hence follow that he should at all times know either the true quality or exact measure of the paines which hee was at the time appointed by his Father to suffer for accomplishing this great worke undertaken by him For of all things that can bee knowen by men the knowledge of paines either for quality or the distinct measure of them is least possible without experimentall knowledge or sensible feeling of them Many Physicians haue learnedly discourst of the severall sorts of feavers and calculated their degrees more mathematico as Mathematicians doe the quantity of figures or solid bodies or revolutions of the Heavens But the reall paines or languishments of hecticall pestilentiall or other feavers the most learned Physician in the world cannot distinctly know or calculate unlesse hee feele them Or in case by sensible experience he knew the nature or quality or severall degrees of every feaver he is not hereby enabled distinctly to apprehend the maladies which attend the Gout untill he feele them Or suppose he knew these maladies from the highest to the lowest degree this will not indoctrinate him to know the extremities of the Stone so perfectly and distinctly as his meanest Patient doth which hath sensible experience of it though in a middle degree Our Saviour long before his last resort unto the garden of Gethsemane was a man of sorows had plentifull experience of humane infirmities or bodily maladies For he had felt the griefe and paine of all the diseases which he had cured by most exact and perfect sympathy with the diseased His heart was tunable to every mans heart that did seriously impart his griefe of minde or affliction of body unto him Onely in laughter or bodily mirth hee held no consort for ought we reade with any man But the griefe and sorow which in the garden he suffered could not be knowen by sympathy The protopathy was in himselfe and no man not the Apostles themselves could so truely sympathize with him in this griefe as he had done with them or the meanest of their brethren in other grievances or afflictions For never was there on earth any sorow like unto the sorow wherewith the Lord had afflicted him in this day of his wrath Yet was his obedience more than equall to his sorow and this obedience he learned by his sufferings 7. But if in this houre or any other hee learned obedience this seemes to argue that he was either disobedient before or at lest wanted some degree or part of obedience For no man can be said to learne that lesson which he hath already most perfectly by heart To this wee say That how ever the Sonne of God or the man Christ Jesus did never want any degree or part of habituall or implanted obedience yet the measure of his actuall obedience was not at all times the same The obedience which the Apostle saith hee learned was obedience passive and all passive obedience doth properly consist in patient suffering such things as are enjoyned by lawfull authority or in submitting our wills and affections not our bodies onely unto the just designes of Superiours Our Saviour at all times wholly submitted his humane will unto his Fathers will had alwayes undertaken with alacrity whatsoever his Father had appointed him to undertake or undergoe but his Father had never called him to such hard service as in this houre was put upon him Now if obedience passive consist in patience of suffering it must needs increase as the hardnesse of the sufferings increase in case the hardest service bee borne with equall patience or undertaken with the same measure of submission unto his will which enjoines them that meaner services are Againe if the true measure of bodily paines or sorow of minde cannot otherwise be knowen than by experience the Sonne of God himselfe as man and in the forme of a servant was to learne obedience at lest some new degrees of it by gaining experience of unusuall paines and sufferings And such questionlesse were those anguishes whether of soule or body which he suffered in the garden That hee had often prayed before this time wee reade and no doubt had alwayes tendred his petitions to God as to his Father with such humility of spirit as became an obedient Sonne and faithfull servant as did best befit the Ideall paterne of all true obedience But we doe not reade nor have wee any occasion or hint to conjecture that at any time before this hee did so humble himselfe in prayer as at this time he did whether we respect the forme or tenour of his supplications or his voice or bodily gesture in the delivery of them All the circumstances of these his supplications are accurately recorded by the Evangelists He was withdrawen or did withdraw himselfe from his Apostles about a stones cast And yet in this distance his Apostles though drousie and heavie did heare him pray distinctly who had taught them and us to pray for our selves in secret so secretly as that none besides our heavenly Father might heare them As for his gesture or posture of body that at the first delivery of his prayer and supplications was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So S. Luke Cap. 22. ver 41. Hee went forward saith S. Mark a little and fell on the ground and prayed Mark 14.35 So hee might doe and fall on his knees as S. Luke relates But S. Matthew addes he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed saying O my Father if it bee possible let this cup passe from me That he thrice used this forme or tenour of prayer whether at each time hee used the same posture of bodie or rather falling on his knees than on his face is not so cleare though most probably hee did so Now that which these three Evangelists doe intimate or imply in the accurate relations of these circumstances is more expresly recorded by S. Paul Heb. 5.7 to wit that in the dayes of his flesh hee offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares And no wonder if streames of teares gushed from his eyes when his whole body as S. Luke informes us did distill blood The full importance of this sacred passage of S. Paul Heb. 5. from the fourth verse to the ninth seeing it containes matter of deeper mysteries than most Interpreters which I have read have taken any great paines to sound must be part of the subject of another following Treatise concerning his consecration to his everlasting Priesthood Thus much in the meane time I take as granted that the forecited seventh verse of the fifth Chapter to the Hebrews doth in speciall referre unto the supplications made by our Saviour in his Agonie and will be the best Comment I know upon the Evangelists for clearing that point now in question what Cup it was for whose removall hee thrice so earnestly prayed 8. Hee offered up these his prayers saith the Apostle unto him who was able to save him from death This is exactly parallel
nature and will before it was sacrificed and whilst it was sacrificed was more obedient to his Fathers will than our first Parents senses or affections in their integrity were unto their reasonable soules When hee commeth into the world as our Apostle interprets the Psalmist he saith Sacrifice and offerings thou wouldest not but a body hast thou prepared or fitted for mee In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sinne thou hadst no pleasure then said I loe I come in the volume of the book it is written of me to doe thy will O God This will of God accomplished through the sacrifice of his Sonne was that will of God by which we are sanctified and if sanctified then justified yet not justified without satisfaction before made Of the full meaning of this place and of the true reconciliation of the Seventy Interpreters whom the Apostle followes with the Psalmist or the Originall by Gods grace hereafter Thus much is pertinent to our present purpose that the body which the Sonne of God assumed to do that will of his Father which could not bee accomplished by any other sacrifices though numberlesse and endlesse was a body fitted for all kindes of calamities and crosses which are incident unto mortality a body more capable of paine or deeper impressions from the violent occurrences of all externalls which are naturall than any other mans body was or had been A body as it were moulded and organized of purpose to bee animated or actuated with the spirit of obedience and all manner of patience in suffering which can bee required in a faithfull servant Servants saith S. Peter bee obedient c. For this is thankworthy if a man for conscience toward God endure griefe suffering wrongfully CHRIST JESUS who was the paterne of all obedience required in servants not onely whilest he was to deale with malicious unreasonable men but in the very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his Agony when his heart within him was become like melting waxe through the vehemencie of that fiery triall did set the fairest copie of that obedience which S. Peter requires should bee taken out how rudely soever by every servant of God under his owne hand Even in this Agony when his mortall spirits did faint and languish the spirit of obedience was much stronger in him than the pulse of paine and sorow It did not intermit or abate when his paines and anguish did increase Being in Agony saith S. Luke hee prayed more earnestly Luk. 22.44 These words I referre if not to the third yet certainely to the second paroxysme of his Agony one or more of which fits did wring blood from his sacred body being otherwise full of health But most probable it is from S. Lukes relation Chap. 22. ver 44. that hee sweat blood both in the first and second fit and that in all the three hee delivered his supplications 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kneeling or falling upon the ground The forme of his prayer and maner of deportment in it as was said before exhibite a true document or demonstrative argument that besides his Divine will hee had a will truely humane a reasonable will in that hee did desire or deprecate the removall or asswagement of his present sufferings with greater fervency of spirit and devotion than any sonnes of Adam could deprecate the paines of Hell if they should be beset with them or feele their approach And yet withall hee wholly submits his humane body soule and will unto his heavenly Fathers will who by his consent had free power to dispose of them in life and death as hee pleased Out of this fervent spirit of obedience consecrated unto Gods service by his most devout prayers he was delivered from the paines and terrors which he both feared and felt in the garden 5. As for his sacrifice upon the Crosse albeit we subduct the worth of it in it selfe considered which infinitely exceeds the worth of all other sacrifices it was most properly and most really the sacrifice of a broken heart or contrite spirit For after his naturall strength was spent and his bodily spirits diffused with his blood hee lastly offers up his immortall spirit his very soule unto his Father Father into thy hands I commend my spirit and having said thus he gave up the ghost Luk. 23.46 The spirit of obedience did not expire with bodily spirits it did accompany his soule into Paradise it was not put off with the forme of a servant but cloathed upon with glory and immortality Shall wee yet doubt whether the sacrifice upon the Crosse being offered out of such unexpressible obedience were fully sufficient to make abundant satisfaction for all our disobediences albeit wee should subduct his obedience and patience in that grievous Agony in the garden 6. If any man bee disposed to move further doubt about this point the Apostles authority or rather his reason will put the point out of question Heb. 9.11 12 13 14. But Christ being come an high Priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with hands that is to say not of this building Neither by the blood of goats and calues but by his owne blood hee entred in once into the holy place having obtained eternall redemption for us For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the uncleane sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternall spirit offered himselfe without spot to God purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God The forme and maner of his dispute in this passage as in most others throughout this Epistle is allegoricall but allegories in true Theologie alwayes include arguments of proportion and are as firme as any Geometricall or Mathematicall demonstration The termes of proportion in this argument are especially foure First sinnes meerely ceremoniall that is such errors and escapes as are evill because forbidden not evill in themselves The second the remedy appointed for such sinnes and that was the blood of bulls and goats c. The third sinnes properly so called that is all offences or trespasses against the Law of nature or against the Law of God Things not evill onely because forbidden but rather forbidden because evill in their owne nature The fourth terme is the antidote or preservative against such sinnes as in their nature poison our soules and this soveraigne preservative is onely the blood of Christ The Apostle takes it for granted that the sacrifice of bulls and goats were sufficient to make satisfaction for sinnes merely ceremoniall and the blood available so farre to sanctifie the parties offending against the Law of Ceremonies as that they might be admitted into the Congregation or stand recti in curia after the sacrifice was once offered Of this purification concerning the flesh by the blood of such sacrifices that which the Romanists say of the Sacraments of the new Testament might bee more
exclamation Whether he first said I am a thirst and then cried out with a loud voice My God My God why hast thou forsaken mee Or first cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee and then said I am athirst I will not dispute because I cannot determine The later of the two seemeth to mee more probable However neither his speech nor exclamation intimate any touch of impatience much lesse of despaire but onely a desire to give the world notice that this 22. Psalme was specially meant of him and that all which was meant of him concerning his humiliation or indignities done unto him upon the Crosse were now fulfilled and that there remained one or two sayings of the same or some other Psalmist to bee fulfilled before his death especially by receiving the vinegar For when hee had received it saith S Iohn he said Consummatum est It is finished as if he had said Now my sufferings and indignities are at an end Yet besides the bodily thirst wherewith hee was at the ninth houre more deepely touched then with hunger in the wildernesse there was a thirsty desire of his soule to be dissolved from the body and to be with his Father And in this his last extremity that other complaint of David was most exactly fulfilled I stretch forth my hands unto thee my soule thirsteth after thee as a thirsty land Heare mee speedily O Lord my spirit faileth hide not thy face from me lest I be like unto them that goe downe into the pit I remember the dayes of old I meditate on all thy works I muse on all the works of thy hands Psalm 143.6 7. David was delivered from the pit which he feared but our Saviour was speedily heard for that he prayed which was that his body might goe unto the grave and his soule and spirit unto his Father And albeit S. Iohn instructeth us that after he had received the vinegar and said It is finished he gave up the Ghost Yet S. Matthew and S. Mark tell us that hee cried againe with a loud voice and so gave up the Ghost The articulation of this loud voice or cry is registred onely by S. Luke 23.46 And when Iesus had cried with a loud voice hee said Father into thine hands I commend my spirit And having said thus hee gave up the Ghost And in this cry or speech another Scripture or prayer of David was exactly fulfilled Pull mee out of the net that they have laid privily for mee for thou art my strength Into thine hands I commend my Spirit Psalm 31.4 5. But how was this fulfilled in him Surely as the Prophet or the Holy Ghost by whom hee spake did meane it How then was it meant of him Not meerely Prophetically but typically of the Psalmist and more really and punctually of him The Psalmist in his owne person or as acting his owne part did commend his Spirit to God his Redeemer in hope to be redeemed from death or danger of body intended against him The Redeemer of Mankind using the same words desired bodily death or dissolution of body and soule commending his soule or spirit by a dying wish into his Fathers hands 9. The 143. Psalme as the inscription of the Septuagint informeth us was composed by David when his Sonne Absalom with his complices did pursue him and the sixth verse I stretch out my hands c. is signed with a Selah a note or character as I take it not of musick onely but of some greater mystery to be fulfilled The mysterie in this particular was this that as David after hee had in his owne person prayed for deliverance and was heard so was the Sonne of David instantly after hee had received the vinegar delivered from the torments of death or bodily paines When Iesus therefore had received the vinegar saith S. Iohn hee said It is finished and hee bowed his head and gave up the Ghost 19.30 If we consider either the 143. Psalme or the 31. as literally meant of David there is no intimation of any distraction of mind in him much lesse was there any inclination to any distraction discontent or distrust in JESUS the Sonne of GOD in whom whatsoever was commendably acted by David in his distresse was most punctually and exquisitely fulfilled of this our blessed Saviour in all his sufferings His memory was most fresh and his patience most remarkable when his mortall spirits were expiring 10. That ejaculation Psalm 31.6 Into thy hands I commend my spirit was saith Maldonat meant of Christ in another sense then it was of David rather fulfilled of Christ in a more exquisite sense then it had been verified of David David according to the literall and historicall sense being in distresse commends the tuition or safety of his soule unto God directing his prayer for speedy deliverance from that bodily danger wherewith hee was beset unto Adonai Iehova unto the Lord of truth or the Lord God his Redeemer Pull mee out of the net that they have laid privily for mee for thou art my strength c. Thou hast redeemed me O Lord of truth Psal 31.4 5. The Lord God Redeemer of mankind directs his prayer unto his Father Father into thy hands I commend my spirit after hee had suffered all the disgraces paines and tortures whereof any mortall body was ever capable This delivery or surrender of his life and soule vivâ voce at the very moment or point of death into his Fathers hands did move the heathen Centurion to say Of a truth this man was the Son of God Mar. 15.39 When the Centurion saith S. Luke saw what was done he glorified God saying Certainely this was a righteous man Luk. 23.47 This is in effect the very same which S. Mark saith For in that the Centurion did acknowledge him for a righteous man he did necessarily in his heart acknowledge him to bee the Sonne of God because hee had so profest of himself That righteousnesse which the Centurion ascribeth unto him was the truth of his confession before Pilat when hee was examined upon this interrogatory Art thou then the Sonne of God now more fully proved and declared unto the world by the strange maner of his death 11. The confession of this heathen man was more Christian then the questions which some Schoolemen have moved upon the delivery of his soule vivâ voce into his Fathers hands For so some have questioned whether he were homicida sui or made away himself by actuall dissolution of his soule from his body before the violence and cruelty of the tortures whereto his Enemies put him could by course of nature work this divorce Surely if hee did any way prevent the death intended against him by the Jews or shortned his owne naturall life though but for a moment they had not been so true and proper murderers of him as the Apostle intimateth and we Christians beleeve they were For albeit Abimelech had received a deadly incurable wound by the
probably said Conferebant gratiam ex opere operato The ceremoniall sinne was taken away by a ceremoniall offering From this knowen maxime concerning the law of Ceremonies or Legall sacrifices S. Paul takes his rise unto the high mysterie of the Gospel to wit that the offering which the Sonne of God did make upon the Crosse was more sufficient as well for making full satisfaction unto God for all sinnes committed against his Law as for purifying the conscience of offenders from dead works more effectuall to make men partakers of the true celestiall Sanctuary than the blood of beasts was for making them legally cleane Purification from sinne or sanctification alwayes presupposed full satisfaction for the sinnes committed To cleanse men from sins meerely ceremoniall or to sanctifie them according to the flesh the bloody sacrifice of bruit beasts was sufficient although they suffered no other paines than naturall albeit they felt no force or assault of any agents but meerely naturall much more is the blood of Christ of force sufficient not onely to make a full atonement for us but to cleanse us from all sinnes although he suffered no paines supernaturall although he had suffered no force or impression of any agents more than naturall All this is but a branch of our Apostles inference For albeit sinnes committed against the Morall Law of God doe in a maner infinitely exceed sinnes committed against the Law of Ceremonies onely yet are not the sinnes of the one kinde so much more hainous than the sinnes of the other as the blood of Christ doth for vertue exceed the blood of bulls and goats Nor is there that odds of difference betwixt sinnes Moral and sinnes Ceremonial which is between the Priests of the Law and the high Priest of our soules the Sonne of God And yet the maine ground of our Apostles inference doth not simply consist in the superexcellency of the high Priest of our soules or of the sacrifice which hee offered in comparison with legall Priests and their sacrifices but withall in the admirable union of our high Priest and his sacrifice For admit it as possible first that there might haue been some matter of sacrifice as pure and spotlesse as the body of our Saviour more pure and glorious than the Angelicall substances Secondly that this pure and spotlesse sacrifice had been offered by a Priest for dignity equall to the Sonne of God as by the Holy Ghost the third Person in Trinity yet his offering or service could not have been so acceptable unto God as our Saviours offering or service was because the infinite worth of the Priest or Person sacrificing could not in this case have conferred any worth or vertue truely infinite upon the sacrifice or offering made by him though as holy and glorious as any created substance can bee unlesse it had been so personally united to him that in offering it hee had offered himselfe as our Saviour did This is the maine stemme or rather the root of our Apostles emphaticall inference or surplus in the forecited place How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternall Spirit offered himselfe without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God 7. Answerable to this hypostaticall or personall union betweene our high Priest and his sacrifice was that union between his obedience to his Father and his mercy and compassion towards men Obedience mercy and sacrifice were so united in his offering as they never had been before his owne death was the internall effect of his mercy towards us and obedience to his Father the period of his humiliation of himselfe Hee humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death even unto the death of the Crosse That we know was a cruell and servile death but no part of the second death not charged with the paines of Hell otherwise our Apostle would have mentioned them as the accomplishment of his obedience or of his service which without them did exceed the very abstract or paterne either of service or obedience Quid est servitus nisi obedientia animi fracti arbitrio carentis suo Servitude saith Tully is nothing else but the obedience of a broken or dejected minde utterly deprived of all power or right to dispose of it selfe or of its actions It is indeed dejection of minde a broken estate or basenesse of condition which make men willing to become servants unto others or inforceth them to resigne all their right and power unto their Masters will But it was no dejection of minde no want of any thing in heaven or earth but onely the abundance of mercy and compassion towards us miserable men which moved the Sonne of God to renounce this world before he came into it and to deprive himselfe of all that right and interest which every other man hath over his owne body and soule by voluntary resignation of his entire humane nature unto the sole disposing of his Father Other servants were obedient unto their Lords upon necessity or dejection of minde hee voluntarily became a servant to his Father that he might accomplish the office of a servant in the sacrifice of a broken and contrite spirit This was the internall effect of his service and obedience and this sacrifice thus offered was all-sufficient to make satisfaction for all the disobedience of men for the sinnes of ten thousand worlds of men CHAP. XIV That our Saviour in his Agony at least did suffer paines more than naturall though not the paines of Hell or Hellish paines That the suffering of such paines was not required for making satisfaction for our sinnes but for his Conquest over Satan 1 BUt albeit the bloody sacrifice of the Sonne of God were as God himselfe is all-sufficient to these purposes may wee hence collect that hee suffered no paines more than naturall or of no other kinde than his Martyrs Apostles or Prophets have done God forbid Betweene paines naturall and the paines of Hell there is a meane to wit paines altogether supernaturall in respect of the Agent and somewayes more than naturall in respect of the Patient and such paines out of all question the Son of God did suffer in the garden though not upon the Crosse Nor were these his sufferings superfluous though no way necessary for paying the full ransome or price of mans redemption or reconciliation unto God Most expedient they were if not necessary to other purposes As first for his absolute conquest over Satan Secondly for his consecration to his everlasting Priesthood Of his conflict with Satan in the garden a place sutable to that wherein hee had conquered our first Parents Iobs second temptation was the type or shadow His Father exposed him to the second temptation as he had unto the first temptation in the wildernesse and permitted Satan to exercise the utmost of his power against him onely over his soule or life hee had no power These were takē from him by the malice
kind are the proper fruits and necessary effects of Satans victory over sinners the finall wages of sinnes unrepented of or not actually expiated by the blood of our Redeemer In all other tribulations distresses or persecutions which are not the wages of sinne We are as our Apostle saith Rom. 8.35 37. more then Conquerers through him that loved us if so we endure them with patience But how more than Conquerers in these which are in themselves evill distastfull to our nature Therefore more than Conquerers because these afflictions suffered with patience doe testifie our conformity to the Sonne of God in his most grievous sufferings and the dissolution of the works of Satan in us doth seale unto our soules a full Acquitance from hell paines from which questionlesse our high Priest was free in that great Combat with Satan and his infernall powers Otherwise he had not been full Conquerer over hell and the second death which is no other than the paines of Hell or hellish torments Nor could the sufferings of such torments bee any part of the Sonne of Gods qualification for dissolving those works of Satan which cannot be dissolved but by the exercise of his everlasting Priesthood which was the last end or finall cause of his sufferings or consecration by afflictions CHAP. XV. Christs suffering of the unknowen paines or of paines greater than ever any of his Martyrs or others in this life have suffered requisite for his qualification as hee was to become the high Priest of our soules 1 THe Sonne of God was to suffer all the afflictions which wee in this world can suffer in a farre higher degree than we can suffer them to bee more strongly tempted by all the meanes by which wee are tempted unto sinne whether by feare of evill or by hope of things good and pleasant unto nature that hee might even to our apprehension bee a more faithfull and mercifull high Priest in things concerning God than ever any before him had been or can be But Satan we know tempteth no man in this life unto sinne either with the feare or sufferings of any evill or vexations whereof our mortality can have no experience Hee labours to withdraw no man from Gods service by giving them any taste or touch of the paines prepared for the damned in the life to come Such as are in the deepest bonds of thraldome to him would quickly abandon his service if hee should tender them such a true symbole or earnest of their everlasting wages or such a momentany taste of Hell paines as the Spirit of God in this life exhibiteth to some of his children of their everlasting joyes And it is questionable whether our nature whilest mortall bee capable of such paines or whether the first touch or reall impression of them would not dissolve the link or bond betweene mans mortall body and his immortall soule in a moment For as flesh and blood cannot inherite the Kingdome of God but this mortall must put on immortalitie ere we can bee partakers of celestiall joyes so it is probable that our corruptible bodies must bee made in another kinde incorruptible before they can bee the proper Subjects or receptacles of Hell paines But though no man in this life be tempted to ill or withdrawen from the service of God by sufferance of such paines yet in as much as many are oft times tempted to despaire of Gods mercies by the unknowne terrors of Hell or representations of infernall forces there is no question but the Sonne of God not in his Divine wisdome onely by which he knoweth all things but even as man had a more distinct view of all the forces and terrors of Hell more full experience of their active force and attempts than any man in this life can have to the end that he might bee a faithfull Comforter of all such unto the worlds end as shall bee affrighted or attempted with them If wee consider then onely the attempt assault or active force by which Satan seeketh to withdraw us from God unto his service not the issue or impression which his attempts makes upon us sinfull men there was no kinde of temptation whereto the Sonne of God was not subject whereto he did not submit himselfe for our sakes that hee might have full experience or perfect notice as man of all the dangers whereunto wee are obnoxious By that which was done against the greene tree hee knoweth what will become of the drie if it bee exposed to the like fiery triall It was requisite that this great Captaine of Gods warfare with Satan and of our salvation should have a perfect view of all the forces which fight against us that hee might bee a faithfull Solicitor to his Almighty Father for aid and succour unto all that are beset with them unto all that offer up strong cries unto him as hee in the dayes of his flesh did unto his Father and was saved from that which hee feared 2. The greatest comfort which any poore distressed mortall man can expect or which our nature is capable of in oppression and distresse must issue from this maine fountaine of our Saviours Agony and bloody sweat of his Crosse and Passion For whatsoever hee suffered in those two bitter dayes he suffered if not for this end alone yet for this especially that hee might bee an All-sufficient Comforter unto all such as mourne as having sometimes had more than a fellow feeling of all our infirmities and vexations as one who had tasted deeper of the cup of sorow and death it selfe then any man before him had done or to the worlds end shall doe It would bee a great comfort to such as have suffered shipwrack to have an Admirall a Dispenser of Almes unto Seafaring men who had sometimes suffered shipwrack or after shipwrack had been wronged by his neighbours or natives And so it would bee to a man eaten out of his estate by usury or vexations in Law to have a Judge or Chancellor who had been both wayes more grievously wronged a just or upright man whose heart would melt with the fellow-feeling of his calamities Experience of bodily paines or grievous diseases inclineth the Chirurgion or Physician to bee more compassionate to their Patients and more tender of their well-fare than otherwise they would be And for these reasons ever since I tooke them into consideration and as often as I resume the meditations of our Saviours death I have ever wondred and still doe wonder at the peevishnesse or rather patheticall prophanesse of some men who scoffe at those sacred passages in our Liturgie By thy Agony and bloody sweat by thy Crosse and Passion c. Good Lord deliver us as if they had more alliance with spells or formes of conjuring than with the spirit of prayer or true devotion Certainely they could never have fallen into such irreverent and uncharitable quarells with the Church our Mother unlesse they had first fallen out and that fouly with Pater
noster with the Lords prayer the Creed and the ten Commandements For I dare undertake to make good that there is not either branch or fruit blossome or leafe in that sacred garden of devotions which doth not naturally spring and draw its life and nourishment from one or other of the three former roots to wit from the Lords prayer or from the Creed set prayer wise or from the ten Commandements And hee that is disposed to reade that most Divine part of our Liturgie with a sober minde and dutifull respect shall finde not onely more pure devotion but more profound Orthodoxall Divinity both for matter and forme then can bee found in all the English Writers which have either carped or nibled at it Not one ejaculation is there in it which hath the least relish of that leven wherewith their prolix extemporary devotions who distaste it are for the most part deepely sowred But here I had ended my Treatise of the qualification and undertakings of the Sonne of God for dissolving the works of Satan had not a new Quaere presented it selfe to my meditations in the latter end of these disquisitions and the Quaere is this 3. Why our Saviour in his Agony or his other sufferings upon the Crosse should not tender his petitions unto God in the same forme or tenor wherein the Psalmists or other holy men which were types or figures of him in his sufferings had done theirs in their anguish or distresse or in the same forme which he once and no oftner than once did use upon the Crosse My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The ancient stile of prayer used by Gods servants or Ambassadors as well in their humble supplications as in their gratulatory hymnes but especially in their fervent and patheticall ejaculations for deliverance from present dread or danger was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my God and my Lord or my Lord and my God Besides the observations before made to this purpose out of Masius or rather out of the Liturgie of the Ancient Jews avouched by him and of the Primitive Church well observed by Faber many passages in the Psalmes which did respectively both forepicture and foretell his Agony and sufferings upon the Crosse are most pregnant Of the ingratitude of his people toward him of the indignities and cruelties done unto him by the Jews no Psalmist the Author of 22. onely excepted hath a more lively punctuall representation than that which is Psal 35. and 38.40 David in the very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or paroxysme of the grievances which he suffered from such of Sauls followers as he had well deserved of delivereth his petitions in this forme Avenge thou my cause my God and my Lord Psal 35.23 Iudge me according to thy righteousnesse O JEHOVAH my Lord Psal 35.24 and 38.16 whether David or some other were the Author of it Quia ad te expecto tu respondebis Domine Deus mi. And againe Psal 40.6 Multa fecisti tu JEHOVAH Deus meus c. 4. But when the houre was come wherein all these Propheticall ejaculations of the Psalmists were to be exactly fulfilled in our Saviour Christ and by him hee preferres his supplications stilo novo in a forme or stile unusuall before but familiar and usuall to him when his passion and death drew nigh as Ioh. 12. Father not Lord God what shall I say save mee from this houre c. And Ioh. 17. Father glorifie me c. Hee used the same forme in his Agony thrice Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me And in the last words which hee uttered in the forme of a servant hee said not My God my God or my Lord God But Father into thy hands I commend my spirit This variation betweene this most faithfull Servant of God and other holy men Gods faithfull servants in the forme of their supplications or gratulatory ejaculations conceived and uttered upon the like occasions suggests thus much unto us if I mistake not that of all Gods servants or holy men the man CHRIST JESUS onely was his true Sonne not by adoption as others were and wee now are but his Sonne by right of inheritance and yet being such a Sonne was for a time as truely his Servant as his Sonne He who alwayes had been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or God the Lord Hee whose title it was to heare his peoples prayers and unto whom all flesh shall come Psal 65.2 doth now tender his prayer not to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that had been to preferre a petition unto himselfe whereas hee was now to preferre his petition unto his Father whose Servant he now was as man but did not thereby cease to be as truely his Sonne Had hee been his Sonne by creation onely or in respect of the admirable integrity and superexcellencie of his performances as man hee had doubtlesse tendred his petitions in the same stile or forme which other godly men and Gods faithfull servants before had used though much better than they did But however hee was the Servant of God after a more peculiar maner than any other had been yet he presents his supplications in such a stile as hath relation to himselfe rather as he was a Son than as a Servant The eternall Sonne of God was the party supplicant unto the eternall Father for his mortall servant For hee was a servant onely according to his humane nature and according to that onely as it was mortall whereas he still remaineth Mediator betwixt God and man not as man onely much lesse as a mortall man but according to his eternall person and his immortall manhood This his manhood is now dignified with the reall and actuall title of Lord. He was our Lord and Mediator before he assumed our flesh into the unity of his Person but then Mediator according to his Divine Person or as God onely When he is instiled by the Prophets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or God the Lord this later title was more Propheticall than historicall and did import as much as that he who was then Iehovah our God at the time appointed should come to be our Lord by peculiar right of dominion purchased by his sufferings for our redemption And for this reason I take it his Apostle Thomas being convinced of incredulity unto the report of his resurrection supplicates to him for pardon in the same stile or forme as the Psalmist and other godly men had done in their distresse My Lord and my God which is the full and punctuall expression of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For now hee was not onely spe but re become both Lord and Christ SECTION 3. Of the harmonicall parallel betweene the predictions or types of the old Testament and the Evangelicall relations concerning our Saviours triumphant comming unto Ierusalem and of his entertainment there untill the institution of
hands of a woman yet hee died by the hands of his Page or Armour-bearer And a certaine woman cast a piece of a milstone upon Abimelechs head and all to brake his scull Then hee called hastily unto the young man his Armour-bearer and said unto him Draw out thy sword and slay mee that men say not of me A woman slew him And his young man thrust him through and hee died Judg. 9.53 54. But as some Schoolemen have in the disquisition of this point gone too farre so others have acutely resolved the difficulty and elegantly reconciled the difference in opinions Mors Christi non fuit verè miraculosa erat tamen miraculum in morte Christi Christ did no way make away himself or die by miracle but by course of nature Yet was it a true miracle that his life and spirits being so farre spent he should have speech and memory so perfect as to make delivery of his soule into his Fathers hands viva voce at the very moment of his expiration The Jews and Romans did truely and properly take away his life and yet hee did as truely and properly animam ponere lay downe his life for his sheepe in that hee patiently submitted himself to their tyrannicall cruelty and more sweetly and placidly resigned up his soule into his Fathers hands at the instant of death by course of nature or perhaps a little after it than a sheepe doth his fleece unto the shearer or his owner In this resignation or bequeathing of his soule thus placidly into his Fathers hands in his inimitable patience in all his sufferings whether of torture or indignities there was a most exact concurrence or coincidence rather of all former sacrifices and obedience more then the quintessence of those sacrifices wherewith God was alwayes best pleased that is the sacrifice of a contrite spirit and broken heart not humbled but humbling it self unto death The most ful and proper satisfactory sacrifice that could be required by God or desired by man a sacrifice so compleat as no wisedome besides wisedome truely infinite could have conceived no person besides the person of him that was truly God could have offered or performed CHAP. XXX That the Sonne of God should be offered up in bloody sacrifice was concludently prefigured by the intended death of Isaac 1 THat the Sonne of God should be thus offered as a true and proper bloody sacrifice was concludently prefigured by the sacrifice of Isaac intended by his father Abraham That the Crosse whereon he offered himselfe should be the very Altar of Altars the body which the legal Altars did foreshadow and that this Crosse should be erected without the gate of Jerusalem was foreshadowed by other matters of fact recorded by Moses To begin with the first type to wit Isaac The place appointed by God himself for the sacrifice of Isaac was either the Mount whereon the Temple stood or some Mount neer unto it if not Calvary it self And when Abraham came neere to the foot of the Mount which of the Mountains of Moriah soever it were he laid the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac his sonne Isaac then bare his crosse unwittingly and was afterwards willing by gentle perswasions to die upon the wood which he bare For if he had detested or abhorred the fact intended upon him hee was of years and strength sufficient to have resisted his father he being at least twenty five years of age and Abraham one hundred twenty five Now our Saviour as the Evangelists record went forth bearing his crosse unto a place called in Hebrew Golgotha either a place where the sculs of dead men were laid or rather for the forme or fashion of it like a scull But here some curious Inquisitor or one disposed to examine or scann the relations of the Evangelists as Lawyers doe later evidences by more ancient deeds would interpose this or the like exception Non concordat cum originali For our Saviour CHRIST as the Evangelists record was really sacrificed actually crucified and put to death but so was not Isaac as Moses tels us But all this will inferr no more then all good Christians must of necessity grant to wit that the Evangelicall records are more than meer exemplifications of Moses For that which was verified or truly foreshadowed in Abrahams readinesse to sacrifice his onely sonne and in his sons willingnesse to be sacrificed by him was to be really and exactly fulfilled of God the Father who had bound himself by promise to give his onely sonne unto Mankinde and in the willingnesse of this his onely sonne JESUS CHRIST to be offered up in sacrifice for the sinnes of the world Our Apostle is not afraid to say that Abraham by faith offered up his onely sonne that very man upon whose life or death the fulfilling of the promises made to Abraham and his seed did depend accounting or being resolved that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence also he received him in a figure Heb. 11.17 18. Isaac then was a true figure both of Christs death and resurrection And Abraham first in stretching forth his hands to slay his onely sonne and secondly in being prohibited by God from accomplishing his resolution did accurately foreshadow those fundamentall truths which wee Christians beleeve concerning the true and bodily death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Abraham by benigne Interpretation of the minde or resolution for the very fact or deed did both sacrifice his onely son and receive him from the dead 2. But was there no more then a tentation or tryall of Abrahams faith in that story of Moses Gen. 22 If no more then so the tempting or tryall it self might seem superfluous For God who knoweth all things aswell possible as determinate or future did most infallibly know what Abraham would do upon his command what hee would leave undone upon expresse prohibition This onely concludeth that the omnipotent and all-seeing Father of power did not stand in need of the determination of Abrahams will either to foresee or determine that which upon this actuall obedience of Abraham he did first binde himself by oath to performe That which long before he had decreed ad extra and in his generall expression of his mercy and loving kindnesse he had promised to doe We had his promise before Mankinde was actually propagated or multiplyed upon the earth that the womans seed should bruise the old Serpents head which had seduced her The like comfortable words were at sundry times interposed by God himself to Noah and Abraham 3. But upon this present fact of Abraham the same Lord interposeth his oath and it was the first oath which we reade that God did make for the fulfilling of the generall promise in one of Abrahams seed Because thou hast done this thing and hast not spared thine onely sonne by my self have I sworne that in thy seed all the Nations of the Earth shall be blessed But did not
the conflict betwixt the Serpent and the womans seed continued As it is the property of some biting Serpents to make way or entrance by their venemous teeth for the infusion of more deadly poison from some other parts of their body so this generation of Vipers which persecuted the Sonne of God used the civill power of Pilat and the Roman souldiers to open his veines and lance his flesh that their tongues might instill the poison of Aspes into his glorious stripes and bleeding wounds But with the bitter taunts and indignities offered unto him even whilest he was upon the Crosse I am not to meddle in particular they have proper seasons allotted for their memoriall It sufficeth therefore to observe that the obedience and patience of the Sonne of God in these most grievous sufferings were so absolute that wee must borrow the patience of Iob not in the second temptation by bodily grievance but in his first temptation by losse of goods or worldly substance for a scale to set it forth In all his sufferings in all that his enemies tongues or hands could doe or say unto him this servant of God did not sinne so much as in word but offered the sacrifice of prayers and supplications with the sacrifice of his soule and spirit for his persecutors 3. Yet admit Iobs patience in his bodily afflictions had been more perfect than in the first temptation it was for losse of bodily goods and his obedience most compleat both without mixture of impatiencie without staine of disobedience the full measure of both had not been equivalent to the least scantling of the obedience or patience of the Sonne of God made man for those acts though otherwise equall are alwayes best which are done ex officio Prayers or solemn services officiated by a Priest and justice awarded by a Magistrate are more acceptable unto God and more beneficiall unto men than if the same Act or Offices were more accurately performed by private men without a calling Now Iob and other holy men became pro modulo in some sort the servants of God by obedience It was the greater measure of their obedience which made their service more acceptable But the obedience of the Sonne of God made man did result or issue from the forme of a servant which hee voluntarily and on purpose tooke upon him that hee might in it and by it performe obedience more than sufficient for dissolving the force and strength of that disobedience and rebellion which the Devill had wrought in the Father of mankinde which with its curse became hereditary to his sinfull posterity The first Adam was created in the image of God not in respect of holinesse onely but in respect of soveraignty and dominion The second Adam though he were the Son of God was molded in the forme of a servant even from his first conception For as the Apostle saith he who was in the forme of God did empty or annull himselfe taking upon him the forme of a servant This was the terminus ad quem the intrinsecall terme of the Sonne of Gods first humiliation for as was said before the Sonne of God did not humble or empty himselfe onely in his manhood or according to his manhood after it was assumed but in the very assumption of the manhood thus moulded in the forme of a servant His humility as man was the humility of a servant it was not affected but a native branch of his present calling His obedience was not forced by constraint or feare it was more than a branch the very essence of his calling For he tooke upon him the forme of a servant it was not put upon him against his will as it was upon Iob. Nor was his obedience as man more excellent than any other mans had been in respect of its root or originall onely as being the formall effect of his calling that is of the forme of a servant which he tooke upon him but most compleat in respect of the end or finall effect For having annulled himself by taking upon him the forme of a servant hee further humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death even to the death of the Crosse Other servants may with their earthly Masters consent be set free and supreme authority may in some cases command their Masters to set them free But the forme of a servant was so closely united or wedded unto the Sonne of God manifested in the flesh that it could not bee cut off or divorced from him save onely by death and by the death of the Crosse which was a servile death and the accomplishment of his service But in what peculiar acts was the obedience or exercise of the forme of a servant which the Sonne of God tooke upon him most conspicuous or more remarkable than they have been in other men 4. It is a great deale more usuall to our Saviour than to any Prophet to any sacred Writer or other Messenger of Gods will to tell his hearers that hee came not of himselfe but was sent that being sent he came not to doe his owne will but the will of him that sent him that hee spake nothing of himselfe but as his Father had appointed him so he spake and so he did What was the reason that hee that spake as never man spake and did those works which none besides could doe should so often use these or like speeches to his Auditors Sure his speeches unto this purpose are neither apologeticall nor preventive as if his authority had been more questionable or his practices more suspitious than the authority and practices of the Prophets and other holy men had been And what was it then that gave occasion to this peculiar forme of speech or made the use of it so familiar and frequent All his speeches to this purpose are but the characters or expressions of the forme of a servant which hee tooke upon him His whole course of life his undertakings and encounters with this stubborne people or with Satan and his instruments might have testified to any considerate unpartiall man that no man being left free to himselfe would have adventured upon them out of the deliberate choise of an humane or reasonable will Specially his last sufferings were such as no wise man how godly soever would have undergone unlesse they had been put upon him by authority supreme and irresistable We may further observe how the forme of a man and the forme of a servant which had layed quiet for three and thirty yeares without any Crisis of their difference did upon the approach of his death and passion begin to struggle but without all strife or hostile dissention as Esau and Iacob towards the time of their birth had done in their mothers wombe Even in the height of that triumphant and more than royall entertainment which the multitude made him at his entrance into Jerusalem as if hee had then come to take possession of the Crowne of his father David even whilest his
eares were filled with these and the like acclamations Hosanna to the Sonne of David He began to be troubled in spirit whilest the forme or nature of man did suggest one thing and the forme of a servant correct what the forme of man did suggest and sway him another way What shall I say Father save me from this houre So the reasonable soule of man could not but wish it could not but apprehend this houre as an houre of evill and evill as evill cannot bee desired by the will of man Reason cannot but desire or wish the prevention or removall of it But though he were the Sonne of God yet as the Apostle speakes Hee learned obedience by the things which he suffered Hee resolves not to doe according to his owne liking but as his Father should appoint him And hence hee instantly overballanced the former naturall desire or inclination of the forme of man with the serious consideration of his office or present calling as he had taken upon him the forme of a servant For as it were recalling himselfe he addeth but therefore came I unto this houre to wit that hee might suffer all the evills incident to man in this world 5. Afterwards when his agony came upon him his wonted naturall inclination of the forme of man or sway of the reasonable soule became more strong and hence he puts his former wish or intimation Father what shall I say save me from this houre into the forme of a prayer Father if it be possible let this cup passe from mee and yet overswaies this naturall inclination or desire as hee was man with a stronger desire or delight to doe the office of a servant and counterchecks that prayer which hee had conceived as man with a prayer which hee had conceived ex officio with a prayer of consecration neverthelesse not as I will but as thou willest as if hee had said Though it bee just and reasonable which I desire so just as thou wouldest not deny the like to any other man in my case yet seeing I am thy servant and the Sonne of thy handmaid in such a manner as no other man hath beene I wholly submit my selfe unto thy will and consecrate my selfe unto thy service how hard soever it shall prove Abraham wee know waxed bold with God by often reiterating and renewing the forme of his petition for Sodom First hee prayed that God would spare the Citie for fifty righteous men then for forty then for thirty and lastly descends to ten His boldnesse was grounded upon a dictate of nature or common principle of faith that it was farre from him who was to doe justice to all the world to slay the righteous with the wicked Suppose God had said to Abraham at his first petition thus Abraham at thy request I will for this time spare the men of Sodom upon condition that thou and such as supplicate for them will become their baile and stand between them and that storme of fire and brimstone which must shortly goe out against them from my fiery presence would this hard condition have been accepted by Abraham or accepted with patience Would hee not have opposed this former principle with greater vehemencie and passion To slay the righteous for the wicked that be farre from thee O Lord shall the Judge of all the world thus farre transgresse the rule of justice Yet may we not think that righteous Abraham though instiled the friend of God was so much lesse sinfull than the most sinfull man in Sodom as the man CHRIST JESUS was more righteous than Abraham And what then could restraine this just and holy One for making the same plea for himselfe which Abraham for himselfe might have made which without offence unto his Lord hee did often make on the behalfe of so many righteous men not as were but as he supposed possibly might be in Sodom Onely this the Sonne of God who is equall with God to the end and purpose that hee might dissolve the works which the Devill had wrought in our nature had taken our nature upon him had made his humane flesh and humane blood the flesh and blood of God himselfe though not as parts of the Divine nature yet as appurtenances of the Divine person and was not onely found in the fashion of man but was invested with the essentiall forme of a servant And it is the perfection of a servant not to doe his owne will but the will of his Lord. Now the body or humane nature of the Sonne of God was not a servant to his Divine person but to the person of his Father whose will hee was in the humane nature to performe whatsoever the performance of it should cost him For unto this purpose onely and no other did hee take both the nature of man and forme of a servant upon him that hee might in them and by them accomplish the will of his Father As for his body that during the time of his humiliation was in bonis patris the goods and possession of the Father as every servant properly so called is the goods and inheritance of his Master His sufferings in this nature were to be extended untill the full price of our redemption was paid The just measure of these his sufferings and full price of our redemption he did as he was man learne by experience CHAP. XII Of Christs full satisfaction for the sinnes of men and whether to this satisfaction the suffering of Hell paines were necessarily required And of the Circumstances of his Agony 1 THe undertakings of the Sonne of God for mans Redemption did for the most part consist in his sufferings Though he were a Sonne saith the Apostle Heb. 5.8 yet learned he obedience by the things which hee suffered Though he were alwayes a Sonne the onely Son of God yet suffer hee did not any longer than whilest he was in the forme of a servant Of all true service or Apprentiship obedience is the speciall property the greatest perfection whereunto the condition of a servant or one under legall command can pretend Now the perfection of obedience cannot by any meanes either bee better exemplified or approved than by patience in suffering Servants saith S. Peter 1. Pet. 2.18 19 c. be subject unto your Masters with all feare not onely to the good and gentle but also to the froward For this is thanke worthy if a man for conscience toward God endure griefe suffering wrongfully For what glory is it if when yee bee buffeted for your faults yee shall take it patiently but if when you doe well and suffer for it yee take it patiently this is acceptable with God For even hereunto were yee called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that yee should follow his steps who did no sinne neither was guile found in his mouth who when hee was reviled reviled not againe when he suffered he threatned not but committed himselfe to him that judgeth