bewail it in thy heart and say unto God O Lord thou art rich in Mercy thou canst deliver this poor wretched creature from the dunghill of sin So on the contrary if thou see a man live godlily glorifie God and say I beseech thee O Lord preserve those gifts which thou hast given to this man T is a lovely Treasure of Grace which thou hast committed to him but the Vessel frail and brittle and there are many Thieves lurking about it If thou look not to it t will quickly be all wasted and lost Lo this may we learn from Peters denyal 3. But specially it warneth all those that are Rectors of Churches not to presume nor to be proud It is very dangerous when a presumptuous man is put into the Office of a Minister For he knows not how to take pitty and compassion upon others He knows nothing but how to domineer terrifie punish c and to hunt feeble souls to despair by his outragiousness and so all his Ministry falls to the ground Hence it is that Paul by way of special commendation of Christ saith that he was such an high Priest that was able and did know how to have compassion on others Heb. 4. And therefore did he suffer Peter to fall that he might learn to shew pitty to others 4. This denyal of Peter is comfort and instruction to all sinners Comfort not to despair of pardon see Peter received again into favour after so great a fall Instruction to learn by his Example what course to take to get into favour again Of which more at large hereafter 5. It wanted not a Mysterie that Peter should deny his Master at his first entrance into the house of the high Priest and that at the provocation of a little girl For the first or chiefest profession in Princes Courts is to deny Christ that is to postpone and undervalue God and Christ Equity and Verity yea the salvation of their own souls too and only to mind and look after the things of this world This comes to pass especially when a man is brought in by a maid i e. by covetousness For that is the root of all evil 1 Tim 6. But whom that faithfull servant the fear of the Lord doth usher in he will cleave close to Christ in the Courts of Princes and in the midst of his worldly business as we see in David Daniel Hester Mordecay Joseph c. 6. To conclude He that reads the fall and denyal of Peter let him pray to the Lord that he never fall into the like Temptation as to deny Christ Let this weakness of Peter be our strength inasmuch as we know of him that after he had received the holy Spirit he would rather suffer himself to be cut in pieces than to deny Christ The high Priest then asked Jesus of his Disciples John 18.19 and of his Doctrine Jesus answered him I spake openly to the world I ever taught in the Synagogue and in the Temple whither the Jews alwayes resort and in secret have I said nothing Why askest thou me ask them which heard me what I have said unto them behold they know what I said And when he had thus spoken one of the Officers which stood by stroke Jesus with the palm of his hand saying Answerest thou the High Priest so Iesus answered him if I have spoken evil bear witness of the evil but if well why smitest thou me They that are of opinion that there was nothing acted in Annas's house except for honours sake they brought Christ first to him these refer all these things to Caiaphas who was the High Priest that year But whither it was he that did this or whither it was Annas that was High Priest the last year doth not much concern us we shall only consider the matter it self That High Priest then whoever he was whether Annas or Caiaphas he undertook to examine Christ by vertue of his Office and to convince him of his errour Christ stands bound before him and bears the pride of that wicked man as if he had been the basest and meanest of men He yields himself to be examined as if he had been the veryest Dunce that ever was Is not here patience even beyond patience Be not thou offended if proud silly fellows despise thee Christ did here lead the way by his example Two things principally the High Priest enquired after 1. His Disciples And was this such a crime in Christ Did that scurvy Priest know nothing else against him And doth he therefore turn his Accusation into Interrogatories Peradventure he would ask where his Disciples were why he chose them what he meant to do with them This Querie tended to convince him of raising sedition and going about to bring in Innovations 2. His Doctrine what it was and whence he had it whether it agreed with the Doctrine of Moses and the Prophets q.d. Thou teachest far otherwise than Moses and the Prophets did Therefore thou art an Heretick and a Seducer and thou hast got thee Disciples to spread thy Heresie over all Iudaea Besides thou hast innovated a Baptism without our Authority In short thou dost all this yea although thou art not of the Tribe of Levi yet thou usurpest to thy self a power of preaching Thinkest thou that we will alway wink at it and never curb such insolency of manners and doctrine as we find in thee contrary to the custom and Rules of the Ancients Nay we have born with thee too long already Now thou shalt pay for alltogether Note here that t is not objected to Christ nor could it be objected against him that he was a Murtherer or a Thief or an Adulterer or an Extortioner but only that he did teach and take Disciples to him This is that above any other thing which the world doth lay to his charge that he never lets them alone but is still reproving them The world saith he hateth me because I testifie of it that the works thereof are evil John 7. If Christ would have held his peace and not so continually have been finding fault the world could have born him But how can Truth be silent and not declare against falshood How is it possible that the Sun-should not shew what is fair and what is foul See our ingratitude for even for that very thing which the world hated in him was Christ most deserving the greatest honour and altogether praise-worthy for his teaching the Truth and chusing whom he pleased out of the world that they might not perish with the world was the highest favour he could shew But whereas this High Priest questioned Christ about his Doctrine and Disciples there was no hurt in all that It is rather the duty of the Ecclesiastical Power to take care that no false Doctrine be broacht abroad The Priest then made a fair pretence but his mind was quite contrary For he knew the things which Christ taught were true Besides he might have made a true
of Hebrew Greek and Latine Then said the chief Priests of the Jews to Pilate Write not the King of the Jews but that he said I am King of the Jews Pilate answered what I have written I have written The Cross was now raised and lifted on high it stood strait upright Christ hung on it many wept to see it wickedness and injustice abound and yet Pilate would fain carry the business without suspition of injustice or wrong And therefore being a subtile and crafty man in the worldly Wisdom he invents some new device and writeth a Title or scroul wherein he signifieth in four words the whole Tragedy with the crime annexed for which he was thus judged and Executed For now his conscience began to twinge him for what he had done he was afraid that he should be complained upon to Caesar for delivering such and so great a man with whom God appeared to be to the covetous greedy and malicious desire of the Jews without shewing any cause or reason of so doing And therefore that he might clear himself that what he had done besides the course and order of Law he did it justly and upon weighty reasons he feigneth this because he could not think upon or invent a more hainous Title for his excuse and defence relying upon it to be saved harmless with Caesar as if he had not put Christ to death as he was the Son of God or a Prophet of the Jews but as a seditious person and an enemy to Caesar and as one that had a mind and intended to be King This he thought would secure him inasmuch as no power can bear a Competitor This was Pilates intention when he wrote this Title For he was banished and killed himself but what stead it stood him in he very well knew and had sufficient experience shortly after But God or the holy Spirit of God intended something else that is to give unto Christ a Name above every name as the Apostle saith Phil. 2. and the Title of a Kingdom which shall last when Heaven and earth are past away because Jesus of Nazareth that is the Saviour and the truly Holy One is made King of the Jews by his suffering upon the Cross not of those who say they are Jews and are not but are the Synagogue of Satan Rev. 2. But of those who confess and acknowledge God in Truth In these four words JESVS of NAZARETH KING of the JEWS the whole effect of the cross is expressed First he is called Jesus 1. because having made satisfaction and paid the price of our Redemption he is become the Author of our salvation Secondly he is Jesus of Nazareth 2. that is flourishing or full of Flowers because the Blossoms of his Godliness are the Example and Pattern of an honest conversation unto us He is also the Heavenly Odour of that sweet Sacrifice which the Father did smell and accept for us He is the Hope of Eternal fruit by which we shall enjoy the sweetness of his God-head Thirdly he is called a King 3. because of his Government and Guidance For he doth Rule us in the Life of Grace and direct us to life of Glory Christ is King in Life and Death which cannot be said of any other Fourthly 4 he is King of the Jews to inform us to whom these Benefits do belong to wit to those that do confess and believe them Behold such great Mysteries as these hath God opened unto us by so vile an Instrument as Pilate was which very thing doth set forth the wonderful Counsell of God For he can tell how to turn the counsels of wicked men to his own praise and glory This Triumphant Title doth not a little confirm and comfort us that are Christians who glory in the cross of Christ and count it our highest honour which Title was not set at the feet but at the head of Christ to shew that his Kingdom is not base and earthy but high and Heavenly For it is and ever will be most true that this Jesus which was born in Bethlem and brought up at Nazareth is King of the Jews their own Prophets being witnesses Psalm 2. 45. Cant. 1. Hos 3. Zach. 9. And because they cast off their King we Gentiles do joyfully receive him Act. 14. as King of all that do acknowledge and confess him Pilate hit the Nail on the head when he wrote this Title and reached the very Truth it self whatever his meaning and intention was And this he would have all people to read understand and therefore he wrote it in the three principall and most general Languages which were then and still are the chiefest Languages over all the world to excuse himself in all Countries and Nations of the death of so eminent a man He wrote it in the Hebrew Tongue because of the Jews who made their boast of the Law In the Greek because of the wise Philosophers of the Gentiles And in the Latine for the Romans to read it Every Kingdom in the World all the wisdom of the World all the Mysteries of Gods Law do witness in spite of the Jews whether they will or no that this Jesus is King of the Jews that is he is the chief Ruler and guide of all that confess and believe in God All these things came to pass not so much by Pilates contrivance as by Gods Providence 1. For first God did hereby provide for all mankind that all men might know that this was he whom God had anointed King over all Nations as it is said Dan. 7. All people Nations and Languages shall serve him So saith Paul At the Name of Iesus every knee shall bow Phil. 2. 2. Secondly that all Nations might know and understand how treacherous and perfideous the Iews were who crucified their own Messias 3. Thirdly that even thus it might be known that Christ dyed for all men whether they be Iews Greeks or Romans 4. Fourthly to shew that the Gospel and the Grace of Christ do equally and alike belong to all men to one as well as another 5. And lastly that all Languages and every Tongue should glorifie Christ which was then fulfilled and is so now For in these three Tongues the Church alwayes hath had read and sung the Scriptures For every Tongue must confess that Iesus is the Christ to the Glory of God the Father Phil. 2. But this Title the chief Priests of the Iews did begrudge Christ and could yet wish that it were changed or abolished but God forbid that Pilate should alter the least jot or title of what was written He had leave enough given him already against Christ This Title must never be blotted out The Iews were ashamed that Strangers and Forraigners should read and understand this Title They were afraid lest one time or other it should be cast in their teeth that they had crucified Christ their own proper and lawfull King and therefore they
are ye condemned All these things did those wicked men do that they might not only stain and blemish but wholly pluck up by the roots and extirpate out of the hearts of all men all the good Report Doctrine Authority Reputation and Miracles of Christ and on the contrary deeply imprint and inwardly fasten this weakness of Christ in the rude people that the memory of him might be totally blotted out as if they had said Good people ye all now see that he was a plain Deceiver for he cannot so much as save himself How much less can he do any thing for you Now therefore be no longer seduced but believe us and not him You see that he doth now hang on the Tree which could never be if he were not accursed of God For cursed is every one that hangeth on a Tree And therefore he cannot trust in God nor will God deliver him Thus they thought that they had casheir'd and cancel'd all his Miracles and made them of none effect so that none would dare hereafter so much as lightly remember or make mention of them This they did most earnestly desire to do and to accomplish it they rage so inhumanely against him This kind of derision is spoken of in many Psalms Many saith he there be that say of my soul there is no help for him in his God Psalm 3.2 Again They did tear me and ceased not With hypocritical Mockers at feasts they gnashed upon me with their teeth They said Aha aha our eye hath seen it Psalm 35. It is as we would have it it liketh us well we are pleased 't is done as we desired So in Job They that are younger then I have me in derision Job 30.1 But Oye Jews you work in the fire you wash a Blackmoor you do but labour in vain in going about to suppress and extinguish the Renown and Glory of Christ For by how much the more ye curtail and lessen the Authority of Christ so much the greater will it grow You mocked him before Caiaphas Pilate Herod and now ye do the like as ye pass by stand and sit under the Cross and what O ye malicious men have ye omitted and not done that might any ways tend to darken and ecclipse his honour for ye apprehended him as a Thief ye manicled him as one condemned of some notorious villany ye spit on him and at him as if he had been a poysonous Toad ye desired the Judge to put him to death without any more ado as one that was not fit to have so much as an accusation brought against him besides ye prefer'd the egregious Thief Barabbas before him ye made him carry his own Cross ye hanged him naked in the midst of Thieves in a filthy loathsome base place at a most solemn sacred and festival time in the view of a huge multitude of people ye envyed him any Title or Badge of Honour and now ye bespatter him with all the base Reproaches and bitter revilings that ye can possibly devise and imagine But your wickedness is confounded your design is blasted you have not prevailed He is saved from his enemies and from the hands of all that hated him By how much the more you sleighted and despised him so much the more did the Father glorifie him For the Cup which you denyed him he hath obtained the Heritage of all the heathen of all Nations and people and when ye lifted him up from the earth he drew all things unto him Joh. 12. For the honour which ye thought to darken and extinguish he now sitteth at the right hand of the Father all Power in Heaven and in Earth is given to him he is made Judge both of quick and dead Note that there are five sorts of men here pointed out who then did and now still do mock and deride Christ 1. The first are They that passed by they that go by pass over or tread besides the Law and Commandments of God that walk in the way and counsell of the ungodly The light is odious and offensive to the sick and sore eyes and he that is troubled with an Ague cannot rellish or taste the sweetness of most delicate dainties 2. The Princes and Rulers who esteemed Christ no better then the vilest thing in the world they cannot indure to hear him they have tender ears soon offended quickly wounded yea they are wounded and hurt with a touch they were always bred and brought up among fawning fellows they use to be shaved with the smooth tongued Razors of flatterers and to be bolstred and propt up with the soft pillows of Parasites such as these they love cherish hug imbrace and bestow the highest preferment that may be upon them But if a righteous man come among them and admonish them exhort to Repentance and preach the Truth freely he is loathed hissed at beaten whipt imprisoned c. Nature is indeed a state or condition that hath a love to Truth written in the breasts of all men all men by Nature are convinced that Truth is a lovely thing but this state of nature and the desire of hearing the truth is too much depraved diverted and corrupted in most men They commend and speak well of the Truth they feign and profess that they have a perfect love to the Preachers of it but yet they cannot they will not they love not to hear the Truth Like Herod they love to hear John preach but at the request of a dancing Damsel they will chop off his head Mar. 6. They like the sound of a tinkling Cymbal but their head is so weak they cannot sit to hear it out Such were the Rulers of the Jews But wo be to thee O Land whose Princes are those boyes that scoffed not without punishment at the bald head of Elisha 2 Kin. 2. 3. The Priests and Pharisees who although they seemed to reverence Righteousness for they pray publiquely Tythe Mynt and Cummin c. yet none sin more licenciously nor dare any reprove their evil manners Do not they mock Christ who practise not what they preach and lay heavy burdens upon others not to be born But themselves will not touch them with one of their fingers Mar. 23. Are not they scoffers at the Divine Majesty who come from the stews and half-peny harlots and yet press with unwashed hands that is without repentance for their sins unto the service and Table of the Lord Obscene and filthy fellows dare presume to come to the Altar and stand before the Virgin-like and pure Jesus with crisped and frizled locks before the crucified one sinners before the severest Judge who not long after even presently return again to their whoredoms and adulteries Are not these mockers yea Traytors of Christ 4. The fourth sort of scoffers at Christ are the thieves These are covetous men who by hook and crook scrape up and heap to themselves the goods of the poor by usury theft fraud c. carking and caring both in getting and
to him He called his servants and gave them money to trade with Luke 19. No man ought to take this Honour to himself but he that is called of God as Aaron was Heb. 5. Let the Minister of the Church take heed and see that he be a John that is that he express the Grace of God not only in Word and Name but in deed and in Truth also Beside in this Recommendation of Christs Mother unto John Christ alluded to that Spiritual acquaintance and kindred which ought to be among Believers in the Church Nay he doth here institute and ordain this Kindred whereby every one should be a Father Mother Brother and Sister to another as Paul writeth to Timothy that he should respect the Elder men as Fathers and the Elder Women as Mothers the yonger as Sisters c. 1 Tim. 5. And as John after this recommendation of Christ could say that the Virgin Mary was his Mother so may we call her Mother inasmuch as she brought forth Christ our Brother And as John might call Peter Brother so also may we This is our Christian brotherhood and Spiritual Kindred which is our great consolation For hence we see that the Saints belong to us and we to them They acknowledge and love us let us also acknowledge and love them In conclusion it is said that John like a faithfull obedient Disciple and as one mindfull of his Masters command did take Mary from that very day for his own mother unto his own home Not that he had a setled place or any thing of his own for the Apostles left all they had Matth. 19. and what they had was common to all Act. 4. But that he took her into his own care and ministred unto her for time to come as a son to his mother He took her not to his Farm or Manour-House for he had none but to his charge which he took care to discharge by his own ministring to her so saith Augustine Of the fourth Word THree Words we have heard already which Christ uttered on the Cross the first to his Father the second to the Thief the third to his Mother and they were all very sweet and comfortable Words indeed The hour of death now approaching he expresseth the fourth Word and that with great gravity he speaks again to his Father but very moaningly and pittifully of which the Evangelists thus write And when the sixth hour was come Mar. 15.33 there was darkness over the whole land untill the ninth hour And at the ninth hour Jesus cryed with a loud voyce saying Eli Eli Lamasabachtani which is being interpreted my God my God why hast thou forsaken me And some of them that stood by when they heard it said Behold he calleth Elias There were now six hours of the day past and yet those wicked men were not satisfied with what Christ had then suffered Wherefore to reprove their ungodliness the Sun is darkened that visible Sun is much afflicted and obscured by reason of the injury done to the true Son of Righteousness and that contrary to the custom and course of Heaven forasmuch as about this time there was no Ecclipse of the Sun as Theophylact out of Jerom saith Here then the Divinity of Christ did a little discover it self and as it were threaten the Jews if they would nor cease from their wickedness But of this great Miracle of the Heaven or the Sun Dionysius the Areopagite writeth in an Epistle to Apollophanes confessing that he also with him saw that Eclipse in Heliopolis both which men were then Pagans And there he affirmeth that Apollophanes should say O good Dionysius Vicissitudines sunt divinarum rerum the course of Heaven is altered And Origen in his second Book against Celsus maketh mention of one Phlegon that wrote of the darkning of the Sun in the time of Tiberius Caesar But what is that to this Eclipse which Pliny writeth that after Caesar was slain the Sun was pale and wan a whole year about Away with all such comparisons even of the greatest Monarchs This is truly a sign that doth deserve to be written and read to be said and sung as long as the world lasteth This unusual darkness 1. Did prove Christs Divinity to whom all the Elements do homage and are ready to serve him at his pleasure 2. It shewed his Innocency for the Elements are disturbed at his death to make it known that Christ suffered innocently the Creatures give testimony to their Creator 3. The heavenly Father would make it appear by these signs that he took notice of the great evils and unworthy behaviour of men which yet he was pleased to turn to the salvation of them that should believe 4. This uncouth Darkness did portend and fore-shew that the Light of Truth was now departed from Judea and that all that denyed Christ should be left and shut up in perpetual darkness The Jews had often urged to Christ to shew them a sign from Heaven Lo here they have it but to their own undoing Now when this Darkness had continued for about three hours Christ began to to speak again yea to cry out with a loud voyce to prove the Truth of his Humanity and to shew the intensness and extremity of his pain against such Heresies as should after arise either denying the Lord to be a true man or that he did not truly suffer but only made a flourishing shew of suffering But his loud crying was a sufficient witness of his true and grievous sorrow and pain for although they were intolerable things which the Standers by did see yet Christ endured much more than what the outward eyes saw And to make it known he cryed out to fulfill that of Psalm 69. I am weary of crying my throat is dryed c. And well might he be hoarse for hoarsness proceedeth from a defect of humours in the throat and Arteries But his strength was dryed up like a Pot-sheard the humours of blood gushing out in all parts of his body But let us hear how and with what voyce he cryed out He saith Eli Eli Lama azabthani This word is taken out of Psalm 22. which Psalm in the Hebrew doth begin with those very words Christ therefore makes use of the beginning of that Psalm to shew that the whole Psalm was made to him and of him Where me may observe that Christ doth not complain of suffering but of Desertion and not of every kind of Desertion neither For they to whom he had done much good yea and his own Disciples too had deserted and left him in the midst of his enemies and persecutors And yet he doth not so much as think upon this Desertion but he doth cry out especially and complain that the Father had forsaken him which we must not so understand as if the Divinity had separated it self from the humanity of Christ but that it left that Humanity for a time to the power of his Persecutors and did not
die in the midst of his unspeakable grief mourning and sorrow when the Humane Nature could no longer hold out this Fountain of Life began to close his languishing eyes his face waxt pale and wan and the signes of death appeared in him he spake the last Word to his Father to whom he had directed his first and fourth before And when Jesus had cryed with a loud voyce he said Father Luke 23.46 into thy hands I commend my spirit And having said thus he bowed the head and gave up the ghost John 19.30 This last word is taken out of Psalm 31.5 which Saint Steven also made use of and would to God we could all imitate it I say I wish that this might be our last word He takes good care of his soul that doth commend it to God The sense The meaning of the word is as if Christ should have said O most excellent Father to thee all thanks do of right belong and are justly due for thy blessings bestowed upon us and into thy hands the Salvation of mankind is safely committed from whom it doth proceed For at thy beck all things are made safe and sure and at thy pleasure and command are they again dissolved and brought to nothing out of which they were made Thou art the beginning and end of all things from thee they all had their being It is meet therefore that they should return to thee again and with so much the more confidence commend themselves to thee again there being nothing more acceptable nothing more sweet and pleasant nothing more prompt and ready to thee then to receive the creatures that return to thee with thy Fatherly Kisses and greatest Clemency Thou dost cherish and love thine own and hatest nothing that thou hast made Wisd 11.24 Thou art the most desired Bosom of thy children Thou art the safest Harbour of our Ships Thou art the Surety peace and security of our souls So that I thy Son have no small hope left me while I sayl through the deep and wide Sea of Tribulations thou supplyest my strength and by thy help have I overcome so many hazards and such great dangers I have manifested thy Name unto men I have glorified thee upon earth I have finished the work that thou gavest me to do Now I come unto thee John 17. And for the prosperous gale of thy Goodness I render thee all possible thanks and do here upon this Altar of the Cross sacrifice and offer up unto thee my self for a most acceptable Oblation But because my spirit doth with wonderfull sweetness cleave to the flesh which thou gavest me for a companion it is by a kind of natural reluctancy exceedingly afraid to be parted from it Therefore I commit the close of my life into thy hands that thou wouldest not leave me now at this hour who hast ever done so many and so great things for me and hast alwayes heard me 1. I commend my spirit into the hands of thy Majestie which have made and preserved all things for thou hast marvelously setled me in hope In peace therefore will I lie down and take my rest in thee Psalm 4. Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell nor suffer thine Holy One to see corruption Psalm 16. Let my flesh flourish again and let gladness compass me about whom thou hast girded with sackcloth Look upon my Humility save my soul out of all distress set my feet in a large room Thou art my God my Lot and lines are in thy hands Receive me thy highly esteemed One who commend my self unto thee 2. Into thy hands also I commend my Reward or Purchase which I have obtained at so dear a rate Redeemed with so much blood I mean those souls which are preserved from Eternal death and destruction and which hitherto have brandished the Sword and greedily sought for revenge but are now reconciled and become Champions for thy Truth Take those souls into thy hands which I have written and printed in my hands These are my booty the spoiles recovered out of the jawes of our enemy This is my Venison take and taste of it that thy soul may bless me This is my stray sheep which I have brought home again upon my shoulders This is the tenth penny which I have found rejoyce and be glad with me These I commend into thy hands for whom I now give up the ghost let them never fall out of thy hands Keep the souls of the righteous in thy hand let not the torment of malice or the wicked one touch them Wipe off every tear from their eyes let the former things pass away let there be no mourning nor crying nor any sorrow let not the pit any more gape upon them Dear and only Father who openest thy hands and fillest every living thing with thy blessing pluck them not back from me thy Son and all my complices who are also reckoned among thy children but receive keep cherish them and gather them up into thy Joyes bless crown exalt them For truly for that very cause do I undauntedly lay down and offer up my life to thee confessing and trusting in thy will and so O Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit Whence we are taught first to bear whatsoever comes from God Secondly to commend all we are or have unto God and thirdly to persevere and hold out unto the end It is the end only and peseverance that will prove what our works are Perseverance only delivereth up the spirit into the hands of God that alone doth strive lawfully and that alone shall be crowned For what prowess or praise is it only to begin Who will suffer a tree to grow that doth but only bud and blossom and never bring forth any ripe fruit What can be more dronish then to put on the Habegeon or Harness of War at home in the House and cowardly to cast it off and run away when the Battel is set What can be more foolish and ridiculous then to be at vast expences to lay the Foundation of a House to raise up the walls and never lay the roof to cover it What advantage is it to make a long Voyage and sink in the Haven What profit is it to buy oyl and spill it on the ground when the Bridegroom is coming To what purpose is it to be zealous for a time to climb up to Heaven to make his nest among the Stars to walk with the children of God in the midst of a fiery Furnace and at last to sink down to hell to be besotted in sin and of a yong Angel to become an old decrepite Devil Remember him therefore who loved us to the end and persevered in his love to us even to the end upon the Cross and will save none but such as persevere in good even to the end to wit in the imitation of his Cross Now when our Lord Christ had uttered this his last Word he bowed down his head and gave