thee it is thy Son that Son in whom thou didst proclaim thy self well pleased that Son whom thou hearest always it is he that begs of thee and begs of thee a dispensation from that which he most declines because he most loves thee the terrible unsupportable hiding thy face from me And this was not one single request but thrice repeated reiterated and that with more earnestness Mark 14.39 And again he went away and prayed and spake the same words Luke 22.44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly Certainly that impression upon his soul that caused him to deprecate that for which he was born to deprecate it so often so earnestly must needs be a sorrow and apprehension of a very terrible and exceeding extremity 4. Such was the weight of his sotrow and confusion of soul that it even exceeding the strength of his humane nature to bear it it was ready to dissolve the Union between his Body and Soul insomuch that to add farther strength unto him and capacity to undergo the measure of it an Angel from Heaven is sent not meerly to comfort but to strengthen him to add a farther degree of strength to his humane nature to bear the weight of that wrath which had in good earnest made his Soul sorrowful unto death had it not been strengthned by the ministration of an Angel Luk. 22.43 and this assistance of the Angel as it did not allay the sorrow of his Soul so neither did it intermit his importunity to be delivered from the thing he felt and feared but did only support and strengthen him to bear a greater burden of it And as the measure of his strength was increased so was the burden which he must undergo increased for aster this he prayed again more earnestly the third time Luk. 22.43 the supply of his strength was succeeded with an addition of sorrow and the increase of his sorrow was followed with the greater importunity He prayed more carnestly Heb. 5.7 With strong crying and tears Luk. 22. 44. And being in an agony be prayed more earnestly and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground This was his third address to his Father Matth. 26.44 and here was the highest pitch of our Saviour's passion in the Garden His Soul was in an agony in the greatest concussion consusion and extremity of sorrow fear anguish and astonishment that was possible to be inslicted by the mighty hand of God on the soul of Christ that could be consistent with the purity of the nature of our Saviour and the inseparable union that it had with the Divine nature Insomuch that the confusion and distraction of his soul under it and the strugling and grapling of his soul with it did make such an impression upon his body that the like was never before or since The season of the year was cold for so it appears Joh. 18.18 the Servants and Officers had made a fire of coals for it was cold and the season of the time was cold it was as near as we may guess about midnight when the Sun was at his greatest distance and obstructed in his influence by the interposition of the Earth for it appears they came with Lanthorns and Torches when they apprehended him Joh. 18.3 and he was brought to the high Priest's Hall a little before Cock-crowing after some time had been spent in his Examination Math. 26.69 And yet for all this such is the agony and perturbation of our Saviour's soul that in this cold season it puts his body in a sweat a sweat of blood great drops of blood drops of blood falling down to the ground and certainly it was no light conflict within that caused such a strange and un-heard of symptom without Certainly the storm in the soul of Christ must needs be very terrible that his blood the seat of his vital spirits could no longer abide the sense of it but started out in a sweat of blood and such a sweat that was more than consistent with the ordinary constitution of humane nature And during this time even from the eating of the Passover until this third address to his Father was over the suffering of our Saviour lay principally if not only in his soul Almighty God was wounding of his spirit and making his soul an offering for sin And though the distinct and clear manner of this bruising of our Saviour's soul cannot be apprehended by us yet surely thus much we may conclude concerning it 1. He was made sin for us that knew no sin 2 Cor. 5.21 he stood under the imputation of all our sins and though he were personally innocent yet judicially and by way of interpretation he was the greatest offender that ever was for the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all Isa 53.6.2 And consequently he was under the imputation of all the guilt of all those sins and stands in relation unto God the righteous Judge under the very same obligation to whatsoever punishment the very persons of the offenders were unto the uttermost of that consistency that it had with the unseparable union unto the Father and this obligation unto the punishment could not choose but work the same effects in our Saviour as it must do in the sinner desperation and sin excepted to wit a sad apprehension of the wrath of God against him The purity and justice of God which hath nothing that it hates but sin must pursue sin wherever it find it and as when it finds sin personally in a man the wrath of God will abide there so long as sin abides there so when it finds the same sin assumed by our Lord and bound as it were to him as the wood was to Isaac when he was laid upon the Altar the wrath of God could not chuse but be apprehended as incumbent upon him till that sin that by imputation lay upon him were discharged For as our Lord was pleased to be our Representative in bearing our sins and to stand in our stead so all these affections and motions of his soul did bear the same conformity as if acted by us As he put on the person of the sinner so he puts on the same sorrow the same shame the same fear the same trembling under the apprehension of the wrath of his Father that we must have done And so as an imputed sin drew with it the obligation unto punishment so it did by necessary consequence raise all those confusions and storms in the soul of Christ as it would have done in the person of the sinner sin only excepted 3. In this Garden as he stands under the sin and guilt of our nature so he stands under the curse of our nature to wit a necessity of death and of undergoing the wrath of God for that sin whose punishment he hath undertaken for us the former the dissolution of his body and soul by a most accursed death and the latter the suffering of his soul and
only both Evangelists Matthew and Luke testifie it was a cry with a loud voice to evidence to the world that in the very article of his giving up of the ghost the strength of nature was not wholly spent for he cryed with a loud voice 3. The comfortable resignation of his soul unto the hands of his Father Luk. 23. 46. Father into thy hands I commend my spirit And although but even now the black storm was upon his soul that made him cry out with that loud and bitter cry yet the cloud is over and with comfort he delivers up his soul into the hands of that God whom he thought but even now had forsaken him It is more than probable that that bitter cry was uttered at the very Zenith of all his pains and when he had taken the vinegar and proclaimed that it is finished though they were all wrapt up in a very small time about the end of the ninth hour yet now there remained no more but for him to give up his spirit which he instantly thereupon did Joh. 19.30 He said It is finished he bowed the head and gave up the ghost Now the things wonderfully observable in the death of our Saviour are many 1. That it was a voluntary delivering up of his spirit this is that which he said Matth. 10.18 No man taketh it from me but I lay it down I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again this commandment have I received of my Father And truly this voluntary delivering up of his soul was well near as great an evidence of his Divinity as his resuming it again so that this very delivering up of his soul converted the Centurion Mar. 15.39 When he saw that he so cryed and gave up the ghost he said Truly this man was the Son of God Now that he thus voluntarily gave up his spirit is evident 1. By the strength of nature that was yet upon him in the very article of his death he cryed with a loud voice 2. That the Thieves who were crucified at the same time dyed not till there was a farther violence used by breaking their legs Joh. 19.32 but he expired to prevent the violence of the Souldiers and to fulfill the type and prophecy Not a bone of him shall be broken Joh. 19.36.3 That the suddenness of his death caused admiration in those that well knew the lingring course of such a death in the Centurion Mar. 15.39 in Pilate Mar. 15.44 which might probably be the cause that the insolent Souldier to secure the assurance of his death pierced his side with a spear Job 19.34 and thereby fulfilled that other Scripture which he never thought of Job 15.37 Now the wonderful occurrences that accompanied our Saviour's death were very many and considerable 1. A strange and particular Fulfilling of the Prophecies and Types that were concerning our Saviour's death and the very individual circumstances that attended it and all to consirm our Faith that this was indeed the Messias and that he was thus delivered over to death by the most certain and pre-determinate Counsel of God The Time of his Death so exactly predicted by Daniel ch 9.v.25 26. the parallel circumstances with the Paschal Lamb in the nature of him a Lamb without spot Exod. 12.5 in the time of his delivery over to death at the Feast of the Passover and the very evening wherein the Passover was to be eaten In the Manner of his Oblation not a bone to be broken Exod. 12.46 again the Manner of his Death by piercing his hands and his feet Psal 22.16 the very Words used by him Psal 22.1 Matth. 27. 46. the Words used of him Psal 22.8 Matth. 27.43 the crucifying of him between Malefactors Isa 53.12 the Whippings Isa 53.5 the Dividing of his Garments and casting Lotts upon his Vesture Psa 22.18 the Thirst of our Saviour upon the Cross and the giving him Vinegar and Gall Psal 69.21 2. A strange and miraculous Concussion of nature giving testimony to the wonderful and unheard of dissolution of our Saviour's body and soul Darkness from the sixth hour until the ninth hour And it is observable in the night wherein he was born by a miraculous light the night became as day Luk. 2.9 but at his death a miraculous darkness turned the day into night for three hours Matth. 27.45 at his birth a new Star was created to be the lamp and guide unto the place of his birth Matth. 2.9 but at his death the Sun in the firmament was masked with darkness and yielded not his light while the Lord of life was passing into the vail of death Again another prodigy that accompanied the death of Christ was an Earthquake that rent the rocks and opened the graves and strake amazement and conviction into the Centurion that was watching him Math. 27.52 53 54. When our Saviour was entring into the earth by death the earth trembled and so it did when he was coming out of it by his Resurrection Matth. 28.2 3. Again the Graves were opened and the dead bodies of the Saints arose As the touch of the bones of Elisha caused a kind of resurrection 2 Kings 13.21 so our Saviour's body new saln to the earth did give a kind of particular resurrection to the Saints bodies to testifie that by his death he had healed the deadliness of the Grave and that the satisfaction for Sin was accomplished when Death the wages of Sin was thus Conquered 4. Again the Vail of the Temple was Rent in twain from the top to the bottom Matth. 27.57 the Vail was that which divided the most holy place from the rest of the Tabernacle Exod. 26.33 and in that most Holy place were contained the mysterious Types the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy-Seat and within this Vail only the high Priest entred once a year when he made an atonement for the People and for the Tabernacle Levit. 16.33 Heb. 9.7 and now at our Saviour's death this vail was rent from the top to the bottom and it imported divers very great Mysteries 1. That now our great High Priest was entring into the most holy with his own blood having thereby made the atonement for us Heb. 9.12 By his own blood he entred once into the most holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us 2. That the Means whereby he entred into the most holy place was by the Rending of his Humanity his soul from his body typified by the rending of that vail and therefore his flesh that is his whole humane nature was the vail Heb. 10.20 Consecrated through the vail that is his flesh 3. That now by the death of Christ all those dark Mysteries vailed up formerly in the most holy the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy-Seat are now rendred open and their Mysteries unfolded Christ the Mediator of the Covenant and the Seat of Mercy and Acceptation unto all believers founded and seated upon him and thereby that Life and
his creature to blessedness and the vision of his Creator 2. That he so ordered the means of man's Redemption that a greater glory came even by that Redemption that if man had never faln and a greater benefit to mankind For the latter it is apparent that if there had been no Mediator sent the least sin that any of the sons of men had committed had been inexorably fatal to them without any means of pardon And as Adam though in his full liberty and power was misled by temptation so might have he been or any of his posterity though he had stood that shock which now is admirably provided against by the satisfaction of Christ Jesus And as thus it is better with the children of men so the glory of God is wonderfully advanced by it for if man had stood in his innocence God had had only the glory of his justice in rewarding him or if he had faln the glory of his justice in punishing him but there had been no room for that glorious attribute of his Mercy in forgiving without violation to his Purity Truth and Justice that glorious attribute by which he so often proclaimeth himself Exod. 34.6 The Lord the Lord God Merciful Gracious Long-suffering abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin and yet that will by no means clear the guilty 3. That he so wonderfully ordered the Redemption of Man that all his Attributes were preserved inviolable His Truth The day thou eatest thou shalt dye his Justice yet his Mercy his Love to his creature yet his Hatred to Sin his Son shall dye to satisfie his Truth and Justice yet the sinner shall live to satisfie his Mercy the sin shall be punished to justifie his Purity yet his creature shall be saved to manifest his Love and Goodness And thus his Wisdom over-ruled Sin the worst of evils to the improvement of his glory and the good of his creature 4. His wisdom is manifested in this that by the redemption of man all those ways of his administration before the coming of Christ do now appear to be excellently ordered to the redemption of man and the making of it the more effectual The giving of a severe and yet most just Law which was impossible for us to fulfil shews us the wretchedness of our condition our inability to fulfil what was just in God to require shews us the necessity of a Saviour drives us to him and makes this City of refuge grateful and acceptable and makes us set a value upon that mercy which so opportunely and mercifully provided a Sacrifice for us in the Blood of Christ and a Righteousness for us in the Merits of Christ and a Mediator for us in the Intercession of Christ And by this means also all those Sacrifices and Ceremonies and Observations enjoyned in the Levitical Law which carried not in themselves a clear reason of their institution are now by the sending of Christ rendred significant 5. The wisdom of God is magnified and advanced in this in fulfilling the Prophecies of the sending the Messias to satisfie for the sins of Mankind against all the oppositions and casualties and contingencies that without an over-ruling wisdom and guidance might have disappointed it And this done in that Perfection that not one circumstance of Time Place Person Concomitants should nor did fail in it and so bearing witness to the infinite Truth Power and Wisdom of God in bringing about his Counsels in their perfection touching this great business of the Redemption of Man which was the very end why he was created and placed upon the earth and managing the villany of men and the craft and malice of Satan to bring about that greatest blessing that was or could be provided for mankind besides and above and against the intention of the Instrument Act. 2.23 Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain 6. The unsearchable Wisdom of God is manifested in that he provided such a Mediator that was fit for so great a work had all the world consulted that God must suffer it had been impossible and had all the world contrived that any man or all the men in the world should have been a satisfactory Sacrifice for any one Sin it had been deficient Here is then the wonderful Counsel of the most high God the Sacrifice that is appointed shall be so ordered that God and Man shall be conjoyned in one Person that so as Man he might become a Sacrifice for Sin and as God he might give a value to the Sacrifice And this is that great Mystery of Godliness God manifested in the flesh 2. The wonderful Love of God to Mankind I. In thinking upon poor sinful creatures to contrive a way for a Pardon for us and rescuing us from that Curse which we had justly deserved 2. Thinking of us for our good when we sought it not thought not of it 3. When we were enemies against God and against his very being 4. Thinking of us not only for a Pardon but to provide for us a state of Glory and Blessedness 5. When that was not to be obtained saving his Truth and Justice without a miraculous Mediator consisting of the divine and humane nature united in one person in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ here was Love and Goodness of the greatest magnitude that ever was or ever shall be heard of and sufficient to conquer our Hearts into admiration and astonishment But yet it rests not here As God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3.16 so the only begotten Son of God was not behind in this wonderful Love No sooner as we may with reverence say was the Counsel of the Father propounded for the sending of his Son but presently the Son saith Lo I come Psal 40.7 Heb. 10.7 And now we will consider upon what terms he must come or else the redemption of mankind must dye for ever I. He must come and empty himself of his Glory of his personal Majesty and take our nature yet without sin he must go through the natural infirmities of infancy and childhood 2. And not only must he undergo this abasement but he must undergo the condition of a mean a low birth born of a poor Virgin in a Stable laid in a Manger under the reputation of a Carpenter's Son 3. And not only thus but as soon as he is born must use the care of his Mother to shift for his life away to Egypt to prevent the jealousie and fury of Herod 4. And when grown up to youth he must undergo the form of a Servant become a poor Carpenter to work for his living without any patrimony or so much as a house to cover him 5. He comes abroad into the World to exercise the Ministry and the Prologue to
his own Tragedy still poor despised of his own Countreymen and of those that were of reputation for Learning and Piety scandalized under the name of an Impostor a Winebibber a friend to Publicans and sinners a worker by the Devil mad and possessed with a Devil These and the like were his entertainments in the World and which is more often put to shift for his life and in sum what the Prophet predicted concerning him fulfilled to the uttermost Isa 53.3 Despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and all this to befall the Eternal Son of God under the vail of our flesh And all this voluntarily undertaken and cheerfully undergone even for the sakes of his Enemies and those very people from whom he received these indignities 3. But all these were but like small velitations and conflicts preparatory to the main Battel We therefore come to the Third Consideration Christ Jesus and him Crucified there is the account of the Text As Christ Jesus is the most worthy subject of all knowledge so Christ Jesus under this consideration as Crucified is that which is the fullest of wonder admiration love And therefore let us now take a survey of Christ Jesus crucified as that is the highest manifestation of his love so it is the eye the life of the Text Christ above all other knowledge and Christ Crucified above all other knowledge of Christ And now a man upon the first view would think this kind of knowledge so much here valued were a strange kind of knowledge and the prelation of this knowledge a strange mistake in the Apostle 1. Crucified Death is the corruption of nature and such a kind of death by crucifixion the worst the vilest of deaths carrying in it the punishment of the lowest condition of men and for the worst of offences and yet that death and such a death should be the ambition of an Apostle's knowledge is wonderful 2. Christ crucified carries in it a seeming excess of incongruity that he that was the Eternal Son of God should take upon him our nature and in that nature annointed and consecrated by the Father full of Innocence Purity Goodness should dye and that by such a death and so unjustly Could this be a subject or matter of knowledge so desireable as to be preferred before all other knowledge which should rather seem to be a matter of so much horrour so much indignation that a man might think it rather fit to be forgotten than to be affected to be known 3. Jesus crucified a Saviour and yet to be crucified it seems to blast the expectation of Salvation when the Captain of it must dye be slain be crucified it carries in it a kind of victory of death and hell over our salvation when the instrument thereof must suffer death and such a death When the Birth of Christ was proclaimed indeed it was matter of joy and worthy the proclamation of Angels Luke 2.12 To you is born this day a Saviour which is Christ the Lord and can the death of that Saviour be a thing desireable to be known The Birth of Christ seemed to be the rising Sun that scattered light hope and comfort to all Nations but can the setting of this Sun in so dark a cloud as the Cross be the choicest piece of knowledge of him which seems as it were to strangle and stifle our hopes and puts us as it were upon the expostulation of the dismay'd Disciples Luke 24.21 But we trusted it had been he which should have redeemed Israel But for all this this knowledge of Christ Jesus crucified will appear to be the most excellent comfortable useful knowledge in the world if we shall consider these Particulars 1. Who it was that suffered 2. What he suffered 3. From whom 4. How he suffered 5. For whom he suffered 6. Why and upon what Motive 7. For what End he suffered 8. What are the fruits and Benefits that accrew by that suffering All these Considerations are wrapt up in this one subject Christ Jesus and him crucified 1. Who it was that thus suffered It was Christ Jesus the Eternal Son of God cloathed in our flesh God and Man united in one Person his manhood giving him a capacity of suffering and his Godhead giving a value to that suffering and each nature united in one person to make a compleat Redeemer the Heir of all things Heb. 1.2 the Prince of Life Acts 3.15 the Light that lighteneth every man that cometh into the world Joh. 1.9 as touching his Divine nature God over all blessed for ever Rom. 9.5 and as touching his Humane nature full of Grace and Truth Joh. 1.14 and in both the beloved Son of the Eternal God in whom he proclaimed himself well pleased Math. 3.17 But could no other person be found that might suffer for the sins of Man but the Son of God Or if the business of our Salvation must be transacted by him alone could it not be without suffering and such suffering as this No. As there was no other Name given under Heaven by which we might be saved nor was there any found besides in the compass of the whole World that could expiate for one sin of man but it must be the Arm of the Almighty that must bring Salvation Isa 63.5 So if the Blessed Son of God will undertake the business and become the Captain of our Salvation he must be made perfect by suffering Heb. 2.10 and if he will stand in the stead of man he must bear the wrath of his Father if he will become sin for man though he knew no sin he must become a curse for man And doubtless this great mystery of the person that suffered cannot choose but be a very high and excellent subject of knowledge so full of wonder and astonishment that the Angels gaze into it And as it is a strange and wonderful thing in it self so doubtless it was ordained to high and wonderful ends bearing a suitableness unto the greatness of the instrument This therefore is the first Consideration that advanceth the excellency of this knowledge the person that was Crucified 2. What he suffered Christ Jesus and him crucified though all the course of his life was a continual suffering and the preamble or walk unto his death which was the end of his life yet this was the completing of all the rest and the tyde and waves of his sufferings did still rise higher and higher till it arrived in this and the several steps and ascents unto the Cross though they began from his Birth yet those which were more immediate began with the preparation to the Passover The Council held by the chief Priests and Scribes for the crucifying of our Saviour was sate upon two days before the Passover Matth. 26.2 Mark 14.1 and this was the first step to Mount Calvary And doubtless it was no small addition to our Saviour's Passion that it was hatched in the Council of the chief