his Christ-Crosse though hee can reade no other letter When thou hearest mee thus speake of a Crosse and suffering thou canst looke for nothing in such a booke but Tragicall and so it is a Tragedy even the wofullest argument that ever was acted The Actors in it are all great men as in Tragedies Herod a King Pilate the Romane Deputie the Rulers of the Iewes the chiefe Pharisies the High Priests all High thou seest yea the most High himselfe for GOD hath a part in it The Protasis or first part containes the Life of Death that is the furie of Christs enemies the Epitasis or second the Death of Life that is of Christ who is Life in the fountaine even The Life the Catastrophe or last part in it is the Death of Death which by Christ his dying was utterly destroyed in regard of efficacie to hurt any of those that belong unto GOD any more The beginning of this Tragedie as it falls to be is joyous but the end was bitter The first Scene of it was Christs riding as upon this day into Ierusalem in triumph The bravery of this show was not outward and yet it is a wonder to see how it affected the multitude Christ hath enough followers when he comes riding in Triumph but c. the whole Citie was mooved Men and Trees too stript thēselves to strow the way as hee went every mouth was full of Hosanna That is Heare us O Lord. even the childrens also and if they had held their peace the very stones would have spoken And who would have thought when he sawe and heard these things that Christ should have needed to have wept over this Citie or these should have bin the men that should betray him But follow on thy Saviour into the Citie and thou shalt see what entertainement he finds there not for his owne for he had none but for thy sinnes that thou maist learne to bewaile them For When thou commest into the City thou shalt see the multitude indeed follow Christ but it is the multitude even the variable unconstant multitude so that among so many followers of Christ onely his Disciples were his true followers Thou shalt see againe while the Citie is mooved with joy the Pharisies on the other side as much mooved with anger and asking even our Saviour himselfe of the Children which cryed Hosanna Hearest thou what these say When thou commest into the Temple thou shalt see the house of his glory which hee had chosen of old to put his Name there filled with buyers and sellers whom there is no way to drive out but with a whippe Therefore hee makes one and burning in zeale rests not till hee have driven out all these ungodly prophaners out of his Sanctuary throwing downe their tables and overthrowing their seates and not suffering so much as a vessell to be carried through the Temple neither had they all any power to resist him Now all these things are written for our example for the ill is written that we may learne to avoide it the good that we may imitate it But cheifly must our eye be bent on our Saviours actions in this story for that is the best copy we have to follow Follow him then as he rides and see his humility It is but an asse that he sits on that thou maist follow him the better yet is he that is thus meanly seated the King not only of Zion as the Prophet calls him Zach. 9.9 but of Heaven Earth This thou maist learne even of the children that follow him for their cry is Hosanna that is Heare us O Lord and againe they say Blessed bee the King that commeth in the Name of the Lord Take thou up this cry together with them else thou must not ioyne with this company for from the aged to the children all had these two voices in their mouth Hosanna Blessed be the King The one is the voice of praier the other of praise two workes that peculiarly belong to this Day among us which is Sunday Amongst other things S. Iohn tells us of certaine Greekes Proselites Ioh. 12.20 that comming to worship at the Feast desired as this day to see Iesus neither doth he put them backe but upon this occasion as it seemes begins to speake of his suffering which was to follow ere many daies were over Be thou ashamed that any strangers should presse neerer to heare or see him then thou and be not afraid hee will reject thee if thy desire bee to learne for he does not so unto these Especially take heede thou beest not left out when he goes into the Temple for by his behaviour in that Temple thou maist learne how to behave thy selfe in the Temple of thy Body that as he with a whip of smal cords whipped the buyers and sellers out of the Temple overthrew also the tables of the money-changers and the seats of them that sold Doves so must we make us a whipp of cords the smaller the better and whip out of the Temple and Citie too our corrupt affections neither let them so much as once looke againe into the Sanctuarie of our Soules no not though they come to sell Doves for sacrifice or would change our money into gold At least let them never have power to sell our Soules which onely Christ was able to buy but let us throwe downe their tables overthrowe their seats scatter their merchandize and not suffer any vessell that is not hallowed to come through our thoughts Thus shall wee bee fit to sanctifie this Day when wee have thus hallowed our harts anew by cleansing of them otherwise we shall justly heare the same which was spoken to these prophaners My House shall bee called a house of Prayer but yee have made it a Denne of Theeves Meditations for MONDAY FRom Bethany comes our Holy Lord this Morning to Ierusalem againe from his friends that had entertained him to his enemies that would crucifie him and that to save them if they would have beene saved This was the towne of Martha and Marie whome Christ loved therefore hee honoured it with a miracle in raising up Lazarus their Brother and with making it his retyring place And well it was howsoever that Christ had any place to retire to so neere Ierusalem howbeit his own Citie owed him a better if it had done him right yet for all that he must go to Bethanie to seek his lodgging if he will have one and pay deare for it too for he satisfied his Host to the full both for his cost and curtesie in that hee raised him out of his grave after he had lyen in it foure dayes It goes hard with our Saviour mee thinkes when hee must bee glad to raise his host out of his grave yet it is well that hee found one though hee opened the earth for him For a man may digge in many places and not find gold and Christ may often call at the graves of Mankind
MEDITATIONS for the Passion Weeke Following the order of the Time and Story By N. TAYLOVR 1. Pet. 2.21 Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that yee should follow his steps Who his owne selfe bare our sinnes in his owne body on the Tree that Wee beeing dead to sinnes should live unto righteousnes by whose stripes ye were healed Printed by the Printers to the Vniversity of CAMBRIDGE MDCXXVII To the Right Worsh Mr. Doctr. MAW Master of Trinitie Colledge in Cambridge Right worthy and Worshipfull I Have no better way to shew my thankefull remembrance of your love and care over me then by sending you my thoughts that is a fewe of my better Meditations written for mine owne use and perhaps not worthy your acceptance yet such as they are I hope they will finde the same favour with you that my selfe have done which though it bee too much for me to expect yet I can hope for no lesse in regard of the gentlenesse of your nature and forwardnes to respect me before I had time to deserve of you The thing I aimed at in them was to make the Storie they belong to as orderly as it is perfect so that if they have no other use they may stand in stead of an harmony to right any doubt about our Saviours sufferings As for Devotion which I desired to stirre up in my selfe and others by them it could not bee bestowed upon a better subject howbeit if having the best I have fail'd or my affections want heate of zeale I hope nevertheles that my sparke may kindle a greater fire where it findes sewell by the light of which many may both see and bee warmed And now I have brought my worke to the fire you may doe to it as you please for I put it into your hands desiring pardon for my boldnes and so ending with my daily prayers for your daily encrease in all things that may make you an happie Governour of the Society you are in or may rise to Your Worships in all dutie NATH TAYLOVR ¶ Meditations for SUNDAY Beeing the first day in the weeke by the Iewes account EVerie Day hath his Night every Summer his Winter every Spring his Fall and every Life his Death And as some Nights are darker then other some Autumnes more unseasonable some Winters more sharpe so are some Death 's more yea much more cruell then other be Some men fall like fruite other are cut downe like trees some are pluckt up in the flower other by the roote that is some men die onely Suet. Aug. Non aliter quà m simplics morte puntit other with torment which is two or more deaths in one Yet one thing neverthelesse this diversitie findes to agree in That all men die with paine for two such friends as the soule and bodie are cannot be parted without grieving or to speake more to the quicke Two which Nature nay GOD himselfe once joyned together to make but one Person cannot be severed again without cutting neither is it an ordinary paine that divides these two but such an one as can but once be suffered and hath a name by it selfe as it hath also a nature different from other paines for we call it The Pang of Death which paine though we cannot learne what bounds it hath because it is a pain that comes not to his height till wee be past telling where it holds us yet can wee easily discerne that it is not alike in every man for the strugling in some and the quietnes in other shew either the paine to be more or the patience lesse and yet a strong patience will often out-beare a grievous extreamitie with little appearance of griefe so that this Fit hath many mervailes in it if any one could come againe like Lazarus to tel us them But among all Deaths whatsoever they bee never was any so strange as our Saviours was for in it both paine and patience met in their extremities so that paine did her worst to overcome patience and patience her best to overcome paine and yet neither paine had the upper hand though it killed nor patience lost though Christ died because he that suffered suffered but at his owne will and his suffering besides was the paine of Paine yea the death of Death it selfe yet howsoever it prevailed not so great nevertheles was this Passion so grievous as it hath nor can have none to sample it for Christs paine was such as never Creature felt neither can doe and on the other side his patience so great as for all the sorrow hee suffered on the Crosse he is not read to have uttered a groane there So that it may be easily discerned that Patience had the victorie because paine could neither make her leave the field till shee list nor bring her to any conditions but her own which were most honourable This is but one occurrence but the Death I have named containes further a Story that may take up Reader thy whole intention for in it thou shalt see wonder at it a Crosse set up to crucifie GOD on Life condemned to die Righteousnesse to suffer and which is more all this effected yet nothing done to advance the contrarie partie for through Christs Bodie Death slew it selfe and Sinne and Satan tooke their deadly wounds See againe and againe wonder at it Patience exalted upō her Throne the Crosse and crowned with Thorne whereof every point is deadly yet still unmooved and like her Selfe And as thou readst these things written with blood in stead of inke upon the wide-open Booke of the Crosse if thou apply them to thy selfe and weigh them in thy heart as Marie did they were for thee all suffered and Christs victorie is become thy hope of glory his Crosse is thy Crowne his suffering thy salvation his death thy life Here is now a Booke written in red letters laid open for thee to reade on I meane the Crosse and every word in it must be read two wayes as having a double and contrary signification When thou beginnest to reade everie thing signifies as thou seest it written but when thou commest to construe them they meane quite otherwise For at first thou shalt see scorn shame suffering death and all these laid upon Innocencie for thy Sin but this when thou hast acknowledged thou must reade every word contrarie over againe so that then shame is glorie suffering is victorie death is life both to him that bore them and to thee that beleevest And now thou hast the secret of this strange Character ply thy book hard and take out of it as much as thou canst for thy learning especially this weeke thou must do it because this is the verie time in which these things were first written not with inke as I said but with his blood that died for thee Reade then and learne and meditate and apply which all thou maist do though thou bee no scholler for he that never saw booke before may knowe
of Saintes praying such as all the Earth I had almost said Heaven cannot shew the like If ever wee will pray then let us doe it now for we cannot have better company and if wee watch too so it destroy not Nature wee shall bee like Christ in whom onely wee hope to prevaile And thus let us take our leave of Christ or rather attend on him for this Night time Meditations for WEDNESDAY NOw begins the Catastrophe of this Tragedy to come in for this Morning all Christs enemies meete together and take bloody counsell together against him to destroy him And to helpe them on Iudas Iscariot whose bloody mind was never pleased with Christ since hee blamed his coveteousnes for grudging at Maries powring her pretious oyntment on his head Iohn 12.3 the Saturday last past hee like a covetous wretch to make up his losse comes in with his What will yee give mee and I will betray Christ unto you The word was no sooner spoken but the bargaine was driven money promised hands stricken and Christ sold But for what thinke yee Even for thirtie pieces of silver A goodly price to value him at whose blood even the least drop of it was of worth to purchase Heaven and Earth Thus ungodly men like prodigalls make away their wealth for nothing but let us by their example bee brought to bee more wary and thrifty of our spirituall riches least wee fall into extreame misery and that the rather because GOD is austere and will one day have an account of all our spendings In the meane time whiles his Death is a plotting it is very likely that our Saviour is a teaching yet what hee taught this Day the Evangelists bee all silent in belike the Holy Ghost meant to leave us time enough for conning yesterdaies long lesson And yet this Day for a neede will afford a man matter enough for meditation For hee that can but endure to take a view of the cruell malice of Christs enemies may find what will give him sufficient occasion to bewaile his owne sinnes and wonder at theirs who were actors in so bloody a designe Or if these seeme too dismall to settle our thoughts on let us but cast our eyes upon our Saviours patience who was not mooved with all that was devised against him no not so much as to breake off his ordinary excercise of preaching by that meanes even then seeking to win them that sought to destroy him it will a little sweeten the bitter of that which went before And if wee stay a little to looke upon the faire face of this vertue in our Saviour it will bee worth the copying out Tertullian hee describes Patience on this manner Vultus illi tranquillus placidus frons pura nullâ moeroris aut iraerugositate contracta remissa aequèlaetum in modum supercilia c. i. Her looke is quiet and gentle her forehead plaine and smooth without ever a wrinkle of anger or sorrow her eylids let downe equally with Ioy and her eyes cast upon the ground of humility neverthelesse but not of greife her colour confident such as they have who are guiltlesse and secure her mouth sealed up with silence often shaking her head at the Devill and scorning him with a threatning laughter her attire white neither strait to her Body nor loose and fluent but plaine and seemly her place is above the Clouds where neither storme nor tempest can shake her the Holy Spirit himselfe lends her his Throne to rest her in where shee sits as a Queene bee the Earth never so unquiet against her Thus hee describes this vertue excellently as if shee had put off her vaile that hee might take a true pourtraict of her face Yet a better description of Patience may bee had neverthelesse out of our Saviours owne person and so wee shall make Patience not a female but a manly vertue as it is indeed and appeares to bee so in that it makes women to bee men at least more then women neither can any womanish effeminate heart ever bee truly patient but will alwaies bee grudging and complaining Well then let our Saviour bee unto us the true picture of Patience The Comlines of his person I take to bee evidently proved out of the place of Saint Luke Luke 2.52 And Iesus increased in wisdome and stature and favour with God and men This is by some assigned for the cause why the women wept so fast for him whē hee went this execution and let us take the description of it from him His countenance was faire and full of Majesty as some thinke and as Lentulus his letter describes him even as the face of Patience is Heavenly and reverent according unto others and so the Scripture seemes to make him not outwardly lovely or beautiful no more is Patience a pleasing vertue to looke on but winns by inward worth rather then by outward beauty never was hee seene to laugh for Patience hath little time to bee merry in this world but often to weepe yet not much neither but so as might shewe his affection rather then give way to it his haire long as Sampsons was and his whole person farre stronger made then hee to beare his feete all bare save his sandalls a fit foundation for Patience to build on his garment woven whole from the top to the bottome not one seame to divide it much lesse is it rent upon him by impatience his speach full of grace yet not much but alway seasonable in all his sufferings not once heard to revile or complaine no not on the Crosse and which is more not once to utter a grone there but on the contrary hee prayed even then for his persecutors saying Father forgive them for they know not what they doe whilest hee knowes as upon this Day the High Priests and their complices to bee plotting his Death yea buying and selling him hee is labouring to save them who within two dayes after he knew would prefer a murderer before him even then when it stood upon his life when Iudas returnes from his bloody bargaine even from selling his Masters head hee never once reviles or rates him or casts him off yea when he goes actually to betray him and outright hee saies no more to him but this That thou doest doe it quickly If this bee not the perfect picture of Patience I know not where wee shall have it Now these actions are our instructions and Christs sufferings are but a patterne for us to take out the perfect worke of patience by So saith Saint Peter Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example to followe his steps who did no sinne neither was there any guile found in his mouth who when hee was reviled reviled not againe when hee suffered hee threatned not but committed his cause to him that judgeth righteously We have all need of patience that after we have done the will of GOD we may inherite the promise for yet a little while
he bids them Daughters of Ierusalem weepe not for me but weepe for your selves At his comming to the place of execution Golgotha or Calvary that is the place of a skull their offering him wine mingled with myrrhe which was so sowre and bitter that one of the Evangelists calls it vineger mingled with Gall which hee refused upon that his crucifying betweene two theeves Pilates Title nayled above his head his prayer for his enemies the parting of his garments by the Souldiers the reproches of them that stood by the Blasphemy of the unpenitent Theefe the conversion of the other Theefe that repented his last words to his Mother and his beloved Disciple the darkning of the body of the Sun ere liee dyed to whom it owed his light as his Creator his complaint to GOD that he had forsaken him his thirst his Iowd cry when he gave up the Ghost that it might appeare he dyed not of necessitie but willingly layd downe his life beeing in his full strength and having power to have retained it if hee would his commending his Soule into his Fathers hands and lastly his death after the CONSUMMATUM EST that is It is finished was pronounced in which the worke of our Redemption had his full period so that there remained no more either to doe or suffer And now this Tragedy is at an end after which if you looke for a Plaudite it wants not that neither and such a one also as is best fitting for so dreere a Story for Saint Luke tells us Luke 23 48 that All the people who sawe this sight smote their breasts which was fitter for a Tragedy then clapping their hands and returned The use of these things in generall is this To give us a sight of our sinnes which could not find pardon in the Sonne of GOD himselfe when hee stood in our person though he bore them without sinne To teach us patience when we are called to suffer for them of desert by him that suffered for them undeservedly and yet never so much as once groned on the Crosse nor reviled or complained of his enemies To be thankfull unto GOD for the suffering of Christ which hee hath appointed to be the satisfaction for their sinnes that beleeve in him as their only Redeemer To stirre us up to true sorrow for sinne and make us fly to Christ for remedy that wee may be healed by his stripes afterwards to serve him in newnes of life till wee come to bee changed into a state of incorruptible purity never to sinne any more which estate the merit of Christs passion by his inestimable value hath bought for all that truly seeke to and serve him Many things more might be noted out of the things that fell out either when or after our Lord suffered as the darkning of the body of the Sunne for an Eclipse it was not because the body of Truth even the Sunne of Righeousnes suffered the renting of the vaile of the Temple signifying the abrogating of the Legall types or shaddowes for the vayle was a figure of the Spirituall covering which was before the eyes of the Church till Christs comming the cleaving of the earth uncer the burden of Christs suffering and the weight of our sinnes making a way for them to descend to Hell from whence they carne the rising of the Bodies of the Saints out of their graves shewing that the heart-strings of death which before bound them in their Sepulchres were braken by the death of Christ lastly the buriall of the pure and untainted Body of our Holy Lord and after his sleepe in the grave for a time his rising againe in power to confound his enemies all yea every one of these might furnish for a large discourse But my purpose was to speake only of the passion of Christ and those things that belong to his owne person rather then the things that are but accidentall to them as for the doctrine of the Resurrection it falls under another head and belongs to an affection of Ioy not of Sorrow of which two passions the latter only is proper to this weeke which here I would have ended but that the weeke ends not with us till to morrow be done something therfore for that I must find to say which if it will not build yet it may serve for filling or Rubbish in thy building Now rest thee with Christ untill the Morning By thy Crosse and Passion Good Lord deliver us Amen Meditations for SATURDAY WHere our Saviours Passion takes an end there should ours beginne for so must wee fulfill as S. Paul calls them the after-sufferings or the remainder of the sufferings of Christ Which though they were perfected when hee dyed and needed no more yet he will have us to cast our mite into this Treasary Therefore not because hee needs wee should sorrow for him let us take up our Crosse this day and follow him but because wee need to sorrow for our selves as Christ taught the Daughters of Ierusalem Now this day is our Saviour sleeping in his grave in which Ioseph of Arimathea To whom our Land owes her first conversion an honorable Councellour had as honorably laid him Which action though it hapned yester night yet the effect of it reaches unto this day in which our Saviours bodie enjoyes the secret which this worthy Councellor had bestowed on him In this buriall many things might bee observed that are worth the marking As 1 Holy Ioseph his courage who durst venter to offer to doe this after hee had seene what had hapned to his Master for this cause the Holy Ghost hath not left that part of his praise out of divine story to stirre up others by it Mar. 15.43 for Saint Marke hath noted that he went in boldly to Pilate and craved the body of Iosus 2 That hee yeelded Christ his owne roome even the grave hee had digged for himselfe Matt. 27.60 for Saint Matthew hath observed that it was his owne Tombe in which Christ was laid 3 That it was a new sepulchre in which never man had layen as being fittest for that body-virginall or Maiden-corps untoucht and untainted 4 That it was in a Garden Iohn 19.41 hard by the place where Christ had beene crucified that as man first fell in a Garden so out of a Garden he might in Christ bee raised up againe 5 That there was no cost awanting that could readily bee purchased for Ioseph bought a fine linnen cloth Mar. 15.46 and linnen in those dayes was not eath to come by for they were not shirts ordinarily as wee doe which was the cause of their erecting Bathes in every towne in which they washed so often so that a hankerchiefe among even the Romane riotors was a rich token as appeares out of the * 〈…〉 Fabullus Veranius Poet. To helpe which cost blessed Nicodemus brought also an hundred pound weight of Mirrhe and Aloes to enbalme him and more would have beene done
but that it was evening and spices then were not ready to bee bought Out of these things much might bee noted for this day but that they were done the last Night and so are not proper for this time The first thing wee have on this day to observe is the malice of the high Preists and Pharises which ends not with the death of our Saviour our it is so cruell but survives to shew it selfe against his dead body Therefore they come to Pilate and say Sir we remember that that deceiver said while hee was yet alive AFTER THREE DAYES I WILL RISE AGAINE Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure untill the third day least his Disciples come by Night and steale him away and say unto the people He is risen from the dead so the last error shall bee worse then the first Vpō which intreaty Pilate answers them Yee have a watch goe your way and make it as sure as yee can So they went and made the Sepulchre sure sealing the stone and setting a watch S. Marke addes to this that it was a great stone which could not easily bee remooved without strength and therefore when they come in the morning the women say Who shall remoove us the Stone So that now sure Christs body is sure enough a great stone and sealed and a watch by it were enough to keepe downe a dead body But all this is to their greater shame for it makes but the evidence of our Saviours resurrection the greater which otherwise might have wanted witnesses from his enemies but now it hath even his enemies for witnesse that hee rose againe and that both to their cost and trouble to convince them So let them watch this day as merrily as they will to morrow will bee a heavy morning with them come it assoone as it will or can come which to us is the beginning of our joy It is to us the beginning of our joy but yet upon condition that is so wee bee right fitted to receive it To fit thy selfe first thou must frame thy affection to the affection of the Disciples which they had for the want of their Master For Hee that had seene the cleaven set either together or in severall should no doubt have seene so many faces of heavines and who had lookt as this day againe on our Lady Christs blessed Mother sitting with the sword thorough her heart Luke 2.35 which Saint Simeon had fore-hight her should not have needed any other pourtraict to set forth the true passions of Love Hope and Faith under a cloud of sorrow for if any one wavered in doubt of Christs resurrection shee beleeved because shee knew him to bee GOD and on the other side if any one mourned for his death shee mourned the most for shee was his Mother Thus must thou do to Mourne but for thy sinnes that crucifyed Christ yea thou must set thy selfe among his Murderers as Saint Peter sets thee saying Act. 2.23.36 I am one of those LORD that crucifyed thee Stand here fast now for this is the safest place for thee at first for thou must come to joy through this kind of sorrow or else in Christ thou canst not have it Next to this thou must learne of the holy women that waited for Christs resurrection how to waite for his rising againe in thy heart for they waited with their sweete odours and so must thou do too What these odours are Saint Iohn tells thee in his Revelation where hee sayes The odours that are offered in heaven are the prayers of the Saints Now thou must be as holy that is as Saint-like as thou canst therefore thou must not want thy odours such as thou canst get which if they bee not for enbalming as the womens were but for burning it is the better for it was a fault of love in them to provide that Christs Body should not see corruption Pray thou then and let the heate of zeale send out thy sighes and thy servent devotions in a smoake up towards heaven thus shalt thou cense thy soule that Christ may come the next day to thee and thou maist bee received of him at his Table And now I have brought thee where I would leave thee even upon thy knees wayting for Christ and blessed art thou when hee comes if hee finde thee so doing For as he rose that thou mightst rise so from that place if from any he will raise thee up yea lend thee his hand to set thee on thy feete that thou maist stand before him for ever Waite thus then and powre out thy prayers unto GOD to prepare thee for his comming and if thou remember others in thy prayers as thou art bound to the language of heaven in them which runnes upon OUR and VS put mee in among them yet of neede I beg it rather then desert and I have a better reward of my paines from thee then I can looke for Now I must leave thee for I know thou wilt shut thy doore when thou prayest as Christ bids thee Matth. 6.6 SO GOD SPEEDE THEE Tu autem DOMINE Miserere Nostri THe love that LOVE had last to shew The life that LIFE had last to spend The paines unto Gods justice due Suffer'd by God in manhood true The price which bought us God to Friend The tree on which salvation grew The merit which shall never end But doth to infinite extend In one weeke though the dayes be few This booke would seeme to comprehend Thinke you it can Yet if it hath not wonne it Reade but your Christs-Crosse and there God hath done it FINIS