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* 1.1FOr the first, The excellency of the person; that is, the subiect of any action, doth giue the most life vnto any matter: for the exploits of Kings, or the deedes of Nobles, doe of themselues craue attention, a hundred times more then the story of any one of base condition. Consider wee then the person, that is to vndergoe this passion.
First, We shall finde him to be a man; for so Pilate saith,* 1.2 Be∣hold the man: And himselfe commonly giues himselfe none o∣ther title, then, The Sonne of man; to shew indeede, that he was a true man, as we are.
And this should moue in vs compassion; for humanity it selfe at the torments of the very bruite Beasts, is something touched; and Diogenes the Cinick••, in this respect is said,* 1.3 to haue redeemed many times the Beasts from slaughter: And Saint Francis like∣wise is said, to haue ransomed the poore Lambes from the But∣chers hands; because it grieued them, to see any Creature tortu∣red; and therefore much more should we be moued with com∣passion, at the passion of any man: for if one member suffer,* 1.4 all the members suffer with it, saith the Apostle.
Secondly, Christ was not onely a man,* 1.5 but he was also a iust man; Non erat dolus in ore eius, There was no guile found in his mouth: His enemies themselues confesse it,* 1.6 Haue thou nothing to doe with that iust man, saith Pilates wife; and Pilate oftentimes (as I haue shewed in my Booke of the resolution of Pilate) con∣fessed, and by many arguments confirmed his assertion, that Christ deserued no punishment at all;* 1.7 and that hee could not finde (though hee had most diligently searched) any cause of death in him: and therefore to cleere himselfe from the imputa∣tion of iniustice,* 1.8 that he should ijsdem labijs eum mittere ad cru∣cem, quibus pronunciauerat innocentem, With the same lippes send him to be crucified, whom euen now he had iustified; he washed his hands in the view of the multitude, saying, I am innocent from the bloud of this iust person: So Herod,* 1.9 though he had derided our Sauiours silence, yet dared hee not condemne his innocency; for, I haue sent him vnto Herod, and loe,* 1.10 nothing worthy of death is found in him, saith Pilate; So Caiphas the High Priest prophesieth of him, whom he persecuteth, and absolueth him whom he accu∣seth, for hee pronouncing the mystery of our saluation, said, It was necessary that one should die for the people:* 1.11 Therefore hee must be a iust man, or else hee could not satisfie for the sinnes of men: And so the Diuell himselfe, though hee violently persecu∣ted, and most maliciously accused yet bee cleerely iustified our Sauiour Christ; for it was he (as many of the ancients doe conie∣cture) that told Pilates wife, and incited her to tell her Husband,
that the man thus maligned, and condemned as nefarious, was notwithstanding iust and righteous; for the Diuell knew, that since he first knew him, he knew no sinne in him: And it may be that to this our Sauiour alludeth,* 1.12 when he saith, The Prince of this World commeth; Sed in me non habet quicquam, but hee hath nothing in me: As if hee should haue said, When hee searcheth, and seeketh, and sifteth what he can; yet shall he finde no euill, no sinne, no, not the least cause of death in me. For he might iust∣ly say, Which of you can rebuke me of sinne? Quia ab omnibus acce∣pit testimonium innocentiae, Because hee had the testimonies of all men,* 1.13 of all sorts, as Irenaeus saith, to iustifie him; God, Men, Angels, Diuels, Friends, Foes, Acquaintance, Strangers, and all iustified him, that he was voide of sinne, full of grace.
And therefore, as we haue euer more compassion of them that suffer, and be innocent, then of those whom wee coniecture to be Malefactors; so the consideration of Christs suffering, being as the Doue, as innocent as innocencie it selfe, should moue in vs not onely a commisseration of the sufferer, but also a detestation of the persecutors: for who can heare, or reade, of the death of righteous Abel, by that wicked Caine; the burning of Lauren∣tius, by that Tyrant Decius; the flaying of Saint Bartholmew, by his bloudy enemies; or the dragging of Hippolytus with wilde Horses, and such like cruell and bloudy Tragedies, without a detestation of such horribly wicked Actors? And can we heare the sufferings of innocent guiltlesse Christ, without a deadly de∣testation of those inhumane Butchers?
* 1.14Thirdly, He was not onely a iust man, that did no hurt to any man, but he was also a good man, that did good to euery man: for, He went about (saith the Apostle) doing good; and that both in words and workes: for, first, He often taught them, in the Temple, in the Synagogue, vpon the Mount, in the High-wayes, in Houses, in all places; his goodnesse would not suffer him to conceale any thing in silence, that might be any wayes profitable vnto his hearers; but to dispell with all diligence, all mysts and cloudes of errors, from the inward eyes of the people, and to instruct them cleerely in all the heauenly mysteries of salua∣tion.
Secondly, He cured the bleeding wounds of afflicted con∣sciences,
he reclaimed & brought home many stragling sheepe, and wandring sinners; he gaue eyes vnto the blinde, feete vnto the lame, speech vnto the dumbe, eares vnto the deafe, bread vn∣to the hungry, yea, many times hee restored health vnto the diseased, and sometimes the dead vnto their lamenting friends: And as Saint Paul saith, Who is weake, and I am not weake;* 1.15 who is offended, and I burne not? So might our Sauiour more truly say, Who is burthened, and I am not grieued at it? for he com∣misserated the corporall and spirituall infirmities of all men, yea, he did not onely pitty them in vs, but he put them all vpon himselfe, Et tulit in se vt à nobis tolleret, and tooke them all vp∣on himselfe, that he might take them all from vs, as Saint Chry∣sostome saith. And therefore, if the people did so much condole the naturall death of Dorcas,* 1.16 because shee was so good a Crea∣ture, as to bestow some few clothes vpon some few poore distres∣sed people; how much more ought wee to bewaile the shamefull and the dolefull death of Christ, that did so much good, and ne∣uer any ill, all the dayes of his life?
Fourthly, He was not onely Iustus & bonus, A iust and a good man, or an innocent man, voide of sinne, and a vertuous man, full of grace, but he was also more honourable and noble then all the sonnes of men: for he was Christus,* 1.17 Annointed to be a King, a Priest, and a Prophet.
First, King; Simul natus, simul Caesar, He was a King by birth; Where is he that is borne King of the Iewes? He descended of the regall race, Saint Mathew reckons foureteene Kings in his pede∣gree, and hee was a King to his dying day, Iesus of Nazareth,* 1.18 King of the Iewes; Pilate writes it, and he will not alter it: for, God himselfe had spoken it,* 1.19 I haue set my King vpon my holy hill of Sion.
Secondly, Priest; for, The Lord sware it,* 1.20 and he will not repent it, that he is a Priest for euer after the order of Melchizedecke. The noblest Order, and the royallest Priesthood in the World: for this holy Priest was also a noble King;* 1.21 for hee was King of Sha∣lem, King of peace; euen as Esayas calles him, The Prince of peace.
Thirdly, Prophet; for,* 1.22 A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise vnto you: And he shall be a Prophet, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, in the highest
degree, euen the Prince of Prophets, and so great a Prophet, that Whosoeuer will not heare him, he shall surely die.
* 1.23And therefore if Ieremie taketh vp that mournefull lamenta∣tion, for the death of King Iosias, and say, Alas for that noble Prince, ah my Lord, or, ah his glory; and yet he came to an honou∣rable death in the Field, without any shame, and but little paine: then what shall wee say, for the death of this King of Kings, this Priest of the most High God, and this great Prophet of the Lord, that was annointed with the Oyle of gladnesse aboue his fellowes?* 1.24 The Lord had said, Touch not mine Annointed, and doe my Prophets no harme;* 1.25 yet we see Kings, the Annointed of God, are slaine, and Ierusalem killed the Prophets, and stoned those that are sent vnto them:* 1.26 But behold a greater then all Kings is here, Et quasi vnus è decem milibus, And such a one as ten thousand Kings are not equal vnto him; and yet he is not brought to an honorable death, of a Priest at the Altar, or of a King in the Field, but to a most shamefull and reprochfull death, the most accursed death of the Crosse, among the wicked: O then let vs consider, if euer such a person came to such a death!
* 1.27Fiftly, He was not onely the highest among all the Sonnes of men, but he was also the Sonne of the most High God; Pilate heard it, and feared; the Centurion saw it, and confest it, Truly this was the Sonne of God; And the very Diuels felt it, and proclaimed it, We know who thou art, euen the holy one of God: yea, the trem∣bling Earth quaking,* 1.28 the flinty Rock••s cleauing asunder, and the dolefull graues opening themselues, did by a visible voyce confirme him to be a God: And so that strange Eclipse that was seene at his death, and that vnexpected darkenesse, that vayled the face of the Sunne for three houres together, because it was no defect of Nature, (the Moone being at the full,) and the day being at the middest, and therefore could not be any vsuall E∣clipse, caused by the head or the tayle of the Dragon, (vnlesse you meane that olde Dragon, the Diuell) it made that great Phy∣losopher Dyonisius,* 1.29 then in Athens, to say, That now the World was at an end, or the God of Nature suffered violence; so strange were these accidents, beyond the power of Nature.
* 1.30Nay, the very enemies of Christ acknowledged him to be a Prophet, a King, a God; for while the people play vpon him, and
contemne him, yet notwithstanding they confesse him to be a Prophet, saying, Prophesie vnto vs thou Christ, who is hee that smote thee: And as Saint Ambrose saith, Compungentes coronant, & il∣ludentes adorant; While the Souldiers denied him to be a King, they Crowne him, they giue a Scepter vnto him,* 1.31 and they put a purple garment vpon him, which are the chiefest ornaments of the greatest Monarchs; and while they all deride him, and denie him for their Sauiour, they doe in the meane time adore him as a God, and bow their knees vnto him, to whom all knees shall bow: And so the vnspeakeable wisedome of Almighty God, did so hiddenly dispose of the sufferings of Christ, that his very ene∣mies should attribute that to him in mockery, which hee was in deede and verity.
And so you see the person suffering, a man, a iust man, a good man, a King, a Priest, a Prophet, a God; yea, that God,* 1.32 which brought them out of the Land of Egypt, which ledde them through the Wildernesse, through a Land of desarts and pittes, and of the shaddow of death, and through a Land where no man dwelt, where no man passed through;* 1.33 which fedde them in the Wilder∣nesse, with the bread of Angels; which kept them as the apple of his eye, which suffered no man to doe them harme, but reproued Kings for their sakes; and brought them into a wealthy place, and gaue them the Lands of the Heathen, and the labours of the people in pos∣session: This is that person which endureth all this passion. And therefore be astonished O ye Heauens,* 1.34 and be ye horribly afraide at this, that this hatefull and hated Nation, this cruell and abho∣minable people, this people voide of wisedome, and destitute of vnderstanding, should not onely forget that God which made them, but also defile that glorious face in Mount Sion, with their stincking spittles, which they could not behold vpon Mount Horeb without great astonishment; yea, that they should dare to murther him without feare, whose very name they durst not vtter without trembling, much like our godlesse people, that doe abhorre the very name of the Diuell, but will boldly imitate, and reioyce to doe the workes of the Diuell.
Oh that my head were full of waters,* 1.35 and that mine eyes were a fountaine of teares, that I might weepe day and night; for then I would bewaile with the weeping of Iaser, this Ʋine of Shibma;* 1.36 I
would water thee O Heshbon, and Elealeh, and I would most fully shew my sorrow, because they haue so fully shewed their cruelty against the Sonne of God.
* 1.37But from hence wee may see, who are most exposed to dan∣ger, and who be subiect to the greatest sufferings.
First, Man, because he is most sensible, most intelligible, and most deseruing miseries; and therefore of all other Creatures, man is chiefly borne to labour,* 1.38 and he is full of miseries: You see Christ himselfe hauing taken our Nature, he tooke our infirmi∣ties, and he carried our sorrowes. [Oh sors grauis, ô sors dura, ô lex dira quam natura promulgauit miseris; Homo nascens cum maerore, vitam ducis cum labore, & cum metu moreris:] For this is the Law of Nature, divulged and executed among all Nations, that euery man should be borne in sorrow, liue in paine, and die with feare; And therefore Seneca saith, That as, Quicquid facimus de coelo est, Whatsoeuer noble act we doe, it is from aboue: So Quicquid patimur mortale est; Whatsoeuer wee suffer, is but a signe of our condition, and a praeludium, a fore-shew of our mortalitie: Nam quemcum{que} miserum vides, hominem scias; For whensoeuer we see any man in miserie, wee must know that to be the property of humanitie.
* 1.39Secondly, The iust and righteous man, the best and godliest man, is most subiect to the greatest sufferings: It were no won∣der, that man suffereth, because man sinneth; but that the iust and righteous suffer, it seemeth strange: for, as the Psalmist saith, Iu∣stus quid fecit, What hath the righteous done? And yet as Ari∣stides was banished out of Athens, Iustus quia iustus, Onely be∣cause he was a iust man; And as Christ saith, Oderunt me gratis, They haue hated me fre••ly without any cause, or fault of mine, O God; so the righteous shall be troden as the clay in the streetes, they shall be sure enough to suffer, and there is cause enough for it, Quia inutiles nobis, & contrarij operibus nostris; Because they are vnprofitable for vs, we gaine nothing by them, no pleasure, no profit,* 1.40 no contentment, and they be cleane contrarily disposed to all our actions, say the wicked among themselues: And therefore though all men suffer, yet doe the righteous suffer most of all; for many (yea, and great) are the troubles of the righteous, saith the Psalmist; and though neuer so many, yea,
though they perish, yet no man layeth it to heart,* 1.41 saith the Pro∣phet.
Thirdly, Of all the righteous men, Kings, Priests, and Prophets,* 1.42 must be the chiefe in sufferings; Nam oportuit Christum pati, For it behoued the Annointed of God to suffer: And these be Christi Domini, The Annointed of the Lord; and therefore of all o∣thers, these are appointed to suffer for the Lord.
Fourthly, Among these, the more godly they be, the more will godlesse people afflict them: for Saint Paul was a chosen vessell, a most vpright, and a most excellent man; therefore he must suffer many things for my names sake, saith the Lord.* 1.43 And Christ saith of all his Priests and Preachers, Behold, I send you forth as Sheepe in the middest of Wolues; and you shall be hated of all men for my names sake: What? of all men? that were a wonder, that good men, nay, the best men, should be hated of all men;* 1.44 for where saw you a good Preacher, and an honest man hated, or ill spoken of, say the Worldlings? Yet behold it is true, for our Sauiour saith it, You shall be hated of all men; And there is great reason for it: for in all men there is corruption, more or lesse;* 1.45 and they must be enemies to all corruption; they must reproue all the workes of darkenesse, all the sinnes and vices of men: And therefore it were more strange, that they should be the true reprouers of all sinne, and yet not be hated of all men; for the more strictly a man is addicted to vertue, the more hee is reiected by the vicious; and the more hee approues or tollerates sinne in them, either by not reprouing the same in them, or by walking in the same steppes of good-fellowship with them, the more acceptable hee is vnto them; though the lesse warrantable in the sight of God: And therefore it cannot be, that any one of vs should be a iust and an vpright man, and should not be hated of all men.
I, But will the good and godly men hate them, who doe con∣fesse their sinnes, and doe alwayes striue against their owne cor∣ruptions? The wicked men may hate them, but surely the godly will not.
I answere, That the more godly men be, the lesse they hate them; yet because in them, sinne stickes so close vnto them, that although they confesse, and detest it with their soules, yet hath their flesh alwayes some loue and affection vnto the same; in so
much that Saint Augustine in one of his Meditations confes∣seth, That in his spirit and soule, he did so heartily pray against his sinne, that his flesh and carnall desire was afraide God would heare the prayers of his soule, and so depriue them of their de∣lights;* 1.46 for in the best men, The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and drawes them oftentimes to doe what they would not doe: And therefore as in the best men there is still remaining naturall corruption, so the same will still oppose it selfe against all them, that will seeke to dispossesse this olde Adam from their soules.
And therefore, seeing Christ did suffer, Christians suffer, and that the more godly they be, the more enemies they shall haue; we should not iudge of men, and especially of the Preachers of Gods Word, according to their outward appearance; of their ene∣mies, crosses, and afflictions; but we should iudge righteous iudge∣ments: And we that suffer, may, and should reioyce and be glad, that We are counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ. And so much for the Person suffering.
1. Part.
That Christ was a Man.
Laertius l. 6. Bonauent. in vi∣ta. S. Francis.
1 Cor. 12.26.
That Christ was a iust man.
Math. 27.19. Resolution of Pilate Pag. 47.
Luke 23.14.
Leo Ser. 3. de pass.
Math. 27.24.
Luc. 23.15.
John 11.50.
John 14.30. Talem vix repe∣rit vnum, mili∣bus è multis ho∣minum consultus Apollo, Iohn 8.46.
Iren. l. 4. c. 14.
That Christ was a good man. Acts 10.38.
2 Cor. 11.23.
Acts 9.39.
John 19.22.
Psal. 2.6.
Psal. 110.4.
Esay 9.6.
Deut. 18.15.
Ier. 22.18.
Psal. 45.8.
Psal. 105 15.
Luke 13.34.
That Christ was a true and eternall God. Math. 17.54.
Luke 4.34.
Dionys. in Ep.
The enemies of Christ a∣scribe that to him in mocke∣rie, which he was indeede. Mat. 26.68.
Ambros. 10.6.23.
Ierem. 2.6.
Psal. 78.24.
Ierem. 2.12.
Ierem. 9.1.
Esa. 16.9.
That of all creatures, men are most sub∣iect to sorrow
Esay 53.4.
The more righteous men be, the more they shall be afflicted and persecuted by the wicked.
W••sed. 2.12.
Esay. 57.1.
Kings, Priests, and Prophets' most exposed to all dangers.
Acts 9.16.
The best Kings & best Priests, are often ha∣ted.
How it is that all men both more and lesse hate the best men.
Gal. 5.17.