buried in Sinne and find never a Lazarus to heare him Holy Lazarus thou couldst heare Christ whē thou wert dead but well are wee if wee can heare him while wee are alive yet this we may doe if we will and now is the time for this Weeke Christ hath many things to say that concerne our soules health yea words he hath to speake which may put Life into thee if thou wert dead so thy heart be fit as Lazarus his house was to receive him only drawe neere and bring thy Will with thee and thou shalt heare him By this time Christ is on his way comming to Ierusalem by the way as he comes he is an hungred he was no glutton then as the Iewes accused him and espying a Fig-tree a farre off he goes to it yet not to satisfie hunger for the time of figges was not yet come but to give us a Lesson how he hates spiritual unfruitfulnes When he came to it therefore and sawe no figges though by the yeare time it should have beene so hee cursed the Tree and anon it withered If this bee done to the greene Tree for S. Marke hath noted Mar. 11.13 that it had leafes though it had no fruite what will become of us the dry and wild one And if Christ require figges of it before the time may he not require fruit of us whensoever he comes yea gather where he scattered not yet let no man accuse him of injustice for he sowed once but we let it be rooted up he scattered once but we let the Enemie gather it that is hee gave grace to Man before the Fall that would ever have been bearing fruit and to the trees a perpetuall Autumne for our sakes therefore he might call on the Fig-tree in Winter and not bee unjust and may looke for good workes of the Reprobate ere they receive Grace but much more may he of us who boast to have the life of Grace in us Feare then and faile not to bring foorth thy fruite in his season and GOD can and will put difference betweene thee a Fig-tree He careth not for Oxen and it is no great matter if a fig-tree wither but his sight is better then to see men walking like Trees hee will spare thee therefore and give thee an example out of them onely thou must not bee a stocke or barren wood but thy fruite must appeare in his due time This use thou maist make of this storie Howbeit our Saviour makes another himselfe namely by example of his owne faith which had so soone wrought this miracle to stirre up Faith in his Disciples especially in prayer But this belongs to the next day What our Saviour taught this day in the Citie the Evangelists have not recorded S. Marke sets downe the Storie of our Saviours whipping the buyers and sellers out of the Temple as if it had happened this day either because they were so impudent as to come into the Temple this day againe and so our Lord was enforced to renewe the action or else it is the same that the other Evangelists speake of but according to the custome elsewhere observed in holy Writ order is not strictly kept in the circumstance of time For the Holy Ghost meant to deliver a rule for Faith rather then for Chronologie And yet we should not have wanted that neither but that partly GOD would sometime leave order unexprest to punish our disorder towards him partly because hee would try our Faith whether wee would beleeve him on his Word or condemne him when wee saw the least appearance of contrarietie Appearance I say for so it is only neither is there any dissidence in matter or circumstance in any place of Scripture but it may be reconciled Well then This daies Sermon is not printed yet that our Saviour taught this day I take it to bee evident for S. Luke reports that hee taught daily in the Temple Also his prolixe and continued Parables uttered on other dayes make it credible that he would not be silent upon this Yet this one dayes labour amongst other we have not because he hath left us sufficient for our soules health in that we have so that we need not looke for more Also the lesse we have the lesse wee have to learne Againe the want of that wee have not may stirre up our affection to that wee have If thou have but a little ground and a little seed till it the better for thou hast better leisure and it may yeeld thee an hundred for one howsoever it cannot but yeeld thee more then all the great field of the sluggard If all that Christ spoke did were written I suppose saith Saint Iohn the Divine or the Devine Saint Iohn the world could not containe the bookes that should be written His meaning is either to shew Christs diligence in teaching which was such as would have wearied the hands of all writers to have followed him or else if all that Christ spoke had beene written the Comments upon his Text would have been numberlesse Either of these are easie to beleeve for we see daily that the tongue of the teacher goes so quicke as no hand can follow it but by Brachygraphie the Comments upon our Saviours words that we have are so many as the world is already full of them so many Comments there be so many Volumes so many Treatises that they require more then a mans life to read them all as they should be Be content then and praise GOD for that which thou hast read it lay it to thy heart and meditate how thou maist practise it for that thou learnest of Christ is never truly thy owne till thou bring it into practise and thus thou maist heere understand the meaning of that Proverbe that sayes No knowledge is like that which a man hath at his fingers ends that is which he hath ready for practise Now that this Day is done if thou wilt walke backe with thy Lord againe to Bethanie thou shalt doe more then we read the whole multitude did yesterday that were at first so dutifull about him That he lodged this Night againe in that little village it appeares as I take it by the Fig-tree which he cursed as he came by it to day and to morrow passes by againe and speakes of what had happened to it as will appeare better out of the next dayes story Well then if thou wilt follow thy Master thither the journey is but short some fifteene furlongs as I remember or there about If thou doubt to want lodging because the village is little yet hope better because it is hospital or if thou shouldest watch one Night with thy Saviour or about him thou shouldest not loose thy labour and so it would be worth thy paines also For who would not want one Nights sleepe to be so neere Christ to heare his last words see his last actions which as they were alwaies gracious so now certainly were most
his Christ-Crosse though hee can reade no other letter When thou hearest mee thus speake of a Crosse and suffering thou canst looke for nothing in such a booke but Tragicall and so it is a Tragedy even the wofullest argument that ever was acted The Actors in it are all great men as in Tragedies Herod a King Pilate the Romane Deputie the Rulers of the Iewes the chiefe Pharisies the High Priests all High thou seest yea the most High himselfe for GOD hath a part in it The Protasis or first part containes the Life of Death that is the furie of Christs enemies the Epitasis or second the Death of Life that is of Christ who is Life in the fountaine even The Life the Catastrophe or last part in it is the Death of Death which by Christ his dying was utterly destroyed in regard of efficacie to hurt any of those that belong unto GOD any more The beginning of this Tragedie as it falls to be is joyous but the end was bitter The first Scene of it was Christs riding as upon this day into Ierusalem in triumph The bravery of this show was not outward and yet it is a wonder to see how it affected the multitude Christ hath enough followers when he comes riding in Triumph but c. the whole Citie was mooved Men and Trees too stript thēselves to strow the way as hee went every mouth was full of Hosanna That is Heare us O Lord. even the childrens also and if they had held their peace the very stones would have spoken And who would have thought when he sawe and heard these things that Christ should have needed to have wept over this Citie or these should have bin the men that should betray him But follow on thy Saviour into the Citie and thou shalt see what entertainement he finds there not for his owne for he had none but for thy sinnes that thou maist learne to bewaile them For When thou commest into the City thou shalt see the multitude indeed follow Christ but it is the multitude even the variable unconstant multitude so that among so many followers of Christ onely his Disciples were his true followers Thou shalt see againe while the Citie is mooved with joy the Pharisies on the other side as much mooved with anger and asking even our Saviour himselfe of the Children which cryed Hosanna Hearest thou what these say When thou commest into the Temple thou shalt see the house of his glory which hee had chosen of old to put his Name there filled with buyers and sellers whom there is no way to drive out but with a whippe Therefore hee makes one and burning in zeale rests not till hee have driven out all these ungodly prophaners out of his Sanctuary throwing downe their tables and overthrowing their seates and not suffering so much as a vessell to be carried through the Temple neither had they all any power to resist him Now all these things are written for our example for the ill is written that we may learne to avoide it the good that we may imitate it But cheifly must our eye be bent on our Saviours actions in this story for that is the best copy we have to follow Follow him then as he rides and see his humility It is but an asse that he sits on that thou maist follow him the better yet is he that is thus meanly seated the King not only of Zion as the Prophet calls him Zach. 9.9 but of Heaven Earth This thou maist learne even of the children that follow him for their cry is Hosanna that is Heare us O Lord and againe they say Blessed bee the King that commeth in the Name of the Lord Take thou up this cry together with them else thou must not ioyne with this company for from the aged to the children all had these two voices in their mouth Hosanna Blessed be the King The one is the voice of praier the other of praise two workes that peculiarly belong to this Day among us which is Sunday Amongst other things S. Iohn tells us of certaine Greekes Proselites Ioh. 12.20 that comming to worship at the Feast desired as this day to see Iesus neither doth he put them backe but upon this occasion as it seemes begins to speake of his suffering which was to follow ere many daies were over Be thou ashamed that any strangers should presse neerer to heare or see him then thou and be not afraid hee will reject thee if thy desire bee to learne for he does not so unto these Especially take heede thou beest not left out when he goes into the Temple for by his behaviour in that Temple thou maist learne how to behave thy selfe in the Temple of thy Body that as he with a whip of smal cords whipped the buyers and sellers out of the Temple overthrew also the tables of the money-changers and the seats of them that sold Doves so must we make us a whipp of cords the smaller the better and whip out of the Temple and Citie too our corrupt affections neither let them so much as once looke againe into the Sanctuarie of our Soules no not though they come to sell Doves for sacrifice or would change our money into gold At least let them never have power to sell our Soules which onely Christ was able to buy but let us throwe downe their tables overthrowe their seats scatter their merchandize and not suffer any vessell that is not hallowed to come through our thoughts Thus shall wee bee fit to sanctifie this Day when wee have thus hallowed our harts anew by cleansing of them otherwise we shall justly heare the same which was spoken to these prophaners My House shall bee called a house of Prayer but yee have made it a Denne of Theeves Meditations for MONDAY FRom Bethany comes our Holy Lord this Morning to Ierusalem againe from his friends that had entertained him to his enemies that would crucifie him and that to save them if they would have beene saved This was the towne of Martha and Marie whome Christ loved therefore hee honoured it with a miracle in raising up Lazarus their Brother and with making it his retyring place And well it was howsoever that Christ had any place to retire to so neere Ierusalem howbeit his own Citie owed him a better if it had done him right yet for all that he must go to Bethanie to seek his lodgging if he will have one and pay deare for it too for he satisfied his Host to the full both for his cost and curtesie in that hee raised him out of his grave after he had lyen in it foure dayes It goes hard with our Saviour mee thinkes when hee must bee glad to raise his host out of his grave yet it is well that hee found one though hee opened the earth for him For a man may digge in many places and not find gold and Christ may often call at the graves of Mankind
strictnes of Discipline and therefore did more hurt then any other and Statesmen they were too like unto them as may appeare out of their story in Iosephus That they were such people as with great violence and heat of corrupt Zeale followed their intents and wofully prevailed by that meanes our Saviour himselfe expresses of them when hee sayes THEY compasse Sea and Land to make one Proselyte and when they have him they make him twofolde the child of Hell more then themselves These false Teachers our Lord is more earnest against because they misled his owne one only chosen people at that time in regard of visible or humane knowledg for GOD had no Temple then nor Church visible in all the world save in Iury. Which makes him so tender over it that howsoever it was or had beene bent against him yet hee cannot but pitie it greive at their destruction therefore he ends the Chapter in which hee denounced so many woes against the wolves that destroyed his flocke with a pittifull lamentation over Ierusalem For heare him thou that passes by how deerly hee bewailes his owne Cities wofull madnes that forsooke him to take part with Murderers Ierusalem Ierusalem saith hee thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent to thee how often would I have gathered thee as a hen gathereth her chickens under her winges and yee would not Much like unto Davids affection to and mourning over his dead Sonne Absalon Absalon Absalon saith hee my Sonne Absalon would God I had died for thee Thus holy David as a father laments his deere Sonne and Christ as a Saviour his deere Citie But our Saviour exceedes for his sorrow was both more deepe though it have not so many words of repetition to expresse it and more seasonable also for Absalon was past recovery when David mourn'd but Ierusalem had time to repent when our Lord wept over it It had time I say but it would not nay Christ sayes so but they knew not the time of their visitation therfore hee prophecyes of it Behold your house shal be left unto you desolate which prophecy was fulfilled in the Emperour Vespasians dayes and continues so unto our time The lesson wee have heere to take out is for Teachers that they bee not like to these Priests and Pharisies for Hearers that they bee not like Ierusalem least both Priest and People doe perish together By this time now began night to draw on and Christ therefore leaves the Temple for this day For the Treasury was at the going out of the Temple 2. Chro. 24. S. which may appeare first by the Story of the poore widdow whom hee commends for casting her whole substance which a poore widdow might soone doe into the Treasury Secondly Which must bee on the outside by his Disciples shewing him the buildings and stones of the Temple and his Prophecy upon that occasion That there was not a stone upon a stone which should not bee throwne downe which two Storyes teach us two excellent lessons First that Christ accepts of the Heart more then the Hand and of the givers affection then the riches of the gifts for the poore widdow gave but two mites Secondly that there is no worke so glorious no not building of Temples which can stand before GOD when it failes either in substance or affection for even GODS owne Temple could not please him neither might it stand after the Ceremonial Law under which it was erected was once abrogated Form the Temple assoone as Christ is come to the mount of Olives there hee sitts downe and at his Disciples request enlarges the Prophecy hee had delivered concerning the destruction of the Temple and Citie which with much efficacy of doctrine and exhortation he finishes in a whole Chapter And the more instant hee is in it because it concernes not Iury only but the whole world in generall whose fate depends upon the fate of the Church whatsoever it otherwise imagine whose destruction therefore is figured in the destruction of Ierusalem And that hee may prepare all men for his second comming the time when these things shal happen he joynes for this cause to the prophecy a Parable of the ten Virgins whereof five were wise five were foolish The wise brought oyle for their Lampes but the foolish neglecting this part of providence after they have assayed in vaine to borrow in their absence the Bridegrome comming enters into his house makes the doores bee shut and so they are excluded from the Marriage of their Soules unto GOD. This Parable that it may bee better understood there followes it a most plaine and expresse description of the last Iudgment and the rigor of it which shall bee when the world shall have an end in which Iudgment the godly shall bee received into everlasting Ioy and the wicked cast into utter darknes to inherite eternall paine prepared for the Devill and his Angells There is another Parable by Saint Matthew mixt with these and that is of the increase of the Talents which the Lord gave forth to his servants at his going to his Travaile but this in order of time belongs to the weeke before when our Lord first had a sight of Ierusalem as may appeare Luke 19.12 Now is Night already come and Christ it may be lookt for in Bethany but from this time forward hee never returnes thither nor comes in any bed till hee bee layd in the Rocke by Ioseph of Arimathea to sleepe his three dayes sleepe from which cold and hard bed hee rose but once to lie downe no more This Saint Luke hath observed Luk. 21.37 who tells us expresly that in the day time Christ taught in the Temple but at Night he went out and abode in the Mount that is called Olives which words seeing they cannot bee understoode of the Nights that are past in which hee lay in Bethany it remaines that they belong to this Night and those that follow to the time of his Passion It was but a cold lodging that Mount Olives could afford our blessed Saviour A field-bed without any other Canopy but the vault of Heaven GODS high Starre-chamber or any either Pillow or Rugge but the greene Earth yet thus hee chose to bee an example unto us in watching as it may bee hee was at the same time in praying also both in regard of his owne commandement Watch and Pray which joynes prayer with watching as also of his Practise at other times in which these two are not severed The same duties that hee might stirre up his Disciples unto also hee foretells them of his Passion Maath 26.2 after hee hath finished the sayings before mentioned to let them see what neede they had to watch and pray with him also It is not likely but that this desire of our Saviours tooke effect in his Disciples Let us suppose that it did so and then wee have a band of spirituall Souldiers watching heere or else a company
and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Let us heare therfore the word of exhortation as it is laid down for us in Saint Iames Be patient my Brethren untill the comming of the Lord behold the husbandman waiteth for the pretious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it untill he receive the former and latter raine be patient therfore and stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh The same Apostle ascribes to patience the meanes to make us perfect Iames 1.2 My Brethren count it ioy when yee fall into many temptations knowing that the triall of your faith worketh patience and let patience have her perfect worke that ye may be perfect and entire wanting nothing This vertue whosoever would have hee is now at the fountaine for from Christ we must have it or not at all Let us then seeke for it in him or to him for it and so we may come to find it and the rather let us doe it because our soules are not our owne in this troublesome world without patience for in patience saith Christ yee must possesse your Soules Meditations for THURSDAY A Little lightning before death as on this day hath our Blessed Saviour and but a little neither even while he is preparing and eating the Passeover all the rest of the day he is teaching as may be probably conjectured But ere hee beginne to do that he gives direction first where he will have the Passeover made ready for him by sending two of his Disciples to a certaine man that should meet them with a pitcher of water by which and other signes that hee gives they should know him to be the partie whose house hee had chosen for the purpose This man whom our Saviour sent thus to is observed further to have beene a Disciple for when the two who were sent from Christ meete with him they say The Master saith which is noted to have beene the name that the followers of Christ called him by among themselves as it may appeare to be by Martha's words to Mary her sister The Master is come and calleth for thee This being granted that this man was a beleever it will rest uncertaine whether Christ had bespoken a roome of him before this or no for if he was a Disciple he might ere this time have made it knowne to him by word as well as by revelation that he would eate the Passeover in his house and it helpes the conjecture a little because his roome was so ready But howsoever that might be done ordinarily or otherwise certaine it is that Christs foretelling they should meete him bearing a pitcher of water was propheticall to confirme the Disciples faith ours Also in that his roome was ready drest to receive Christ besides that it commends decency unto us both in the man and in it selfe it serves also to shew us how wee should have our hearts prepared for our Master namely that wee must cleanse them dresse them trimme them and alwayes have them fit to receive him if wee give him the upper roome in them also wee do but follow our example Only let us take heede when he sends his Disciples that is his Ministers that they find us not without our pitcher of water that is without teares of true penitence in our eyes that wee are no better prepared to entertaine him The next thing the holy Evangelists lead us to is the putting that in effect which here was made way for But before wee come to that if it seeme strange to any which Saint Iohn hath noted unto us that our Saviours Passeover was two dayes before the Iewes for theirs was on Saturday Ioh. 19.14 his on Thursday it may be the lesse marveilous to him that considers how farre Christ was before them in preparation And that might well serve for an answer were it not that the law of GOD is so strict in appointing the day on which the Passeover should be kept Exod. 12.18 But the undoing of this knot is to be learned out of a custome which the Iewes had taken up ever since they came from Babiloa and to gaine credit to it ascribed it to revelation from GOD which was this That if the Passeover fell neere the Sabbath day it should be deferred untill the Sabbath that the people might not have two holy-daies so neere together and so the commandement belike be endangered Sixe dayes shaltthou labour This was the reason why the Iewes deferred their Passeover untill Saturday which our Saviour kept upon Thursday For Thursday was the legall day Therefore Christ who best knew the meaning of his owne commandement which they by scrupulousnes mis-understood kept that day neither would give the least example to make the law of GOD of none effect by mans traditions This keeping of the Passeover was the last Ceremonial act that ever our Saviour performed Now seeing wee have none of this dayes worke set downe by Christs pen-men let us come unto that the evening affords us which is full of many strange occurrences The first thing in it is the abrogating of the Sacramentall Supper of the old Testament the Passeover and instituting that of the New which wee call by Saint Pauls direction the Supper of the Lord. And there are not many circumstances to observe in the first of these As first That Christ abrogated the Legall Ceremonies by fulfilling them and inducing of better for he kept both the right day though the whole nation did otherwise and the right time of the day the evening and the right company his Disciples and of those no more thē the twelve who were his houshould servants and ever with him as for his sitting whereas some thinke it is legall he should have stood it appeares out of Exodus Exod. 11.10 that it was a circumstance not perpetuall but proper to the time when the Israelites were to leave Aegypt and that he observed the feast in an other mans house the reason is ready because hee had not more shame for mankind one of his owne no not a place to hide his head in Secondly wee may observe about it Christs desire hee had to eate this Supper with his disciples which himselfe expresses most expressely when hee sayes desiderio desideravi c. that is I have vehemently desired to eate this Passeover with you before I suffer As for a third circumstance which some gather that hee tooke the cup in the time of the Passeover and gave it his disciples to go among them after the same manner that hee did when hee instituted his owne Supper it is by the learned observed to be spoken by Anticipation and the action to belong to the Sacrament following in which it is of the essence of it therefore by the other Evangelists it is only mentioned in that place To let passe that then these two that wee are certaine of have their use to us-ward the first to shew Christs strictnes in
exhortaton to humility and unity a friendly admonition the next is the foretelling of Peters fall ver 31. a propheticall prevention after that an arming of his Disciples in generall ver 35. against persecution a loving premunition which is followed with a promise of rest in heaven Iohn 14.1 and 16. ver so to the end of the Chap. and a comforter on earth even GOD the Holy Ghost himselfe an endlesse consolation After these speeches Christ riseth from Table to goe unto the place where hee was to be surprised yet entring into a new discourse he tarries within doores notwithstanding so long till he hath made an end of that excellent Sermon his Swans song which is left us in the fifteenth and sixteenth Chapter of Saint Iohn which Sermon hee ends with a prayer John 16. his prayer with singing an hymne Mat. 26.30 whence perhaps our custome of ending Sermons after that manner arises and so goes out to the Mount of Olives Some are of opinion that the Sermon before spoken of was preached by the way as Christ went to Gethsemane according to the saying of the wise man Wisdome cryeth in the streetes but it is againe answered that the way is not long enough for it unlesse hee should make stops in it which is unprobable neither is it likely that on the night for so it was now Christ would stand and teach in the streetes and sing also an hymne which Saint Matthew tells us hee did upon his going out into the Mount of Olives Mat. 〈…〉 Through this Mount Olivet was the way into the Garden of Gethsemane and that Garden is the end of our Lords journey for this time Into which assoone as hee is entered then beginnes the bitter cup of the Passion to be reached unto him figured by the bitter herbes in the Passeover The very sight of this Cup ere ever it came to his lips was enough to bring a deadly heavines even upon his Soule It was now high time then for Christ to pray which hee doeth once againe and againe in these words Father if it be possible le this Cup passe from mee Yet are we not to thinke that Christ would have this Cup passe from him indeede for he saith himselfe Shall I not drinke of the Cup that my Father hath given mee But hee prayed thus to let us see what resolution Gods justice is of it will not be mooved when GOD hath once absolutely decreed to punish sinne not though Christ pray for it nay though hee himselfe in our person be the patient The whiles Christ is a praying his Disciples are a sleeping and that so heavily that his twise comming to them upon his first and second praying could not keepe them waking no not though hee chide them sharply for their drowsines It was a pitifull weight of sinne that made our Saviour Souleheavy unto Death and the Disciples Bodies to a deadly and unseasonable sleepe But this was not all for it wrung a bloody sweate O the deadly weight of sinne out of our Saviour such as never man sweat the like in all points and besides that layd him upon the ground groveling in a most grievous agony such a one as an Angell came downe to comfort him from heaven for earthly comforters failed and all they could have done had beene little worth Scarce is this agony over and the bloody Sweate wiped from our Saviours face but Iudas comes to apprehend him which though hee could not have done without Christs permission for all the High Priests authority which was made manifest when our Lord struck downe them that came to take him with a word of his mouth yet hee accomplishes Iohn 18.6 neverthelesse his cursed intent so that though Peter resist and smite of Malchus his eare yet Iudas prevailes and Christ is taken neither can they be intreated to let him goe though hee plead his innocency and heale his enemie with a touch even Malchus to let them see how farre hee was from hating them notwithstanding all their injury But their hearts were hardned therefore Christ must needes suffer Next unto this followes Christs examination before the High Priests full of injustice and subornation In the time of which ungodly proceedings falls out a pitifull accident which is Peters deniall of his Master which though it might seeme to admit of some excuse in that the temptation was strong even such as not long since had made all Christs followers forsake him and flee yet being thrise over committed and that after having beene forwarned of it wee must needes confesse that it was a grievous crime especially in that Christ was now even as S. Peters faith was upon his triall Yet this wound though it was the harder cure Christ heales more easily then hee did that which Malchus received for that was healed by a touch this only by looking backe for assoone as Christ look't backe Saint Peter came to himselfe went out and wept bitterly As the Devill in his limbes is thus busy against Saint Peter so is hee himselfe the while against Christ for hee stirres up his good children the High Priests and their company to vexe him not only as before by trapping interrogatories but also by reviling him spitting upon him buffetting him and mocking him And now their malice is risen to an height it is time to make an end for this day or rather this night and so they doe or rather the time it selfe doth for them because their malice had no end For having sit up all night about a worke of darknes they are not ashamed to prosecute it the next day to which we are GOD assisting the next to proceed but let us take heede wee do it with another affection then they did for if Saint Peter fell that followed indeed but a farre off what will become of them that draw neere to persecute By thine Agony and bloody Sweate Good Lord deliver us Amen Meditations for FRIDAY NOw beginnes the dismallest Morning to appeare that ever saw the Sunne it is no marvaile if she blush when shee rises to see such bloody practises goe on as the High Priests and their ungodly Fraternity make her conscious of Yet one joyfull Spectacle shee hath neverthelesse to cheare her selfe with and that is the death of Iudas the Traitor who repenting himselfe for he had beene of hrists company and therfore had some touch though not of grace in him comes and restores the money he had taken for his Lord and Master to the High Priests if hee had stayed heere there had beene some hope but after falling into despaire hee is not at quiet till hee hath avenged Christs quarrell on himselfe with his owne hands which had taken the Money for he went a way and hanged himselfe Yet doeth not Gods justice stay here neither for as hee was hanging his body broke in sunder and all his bowells gushed out because hee had no bowells of cōpassion towards his Master As for
which beginnes at midnight both for day and night for it begins when they beginne and ends when they end going orderly on with them both so that the first houre when they began to worke was the first houre the second the second c. and so on in order whereas the houre that we heare when we rise is sixe or seaven for about that time men generally beginne to worke and therefore to us the first houre is not the first houre but under another name These things will best be brought together by a Table ¶ The Greater houres or houres of the Temple I II III IIII The Lesser houres 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Our houres as they agree with them both 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 This figure shewes that the Iewes first houre both greater and lesse begun at sixe and ended in seaven so that when our Dyall pointes at seaven theirs pointed at one shewing that the first houre was over and the next begunne when theirs pointed at two ours at eight and so on till you come to twelve In the greater houres it must needes be otherwise for their first greater houre was not ended till our nine which was their three the next not till their sixe which is our twelve and then begunne the third houre which lasted till our three in the afternoone as the fourth did also which ended at our sixe at night According unto this computation do the Papists yet name their Canonicall houres The Third Houre for their Hora Tertiarum is in the morning at nine their sixt is at noone and their nine at three a clocke after dinner according to the account of the Iewes lesser houres These things being thus explaned there is no difficulty in the diverse names the Evangelists give to the same houre for they are but two names signifying one thing the one reckoning the same time by the greater houres the other by the lesse For Saint Marke who divides the day by the greater houres he sayes it was the third houre beginning by their greater houres that is sixe a clocke newly over by their lesser houres that is full twelve and past with us when our Lord was crucifyed If any one object This cannot be for if Christ had been crucifyed within the third greater houre hee must not have beene so till one with us for then in the Table beginnes the third Quarter or the third houre rather in the greater houres I answer that one a clock is all the space betweene twelve and one which houre is ended when one strikes and so the third houre beginnes at twelve newly over which is the sixt houre in the Iewes lesser houres and this hee will easily grant to be true who considers that the first houre that ever time measured was not or could not bee one or the first houre till an houre was runne and then that might be called the first houre or one not before and as that tooke his beginning with time running on till it made a twelfth part of the day and then tooke his name according to his order so must the third greater houre needes take his beginning at twelve and end at his time appointed Now Saint Iohn on the other side reckons not by the greater but by the lesser houres Therfore the beginning of the third greater houre with S. Marke must needes be the sixt lesser houre with S Iohn because no sooner this done but that beginnes And this the rather because Saint Iohn reckons from our Saviours condemnation which must needes be a little before the third greater houre in which hee was crucifyed for hee was condemned a good prety while before he suffered therefore it could not be so forward as S. Marke setts it but within the sixt houre yet that is not full or at least but twelve with us when Christ was condemned but before hee came to Golgotha it could not but be past their sixe that is our twelve at which time Saint Iohn saith hee was condemned and so it must needes be the third houre or quarter of the day as Saint Marke reckons it which to Saint Iohn was the sixt houre One thing more also wee may note out of the former figure namely whence their error had his beginning who thinke that our Saviour was crucifyed in the morning at nine and dyed not till three whereas indeed hee was crucifyed at twelve and so hanged but three houres upon the Crosse for hee was dead at the ninth houre by the Iewes lesser houres which is our three in the afternoone This error rise because they thought Christ to have beene condemned at sixe a clocke by the Romane account which is all one with ours and crucifyed at three by the Iewes common reckoning in the little houres which is our nine and so they reconcile the times But this opinion bee it spoken with reverence of their persons cannot stand for Saint Iohn speakes not of our or the Romane houres but of those which went for cōmon amongst the Iewes Besides the story of Christs sufferings which were after the day was abroad I meane his arraigning before Pilate his whipping araying with purple crowning with thorne mocking beating by the Soldiers after he was examined also his sending to Herod in the other side of the city his stay there and his returne againe his second triall and finall condemnation before Pilate all these and other I name not could not possible be done betwixt day and nine a clocke Lastly it is hardly agreeable to reason that our Lords Body should bee sixe houres together in paine so unsufferable being of so feeling and tender a composition for though his Godhead could have upheld it yet his humane nature had our infirmitie upon it See Mar. 15.44 Where it is sayd Pilate marvailed he was dead so soone and therefore hee is knowne to have shortned his time upon the Crosse at least not to have held out till nature was spent by his lowd cry upon the Crosse which shewed that he dyed not fainting or through weakenes as other men do who die because nature can hould out no longer therefore I rest yet rather with them who thinke his passion on the Crosse was but three houres long the rather also because the death he suffered was so shamefull beeing upon the Crosse and his body naked layd open to the scorne of all his enemies for our sinnes which might bee a principall cause why his passion was no longer Many things there are to be observed in the time of our Saviours going to and being upon the Crosse As first the cruell usage he had from the Iewes by the way in that they made him carry his Crosse till he fainted next the womens teares that were shed for him when hee went to his execution upon that the loving care he had to requite them by letting them know their state was more wofull and fit to be bewayled then his Therefore
he bids them Daughters of Ierusalem weepe not for me but weepe for your selves At his comming to the place of execution Golgotha or Calvary that is the place of a skull their offering him wine mingled with myrrhe which was so sowre and bitter that one of the Evangelists calls it vineger mingled with Gall which hee refused upon that his crucifying betweene two theeves Pilates Title nayled above his head his prayer for his enemies the parting of his garments by the Souldiers the reproches of them that stood by the Blasphemy of the unpenitent Theefe the conversion of the other Theefe that repented his last words to his Mother and his beloved Disciple the darkning of the body of the Sun ere liee dyed to whom it owed his light as his Creator his complaint to GOD that he had forsaken him his thirst his Iowd cry when he gave up the Ghost that it might appeare he dyed not of necessitie but willingly layd downe his life beeing in his full strength and having power to have retained it if hee would his commending his Soule into his Fathers hands and lastly his death after the CONSUMMATUM EST that is It is finished was pronounced in which the worke of our Redemption had his full period so that there remained no more either to doe or suffer And now this Tragedy is at an end after which if you looke for a Plaudite it wants not that neither and such a one also as is best fitting for so dreere a Story for Saint Luke tells us Luke 23 48 that All the people who sawe this sight smote their breasts which was fitter for a Tragedy then clapping their hands and returned The use of these things in generall is this To give us a sight of our sinnes which could not find pardon in the Sonne of GOD himselfe when hee stood in our person though he bore them without sinne To teach us patience when we are called to suffer for them of desert by him that suffered for them undeservedly and yet never so much as once groned on the Crosse nor reviled or complained of his enemies To be thankfull unto GOD for the suffering of Christ which hee hath appointed to be the satisfaction for their sinnes that beleeve in him as their only Redeemer To stirre us up to true sorrow for sinne and make us fly to Christ for remedy that wee may be healed by his stripes afterwards to serve him in newnes of life till wee come to bee changed into a state of incorruptible purity never to sinne any more which estate the merit of Christs passion by his inestimable value hath bought for all that truly seeke to and serve him Many things more might be noted out of the things that fell out either when or after our Lord suffered as the darkning of the body of the Sunne for an Eclipse it was not because the body of Truth even the Sunne of Righeousnes suffered the renting of the vaile of the Temple signifying the abrogating of the Legall types or shaddowes for the vayle was a figure of the Spirituall covering which was before the eyes of the Church till Christs comming the cleaving of the earth uncer the burden of Christs suffering and the weight of our sinnes making a way for them to descend to Hell from whence they carne the rising of the Bodies of the Saints out of their graves shewing that the heart-strings of death which before bound them in their Sepulchres were braken by the death of Christ lastly the buriall of the pure and untainted Body of our Holy Lord and after his sleepe in the grave for a time his rising againe in power to confound his enemies all yea every one of these might furnish for a large discourse But my purpose was to speake only of the passion of Christ and those things that belong to his owne person rather then the things that are but accidentall to them as for the doctrine of the Resurrection it falls under another head and belongs to an affection of Ioy not of Sorrow of which two passions the latter only is proper to this weeke which here I would have ended but that the weeke ends not with us till to morrow be done something therfore for that I must find to say which if it will not build yet it may serve for filling or Rubbish in thy building Now rest thee with Christ untill the Morning By thy Crosse and Passion Good Lord deliver us Amen Meditations for SATURDAY WHere our Saviours Passion takes an end there should ours beginne for so must wee fulfill as S. Paul calls them the after-sufferings or the remainder of the sufferings of Christ Which though they were perfected when hee dyed and needed no more yet he will have us to cast our mite into this Treasary Therefore not because hee needs wee should sorrow for him let us take up our Crosse this day and follow him but because wee need to sorrow for our selves as Christ taught the Daughters of Ierusalem Now this day is our Saviour sleeping in his grave in which Ioseph of Arimathea To whom our Land owes her first conversion an honorable Councellour had as honorably laid him Which action though it hapned yester night yet the effect of it reaches unto this day in which our Saviours bodie enjoyes the secret which this worthy Councellor had bestowed on him In this buriall many things might bee observed that are worth the marking As 1 Holy Ioseph his courage who durst venter to offer to doe this after hee had seene what had hapned to his Master for this cause the Holy Ghost hath not left that part of his praise out of divine story to stirre up others by it Mar. 15.43 for Saint Marke hath noted that he went in boldly to Pilate and craved the body of Iosus 2 That hee yeelded Christ his owne roome even the grave hee had digged for himselfe Matt. 27.60 for Saint Matthew hath observed that it was his owne Tombe in which Christ was laid 3 That it was a new sepulchre in which never man had layen as being fittest for that body-virginall or Maiden-corps untoucht and untainted 4 That it was in a Garden Iohn 19.41 hard by the place where Christ had beene crucified that as man first fell in a Garden so out of a Garden he might in Christ bee raised up againe 5 That there was no cost awanting that could readily bee purchased for Ioseph bought a fine linnen cloth Mar. 15.46 and linnen in those dayes was not eath to come by for they were not shirts ordinarily as wee doe which was the cause of their erecting Bathes in every towne in which they washed so often so that a hankerchiefe among even the Romane riotors was a rich token as appeares out of the * 〈…〉 Fabullus Veranius Poet. To helpe which cost blessed Nicodemus brought also an hundred pound weight of Mirrhe and Aloes to enbalme him and more would have beene done