the heavenly by this thou didst frame and reduce so many tongues so many Nations so many sundry sorts of men into one body of a Church which body by the same Spirit is knit to thee their head This Spirit if thou wilt vouchsafe to renew in all mens hearts then shall also these forreigne miseries cease or if they cease not at least they shall turne to the profit and availe of them which love thee Stay this confusion set in order this horrible Chaos O Lord Jesu let thy Spirit stretch out it self upon these waters of evill wavering opinions And because thy Spirit which according to thy Prophets saying cōtaineth al things hath also the sciēce of speaking make that like as unto all them which bee of thy house is all one light one Baptisme one God one hope one Spirit so they may also have one voice one note and song professing one Catholique truth When thou diddest mount up to heaven triumphantly thou threwest out from above thy precious things thou gavest gifts amongst men thou dealtest sundry rewards of thy Spirit Renew againe from above thy old bountifulnesse give that thing to thy Church now fainting growing downward that thou gauest unto her shooting up at her first beginning Give unto Princes and Rulers the grace so to stand in awe of thee that they so may guide the Common-Weale as they should shortly render accompt unto thee that art the King of kings Give wisdome to bee alwayes assistant unto them that whatsoever is best to bee done they may espy it in their minde and pursue the same in their doings Give to the Bishops the gift of prophecy that they may declare and interpret holy Scripture not of their owne braine but of thine inspiring Give them the threefold charity which thou once demandedst of Peter what time thou didst betake unto him the charge of thy sheep Give to the Priests the love of sobernesse and of chastity Give to thy people a good will to follow thy Commandements and a readinesse to obey such persons as thou hast appointed over them So shall it come to passe if through thy gift thy Princes shall command that thou requirest if thy Pastors and Herdmen shall teach the same and thy people obey them both that the old dignity and tranquillity of the Church shal returne again with a goodly order unto the glory of thy Name Thou sparedst the Ninevites appointed to be destroied as soone as they converted to repentance and wilt thou despise thy house falling downe at thy feet which in stead of sackcloth hath sighes and in stead of ashes teares Thou promisedst forgivenesse to such as turne unto thee but this self thing is thy gift a man to turne with his whole heart unto thee to the intent all our goodnesse should redound unto thy glory Thou art the maker repaire the work that thou hast fashioned Thou art the Redeemer save that thou hast bought Thou art the