are now ashamed is not the end of these things death for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Iesus Christ our Lord. Let not therefore sin reign any more in your mortal bodies that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but your members as instruments of righteousness unto God Be not afraid or discouraged at his Laws for there is none of them grievous saith the Apostle St. John The law of the Lord is perfect saith David Converting the soul his statutes are right rejoicing the heart they are more to be desired than gold yea than much fine gold sweeter also than honey or the honey-comb And in keeping them there is great reward For if being made free from Sin we become Servants to God and have our fruit unto Holiness our end shall be everlasting Life to the which God bring us all in his good time Amen SERMON XI A PREPARATION TO THE Holy Communion HEBREWS X. 22. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our bodies washed with pure water THese Words are an Inference or Conclusion drawn from a Doctrine formerly delivered as appears from the illative Particle Therefore in the 19th Verse And there you have also the Summ of the Doctrine it self viz. That there is now free access unto God through Iesus Christ which the Apostle declareth in figurative Expressions with an Allusion to the Jewish Temple not only because he was writing to Hebrews but also because that Temple and the way of entering thereinto was a Type of this great Truth which is revealed by the Gospel That Iesus Christ is a true and the only Mediator betwixt God and Man that by him Men may confidently draw near to God and hope for Acceptance St. Paul has asserted and endeavoured to make out in the former part of this Epistle and indeed he hath proved and made it most evident so that there can remain no doubt thereof except in those who obstruct their own Conviction not desiring to be convinc'd Now the proper and practical Improvement of this certain important and most desireable Truth is what you have in the Words of our Text For they contain an Exhortation to lay hold on this gracious Privilege and with all they shew us how and after what manner we should do it so as to obtain it I shall first speak to the Exhortation it self next of the Qualities here required of such as design to comply with the Exhortation and lastly make Application of all to the present business of the Sacrament To begin then with the Exhortation which is in these words Let us draw near To what or whom we should draw near is not here express'd but is to be gathered from what goeth before whereby we understand that it is God to whom we are here desired to draw near And seeing it is so by drawing near here cannot be meant any Motion of our Body towards God for as to his Glorious and Majestick Presence in the Heavens we cannot approach it though we would and as for his other Essential Presence neither can we avoid it though we would too for he fills both Heaven and Earth Whither shall I go from thy Spirit Or whither shall I flee from thy presence said David If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there If I make my bed in hell behold thou art there To draw near to God therefore is a metaphorical Speech and must be understood not of any natural Action of the Body but of some moral Action of the Soul viz. The Desires and Endeavours after Peace and Reconciliation with God For because those who are Enemies and at variance together use to keep a Distance and shun each other's Company therefore in Scripture they who never think of God take no Care to please him and those who make no Difficulty to offend him are said to be far from God and to go a whoring from him And on the other hand because those who lay aside their Enmity and are desirous to be made Friends usually meet and resort to one anothers Company therefore drawing near to God in the Scripture Language is put for the Inclination of our Souls toward him the seeking to have all manner of Enmity betwixt God and us quite removed and that a true firm Peace be made up with him Sin is the Cause and Occasion of that Enmity which is fallen out betwixt God and Man And one would have thought that all the Difficulties of Reconciliation with God should have been on his part That his Justice his Honour his Authority should have interposed and not only not suffered him to accept of Peace but also to have obliged him utterly to destroy those despicable silly Creatures who had the foolish Insolency to rebel against him and to counteract his Will and Pleasure But behold Jesus Christ hath removed all Difficulties on God's Part he hath found out means to satisfie the Justice and to salve the Honour and Authority of God though Man be not destroyed though his Sin be passed over and pardoned God's Wrath is pacified he now looks favourably upon Man and is willing to receive him into Favour and to renew a Covenant of Grace and Peace with him whereby he obligeth himself to deal with Man as if he had not sinned as if he had never rebelled against his Maker Now could it have been expected that such a gracious Offer should not have been readily embraced But which is unaccountable Man stands out and will not be reconciled to God God hath made great Condescension and Man will make none God wooes and intreats and Man draws back and runs away God calls and sends Message after Message and the other will not hear he stretcheth forth his Hands but no Man regardeth he waits but they will not come or draw near Thus each acts as 't were not his own part but what in all Appearance doth more properly belong to the other God acts as if he were in Man's stead and Man behaves himself as if he were in the Place of God for as if God were the poor the needy the inferiour and miserable Party he sues and humbles himself first and as if Man were an independent Sovereign and All-sufficient Being who needed no Aid from any he rejects all the Treaty and disdains this proffered Friendship O! Wonderful Condescension of God And O the Stupidity and Foolishness and Madness of Man What Words are sufficient to hold out either of these And how hard is it to determine which of the two is most astonishing Whether God's Behaviour towards Man in seeking him offering Pardon and Peace or Man's Behaviour towards God in refusing and slighting the same Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish People and unwise O ye sons of men how long will ye turn my glory
was set apart to be the Sacrifice for Sin he bears the Iniquity of Men and that is from the beginning wherefore he is called the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World that is appointed to be slain And therefore our sins come in among the rest and consequently we have all Reason to deplore his Death and to bewail our own Wretchedness and Sin which was in part the Cause of it O ye Children of Men ye of the sinful Race of Adam come and behold the wretched and deplorable State of your Nature look upon the Cross and let thine Eyes see Jesus bleeding and dying on it and then consider that Blood was shed to wash away thy natural Filthiness and his Life taken to redeem thee from Death O how unreasonable How insolent a thing is Pride in Man Art thou Proud who hast an evil Disease cleaving to thee and inherent to all thy race which cannot be cleansed but by the precious Blood of the Eternal Son of God Art thou vain who art born such a slave that nothing could have ransomed thee except the Death and Sufferings of the Lord of Life and Glory Pride Arrogance and Boasting are no wise suitable to Persons of our Condition but Mourning and Weeping are very proper especially considering the guilt we have contracted since our coming to the World the heinousness of which the Cross of Christ will also shew us for that heavy Cross was laid on him to take away the guilt of those Sins which we daily commit The Son of God was humbled and Crowned with Thorns to make atonement for our Pride and Ambition he was stript naked because of our Covetousness he was unmercifully treated that he might bear the Punishment of our Revenge and Cruelty towards our Brethren The inward agony of his Soul was occasioned by our wanton Mirth and Lasciviousness and that he might be a Propitiation for our Excess and Riot there was nothing left him but Vinegar and Gall to drink His Bowels his Hands and Feet were pierced upon the account of our Oaths and Blasphemies In a word he was mocked had no pity shewed him was Scourged and put to Death contrary to Law Justice and Equity because we are false and treacherous and have no respect to the Commands of God Ye Fools who make a mock of Sin and who think it but a Sport to commit Iniquity come hither be instructed and learn to be Wise. Is the Shame and the Pain Is the Agony and Grief Is the Death and are the unspeakable Sufferings of Jesus the Son of God only a Sport Are these things only matter of Laughter Has any the Impudence either to say it or to think it No sure But then if these be bitter Sport what shall we think of our Sins which produce it for the Sufferings of our Lord are only the Effects of our Sins Doth it not trouble every honest and thinking Man when he is so unfortunate as to be the occasion of any Evil and Mischief to another Casual Murther or Manslaughter by an accidental Rencounter the throwing of a Stone the shooting of a Bow or Gun or the like do not infer guilt the Actors are innocent when they have no design of that Nature in their head and yet no Man who hath not lost Humanity but will be affected when any such Misfortune falls in his hands and his Grief will be so much the greater as the Person whose Death is occasioned is worthy and deserving What cause of Grief then have we who not accidentally but wittingly and willingly by our deliberate Sins and Transgressions have drawn Death on the Innocent and Righteous Jesus and that too the worst of Deaths the most shameful the most painful and the most bitter Death of the Cross Have we not reason to weep for our selves Can we ever bewail enough either our misfortune or wretchedness by Nature or our guilt through our actual Transgressions Certainly we should lament our condition on all occasions should set apart times for it and especially at occasions of this Nature when our guilt and the sad Effects of it is represented to us we should mourn and weep This is the only way to clear our selves to lessen our guilt and to keep innocent Blood from being charged upon us Blessed are they that thus mourn for they shall be comforted They who sow in tears shall reap in joy Jesus shall bear the Iniquities of those who regret his Death and their own guilt which caused it and made it necessary his Blood shall wash away their guilt and his Death shall prevent their Eternal Death for he who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God through him 2 Cor. v. But as the Death and Sufferings of Jesus Christ procureth Mercy to the humble and Penitent so his Blood calleth for vengeance upon the hardned and impenitent Which leadeth me to the last thing in the Text for upon this account he added and weep for your Children for behold the days are coming c. by this intimating that the Imprecations of the People were ready to light upon them for as they cried out and wished his blood be upon us and our Children so to revenge it sore and heavy Calamities were impending over the City and the whole Nation Jesus spoke not these words from any Spirit of desire of Revenge nor out of any complacency at those sad Evils which were to befall them for the Injuries done to himself It is a fault which too many are guilty of when they think themselves wronged and cannot at present either revenge or remedy it they delight and please themselves with the thoughts of God's revenging their quarrel But Jesus was far from this temper for we find in the 19th of this Gospel That when he beheld the City he wept over it out of Compassion of those Evils which he saw would come upon it And they who have the same Mind in them which was in him will neither desire the destruction of their Enemies nor rejoice at it but will both pray against it and fear and tremble when they see it unavoidable But our Lord uttered these words to testifie his Divinity and Godhead and his Love and good Will even to those sinful Men his Divinity in that he knew what was to come for none knoweth future things but God alone his Love and good Will in that he forewarned them of their Danger that being forewarned they might if possible either prevent it or obtain a delay and suspension of it When he bids them weep for their Children he doth not mean the Children of these Women only or particularly but the whole Generation of the Iews for he speaks to those Women in the Name of the whole Inhabitants of Ierusalem or rather of all the People of Iudaea therefore they are called Daughters of Ierusalem which is as much as to say Israelites for Ierusalem was the Chief or Mother-city and to
the Lord of all things to toil like a Slave and to wander up and down as a Beggar For him whom the Angels worshipped to be reproached injured and ill treated by Men What stupendous Humility was here What wonderful Condescension was this Especially when the profit did not redound to himself but to others who little deserved it at his hands Has not Jesus by this shewed himself a kind and loving Lord Is not he that careful Shepherd who to get the strayed Sheep left the Ninety and Nine who never went astray Is it not time now to ask what shall we render to the Lord for all this Love and Kindness Alas We cannot requite him though we give our selves and endure the greatest Hardships for him it is but a small and a sorry Recompence Yet such is his Goodness that he will accept of any sincere Returns of Kindness from us And we cannot make a better Return to him than by preserving the Dignity of our Natures which he hath now consecrated by this Assumption of it unto the Divine Indeed this layeth indispensible Obligations on us to sanctifie our selves to put away all Filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit and to adorn our selves with all manner of Holiness To walk in sin to give way to Ungodliness and worldly Lust to pollute our selves with Excess Uncleanness and other Vices is not only to debase our selves but to dishonour Christ. These Sins are become now more sinful To let the Devil the World and the Flesh reign in us and as it were incorporate with us by the entire Possession of our Hearts is to rob Christ and to give away what is his Right For though the Son of God be only united personally to one yet he has thereby purchased a Right to all Mankind And will ye thus requite the Lord ye foolish people and unwise Finally The Incarnation of the Son of God may afford great Comfort to us both against Temptation to sin and all the Afflictions which in this Life we are liable to He who has taken our Nature upon him and by that means is become our Kinsman and Brother is the Almighty and all-sufficient Lord who can help us in the time of our need He knows by becoming Man our Weakness and will pity our Infirmities and will not suffer us either to be tempted or afflicted above what we are able but with both will send a way whereby we may escape that we may be able to bear it If we do not surrender our selves to Sin it can now never prove our Ruine if we do not yield basely no Temptation can prove over strong if we do not betray our selves into the hands of the Devil he cannot hurt us for Christ is stronger than he Ye who are afflicted consider That Jesus the Eternal Son of God knows by his own Experience what such a State is and cannot but have a fellow-feeling with all that are in it and therefore will not fail to afford suitable Comfort and seasonable Relief And if he suffer any who love him to fall under the hand of their Enemies and Persecutors let us not therefore conclude That he has deserted them it is only that they may have the greater Conformity with himself and be more capable of triumphing with him in the Kingdom of his Father He may suffer his Servants to die but he will not let them perish for he has Power to raise them up at the last Day Now unto him who was in the Form of God and who for us made himself of no Reputation and took upon him the Form of Man even to Jesus Christ the Eternal Son of God with the Father and Holy Ghost be Eternal Praise and Glory Amen SERMON IV. On PHIL. II. 8. And being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross. WHEN Men reflect on their own Souls and seriously consider them they are sensible that they stand in need of some better Support and Comfort than these outward things of this World for the Nature of these things are not adapted to the Spiritual Nature of Man and are not sufficient to procure quiet and satisfaction to the Mind In reference to Man's inward Peace which is true Happiness Haman's Verdict holds certainly true of all that is in the World all these things avail me nothing But what the World cannot give the Scripture discovers and shews the way to therefore the Psalmist saith in the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts only delight my soul that is his Soul neither had nor could find true Delight but in that light and instruction those Divine Consolations and Promises wherewith his Word abounded and if the Word of God was so Useful and of such Advantage to the Psalmist it may be yet much more to us for its light is brighter it shines more fully and clearly abounds with greater Discoveries and reveals what was then kept hid The Divine Oeconomy of the World and the Redemption of Mankind are now clearly revealed from which only we have clear Instructions about our Nature and Happiness It is the Contemplation and Belief of these which only can ease the Conscience and pull out the sting of Sin it is this which can only disburden the Heart of Cares and Fears ballance the Soul and keep it equal and strengthen it to endure the toil labour and trouble of Life without fainting and wearying In a word who would have at present Peace of Mind and the Comfort of a good Hope against the other World should enlarge his Knowledge of these things and Confirm his Faith in them For this end I am resolved to entertain you at present both with a Discourse of what is so very profitable and necessary and also with sensible Signs and Tokens of it which alas now adays we have seldom occasion to receive And I pray God upon whom the success of all things depends to grant us his Blessing that the present Ministry of his Word and Sacraments may prove Effectual for our present Peace and future Salvation As the Text is suitable to the Design and Occasion of our present Meeting so that it may be handled more profitably I shall first shew you the Person of whom the Text speaks with the Character which is here given him Secondly I shall consider what is here said of him that is his Actions and Sufferings Thirdly I shall endeavour to set before you the End and Reason which moved him and the Good which we may draw from the Consideration of what he is here said to have done As to the First It is evident from the 5th and 9th Verses that the Person here spoken of is none other than Jesus Christ it is of him that it is here said he was found in fashion as a Man that is he was truly and really a Man by all the Evidence Proofs and Demonstrations that others appear to be Men having a Soul
which shall be to all People Unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour who is Christ the Lord Luke ii But to be more particular This was done to declare and demonstrate the infinite Love and Mercy of God who rather than that Mankind should perish would suffer his own Son and his only Son to be thus abased and humbled God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son unto it that the world through him might not perish but that those who believe might have eternal life John iii. 16. and Rom. v. 8. It is said That God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Mankind is but one part of the Creation And though he make a considerable Figure in this lower World yet if we knew all the other parts of the Creation and their Inhabitants perhaps we should find him contemptible and inconsiderable he is certainly inferiour to the Angels what a Demonstration therefore is it of the Mercy of God to his Creatures that he would not suffer such inconsiderable ones to perish But to prevent their eternal Ruin was pleased to give his Son to do and suffer so many things for us And how doth it heighten his Love to us the Sons of Men that he has shewed more Kindness to us than to the Angels who by Nature are so much better than we He passed by the Angels and has had pity on us he has left them to perish in their Apostacy and Disobedience but has sent his Son to save us Secondly Hereby God hath declared his Justice his uncontroulable Authority the Vigour of his Laws and the Certainty of his Threatnings By this it appears that God is just and will not clear the guilty that he will not suffer his Authority to be contemned nor his Laws to be broken and that what he peremptorily threatens to the breakers of them shall come to pass Heaven and Earth may pass away but one Jot or Title of the Law shall not fall and rather than the Transgression of it escape unpunished he will make his own Son an Example Like that King who having threatned the Loss of both Eyes to such as should be guilty of Adultery And his Son having committed that Crime he to keep his Royal Word to maintain the Vigour of his Laws and to strike Terrour into his Subjects but withal to shew some Mercy to his Son pulled out one of his Son's Eyes and gave another of his own God would not remit the Punishment of Sin but to save Sinners he laid the Weight of the Punishment on his own Son Thirdly Hereby is declared the heinous Nature of Sin how odious it is in the Sight of God how impossible it is to be reconciled to him or to expect his Favour unless it be expiated Let Fools now make a mock of Sin if they dare Let Men consider what the Son of God hath done and suffered to take away the Sins of the World let them call to mind what Obedience what Agony what Shame and Pain the Holy and Innocent Jesus hath been put to what it hath cost him to take away the Guilt of it and to free Men from the Punishment of it And when they have seriously considered all this let them say if they can whether Sin be to be sported with whether it may be safely cherished and indulged Fourthly This setteth forth the Dignity of the Humane Nature How highly is that to be esteemed which God has thought worthy of so strict an Alliance with himself and to save which the Eternal Son of God the Second Person of the blessed Trinity he who thought it not Robbery to be equal with God even he was pleased to make himself of no Reputation to take upon him the Form of a Servant to humble himself and to become obedient unto Death This is Immortal Honour unto Mankind which the Devils envy and which the highest Angels admire and therefore it is said that even they desire to look into it This is the Glory of Man and that which sets him farthest above all his Fellow Creatures in this World The Bodies of other Animals are not much inferiour to ours for they are all of almost the same Nature Composition and curious Contrivance and whatever be the inward Principle of their Life and Actions whatever it be that guides them their Actions are more regular than ours and certainly the Effects of greater Reason Knowledge and Wisdom than what we can by Speculation Study or Experience arrive at But neither Cherubim nor Seraphim nor any of the Celestial Order of Intelligent Beings can boast a Privilege above or even equal to what Man hath by the Incarnation of the Son of God and what followed upon it He took not on him the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham God has espoused our Nature and thereby made us more honourable than other Creatures and as we have by this the highest Honour so all the Happiness that can be desired For what greater Happiness What can we desire more than what the Love and Friendship and Favour of God can bestow Fifthly As this shews the Dignity of the humane Nature so wherein the Perfection of it consists even in a perfect Obedience unto God such as we shewed that Jesus Christ did pay unto him Adam ruined the humane Nature by his Disobedience Jesus Christ has repaired it by being entirely obedient even unto Death and no Man can arrive at Perfection but by the Imitation of Jesus in a perfect Subjection to the Will of God To make Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof is never to aim higher than Beasts and inferiour Animals to walk by Sense will stifle our Reason to follow the Imaginations and Devices of our own Hearts or only what our own Reason suggests we shall never surmount a natural imperfect State nor have any other Perfection than what cometh from our selves But if we give our selves up to the Conduct of God if we will follow his Will and Providence and never dispute or cavil at his Pleasure we shall far out-grow our natural State our minds shall receive the Light of Divine Illumination our Spirits shall be fortified by the Almighty Spirit of God and we shall at last become Partakers of the Divine Nature which is as high as any can aspire Sixthly I will only give one Instance more which is that the Incarnation of Jesus Christ his Obedience and Sufferings were appointed to the end that he might merit the Glory Honour and sovereign Power which God had design'd for him before the Foundation of the World Wherefore as it follows our Text God hath highly exalted him and given him a Name which is above every Name that at the Name of Iesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Iesus
times Father if it be thy will let this Cup pass from me and from these disconsolate Words which his inward Sorrow and Anguish extorted while he hanged upon the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The Sufferings of Jesus cannot be reckoned up no Man can describe no Tongue can express all the Particulars of his bitter Agony and bloody Passion and cruel Death The Words of the Prophet are applicable to him and as they were spoken prophetically of him so in him only they were fully accomplished Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger From above he hath sent fire into my bones and it prevaileth against them he hath spread a net for my feet he hath turned my back he hath made me desolate and faint all the day Who then that beheld this could Or who that hears and lays it to heart can refrain from weeping Tears indeed are due to the Memory of Christ's Death and Passion But yet our Lamentation and Weeping must not be as that in Rama spoken of by the Prophet Like Rachel weeping for her children who would not be comforted because they are not We may and should weep at the Remembrance of what Christ suffered but our Sorrow should not run to an Excess meerly on his Account Wherefore you see that our Lord turned about and checked the excessive Sorrowfulness of these Women saying Daughters of Ierusalem weep not for me which was the Second thing I promised to speak to This is not a total Prohibition of weeping for Christ the Negative Particle Not is not always to be taken so peremptorily for frequently it imports only Rather or not so much as when it is said I will have mercy and not sacrifice the Meaning is Mercy rather than Sacrifice or not so much Sacrifice as Mercy So here weep not for me but for your selves is only as much as to say weep for your selves rather than for me or not so much for me as for your selves Thus all Weeping is not forbidden And as I have shewn it to be very just proper and suitable so we find it made both a necessary and an acceptable Duty Zach. xii 10. And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Ierusalem the spirit of Grace and of Supplications and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only Son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first born However we should so bewail his Death as to keep within a certain Measure Not as those good Women in the Text who apprehended that all their Hope and all their Comfort would have perished in his Death The Death of Christ is not to be lamented like the Tragical end of Pompey Caesar and other Heroes of the World whether Ancient or Modern whose Deaths were sad and convincing Instances of the Changeableness of Fortune of the Vanity of the World and of the Uncertainty of humane Affairs When they died their vast Designs and Projects were defeated and the Expectation of their Friends frustrated in that very Day all their Thoughts perished they instantly ceased to be either the Hope of their Friends or the Dread and Terrour of their Enemies and left nothing behind them save a faint Memory and uncertain Conjectures But the Death of Jesus Christ is quite another thing As our Lord still liveth so he reigneth and it was by his Death that he advanced and secured his Kingdom His Death was glorious and the Issue of it was eternal Praise to God and himself and everlasting Advantage to all the World Never any Triumph was so illustrious as the Death of Christ The greatest triumph in the World was only over Beasts and weak Men and set forth with the Spoils of earthly Kingdoms But Jesus at his Death triumphed over Devils he conquered Hell and the Grave made Spoils of Principalities and all the Powers of Darkness By his Death he quenched the Fire of God's Wrath blunted the Edge of the Law weakned the Strength of Sin loosned the Bands of the Grave ransomed Sinners and opened the Kingdom of Heaven to Penitents and Believers His Death gave Life to the World and renewed Nature so that the Face of things is altered ever since Thus as upon one Account there is Reason to lament the Death of Jesus Christ so upon another there is no less Reason to rejoice for by it God is glorified Jesus exalted and Mankind saved But when we leave off to mourn for Christ we should continue to mourn for our selves So you see here that our Lord biddeth the Women moderate their Grief upon his Account but still requireth it for themselves which was the third thing proposed Weep not for me but for your selves And very good Reason alas There is more than sufficient Cause for this Mourning For tho' Jesus Christ has merited Salvation for us yet our natural Wretchedness our Original and Actual Guilt is no less than it was both which are deplorable and neither of them can ever be enough lamented And if we are not sensible of the heinous Nature of these let us look upon the persecuted reviled mocked buffetted scourged and crucified Jesus let us call to mind his bitter Death and Sufferings and these will instruct us For all these things befell him for our sake and upon our Account The Jews who crucified him and put him to so vile and shameful a Death were only the Instruments But otherwise every one of us as well as they were the Cause and Occasion of all that evil which befell him They are to be considered only as the common Executioner who executeth the Law and the Will of the Judge and consequently our Rage and Indignation should not be against them but against the Crimes which caused and required so heavy a Punishment Now they were not his own Crimes for which he suffered for he knew no Sin neither was Guile found in his Mouth he was a Lamb without Spot and Blemish But he was made Sin for us Surely as the Prophet speaks he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was laid upon him and he received stripes that we might be healed Let us not go about to clear our selves of all Accession to the Death of this good and righteous Person because we are come to the World so long after it fell out and are not of the Race of those who laid wicked and violent hands on him For though Jesus died but once yet he did bear the Sins of all and was charged with the Sins of all that went before or shall come after From the time that he