the bitterness and impiety of the Jews hearts For as Vineger is but degenerate Wine so the Jews had degenerated from what they were at first My noble Vine how art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me Jer. 2. Again I looked that it should bring forth grapes and it brought forth wild grapes Isa 5. It is to be admired in those ministers of the Lords death yea in that Divine Counsell by which all these things were ordered that they should do every thing so regularly and so exactly as if they had sworn to fulfill all Prophesies in him And therefore it is here said That the Scripture might be fulfilled to wit that which saith They gave me Gall for my meat and in my thirst they gave me Vineger to drink Psalm 69 Hence we learn how the world dealeth with the godly in their extremity and distress ' For at this very day Christ cryeth and complaineth in the poor and those that are destitute of the like succour and assistance I thirst but the world doth give nothing but Vineger scoff at contemn reproach revile the afflicted Therefore it follows But others said Let be let us see whether Elias will come to save him The rest should have reproved those mockers which offered Vineger to Christ when he was in that distress and did so earnestly desire a little drink But there was not one to rebuke them Nay what these do with Vineger the rest do with bitter words Both sorts wounded Christ So unequally is Christ dealt with in this world But it lasteth but an hour c. Of the sixth Word WHen Jesus therefore had received the Vineger John 19.30 he said It is finished There were many things yet to be fulfilled as Death the opening of his side his Burial the Destruction of Hell which were also foretold in the Scriptures But inasmuch as they were how about to be finished therefore he saith It is finished There was the Resurrection Ascention and sending the holy Spirit yet behind But those belong to the Conquest not to the Contest They are the Laurels not the labours of the battel Christ then by this sixt word doth exceedingly fulminate and appale the Devil which yet makes most for our Consolation The meaning is all one as if he had said The sense Thou wicked soulhunter thou dost here spread thy net in vain thou shalt catch and carry away nothing but shame and confusion Hitherto thou hast done what in thee lieth to destroy me But now and hence-forward none of all thy cheating tricks shall avail any thing against me thy thousand weapons and wiles shall not hurt me thou hast bent thy bow thou hast sown the tares of envy thou hast planted the thorne of ingratitude thou hast stirred up the fury of the people thou hast blinded the Judges encouraged the Executioners thou hast spit thy venome and done the worst thou canst The Disciple by thy instigation hath betrayed his God his Friends have despised him the Souldiers crucified him Thou hast shot all thy Darts now thy Quiver is empty Thou hast opened the pit which thou hast digged but shalt fall into it thy self Thy wickedness shall come down upon thine own pate Thou shalt not only get nothing by me but shalt also lose many millions of souls by me I will be many a thousand out of thy way thy Power shall be weakened thy Kingdom wasted Iniquity shall come to an end My Wisdom shall overcome thy malice For lo whatsoever the Father hath determined praised be God is now accomplished I have fully suffered whatever the Law and the Prophets did foretell all that is necessary and may conduce to the Salvation of man The Sacrifice is offered the Types fulfilled the shadows are fled away The Fathers command is finished The Scripture is sulfilled The power is at an end which thou hast used or rather abused over men The rage and violence of the Jews against me is at an end Righteousness it perfected it is come up to the height greater then which cannot possibly be imagined Justice and Love is compleated it is raised to the highest pitch The Sacrifice by which alone God could be pacified is now perfectly finished Finally all things are now made ready Sin is at an end Everlasting Righteousness shall now take place The Law is at an end the Gospel shall now succeed Man is now redeemed and reconciled unto God Nothing hath been omitted all things have been vigorously executed nothing could hinder or withhold me from finishing the Mysterie of mans Redemption An end is now put to thy Kingdom The Kingdom of Christ and of God shall now begin Henceforth thou shalt not be so formidable nor shalt thou have such power upon earth The people that dwell in Sion shall not fear thee O Ashur The children also shall take up Rods they shall whip and scourge thee they shall be so strengthened by Faith in me that they shall be nothing afraid of thy temptations yea they shall tear thee all to pieces and spurn thee for it is finished 1. By this Word of Christ is our Faith confirmed against all Hereticks and Antichrist himself 2. Hereby also may we Triumph over all adversity whatsoever For if we be tempted with any lust of sin if death if hell rush upon us we may say Why ragest thou thus why art thou so mad Dost not hear that Victory is at hand and that all things are finished For however we may now be sensible of those things yet they are as a Serpent without poyson as a Bee without a sting Therefore we may boldly say Death where is thy victory Thou art swallowed up c. 1 Cor. 15. 3. Whereas heretofore we were by the Law we were very uncertain whither we should go and what should become of us after this life Nay we were most sure to be hurled into Hell now by this consummation we are ascertained that we shall be received into Heaven if so be we are graffed into Christ by Faith But Christ said that all things were finished in the same sense as the Lamb is said to be slain from the beginning of the world Not that he was then manifestly slain but that Christ being once slain his death and blood was sprinkled backward and forward even to Adam and to the end of the world Thus also is our salvation finished not fully yet and indeed but in Hope Man is begun to be justified and healed But mean while being justified and healed the sin which yet remains in his flesh is not imputed to him because of Christ who being without any sin and now become one with man intercedeth for him to the Father Rom. 5. So that there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8. Now after that word It is finished let not the Jews expect any other who shall do more then what Christ hath done already Of the seventh Word AS Christ was now about to
his death was a passing to the Father therefore so shall ours be also even as Christ himself said John 20. I ascend to my Father and to your Father Note 1. He doth not say that his time but his hour was come to teach us that there is a certain hour appointed to every man as it is said Job 14. The number of his moneths are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass Note 2. Secondly To shew that his suffering would not last long So he saith to the Jews Matth. 26. this is your hour q.d. I have but one hour to suffer and you but one to spend your rage Thus the Scripture calleth the whole time of this life but an hour If thou dost well know that thou hast but an hours time here that is but a very little while do not therefore begrudge thy labour And even thy effliction lasteth but an hour let it not then be tedious Psalm 37. So the prosperity of the wicked continueth but an hour Fret not thy self because of the evill doers for yet a little and he shall be no more But as the feast of the Passover was Christs hour when he would suffer and dye so forty years after at the same feast was his hour when he inflicted vengeance on the Jews For when they were assembled at the Passover the Romans besieged them and shortly after ransack'd their City We also have two hours one of Mercy another of Judgement as certainly as there is a time of mercy so certainly may we expect the hour of Judgement Briefly the Evangelist John calleth the death of Christ a going away 1. That he might shew his power and might For he could pass over all those things which yet hindred his approach to the Father Psal 107.16 as it is said of him He hath broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron in sunder Before his death there was no clear passage out of this world unto Heaven And this therefore is the fruit of his death he opened thereby and prepared for us a passage to the Father It is significantly said not to God but to the Father that we should not be afraid to draw nigh unto God who by Christ is now become our Father 2. Again This going away may thus be understood viz. that John would hereby give an account of the Passover it self which signifieth a passing over as if he had said This feast hath hitherto been celebrated in remembrance of those things that were done in the passing or going out of Aegypt Now there is another passing out at hand even out of the world unto the Father In the former going out Moses was Leader in this second Christ Jesus is the Captain As they followed Moses so let us follow Christ The Jewish Passover is to go out of Aegypt the Christian Passover is to go out of the world to the Father But what did Christ when he knew that the hour of his going away was at hand surely he did not forget his friends He did not leave loving them for whose sake he was going to suffer such a bitter death And why should he withdraw his love from them who are so hated and contemned by and in the world What then doth Christ do When he had loved his he loved them unto the end He did truly love them and he continued this his love to them indeed unto the end In the first clause Christ sheweth the reason why he was made man and came into the world It was not our worthiness that was any motive thereof Psal 143.2 for we were not worthy to receive so much as corporall blessings from him much less were we worthy of eternall Nor had we any merit to move him for we were altogether born in sin Neither was it our righteousness that availed any thing for who shall be justified in the sight of God But it was his boundless love his infinite charity wherewith he embraced us that allured and invited him thereto For as the Father out of his great and abundant love sent his Son so the Son out of his abundant charity undertook and performed that Embassie of the Father So saith John herein his love 1 John 4. not that we loved him but that he loved us first Most significantly doth John say having loved his own which were in the world All creatures were his by creation John 1. It is said of the wicked He came unto his own and his own received him not But by his own is here meant those whom he chose to be his from Eternity of whom it is said Thine they were John 17. and thou gavest them me He saith further which were in the world lest any should think he spake here of the Angels who also are Christs But he took not the Nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham Heb. 2. Phil. 2. He did not appear in the likeness of an Angell but was found in fashion as a man And it is said in generall having loved his own which were in the world lest any should think that he loved none but his Apostles How he loved his own may be seen by this one thing in that he came down from Heaven for their sake to say nothing of the great tokens of his love which he shewed to them when he was in earth But what meaneth that He loved them to the end It was to shew why Christ took the Cross in his way as he went back again to the Father when he might have returned without danger His love constrained him He saw that his coming down from Heaven was not sufficient unless also he made satisfaction for the sins of men So that he loved them to the end i. e. he persevered in his love 1. First in that he left not loving them even to the death the ungodliness of the Jews did not hinder him he was not disheartened when his own fled from him and denyed him leaving him all alone to suffer by himself 2. He continued his love to them in that death it self did not put an end to it Many waters could not quench it Cant 8. 3. His love to them lasted to the end that is he sheweth signs of it to them in the very last day 4. He loved them to the end that is with the highest and most perfect love than which none could be greater Greater love hath none than that a man lay down his life for his friends which Christ did do John 13. Or 5. He loved them to the end that is he gave not over till be had perfectly saved them sully overcome sin death and all the curses of the Law Now then John doth so singularly commend the love of Christ and set it forth in the beginning or entrance of his Passion and his last Supper 1. To shew that all things which followed after proceeded from nothing but the
world Who would not gladly be lowly with Christ that he might also raign with him Brethren let us not be proud the Devil's pride threw him down from his greatest honour But let us embrace humility which exalted Christ to his highest glory and thus much for this text which Luke inserted Let us now return to Iohn hear what Christ said after Iudas was gone forth Now is the Son of man glorified John 13.31 and God is glorified in him I God be glorified in him verse 32. God shall also glorifie him in himself and shall straightway glorifie him Little children verse 33. yet a little while I am with you Ye shall seek me and as I said unto the Jews whither I go ye cannot come so now I say to you A new Commandment I give unto you that ye love one another verse 34 as I have loved you that ye also love one another By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples verse 35 if ye have love one to another When Iudas was gone Christ begins to preach a most joyfull Sermon full of admirable consolation wherein first he forewarneth his Disciples not to be offended at the Cross which now hung over his head and with them admonisheth all the godly not to deny him because of the Cross And he deferred this Sermon till Judas was gone forth because what he said afterward belonged to the Elect only As also to make good his own Doctrine Give not that which is holy unto dogs Matth. 7. The Ancient of Dayes and the Son of Righteousness from the season of the night which then was doth fitly make a comparison per contrarium by the contrary to shew that his glorification was at hand whereby all the world afterward should be enlightened when the Traytor and all wicked men should be left in a perpetual night of sin Hereby instructing us that the godly should never want Light however the wicked might be wrapt up in a night of Errours Exod. 10. as the Israelites heretofore had light in Aegypt when all else were covered with gross darkness Now we may understand this word four wayes 1. First of the Son of man as to his Mystical body so that the meaning may be Now is the Son of man glorified i. e. by the withdrawing of Judas that son of perdition from my society my Mystical Body is purged my small company and Church is cleansed from the mixture of that pestiferous member For the gracefull part and spotlesness of the Scholars is the Misters commendation when arrant rake-hels be cashier'd the Master is glorified Therefore 2. Again Now is the Son of man c. i. e. he is discovered to be true and Righteous by this that he removeth a vitious Disciple from his fellowship 3. Now is he glorified i. e. by this separation of Judas from the Elect Apostles was fore-shewn the glorification of Christ which he shall have at the day of Judgement when he shall separate the godly from the wicked whereby his truth and righteousness will appear 4. But lastly by glorifying is understood the brightness of Christs Passion glistering and flashing in among the damned the Glory of his Resurrection and Ascension and the gift of pouring out the Holy Ghost Now saith he is the son of man glorified John 12. to wit with that Glory which he spake of And I when I am lifted up from the earth will draw all unto me if a grain of wheat die in the earth it bringeth forth much fruit But mark with what Majestie Christ speaks of his death Another man would have spoken of it after the worlds sence Now is the Son of man betrayed made an abject condemn'd and there 's an end of him c. But Christ saith Now is the son of man glorified whereby he sheweth 1. That he was exceeding glad to Redeem mankind by his death upon the Cross it was as much joy to him as for others to go to a Banquet or Feast 2. That his Cross was nothing but an entrance to his Crown so that Judas and the Iews did nothing but promote his glorifying q.d. Let Judas go whither he will let him betray me let him stir up all the world against me let him do his worst It shall be to my Glory and his utter disgrace If he had gone sooner I should have been sooner glorified I am troubled at nothing but his malice which only will wound me 3. Although treachery reproach the cross and death be such bug-bears to the world yet to a godly man they are most desirable because there is no other way to Glory 4. Lastly He sheweth that by his death and Passion he was about to turn all the curses of the Law into blessings The Law saith Deut. 21. Cursed is he that hangeth on a tree So likewise all outward evils as hunger thirst persecution c. which the Law saith are curses But Christ tels us that they are the Instruments and means of our glorification and blessing for so it is that by his death these things can no more hurt us at all By him all things are sanctified Now although Christ was glorified before by his Miracles for he that allayed the waves of the sea and the force of wind Matth. 14. was worshipped as the Son of God So when he fed five thousand men with five loaves of bread the people saw such glory in him that they would presently have made him King John 6. When he raised Lazarus to life his Glory was so great that they publiquely received him in Jerusalem with songs and shouts Matth. 21. He was truly glorified by the greatness of Myracles yet because the consummation of his Glory was in the Passion Resurrection and Ascension therefore he saith Now is he glorified c. Teaching us that we should chuse rather to be despised of men than be praised by them because by the one we become proud in the other there is no such danger He speaks it Emphatically Now is the Son glorified Clarificatus est by a verb of the preterperfect tense for though it was not yet perfected it was in agitation and to be perfected without all doubt So he speaks afterward I am non sum in mundo John 17. how I am no more in the world There is an Emphasis too when he saith the son of man is glorified For the Son of God ever was and still is glorious What therefore the Son of God had by Nature that the son of man had by Grace and Union with the Divine Nature But questionless this glorifying of the son of man is the glorifying of God Therefore he added And God is glorified by him as the Father and the Son have one nature so have they one glory Whence it is that Christ saith he sought not his own glory but the glory of the Father 1. And yet the Father is not so glorified as
this Counsel but brought him into the City that they might put him to the more disgrace and punishment What tongue can express what a wretched convoy this was they dragg'd him along with great shoutings in much hast and with many flouts as if he had been the most notorious villain that ever lived so fast bound that he could scarse fetch breath And although he would have gone to suffer of his own accord yet no doubt but they justled and thumpt and thrust him from one side to another for how should they favour when they first took him who had no pity on him when he was dying So truly might he say Is it nothing to you O all ye that pass by Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow Lam. 1.12 See I say how basely I am dragg'd how cruelly I am buffeted how patiently I take it Behold a company of mad Dogs merciless murtherers and me a most meek Lamb in the midst of them See what a face their fists have made me how it is besmeared with my bloody sweat and the Jews spittle how bedew'd it is with tears my feet galled and torn with stones c. Thus he who alone was able and willing to lead us to heaven was here led along in a most reproachful manner on earth First to Annas then to Caiaphas for these were the chief of the Priests and bare the sway in the Temple and spiritual things in all Ecclesiastical affairs Now because the matter concerning Christ was spiritual for it respected faith and doctrine therefore according to law they thought it belonged to that Court. Thus they deatl afterward with Paul when they brought him before Annanias the High Priest Act. 23. So they did to the other Apostles when they convented them before these same men Annas and Caiaphas John and Alexander Act. 4. And for this reason Gallio the Deputy of Achaia refused to judge Pauls case because it did not seem to be civil but spiritual These two men had an ill report and were suspected to have given Herod an yearly sum of money for the Priestly Honour and Office like true Simonists and Giezites yea the Father of all Simon acal men Nor would they pass this over in silence calling Caiaphas the High Priest not simply as the law required but only saith that he was the High Priest for that year For these two men did Farm the Priesthood of the Romans at an yearly rent Whence we may guess that they had little godliness but much arrogance and vain glory He was first led to Annas 1. For honours sake out of respect to him for he was the elder man and Father in law of Caiaphas 2. That Christs condemnation might appear more just if he were sentenced by more than one 3. But chiefly that this wicked crew might rejoyce together over the common enemy whom they had now taken Annas perhaps could not be present at the next Common-Council by reason of his age therefore would feast his eyes in the mean time with that desired object So had Christ foretold The world shall rejoyce that is it shall triumph in my Passion Thus the wicked rejoyce to do evil and delight in the frowardness of the wicked Prov. 2.14 But little do they think how short their joy will be Thus they would heap honour one upon another and secure their sacriledge by common consent lest if one should undertake to do it alone he might according to the Roman laws be impeached as the Author of that wicked fact 4. Therefore was Christ first brought to Annas that men might not hate and blame Caiaphas only if he being the first that gave counsel should also be the first that condemned him O Pharisees ye do all to be seen of men But whereas Christ was brought before many Judges it was not so much the plot of the Jews as the providence of God For in that he was examined by many his innocency was the more cleared Thereby he made even all his Judges to be witnesses of his innocency and profess it openly which is the strongest testimony of all And 't is not for nothing that John doth make mention both of Caiaphas and his counsel before Christ was brought to Caiaphas his house For this bare counsel only of Caiaphas was the chiefest cause why not only the Rulers conspired the death of Christ but also why the people fell out of conceit with him John therefore first nameth him as wondering that so vile a man should be in so good an Office and still continue so ungodly 2. He admireth that this High Priest did so greedily thirst after the blood of Christ that when others were at a stand he should presently proclaim and give his verdict for his death whereas nothing doth less become a Priest then to be a blood-thirsty man 3. John wondered that so true and divine a sentence should proceed out of the mouth of so wicked a man For what is more true What is more comfortable than that Christ dyed for the people And that wicked man was the first that uttered this sentence but much against his intention Therefore John saith that he spake not this of himself but by the holy Ghost Joh. 11. 4. Lastly John holds forth Caiaphas and his counsel to us that we might see the righteous and strange judgement of God concerning this man For in him we truly see the Scripture fulfilled that which the wicked do fear shall fall upon them Again they that fear the frost shall be covered with the snow Qui timent pruinam irruet super eos nix so the Vulg. Lat. reads that in Job 6.16 Caiaphas was afraid that Christ would get his place and Priesthood from him And because he endeavoured to hold his honour by unlawful means it was not long ere he lost his honour himself too and the whole Nation besides He feared a temporal loss and fell into an eternal and temporal both at once This Caiaphas then is a most notorious president of all impiety for he is not named by way of honour but infamy It was he and his Father in law on whom that word of Christ was principally fulfilled ye have made of the house of God a den of theeves Matth. 21. It were these two chiefly against whom Christ did more than once thunder out that eternal woe Mat. 23. Therefore they hated Christ and desired his death more than any For he was grievous to them to behold because he upbraided them with their offending the Law Wis 2. Wherefore Caiaphas by that his counsel endeavoured by all means to estrange the people from Christ They did not fear God but the people only And they did not a little prevail therein for by their means the people were fully satisfied that if they suffered Christ to live he would be an occasion of destruction to that place and the Nation of the Jews which when the carnal people heard who loved their present temporal in joyments
q d. the evidence and clearness of the Fact committed needs no further accusation Do thou Justice there 's no need of any more examination Dost thou question our righteousness Dost thou think we will not do Justice Dost not see who and what we are who have brought this man bound before thee Is this all the respect thou givest to the Priests of the most High God Dost thou make no difference betwixt us and the common Rabble Do not think that we would bring one before thee that were not guilty of death Thou mayst see how strictly we keep the Law for we will not so much as come into thy house we dare not tred within thy doors Nor think thou that we have done any thing in this matter either out of envy or hatred or too precipitate without deliberation and good advice We have considered all things and finde that he doth deserve to die thou hast nothing to do but to pronounce Sentence For if he were not a malefactor c. O the hypocrisie O the lyes and malice of these men Should things be thus carryed Is this to execute Justice Is every prisoner a malefactor and guilty of death Who sees not that they distrust the goodness of their Cause Therefore 1. They go about to blind and delude the Judge with vain and empty words lest they should be put upon it to prove him a malefactor Consider well O Christian the malice of these men They would fain seem to be just and righteous even against the check of their own conscience as if they had never attempted any such thing and never went about to destroy any but a Malefactor when t is evident that they were the men that did most unjustly put all the Prophets to death 2. In this also they shew their malice in that they would have Christ cut off before he was examined or convicted nay they think him not worthy that the Judge should so much as give him audience or that he should be tryed according to any Rule of Law 3. They openly charge him as a Malefactor before the common Barr and in the face of the open Court who had healed all their sick Ask the Lepers whom he cleansed and the blind whose sight he restored c. whether he were a Malefactor c. But thus it is written They rewarded me evil for good and hatred for my love Psalm 35. Again For my love they are my Adversaries but I prayed for them Psalm 109 Christ did here truly pray even when he held his peace considering with himself our sins for which he suffered all this wrong But Pilate being now incensed and moved with some chollar at such proud and unrighteous expressions cryes out to them again Take ye him and judge him after your own Law as if he had said if he be a Malefactor as you say he is but do not prove it why then put your own Law in execution against him The Roman Laws prohibit me to condemn any man before he hath a full hearing Truly Pilate the Law of Moses did enjoyn the same too but so it is by the malice of these men that the Heathens Laws are now prefer'd before the Law of God The Jews very well know it from Exod. 23. and we also know the same from the words of Nicodemus that the Law of Moses judgeth no man untill he be first heard and convinced John 7. But see how they evade it It is not lawfull for us say they to put any man to death Well but who then I pray put Stephen to death Act. 7. What Authority put him to death Therefore they lye grosly Was not this to put Christ to death when they delivered him up to be sentenced to die and laboured with all importunity to have him put to death But they would have him put to death by the laws of Rome that so as well they as their laws might be acquitted from doing any such thing Their Law was to stone to death but the Roman Law was to crucifie This is that they would have They would not barely have Christ put to death but they would have it done with the greatest reproach shame that might be Nor did it so fall out by chance or by their consultation but that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled when he certainly foretold that he should be delivered to the Gentiles and be crucified by them Mat. 20. Christ also had said that the Son of man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the Serpent John 3.12 Again When I am lifted up I will draw all unto me Joh. 12. And again When the son of man shall be lifted up then shall ye know that I am he John 8. Now when the Jews perceived that they should miss their aym and that there was no good to be done with Pilate unless they brought some Accusation and certain proof of clear crimes against Christ They began to accuse him of many things Luke 23.2 Mar. 15.3 saying we found this fellow perverting our Nation and forbidding to give Tribute to Caesar saying that he himself is Christ a King Then Pilate entred into the Judgement Hall again and called Jesus and said unto him Art thou the King of the Jews John 18.33 Jesus answered standing before him Mat. 27.11 Sayest thou this thing of thy self or did others tell it thee of me Pilate answered am I a Jew thine own Nation and the chief Priests have delivered thee unto me what hast thou done Jesus answered my Kingdom is not of this World If my Kingdom were of this World then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews but now is my Kingdom not from hence Pilate therefore said unto him Art thou a King then Jesus answered thou sayest that I am a King To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the World that I might bear witness unto the Truth every one that is of the Truth heareth my voyce Pilate saith unto him what is Truth And when he had said this he went out again unto the Jews and saith unto them I find in him no fault at all And they were the more fierce saying he stirreth up the people teaching throughout all Jury beginning from Galilee to this place Luke 23.5 This was Christs first examination in Pilates Court where the Jews Accusations are first laid down Lest thou shouldst think O Pilate say they that we have nothing to lay to this mans charge hear we pray thee what just cause we have to hate and abhor him He is a seducer of the Nation the Author of all mutinies he fâ—ribids men to pay Custom and Tribute he calls himself King of the Jews which is no less then high Treason against his Imperial Majesty And is not this crime and cause enough against him What wouldst thou have more Every one of these Accusations is sufficient to condemn him Here thou seest O Christian how truly David said The
Counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed Psalm 2. The Gentiles did rage indeed like bruit beasts for they knew not what they did The people to wit the Jews imagined vanity They laid their heads together as it is written Psalm 109. They compassed me about with words of hatred the Kings that is Pilate and Herod Hence the Apostles composed their mournfull prayer Of a truth Lord say they against thy holy child Jesus both Herod and Pontius Pilate with Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together c. Acts 4. To this may be added that of the Psalmist They are confederate against thee the Tabernacles of Edom and the Ishmaelites of Moab and the Hagarens Gebal and Ammon c. Psalm 83. They are like Sampsons foxes their tails be tyed together and like the scales of the Leviathan sticking so close together that no air can come between them Job 41. So when it comes to persecution of the godly and to propagate ungodliness now wicked men are easily reconciled and made friends But all this while Christ is not set at liberty but compel'd to the Cross and die he must Thus Tyrants for the most part now adays are quickly quiet one with another after they have robbed and spoiled and plundred and utterly undone the poor and not one amongst them all will restore or help the poor man to that which is his right Concerning this peace of the wicked David saith I was envious at the wicked when I saw the prosperity of sinners Psalm 73. But a little after he saith Thou didst set them in slippery places thou castest them down into destruction How are they brought into desolation as in a moment They are utterly consumed with terrors As a dream when one awaketh so shalt thou make their image to vanish out of the City Psalm 73. All this was fulfilled in these two men for both of them were banished It follows And Pilate when he had called together the chief Priests and the Rulers and the people said unto them Luk. 23.13 Ye have brought this man unto me as one that perverteth the people and Behold I have examined him before you and I have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him No nor yet Herod for I sent you to him and lo nothing worthy of death is done unto him I will therefore chastise him and release him And when Jesus was accused of the chief Priests and Elders Mat. 27.12 Mar. 15.3 he answered nothing Then saith Pilate unto him answerest thou nothing Behold how many things they witness against thee But he answered him to never a word insomuch that the Governour marvelled greatly Christ is now brought back again from Herod to Pilate but so as without doubt many godly men wept to see how miserably he was led along We use to say when innocent men suffer Thieves and Robbers should be thus dealt with not honest and just men But the Lord Christ was neither Thief nor Robber and yet he endured all this and was so tossed to and fro from one to another and with such disgrace too that it would have made one shed many a tear to see the veryest Rascal in the world so used Paul an Apostle of this Jesus was tost and tumbled up and down in the same manner For as the Lord Jesus had his Annas's Caiaphas's Pilates Herods so Paul had his Annanias's Felix's Festus's Agrippa's c. Why should the Scholler speed better then his Master And let it not repent thee Brother of the Cross be not thou ashamed of it for thy Lord and mine did never blush at it Holy truths can no otherways be brought to light Good men must look for no other usage Pilate and Herod have no better entertainment in their houses Innocency Humility Simplicity the Spirit Knowledge c. are nothing worth in their market they make but a piff of these Thou must be their Mocking-stock and make them fools sports yea though thou wert as good as Elias unless thou will say and do as they please that is to say and do the filthiest and basest wickedness in the world Satan knows his time and advantage and can tell well enough how and when to make wicked men friends but so as that their reconciliation shall be thy ruine and destruction But Pilate who was a little honester than the Jews and Herod that he may seem not to wrong any man doth once more call together the chief of the Jews and leaves no stone unturned but useth all means possible to set Jesus at liberty and release him safe and sound Ye have brought this man to me saith he and have accused him of many things and I have examined him as strictly and as narrowly as possibly I can to sift out the truth and sound the business to the very bottom to bring things to light I have taken him aside and asked him alone and examined him in private and now I have questioned him in your presence before your own faces and yet I cannot hear or understand any thing but that he is wrong'd exceedingly and all that I can do for my life and heart I can find no cause of death in him And if ye will not believe me behold Herod also his own Lord under whose jurisdiction he is doth think and say the same he is of one mind and opinion with me in this matter For he under whose power he is hath sent him back again without punishment which he would never have done if he had found him faulty What therefore will ye do seeing according to the truth of the business there is nothing to be found in this man worthy of reprehension or wherefore he should be put to death Will you use violence to him and kill him contrary to all Law and Reason Doth your Law teach you to serve men so Surely Solon Lycurgus Minos and the Roman Tables allow no such thing much less command it The chiefest Law of Lycurgus was that no man should be punished before he was convicted and condemned Nor did ever any Law-maker allow of so notorious a wickedness as to cut off and destroy the innocent How much less ought you to do any such thing who go under the name of Religion and are professors of the most holy Law Let me desire you therefore to hearken to my advice which I suppose may somewhat pacifie you I will chastise and scourge him after the manner of the Romans that it may not be said you have bound him and brought him before me without a cause but I neither can nor will I put him to death because I find no such fault in him See here Pilate doth again bear witness of Christs innocency against the impiety of the Jews that by the righteous Judgement of God their damnation might be the greater You shall shortly see the Sun and the Heavens the Earth and the stones testifie against them and proclaim
glorified over all Isa 53. The lowest descent of Christ was to be accounted more base and wicked then a Thief or a Robber but this Descention is a means of his Ascention and the true and only way for him to be more highly exalted If thou therefore art despised and reckoned worse then the worst have recourse presently to Christ who in the sence of so great contempt transfer'd it on himself and overcame it that thou by Faith in him mightest overcome it also No marvell then if guiltless men be sometimes punished and the guilty escape Scot-free So it was with Christ And as it here fell out in Pilates Court the very same happened in Gods Court Adam that notorious Thief with his whole posterity stood accused before God all of them guilty of Death So did also the most innocent Son of God Now one of them must be punished with Death Divine Justice did so require it But God of his great mercy spared him and delivered his own innocent Son to Death for him 1. Brethren let us embrace this mercy of God and be thankfull unto him for it 2. Let us take heed that Christ that is the Righteousness of God be not taken and kept prisoner in us and the Thief that is unrighteousness be not let go at random But what doth Pilate do when he saw this frantick obstinacy of the Jews He little thought that they would desire Barabbas to be released unto them And nothing seemed more strange unto him then this unworthy behaviour of them Therefore he saith What then shall I do with Jesus c. q.d. If ye think it meet and just that a Thief should have his inlargement much more he that is proved to be innocent or with what justice can I condemn this man if a Thief must be released instead of him ye desire that he should be sent packing but require a Thief to be set at liberty Nay in requiring a Thiefs enlargement ye do necessarily desire this mans releasment For he that would an offender let go would much more that a Righteous man should not be kept prisoner And so is it indeed with those that are in their right wits but malice had blinded these mens eyes Therefore they cry out again Crucifie him Crucifie him These wicked Husbandmen had a will and a resolution to kill the Lord of the Vineyard thinking that then they should possess his Inheritance safely and hold it sure enough and so brave it out with great gladness and glory Mat. 21. Wherefore they sharpened their Tongues like Serpents But first of all they determine what kind of death he should dye Where again they discover their wickedness in that they would prescribe what manner of death to put him unto whereas this did not belong to the Accusers but to the Judge And t was not for nothing that they would have him crucified For thereby they thought to delude the people and alienate them from Christ that whereas it is written in the Law Cursed is every one that hangeth on a Tree they might shew them that Christ also was accursed of God and so by that means Christ might wholly perish not only in his person but in his good Name and repute among the people and the clearness of his Miracles and whatever else was good in him This was that which that wicked crew did plot and purpose even that the whole memory of Christ might utterly be abolished But God crossed their contrivances For the curse of the Cross was far from clouding Christs Renown that his Glory did the more sparkle and spread thereby Let not us think shame of the Cross of Christ but esteem it our greatest honour Let us now glory in nothing save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ Gal. 6. For this will turn all cursing into blessing to us But how madly soever they cry out Pilate doth yet withstand them and doth the third time publiquely protest Christs innocency What evil saith he hath he done I find no fault in him For he knew and now had sufficient experience by the fact it self that for envy they had delivered him Nothing but envy I say was the ground of all this clamour For this had so blinded them that they could not see the Law of God or of Nature A manifest and plain Sign and Token of this their envy was in that they took no notice of the Judges excusing him but still cryed out more and more and what else should they do when they had nothing else to prove their charge In like manner the world afterward cryed out against the Martyrs of Christ The curse of the Cross light on them Away with them Throw them to the beasts make dogs meat of them Hence with these Malefactors c. How should they scape better then their Lord But though Ravens or Lyons devour us although the fire burn us or the water drown us let us never deny Christ or desert his Church It follows in the Text Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him John 19.1 Mar. 15.16 Mat. 27.28 And the Souldiers led him away into the Hall called Pretorium and they call together the whole band And they stripped him and put on him a scarlet Robe And when they had platted a Crown of Thorns they put it upon his head and a Reed in his right hand and they bowed the knee before him and mocked him saying Hail King of the Jews And began to salute him Hail c. Mar. 15. And they smote him with their hands John 19.3 And they spit upon him and took the Reed and smote him on the head Mat. 27.30 And bowing their knees worshipped him Mar. 15.19 The Devil now at last through the furious rage of the Jews so far prevailed with Pilate who endeavoured to carry on things in a politique way of Justice to lay violent hands on Christ I say he laid hands on him whom he had so often excused For so the Scripture must be fulfilled Pilate knew well enough that for envy they had delivered him and yet he doth so far gratifie and condescend unto them that for their sakes and in favour to them he doth suffer and command innocent Jesus to be scourged And how many such Pilatists are there to be found now adayes in every Countrey who commonly Apprehend Oppress Spoyl Kill and condemn even the innocent for no other cause but because it will please their Princes Pilate might have rescued Christ out of the hands of the Jews having power and force sufficient to have done it as Lysias the Tribune or chief Captain did rescue Paul Act. 21. But thus it must be Christ foreknew and foretold his scourging long before Mar. 10. Luke 18. And Isaiah prophesied the same long before the Incarnation of Christ I gave my body to the smiters and my face to them that plucked off the hair c. Isa 50. The Apostles also in like manner were thus scourged and whipt afterward Acts 5.
scattered Jer. 10. Because the Flock that is the people were not only not brought to the Knowledge of Christ but withall were stirred up to seek his death therefore they fell into the pit and perished But all the fault was in their Leaders and Governours Pilate took nothing more hainously at their hands then this obstinate envy of the Jews Therefore when he saw there was no hope to do any good by fair means he doth try to restrain their fury with big words and sharp threatnings Take ye him saith he and do you crucifie him q.d. Shall I O ye bloody men who are more cruel then any bruit beasts and because ye envy the Roman Laws shall I kill and cut off the innocent Do you think to affright me with your clamorous out-cryes and make me act the part of a Murtherer I am a Minister of Law and Justice I am not to maintain or vindicate the spleen and envy of others but to punish Offenders by my Authority I am no Executioner to torment the innocent I have hitherto yielded to your hatred I will no longer be perswaded by you to exercise any more cruelty against the innocent Amongst all our Lawyers I can find no such Law that doth command to put any man to death who hath not deserved it And therefore if it be so capital a crime and such an high offence with you to be innocent and if you have any such Law among you that punisheth the guiltless with death do you execute them your selves I cannot nor will I consent to this fool-hardiness and gross indiscretion I don't intend to defile my Hall which is the Roman Court and Empire in this place with innocent blood Take ye him at your own perill and lead him away and do you crucifie him if ye think it best I do not use to crucifie any but Malefactors and naughty fellows But as for this man I can find in him no crime worthy of the Cross This Sentence of Pilate were much to be commended indeed if he had persevered and continued in his resolution But we shall quickly see the wind turned and hear other things of him For all this the Jews never so much as blush at the Justice of this Heathen man Nay when they heard the Judge favour and defend Jesus with such diligence and industry they verily thought that one way or other Jesus would slip from them and get out of their hands and therefore they forge another new crime against him which to a Judge that was not versed in their Laws might seem to be a most notorious offence We have a Law say they c. True you have a Law but none of you keepeth the Law as Christ did most truly and justly upbraid you John 7.19 Thus the greatest Transgressours of the Law do most cry up and make their boast of the Law But what is it that ye alledge against Christ out of your Law By the Law say they he ought to dye And wherefore I pray for what cause Because he made himself the Son of God But what 's become of your former Accusation that he should say he was King of the Jews They were found lyers in the first therefore now they invent a new charge against him And what great crime had it been if Jesus of Nazareth did say that he was the Son of God If he did the works why might he not profess the Name of God It was extream hatred in them to accuse him with such a clamour and noyse of words because he only said that he was the Son of God They speak not a word all this while of those Divine Works which he did and whereby he proved himself to be the Son of God And they tell a lye too in saying that he made himself the Son of God For he did not glorifie himself that he might be made High Priest Nor did he think it any Robbery for him to be equal with God but the Father glorified him The Lord saith David said unto my Lord sit thou on my right hand untill c. Psalm 110.1 Mat. 22.44 See here also how malice and envy doth disagree with it self They had said before It is not lawfull for us to put any man to death But now they say we have a Law and by our Law he ought to dye So forgetfull and ignorant is envy that it can neither tell what it did say or what it should say the Law which they alledge must either be that of putting a blasphemer to death Levit. 24. or that concerning a false Prophet seducing the people by lying signs and wonders from the worship of the one and true God Dent. 18. But neither of these Laws take hold of Christ For he was neither a blasphemer nor a false Prophet Therefore it was not sufficient to alledge that Law which was for the putting of a blasphemer or a false Prophet to death but they were to prove that Christ was such a one for otherwise he would truly and fully clear and quit himself from both Imputations The Jews thought that Pilate would presently pronounce Sentence of death assoon as ever he heard but this one crime charged upon Christ but it fell out far otherwise For when he heard this saying he was the more afraid For he thought thus with himself Who knows who or what this man is For certainly none can make himself the Son of God unless first he were so And if he be the Son of God surely t is not lawfull for me to pass sentence of death upon him Therefore of necessity I must sift out this matter more narrowly yet Wherefore he brought the Lord of Majesty into the Judgement Hall again to enquire further of this thing Here then we see 1. That even a Heathen Judge gave more honour to the Name of God then the Jews who made their boast of God as doth here plainly appear by Pilate who if not really and in Truth yet was at least civilly just and honest and if not religiously yet did he morally fear and reverence his Gods as many honest and harmless men do who are of opinion that there is a God but have no true and right faith in him 2. But observe that Pilate was afraid indeed yet did he not repent Whence t is plain that his fear was servile not filiall and proceeding from Faith he was afraid lest he had done too much in scourging the Son of God For he believed as the Gentiles do that the Gods descended from heaven and ascended thither again as the Poets fain of Jupiter Mercury c. And therefore that he might not seem to be so wicked against his Gods as to condemn the son of Jupiter or Vulcan he doth narrowly pry into the truth of the business and asketh Whence art thou He beats about the bush and questions him afar off to fish out the truth But Christ makes him no answer For 1. It was nothing either to Caesar or to Pilate whether he
of Hebrew Greek and Latine Then said the chief Priests of the Jews to Pilate Write not the King of the Jews but that he said I am King of the Jews Pilate answered what I have written I have written The Cross was now raised and lifted on high it stood strait upright Christ hung on it many wept to see it wickedness and injustice abound and yet Pilate would fain carry the business without suspition of injustice or wrong And therefore being a subtile and crafty man in the worldly Wisdom he invents some new device and writeth a Title or scroul wherein he signifieth in four words the whole Tragedy with the crime annexed for which he was thus judged and Executed For now his conscience began to twinge him for what he had done he was afraid that he should be complained upon to Caesar for delivering such and so great a man with whom God appeared to be to the covetous greedy and malicious desire of the Jews without shewing any cause or reason of so doing And therefore that he might clear himself that what he had done besides the course and order of Law he did it justly and upon weighty reasons he feigneth this because he could not think upon or invent a more hainous Title for his excuse and defence relying upon it to be saved harmless with Caesar as if he had not put Christ to death as he was the Son of God or a Prophet of the Jews but as a seditious person and an enemy to Caesar and as one that had a mind and intended to be King This he thought would secure him inasmuch as no power can bear a Competitor This was Pilates intention when he wrote this Title For he was banished and killed himself but what stead it stood him in he very well knew and had sufficient experience shortly after But God or the holy Spirit of God intended something else that is to give unto Christ a Name above every name as the Apostle saith Phil. 2. and the Title of a Kingdom which shall last when Heaven and earth are past away because Jesus of Nazareth that is the Saviour and the truly Holy One is made King of the Jews by his suffering upon the Cross not of those who say they are Jews and are not but are the Synagogue of Satan Rev. 2. But of those who confess and acknowledge God in Truth In these four words JESVS of NAZARETH KING of the JEWS the whole effect of the cross is expressed First he is called Jesus 1. because having made satisfaction and paid the price of our Redemption he is become the Author of our salvation Secondly he is Jesus of Nazareth 2. that is flourishing or full of Flowers because the Blossoms of his Godliness are the Example and Pattern of an honest conversation unto us He is also the Heavenly Odour of that sweet Sacrifice which the Father did smell and accept for us He is the Hope of Eternal fruit by which we shall enjoy the sweetness of his God-head Thirdly he is called a King 3. because of his Government and Guidance For he doth Rule us in the Life of Grace and direct us to life of Glory Christ is King in Life and Death which cannot be said of any other Fourthly 4 he is King of the Jews to inform us to whom these Benefits do belong to wit to those that do confess and believe them Behold such great Mysteries as these hath God opened unto us by so vile an Instrument as Pilate was which very thing doth set forth the wonderful Counsell of God For he can tell how to turn the counsels of wicked men to his own praise and glory This Triumphant Title doth not a little confirm and comfort us that are Christians who glory in the cross of Christ and count it our highest honour which Title was not set at the feet but at the head of Christ to shew that his Kingdom is not base and earthy but high and Heavenly For it is and ever will be most true that this Jesus which was born in Bethlem and brought up at Nazareth is King of the Jews their own Prophets being witnesses Psalm 2. 45. Cant. 1. Hos 3. Zach. 9. And because they cast off their King we Gentiles do joyfully receive him Act. 14. as King of all that do acknowledge and confess him Pilate hit the Nail on the head when he wrote this Title and reached the very Truth it self whatever his meaning and intention was And this he would have all people to read understand and therefore he wrote it in the three principall and most general Languages which were then and still are the chiefest Languages over all the world to excuse himself in all Countries and Nations of the death of so eminent a man He wrote it in the Hebrew Tongue because of the Jews who made their boast of the Law In the Greek because of the wise Philosophers of the Gentiles And in the Latine for the Romans to read it Every Kingdom in the World all the wisdom of the World all the Mysteries of Gods Law do witness in spite of the Jews whether they will or no that this Jesus is King of the Jews that is he is the chief Ruler and guide of all that confess and believe in God All these things came to pass not so much by Pilates contrivance as by Gods Providence 1. For first God did hereby provide for all mankind that all men might know that this was he whom God had anointed King over all Nations as it is said Dan. 7. All people Nations and Languages shall serve him So saith Paul At the Name of Iesus every knee shall bow Phil. 2. 2. Secondly that all Nations might know and understand how treacherous and perfideous the Iews were who crucified their own Messias 3. Thirdly that even thus it might be known that Christ dyed for all men whether they be Iews Greeks or Romans 4. Fourthly to shew that the Gospel and the Grace of Christ do equally and alike belong to all men to one as well as another 5. And lastly that all Languages and every Tongue should glorifie Christ which was then fulfilled and is so now For in these three Tongues the Church alwayes hath had read and sung the Scriptures For every Tongue must confess that Iesus is the Christ to the Glory of God the Father Phil. 2. But this Title the chief Priests of the Iews did begrudge Christ and could yet wish that it were changed or abolished but God forbid that Pilate should alter the least jot or title of what was written He had leave enough given him already against Christ This Title must never be blotted out The Iews were ashamed that Strangers and Forraigners should read and understand this Title They were afraid lest one time or other it should be cast in their teeth that they had crucified Christ their own proper and lawfull King and therefore they
Souldiers also are at hand ready to gratifie the Jews they break the legs of the Thieves hanging on the cross and were about to strike the body of Christ but that they saw he was dead already which was that which hindered them and not any pity of theirs Nor need they further torture him who was now insensible of any torments And as Christ though he was dead yet had none of his bones broken so the godly are afflicted indeed but not destroyed and as all their hairs are numbred so all their bones are preserved that nothing can befall them without the good Will of God But therefore Christ would not have his legs broken because the bones which Mystically in the Scriptures do signifie power and strength would preach nothing of Mysterie to us if they should be broken But on the contrary whereas his legs were preserved whole it signifieth thus much to us that al 's his wayes which in the Canticles are described by his Legs are straight and inviolable But however they had no need to break Christs legs because he was dead already yet one of the Souldiers willing to please the Jews thrust his Javelin into his side for which Pilate gave him no such commission But God ordered this also thus to be done First that the Scripture in Zachary here quoted might be fulfilled Secondly that the Figure of Adam sleeping might be explained who had his Rib taken out of him when he was asleep of which the Woman was made Gen. 2. And it is significantly expressed that the side of Christ was not wounded but opened to let us know 1. That there is an open way for us to the heart of God Here is our Refuge that we may hide our selves in the clefts of this Rock for there and there only we shall be safe 2. The opening of this side signifieth that the door of Life is open to us whence Sacraments flow forth without which no man can come to the true Life For as Eve was formed out of Adams side when he was asleep so the Church was formed out of Christs side when he died upon the cross Therefore it is said here that when Christs side was pierced presently there came forth blood and water Which out-flowing was both very Miraculous and Mysterious For we are Redeemed by blood and with water are we washed So that the death of Christ was both our redemption and purification And it is observable that neither only blood nor only water came forth For without blood water could do nothing nor had our redemption stood us in such stead if we should have been and continued as bad as we were before and not been cleansed withall Wherefore that there might be wherewith to wash us from our sins water which only washeth away the filth of the body is joyned to blood which is the price of our Redemption and by conjunction thereto did it receive Vertue that it might be fit to cooperate with the Holy Spirit to the washing away the invisible spots and stains of sin This was foretold in the Prophet There shall be a Fountain opened to the House of David for the washing of the sinner and the menstruous or unclean Zach. 13. Whereby Sinner is understood the Heathen people and by the Unclean is meant the Iew who sinned against the Law Therefore blood and water are the two undoubted Objects of our Faith and Sacraments of the Church The Mass to wit the Supper and Baptism The Blood was shed for the remission of sins and Baptism was instituted for the forgiveness of sins Act. 2.38 22.16 Such great salvation did there flow to us out of the Wound of our Lord. For by these two is the Church built up By Water we are new born by Blood are we nourished Or thus these two blood and water signifie that both life and comfort flow to us out of the Passion of Christ The life is in the blood and water in the Scriptures doth most commonly signifie Consolation Here then are we confirmed not only whilst we live but when we die too that we are perswaded there is life in death and that our life is hid in God Well therefore may Augustine here cry out O mors unde mortui reviviscunt O the Death by which the dead do live again What can be more pure then that Blood What more healthful then that Wound But why Christs bones should not be broken and yet his side pierced John brings in and alledgeth two Testimonies one out of the Law another out of the Prophets But first he doth affirm that these things were true by his own witness that none might think it incredible which he said of the blood and water flowing out of the side of Christ when he was dead For it is against Nature that blood and water should come out of the side of a dead man John therefore doth maintain that he saw it And that his Testimony is valid and true may appear by this in that he did not write only of the glorious but also the meaner things of Christ and of his abasement But he produceth two other Testimonies more that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established Deut. 17. The Testimony out of the Law is Ye shall not break a bone thereof Exod. 12. which was concerning the paschal Lamb. And who is that paschal Lamb but Jesus who was crucified and offered up upon the Cross For he is our Passover as Paul saith 1 Cor 5. By this Quotation it plainly appears that Iohn did not so much intend to cite the History as to put us in mind of what this History did signifie to wit that this Jesus was the true Passover which was signified by the legal Lamb. But even this Scripture doth confirm us that the bones of the paschal Lamb are not broken Indeed the power of darkness might so far rage against Christ as to take away his life and glory in the view of the world But his bones that is his life and glory with God it could not break or deprive him of The same happeneth to all the Saints let the wicked rage as much as they will yet they break not the bones of the godly that is no power or force of theirs is so great but Faith will overcome it For Faith is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth Rom. 1. The other Testimony is taken out of Zachary They shall look on him whom they have pierced Zach. 12. This in the first place is referred to the godly who shall look on Christ crucified and acknowledge that he so suffered for their sins To the same purpose also is that in the same Zachary And they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son This place here cited may also be referred to the wicked and then it is all one with that where it is said Vengeance is mine I will repay it For when Divine Vengeanceis
of the power of it which is exercised either in with holding from good or drawing into evil of both which the Apostle speaketh Rom. 7.19,20 Secondly In respect of the filth of it Sin is a filthy thing an unclean corrupt rotten thing like the putrified matter of an Ulcer Sore Apostemation or running issue Lev. 15.2 Isa 1.6 Mat. 9.20 Thirdly In respect of the guilt of it Sin is alway accompanied with guilt it never goes without it either sensibly or insensibly How heavy did it lie on Cain Judas c. Fourthly In respect of the deformity of it Sin is an uncomly unseemly ugly thing it makes a man not look like himself it defaceth Gods Image in man so that he cannot he doth not or will not know him Verily I know ye not ye workers of iniquity Sin is a spot Deut. 32.5 which causeth a blot or blemish where it is It is no beauty spot and I could wish that the beauty-spots of our times did not arise from this filthy spot of sin Fifthly In respect of the enmity of it Sin stands in utter hatred and detestation to all good Purity and Holiness Gen. 3.15 Gal. 5.17 Sixthly In regard of the curse Sin hath a most dolefull and lamentable execration annext unto it In sorrow shalt thou conceive cursed is the ground for thy sake in the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat thy bread cursed art thou above all cattel and above every beast of the field Gen. 3. 9. Now there can be no deliverance from sin in any of these considerations without death The death of Christ is our original Copy acoording to which there is a necessity for us to write For as much then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh arm your selves likewise with the same mind for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin 1 Pet. 4.1 No freedom from sin till there be a conformity to Christs sufferings in the flesh It is with us as it was with Israel of old We are strangers and bondmen in a sinfull Aegypt in an Aegyptian nature of sin we groan and would gladly be gone out of it but cannot nor shall we till the Paschal Lamb be offered Exod. 12. And as that Lamb was to be offered in the same land out of which Israel was to be delivered so must we by the oblation of Christ offer up our selves in that state out of which we would be set at liberty Let us present our bodies a living sacrifice and lay all our living lusts upon the Altar of the Cross Let us die in the body and live in the spirit suffer in the flesh and cease from sin Christ hath been as it were plainly pictured forth before our eyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 crucified in us in our nature Let us noe trample upon his blood Let us not turn this Grace of God into wantonness nor make Christ to become of none effect to us Thirdly 10. Without this knowledge of Christs death and conformity to it all our other parts and gifts let them seem never so great large spacious high strong excellent yea holy and spiritual they will all vanish and come to nothing if they be not confirmed to us in the blood of the Covenant 'T is the observation of a learned and (*) Mr. William Bridge pious man That an Hypocrite may pray away all his graces If our Gifts and Graces be not deeply rooted in the mortification they may easily evaporate in the hollow expressions of a verbal and empty prayer Knowledge will expire into pride and puff up the mind where it is true Humility will vanish into a voluntary shew of it Charity will be blasted with ostentation c. if it be not poised regulated limited and modified by a serious and unfeigned self-denial A man may borrow or steal he may filch flock and pilfer the Word of the Lord from his Neighbour Jer. 23.30 He may pick up a great many good sayings and sentences of grave and godly men and with them make a shift to patch and piece up a Prayer or Sermon and if the memory be good or the Notes fairly written a man may seem to be gayly adorned with the rich indowments of a large furnished mind 11. We read in 2 King 6. what the sons of the Prophets said to Elisha and what they did by his consent when they were straitned for room It is said they asked leave to fell timber at Jordan that they might inlarge their dwelling The Prophet grants their desire But one wiser then the rest among them bethought himself that it was wisdom to have the Prophets company and not to go about the business altogether upon their own head he asketh and the Prophet yieldeth away they go to Jordan every man with his Ax or Hatchet in his hand only one had none of his own but was fain to borrow his tool to work with down go the trees But this man lost his Hatchet before he could cut down his Beam the head flew from the helve and fell into Jordan yer he could finish his work he makes his moan to his Master complaining that it was borrowed the Prophet puts a stick of wood into the water and the Iron swimmeth the man recovers it again and makes an end of what he had began 12. All Scripture is spiritual for it was given by inspiration and therefore the spirituallest sense must needs come nearest the mind of the Spirit There is a spiritual use to be made of this spiritual part of Scripture which the holy Spirit of God hath directed to be written and taken care that it be kept upon Record The place where Elisha and the young Prophets were at first is supposed to be at Dothan which signifieth a Gift Satute or Law sometimes it is rendred a Defection or falling short of what it doth or should press unto And this latter sense will agree well enough with the former For the Law which was the gift of God from mount Sinai made nothing perfect Heb. 7.19 This place is mentioned but twice in all the Scriptures as first in Gen. 37,17 Hither Josephs brethren rambled without their fathers knowledge or consent even eight miles from Shechem where their business was like good husbands as they were and here they first conspire their brothers death Shechem signifieth a Lot Portion Shoulder or Tomb To teach us that when we gad and wander from the true Shechem the lot which God hath appointed us and the business which he hath set us to do when we omit our duty neglect our obedience when we withdraw our shoulder from the burden of Christ and pull our neck from his yoak it will be no advantage to run to Dothan all our Letter-learnedness and Scripture-knowledge will stand us in little stead yea it will incense and enrage us against the Mysterie of Christ and instigate us with an irregular zeal to conspire the death of our true Joseph it was by the learned
in the letter and in the Law the Scribes Pharisees and Lawyers who forsook the royal Law of Love and Obedience yet were literally zealous it was by these that Christ suffered and still doth suffer There are that are called Jews and yet are of the very Synagogue of Satan Thus the Law without the spirit of life is a dead and killing letter a Ministration of Condemnation If the spiritual Jacob be not with us at Dothan we shall plot and contrive our dearest brother Joseph's death 13. But here 2 Kin. 6. we have Elisha conversing in Dothan with the sons of the Prophets who being inflamed with his presence importune him for greater inlargement Doubtless there is a time when our true Elisha Christ Jesus walketh with his Children in low legal literal and fleshly Ministrations nurseth them up with milk like babes and alloweth them Tutors and Governors in their Non age Only let us beware that we do not with the Scribes and Pharises stick to the empty letter that we ramble not to Dothan when neither old Jacob our father nor Elisha our Prophet is there let us not run after the servant when he is cast out of doors nor hearken to Moses when Christ is come for then though we make our boast of the Law yet shall we dishonour God by breaking it Rom. 2. Now we shall know if Christ be yet with us under the Law if so our hearts will be inflamed and long for greater inlargement and complain of our present straitnings whereas a meer literal and formal Christian loves his ease is content to stand at a stay will not indure to hear of removing farther then he hath already attained cries out against all notions more spiritual then his own as Delusions Dreams Enthusiasms c. But the true sons of the spiritual Prophet are still groaning after the manifestation and glorious freedom of the sons of God Rom. 8. And therefore they are ever crying out My father my father O Christ O Lord Jesus thou everlasting father I am straitned inlarge my heart that I may run the ways of thy Commandments I am straitned where I now am make room give place that I may dwell in the everlasting habitations Isa 49.20 I am content to break thorow death to come to those Mansions I am weary of this Tabernacle remove my Tent uncloth me that I may be clothed and let mortality be swallowed up of life Go with me to Jordan baptize me in that river how am I straitned till it be accomplished Mortifie the sinfull lusts and affections of my flesh crucifie my old man day by day rend his vail of flesh that with open face I may behold thy glory be changed into the same image and come to the spirits of just men made perfect and to the Spirit of the Lord where is liberty and perfect freeedom 2 Cor 3.17,18 Heb. 12.23 14. This is the nature and property of them that are taught of God and have learned and obeyed the truth as it is in Jesus But then there are some even among these Children of the Prophets the true Professors of Godliness who go along for a while undiscerned like Cain Judas the man at the marriage-feast and this man here among the sons of the Prophets they make a great shew and bustle about Religion a great stir and noyse there is about Christ crucified and subduing of their lusts they hack and hew at the tree and talk much of mortification but before they can effect it the Axflies from the helve their gifts and parts fail them and the work is at a stand And why Surely their gifts were borrowed and did not flow from their obedience to Christ and experience of his Doctrine but they pickt a notion from one a sentence from another they laid a great many good words in the memory and these they made use of in the self-will and wisdom in the lust of the flesh the pride of life vain-glory and ostentation seeming to be wise but knowing nothing as they ought to know patching up a self-conceited Righteousness thereby deluding their own souls And then they will be made to acknowledge and say Alas Lord they were borrowed Now there is no remedy for such till these fall off from a mans self and fall into Jordan the river of Judgement and Condemnation till a man deny himself and sell or lose all that he hath then the true Elisha makes the Iron to swim that he may go and finish his work Thus he that loseth his life shall save it and he that parteth with House Land Goods Father Friends Gifts Parts Indowments c. shall receive them again in this life an hundred fold Happy are they whose loss is their gain But fourthly 15. There is no ascending to the highest injoyment except we first descend into the deepest abasement It is said of Christ that he humbled himself even to the death of the Cross and for that cause God hath highly exalted him and given him a name above every name Phil. 2,8,9 If we also would have a name better then that of sons and daughters if we would be called Hephtzi-bah and Beulah Isa 62.4 Ruth 3.7,9 let us do as Ruth did unto Boaz let us lie down at the feet of Christ and desire him to cast the skirt of his garment over us as one nigh of kin unto us Christ hath a two-fold garment the one of Glory and Majesty in which he walketh among the Angels and the spiritual Church He clotheth himself with Light as with a garment Psalm 104.2 His rayment is white as the Light Mat. 17.20 Rev. 1.13 His other garment is of shame and baseness With this he conversed among men upon earth He was found in fashion as a servant Phil. 2.8 In the likeness of sinfull flesh Rom. 8.3 He was made sin for us 2 Cor. 5.21 In this humane nature of ours was his Diety clothed and hid for a season The lowest state of this humanity the very border hem or skirt of which garment that toucheth the ground was the great humiliation of Christ humbling himself to the most ignominious and shamefull death of the Cross 16. If therefore we would have Christ do the office of a kinsman to us for he is our kins-man nigh unto us flesh of our flesh and bone of bone one that is not ashamed to call us brethren who hath right to redeem us if we would have him take away our reproach of barrenness and make us fruitfull in the knowledge of himself let us lie down at his feet humble our selves to walk as he walked desire him to spread his skirt over us to conform us to his death that we may be transformed into the likeness of his Resurrection If we would have our sinfull name our name of shame blotted out if we would have our bloody issue stopped let us do as the woman in the Gospel let us press through the press of all worldly and fleshly incumbrances and