shall I render to the Lord for all his benefites I will take the cup of saluation and call vpon the name of the Lord. And as rauisht from thy selfe with the sweet apprehension of this mercy call all the other creatures to the fellowshippe of this ioy with that diuine Esay Reioyce O yee heauens for the Lord hath done it showte yee lower partes of the earth burst forth into prayses yee mountaines for the Lord hath redeemed Iacob and will be glorified in Israel And euen now beginne that heauenlie Song which shall neuer end with those glorified Saints Prayse and honour and glory and power be to him that sitteth vpon the throne and to the Lambe for euermore Thus our speech of Christes last wordes is finished His last act accompanied his wordes our speech must follow it let it not want your deuout carefull attention Hee bowed and gaue vp the ghost The Crosse was a slow death had more paine then speed whence a second violence must dispatch the crucified their bones must be broken that their hearts might breake Our Sauiour stayes not deaths leysure but willingly and couragiously meetes him in the way and like a Champion that scornes to be ouercome yea knowes he cannot be yeeldeth in the middest of his strength that hee might by dying vanquish death Hee bowed and gaue vp Not bowing because hee had giuen vp but because hee would Hee cried with a lowde voyce saith Matthew Nature was strong hee might haue liued but hee gaue vp the Ghost and would die to shew him selfe Lord of life and Death Oh wondrous example hee that gaue life to his enemies gaue vpp his owne hee giues them to liue that persecute and hate him and himselfe will die the whiles for those that hate him Hee bowed and gaue vp not they they might crowne his head they could not bow it they might vexe his spirite not take it away they could not doe that without leaue this they could not doe because they had no leaue Hee alone would bow his head and giue vp his Ghost I haue power to lay downe my life Man gaue him not his life man could not bereaue it No man takes it from me Alas who could The high-Priestes forces when they came against him armed he said but I am he they flee and fall backward How easie a breath disperst his enemies whom he might as easily haue bidden the earth yea hell to swallow or fire from heauen to deuoure Who commaunded the Diuels and they obeyed could not haue beene attached by men he must giue not onely leaue but power to apprehend himselfe else they had not liu'd to take him hee is laide holde of Peter fights Put vp saith Christ Thinkest thou that I cannot pray to my Father and hee will giue mee more then 12. Legions of Angels VVhat an Army were here more then threescore and twelue thousand Angels and euery Angell able to subdue a world of men hee could but would not be rescued hee is led by his owne power not by his enemies and stands now before Pilate like the scorne of men crowned robbed scourged with an Ecce homo Yet thou couldest haue no power against me vnlesse it were giuen thee from aboue Behold he himselfe must giue Pilate power against himselfe else hee could not be condemned he will be condemned lifted vp nailed yet no death without himselfe Hee shall giue his soule an offering for sinne Esay 53.10 No action that sauours of constraint can be meritorious hee would deserue therefore he would suffer and die Hee bowed his head and gaue vp the Ghost O gracious and bountifull Sauiour hee might haue kept his soule within his teeth in spight of all the world the weakenesse of God is stronger then men and if he had but spoken the word the heauens and earth should haue vanisht away before him but he would not Behold when hee saw that impotent man could not take away his soule he gaue it vp and would die that we might liue See here a Sauiour that can contemne his own life for ours cares not to be dissolued in himselfe that we might be vnited to his Father Skinne for skinne saith the Diuell and all that hee hath a man will giue for his life Loe here to proue Sathan a lyer skin and life and all hath Christ Iesus giuen for vs. We are besotted with the earth and make base shifts to liue one with a maimed bodie another with a periured soule a third with a rotten name and how many had rather neglect their soule then their life and will rather renounce and curse GOD then die It is a shame to tell many of vs Christians dote vpon life and tremble at death and shew our selues fooles in our excesse of loue Cowards in our feare Peter denies Christ thrice and forsweares him Marcellinus twice casts graines of incense into the Idolles fire Ecebolius turnes thrice Spira reuolts and despaires Oh let mee liue saith the fearefull soule Whither dost thou reserue thy selfe thou weake and timorous Creature or what wouldest thou doe with thy selfe Thou hast not thus learned Christ hee dies voluntarily for thee thou wilt not bee forced to die for him hee gaue vp the Ghost for thee thou wilt not let others take it from thee for him thou wilt not let him take it for himselfe VVhen I looke backe to the first Christians and compare their zealous contempt of death with our backewardnesse I am at once amased and ashamed I see there euen women the feebler sexe running with their little ones in their armes for the preferment of martyrdome and ambitiously striuing for the next blow I see holy and tender virgins chusing rather a sore and shamefull death then honourable Espousals I heare the blessed Martyrs intreating their Tyrants and tormentors for the honour of dying Jgnatius amongst the rest fearing least the beastes will not deuoure him and vowing the first violence to them that he might bee dispatched And what lesse courage was there in our memorable and glorious forefathers of the last of this age and doe wee their cold and feeble ofspring looke pale at the face of a faire and naturall death abhorre the violent though for Christ Alas how haue we gathered rust with our long peace Our vnwillingnesse is from inconsideration from distrust Looke but vp to Christ Iesus vpon his Crosse and see him bowing his head and breathing out his soule and these feares shall vanish he died and wouldest thou liue he gaue vpp the Ghost and wouldest thou keepe it whome wouldest thou follow if not thy Redeemer If thou die not if not willingly thou goest contrary to him and shalt neuer meete him Though thou shouldest euery day die a death for him thou couldest neuer requite his one death and doest thou sticke at one Euery word hath his force both to him thee hee died which is Lord of life and commander of death thou art but a tenant of
his racked limbs wherewith he was so refreshed that it grieued him to bee let downe Euen the greatest torments are easie when they haue answerable comforts but a wounded and comfortlesse spirit who can beare If yet but the same Messenger of GOD might haue attended his Crosse that appeared in his agony and might haue giuen ease to their Lord as hee did to his seruant And yet what can the Angels helpe where God will smite Against the violence of men against the fury of Sathan they haue preuailed in the Cause of GOD for men they dare not they cannot comfort where God will afflict VVhen our Sauiour had bin wrestling with Sathan in the end of his Lent then they appeared to him and serued but now while about the same time he is wrestling with the wrath of his Father for vs not an Angell dare bee seene to looke out of the windowes of heauen to relieue him for men much lesse could they if they would but what did they Miserable comforters are yee all the Souldiers they stript him scorned him with his purple crowne reede spat on him smote him the passengers they reuiâ—ed him and insulting wagging their heads and hands at him Hey thou that destroyest the Temple come downe c The Elders and Scribes alas they haue bought his bloud suborned witnesses incensed Pilate preferred Barabbas vndertooke the guilte of his death cryed out Crucifie crucifie Ho thou that sauedst others His Disciples alas they forsooke him one of them forsweares him another runs away naked rather then hee will stay and confesse him His mother and other friendes they looke on indeed and sorrow with him but to his discomfort Where the griefe is extreame and respectes neere partnership doth but increase sorrow Paul chides this loue what doe you weeping and breaking my heart The teares of those we loue doe eyther slacken out hearts or wound them Who then shall comfort him himselfe Sometimes our owne thoughts find a way to succour vs vnknowne to others no not himselfe Doubtles as Aquinas the influence of the higher part of the soule was restrained from the aid of the inferiour My soule is filled with euils Psalm 87.4 Who then his Father here here was his hope If the Lord had not holpen me my soule had almost dwelt in silence I and my Father are one But now alas he euen he deliuers him into the hands of his enemies when he hath done turnes his backe vpon him as a stranger yea he woundeth him as an enemy The Lord would breake him Esay 53. 10. Yet any thing is light to the Soule whiles the comfortes of God sustaine it who can dismay where God will relieue But here My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee VVhat a word was here to come from the mouth of the Sonne of GOD My Disciples are men weake and fearefull No maruell if they forsake mee The Iewes are themselues cruell and obstinate Men are men gracelesse and vnthankefull Diuels are according to their nature spightfull and malitious All these doe but their kind and let them doe it but thou O Father thou that hast said This is my welbeloued sonne in whome I am well pleased thou of whome I haue said It is my father that glorifies mee what forsaken me Not onely brought me to this shame smitten me vnregarded me but as it were forgotten yea forsaken me What euen me my Father How many of thy constant seruants haue suffered heauie things yet in the multitudes of the sorrowes of their hearts thy presence and comforts haue refreshed their souls Hast thou relieued them and doest thou forsake me mee thine onely deare naturall eternall sonne O yee heauens and earth how could you stand whiles the Maker of you thus complained Yee stoode but partaking after a sort of his Passion the earth trembled and shooke her rockes tore her graues opened the heauens withdrew their light as not daring to behold this sad and fearefull spectacle Oh deare Christians how should these earthen and rocky hearts of ours shake and rend in peeces at this Meditation how should our faces be couered with darkenesse and our ioy be turned into heauinesse All these voyces and teares and sweats pangs are for vs yea from vs. Shall the Sonne of God thus smart for our sinnes yea with our sinnes and shall not we grieue for our owne shall hee weepe to vs in this Market place and shall not we mourne Nay shall â—e sweat and bleed for vs and shall not we weepe for our selues Shall he thus lamentably shrieke out vnder his Fathers wrath and shall not wee tremble Shall the heauens and earth suffer with him and we suffer nothing I call you not to a weake idle pitty of our glorious Sauiour to what purpose His iniurie was our glory No no Yee daughters of Ierusalem weepe not for me but weepe for your selues for our sins that haue done this not for his sorrow that suffered it not for his pangs that were but for our own that should haue been and if wee repent not shall be Oh how grieuous how deadly are our sinnes that cost the sonne of God besides blood so much torment how farre are our soules gone that could not be ransomed with any easier price that that tooke so much of this infinite Redeemer of men God and man how can it chuse but swallow vp and confound thy soule which is but finite and sinfull If thy soule had been in his soules stead what had become of it it shall be if his were not in steade of thine This weight that lies thus heauy on the Son of God and wrung from him these teares sweat bloud and these vnconceiueable grones of his afflicted spirit how should it chuse but presse downe thy soule to the bottome of hell so it will doe if he haue not suffered it for thee thou must and shalt suffer it for thy selfe Goe now thou lewde man and make thy selfe merry with thy sins laugh at the vncleanenesses or bloodinesse of thy youth thou little knowest the price of a sinne thy soule shall do thy Sauiour did when he cryed out to the amazement of Angels horror of men My God my God why hast thou forsaken me But now no more of this It is finished the greater conflict the more happy victory Well doth he find and feele of his Father what his type said before He will not chide alwayes nor keepe his anger for euer It is fearefull but in him short eternal to sinners short to his Sonne in whome the Godhead dwelt bodily Behold this storme wherewith all the powers of the world were shaken is now ouer The Elders Pharisies Iudas the soldiers Priests witnesses Iudges thieues Executioners diuels haue all tired them selues in vaine with their owne malice and he triumphs ouer them all vpon the throne of his Crosse his enemies are vanquisht his father satisfied his soule with this word at rest and glory It is finished Now there is no more betraying
not finished Two qualities striue for the first place in these two opinions Impietie and absurdity I know not whither to prefer For impietie here is GOD taxed of iniustice vnmercifulnesse insufficiencie falshood Of iniustice that he forgiues a sinne and yet punishes for that which he hath forgiuen vnmercifulnesse that hee forgiues not while he forgiues but dooth it by halfes insufficiencie that his raunsome must bee supplyed by men Falshood in that hee sayth It is finished when it is not For Absurdity how grosse and monstrous are these Positions that at once the same sinne should bee remitted and retained that there should bee a punishment where there is no fault that what could strike off our eternall punishment did not wipe off the temporall that hee which paid our pounds sticks at our farthings that God will retain what man may discharge that it is and is not finished If there bee any opinions whose mention confutes them these are they None can be more vaine none had more neede of soliditie for this proppe beares vppe alone the weight of all those millions of Indulgences which Rome creates and selles to the worlde That Strumpet would well neere goe naked if this were not These spirituall Treasures fetch in the Temporall which yet our reuerend and learned Fulke iustly cals a most blasphemous beggerly principle it bringes in whole chests yea mines of gold like the Popes Indies and hath not so much as a ragge of proofe to couer it whether of Antiquity of Reason of Scripture Not of Antiquity for these Iubilie Proclamations beganne but about three hundred yeares agoe Not of Reason how should one meere man pay for another dispense with another to another by another Not of Scripture which hath flatly said The bloud of Iesus Christ his sonne purgeth vs from all sinne and yet I remember that acute Sadeel hath taught mee that this practise is according to Scripture what Scripture Hee cast the money-changers out of the Temple and said Yee haue made my house a denne of thieues VVhich also Joachim their propheticall Abbot well applies to this purpose Some modest Doctors of Louan would faine haue minced this Antichristian blasphemie who beganne to teach that the passions of the Saints are not so by Indulgences applyed that they become true satisfactions but that they onely serue to moue God by the sight of them to apply vnto vs Christes satisfaction But these meal-mouthed Diuines were soon charmed foure seuerall Popes as their Cardinall confesseth fell vpon the necke of them and their opinion Leo the tenth Pius the fift Gregorie the thirteenth and Clemens the sixt and with their furious Bulles bellow out threates against them and tosse them in the ayre for hereticks and teach them vpon paine of a Curse to speake home with Bellarmine Passionibus sanctorum expiari delicta and straight Applicari nobis sanctorum passiones ad redimendas poenas quas pro peccatis Deo de bemus that by the sufferinges of Saintes our sinnes are expiated and that by them applyed wee are redeemed from those punishmentes which wee yet owe to God Blasphemy worthy the tearing of garments how is it finished by Christ if men must supply Oh blessed Sauiour was euery drop of thy bloud enough to redeeme a world and doe we yet need the helpe of men How art thou a perfect Sauiour if our Brethren also must be our redeemers Oh ye blessed Saints how would you abhorre this sacrilegious glory and with those holie Apostles yea that glorious Angell say Vide ne feceris and with those wise Virgins lest there will not bee enough for vs and you goe to them that sell and buy for your selues For vs we enuie not their multitude Let them haue as many Sauiours as Saintes and as many Saintes as men wee know with Ambrose Christi passio adiutore non eguit Christs passion needes no helper and therefore with that worthy Martyr dare say None but Christ none but Christ Let our soules die if he cannot saue them let them not feare their death or torment if he haue finished Heare this thou languishing and afflicted soule There is not one of thy sinnes but it is paid for not one of thy debtes in the sâ—roll of God but it is crossed not one farthing of all thine infinite ransome is vnpaide Alas thy prosperitie of fooles destroyeth them yea the confidence of prosperity Thou sayest God is mercifull thy Sauiour bounteous his passion absolute All these and yet thou mayest bee condemned Mercifull not vniust bountifull not lauish absolutely sufficient for all not effectuall to all Whatsoeuer God is what art thou Here is the doubt thou sayest well Christ is the good Shepheard wherein Hee giues his life but for whome for his sheepe What is this to thee while thou art secure prophane impenitent thou art a VVolfe or a Goate My sheepe heare my voyce what is his voyce but his preceptes where is thine obedience to his commandements If thou wilt not heare his law neuer hearken to his gospel here is no more mercy for thee then if there were no Sauiour He hath finished for those in whome hee hath begunne If thou haue no beginnings of grace as yet hope not for euer finishing of saluation Come to me all yee that are heauie laden saith Christ thou shalt get nothing if thou come when he calls thee not Thou art not called and canst not be refreshed vnlesse thou be laden not with sin this alone keepes thee away from God but with conscience of sinne A broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Is thy heart wounded with thy sin doth griefe hatred striue within thee whether shal be more are the desires of thy soule with God doest thou long for holines complaine of thy imperfections struggle against thy corruptions Thou art the man feare not It is finished that law which thou wouldest haue kept and couldest not thy Sauiour could and did keepe for thee that saluation which thou couldest neuer worke out alone alas poor impotent creatures what can we doe towardes heauen without him which cannot moue on earth but in him hee alone for thee hath finished Looke vp therefore boldly to the throne of GOD and vpon the truth of thy repentance and faith know that there is no quarrell against thee in heauen nothing but peace and ioy All is finished he would be spitted on that hee might wash thee hee would bee couered with scornefull robes that thy sinnes might be couered he would be whipped that thy soule might not be scourged eternally he would thirst that thy soule might be satisfied he would beare all his Fathers wrath that thou mightest beare none hee would yeelde to death that thou mightest neuer taste of it he would be in sense for a time as forsaken of his father that thou mightest be receiued for euer Now bid thy Soule returne to her rest and enioyne it Dauids taske Prayse the Lord O my soule and What