special Instructions to guide and direct us in the whole course of our life Thus far I have declared my Faith concerning the Passion of Christ under Pontius Pilate and now I will shew you what I believe concerning his Death I do believe that he died I believe his death was not a fiction or imaginary death but a true death indeed according to the Prophesies which were before delivered concerning him Isa 53. He was cut off from the Land of the living Dan. 9. The Messiah shall be cut off The Types and Sacrifices of Lambs daily in the Temple did fore-shew and preach the death of the Lamb of God The accomplishment and truth of the Types and Prophesies are recorded faithfully Joh. 1.29 ch 19. Mat. 26 27 Chapters Mark 15. Luk. 23.26 First He died to satisfie the Justice of God for the Elect that he might free them from death and from the fear of death as it is written Heb. 2.14 Forasmuch as the Children were partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part with them that he might destroy through death him that had Power over death that is the Devil and that he might deliver all them which for fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Secondly He died to fulfil all the Promises of God from the beginning Gen. 3.15 Thirdly I say his death was voluntary and an accursed death First voluntary for so he speaketh Joh. 10.18 No man taketh my life from me but I lay it down of my self Secondly It was an accursed death for so it is written Gal. 3.13 Christ was made a curse for us and how He sheweth it in the words following Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree As if he should avouch in effect that Christ's death was accursed that is that it contained in it the first death that is the separation of Body and Soul for that for a time he did apprehend and undergo the wrath of God due to Man for sin yet was he never out of God's favour for in the midst of his loud cryes he calls God his God Matth. 27.46 He was never so oppressed of death as the damned are For as he suffered the bodily death without any corruption of body so be suffered the extream pangs of the Soul but not as forsaken of God more than in his own apprehension and feeling Fourthly The Comfort and Use we have of this Faith or the Blessings we reap by the death of Christ are many and very precious never to be forgotten of true-hearted Believers 1. This voluntary and true obedience of Christ unto death even this accursed death is our Righteousness before God as it is written Rom. 5.19 As by the disobedience of one man many were made sinners so by the obedience of one Righteous many are made Righteous In this Righteousness of Christ's Death lyeth the chief matter of all our felicity and rejoycing as the Apostle speaketh Gal. 6.14 God forbid that I should rejoyce in any thing but in the Cross of Christ There is no one thing more recommended in so many and so evident Prophesies than this So by the Death of Christ I am freed from the second Death 2. By this Faith in Christ crucified and dead for us I behold to my exceeding comfort a divine proportion between the infinite debt of God's Elect and the satisfaction done by the death of Christ unto God's Justice for the same as infinite as the debt 3. I see the unspeakable love of God to his Elect continually preached unto me and manifested as before mine eyes Joh. 3.16 4. I see that God's Divine Justice is satisfied by Christ's Death in the same Nature which offended him Gen. 3.15 Heb. 2.14 to mine exceeding great consolation 5. My trembling Conscience by this Faith is quiet and pacified for I feel hereby that the pollution of my Conscience is done away because my heart is sprinkled with the blood of Christ Heb. 9.14 and the scorching heat of it is abated by this Water of Life which streams unto my heart from the side and heart of Jesus Christ Zach. 12.10 11. 13.1 6. The first Death by Christ is turned into a blessing and made unto me a gate of Life So that now I may truly say That the day of Death is better unto me I being in Christ than the day wherein I was born 7. The Death of Christ doth ratifie his last Will and Testament unto me Thus it pleased the Father to make authentical and to seal unto me the Covenant of Grace Heb. 9.16 8. By his Death he hath not only taken away the condemnation of sin Rom. 8.1 for us but also hath broken the power and infection of it in us The act of Christ's Death is past but the vertue and powet thereof endures forever When we have Grace to deny our selves and to put our trust in Christ and by Faith hold him fast in our hearts then as Christ himself by the Power of his Godhead overcame Death Hell and Damnation in himself for us so shall we by the same Power of his Godhead and Grace dwelling in us Eph. 3.20 Gal. 2.21 2 Cor. 13.5 crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof Gal. 5.25 26. 9. The Death of Christ ought to be to all impenitent Sinners the greatest Motive to move them and turn them unto Christ and to humble them because they have pierced him by their sins This I say ought to cause them to mourn for him as the Prophet Zechary speaketh Ch. 2.10 whom even they themselves and not the Jews only have wounded Isa 53. wherefore if this move them not their case is dangerous 10. Be ready if thou beest a Believer to lay down thy life for Christ if need so require as he hath done for thee and to die rather than to do any thing which thou knowest manifestly to be contrary to his Will Of this mind were all the Martyrs and Faithful People of God in all Ages 11. To give some special Instructions if it be doubted what the Altar was whereon Christ offered his Sacrifice because the Papists avouch it to be the Cross I believe rather that Christ himself was the Priest the Sacrifice and the Altar as I said before the Sacrifice as he is Man the Priest as he is both God and Man the Altar as he is God For the property of an Altar is to sanctifie the Sacrifice as Christ saith Matth. 25.9 Now Christ as he was God sanctifieth himself as he was Man Joh. 17.19 For their sakes sanctifie I my self And this he did First By setting apart his Manhood to be a Sacrifice unto his Father for our sins Secondly By giving unto his Sacrifice merit and efficacy to be a meritorious Sacrifice wherefore the Wooden-Cross was not his Altar as Papists have imagined 12. The Prophet Haggai saith that the second Temple built by Zerubbabel was nothing in beauty unto the first which was built by Solomon For it wanted
him not by a Trope or Symbolically by reason of the presence of God as Exod. 17.15 It is given to the Altar Psal 24.8 It is given to the Ark. Jer. 33.16 It is given to Jerusalem Q. 9. Which be the testimonies of the second sort A. The works which none can do but God alone which are ascribed to him to wit to create and preserve to redeem to blot out iniquities to search the heart to hear our prayers to quicken to judge moreover the Miracles which he wrought by his own power according to that Prophesie Isa 53.5 6. unto which also even Christ himself sendeth us and for the working whereof he gave power to his Apostles moreover those Attributes which do agree only to the Nature of God and ascribed unto him as Eternal Almighty Infinite King of Kings Saviour and the rest testifie him to be God by Nature See these Scriptures following Joh. 1.3 5.17 Col. 1.16 Heb. 1.23 1 Cor. 1.30 1 Thess 1.10 Matth. 9.6 9.4 Mar. 2.8 14.13 Joh. 14.14 5.27 5.22 10.25 Matth. 11.45 10.8 Mic. 5.2 Joh. 1.1 17.5 3.31 Phil. 3.21 Matth. 18.20 28.20 Rev. 19.26 Matth. 1.21 Acts 4.12 Q. What is the third kind of testimonies A. The worship and honour which is performed unto Christ namely Invocation Adoration Faith Hope Psal 72.11 All the Kings of the Earth shall worship him all People shall serve him Isa 11.10 and Rom. 15.11 12. All Nations shall call upon him and trust in him Rom 14.11 Phil. 2.10 Psal 2.12 Blessed are they that put their trust in him every knee shall bow unto him And Joh. 14.1 Ye believe in God believe also in me Acts 7.39 Lord Jesus receive my Spirit All which do prove that he is true God Q. Why is it necessary that Christ the Redeemer should be God A. For two causes especially whereof of former is the greatness of the evil wherewith all mankind was overwhelmed which could be taken away by no creature The later is the greatness of the good Mat. 19.17 which could be restored by none to man again but by God who alone is truly good Q. What is the greatness of the evil A. It standeth in Four things which be these The greatness of man's sin the infinite and unsupportable weight of God's anger the power of Death the tyranny of the Devil which to take away to abolish to appease to overcome none was able but God alone Q. What is the greatness of the good which could be restored by no creature A. The restoring again of the Image of God therefore Christ 1 Cor. 1.31 is made to us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption Col 3.10 not only by revealing and teaching of them but by performing and restoring of them Q. Why is he called the Word A. Because it is he that spake the Word and all things were made Q. According to which Nature is he called the Image of God Col. 1.15 A. Not according to his Humane Nature alone as man is said to be made after the Image of God but especially according to his Divine Nature but manifested in the flesh 2 Tim. 3.16 or so far forth as God hath truly manifested himself in Christ whereupon he is called The brightness of the Glory of the Father Heb. 1.3 and the Character or ingraven form of his Person because he is not some vanishing representation but ingraven and durable Q. Prove that Christ is very Man A. I will Gen. 3.15 The Seed of the Woman is promised which shall break the Serpents head Gen. 22.17 God promised Abraham that in his Seed all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed 3 Sam. 7.12 It is promised to David that his Son must sit upon his Throne and Reign for ever Isa 7.14 Behold a Virgin shall Conceive and bring forth a Son Besides all this the History of the Gospel doth plainly prove that Christ was conceived * Luke 1.31 2.7 21. 22.20 Heb. 2.4 Mat. 26.38 4.2 Joh. 19.29 19.34 Mat. 27.50 9.36 Joh. 2.17 11.33 35. Mat. 26.37 38. Acts 1.9 11. born circumcised had a true Body and Soul was hungry thirsty shed his blood that he died and that he had all the Properties and Affections of man's Nature yet without sin that he ascended visibly and locally into Heaven and thence that he shall come again to Judgment Q. Why must Christ needs become Man A. 1. The Justice of God required it should be so that the disobedience committed in our flesh might in the same be repaired Rom. 5.17 18 19. Heb. 2.14 2. The reason of our Adoption for it pleased the Son of God to take the Nature of Man upon him and to become our brother and so by that means to become our nearest kinsman and most near allied unto us that we being made his members might be made the Sons of God Gal. 3.16 and that he might have right to redeem and ransom us Hence is matter of comfort in every kind of temptation Therefore the Apostle to the Hebrews Heb. 2. 17. 4.5 saith He took not upon him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham and in all things became like to his brethren that he might have compassion of his brethren 3. For the confirmation of our Resurrection for in that Christ took on him our Nature and hath raised it up and given unto it immortality and hath exalted it in Heaven by vertue of that Communion which we have with him shall we be raised up at the last day and this our vile body shall be made conformable to the glorious Body of Christ Phil. 3.21 1 Cor. 15.22 As in Adam all are dead so in Christ shall all be made alive Q. Why was neither the Father nor the Holy Ghost incarnate but the Son A. 1. Because it was meet that the World should be redeemed and all things restored by him by whom all things were created or that man should be redeemed from death by him by whom he was first created and should have been brought unto life eternal if he had not sinned 2. It would have been unconvenient that there should be two Sons one in the Divine Nature another in the Humane Nature 3. It was the Eternal Decree of the Father whereby he purposed to save mankind by his Son Heb. 2.10 Q. Whether is Christ God and Man divided or joyned together A. Joyned and uniced but not divided Q. By what kind of Vnion A. Not by inhabitation only as God dwelleth in the Saints Joh. 17.21 not by consent only as the Faithful are one in the Father and the Son not by Mixture as when Water is mingled with Wine not by Combination as two boards be joyned together lastly not by Composition whereby of the mixture of two things there ariseth a third but by Personal Union which as it 's said the Greeks call Incorporation because neither the whole Deity nor any part of it
that this sacred Person which did this great Work with his own blood is very God But here we be also to observe that there is no Communication of the Essential Properties of these Natures but in the concrete only as Logicians speak not in the abstract as we may say truly and according to the Doctrine of Godliness that God died for us but we may not say therefore the Deity died for us And here beloved I will shew you once more why our Mediator must be very God and very Man and that these two Natures must thus admirably be united together and his Conception so pure First briefly for the first He must be very God First because he hath received a Charge from his Father which did require an infinite Power to wit by his Merits and Vertue to save the Elect or Believers for it was needful that his Price should over-prize our sins Secondly If he had not been very God he could not have overcome death Rom. 1.3 4. Thirdly for that it behoved him also to overcome and kill sin and death in us even in our Consciences Joh. 5.24 25. and to quicken us Rom. 8.11 by giving us the Spirit of Faith to apprehend all his Merits and to apply the same unto our selves Now who can give the Holy Ghost but God himself Luk. 11.13 Joh. 3.7 8. Lastly He was to loosen and destroy all the accursed works of Satan in us Secondly And for the second Point He must be very Man First that God might declare his unchangeable Justice and hatred of sin and his unspeakable Love and Mercy to the Elect the first he sheweth in punishing sin in his own Son the second he declareth in that he punisheth not our sins in out selves but in another Secondly That we might conceive rightly of the Brotherly Affection of our Mediator towards us and how that he which sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one Thirdly For that God had confirmed it with an Oath that the Messias should come of the loins of David Psal 133. 89. and of the Seed of the Woman according to the Gospel preached in the beginning in Paradise Gen. 3.15 Thirdly For the third Point This I believe and avouch briefly That Salvation could not have been obtained for Man unless the Nature of God and Man were united together in one Person First Because otherwise this work had not been performed by blood of the Son of God and so it had been insufficient for us Secondly Because the Humanity of Christ could never have born that punishment for sin Thirdly Salvation thus obtained could never have been maintained but that these Natures be thus knit together for that Christ is and must be the pledge of our Reconciliation for ever Psal 110.1 Matth. 22.44 Fourthly By this means we have as it were kindred with God in Jesus Christ who is become our Emmanuel God with us or God manifest in our flesh Matth. 1.1 Tim. 3.16 Fourthly For the fourth and last branch of the Question I say and believe that it was necessary our Lord and Saviour should be pure without the stain of sin in his Conception and that the Holy Ghost in this great Work did so provide First For that the most glorious and Divine Nature of God could never else be united unto the Humane Secondly For that a sinner could never have been accepted to make this Atonement or to offer up any Sacrifice for sin Thirdly For that he could not have Sanctified others unless he were the most Pure and the most Holy One of God in himself Heb. 2.11 10.9 10. Thus then the Lord Jesus Christ our most blessed Saviour and Redeemer hath taken to himself of the whole mass of mankind he took I say one Portion thereof and did perfectly sanctifie it by the power of the Holy Ghost and out of it derives perfect Holiness and Sanctification upon all his Elect by imputation of his Merits for their Justification and by his Holy Spirit working in them inherent Righteousness and Sanctification that so they may serve him continually in this life and for ever And here I will also shew you the use of this Article which we reason'd so much on in our Church-meetings when we were upon the Creed viz. I believe that he was crucified dead and buried All the Evangelists testifie with one accord that this was the form of his Execution he was crucified on a Cross and to fill him with pain his hands and feet were fastened with nayls unto the Cross Acts 3.18 Gal. 3.1 Phil. 2.8 And all this was done to accomplish God's Eternal Decree manifested before by the Prophets The brazen Serpent was a picture of this Numb 21 Joh. 3. For so he saith himself As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness so must the Son of Man be lifted up that all that believe in him perish not but may have life everlasting And again Joh. 12.32 And when I shall be lifted up from the Earth I will draw all men unto my self Of this the Psalmist Prophesied saying They pierced my hands and my feet Secondly That we might in Conscience be resolved that Christ came under the Law Gal. 3.13 and suffered the Curse thereof for us and bare in his own Body and Soul the extremity of the Wrath of God for us And albeit other punishments were notes of God's Curse yet was the death of the Cross in a special manner above the rest accursed by vertue of a particular Commandment and special Word pronounced by God himself fore-seeing and fore-shewing what manner of Death Christ our Lord should die Thirdly The Apostle assureth us that in this form of Execution we may behold how Christ did undertake all the Malediction due unto all the Elect or Mankind himself for he saith Gal. 3 13. That he was made a Curse for us And again in the like prhrase 2 Cor 5. â—1 He was made sin for us By which manner or speaking we may not fear that any manner of reproach is offered the Son of God For both Sin and the Curse following are his by imputation Though in regard of himself he was no sinner yet as he was our Surety he became sin for us and consequently the curse of the Law for us in that the Curse every way due unto us by imputation and application were made his Instructions and Consolations which follow this Faith First We learn here with bitterness to bewail our sins for Christ suffered here the Wrath of God not for any offence that ever he committed but all for us and therefore just cause have we to mourn for our own sins which brought our Saviour to this low and base estate If a man should be so far in debt that he could not be freed unless the Surety should be cast into Prison for his sake nay which is more be cruelly put to death for his debt it would make him at his wits end if there were left but
five things which the first Temple had First The Appearing and Presence of God at the Mercy-Seat between the two Cherubims Secondly the Vrim and Thummim on the Brest-plate of the High Priest Thirdly The Inspiration of the Holy Ghost upon extraordinary Prophets Fourthly The Ark of the Covenant which was lost in the Captivity Fifthly Fire from Heaven to burn their Sacrifices And yet notwithstanding all this loss the same Prophet in the same Chapt. the 10th vers following assureth That the Glory of the last House should be greater than the first Because the Sacrifice of Christ at his coming should give Glory and Dignity to it And for that his Presence Preaching and Teaching in it gave it more Glory than the former five special Graces and Gifts of God did or could give unto the first Temple So I believe that Christ died and was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures Rom. 4.25 He died for our sins and rose again for our Justification 1 Cor. 15.3 4 14. Now I will speak of the manner of his Resurrection and the Use of it First The Lord Jesus being truly dead and buried rose again by his own Almighty Power as is often testified Joh. 18. No man taketh my life from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and have power to take it again And so his Apostles Paul and Peter assure us he quickned himself by his own Spirit Rom. 1.11 1 Pet. 3.18 whereby he doth approve himself comfortable unto us to be the very Son of God as St. Paul noteth Rom. 8.4 saying He was declared mightily to be the Son of God touching the Spirit of Sanctification by the resurrection from the dead Secondly As touching the form he rose in or how his body was qualified I Answer Thar after his Resurrection his body was glorified richly yea most gloriously qualified with supernatural Graces His body was incorruptible and it was made a shining body a resemblance whereof some of his Disciples saw in the Mount and it was indued with Agility to move as well upward as downward as may appear by the Ascention of his Body to Heaven which was not caused by constraint or by any violent Motive but by a property agreeing to all bodies glorified Yet in the exaltation of Christ's Manhood we must remember two Caveats First he did never lay aside the Essential Properties of a true Body as length breadth thickness visibility locality or to be in one place at once and no more but keeping all this still because they serve for the Being of his Body Secondly We must remember that the gifts of Glory in Christ's Body are not infinite but finite for his Humane Nature being but a Creature and therefore finite could not receive infinite Graces c. Christ's Body is not Omnipotent and Infinite for this is to affirm he had no Humane Body and to make the Creature the Creator That it might appear unto his Disciples he had a glorious Body and was changed he was not alwayes in their presence but came often suddenly into their presence and once the doors being shut the doors giving place and being opened as saith * See Mr. Perkins upon the Creed pag. 275. Mr. Perkins they knew not how He that thickned the Water to walk on can cause Doors and Locks to give way unto his coming without any piercing or passing through them as Papists have imagined Finally That he had a true Body a real Body the very same wherein he suffered and not a feigned body as Hereticks have avouched is testified by many Arguments unto us he shewed some scars wounds and blemishes of his Passion in his Body now glorified as then remaining for the confirmation of men and to this end he conversed with men He did eat and drink often in the presence of his Apostles after his Resurrection The Use of this Article concerning Christ's Resurrection and of this Faith is this First The Resurrection of Christ is a publick testimony that he hath perfect Righteousness for all such as trust in him and if there had remained but one of our sins either unperfectly punished in him or not fully satisfied by him he could not assuredly then have risen from the death for where but one sin is there must be death Rom. 6.23 as God hath decreed Like as then the Father by delivering Christ to death hath indeed condemned our sins in Christ Rom. 8.3 so by raising him from death he hath absolved Christ from our sins and us in Christ 1 Cor. 15.17 Rom. 4.25 As our sins are condemned and punished in the death of Christ so our absolution and discharge is in his Resurrection Christ was given to death for our sins and raised again for our Justification Secondly The Believer is truly said to be dead to sin or to be dead with Christ because the vertue of Christ's death works effectually in his heart the death or sin and next to be buried with Christ into his death Rom. 6.2 3 4. because of the vertue which proceeds from Christ's burial to cause him so to bury sin that it never can rise up any more to be so stirring in him as it was before he came co Christ And lastly The Believer is as truly said to be risen with Christ Col. 3.1 because a special Vertue and Grace proceeds also from Christ's Resurrection to the believing heart to quicken it unto newness of life And this is that Grace which the Apostle desires more and more to feel and find to abound in himself when he desires to know Christ better and the vertue of his Resurrection Phil. 3.10 wherefore we must imbrace Christ risen in the arms of our precious Faith and so apply him unto our hearts that we may sensibly feel vertue to come from him not only to crucifie our old Affections but also to stir up daily new holy and heavenly Affections in our hearts Col. 3. If ye be risen with Christ seek those things which are above c. 1 Pet. 1.3 We art regenerate to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead As it was in the cure of the Woman that had the Bloody Issue so it is in the curing and quickning of sinners which are full of Bloody Issues all which must be stanched and cured by a certain vertue derived from Christ into them Mark 5.29 30. This is the Prayer Eph. 3.19 Thirdly The third fruit which is joyned with the second is the assurance of our perseverance in Grace and of our full victory against Sin and Death for they that are ingrasted into Christ by Faith and continuing therein unto death draw from him such a spiritual Life and Power as they shall never lose no not in the parting asunder of Soul and Body Rom. 8.38 Joh. 8.51 If any Man keep my Woad he shall never see death Fourthly The last benefit of his Resurrection is the resurrection of our bodies
natural and civil humanity in him and his very heart would bleed And this is the case with us by reason of our sins we are God's debtors yea bankrupts before him yet have we gotten a good Surety even the Son of God himself who to recover us to our former liberty was crucified and died for the discharge of out debt And therefore as the Prophet saith We should look upon him whom we have pierced and lament for him Look as the blood followed the nayls that were stricken through the blessed hands and feet of Christ so should the meditation of Christ's Passion be as nayles and speares to draw blood from our hands and hearts for our sins Secondly If thou doubtest where to see and find Christ crucified because the Prophet Zachary bids thee look on him Be advertised That he is set before thy face as nailed and fastened on a Cross wheresoever his Gospel is truly Preached in thine hearing for so the Apostle teacheth us Gal. 3.1 Oh foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the Truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was discribed in your sight and among you crucified We must seek God's face in Christ who is the living form or most bright glory wherein we behold God himself and we must ever seek Christ's face in the Gospel if we find it not there we perish everlastingly 2 Cor. 4.3 4. We need not go to Crosses nay we must not go but to the Glass he hath himself appointed for us Note this word till And remember it that till such time as we come thus by Faith and Meditation of the Gospel we lie continually as poysoned by Satan that old Serpent and as stung to death Thirdly We learn to follow Christ in the pursuit and crucifying of our sins for so we are taught Gal 5.24 They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof That is they endeavour to kill the Power of Sin in themselves by Repentance Prayer Fasting Meditation conference with the Saints and by avoiding all occasions of offence Fourthly we here learn in this president that seeing the Son of God was not only thus racked and crucified by men but also bare the Wrath of God in his Soul that therefore we must learn not to make so little account of sin as commonly we do Fifthly Whereas the Person crucified was the very Son of God it is manifest that the Love of God unto us in our Redemption is endless like the deep Sea without bank or bottom as it is testified Joh. 3.16 And if we shall not acknowledge this to be so our condemnation will be the greater Sixthly The Curse of God being here once and fully born of the Son of God not for himself but for his Elect It standeth not with God's Justice to lay any Curse on them they continuing in the Faith any more wherefore when they be afflicted their punishments are but temporary and not Curses but Crosses Chastisements which proceed not from Anger as it is to the wicked Isa 27.9 but from a most loving Father and so ever to be accounted Psal 103. Heb. 12.5 6 7 8. Now I will here declare what his enemies did against him both Jews and Gentiles and of his Passions on the Cross what herein we be specially to observe First They stone him bot as many Malefactors were executed as Achan Josh 7. and Naboth 1 King 21.13 but for a greater reproach they Crucifie him and this was the most shameful death among the Jews Secondly They Crucifie him after much beating bleeding and fainting and so make his green-wounds again to lie open even before the Sun to his greater grief and pain If the Son of God is Crucified for us we must be content in like manner to part with all for his sake that we may possess him and follow his Example Thirdly They pierced his hands and feet according to the Prophesie of the Psalmist Psal 22.16 in those parts which are most lively and sensible and so the weight of his body was born up by hands and feet fastened to the Cross but not in that gross manner that blind Papists have imagined but the feet nailed assunder with two distinct nailes as Godly Antients have delivered Fourthly They gave him Vinegar and Gall to drink tempered with Myrrh Matth. 27.34 Some think to take away his senses and memory intoxicating as it were his brain Thus they hastened his death See Med. Jos Hall pag. 501. not having any respect at all of his Soul whether he died in peace and favour with God yea or nay Others think it was to hasten his death Howsoever it was every sinner here is to be advertised That it was and is he as well as the Jews tempers who hath tempered such a Cup of Poyson for Jesus Christ Fifthly They Crucifie him between two Thieves Matth. 27.38 for his greater shame whereby they testifie that they esteemed him no common sinner Isa 53.6 but the Captain of all Thieves and Malefactors So think thou thy self with Paul 1 Tim. 1.15 that thou art the greatest of all sinners Sixthly They all mocked him both Jews and Gentiles wagging their heads and speaking spiteful words against him Mat. 27.39 45. Thou that destroyest the Temple and buildest it up in three dayes save thy self And again He saved others let him save himself The Jews paid dearly for this mocking and for crying His blood be upon us and our Children For their Children abide under the heavy wrath of Almighty God for it unto this day Seventhly and lastly When the Lord Christ had made an end of all things and had given full satisfaction to his Father's Justice after all his wrestling with Satan and Sinners and after many Passions in Soul and Body He concludes all his wearisom fight with this Prayer immediately before his death Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit Luk 23.46 By his example he teacheth us to recommend our Spirits to the Father of Spirits Who can preserve any work so well as the crafts-master And shall not the faithful Creator of Souls do this more carefully than man In great dangers we commit our Jewels to our best Friends so do thou thy Soul unto Jesus Christ that thou mayest say with St. Paul 2 Tim. 1.12 I. know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day The Passion of Christ is a mirrour of all Vertues which are the more excellent for that they be set before us not in Rules and Doctrine but in his own holy Practice I shall name some of them in order The Prophet Isaiah names six Vertues or special Graces proper to Christ and communicates by him in some measure to all his Members Chap. 11.2 First The Spirit of Wisdom Secondly Of Judgment Thirdly of Counsel Fourthly of Fortitude Fifthly of Knowledge and Sixthly of the Fear of the Lord. First For Wisdom