readiness and resoluteness whatsoever calamities or miseries may attend us for Christ's sake or the Gospel's sake Ah what a shame would it be if we should â—ot be always ready to suffer any thing for his sake who hath suffered so much for our sins as is beyond all conception all expression Never was Jacob more gracious and acceptable to his father Isaac than when he stood before him cloathed in the garments of his rough brother Esau then the father smelling the savour of the elder Gen. 27. 27. brothers garments said Behold the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed And never are we more gracious and acceptable to our heavenly father than when we stand before him cloathed in the rough garments of Christ's afflictions and sufferings Oh Christians all your sufferings for Christ they are but in lets to your glorious reigning with Christ Justin Martyr saith that when the Romans did immortalize their Emperours as they called it they brought one to swear that he see him go to Heaven out of the fire but we may see by an eye of faith the blessed souls of Martyrs fly to heaven like Elias in his fiery charriot or like the Angel that appeared to Manoah in the flames By the consent of the School-men all Martyrs shall appear in the Church triumphant bearing the signs of their Christian wounds about them as so many speaking testimonies of their holy courage that what here they endured in the behalf of their Saviour may be there an addition to their glory But Sixthly hath Jesus Christ suffered such great and grievous things for you Oh then in all your fears doubts and conflicts with enemies within or without fly to the sufferings of Christ as your City of refuge Did Christ endure a most ignominious death for thee did he take on him thy sinful person and bare thy sin and death and cross and was made a sacrifice and curse for thee Oh then in all thy inward and outward distresses shelter Psal 90. 1. Psal 91. 1 4 9. thy self under the wings of a suffering Christ I have read of Nero that he had a shirt made of a Salamander's skin so that if he went through the fire in it it would keep him from burning Oh sirs a suffering Christ is this Salamander's skin that will keep the Saints from burning in the midst of burning from suffering in the Dan. 3. 24. 29. Isa 43. 2. midst of sufferings from drowning in the midst of drowning In all the storms that beat upon your inward or your outward man eye the sufferings of Christ lâ—an upon Zach. 13. 10. Cant. 8. 5. 2 Cor. 2. 14. Eph. 6. 14. the sufferings of Christ plead the sufferings of Christ and triumph in the sufferings of Christ It is storied of a Martyr that writing to his wife where she might find him when he was fled from home oh my dear said he Surius in vita sancti Elzearii if thou desirest to see me seek me in the side of Christ in the cleft of the rock in the hollow of his wounds for there I have made my nest there will I dwell there shalt thou find me and no where else but there In every temptation let us look up to a crucified Christ who is fitted Heb. 2. 17 18. cap. 4. 15 16. and qualified to succour tempted souls oh my soul when ever thou art assaulted let the wounds of Christ be thy City of refuge whither thou maist fly and live Let us learn in every tentation which presseth us whether it be sin or death or curse or any other evil to translate it from our selves to Christ and all the good in Christ let us learn to translate it from Christ to our selves Look as the Burgess of a Town or Corporation sitting in the Parliament house beareth the persons of that whole Town or place and what he saith the whole Town saith and what is done to him is done to the whole Town even so Christ upon the cross stood in our Isa 53. 4 5 6. place and bare our sins and whatsoever he suffered we suffered and when he died all the faithful died with him and in him I have read of a gracious woman who being by Satan strongly tempted replyed Satan if thou hast any thing to say to me say it to my surety who has undertaken all for me who hath paid all my debts and satisfied Divine Justice and set all reckonings even between God and my soul Do your sins terrifie you oh then look up to a crucified Saviour who bare your sins in his own body on the Tree 1 Pet. 2. 24. When sin stares you in the face oh then turn your face The strongest Antidote against sin is to look upon sin in the red glass of Christ's blood Auâ—tin to a dying Jesus and behold him with a spear in his side with thorns in his head with nails in his feet and a pardon in his hands Hast thou wounded thy conscience by any great fall or falls O then remember that there is nothing in heaven or earth more efficacious to cure the Bern. Ser. 61. in cant wounds of conscience than a frequent and serious meditation on the wounds of Christ Doth death that rides upon the pale horse look gashly and deadly upon thee Rev. 6. 8. Rom. 5. 6 8. oh then remember that Christ died for you and that by his death he hath swallowed up death in victory Oh 1 Cor. 15. 55 56 57. remember that a crucified Christ hath stripped death of his sting and disarmed it of all its destroying power death may buzz about our ears but it can never sting our souls Look as a crucified Christ hath taken away the guilt of sin though he hath not taken away sin it self so he hath taken away the sting of death though he hath not taken away death it self He spake excellently that said that is not death but life wbich joyns the dying man to Christ Ambrosius in 1 Tim. 5. 6. Death will blow the bud of Grace into the flower of Glory and that is not life but death that separates the living man from Christ Austin longed to die that he might see that head that was crowned with thorns Did Christ die for me saith one that I might live with him I will not therefore desire to live long from him all men go willingly to see him whom they love and shall I be unwilling to die that I may see him whom my soul loves Bernard would have us never to let go out of our minds the thoughts of a crucified Christ let these says he be meat and drink unto you let them be your sweetness and consolation your honey and your desire your reading and your meditation your contemplation your life death and resurrection certainly he that shall live up to this counsel will look upon the King of terrors as the King of desires Are
those sad changes and dreadful providences that would have broke a thousand of such mens hearts upon whom God and Conscience could charge beloved sins bosom sins darling sins But Thirdly In the day of death Death is the King of terrors as Job speaks and the terror of Kings as the Philosopher speaks Oh how terrible will this King of terrors be to that man upon whom God and Conscience can charge beloved sins bosom sins darling sins This is certain when a wicked man comes to die all the sins that ever he committed don 't so grieve him and terrifie him so sad him and sink him and raise such horrors and terrors in him and put him into such a hell on this side Hell as his beloved sins his bosom sins his darling sins and had Saints their beloved sins their bosom sins their darling sins Ah what a Hell of horror and terror would these sins raise in their souls when they come to lye upon a dying Bed But now when a Child of God shall lye upon a dying Bed and shall be able to say Lord thou knowest and Conscience thou knowest that though I have had many and great failings yet there are no beloved sins no bosom sins no darling sins that are chargeable upon me Lord thou knowest and Conscience thou knowest 1. That there is no known sin that I don't hate and abhor 2. That there is no known sin that I don't combat and conflict with 3. That there is no known sin that I don't grieve and mourn over 4. That there is no known sin that I would not presently freely willingly and heartily be rid of 5. That there is no known sin that I don 't in some weak measure endeavour in the use of holy means to be delivered from 6. That there is no known sin the effectual subduing and mortifying of which would not administer matter of the greatest joy and comfort to me Now when God and Conscience shall acquit a man upon a dying Bed of beloved sins of bosom sins of darling sins who can express the joy the comfort the peace the support that such an acquittance will fill a man with Fourthly In the day of Account the vâ—ry thoughts of which day too many is more terrible than Death it self such Christians as are Captivated under the power of this opinion viz. That the Saints have their beloved sins their bosom sins their darling sins such cannot but greatly fear and tremble to appear before the Tribunal of God O! saith such poor hearts how shall we be able to answer for beloved sins our bosom sins our darling sins as for infirmities weaknesses and follies that has attended us we can plead with God and tell him Lord when Grace has been weak Corruptions strong Temptations great and thy Spirit withdrawn and we off from our Watch we have been worsted and captivated But what shall we say as to our beloved sins our bosom sins our darling sins O these fill us with terror and horror and how shall we be able to hold up our heads before the Lord when he shall reckon with us for these sins But now when a poor Child of God thinks of the day of Account and is able through grace to say Lord though we cannot clear our selves of infirmities and many sinful weaknesses yet we can comfortably appeal in thee and our Consciences that we have no beloved sins no bosom sins no darling sins O with what comfort confidence and boldness will such poor hearts hold up their heads in the day of Account when a Christian can plead those six things before a Judgment seat that he pleaded in the third particular when he lay upon a dying Bed how will his fears vanish and how will his hopes and and hopes and heart revive and how comfortably and boldly will he stand before a Judgment-Seat But Ninethly This opinion that is now under consideration has a very great tendancy to discourage and deaden the hearts of Christians to the most noble and spiritual duties of Religion viz. 1. Praising of God 2. Delighting in God 3. Rejoycing in God 4. Admiring of God 5. Taking full content and satisfaction in God 6. Witnessing for God his Truth his Ordinances and ways 7. To self-tryal and self-examination 8. To the making of their Calling and Election sure I cannot see with what comfort confidence or courage such souls can apply themselves to the Eight duties last mentioned who lye under the power of this opinion viz. That Saints have their beloved sins their bosom sins their darling sins But now when a Christian is clear and he can clear himself as every sincere Christian can of beloved sins of bosom sins of darling sins how is he upon the advantage ground to fall in roundly with all the Eight duties last mentioned But Tenthly and lastly This opinion that is now under consideration has a very great tendency to discourage multitudes of Christians from coming to the Lords Table I would willingly know with what comfort with what confidence with what hope with what expectation of good from God or of good from the Ordinance can such Souls draw near to the Lords Table who lye under the power of this opinion or perswasion that they carry about with them their bosom sins their beloved sins their darling sins How can such souls expect that God should meet with them in the Ordinance and bless the Ordinance to them How can such souls expect that God should make that great Ordinance to be strengthening comforting refreshing establishing and enriching unto them How can such souls expect that in that Ordinance God should Seal up to them his Eternal Loves their Interest in Christ their Right to the Covenant their Title to Heaven and the Remission of their sins who bring to his Table their beloved sins their bosom sins their darling sins But now when the People of God draw near to the Table of the Lord and can appeal to God that though they have many sinful failings and infirmities hanging upon them yet they have no beloved sins no bosom sins no darling sins that they carry about with them How comfortably and confidently may they expect that God will make that great Ordinance a blessing to them and that in time all those glorious ends for which that Ordinance was appointed shall be accomplished in them and upon them Now by these ten Arguments you may see the weakness and falseness yea the dangerous nature of that opinion that many worthy men have so long Preacht Maintained and Printed to the World viz. That the Saints have their beloved sins their bosom sins their darling sins neither do I wonder that they should be so sadly out in this particular when I consider how apt men are to receive things by Tradition without bringing of things to a strict examination and when I consider what strange definitions of Faith many famous worthy men have given both in their writings and Preachings and when I consider what a
that appertains to him alone to be able to bring in an everlasting Righteousness and to make reconciliation for Iniquity Dan. 9. 24. It is by Christ alone That they who believe are justified from all things from which they cannot be Ecclâ—s 11 9. cap 12. 14 Matth. 1â— 14. cap. 18. 2â— Luk. 16. 3. Rom. 1â— 10. 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 10. Heb 9. 27. cap. 13. â—7 1 Pet. 4. 5. justified by the Law of Moses Act. 13. 39. Now from the active obedience of Christ a sincere Christian may form up this third plea as to the ten Scriptures in the Margent that refer either to the general judgment or to the particular judgment that will pass upon every Christian immediately after death O! blessed God thou knowest that Jesus Christ as my Surety did perform all that active obedience unto thy holy and righteous Law that I should have performed but by reason of the in-dwelling power of sin and of the vexing and molesting power of sin and of the captivating power of sin could not There was in Christ an habitual righteousness a conformity of his nature to the holiness of the Law for 1 Pet. 1. 19. he is a Lamb without spot and blemish the Law could never have required so much righteousness as is to be found in him and as for practical righteousness there was never any aberration in his thoughts words or deeds Hâ—b 7. 26. The Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me John 14. 30. The Apostle tells us That we are made the Righteousness of God in him he doth emphatically add that clause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 6. 21. in him that he may take away all conceit of inherence in us and establish the Doctrine of imputation As Christ is made sin in us by imputation so we are made righteousness in him by the same way Augustines place which Beza cites is a most full Commentary God the Father saith he made him to be sin who know no sin that we might be the Righteousness of God not our own and in him that is in Christ not in our selves and being thus justified we are so Righteous as if we were Righteousness it self O! holy God Christ my Surety hath universally kept thy Royal Law he hath not offended in any one point yea he hath exactly and perfectly kept the whole Law of God he stood compleat in the whole will of the Father his active obedience was so full so perfect and so adaequate to all the Laws demands that the Law could not but say I have enough I am fully satisfied I have found a Ransom I can ask no more Neither was the obedience of Christ fickle or transient but permanent and constant it was his delight his meat and drink yea his Heaven to be still a doing the will of his Father Assuredly whilst our Lord Joh. 4. 33 34. Jesus Christ was in this world he did in his own person fully obey the Law he did in his own person perfectly conform to all the holy just and righteous commands of the Law Now this his most perfect and compleat obedience to the Law is made over to all his Members to all Believers to all sincere Christians it is reckoned to them it is imputed to them as if they themselves in their own persons had performed it All sound Believers being in Christ as their head and Surety the Laws righteousness is fulfilled in them legally and imputively though it be not fulfilled in them formally subjectively inherently or personally sutable to that of the Apostle That the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us mark not by us but in us for Christ in our Nature Râ—m 8 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Beza well tenders 〈◊〉 legis that the right of the Law might be fulfilled in us hath fulfilled the right of the Law and therefore in us because of our communion with him and our ingrafting into him God hath condemned sin the flesh of his Son that all that which the Law by a right could require of us might be performed by him for us so as if we our selves had in our own persons performed the same The Law must have its right before a Sinner can be saved we cannot of our selves fulfil the right of it But here 's the comfort Christ our Surety hath fulfilled it in us and we have fulfilled it in him Certainly whatsoever Christ did concerning the Law is ours by imputation so fully as if our selves had done it Do's the Law require obedience saith Christ I will give it Do's the Law threaten Curses saith Christ Math 3 15. cap. 5 17 18 they shall be borne The precept of the Law saith Christ shall be kept and the promises received and the punishments endured that poor Sinners may be saved Our Righteousness and Title to eternal life do indispensably depend upon the imputation of Christs active obedience to us there must be a perfect obeying of the Law as the condition of life either by the Sinner himself or by his Surety or else no life which doth sufficiently evince the absolute necessity of the imputation of Christs active obedience to us the Sinner himself being altogether unable to fulfil the Law that he may stand Righteous before the great and glorious God Christs fulfilling of it must necessarily be imputed to him in order to righteousness There are two great things which Jesus Christ did undertake for his redeemed ones the one was to make full satisfaction to Divine Justice for all their sins Now this he did by his Blood and Death the other was to yield most absolute conformity to the Law of God both in nature and life by the one he has freed all his Redeemed ones from Hell and by the other he has qualified all his Redeemed ones from Heaven This is my Plea O Lord and by this plea I shall stand Well saith the Lord I accept of this plea as honourable just and righteous Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Secondly As Jesus Christ did for us perform all that active obedience which the Law of God required so he did also suffer all those punishments which we had deserved by the transgression of the Law of God in which respect he is said 2 Cor. 2. 22. To be made sin for us 1 Pet. 2. 24. Himself to bear our sins in his own body on the Tree 1 Pet. 3. 18. For Christ also hath once suffered for sin the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God Phil. 2. 8. To humble himself and to become obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Gal. 3. 13. To be made a Curse an Exceration for us Ephe. 5. 2. To give himself for us an Offering and Sacrifice unto God Heb. 9. 15. And for this cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament that by means of Death for the Redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which
Fifthly To say peremptorily he suffered what is it but to say that he principally suffered that he excessively suffered To say he suffered What is it but to say he was the cheif sufferer the arch sufferer and that not only in respect of the manner of his sufferings that he suffered absolutely so as never did any but also in respect of the measure of his sufferings that he suffered excessively beyond what ever any did And thus we may well understand and take those words He suffered That lamentation of the Prophet Lam. 1. 12. is very applicable to Christ Behold and see if there be any sorrows like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fiorce anger Now is it not enough for the Apostle to say that Christ hath suffered but will you yet ask what But pray Friends be satisfied and rather of the two ask what not for what sufferings can you think of that Christ did not suffer Christ suffered in his Birth and he suffered in his Life and he suffered in his Death he suffered in his Body for he was diversly tormented he suffered in his Soul for his Soul was heavy unto death he suffered in his Estate they parted his Rayment and he had not where to rest his head he suffered in his good Name for he was counted a Samaritan a Devillish Sorcerer a Wine-bibber an Enemy to Caesar c. He suffered from Heaven when he cryed out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me He suffered from the Earth when being hungry the Fig-tree proved fruitless to him He suffered from Hell Satan assaulting and encountering of him with his most black and horrid temptations He began his life meanly and basely and was sharply persecuted He continued his life poorly and distressedly and was cruelly hated He ended his life wofully and miserably and was most grievously tormented with Whips Thorns Nails and above all with the terrors of his Fathers wrath and horrors of hellish agonies Ego sum qui peccavi I am the man that have sinned but these Sheep what have they done said David when he saw the Angel destroying his people 2 Sam. 24. 17. And the same speech may every one of us take up for our selves and apply to Christ and say I have sinned I have done wickedly but this Sheep what hath he done yea much more cause have we than David had to take up this complaint For First David saw them dye whom he knew to be Sinners but we see him dye who we knew knew no sin 2 Cor. 5. 21. But Secondly David saw them dye a quick speedy death we see him dye with lingering torments He was a dying from six to nine Math. 27. 45 46. Now in this three hours darkness he was set upon by all the powers of darkness with utmost might and malice but he foyled and spoiled them all and made an open shew of them as the Roman Conquerors used to do triumphing over them on his Cross as on his Chariot of State Col. 2. 15. attended by his vanquished Enemies with their hands bound behind them Ephe. 4. 8. But Thirdly David saw them dye who by their own confession was worth ten thousand of them we see him dye for us whose worth admitteth no comparison But Fourthly David saw the Lord of glory destroying mortal men and we see mortal men destroying the Lord of glory 1 Cor. 2. 8. O how much more cause have we then to say as David I have sinned I have done wickedly but this Innocent Lamb the Lord Jesus what hath he done what hath he deserved that he should be thus greatly tormented Tully though a great Orator yet when he comes to speak of the death of the Cross he wants words to express it Quid dicam in crucem tollere What shall I say of this death saith he But Thirdly As the sufferings of Christ were very great so the punishments which Christ did suffer for our sins these were in their kinds and parts and degrees and proportion all those punishments which were due unto us by reason of our sins which we our selves should otherwise have suffered Whatsoever we should have suffered as Sinners all that did Christ suffer as our Surety and Mediator always excepting those punishments which could not be endured without a pollution and guilt of sinâ— The chasrisement of our peace was upon him Isa 53. 5. And including the punishments common to the nature of man not the personal arising out of imperfection and defect and distemper Now the punishments due to us for sin were corporal and spiritual And again they were the punishments of loss and of sense and all these did Christ suffer for us which I shall evidence by an induction of particulars First That Christ suffered corporal punishments is most clear in Scripture You read of the Injuries to his Person of the Crown of Throns on his Head of the smiting of his Cheeks of spitting on his Face of the scourging of his Body of the Cross on his Back of the Vinegar in his Mouth of the Nails in his Hands and Feet of the Spear in his Side and of his crucifying and dying on the Cross 1 Pet. 2. 24. Who himself in his own body on the Tree bare our sins 1 Cor. 15. 3. Christ dyed for our sins according to the Scriptures Rev. 1. 5. And washed us from our sins in his own Blood Col. 1. 14. In whom we have Redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of sins Math. 26. 28. For this is my Blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins Christ suffered derision in every one of his Offices First In his Kingly Office They put a Scepter in his Hand a Crown on his Head and bowed their Knees saying Hail King of the Jews Matth. 27. 29. Secondly In his Priestly Office They put upon him a gorgeous white Robe such as the Priests wore Luk. 23. 11. Thirdly In his Prophetical Office When they had blindfolded him Prophesie say they who it is that smiteth thee Luk. 22. 64. Sometimes they said Thou art a Samaritan and hast a Devil Joh. 8. 48. And sometimes they said He is beside himself why hear ye him Mark 3. 21. And as Christ suffered in every one of his Offices so he suffered in every member of his Body in his Hearing by their reproaches and crying Crucifie him Crucifie him In his sight by their Scoffings and scornful gestures In his Smell in his being in that noysome place Gâ—lgotha Math. 27. 33. In his Tast by his tasting of Vinegar mingled with Gall which they gave him to drink Math. 27. 33. In his Feeling by the Thorns on his Head blows on his Cheeks spittle on his Face the Spear in his side and the Nails in his Hands he suffered in all parts and members of his body from head to foot His Head which deserved a better Crown than the best in
an offering for sin Ergo Christ offered his Soul as well as his Body Again Our Saviour himself saith My Soul is Math. 26. 38. very heavy unto death Certainly it was not the bodily death which Christ seared for then he should have been weaker than many Martyrs yea than many of the Romans who made no more of dying than of dining therefore Christs Soul was verily and properly stricken with heaviness and not with the beholding of bodily torments only as some dream But Fourthly That whereby Adam and we ever since do most properly commit sin by the same hath Christ the second Adam made satisfaction properly for our sin but Adam did and we all do properly commit sin in our souls our bodies being but the instruments Ergo Christ by and in his soul hath properly made satisfaction First The truth of the proposition is confirmed by the Apostle As by one mans disobediâ—nce we are made Sinners so by the Rom. 5 19. obedience of one many shall be made Righteous Christ then satisfied for us by the same wherein Adam disobeyed Nâ—w Adams soul was in the transgression as well as his body and accordingly was Christs very soul in his sufferings and satisfaction and Christ obeyed that is in his soul for obedience belongeth to the soul as one observeth upon those words of the Apostle Phil. 2. 8. He became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Who Agatho Epist ad Constantin upon Phil. 2. 8. doth not understand saith the same Author that obedience doth belong to the humane will That there is a kind of dying in the soul when it is pierced with grief besides the death of the soul either by sin or damnation is not disagreeing to the Scripture Simâ—on saith to Mary A sword shall pierce through thy soul Luk. 2 35. Look as then the body dyeth being pierced with a sword so the soul may be said to dye or languish when it is pierced with grief what else is Crucifying but dying Now the soul is said to be Crucified as is evident by that passage of the Apostle I am Crucified to the World when as yet his body was alive So Ambrose doubts not to say Gal. 6. 14. Mens mea in Christo Crucifixa est My soul was Crucified Ambâ—ose lib. 5. â—â— Luc. in Christ that is Christ in His Soul was Crucified which he calleth our soul because he did assume our soul and body or else where he saith Mea est voluntas quam suam dixit Ambrâ—se lib. 2. de sid c. 3. c. It is my will which he calleth his it is my heaviness which he took with my affections yet was it properly and personally Christs Soul and Will but ours by community of nature Secondly For the Assumption 1. Howsoever it be admitted that the body is the instrument of the soul both in sinning and suffering yet the conclusion is this That because sin is committed in the soul principally and properly therefore the satisfaction must be made in the soul principally and properly If this conclusion be granted we have that we would for the bodily pains affecting the soul are not the proper passions of the soul neither is the soul said to suffer properly when the body suffereth but by way of compassion and consent 2. We grant that in the proper and immediate sufferings of the soul the body also is affected As when Christ was in his Agony in the Garden his whole body was therewith stirred and mâ—â—â— and that it did sweat drops of blood But it is one thing when the grief beginneth immediatly in the soul and so affecteth the body and when the pain is first infliâ—ted upon the body and so worketh upon the soul there the soul suffereth properly and principally of which sufferings we speak here neither properly nor principally which is not the thing in question 3. It is not the reasonable soul that is affected with the body for it is a ground in Philosophy that the soul suffereth not but only the sensitive part But the grief that we speak of that is satisfactory for sin must be in the very reasonable soul where sin took the beginning and so Ambrose saith upon those words of Christ Ambrose de Incarnat cap. 7. My Soul is heavy to death Ad rationabilis assumptionem animae c. naturae humanae refertur affectum It is referred to the assumption of the reasonable soul and humane affection Pride Ambition Infidelity began in Adams soul and had their determination there in the committing of those sins the body had no part indeed with the ear they heard the suggestion of Satan but it was no sin till in their minds they had consented unto it Wherefore seeing the first sin committed was properly and wholly in the soul for the same the soul must properly and wholly satisfie Because sin took beginning from Adams soul the satisfaction also must begin in Christs Soul as Ambrose saith Inciplo in Christo vincere unde in Adam victus sum Ambrose lib 4. in Luc. I begin there to win in Christ where in Adam I was overcome Then it followeth that the sufferings of Christs soul took beginning there and were not derived by simpathy from the stripes and pain of the body We infer then that therefore Christs Soul had proper and immediate sufferings besides those which proceeded from simpathy with his body and all Christs sufferings were satisfactory Ergo Christ did satisfie for our sins properly and immediatly in his soul But if you please take this fourth Argument in another form of words thus The punishment which was pronounced against the first Adam our first Surety and in him against us that same did Christ the second Adam our next and best Surety bear for us or else it must still lye upon us to suffer it But the punishment threatned and denounced against Adam for transgression was not only corporal respecting our bodyes but spiritual also respecting our souls There was a spiritual malediction due unto our souls as well as a corporal c. Look as God put a Sanction on the Law and Covenant of works made with all of us in Adam that he and his should be liable to death both of body and soul which Covenant being broken by sin all Sinners became obnoxious to the death both of body and soul so it was necessary that the Redeemed should be delivered from the death of both by the Redeemers tasting of death in both kinds as much as should be sufficient for their Redemption O Sirs as sin infected the whole Man soul and body and the Curse following on sin left no part nor power of the mans soul free so Justice required that the Redeemer coming in the room of the persons Redeemed should feel the force of the Curse both in body and soul But Fifthly He shall see of the travel of his soul Isa 53. Here the soul is taken properly and the travel of Christs
off from the land of the living his life was taken from off the earth 3. As Acts 9. 33. Heb. 9. 14. 2 Pet. 3. 13 this Goat was not killed so Christ through the eternal Spirit offered up himself whereby he was made alive after death Though Christ Jesus died for our sins acording to his his Humanity yet death could not detain him nor overcome him nor keep him prisoner but by vertue of his impassible Deity he rises again and triumphs over Hos 13. 14. death and the grave and over principalities and powers Col. 2. 13. 4. As this Goat went into an inhabitable place so Christ went into heaven whither I go ye cannot come Christ Joh. 13. 33. speaks this not to exclude his Disciples out of heaven Vers 36. but only to shew that their entrance was put off for a time Saints must not expect to go to heaven and rest with Christ till they have fought the good fight of faith 2 Tim. â— 7 8. Heb. 12. 1. 1 Cor. 9 24. Act. 13. 30. finished their course run their race and served their generation Christ's own children by all their studies prayers tears and endeavours cannot get to heaven unless Joh. 14. 1 2 3. Christ come and fetches them thither Christ's own servants cannot get to heaven presently nor of themselves no more than the Jews could do Now if you please to cast your eye upon the Lord Jesus you will find and exact correspondency between the Type and the Antitype the one fully answering to the other Did they carry substitution in them that eminently was in Christ he indeed substituted himself in the sinners room he took our guilt upon him and put himself in our place and died in our stead he died that we might not die Whatever we should have undergone that he underwent in his body and soul he did bear as our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the punishments and torments that were due to us Christ's suffering dying satisfying in our stead is the great Article of a Christian's Faith and the main prop and foundation of the believers hope It is bottomed as an eternal and unmovable truth upon the sure Basis of the blessed Word Substitution in the case of the old sacrifices is not so evidently held forth in the Law but substitution with respect to Christ and his sacrifice is more evidently set forth in the Gospel Ponder seriously upon these Texts Rom. 5. 6. For when we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly vers 8. But God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Herein God lays naked to us the tenderest bowels of his fatherly This shews us the greatness of mans sin and of Christs love of Satans malice and of Gods Justice and it shews us the madness and blindness of the Popish Religion which tellâ— us that some â—â—â— are so light â—enial as that the sprinkling of holy water and ashes will pâ—rge them away compassions as in an Anatomy There was an absolute necessity of Christ's dying for sinners for 1. God's Justice had decreed it 2. His Word had foretold it 3. The Sacrifices in the Law had prefigured it 4. The foulness of mans sin had dâ—served it 5. The Redemption of man called for it 6. The glory of God was greatly exalted by it So 1 Pet. 3. 18. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust To see Christ the just suffer in the stead of the unjust is the wonderment of Angels and the torment of Devils 1 Pet. 4. 1. Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh c. that is in the humane nature for the expâ—ation and taking away of our sins 1 Pet. 2. 21. Because Christ also suffered for us Joh. 10. 11. I lay down my life for the sheep this good Shepherd lays down life for life his own dear life for the life of his sheep Joh. 11. 50. Nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation perish not that is rather than the whole nation should perish Caiaphas took it for granted that either Christ or their Nation must perish and as he foolishly thought that of two evils he designed the least to be chosen that is that Christ should rather perish than their Nation but God so guided his tongue that he unwittingly by the powerful instinct of the Spirit prophesied of the fruit of Christ's death for the reconciliation and salvation of the elect of God Heb. 2. 9. That he by the grace of God should taste death for every man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or for every creature who all these be the Context sheweth 1. Sons that must be led unto glory ver 10. 2. Christ's Brethren ver 11. 3. Such children as are given by God unto Christ ver 13. In all which Scriptures the preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used which most commonly notes substitution the doing or suffering of something by one in the stead and place of others and so 't is all along here to be taken But there is another preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that proves the thing I am upon undeniably Matth. 20. 28. Even as the Son of man came not to be ministred unto Matth. 20. 28. but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a Redemptory price a valuable rate for it was the Blood of God wherewith the Church was purchased 1 Tim. 2. 6. Who gave Acts 20. 28. himself a ransom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for all the Greek word signifies a counterprice such as we could never have paid but must have remained everlasting prisoners to the wrath and justice of God O sirs Christ did not barely deliver poor captive souls but he delivered them in the way of a ransom which ransom he paid down upon the nail when their ransom was ten thousand talents Matth. 18. 24. and they had not one farthing to lay down Christ stand up in their room and pays the whole ransom Every one knows that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in composition signifies but two things â—ither opposition and contrariety or substitution and â—â—â—autation So that the matter will thus issue 1 Joh. 2. 18. Rom. 1â— 17. Matth. 5. 38. That eiâ—her we must carry it thus That Christ gave himself a ransom against sinners than which nothing can be more absurd and false or else thus That he gave himself a ransom in the room and stead of sinners which is as true as truth it self Certainly no head can invent no heart can conceive nor no tongue can express more clear plain pregnant and apposit words and phrases for the setting forth of Christ's substitution than is to be found in that golden Chapter of Isai 53. In this Chapter as in a holy Armory we
therefore we read the Text thus He struck Jesus with the palm of his hand that is with open hand or with his hand stretched out Some of the Ancients commenting on this cuff say Let the Heavens be afraid and let the Earth tremble at Christs Crysostâ—m Hom. 81. in John c. 18. patience and this Servants impudence O ye Angels how were ye silent how could you contain your hands when you saw his hand striking at God If we consider him Aug. in Trall 13. saith another who took the blow was not he that struck him worthy to be consumed of fire or to be swallowed up of Earth or to be given up to Satan and thrown down into Hell Bernard saith that his hand that struck Christ was Ber. ser de pas vinc Serm. de pas Ludo de vita Christi armed with an iron glove And Vincentius affirms That by the blow Christ was felled to the Earth And Ludovicus adds that blood gushed out of his mouth and that the impression of the Varlets fingers remained on Christs cheek with a tumour and wan colour If a Subject should but lift up his hand against his Soveraign would he not be severely punished but should he strike him would it not be present death O what desperate madness and wickedness was it then to strike the King of Kings and Lord of Lords whom not only men but the Cherubims and Siraphims Rev. 17. 16. and all the Celestial powers above adore and worship Heb. 1. 6. Those Monsters in that Math. 26. 67. did not only strike Christ with the palm of their hands but they buffeted him also Now some of the Learned observe this difference betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one is given with the open hand the other with the fist shut up and thus they used him at this time they struck him with their fists and so the stroke was greater and more offensive for by this means they made his face to swell and to become full of bunches all over One gives it in thus by these blows of their fists his whole head was swollen his face became black and blew and his teeth ready to fall out of his jaws Very probable it is that with the violence of their stroaks they made him reel and stagger they made his mouth and nose and face to bleed and his eyes to startle in his head Now concerning Christs sufferings on the Cross I shall only hint at a few things and so close up this particular concerning Christs corporeal sufferings take me thus First The death of Christ on the Cross It was a bitter death a sorrowful death a bloody death the bitter thoughts of his sufferings put him into a most dreadful agony Luk. 22. 24. Being in an agony he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was as great drops of blood falling to the ground The Greek word that is here used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a striving or wrestling against as two combatants or wrestlers do strive each against other The things which our Saviour strove against was not only the terrour of death as other men are wont to do for then many Christians and Martyrs might have seemed more constant and couragious than he but with the terrible justice of God pouring out his high anger and indignation upon him on the account of all the sins of his chosen that Isa 53 4 5 6. were laid upon him then which nothing could be more dreadful Christ was in a vehement conflict in his soul through the deepest sense of his Fathers wrath against sinners for whom he now stood as a Surety and Redeemer 2 Cor. 5. 21. And for a close of this particular let me say that Gods justice which we have provoked being fully satisfied by the inestimable merit of Christs passion is the surest and highest ground of consolation that we have in this world but for the more full opinion of this blessed Scripture let us take notice of these following particulars First His sweat was as it were blood Some of the Antients looks upon these words only as a similitude or figurative hyberbole it being a usual kind of speech to call a vehement sweat a bloody sweat as he that weeps bitterly is said to weep tears of blood but the most and best of the Antients understand the words in a literal sense and believe it was truly and properly a bloody sweat and with them I close But some will object and say it was sicut guttae sanguinis as it were drops of blood Now to this I answer First If the Holy-Ghost had only intended that sicut for a similitude or hyperbole he would rather have exprest it as it were drops of nature than as it were drops of blood for we all know that sweat is more like to water than to blood But Secondly I answer that sicut as in Scripture-phrase doth not always denote a similitude but somtimes the very thing it self according to the verity of it Take an instance or two instead of many We beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father and their words seemed to them as it were idle tales and they believed them not the words in the original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the same Certainly Christs sweat in the Garden was a wonderful sweat not a sweat of water but of red gore-blood But Secondly He sweat great drops of blood clotty blood issuing through flesh and skin in great abundance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 clottered or congealed blood There is a thin faint sweat and there is a thick clotted sweat in this sweat of Christ blood came not from him in small dews but in great drops they were drops and great drops of blood crassy and thick drops Some read it droppings down of blood that is blood distilling in greater and grosser drops and hence it is concluded as preternatural for though much may be said for sweating blood in a course of Nature according to what Aristotle affirms Arist 〈◊〉 3. de hist Animal c. 29 August h. 14. de civit dei c 24. and Austin saith that he knew a man that could sweat blood even when he pleased it is granted on all hands that in faint bodies a subtile thin blood like sweat may pass through the pores of the skin but that through the same pores crassy thick great drops of blood should issue out it was not it could not be without a miracle Certainly the drops of blood that fell from Christs body were great very great yea so great as if they had started through his skin to out-run the streams and rivers of his Cross But Thirdly These great drops of blood did not only di 〈…〉 llare drop out but decurrere run down like a stream so fast as if they had issued out of most deadly wounds They were great drops of blood falling down to the ground Here is
was heavy unto death beset with terrors as the word implies when he drank that bitter cup that cup of bitterness that cup mingled with curses which made him sweat drops of blood which if men or Angels had but sip'd of 't would have made them reel stagger and tumble into Hell The Soul of Christ was over-cast with a Cloud of Gods displeasure The Greek Church speaking of the sufferings of Christ calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unknown sufferings Ah Christians who can speak out this sorrow The spirit of a man will sustain Pâ—ov 18. 11. his infirmity but a wounded spirit who can bear Christs Soul is sorrowful but give me that word again his Soul is exceeding sorrowful but if that word be yet too low then I must tell you That his Soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto death not only extensively such as must continue for the space of seventeen or eighteen hours even until death it self should finish it but also intensively such and so great as that which is used to be at the very point of death and such as were able to bring death it self had not Christ been reserved to a greater and heavier punishment of this sorrow is that especially spoken Behold Lament 1. 12. and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger Many a sad and sorrowful Soul hath no question been in the world but the like sorrow to this was never since the Creation the very terms or phrases used by the Evangelists speaks no less He was sorrowful and heavy saith one amazed and very heavy saith another in an Agony saith a third in a Soul-trouble saith a fourth Certainly the bodily torments of the Cross were much inferior to the Agony of his Soul the pain of the body is the body of pain Oh but the very soul of sorrow is the Souls sorrow and the very soul of pain is the Souls pain Secondly That which Christ assumed or took of our nature he assumed to this end to suffer in it and by suffering to save and redeem it But he took the whole nature of man both body and soul ergo He suffered in both first the assumption is evident and needs no proof that Christ took upon him both our soul and body the Apostle assures us where he saith That in all things it became Heb. 2. 17. him to be like unto us therefore he had both body and soul as we have Secondly Concerning the proposition viz. That what Christ took of our nature He took it by suffering in it properly and immediatly to Redeem us Now this is evident by that blessed word where the Apostle saith Christ took part with them that he might destroy vers 14 15. through death him that had the power of death that is the Devil and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Hence I reason thus that wherein Christ delivered us he took part with us in but he delivered us from fear of death Ergo he did therein communicate with us Now marke This fear was the proper and immediate passion of the Soul namely the fear of death and God's anger And the Text giveth this sense Because the fear of this death kept them in bondage but the sear only of the bodily death doth not bring us into such bondage witness that Song of Zachery That we being delivered from the hands of our Enemies Luke 1. 74. should serve him without fear this then is a spiritual fear from the which Christ did deliver us Ergo He did communicate with us in this fear for the Apostle saith Heb. 2. 18. In that wherein he suffered and was tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted Certainly that fear which fell on Christ was a real fear and it was in his Soul and did not arise from the meer contemplation of bodily torments only for the very Martyrs in the encountering with them have feared little Assuredly there was some great matter that lay upon the very Soul of Christ which made him so heavy and sorrowsul and so afraid and in such an Agony But if you please take this second Argument in another form of words thus What Christ took of ours that He in suffering offered up for us for His assuming of our Nature was for this end to suffer for us in our Nature but he took our Nature in Body and in Soul and he delivered our souls as well as our bodys and the sins of our souls did need his Sacrifice as well as the sins of our bodys and our souls were Crucified with Christ as well as our bodys Mens mea in Christo Crucisixa est saith Ambrose Surely if our whole man was lost then our whole man did need the benefit and help of a whole Saviour and if Christ had assumed only our flesh our body then our souls adjudged adjudged to punishment had remained under transgression without hope of pardon Several sayings of the Ancients doth further strengthen this Argument take a tast of some Si totus homo periit totus benesiâ—io salvateris indiguit c. If the whole man perished August â—ont Feliâ—i n. c. 13. the whole man needed a Saviour Christ therefore took the whole man body and soul if he had taken only flesh the soul should remain addict to punishment of the first transgression without hope of pardon By the same reason Christ must also suffer properly in soul because not by taking our soul but by satisfying in his soul our soul is delivered Suscepit animum meam Suscepit corpus meum Ambrose Ambrose He took all our passions or affections to sanctifie them Damaâ—cene Hâ—b 5. 9. all in himself but Christ was Sanctified and Consecrated by his death and so doth he consecrate us For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10. 14. Ergo By his offering of our soul and suffering in our soul hath he consecrated our soul and affections Suscepit affectum meum ut emanduret He took my affection to amend it c. Now he hath amended it in that he consecrated it by his offering Heb. 10. 14. Iâ—llud pro nobis suscepit quod in nobis amplius pâ—riclitabatur He hath taken that for us which was most in danger for us c. that is our soul as he expoundeth it de incarnat c. 7. But Christ hath not otherwise delivered us from the danger but by entring into the danger for us this danger of the soul is the fear and feeling of Gods wrath Thirdly Christ bore our sorrows Isa 53. 4. Now what sorrows should we bear but the sorrows due unto us for our sins and surely these were not corporal only but spiritual also and those did Christ bear in his soul The same Prophet saith ver 10. He shall make his soul
should in a physical sense suffer which indeed is impossible yet these sufferings did so affect the Person that it may truly be said that God suffered and by his blood bought his people to himself for albeit the Act. 20. 28. 1 Pet. 1. 18 19 20. 1 Cor. 6. 20. cap. 7. 23. proper and formal subject of physical sufferings be only the humane Nature yet the principal subject of sufferings both in a physical and moral sense is Christs Person God and Man from the dignity whereof the worth and excellency of all sorts of sufferings the merit and the satisfactory sufficiency of the price did flow O Sirs you must seriously consider that though Christ as God in his God-head could not suffer in a physical sense yet in a moral sense he might suffer and did suffer For he being in the form of God thought it not robbery Phil. 2. 6 7 8. to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a Man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross O! who can sum up the contradictions the railings the revilings the contempts the despisings and calumnies that Christ met with from Sinners yea from the worst of Sinners But how could so low a debasing of the Son of man or of the humane nature assumed by Christ consist with the Object 2 Majesty of the Person of the Son of God We must distinguish those things in Christ which are Answ proper to either of the two Natures from those things which are ascribed to his Person in respect of either of the Natures or both the Natures for infirmity physical suffering or mortality are proper to the humane Nature The glory of power and grace and mercy and super-excellent Majesty and such like are proper to the Diety but the sufferings of the humane Nature are so far from diminishing the glory of the divine Nature that they do manifest the same and make it appear more clearly and gloriously for by how much the humane Nature was weakned depressed and despised for our sins for our sakes by so much the more the love of Christ God and Man in one person toward man and his mercy and power and grace to man do shine in the eyes of all that judiciously do look upon him Object How could Christ indure Hell-fire without Obj. 3 grievous sins as blasphemy and despair c. I Answer That we may walk safely and without offence Answ these things must be premised First That the sorrows and sufferings of Hell be no otherwise attributed to Christ than as they may stand with the dignity and worthiness of his Person the holiness of his Nature and the performance of the office and work of our Redemption First then for the soul of Christ to suffer in the local place of Hell to remain in the darkness thereof and to be tormented with the material flames there and eternally to be damned was not for the dignity of his Person to whom for his excellency and worthiness both the place manner and time of those torments were dispensed with Secondly Final Rejection and Desperation Blasphemy and the worm of Conscience agreeth not with the holiness of his Nature Who was a Lamb without a spot and therefore we do not we dare not ascribe them to him Heb. 9. 14. 1 Pet. 1. 19. But Thirdly Destruction of body and soul which is the second death could not fall upon Christ for this were to have destroyed the work of our Redemption if he had been subject to destruction But Fourthly and lastly Blasphemy and Despair are no parts of the pains of the damned but the consequents and follow the sense of Gods wrath in a sinful Creature that is overcome by it But Christ had no sin of his own neither was he overcome of wrath and therefore he always Rev. 16. 9. 11. held fast his integrity and innocency Despair is an unavoidable Companion attending the pains of the second death as all Reprobates do experience Desperation is an utter hopelesness of any good and a certain expectation and waiting on the worst that can befall and this is the lot and portion of the damned in Hell The wretched sinner in Hell seeing the sentence passed against him Gods purpose fulfilled never to be reversed the gates of Hell made fast upon him and a great Gulf fixt Luk. 16. 26. betwixt Hell and Heaven which renders his escape impossible He now gives up all and reckons on nothing but uttermost misery Now mark this despair is not an essential part of the second death but only a consequent or at the most an effect occasioned by the sinners view of his irremediless woful condition but this neither did nor could possibly befall the Lord Jesus He was able by the power of his God-head both to suffer and to satisfie and to overcome therefore he expected a good issue and Psal 16. 9 10. Act. 2. 26 27 28 31. knew that the end should be happy and that he should not be ashamed Isa 5. 6 7. c. Though a very shallow stream would easily drown a little Child there being no hope of escape for it unless one or another should step in seasonably to prevent it Yet a man that is grown up may groundedly hope to escape out of a far more deep and dangerous place because by reason of his stature strength and skill he could wade or swim out Surely the wrath of the Almighty manifested in Hell is like the vast Ocean or some broad deep River and therefore when the sinful Sons and Daughters of Adam which are Rom. 5. 6. without strength are hurl'd into the mid'st of it they must needs lye down in their confusion as altogether hopeless of deliverance or escaping but this despair could not seize upon Jesus Christ because although his Father took Isa 63. 1 2 3. him cast him into the Sea of his wrath so that all the billows of it went over him yet being the mighty God with whom nothing is impossible he was very able to pass through that Sea of wrath and sorrow which would have drowned all the world and come safe to shore Object But when did Christ suffer Hellish Torments Obj. 4 they are inflicted after death not usually before it but Christs soul went strait after death into Paradise how else could he say to the penitent Thief This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Now to this Objection I shall give these following Answers First That Christs soul after his Passion upon the Cross did not really and locally descend into the place of the damned may be thus made evident First All the Evangelists and so Luke among the rest 1. Luk. 1. 3. intending to make an exact Narrative of the life and death of Christ hath set down at large his Passion Death
cannot be satisfied for the transgression of the Law but by the death of the Sinner but it doth not require that this should be done in the place of the damned The wicked go to Prison because they do not they cannot make satisfaction otherwise Christ having fully discharged the debt needed not go to Prison Object But the pains and torments that are due to mans Obj. 5 sins are to be everlasting and how then can Christs short sufferings countervail them Answ That Christs sufferings in his soul and body Answ were equivalent to it although to speak properly Eternity is not of the essence of death which is the reward of sin and threatned by God but its accidental because man thus dying is never able to satisfie God therefore seeing he cannot pay the last farthing he is for Math. 18 28. 35. ever kept in Prison Look as eternal death hath in it eternity despair necessarily in all those that so die so Christ could not suffer but what was wanting in duration was supplyed 1. By the immensity of his sorrows conflicting with the sense of Gods wrath because of our sins imputed to him so that he suffered more grief then if the sorrows of all men were put together Christs Hell sorrows on the Cross were meritorious and fully satisfactory Isa 53. for our everlasting punishment and therefore in greatness were to exceed all other mens sorrows as being answerable to Gods justice 2. By the dignity and worth of him that did suffer Therefore the Scripture calls it the blood of God The damned must bear the wrath of God to all Eternity because they can never satisfie the justice of God for sin therefore they must lye by it world without end but Christ hath made an infinit satisfaction in a finit time by undergoing that fierce battel with the wrath of God and getting the Victory in a few hours which is equivalent to the Creatures bearing it and grapling with it everlastingly This length or shortness of durance is but a circumstance not of any necessary consideration in this case Suppose a man indebted a 100 l. and likely to lye in Prison till he shall pay it yet utterly unable if another man comes and lays down the money on two hours warning is not this as well or better done that which may be done to as good or better purpose in a short time what need is there to draw it out at length The justice of the Law did not require that either the Sinner or his Surety should suffer the Eternity of Hells torments but only their extremity it doth abundantly counterpoise the eternity of the punishment that the person which suffered was the eternal God Besides it was impossible that he should be detained under the sorrows of death Act. 2. 24. And if he had been so detained Then he had not spoiled principalities and powers nor triumphed over them Col. 2. 15. but had been overcome and so had not attained his end But Secondly The pains of Hell which Christ suffered though they were not infinit in time yet were they of an infinite price and value for the dignity of the person that suffered them Christs temporal enduring of Hellish sorrows was as effectual and meritorious as if they had been perpetual the dignity of Christs person did bear him out in that which was not meet for him to suffer nor fit in respect of our Redemption for if he should have suffered Eternally our Redemption could never have been accomplished but for him to suffer in soul as he did in body was neither derogatory to his person nor prejudicial to his work Infinitly in time Christ was not to suffer as one well observes Christ dyed secundum tempus Ambrose in 5. ad Rom. 6. in time or according to time Tempora in mundo sunt c. Times are in the world where the Sun riseth and setteth unto this time he dyed but where there is no time there he was found not only living but conquering Christ God-Man suffered punishment in measure infinit and therefore there is no ground why he should endure it eternally and indeed it was impossible that Christ should be Act. 2. 24. holden of Death because he was both the Lord of life and the Lords holy One 1 Cor. 2. 8. Act. 2. 27. But Thirdly If the measure of a mans punishment were infinit the duration needs not be infinit sinful mans measure of punishment is finit and therefore the duration of his punishment must be infinit because the punishment must be answerable to the infinit evil of sin committed against an infinit God O Sirs continual imprisonment in Hell arises from mans not being able to pay the price for could he pay the debt in one year he needs not lye two years in Prison Now the debt is the first and second death and because sinful man cannot pay it in any time he must endure it eternally but now Christ has laid down ready pay upon the nail to the full for all his chosen Ones and therefore it is not reâ—uired of him that he should suffer for ever neither can it stand with the holiness or justice of God to hold him under the second death he having paid the debt to the utmost Farthing Now that he hath fully paid the debt himself witnesseth Joh. 19. 30. saying when he had received the Vinegar It is finished so vers 28. After this Jesus knowing that all things were accomplished Though there are many interpretations given of this place by Augustine Chrysostom Jansenuâ— and others yet doubtless this alone will hold water viz. That the heavy wrath of the Lord which did pursue Christ and the second death which filled him with grievous terrors is now over and past and mans Redemption finished he speaketh here of that which presently should be and in the yielding up his Ghost was accomplished And thus you see that Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the very torments of Hell though not after a Hellish manner and you see also that Christ did not locally descend into Hell Shall we make a few inferences from hence First then O! how should these sad sufferings of Christ for us endear Christ to us O! what precious thoughts should we have of him O! how should we Psal 136. 17 18. prize him how should we honour him how should we love him and how should we be swallowed up in the admiration of him as his love to us has been matchless so his sufferings for us has been matchless I have read of Nero that he had a Shirt made of a Salamanders skin so that if he did walk through the fire in it it would keep him from burning So Christ is the true Salamanders skin that will keep the soul from everlasting burnings Isa 33. 14. and therefore well may Christians cry out with that Martyr None but Christ none but Christ Tigranes in Zenophon Lambert coming to Redeem his Father and Friends with his
High-Court of the Jews But The third kind of secret Murder is an open reviling and reproaching of a Brother in these words But whosoever shall say thou Fool shall be in danger of Hell-fire Thou Fool this is a word of greater disgrace than the former 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies unsavory or without rellish a Fool here is by a metaphor called insipid Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sote which we call Sot shall be in danger of Hell-fire or to be cast into Gehenna Gehenna comes from the Hebrew word Gettinnom that is the Valley of Hinnom lying near the City of Jerusalem in which Valley in former times the Itolatrous Josh 15. 8. Jews caused their Children to be burned alive between the glowing arms of the brazen Image of Moloch imitating vide 2. King 23 10. Jer. 7. 31. Jer. 32. 35. Jer. 19. 4 5 6. the Abominations of the Heathen And hence the Scripture often makes use of that word to signifie the place of eternal punishment where the damned must abide under the wrath of God for ever There were four kinds of punishments exercised among the Jews First Stranglings 2. The Sword 3. Stoning 4. The Fire Now this last they always judged the worst as Beza affirms upon this very place In these words Shall be in danger of Hell-fire Christ alludes to the great Sanhedrim and the highest degree of punishment that was inflicted by them namely to be burned in the Valley of Hinnom which by a known Metaphor is transferred to Hell it self and the inexpressible torments thereof For as those poor wretches being inclosed in a brazen Idol-heat with fire were miserably tormented in this Valley of Hinnom So the wicked being cast into Hell the Prison of the damn'd shall be eternally tormented in unquenchable fire This Valley of Hinnom by reason of the pollution of it with slaughter blood and stencth of Carkasses did become so execrable that Hell it self did afterwards inherit the same Name and was called Gehenna of this very place And that 1. In respect of the hollowness and depth thereof being a low and deep Valley 2. This Valley of Hinnom was a place of misery in regard of those many slaughters that were committed in it through their barbarous Idolatry So Hell is a place of misery and infelicity wherein there is nothing but sorrow 3. Thirdly By the bitter and lamentable crys of poor Infants in this Valley is shadowed out the crys and lamentable torments of the damned in Hell 4. In this Valley of Hinnom was another fire which was kept continually burning for the consuming of dead Carkasses and filth and the garbidge that came out of the City Now our Saviour by the fire of Gehenna in this Mat. 5. 22. hath reference principally to this fire signifying hereby the perpetuity and everlastingness of Hellish pains To this last judgment of the Sanhedrim viz. Burning Doth Christ appropriate that kind of Murder which is by open reviling of a Brother that he might notifie the heynousness of this sin marke in this Scripture Judgment Councel and Hell fire do but signifie three degrees of the same punishment c. See also Matth. 5. 29 30. And if thy right Eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy Members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into Hell And if thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy Members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into Hell-fire Julian taking these commands literally mockt at Christian Religion as foolish cruel and vain because they require men to maim their members He mockt at Christians because no man did it and he mockt at Christ because no man obeyed him but this Apostate might have seen from the scope that these words were not to be taken literally but figuratively Some of the Antients by the right hand and the right eye do understand Relations Friends or any other dear enjoyments which draws the heart from God Others of them by the right eye and the right hand do understand such darling sins that are as dear to men as their right eyes and right hands That this Hell here spoken of is not meant of the Grave into which the body shall be laid is most evident because those Christians who do pull out their right eyes and cut off their right hands that is mortifie those special sins which are as dear and near to them as the very members of their bodies shall be secured and delivered from this Hell whereas none shall be exempted from the Grave though they are the choycest persons on Earth for grace and holiness Death like the Duke of Parma's Sword knows no difference twixt Robes and Raggs twixt Prince and Peasant All flesh is grass The Isa 40. 6. flesh of Princes Nobles Counsellors Generals c. is grass as well as the flesh of the meanest Beggar that walks the Streets The mortal Sythe saith one is master Hâ—rat l. 1. Oct. 28. of the Royal Scepter it mows down the Lillies of the Crown as well as the Grass of the Field Never was there Oratour so Eloquent nor Monarch so Potent that could either Dâ—aths Motto is Nulli cedo perswade or withstand the stroak of death when it came It is one of Solomons sacred Aphorisms The Rich and the Poor meet together somtimes in the same Bed somtimes Prov. 22. 2. at the same Board and somtimes in the same Grave Death is the common Inne of all Man-kind There is no defence against the stroak of death nor no discharge in that Hâ—b 9. 27. Eccles 8. 8. War Death is that only King against whom there is no rising up If your Houses be fired by good help they Prov. 30. 31. may be quenched if the Sea break out by art and industry it may be repaired If Princes Invade by power and policy they may be repulsed If Devils from Hell shall tempt by assistance from Heaven they may be resisted But Death comes into Royal Pallaces and into the meanest Cottages and there is not a man to be found that can make resistance against this King of terrors and terrour of Kings Deaths Motto is Nemini parco I spare none Thus you see that by Hell in Math. 5. 29 30. You may not you cannot understand the Grave and therefore by it you must understand the place of the damned But if you please you may cast your eye upon another Scripture viz. Math. 10. 28. Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell The word rather is not a comparative but an adversative We should not fear man at all when he stands in competition with God So Victorian the Pro-Consul of Carthage being sollicited to Arrianism
As man he was wonderfully born of a Virgin called therefore Mat. 1. 23. by a peculiar name Shiloh which signifieth a secundine or after-birth Gen. 49. 19. The word comes of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies tranquillum esse intimating that Christ is he who hath brought us peace and tranquility and that he might be our peace-maker it was necessary that he should be Shiloh born of the sanctified seed of a woman without the seed of man The Apostle expounds the name where Gal. 4. 4. he saith of Christ that he was made of a woman not of a man and woman both but of a woman alone without a man Christ as man was foretold of by the Prophets and by sundry Types Christ as man was attended upon at his birth by holy Angels and a peculiar star was created Luk. 2. 13 14. Mat. 2. 1 2. for him Christ as man was our sacrifice and expiation he was our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a counterprice such as we could never have paid but must have remained and even rotted in the prison of hell for ever Christ as man was Maâ— 1. 18. Act. 1. 9 10. Câ—l 11. 3. 1. conceived of the holy Ghost Christ as man is ascended into heaven Christ as man sits at the right hand of God Now what do all these things import but that Jesus Christ is a very precious and most excellent person and that even according to his manhood Christ had the true properties affections and actions of man He was conceived born circumcised he did hunger thirst he was cloathed he did eat drink sleep hear see touch speak sigh groan weep and grow in wisdom and stature c. as all the four Evangelists do abundantly testifie But because this is a point of grand importance especially in these days wherein there are risen up so many deceivers in the midst of us it may not be amiss to consider of these following particulars First of those special Scriptures that speak out the certainty and verity of Christ's body John 1. 14. And the word was made flesh 1 Tim. 3. 16. without controversie great is the Mystery of godliness God manifested in the flesh Christ is one and the same begotten of the father without time the son of God without mother and born of the Virgin in time the son of man without father the natural and consubstantial son of both and Oh what a great mystery is this Heb. 2 14. 16. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the devil For verily he took not on him the nature of angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham according to the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He assumed caught laid hold on as the Angels did on Lot Gen. 19. 16. Maâ— 14. 31. or as Christ did on Peter or as men use to do upon a thing they are glad they have got and are loath to let go again Oh Sirs this is a main pillar of our comfort that Christ took our flesh for if he had not taken our flesh we could never have been saved by him Rom. 1. 3. Concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh Rom. 9. 5. Whose are the fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came who is over â—ll God blessed for ever Amen This is a greater honour to all mankind than if the greatest King in the world â—hould marry into some poor family of his Subjects Christ saith my flesh is meat indeed and I say his flesh was flesh indeed as true real proper very flesh as that which any of us carry about with us Col. 1. 22. In the body of his flesh through death Heb. 10. 5. wherefore when he cometh into the world he saith sacrifice and offering thou wouldst 〈◊〉 but a body hast thou prepared we 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'T is a Metaphor taken from Mechanicks who do artificially fit one part of their work to another and so finish the whole God fitted his Son's body to be joyned with the Deity and to be an expiatory sacrifice for sin 1 Pet. 2. 24. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree c. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 himself hath a great Emphasis and therefore that Evangelical Prophet Isaiah mentions it no less than five times in that Isa 53. v. 4 5 7 11 12. Christ had none to help or uphold him under the heavy burden Isa 63. 3. v. of our sins and his father's wrath It is most certain that in the work of man's Redemption Christ had no coadjutor He who did bear our sins that is the punishments that were due to our sins in his own body on the Tree he did assume flesh cast into the very mould and form of our bodies having the same several parts members lineaments the same proportion which they have Christ's body was no spectrum or phantasm no putative body as if it had no being but what was in appearance and from imagination as the Marcionites Manicheâ—s and other hereticks of old affirmed and as some men of corrupt minds do assert in our days but as real as solid a body as ever any was And therefore the Apostle calls it a body of flesh a body to shew the Organization of it and a Câ—los 1. 22. body of flesh to shew the reality of it in opposition to all aerial and imaginary bodies Christ's body had all the essential properties of a true body such as are organicalness extension local presence confinement circumscription penetrability visibility palpability c. as all the Evangelists do abundantly witness take a few instances for all Luk. 24 39. Behold my hands and my feet that it is I my self handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have Christ here admits of the testimony of their own senses to assure them that it was no vision or spirit but a true and real body risen from the dead which they now saw certainly whatever is essential to a true glorified body that is yet in Christ's body Those stamps of dishonour that the Jews had set upon Christ by wicked hands those he retained after his resurrection partly for the confirmation of his Apostles and partly to work us to a willingness and resoluteness to suffer for him when we are called to it 1 John 1. 1. That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life He alludes to the Sermons which he and the other Apostles heard from Christ's own mouth and also to the glorious testimony which the father gave once and again from heaven to Christ he alludes also to the miracles
Look as he must be more than man that he may be able to suffer that his sufferings may be meritorious so he must be man that he may be in a capacity to suffer die and obey for these are no work for one who is only God A God only cannot suffer a man only cannot merit God cannot obey man is bound to obey wherefore Christ that he might obey and suffer he was man and that he might merit by his obedience and suffering he was God-man just such a person did the work of Redemption call for That Christ's merits might be sufficient he must be God for sufficient merit for Mankind could not be in the person of any mere man no not in Christ himself considered only as man for so all the grace he had he did receive it and all the good he did he was bound to do it for he was made of a woman and made under the Law not only Gal. 4. 4. under the Ceremonial Law as he was a Jew but under the Moral as a man for it is under that Law under which we were and from which we are redeemed therefore Gal. 3. 13. in fulfilling it he did no more than that which was his duty to do he could not merit by it no not for himself much less for others considered only as man therefore he must also be God that the dignity of his person might add dignity and vertue and value to his works in a word Deus potuit sed non debuit homo debuit sed non potuit God could but he should not man should but he could not make satisfaction therefore he that would do it must be both God and man Torris erutus ab igne as the Prophet speaketh Is not this a fire-brand taken out of the fire you know that in a fire-brand taken out of the fire there is fire and wood inseparably mixed and in Christ there is God and man wonderfully united He was God else neither his sufferings nor his merits could have been sufficient and if his could not much less any man 's else for all other men are both conceived and born in Original sin and also much and often defiled with actual sin and therefore we ought for ever to abhor all such popish Doctrines Prayers and Masses for the dead which exalt mans merits man's satisfaction For no man can by Psal 49. 7. 8. v. any means redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom for him for the redemption of their soul is precious and it ceaseth for ever And therefore all the money that hath been given for Masses Dirges Trentals c. hath been cast away for Jesus Christ who is God-man is the only Redeemer and in the other world money beareth no mastery Let me make a few inferences from what has been said and therefore First is it so that Christ is God-man that he is God 1. 1 Pet. 1. 21. and man then let this raise our faith and strengthen our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ faith is built on God Now Jesus Christ is very God and therefore the fittest foundation in the world for us to build our faith upon God manifest in the flesh is a firm basis for faith and comfort Heb. 7. 25. ad plenum saith Erasmus ad perfectum say others He is able to save to the uttermost Christ is a thorow Saviour he saves perfectly and he saves perpetually he never carries on Redemption-work by halves Christ being God as well as man is able by the power of his Godhead to vanquish Death Devils Hell and all the enemies of our Salvation and by the power of his Godhead is able to merit pardon of sin the favour of God the heavenly inheritance and all the glory of the other world for this dignity of his person addeth vertue and Acts 20. 28. efficacy to his death and sufferings in that he that suffered and died was very God therefore God is said to have purchased the Church with his own blood Christ having suffered in our nature which he took upon him that is in his humane soul and body the wrath of God the curse and all the punishments which were due to our sins hath paid the price of our Redemption pacified divine wrath and satisfied divine Justice in the very same nature in which we have sinned and provoked the holy one of Israel so that now all believers may triumphingly say There is no condemnation to us that are in Râ—m 8. 1. v. Christ Jesus Christ having in our nature suffered the whole curse and punishment due to our sins God cannot in justice but accept of his sufferings as a full and compleat satisfaction 1 John 1. 7 9. for all our sins so that now there remaineth no more curse or punishment properly so called for us to suffer either in our souls or bodies either in this life or in the life to come but we are certainly and fully delivered from all not only from the eternal curse and all the punishments and torments of Hell but also from the curse and sting of bodily death and from all afflictions as they are 1 Cor. 15. 55 56. curses and punishments of sin that Jesus who is God-man hath changed the nature of them to us so that of bitter curses and heavy punishments they are become fatherly chastisements the fruits of divine love and the Heb. 12. 5 6 7. Rev. 3. 19. promoters of the internal and eternal good of our souls Oh! how should these things strengthen our faith in dear Jesus and work us to lean and stay our weary souls wholly and only upon him who is God-man and who of God 1 Cor. 1. 30. is made unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption Among the Evangelists we find that Christ had a threefold entertainment among the sons of men some received him into house not into heart as Simon Luk. 7. 44. the Pharisee who gave him no kiss nor water to his feet some neither into heart nor house as the graceless Mat. 8. 34. swinish Gergesites who had neither civility nor honesty some both into house and heart as Lazarus Mary Martha John 11. 16. c. certainly that Jesus who is God-man deserves the best room in all our souls and the uppermost seat in all our hearts But Secondly If Jesus Christ be God-man very God and very man then what high cause have we to observe admire wonder and even stand amazed at the transcendent love of Christ in becoming man Oh! the firstness the freeness the unchangeableness the greatness the matchlesness of Christ's love to fallen man in becoming man men many times shew their love to one another by hanging up one another's pictures in their families but ah what love did Christ shew when he took our nature upon him Heb. 2. 16. For verily he took not on him the nature of Angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
honour fire will descend as on Sodom and Gomorrah and water Gen. 19. Exod. 14. 22. though a fluid body stand up like a solid wall as in the Red Sea if he do but speak the word Oh let not the inanimate creatures one day rise in judgment against us for not giving Christ his due honour if we honour Christ we shall have honour that is a bargain of Christ's own making but if we dishonour him he will put dishonour 1 Sam. 2. 30. upon us as Scripture and History in all Ages do sufficiently evidence in History we read of an Impostor that gave it out that he was that star which Balaam prophesied Nâ—m 24. 17. of which was a Prophecy of Christ this fellow called himself Ben-chomar the son of a Star this man professed himself to be Christ but he was slain with thunder and lightning from heaven and then the Jews called him Ben-cosmar which signifieth the son of a lye Learned Synag Julaics cap. 5. 36. Buxtorf tells us that the Jews call Christ Bar-chozabb the son of a lye a Bastard and his Gospel Aven-gelaion the Volume of lyes or the Volume of iniquity and hath not God been a revenging this upon them for above this sixteen hundred years Rabbi Samuel who long since writ a Tract in form of an Epistle to Rabbi Isaac Master of the Synagogue of the Jews wherein he doth excellently discuss the cause of their long Captivity and extreme misery and after that he had proved it was inflicted for some grievous sin he sheweth that sin to be the same which Amos speaks of For three transgressions of Israel and for Amos. 2. 6. four I will not turn away the punishment thereof because they sold the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of shooes The selling of Joseph he makes the first sin the worshipping the Calf in Horeb the second sin the abusing and killing God's Prophets the third sin and the selling of Jesus Christ the fourth sin For the first they served four hundred years in Egypt for the second they wandred forty years in the Wilderness for the third they were Captives seventy years in Babylon and for the fourth they are held in pitiful Captivity even to this very-day Oh how severely has God reveng'd the wrongs and indignities done to Christ the Lord by this miserable people to this very hour and yet Oh the several ways wherein this poor people do every day express their malice and hatred against the Lord Jesus Oh pray pray hard that the veil may be taken away that has been so long before their eyes Herod imprisons Peter and killeth Act. 12. 1 2 3 4 James with the sword this God puts up but when he comes to usurp the honour due to Christ he must die vers 23. for it Herod might more safely take away the liberty of one and the life of another than the glory due to Christ long before his death being in chains he met with a strange Omen For as he stood bound before the Palace Josephus of the Antiquities of the Jews lib. 18. pag. 475. 476. leaning dejectedly upon a tree among many others that were prisoners with him an Owl came and sat down in that Tree to which he leaned which a German seeing being one of those that stood there bound he asked who he was that was in the Purple and leaned there and understanding who he was he told him of his enlargment promotion to honour and prosperity and that when he should see that bird again he should die within five days after Now when Herod had imprisoned Peter and slain James with the sword he went down to Caesarea and there he made sports and shows in honour of Cesar and Pag. 510. 511. on the second day being most gorgeously apparelled and the Sun shining very bright upon his Robe of Silver his flatterers saluted him for a God and cryed out to him Be merciful unto us hitherto have we feared thee as a man but hence forward we will acknowledg thee to be of a nature more excellent than mortal frailty can attain to the wretched King reproved not this abominable flattery but was well pleased with it and not long after he espyed the Owl which the German had foretold to be the Omen of his death And suddenly he was seized with miserable gripings in his belly which came upon him with vehement extremity whereupon turning himself towards his friends saith Loe he whom ye esteem for a God is doomed to die and destiny shall evidently confute you in those flattering and false speeches which you lately used concerning me for I who have been adored by you as one immortal am now under the hands of death and his griefs and torments increasing his death drew on apace whereupon he was removed into the Palace and all the people put on Sack-cloth and lay on the ground praying for him which he beholding could not refrain from tears and so after five days he gave up the Ghost Thus you see how dearly they have paid for it that have not given Christ his due glory and let these instances of his wrath alarm all your hearts so that we may make more conscience than ever of setting the Crown of honour only upon Christ's head for he only is worthy of all honour glory and praise Rev. 14. 10 11. But Sixthly Is Jesus Christ God-man is he very God and very man then from hence as in a glass you may see the true Reasons why the death and sufferings of Christ though short very short yet have a sufficient power and vertue in them to satisfie God's justice to pacifie his wrath to procure our pardon and to save our immortal souls viz. because of the dignity of his person that died and suffered for us the son of God yea God himself there was an infinite vertue and value in all his sufferings hence his Heb. 9. 14. 1 Pet. 1. 19. Acts 20. 28. Gal. 4. 4 5 6. blood is called precious blood yea the blood of God did man transgress the Royal Law of God behold God himself is become a man to make up that breach and to Rom. 8. 2 3 4. satisfie divine Justice to the uttermost farthing for the man Christ Jesus to stand before the bar of the Law and to make full and compleat reparation to it was the highest honour that ever was done to the Law of God this is infinitely more pleasing and delightful to divine Justice than if all the curses of the Law had been poured out upon fallen man and than if the Law had built up its honour upon the destruction of the whole Creation To see one Sun clouded is much more than to see the Moon and all the Stars in Heaven overcast Christ considered as God-man was great very great and the greater his person was the greater were his sorrows his sufferings his Isa 53. humiliation his compassion his satisfaction
nourish but they cannot heal others can enrich buâ— they cannot secure others can adorn but cannot advance all do serve but none do satisfie they are like a beggars coat made up of many pieces not all enough either to beautifie defend or satisfie but there is enough in a suffering Christ to fill us and satisfie us to the full Christ has the greatest worth and wealth in him Look as the worth and value of many pieces of Silver is to be found in one piece of Gold so all the petty excellencies that are scattered abroad in the creatures we to be found in a bleeding dying Christ yea all the whole volume of perfections which is spread through heaven and earth is epitomized in him that suffered on the Cross nec Christus nec coelum patitur hyperbolen a man cannot hyperbolize in speaking of Christ and heaven but must entreat his hearers as Tully doth his readers concerning the worth of L. Crassus ut majus quiddam de iis quam quae scripta sunt suspicarentur 3. De oratore that they would conceive much more than he was able to express certainly it is as easie to compass the heavens with a span and contein the sea in a nut-shell as to relate fully a suffering Christ's excellencies or heaven's happiness O sirs there is in a crucified Jesus something proportionable to all the straits wants necessities and desires of his poor people He is bread to nourish them and a garment to John 6. 5 6 37. Rev. 13. 14. Mat. 9. 12. Isa 9. 6. Heb. 2. 10. Act. 5. 31. cover and adorn them a Physician to hâ—al them a Counseller to advise them a Captain to defend them a Prince to rule a Prophet to teach and a Priest to make attonement Act. 7. 37 38. Heb. 2. 17 18. cap. 4. 15 16. 2 Cor. 11. 2. Isa 9. 6 7. John 20. 17. Isa 28. 16. Rev. 22. 16. Eph. 1. 22 23. for them an Husband to protect a Father to provide a Brother to relieve a Foundation to support a Root to quicken a Head to guide a Treasure to enrich a Sun to enlighten and a Fountain to cleanse Now what can any Christian desire more to satisfie him and save him to make him holy and happy in both Worlds Shall the Romans and other Nations highly value those that have but ventur'd to lay down their lives for their Countrey and shall not we highly value the Lord Jesus Christ who hath actually laid down his life for his sheep I have John 10. 11 15 17. read of one who walking in the fields by himself of a sudden fell into loud cries and weeping and being asked by one that passed by and over-heard him the cause of his lamentation I weep saith he to think that the Lord Jesus Christ should do so much for us men and yet not one man of a thousand so much as mind him or think of him Oh what a bitter Lamentation have we cause to take up that the Lord Jesus Christ has suffered so many great and grievous things for poor sinners and that there are so few that sincerely love him or that highly value him most men preferring their lusts or else the Toys and Trifles of this world above him But Fifthly let the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ work us all into a gracious willingness to embrace sufferings for his sake and chearfully and resolutely to take up his Cross Mat. 16. 24. and follow him did Christ suffer who knew no sin and shall we think it strange to suffer who know nothing but sin shall he lie swelthering under his father's wrath and shall we cry out of men's anger was he crowned Godfrey of Bullen first King of Jerusalem refused to be crowned with a Crown of Gold saying that it became not a Christian to wear a Crown of Gold where Christ for our salvation had worn a Crown of thorns with thorns and must we be crowned with rose-buds was his whole life from the cradle to the cross made up of nothing but sorrows and sufferings and must our lives from the cradle to the grave be filled up with nothing but pleasures and delights was he despised and must we be admired was he debased and must we be exalted was he poor and must we be rich was he low and must we be high did he drink of a bitter cup a bloody cup and will no cups serve our turns but cups of consolation Let us not think any thing too much to do for Christ nor any thing too great to suffer for Christ nor any thing too dear to part with for such a Christ such a Saviour that thought nothing too much to do or too grievous to suffer that so he might accomplish the work of our Redemption He left heaven for us and shall not John 1. 18. we let go this world for him he left his father's bosom for us and shall not we leave the bosoms of our dearest Relations Psal 45. 10 11. Mat. 10. 37. for him he underwent all sorts of sufferings for us let us as readily encounter with all sorts of sufferings for him Paul was so inur'd to sufferings for Christ that â— Cor. 12. 10. 2 Cor. 11. 23 to verse 28. he could rejoice in his sufferings he gloried most in his chains and he looked upon his scars buffetings scourgings stoneings for Christ as his greatest triumphs And how ambitious were the primitive Christians of Martyrdom in the cause of Christ and of late in the times of the Marian Persecution how many hundreds chearfully and willingly laid down their lives mounting Eliah-like to heaven in fiery charriots And oh how will Christ own and honour such Christians at last as have Rev. 3. 21. not set on others but exposed themselves to hazards losses and sufferings for his sake as those brave souls who Rev. 12. 11. loved not their lives unto the death that is the despised their lives in comparison of Christ they exposed their Heb. 11 33 to 39. cap. 10. 34. bodies to horrible and painful deaths their temporal estates to the spoyl and their persons to all manner of shame and contempt for the cause of Christ in the days of that bloody persecutor Dioclesian the Christians shewed certatim Ploâ—iosa in certamina ruebatur c. Sulpitius as glorious power in the faith of Martyrdom as in the faith of Miracles the valour of the patients and the savageness of the persecutors striving together till both exceeding nature and belief bred wonder and astonishment in beholders and readers In all Ages and Generations they that have been born after the flesh have persecuted Gal. 4. 29. them that have been born after the spirit and the seed of the serpent have been still a multiplying of troubles upon the seed of the woman Would any man take the Churches picture saith Luther then let him paint a poor silly maid sitting in a wilderness compassed about with hungry