shall I render to the Lord for all his benefites I will take the cup of saluation and call vpon the name of the Lord. And as rauisht from thy selfe with the sweet apprehension of this mercy call all the other creatures to the fellowshippe of this ioy with that diuine Esay Reioyce O yee heauens for the Lord hath done it showte yee lower partes of the earth burst forth into prayses yee mountaines for the Lord hath redeemed Iacob and will be glorified in Israel And euen now beginne that heauenlie Song which shall neuer end with those glorified Saints Prayse and honour and glory and power be to him that sitteth vpon the throne and to the Lambe for euermore Thus our speech of Christes last wordes is finished His last act accompanied his wordes our speech must follow it let it not want your deuout carefull attention Hee bowed and gaue vp the ghost The Crosse was a slow death had more paine then speed whence a second violence must dispatch the crucified their bones must be broken that their hearts might breake Our Sauiour stayes not deaths leysure but willingly and couragiously meetes him in the way and like a Champion that scornes to be ouercome yea knowes he cannot be yeeldeth in the middest of his strength that hee might by dying vanquish death Hee bowed and gaue vp Not bowing because hee had giuen vp but because hee would Hee cried with a lowde voyce saith Matthew Nature was strong hee might haue liued but hee gaue vp the Ghost and would die to shew him selfe Lord of life and Death Oh wondrous example hee that gaue life to his enemies gaue vpp his owne hee giues them to liue that persecute and hate him and himselfe will die the whiles for those that hate him Hee bowed and gaue vp not they they might crowne his head they could not bow it they might vexe his spirite not take it away they could not doe that without leaue this they could not doe because they had no leaue Hee alone would bow his head and giue vp his Ghost I haue power to lay downe my life Man gaue him not his life man could not bereaue it No man takes it from me Alas who could The high-Priestes forces when they came against him armed he said but I am he they flee and fall backward How easie a breath disperst his enemies whom he might as easily haue bidden the earth yea hell to swallow or fire from heauen to deuoure Who commaunded the Diuels and they obeyed could not haue beene attached by men he must giue not onely leaue but power to apprehend himselfe else they had not liu'd to take him hee is laide holde of Peter fights Put vp saith Christ Thinkest thou that I cannot pray to my Father and hee will giue mee more then 12. Legions of Angels VVhat an Army were here more then threescore and twelue thousand Angels and euery Angell able to subdue a world of men hee could but would not be rescued hee is led by his owne power not by his enemies and stands now before Pilate like the scorne of men crowned robbed scourged with an Ecce homo Yet thou couldest haue no power against me vnlesse it were giuen thee from aboue Behold he himselfe must giue Pilate power against himselfe else hee could not be condemned he will be condemned lifted vp nailed yet no death without himselfe Hee shall giue his soule an offering for sinne Esay 53.10 No action that sauours of constraint can be meritorious hee would deserue therefore he would suffer and die Hee bowed his head and gaue vp the Ghost O gracious and bountifull Sauiour hee might haue kept his soule within his teeth in spight of all the world the weakenesse of God is stronger then men and if he had but spoken the word the heauens and earth should haue vanisht away before him but he would not Behold when hee saw that impotent man could not take away his soule he gaue it vp and would die that we might liue See here a Sauiour that can contemne his own life for ours cares not to be dissolued in himselfe that we might be vnited to his Father Skinne for skinne saith the Diuell and all that hee hath a man will giue for his life Loe here to proue Sathan a lyer skin and life and all hath Christ Iesus giuen for vs. We are besotted with the earth and make base shifts to liue one with a maimed bodie another with a periured soule a third with a rotten name and how many had rather neglect their soule then their life and will rather renounce and curse GOD then die It is a shame to tell many of vs Christians dote vpon life and tremble at death and shew our selues fooles in our excesse of loue Cowards in our feare Peter denies Christ thrice and forsweares him Marcellinus twice casts graines of incense into the Idolles fire Ecebolius turnes thrice Spira reuolts and despaires Oh let mee liue saith the fearefull soule Whither dost thou reserue thy selfe thou weake and timorous Creature or what wouldest thou doe with thy selfe Thou hast not thus learned Christ hee dies voluntarily for thee thou wilt not bee forced to die for him hee gaue vp the Ghost for thee thou wilt not let others take it from thee for him thou wilt not let him take it for himselfe VVhen I looke backe to the first Christians and compare their zealous contempt of death with our backewardnesse I am at once amased and ashamed I see there euen women the feebler sexe running with their little ones in their armes for the preferment of martyrdome and ambitiously striuing for the next blow I see holy and tender virgins chusing rather a sore and shamefull death then honourable Espousals I heare the blessed Martyrs intreating their Tyrants and tormentors for the honour of dying Jgnatius amongst the rest fearing least the beastes will not deuoure him and vowing the first violence to them that he might bee dispatched And what lesse courage was there in our memorable and glorious forefathers of the last of this age and doe wee their cold and feeble ofspring looke pale at the face of a faire and naturall death abhorre the violent though for Christ Alas how haue we gathered rust with our long peace Our vnwillingnesse is from inconsideration from distrust Looke but vp to Christ Iesus vpon his Crosse and see him bowing his head and breathing out his soule and these feares shall vanish he died and wouldest thou liue he gaue vpp the Ghost and wouldest thou keepe it whome wouldest thou follow if not thy Redeemer If thou die not if not willingly thou goest contrary to him and shalt neuer meete him Though thou shouldest euery day die a death for him thou couldest neuer requite his one death and doest thou sticke at one Euery word hath his force both to him thee hee died which is Lord of life and commander of death thou art but a tenant of
as done and when it was done all was done How easie is it to lose our selues in this discourse how hard not to be ouerwhelmed with matter of wonder and to find eyther beginning or end his sufferings found an end our thoughts cannot Lo with this word hee is happily waded out of those deepes of sorrowes whereof our conceites can finde no bottome yet let vs with Peter gird our coat and cast our selues a little into this sea All his life was but a perpetuall Passion In that hee became man hee suffered more then wee can doe eyther while wee are men or when we cease to be men hee humbled yea he emptied himselfe Wee when wee cease to bee here are cloathed vpon 2. Cor. 5. Wee both winne by our being and gaine by our losse hee lost by taking our more or lesse to himselfe that is manhood For though euer as God J and my Father are one yet as man My Father is greater then I. That man should bee turned into a beast into a worme into dust into nothing is not so great a disparagement as that GOD should become man and yet it is not finished it is but begunne But what man If as the absolute Monarch of the worlde hee had commaunded the vassalage of all Emperours and Princes and had trod on nothing but Crowns and Scepters and the necks of Kinges and bidden all the Potentates of the earth to attend his traine this had carried some port with it sutable to the heroicall Maiesty of Gods Sonne No such matter here is neither Forme nor Beautie vnlesse perhappes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the forme of a seruant you haue made me to serue with your sinnes Behold he is a man to God a seruant to man and be it spoken with holy reuerence a drudge to his seruantes Hee is despised and reiected of men yea as himselfe of himselfe a worme and no man the shame of men and contempt of the people Who is the King of glory the Lord of hoastes he is the King of glory Set these two together the King of glory the shame of men the more honour the more abasement Looke backe to his Cradle there you find him reâ—ected of the Bethlemites borne and laid alas how homely how vnworthily sought for by Herod exiled to Aegypt obscurely brought vppe in the Cottage of a poore Foster-Father transported and tempted by Sathan derided of his kindred blasphemously traduced by the Iewes pinched with hunger restlesse harbourlesse sorrowfull persecuted by the Elders and Pharisies solde by his owne seruant apprehended arraigned scourged condemned and yet it is not finished Let vs with that Disciple follow him a far off and passing ouer all his contemptuous vsage in the way see him brought to his Crosse Still the further wee looke the more wonder euery thing addes to this ignominie of suffering triumph of ouercomming where was it not in a corner as Paul saith to Festus but in Ierusalem the eye the heart of the world Obscurity abateth shame publique notice heightens it Before all Israel and before this Sunne saith GOD to Dauid when he would throughly shame him In Ierusalem which he had honoured with his presence taught with his preachings astonisht with his miracles bewailed with his teares O Ierusalem Ierusalem how oft would I and thou wouldest not O yet if in this thy day Cruelty and vnkindnesse after good desert afflict so much more as our merite hath beene greater Where abouts without the gates in Caluary among the stinking bones of execrable Malefactors Before the glory of the place bred shame now the vilenesse of it When but in the Passeouer a time of greatest frequence and concourse of all Iewes and Proselites An holy time when they should receiue the figure they reiect the substance when they should kill and eate the Sacramentall Lambe in faith in thankefulnesse they kill the Lambe of GOD our true Passeouer in cruelty and contempt With whome The quality of our company either increases or lessens shame In the midst of thieues saith one as the Prince of thieues there was no guile in his mouth much lesse in his handes yet beholde hee that thought it no robbery to be equal with God is made equall to robbers and murderers yea superiour in euil What suffered hee As all liues are not alike pleasant so all deathes are not equally fearefull there is not more difference betwixt some life and death then betwixt one death and another See the Apostles gradation Hee was made obedient to the death euen the death of the Crosse The Crosse a lingring tormenting ignominious death The Iewes had foure kinds of death for malefactors the towell the sword fire stones each of these aboue other in extremity Strangling with the towel they accounted easiest the sword worse then the towell the fire worse then the sword stoning worse then the fire but this Romaine death was worst of all Cursed is euery one that hangeth on Tree Yet as Ierome well hee is not therefore accursed because hee hangeth but therefore he hangeth because he is accursed Hee was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Curse for vs. The curse was more then the shame yet the shame is vnspeakable and yet not more then the paine Yet all that die the same death are not equally miserable the very thieues fared better in their death then he I heare of no irrision no inscription no taunts no insultation on them they had nothing but paine to incounter he paine and scorne An ingenuous and Noble nature can worse brooke this then the other any thing rather then disdainfulnesse and derision especially from a base enemy I remember that learned Father beginnes Israels affliction with Ismaels persecuting laughter The Iewes the Souldiers yea the very Thieues flouted him and triumpht ouer his miserie his bloud cannot satisfie them without his reproach Which of his senses now was not a window to let in sorrow his eyes saw the teares of his Mother and friends the vnthankfull demeanure of Mankinde the cruell despight of his enemies his eares heard the reuilings and blasphemies of the multitude and whether the place were noysome to his sent his touch felt the nayles his tast the gall Looke vp O all ye beholders looke vpon this pretious body and see what part ye can find free that head which is adored and trembled at by the Angelicall spirits is all raked and harrowed with thorns that face of whome is said Thou art fairer then the children of men is all besmeared with the filthy spetâ—le of the Iewes and furrowed with his teares those eyes clearer then the Sunne are darkened with the shadow of death those eares that heare the heauenly consorts of Angels now are filled with the cursed speakings scoffes of wretched men those lips that spake as neuer man spake that commaund the spirits both of light and darkenesse are scornfully wet with vinegar and gall those feet that trample on all the powers of
THE PASSION SERMON PREACHED AT PAVLES CROSSE on Good-Friday Apr. 14. 1609. By I. H. LONDON Printed by W. S. for Samuell Macham and are to be sold at his Shop in Pauls Church-Yard at the Signe of the Bull-head ANNO. 1609. TO THE ONELY HONOVR AND GLORIE OF GOD MY DEARE AND BLESSED SAVIOVR WHICH HATH DONE AND SVFFERED ALL THESE THINGES FOR MY SOVLE HIS WEAKE AND VNWORTHIE SERVANT HVMBLIE DESIRES TO CONSECRATE HIMSELFE AND HIS POORE LABOVRS BESEECHING HIM TO ACCEPT AND BLESSE THEM TO THE PVBLIKE GOOD AND TO THE PRAISE OF HIS OVVNE GLORIOVS NAME To the Reader I Desire not to make any Apologie for the Edition of this my Sermon It is motiue enough that herein I affect a more publike and more induring good Spirituall nicenesse is the next degree to vnfaithfulnesse This point cannot be too much vrged eyther by the tongue or presse Religion and our soules depend vpon it yet are our thoughts too much beside it The Church of Rome so fixes her selfe in her adoration vpon the Crosse of Christ as if shee forgat his glory Many of vs so conceiue of him glorious that we neglect the meditation of his Crosse the way to his glory and ours If we would proceede aright wee must passe from his Golgotha to the mount of Oliues and from thence to heauen and there seeke and settle our rest According to my weake ability I haue led this way in my speech beseeching my Readers to follow mee with their hearts that we may ouertake him which is entred into the true sanctuarie euen the highest heauens to appeare now in the sight of God for vs. THE PASSION SERMON IOHN 19. VERSE 30. When Iesus therefore had receiued the Vineger he said It is finished and bowing the head he gaue vp the ghost THE bitter and yet victorious Passion of the Sonne of GOD right Honourable and beloued Christians as it was the strangest thing that euer befell the earth So is both of most soueraigne vse and lookes for the most frequent and carefull meditation It is one of those thinges which was once done that it might be thought of for euer Euery day therefore must be the Good-friday of a Christian who with that great Doctor of the Gentiles must desire to know nothing but Iesus Christ and him crucified There is no branch or circumstance in this wonderful businesse which yeeldes not infinite matter of discourse According to the solemnity of this time and place I haue chosen to commend vnto your Christian attention our Sauiours Farewell to Nature for his reuiuing was aboue it in his last word in his last act His last word Jt is finished his last act Hee gaue vp the ghost That which hee said hee did If there be any theam that may challenge and command our eares and hearts this is it for beholde the sweetest word that euer Christ spake and the most meritorious act that euer hee did are met together in this his last breath In the one yee shall see him triumphing yeelding in the other yet so as hee ouercomes Imagine therefore that you saw Christ â—esus in this day of his passion who is euery day here crucified before your eyes aduanced vpon the chariot of his Crosse and now after a weary conflict cheerefully ouerlooking the despight and shame of men the wrath of his Father the law sinne death hell which all lie gasping at his foote and then you shall conceiue with what spirite hee saith Consummatum est It is finished What is finished Shortly All the prophesies that were of him All legall obseruations that prefigured him his own sufferings Our saluation The prophesies are accomplisht the ceremonies abolisht his sufferings ended our saluation wrought these foure heades shall limit this first part of my speech onely let them find and leaue you attentiue Euen this very word is prophesied of All things that are written of me haue an end saith Christ What end this It is finished this very end hath his end here What therefore is finished not this prediction only of his last draught as Augustine that were too particular Let our Sauiour himselfe say All things that are written of mee by the Prophets It is a sure and conuertible rule Nothing was done by Christ which was not for tolde nothing was euer foretolde by the Prophets of Christ which was not done It would take vp a life to compare the Prophets and Euangelists the predictions and the history largely to discourse how the one foretels and the other aunsweres let it suffice to look at them running Of all the Euangelists S. Mathew hath beene most studious in making these references and correspondences with whom the burden or vndersong of euery euent is still vt impleretur That it might bee fulfilled Thus hath hee noted if I haue reckoned them aright two and thirty seuerall prophesies concerning Christ fulfilled in his birth life death ☞ ☜ ☞ ☜ Esay 7.14 Mat. 1.23 Zach. 9.9 Mat. Ibidem Mich. 5.2 Mat. 2.6 Iere. 7.11 Mat. 21.13 Esay 11.1 Mat. 2.15 Psalm 8.2 Mat. 21.16 Ier. 31.15 Mat. 2.18 Esay 5.8 Mat. 21.33 Iudg. 13.5 Mat. 2. vlt. Psal 118.22 Mat. 21.44 Esa 40.3 Mat. 3.2 Psal 110.1 Mat. 22.44 Esay 9.1 Mat. 4.15 Esay 8.14 Mat. 21.44 Leu. 14.4 Mat. 8.4 Psal 41.9 Mat. 26.31 Esay 53.4 Mat. 8.17 Esay 53.10 Mat. 26.54 Esay 61.1 Mat. 11.4 Zach. 13.7 Mat. 26.31 Esay 42.1 Mat. 12.17 Lam. 4.20 Mat. 26.56 Iona. 1.17 Mat. 12.40 Esay 50.6 Mat. 26.67 Esay 6.9 Mat. 13.14 Zac. 11.13 Mat. 27.9 Psal 78.2 Mat. 13.35 Psal 22.18 Mat. 27.35 Es 35.5.6 Mat. 15.30 Psal 22.2 Mat. 27.46 Es 62.11 Mat. 21.5 Psal 69.22 Mat. 27.48 To which Saint Iohn adds many more Our speech must be directed to his Passion omitting the rest let vs insist in those He must bee apprehended it was fore-prophesied The Annointed of the Lord was taken in their nets sayeth Ieremie but how he must be sold for what thirty siluer peeces and what must those doe buy a fielde all foretolde And they tooke thirty siluer peeces the price of him that was valued and gaue them for the Potters field saith Zacharie miswritten Ieremy by one letter mistaken in the abbreuiation by whom that childe of perdition that the Scripture might bee fulfilled Which was hee It is foretold He that eateth bread with mee saith the Psalmist And what shall his Disciples doe Runne away so saith the prophesie I will smite the shepheard and the sheepe shall bee scattered saith Zacharie What shall be done to him hee must be scourged and spit vpon behold not those filthy excrements could haue light vpon his sacred face without a prophesie I hid not my face from shame and spitting saith Esay what shall be the issue In short hee shall bee led to death it is the prophesie the Messias shall be slaine saith Daniel what death hee must bee lift vp Like as Moses lift vp the Serpent in the wildenesse so shall the sonne of man be lift vp
Chrysostome saith well that some actions are parables so may I say some actions are prophesies such are all types of Christ and this with the formost Lift vp whither to the Crosse it is the prophesie hanging vpon a tree saith Moses how lift vp nayled to it so is the prophesie foderunt manus they haue pierced my hands and my feet sayth the Psalmist with what company two theeues with the wicked was hee numbred sayth Esay where without the gates saith the prophesie what becomes of his garments they cannot so much as cast the dice for his coate but it is prophesied They diuided my garments and on my vestures cast lots saith the Psalmist hee must die then on the Crosse but how voluntarily Not a bone of him shall be broken what hinders it loe there he hangs as it were neglected and at mercy yet all the raging Iewes no all the Diuels in hell cannot stirre one bone in his blessed body It was prophesied in the Easter-Lambe and it must be fulfilled in him that is the true Passeouer in spight of fiendes and men how then he must be thrust in the side behold not the very speare could touch his pretious side being dead but it must bee guided by a prophesie They shall see him whome they haue thrust thorough saith Zacharie what shall he say the while not his very words but are forespoken his complaint Eli Eli lamma sabactani as the Chalde or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Hebrew Psalme 22.2 his resignation In manus tuas Into thy bandes I commend my spirit Psalme 31.5 His request Father forgiue them Hee prayed for the transgressors sayth Esay And now when he saw al these prophesies were fulfilled knowing that one remained he said I thirst Domine quid sitis saith one O LORD what thirstest thou for A strange hearing that a man yea that GOD and MAN dying should complaine of thirst Could he endure the scorching flames of the wrath of his Father the curse of our sins those tortures of body those horrours of soule doth he shrinke at his thirst no no he could haue borne his drought he could not beare the Scripture not fulfilled It was not necessity of nature but the necessity of his Fathers decree that drew forth this word I thirst They offered it before hee refused it whether it were an ordinarie potion for the condemned to hasteÌ„ death as in the story of M. Anthonie which is the most receiued construction or whether it were that Iewish potion whereof the Rabbines speake whose tradition was that the malefactor to bee executed should after some good counsell from two of their Teachers be taught to say Let my death bee to the remission of all my sinnes and then that hee should haue giuen him a boule of mixt wine with a graine of Frankincense to bereaue him both of reason and paine I durst be confident in this latter the rather for that Saint Marke calls this draught 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Myrrhe wine mingled as is like with other ingredients And Montanus agrees with me in the end ad stuporeÌ„ mentis alienationem A fashion which Galatine obserues out of the Sannedrim to bee grounded vpon Prouerbs 31.6 Giue strong drinke to him that is readie to perish I leaue it modestly in the middest let the learneder iudge whatsoeuer it were hee would not die till hee had complained of thirst and in his thirst tasted it Neither would hee haue thirsted for or tasted any but this bitter draught that the Scripture might bee fulfilled They gaue me vineger to drinke And loe now ConsuÌ„matum est all is finished If there bee any Iew amongst you that like one of Iohns vnseasonable Disciples shall aske Art thou hee or shall wee looke for another Hee hath his aunswere yee men of Israel why stand you gazing and gaping for another Messias In this alone all the Prophesies are finished and of him alone all was prophesied that was finished Paules old rule holdes still To the Jewes a stumbling blocke and that more auncient Curse of Dauid Let their table bee made a snare And Steuens two brands sticks still in the flesh of these wretched men One in their necke stiffe-necked the other in their heart vncircumcised the one Obstinacie the other Vnbeliefe stiffe neckes indeede that will not stoope and relent with the yoke of sixeteen hundred yeares iudgement and seruility vncircumcised hearts the fiâ—me of whose vnbeliefe would not be cut off with so infinit conuictions Oh mad miserable nation let them shew vs one prophesie that is not fulfilled let them shew vs one other in whome all the prophesies can be fulfilled and wee will mixe pitty with our hate If they cannot and yet resist their doome is past Those mine enemies that would not haue me to raigne ouer them bring them hither slay them before me So let thine enemies perish O Lord. But what goe I so farre euen amongst vs to our shame this riotous age hath bred a monstrous generation I pray God I be not now in some of your bosoms that heare me this day compounded much like to the Turkish Religion of one part Christian another lew a third worldling a fourth Atheist a Christians face a Iewes heart a worldlings life and therefore Atheous in the whole that acknowledge a God and know him not that professe a Christ but doubt of him yea belieue him not The foole hath said in his heart there is no Christ What shall I say of these men they are worse then Deuils that yeelding euill spirite could say Iesus I know and these miscreants are still in the old tune of that tempting Deuil Si tu es filius Dei if thou be the Christ Oh God that after so cleare a Gospell so many miraculous confirmations so many thousand martyrdomes so many glorious victories of truth so many open confessions of Angels men diuels friendes enemies such conspirations of heauen and earth such vniuersall contestations of all ages and people there should bee left any sparke of this damnable infidelitie in the false harts of men Behold then yee despisers wonder and vanish away whome haue all the Prophets fore-told or what haue the prophesies of so many hundreds yea thousands of yeeres foresaid that is not with this word finished who could foretell these thinges but the spirite of God who could accomplish them but the Sonne of God Hee spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets saith Zacharie hee hath spoken and he hath done one true God in both none other spirit could foresay these things should be done none other power could doe these things thus fore shewed this word therefore can fit none but the mouth of God our Sauiour It is finished Wee know whome wee haue beleeued Thou art the Christ the Sonne of the liuing GOD. Let him that loues not the Lord Iesus bee accursed to the death Thus the prophesies are finished Of the legall
agonies araignements scourgings scoffing crucifying conflicts terrors all is finished Alas beloued and will we not yet let the sonne of God be at rest do we now againe goe about to fetch him out of his glory to scorne and crucifie him I feare to say it Gods spirit dare and doth They crucifie againe to themselues the Sonne of God and make a mocke of him To themselues not in himselfe that they cannot it is no thanke to them they would doe it See and consider the notoriously-sinfull conuersations of those that should be Christians offer violence vnto our glorified Sauiour they stretch their hands to heauen and pull him downe from his throne to his Crosse they teare him with thornes pearce him with nayles load him with reproches Thou hatest the Iewes spittest at the name of Iudas railest on Pilate condemnest the cruel butchers of Christ yet thou canst blaspheme and sweare him quite ouer curse swagger lie oppresse boile with lust scoffe riot and liuest like a debauched man yea like an humaine Beast yea like an vncleane Diuell Cry Hosanna as long as thou wilt thou art a Pilate a Iew a Iudas an Executioner of the Lord of life and so much greater shall thy iudgement be by how much thy light and his glory is more Oh beloued is it not enough that he died once for vs VVere those paines so light that wee should euery day redouble them Is this the entertainment that so gracious a Sauiour hath deserued of vs by dying Is this the recompence of that infinite loue of his that thou shouldest thus cruelly vexe and wound him with thy sinnes Euery of our sinnes is a thorne and nayle and speare to him while thou pourest down thy drunken carowses thou giuest thy Sauiour a potion of gall while thou despisest his poore seruants thou spittest on his face while thou puttest on thy proud dresses and liftest vp thy vaine heart with high conceites thou sâ—ttest a Crowne of thornes on his heade while thou wringest and oppressest his poore children thou whippest him and drawest bloud of his hands feet Thou hypocrite how darest thou offer to receiue the Sacrament of GOD with that hand which is thus imbrued with the bloud of him whome thou receiuest In euery Ordinary thy prophane tong walkes in the disgrace of the religious and conscionable Thou makest no scruple of thine owne sins and scornest those that doe Not to be wicked is crime enough heare him that saith Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Saul strikes at Damascus Christ suffers in heauen Thou strikest Christ Iesus smarteth and will reuenge These are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 afterings of Christs sufferings in himselfe it is finished in his members it is not till the world be finished We must toile grone and bleed that we may raigne if he had not done so Jt had not beene finished This is our warfare this is the region of our sorow and death Now are we set vpon the sandie pauement of our Theater and are matched with all sortes of euills euill men euill spirits euill accidents and which are worst our owne euill heartes tentations crosses persecutions siknesses wants infamies death all these must in our courses be incountered by the law of our profession What should we doe but striue suffer as our Generall hath done that we may raigne as he doth and once triumph in our Consummatum est God and his Angells sit vpon the Scaffolds of heauen and behold vs our Crowne is ready our day of deliuerance shall come yea our redemption is neare when all teares shall be wipt from our eyes and we that haue sowne in teares shall reape in ioy In the mean time let vs possesse our soules not in patience onely but in comfort let vs adore and magnifie our Sauiour in his sufferings and imitate him in our owne our sorrowes shall haue an end our ioyes shall not our paines shall soone bee finished our glory shall bee finished but neuer ended Thus his sufferinges are finished now together with them Mans saluation Who knowes not that man had made himselfe a deepe debter a bankrupt an out-law to GOD Our sinnes are our debts by sinnes death Now in this word and act our sinnes are discharged death endured therefore we cleared the debt is paid the score is crossed the Creditor satisfied the Debters acquitted and since there was no other quarrell saued we are all sicke and that mortally Sinne is the disease of the soule Quot vitia â—â—t febres saith Chrysostome so many sinnes so many Feauers and those pestilent What wonder is it that wee haue so much plague while wee haue so much sinne Our Sauiour is the Physitian The whole need not the Physitian but the sicke wherein Hee healeth all our infirmities he healeth them after a miraculous manner not by giuing vs receites but by taking our receites for vs. A wonderfull Physition a wonder full course of cure One while he would cure vs by abstinence our superfluity by his forty dayes emptinesse according to that old Rule Hunger cures the diseases of Gluttony Another while by Exercise Hee went vpp and downe from Citie to Citie and in the day was preaching in the Temple in the night praying in the Mount Then by dyet Take eate this is my body and Let this cuppe passe After that yet by sweat such a sweate as neuer was a bloudy one yet more by incision they pearced his hands feet side and yet againe by potion a bitter potion of vineger and gall And lastly which is both the strangest and strongest receit of all by dying Which dyed for vs that whether we wake or sleepe wee should liue together with him We need no more we can go no further there can bee no more physicke of this kind there are cordials after these of his Resurrection and Ascension no more penall receites By this bloud we haue redemption Ephes 1.7 Iustification Rom. 3.24 Reconciliation Colos 1 20. Sanctification 1. Pet. 1.2 Entrance into glory Heb. 10.19 Is it not now finished Woe were vs if hee had left but one mite of satisfaction vpon our score to be discharged by our soules and woe bee to them that derogate from Christ that they may charge themselues that botch vp these al-sufficiently meritorious sufferinges of Christ as imperfect with the superfluities of flesh and bloud Maledictus homo qui spem ponit in homine We may not with patience see Christ wrongde by his false friendes As that heroical Luther said in the like Cursed be the silence that here forbeareth To be short here be two iniuries intollerable both giue Christ the lie vpon his Crosse It is finished No somewhat remaines the fault is discharged not the punishment Of punishments the eternall is quit not the temporall It is finished by Christ No there wants yet much the satisfactions of Saints applyed by his Vicar adde mens sufferings to Christs then the treasure is full till then It is
life a subiect of death And yet it was not a dying but a giuing vp not of a vanishing aerie breath but of a spirituall soule which after separation hath an entire life in it selfe He gaue vpp the Ghost he died that hath both ouercome and sanctified and sweetned death What fearest thou hee hath puld out the sting and malignity of death If thou bee a Christian carry it in thy bosome it hurts thee not Darest thou not trust thy Redeemer If hee had not dyed death had beene a Tyrant now hee is a slaue O Death where is thy sting O Graue where is thy victory Yet the Spirite of God saith not he dyed but gaue vpp the Ghost The verie Heathen Poet saith Hee durst not say that a good man dies It is worth the noting mee thinkes that when Saint Luke would describe to vs the death of Ananias and Sapphira he sayeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee expired but when Saint Iohn would describe Christs death hee saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee gaue vp the Ghost how how gaue hee it vpp and whither so as after a sort hee retained it his soule parted from his body his Godhead was neuer distracted eyther from soule or body this vnion is not in nature but in person If the natures of Christ could be diuided each would haue his subsistence so there should be more persons God forbid one of the natures therefore may haue a separation in it selfe the soule from the body one nature cannot be separate from other or eyther nature from the person If you cannot conceiue wonder the Sonne of GOD hath wedded vnto himselfe our humanity without all possibility of diuorce the body hangs on the Crosse the soule is yeelded the Godhead is euiternally vnited to them both acknowledges sustaines them both The soule in his agonie feeles not the presence of the God head the body vpon the Crosse feeles not the presence of the soule Yet as the Fathers of Chalcedon say truely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indiuisibly inseparably is the Godhead with both of these still and euer one and the same person The Passion of Christ as Augustine was the sleepe of his Diuinity so I may say The death of Christ was the sleepe of his humanity If hee sleepe he shall doe well said that Disciple of Lazarus Death was too weake to dissolue the eternall bonds of this heauenly coniunction Let not vs Christians go too much by sense wee may be firmely knit to God not feele it thou canst not hope to be so neare to thy God as Christ was vnited personally thou canst not feare that God should seeme more absent from thee then hee did from his owne Sonne yet was hee still one with both body and soule when they were diuided from themselues whē he was absent to sense he was present to faith when absent in vision yet in vnion one and the same so will hee be to thy soule when it is at worst Hee is thine and thou art his if thy hold seeme loosened his is not When temptations will not let thee see him hee sees thee and possesses thee only belieue thou against sense aboue hope though he kill thee yet trust in him Whither gaue hee it vp Himselfe expresses Father into thy handes and This day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise It is iustice to restore whence wee receiue Into thy hands He knew where it should be both safe happie true hee might bee bold thou saist as the Sonne with the father The seruants haue done so Dauid before him Steuen after him And least wee should not thinke it our common right Father sayth hee I will that those thou hast giuen me may be with me euen where I am hee willes it therefore it must bee It is not presumption but faith to charge God with thy spirite neither can there euer bee any belieuing soule so meane that hee should refuse it all the feare is in thy selfe how canst thou trust thy iewell with a stranger What sodaine familiarity is this God hath beene with thee and gone by thee thou hast not saluted him and now in all the hast thou bequeathest thy soule to him On what acquaintance how desperate is this carelesnesse If thou haue but a little money whither thou keepe it thou layest it vp in the Temple of trust or whether thou let it thou art sure of good assurance sound bonds if but a litle land how carefully dost thou make firme conueyances to thy desired heires If goods thy will hath taken secure order who shall enioy them wee need not teach you Citizēs to make sure worke for your estates if Children thou disposest of them in trades with portions onely of thy soule which is thy self thou knowest not what shall become The world must haue it no more thy selfe wouldst keepe it but thou knowest thou canst not Sathan would haue it and thou knowest not whether hee shall thou wouldest haue God haue it and thou knowest not whether hee will yea thy heart is now ready with Pharaoh to say Who is the Lord O the fearefull and miserable estate of that man that must part with his soule hee knowes not whither which if thou wouldest auoide as this very warning shall iudge thee if thou doe not be acquainted with GOD in thy life that thou mayest make him the Gardian of thy soule in thy death Giuen vp it must needs be but to him that hath gouerned it if thou haue giuen it to Sathan in thy life how canst thou hope God will in thy death entertaine it Did you not hate mee and expell me out of my fathers house how then come yee to me now in this time of your tribulation said Ieptha to the men of Gilead No no eyther giue vp thy soule to God while hee calls for it in his word in the prouocations of his loue in his afflictions in the holy motions of his spirit to thine or else when thou wouldest giue it hee will none of it but as a Iudge to deliuer it to the Tormentor What should God doe with an vncleane drunken prophane proud couetous soule without holinesse it is no seeing of God Depart from me yee wicked I know yee not goe to the gods you haue serued See how God is euen with men they had in the time of the Gospell saide to the holy one of Israel Depart from vs now in the time of iudgement hee sayth to them Depart from me They would not know God when they might now God will not know them when they would Now therefore beloued if thou wouldest not haue God scorne the offer of thy death-bed fit thy soule for him in thy health furnish it with grace inure it to a sweet conuersation with the God of heauen then mayest thou boldly giue it vpp and he shall as graciously receiue it yea fetch it by his Angels to his glory· He gaue vp the Ghost Wee must doe as he did not all with the