19. 48. 22. Sychar near to the parcel of ground that Iacob gave to his son Ioseph 6. Now Iacobs well was there Iesus therefore being wearied with his journy sate f f f f f f Sate thus that is in a weary posture or after the manner as tired men use to sit down De Dieu taketh it only for an elegancy in the Greek which might well be omitted and accordingly the Syriack hath omitted it and not owned it at all But see it Emphatical in other places also 1 Sam. 9. 13. Samuel is come this day to the City for the people have a sacrifice in the high place and when you are come into the City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you shall So find him that is newly come to Town and going to a sacrifice 1 King 2. 7. Shew kindness to the sons of Barzilla c. for So they came to me that is they came kindly to me Act. 7. 8. he gave him the covenant of circumcision and so Abraham begat Isaac that is he begat him in circumcision c. thus on the well And it was about the sixth hour 7. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water Iesus saith unto her Give me to drink 8. For his Disciples were gone away into the City to buy meat 9. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him How is it that thou being a Iew askest drink of me which am a woman of Samaria For the Iews have no dealing with the Samaritans 10. Iesus answered and said unto her If thou knowest the gift of God and who it is that saith unto thee Give me to drink thou wouldst have asked of him and he would have given thee living water 11. The woman saith unto him Sir thou hast nothing g g g g g g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Camerarius out of Plautus Latins this Situlam Beza out of Austin Hauritorium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew Esa. 40. 15. Numb 24. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Kimchi in Michol A vessel where withal they drew water the Septuagint in the former place cited renders it Cadus and in the latter they translate the metaphorical sense It seems they brought their buckets with them to draw with as well as their vessels to carry water in unless they made the same vessel serve for both uses by letting it down to draw with a cord to draw with and the well is deep from whence then hast thou that h h h h h h Springing or running water was called by the Hebrew living water Gen. 26. 19. Isaacs servants digged in the valley and found there a well of living water The Chaldee renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 springing water for the bubbling of the spring is like the lively beating of the heart or pulse And hence it was that this woman did so readily mistake our Saviours meaning He spake of the lively waters of grace that spring up in him that hath them to eternal life but she interpreted him according to the propriety of the language as if he had spoken only of waters out of a spring And so had Nicodemus misinterpreted another expression in the former Chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or living waters were taken in opposition to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a gathering of waters as Rambam evidenceth saying thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Any waters saith he are fit for the purifying of the Priests hands and feet whether living springing or running waters or waters gathered together In biath hammikdas◠per. 5. By waters gathered together he meaneth ponds or cisterns gathered of rain water or any waters that did not spring or run The Latinists also used the like expression to the Hebr. for springing or running water as in the Poet Donec me flumine vivo Abluero Virg. Aeneid 2. living water 12. Art thou greater than our Father Iacob which gave us the well and drank thereof himself and his children and his cattel 13. Iesus answered and said unto her Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again 14. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life 15. The woman saith unto him Sir give me this water that I thirst not neither come hither to draw 16. Iesus saith unto her Go call thy husband and come hither 17. The woman answered and said I have no husband Iesus said unto her Thou hast well said I have no husband 18. For thou hast had five husbands and he whom thou now hast is not thine husband in that saidst thou truly 19. The woman saith unto him Sir I perceive that thou art a Prophet 20. Our Fathers worshipped in this mountain and ye say that in Ierusalem is the place where men ought to worship 21. Iesus saith unto her woman believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Ierusalem worship the Father 22. Ye worship ye know not what we know what we worship for salvation is of the Iews 23. But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him 24. God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth 25. The woman saith unto him I know that Messias cometh * * * * * * These are the words of the Evangelist interpreting the word Messias to the reader and not the words of the woman interpreting it to Christ the Syriack translater hath omitted these words as not necessary to a Syrian reader which is called Christ when he is come he will tell us all things 26. Iesus saith unto her I that speak unto thee am he 27. And upon this came his Disciples and marvailed that he talked with i i i i i i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The various construction of the word either with the strength of the article or without hath caused various causes to be conceived of the Disciples wondring at his talking with her Some read it without the force of the Article thus they marvailed that he talked with a woman as unfit say some and uncapable of his serious and divine discourse but others ascribe their wonder to this that he was thus entred into discourse with a strange woman alone and no company near And they that so understand it are confirmed by this because they think it was no more to be wondred at that he should talk with a Samaritan woman than it was that they should go into a Samaritan City to buy provision for why might not he as well talk with a woman as they with the men or women of whom they bought meat if her being a Samaritan were all the matter But the case was not the same for the Jews might buy meat of them and sell meat to them with whom they might
for he that is watered with grace doth thirst for the same water of grace again and again but he saith whosoever shall drink of this water which I shall give him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall never so thirst as to fail or perish by it but this water shall preserve him to eternal life Compare Esay 41. 17. Vers. 15. The woman saith Sir give me of this water c. The woman doth now fall from questioning as vers 11 12. to plain mocking and derision for this can be construed no other in her I know these words of hers are taken by divers to intimate her inclining to and imbracing this doctrine of Christ though she knew not well how to understand it and they shew say some Simplicitatem credendi her simplicity or sincerity of believing who so soon doubted not to ask for this so excellent water But be it considered 1. That as yet she took Christ but for an ordinary man until he hath told her of her secret villanies and then she takes him for a Prophet vers 19. And 2. that taking him for an ordinary man she talks with him as a Samaritan huswife would do with a common Jew between whom there was so deadly a scorn and fewd 3. The thing that Christ spake of of giving water after which the party that had it should never thirst were things so strange and would seem so ridiculous to any Samaritan nay to any flesh and blood that knew no more of him than as yet she did those words proceeding from so mean a man as he seemed to be that her words in reply thereunto Sir give me of this water c. can be no other but a jeer and scorn of what he had spoken And her calling him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Sir doth no whit take off this construction since that was but a word of ordinary compellation or if she used it in a higher sense she used it but in the higher scorn Vers. 17. I have no husband The reason why Christ bids her call her husband may be supposed to be partly that he might check and stop her jeering by minding her of her own faults and chiefly that he might shew her that he was another kind of person then she judged of him by telling her of such things as she knew he could not tell her but divinely Now her denial that she had any husband is ascribed by some to her modesty to conceal her adultery by others to this because she knew not what Christ would do with her husband but till it can be shewed why a Samaritan quean should talk with any reverence or civility with an ordinary Jew for she took Christ for no other as yet especially when he spake to her of such unlikely things as he did it is the most proper and undisputable interpretation of her words I have no husband to take them for a scoffing and regardless answer to a question and to a person that she was careless whether she gave any any answer to or no. Vers. 18. He whom thou now hast is not thine husband It seemeth by the numerousness of her former husbands and by the same expression used concerning them and this thou hast had five and this that thou hast that she was a divorced woman and now lived in an adulterous marriage and it may be married to him who had adulterated her in her former husbands days But be it either thus or that she lived in adultery out of wedlock her conscience is convinced of the truth of the thing that Christ speaketh and withal she findeth that he had told her that which a meer stranger could not tell her but by the spirit of Prophecy and therefore she owns him for a Prophet Vers. 20. Our Fathers worshipped in this Mount Conceiving him to be a Prophet she sodainly desireth to hear what he will determine upon that great dispute that was between the Jews and the Samaritans continually namely whether was the truer and righter place of worship Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim She called Jacob Our Father Jacob ver 12. for so the Samaritans would be a kin to the Jews when they thought good but the Fathers she speaks of here were as far from the Religion and Worship that Jacob used as Jacob was from the Religion of Hamor and Sichem Josephus tells one story that gives this woman but little cause to boast of her Fathers worshipping in that Mount and that is this That when Antiochus Epiphanes did so heavily oppress the Jews and persecute their Religion these Samaritans thinking that their Religion also looked somewhat like that of the Jews and that Antiochus might happily suspect that they and the Jews and both their Religions were something a kin and so they suffer as well as the other they fairly send to Antiochus and betime disclaim any such kindred And whereas indeed they could not deny but they had a Temple they besought him that it might be dedicated to the Grecian Jupiter and called by his name and so by the Kings command it was Antiq. lib. 12. cap. 7. Here was worshipping in that Mount with a witness and much to be bragd of but see the impudence of Hereticks when such a Temple shall compare with the Temple at Jerusalem Abraham Zaccuth saith This Temple of Gerizim was destroyed by Jochanan the son of Simeon the son of Mattathias and the Hereticks slain Juchas fol. 14. Vers. 21. Woman believe me The Hour cometh c. As she owned him for a Prophet so he challengeth to be believed of her as a Prophet and as a Prophet he foretels her of what was now ready to come to pass namely that Ceremonious Worship should cease and be no more confined to particular place or Nation That there should be no Sacrifice at Jerusalem no Image at Samaria no Ephod at Jerusalem no Teraphim at Samaria as Hos. 3. 4. but that those places and that manner of worship should fail and be abolished And so he answers her question in the first place to this purpose that it was needless for her or any other to trouble themselves about that dispute whether Jerusalem or Gerizim were the more eminent place of Worship for the time was just now in coming when neither the one nor the other should be the place of worship at all And then he determins the question indeed that Jerusalem had ever been and was at that present the right place of worship but Gerizim a Temple of error and usurpation and he proves his determination by this reason We know what we worship c. Vers. 23. The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth In the term The true worshippers he looketh at the womans question and the two Nations controversie They tugged for it and she inquires about it whether of the people had the true worship amongst them why saith Christ ere long there shall be no worship at all either among the one or the other And
Judaism again to their old Mosaick rites which sometime had been right but now antiquated and to their traditional principles which had never been right but now least of all to have been embraced and to a deadly hatred and persecution of the Gospel that they once professed How the Apostles speak of and against this Apostasie in their Epistles I need not tell you he that runs may read it But he that stands still and reads presely will find that they find The Antichrist that then was in that Apostasie I say the Antichrist that then was For the Scripture gives a hint of a twofold Antichrist one in the Epistles and the other in this Book of the Revelation one that was in those times and the other that was to be afterwards one among the Jews that had embraced the Gospel and the other among the Gentiles which should embrace it And if you will let the unbelieving Jew to be one part of the Antichrist that then was the Apostatized Jew was much more Many Antichrists in those times as this our Apostle tells us 1 Joh. II. 18. but those were they especially of whom he speaks immediately after They went out from us but they were not of us And the like character do these Apostates carry in other places in the Epistles in terms equivalent Now therefore the nearest way to discover the Antichrist that was to be in after times among the Gentiles is by observing his likeness and similitude to the former viz. in apostatizing from the pure and sincere profession of the Gospel to Judaism or to Mosaick manner of worship and Judaick principles and Religion Which how the Church of Rome hath done it would require a long time to compare in all particulars but it will require a far longer time for her to clear her self from that just accusation How near doth she come to Judaism in the doctrine of Justification how near in the doctrine of opus operatum How near in the doctrine of expiation by bare Confession How near in the doctrine of the value of Traditions And one for all how near in turning all Religion into Ceremony Their present year of Jubilee is it not Mosaick And were you there at it and saw the manner of their devotions their formal Services and Ceremonious Worship would you not think you were in the old Jerusalem among the Scribes and Pharisees rather than in the the new where the true worshipers worship the Father in spirit and truth So that when we departed from the Church of Rome we did but the same thing that the Apostles Disciples and other holy converts of the Jewish Nation did they forsook Judaism to embrace the purity of the Gospel And so did we And in the way that they call Heresie we worship God If I have trespassed too much upon your patience by so prolix a discourse upon so unpleasing a subject I must crave your pardon We enquiring after the new Jerusalem where we might find it come to the place where your ways parted and one went right and the other wrong The wrong way is the broader pleasanter and more trodden and not a few that stand in it and cry This is the right way and no other It is good to give warning it is needful to take warning that we be not misled that the men and the way do not deceive us And having thus far observed where the new Jerusalem is not to be found let us now look where it is And first we must not expect to find it in any one particular place as you might have done the old Jerusalem but it is dispersed here and there abroad in the World It is the Catholick Church as we are taught in our Creed and it is not in one only but in this and that and the other Nation When the new Jerusalem is to be measured in Zach. II. an Angel bids O run after yonder young man that is to measure it and tell him that Jerusalem shall be inhabited as a City without walls for the multitude of men and cattel that shall be therein It is a City unlimited and therefore not to be bounded within this or that compass We may use this Paradox of it That it is a fluid and yet a fixed body nay fixed because fluid that is it is moving sometime into one place sometime into another and therefore it shall never fade or perish The Jews accused S. Stephen of Heresie and blasphemy because he said that the Church and Religion should not alway be pinned to that City and Temple but taken away In his answer he sheweth that the Church and Religion is a Pilgrim one while in one place another while in another in Mesopotamia in Charran in Canaan in Egypt And our own observation may tell us that when it failed in Egypt and Israel followed the Idols and manners of that Land as Ezek. XX. that then God found himself a Church in the family of Job and his three friends The saying of our Saviour may suffice for this The Kingdom of Heaven shall be taken from you and given to a people that shall bring forth the fruits of it And this is that that makes it fixed or never failing because when it decayeth in one place it groweth in another And that promise of our Saviour will ever maintain it in life and being Upon this rock will I build my Church of the Gospel and the gates of Hell shall never prevail against it as they have done against the Church of the Jews In Matth. XXIV when Christ foretels of the desolation of that City Church and Nation that their Sun and Moon and Stars Religion and Church and State should be darkned and fall and come to nothing and they should then see the Son of man whom they would never own coming in a thick cloud and storm of vengeance against them it might be questioned where then will God have a Church when that is gone He gives an answer That the Son of man should send his Angels or Ministers with the sound of a trumpet the trumpet of the Gospel and gather him a Church from all the corners under Heaven To which may not improperly be applied that Heb. XII 22. Ye are come to an innumerable company of Angels God will never want his Church but if it be not in one place it will be in another Secondly There is an invisible Church as well as a visible Pauls Jerusalem which is above and out of sight as well as Ezekiels Jerusalem pitched here below There is commonly some invisible Church within the visible as Ezekiels wheel within a wheel But there is sometimes an invisible Church where there is none visible as those seven thousand men in the days of Elias when he could not discern one The Apostle speaking of the new Jerusalem that we are speaking of in that place of the Epistle to the Hebrews before alledged among other things saith Ye are not come to the Mount that might
that they thereupon might the more confidently confirm the people And hereupon it is observable that while the Baptist was at liberty our Saviour contented himself with his testimony and preaching but when he was shut up then instantly chose he others Now if any doubt of the possibility of this and question how could John see and hear these things and the other company that was present not do so as well as he The answer may be readily given by example of Elishaes servant 2 King 6. 17. and the two men that went to Emmaus Luke 24. For the mountain was full of Horses and Chariots of fire and Elisha perceived them but his servant did not till his eyes were opened in a more special manner And Christ it is like was in the same shape and appearance upon the way when they knew him not that he was in the house when they did but till then their eyes were holden Yet if any one will suppose that the people saw the slashing of the opened Heaven and heard the noise of the voice that came from thence and took the one for lightning and the other for thunder as John 12. 29. we will not oppose it for now was the season of the year fit for lightning and thunder but that either they saw the Holy Ghost or distinguished the words of the voice any more then Pauls companions did Act. 9. 7. compared with Act. 22. 9. the reasons alledged do inforce to deny till better information Matth. 3. vers 16. And he saw the Spirit of God The Syntax and construction of Mark doth tye and fix these words He saw only to our Saviour as it did those before and both for the reason mentioned namely to shew the return and answer of his prayer But these words of Matthew are not so strict but that they may equally be applied unto John For first there may be observed a distinction in the verse and a kind of difference of speech betwixt what goeth before about the opening of the Heavens and this sight of the Holy Ghost For of that he speaketh thus And Jesus being baptized went straightway out of the water and lo the Heavens were opened unto him And then cometh he on with a distinct clause concerning the other And he saw the Spirit of God descending leaving it at the least in an indifferency whether to apply it to Christ or John But secondly it seemeth rather to be understood of John because he saith himself that this descending of the Holy Ghost was given to him for a sign and that he saw it and if it be not to be so taken here none of the three Evangelists have mentioned it in the story at all And thirdly the rather may it be taken of Johns seeing it because he saith He saw him descending and coming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon him Had it been said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon himself it must needs have been understood of Christ upon whom the Spirit came that he saw the Spirit coming upon himself but since it i◠upon him without any reciprocation it may be the better applied to John that he saw it It is true indeed that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes signifieth reciprocally himself as our Lexicons do give examples and as it is of force to be taken in Saint Mark in this place like as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes doth not signifie reciprocally as in the LXX in Judg. 7. 24. But why should we take the word out of its commonest and properest sense unless there were necessity to do it which in Matthew there is not though in Mark there be Fourthly and lastly These words he saw being understood of John it maketh that the three Evangelists being laid together the relation ariseth out of them the more full and the story more plain For Luke telling that the Heavens were opened and the Holy Ghost descended Mark addeth that Jesus saw this and Matthew that John Matth. 3. ver 16. The Spirit of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 2. 2. The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters in the beginning of the old world and so doth it here of the new It is needless to instance how oft in Scripture the Holy Ghost is called the Spirit of God as Gen. 41. 38. Exod. 31. 3. Numb 24. 2. and very many other places but it is most necessary to observe that wheresoever he is so called it is in the Hebrew the Spirit of Elohim in the plural number and sheweth his proceeding from more persons then one Contrary to the opinion of the Greek Church that holdeth that the Holy Ghost proceedeth not from the Father and the Son but from the Father only Luke 3. ver 22. The Holy Ghost As he is called the Spirit not so much in regard of his own nature as in regard of his manner of proceeding so also is he called Holy not so much in respect of his person for the Father and Son are Spirits and are holy as well as he but in regard of his Work and Office which is to sanctifie the Church of God And in this respect he is called by the Hebrews not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Holy Spirit onely but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ruahh hakkodesh the Spirit of Holiness for this phrase the Holy Ghost is taken from the common speech of the Jews And so is he called by Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 1. 4. and so doth the Syrian call him Rubba dekudsha in this place §. The Holy Ghost descended This descending of the Holy Ghost was first partly for the sake of John for this token had been given him when he first began to preach and baptize whereby to know Christ when he should come Joh. 1. 33. Secondly Partly for Christ that he might thus receive his Consecration and Institution for the Office that he was now to enter upon the Preaching of the Gospel This was as his anointing to instal him into his Function as Aaaron and his Sons were with material oyl to enter them into theirs as Isa. 61. 1. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me therefore hath he anointed me he hath sent me to Preach the Gospel And Thirdly Partly for the business and matter that was now to go in hand namely Christ beginning to preach accordingly For First The Gospel is the Spiritual Kingdom and Scepter of Christ in and by which he was to rule all Nations for ever and therefore it was agreeable that the Spiritualness of that should be sealed and confirmed by the Holy Spirits shewing himself even in the beginning of it The carnal rites of Moses were now to vanish and his Corporal and Ceremonial observances to be changed into a Spiritual Worship and neither at Jerusalem nor at mount Gerizim nor elsewhere must there be any more adoration with fleshly and earthly Ceremoniousness but he that will worship God must worship him in Spirit as Joh. 4. 21. Therefore it is no wonder if
far from this kind slay my two sons that is slay two of my sons for Reuben had four sons at this time Gen. 46. 9. these stones be made bread 4. But he answered and said It is written man shall not live by bread alone but by h h h h h h In the Hebr. in Deut. 8. 3. from whence these words are quoted it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By every thing that cometh out of the mouth without any determinate naming of a word but the Chaldee and the Seventy have rendred it by every word that proceedeth or cometh forth and Matthew useth the very words of the Septuagint Luke gives the sense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rather than the very construction or translation of the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Gods promise Psal. 89. 34. every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God 5. Then the Devil taketh him up into the i i i i i i The holy City was the common and ordinary name of Jerusalem as Esay 48. 2. 52. 1. Dan. 9. 27. Nehem. 11. 1. Matth. 27. 53. c. yea even when it was full of all abomination and corruption yea even when the story is relating that it is crucifying Christ as in the place last cited yet is it so called in regard of Gods presence and his worship which he had placed there Separists might do well to meditate a little upon this consideration The shekel of Israel had an inscription on the one side of it carrying this same title though not in the very same words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jerusalem the holy The Turks own the place by the same name and title at this day and the Papist in the same notion and nature But when that worship and religion and presence of God in them which he himself had planted there was removed then was Jerusalem no more holy than other places nay more accursed for their other abominations and especially for crucifying the Lord of Life And the Lord buildeth up for himself a new holy City a new Jerusalem when the old one is destroyed namely a spiritual building a City not made with hands a Church under the Gospel when that under the Law had undone themselves Rev. 21. 2. c. holy City and setteth him on a k k k k k k 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is understood variously but it seemeth to mean the battlements of the Temple wherewithal it was ledged round about as Deut. 22. 8. called there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an hedge or inclosure as R. Sol. renders it the Chaldee expresseth it by the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a case The Seventy by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Crown The Vulgar and Erasmus use Pinnaculum here as our English doth meaning some spire or broach that shot up from the roof Camerarius indifferently takes it for the top or highest part of the Temple be it pinnacle battlement spire fane or what else it would The Priests used to go to the top of the Temple Talm. in Taanith R. Sol. on Esay 22. 1. pinnacle of the Temple 6. And saith unto him If thou be the Son of God cast thy self down for it is written He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up left at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone 7. Iesus saith unto him It is written again Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God 8. Again the Devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain and sheweth him all the Kingdoms of the world and the glory of them 9. And saith unto him l l l l l l This helpeth to construe the phrase in Luke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it is to be taken for the Realms and Kingdoms themselves which Satan shewed him rather than for the dominion and rule over those Realms For that expression which Matthew useth All the Kingdoms of the world and the glory of them of which Satan saith All these things will I give thee Luke uttereth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship o o o o o o The two Evangelists expressions laid together may make this useful result and observation That if to worship before the Devil be to worship the Devil for whereas Matthew saith if thou worship me Luke expresseth it if thou worship before me sure to worship before an Image is to worship an Image whatsoever evasion Popery would make to the contrary or else let it shew a reason of the difference me 10. Then saith Iesus unto him Get thee hence Satan for it is written p p p p p p In the Hebrew in Deut. 6. 13. 10. 20. from whence this citation is taken it is 1. Thou shalt fear the Lord which the Evangelist renders thou shalt worship 2. The word only in the second clause is not extant But first our Saviour applies the Text close to the present occasion for the Devil had perswaded him to worship him and he retorts the Scripture so as to face the temptation most directly and since the fearing of God contains and includes all mans duty towards God be it what it will whether in affection or action and whether in worship or in holy conversation our Saviour doth reduce it to such a particular as was most pertinent and agreeable to the thing in hand And so parallels might be shewed in great variety where one place of Scripture citing another it doth not retain the very words of the portion cited but doth sometime change the expression to fit the occasion as Matth. 2. 23. translates Netzer a branch in Esay 11. 1. A man of Nazareth And that which is sorrows in Esay 53. 4. he hath rendred sickness Matth. 8. 17. because he is there discoursing of Christs healing diseases And divers more of this nature will the Reader take up by his own observation so that it is needless to insist upon examples Secondly Although the word only be not in the Hebrew Text yet is it in the Septuagint in the place first cited and it is most ordinary for the Evangelists to follow that copy And that translation hath warrantably added it seeing as Beza well observeth so much is included in the emphatical particle him and is also understood by comparing other places Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve 11. Then the Devil leaveth him and behold Angels came and ministred unto him St. MARK CHAP. I. AND immediately the Spirit a a a a a a Each Evangelist hath his peculiar expression and each expression its peculiar meaning though some Translators do not much mind their differences as the Syriack that useth the same word in Matthew and Luke and the Arabick the same in Matthew and Mark only either of them take it actively in the one and passively in the other 1. Luke saith
that they are wrought in God 22. ¶ After these things came Iesus and his Disciples into the i i i i i i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is into Judea country meaning in opposition to Judea City For the story next before of the conference with Nicodemus came to pass and was acted in Jerusalem and there had Christ kept the Passover and done divers miracles and stayed some time and after these things mentioned before saith the Evangelist Jesus leaveth the City and goeth into the Country leaveth the chief City of Judea and goeth into the Country of Judea for to this sense do the Evangelists words mean if they be taken up at large And therefore I see no reason why Beza should confine this place to the country that lay near Jerusalem translating it Judeae territorium and expounding it to that sense Nor do I see that it is any such great matter as he makes it to give a reason of this unusual phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 country of Iudea and there he tarried with them and baptized 23. And Iohn also was baptizing k k k k k k Aenon The Syriack and Arab read it in two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some would have to mean the Well of the Greeks as if in the times of the Grecian and Syro-Grecian Monarchies some Greeks had digged and laid up these waters we shall enquire after this place in the exposition of the verse in Aenon near to Salim because there was much f Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The voice thereof For even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Things without life are said to yield a voice 1 Cor. 14. 7 8. As blood Gen. 4. 10. waters Psal. 93. 3. miracles Exod. 4. 8. thunder Rev. 19. 6. c. And whereas the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth indifferently signifie either an articulate voice or any other sound the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is also used very commonly in the Scripture to the same signification and extent water there and they came and were baptized 24. For Iohn was not yet cast into prison 25. l Therefore there was a question of Iohns disciples with the Iews about purifying 26. And they came unto Iohn and said unto him Rabbi he that was with thee beyond Iordan to whom thou barest witness behold the same baptizeth and all men come to him 27. Iohn answered and said A man can receive nothing except it be given him from Heaven 28. Ye your selves bear me witness that I said I am not the Christ but I am sent before him 29. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom but the friend of the bridegroom which standeth and heareth him rejoyceth greatly because of the bridegrooms voice This my joy thorefore is fulfilled 30. He must increase but I must decrease 31. He that cometh from above is above all he that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth he that cometh from above is above all 32. And what he hath seen and heard that he testifieth and no man receiveth his testimony 33. He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true 34. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God for God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him 35. The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand 36. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Reason of the Order THE subsequence and jointing of this story of Nicodemus unto that which is recorded in the latter end of the second Chapter of Christs doing many miracles at Jerusalem at the Passover is so apparent out of Nicodemus his own words ver 2. and out of the words of the Evangelist ver 22. that it needeth no proof and evidence but only to point at these verses for the proving of it Yet that we may observe both the connexion of this Chapter with the former and also the times and juncture of this Chapter within it self let us view it a little at large and take our prospect from the three and twentieth verse of the second Chapter Now when Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover on the Feast day many believed in his name when they saw the miracles that he did This feast day at the Passover may best be conceived to be the first day of the festival week or the day after the Passover was eaten for on that day was the appearance of the people in the Court of the Temple as the Law appointed that thrice every year they should appear before the Lord. For that appearing mentioned in the Law saith Rambam was that every one appear in the Court the first holy day of the festival and bring an offering In Hagg. per. 1. On that day therefore the concourse of the people being the greatest it is most proper to suppose that Christ began to shew himself in his miraculous power as he had done a day or two before in his Prophetick zeal in driving the market out of the Temple What miracles they were that he wrought is not mentioned it is most rational and most agreeable to his workings afterward to hold that it was healing of diseases and casting our Devils but whatsoever the miracles were for particular and distinctive quality the power shewed in them was so great that it made Nicodemus confess and others acknowledge that none could do such but a teacher come from God and it made the Galileans who were spectators now to receive him when he came amongst them afterward Joh. 4. 45. Such works had never been done in their sight till now and they had never had such miraculous spectacles at their appearances before and so he shewed them at once that it is not in vain to wait upon God in his appointments and that the great Prophet was come among them and yet on that very day come three years they put him to death Nicodemus undoubtedly was a spectator and witness of what was done and so the Syriack translator seemeth to conclude when he rendreth the beginning of this Chapter thus Now there was one of the Pharisees named Nicodemus there and so his own words seem to argue as spoken not upon hearsay but upon ocular witness we know thou art a teacher come from God for none can do such miracles c. He having seen those wondrous workings by day came to Jesus that night as may in most probability be conjectured and the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very properly rendred in such a definite and determinate construction For there can be no doubt but he would come with the first conveniency he could being taken with those miracles and desiring to have some communication with Christ and not knowing how soon he might be getting out of Town However if he did not come that night yet doubtless he would delay as
the time is now come that he that will be taken for a true worshipper must neither worship as the Jews do ceremoneously but in spirit nor as the Samaritans do erroneously but in truth Thus may we very well divide the two words Spirit and truth to serve these two purposes as thus to answer about the worship of either Nation the one whereof worshipped God altogether in external Rites and Ceremonies and the other worshipped they knew not what and they knew not how But generally the word Spirit and truth are taken by Expositors to signifie but one and the same thing and stand in opposition only to the carnal Rites and shadowy types in which their whole Worship in a manner did consist His using of the term Father for God is not so much in reference to the other persons in the Trinity or because the woman was acquainted with that mystery but because the Jews and it is like the Samaritans also used the word very commonly in their prayers and speeches as Our Father which art in Heaven do to us as thou hast promised by the Prophet And Let the prayers and requests of all the House of Israel be accepted before their Father which is in Heaven c. Maym. in Tephilloth Vers. 24. God is a Spirit and they that worship him c. Here ariseth a question upon the very first reading of the verse the words Spirit and truth being interpreted as is mentioned immediately before and that is why did God so punctually ordain and so long continue a Typical and Ceremonious Worship if those that worship him must worship in spirit and truth Answer That very worship was for this end and purpose that men should learn to worship God in spirit and truth For all these rites and types were but doctrines of the way of Salvation through Christ till Christ came and the very use of them was to this end that out of them men should spel this spiritual and true worship namely to worship God in Christ and to look after his benefits for their salvation which those rites doctrinally held unto them and which lesson the true worshippers or believers did attain unto Vers. 25. I know that Messiah cometh c. he will teach us all things The Samaritans had learned from the Jews to expect Messias and how the Jews expected this to be the time of his coming we have shewed before and it may be the woman speaketh this as meaning that she looked for Messias to come shortly which occasioned Christs answer I am he as taking at her words in that sense Thou sayest Messias will come shortly and resolve all things I tell thee Messias is come already and I am he Now her referring the resolution of this doubt to Messias his coming it sheweth she did not throughly digest and entertain Christs answer to her question although she took upon her to acknowledge him for a Prophet She had no mind the thing should be so as he had resolved and therefore she had no mind to believe it How Christ was expected as the great teacher we shall observe afterward Vers. 29. A man which hath told me all things that ever I did The Disciples having now bought all things that they would have for dinner for it was now dinner time return to the well to their Master and upon their return Christs discourse and the womans is broken off and she slips a way into the City and bids come see a man that hath told me all things that ever I did But Christ did not so for he told her only of one particular or two about her husbands but besides that the word All in Scripture is not always stretched to the utmost extent of its signification he had told her so much that she concludes that he that could tell her that could have told her also all things else such expressions as these in earnest and pathetical narrations are not strange Vers. 35. Say ye not there are yet four months c. The coherence and connexion of this verse with those before which is the first thing to be looked after in it lyeth thus The Disciples had been in the City and bought some meat and when they had set it ready they invite him to dine He answers No he hath other meat to feed upon than they are aware of and that was to do the will of him that sent him and to finish his work And what work was that Why the very work that he had been just now about preaching the Gospel and converting a soul and which work he knew was increasing upon him by the coming of the Samaritans to hear him whom either he now saw coming in flocks towards him or knew they would come In these words therefore he answers his Disciples to this purpose You would have me to eat but I have somewhat else to do which is meat to me which is to finish my Fathers work in preaching the Gospel for look you yonder whereas ye say it is four months to harvest see what a Gospel harvest is coming yonder what a multitude of people is yonder coming to hear me ready for the harvest therefore it is not a time to talk of eating of meat that perisheth but to fall to this harvest work which is my meat in doing the will of him that sent me The harvest of the Jews began at the Passover for on the second day of the Passover the Law injoyned them to bring a sheaf of the first fruits of their harvest and wave it before the Lord and from that day they counted seven weeks to Pentecost See Levit. 23. 10. 15. Four months therefore before the Passover which was the fourteenth day of the first month falls to be towards the latter end of our November or thereabout as is easily cast by any This therefore helps to set the clock of the time reasonable well both for the reckoning of what times are past and for the better fixing of the next Passover that is to come As 1. It shews about what time Johns imprisonment befel and how long he preached namely from Passover was twelvemonth to this November a year and a half and a month and some days above for it is like that Christ stayed not long in Judea after Johns imprisoning 2. It shews that Christ had spent some eight months in Judea from the Passover hitherto and had in this time converted abundance of people to his doctrine 3. It will help to clear that the feast of the Jews spoken of in the next Chapter is the next Passover that was to come as we shall observe when we come there In the former part of the words Say ye not There are four months and then cometh harvest He speaketh literally of their harvest of corn but in the latter the fields are already white to harvest he speaketh parabolically or spiritually of the multitudes of people both among Jews and Gentiles that were ready to be reaped and gathered
of spirit Why to east down thy thirty pieces of Silver which thou hadst got so notoriously and bought so duly Oh! Conviction of mine own Conscience which bears me down and lies heavier on my Soul than a thousand thousand milstones They shall say to the Rocks fall on us and to the Hills cover us And those weights seem lighter than the burden of Conscience that lies upon them Here is Conviction of Conscience overpowering ad ultimum quod sic as far as possible in that kind and as far as possible in this World a man so throughly convinced of his lost undone damnable condition that his Conviction is his Hell already and he cannot suffer or feel more of Hell till he come there But Secondly There is a Conviction of Conscience overpowering to the utmost effect of Conviction that is smoother like Jacob and not such a rough thing as this Esau a child of the freewoman and of the promise and not of this spirit of horror and bondage and that is when a man is so convinced in Conscience concerning his duty that he cannot but with all earnestness set to it and keep to it As in Jer. XX. 9. The word of the Lord was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones that I was weary of forbearing and could not stay This I shall illustrate to you by looking into a case or state of Conscience referring something to the Conviction spoken of last before and also to this we are speaking of now Many a dear child of God walks in darkness and sees no light from the time of his new birth to his grave he walks in brokenness of Heart and dejection of Spirit and never sees good day His example may be instance enough for all others in Psal. LXXXVIII 15 16 17. I am afflicted and ready to die even from my youth up I suffer thy terrors I am distracted Thy fierce wrath goeth over me and thy terrors have cut me off They came round about me daily like waters they compassed me about together Now what is that that bears such a Soul up that it does not sink under despondency and despair It is a wonder that such a one can live and what is it that he lives upon Upon the strong and overpowering Conviction and sence of his duty Every child of God that is born to God by the new birth is in Rebecca's case with a Jacob and Esau struggling in her but the younger overcoms the elder He hath a twofold overpowering of Conscience in him namely concerning his lost condition and concerning his duty and the latter overcoms the former He hath those pangs and anguishes of Conscience through the sight of his sins and sence of Gods displeasure that it brings him to the very brink of Hell and of the gulph of dispair but he hath withal so strong an impression of his duty that that keeps him from sinking or falling in A travailer towards Heaven walks upon two legs Hope and Sence of his duty Now many and many a time his hope like Jacobs thigh is sinnew-shrunk and lame and hath no strength at all in it yet he makes shift to bear upon his other leg the sence of his duty that Jacob-like at last he limps out to his journies end The hope of a good Soul may be in the dark that he cannot see the glimmering of the least spark of it but the sence of his duty is always in his sâ—ght that he cannot but look on it and walk after it The case of Jonah in the Whales belly Jon. II. 4. I said I am â—â—t off from the light Why Jonah then thy case is desperate and there is no hope But I will yet look toward thy holy Temple That is my duty and I must not give out from it That good man in Psal. LXXXVIII thou seest thou hast waited and prayed and laboured for comfort all thy time and no comfort comes there is no hope strive no longer I but it is my duty to wait and pray and labour and I must hold to that and not give out Job dost thou not see thy hopeless case dost thou still hold thine integrity blessing God and dying Ah! thou speakest like a fool saith he though God kill me yet will I trust in him I will wait on him this is my duty and I must do it Oh! This is worth your laying to heart If ever your case come to despond in hopes and comforts yet to â—ear up with this Though I cannot see it is the Will of God to shew me comfort yet I am sure it is his Will that I should hold out in doing my duty I long for assurance of pardon of my sins and cannot find it I pray and wait and labour for grace and hope and comfort and cannot feel it My heart is as sad as ever as dull as slippery as incumbred as ever yet come what will I must not leave my hold I must pray and wait and labour still it is my Duty Thus hath many a sad Soul been born up under despondencies that have seen no light hope nor comfort that it hath been a wonder how they have holden up yet have lived upon a hidden manna as in Revel II. 17. have been born up upon this crutch the overpowering Conviction of their Conscience concerning their Duty IV. Fourthly Every Conscience in the World must at one time or other come to such ultimate Conviction in the one kind or other either to confusion and horror or to conversion and setting to his duty Cain if thou do well shalt thou not be accepted but if thou do not well sin lies at the door Gen. IV. 7. The word in the Original â—â—â—â—â—fies sin but more commonly a sin-offering and that laid at the door And that I take to be the meaning of the place and this to be the first doctrine of Repentance in the Bible Though thou do not well yet there is a sin-offering to make thy peace repent and thou shalt be pardoned but if thou do not repent sin and vengeance lies at the door ready to seize upon thee Sinner if thou improvest trying Conviction as thou oughtest to do thou mayest come to the kindly overpowering Conviction to set thee to thy duty for thy everlasting comfort but if not expect overpowering Conviction at one time or other to thy eternal horror And to this sence could I easily be induced to believe those borrowed expressions of Daniel mean Dan. XII 2. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth Joh. V. 28 29 shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt A resurrection of dead Consciences as well as dead bodies Conscience of it self is one of the sleepiest things in the World if God would let it sleep but he will suffer no Conscience to sleep for ever But up sluggard Jonah why sleepest thou either call upon thy God or betake thy self to thy duty or into the
as mere strangers For Moses to converse with God face to face when alive and when dead there is an end of all his communion How comfortless would he have gone to Mount Nebo to dye had he believed as the Papists do that he must go to Limbo and never enjoy God for so many hundred years till Christ should come to fetch him out When he appeared in Glory Luke IX 31. Think ye that he came out of Limbo in that glory And when Abraham is proposed in that parable before Christs death Luke XVI 22 23. Think ye that he is proposed as being in Limbo or in Heaven 4. It is absurd to think that Holy ones that served God all day and should at night receive their wages should be denied it God forbids to detain wages and he not to pay his workmen of a thousand two thousand years after they have done their work Abel a faithful servant of God died for him and his truth and when he comes to expect his reward in Heaven No Abel thou must to Limbo where there is no glimpse of Heaven nor comfort from God for this three thousand five hundred years David in Psal. XXIII saito He will dwell in the house of God for ever In the Temple here and then in Heaven hereafter No will a Papist say David thou must dwell a thousand years in Limbo before thou comest to Heaven A hard Master that rewards his servants no better that serve him here and when they should come to enjoy the fruit of all their labour then God puts them away far from him and they enjoy not what they laboured for Such Doctrine is that of the Romanists and such absurdities they make people believe to build up their Purgatory for their profit Nor are they only thus Absurd but as Irreligious in this Doctrine 1. That they will make men believe that there was not divine and spiritual power in Christ for salvation without his bodily power and personal presence they limit the Spirit and the operation of Christ to his presence They give that to Christs presence that God never meant They account the Virgin Mary so incomparably holy and happy above all others because she carried Christ in her womb and arms as though it were that and not Faith and Grace that made her so holy and happy Superstition is standing upon a thing over and above leaping over that which is the proper duty and reality of holiness and resting upon something besides it So concerning Christ superstition hath taught men to take up something in opinion and practise over and besides what is needful about the worship and love of Christ. To worship the Cross because Christ suffered on it To put holiness in those places where he once was as the Manger the Sepulchre c. Of this nature and rank is placing so much in the bodily presence of Christ and overlooking the efficacy and work of his Spirit Transubstantiation is of this form and this that we are speaking of the like viz. That the Patriarchs could not be saved by the divine power and Spirit of Christ but he must come first in Person before to bring them to Heaven 2. They make Grace not sufficient to save but something else must be added viz. Purgatory sire to purge out those sins that Grace did not or could not purge out It is said 2 Cor. XII 9. My grace is sufficient for thee They will say Not Purgatory fire must help out to sufficiency They will tell you It is rare for any to dye so spotless as instantly to go to Heaven but he must have some scouring elsewhere before And indeed this may deserve our consideration not to make us think of any Purgatory hereafter but to affect us with what we have to do here It is undoubted that to dye in any sin is damnable Ye shall dye in your sins is as much as when ye dye ye shall be damned because ye shall dye in sin See Joh. VIII 21. Ye shall dye in your sins whether I go ye cannot come He that dyes in his sins in any of his sins must never come where Christ is Imagine a man had got off all his sins but one and that stuck to him dying that would damn him as well as all Suppose it this I cannot will not forgive such an one that hath done me this wrong that spot of malice will keep him out of Heaven as well as if he were dawbed all over with all sins whatsoever Nay to come to a lower rate Be it but a little love of the World an unwillingness to part with the pleasures and profits of it is it possible that man should go to Heaven that had rather be here Nay yet lower Be it some particular sin that he hath chanced to forget and not repent of can he with that go to Heaven Hitherto Papists and we agree that there is no going to Heaven with any spot of sin upon the Soul but here we differ They say A man may go out of this World with many spots of sin upon him yet at last go to Heaven these being purged out in Purgatory We say with the Scripture That after death there is no Redemption that this is the acceptable time and day of Salvation that if a sinners Sun set in a cloud it will be dark with him for ever that if he dye in any sin his condition is damnable and no help afterwards Esa. XXII 14. Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye dye And then it shall never be purged And the Reasons of this are First Because any one sin loved unrepented of damneth as well as many by the rule of S. James Chap. II. 10 11. For whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all For he that said Do not commit adultery said also Do not kill Now if thou commit no adultery yet if thou kill thou art become a Transgressor of the Law Secondly Because the other World is a World of Eternity and in Eternity there is no change He that goes sinful into that can never be changed Thirdly Because it is impiety to make any thing sharer with the Blood and Grace of Christ in mans Salvation It is said We are saved by his Blood and by his Grace There needs no Purgatory sire unless these were weak and insufficient Object But is it possible any one should dye without some sin sticking to him Original sin sticks It may be a man has forgot some actual sin to repent of it it may be there is some impatience upon him his heart may fly out into passion never without infirmities Answer I. Let me question Durst any dye with any sin sticking on him Thou bearest malice darest thou dye so Thou art proud covetous darest thou dye so Who is so little taught the Doctrine of Salvation as to put himself to such a venture At least who is not convinced of the danger
be under the torments of Hell And the Captain of our Salvation to be under the condition of the damned Let it not be told in Gath publish it not in the Streets of Ascalon Let not the Jews hear it nor the Turks understand such a thing lest they blaspheme our Lord of life more than they do The colour which is put upon this opinion by them that hold it is because Christ upon the Cross bare the sins of men and therefore that he was to bear the wrath torments and damnation that man had deserved And for this they produce those places Esa. LIII 6. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all 1 Pet. II. 24. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree And they would have Christ to mean no less when he cried out Eli Eli Lamasabachtani my God my God why hast thou forsaken me For the stating of this matter I lay down these two things I. That it was impossible Christ should suffer the wrath of God the torments of Hell and be in the case of the damned for any cause of his own II. That he did not could not suffer these though he bare the sins of all his people I shall speak to both these under these five observations I. In all the passages of Christ at his suffering you cannot find that he looks upon God as an angry God Begin at his prayer at his last supper Joh. XVII Can you find there even the least hint that he doubted of Gods favour to him It is the rule of the Apostle 1 Tim. II. 8. That we lift up holy hands without wrath and doubting Can we think that Christ ever prayed with doubting Especially look into that Prayer and there is not the least tincture of it vers 1. Father glorifie thy Son Did his heart then any whit suspect that God was angry at him Vers. 2. Thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life Are these the words of one that suspected he could come under the heaviest wrath of God Vers. 4. I have glorified thee on Earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do Are these the words of one that thought he could ever be repayed for so doing with wrath and vengeance and the torments of Hell Vers. 5. And now O Father glorifie me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the World was Vers. 13. And now Father I come unto thee Vers. 21. Thou Father art in me and I in thee Vers. 24. Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory Had Christ when he spake these things any suspicion or thought that he could possibly come under the heavy wrath of God It is said Chap. XVIII 1. He went beyond Kidron There he is in his agony then he prays Let this cup pass from me Why What did he see in the Cup Bitterness enough but not one drop of the dregs of Gods wrath Guess his case by the case of sinful men A Stephen a Cranmer a Ridley a Martyr is brought to the Stake He hath a Cup put into his hand and that very bitter but doth he see any of Gods wrath in it Martyrs could not have gone so joyfully to death had they seen God angry in that bitter dispensation Christ could not have gone so readily to his sufferings had he thought he had gone to encounter Gods indignation Look at his words on the Cross Hodie mecum in Paradiso To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Were these the words of one under the torments of Hell to assure the thief of Heaven Pater in manus tuas Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit Did he apprehend God angry as at the Damned when he spake these words Nay those words Eli Eli Lamasabachtani speak not that he felt the wrath of God but a bitter providence that God had left him to such wrackings and tortures and to such wicked hands So that look at Christs passages at and near his Passion and you find not one word or action that doth bewray that Christ felt himself any whit at all under Gods fury Nay look through the Scripture whatsoever is spoken of Christ it sets him far from being to be thought liable to the wrath of God Was Christ a child of wrath as well as others Scripture tells you no. Esa. XLII 1. Behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect in whom my Soul delighteth I have put my Spirit upon him How far is that from such language as this Behold Christ under my wrath behold him under the torments of Hell And so that passage Matth. III. ult Lo a Voice from Heaven saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And at his Transfiguration In whom I am well pleased And does he ever come to be angry at him as at the Damned and to lay his fury on him as on the tormented in Hell It troubles me to think any Christian should hold such an opinion concerning our Saviour and indeed where there is little need to imagine such a thing Could not Christ have wrought Redemption without enduring such heavy wrath then it were not so improper to conceive so But II. Christ in the work of Redemption had not to deal with the wrath of God but the justice of God not with his wrath to bear it but with his justice to satisfie it There is a great deal of difference may be made twixt wrath and justice and twixt satisfying one and the other A Judge condemning a Malefactor weeps and grieves Is there any wrath No but only justice The Malefactor satisfies the justice of the Law no wrath stirring Consider what was the debt men ought to God What owest thou to my Master It will be said Damnation and suffering eternal torments True these were due to them but the debt was of another nature viz. Obedience Damnation was the penalty upon forfeiture of Bonds but the Debt was Obedience that which man ought to God before he became sinful which he owes to God as he is God and which the Law challengeth and which the Gospel does also Does man owe Damnation to God as he is God as he is Creator as he is Lawgiver Or as man is man No God rather owes and will pay Damnation to man for being sinful Therefore that which Christ was properly to pay for his people was that which was properly their debt which they could not pay viz. Obedience And that the Scripture harps upon Rom. V. 19. As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous Phil. II. 8. He became obedient unto Death Now what was Christ obedient to To say To the wrath of God were hardly sense but To the will of God which would prove and try him and could do it thorowly without wrath It was