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.

THE PATTERN OF OBEDIENCE. THE LI. SERMON.

PHIL. 2.8.

Hee humbled himselfe, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Crosse.

Right Honourable, &c.

OPposita juxta se posita magis elucescunt, contraries are il∣lustrated by their contraries; the darke shadow ma∣keth the picture shew more lightsome, the blacke vaile the face more beautifull, a gloomy cloud the beames of the sunne breaking out of it more bright and con∣spicuous, sicknesse health more gratefull, paine plea∣sure more delightfull, affliction and misery prosperity and happinesse more desirable: in like manner the obscurity and infamy of Christs passion setteth off the glory of his resurrection. Neither doth it illustrate it only, but demonstrateth it also à priori; for his humiliation was the meritorious cause of his exaltation, his obedience of his rule, his crosse of his crowne: so saith the Apostle in the next verse, therefore hath God highly exalted him. As wee cannot certainly know how high the surface of the sea is above the earth, but by sounding the depth with a plummet, or diving to the bottome thereof; so neither can wee take the height of our Lords exaltation, but by measuring from the ground of his humiliation. The crosse is the Jacobs staffe whereby to take the elevation of this morning starre; and as Ezekiah was assured that fifteene yeeres were added forward to his life, by the going backe of the sunne ten degrees in the Diall of A∣haz, so wee know that 1500. yeares, nay eternity of life and glory is added

to our Saviour, by the going backe so many degrees in the Dyall of his pas∣sion, in the which the finger pointeth to these foure:

• 1 Humility.
• 2 Obedience.
• 3 Death.
• 4 Crosse.

These selfe same steps and staires by which hee descended in his passion, he ascended in his exaltation; upon these therefore my discourse shall run, humility and the manner of his humilitie, obedience: his death and the manner of his death, his crosse. How low must the descent needs be, where humility and lowlinesse it selfe is the uppermost greece? Beneath it lyeth o∣bedience: for a man may bee humble in himselfe, and yet not voluntarily bow his necke to another mans yoake; Hee humbled himselfe, and became obedient. Obedient a man may bee, and yet not ready to lay downe his life at his Masters pleasure; hee became obedient unto death. Obedient to death a man may bee, and yet not willing to bee put to an infamous, cruell, and accursed death; he became obedient to death, even the death of the crosse. The repeating the word death seemeth to argue an ingemination of the punishment, a suffering death upon death. It was wonderfull that hee which was highest in glory should humble himselfe; yet it is more to bee obedient than to humble himselfe; more to suffer death willingly, or upon the com∣mand of another, than to be obedient; more to bee crucified than simply to die. Hee was so humble that hee became obedient, so obedient that hee yeelded to die, so yeelded to die as to bee crucified: his love wonderfully shewed it selfe in humbling himselfe to exalt us; his humility in his obe∣dience; his obedience in his patience; his patience in the death of the crosse. His humility was a kinde of excesse of his love, his obedience of his humi∣lity, his death of his obedience, his crosse of his death.

He humbled himselfe. According to which nature? divine or humane? In some sort according to both: according to his divine, by assuming our na∣ture; according to his humane, by taking upon him our miseries.

And became obedient. It is not said hee made himselfe obedient, because obedience presupposeth anothers command; wee may indeed of our selves offer service to another, but wee cannot performe obedience where there is no command of a Superiour; parere and imperare are relatives. To whom then became hee obedient? To God, saith Calvin; to Herod and Pilate, saith Zanchius; the truth is, to both: to God as supreme Judge, according to whose eternall decree; to Pilate, by whose immediate sentence hee was to suffer such things, of sinners, for sinners.

To death. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, whether inclusivè or exclusivè? whether is the mea∣ning, hee was obedient all his life, even to his last gaspe; or hee was so farre obedient, that hee yeelded himselfe to the wrath of God, to the scorn of men, the power of darknesse, the infamy of all punishments, the shame of all disgraces, the cruelty of all torments, the death of the crosse? The difference betweene these is in this, that the former maketh death the limit and bound, the latter an act of his obedience: to which interpretation I rather sub∣scribe, because it is certaine that Christ was not onely obedient unto the houre of his death, but in his death also, and after his death, lying three dayes and three nights in the grave. Here then we have the sum of the whole Gospel, the life and death of our Lord and Saviour: his birth and life in the

former words, He humbled himselfe: his death & passion in the latter, and be∣came obedient unto death, even the death of the crosse. He humbled, that is, took on him our nature & infirmities; & became obedient, that is, fulfilled the law for us by his active, & satisfied God for our transgressions by his passive obe∣dience. Obedience most shews it selfe in doing or suffering such things as are most crosse & repugnant to our wil & natural desires; as to part with that w^ch is most dear & pretious to us, and to entertain a liking of that which we o∣therwise most abhor. Now the strongest bent of all mens desires is to life & honor; nothing men fear more than death, especially a lingring painful death: they are confounded at nothing more than open shame: whereby our Savi∣ours obedience appeares a non pareil, who passed not for his life, nor refused the torments of a cruel, nor the shame of an ignominious death, that he might fulfill his fathers will, in laying down a sufficient ransom for all mankinde.

Even the death of the crosse. As the sphere (of the Sun or Saturn, &c.) is na∣med from the Planet which is the most eminent part of it; so is the passion of Christ from his crosse: the crosse was as the center, in which all the bloody lines met. He sweat in his agony, bled in his scourging, was pricked in his crowning with thornes, scorned and derided in the judgement hall; but all this, and much more hee endured on the crosse. Whence we may observe more particularly,

• 1 The root.
• 2 Branches.
• 3 Fruit.

Or,

• 1 The cause.
• 2 The parts.
• 3 The end of all his sufferings on it.

1 Of the cause. S.a 1.1 Austin demonstrateth that the Eclipse of the sun at the death of our Saviour was miraculous, because then the Moon was at the full. Had it bin a regular Eclipse the Moon should have lost her light, and not the Sun: so in the regular course of justice, the Church, which is compared to the Moon inb 1.2 Scripture, should have been eclipsed of the light of Gods counte∣nance, and not Christ, who is by the Prophet Malachy stiledc 1.3 Sol justitiae, the Sun of righteousnesse. But as then the Sun was eclipsed in stead of the Moon, so was Christ obscured in his passion for the Church; he became a surety for us, & therfore God laid all our debts upon him, to the uttermost farthing. The Prophet Esay assureth us hereof,d 1.4 He bare our infirmities, & carried our sor∣rows. He was wounded for our transgressions and broken for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, & by his stripes we are all healed. O the wonderfull wisdom & justice of God! the just is reputed unjust, that the unjust might be reputed just: the innocent is condemned, that the condemned might be found innocent: the Conquerer is in bonds to loose the captive: the Creditor in pri∣son to satisfie for the debtour: the Physitian taketh the bitter potion to cure the patient: the Judge is executed to acquit the prisoner. What did the welbeloved of his Father deserve, that he should drink the dregs of the vials of wrath? why should the immaculate Lamb be put to such torture, & in the end be slain, but for a sacrifice? why should the bread of life hunger, but for our gluttony? the fountain of grace thirst, but for our intemperancy? the word of God be speech∣lesse, but for our crying sin? truth it self be accused, but for our errors? inno∣cency condemned, but for our transgressions? why should the King of glory

endure such ignominy & shame, but for our shameful lives? why should the Lord of life be put to death, but for our hainous and most deadly sins? what spots had he to be washed? what lust to bee crucified? what ulcers to bee pricked? what sores to bee launced? Doubtlesse none at all: our corrupt blood was drawn out of his wounds, our swellings pricked with his thornes, our sores launced with his speare, our lusts crucified on his crosse, our staines washed away with his blood. It was the weight of our sins that made his soule heavie unto death, it was the unsupportable burden of our punishment that put him into a bloody sweat: all our blood was corrupt, all our flesh as it were in a scurfe, from thee 1.5 crown of the head to the sole of the foot there was no soundnesse in us, nothing but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores. For a re∣medy hereof our Lord and Saviour was let blood in all parts of his body; in his head when he was crowned with thorns, in his hands and feet when he was pricked with nailes, in all the parts of his body when his flesh was torn with whips. After so much blood drawne from him, there could be little left, ex∣cept a few drops at the heart: behold these also are drawne out by the Soul∣diers speare. The Adamant, which nothing relenteth at the stroak of the ham∣mer, yet is broken in pieces by the warme blood of a goat. Beloved, if such abundance of the blood of the immaculate Lamb Christ Jesus, trickling from his temples, dropping from his stripes, running from his hands and feet, gu∣shing from the hole in his side, melt not our hearts, and resolve them into penitent teares, they are harder than Adamant: not a compassionate teare can we wring out of our eyes for him, who shed so much blood for us. We pray ordinarily, Remove, O Lord, from us our stony hearts, & give us hearts of flesh: but O Lord, saith Bonaventure, give me rather a stony heart, & remove from me my fleshly; for the stones clave at Christs passion, but the fleshly hearts of men clave not; the vaile rent it selfe at thef 1.6 hearing of the blasphemies a∣gainst the Son of God, yet we heare not of any of the standers by that they tare their garments; the sun drew in his beames, the heavens mourned in sa∣bles, the earth trembled for feare, the rocks were cleft as it were with indigna∣tion, the graves opened to receive his dead corps, & hide it from further indig∣nity: solus homo non compatitur, pro quo solo Christus patitur, only man suffers not with him, for whom only he suffered; only man shewes no compassion, to whom alone Christ intended all the benefit of his passion. Wee are affected at the hearing of a profane story, nay at the representation of some tragicall fiction we have teares at commands; yet (O Saviour let the merits of thy passion sa∣tisfie even for this our want of compassion for thee) when we read or heare out of the sacred story of the Evangelists, the most honorable personage that ever was, suffer the most shameful indignities that ever were; the innocentest person that ever was, laden with the most grievous & slanderous accusations that ever were; the justest that ever was put to the cruellest torments that e∣ver were, and all this for our sake: do we take it to heart? do his stripes make any impression in us? do the nailes and speare that pierced him pricke us with compunction? doe we compassionate his sorrow, admire his patience, mag∣nifie his love, detest our sins the causes of his sufferings? The custome in many places is, that if the sonne of a King commit a fault deserving punish∣ment, his Page or some other servant is whipp'd for him: and those Prin∣ces that are of tender natures, more grieve at the sight than their servant for

their suffering of a few stripes. Deare Christians, in Christs passion it was cleane otherwayes; for the Kings son, the heire apparent of heaven was scourged for his servants: what, said I, scourged? nay flayed with whips, nay buffetted with fists, smote with reeds, pricked with thornes, bored with nailes, pierced with a launce.

We have viewed the root, let us now behold the branches; which some will have to be sixe, some five, some foure, some three. They which di∣vide Christs sufferings into sixe parts, terme them so many voyages or poastings: first, from his supper to the garden; secondly, from the garden to Annas; thirdly, from Annas to Caiaphas; fourthly, from Caiaphas to He∣rod; fifthly, from Herod to Pilat; sixthly, from Pilat to Golgotha. They who divide them into five, thus reckon them: first, his agonie: secondly, his taking: thirdly, his arraignement: fourthly, his sentence: fiftly, the execution. They who into foure, account upon, first, his afflictions before he was taken: secondly, the proceedings against him after he was taken by the Ecclesiasticall Judges: thirdly, before the secular: fourthly, the con∣summation of all, his death upon the Crosse. For brevity sake I re∣duce them to three: first, dolours and terrours: secondly, abuses and in∣dignities: thirdly, tortures and torments. The first in the Garden, the se∣cond in the Palace, the third on the Crosse.

First, in the garden we finde him in an agonie. What an agonie is, sentitur priusquam dicitur, none can say but he that hath felt, and none ever felt such an agonie but our Saviour. Conceive we at the same time all the veines of our bodie streigned, all the sinewes stretched, all the bones racked, what paine must this needs be in the body? and how farre greater a like to this in the soule? This somewhat expresseth his agonie, which was an horrour conceived from the apprehension of his Fathers wrath, a conflict in his minde, and terrible combate in all the parts of his soule. Judge ye of the extremity of his first fit, both by the anteced••nts and the consequents; the antecedents, feare and consternation, coepit expavescere, &h 1.7 gravissimè angi, hee began to be affrighted and grievously troubled: torments they must needs be, and sorrowes more grievous than many deathes, at which the sonne of God was aff••ighted. Secondly judge it by the consequents and eff••cts, a strange sweat, with clottie bloud trickling from all parts of his bo∣dy. What torments did not the blessed Martyrs endure? yet we never read that in any extremity they were cast intoi 1.8 a bloudie sweat. What labour must the minde needs be in when the body sweats bloud•• St.* 1.9 Bernard is bold to say, that he languished in this bath of his bloud; and not onely his eyes, but all parts of his body wept for us, and that with teares of bloud. We might well have thought that he would have gone away in this agonie and bloudie sweat, but that ank 1.10 Angel was sent to strengthen and comfort him, which was not done before nor after; and therefore we may well ima∣gine that now he was in the greatest distresse of all. Yet I gather this rather from his owne speeches, My soule is heavie untol 1.11 death: Father, if it be possible let this cup passe from mee. It is impietie in the highest degree to thinke that any martyr or Saint was endued with a greater measure of pati∣ence than our Saviour: yet who of that noble armie when they were con∣demned to mercilesse torments, and saw before their eyes crosses, rackes,

fiery pincers, burning furnaces, teeth of wild beasts, and all the engines of cruelty and shapes of death, shewed such tokens of griefe, or uttered such speeches of regret and reluctancy? nay rather they for Christs sake desired them, and rejoyced in them. Something then it was above all the torments man can devise, much lesse beare, that our Saviour felt in his agony, and ex∣pressed by his bloudy sweat and strong cries. Whilest our Saviour was in this wofull plight, what doe his Disciples? Doe they condole him? pray with him? arme themselves to defend him? Nay, in this feare and per∣plexity of their Master they fall fast asleep at the first, & after in his greatest danger forsake him; only Judas commeth neere him, and saluteth him with a kisse. O that perfidious treachery should touch those lips in which there was no guile: that he should bem 1.12 spit upon, who cured the eyes of the blind with spittle: that his face should be smitten with palmes of the hand, who putteth palmes into the hands of all that overcome: that he should be crowned with thornes, who crownes Martyrs with never withering flowers: that he should be stripped of his earthly garments, who arraies us with celestiall robes: that hee should be fed with gall, who feeds us with bread from heaven: that vinegar should be given to him for drinke, who prepareth for us the cup of salvation!

But before we goe out of the garden, we will gather some flowers. As the first sinne was committed in a garden, so the first satisfaction was made in a garden: in that garden there was an evill Angel tempting, in this garden a good Angel comforting. Adams sentence in that garden was, that hee should get his living with the sweat of his browes; and in this the second A∣dam procureth life unto us by the sweat of his whole body. Adam was driven out of that garden by an Angel brandishing a fiery blade, and our Saviour is fetched out of this with swords and staves, and brought into the high Priests palace, where he is most injuriously dealt withall; they cannot hold their hands off him whilest he is examined before the Judge, but, contrary to all law and good maners, they smite him with staves at his arraignment. Yea, but they were but rude souldiers, or fawning servants. Is there any more justice in the high Priest or the Councell, who not only take wil∣lingly any allegation against him, but also seeke out for false witnesses, and when they find none that were contests, yet they condemne him, and that for no ordinary crime, but for blasphemy in the highest degree? Neither were the Judges more unjust than the people mad against him, Away with him, say they, away with him, Crucifie him, crucifie him. Why? what evil hath he done? Spare Barabbas, not him. What? save a murderer, and murder a Saviour? O ye people of Judea, and inhabitants of Jerusalem, what so en∣rageth you against him? He hath cleansed your lepers, he hath cured your blind, he hath opened your deafe eares, he hath loosened your tongue-tyed, he hath healed your sicke, he hath raised your dead, he hath preached unto you the Gospel of the Kingdome, and the glad tidings of salvation; and is he not therefore worthy to live? He inviteth you to grace, Come unto mee all ye that are heavie laden; & unto glory, Come ye blessed of my Father: and therefore away with him, away with him? With these out cries Pilate is over∣borne, as if clamours of the promiscuous rout were to be taken for deposi∣tions of sworne witnesses, and hee pronounceth the unjustest sentence that ever was given, that Jesus was guilty of death. After the sentence execution

immediately ensueth; he is stript starke naked before the multitude (what would not an ingenuous man rather endure than this shame?) his flesh is torne with whips and scourges appointed for slaves, so cruelly, that Pilate himselfe, moved at so lamentable a spectacle, sheweth him to the people with an ecce homo, either to move them to pity, or to satisfie their bloud-thirsty appetite. As for the insolencies and indignities offered unto him by the souldiers, they are so odious and intolerable, that I cannot with pati∣ence relate them: and therefore I passe with our Saviour to Mount Calvarie; where foure great nailes were driven into the most tender and sinewy parts of his body, wherewith after he was fastened to the crosse, his crosse was set up in the midst betwixt two theeves, & the Mediatour of God and man now hangeth in the middle betwixt heaven and earth. I need not amplifie upon the death of the crosse, a death for the torment most grievous, most infamous amongst men, andn 1.13 accursed of God himselfe. Any one may con∣ceive what a torment it must needs be, when the whole weight of the bo∣dy hangeth upon the wounds in the hands & feet. But there were foure cir∣cumstances which very much aggravated his passion: 1. The nature of his complexion; for being made of Virgins flesh, and thereby of the purest and exactest temper, hee could not but be more sensible of excruciating tor∣ments than any other. 2. The place and time; the place Jerusalem the Me∣tropolis of all Judea, the time at Easter when there was a concourse of peo∣ple from all parts of Palestine, besides an infinite multitude of strangers that came to see that great solemnity. 3. The sight of his mother and dearest Disciple: in their sight to be put to so infamous and cruell a death, what a corrasive must it needs be? This was the sword that pierced his mothers heart; and how thinke wee it affected him? his compassion was no lesse griefe to him than his passion. 4. The insolency of his adversaries now floc∣king about his crosse, and by their deriding scoffes and taunts powring shar∣pest vinegar into his wounds. To endure that which man never did nor could, to be put to all extremiy of tortures and torments, and not to be be∣moaned, nay to be mocked at and reviled (Others he hath saved, himselfe he cannot save: Thou that destroyedst the Temple, and buildedst it up againe in three dayes, come downe from the crosse, and we will beleeve thee.) O this is an hyperbole of misery! There are yet foure considerations, which put as it were a spirituall crosse upon his materiall, and more tortured his soule than the other his body.

1. His unconceivable griefe for the obstinacy of the Jewish nation.

2. The apprehension of the destruction of the City and Temple, with a desolation of the whole Country to ensue shortly after his death.

3. The guilt of the sins of the whole world.

4. The sense of the full wrath of his Father for the sinnes of mankind, which he tooke upon himselfe. And now ye have the full dosis, and all the ingredients of that bitter cup which our Saviour prayed thrice that ito 1.14 might passe from him.

We have viewed the root and the branches, let us now gather some of the fruit of the tree of the crosse. Christs passion may be considered two maner of wayes:

• 1. Either as a story simply,
• 2. Or as Gospel.

The former consideration cannot but breed in us griefe & hatred; griefe for Christ his sufferings, and hatred of all that had their hand in his bloud: the latter will produce contrary aff••ctions, joy for our salvation, and love of our Saviour. For to consider and meditate upon our Saviours passion as Gospel, is to conceive, and by a speciall faith to beleeve, that his prayers and strong cries are intercessions for us, his obedience our merit, his sufferings our satisfactions, that we are purged by his sweat, quit by his taking, clo∣thed by his stripping, healed by his stripes, justified by his accusations, ab∣solved by his condemnation, ransomed by his bloud, and saved by his crosse.

These unspeakable benefits which ye have conceived by the Word, ye are now to receive by the Sacrament, if ye come prepared thereunto: for they who come prepared to participate of these holy mysteries, receive with them and by them, though not in them, the body and bloud of our Lord and Saviour, and thereby shall I say they become flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone? nay rather he becommeth flesh of their flesh, and bone of their bone. The spirit which raised him quickneth them, and preserveth in them the life of grace, and them to the life of glory. Howbeit, as the swee∣test meats turne intop 1.15 choler in a distempered stomach, so this heavenly Manna, this food of Angels, nay this food which Angels never tasted, proves no better than poyson to them, whose hearts are not purified by faith, nor their consciences purged by true repentance and charity from uncleannesse, worldlinesse, envie, malice, ranckour, and the like corrupt af∣fections. If a Noble man came to visit us, how would we cleanse and per∣fume our houses? what care would we take to have all the roomes swept, hung and dressed up in the best manner? Beloved Christians, we are even now to receive and entertaine the Prince of Heaven, and the Son of God; let us therefore cleanse the inward roomes of our soules by examination of our whole life, wash them with the water of our penitent teares, dresse them up with divine graces, which are the sweetest flowers of Paradise, perfume them with most fragrant spices and aromaticall odours, which are our servent prayers, zealous meditations, and elevated affectious, tuned to that high straine of the sweet Singer of Israel, Lift ye up, ye gates, and be yeq 1.16 lift up, ye everlasting doores, and the King of glory shall come in. Cui, &c.

Notes

• a 1.1

  Aug. l. 3. de Civ. Dei. c. 15. Regularis defe∣ctio non nisi in lunae fine contingit.
• b 1.2

  Cant. 6.10.
• c 1.3

  Mal. 4.2.
• d 1.4

  Esa. 53.4, 5.
• e 1.5

  Esa. 1.6.
• f 1.6

  Mat. 27.51.
• h 1.7

  Mat. 26.37, 38.
• i 1.8

  Luke 22.44.
• * 1.9

  Languet Christus in bal∣neo sanguinis sui, & ••••et, non tantum oculis, sed & omnibus membris.
• k 1.10

  Luke 22.43.
• l 1.11

  Mat. 26.38.42.
• m 1.12

  Cyp. de bon. patient. Insul∣tantium sputa∣mina excipe∣ret, qui sputo suo caeci oculos paulò ante for∣mastet: coro∣naretur spinis, qui Martyres floribus coro∣nat aeternis: palmis in faci∣em verberare∣tur, qui palmas veras vincenti∣bus tribuit: spoliaretur ve∣ste terrenâ, qui indumento immortalitatis caeteros vestit: cibaretur felle, qui cibum coelestem dedit: potaretur ace∣to, qui pocu∣lum salutare propinavit.
• n 1.13

  Deut. 21.23
• o 1.14

  Mat. 26.44.
• p 1.15

  Cal. l. 4. instit. c. 14. sec. 40. Quemadmo∣dum sacrum hunc panem coenae Domini spiritualem es∣se cibum vide∣mus, suavem & delicatum non minus quàm salutiferum pi∣is Dei cultori∣bus, cujus gu∣stu sentiunt Christum esse suam vitam, quos ad grati∣arum actionem erigit, quibus ad mutuam in∣ter se charita∣tem exhortatio est: ita rursus in nocentissimum venenum omnibus vertitur, quorum fidem non alit: non aliter ac cibus corporalis ubi ventrem offendit vitiosis humoribus occupatum, ipse quoque vitiosus & corruptus nocet magis quàm nutrit.
• q 1.16

  Psal. 24.9.