For as the Apostle saith stipendium peccati mors The wages of sinne is death Rom. 6.23 according to the great Law-makers decree at the first In what day soever thou shalt eat of the forbidden fruit thou shalt die the death Gen. 2.17 And his Lawes are like the lawes of the Medes and Persians they must not nay they cannot be altered And therefore there was a necessity laid upon Messiah that he must be slaine as the Prophet speaketh Dan. 9.26 For he that will take upon him to become a Mediator unto God for sins yea and a redemption for sin too he must be content to pay the wages of sin which as you heare is death For God is not so wholly composed of Mercy as altogether to neglect Justice but his Law must be throughly satisfied before his Gospel can be effectually preached Vt sic justitia vinceretur diabolus non potentia That so the divell may be vanquished by justice not by power So that thus it behooved then Christ to suffer and to rise againe from death that repentance and remission of sinnes might be preached in his name to all nations as he saith himselfe Luke 24.46.47 verses yea for this cause is he the Mediator of the new Testament that through death which was for the redemption of the transgressions which were in the former Testament they which were called might receive the promise of eternall inheritance For where a Testament is there must needs be the death of him that made the Testament for the Testament is confirmed when men are dead for it is yet of no force as long as he that made it is alive wherefore neither was the first ordained without blood Heb. 9.15 16 17 18. verses O come and hearken then what God hath done for our soules ut animas nostras eriperet animam suam posuit he hath laid downe his owne life that hee may save ours ut me à morte eriperet In Psal 65. mortem accepit saith Arnobius and that I might live he hath beene contented to suffer himselfe to die Hee gave up the ghost Which phrase of expiring or giving up the ghost as it shewes his death and sacrifice upon the crosse for our sinnes to be voluntary so his humane nature to be perfect and intire as well of a reasonable soule as of humane flesh subsisting as it is in Athanasius Creed notwithstanding never so many lewd and lying fancies of some heretiques to the contrary so that Totus homo in Christo as Saint Austin speakes The whole manhood was assumed to and by the Godhead and not one part of it alone And in the same whole nature hee accordingly suffered under Pontius Pilate all those tortures and torments formerly recounted and at last died which if it were not so then were we which have believed in Christ of all men most miserable as being still in our sinnes our preaching and your believing all but in vaine as Saint Paul inferres 1 Corinth 15. For si aliquid ei defuit non totum redemit saith Saint Ambrose If hee wanted any part of man then hee saved not the whole man For it is out of all question that whatsoever hee assumed not hee redeemed not as Nazianzene But taking all in reality of association and assumption and dying according to all in verity of dissolution and disiunction he redeemed all even our whole persons consisting both of soules and bodies Which brings this comfort and consolation unto us that naturall death which at the first was inflicted as a curse upon Adam and all his posterity for transgressing of GODS Commandement as you have often heard already is now changed by this Death of Christ from a curse into a blessing insomuch as blessed are the dead which hereafter or henceforth dy in the Lord Revelations 14.13 Yea our owne death is made heereby a very bridge or path-way as it were to leade us unto life For hee that heareth my Word and believeth in him that sent mee sayth Christ himselfe hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but hath passed from death unto life Iohn 5.24 Yea hee therefore tooke our humane nature and Flesh upon him that hee might destroy through his owne death him that had the power of death that is the divell and that he might deliver them which forfeare of death were all their life long subject unto bondage c Heb. 2 14.15 verses Againe hereby the second death is also quite taken away from all that are by a true and lively faith ingrafted into Christ There being no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus as Saint Paul concludeth Rom. 8.1 answerable to that of Austin Mors Christi simpla mortem nostram duplam desiruxit The single death of Christ hath destroyed that double death of ours unto which we were all lyable by reason of our sinnes And therefore as the same Father saith elsewhere O quam bene te tuo impetu diabole percussisti How well hath the Devill wounded himselfe through his owne violence seeing his cruelty in sparing none no not Gods owne Sonne hath brought life and safety to others but destruction and confusion onely to himselfe For Ille sanguis as he goes on quem effadisti te vicit me redemit That very blood of his which thou hast wrongfully and unjustly shed hath vanquished thee and redeemed me Prae valuisti in paradiso sed victus es de patibulo And although thou prevayledst and hadst the day in Paradise yet thou hast lost it againe by being conquered and overcome upon the Crosse O quam grande mysterium which is a great mystery indeed ut mors quae per lignum venit per lignum superaretur that that death which came from the fruit of the tree should upon the Tree bee vanquished and overcome and that gate of life which was shut against Adam should now be opened to a thiefe By which it appeares that Mors Christierat muscipula tantū diaboli The death of Christ was onely a trap wherein to catch the Devill Which hee was willing therefore to set up Vt injusta mors justam vinceret mortem That his undeserved death might free them from death that had deserved it Et liberaret reos juste dum pro eis occidebatur injuste as the same Austin still and that he might acquit and discharge those that were guilty because he that was guiltlesse or not guilty was put to death for them whereby because Non habebat peccata propria digne delevit aliena He that had no sinnes of his owne did worthily blot out the sins of other men He gave up the ghost And here I might dismisse this point had I not promised you at my first entrance into this discourse to shew you a Quis Quis. aswell as a Quid Who suffered as well as what For here if any where is the most proper place to bring it in For seeing we have proved at large aswell in our former as in
ornaments and best deserts Fourthly let us take heed and beware of falling backe from Christ and the wayes of Christianity and Religion as repenting of those houres wee have spent in his service and of those holy and heavenly inspirations we have tasted of in his Temples for by our so doing wee doe nothing else but accuse him for a Seducer as if hee had beguiled us with these sweet baytes thereby to intangle and ensnare our soules And lastly let us beware of slandering and falsely accusing of our blessed Saviour himselfe which every one does that doth it to his neighbour or Christian brother Aut falsi aliquid imponendo aut malum verum exaggerando aut sine causa defectus illius aliis aperiendo as mine Author speakes Either when he slanders him wrongfully and unjustly or increases and exaggerates his faults and imperfections beyond the truth or lastly when hee layes open and declares his defects and infirmities to others without lawfull cause or calling thereunto For detraction may bee committed three manner of wayes saith another viz. Per falsi mali impositionem Hugo Car. â—n Ps 12 aut per veri mali ampliationem aut per veri boni diminutionem that is Either when a man speaketh of his neighbour some evill which is false or inlarges and amplifyes that which is true or lessens and extenuates that which in him and it selfe is good Solet enim mens livida manifesta mala multiplicius exaggerare de suo addere dubia quasi ad partem deteriorem invertere aperta bona quia negare non potest arte qualibet offuscare saith a third Phil. Grâ—v Canc. Paris An envious and malitious man and minde is accustomed to increase and inlarge his neighbours knowne and manifest weakenesses by still adding something thereunto of his owne invention and for those that are doubtfull and uncertaine whether so or not to interpret and construe them alwayes in the worser sense and such things as are evidently and plainly good in themselves because they cannot be wholly denyed to darken and blemish by casting some aspersion or other upon them Primum est obloquutionis Secundum derogationis Tertium detractionis The first which is to scatter and rayse an evill fame upon another is called obloquy The second which is utterly to take away his good name is called derogation And the third which is onely to lessen or diminish that good opinion which his neighbours and the world hath of him it is called detraction And thus you see the truth of that which Solomon delivered long since How that a man that beareth false witnesse against his neighbour is like an hammer and a sword and a sharpe arrow Prov. 25.18 which are three instruments many times of much hurt as of breaking in peeces cutting asunder penetrating and piercing deepe yea even to the very bowels and inward parts so that nothing is more pernitious then a false witnesse which wounds a man not onely in his fortunes and his honour but often in his life too as these Jewes did Christ Yea lying lips and a deceitfull tongue as David likewise saith are as the sharpe arrowes of the mighty man and as the coales of Juniper Psal 120 4. Whereby he sheweth as our marginall notes expresse that there is nothing so sharpe to pierce nor so hot to set on fire as the slanderous tongue with which notwithstanding our blessed Saviour as you have heard was much afflicted both in his life and death But as his owne glory and our good is much increased by his patient bearing it so their sinnes and punishments are and shall be much the greater that did it as also shall bee all theirs that fall into the like foule transgressions towards their neighbours And therefore for conclusion of this circumstance let me use onely the Wise mans exhortation at this time Refraine thy tongue from slander for there is no word so secret that shall goe for nought and the mouth that speaketh lyes slayeth the soule Wisd 1.11 And thus much of their slandering of Christ by saying unto Pilate If hee were not a malefactour we would not have delivered him unto thee But in the next place Pilate perceiving by some passages and carriages of the businesse that it was for envy onely that the Jewes did thus persecute and prosecute Jesus and bring him unto him He therefore endeavours by three severall wayes and meanes if it be possible to deliver him out of their hands and to save his life As first by turning him over to Herod secondly by ballancing him with Barabbas and lastly by scourging and crowning him with Thornes And for the first hee tooke hold of the occasion of his being borne in Galilee a part of the jurisdiction belonging to Herod the Tetrarch to dismisse him from himselfe and to send him unto him who was also at that time abiding in Jerusalem as it is said Luke 23.7 Now Herod indeed was very desirous to see him and had beene so of a long season because of the great and admirable report and fame which went abroad of him Whereupon at the first hee was very jocund and joyfull of his comming Non pietate motus Not moved thereunto through any piety but hoping to have seene him wrought some of his Miracles in his owne presence of which hee had heard so much by others And to that purpose hee questioned with him concerning many things as it is said Verse 8. of the former 23. Chapter of Saint Luke But because hee inquired but upon vaine curiosity as one saith and with no true intent or end Christ answered him nothing Dr. Heywood Sanctuary of a troubled soule In locum answerable to that of Saint James Yee aske and doe not receive because yee aske amisse James 4.3 or rather as Calvin saith because hee was resolved to bee obedient to his fathers ordinance and to submit himselfe to drinke of that bitter Cup the doome of death with patience and silence which his said heavenly Father had tempered and provided for him and for which purpose especially hee came into the world in the similitude of our sinfull flesh that hee might suffer it and undergoe it in our stead and for our sinnes Therefore saith Calvin he would not seeme to pleade his owne cause nor defend his owne innocency in any kinde but sponte obmuâ—escit he was resolv'd for silence let his adversaries say or doe what they would because indeed he knew that we were guilty whose persons he then sustained though himselfe were not Vt sic etiam Adami excusationes in peccatis taciturnitate à bonis possit diluere saith another as also that by his silence from good words he might wash away and make satisfaction for the vaine and idle excuses of Adam when he would have cast his sinnes upon his wife by saying Mulier quam dedisti mihi the Woman which thou gavest to be with me she gave me and I did eate Gen. 3.12 Whereupon
hearty Prayer unto Almightie God of Your most devoted Suppliant and humble Oratour JOHN CROMPE He suffered under Pontius Pilate was Crucified Dead Buried HAving in my former Treatise Beloved discoursed at large as well concerning the conception as the birth of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ out of those two foregoing Articles of the Apostâ—es Creed Hee was conceived by the Holy Ghost and borne of the Vi gin Mary I am come now in the next place by the order and course of the same to treat of his suffeâ—ings under Pontius Pilate and his crucifying death and buriall For so speakes the fourth Article Hee suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead buried Where the first thing that in my judgement will require satisfaction is this Why the holy Apostles or whosoever else they were that joyned these Articles together and made a summe of beliefe of them did make so large a leape as to passe so immediately and directly from the first act of his life to the last from his being borne of the Virgin Mary to his sufferings under Pontius Pilate especially seeing the holy Evangelist speakes of many passages of his life in the interim and betwixt these that are very remarkable and worthy not onely of our observation but our contemplation also and beliefe And it is answered by one thus Optimè à nativitate ad ejus passionem mortem fit transitu ubi perfectè salutis nostrae summa sita â—st The transition from his birth to his death and passion was most fitting and convenient for this reason because therein especially consisteth and is placed the summe and substance of our Salvation Nihil enim nobis nasci profuisset nisi redemisset as he goes on out of Saint Gregory His birth would have profited us nothing if his redemption of us had not followed and succeeded So that to suffer and dye for the sinnes of mankind was a chiefe though not the onely end of his incarnation which occasioned the worthy Authors and disposers of this sh rt summe of our Christian beleife to passe from one substantiall head and point unto another especially from his conception and birth to his passion resurrection and ascension with all celerity and expedition leaving all other circumstantiall parts and passages of his life to their Sermons and other larger discourses Which course likewise Saint Paul himselfe followed as is plainely to be seene in his Epistle to the Philippians Where when hee had described and set downe Christs nativity and birth he presently thereunto adjoynes his death as fetching and deriving from thence the chiefe fruit and profit of our redemption His words speaking of Christ are these Hee made himselfe of no reputation but tooke on him the forme of a servant and was made like unto man and found in shape as a man here he speakes of his Nativity and then in the next words subjoynes He humbled himselfe and became obedient unto the death even the death of the Crosse There followes his passion Phil. 2.7 8. Verses Yea and the holy Evangelists themselves seeme not to differ much from this method and order neither in that they are so exact and punctuall in setting downe all circumstances first concerning his conception and birth and then afterwards of his sufferings and death whereas they pretermit and passe over many actâ—ons of his life as Saint John confesseth plainely in saying There are many other things which Jesus did the which if they should be written every one I suppose that even the World it selfe could not containe the Bookes that should be written John 21.25 As if his very Incarnation and all other actions of his life together with his preaching and entire and perfect obedience to the whâ—le Law and the like tended onely to the redemption of mankinde by his death and passion as to their chiefe and last end answerable to that also of Saint Paul elsewhere When the fulnesse of time was câ—me God sent forth his Son made of a woman and made under the Law where yee see his incarnation birth and obedience expressed But to what purpose why that followes in the next words viz. To redeeme them that were under the Law that is by his death and passion Gal. 4.4 5. Verses And thus you see how the conception of Christ first is directed to his birth and incarnation and that next to his death and passion as to their first and last end Primum in intentione etiamsi ultimum in executione First in intention though last in execution So that our Creed ye see passes over all the obedience of our Saviours life as being nothing else but a step onely to his death and passion by which especially our redemption is purchased and procured As much as to say let men lay hold by a lively faith on these and then doubt not but all other circumstances shall and will concurre to their future blisse and happinesse eternally in the land of the living And so this question being thus resolved I proceede in the next place to the handling of the words themselves as they lye in the Article He suffered under Pontius Pilate was câ—ucified dead buried In which words for methods sake I will observe onely these two circumstances Quis Quid who and what Who He or which what suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead buried And I will begin with the latter first as being the larger subject reserving the former to conclude at the latter end as requiring the deeper and the longer search He suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead buryed HEre yee see beloved sundry Circumstances expressed and set downe which to handle at large according to their weight and urgency would require even the least of them more time then at the first I proportioned to my selfe for the whole But because they are the common and ordinary subjects of many if not most Sermons I shall be the briefer in them Yet I will handle each circumstance apart and begin with them according to their order in the Cre d. As fiâ—st of the first Hee suffered under Pontius Pilate c. And here I may for an entrance take occasion without any great digression from my intended scope to discourse of all his sufferings from his birth to his buriall fâ—om his Cradle to his Crosse from his very infancy till his dying day and shew how that tota ejus vita Crux fuit acerbissima his whole life was nothing else but a martyrdome a continuall suffering in one kinde or other Habens in factis observatores in verbis contradictores in tormentis illusores as Saint Bernard speakes Having envious and malicious obsâ—rvers of his deedes spitefull and hatefull contradictors of his words yea scornefull and reproachfull scoffers at his miseries and afflictions In regard whereof some doe apply that saying of the Spouse in the Canticles unto him when she cals and styles her beloved Fasciculum myrrhae A bundle of Myrrhe Cant. 2.12 Not onely
Gospell 31 32. verses we finde him thus saying unto his Disciples Behold we goe up to Jerusalem and all things shall be fulfilled to the Sonne of man that are written by the Prophets For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles c. Which prophesie I say is now accomplished in his being turned over from Caiaphas the high Priest of the Jewish Synagogue unto Pontius Pilate the Roman Deputy or President who was not onely a Gentile himselfe but his jurisdiction also was from the Gentiles as the Romans and all Nations except the Jewes were accounted in those dayes And this was pre-ordained by the fore-determined Counsell of God to be done accordingly for these two ends or reasons The first that hee might bee put to death which by the Jewes Law as they will seeme to affirme he could not For themselves tell Pilate in the very next words after our Text That it is not lawfull for them to put any man to death Verse 31. The second for the manner of his death that he might be crucified For so is it farther specified in the 32. verse viz That it was done that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which he spake signifying what death he should dye which is expressed to be crucifying Matth. 20.9 To which place this passage in Saint John doth allude Now the fulfilling of this prophesie of Christs owne selfe concerning himselfe shall afford us onely this Vse at this time because as I told you at the beginning I must point and passe my discourse upon this subject increasing to a bigger bulke then I aymed at or intended at the first To let us see and know That there was not the least circumstance of his passion which hee did not fore-see and fore-tell himselfe so that none of these things came unwittingly or unwillingly upon him or by chance as upon a meere man but all by the fore-determined Counsell of God as I say and his owne consent And therefore having so much fore-knowledge of his owne afflictions hee might have avoyded and shunned them many wayes if he would but to let us understand the greatnesse of his love unto us he would not refuse any torture or any trouble to doe us good but willingly and readily performe all things requisite for our salvation giving his soule as an offering for our sinnes as the Prophet fore-told Esay 53.10 So that without any tergiversation or regret he suffered himselfe freely to be presented before Pontius Pilate and the judgement seat of the Gentiles although he knew that he went but to his owne death and condemnation as Pilate told him That hee had power to crucifie him or to loose him John 19.10 unto whom notwithstanding Christ gave this answer viz. That hee could have had no power against him except it had beene given him from above Verse 11. of the same Chapter that is from the Court and Councell of Heaven of which himselfe was a principall member Secondly we may consider also a little of the season which they tooke to carry Christ unto Pilate in which is expressed to be the morning or as our text saith while it was early So that as it should seeme when the fatall night was once over they neglected no time but made haste to shed his innocent bloud and to deliver him over unto the sword not of justice but injustice as it is evident and apparent enough to all the world even to the very Judges themselves as will be shewne hereafter David in one place saith That howsoever heavinesse or sorrow may endure for a night yet joy commeth in the morning viz. Psal 30.5 when as our blessed Saviour here can finde none of this joy neither morning nor evening but after a dismall night as you heard before meets with as darke a day where we may observe that Christ our Lord suffered some injuries and indignities or others for our sakes at all times and houres both of night and day First from the evening which was the time of his appprehension till the morning as you have heard already and now againe from the very morning till the evening as here followes Tota nocte vexatus tota die sine intermissione cruciatus saith one Vexed all the night and tortured all the day without ceasing or intermission For at the first houre hee is carryed to the Judge and before him accused at the second examined at the third condemned at the fourth hee was scourged and crowned with Thornes at the fift hee had the heavy burthen of his owne Crosse laid upon his shoulders at the sixt he was crucified at the seaventh the Souldiers cast lots upon his garment at the eighth hee had Vinegar given him to drinke at the ninth he dyed at the tenth he had a speare thrust through his side whereout came water and bloud and at the evening or toward the latter end of the day he was buried O sweet Jesus there was some great cause surely why thou wouldest at every new houre thus suffer new punishments and afflictions for our sinnes and it can be no other but this because we doe every day of the yeare and every houre of the day yea every minute and moment of every houre of each severall night and day provoke thy heavenly father to wrath in one kinde or other by new transgressions and delinquencies And therefore that thou mightest satisfie and appease the said wrath of his as well for the circumstances as the substance of our sins thou wouldst be punished for them at all times aswell at morning and evening as at noone day It is but meet and right then that as thou sufferedst continually from one end of the day unto the other so on the other side that wee should pray continually as the Apostle exhorteth and sing prayses unto thee both night and day without ceasing for so great a benefit Thirdly let us observe that though these Jewes sent Christ unto the judgement Hall of Pilate yet they went not in themselves Their reason being this lest they should be defiled but that they might eate the Passeover as our text saith Because as it should seeme it was accounted an unlawfull and an unholy thing for a Jew at the time of that high and solemne Feast to enter into the houses or societies of any of the Gentiles which were esteemed no otherwise then as uncleane among them But hereupon Saint Austin cryes out O Impia stulta caecitas Tract 114. in Iohan. habitaculo videlicet contaminarentur alieno non contaminarentur scelero proprio O impious and foolish blindnesse to thinke that they could be more defiled by the habitation and externall society of strangers then by their owne proper and internall sinnes Alienigenae Judicis praetorio contaminari timebant fratris innocentis sanguinem fundere non timebant They were afraid to be contaminated by the judgement Hall of the Roman President yet feared not to shed the bloud of their owne innocent and undefiled brother