above and this is not to be found in the Athens of the world but in the most Divine Academie of Gods Spirit Jam. 1.5 the Treasure and fountain of all true knowledg who gives liberally to all and reproacheth none Thither only we must make our humble addresses for this holy Gemme and not desist in our Prayers untill we have by our teares and cryes undeafed the eares of the Almighty 1 ANd now O God of all pity and Patience we are confounded to consider thy great goodness in suffering that extremity of thirst and pain for us on the Cross enable us to bear patiently all afflictions Corporal or spiritual and to submit our wills to thine in sickness as in health in woe as in wealth in death as in life 2. Make us to thirst after the Kingdom of heaven and its righteousness teach us to prize the salvation of our soules above all earthly possessions for they are spiritual immortal and precious these but transitory and subservient if we seek thee in the first place who art All in All no blâ—ssings whether corporall spirituall or eternal can be wanting to us for every good and perfect gift proceeds from thee above Iam. 1.17 O Father of lights The sixth Word JOHN 19.30 It is finished THIS implies no more in sound construction then that the wonderful work of the Passion is now consummated and completed for the Father enjoyned the Son two weighty offices or works one of preaching the Gospel the other of suffering for man of the first the Lord formerly said That he had finished the work which he gave him Joh. 17.5 6. and manifested his name unto men The other injunction is intimated in these words O my Father if this Cup may not pass away from me Mat. 26 42. except I drink it thy will be done Now he had fully exhausted that bitter cup of his Passion nothing remained but his dissolution and so with an inclining head he gave up the Ghost But being neither our Saviour nor S. John explained what was Finished occasion is given us to make such mysticall applications of the Word as may be fruitfull to our souls Aug. â—om in â—cum One of the Fathers affirmes That in this place is meant an impletion of the Prophecies foretold of Christ Esay 7. Mick 2. and that all those predictions were true as his conception of a Virgin his Nativity in Bethlehem Numb 23. the apparatition of a new Starr Psal 71. the Adoration of Kings the Preaching of the Gospell Isay 61. His Miracles his riding upon an ass Esay 35. Psal 21.68 Esa 53. Jer. 11. Zach. 12. And his whole Passion is described by parts by David in his Psalmes Esay Jeremy Zachary and others and this the Lord himself being to pass to his sufferings spake Behold Luck 18. we go up to Jerusalem and all things that are written by the Prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished which is also here averred that their Testimonies might he verrified and received as the dictates of the Holy Ghost 2. Another of the Fathers understands here Chrysost that the power which was permitted to Men and Angels against Christ was now consummated at his Death and to this effect he speaks to the Chief Priests and Captains of the Temple and the elders that were with him this is your hour Lu. 22.53 and the power of darkness now his laborious peregrination now the condition of his mortal life according to which he hungred and thirsted and was weary and obnoxious to injuries wounds and to death it selfe is fully ended and determined 3. Another makes this Construction Now the chiefest Sacrifice was Consummated that in which all the Sacrifices of the old Law as it were types and shadowes did rest and into which they run as Rivolets into the main Ocean or as the stars when the Sun appeares with his glorious rayes see no stars at all so those typical oblations all vanished at the presence of this Son of Glory when he was to be immolated Concerning these prefigurations one speaks thus Lord thou hast attracted all things to thy selfe Leo Serm. 8. de possion dom for the vaile of the Temple being rent the holy things of the most holy departed from the unworthy Priests that the figure might be turned into the truth Prophecy into manifestation and the law into the Gospel and a little after the variety of carnal sacrifices now ceasing the oblation of thy body and blood have made one perfect and entire sacrifice For in this Sacrifice the Priest is God-man according to his Hypostatical union Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedeck Psal 109.4 The Altar was the Cross which by how much the more base it was before by so much the more illustrious and noble it was made after Christs death the Sacrifice was the Lamb of God innocent and immaculate of whom the Prophet said That he was brought as a sheep to the slaughter Isa 53.7 and as a sheep before the shearer is dumb so he openeth not his mouth The fire of the Holocaust was his immense charity Cant. 1.8 which did so flame in his brest that the floods of persecutions could not extinguish it the fruit of the Sacrifice was the redemption of Mankind the expiation of the sins of all the sons of Adam for Isa 1.29 behold he is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world But here is the difference between the sacrifices under the Law and this of the Gospel there it was the Office of the Priest to kill and to prepare the Sacrifice but here Christ was both Priest and Sacrifice not that he layd violent hands on himself but because he willingly yielded to the slaughter for Gods glory and the propitiation of our sins their reconciliation was obtained by the blood of beasts Col. 1.20 here peace is made through the sacred blood of Christ Jesus not his as he claimes all the beasts of the forrest all the cattell upon a thousand hills Psa 50.10 and all the foules of the Mountains to be his not his as he is Lord and proprietary of all by Creation so all blood in his no nor his as the blood of all the Martyrs was his which is a neer relation and Consanguinity but his so as it was the blood of his Cross the precious blood of his body the seat of his soul the matter of his Spirits and the knot of his dear life 4. We may further understand in this place that at the death of Christ a great battell was finished between him and the Prince of this world of which he intimates in those words Now is the judgement of this world Jo. 12.31 now shall the Prince of it be cast out but this battell was judiciall not military the encounters were in litigations not armes for the devill did strive with the Son of God about
we mean that the Sacrifices of the chiefest Priest is now finished on the Cross it followes that all his disciples in imitation of their Master according to their several talents should offer likewise Sacrifices to their God in this sence all Christians are Priests to offer Sacrifices 1 Pet. 2.9 not such as were in the old Testament i Pet. 2.9 but Spirituall Priests to offer mystical sacrifices which may be presented from all men as praises and prayers and other services of piety the same is most occurately taught us in the Epistle to the Romans Heb. i3 i5 16. in resemblance of the sacrifices of the ancient Law Rom. 12.1 for there was in them 1. The hallowed to God which to convert to profane use was held a nafarious Crime 2. It was to be a thing living as a sheep or goate or the like 3. It was to be holy that is clean for there were among the Hebrews animals clean and unclean 4. And then the thing hallowed to God was to be burn't that it might send forth an odour of sweetness The like properties must be found in our spiritual Sacrifices 1. Our bodies ought to be hallowed to God that we may use them to his honour not as our own but his to whom they are consecrated by Baptisme and who hath purchased them by his blood 2. They ought to be living sacrifices enlivened with the life of Grace and of the holy Spirit for whosoever are dead by sin are not fit Victimes for God but for the devils our God who is alwayes living and the everlasting fountain of life abhors the stinking oblations of dead carkasses who are profitable for nothing unless for dogs and fowles of the Aire We must then enbalm and preserve the life of the soul with our best and most religious actions that we may give a reasonable sacrifice to our God 3. We must be holy and clean for none shall ascend into the hill of the Lord Psal 24.3 4 or stand in his holy place but he that hath clean hands and a pure heart who hath not lift up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully 4. And then we must be well pleasing and send up a sweet savour to our God to that purpose in the old Law they used to kill and burn the sacrifie and this is rightly performed in the spiritual Sacrifice when carnal concupiscence is truly mortified and burn't with the coales of charity nothing can sooner or more effectually destroy it then a sincere love to God for he is Lord and King of all the affections of the heart and rules them all whether Fear Hope Desire Hatred Anger or any other perturbation of the soul and love doth not yeild but to a greater so that when divine love doth possess and bear dominion over the inmost corners of the heart then carnal concupiscence gives place and being mortified it vanisheth to nothing Thence flaming desires and most pure prayers ascend to heaven like aromatical perfumes of precious spices this then is that perfect and acceptable sacrifice which God requires and the Apostle here exhorts with a most persuasive argument I beseech you by the mercies of God that you present your bodies c. By his mercy that is as if he had said by him that created you something when you were nothing By him that made you his servants and needed not your service and when your merits were unavaileable blest you with his own by him that made you to his own similitude and by this capable of his love and knowledg by him that made you his adoptive sons and co-heirs with his unigenit by him that made you members of his body whereof he was the head by him that offered himself a full and propitiatory sacrifice on the Cross to redeem you from servitude and wash you from all spots and wrinkles by him I beseech you to give to God in stead of dead beasts lively sacrifice in stead of their blood which was but a shadow and pleased not God of it self the acceptable sacrifice of the spiritual man framed by faith to godliness and charity 4. And then we are here further taught that we shall be crowned with Lawrels and Diademes of eternal happiness if we fight courageously under the banner of Christ against our spiritual enemies and never desist until we have obtained the Victory Christ gave not over until all was finished If God had given over at his second dayes work we had had no sin no seasons if at the fifth we had no being if at the sixth no sabbath but by proceeding to the seventh we are all we have all So Christ if he had stayd at his Circumcision or his Agony or his scourgings our redemption had been imperfect but by continuing to his crowning and his nayling and the piercing of his side on the Cross all was completed that was necessary for mans salvation 2 King 5.24 Naaman could not be cured of his leprosie but by washing in Jordan seven times less could not do it it is not enough for a man to begin or do some few acts of piety or religion unless he make a constant progress therein Are the Angels weary of looking on that face of God which they looked upon yesterday or are the Saints weary of singing of that Allelujah which they sung to Gods glory yesterday Is not that song which is their morning and evening sacrifice and which shall be their song world without end called still A new song Oh! then never be weary never give over performing thy duties to that God that never ceaseth to bless thee for he and he only that continues unto the end shall receive a Crown of life In vain did the perfidious Jews cry if he be King of Israel let him come down from the Cross and we will believe in him Nay rather because he was so he would not desert his place for by his perseverance his interest to the Kingdome was confirmed and the work of redemption was consummated in such a glorious manner that nothing could be deficient to the greatness of its merit or to enduce us to follow so noble a president to proceed in those actions that are pleasant and suitable to our temper is facil and not praise worthy but to persevere in laborious Agonies and sorrows and in such things as are against the dictates of our own natural and carnal affections is indeed difficult but very laudable Christ was so enamoured with his divine Father and long'd so earnestly for the redemption of man that all intervening Crosses seemed Cordials to him and all pains pleasures After his Example we find that Paul enumerating his own sufferings with those of his Co-Apostles breaks thus forth who is able to separate us from the love of Christ Rom. 8. shall tribulation or distress shall anguish persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword As it is written for thy sake we are killed all the day long we
Job 6.4 The poyson of Gods arrows drinketh up my spirit and also for the superiour faculties of the soul in a regenerate man as there My Soul doth magnifie the Lâ—rd and my spirit rejoyceth in God my Saviour Luke 1.47 And then lastly of inferiour creatures it is taken two wayes too of living creatures The God of the Spirits of all flesh Num. 16.22 and of creatures without life other then a metaphorical life as of the wind often Ezâ—k 1.21 And of Ezekiels wheeles the spirit of life was in the wheeles Now in this place the Spirit of Christ may be taken either for his soul which is the substantial form of the body or for life it self because spiration is a sign of life and they that breath live and when the leave off to breath they leave off to live If by the spirit we understand his soul this caveat must be had we must not imagine that danger impending to it by leaving the body as is usual to dying men who commend their souls in pensive supplications because they go to the Tribunal of the Great Judg to receive glory or punishment Such a commend his soul needed not because it was blest from its creation as well in regard of its personal conjunction to the Son of God as because it left the body in a glorious triumph being a terrour to whole Legions of devils So that in this sense the words imply no more then that his soul which was formerly in the body as in a Tabernacle should be deposited in the hands of his father until he be restored when the time of restoring should come but it is more credible that by the spirit is here understood the corporal life as the meaning may be this I do now deliver the spirit of life by which I do leave off to breath and leave off to live and this spirit this life Father I commend to thee that thou mayst shortly regive it to my body for with thee nothing perisheth but all things live who by calling those things which are not givest them a being and those things which do not live givest them a life And this construction is most agreeable to the Psalmist Pull me out of the net Psal 31.4 that they have laid privily for me for thou art my strength into thy hands I commend my spirit Where by spirit is meant life for he humbly beseecheth the Almighty not to suffer him to perish by the malice of his enemies but that he would preserve his life the like is evidenced out of those Apostolical words Heb 5.7 Who in the dayes of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared These words cannot be referred to his prayer in the garden as some interpret for these Mark 14. the Lord prayed not with a loud voice neither was he nor would he be heard that he might be safe from death but to shew that he had a natural desire not to die thereby demonstrating himself to be a true man whose nature abhors death but they rather signifie that he desired not to be swallowed up by death and that he might only taste of it and so return to life And in that he was heard for he was not long detained in the black vaults of the grave but had a speedy and a glorious resurrection So that here the Lord was not troubled for his soul for he knew that to be safe as being beatified from its creation by a vision of God face to face but he was solicit ous concerning his body which seemed by the sting of death to be disappointed of life and therefore prayes that it might not long remain under its tyranny and in that his request was fully obtained Here then we may satisfy those Hereticks such as the Cerdonites the Euticheans the Manicheans were which brought Christ upon the stage to play a part and say he was born and lived and dyed in Phantasmate in apparence only and representation and not really For if he dyed not where is the contract between him and his father that Christ ought to suffer all this and so enter into his Glory is that contract void and of none effect where is the ratification of that contract in all the Prophets wherefore doth Esay say Esay 5 3.4 9 Surely he hath born our sorrows and he made his grave with the wicked in his death where is the consummation and the testification of all this doth not the Gospel here say And he bowed his head and gave up the Ghost immediately after this his last prayer is that fabulous God forbid in vain had we all been created if we had not a regeneration in his true death Christ truly dyed so as was contracted so as was prophecied so as was related But this I may boldly affirm that he did not die so as other natural men dye for there is this distinction between them Christ dyed because he would dye other men admitted to the dignity of Martyrdome are willing to dye but they dye by the torment of the executioners they cannot bid their souls go out and say I will dye as he did I lay down my life for my sheep 〈◊〉 10.15 17 18. sayes he No man taketh it from me I lay it down of my self And De facto he did lay it down he diddye before thetorments could have extorted it from him Many crucified men lived many dayes upon the Cross the theeves were alive long after Christ was dead and therefore Pilate wondered that he was already dead his soul did not leave his body by force Mar. 15 44. but because he would when and how he pleased Besides Christ was not subject to the law of death which appertained only to them who were derived from Adam by carnal and sinful generation he being miraculously conceived of a virgin by the overshadowing of the holy Ghost and being he was not involved in a general rebellion and so had not incurred Gods displeasure it follows that he was not involved in the general penalty and so needed not to have dyed by the rigour of any law as we must And then when out of his own pleasure and to advance our salvation he would dye yet he dyed so as that though there were a disunion of body and soul which is truly death yet there remained a nobler and faster Union the Hypostatical Union of the Godhead to his body and soul to this I add death hath that dominion over men that they have no power to raise themselves from it Christ had for even in spight of death he retained in Almighty power and delivered his body and soul by a Victorious and Triumphant Resurrection So then as it is true Christ Jesus dyed else none of us could live so he dyed not as others dye not by the necessity of any law not
Christ's Valedictions OR SACRED OBSERVATIONS On the LAST WORDS Of our SAVIOR delivered on the CROSSE By JENKIN LLOYD Minister of the Gospel and Rector of Llandissil in Cardigan shire LONDON Printed by D. M. son D. Pakeman at the Rainbow in Fleeâ—â—â—â—â—et 1658. To the READER I Here present thee with such Pious and Plain Observations as I could collect on what our Saviour uttered on Mount Calvary where he consummated the grand Work of mans salvation through the blood of his Crosse Those precedent sufferings of his life were but introductions to his last great Passion nor did he ever produce more and greater miracles then even in his extreme weakness and when death seemed to be his conqueror Miracles on earth were too low to attend a business of so high concernment signs from heaven must descend to seal the infinite merit of his Passion which before the Jewes did most importunately desire but that transcended all other wonders that when he was enthralled to the black confines of death he most triumphantly returned from the furies of hell and by an inexpressible power re-enlivened his bemangled and wounded body and adorned it with the glorious dresses of an eternal life And now in the heat of his great sufferings he so pierced the hearts of his persecutors with such pithy and feeling sentences that many of them at length returned through an infusive knowledg of their owne guiltiness striking their brests and had they not so relented at those cruelties the very rocks would have stood up in condemnation of their injustice The Words are in number seven whereof three were spoken about the sixth hour before the obscuration of the sun which we shall first consider and then the other four that were delivered about the ninth hour when God had withdrawn those dismal curtains and reenlightened that great Luminarie of heaven For methods sake I use first an explanation of each word that the true sense of the holy Ghost may be rightly apprehended and therein I do endeavour to hold forth such a construction as may be most conducible to the glory of God to the Analogy of Faith the exaltation of Devotion and the conservation of peace and union among us so that if happly I may in some things differ from others I desire their charity to leave me to my liberty if I do but differ from them and not from fundamental truths After that I have laboured to satisfie thy judgment with the true meaning of the words my next work is to stir up thy affections by laying down the consequent duties with proper motives to induce us to the performance of them so that you want not those Doctrines and Vses that naturally flow from each Text. But because in vaine doth Paul plant and Apollo water unless God gives the increase I do therefore conclude each part with certain Ejaculatory Prayers pertinent to the precedent discourse that by the influence of Gods grace the whole may be fruitful and salvifical to our souls for indeed that is the chief end for which it is exposed to publick view neither as I believe shall I miss of my aim if fear reverence attend the perusal of the Treatise Thus have you the Occasion Method and Scope of the Work all that is desired of thee is That having the Idaea of Christs charity before thy thoughts as thou shalt track it in each page of this Book thou wouldst in some measure endeavour to parallel so divine a pattern and judge charitably of me the unworthy Author JEN. LLOYD ERRATA Page 9 line 9 read reason p 10 r cloud p 22 r by p 51 r deliciousness p 74 r that p 77 r solved p 104 r 1652 p 119 r of God p 134 r we p 145 r Euripus p 147 r woman p 149 r nourisheth p 159 r seem p 170 r hear p 174 r accurately ibid. r nefarious p 180 r Sun p 190 r occurres p 191 r loquitur p 204 r an Almighty p 211 r mactatur Christ's Valedictions OR SACRED OBSERVATIONS On the Last Words of our Saviour delivered on the CROSSE The First Word LUKE 23.34 Father forgive them for they know not what they do ALl Nations did ever in Nature acknowledg not only a guiltiness of sin but some means of Reconciliation to their gods in the remission of sins For they had al some formal Ceremonial Sacrifices and Expiations by which they thought their sins to be purged and washed away and the people of Israel were prescribed by God himself what and how to offer their religious Victims But the proper and true Propitiatory Sacrifice to take away the sins of the world was only Jesus Christ the Incarnate Word of the Eternal Father who much Coveting that Ineffable work of man's Salvation thought it not only enough to suffer but before he submits himself to those great undertakings deemed it also expedient to win the hearts of the people as well by Doctrine as Miracles His whole Life was a continued Lecture and Method of teaching and because the words of a dying man works commonly a great impression on the affections and judgments of the hearers therefore being now to seal the Lease of that inestimable purchase with his own blood on the Cross he delivered such divine Legacies such Soul-livening words as ought to survive in the hearts and actions of all true Christians The first whereof was this Father forgive them c. The Explication He called him Father not God or Lord because he well knew in this condition to be needful the Benignity of a Father not the Severity of a Judge the Smiles of Compassion not the Frowns of Justice And because to bend God to a Lenity who was without doubt much incensed for such grand iniquities it was convenient to present the amiable title of a Father the words seem to imply thus much I who am thy suffering Son do pardon them pardon thou also O Father their impieties and forgive me thy Son this offence though they deserve it not Take it to thy compassionate Remembrance that thou art their Father by Creation and Preservation O then let thy Paternal favour shine upon them for though they are evil yet they are thy sons though they are sinners thou art merciful The word Forgive which is the sum of the Petition may as well be referred to the Punishment as the Fault if to the Punishment this Prayer was heard whilst the Jews for this present iniquity deserved instant revenge yet was it defer'd for forty years and if in that interim they had repented they had remained safe and untouched but because they did not God permitted an Army of Romans Vespasian then Governing to come against them who overthrew their Head City and destroyed the Jewish Nation some by the Sword some by Famine some sold the rest Exiled into divers places of the earth as foretold by the Parable of the Vineyard and of the Kings inviting of guests to the marriage of his son
Mat. 20.1 by the similitude of the unfruitful Figtree Mat. 22.2 If it be referr'd to the Fault Luk. 13.6 the Prayer was also heard in that relation for by the powerful efficacy thereof was given to many Repentance and Compunction of heart in which number was the Centurion Mat. 27 54 Luk. 23 48 and those who returned striking their guilty brests confessing him to be the Son of God The Persons prayed for are either hâ—s Manual Executioners those who divided his garments or those who were the effectual causes of his Passion as Pilate who gave the sentence the people who cryed out Crucifie crucifie him the Scribes who falsely accused him or as we may ascend higher the first man Adam and his posterity All were involved in the Sin all are included in the Prayer And thou O my soul before thou hadst a being the Lord foresaw thee also to be ranckt sometimes amongst his enemies and thy self not capable of petitioning he prayes the Father for thee that thy foolishness be not imputed to thee And that his intercession might be acceptable he seems to guild the offences of his enemies with compassionate extenuations as far as it might stand with his omnipotent Soveraignty by adding For they know not what they do For certainly he could not palliate that injustice in Pilate nor that cruelty in the Souldiers nor that envie in the High Priest nor that foolishness and ingratitude in the People nor false Testimonies in the Perjurers this only remained that he might in all excuse their ignorance for as the Apostle sayes If they had known it 1 Cor. 2.8 they had not crucified the Lord of Glory The Schools have made so many divisions and sub-divisions of Ignorance that there goes as much learning to understand Ignorance as Knowledg but their ignorance in condemning the Lord of life was of a very strange and transcendent nature The people knew him to be innocently condemned and Pilate himself sealed it with a publick voice Luk. 23.14 Mat. 27.24 I find no fault in this man c. and I am innocent of the blood of this just man The Integrity of his Life declared him to be Immaculate and sin-less the greatness of his Miracles proclaimed him a God and the whole current of the Prophets testified him to be the Messias and yet they would not acknowledg him to be the Christ the Lord of Glory The reson whereof is delivered by S. John Joh. 12.37 and the Prophet Isaias because their eyes were blinded and thoir hearts hardned that they should not see with their eyes nor understand w th their hearts and be converted and healed But that blindness proceeded from an Ignorance which does not excuse because it was voluntary concomitant not precedent After the same manner are those who sin out of malice they are alwayes infected with some Ignorance which is hatch't with the sin The Philosopher said Every Evil man is an Ignorant man And truly it may be spoken of all sinners They know not what they do For no man covets evil as it is evil because the Object of the Will is a thing not good or ill but only really or apparently Good Therefore they that make choice of evil do chuse it as it represents the Species and forms of goodness yea they apprehend it as the chiefest good The cause of this is a perturbation of the inferiour part which doth so clod and darken reason that it cannot rightly discern the Atoms of goodness in things coveted for he who commits Adultery or Theft would never affect either were it not for the false good of delectation or gain which couches under Adultery or Theft not perceiving the evil of turpitude and injustice which likewise harbour there So that whosoever sins is like the man who desirous from a high Turret to throw himself headlong into some fierce River shuts first his eyes and then commits himself to the mercy of the Waters He that is the Actor of evil hates the light and labours under a pretended darkness which being vincible and voluntarie does no way clear the Action But wherefore then serves the prayer I answer If the words be understood of those executioners that performed only their commanded duties and probably were ignorant as well of his Inocency as of his Divinity or of us who were not then existent or of such sinners who knew not what was then in agitation at Jerusalem the Lord might most truly then Ejaculate these sweet tones of his Compassion but if they be applyed to those grand contrivers and actors of that horrible treason and well knew him to be the Missias and an innocent man then it is to be confest that Christs purpose thereby was only to extenuate the sins of his adversaries in the best manner he could for although their Ignorance could not simply excuse yet it may have the colourable reason of an excuse for if they had wanted all ignorance their offence had been more grievous and certainly if a better and more probable plea could have been found he had willingly presented it even for Caiphas and Pilate the worst of all his enemies 1. Hence may we first learn Christ's charity to be so Supereminent that we may with the Apostle conclude It passeth all knowledge Eph. 3.19 Neither are our tongues able to expresse nor our understandings to conceive the height of it If any of us labour under any cross of grief as the pains of our teeth our eyes or any other member we are so possest with a sense of any of these sufferings that we think on nothing else nor will scarce admit any negotiations or visits of friends whereas crucified Christ wore on his head a Crown of thornes not being able to move without excessive grief nails pierced his hands and feet from whose borings he drew most bitter pains his naked body wearied with unmerciful whippings publickly exposed to ignominy and cold throwing on him new sorrows and new torments yet as though he contemned those cruelties and suffered nothing being only solicitous for the salvation of his enemies and desiring to avert from them an impendant danger he presents to his Father this mournful Obsecration Father forgive them c. If those wicked men had suffered an unjust persecution what would he do if friends if kindred had suffered not enemies not traitors not Paracides His heart amongst so many storms of injurious sufferings as a Rock in the midst of the Sea beaten with unruly waves stood quiet and immoveable after the infliction of so many deadly wounds they deride his patience and triumph at their evil doings he speaks not as an enemy striving with his fierce adversaries but as a Father bemoaning his infants or a Physician his patients strugling with a grievous disease and presents them to an omnipotent hand to cure their odious infirmities This is the force of an upright charity not when one is reputed to have no enemies and have
26 de Verb. Domini to demonstrate it was both a remarkable blessing to him and that he loved him above the rest and the exchange was happy when in lieu of a mother the wife of a Fisher he took the mother of a Saviour the best of women full of grace and blessed in her Sex But 1. He that diligently observes may gather hence Christs desires to suffer for our salvation to be infinite and inexpressible that thereby our redemption might be most full and copious Other men think it an augmentation to their sorrows to have their kindred friends and alliances spectators of their death especially of that which is violent and infamous but Christ not contented with his own real passion which was most cruel and full of dishonour would have his Mother and this Disciple to be also present that the Sympathetical sorrows of his dearest might add to and reduplicate his own personal sufferings Three Maries and a Disciple stood near the place of his sufferings that as four Fountains of blood issued from his body on the Cross so from their mournful eyes might spring four Fountains of tears so that it is questionable whether he felt more sorrow for the effusion of his own blood or their tears Methinks I hear Christ bemoaning himself The sorsows of death have compassed me Psal 17.9 but the sword foretold by Simeon which should pierce the soul of my innocent Luk. 2.35 mother doth as much Lacerate and wound my heart Most bitter death that separate not only the soul from the body but also a Mother and such a Mother from such a Son God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son for the Redemption of it and he so loved the Father that for his honour Rivelets of blood streamed from him that we should not perish but have everlasting life Yet we give such a disobedient resistencie to his goodness that we had rather be confounded in the just fury of an omnipotent God then tast the sweetness of his compassion One drop of his most precious blood might have been a sufficient Ransome for the Redemption of more worlds and yet he would sacrifice all for this one thereby as well to endear us as fully to satisfie the justice of his Father 2. But there are many considerations that arise from a mystery of the three women that stood near the Cross Some out of a petulancy of wit to maintain Paradoxes and such singularities have called in question the abilities and faculties of women in the Root thereof in the Reasonable and Immortal Soul but no man of Piety and conversation in Scripture can admit such a doubt Here are women that were sedulous and constant in their religious offices to our Saviour to the last gasp Mat. 28.6 and after that he was interred they came with a pious intention to see the Sepulchre and out of a civil respect to embalm his body in the Monument where they thought to find it When others even his own Disciples through timer ousnesse and infidelity had deserted their Master these like inseparable friends followed him to his grave and would not rest there till an Angel of heaven had assured them of his Resurrection The zeal and piety of women have equalled if not surpassed the best of men S. Paul testifies in their behalf that they were great instruments for the advancing of true Religion At Thessalonica Act. 17.4 of the chief women not a few great and many Neither do we read of any woman in the Gospel that assisted the persecutors of Christ or furthered his afflictions even Pilats wife disswaded it Jerome writ many letters to divers holy Ladies for the most part all of one Stock and kindred and all so Religious as that he sayes If Jupiter were their Cousin and of their kindred he believes Jupiter would be a Christian he would leave being such a god as he was to be their fellow servant to the true God Woman as well as Man was made after the image of God in the Creation and in the Resurrection her sex shall not diminish her glory Of which she receives one fair beam and inchoation at the Passion of Christ that women continued in their attendance on him to the last and that by the ministry of Angels the glad tidings of his Resurrection was communicated to them before any other 3. And because they were worthy to be known the Holy Ghost celebrates them by their names and qualities we will therefore consider who they were and what they were their Names first and then their Conditions There is an Historical relation and observation Badin de Repub. l. 6 c. 4 That in divers Kingdoms in Europe the Crown did fall at one time upon women of one name Mary It was so in England Scotland Denmark and Hungaria all four Maries Here we have but three Mary Magdalen Mary the wife of Cleophas and Mary the Virgin and yet such three as wear now Immortal Crowns in Heaven Indeed it is a Noble and a Comprehensive Name Mary It is the Name of woman in general according to some of the Learned Gen. 2.23 for when Adam sayes of Eve She shall be called Woman in the Arabick Translation there is this name She shall be called Mary and the Arabick is perchance a Dialect of the Hebrew But in pure and Original Hebrew the word signifies Exaltation and whatsoever is best in the kind thereof and worthily are they to be ever exalted for their diligence and perseverance in their devotion This is also like if not the same as Miriam the sister of Aaron and Moses that with her Quire of women assisted at that Eucharistical Sacrifice that triumphant Song of thanksgiving upon the destruction and subversion of Aegypt in the red Sea Exo. 15.20 As Joshua and Jesus is the same to men so Miriam and Mary is the same name in women according to some The word denotes Greatness not only in Power but in Wisdom And great are they in the eyes of God and to be magnified by men to all Posterity 4. But we intend not to dwell upon this circumstance but pass to another considerable that springs from the Quality of the women in relation to their Spiritual state We find Mary Magdalen personates the penitent or incipient the other Mary the proficient the Virgin Mary those who are perfect All three had need of Christ and to stand near the banner of the Cross The Incipients that are to war with many sins and concupiscences want the guidance and assistance of so great a General as Christ that beholding him struggling with so subtil and malicious an enemy as the old serpent and openly triumphing over him they might be animated to fight the Lords battel against all the assaults of the divel and not to desist untill they have obtained an honourable victory The Proficients who are represented by Mary of Cleophas who was a married woman and a mother of sons
are counted as sheep for the slaughter Nay in all these things we are more then conquerours through him that loved us From these holy presidents we may learn how to master our afflictions and to sweeten our persecutions and to deem them as the embrioes of eternal life We may bear them with all spiritual joy if we look not on them but on him that imposed them on us who without doubt was the Father Almighty without whose Providence not a hair can fall from our heads and therefore let us with Moses esteem his rebukes greater riches then the treasures of Egypt Heb. ii 26. having respect unto the recompence of the reward 1. ANd now O Saviour of the world how great a compass wentst thou in this act of our redemption before thou didst bring it to this happy Period from thy swathing to thy shrowding from thy cold lying in a manger to thy cold dying upon the Cross what didst thou do and suffer Nay what didst thou not do and suffer for us The work of our Creation was great but this far greater That was done with a Fiat with the breath of thy mouth thou speakest the Word and all was done here was a miraculous conjunction of God and man in one person maid and mother in another when it was but begun thy omnipotencie indeed appeared in the first but thy mercy and justice in the latter such a work didst thou finish here that neither Man nor Angels or thy deity alone could well accomplish Oh! Thou that didst so much for us teach us to do somewhat for thee Thou that madest thy self a perfect victime for our sins grant that we may sacrifice our sins and mortifie all carnal concupiscences that so our souls and bodies may be offerings of a sweet smelling Saviour in thy Nostrils Thou that didst conquer the Prince of this world and all the enemies upon the Cross assist us against the conflicts and temptations of our spiritual adversaries save us from the roaring Lyon that he may never prevail O thou that art the Lion of the tribe of Judah But because we are ignorant of our selves what to do aright 1 Cor. 12.6 we pray thee guide us with thy Spirit thou Isa 28.21 who workest all in all work thy work in us and bring to pass thy act thy strange act whatever it be Let us perform what thou requirest of us and that is let us do justly shew mercy and walk humbly with thee Mic. 6.8 and walk humbly with thee our God Preserve thy Church that issued from thy side on thy Cross thou art her husband O Christ save thy spouse thou art her head save thy body protect her as thine from infidels hereticks and schismaticks from bad men and Devils from all errours and dangers Make her unto thy self glorious without spot or wrinkle holy and without sin Ephes 5.7 And though like thee shee sorrows and suffers often while militant here yet make her triumphant with thee in the world to come Let every member of her profess thy name to the end with courage and constancy after thy glorious Examples let us not be carried away from our duties to thee with the vanities of the world or the enticements of the flesh or the suggestions of Satan O thou that art immutable without shadow of change Yesterday to day and the same for ever fix our fickle thoughts on thy fear and establish thy holy Spirit within us that we may alwayes praise thee who never ceasest to bless us By the grace and merits of him who finished the grand works of eternal redemption for us living and dying to save us Lord make us live and dye thy servants that we may be partakers of that happiness which by his blood he hath purchased for us in the Kingdome of Bliss Amen The seventh and last Word LUKE 23.43 Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit ANd well might he call him Father because he had merited the name of an obedient Son to the last minute of his life and therefore most worthy to gain attention But here a doubt occures what we are to understand by the hands of God are we with the Anthropomorphites to ascribe the form and lineaments of man unto God Theod. l. 4. c. 10. as if he had eyes and ears and hands and other parts and faculties like unto us far be it for God is a spiritual substance of an invisible and indivisible nature without body parts or passions of infinite power wisdome and goodness but for the better explanation of this and the like expression in holy Writ we must make use of that known adage of the Hebrew Doctors Lex loquitor linguam filiorum hominum That is the holy Ghost in the Scripture descends to the capacity of man speaks man's language that is so as he would be understood by man and therefore presents him in the faculties of the mind of man and in the lineament of the body of man not that he hath really either of them for he is a most pure and a most simple entitie without any corpority or composition And so the hands of God do denote unto us his wisdom and power or which fals into one meaning his intellect knowing all things and his will enabling all things for with these two as it were two hands God did all things The will of God is his power for all things whatsoever he would he did in heaven and earth My Spirit There are divers significations of this word Spirit in Scripture which if not rightly apprehended may occasion divers errours it is spoken of God or of Angels or of men or of inferiour creatures Of God it is spoken sometimes Essentially sometimes Personally God is a Spirit Jo. 4.24 and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and truth So also Isai 31.3 So also The Egyptians are men and not Gods and their Horses flesh and not spirit for if they were God they were Spirit so God altogether and considered in his essence is a Spirit but when the word Spirit is spoken not essentially of all but personally of one then that word designeth the holy Ghost Matth. 28 19. Go and baptize all in the Name of the Father and Son and the Holy Ghost Rom. 8â— 6 And the Spirit it self beareth witness c. And as of God so of Angels also it is spoken in two respects of good Angels sent forth to minister for them that shall be heirs of Salvation And evil Angels Heb. 1.14 The lying Spirit that would deceive the King by the Prophet 1 Kin. 22.22 Hosea 4.8 The spirit of whoredom when the people asked counsel of their stocks And spiritus virtiginis the spirit of giddiness or perversities which the Lord doth mingle amongst the people in his judgment Of man also is this word Spirit spoken two wayes sometimes for the Soul sometime for those animal spirits which conserve us in strength and vigour