faith therefore say they in the whole course of Scripture faith is cast upon the Godhead as Esay 50.10 Who so is wise amongst you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voyce of his servant he that walketh in darknesse and hath no light let him trust in the Name of the Lord and stay himselfe upon his God all the phrase of Scripture runs thus Trust and hope and rely upon the Lord. So Iohn 14.1 2. vers Let not your hearts be troubled yee beleeve in God beleeve also in mee marke this Now did a man beleeve upon the Father as Father onely then hee did not beleeve upon the Sonne or did he beleeve onely upon the Sonne as Sonne then he did not beleeve upon the Father but in that hee beleeves upon the Father and the Sonne It is therefore plaine that he fals first upon the Godhead and seeing it is so that wee must beleeve upon the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost therefore we are not to beleeve upon one of them only but upon the whole Deity and the divine nature and all the three Persons in the divine nature for as the Schoolemen say that which doth appertaine to this as this belongs to this and to none other Now we beleeve in all the whole Trinitie and therefore wee close with all three the Father Sonne and holy Ghost and hence it is that these Divines observe that when we are said to beleeve in the Scriptures and in the promise not that any doe it properly but so farre as the promise that God in Christ revealing and promising and communicating himselfe so farre we beleeve in the promise that is in his faithfulnesse truth and mercy revealed in the promise The second reason which they alleage is this say they that which in reason must stay satisfie the soule of a beleever it is that in reason to which the soule must first betake it selfe and upon which it most first stay it selfe for faith goes out for succour and for good therefore that which only can satisfie faith to that onely it must first goe the beleever is dead in sinnes because of the commission of them but there is life in God therefore to an infinite God the soule comes to worke an infinite satisfaction for him which all creatures cannot doe in this case the Godhead prepares the humane nature and workes by the humane nature and gives power to the humane nature and makes it able to suffer and to satisfie faith sees that he hath offended an infinite God and deserved punishment of an infinite value therefore hee must repaire to him that can onely repaire in mercy to his soule therefore saith the Prophet David Psalme 130.7 verse Hope in the Lord for ever for with the Lord is plenteous redemption and in Esay 26.4 Trust in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Iehovah is everlasting strength wee have everlasting miseries and troubles and distempers but with the Lord Iehovah is everlasting strength therefore trust in him for ever nay hence it is that our Saviour saith Iohn 17.3 This is life eternall that they know thee to bee the very God and whom thou hast sent even Iesou Christ Now if you aske me which of these judgements I follow I answer because I love not to bee as a man that is here and there and no where in truth but I love to bee as a man that dwels at home for I am not ignorant that many Divines wise and learned whose parts and gifts I reverence they follow the former opinions and for my part I leave a judicious hearer to take which side he will but in truth the two last arguments have prevailed with me that the heart of a poor sinner beleeves and stayes it selfe firstly upon the Godhead and Deity and afterwards upon the Humanitie and mee thinkes the two former arguments seeme not to compell any mans understanding for bee it granted that the former Scriptures doe reveale the Lord Jesus Christ and mention him often as man yet it is as true they reveale him to bee God and mention his Godhead not mentioning at all his humanitie but whensoever they doe mention his humanitie firstly it is for good reason partly by way of prophecie to foretell of Christ what hee should be and partly by way of story and relation to relate of Christ what he was yet this reason inferres not that faith must therefore firstly lay hold upon the humanitie before the deitie but when the Lord is pleased to reveale Jesus Christ to the soule in the way of conversion then wee must apprehend Christ as God and Man in the point of conversion and then let the question be this whither the soule shall goe for that which it wants Now I see no reason why the soule should firstly goe to the humanity for what it wants and seekes hence it is that when the Scripture comes to speake in the way of conversion the Godhead is set first as in the 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himselfe as God in Christ reconciles the world unto himselfe so God reveales himselfe to his faithfull Ministers and so they reveale him to the people it was the Godhead that was offended and must first of all be pleased and unto that God we must first goe for what we want so Ieremy 33.16 In those dayes Iudah shall be saved and Israel shall bee saved and this is the Name whereby they shall call him the Lord our righteousnesse so said the Angell they shall call his Name Emanuel which is by interpretation God with us this is to the first reason now to the second argument I answer thus If it bee good in reason that wee must first goe to the humane nature for these reasons propounded and if this be sufficient to call my faith that way because all the great workes are wrought that way then much more seeing the humane nature was inabled to the worke by the divine nature therefore my faith must first looke that way because the weight of the worke lies upon the Deitie the humane nature cannot assume to take to it selfe this glory not bee any way available to satisfie divine justice but that the Deitie enabled it and therefore faith must first of all looke unto that Thus it is confessed that the soule of a beleever is advanced to a marvellous high privilege now the use of it is referred to these three heads Vse 1 First are the soules of the faithfull come thus neere to Christ not onely to beleeve in him and to embrace him but to bee one Spirit with him then this may bee a use of instruction and it shewes to us that the sinnes of the faithfull are marvellous hainous in Gods account and exceeding grievous to his blessed Spirit that hath come so neere to us and brought us so neere unto himselfe every sinne is as a mountaine or as a wall of separation but the sinnes of the faithfull are no lesse than rebellion not
no man can suffer the pains of Hell except he bee in the very place of it against which cavill this truth doth profesly maâ—ch for the time and place are but common circumstances the main substance of it is not in regard of time or place but in regard of the fierce displeasure of God which seizeth upon a creature and the veine of vengeance which is let into his soule if God would be present with a man by his favour though hee were in the place of Hell yet he should bee as it were in Heaven as Esay 30.33 Tophet is prepared of old the burning thereof is fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord as a riâ—â—r of brimstone doth kindle it so that wheresoever the streame of the brimstone of Gods wrath seizeth there is Hell againe the place is no part of debt and therefore it is no part of the payment but the paiment of the mony that makes the satisfaction This is that which is spoken concerning Adam Thou shalt die the death hee doth not say thou shalt goe to Hell the wicked goe to Hell because they cannot pay as the debter goes to prison because he cannot pay the debt all that justice requires is this to have payment hee doth not say thou shalt goe to Hell but because the wicked cannot satisfie the justice of God and answer the Law therefore they are imprisoned and cooped up in hell and it may be more plain thus there are many reprobates in this life that have not onely hell in expectation but they have it so far in fruition when the Lord wounds the spirit and the terrours of the Almightie incampe a man and stab him to the very heart and they are in the very beginnings of hell Now because the wicked cannot beare the wrath of God but they would breake under it therefore they must die that they may â—e made immortall and be able to suffer all the wrath of God forever but our Saviour may as well pay the debt in mount Golgotha as in the prison of hell Secondly some paines of hell were endured and may be endured by our Saviour and yet the union of the manhood with the Godhead might still be untouched and no way in the world bee blemished though there were a separation and a withdrawing of the sense of the sweetnesse of the favour of God yet this was not the separation of the union but onely of the loving countenance of the Lord the humane nature saw not nor felt not those gracious smiles which formerly it did yet hee was ever united to the Godhead and ever supported by the Godhead and hee did ever rest upon God this doth cut in sunder the cavils of Bellarmine as it was with Iob he was able to grapple with a great deale of Gods wrath by faith and therefore he saith Though thou kill me yet will I trust in thee Gods killing anger and Iobs trusting stood both together in this in the measure of it Now if a poore saint of God can doe it and is able to beare the intimations of Gods wrath then much more Christ being God and Man might doe it and yet trust in him and never bee separated from him in regard of the union of the soule of our Saviour for as it is with the death naturall in the body of our Saviour as the body of our Saviour died and in dying suffered death naturall as an effect of Gods wrath God smote him howsoever the body died the death naturall yet the Godhead was still united to the body of our Saviour in the grave and brought soule and body together againe so that the union with the Godhead is still maintained so it is here the soule of our Saviour might be separated from the sense and sweetnesse of Gods favour and mercy and yet the union betweene the Godhead and the Manhood bee still maintained as God might leave the body to the death naturall so he might leave the soule to a kinde of supernaturall death and the soule might want the sense of the sweetnesse of the favour of God and yet the union not be broken off for why could not our Saviour beare this curse as well as any other part of it and not be blemished this brought punishment upon our Saviour but it puld not away any grace which hee was possest withall observe these three particulars herein First the Godhead in the death of our Saviour was fastned and united inseparably to the manhood and did sustaine and support the manhood Secondly the Godhead did preserve the manhood from corruption and did sustaine and support the Manhood Thirdly the sense and sweetnesse and the feeling operation of Gods mercy and favour unto the soule was restrained from both and the wrath of God seized upon both Thirdly our Saviour suffered paine in his soule as he was our Mediatour in our roome and in our stead and as he had our sinnes imputed to him The Manhood bore the sufferings and the Godhead supported him in the sufferings this conclusion I thought good to adde to meet with a strange dream of Bellarmine and that is this saith he if the Lord Jesus Christ did suffer the wrath of God the Father then the guiltlesse should have beene condemned and the innocent punished and how can God doe this or how can our Saviour suffer this Is not God the Father unjust to punish the just and Christ unwise to suffer as unjust being just I answer it is a silly weake cavill therefore take but these two respects with you and you shall see it will bee plaine for as Christ was in himselfe considered he was guiltlesse and therefore approved of and beloved of the Father but as hee tooke our sinnes and our guilt upon him hee was accounted as a sinner though he was not a sinner and he tooke our sins on him by imputation and therefore no reason but he should suffer them and the punishment of them not in regard of any sinne that hee had or did but because it was imputed to him therefore God the Father condemned him as guiltie so runs the phrase of Scripture Hee suffered for our sinnes and the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we were healed he suffered not for any sinnes that he had committed but for the condition of all sinfull nature imputed to him and these divers respects wee doe practise for ordinarily we are bound to love a creature as God made him and then to hate him as hee makes himselfe sinfull the Judge goes to the triall of a Nisi prius and his sonne comes before him in the person of the debter now though the Judge love him as a sonne yet he will condemne him as a suretie the Judge loves and pitties him in one regard but yet hee passeth sentence against him in another regard So it is here with the Lord Jesus Christ when God the Father stands upon the tribunall of justice and was pleased to follow
had undertaken these cautions I thought good to adde to stop the mouthed of all cavils that may arise in the hearts of those that are weake for the ground of Christs sufferings was freely and willingly according to the promise and agreement which was betweene the Father and himselfe Quest. 3 The third question followes and that is this whether our Saviour did suffer in body alone or in soule alone or in both Answer The answer apparantly and punctually is this Christ did properly and immediatly suffer the wrath of God in his soule as well as hee did the paines of death in his body hee did not onely suffer by communion and consent betweene the soule and the body as namely therefore the soule is pierced because the body is pierced no but he did properly and immediately receive and suffer the wrath of God in his soule as well as his body did death The Scripture doth expresse it this way and the Prophet foretold this in Esay 63.10 God shall make his soule an offering for sin you know every offering implies a full payment they did use to confesse their sinnes over the sacrifice and then to slay it intimating that the sacrifice was to undergoe whatsoever punishment was due unto their sinnes and so did Christ doe in bearing our sinnes nay Christ himselfe saith so Matthew 26.38 My soule is very heavie and sorrowfull even unto the death and that this must needs be the meaning of the text it shall appeare by further explication and therefore give mee leave to handle all the particulars of the sufferings of our Saviour and for our proceeding herein that I may be plaine and that this doctrine may drop as the dew and that every spire of grasse may receive some sap and sweetnesse and spirituall moisture there from let me doe two things wherein I will shew you that the sufferings of our Saviour were done partly in the garden and partly upon the crosse and for his agony in the garden let me doe two things First I will shew you what the Scripture saith of that agonie in the 14. of Saint Marke and in the 26. of Matthew Secondly I will make it good that those sufferings were most grievous sufferings which hee suffered in his soule For the first what our Saviour suffered when he was in that agony in the garden when he crieth out Father if it be possible let this cap passe from me The Scripture discovers the pith of all that anguish of soule and the whole compasse of it what it was that did thus fill the soule of our Saviour and that is in these two things and you shall finde them both in Marke 13.33 where the text saith when our Saviour was to enter into the combate he saith thus hee beganne to his amazed and to be very heavie let me expresse them thus hee beganne to bee driven to an astonishment and to have his soule fild with the indignation of the Lord. First our Saviour Christ foreseeing the wrath of God and the combate of God the Father comming against him hee began to be amazed the word in the originall is this That so you may see the depth of the distres and the bottome of the cup. The word amazement comes from a word that signifies to bee in a stand or to be astonished such a sorrow as men use to have for the losse of some deare friend nay the preposition in that which is added signifies a griefe beyond astonishment whatsoever griefe could befall a creature without sinne that all befell our Saviour this word carries two things with it First there comes an admiration from the suddennesse of the thing Secondly a stroke of errour which smiteth upon the soule with the admiration of it as when a sudden and an unwonted and an intolerable evil beginneth to seize upon a man and the stroke of some terrour and feâ—â— strikes in and drives the soule to an amaze and insomuch that the heart saith good Lord what will this come to if this befall mee what shall become of mee this is astonishment The second part is this and that goes further and our translation expresseth it to the full My soule beginnes to be very heavie that 's our translation but the word goes a degree further when this sorrow act onely strooke and shooke the heart of our Saviour with the suddennesse of it but it entred into his soule and fild it abundantly and rackt it to the uttermost of the abilities of nature to beare it shall I deale nakedly this word heavie carries two things with it First that the soule of our Saviour was surcharged and fild being full with the indignation of the Lord and that heavy vexation that lay upon him for so the word implies abundance of misery which doth beare downe the heart of a poore creature but this was not in the Lord Jesus Christ though his soule were filled brimme full of the indignation of the Lord yet hee was not overcharged with it Secondly hence it followes that all the faculties of the whole nature of the soule of our Saviour they gathered up themselves and they drew up all their forces to beare up themselves against the wrath of the Lord which was now comming upon them all the powers of his soule the minde and the memory and hope and feare they were all gathered up as in time of warre the souldiers come all forth from their garrisons to close in the maine battell so the Lord Jesus foresaw the wrath of the Father comming against him and hee drew forth all his abilities and left all other imployments wholly and brought them to fence and to fortifie themselves to beare this wrath of the Lord as if our Saviour had said Come yee all hither and help to beare up my soule against the unsupportable wrath of God this is the very skirt and selvedge of the word yet observe this by the way our Saviour was not deprived of this worke of any of his abilities but onely they were cald off from all other imployments and they wholly betooke themselves to beane the wrath of the Lord as the maine worke which now did lie upon them and this may be done and was done by our Saviour and yet without sinne As it is with a clocke a man may stoâ— the wheels upon force and make them stand still though there bee no distemper in the wheels causing it but onely the hand which stops it So it was with Christ there was no infirmitie in the minde or memorie of our Saviour but the hand of God was so heavie upon him and the wrath of God so seized upon him that all other actions ceased and hee attended to no other thing but to this how to beare the wrath of God the Evangelist in Matthew 26.38 shewes the explication of both these My soule is exceeding heavie tarrie yee here and watch with mee my soule is heavie even unto the death that is my soule is besieged and beset and
beds and all kinde of dalliance and hee knowes nothing but goes as an Oxe to the slaughter untill a dart strike through his liver and he knowes not that it is for his life hee goes and his life goes Her house is the way to the grave which goeth downe to the chambers of death the like is in Iudas hee desired to betray Christ and for what onely to get a little poore pittance of thirtie pence his covetousnesse was now asleep and he had a murthering heart towards the Lord Jesus Christ and a covetous heart for himselfe all this while sinne was asleepe but when Christ was attached and condemned then Iudas began to be worried with his corruptions hee comes in horrour of heart and throwes downe the thirtie pence and comes into the high Priests hall and saith I have sinned in betraying innocent blood Now tell mee Iudas is it good to bee covetous now when his conscience was awake and thus wrath of God began to seize upon it and that Lion began to rore upon him then his heart begun to shake within him and hee departed and went away and hanged himselfe his sinne made way for it and thus it will be with every wicked man in the world Howsoever now you have delâ—ons to cozen others and you have your unjust measures and you can carry it away bravely your corruptions are now asleep but that covetousnesse out of thy shop and that adultery out of thy chamber it will one day rore upon thee looke upon the hands of Christ and they will say there hands were pierced by sinnes and it was sinne that hath fild this soule with astonishment Oh all you that see and heare the good word of the Lord this day see what sin hath done with our Saviour and expect the like effects from sinne if you still continue in it Now we come to the second part that is his sufferings upon the crosse where wee shall have much to doe with the Jesuites You see what he suffered in the garden now follow him to the crosse for when he was in the garden he only tasted of the cup but when he was upon the crosse he drunke the cup quite off in the garden he only sipped the top 〈◊〉 it but now hee drunke the dregs of it and the bottome and all For the opening of this looke Mat. 27.46 about the ninth houre that is about three of the clocke in the afternoone when he was crucified he cried out saying Eli Eli lamusabactani Now Divines say and Interpreter conclude and 〈◊〉 professe it and I beseech you attend to it that in this crie coÌ„plaint of our Saviour was discovered the dregs of the cup of the fierce indignation of the Lord now before I come to the 〈◊〉 and proper sense of the words consider thus much there are two interpretations of it First there is one of the Jesuites which we must confute and remove Secondly there is another interpretation of sound Divines which we must receive and yeeld unto For the first Bellarmine and others make the meaning of the words to be this that our Saviour Christ here complaines that he was left to the hands of the Jewes and that God the Father would not deliver him from that temporal death which they would put him to therefore said they our Saviour in the sense of the death natural cries out that God had left him in the hands of those ungodly men therefore they say the words run thus My God my God why hast thou thus forsaken me and lost me thus in the hands of Pilate and Herod and the Jewes to crucifie mee it is a sinew lesse and a weake imagination that I may speake no worse of it for I can hardly beare it with patience and that this sense is false there are a reasons to beare against it First this meaning is taken from a false ground and therefore the ground and bottome being brittle and weake the building must needs fall It is a weake thing for a man to say that sometimes the miseries and deaths of the Saints of God argue a forsaking of God for I say that though the Saints of God are sometimes delivered up to death by the wise providence of God yet they are not said to bee forsaken of God 2 Cor. 4.9 Wee are persecuted but not forsaken cast downe but wee perish not You know what the ordinarie promises are in this kinde I will be with thee in six troubles 〈◊〉 the seventh I will deliver thee marke this the heaviest afflictions of the Saints of God nay death it selfe is so farre from being an argument of Gods forsaking them that it is an argument of their glorying in God as in 2 Cor. 12.10 Therefore I take pleasure in my infirmities and reproaches necessities and persecutions and in anguish for Christs sake the Apostle rejoyceth in persecutions and in the midst of all extremities A second reason why it is false is this God is said to leave his servants two wayes and there are no other wayes in Scripture that I know of First when God takes away his assistance in the time of trouble and hee lends not that strength and that assistance whereby with patience they may beâ—e and with courage goe through those afflictions but now and then hee lets them not bee soiled by their owne infirmities and to fall by their weaknesses that they may learne to see their owne weaknesses and learne not to trust in themselves but in the Lord their God Now this forsaking cannot nor did not befall our Saviour in common sense because hee prayed for assistance and whatsoever hee prayed for hee had as Hebrewes 5.7 Hee was heard in that which he feared and so consequently assisted nay he was confident of the issue of it Luke 23.42.43 when the good theefe upon the crosse said Lord remember mee when thou commest into thy Kingdome the Lord answered him this way shall thou be with 〈◊〉 in Paradise nay David did prophesie this of Christ and Christ himselfe performes it Psalme 16.8 I have set the Lord alwayes before mine eyes for hee is at my right hand therefore I shall 〈◊〉 be moved therefore God the Father did not leave our Saviour but he did assist him that hee was above all sorrowes and all miseries Secondly the other kinde of leaving which the Scripture speakes of is this when the Lord takes away the sense and feeling of the sweetnesse of his love and 〈◊〉 from the soule in Psalme 27.9 David saith Hide not thy face away from me neither cast away thy servants in displeasure put not a servant 〈◊〉 of doores Here I demand of any man but especially of the Jesuites whether of these two they will grant God did not forsake the Lord Jesus Christ the first way therefore he must doe it this way or none at all and if any man grant this then he grants the cause for then there was not onely the death naturall but the displeasure of the Lord
any weaknesse on our Saviours part because this withdrawing of the sweetnesse of Gods love brings onely a punishment upon the soule and takes to grace nor holinesse from the soule of our Saviour Now wee are come to the bottome now our Saviour foresaw all the mercy goodnesse and compassion of God the Father going away from him and hee panted after it saying my God my God mercy is gone and compassion is gone in regard of the sense of it Now that you may see the weight of the sufferings of our Saviour consider thus â—â—ich that the 〈◊〉 away the selfe of Gods love discovers it selfe in Scripture after this manner The Lord in this worke of his and in this heavie withdrawing himselfe he turnes away his face and lookes another way deprives him of the injoying of the sweetnesse of his fellowship which formerly hee had Ionah 2.4 Ionah was a good and a gratious man though he was a strange man as one observes yet when the Lord had dealt something strangely with him and cast him into the sea a whale receives him and when hee was swallowed up of the whale he was then swallowed up of a greater griefe for God had taken away the sweetnesse of his love from him therefore saith he I am cast out of thy sight hee would play the runne away with God and would goe to Tarsus therefore God casts him out of his sight to his owne apprehension therefore saith hee I am cast out of thy presence this was onely in regard of the sense and sweetnesse of Gods love and favour this you may see in the example of David Psalme 31.22 I said in my haste I am cast out of thy sight as no question but Ionah prayed in the whales belly and said Lord pardon my sinne and forgive my transgressions no saith the Lord get you downe to Tarsus so David prayed and cried earnestly saying not smile of thy favour Lord no saith the Lord and hee looked another way yet thou heardest the voyce of my prayer and so Ionah yet will I looke towards thy holy Temple hee looked to mercy whiles his eyes and his heart and all faild so that faith may well stand even there where there is no sense at all Thus it was here in the case of our Saviour and thus the Scripture speakes admirable pithily Psalme 77.9 Hath God forgotten to bee gracious and hath he shut up his tender mercies as if he had said though I may not have mercy yet let me see mercy hath God in anger shut up his mercy the face of mercy is sweet and the presence of mercy is comely but hath God in anger shut up his tender mercies hee hath not onely sent him going out of doores as hee did Ionah but hee shuts himselfe up that the poore sinner cannot come within fight of him Oh saith the sonne I would my father would but looke out at the window that I might see him but when hee will not suffer his sonne to looke upon him this is heavie so the Lord saith to his servants no no you have slighted my kindnesse therefore I will locke it up that you shall see him no more In the second Booke of Samuel the fourteenth chapter the twentie eighth verse When Absolom had dwelt two yeares in Ierusalem and saw not the Kings face at length hee sends for Ioab to send him to the King and said either let me see the Kings face or else wherefore doe I live It was a great favour that hee might but see the Kings face though hee might not injoy fellowship with him this is a great trouble when the Lord shuts up his mercy in anger mercy hath come home to your hearts and it hath besought you to take it but you have dealt basely with the Lord and walked rebelliously against him well the Lord will shut you out of his presence and will shut up his mercy and then you shall say that you had mercy offered to you once and you would not accept it Thirdly and this is the highest degree of all the Lord doth not onely shut up his mercy that he cannot be seene but hee goes away that a man cannot tell where to seeke him Oh saith the sonne that I might but see my Father but hee is gone and then his heart is even swalloweed up nay God doth not only take away the sense and feeling of his favour beyond sight but hee goes away from a man that hee cannot tell where to seeke him that if he would write letters as I may say yet he knowes not where to send them and if he call his father he cannot heare him Thus the Scripture speakes and thus the saints of God have found it from time to time Psalme 77.7 8 9. Will the Lord absent himselfe for ever and will he shew no more favour this translation is reasonable well but the originall runs thus will hee adde no more to bee favourable as if hee had said what will he not only not entertaine me but is hee gone that I cannot tell where to finde him and in the â— verse Is his mercy cleane gone for ever This is the last of all and that which contains the pith of all that our Saviour speakes expresly of himselfe that God goes not onely out of his presence but out of his calling too the place is excellent Psal 22.1 from whence these words were taken My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee why art thou so farre from helping mee and from the words of my complaint God is gone beyond call Now that you may see the weight of the sorrowes that lay upon our Saviour consider thus much our Saviour was not onely cast out of Gods favour and God did not onely take away the sense of his love and the feeling operation of his favour that so he received not the sweetnesse that he had done but Christ tooke the place of sinners and therefore God the Father shut him out amongst sinners and drew his mercy out of sight and out of hearing and therefore he cried out My God my God c. Nay further why art thou so farre from my helpe Hee cried out that hee â—ore his bowels againe and stretched out his throat and cries my God my God and hee followes the mercy of God the Father in this kinde not that his faith did not prevaile but he had not the sense and sweetnesse of Gods love and so David in all that he spake saying Will he be favourable no more hath hee in anger shut up his tender mercies All this while God was present with him by supportation though he held that vision of mercy off from his soule now at this time it seemes to me and the text will beare it that though Christ before had but three bouts in the garden yet now all the sins of all his elect children and the cloud of sins of all the faithfull did arise to a mighty great fog and the cloud did overspread all the
whole heavens as I may say and did darken all the Sunne-shine of Gods favour as it is with the Sun in the firmament when a little cloud growes greater and greater untill it cover the whole heaven then we thinke it is almost night so all the sinnes of all the faithfull did overspread all the whole heavens that even the star-light of Gods compassion and the lightning of Gods love and favour appeared not Now I come to the reasons of our Saviours grievous sufferings in his soule and the reasons are these First from the cause Secondly from the place to which our Saviour was called Thirdly from the love of the Lord Jesus Christ which makes it most plaine of all Reason 1 First from the cause it cannot bee that it was the Jewes and Herod and Pilate that made him crie out in this manner but the justice of God the Father came against him and the devill entred the combate with the Lord Jesus Christ upon the crosse Luke 22.53 This is your houre and the power of darknesse hell gates were set open and the devils were all let loose upon our Saviour and therefore as Divines doe wisely and judiciously observe in Coloss 2.15 Hee led captivity captive and spoyled principalities and powers and tooke the hand writing of ordinances that was against us and fastned them to his crosse hee was now in the maine combat with all the powers of sinne hell and death These were they that did make the combat with the Lord of life Reason 2 The second reason is taken from the place which he underwent he was to be a Priest and he was to offer up himselfe for a sacrifice not his body alone but also his soule as Hebrewes 9.20.24 Christ offered up himselfe for a sacrifice Reason 3 Thirdly the love of the Lord Jesus was such that of necessitie it must bee so and those that thinke that the Lord Jesus suffered nothing else but onely the death of the body they wonderfully wrong the love of the Lord Jesus Christ the like love was never seene for had he suffered only the death naturall then some of Gods people had shewed greater love than ever Christ did as Paul Romans 9.3 I could bee content to want the sense of the love of Christ for the people of the Iewes c. Now if our Saviour had onely suffered the death naturall then Paul could have beene content to doe more than Christ did Thus you see the nature of this forsaking of Christ Secondly there was also a curse which befell our Saviour which here is intimated but is fully exprest Gal. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law why because he was made a curse for us how doth he prove that because it is written cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree He proves the truth by the Type the curse lay in this that Christ did suffer whatsoever was due unto us So the Apostle reasons that whatsoever curse was due unto us that our Saviour did suffer the curse was this the Father did not only withdraw the sense and sweetnesse of his love and favour from the Lord Jesus Christ but hee also let in his heavie indignation and wrath into his soule and that seized upon and fild the soule of our Saviour brim full and this was the curses The Scripture doth expresse it in two particulars or there are two degrees of it First the justice of God had a single combat with our Saviour in the garden and there it had three bouts with him the Lord dealt very roughly with him and the blowes were very heavie that hee laid upon our Saviour there for they went to the heart of him and yet that was but a little skirmish Esay 53.4 5. God smote him and bruised him insomuch that there was clodded blood seene to come dropping from him these heavie bouts that hee had wounded him and went to the very heart of him but now patience and forbearance and longsuffering and mercy and compassion they all come into rescue our Saviour and they afford him a little breathing and refreshing so that though the blowes were heavie and the thrusts were sore yet he did breathe and live and it was not the maine stroke of all and the reason was because patience mercy and goodnesse and bountie came in to rescue him but then the second part was this Not only Gods anger had a single combat with him but at last the justice of God gathered up all the powers of it and the wrath of God drew up all the forces together and they marched in furiously against Christ and whereas before the Father smote at him and did thrust at him now hee slew him When our Saviour came to the crosse and the heat of the battle lay upon him then all the sense and sweetnesse of Gods countenance and favour they all left our Saviour in the open field for in the garden hee had some refreshings and some breathing times and mercy and goodnesse did step in and say slay him not but let him have some refreshings but now the sense and the feeling of all these was gone Vse The use of this last branch it is a word of terrour and it is able to shake the hearts of the proudest wretches under heaven they that let themselves against God and Heaven and make nothing of the sinnes they have committed nor of the wrath of God threatned and when the Minister saith Oh the end of those sins will be bitternesse this contempt of God and grace and holy services and these oaths will be bitter in the latter end How can you beare the wrath of God and you cannot possibly avoid it tusâ— say they come let us talke of other matters and not busie our selves with these matters well saith the Minister but the word is true and the word saith it well then saith the soule and I will beare it as well as I can If I sinne I will beare it and if I come into hell I shall beare it as well as another and I shall make a shift for one Oh poore sinfull creature wilt thou beare it and make thy part good as well as another dost thou know what thou saist ler all those stouthearted men that sit in the feat of the scornfull and make nothing of God nor his wrath nor of hell nor of the sinnes that they have committed let them know that they shall never bee able to beare the indignation of the Lord see here and behold a little all you that make nothing of the withdrawing of Gods favour Psalme 97.4 5. and Revelation â— 14 15 16 17. The heavens departed away as a scrowle when it is rowled and every mountaine and Isle were removed out of their places and the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chiefe captaines and the mighty men and every bondman and every free man hid themselves in the dens and rocks and in the mountaines and said to