his death was a passing to the Father therefore so shall ours be also even as Christ himself said John 20. I ascend to my Father and to your Father Note 1. He doth not say that his time but his hour was come to teach us that there is a certain hour appointed to every man as it is said Job 14. The number of his moneths are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass Note 2. Secondly To shew that his suffering would not last long So he saith to the Jews Matth. 26. this is your hour q.d. I have but one hour to suffer and you but one to spend your rage Thus the Scripture calleth the whole time of this life but an hour If thou dost well know that thou hast but an hours time here that is but a very little while do not therefore begrudge thy labour And even thy effliction lasteth but an hour let it not then be tedious Psalm 37. So the prosperity of the wicked continueth but an hour Fret not thy self because of the evill doers for yet a little and he shall be no more But as the feast of the Passover was Christs hour when he would suffer and dye so forty years after at the same feast was his hour when he inflicted vengeance on the Jews For when they were assembled at the Passover the Romans besieged them and shortly after ransack'd their City We also have two hours one of Mercy another of Judgement as certainly as there is a time of mercy so certainly may we expect the hour of Judgement Briefly the Evangelist John calleth the death of Christ a going away 1. That he might shew his power and might For he could pass over all those things which yet hindred his approach to the Father Psal 107.16 as it is said of him He hath broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron in sunder Before his death there was no clear passage out of this world unto Heaven And this therefore is the fruit of his death he opened thereby and prepared for us a passage to the Father It is significantly said not to God but to the Father that we should not be afraid to draw nigh unto God who by Christ is now become our Father 2. Again This going away may thus be understood viz. that John would hereby give an account of the Passover it self which signifieth a passing over as if he had said This feast hath hitherto been celebrated in remembrance of those things that were done in the passing or going out of Aegypt Now there is another passing out at hand even out of the world unto the Father In the former going out Moses was Leader in this second Christ Jesus is the Captain As they followed Moses so let us follow Christ The Jewish Passover is to go out of Aegypt the Christian Passover is to go out of the world to the Father But what did Christ when he knew that the hour of his going away was at hand surely he did not forget his friends He did not leave loving them for whose sake he was going to suffer such a bitter death And why should he withdraw his love from them who are so hated and contemned by and in the world What then doth Christ do When he had loved his he loved them unto the end He did truly love them and he continued this his love to them indeed unto the end In the first clause Christ sheweth the reason why he was made man and came into the world It was not our worthiness that was any motive thereof Psal 143.2 for we were not worthy to receive so much as corporall blessings from him much less were we worthy of eternall Nor had we any merit to move him for we were altogether born in sin Neither was it our righteousness that availed any thing for who shall be justified in the sight of God But it was his boundless love his infinite charity wherewith he embraced us that allured and invited him thereto For as the Father out of his great and abundant love sent his Son so the Son out of his abundant charity undertook and performed that Embassie of the Father So saith John herein his love 1 John 4. not that we loved him but that he loved us first Most significantly doth John say having loved his own which were in the world All creatures were his by creation John 1. It is said of the wicked He came unto his own and his own received him not But by his own is here meant those whom he chose to be his from Eternity of whom it is said Thine they were John 17. and thou gavest them me He saith further which were in the world lest any should think he spake here of the Angels who also are Christs But he took not the Nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham Heb. 2. Phil. 2. He did not appear in the likeness of an Angell but was found in fashion as a man And it is said in generall having loved his own which were in the world lest any should think that he loved none but his Apostles How he loved his own may be seen by this one thing in that he came down from Heaven for their sake to say nothing of the great tokens of his love which he shewed to them when he was in earth But what meaneth that He loved them to the end It was to shew why Christ took the Cross in his way as he went back again to the Father when he might have returned without danger His love constrained him He saw that his coming down from Heaven was not sufficient unless also he made satisfaction for the sins of men So that he loved them to the end i. e. he persevered in his love 1. First in that he left not loving them even to the death the ungodliness of the Jews did not hinder him he was not disheartened when his own fled from him and denyed him leaving him all alone to suffer by himself 2. He continued his love to them in that death it self did not put an end to it Many waters could not quench it Cant 8. 3. His love to them lasted to the end that is he sheweth signs of it to them in the very last day 4. He loved them to the end that is with the highest and most perfect love than which none could be greater Greater love hath none than that a man lay down his life for his friends which Christ did do John 13. Or 5. He loved them to the end that is he gave not over till be had perfectly saved them sully overcome sin death and all the curses of the Law Now then John doth so singularly commend the love of Christ and set it forth in the beginning or entrance of his Passion and his last Supper 1. To shew that all things which followed after proceeded from nothing but the
He girded himself with a white Towel i. e. with an immaculate body and uncorrupt humane nature which like a white Towel was not only clean in it self but also wiped away our spots and made us clean also Or thus he girded himself with a Towel i. e. with the anguish of his Passion and Death and so as he had begun magnificently to shew his charity he did more magnificently finish it 4. Then he poureth water into a Bason i.e. he poured out the Holy Spirit upon the Believers Ezek. 36. which by his Passion he merited for them which Spirit in Ezekiel is called clean water I will pour clean water upon you saith he c. Or He poured water into a Bason i. e. he opened our wits to understand the Scriptures That water was in a pot before the Scripture was shut up the Book was sealed the Mysteries of God were hidden the face of Moses was vailed But now Christ hath poured forth the water into a Bason i. e. he hath revealed the hid things of the Scriptures for the Salvation of believers From that time Christ began to wash us I say he began for he hath not made an end yet but doth daily wash and wipe us with his Towel i. e. the merit of his Passion So that from hence we may understand not only the love of Christ but our own misery also For it must be great filthiness which none but the Son of God could wipe away and that not without his death and blood By this t is plain that man had deeply fallen because we see the Son of God descend and humble himself so low Pastors of the Church should follow this Example of Christ Let them watch and arise and make ready to Minister Throw all away that hindereth the work whatever it be Let them expound the dark Mysteries of the Scriptures to others Let them wash others but so as they themseves be girt with a Towel lest while they make others clean themselves be defiled John 13.6 Then cometh he to Simon Peter and Peter saith unto him Lord doest thou wash my feet Jesus answered and said unto him verse 7. What I do thou knowest not now but thou shalt know hereafter Perer 〈◊〉 unâ—… him verse 8. thou shalt never wash my feet Jesu answered him if I wash thee not thou hast no part with me Simon Peter saith unto him verse 9. Lord not my seet only but also my hands and my head Jesus saith unto him verse 10. He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet but is clean every whit and ye are clean but not all For he knew who should betray him verse 11. therefore said he ye are not all clean There are some that think Christ began with Judas and so went upward till at last he came to Peter But others reject this opinion upon this ground that although Judas had patience and with a brazen face held out till Christ had done this to him yet the other Disciples could not hold their peace It is most probable that he began at Peter who was first among the Apostles not by Vocation for Andrew followed Christ before him but by Election unto the Apostleship for there Peter is put in the first place Matth. 10. And t was very proper in this washing to begin with the chiefest For where the Pastor or Prelate is unclean in Doctrine or life those that are under their charge will quickly be defiled and how shall such a man make others clean who is so filthy himself If the salt hath lost its saltness how shall it season other things Nor is it without a Mysterie that the Evangelist doth not call Peter only by that name which Christ gave but by that also which he had before He cometh saith he to Simon Peter seting down his old name first Peter as we shall see anon did express in himself the nature both of flesh and faith and therefore he is called by divers names In the discourse of Christ Peter speaketh three times but all differently First out of ignorance Secondly out of obstinacy Thirdly in Faith And Christ doth thrice answer him First he instructeth his ignorance Secondly he reproveth and repelleth his stubbornness Thirdly he commendeth his Faith And so we speak to God and he to us c. But whereas Peter first saith by way of question First word Lord doest thou wash my feet T is plain that he stood amazed at so great a condescention of his Lord. And no marvel for the rest would have done so too if he had begun with them Yea who could but admire to see the Lord of Majesty became so humble a servant unto men Exod. 3. It s a sign of a godly soul to admire and wonder at the works of God Thus Moses although he prest to see why the bush was not burnt yet when he heard God speak out of the bush he durst not approach Gen. 28 So Jacob when he had seen a Ladder in his dream c. he awaked as one in a trance and so great a vouchsafement of God How terrible saith he is this place If we consider this word of Peter we shall see that he had several respects partly good partly imperfect 1. First He had respect to that excellent dignity of his Lord when he said dost thou Lord I say he considered what a base employment it was to wash feet because the feet are the lowest and so the meanest members not named without saving your presence He thought it a great disparagement that those hands which had wrought so many Miracles among the people should now wash his feet and this was good in him 2. On the other hand he considered his own unworthiness when he said for Me or my feet and that also was commendable From both which he infer'd that 't was more fit for him to serve Christ than for Christ to serve him which also is praise-worthy We must needs acknowledge that God is nothing indebted to us but we much to him Lord dost thou wash my feet thou Lord of Majestie for me the vilest of creatures a wretched sinner But Peter was mistaken to think it a dishonourable thing for Christ to serve us as some now adayes think it a dishonour and disgrace to Christ to give us his body to eat whereas it is his greatest glory For hereby his infinite love and mercy doth perfectly shine upon us But the nature of our flesh is such that it hath no fear of God at all when it sinneth but when it should pray for pardon it would seem to have such reverence that it confesseth it self to be so unworthy that it dare not come nigh him So Peter seems here to have great reverence of Christ but by and by denies him in a fearless manner and so do we Again herein also Peter erred that under pretence of reverence to Christ he puts off and refuseth his Ministry as
if he had now essentially some glory which he had not before but because it was now cleared up by the Passion and Resurrection of Christ of which Son God was the Father 2. As also because by the Passion and Resurrection God got him Glory among men whom the world knew not before but now by Christ they knew that he was their Father and Helper c. And lest any should question how Christ came to know so clearly and certainly beforehand that God would glorifie him He answereth If God saith he be glorified by him God also shall glorifie him in himself He cannot doubt of Glory hereafter who glorifieth God now in this life 1 Sam. 2. For that word stands stedfast He that glorifieth me him I will glorifie but they that despise me shall be dishonourable Christ did glorifie God by his Doctrine setting him forth by most worthy and magnificent Titles For Believers now call God Father by Christ whom before they lookt on as a Judge under the Law which condemned sin By Christ he is called our Saviour who before was a condemning Judge On the other hand God also glorifieth Christ bestowing great Titles on him as a Conqueror triumphing over the Law Curse Cross Sin Death Hell and Satan This is that Name above every name Phil. 2. which God the Father hath given to Christ at which every knee should bow c. In the close of this clause Christ saith And shall straightway glorifie him for presently even at the Passion he began to glorifie him with Miracles when the Sun was darkened c. whereby the Centurion and many others knew that he was the Son of God So while he yet hung upon the Cross God heard his prayer for us which is the greatest Glory of Christ See now all along how wisely the Wisdom of God did speak Before he would speak of his suffering and death he premiseth his glorifying 1. lest the Disciples should be too much sadned 2. And lest they should think him utterly lost in his Passion 3. That they also in times of adversity might learn to look at the glory to come and not so much on the present misery Hitherto he spake of his future glory Now consequently he begins to speak of his death but very sweetly for the comfort of his Disciples whom he knew would be exceeding sorrowfull at his death For as a good son doth not so much delight himself in the succession of a great Inheritance as not to mourn for his Fathers death So although the Disciples were sure that the death of Christ would be of great advantage and give a large Inheritance yet they could not but be much grieved for his death Therefore he speaks of his death with as sweet words as possibly he could 1. And first he calls them Children to shew his Fatherly grace of Love toward them 2. And withall to shew the fruit of his Passion By his Passion and Death we have right to be called 1 John 3. and to be the sons of God Therefore we never read before that he called them children but now when he was about to suffer and die Nor doth he simply call them children but little children which is a sign of greater affection because of the tenderness of love and because as yet they were but weak and tender Babes They were children when they were grown strong and armed with the Holy Spirit But now because they were fearfull and not able to follow their Father they are called little Children or Babes Gal. 4. So Paul calleth the Galatians little children because they were weak in the Faith and had yet need of milk But what is it then that Christ would say to these his so much beloved little ones Yet a little saith he and I am with you And 't was but a little while indeed but till he who went forth but just now was gone to the Jews and came again with a band of Souldiers and the Priests servants He was then presently apprehended condemned to die and executed from which time he might say now I shall be no longer with you unless I come to see you again and stay an hour with you This he thus said 1. That they might more enjoy him whilst they had him 2. And that what he spake at his going away might take the deeper impression in their hearts But it must not be so understood that Christ went away for good and all and is now no more in the world when elswhere he saith expresly Lo Matth. 28. I am with you all the dayes even to the consummation of the Age. The meaning then is yet a little while I am with you in this visible and mortall body as hitherto I have been Henceforth indeed I shall be with you but not as formerly not visibly not mortal not as a stranger in this world but as a Prince and a Father of that which is to come And would ye know what shall become of you Ye shall seek me q.d. ye shall be sadly grieved for my departure and with great anguish and thought of heart ye shall earnestly desire my presence because both Jews and Gentiles will most furiously abuse you At that time ye shall seeke me and desire my assistance This he saith not to affright them but to prepare their minds for the trouble they should meet with As a cruel beast if he should suddenly rush upon a man would not only terrifie but tear him being unarmed and unprovided but if a man see him and be aware of his coming he will arm and fit himself so that he shall do him little or no hurt at all So when temptations and trials are foreshewn and foreseen they do less disturb and trouble us Hence saith David I made hast c. Psal 119.60 Paratus sum non sum turbatus saith the vulgar reading I was ready and not troubled By this we see that the whole life of a Believer in this world is nothing but sighings groanings and a longing desire after Christ The godly mourn like Doves in this world and say Cant. 5.6 My soul melted when my beloved spake I sought him and found him not c. And lest any should say if we shall speed no better why dost not take us along with thee It were better for us to go with thee than be left here behind all alone Whither I go saith he ye cannot yet come q.d. I am going to suffer and ye cannot follow me thither because of your infirmity You had need be first endowed with power from the High One. Again I go to the Father but as yet you cannot follow me thither for the door is shut I must first open it for you with the Key of my Death But what shall become of us the while how shall we bear or escape the present hatred and envy of the world and be able when the time doth come to follow thee
c. ye shew the Lords death ill he come Thus ye see after what manner at what time and with what words Christ instituted the Sacrament all which are of such concernment that t is strange if they kindle not in us a desire of so great good inflame our love to God and encourage us to give praise and thanks unto him We commend and thank him that giveth us an estate at his death to make us rich Why should we not do so here But sometimes we may find ingrateful heirs in the world so alas for it doth Christ find by experience that we are too unthankfull unto him Now the sleighting what is set before us is no small cause of this our ingratitude And so that is too often fulfill'd in us which Elisha once said to the incredulous Noble man 2 King 7.2 Thou shalt see it with thine eyes but thou shalt not eat thereof Are not these things fulfill'd in us We see and have these great things before our eyes and in our hands yet we perceive them not we taste them not What greater evil can befall a man than to have riches and not enjoy them Two things yet remain to be considered about this Sacrament viz. to what end it was ordained and how it ought to be received It was ordained 1. That our heart should more closely cleave to the words and Promises of God The Prophets promised that the time should come when God would dwell in us and that Christ by his death would take away our sins c. All which and the like Promises are confirmed by this Sacrament He instituted this Sacrament that we should not doubt of these things 2. It is a standing Monument of his Charity that so we might never doubt of his good will to us Whensoever then our consciences are ready to flag and fail which often happeneth specially at death they should be strengthened by this Sacrament 3. It is a perpetual Remembrance and Representation of that only sacrifice which was offered for us upon the Cross The benefit of this Sacrament may be taken out of the words of Paul when he saith 1. The bread which we break is it not the Communion of the body of Christ c. 1 Cor. 10. Whereby he sheweth that by this Sacrament we partake of all the good things of Christ 2. Another fruit of it is that we also are made one bread and one body even all that partake of one bread and of one cup that is This Sacrament doth put us in mind that we are made one meat and one drink and that we should wholly devote our selves to the good of our Neighbours that we should make the poverty of others our own and account the faults of others as our own c. Therefore in Greek it is called Synaxis that is a communication Whence we may easily gather what is requisite to the worthy receiving of it which is nowhere more clearly exprest than in the figure of the Paschal Lamb and the Manna The Paschal Lamb. Both which figures I shall briefly open Concerning the Lamb consider 1. The house must be sprinkled with the blood of the Lamb in three places Exod. 12.7 on the door and both the posts So he that will come to the Sacrament must first be sealed with the Seal of the holy Trinity which is done in Baptism Or thus he must be marked in three places that is he should have the three Sacraments Baptism Confirmation and Repentance Or the blood of the Lamb must be on his doors i. e. he should alwayes have the remembrance of Christs Passion before his eyes when he goeth out and when he cometh in according to that of Paul 1 Cor. 11. As oft as ye eat ye shall shew the Lords death c. Or he should have the Lambs blood on the doors i. e. he must not be ashamed of the Cross of Christ nor blush to keep the Commands of Christ but openly confess that he doth believe and keep them To that which the Author hath here observed The Translators Supplement Heb. 10.29 concerning this first circumstance the Translator further addeth viz. They were not to strike any of the Lambs blood on the threshold nor should we tread the blood of the Son of God under foot But they were to strike the blood on the lintel So should we alwayes have the blood of Christ over our heads above our own reason in higher estimation than the reach of our natural capacity or growth and stature of our earthly man our carnal mind It should be over our head to be seen only by Faith lifting our heads upward from earthy things thoughts desires affections confidence righteousness c. unto heavenly things looking on it as a Propitiation a Reconciliation a Mediation something between Heaven and earth between God and man as that which reconcileth us unto God Heb. 12.24 and giveth us boldness at his Throne of Grace speaking better things than that of Abel Again they were to strike both the side posts one as well as the other We should have the blood of Christ on either hand that we may see God on the lest hand where he worketh and on the right hand where he hideth himself Job 23.9 that we may be kept in prosperity and adversity knowing how to want and how to abound both in respect of the outward and inward man preserved from excess and all extreams swallowed up neither with presumption nor despair but fighting the good fight of Faith having the Armour of Righteousness on the right hand 2 Cor. 6.7 and on the left Now we proceed with the Author 2. They must eat the flesh roasted with fire that night The flesh of Christ must be eaten by night It must be by Faith alone and the eyes of Reason must be shut T is true our flesh would eat it in the day that is it coveteth to see all things but all in vain The flesh of Christ is eaten invisibly and in a Mysterie And the flesh of our Lamb may well be said to be roasted for it is roasted with the fire of Tribulation as also with the fire and operation of the Holy Spirit 3. It was to be eaten with unleavened bread The flesh of the Lamb must not be eaten alone that is we must not only consider what Christ did but what we also ought to do 1 Cor. 5. we must first of all cast out the leaven of malice and wickedness the Sacrament must be received with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth For this food is not provided for dogs but for Children only not for filthy persons but such as are clean They sin therefore who come to it not having first repented of their sins 4. With wild Lettice so the vulg Lat. bitter herbs or as it is in the Hebrew with or upon bitternesses i. e. with a bitter remembrance of our sins Thus the
yet because Luke hath inserted it in the Passion of our Lord we will not pass it by For it doth fairly picture out the humane nature and disposition that was in the Apostles who contended for primacy at that time when they saw such great Patterns of Humility and Modesty and when the greatest tribulation was at hand But what our Translation renders strife or contention that Luke calleth Philoniciam i. e. Love of Victory We read more then once how the Apostles contended about Primacy Matth. 18. 20. After the payment of tribute they askt Christs opinion and desired him to decide the matter which of them should be the greatest So when the sons of Zebedee sought the uppermost seat in Christs Kingdom then they strove about this thing And here in this place 1. Perhaps Judas his going from them gave the occasion For till his hatred was discovered they suspected one another and so from hence quickly fell to quarrelling every one disdaining to be inferiour to other and to be or but thought to be less faithfull to Christ 2. Their Lords own withdrawing which he spake of before to them might happily give them occasion to enquire what they should do and who should have the chief management of things when their Master was gone from them Here now as commonly it is none could well bear to submit to another and so as he thought be undervalued which is no strange thing that it should be so with the Apostles who were men and not yet confirmed by the Holy Spirit nor fully understanding the Kingdom of Christ Now Christ neither will nor can he endure by any means this Philotimie or greedy desire of Glory which is the root of Philonicie or love of Victory whence all contention ariseth For where one will rule and none submit where all will be Lords and none subjects there Christ hath no more to do What then My Disciples and Children saith he do not do thus it is very unseemly and doth not at all become you I would not have it so among you Consider I pray what think ye Do you not desire to Lord it like the world but do you see any such thing in me where got ye this thought whence came this great desire ye that are servants would ye once more be greater than me your Lord Indeed the Romans and other Gentiles go about to compass to themselves worldly glory and greatness and above all things desire to domineer and rule over others They hunt after great Titles not only to be called Kings Princes Euergetae Pater patriae and Rulers but also Benefactors and Fathers of their Country as if they did help do good and provide for all and were more like Fathers than exactors and oppressors when indeed they do generally behave themselves otherwise And ye fisher-men of Galiles will you be like these and do as the Heathen do Indeed ye are very fit for that glory such honour would well become you which the Gentiles have and so much aspire unto But if the name and profession of a Jew will not beat you off from following the Gentiles yet at least let my Example take ye off Ye see what I do For I am your Lord and Master I might command I might Lord it I might call every creature to serve me yet I forbear I abase my self so far as to serve and let you sit still I wait on you as your hired servant John 6. The Kingdom was mine and 't was offer'd to me but I would none of it I refus'd it What I might have had Angels as well as men to serve me but you see I do not so See I say and consider well how low and how abased I am I have put off the form of God wherein I was and have taken upon me the form of a servant Phil. 2. Psalm 8. I have made my self a little less than the Angels What a shame then would it be to you to grow proud under so humble a Master After this manner Christ checks the ambition of the Apostles and elswhere also he useth almost the same expressions But every where he doth smartly nip them knowing what a Tyrant Ambition would be and what mischiefs it would bring in if it were not restrain'd and kept under If ever any King or Prince might be called Euergeta a Benefactor surely never any better deserved the name then our Lord Jesus the King of Israel Pliny writing of Trajâ—n saith Thou of all men dost least esteem thy own courtesies whereas thou livest in the City as a Parent with his Children But what was that Paternal love which Trajan shewed to his Citizens in comparison of Christs charity to the Apostles and to us all But what follows Ye are they which have continued with me in my Temptations And I appoint you a Kingdom c. There is a good coherence between these and the foregoing words As he had sharply reproved them before so now he doth smooth them with Promises and stroke them with Praises yet so directeth his speech that the Apostles might well desist from their ambition q.d. Why do ye so hunt after worldly power and domination Stay a little I will promote you to Heavenly Power John 6. There are better and greater-things laid up for you than ye are aware of For ye are they that have stood it out with me when many others turned their backs upon me being offended at my approaching Passion but Judas especially Acts 1. he went to his own place but ye have not flincht at any of my Temptations those many which Satan hath raised against me these three years For this your doing be assured that I will prepare a Heavenly Kingdom for you by my Passion where ye shall raign with all power and glory as true Kings and Princes And because earthly Kings abound with all delicacies of meat but specially of drink Lo I provide so for you too that there ye may eat and drink with me at my Table as my fellow-heirs Rom. 8. Which we must not so understand as if there were eating and drinking in Heaven but Christ speaketh anagogically or as Theophylact saith Metaphorically because there is most of that in Kings Courts Lastly saith Christ lest ye should want any thing to compleat your Government whereas worldly Kings use to sit upon stately Thrones 1 King 10. and Judge others as we read of Solomon Behold I prepare this also that ye my Apostles may sit hereafter with me upon Royal Thrones and Judge all the Tribes of Israel which believe not in me If ye seek to rule over Israelites lo they shall be subjected to you What look ye for more Can ye wish or desire more Is there the like again in all the world What 's the glory of the world the kingdom of the world the delights of the world to the Glory Kingdom and delights of heaven Who then would not willingly despise the glory of the
Christ doth not simply require Love of those that are his but so as without it he will own none for his Disciple And if it be so or rather because it is so truly there are but few true Christians to be found in these dayes for Charity almost among all men waxeth cold and faith and mercifulness faileth every where and is withered instead of which hatred envy discord deceit treachery is sprung up 2. We see how much they are out of the way who would fain be taken for Christians by I know not what Tokens when Charity towards God and their Neighbour is nothing regarded 3. Here we find the difference between Faith and Charity Faith maketh a Disciple of Christ Charity maketh him known to be a Disciple It followeth Simon Peter said unto him Lord whither goest thou John 13.36 Jesus answered him whither I go thou canst not follow me now but thou shalt follow me afterwards Peter said unto him Lord why cannot I follow thee now verse 37. I will lay down my life for thy sake Jesus answered him wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake verse 38. Simon Simon Satan hath desired you Luke 22.31 that he may sift you as wheat But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not verse 32. and when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren And he said unto him Lord verse 33. I am ready to go with thee both into prison and to death And he said I tell thee Peter the Cock shall not crow this day verse 34. before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me It was a sign of great fervency in Peter that he only should interrupt Christ and ask his Lord whither he was going when all the rest held their peace sure he was astonished at the word which Christ spake whither I go ye cannot come and fearing that he should be separated from Christ he could hold no longer but must needs ask the question To whom Christ very sweetly answered Whither I go thou canst not follow me now but thou shalt follow me afterwards which may be understood two wayes 1. He could not follow Christ to Heaven who was now going thither but he should follow him afterwards when he was made a Citizen of the City above he with the rest of the Saints should raign with Christ 2. He was not yet indued with power from on high neither had he that strengthening Spirit to reform him and his Nature therefore he could not scorn the dangers of death nor wholly overcome the terrour thereof 1. The power to break the force of death was only in Christ Therefore thou canst not follow me now because that to go by the Cross is yet very hard and difficult Psal 77.19 As t is said Thy Wayes are in the sea and thy Path in the great waters and thy Foot-steps are not known 2. Again secondly Thou canst not follow me yet because of the imperfection of thy love Rom. 5. There had need be a great fire of Love which so many waters of afflictions cannot quench but hereafter when the Spirit shall shed forth more Love into thy heart then shalt thou follow me 3. Lastly Thou canst not follow me yet It is not in the power of thy carnal will to conquer Death this it the work of Gods Grace his Grace alone must do it I must first set upon it by my death and overcome it I will grapple with it in my Passion and conquer it by my Resurrection Till this be done thou canst not follow me thou canst not but tremble at death T is too strong for thee to conquer and contemn Inded our nature shrinks at death croucheth under it Our Saviours Passion was the first dissolution of Death 1. To this end the Son of God did take upon him the seed of Abraham Heb. 2. that by the death of his flesh he might make Death of none effect and might deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to bondage 2. Again the contempt of Death had its first original from the Resurrection of Christ 1 Cor. 15. From that very time we may say with Paul O Death where is thy sting O grave where is thy Victory Thanks be to God who hath given us the Victory by Jesus Christ our Lord. And that Peter might not think that he should for ever be separated from Christ he saith But thou shalt follow me afterwards alluding to Peters death and tels him in a Riddle what death he should die q.d. as I will go by the Cross to the Father so thou shalt follow me by the Cross Very truly did Christ say Thou canst not follow me now which thee vent of the matter shew'd not long after When poor feeble Peter could not follow his Lord but denied him the third time for fear he should be forced to follow him with the loss of his own life But afterwards he did follow him when he stretched forth his hands and was crucified like a worthy Disciple of his Master But Peter not well weighing what Christ said and too much trusting to his own strength doth reply again Why saith he can I not follow thee now q.d. Dost thou think that I will prove so ingratefull for all thy kindnesses as to desert thee Thou hast chosen me for one of thy Apostles I had a taste of the joyes of heaven upon Mount Tabor I have wrought miracles in thy name indeed what favour hast thou denied me how then can I forsake thee at the greatest pinch of death when my own life shall be never so much in danger Nay I will engage my self and this I promise I love thee so dearly that I will lay down my life for thee I esteem so much of thy love that I value not my own life Indeed Peter thou dost make large promises but thou dost not well understand what thou saist thou hast a good conceit of thy own abilities but art altogether ignorant of thy weakness thou hast not yet tryed nor tasted the force of death if thou hadst thou wouldst not have spoken as thou dost nor wondred why Christ said thou couldst not follow him now I know there are examples enough of such as hazarded their lives for their country or kindred but this proceeded from their carnal affection But if God may be Judge it is not a work of the flesh but of the Spirit to dye for a stranger or to lay down ones life for his enemies Yet such is the property of humane reason that it will not acknowledge its own weakness Peter should have believed what Christ said and not so boldly contradicted him Let it be granted that be did it out of his great affection yet he ought to have believed Christ before himself and have thought with himself thus Surely he knows all things and understands better then I what he saith but what doth Christ reply to this presumptuous confidence
recourse to God And not only so but he sheweth also the best way of praying For 1. first he with-drew from the Apostles He that will pray must go into his Chamber Mat. 6. 2. Secondly He kneeleth down yea falleth on his face Prayer ought to be made in humility So much the more humble so much the sooner it peirceth Heaven and is heard 3. Thirdly He doth not pray once only but often nor did he give over till the Angel comforted him Teaching us thereby to persevere in prayer 4. Fourthly He prayed in assurance therefore he did so sweetly repeat the name of Father He that believeth not let him not think to receive any thing James 1. 5. Fifthly He committeth all to God We must not prescribe time or manner unto God 6. Lastly Peter James and John were not far from him by whom those three vertues are signified which are necessary for every one that prayeth to wit Faith by Peter Courage by James and the Grace of God by John As often then O Christian as Satan tempteth thee remember this Garden and this prayer of Christ in the Garden Avoid the tumults of men go a little aside kneel down fall on thy face for by these gestures the faithfull express the servency of their mind and that they have no hope counsell or help in the world but only in God open thy mouth and utter words from thy heart lay open thy anguish and pain before God with sighs and supplications against the violence and wrongs of Satan Here thy sorrow and anguish of heart will do thee no harm Yea though it afflict thy body a little it will do thy soul good But remember to temper thy prayer so even as Christ here did who in all humility threw himself upon the ground and as man he resigned and offered himself wholly to the Will of God that the Father should do with him as he pleased Thou also pray for what thou wilt cry intreat make known thy wants but conclude alway as here Not mine but thy will be done for thou knowest best what is good and profitable for me Believe me our prayer is well accepted if it be granted to us according to the will of God The Evangelists do not without cause so diligently set down this that Christ put the whole event of his Prayer in the will of God If Christ did thus whose will yet was not divided from the will of his Father nor could he will any thing but what the Father willed how much more ought we to do so whose will most commonly is against and resisteth the will of God To say nothing how pernitious and destructive for the most part it would be to us if God should alwayes grant us what we desire The will of our flesh is not good but that which the Spirit willeth in us cannot be evil because the Spirit is not evil Briefly Let the Prayer of Jesus be the Form and Pattern of our Prayer Let him teach us how to pray as he shew'd us how to suffer Let us now weigh the words First he saith in the Chalde Tongue Abba which in Latine is as much as Pater Father and this name he doubleth It is a great comfort in affliction to believe that God is our Father and that our troubles come upon us by his good pleasure 1 Cor. 11. So Paul when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with this world Heb. 12. Again Yee have not yet resisted unto blood and ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as children Prov. 3. my son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord c. Secondly He saith If it be possible and all things are possible unto thee Here none doubteth but that God to speak absolutely could have restored man some other way than by the death of his Son but this was the way which from Eternity was resolved on and therefore it must be that Christ should dye And it was not without reason why God should be best pleased with that way For 1. Divine Justice must be satisfied We deserv'd to be punisht but God the Father set his Son in our stead who could owe nothing upon his own score and therefore might make the fuller satisfaction As the person of Christ was more pleasing to God than all other men so his Passion merited more than all ours can do 2. God therefore made choyce of this way to redeem mankind that he might make his power known For he did not defend Christ against his strong enemy yet he overcame him 3. That he might make his love so much the more manifest to us to provoke our love 1 John 4. In this was his love manifest that he sent his Son c. Wicked men prate that God took no pains to create them But here let them consider that they were not easily Redeemed Christ took a great deal of care and pains to make man a great debtor to him in much love and that he might become more thankfull by the difficulty of his Redemption who was grown so cold in his devotion because of the easiness of his creation God made all things and man among the rest in six dayes but he was full three and thirty years working out our Salvation in the midst of the earth See how justly we may be complained of who lightly esteem this greatest Token of Love whereby we exceedingly provoke his wrathfull indignation against us Whereas Christ prayeth that the Cup might pass from him by the Cup he meaneth his Passion 1. For as much drinking makes men drowsie so Christs Passion made him sleep in Death 2. Or as free drinking makes men jocund so the sufferings of Christ make us above all things most cheerfull in that it brought everlasting Salvation to us In this sense the Cup is taken elswhere I will take the Cup of salvation c. Again Psalm 116. Can yee drink of the Cup that I shall drink of Mat. 20. But thou wilt say was not Christ willing to suffer Or did he suffer against his will in that he prayes here against the Cup of his Passion Far be it from us so to think How could he be unwilling to suffer who at his last Supper said that the blood of his Body was to be shed for the Remission of sins Mat. 26. Who also said I lay down my life for my sheep John 10. And reply'd to Peter when he disswaded him from suffering Get thee behind me Satan for thou savourest not the things of God Matth. 16. We say that Christ did not suffer unwillingly but freely of his own voluntary consent as his Prayer concludes Thy will be done He prayed that if it were possible the Cup might pass from him 1. First to shew that he was a true man who by Nature is afraid of Death As there are divers affections in man to wit
to strengthen him Luke saith That he was in an Agony that is he was as it were contending with death What man what tongue what understanding is able to comprehend fully this Agony I say not to express it We see with what great perplexity dying men struggle in whom their senses are almost dead already how much more anguish then was there in the heart of Christ whose senses were yet most lively who clearly perceived all the horrour of death and was perfectly sensible thereof O how hard sharp and bitter was it to the humanity in Christ What strugling what strife what horrour Lastly What and how full of Anguish was this perruption If thou doubt it consider the bloody sweat on every side flowing from his sacred body Where didst thou ever see the like When didst thou ever hear the like This greatest and most violent Agony squeezed out this sweat And if thou dost mind it well they were our sins that prest out this unusual sweat from the Lord Jesus All our sins were hanged about his neck and laid upon his shoulders Satan endeavoured with all his might utterly to overthrow both him and his kingdom Death would not die yet of necessity it must come to it One only Christ alone was to combate with all these evils and as another yea the true Hercules he was to shake off these most heinous and pestilent mischiefs from our necks Nor could any other do this but he Therefore by how much the greater these evils were so much the more pains was there required to overcome them Yea seeing they were the greatest evils there was need of the greatest labour This Luke signifieth when he saith He was in an Agony and did sweat blood Now that Agony of Christ signifieth nothing else Agon vel Agonia but the fear and dread of our Conscience before the face or presence of Gods Judgement For indeed when the time of Judgement is at hand the soul is toucht with the conscience of evil which being touched the whole soul begins to tremble the whole begins to perish when it is set single and alone before the eternal and wrathfull Tribunal of God Of which trembling Job speaketh Job 9. If he will contend who shall answer him This Trembling is also set forth and described in the Evengelical Banquet Job 9. Mat. 22. where he that had not the wedding Garment was struck speechless when the Lord ask'd him for it Sometimes the Saints are supprized with this Trembling as appears in Job Hence it is that David saith Psalm 6. Psalm 38.3 O Lord rebuke me not in thy anger c. for there is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger Thus Hezechiah I said In the cutting off of my dayes in dimidio dierum I shall go to the gates of the grave c. ad portas inferi vulg lat Therefore that we should not for ever be opprest with this Trembling Christ was cast into an Agony for us Therefore when this Temptation seizeth upon us let us pray with Hezechiah O Lord I am oppressed undertake for me Isa 38.14 Psalm 17.8 And with David Hide me under the shadow of thy wings But let us return to the bloody sweat We need not here shew any further how it could be that he should sweat blood Doubtless he was Supernatural But let us consider what Christ would shew unto us by this bloody sweat 1. First then that bloody sweat sheweth the great perplexity that Christ was in greater than which cannot be imagined Great pain will make men sweat For as we never read that any besides Christ did sweat blood though they were in never so great torment so there was never greater anguish than his And no wonder For although other men have certainly known that their death was at hand yet none could distinctly foreknow the sharpness of the pains of Death But Christ did distinctly in his inner sense taste beforehand the bitterness of Death as if it had been then present Consider this thou impudent sinner who art not afraid to renew thy sin daily for which thy Saviour was pleas'd to suffer this kind of punishment and consider the nature of the disease by the preciousness of the Remedy Consider I say the sharpness and bitterness of the Passion how great it was when it made him sweat blood but to think of it Consider how hard it was for Christ to make satisfaction for the sins of the heart which we lightly pass over without taking any notice of them Think what condition thou hadst been in for ever if Christ had not Redeemed thee Think upon what great anguish thou wouldst have been in at the hour of death therefore now while thou art in health arm thy self against it by the Passion and Prayer of Christ otherwise thou wilt not hold out in that distress For t is not for us to contend with death in our own strength It is too strong for us We must therefore flee to Christ that he may succour us in that streight which he tasted and conquered also for us The fear of Death is no other way to be vanquisht but by Faith in Christ and by long and strong prayer as Christ here did when he was in an Agony 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he extended his prayer or he prayed more largely 2. By this bloody sweat Christ would shew his great Love to us which was so great in him that he made all the haste possible might be to pour out this medical blood even before his persecutors came to him that so he might the more speedily relieve lost man So ready was Christ to shed his blood for us 3. Lastly By this bloody sweat he did as it were foreshew that his Mystical body should sweat blood i. e. it should be exposed tosuch great afflictions that if it were possible it should sweat blood which we see fulfilled even at this day when wicked men live in all delights and pleasures but godly men are cast into a sweat of blood But this is their comfort that their time of suffering is but short and then they shall enter into glory Luke 22.45 Mat. 24.41,42 And when he rose up from prayer and was come to his Disciples he found them sleeping for sorrow And he saith 〈◊〉 them sleep on now and take your rest it is enough the hour is come Why sleep yee Luke 22.46 Behold the son of man is betrayrd into the hands of sinners Rise up let us go lo he that betrayeth me is at hand Christ returns again to his Disciples indeed how could he forget his own He was more thoughtfull for them than they were for themselves for he found them asleep again They might well be sad who lay under such failings They that sleep are ready to deny their life One evil is commonly a fore-runner of many more Spiritual sleep what it is and one sin is but the beginning of another Spiritual sleep is
swinge up the cross After all is done and when all are gone and stand aloof off him as not daring to come too nigh him hanging like an accursed fellow upon the cross then will I approach nearer and stand fast by the cross of my Jesus I will hug and clip and cling about the Tree with my arms I will embrace it dearly I will bedew it with tears I will kiss it with my lips and because I cannot die with him I will hang my eyes on my crucified Son I will tarry till he depart I will see how he goeth out of the world for I only know how he came into this world I will not leave him dying whom I could never forsake living Thou didst very well O Holy Mother to stand by him when every body else had forsaken him For so did he first vouchsafe to come to thee passing by all other creatures This is that invincible Unicorn which none could ever take or over-rule who was long since earnestly importuned and as it were rouzed up by the servent prayers and desires of the Holy Fathers and not able to contain himself any longer was at last taken in thy Virgin-lap And lo now thou dost according to thy power requite that his so great favour to thee He left all and bestowed himself upon thee and now all forsake him thou like a dear Mother dost stand it out with him thy standing by him at the Cross is but sad company to him whilst thou dost there invisibly suffer in thy heart whatsoever he did visibly endure in his body When the Evangelist would describe this ineffable and sad suffering he doth not call her by her proper Name but discovers her by a Name of pity and Piety Mother his Mother Nor could he more fully express or describe her grief then by saying thus His Mother stood by the Cross of Jesus Here she had full tryall of what Simeon told her before Luke 2. A Sword shall pierce through thine own soul the pains she escaped in child-bed she now meets with at the cross To other Women it is said In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children Gen. 3. But Mary felt not the pains of travel yet was she not therefore free from all pain Now if the Virgin mother was not without her cross who amongst us shall think to escape it Christ doth suffer and his Mother doth suffer with him and dost thou think of nothing but merriments The Virgin stood and yet they were not come to the place but she followed him as he went out with his cross and yet she stood not afar off but hard by the cross whereby she shewed the constancy of a Mother and the valour of her mind Consider O man consider what great grief this was to her None ever received greater Favour and never any endured greater pain and sorrow then the Virgin-Mother His Mother stood full of courage full of affection and full of devotion Shee stood rouling that unutterable flame of Love in her Bosom wherewith her Son was set on fire And she also was enflamed with a vehement heat of Love examining her self if it were she that had brought forth such a Son who could so willingly pardon and pass by such affronts yea and excuse them also who dealt so cruelly with him She stood considering and pondering the hard and most bitter extremities of her Son with which she by reason of her Motherly affection was most grievously Tortured but withall she did according to her wisdom and burning charity consider the benefit that would thence redound to Mankind and the glory of God that would arise from it She stood with the rest of the Women and Friends at the cross full of sorrow and misery slighting all the gibes and jeers that she had cast on her for her Sons-sake Christ Jesus But her Motherly Love conquered and overcame all these discouragements But although Christ was in infinite streights yet he doth not neglect his Mother in that hour And when he had no member free but his Eyes and Tongue he doth not disdain to serve his Mother with them both He directs them both to her looking upon her and speaking to her to shew how highly he did esteem her in his heart and to teach us practically and really that our Parents are to be honoured by us and that we should take care of them even to the death At other times Christ seems to speak more harshly to his Mother to wit when he was about Gods business as Matth. 12. Luke 12. John 2. For all humane affection and respect must cease and give place to Gods business But here on the Cross he doth faithfully and humanely acknowledge his Mother for what she had brought forth did now hang before her eyes When Jesus saith he saw his Mother O the astonishing Miracle of Vision indeed O the lamentable glances which might have been seen in the eyes of Jesus Those eyes at one and the same time did hasten towards death and turn aside to his Mother The power of death did close and weaken them and the force of love did open them again to behold his Mother O how deeply was the Ray of that last look fastened in thy heart O thou Holy Mother which the Lord of the world was pleased to glance upon thee when he was about to dye It was a Dart indeed which did not only wound thy heart but it was also a Sword that pierced the very inward parts of thy soul O how full of sobbs and sighs wast thou with what floods of grief wast thou overwhelmed when thou dost cast thy weeping eyes upward at once to see thy Son dying and at the same time wishfully looking upon thee Nor doth Christ serve his Mother with his eyes only beholding her therewith but he doth also comfort her with his Tongue Woman Woman saith he Behold thy Son He calleth her Woman 1. That he might not encrease her sorrow It was not a time now to complement or use smooth words and sugared expressions to her nor to call her Mother For if Christ had spoken more sweetly to her I believe it would have broken the Virgins heart 2. He doth call her Woman for if he had called Mother it might have given occasion to them that crucified him to use her more hardly 3. Although she is above measure to be extoli'd as a Virgin yet she is much more highly to be commended by the Name of Woman inasmuch as God was pleased to honour her Bowels with this sacred issue and by her to expound to the world that Covenant which God heretofore made to Abraham Hence it is that Christ here from the cross doth call her Woman Hence it is that the Angell pronounced her blessed among Women Hence it is that Paul saith Christ was made of a Woman Gal. 4. The meaning of the word is The meaning as if Christ had said Woman I know the perplexing cares of thy breast I know thy
up the ghost He bowed his head First as taking his leave of the world Secondly he would thereby comfort us by letting us know that he is not cross or froward towards us First it is very significantly expressed in that it is not said that he died but that he gave up the ghost for he had power to lay down his life John 10. Secondly he is said to give up the ghost to let us know that when our souls are loosed from the flesh they should be commended to the Divine Goodness as into the hands of a most dear Father Thus innocent Abel is slain by his brother Thus is Isaac offered Gen. 4. 22. Thus Joseph escapes naked to his fathers protection being spoiled of his garment of flesh by the Adulteress Synagogue Thus our High-Priest hath finished his evening Sacrifice Thus the Life of the world died the Fountain of true Light was ecclipsed thus the Spring of all Life in whom all things live waxed dry that he might deliver them that were subject to death Thus that celestial Wedlock between the holiest soul and the purest flesh was dissolved and divorced by the sword of Death that we who were condemned might be recovered to the indissoluble Union of his Beatitude Thus the Organ of Divinity the Harp of the true David the most melodious Voyce of Jesus sunk into the silence of cruel Death Thus those Heavenly Lights of his most gracious Eyes were darkened by Death Thus that most sacred Breast of Eternal Wisdom and the Store-House of the Treasures of Grace is deprived of his life Thus he Redeemed us from our sins with so great a price a greater then which is not to be found among all the creatures in the world thus did he satisfie the Father for our disobedience with such obedience as was even unto death O how great was that grief when that most holy Soul which was Wedded and United to that most holy Body with an indissoluble bond of Love must be separated now and torn asunder by a violent death and that most holy Life die Never was there death more bitter because never was there man so sensibly sensible of it 1. Wo be to thee therefore O thou ungodly Synagogue who art more fierce and cruel then any wild beast thou hast devoured the life of Jesus who out of the Paternal Piety was sent unto thee to be thy Father and thy Husband 2. O how grievous will thy Accusation be for rending and tearing the body of Christ And wo be to thee thou ingratefull heart thou hard heart harder then any stone who dost not break and melt at the remembrance of so great a Sacrifice for the expiating thy hainous sins how strictly will that innocent blood be required at thy hands Here then O man O generation of Adam here knock thy bosom and beat thy breast consider well and think of this death The chiefest and choisest good doth here hang upon the Cross Here the Eternal Wisdom offereth it self to be seen naked Here the tree carried the Treasure and Price of the whole world O sinners here dieth the Son of God I say here the Son of the most High the King of Heaven and Lord of Earth dieth Nay he dies on the Cross like a Malefactor in the midst of Thieves in greatest misery and anguish and shame It was we O ye sons of men that brought this just One to this unjust and unworthy suffering Our sins were the cause of this his great Passion Here the word of the Sacrament is made good This is my body which is given for you This is my blood which is shed for you for the remission of sins Here now we understand what Christ meant by these sacred and holy words because all things are here seen with the eyes Here that Article of our most holy Faith hath its Foundation He suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried Think on this O man imprint these things in thy heart that thy very inward parts may be made sensible how that we men we sinners were guilty of this death We should have hung on the cross and died yea and have been eternally scorcht in Hell but that our most holy Lord stept in and said I will hang on the cross and die for all men Take me and smite me the Shepheard but let the sheep go free I will pay what I own not I will undertake other mens debt I will even all accounts I will make peace and bring all things to a good end and issue Think seriously on these things Believers Be pleased to accept this Ministry of Christ and highly prize it For this his death is your life For us thus to die is to live and escape death This weakness is our strength and fortitude These wounds and scars are our health and soundness This malediction is our benediction this cursing is our blessing This shame is our glory This cross is our celestial Court and Palace These Nayles are our Salvation Lift up your hearts O ye Faithfull lift up your hearts in consideration of these wonderfull things There was War between Christ and the Devil the field was pitched the battel set and Christ got the Victory Let us therefore give him thanks who was pleased through his infinite love with such hazard and hardship to Redeem us 1. In this expiation of Christ first we see that verified which he said before in John 10 I have power to lay down my life 2 Here we see that the works of God are against reason For who ever hearing that Christ was the son of God and seeing such great Miracles which he had done before could at all believe that God should so far wink at wicked men as to let them kill so great and so worthy a man Again who would believe that the true had then its beginning seeing him die so shamefull a death But this is the ancient and usual custom of God to promote and carry on his works by strange unlikely and contrary means It was indeed the pleasure of God to cause great and mighty boughs and limms to grow on this tree of Christ He intended to build up and quicken the Church This he did by a work disagreeable and repugnant to life and nothing of kin to it to wit the death of Christ by which he quickened and made the Church alive Hence is that of John 12. Except a grain of wheat die it bringeth forth no fruit but if it die it beareth much fruit The Edifice or building of the Church did not then indeed appear while Christ yet hanged on the cross for here you see nothing but his death and burial as at Seed-time there is no shew of Harvest But as in Summer the seed that was sown doth spring up so after the Resurrection the living Church sprouted out of the dead and dry body of Christ 3. From this Expiation of Christ we are diligently to confider what punishments we shall endure if we
in the letter and in the Law the Scribes Pharisees and Lawyers who forsook the royal Law of Love and Obedience yet were literally zealous it was by these that Christ suffered and still doth suffer There are that are called Jews and yet are of the very Synagogue of Satan Thus the Law without the spirit of life is a dead and killing letter a Ministration of Condemnation If the spiritual Jacob be not with us at Dothan we shall plot and contrive our dearest brother Joseph's death 13. But here 2 Kin. 6. we have Elisha conversing in Dothan with the sons of the Prophets who being inflamed with his presence importune him for greater inlargement Doubtless there is a time when our true Elisha Christ Jesus walketh with his Children in low legal literal and fleshly Ministrations nurseth them up with milk like babes and alloweth them Tutors and Governors in their Non age Only let us beware that we do not with the Scribes and Pharises stick to the empty letter that we ramble not to Dothan when neither old Jacob our father nor Elisha our Prophet is there let us not run after the servant when he is cast out of doors nor hearken to Moses when Christ is come for then though we make our boast of the Law yet shall we dishonour God by breaking it Rom. 2. Now we shall know if Christ be yet with us under the Law if so our hearts will be inflamed and long for greater inlargement and complain of our present straitnings whereas a meer literal and formal Christian loves his ease is content to stand at a stay will not indure to hear of removing farther then he hath already attained cries out against all notions more spiritual then his own as Delusions Dreams Enthusiasms c. But the true sons of the spiritual Prophet are still groaning after the manifestation and glorious freedom of the sons of God Rom. 8. And therefore they are ever crying out My father my father O Christ O Lord Jesus thou everlasting father I am straitned inlarge my heart that I may run the ways of thy Commandments I am straitned where I now am make room give place that I may dwell in the everlasting habitations Isa 49.20 I am content to break thorow death to come to those Mansions I am weary of this Tabernacle remove my Tent uncloth me that I may be clothed and let mortality be swallowed up of life Go with me to Jordan baptize me in that river how am I straitned till it be accomplished Mortifie the sinfull lusts and affections of my flesh crucifie my old man day by day rend his vail of flesh that with open face I may behold thy glory be changed into the same image and come to the spirits of just men made perfect and to the Spirit of the Lord where is liberty and perfect freeedom 2 Cor 3.17,18 Heb. 12.23 14. This is the nature and property of them that are taught of God and have learned and obeyed the truth as it is in Jesus But then there are some even among these Children of the Prophets the true Professors of Godliness who go along for a while undiscerned like Cain Judas the man at the marriage-feast and this man here among the sons of the Prophets they make a great shew and bustle about Religion a great stir and noyse there is about Christ crucified and subduing of their lusts they hack and hew at the tree and talk much of mortification but before they can effect it the Axflies from the helve their gifts and parts fail them and the work is at a stand And why Surely their gifts were borrowed and did not flow from their obedience to Christ and experience of his Doctrine but they pickt a notion from one a sentence from another they laid a great many good words in the memory and these they made use of in the self-will and wisdom in the lust of the flesh the pride of life vain-glory and ostentation seeming to be wise but knowing nothing as they ought to know patching up a self-conceited Righteousness thereby deluding their own souls And then they will be made to acknowledge and say Alas Lord they were borrowed Now there is no remedy for such till these fall off from a mans self and fall into Jordan the river of Judgement and Condemnation till a man deny himself and sell or lose all that he hath then the true Elisha makes the Iron to swim that he may go and finish his work Thus he that loseth his life shall save it and he that parteth with House Land Goods Father Friends Gifts Parts Indowments c. shall receive them again in this life an hundred fold Happy are they whose loss is their gain But fourthly 15. There is no ascending to the highest injoyment except we first descend into the deepest abasement It is said of Christ that he humbled himself even to the death of the Cross and for that cause God hath highly exalted him and given him a name above every name Phil. 2,8,9 If we also would have a name better then that of sons and daughters if we would be called Hephtzi-bah and Beulah Isa 62.4 Ruth 3.7,9 let us do as Ruth did unto Boaz let us lie down at the feet of Christ and desire him to cast the skirt of his garment over us as one nigh of kin unto us Christ hath a two-fold garment the one of Glory and Majesty in which he walketh among the Angels and the spiritual Church He clotheth himself with Light as with a garment Psalm 104.2 His rayment is white as the Light Mat. 17.20 Rev. 1.13 His other garment is of shame and baseness With this he conversed among men upon earth He was found in fashion as a servant Phil. 2.8 In the likeness of sinfull flesh Rom. 8.3 He was made sin for us 2 Cor. 5.21 In this humane nature of ours was his Diety clothed and hid for a season The lowest state of this humanity the very border hem or skirt of which garment that toucheth the ground was the great humiliation of Christ humbling himself to the most ignominious and shamefull death of the Cross 16. If therefore we would have Christ do the office of a kinsman to us for he is our kins-man nigh unto us flesh of our flesh and bone of bone one that is not ashamed to call us brethren who hath right to redeem us if we would have him take away our reproach of barrenness and make us fruitfull in the knowledge of himself let us lie down at his feet humble our selves to walk as he walked desire him to spread his skirt over us to conform us to his death that we may be transformed into the likeness of his Resurrection If we would have our sinfull name our name of shame blotted out if we would have our bloody issue stopped let us do as the woman in the Gospel let us press through the press of all worldly and fleshly incumbrances and
day dead unto sin for sin or from sin and the third day we shall live in his sight God would not put off withhold or defer his Mercy and Favour his goodness Grace love and compassion towards man too long but hastened with all speed to discover his thoughts of peace to him First that he might make it known that he was a God that did not delight in the death of him that died but that rather he would have all men come to the Knowledge of the Truth that they might be saved Ezek. 18.32 chap. 33.11 Wisd 1.13 1 Tim. 2.4 2 Pet. 3.9 Secondly God sought after and found man out so suddenly before he had any thought in his heart to seek after or return to God Isa 65.1 to teach us that he is found of them that sought him not and that man hath no will or power to turn to God till God first bestow his Grace and give him wherewith he may so do that he cannot as of himself think a good thought that he cannot so much as believe in God but by the gift of his Grace Eph. 2 8. Psalm 49. That no man can quicken his own soul that none should glory in the sight of God as if he had not received what he hath 1 Cor. 1.29 4.7 53. As God doth first prevent man with his Grace to hide pride from him and keep him from boasting that he may have all the glory and praise unto himself so doth he bestow sufficient grace upon all that every mouth may be stopped and all left without excuse And this will plainly appear if we look back to the beginning For God came to Adam with the tender of the Seed before he knew his Wife or had begoteen either Son or Daughter and made the promise to him generally in terms at large indefinitly and indeterminatively without limitation or restriction not confining it to one nor denying it to another God did not say The seed of the Woman shall bruise the head of the Serpent for Abel or Seth when they are born but not for Cain 54. And if that Doctrine must he received as true and Orthodox viz. That all men are guilty of original sin quatenus considered in Adams loynes Representing them in himself as a publike person which Doctrine may yet be questioned then it will as well follow on the other hand that the Promise made by God unto Adam should extend and reach unto all his posterity he then having them all Representatively in himself when the promise was made to him which promise was made without any personal limitation but to Adam indefinitely and consequently to all mankind in general 1 Cor. 15. â—2 And thus the Apostle seems to make the Plaister as large as the Sore As in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive See also Rom. 5.15,16,17,18,19 Where sin aboundeth Grace did superabound Rom. 5.20 where the love of God in the gift of his Son Jesus Christ is fully vindicated from the diminishing aspersions which some cast on it by limiting and curtailing of it My endeavour and design is to acquit and clear the most Righteous and Holy God from being active or impulsive consenting unto approving of or having any hand in the sin of man Let the soul that sinneth bear his own iniquity and let the sin and guilt be laid at his door that doth the evil let not God be charged with it but let every one of us humble our selves under his Mighty Hand that must lift us up and deliver us in his due time 1 Pet. 5.6 55. Again The evidence of this Truth will be yet further cleared up if we consider how God expostulated the matter with Cain He doth not fall upon him with any hard speeches calling him Reprobate Cast-away c. but meekly reasons it out with him Where is thy brother If thou dest well shalt thou not be accepted Whence we may conclude that Cains murder did not proceed from any predestinate or impulsive Act of Reprobation but from his own voluntary Inclination to the suggestion of Satan by whom he was begotten a son of murder in resigning his Will to the Will of the wicked one Iohn 8.44 who was a Murtherer from the beginning and begat Children of his own nature like himself 56. Now if God had so irrecoverably reprobated Cain from all Eternity as some say he did and all other unrepenting wicked men as well as he then there had been no place for acceptation of Cain let him have done never so well or else God should make a shew of one thing and intend the clean contrary of which blasphemous Imputation God forbid that any should be guilty But whereas God told Cain plainly that if he had done well he might have been accepted it is manifest that there was Grace enough given in the Promise as a publique stock and laid up in Adam as a common person in whom all Mankind then was so that one as well as another might freely take of it for there is no Respect of persons with God to inrich supply and enable himself sufficiently to do the Will of God And to this the Scriptures bear witness Isa 55. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money come ye buy and eat yea come buy Wine and Milk without money and without price John 7.37 Jesus stood and cryed saying If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink Rev. 22.17 The Spirit and the Bride say Come and let him that heareth say Come and let him that is athirst come And whosoever will let him take the water of life freely John 3.14,15,16,17 and chap. 12.47 I came not to judge or condemn the world but to save the world Mar. 16.15 Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every Creature c. Every Creature whosoever will What more plain 57. Nay Cain himself when he was reproved by God had not the impudence to answer or reply that it was not so much his fault that he killed his brother nor could he help or avoid what he did for he was reprobated and rejected left to himself and denyed grace to withstand the temptation and resist the Devil No he had no such plea for doubtless his Father and Mother did conceal the Promise no more from him being the first born and a man from the Lord as his mother thought then from Abel And therefore he takes shame to himself laies his hand upon his mouth bewails his condition confesseth that his felly and sin not Gods reprobating Act had brought this misery upon him he doth not he durst not so much as once offer to open his mouth against God Yea The worst of men have acknowledged their destruction to be of themselves and in their very torments have justified God and condemned themselves as Solomon sets forth and describes their wofull complaint They repenting and groaning for anguish
would not hide this from ye Nor is there any cause for ye to be afraid No man will or can hurt you though they be never so mad against me For it is not your hour but mine that is come The Son of man shall be delivered In these words Christ foretold both the day and manner of his death that his Disciples when they saw it might not fear and faint in their mind as if some unexpected thing had come upon them Observe he doth not name the person The Son of man shall be delivered he doth not express who should deliver him and that not without cause For it was not one only that delivered him 1. Joh. 3.16 Rom. 8.32 Our heavenly Father moved with mercy and love delivered him for us 2. The Son out of his abundant charity delivered himself He delivered himself saith Peter 1 Epist ch 2. v. 23. to him that judged unjustly So the Vulg. Lat. hath it and then it must be understood of Pilate 3. Judas out of covetousness delivered him 4. The chief Priests full of envy delivered him to Pilate 5. Pilate out of humane fear delivered him to those that crucified him 6. We also have delivered Christ to death yea we most of all For neither had the Father delivered him for us Nor could his adversaries have done any thing against him if he had not taken our sins upon him Therefore he doth justly say to us Es 43.24 Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities Again 53.6 the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all And Paul saith 2 Cor. 5.21 He hath made him sin for us who knew no sin And Jeremy Lam. 4.20 The breath of our mouth the Lord Christ was taken in our sins Vulg. Lat. And in the Psalm he saith Psalm 69.9 The reproaches of them that reproached thee have faln on me ver 4. I restored that which I took not away Christ puts us in mind of all these when he saith The Son of man shall be delivered c. It is also to be noted that this word Passover is not taken from passion or suffering as some think but from the Hebrew word Phase which signifieth a passing over for the reason before mentioned And the same word Pascha or Passover is not alwaies taken in the same sense For sometime it signifieth the Lamb to be offered as when it is said Mar. 14.12 Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou maist eat the Passover Sometime it signifieth the feast day as Joh. 2.23 When he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Sometime it signifieth all the Paschal week as Act. 12.4 Intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people Sometime it signifieth the unleavened bread as where it is said Joh. 18.28 They themselves went not into the Judgement Hall lest they should be defiled but that they might eat the Passover Mat. 26.3,4 Then assembled together the chief Priests and the Scribes and the Elders of the people unto the Palace of the high Priest who was called Caiaphas and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty and kill him Here the Evangelist discovereth what kind of men they were who for envy could not endure to see or suffer the Lord Christ to live He calleth them Priests Scribes and Elders of the people as also Princes and principal men from whom nothing less should have been expected For they were they that had the knowledge of the Law To them the predictions of the Prophets were known They I say were they whom one of them Nicodemus by name personated and said Joh. 3.2 Master we know that thou art a Teacher come from God for no man can do these Miracles that thou dost except God be with him Yet their envy so quelled all these things in them that they chiefly yea they alone were they that hunted Christ to the Cross Who can but wonder at such gross blindness of so many wise men Yea who can but tremble at that terrible judgement of God whereby he blinded them Esa 6.10 that seeing they might not see and hearing they might not hear yea that they should both shut their eyes and stop their ears against a most clear truth Observat Whence we may learn that the free gifts of God do more hurt then good to them that believe not Thus knowledge without faith puffeth up 1 Cor. 8.1 power without faith gives liberty to all wickedness It is not enough then to have knowledge or power unless there be also those justifying gifts Faith Hope and Charity Observat Hence also we see that the wise and great men of this world are for the most part nothing but vessels of Gods anger Thus Paul saith of the wise ones God gave them over to a reprobate sense Pharoah was therefore blinded that God might shew his power in him Boast not therefore of wisdom or power but fear It is one of Gods greatest works to Luke 1.51,52 scatter the proud in the imagination of their hearts and to put down the mighty from their seat The Evangelist doth neatly pile up their sin malice and blindness even in every word Then He begins first with an Emphasis when he saith Then were gathered together Then I say when Christ had omitted nothing that might make them happy Then when they had often seen the excellent doctrine and wonderful miracles of Christ Then I say when he came with godly works to be prepared worthily to celebrate the feast of the Paschal solemnity Thus wicked men have no regard of any Thing or Time but only how to fulfill their own lusts Assembled together But what did they They assembled together This had been no new or strange thing if this had not been added that they gathered themselves against Jesus nor simply so but that they might take him by subtilty and kill him They are truly evil that gather together againist Jesus Happy had they been if they had met together for Jesus to search the Scriptures Whether he were indeed the Messias as the first believers did Acts 17. And for what cause did they desire to take and kill Iesus the true Saviour who saved so many miserable men in body and soul Nothing is here exprest But it may be plainly collected out of John where when they consulted they said John 11.47,48 What do we for this man doth many miracles If we let him alone c. But more fully out of the Book of Wisdom where it is said Wisd 2.12 The wicked assembled against the righteous saying Let us lye in wait for him because he is clean contrary to our doings he upbraideth us with our offending the Law he was made to reprove our thoughts he is grievous unto us even to behold c. You see what they hated in him even the Light and Truth John
honest men if they were but compared with this perfidious wretched Villain for what was all their Treasons to this 1. Now this Treachery of Judas was figured out in Joab who also betrayed and cut off two famous men 2 Sam. 3.20 Abner and Amasa with a kiss 2. To conclude this Treason of Judas did prefigure the crafty devises of Hereticks who indeed counterfeit themselves to be the friends of Truth but are the Betrayers of it For by flattery and fair speeches they beguil the hearts of the simple Jer. 6. They say as in the Prophet Peace Peace where there is no Peace They have Christ much in their mouth but most of all oppose the faith of him very like the Traytor Judas who are also appointed to the same condemnation Jesus therefore knowing all things that should come upon him John 18.4 went forth and said unto them Whom seek ye They answered him Jesus of Nazareth Jesus saith unto them I am he And Judas also which betrayed him stood with them Assoon then as he had said unto them I am he they went backward and fell on the ground Then asked he them again Whom seek ye And they said Jesus of Nazareth Jesus answered I have told ye that I am he if therefore ye seek me let these go their way That the saying might be fulfilled which he spake Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none All these things were thus done and written that by most manifest Arguments we might see that Christ came to the Cross willingly and of his own accord For if he had been compel'd to the Cross by humane force or fraud the world would have appeared to be more crafty and stronger than he and consequently that Christ had not been God For what kind of God is he against whom the world is able to prevail Again He had not manifested so much love if he had suffered death unwillingly and by constraint But it is most plain in that the Evangelists do every where shew that he could not be surprized by fraud or humane force till he himself pleased I say it is plain that he was both wiser and stronger than the world and so his love did thereby shine forth more clearly All which make much for our comfort For as he said before John 13.1 that knowing his hour was now come that he should now pass out of this world c. having loved his own c. So now also although he truly knew not only some things but all that should come upon him yea and knew them most perfectly too and that they were hard at hand yet did he not shrink or flee or hide himself but continued his love to us unto the end And therefore he went out to meet his enemies single by himself against many without any weapon against those that were armed that they might all see he did not fear death At other times we often read that he made an escape Joh. 8. 11. and hid himself but now he doth voluntarily meet his enemies The time which his Father had prefixed was now come In both he was our example For by his flight and hiding himself he taught us not to tempt God but by meeting his foes he instructed us readily to resign our selves to the Will of God and to obey him with all cheerfulness of mind Thus Paul sometimes fled without intreaty but at last he would not be perswaded when the Brethren earnestly intreated him with many tears to make his escape What mean you saith he to weep Acts 9. Acts 21.13 and to break my heart here he offered himself to the Will of God there he would not tempt God rashly Doing both in faith For we can do neither without the help of God We cannot avoid an imminent danger if the hand of God rescue us not neither can we resign our selves to the Will of God except the Spirit of God assist us It is also to be observed John 6. that Christ conveighed himself from them that would have made him a King and no marvel For he that exalteth himself shall be brought low Kingdoms and Empires for the most part are nothing but steep places for men to fall from and break their necks Contrariwise when they sought to crucifie him he came out to meet them For he knew that the Cross was the way to the Father Let us also learn in the hope of future happiness not to be affrighted at present and momentany evils and not so much regard what we suffer but consider that by our sufferings we are going toward our Father See how forward Christ was to suffer For he doth not only meet his Adversaries but first asks them whom they sought He might have rebuked them sharply and cast his former benefits with their ingratitude and impiety in their Teeth yea he might have destroyed them all at one beck However he doth not so but with fair words he asked them what they sought as if he knew nothing of their design This was not the time of his Judgement but of his shewing Mercy He would not be passionate but patient and overcome evil with good Therefore he speaks to them in a familiar manner Whom seek yee 1. By which word he did warn them that they should take heed what they did Saith he Whom seek ye even an innocent person and him whom ye know by his Signs and Miracles which he did Gen. 4. that he is more and greater than a man Consider well t is no small offence to seek the death of the innocent For the blood of the innocent reacheth unto Heaven But t is much more hainous to sin against God If one man sin against another the Judge shall judge him 1 Sam. 2.25 but if a man sin against God who shall entreat for him 2. By this word Whom seek ye Christ jeereth their needless preparations he mocketh at their fear Whom saith he do yee seek i. e. What need these arms Whom do you fear Is it me who have no Weapon about me or do ye seek for my Disciples who also are unarmed men He doth not tell them at first sight I am he whom ye look for though he knew their enterprize but first asketh them that he might take occasion from their answer to confute them and that all the world might see and know that such a huge multitude went out to take one single man as they themselves confess that they did seek but for one 3. He first askt his Adversaries whom they sought after before he let them lay hands on him because thereby he might yet extend and offer Grace unto them q.d. To this end was I sent that I might hold forth unto all men and bestow it too upon them And as many as have sought me with a good heart hitherto know it full well to be true Therefore if ye also seek for Grace lo here I am and ready to
so he might mollifie his mind and teach us to do the like The meaning is Friend wherefore art thou come q.d. I invite thee to be friends For as I foreknew what thou wouldst do so now I am ready to forgive thee and to receive thee into former favour and friendship again though thou hast thus sin'd against me Do not sleight my offer but consider what thou art attempting how wickedly thou dealest with me who have deserved no such thing at thy hands Friend wherefore art thou come Who did bring thee to me who forc'd thee hither Was it my fault Have any of mine offended thee But thou art come willingly of thy own accord The rest are commanded and compelled but thou comest and therefore thou hast the greater sin O Judas I pitty thee how doth thy destruction trouble me for whom I now suffer in vain Lo thou art the first on whom my blood hath no effect Why art thou come Surely not to my destruction but thine own because thou art come to destroy me by whom thou shouldest be saved For how can he be saved that would destroy the very Truth Righteousness and Salvation it self And these we may suppose were not spoken to Judas only but to all such as intend mischief to their Neighbours For truly he that wrongs his Neighbour doth first ruin himself Therefore Brethren let us look to it and give all diligence that we be not found false but reall friends of God and Christ As Abraham was called the friend of God James 2. and Lazarus the friend of Christ Joh. 11. And Christ doth not call his Apostles servants but Friends Joh. 15. But Judas was never the better for all Christs counsell It may be he thought that Christ spake this out of fear Therefore after he had kist him Christ cals him yet once more the last time and that with great expression of love and goodness Judas saith saith he dost thou betray the son of man with a kiss Now he doth lay open his sin and touch him to the quick he aggravateth the sin it self that so being terrified therewith he might forbear O Judas what a horrible sin dost thou commit What man durst ever do the like Dost thou only strive to out-strip all other men besides in malice and mischief Beware what thou dost Thou thinkest to cheat me with thy fawning flattery and to hide thy hatred from me But I knew long ago what thy purpose was and what bargain thou drovest with the Jews and what thou meanest by this thy treacherous kiss thou betrayest the Son of Man But consider what an hainous crime it is to destroy the innocent Consider also who and what he is whose life thou huntest after Grant it hitherto I have called my self only the son of Man but I will make thee see and know who this son of Man is Thou dost not destroy the son of man only but the Son of God too Thou betrayest them both at once Thou betrayest him that is thy Father by creation thy Lord by preservation thy Saviour by Redemption thy Brother by incarnation thy Master by instruction thy Friend by election and lastly him that will be thy Judge by a finall Retribution See how many sins thou committest at once and all by one kiss Thus thou woundest him by a shew of Love thou sheddest his blood by a seeming work of charity thou seekest his death in a way of peace what can be more odious then this horrid fact We see here how unwilling God is that any man should perish and how grievously they sin who are the occasion of others ruin and destruction As on the other side how honourably they deserve who are the means of others Salvation Jam. 5.20 Here Christ instructeth by his Example and Word By this Example he teacheth us 1. Patiently to bear with wicked men yea to bear the guil and treachery of false Friends as Christ did patiently bear the falshood of Judas for we that are servants ought not to be greater than our Lord. 2. So to love our Neighbour that we wink not at their faults as Christ here calleth Judas Friend yet withall he rebuked him for his sin By those two words which Christ here spake be would warn every man not to be like Judas lest they suffer as he did It were to be wisht that there were but one Judas in the Church of Christ We all indeed cry out against his malice but mean while we do the same things which we blame him for Judas was a covetous man and for filthy lucre he sold Christ He rob'd the poor of their Alms and gifts of charity He did not make it his business to preach Christ He was not converted at the preaching of Christ He took the Body of Christ in his sins He betrayed Christ under a colour of peace He was an hypocrite He was obstinate and impenitent c. How oft do we see these and such like things in a Church Is not he a Traytor that confesseth Christ with his mouth but denyeth him in his works Also he that doth contrary to righteousness truth charity c. for money or any other temporal advantage Likewise he that makes a shew of Love to his Neighbour but hateth him in his heart O cursed generation of Judas how many and deep roots hast thou fastened in the earth But the time will come when all the followers of Judas shall perish together with their Jewish frowardness Mean while let the godly like Christ bear and have patience with wicked men Now when Judas had kissed him no doubt but the rest run upon Jesus to lay hands upon lest the traytors sign being observed they should let him escape Therefore it follows in the Text When they which were about him saw what would follow Luke 22.49 they said unto him Lord shall we smite with the sword Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it John 18.10 and smote the high Priests servant and cut off his right ear the servants name was Malchus And Jesus answered and said Suffer ye thus far Luke 22.51 John 18.11 Mat 26.52 Then said Jesus unto Peter Put up thy sword into the sheath for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father and he shall presently give me more then twelve Legions of Angels The cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it John 18.11 Mat. 26.54 Luke 22.51 But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be And he touched his ear and healed him The Apostles understood not what Christ said at supper when he spake of buying a sword Christ meant the sword of the Spirit but they thought that he had spoken of a material sword Therefore they presently brought him two swords and now when they saw their enemies they asked whether they should fight in his defence But Peter as one hotter then the rest and flusht
with the late miracle which he saw when Christ with a word hurl'd all his enemies to the ground and not thinking of Christs answer draws his sword and falls about him as if he would valiantly perform what he promised Who would not take Peter for a very stout and valiant man that durst signly incounter such a company of armed men If we consider him carnally then he did notably discharge his Engagement that he would die with Christ Did he not lay down his life for Christ when he hazarded it in charging an army of men But his Lord did not so construe it Peter did this more out of carnal confidence than of spiritual faith Now indeed he was bold so long as he saw a divine Power in Christ but presently after Christ hid his Power Peters courage quickly grew cold Whence 't is plain that this his valour proceeded not from faith if it had it would have held out in danger For Faith is most couragious in difficulties There was love and zeal in Peter but not according to knowledge Christians are forbid to fight Mat. 5. If we would overcome the world it must be with another kind of weapon we can do little or nothing with a corporal sword Peter saw that the sons of Zebedee were chid for saying Master Wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume these Samaritans as Elias did Luke 9.54 Know ye not saith he of what spirit ye are of The son of man came not to destroy but to save mens lives This Peter heard and yet now he layes about him as if he would kill them all if he could The flesh ever loves fighting it seeks to revenge it self Peter did not yet understand that Christ must suffer Nay he did not know that Martial Discipline was never taught in the school of Christ but that patient submission was alwayes learned there Whereas Peter did that servant no more hurt no thanks to Peters good will but to Christs goodness who useth to do good to unworthy and unthankfull men otherwise fire from Heaven might more justly have consumed this servant or the earth have swallowed him up alive But whereas Peter did in special cut off this servants ear it was not by chance but by the Providence of God and that not without a Mysterie too 1. For First It signified that the Jews should from henceforth lose the true and right hearing or obedience of the Law and Prophets and should interpret all things in a wrong and not in a right sense which also is come to pass 2. But secondly Whereas Christ healed that servant it shewed that in due time they should be inlightned again by Christ when the fulness of the Gentiles was come in Rom. 11. 3. Thirdly Whereas he whose ear was cut off was the servant of the high Preist it she weth that this sort of men viz. the Parasites of great persons have for the most part but one ear only and that the left one whence it is that they only hear and report to their Masters those things only which are false wicked worldly c. but they will neither hearken to nor tell their Lords the truth the Word of God the Righteousness and good service of others 4. But lastly Whosoever is an enemy to Christ hath but one ear for he understandeth all things in a wrong sense and never cometh to the light of Truth The name also of this servant is exprest because of the miracle that was wrought on him in curing his ear again But let us return again to Peter who was now fallen under the power of the sword because he had taken up the sword And no doubt but he had felt the force of other swords if Christ had not protected him by his divine Power What doth Christ therefore do He reproved Peter and forbids him to use any such force or violence and that with many Arguments for Peter by this fact was many wayes to be reproved 1. First because every private person is forbid to use the sword 2. Secondly Because having been so long in the school of Christ he should have learned that the weapons of our warfar are spiritual mighty through God 2 Cor. 10. 3. Thirdly He was an Apostle yea the chief of the Apostles whose duty is to save not to destroy 4. Lastly Peter was most blame worthy in that he gave the first blow before any hurt was done either to him or to Christ Therefore Christ doth justly blame him more than the rest He speaks but one word to the rest Suffer ye thus far saith he q.d. It is a great work of Charity to preserve the life of our Neighbour and to defend him from violence but there is another business now in hand My Father hath appointed me to suffer and to die Let me alone therefore that I may suffer and accomplish those things which the Father hath determined to do by me for the salvation of men Suffer ye yet that I may be apprehended and perfect the work of your Redemption this he said to the other Disciples But he saith more to Peter at first Put up thy sword into his place q.d. Knowest thou not that I did chide thee before and called thee Satan for this very thing Mat. 16. Do not hinder my death but rather study to conform to it Throw away this thy sword with which thou dost kill and slay men My sword which I gave thee doth destroy and cut down sin but preserveth men Put up therefore that outward sword into the sheath or as the other Evangelists say into its place Now the proper place of the material sword is the ordinary Power Therefore hide thy sword here Let that Power use it not thou If the body be sick the Physitian is to cure it not the Plow-man So if any thing be amiss in the Mystical or rather the Politick body it concerns the Power to deal with it not every private person 1. Christ then doth hereby forbid all revenge to private persons as it is written Vengeance is mine I will repay it Deut. 32. 2. Secondly He teacheth us to overcome evil with good according to that Mat. 5. Ye have heard that it hath been said An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth But I say unto you Do good to them that hate you Christians ought not to defend themselves with swords and staves but with Humility Patience Gentleness Courtesies Learn of me saith he for I am meek and lowly in heart Mat. 11. 3. Again Christ doth hereby condemn our wrath and impatience who cannot put up and pass by a hasty word nor be content to requite with the like loss but must revenge our selves double and trebble contrary to that of Paul Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good Rom. 12. 4. Fourthly We are here taught that the Gospel is not to be fought for with worldly weapons and
gates are open only to the rich and such as bring presents with them Hence Isaiah saith They judge not the fatherless neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them Isa 1. So chap. 59. Truth is fallen in the street and Equity cannot enter When Peter was shut out John makes way to bring him in but to his great loss It had been better for him he had never come in His Brother Andrew formerly gave him a much more happy entrance to Christ Iohn 1. For here he is in a sort led away from Christ In Caiaphas's house there was neither Truth nor Equity to be found But what Christ foretold must come to pass Thou shalt deny me thrice Now was fulfilled that which Christ shewed him long ago in a kind of Figure When the Disciples were all in danger together upon the Sea Mat. 14. Christ came to them walking on the water When Peter heard his voyce he offered of his own accord to go to him and he also walking on the Sea to go to Christ when he saw the wind was rough he was afraid and when he was almost drowned the Lord caught him by the hand In that Miracle was foreshewed what here came to pass For here the Lord did truly walk above the waters while his Disciples were toyling in the Sea because when his Apostles were offended he endured Tribulation quietly at his pleasure and suddenly rose up a Conquerer of Death So did Peter also walk upon the waters to go to Jesus for being yet mindfull of his former love he followed Christ in the confidence of that little Faith he had left although it was afar off But he saw a strong gust of wind coming against him and so was afraid for fear he denyed by denying he had been drowned if the Lord had not stretched out his hand to hold him Hear now who was that wind It is said when she that kept the door saw him If you consider the maid her self she was but a little cloud But if you look to that Council of those Malignants which Peter did so dread then you will find this maids word was crabbed it was indeed a very blustering wind Thus Satan that sifter of the Apostles layeth his plot so as to begin his crafty Temptations with a woman which sex did heretofore open the door of deceit to our first Parent in Paradise Gen. 3. But t is possible the maid might take pitty on Peter and speak to him to warn him that if he were one of Jesus his Disciples he should make haste and be gone out of sight And her words seem to imply as much For she did not accuse him nor speak positively Nor did she rail on Christ calling him a Deceiver but only a man Finally she did but ask Peter the question whether he were not one of that mans Disciples What doth Peter answer her Woman saith he I am not I know him not I do not know what thou sayst See how easily that strong Pillar was shaken with the blast of one breath Take notice what it was that Peter denyed and before whom He denyed that he belonged to Christ He that denies himself to be one of Christs must needs give up himself to the Devil Peter doth not deny before the Souldiers or the high Priest but before the Damosel What is now become of his former courage Is it not plain enough to be seen now that he took the Sword before for Christs Defence out of carnal affection and not out of a spiritual discerning If he were such a stout Champion in a just quarrel why doth he not now so much as with a word vindicate Christs innocency I say not fight for him with his Sword If he denyed before a maid the meanest of women what would he have done before Kings and Princes But we are all the same that Peter was Before the Lord comes to Judgement and while we are yet ignorant of our own weakness we are wont to be proud of our Power and as it were all on fire with zeal for God but in the Judgement of the Lord we are as wax before the fire and as the dust which the wind scattereth from the face of the earth so we melt and moulder away Psalm 1. Peter then is a Type of those who attempt to do any thing without the Grace of God it so falls out that they both accuse Christ of a lye and what they boast they will do they never perform They charge Christ with a lye for he saith Without me ye can do nothing John 15. And they are never as good as their word For Paul saith The good that I would that do I not but the evil that I would not that I do Rom. 7. Whence we may infer that the Evangelists did not so exactly set down this story of Peter out of any desire to inveigh against or aggravate the sins of other men but only for our instruction And it is most worthy of our observation For 1. We see here that not the least word of Christ was spoken in vain which is a great confirmation of our Faith For otherwise if but one word of Christ had failed we might have doubted all the rest 2. Here we see that there is as little as comes to nothing placed in mans power For as iron which of it self is hard yet will easily be blunted with stones unless it be hardened with liquors or something else so the mind of man although it boast that it can scorn all perils for the love of Truth yet will it be overcome with the sharp brunt of opposition if it be not strengthened by the Grace of the Holy Spirit If Peter a man of so great Faith and Love who lived so long with Christ and was so familiar with him that he gave him a taste of the Heavenly Joy in his Transfiguration did fall so fowly what may be expected of us There is no security any where so long as we are in this mortal body An Angel fell in Heaven Adam in Paradise Peter in the world Who then should not dread the incomprehensible height of Gods Judgements Well therefore doth Paul admonish Be not high minded but fear Rom. 11. Again Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall 1 Cor. 10. Thou art righteous in thy own conceit but thou canst not tell whether thou art so in the sight of God Nay thou knowest not what thou mayst be to morrow Look on holy Peter Who would have believed that either he or any man else should have fallen from so great confidence and love into such fickleness and impiety without mighty opposition On the other hand who would have thought that that Thief should have been saved A man can be in no safer condition than to continue with all carefulness in deep humility to hope in Gods Mercy not to boast himself in his own merits or foolishly to censure and judge others When thou seest any man sin be he never so bad
of all things with my Divinity and I can lay hold on man the workmanship of our hands with my Mortality So that I am neither coy nor strange to man that doth desire thy Grace nor unequal or inferiour to thee who art the giver of all Grace 2. Besides I am the fittest Priest the worthiest High Priest of any for I am holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners I am made higher then the Heavens Heb. 7. I pay that I never had I have no need to start or shrink back from reconciling my Brethren no man hath any thing against me none can lay ought to my charge no not thou Father nor yet these my Brethren which crucifie me I have wronged none I owe no man a farthing I possess no mans estate I am out of debt to all the world I have no need to make satisfaction or offer Sacrifice for my self Therefore I enter the Holy place bearing the Golden Censer and carrying much incense of prayers I lay down a price for many of my own blood I offer up my very self that unspotted Sacrifice and Priest for the people For certain I am never any whole burnt offering came up before thee more holy more acceptable more successfull then this Wherefore O Father I knowing thy mercies very well that they are over all thy works in the midst of these very Sacrifices I come forth to meet thee with strong crying and tears in Faith nothing doubting I humbly crave beseech intreat and beg this at thy hands pardon thy people spare thy people blot out the iniquity of thy people with this my blood Forgive Forgive them Father forgive them q.d. I confess Adam hath sinned Gen. 3. and all his posterity is become abominable Psalm 13. it is prone to evil from their youth Gen. 6 and wickedness is multiplyed upon the earth Charity is grown cold long since and will do more and more and iniquity will abound Our own people also whom we have chosen out of all Nations hath committed a great and grievous sin in tormenting me thy only Son with so many and so great Tortures they little regard whether I be thine or do belong to thee or no although I am about to give a clear Testimony make full proof of it to which one crime and horrid offence if all their other villanous acts and all the rest of their wicked deeds were compared they would seem as little as nothing How great is thy Majesty which is despised and my Dignity which is derided That people despiseth both and do heap up horrible iniquities to their Fathers Transgressions I acknowledge thy wrath hath hitherto justly raged by the offence of that one Adam Heaven was justly shut up the jaws of Hell opened and death entered into the world Thou hast justly armed the Heavens and all the Elements for vengeance against sinners justly hath fire from Heaven burnt up some alive justly hath the distemper of the ayr and the pestilence destroyed others justly hath the Sea over flown and drowned others with all the encrease of the fruit of their Land justly hath the earth with open mouth devoured others Righteous art thou and just are thy Judgements In Justice thou mightest have continued thy displeasure till thou hadst utterly destroyed and exacted the utmost farthing for full satisfaction And if all the men that ever yet lived to this very day had never so profusely and prodigally lavished out all their blood they could not have expiated or blotted out the least transgression Such and so great is the weight and hainousness of the unspeakable wickedness that no man could make satisfaction for it but God and none ought to have done it but man who had sinned Now I am he I am God and I am man In me only the whole salvation of man dependeth For that cause I became an exile in a strange Country I have been wearied and tired out with cold heat hunger thirst nakedness watchings weariness I have been tempted oppressed afflicted What pains what torments have I not endured in this poor slender thin body What sorrows what straits what disturbances and perplexity of mind have I not had experience of Was there ever any sorrow like to this of mine when there is no soundness from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head What remaineth therefore O Father but that thou lay aside thy anger appease thy diseleasure abate thy wrath forgive them take pitty on them pour out the abundance of thy Graces upon them seeing I have and do make such abundant satisfaction for them I invocate and pray unto thee as a Father not as a Judge I intreat thee not to punish but forgive them for my blood doth not cry for vengeance as Abels did Gen. 4. unless happily there shall be any that will not be saved by it I have forgiven them already who am now tortured for them do thou also pardon them whom that thou mighest pardon thou didst of purpose send me into the world Forgive Them those that are thine own Them whom thou didst promise to have mercy upon before the world began whom thou wilt also call and sanctifie in time Of which number are these that have crucified me and not only these Roman Souldiers and Jews and the rest of the Standers by but all men in the world besides Alam crucifieth me who sinned in Paradise David crucifieth me who offended in Jerusalem Every man crucifieth me for there is not a man but is a sinner I supplicate for all I suffer for all I sacrifice for all do thou pardon and forgive all that by my death it may appear that neither thou nor I do desire the death of sinners but rather that they should be converted and live Ezek. 18. But in a more special way of love I beseech thee for those my honest plain hearted Brethren for whose sakes thy pleasure was that I should be made a Gentile forgive them this grievous Crime The Fact I cannot excuse I confess they have sinned most exceedingly yet this I must plead for them that their mind was not so abominably mischievous They know not c. They know not what they do Wilt thou then destroy an ignorant Nation They are a blind and unthankfull people they do not yet see what they do but ere long they shall look on him whom they have peirced They cannot tell who I am they know not that I am thy Son The Devil yet by our permission and counsel hath hid from them those great Mysteries of my Divinity and Humanity Forgive them therefore for they know not what they do For had they known they would never have crucified the Lord of Glory 1 Cor. 2. Likewise forgive the rest too for they also know not what they do for all that work iniquity have been and are deceived In Adam they did proudly desire to know as much as we justly therefore are they become as ignorant as the bruit beasts
good but this one man Why therefore hast thou forsaken me Why hast thou exposed me to so many sorrows Do I suffer for this Thief alone O thy wonderfull Love indeed to mankind Thou hast no need of the goods of any creature Thou art most absolute perfect and blessed in thy self How wonderfull therefore is thy goodness by reason whereof thou hast set forth and offered me thy Son to and for all men Psalm 22. Behold I the fairest of men thy Delight the Joy of Angel am become a worm and a very abject of worms for the Salvation of Worms I admire thy wonderfull counsell in Redeeming man I admire thy unspeakable goodness Nor do I less admite that I of my own endeavour should so lovingly so exceedingly beyond measure obey thy commands and offer up my self for unthankfull and disobedient men But so it seemed good unto thee Wherefore if there be yet any more punishment beâ—…d inflict it I willingly accept of it and bid it welcome I acknowledge thee yet to be my God It is my will that thy will be done My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Behold my heart is ready to fulfill all thy commands I am in great pain but the greatness of my love doth far exceed it Yea though thou shouldest yet forsake me more and though they should be yet more ungratefull yet I cannot be separated from the love of thee and them whom thou hast called For who shall separate me from thy Love Shall tribulation or distress But thou hast forsaken me that thou mayest not forsake me thou hast humbled me that thou mayest make me great thou hast cast me off that thou mayest receive me most honourably Thou hast forsaken me and hast left me only this that I may though without comfort flee unto and call upon thee Wherefore let thy chastened Son be pleasing to thee and willingly hear him who doth in his great exercise of affliction send up his roaring cry of charity unto thee My God my God why hast thou forsaken me 1. Now concerning this place we may observe first that this cry Why hast thou forsaken me was not fictitious or feigned but most real and true and not only of the mouth but also of the heart and all the humane force and powers For Christ at this hour had stript himself of God not by casting him away but by not perceiving and feeling him acting the part of a pure man It was truly and overmuch an Humane voyce proceeding from Humane affection so to complain why God should forsake him and why he should suffer wicked men to do so much So David I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked Psalm 73. And Jeremiah Why doth the way of the wicked prosper Jer. 12. And Habbakuk Why dost thou shew me iniquity and cause me to behold grievance for spoiling and violence are before me How long shall I cry and thou wilt not hear Hab. 1. Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously and holest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous then he Hab. 1.13 Thus Christ speaks here out of Humane affection And so he did sufficiently shew his true Humanity when he prayed before in the Garden But this miserable cry doth much more clearly shew the same against such Hereticks as should after spring up denying his Humane nature Let none therefore be offended at this complaint which was truly Humane but let every one think with himself that flesh and blood did here truly hang on the cross in the form of a servant Phil. 2. These things are tryed and proved on the cross by death and the pure Humanity But after three dayes you shall see and find much other things when the new and living and chearfull Body shall rise out of the Sepulchre So then it is plain that Christ as he was girt with greatest gladness so he was also compossed with extream sorrow And as he was endowed with the highest Truth so he was beset with the deepest and lowest infirmity and as he spent his life in the greatest peace so he lived also in sorest troubles I say as Christ enjoyed the sweetness of life so he tasted the bitterness of death 2. Observe that that Desertion of Christ is the fear and dread of our conscience for sin which we commit which doth find and feel the Judgement of God and eternal Wrath and is so affected therewith as if it were perpetually forsaken and cast out from the presence of God for ever according to that of David I said in my haste I am cut off from before thine eyes Psalm 31.22 Who can but despair when Judgement is revealed There is none can stand before the Judgement of God or is able to bear it For as the too great Splendor of the Sun will dazle and darken the eyes and loud noyse make one deaf so the Judgement of God is too loud for our mind and heart to endure and too heavy for our humane strength to undergo And therefore it forceth a man to despair because there is no way open to escape as Amos saith They shall not escape he that fleeth of them shall not flee away Though they dig into Hell thence shall my hand take them Amos 9. When the Lord comes thus to Judgement all the creatures obey him and further the Judgement of God to execute all fearfull plagues upon the damned as it is in Joel The Earth shall quake the Heavens shall tremble the Suu and the Moon shall be dark Joel 2. Again In that day the Sun shall go down at noon Amos 8. That is in the day of the Lords Judgement What is more miserable then man so judged of the Lord destitute of the counsel comfort and help of all the creatures and despairing This is the Judgement that all we deserved for our sins Christ therefore the only begotten Son of God did of his meer Mercy without any of our merit cast himself into our case and took that punishment which we had deserved upon his own shoulders Here we see on one hand the common people stand reviling Christ the Priests blaspheming the Thieves cursing the Apostles denying him his Friends forsaking him the Earth moved the Sun darkened in short all horrid things and all the creatures set against him On the other hand we see God also his Adversary and so forsaking him that he cryes out why hast thou forsaken me Which of us would not have despaired in such necessity But Christ took all this upon him that he might overcome our desperation and give us also hope in the like extremity So that this was our voyce or cry who by no means were able to bear the Judgement of God but must have despaired But Christ took that Cry upon himself and overcame our despair that now we may be sure God will never forsake us no though he seem so to do as Christ in that hour seemed to be
of the power of it which is exercised either in with holding from good or drawing into evil of both which the Apostle speaketh Rom. 7.19,20 Secondly In respect of the filth of it Sin is a filthy thing an unclean corrupt rotten thing like the putrified matter of an Ulcer Sore Apostemation or running issue Lev. 15.2 Isa 1.6 Mat. 9.20 Thirdly In respect of the guilt of it Sin is alway accompanied with guilt it never goes without it either sensibly or insensibly How heavy did it lie on Cain Judas c. Fourthly In respect of the deformity of it Sin is an uncomly unseemly ugly thing it makes a man not look like himself it defaceth Gods Image in man so that he cannot he doth not or will not know him Verily I know ye not ye workers of iniquity Sin is a spot Deut. 32.5 which causeth a blot or blemish where it is It is no beauty spot and I could wish that the beauty-spots of our times did not arise from this filthy spot of sin Fifthly In respect of the enmity of it Sin stands in utter hatred and detestation to all good Purity and Holiness Gen. 3.15 Gal. 5.17 Sixthly In regard of the curse Sin hath a most dolefull and lamentable execration annext unto it In sorrow shalt thou conceive cursed is the ground for thy sake in the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat thy bread cursed art thou above all cattel and above every beast of the field Gen. 3. 9. Now there can be no deliverance from sin in any of these considerations without death The death of Christ is our original Copy acoording to which there is a necessity for us to write For as much then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh arm your selves likewise with the same mind for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin 1 Pet. 4.1 No freedom from sin till there be a conformity to Christs sufferings in the flesh It is with us as it was with Israel of old We are strangers and bondmen in a sinfull Aegypt in an Aegyptian nature of sin we groan and would gladly be gone out of it but cannot nor shall we till the Paschal Lamb be offered Exod. 12. And as that Lamb was to be offered in the same land out of which Israel was to be delivered so must we by the oblation of Christ offer up our selves in that state out of which we would be set at liberty Let us present our bodies a living sacrifice and lay all our living lusts upon the Altar of the Cross Let us die in the body and live in the spirit suffer in the flesh and cease from sin Christ hath been as it were plainly pictured forth before our eyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 crucified in us in our nature Let us noe trample upon his blood Let us not turn this Grace of God into wantonness nor make Christ to become of none effect to us Thirdly 10. Without this knowledge of Christs death and conformity to it all our other parts and gifts let them seem never so great large spacious high strong excellent yea holy and spiritual they will all vanish and come to nothing if they be not confirmed to us in the blood of the Covenant 'T is the observation of a learned and (*) Mr. William Bridge pious man That an Hypocrite may pray away all his graces If our Gifts and Graces be not deeply rooted in the mortification they may easily evaporate in the hollow expressions of a verbal and empty prayer Knowledge will expire into pride and puff up the mind where it is true Humility will vanish into a voluntary shew of it Charity will be blasted with ostentation c. if it be not poised regulated limited and modified by a serious and unfeigned self-denial A man may borrow or steal he may filch flock and pilfer the Word of the Lord from his Neighbour Jer. 23.30 He may pick up a great many good sayings and sentences of grave and godly men and with them make a shift to patch and piece up a Prayer or Sermon and if the memory be good or the Notes fairly written a man may seem to be gayly adorned with the rich indowments of a large furnished mind 11. We read in 2 King 6. what the sons of the Prophets said to Elisha and what they did by his consent when they were straitned for room It is said they asked leave to fell timber at Jordan that they might inlarge their dwelling The Prophet grants their desire But one wiser then the rest among them bethought himself that it was wisdom to have the Prophets company and not to go about the business altogether upon their own head he asketh and the Prophet yieldeth away they go to Jordan every man with his Ax or Hatchet in his hand only one had none of his own but was fain to borrow his tool to work with down go the trees But this man lost his Hatchet before he could cut down his Beam the head flew from the helve and fell into Jordan yer he could finish his work he makes his moan to his Master complaining that it was borrowed the Prophet puts a stick of wood into the water and the Iron swimmeth the man recovers it again and makes an end of what he had began 12. All Scripture is spiritual for it was given by inspiration and therefore the spirituallest sense must needs come nearest the mind of the Spirit There is a spiritual use to be made of this spiritual part of Scripture which the holy Spirit of God hath directed to be written and taken care that it be kept upon Record The place where Elisha and the young Prophets were at first is supposed to be at Dothan which signifieth a Gift Satute or Law sometimes it is rendred a Defection or falling short of what it doth or should press unto And this latter sense will agree well enough with the former For the Law which was the gift of God from mount Sinai made nothing perfect Heb. 7.19 This place is mentioned but twice in all the Scriptures as first in Gen. 37,17 Hither Josephs brethren rambled without their fathers knowledge or consent even eight miles from Shechem where their business was like good husbands as they were and here they first conspire their brothers death Shechem signifieth a Lot Portion Shoulder or Tomb To teach us that when we gad and wander from the true Shechem the lot which God hath appointed us and the business which he hath set us to do when we omit our duty neglect our obedience when we withdraw our shoulder from the burden of Christ and pull our neck from his yoak it will be no advantage to run to Dothan all our Letter-learnedness and Scripture-knowledge will stand us in little stead yea it will incense and enrage us against the Mysterie of Christ and instigate us with an irregular zeal to conspire the death of our true Joseph it was by the learned