Looking unto Jesus a view of the everlasting gospel, or, the souls eying of Jesus as carrying on the great work of mans salvation from first to last / by Isaac Ambrose ...

SECT. II. Of the Brook over which Christ passed.

THe first passage of that Night, was Christ's going over the Brook Cedron, to the Garden of Gethsemane. When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his Disciples over the Brook Cedron, where was a Garden, into which he entred, and his Disci∣ples.

In this passage observe we these Particulars. 1. The River over which they passed. 2. The Garden into which they entred. 3. The Prayer he there made, and the dolours and agonies he there suffered.

1. He and his Disciples went over the Brook Cedron. So it was called (say some) from the same Cedars that grew all along the Banks; or (say others) from the darkness of the Valley, so Kader signifies darkness; and this was done to fulfil a Prophesie; He shall drink of the Brook in the way. By the Brook or Torrent, we may understand mystically the wrath of God, and the rage of men, the very afflictions, which befell Je∣sus Christ: and by his drinking of the Brook, we may understand Christ enduring af∣flictions, or (as others) his enduring many afflictions, and not a few. 1. That affli∣ctions are understood by waters, we find it very frequently in Scriptures; The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of Belial made me afraid.—Deep calleth unto deep, at the noise of the water spouts, all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.—And, Save me, O God, for the waters are come in unto my soul; and, if it had not been the Lord who was on our side,—then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul, then the proud waters had gone over our soul.

2. As waters signifie afflictions; so Christ drinking of those waters, it signified Christ's suffering of afflictions; or as others, it signifies Christ's suffering of many afflicti∣ons. Thus we find together two words with relation thereunto, are ye able to drink of the cup (saith Christ) that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the Baptism that I am baptized with? He that drinketh, hath the water in him, and he that is baptized, dipped, or plunged, hath the water about him; so it notes the variety or universality of afflictions which Christ suffered; it was within him, and it was about him, he was every way afflicted.

Not to speak yet of those sufferings, which yet we are not come to speak unto; we find here in the way, betwixt the City and the Garden, that Christ went over the Brook Cedron; in the night he wades through cold waters on bare feet; and as he wades through them, he drinks of them, he doth not sip, but drink; he shall drink of the Brook in the way. I know some would not have this Prophesie accomplished till afore Christ's apprehension, when it is said that the rude rout brought him again to Jerusalem, over the Brook Cedron; and then he drunk of the Brook; but I find no mention of this Brook in Scripture at such a time; only now in this way, I find these passages. 1. His Conference with his Disciples as they go along. 2. The Disciples reply upon his Conference. 3. His dolorous passage over the Brook, betokening the very wrath of God.

1. In the way† he hath a serious conference with his disciples: so the Evangelist; and when they had sung an hymne, they went out towards the mount of Olives, and then saith Je∣sus unto them, all ye shall be offended because of me this night; for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. Christ now begins the sto∣ry of his Passion; the shepherd shall be smitten; and he proves it from Gods Decree, and from the Prophesie of the Prophet, Zech. 13.7. Awake, O Sword, against my shep∣herd, and against the man that is my fellow.—Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered abroad. God the Father is here brought in, as drawing and whet∣ting his Sword, and calling upon it, to do execution against Jesus Christ; God the

Father had an hand in the sufferings; It pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief.—I will smite the shepherd, saith God; it was not a naked permission, but a positive decree, and actual providence of God that Christ should suffer; the plot was long since drawn, and lay hid in Gods bosom, till he was pleased by the actions of men to copy it out, and to give the world a draught of it. This was not a thing of yester∣day; no, no; God spent his eternal thoughts about it; the Story was long since writ∣ten in Zecharie's Book, and in the Volume of Gods Book; Christ was ordained to be a Lamb slain from the beginning of the world; him being delivered by the determinate council and fore-knowledge of God, ye have taken (saith Peter) and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: the enemies of Christ, though they broke Commands, yet they fulfilled Decrees. Against thy holy Child Jesus whom thou hast anoynted, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and people of Israel were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy councel determined before to be done. The Story of Christ's sufferings was long since taken up, and resolved on in the Councils of Heaven; and now in the way the only begotten Son which lay in the bosom of his Father, reveals this sto∣ry; he tells his Disciples, It is written, it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered.

2. The Disciples hearing this discovery of the shepherd being smitten, and the sheep be∣ing scattered, they are amazed; what shall Christ die? and shall we like cowards run away, and leave him alone in the combat? Peter, who seems boldest, he speaks first; Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. O rash pre∣sumption! It appears in these particulars;—1. Peter prefers himself before the rest, as if all the other Disciples had been weak, and he only strong; though all should be offended, yet will not I. 2. Peter contradicts Christ's great discovery of his Fathers great design from all eternity, with a few bragging words; q. d. what though Zechary hath said it, and God hath decreed it, yet on my part, I will never do it; Though I should die with thee, I will not deny thee. 3. Peter in his boast never mentions God's help, or God's assistance; whereas in relation to future promises, and future purposes, the Apostles Rule is, ye ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, and that: So Peter should have said, by God's assistance I will not be offended; by the Lord's help, I will not deny thee; if the Lord will, I will do this and that; I will live with thee, and die with thee, rather than I will deny thee; but we find no such word in all the Story; and therefore Christ takes him off his bottoms in the first place; Verily I say unto thee Peter, that this night before the Cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice: Oh no, saith Peter; he will not go off his presumptuous con∣fidence; though I should die with thee, I will not deny thee; likewise also said all his Dis∣ciples. But I must not dwell on these passages.

3. His dolorous passage over the Brook succeeds; He went forth with his Disciples over the Brook Cedron: I never read of this Brook Cedron, but some way or other it points at the sufferings of our Saviour; I shall instance in some places. 1. When Da∣vid fled from Absolom out of Jerusalem, it is said that all the Country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over; the King also himself passed over the Brook Cedron.—towards the way of the wilderness. In this story we find David passing over this Brook Cedron with bare head and bare feet; and he and all his men weeping as they went up by the Ascent of Mount Olivet: I cannot think but in this, King David was a type of King Jesus: Christ, as another David, with his Souldiers or Disciples, goes out of Je∣rusalem, bare-head and bare-foot (as this type seems to speak) what weeping was in the way, I cannot tell; but probably sadness was in the hearts both of him and his Dis∣ciples; whose conference was of flying, suffering, dying the most grievous death that ever was; all the difference that I find betwixt the type and antitype in this passage, is, in that David fled from the face of Absolom, but Christ goes out of Jerusalem, not to flie from Judas, or the Jews, but rather to commit himself into their hands.

2. When Solomon confined Shimei to his House in Jerusalem, saying, Dwell there, and go not forth thence any whither; for it shall be, that on the day thou goest out, and passest over the Brook Cedron, thou shalt know for certain that thou shalt surely die. Now two of the servants of Shimei running away from him, he follows after them, and passing over this Brook Cedron, it became his death; why, here was a type of Jesus Christ; we were those fugitive servants that run away from God; and to fetch us home, Jesus goes over the brook Cedron; rather than he will lose his servants, he will lose his life,

All the difference that I find betwixt Shimei and Christ in this, is, in that Shimei was but a wicked man, and yet he died an honourable death, not for his servants, but for his own transgression; but Christ, being a just man (so Pilate's wife sent her Husband word, Have thou nothing to do with that just man) he died a most ignominious shameful death, even the death of the Cross, and that not for himself, but for us; He was wound∣ed for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.

3. When the good Kings, Hezekiah, and Asa, and Josiah purged the City and the Temple of Idolatry, they burnt the cursed things at the Brook Kidron, and cast them therein. And Asa cut down the Idol, and he brought out the Grove from the House of the Lord without Jerusalem unto the Brook Kidron, and burnt it at the Brook Kidron;—and the Priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord, to cleanse it, and brought all the uncleanness that they found in the Temple of the Lord, into the Court of the house of the Lord; and the Levites took it to carry it out abroad into the Brook Kidron.—and they arose and took away the Altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the Altars for Incense took they away, and cast them into the Brook Kidron, or Cedron. All these note unto us, that the Brook was as it were the sink of the Temple, into which all the purgamenta, and uncleannesses of Gods house, and all the accursed things were to be cast: and here again was a type of Christ; upon him was cast all the filths of our sins, that as a River or Fountain he might cleanse us from them; in this respect he is said to be made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him: he was made sin for us, and a curse for us, that so he might swallow up Sin and Death, and might be destruction of Hell, and all.

I cannot pass over this passage of the Brook without some Use or Application to our selves.

1. It informs. Methinks this Valley, and this Brook of Cedron is a right representa∣tion of a Christians Life; Jesus went forth with his Disciples over the Brook Cedron: What is our life if we are Christ's, but a passage through a vale of tears, and over a Brook of several afflictions? Many are the troubles of the righteous. The very word Cedron, which signifies darkness, denotes this state, an horror of great darkness was said to fall on Abraham, and then said God, know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a Land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years. As God made the evening and the morning the first day, and second day, and third day, &c. See, O the life of Gods Saints is as the evening of troubles, and their happiness hereafter is as the morning of Glory; God's worst is first, with those that are his; the way to Canaan is through the wilderness; the way to Sion is through the valley of Baca. Through much tribulation we must enter into the Kingdom of God. In the world ye shall have tribulation, saith Christ; yea, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution, saith the Apostle;—Our rest is not here in this world; what is this world, but an Ark of travel, a school of vanities, a fear of deceits, a Labarinth of errour, a barren wilderness, a strong field, a tempestous sea, a swelling brook, a vale of tears full of all miseries?

2. It reproves. It is the first passage of Christ when he begins his sufferings, to go over the Brook Cedron, and it is the A, B, C of Christianity (as Bradford said) to learn the Lesson of taking up the Cross and following Christ. Surely this world is no place, and this life it is no time for pleasure; God hath not cast man out of Paradise, that he should find another Paradise on this side heaven. Oh why do we seek the living among the dead? Why do we seek for living comforts, where we must expect to die daily? it is only heaven that is above all winds, and storms and tempests, and seas, and brooks, and waves: Oh why do we look for joyes in a vale of tears? It was an heavy charge that the Apostle James laid upon some, that they lived in pleasure upon earth, q. d. Earth is not the place for pleasure; earth is the place of sorrow, of trouble, of mourning, of affliction; Remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things, and Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art Tormented. All the pleasure that wick∣ed men have, it is upon earth; but the condition of the godly is clean contrary: Oh 'tis sad to out-live our happiness, and when we should live indeed, then to want our com∣forts and our joyes. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward; said Christ of Hypocrites; their Heaven is past; they spend their daies in wealth, or in mirth (saith Job) of the wicked, and in a moment go down to the Grave: Alas, their best daies are then past, and they must never be merry any more. Ah fond Fools, of Adam's seed, to lose Heaven for a little earthly contentment! How should this sowr

your carnal joyes, when you remember, all this is only upon earth, it cannot be for ever? there must be a change of all these things; here you laugh, and hereafter you must howl: no sooner death comes, but then you'l cry, Farewel world; Oh into what a Gulf am I now falling!

3. It instructs. Ah my Brethren! let's remember, we are pilgrims and strangers upon earth, and our way lies over the Brook and Valley of Cedron; we cannot expect to enter with Christ into glory, but we must first drink of the Brook in the way; (i.e.) we must endure many afflictions, variety of afflictions.—You will say, this an hard saying, who can hear it? I remember when Jesus told his Disciples of his sufferings to be accomplished at Jerusalem, Peter takes the boldness to dehort his Master; Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee; but Jesus thereupon calls him Satan, meaning that no greater contradictions can be offered to the designs of God and Christ, than to diswade us from sufferings. There's too much of Peter's humour abides amongst us: Oh this Doctrine of afflictions will not down with Libertines, Antinomi∣ans, and the like; and hence we believe we have our Congregations so thin in compa∣rison of some of theirs; they that can break off the yoke of Obedience, and untie the Bands of Discipline, and preach a cheap Religion, and present heaven in the midst of flowers, and strew palms and carpets in the way, and offer great liberty of living un∣der sin, and reconcile eternity with the present enjoyment, shall have their Schools filled with Disciples; but they that preach the Cross, and sufferings, and afflictions, and strictness of an holy life, they shall have the lot of their blessed Lord, (i.e.) they shall be ill thought of, and deserted, and railed against. Well, but if this be the way that Christ hath led us, whilest others abide at ease in Zion, let us follow him in the valley, and over the Brook that is called Cedron.

Thus far have we observed Christ in the way; together with his passage over Ce∣dron: we come now to the Garden, into which he entred, and his Disciples.

Notes

• John 18.1.
• Psal. 110.7.
• Psal. 18.4. Psal. 42.7. Psal. 69.1. Psal. 124.1, 4, 5.
• Mat. 20.22.
• †

  Vid. Arot. in locum. Mat. 26.30, 36
• Zech. 13.7.
• Isa. 53.10.
• Psal. 40.8. Acts 2.23.
• Acts 4.27, 28.
• Jam. 4.15.
• Mat. 26.35.
• 2 Sam. 15.23.
• 1 Kin. 2.36, 37
• Isa. 53.5.
• 2 King, 23.6. 2 Chr. 29.16.
• 2 Chr. 20.14.
• 2 Cor. 5.21.
• Ʋse.
• Psal. 34.19.
• Gen. 15.12, 13
• Psal. 84.6. Acts 14.22. John 16.33. 2 Tim. 3.12,
• Jam. 5.5.
• Luke. 16.25.
• Mat. 6.2. Job 21.13.
• Mat. 16.22.