our Creator more grievously than any man can wrong another Now in that our God and Creator is withall the eternall rule of justice or rather Justice it selfe it was requisite that satisfaction should bee made unto him in the fullest degree For one man for all men which had done this wrong to make satisfaction to infinite Majestie either in whole or in part was impossible Though all mankinde had been condemned to suffer uncessantly both in body and soule they might by this meanes have been continually making satisfaction but never have made it albeit their sufferings had been endlesse Therefore was this great work undertaken by the Son of God made man for us 2. Suppose then all this had been foreknown before our Saviour was incarnate ever since the fall of our first Parents and the sentence denounced against them it would have been a more grievous sinne in our first Parents or in any of their posterity than the sinne of the old Serpent in seducing them or us to yeeld to his suggestions to have besought God the Father that his onely Sonne should make satisfaction for us in the very same kind which we should have made but could never make that is by suffering the paines of Hell That the man Christ Jesus might suffer such paines as the damned shall doe was perhaps the desire of Satan that which the great Enemy of mankinde did most earnestly labour to effect And if thus he did but desire this was the greatest actuall sinne which either hee or his infernall associats ever had committed or can commit Whatsoever they might desire all that our heavenly Father could require of his onely Sonne after hee became our surety was to make full satisfaction for all our sinnes against his Deity or the eternall rule of justice But all this he knew might bee accomplished by his onely Sonne after a more excellent maner than either by exercising his wrath due unto us or by suffering Satan whose redemption his Sonne did no way undertake to wreake the utmost of his malice or foehood against mankinde upon him For my selfe amongst others I must confesse I could never understand the language of many professed Divines who would perswade us that the full vialls of Gods wrath due unto our sinnes were powred upon his Sonne Whatsoever their meaning be which I presume is much better than I can gather from their expressions the maner of speech to say no worse is very improper and to me unpleasant For how was it possible God the Father should bee wroth with him in whom alone he was alwayes well pleased But wrath or anger against any one are alwayes the effects of some displeasure precedent and no satisfaction can be made whilest displeasure is taken or wrath kindled against the party which seeks to make satisfaction or reconciliation Now the infliction or permission of Hell paines to bee inflicted upon any is the award not of Gods judgement but of his wrath and fury 3. If it be objected that our sinnes were infinite though not for number yet for quality because committed against an infinite Majestie and consequently that no satisfaction according to the exact rule of justice could bee made without punishment or penalties truely infinite the answere is as Orthodoxall as easie or common That the satisfaction made for us by the Sonne of God was more truely infinite than the sinnes of mankind were For it was absolutely infinite Non quia passus est infinita sed quia qui passus est erat infinitus The person or party who made satisfaction for us or party which undertooke the satisfaction was both in Majesty and in goodnesse as truely infinite as the Majesty and goodnesse whom we had offended and by whom exact satisfaction was required both of them were both wayes absolutely infinite J omit the weaknesse of such calculatory arguments as this Our sinnes were absolutely infinite because committed against an infinite Majesty as too well knowen to most students and often enough if not too often deciphered in other of my meditations For this being admitted all sinnes should bee equall because all are committed against the same infinite Majesty and goodnesse As for the true measure of our sinnes and ill deservings that must be taken from the measure of Gods displeasure against them and that is but equall to the severall degrees of our disobedience to his most holy Lawes and Commandements This then we verily beleeve that the full height and measure of all disobedience and rebellions against God was neither higher or greater than the obedience which his Sonne performed in our flesh or whilest hee stood in the condition of a servant that our heavenly Father was never so much displeased at all our disobediences as hee was well pleased with the obedience of his onely Sonne or with their obedience that are truely ingraffed in him and are made partakers of his obedience in his sufferings Both parts of this conclusion may with facility be evinced in the judgement of all men which have subscribed unto or doe admit the principles in Divinity whether Legall or Evangelicall 4. It was a maxime undoubted in the time of the Law that obedience was better than sacrifice the corrollary or consequence of which maxime doth amount to this point that obedience without sacrifice was alwayes better than sacrifice without obedience Yet such sacrifices as were appointed by God being offered out of the spirit of obedience were alwayes more acceptable than obedience alone Such sacrifices as were appointed by God himselfe unlesse they were offered in obedience and out of conformity to his Law were abominable The principall part of obedience which the Law required was the humble confession of the parties sinnes for whose sakes they were offered This confession was made over the heads of the beasts which were offered the parties offering them alwayes acknowledging either expresly by their tongues or implicitly in heart that they had better deserved a cruell death than the dumbe creatures which they sacrificed had done Briefly Legall sacrifices were then acceptable when their offerers put on such affections as David maketh expression of when he saw the people plagued for his sinnes or at lest when the punishment of their owne sinnes came suddenly upon them through his folly Loe I have sinned and I have done wickedly but these sheepe what have they done Yet even whilest the best of Gods people thus affected did offer the best kinde of Legall Sacrifices bullocks whilst their hornes and hoofes began to spread their sacrifice and obedience did but lovingly meet they were not mutually wedded or betrothed But whilest the Sonne of God did offer up himselfe for us upon the Crosse his sacrifice and obedience were more strictly united than man and wife than mans soule and body For betwixt these there is oft times dissention or reluctance so was there never betwixt Christs Divine person who was the offerer and the humane nature which was the offering His humane
eares were filled with these and the like acclamations Hosanna to the Sonne of David He began to be troubled in spirit whilest the forme or nature of man did suggest one thing and the forme of a servant correct what the forme of man did suggest and sway him another way What shall I say Father save me from this houre So the reasonable soule of man could not but wish it could not but apprehend this houre as an houre of evill and evill as evill cannot bee desired by the will of man Reason cannot but desire or wish the prevention or removall of it But though he were the Sonne of God yet as the Apostle speakes Hee learned obedience by the things which he suffered Hee resolves not to doe according to his owne liking but as his Father should appoint him And hence hee instantly overballanced the former naturall desire or inclination of the forme of man with the serious consideration of his office or present calling as he had taken upon him the forme of a servant For as it were recalling himselfe he addeth but therefore came I unto this houre to wit that hee might suffer all the evills incident to man in this world 5. Afterwards when his agony came upon him his wonted naturall inclination of the forme of man or sway of the reasonable soule became more strong and hence he puts his former wish or intimation Father what shall I say save me from this houre into the forme of a prayer Father if it be possible let this cup passe from mee and yet overswaies this naturall inclination or desire as hee was man with a stronger desire or delight to doe the office of a servant and counterchecks that prayer which hee had conceived as man with a prayer which hee had conceived ex officio with a prayer of consecration neverthelesse not as I will but as thou willest as if hee had said Though it bee just and reasonable which I desire so just as thou wouldest not deny the like to any other man in my case yet seeing I am thy servant and the Sonne of thy handmaid in such a manner as no other man hath beene I wholly submit my selfe unto thy will and consecrate my selfe unto thy service how hard soever it shall prove Abraham wee know waxed bold with God by often reiterating and renewing the forme of his petition for Sodom First hee prayed that God would spare the Citie for fifty righteous men then for forty then for thirty and lastly descends to ten His boldnesse was grounded upon a dictate of nature or common principle of faith that it was farre from him who was to doe justice to all the world to slay the righteous with the wicked Suppose God had said to Abraham at his first petition thus Abraham at thy request I will for this time spare the men of Sodom upon condition that thou and such as supplicate for them will become their baile and stand between them and that storme of fire and brimstone which must shortly goe out against them from my fiery presence would this hard condition have been accepted by Abraham or accepted with patience Would hee not have opposed this former principle with greater vehemencie and passion To slay the righteous for the wicked that be farre from thee O Lord shall the Judge of all the world thus farre transgresse the rule of justice Yet may we not think that righteous Abraham though instiled the friend of God was so much lesse sinfull than the most sinfull man in Sodom as the man CHRIST JESUS was more righteous than Abraham And what then could restraine this just and holy One for making the same plea for himselfe which Abraham for himselfe might have made which without offence unto his Lord hee did often make on the behalfe of so many righteous men not as were but as he supposed possibly might be in Sodom Onely this the Sonne of God who is equall with God to the end and purpose that hee might dissolve the works which the Devill had wrought in our nature had taken our nature upon him had made his humane flesh and humane blood the flesh and blood of God himselfe though not as parts of the Divine nature yet as appurtenances of the Divine person and was not onely found in the fashion of man but was invested with the essentiall forme of a servant And it is the perfection of a servant not to doe his owne will but the will of his Lord. Now the body or humane nature of the Sonne of God was not a servant to his Divine person but to the person of his Father whose will hee was in the humane nature to performe whatsoever the performance of it should cost him For unto this purpose onely and no other did hee take both the nature of man and forme of a servant upon him that hee might in them and by them accomplish the will of his Father As for his body that during the time of his humiliation was in bonis patris the goods and possession of the Father as every servant properly so called is the goods and inheritance of his Master His sufferings in this nature were to be extended untill the full price of our redemption was paid The just measure of these his sufferings and full price of our redemption he did as he was man learne by experience CHAP. XII Of Christs full satisfaction for the sinnes of men and whether to this satisfaction the suffering of Hell paines were necessarily required And of the Circumstances of his Agony 1 THe undertakings of the Sonne of God for mans Redemption did for the most part consist in his sufferings Though he were a Sonne saith the Apostle Heb. 5.8 yet learned he obedience by the things which hee suffered Though he were alwayes a Sonne the onely Son of God yet suffer hee did not any longer than whilest he was in the forme of a servant Of all true service or Apprentiship obedience is the speciall property the greatest perfection whereunto the condition of a servant or one under legall command can pretend Now the perfection of obedience cannot by any meanes either bee better exemplified or approved than by patience in suffering Servants saith S. Peter 1. Pet. 2.18 19 c. be subject unto your Masters with all feare not onely to the good and gentle but also to the froward For this is thanke worthy if a man for conscience toward God endure griefe suffering wrongfully For what glory is it if when yee bee buffeted for your faults yee shall take it patiently but if when you doe well and suffer for it yee take it patiently this is acceptable with God For even hereunto were yee called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that yee should follow his steps who did no sinne neither was guile found in his mouth who when hee was reviled reviled not againe when he suffered he threatned not but committed himselfe to him that judgeth
without originall sinne as being made out of this substance after such a maner as the Messias or Sonne of God was made of a virgin Sit fides penes Authorem We know the blessed Virgin was the daughter of Abraham and the daughter of David but not by any portion of Abrahams or Davids body altogether exempted from such alterations as the Elementary vertues of which all mens bodies are made are subject unto Nor was the body of the Messias to be made of any such portion of Adam perpetually exempted from the contagion of sin original unto the time wherein the blessed Virgin was affianced to Ioseph The first exemption of any portioÌ„ of the humane nature or substance of Adam after his fall was granted and wrought by the immediate hand of God in the conception of his Sonne by the holy Ghost which was immediatly upon that sweet assent of the blessed Virgin unto the Angel Gabriel Ecce ancilla c. Capnio Vellem expressius audire an veteres Heâ— braeorum senserint matrem Messiae in peccat-originali concipiendam non fuisse Galatin Quamvis ex his quae diximus satis utarbi tror apertè colligatur hanc priscorum Iudaeorum fuisse fidem nedum opinionem hoc tamen manifestius ex verbis praedicti Rabbenu haccados habetur qui eodem in libro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gale razeia cum ad septimam Antonini Consulis urbis Romae petitionem inter caetera dixisset propter matrem verò ejus scil Messiae ait David Psal 80. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hoc est aâ—acum quam plantavit dextratua Dixissetque ei Antoninus Cur mater Dei comparatur abaco curve dicit eam a dextra Dei plantatam Respondit sic Ille Similis facta est abaco mater Dei Quandoquidem sicut aâ—acus est armarium quod Principes conficiunt ad collâ—canda vascula auri argenti ut gloriam suam atque opes omnibus ostendant Ita mater Regis Messiae erat armarium quod Deus construxit ut in eo sedeat ipse Messias ad ostendendam gloriam Maiestatis suae cunctis mortalibus Per id autem quod ait plantâ—tam esse a dextra Dei ostendit eam primam esse creaturam Dei in genere humano sicut dictum est Micheae Cap. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est Et egressus eius ab aeternitate a diebus seculi Dicit enim egressus numero multitudinis Quiâ— sunt duo Messiae egressus Vnus Divinitatis quae est aeterna ideoque dicit ab aeternitate Alter humanitatis quae in sue matris extat substantia quae creata est ab hora creationis mundi Haec ille quem Iudaei Magistrum nostrum sanctum nuncupant Ad quorum declarationem notandum est Quod opinio quorundam veterum Judaeorum fuit matrem Messiae non solum in mente Dei ab initio ante secula creatam fuisse ut paulò superiùs dictum est verùm etiam materiam eius in materia Adae fuisse productam ipsamque gloriosam Messiae matrem principalem extitisse cum eius amore ut dictum est mundus creatus sit Nam cum Deus Adam plasmaret fecit quasi massam ex cuius parte nobiliori accepit intemeratae matris Messiae materiam ex residuo vero eius superfluitate Adam formavit Ex materia autem immaculatae matris Messiae facta est virtus quae in nobiliori loco membro corporis Adae conservata fuit Quae postea emanavit ad Seth deinde ad Enos deinde succidaneo ordine ad reliquos usque ad sanctum Iehoiakim Ex hac demum virtute beatissima mater Messiae formata fuit Et idcirco eam Zach. cap. 4. suae prophetiae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hoc est petram primariam recte appellavit Ex qua ut antiqui Judaeorum exposuerunt excidendus erat Messias Neque quidem abs re cum tempore gradu excellentia primaria futura esset Ex qua quidem opinione apertè concluditur carnem gloriosae matris Messiae non fuisse peccato originali infectam sed purissimam a divina prouidentia praeservatam Quocirca nec anima eius hujusmodi peccatum in conceptione contractura erat Petrus Galatinus lib. 7. per totum caput tertium 6 If it were lawfull to moralize such fables as I take this of Galatinus to bee no better the best moral I can make of it would be this However there had been many intermediat generations as many as S. Luke relateth if not more between our father Adam and the conception of the Sonne of God yet was our Saviour in some respects the immediat Successour of Adam the onely second Adam His immediat Successor not in sinne but of that purity of nature wherein the first Adam was created and yet withall immediat successor unto that curse which Adam by transgression had incurred but was not able to expiate nor to beare save onely by the everlasting death of himselfe and his posterity And for this reason if I mistake not the Sonne of God doth call himselfe as no sonne of Adam before him did The Sonne of man by peculiar title Yet was this a title as Maldonat well observes not of honour but of abjection of greater abjection than the like title given to Ezekiel not by himselfe but by the Angels And yet Ezekiel is called by the Angel not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of the difference betwixt these two titles which are both exorest in our English by Sonne of man I referre the Reader to the 49. Psalme ver 2. and the Commentators upon it As the Sonne of God was immediate Successour unto Adam so he was the immediate heire unto the blessing promised to Abraham more than heire the Author and foundation of it He was likewise immediate Successor unto David and his kingdome the onely body in whom the shadow of Gods mercies unto David for the good of Israel and Judah was to be fulfilled If hee had been immediate Successor unto David onely this might have occasioned some suspition or distrust that hee had been the Redeemer of the Jewish nation onely or of the sonnes of Iacob Had hee been immediate Successor unto Abraham onely this might have occasioned the like surmise or fancy that hee had been manifested onely to dissolve the works which Satan had wrought in Abrahams seed according to the flesh which was much more ample than the seed of Iacob But in as much as the Sonne of God did in time become the sonne of man the immediate Successor unto Adam the onely second Adam though not the first or second man from Adam This giveth us to understand that he was the next of kindred to all men as they were men whether Jewes or Gentiles He to whom the redemption of all mankinde did by right of kinred without partiality or respect of persons equally belong And for this reason hee did not take any created party or person into
bee farre from thee O Lord was the saying of Abraham to God Gen. 18.25 But farther surely it is and alwayes hath been from the Judge of all the world who is the eternall living rule of justice it selfe to put the innocent and righteous to the lingring and cruell tortures of an ignominious death for redeeming wicked and cruell men from deserved death or to purchase not the impunity onely but the advancement of willfull rebelle by the severe punishment of his deare and onely obedient Sonne This objection as was in the former Treatise intimated would pierce deepe if wee were disarmed of those Christian principles which these moderne heretiques have cast aside to wit the plurality of persons in the Trinitie and the Onenesse of person in the Sonne of God CHRIST JESUS God and man even whilest he was invested with the forme of a servant We beleeve and confesse as they doe there is but one God and yet in this God wee acknowledge as they doe not unum alium one person of the Father another of the Sonne another of the holy Ghost such a distinction of capacities that the Father not the Sonne exacts satisfaction for mans violation of the eternall and indispensable rule of equity and justice that God the Sonne not God the Father did become mans surety and undertake to make full satisfaction for all his sinnes 4. Now he that will make satisfaction to another must have somewhat to give of his owne so his owne as it is not the others to whom it is given What then had the Sonne of God to give by way of satisfaction unto God the Father or to the holy Ghost which was so his owne as it was not theirs Onely that part of our nature which hee tooke from the substance of his mother into the unitie of his Divine person In all other parts of our nature over all other parts of this universe God the Father and God the Holy Ghost had the same interest or right of dominion with the Sonne Now this part or our nature being thus assumed into the unitie of the Second Person The Sonne of God and the Sonne of the blessed Virgin doe not differ as party and party There is unum aliud one nature of the Godhead another of the manhood non unus alius not one person of the Godhead another of the manhood The Divine nature in the person of the Sonne is the onely party which undertooke our redemption the humane nature assumed into the unity of his Person was but his qualification an appendance or appurtenance no true part of his Person And as heretofore hath been observed albeit the flesh of the man Christ Jesus was Caro humana non divina flesh of the same nature and substance with our flesh yet were his flesh and blood more truely the flesh and blood of the Sonne of God than of the man CHRIST JESUS the humane body more truely and properly his owne than our bodies are ours Now our flesh and bodily parts are said to bee our owne not so much because they are parts of our nature as because they are appurtenances of our persons or because wee have a peculiar personall right or power so to dispose of them as to make them no parts of our nature Wee accompt it no unnaturall part in wise men to cut off any rotten or putrified member rather than suffer the whole body besides utterly to perish In some certaine cases publicke Societies or Communities of men none of which have the like peculiar authority over the meanest free private member as every owner of a body naturall hath over his teeth his toes his fingers or other lesse principall part necessary for some uses onely not for the preservation of the whole have by publique consent designed sometimes some principall members of the Communitie sometimes members lesse principall not condemned of any crime as sacrifices for redeeming others from present danger or for securing posterity from servitude or oppression And when outrages have been committed by great Armies the Authors or principall Incentives of the mutinie being unknowne or not convicted by legall proofe the expiation hath usually been made by decimation Every tenth man hath by wholesome discipline of warre been punished according to the demerits of the crime committed But albeit every tenth man since Adam had been by him and his successors consent devoted to death or lingring torture farre worse than death their execution could have made no expiatiō no satisfaction unto God for the transgressions of the whole Community The attempt of the medicine would have increased the malignity of the universall disease Yea albeit the Son of God could have been by man intreated to practice this cure which is used by private wise men for preservation of their naturall bodies or by great Commanders for preuenting mutinies or losse of Armies all this had not been sufficient to have redeemed the world or the whole Community of men from utter ruine and destruction or which is worse then both from everlasting servitude unto Satan Men by art or rather Artists by the guidance of Gods providence have found out remedies against venemous diseases by medicinall confections of venemous ingredients The poysonous bitings of the Scorpion are usually cured by the oile of Scorpions and of the flesh of some Serpents Physicians make soveraigne antidotes for preventing poison or for curing venemous diseases But the venome which the old Serpent had diffused not through the veines onely but through the whole nature of man was not curable by this course of physick The old Serpent was to be destroyed but not to become any ingredient in this Catholique medicine whereby the humane nature was to be cured That by the wisdome of God was taken out of the nature and substance wounded not from the substance which did wound or sting But this part of the nature wounded which was to bee the medicine for the rest was first to bee perfectly cured and throughly purified by personall unition to the Sonne of God And being thus purified and cleansed from all spot of sinne it was disfigured and mangled that the blood of it might bee as a balsamum and quintessence to heale the wounds and sores of our corruption If it were the will and pleasure of the Sonne of God to submit his most holy body unto the good will and pleasure of his most holy Father if with his consent and approbation it were bruised and mangled here was no wrong done to any man but on Gods part rather a document of his unspeakable love unto mankinde Love unexpressible on God the Fathers part that would suffer his onely Sonne to take upon him the true forme of a servant and undergoe such hard service for us Love unexpressible on God the Sonnes behalfe that did so willingly expose his humane body to paine and torture for our redemption Here was no wrong at all either to the Sonne of God from God the Father or
to the humane nature of Christ from the Godhead or Divine person of the Sonne rather all indignities and harmes which were done unto the man CHRIST JESUS by Satan and his instruments did redound unto the Sonne of God The humane nature was the onely subject of the wound and paine The Sonne of God was the onely subject if wee may so speake of the wrong the onely party or person wronged by Satan and his instruments but no way wronged by the Father much lesse by himselfe as having free power to put that part of our nature which he assumed unto what service soever his Father would require Concerning this last qualification of the Sonne of God I have nothing more to say in this Treatise save onely how it was foretold or foreshadowed The predictions that the Sonne of God or the Messias should become a servant are frequent in the old Testament and will here and there interpose themselves in some ensuing discussions of his undertakings for dissolving the works of Satan The next inquirie is how it was foreshadowed or typically foretold CHAP. IX Gods servant Job the most illustrious Type of the Sonne of God as hee was invested with the forme of a servant 1 THe forme of a servant which the Sonne of God did take upon him was foreshadowed by all those holy men Prophets or other which are by sacred Writers instiled the Servants of God A title not usually given to many Kings or Priests not once I take it by God himselfe unto Abraham though he were the greatest of holy men which were but men the father of the faithfull whether Kings Priests or Prophets the onely Prophet Priest or other which to my remembrance was instiled the friend of God Moses Aaron and David are sometimes instiled the servants of God by God himselfe Yet were these three respectively more illustrious types of the Sonne of God as he was to bee made King Priest and Prophet than of him as hee tooke the forme of a servant upon him Of CHRIST JESUS as hee was in a peculiar sort the servant of God Iob the most remarkable paterne of patience before this Son of God was manifested in the flesh is the most exact type or shadow not for his qualifications onely but in his undertakings Iobs conflicts with Satan and wrestlings with temptations are more expresly recorded and more emphatically exprest than any mans besides before the onely Sonne of God became the Sonne of man and servant to his heavenly Father Satan by speciall leave obtained from God but so obtained by God as challenger did combat or play his prizes with this servant of God at two the most prevalent weapons which his cunning and long experience upon all aduantages which the weaknesse of men from the fall of Adam did afford him could make choise of And these two weapons were hope of good things and feare of evills temporall which this great usurper did presume were at his disposall either by right of that conquest which hee had gotten over the first man or could obtaine by Gods permission to ensnare the first mans posterity The direct and full scope of all our hopes is felicitie and so is misery the period of all our feares Unto felicity three sorts of good things are required Bona animae bona fortunae bona corporis The endowments and contentments of the reasonable soule health with ability and lawfull contentments of the body competency of meanes or worldly substance which are subservient to both the former endowments and contentments of soule and body No misery can befall man but either from the want of some one or more of these three good things which are required to happinesse as the Philosophers conceived it or from their contraries All the evills which men naturally feare are either evills incident to the body as sicknesse paine torments death want or losse of goods or worldly substance losse of good name disgrace or ignominy imputation of folly which are no lesse grievous to the rationall part of man than paine or griefe are to the part sensitive more grievous by much to ingenuous men than losse of goods than want or penury For as an heathen Satyrist well observed Nil habet infoelix paupertas durius in se Quam quòd ridiculos homines facit The shrewdest turne that poverty can doe to any mortall creature is to expose him unto contempt or scorne By feare of all these three evills Satan driveth most men into his snare of servitude as many if not more as hee drawes into the same snare by hope of good things By every one of these three evills by the very least of them if we take them single hee had caught so many as hee thought sufficient to make up this generall induction That none could escape his snares or springes so hee might be permitted by God to take his opportunities for setting them 2. Iob was a man as happy as any man before him had been according to that scale of happinesse which Philosophers could hope for in this life or could make any probable ground of better hopes for the life to come There was a man saith the Text in the land of Vz whose name was Iob and that man was perfect and upright and one that feared God and eschewed evill This is a fuller expression than any Philosopher could make of the principall part of happinesse that is of a minde richly endowed with all kinde of vertues moral and more than so with spirituall graces And there were borne unto him seven sons and three daughters these were more than bona corporis more than parts of his personall constitution which besides these was exceeding good His substance also was seven thousand sheepe and three thousand Camels and five hundred yoke of Oxen and five hundred shee Asses and a very great houshold or husbandry great store no doubt of servants which were part of his worldly substance so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the East Here was a great measure of those things which Philosophers call bona fortunae goods of fortune or as we now say goodly meanes faire revenues Iob was a richer man for those times in respect of others than any man this day living is in respect of our times Yet this goodly Cedar in his full height was sound within and straight without unshaken by any blasts of former temptations untill the Lord himself appointed him to bee a Dueller with Satan The challenge made by Satan is very remarkable There was a day when the sonnes of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them And the Lord said unto Satan whence commest thou Then Satan answered the Lord and said From going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and downe in it And the Lord said unto Satan Hast thou considered my servant Iob that there is none like him in the earth a perfect and upright man one that feareth God and
hence follow that he should at all times know either the true quality or exact measure of the paines which hee was at the time appointed by his Father to suffer for accomplishing this great worke undertaken by him For of all things that can bee knowen by men the knowledge of paines either for quality or the distinct measure of them is least possible without experimentall knowledge or sensible feeling of them Many Physicians haue learnedly discourst of the severall sorts of feavers and calculated their degrees more mathematico as Mathematicians doe the quantity of figures or solid bodies or revolutions of the Heavens But the reall paines or languishments of hecticall pestilentiall or other feavers the most learned Physician in the world cannot distinctly know or calculate unlesse hee feele them Or in case by sensible experience he knew the nature or quality or severall degrees of every feaver he is not hereby enabled distinctly to apprehend the maladies which attend the Gout untill he feele them Or suppose he knew these maladies from the highest to the lowest degree this will not indoctrinate him to know the extremities of the Stone so perfectly and distinctly as his meanest Patient doth which hath sensible experience of it though in a middle degree Our Saviour long before his last resort unto the garden of Gethsemane was a man of sorows had plentifull experience of humane infirmities or bodily maladies For he had felt the griefe and paine of all the diseases which he had cured by most exact and perfect sympathy with the diseased His heart was tunable to every mans heart that did seriously impart his griefe of minde or affliction of body unto him Onely in laughter or bodily mirth hee held no consort for ought we reade with any man But the griefe and sorow which in the garden he suffered could not be knowen by sympathy The protopathy was in himselfe and no man not the Apostles themselves could so truely sympathize with him in this griefe as he had done with them or the meanest of their brethren in other grievances or afflictions For never was there on earth any sorow like unto the sorow wherewith the Lord had afflicted him in this day of his wrath Yet was his obedience more than equall to his sorow and this obedience he learned by his sufferings 7. But if in this houre or any other hee learned obedience this seemes to argue that he was either disobedient before or at lest wanted some degree or part of obedience For no man can be said to learne that lesson which he hath already most perfectly by heart To this wee say That how ever the Sonne of God or the man Christ Jesus did never want any degree or part of habituall or implanted obedience yet the measure of his actuall obedience was not at all times the same The obedience which the Apostle saith hee learned was obedience passive and all passive obedience doth properly consist in patient suffering such things as are enjoyned by lawfull authority or in submitting our wills and affections not our bodies onely unto the just designes of Superiours Our Saviour at all times wholly submitted his humane will unto his Fathers will had alwayes undertaken with alacrity whatsoever his Father had appointed him to undertake or undergoe but his Father had never called him to such hard service as in this houre was put upon him Now if obedience passive consist in patience of suffering it must needs increase as the hardnesse of the sufferings increase in case the hardest service bee borne with equall patience or undertaken with the same measure of submission unto his will which enjoines them that meaner services are Againe if the true measure of bodily paines or sorow of minde cannot otherwise be knowen than by experience the Sonne of God himselfe as man and in the forme of a servant was to learne obedience at lest some new degrees of it by gaining experience of unusuall paines and sufferings And such questionlesse were those anguishes whether of soule or body which he suffered in the garden That hee had often prayed before this time wee reade and no doubt had alwayes tendred his petitions to God as to his Father with such humility of spirit as became an obedient Sonne and faithfull servant as did best befit the Ideall paterne of all true obedience But we doe not reade nor have wee any occasion or hint to conjecture that at any time before this hee did so humble himselfe in prayer as at this time he did whether we respect the forme or tenour of his supplications or his voice or bodily gesture in the delivery of them All the circumstances of these his supplications are accurately recorded by the Evangelists He was withdrawen or did withdraw himselfe from his Apostles about a stones cast And yet in this distance his Apostles though drousie and heavie did heare him pray distinctly who had taught them and us to pray for our selves in secret so secretly as that none besides our heavenly Father might heare them As for his gesture or posture of body that at the first delivery of his prayer and supplications was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So S. Luke Cap. 22. ver 41. Hee went forward saith S. Mark a little and fell on the ground and prayed Mark 14.35 So hee might doe and fall on his knees as S. Luke relates But S. Matthew addes he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed saying O my Father if it bee possible let this cup passe from me That he thrice used this forme or tenour of prayer whether at each time hee used the same posture of bodie or rather falling on his knees than on his face is not so cleare though most probably hee did so Now that which these three Evangelists doe intimate or imply in the accurate relations of these circumstances is more expresly recorded by S. Paul Heb. 5.7 to wit that in the dayes of his flesh hee offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares And no wonder if streames of teares gushed from his eyes when his whole body as S. Luke informes us did distill blood The full importance of this sacred passage of S. Paul Heb. 5. from the fourth verse to the ninth seeing it containes matter of deeper mysteries than most Interpreters which I have read have taken any great paines to sound must be part of the subject of another following Treatise concerning his consecration to his everlasting Priesthood Thus much in the meane time I take as granted that the forecited seventh verse of the fifth Chapter to the Hebrews doth in speciall referre unto the supplications made by our Saviour in his Agonie and will be the best Comment I know upon the Evangelists for clearing that point now in question what Cup it was for whose removall hee thrice so earnestly prayed 8. Hee offered up these his prayers saith the Apostle unto him who was able to save him from death This is exactly parallel
to the preamble which our Saviour used before the full ingruence or paroxysme of his Agony Abba Father all things are possible to thee take away this Cup from mee c. No man doubts but that his Father was able to save him from dissolution of body and soule that is from death it selfe whether it had come by course of nature or by violence But from this death it is plaine he did not save him Of this cup or kinde of death he tasted to the full in the utmost extremity upon the Crosse How then is it true which S. Paul in the forecited place addeth that after hee offered up prayers with strong crying and teares hee was heard in that hee feared Or as others reade for his piety Whether reading we follow this or that the just importance of our Apostles words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is thus much at least that hee was delivered from that which hee so much feared though with a pious feare for out of such a feare hee offered up his prayers with strong crying and teares The Cup then which hee so earnestly prayed might passe from him was not the cup of violent death simply considered nor as accompanied with all the indignities done unto him by the Jewes Romanes and others the very next day For what then did hee at this time so earnestly pray for speedy release or deliverance from the heavinesse of soule or anguish of spirit which now had suddenly seized upon him The very first draught of this Cup had cast him into a bloody sweat and had hee been enforced to have taken a second or third deepe draught of it or if his present anguish had been for some few houres continued hee had prevented the cruell tortures of the Crosse and the indignities done unto his person by the Jews or Roman Souldiers This was that Cup which Peter counselled him not to taste of for whose removall hee never prayed as being fully resolved to pledge the utmost extremity of their malice with a farre greater measure of patience And for this reason when Peter drew his sword for his rescous as he intended he checks him againe as he had done Matth. 16.23 Put up thy sword into the sheath the Cup which my Father gives mee shall I not drink it Ioh. 18.11 But that cup which he so earnestly did pray might passe from him did certainely vanish with his Agony and his Agony did endure no longer than he offered up his supplications and prayers about the space of an houre There remained no signe or symptome of it after the Traitor had delivered him up into his enemies hands Or if wee ponderate S. Lukes relation of his Agony aright his prayers were heard upon the first or second uttering of them Seeing ease or deliverance from the ingruence of paines is all that they pressed for the present desires it is all one whether the burthen bee lessened or his strength to beare it be increased His ease and comfort is either way the same Admit then the heavy burthen laid upon the Sonne of God in the dayes of his flesh had continued the same or perhaps increased from his first entring into the garden yet his prayers were heard in that an Angel was sent whether to strengthen him or to comfort him Luke 22.43 The word in the Originall is often used for such internall strength as men recover by some comfortable refection when they are faint for want of meat or by gathering their spirits after they have been dissipated or dejected by sudden feare or amazement It would perhaps be accompted impertinent to make inquiry what Angell it was which was sent to comfort or strengthen the Sonne of God in that extremity of his Agony Yet many of the Ancients and of moderne Interpreters not a few are of opinion that it was the same Angel which did annunciate his birth and conception and that was the Angel Gabriel Who though perhaps hee did not take his name from his foreseene deputation to his function yet did hee never brook it better in any former acts of his ministery then in the performance of this present service His name imports as much as the strength of God and at this time hee strengtheneth the man CHRIST JESUS who then was and now is the Sonne of God as truely God as man Now if he who was the Sonne of God did receive strength or comfort from an Angel it is no paradox or soloecisme to say that hee learned obedience by the things which he suffered or that these present sufferings were unknowen to him as man untill he felt them For no reason can be to my apprehension conceived why hee who was the Sonne of God might not be capable of some growth in knowledge experimentall especially as well as in bodily quantity or strength of body Concerning the nature and quality of those sufferings wherein hee was strengthened or comforted by an Angel as whether they were naturall or supernaturall or if supernaturall whether they were the very paines of Hell or such as wee should have suffered without his satisfaction cannot be inferred either from the unusuall forme of his prayers uttered with strong cries or from his gesture in the garden 9. Some there be who take his bloody sweat in that grievous Agony to be a symptome of infernall paines But from what grounds either in Philosophy or Divinity I know nor If the paines of Hell or hellish paines so some distinguish be procured by the fire of Hell bee that materiall or immateriall bloody sweat can bee no probable effect of the one or other fire Nor is such sweat any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or demonstrative signe of paines more grievous than may bee inflicted by agents or suffered by patients meerely naturall For however in colder Countries bloody sweats bee as rare in mens bodies as showres of blood in the aire yet as a good Philosopher hath long agoe observed to sweat blood is not unusuall to Italians yet usuall onely as I take it to men of that Climate in some peculiar diseases The most remarkable instance which I have read of bloody sweat in a man not opprest with any disease is of a Captaine an Italian if I mistake not who being surprized by the subtilty of his Enemy whom hee had trusted too farre upon a tryste of Parly and thereby inforced either to yeeld up the Fort which he had stoutly maintained or otherwise to be presently hanged the consideration of this perplexity wherewith through his owne folly hee had intangled himselfe did make such deepe impression into his generous spirits that it squeez'd blood out of his veines Our Saviour no doubt as man had a more full apprehension of all the malicious disgraces and cruel indignities which his enemies could put upon him than this Captaine had The measure of his bodily sufferings and personall wrongs were in number farre more and for quality farre more grievous than ever were intended to this Captaine or to
probably said Conferebant gratiam ex opere operato The ceremoniall sinne was taken away by a ceremoniall offering From this knowen maxime concerning the law of Ceremonies or Legall sacrifices S. Paul takes his rise unto the high mysterie of the Gospel to wit that the offering which the Sonne of God did make upon the Crosse was more sufficient as well for making full satisfaction unto God for all sinnes committed against his Law as for purifying the conscience of offenders from dead works more effectuall to make men partakers of the true celestiall Sanctuary than the blood of beasts was for making them legally cleane Purification from sinne or sanctification alwayes presupposed full satisfaction for the sinnes committed To cleanse men from sins meerely ceremoniall or to sanctifie them according to the flesh the bloody sacrifice of bruit beasts was sufficient although they suffered no other paines than naturall albeit they felt no force or assault of any agents but meerely naturall much more is the blood of Christ of force sufficient not onely to make a full atonement for us but to cleanse us from all sinnes although he suffered no paines supernaturall although he had suffered no force or impression of any agents more than naturall All this is but a branch of our Apostles inference For albeit sinnes committed against the Morall Law of God doe in a maner infinitely exceed sinnes committed against the Law of Ceremonies onely yet are not the sinnes of the one kinde so much more hainous than the sinnes of the other as the blood of Christ doth for vertue exceed the blood of bulls and goats Nor is there that odds of difference betwixt sinnes Moral and sinnes Ceremonial which is between the Priests of the Law and the high Priest of our soules the Sonne of God And yet the maine ground of our Apostles inference doth not simply consist in the superexcellency of the high Priest of our soules or of the sacrifice which hee offered in comparison with legall Priests and their sacrifices but withall in the admirable union of our high Priest and his sacrifice For admit it as possible first that there might haue been some matter of sacrifice as pure and spotlesse as the body of our Saviour more pure and glorious than the Angelicall substances Secondly that this pure and spotlesse sacrifice had been offered by a Priest for dignity equall to the Sonne of God as by the Holy Ghost the third Person in Trinity yet his offering or service could not have been so acceptable unto God as our Saviours offering or service was because the infinite worth of the Priest or Person sacrificing could not in this case have conferred any worth or vertue truely infinite upon the sacrifice or offering made by him though as holy and glorious as any created substance can bee unlesse it had been so personally united to him that in offering it hee had offered himselfe as our Saviour did This is the maine stemme or rather the root of our Apostles emphaticall inference or surplus in the forecited place How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternall Spirit offered himselfe without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God 7. Answerable to this hypostaticall or personall union betweene our high Priest and his sacrifice was that union between his obedience to his Father and his mercy and compassion towards men Obedience mercy and sacrifice were so united in his offering as they never had been before his owne death was the internall effect of his mercy towards us and obedience to his Father the period of his humiliation of himselfe Hee humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death even unto the death of the Crosse That we know was a cruell and servile death but no part of the second death not charged with the paines of Hell otherwise our Apostle would have mentioned them as the accomplishment of his obedience or of his service which without them did exceed the very abstract or paterne either of service or obedience Quid est servitus nisi obedientia animi fracti arbitrio carentis suo Servitude saith Tully is nothing else but the obedience of a broken or dejected minde utterly deprived of all power or right to dispose of it selfe or of its actions It is indeed dejection of minde a broken estate or basenesse of condition which make men willing to become servants unto others or inforceth them to resigne all their right and power unto their Masters will But it was no dejection of minde no want of any thing in heaven or earth but onely the abundance of mercy and compassion towards us miserable men which moved the Sonne of God to renounce this world before he came into it and to deprive himselfe of all that right and interest which every other man hath over his owne body and soule by voluntary resignation of his entire humane nature unto the sole disposing of his Father Other servants were obedient unto their Lords upon necessity or dejection of minde hee voluntarily became a servant to his Father that he might accomplish the office of a servant in the sacrifice of a broken and contrite spirit This was the internall effect of his service and obedience and this sacrifice thus offered was all-sufficient to make satisfaction for all the disobedience of men for the sinnes of ten thousand worlds of men CHAP. XIV That our Saviour in his Agony at least did suffer paines more than naturall though not the paines of Hell or Hellish paines That the suffering of such paines was not required for making satisfaction for our sinnes but for his Conquest over Satan 1 BUt albeit the bloody sacrifice of the Sonne of God were as God himselfe is all-sufficient to these purposes may wee hence collect that hee suffered no paines more than naturall or of no other kinde than his Martyrs Apostles or Prophets have done God forbid Betweene paines naturall and the paines of Hell there is a meane to wit paines altogether supernaturall in respect of the Agent and somewayes more than naturall in respect of the Patient and such paines out of all question the Son of God did suffer in the garden though not upon the Crosse Nor were these his sufferings superfluous though no way necessary for paying the full ransome or price of mans redemption or reconciliation unto God Most expedient they were if not necessary to other purposes As first for his absolute conquest over Satan Secondly for his consecration to his everlasting Priesthood Of his conflict with Satan in the garden a place sutable to that wherein hee had conquered our first Parents Iobs second temptation was the type or shadow His Father exposed him to the second temptation as he had unto the first temptation in the wildernesse and permitted Satan to exercise the utmost of his power against him onely over his soule or life hee had no power These were takē from him by the malice
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the unknowne sufferings Such I take it as no man in this life besides our Saviour alone did suffer nor shall ever any man suffer the like in the life to come in which the paines of Hell shall be too well knowne unto many But that our Saviour in this life should suffer such paines is incredible for this being granted the powers of darknesse had prevailed more against him than Satan did against Iob. For the actuall suffering such paines includes more then a taste a draught of the second death unto which no man is subject before he die the first death nor was it possible that our Saviour should ever taste them either dying or living or after death This error it seemes hath surprized some otherwaies good Divines through incogitancie or want of skill in Philosophie For by the unerring rules of true Philosophy the nature quality or measure of paines must bee taken not so much from the force or violence of the Agent as from the condition or temper of the Patient Actus agentium sunt in patiente rite disposito The fire hath not the same operation upon Gold as it hath upon Lead nor the same upon greene wood which it hath on dry Or if a man should deale his blowes with an eeven hand betweene one sound of body and of strong bones and another sickly crasie or wounded the paines though issuing from the equality of the blowes would be most unequall That which would hardly put the one to any paine at all might drive the other into the very pangs of death Goliath did looke as big did speake as roughly and every way behave himselfe as sternly against little David as hee had against Saul and the whole hoast of Israel Yet his presence though in it selfe terrible did make no such impression of terrour upon David as it had done upon Saul and the stoutest Champions in his hoast And the reason why it did not was because David was armed with the shield of faith and confidence in the Lord his God a secret Armour which was not then to be found in all the Kingdome of Israel besides But a farre greater then Goliath associated and seconded with a farre greater hoast both for number and strength than the Philistines in Davids time were able to make more maliciously bent against the whole race of Adam than the Philistines at this or any other time were against the seed of Abraham was now in field And all of us are bound to praise our gracious God that in that houre wee had a Sonne of David farre greater than his Father to stand betweene us and the brunt of the battell then pitched against us For if all mankinde from the East unto the West which have lived on earth since our Father Adams fall unto this present time or shall continue unto all future generations had been then mustred together all of us would have fled more swiftly and more confusedly from the sight or presence of this great Champion for the powers of darknesse than the hoast of Israel did from the Champion of the Philistines when hee bid a defiance unto them All of us had been routed at the first encounter without any slaughter been committed alive to perpetuall slavery and imprisonment But did this Sonne of David obtaine victory in this Duel with the Champion for the powers of darknesse at as easie a rate as his Father David had done over Goliath No If wee stretch the similitude thus farre wee shall dissolve the sweet harmony betweene the type and the Antitype The conquest which the Sonne of David had over Satan and the powers of darknesse whether in the garden or upon the Crosse was more glorious then that which David had over Goliath or Israel over the Philistines David was Master of the field sine sanguine sudore multo without blood or much sweat The Sonne of David did sweat much blood before hee foiled his potent Adversary And the present question is not about the measure but about the nature and quality of the pains which the Sonne of David in this long Combat suffered in respect of the paines which David or any other in the behalfe of Gods people had suffered As the glory of our Saviour Christ is now much greater than the glory of all his Saints which have been or shall be hereafter so no doubt his sufferings did farre exceed the sufferings of all his Martyrs But all this and much more being granted will not inferre that he suffered either the paines of Hell or hellish paines poenas infernales aut poenas inferorum such paines as the power of darknesse in that houre of extraordinary temptation had cast all mankinde into unlesse the Sonne of David had stood in the breach Admit the old Serpent had been in that houre permitted to exert his sting with all the might and malice he could against the promised womans seed that is the manhood of the Sonne of God yet seeing as the Apostle saith the sting of death is sinne not imputed but inherent it was impossible that the stinging paines of the second death should fasten upon his body or soule in whom there was neither seed nor relique neither root or branch of sinne Or againe admit hell fire whether materiall or immateriall be of a more violent and malignant quality than any materiall fire which we know in what subject soever it bee seated is and that the powers of darknesse with their entire and joint force had liberty to environ or begirt the Sonne of God with this fire or any other instruments of greater torture which they are enabled or permitted to use yet seeing there was no fuell either in his soule or body whereon this fire could feed no paines could bee produced in him for nature or quality truely hellish or such as the damned suffer For these are supernaturall or more than so not only in respect of the Agents or causes which produce them but in respect of the Subject which endures them Satan findes alwayes some thing in them which he armes against them some inherent internall corruption which hee exasperates to greater malignity than any externall force or violence could effect in any creature not tainted with such internall corruption from which the promised womans seed was more free than his crucified body was from putrifaction The Prince of darknesse and this world could finde nothing which hee could exasperate or arme against him 4. In respect of Divine justice or of those eternall rules of equity which the Omnipotent Creator doth most strictly observe it was not expedient only but necessary that the Son of God should in our flesh vanquish Satan and vanquish him by suffering evills even all the evills incident to our mortall nature There was no necessity no congruity that the Sonne of God should vanquish this great Enemy of mankinde by suffering the very paines of Hell or hellish torments These properly taken or when they are suffered in
exclamation Whether he first said I am a thirst and then cried out with a loud voice My God My God why hast thou forsaken mee Or first cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee and then said I am athirst I will not dispute because I cannot determine The later of the two seemeth to mee more probable However neither his speech nor exclamation intimate any touch of impatience much lesse of despaire but onely a desire to give the world notice that this 22. Psalme was specially meant of him and that all which was meant of him concerning his humiliation or indignities done unto him upon the Crosse were now fulfilled and that there remained one or two sayings of the same or some other Psalmist to bee fulfilled before his death especially by receiving the vinegar For when hee had received it saith S Iohn he said Consummatum est It is finished as if he had said Now my sufferings and indignities are at an end Yet besides the bodily thirst wherewith hee was at the ninth houre more deepely touched then with hunger in the wildernesse there was a thirsty desire of his soule to be dissolved from the body and to be with his Father And in this his last extremity that other complaint of David was most exactly fulfilled I stretch forth my hands unto thee my soule thirsteth after thee as a thirsty land Heare mee speedily O Lord my spirit faileth hide not thy face from me lest I be like unto them that goe downe into the pit I remember the dayes of old I meditate on all thy works I muse on all the works of thy hands Psalm 143.6 7. David was delivered from the pit which he feared but our Saviour was speedily heard for that he prayed which was that his body might goe unto the grave and his soule and spirit unto his Father And albeit S. Iohn instructeth us that after he had received the vinegar and said It is finished he gave up the Ghost Yet S. Matthew and S. Mark tell us that hee cried againe with a loud voice and so gave up the Ghost The articulation of this loud voice or cry is registred onely by S. Luke 23.46 And when Iesus had cried with a loud voice hee said Father into thine hands I commend my spirit And having said thus hee gave up the Ghost And in this cry or speech another Scripture or prayer of David was exactly fulfilled Pull mee out of the net that they have laid privily for mee for thou art my strength Into thine hands I commend my Spirit Psalm 31.4 5. But how was this fulfilled in him Surely as the Prophet or the Holy Ghost by whom hee spake did meane it How then was it meant of him Not meerely Prophetically but typically of the Psalmist and more really and punctually of him The Psalmist in his owne person or as acting his owne part did commend his Spirit to God his Redeemer in hope to be redeemed from death or danger of body intended against him The Redeemer of Mankind using the same words desired bodily death or dissolution of body and soule commending his soule or spirit by a dying wish into his Fathers hands 9. The 143. Psalme as the inscription of the Septuagint informeth us was composed by David when his Sonne Absalom with his complices did pursue him and the sixth verse I stretch out my hands c. is signed with a Selah a note or character as I take it not of musick onely but of some greater mystery to be fulfilled The mysterie in this particular was this that as David after hee had in his owne person prayed for deliverance and was heard so was the Sonne of David instantly after hee had received the vinegar delivered from the torments of death or bodily paines When Iesus therefore had received the vinegar saith S. Iohn hee said It is finished and hee bowed his head and gave up the Ghost 19.30 If we consider either the 143. Psalme or the 31. as literally meant of David there is no intimation of any distraction of mind in him much lesse was there any inclination to any distraction discontent or distrust in JESUS the Sonne of GOD in whom whatsoever was commendably acted by David in his distresse was most punctually and exquisitely fulfilled of this our blessed Saviour in all his sufferings His memory was most fresh and his patience most remarkable when his mortall spirits were expiring 10. That ejaculation Psalm 31.6 Into thy hands I commend my spirit was saith Maldonat meant of Christ in another sense then it was of David rather fulfilled of Christ in a more exquisite sense then it had been verified of David David according to the literall and historicall sense being in distresse commends the tuition or safety of his soule unto God directing his prayer for speedy deliverance from that bodily danger wherewith hee was beset unto Adonai Iehova unto the Lord of truth or the Lord God his Redeemer Pull mee out of the net that they have laid privily for mee for thou art my strength c. Thou hast redeemed me O Lord of truth Psal 31.4 5. The Lord God Redeemer of mankind directs his prayer unto his Father Father into thy hands I commend my spirit after hee had suffered all the disgraces paines and tortures whereof any mortall body was ever capable This delivery or surrender of his life and soule vivâ voce at the very moment or point of death into his Fathers hands did move the heathen Centurion to say Of a truth this man was the Son of God Mar. 15.39 When the Centurion saith S. Luke saw what was done he glorified God saying Certainely this was a righteous man Luk. 23.47 This is in effect the very same which S. Mark saith For in that the Centurion did acknowledge him for a righteous man he did necessarily in his heart acknowledge him to bee the Sonne of God because hee had so profest of himself That righteousnesse which the Centurion ascribeth unto him was the truth of his confession before Pilat when hee was examined upon this interrogatory Art thou then the Sonne of God now more fully proved and declared unto the world by the strange maner of his death 11. The confession of this heathen man was more Christian then the questions which some Schoolemen have moved upon the delivery of his soule vivâ voce into his Fathers hands For so some have questioned whether he were homicida sui or made away himself by actuall dissolution of his soule from his body before the violence and cruelty of the tortures whereto his Enemies put him could by course of nature work this divorce Surely if hee did any way prevent the death intended against him by the Jews or shortned his owne naturall life though but for a moment they had not been so true and proper murderers of him as the Apostle intimateth and we Christians beleeve they were For albeit Abimelech had received a deadly incurable wound by the