Clavis mystica a key opening divers difficult and mysterious texts of Holy Scripture; handled in seventy sermons, preached at solemn and most celebrious assemblies, upon speciall occasions, in England and France. By Daniel Featley, D.D.

JOHN 11.50.

It is expedient for us, that one man should dye for the people.

BEhold, I bring you a prophesie, but of no Prophet; I present you lying ma∣lice speaking truth, unwittingly, unwillingly, and savage cruelty provi∣ding a salve to cure the wounds of all mankind. Out of one fountain bit∣ter and sweet, out of one field tares and wheat, out of one mouth proceeds cursing and blessing. Behold an ambitious simoniacall Priest of the Romane constituti∣on, and that but for a yeer, vaunt over him that is a Priest for ever after the or∣der of Melchizedek. Behold bloudy Caiphas consulting, nay determining to put Christ to death, not for any fault of his, but because it was profitable to the Priests (it is expedient for us): yet doth hee colour his bloud-thirsty appetite with a varnish of common good: If wee let him alone, all men will beleeve in him, and beleeving him to be a God, will advance him to be a King, & the Ro∣mans will come & take away this place and our Nation. He is but one man, what is the bloud of one man to the quiet of a publike state? Melius est ut pereat unus, quàm unitas, let one man dye, that the whole Nation perish not. This is Caiphas his meaning: vouchsafe we a look to it, before we consider the mean∣ing of a much better spirit. Solomon his Lilly is most beautifull among thornes. The Rose, sayes Plutarch, is never so fragrant, as when it is planted by the Nettle: the doctrine of the Holy Ghost seemeth never more excellent, than when it is compared with the doctrine of Divels. It is expedient he should dye, he saith not it is just or lawfull: Bonum commodis non honestate metitur. Caiphas profit is become the rule of justice; in whose hands now it is not only to judge according to the rule of law, but to over-rule the law also. In imitation of whom I verily thinke it was, that Clemens the fifth being demanded how the Templer Knights might be cut off, made this answer, Si non licet per viam ju∣stitiae, licet saltem per viam expedientiae.

But if it be profitable, to whom, cui bono? to whom is it so? to us: now hee speakes like himselfe. To S. Paul all things were lawfull, yet many things did not seem expedient: to Caiphas that is expedient which is not lawfull. But shall a just innocent man, a Prophet, nay more than hee that was more than a Prophet, lose his life for nothing but your commodity? the answer is, that though he be all these, yet in a manner he is but unus, one man, and we are many; better it were that he suffer a mischiefe, than we an inconvenience; therefore be his quality what it may be, let him dye.

Ne saevi magne Sacerdos:

Let not the high Priest be angry; will nothing but his death appease you? You have a guard, keep him sure, manacle his hands, fetter his feet, only spare his life, bring not his bloud upon your head. Tush, it is for our profit, His bloud

be upon us. Thus crudelitas vertitur in voluptatem, & jam occidere homi∣nem juvat, it was meat & drink to them to spill the bloud of Christ Jesus; and being pleased to consider him but as a man, they trampled on him as a worme and no man. Behold here in another sense Caiphas a bloudy Ruby; yet, as the Rubies about Egypt aureâ bracteâ sublinuntur, so hath he gold foyle Scripture in his mouth, the words of the Holy Ghost, who not only out of the mouth of babes and sucklings will have his praise, out of the mouth of asses and brute beasts will have his power to be knowne; but also out of the mouth of reprobates and incarnate divels will have the same truth in the same words confirmed, which holy Prophets, and the holy Spirit, by which they spake, would have revealed. For not onely holy men (as the Prea∣cher observed) but sometimes also unholy men speake as they are moved by the Holy Ghost: Agit Spiritus Dei, & per bonos, & per malos, & per scientes, & per nescientes quod agendum novit, & statuit; but in a different manner. The Holy Ghost so touched the hearts of holy Prophets, that their hearts endi∣ting this matter of Christs passion, their tongues became the pen of ready writers: but on the contrary, as Caiphas did honour God with his lips, while his heart was farre from him; so (saith Saint Chrysostome) the Spirit of God touched his lips, but came not neere his heart. (It is expedient.) In the exposition of Caiphas, the meaning is, it is good for us pretending common good, to kill Jesus; but the sense of the Holy Ghost is, that the precious death of our Saviour would be expedient for us, and his alone bloud once shed for his people an all-sufficient ransome for their soules.

Expedient it was, and behoovefull in the first place, that he who should sa∣tisfie for sinne (the wages whereof is death) should bee a man subject to death. Secondly, that he should dye. Thirdly, inasmuch as with respect to his people he became a man subject to death; so that hee should in the end lay downe his life for the people. Fourthly, that he should be sufficient by his alone death to satis∣fie in their behalfe, for whom he dyed. Lastly, we must enquire whether the pro∣fit of his passion be such as extendeth to our selves, or not; we shall find it doth: for so are the words of the Text, It is expedient for us.

Expedient it was that the Saviour of man should be a man, Ecce homo, be∣hold he is so: for comming to save man, suscepit naturam quam judicavit sal∣vandam, he became in all things, sinne only excepted, like unto us. It was fit it should be so; for if the Deity had opposed it selfe, non tam ratio quàm potestas Diabolum vicisset, what mystery had there bin for God to vanquish the Divell? how should the Scripture have bin fulfilled, The seed of the woman shall breake the Serpents head? yet there is an experiment be∣yond all this,

Experiar Deus hic discrimine aperto an sit mortalis,

saith the spirituall Lycaon; if hee carry about with him 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a body subject to dissolution, doubtlesse hee is a man. Thus therefore that hee might shew himselfe a man, it was expedient that hee should die. Is this thy reward, O sweet Saviour, for stouping thine infinite majesty so low as to become earth, and thirty three yeeres to converse amongst

us, must thou dye? It must bee so, yet not for any necessity of justice in respect of himselfe; for never Lambe more innocent: nor of con∣straint; for at the very time of his apprehension, when hee had lesse than twelve Apostles, hee had more than twelve Legions of Angels at his becke; at the breath of his mouth, the majesty of his counte∣nance, the force of those his words, I am hee, a whole troupe of his persecuters fell backwards: but it must bee so, because the determi∣nation of the Trinity, and the conformity of his owne will thereunto will have it so: Oblatus est quia voluit (saith the Prophet:) I lay down my life (saith himselfe:) Yea, Caiphas said as much in effect, It is meet, not that one should be put to death, but that he should dye: Mori infirmi∣tatis est, sic mori virtutis infinitae. There wanted not other meanes to redeeme man, but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, it was meet, that by the death of the Sonne of God wee should bee redeemed:

Sanguine quaerendi reditus animâque litandum.

No escaping the stroake of the Angel, but by sprinkling the Lambes life bloud: no meanes to returne from exile, till the death of the high Priest. Must hee dye then? and are the Scriptures so strait in this point? O death, how bitter is thy remembrance? witnesse our Saviour: Si fieri potest, transeat hic calix; but sith for the reasons before named that was neither possible nor expedient, sith dye hee must, what death doth the Holy Ghost thinke to bee most expedient? If hee may not yeeld to nature, as a ripe apple falleth from the tree, but must be plucked thence, there are deaths no lesse honourable than violent: shall he dye an honourable death? No, hee must bee reckoned among the malefactors, and dye a shame∣full death. In shamefull deaths there is a kind of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, rid him quickly out of his paine: Misericordiae genus est citò occidere. No, that was not expedient, Feri ut se sentiat mori, it was expedient that hee should dye a te∣dious and most painfull death, wherein a tract of lingering misery and la∣sting torment was to bee endured: What death is that? I need not ampli∣fie; even by the testimony of the Holy Ghost the death of the Crosse was for the torture most grievous, for the shame most infamous: He humbled him∣selfe, and became obedient unto death. Could his humility goe on one step further? Yes, one step, even to the death of the Crosse, that is a death beyond death; the utmost and highest of all punishments, saith Ulpian: Having in it the extent of torture, saith Apuleius: The quintessence of cruelty, saith the Roman Oratour. It is not amisse to know the manner of the execution of this death. First, after sentence given, the prisoner was whipped, then forced to carry his Crosse to the place of execution, there in the most tender and sinewie parts of the body nailed to the Crosse, then lifted up into the ayre, there with cruell mercy for a long while preserved alive; after all this, when cruelty was satisfied with bloud, for the close of all, his joynts were broken, and his soule beat out of his body. This was part of his paine; I say part, I cannot expresse the whole, the shame was much more: Infoelix Lignum, saith Seneca truly,

and unhappy: for untill this time the curse of God was upon him that was hanged. It is a trespasse to bind, 'tis wickednes to beat, it is murder to kill: Quid dicam in crucem tollere? Look we to the originall, it was first devised by Tarquinius, as the most infamous punishment of all, against such as laid violent hands upon themselves. Look we to the use of it, they accounted it a slaves, nay a dogs death; for in memory that the Dogge slept when the Geese defended the Capitoll, every yeer in great solemnity they carried a Goose in triumph, softly laid upon a rich carpet, and a Dogge hanging upon a crosse. Looke wee to the concomitancy, Non solent suspensi lugeri, saith the Civilian, no teare was wont to be shed for such as were crucified. And was it expedient that our Savi∣our should dye this death? It was expedient, that the prophesie of Esay might be verified, We saw him made as the basest of men; and of David, A scorne of men, and the out-cast of the people; and of himselfe, They shall deliver him to the Gentiles, to mock, scourge, and crucifie him. These were prophe∣sies that it should be so; yet we want a prophesie that saith, It is expedient: That we doe not, Oportet filium hominis exaltari, ut Moses extulit Serpentem; for that Serpent, lifted up to cure all that looked upon it, was an embleme of Christ. Thus himselfe, who was a high Priest for ever, did prophesie of himselfe, being now both priest and sacrifice. It was expedient that he should dye, & thus dye: to be forsaken of his friends, falsly accused by his enemies, to be sold like a slave, mocked like a foole, spit upon like a made man, whipt like a theefe, crucified like a traitour; make up a misery, that the sun shamed, the earth trem∣bled to behold it: yet it was expedient, it must be done, God hath said it. Mee thinkes, I heare our Saviour say in this baptisme of bloud, as he said in his bap∣tisme of water, Thus it becommeth us to fulfill all righteousnes, and thus it became him, for whom, & by whom are all things, to consecrate the Prince of our salvation through afflictions. The prophesies had said it, it should be so, and it was expedient that he to whom they pointed should fulfill them, that so in fulness of truth he might take his leave of the crosse, and say, Consum∣matum est, those things which were written of mee have an end.

All this while we see not the reason why he should be thus tormented: Goe to Pilate, his answer will be, I am innocent of the bloud of this man: Enquire you of the Scribes and Pharisees, their answer will be, We have a law, and by this law he must dye, because he made himselfe the Son of God. This was no fault, he was so, and therefore without robbery or blasphemy might both think and declare himselfe to be so. Goe wee further, from popular Pilate and the cruell Jewes to God himselfe, and though we be but dust and ashes, for the knowledge of this truth presume we to aske, Cur fecisti filio sic? How may it stand with thy justice that he should dye, in whom there was found no fault wor∣thy death, nay no fault at all? the unswer is, Expedit mori pro populo: yet, O Lord, wilt thou slay the righteous with the wicked? nay, which is more, wilt thou slay the righteous, and spare the wicked? nay, which is yet more, wilt thou slay the righteous for the wicked? shall not the Judge of all the world doe right? God cannot chuse but do right, the wages of sin is death; though he have not sinned, the people have. If the principall debtour cannot pay, the surety must; if the prisoner dare not appeare, the baile must: Christ was the surety, the baile of the people, and so God might permit his justice against sin, to take hold on him, and hee must dye for the people, if he will not have the people dye.

It being knowne that he dyed for the people, it is worth the while to know who these people were, for whom he dyed. Caiphas had respect to the Jewes on¦ly, and their temporall good; but the Holy Ghost intended the spirituall good of the Jewes primarily, though not of them alone: but of the people also through the world. But is it possible, that of all people he should dye for the Jewes? Ab ipsis, & pro ipsis? these were they that spit upon him, whipped him, smote him on the face, crowned him with thornes, tare him with nailes; these were they, who in the act of his bitter passion, when his soule bereft of all comfort, laden with the sinne of all the world, and fiercenesse of his Fathers wrath, enforced from him that speech, than which the world never heard a more lamentable, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken mee? then in stead of comfort they reviled him, If thou be the Son of God, come downe from the crosse, all this notwithstanding though they persecuted him, hee loved them; though they cryed Away with him, he dyed for them, & at his death prayed for them: Father, forgive, and pleaded for them, they know not what they doe; and wept for them, offering supplications in their behalfe with prayers & strong cries. Greater love than this can no man shew, to lay downe his life for his friend: yet thou, O blessed Saviour, art a patterne of greater love, laying downe thy life for this people whilest they were thine enemies; but not for this peo∣ple only, (the Holy Ghost so speakes) O Lord, we were thine enemies as well as they, and whilest we were thine enemies, we were reconciled to God the Father by the precious death of thee his Son. For the Scripture setteth forth his love to us, that whilest we were yet sinners he dyed for us.

He for us, alone for us all: the same spirit which set before him expedit mo∣ri, did sweeten the brim of that sowre cup with this promise, that when hee should make his soule an offering for sin, hee should see his seed: that as the whole earth was planted, so it might be redeemed by one bloud; as by one of∣fence condemnation seized upon all, so by the justification of one, the bene∣fit might redound unto all to the justification of life. And this bloud thirsty Caiphas unwittingly intimated, saying, Expedit unum mori pro populo.

If one, and he then dead could do thus much, what can he not do now, now that he liveth for ever? He trod the wine-presse alone, neither is there salvation in any other. S. Stephen was stoned, S. Paul beheaded, Nunquid pro nobis? No, it cost more than so, it is done to their hands, there is one, who by the ob∣lation of himselfe alone once offered, hath made a perfect and sufficient sa∣crifice for the sins of the whole world.

And that whilest it is a world: for our Saviour, that stood in the gap betwixt Gods wrath & us, catching the blow in his own body, hath by his bloud purcha∣sed an eternal redemption; every one that beleeveth in him shal not perish, but have life everlasting. In the number of which beleevers if we be, then is the fruit of his meritorious passion extended to us, we may challenge our inte∣rest therein; and in our persons the Prophet speaketh, He bare our infirmities and carried our sorrowes, he was wounded for our transgressions, the cha∣stisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes are we healed.

Which great benefit, as it is our bounden duty to remember at all times, so this time, this day Vivaciorem animi sensum, & puriorem mentis exigit intuitum, recursus temporis, & textus lectionis, as S. Leo speaketh, The an∣nuall recourse of the day, and this text fitted to it, calleth to our minde the

worke wrought, & the means by which it was wrought on this day: to him a day of wrath, of darknesse, of blacknesse, & heavie vengeance; but to us a good day, a good Friday, a day of deliverance & freedome, a day of jubilee and tri∣umph. For as on this day by the power of his Crosse were we delivered from the sting of sin, and tyranny of Satan, so that whereas we might for ever have sung that mournfull Elegy, O wretched men that we are, who shal deliver us from death & hell? we are now enabled to insult over both, O death, where is thy sting? O hell, where is thy victory? Which victory of our Saviour, and ours through him so dearly purchased, when we call to mind, let us consider withall, that as the cause of this conflict on his part was his love to us; so on our parts it was the hainousness of our sinne, not otherwise to be expiated than by his death. And as the first ought to raise us up to give annuall, daily, & continuall thankes to him, who did and suffered so much for us; so the second should withhold us, & keep us back from sin: that since our Saviour dyed for our sin, we should dye to sin, & rather dye than sin. This bloud once shed is good to us; Expedit nobis, if to faith in that bloud we joyn a life beseeming Christianity: but if by our crying sins & trespasses we crucifie him againe, we make even that bloud, which of it selfe speaketh for us better things than the bloud of Abel, in stead of pardon to cry for vengeance against us.

Let us therfore looke up to him the author and finisher of our salvation, be∣seeching him, who with the bloud of his passion clave rockes & stones asunder, with the same bloud, which is not yet nor ever will be dry, to mollifie and soften our hard hearts, that seriously considering the hainousnesse of our sins, which put him to death, and his unexpressible & unconceivable love, that for us he would dye the death, even the death of the Crosse; we may in token of our thankfulness endeavour to offer up our soules and bodies as a reasonable sacrifice to him that offered himselfe a sacrifice for us, and now sitteth at the right hand of God; to this end, that where he our Redeemer is, there wee his people and dearest purchase may be for ever.

Notes

• The first Ser∣mon preached on Good-friday by Master Oz∣borstone Stu∣dent of Christ-Church.
• Ystel. in Exod.