LXXX sermons preached at the parish-church of St. Mary Magdalene Milk-street, London whereof nine of them not till now published / by the late eminent and learned divine Anthony Farindon ... ; in two volumes, with a large table to both.

A SERMON Preached on Good-Friday.

ROM. VIII. 32.

He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

GOd's benefits come not alone; but one gift is the pledge of another. The grant of a mite is the assignment of a talent. A drop of dew from heaven is a prog∣nostick of gracious showre, of a floud, which no∣thing can draw dry but ingratitude.* 1.1 The Father might well say that the love of God is as a constant and endless circle, from good, to good, in good, without error or inconstancy, rowling and carrying it self about in an everlasting gyre. He spared not his own Son, saith the Text, but delivered him up for us all. But how many gifts did usher in this? He gave him to us often in the Creation of the world. For by him were all things made,* 1.2 and without him was made nothing that was made. When God giveth, he giveth his Son: For as we ask in his name, so he giveth in his name whatsoever we ask. Every action of God is a gift, and every gift a tender of his Son, an art to make us capable of more. Thus the argument of Gods Love is drawn à minori ad majus, from that which seemeth little to that which is greater, from a grain to an harvest, from one blessing to a myriad, from Heaven to the Soul, from our Creation to our Redemption, from Christs Actions to his Passion; Which is the true authentick instrument of his Love. With us the argument holdeth not; but with God it doth: By giving little he giveth hopes of more. He that is our Steward to provide for us and supply us out of his treasury, who ripeneth the fruits on the trees, and the corn in the fields, who draweth us wine out of the vine, and spinneth us garments out of the bowels of the worm and fleece of the flock, will give us greater things then these. He that giveth us balm for our bodies, will give us physick for our souls. He that gave us our being by his Son, will deliver up his Son for the world. Here his Love is in its Zenith and vertical point, and in a direct line casteth its rayes of comfort on his lost Creature. Here the Argument is at the highest, and S. Paul draweth it down à majori ad minus; and the Conclusion is full, full of comfort to all. He that giveth a talent, will certainly give a mite: He that giveth

his Son, will also give salvation; and he that giveth salvation, will give all things which may work it out. QƲI TRADIDIT, He that delivered his Son, is followed with a QƲOMODO NON? how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? QƲOMODO NON? It is impossible it should be otherwise. Christ cometh not naked, but clothed with blessings: He cometh not empty, but with the riches of heaven, the treasures of wise∣dom and happiness. Christ cometh not alone, but with troops of An∣gels, with glorious promises and blessings. Nay, to make good the Quo∣modo non? to make it unanswerable, unquestionable; It is his Naked∣ness that cloatheth us, his Poverty that enricheth us, his No-Reputation that enobleth us, his Minoration that maketh us great, and his Exinaniti∣on and emptying of himself that filleth us: And the Tradidit is an in∣strument of conveyance; his Being delivered for us delivereth to us the possession of all things.

In the Text there is a cloud, the cloud of Christs Passion. So most Interpreters in plain terms expound tradere by ad mortem exponere, make∣ing this Delivery to be nothing else but an exposing of Christ to shame, mi∣sery and death. We need not stand upon it: TRADIDIT were enough: for he is no sooner out of Gods hands, but he becometh a man of sorrows. TRADIDIT, I say, were enough: but here also is NON PEPERCIT, he spared not his own Son; so spared him not, that he delivered him up; and so delivered him up, that he spared him not: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the same thing expressed by two several words, to make it sure. A cloud then there is, a cloud of Blood: but it distelleth in a sweat showr of blessings; and we see a light in this cloud, by which we draw that saving conclusion, How shall he not with him also freely give us all things.

Here then is an Assignment made to Mankind: 1. Christ given; 2. Gi∣ven for us all; and 3. a full stream of blessings issuing out with his blood; With him we have all things.

Or, because it is a work of infinite love, we will call it Scalam amoris, the Scale or Ladder of Love. And then the steps, the parts considera∣ble, will be these: 1. The Person delivered; His own Son. 2. The De∣livery and Manner of it; He delivered, and spared him not. 3. The Per∣sons for whom; for us all. And these will in the last place bring in 4. the End of all, the end of Christ's Delivery and of all his sufferings, and make us bold to challenge the Devil and all the World, and ask this question, How shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

I. HIS OWN SON] This, though we make it the first Step, yet in∣deed is the top of the Ladder, the highest pitch of God's Love, from which the light of his countenance shineth upon us, and sheweth that he loved us as his own Son; nay, more than his own Son. In this manifestation of his love he appeareth rather a Father to us than to him. De suo pericli∣tatur, ut nos lucretur, saith the Father: To gain us, he is willing in a man∣ner to be himself at a loss; and to endanger his own, that he may free us from slavery. Quasi orbitatis haurit dolorem: He will spoyl and rob himself, to enrich us; and, to make us his children, deliver up his own Son.* 1.3 A strange contemplation it is, Nazianzen shutteth it up in admira∣tion, and counselleth us to sit down and reverence it with silence. Can God delight to make his own Son a sacrifice, who would not suffer Abraham to offer up his? Or might he not have taken an Angel for his Son, as he did a ram for Isaac? 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉; What reason can be given for this De∣livery? Here the object is so radiant that it confoundeth the sense, and we scarce can see it when we look upon it. God's Love is at such an height that our contemplation cannot reach it: and though in plain terms we are told what was done, yet we are slow of heart to believe it.

Olim morbo, nunc remedio laboramus. The Remedie is so admirable that it amazeth the Patient. Therefore Photinus adopted a Son; Arius crea∣ted one. Horruit Marcion, Marcion was afraid of the very thought. Deliver up God might an adopted Son, some excellent creature, or a phantasme; but they started back, and would not come near to subscribe that he delivered up his own Son. In their Divinity his own Son was a Son by Creation, or a Son by Adoption, or a Son in Appearance, which is not a Son. But this groundless and indiscreet care of God's honour was a great sin against it. S. Ambrose observeth, that they who denied this for fear were far worse, and more injurious to Christian Religion, than they who denied it out of stomach: This pretense of God's honour was more dangerous than perversness and pertinacy. For when Pride and Vain-glory and Ambition shape and polish an errour, it is as soon disco∣vered as the hands that wrought it; but when shews of Love and Piety and Zeal paint and commend it, and send it abroad in this glory, uncau∣telous and ignorant men are soon taken with it, never doubt, but yield, and are quickly deceived, and count it duty and religion to be so. But why should we fear where no fear is? Why should we fear to disparage Christ, when he is so well pleased to humble himself? Why should we be wiser than God? Why should we offend and scandalize Christ, as Pe∣ter did? Be this far from the Lord, from the Son of God; that is,* 1.4 Let God forbid that which he will have done. Why should we check his Wisdome? or be troubled at his Love? When God will deliver up his own Son, to talk of improbability or incongruity or impossibility, is to speak against God. If he will deliver him, his will be done. He that resteth in Gods Will, doth best acknowledge his Majesty. It was his will to deliver him. And this cleareth all doubts, and beateth down every i∣magination that exalteth it self. If God will do any thing, we have but one word left us for answer, Amen, Let it be done. He hath Wisdome and Power to attend his Will;* 1.5 and who are we that darken counsel by words without knowledge? When we fall down at his foot-stool, and acknow∣ledge his infinite Power; When we say, He onely can do wondrous works;* 1.6 When in all humility we acknowledge that he can do more than we can think; that he can uphold us when we are ready to fall, enrich us in po∣verty, strengthen us in weakness, supply us with all necessary means and encouragements in this our race; When we preach on the house-tops, that he can tread down all our enemies under our feet, and bind Satan in chains; When we believe, and rely on it, that he is able to immortalize our flesh, to raise us out of the dust, and set us in heavenly places, we think we have raised our Magnificats to the highest: And indeed a Chri∣stian needeth not set his songs and Hallelujahs to a higher note. But yet we do not here rise so high, nor so fully express him, as when we give him an absolute Will, and say, He doth what he will in heaven and in earth.* 1.7 This can belong to none but the Highest, to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords: This maketh God Lord paramount, and Commander of all. E∣ven his Omnipotensie seemeth to submit and vayl to his Will, and to be commanded by it: For many things he doth not do, because he will not, not because he cannot. Dei posse velle est; & non posse, nolle,* 1.8 saith Tertul∣lian. He can do what he will; and what he will not do, we may say he cannot do. Quod voluit, & potuit, & ostendit; What he would do, he could, and did. What, his Son? his own Son? his beloved Son, infinite and omnipotent as himself? shall he be delivered? Yes, he delivered him, because he would. His will is that which openeth the windows of hea∣ven, and shutteth them again; that bindeth, and looseth; that planteth, and rooteth up; that made the world, and will destroy it. His will it

was that humbled his Son; and his Will it was that glorified him. He might not have done it, not have delivered him. He might, without the least impairing of his Justice, have kept him still in his bosome, and never shewed him to the world:* 1.9 But as of his own will he begat us of the word of truth, so he delivered up his owo Son, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, QƲIA VOLƲIT, because he would. For as in the Creation God might have made Man, as he made the other Creatures, by his dixit, by his Word alone; yet would not, but wrought him out of the earth, and like a Potter formed and shaped him out of the clay with his own hands: so in the great work of our Re∣demption, he did not send a Moyses or an Angel, but delivered up his own Son, and so gave a price infinitely above that which he bought; mortal and sinful men being of no value at all, but that he made them. He payed down, not a Talent for a Talent, but a Talent for a Mite, for Nothing, for that which had made it self worse than Nothing: He delivered up his Son for those who stood guilty of rebellion against him; and thus loved the World, which was at enmity with him. Thus he was pleased to buy his own will, and to pay dear for his affection to us. And by this his incomprehensible Love he did bound as it were his almighty Power, his infinite Wisdome, and his unlimited Will: For here his Power, Wisdome, and Will may seem to have found a non ultrá: He cannot do, he cannot find out, he cannot wish for us more than what he hath done in this Deli∣very of his Son. How should this affect and ravish our souls? how should this flame of Gods Love kindle love in us? That benefit is great, which preventeth our prayers; that is greater, which is above our hope; that is yet greater, that exceedeth our desires: But how great is that, which over-ruunneth our opinion, yea, swalloweth it up? Certainly had not God revealed his will, we could not have desired it, but our prayers would have been blasphemie; our hope, madness; our wish, sacriledge; and our opinion, impiety.

And now if any ask, What moved his Will? Surely no loveliness or attractiveness in the object. In it there was nothing to be seen but loath∣somness and deformity, and such enmity as might sooner move him to wrath than compassion, and make him rather send down fire and brimstone then his Son. That which moved him was in himself, his own bowels of mercy and compassion.* 1.10 He loved us in our blood; and loving us, he bid us, Live; and that we might live, delivered up his own Son to death. His Mercy was the onely Orator to move his Will: Being merciful, he was also willing to help us. Mercy is all our plea, and it was all his motive, and wrought in him a will, a cheerful will. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith S. James, Mercy rejoyceth against judgment.* 1.11 Though we had forgot our duty, yet would not he forget his Mercy, but hearkned to it, and would not conti∣nere misericordias,* 1.12 shut up his tender mercies in anger; which is a Meta∣phor taken from Martial affairs. When in a siege an Army doth compass∣in a Town or Castle, that they may play upon it in every place, the Greeks call it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to shut it up as in a net. This is it which the Prophet Da∣vid calleth CLAƲDERE or CONTINERE, to shut up mercy in anger. The Septuagint renders it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to make a trench about, and besiege it. Now the Goodness of God, and his Love to his Creature, would not suffer him thus to shut up his tender Mercies, as a sort or town is shut up, to be un∣dermined, and beat up, and overcome: But as the besieged many times make sallyes upon the enemy, so the Love and Mercy of our God brake forth even through his Anger, and gained a conquest against the legions of his Wrath. Let the World be impure, let Men be sinners, let Justice be importunate, let Power be formidable, let Vengeance be ready to fall; yet all must fall back, and yield to the Mercy and Love of God, which

cannot be overcome, nor bound, nor shut up, but will break forth, and make way through all opposition, through Sin, and all the powers of Darkness, which besiege and compass it about, and will raise the siege, drive off and chase away these enemies; and to conquer Sin, will deliver up his Son for the Sinner. And this was aenigma aemoris, saith Aquinas, the riddle, or rather the mystery, of Love, to pose the wisdome of the World. I may say, Being Love, and infinite, it is no riddle at all, but plain and ea∣sie. For what can Love do that is strange? what can it do amiss? That which moved God to do this, sheweth plainly that the end for which he did it was very good. DILEXIT NOS, He loved us, is the best commen∣tary on TRADIDIT FILIƲM, He delivered his Son for us, and taketh a∣way all scruple and doubt. For if we can once love our enemies, it is impossible but that our bowels should yern towards them, and our will be bent and prone to raise them up even to that pitch and condition which our Love hath designed: And if our love were heavenly as God's is, or but in some forward degree proportioned to his, we should find nothing difficult, account nothing absurd or misbecoming, which might promote or advantage their good: If our Love have heat in it, our Will will be forward and earnest, and we shall be ready even to lay down our lives for them. For Love is like an artificial Glass, which when we look through, an Enemy appeareth a Friend; Disgrace, Honour; Difficulties, Nothing. When God saw us weltring in our blood, his Love was ready to wash us: When we ran from him, his Love ran after us to apprehend us: When we fought against him as enemies, his Love was a Prophet, Lo, all these may be my children. What speak we of Disgrace? God's Love defend∣eth his Majesty, and exalteth the Humility of his Son. Love, as Plato saith, hath this priviledge, that it cannot be defamed; and by a kind of law hath this huge advantage, to make Bondage, Liberty; Disgrace, ho∣nourable; Infirmity, omnipotent. Who can stand up against Love, and say, Why didst thou this? Had Marcion, Photinus, and Arius well weigh∣ed the force and priviledge of Love, their needless (I may say, their bold and irreverent) fear would have soon vanished, nor would they have de∣nied Christ to be the Son of God, because God delivered him up for us, but would have seen as great glory in his Humility as in his Glory, and would have faln down and worship God and Man, even this crucified Lord of life, Christ Jesus. Love will do any thing for those whom she looketh and stayeth upon. If you ask a coat, she giveth the cloak also:* 1.13 If you desire her to go a mile, she will go with you twain; and is never weary, though she passes through places of horror and danger. If you be in the most loathsome dungeon, in the valley and shadow of death, she forsaketh you not, but will go along with you. Must the Son of God be delivered? Love sendeth him down: Charitas de coelo demisit Christum. It was Love that bowed the heavens, when he descended. Must he suf∣fer? Love nayleth him to the Cross; and no power could do it but Love. Must he be sacrificed? Love calleth it a Baptisme,* 1.14 and is straitned till the Sacrifice be slain? Must he dye? Must the Son of God dye? Love calls it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, his perfection. So, though he be the Son of God,* 1.15 though we were his enemies, yet Love reconcileth all these seeming contradictions, resolveth every doubt, tuneth these jarring strings, and out of this dis∣cord maketh that melody which delighteth both Men and Angels, and God himself; even that melody, whereof our love should be the resul∣tance. He loved us; and then the conclusion doth sweetly and naturally follow, He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up. And so from the Person we pass to the Delivery it self;

II. HE DELIVERED, AND SPARED HIM NOT] The oeconomy

and glorious dispensation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is here termed 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a delivery. And delivered he was, First, into the Vir∣gins womb. That was a strange descent; and even then, at his birth, began his passion.* 1.16 Nasci se patitur, saith Tertullian: He suffered himself to be fashioned in the womb; took of Man what was proper and natural to him, to be born, and die. Here he was drawn out and fitted, made an object for the malice of men and the rage of the Devil to work on: Here he was made a mark for his enemies to shoot at. Here he got a back for the whip, flesh to be ploughed, a face to be spit upon, a body to be nayled to the cross, and an heart to be pierced. Here he was built up as a Temple, to be beat down again with axes and hammers, with misery and affliction. A strange delivery this was, of the Son of God into the womb of a mortal; yet God thus delivered him. But further, being born, what was his whole life but Delivery from sorrow to sorrow, and from misery to misery, from poverty to shame, from derision to malice, from malice to death? This was the pomp and ceremony with which he was brought to his cross,* 1.17 and from thence to his grave. Deliver me not over to the will of my enemies, saith David. Behold, Christ's friends were his e∣nemies. What creature was there to whom he was not delivered? De∣livered he was to the Angels;* 1.18 to keep him (you will say) in all his wayes. But what need had he of an Angel's assistance, whose wisdome reached over all?* 1.19 What needed he an Angel's tongue to comfort him, who was Lord of the Angels, and who with his voice could have destroyed the Universe? What need had he, who could turn stones into bread, yea work bread out of nothing, as he did in the multiplying of the loaves, to re∣ceive Almes from the hand of his Minister?* 1.20 He was delivered to Joseph and Mary, to whom he was subject and obedient. Delivered he was to an Occupation and Trade: For as Justine Martyr saith, he made 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, ploughs and yokes. He was delivered from Annas to Caiaphas, from Caiaphas to Pilate, from Pilate to Herode, from Herode to Pilate again, and from Pilate to the Jews, to do with him what they pleased. He was delivered to all the creatures; to Heat, and to Cold; to the Thorns, which gored him; to the Whip which made long furrows in his flesh; to the Nayls, which fastned him; to the Spear, which pierced him; to the Cross, which racked him; to the Grave, which swallowed him. He was delivered to the Devil himself, and to the power of darkness. There was no creature, from the highest to the lowest, to which he was not de∣livered. He was delivered in his body, and in his soul; in every part of his body, even in those which seemed free from pain. His Tongue (which his enemies cruelty toucht not: for though he was man, yet had he nothing of the impatience of man) complained of thirst,* 1.21 he said, I thirst. He was delivered up to a quick and lively sense of pain. Many times extremity of pain taketh pain away, and it is lost in it self: but Christ's pain did quicken his sense. The more he endured, the more sen∣sible he was; the more he suffered, the more feeling he had. His last gasp was breathed out 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,* 1.22 with a strong loud voyce. Delivered he was to Envy, which delivered him; to Treachery, which betrayed him; to Malice, which laid on sure strokes; to Pride, which scorned him; to Contempt, which spate upon him; to all those furious Passions which turn Men into Devils. And, From such a Delivery, we all cry, Good Lord, deliver us. But thus was our blessed Saviour delivered, not onely to Men, but to the Passions of men, to the wild and brutish Passions of his enemies, yea, to the rage of Devils.

Further yet, he was delivered not only to their Passions, but to his own also, which as Man he carryed about with him. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, My

soul is troubled, saith he. He was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, in an agony;* 1.23 quae sentitur prùs quàm dicitur, which none can tell what it is but he that hath felt it; and none ever felt such an agony but he. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,* 1.24 he is grievously vexed 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, His soul was very sorrowful.* 1.25 These several expressions the Evangelists give us; Trouble, Vexation, Agony, Heaviness, and Sorrow in his soul. These were the bitter ingredients which filled up his cup so full that he made it his prayer to have it taken out of his hand.* 1.26 The consideration of which hath induced some to conceive that sense of pain had so weakned his intellectual faculties that he forgat himself. Non fuit haec meditata Christi oratio, saith Calvine:* 1.27 His pain was so great that it gave no time or leisure to his Reason to weigh what he said: Which in effect is, He spake he knew not what. But we may truly say, Non fuit haec Interpretis meditata oratio; This Author did not well understand nor consider what he wrote, and may seem not well to have advised with his Reason, that would leave Wisdome it self without the use of it. No question, it was the language of a bleeding heart, and the resultance of Grief. For grieve Christ did, and fear. He who as God could have commanded a Legion of Angels, as Man had need of one to comfort him. He was delivered up to Passions, to afflict, not to swallow him up. There was no disorder, no jar with Reason, which was still above them. There was no fullenness in his grief, no dispair in his complaints, no unreason∣ableness in his thoughts; not a thought did rise amiss, not a word mispla∣ced, not a motion was irregular. He knew he was not forsaken, when he asked, Why hast thou forsaken me?* 1.28 The bitterness of the cup struck him into a fear, when his Obedience called for it. He prayed indeed, Let this cup pass from me. But that was not, as some think,* 1.29 the cup of his Cross and Passion, but the cup of his Agony. And in that prayer it is plain he was heard: for the Text telleth us,* 1.30 there appeared an Angel unto him from heaven to strengthen him. Being of the same mould and temper with man, he was willing to receive the impressions which are so visible in man, of Sorrow, and Fear; even those affections which are seated in the Sensitive part, and without which Misery and Pain have no tooth at all to bite us. Our Passions are the sting of Misery; nor could Christ have suffered at all, if he had been free from them. If Misery be a whip it is our Passion and Phansie that make it a Scorpion. What could Ma∣lice hurt me, if I did not help the blow? What edge hath an Injury, if I could not be angry? What terror hath Death, if I did not fear? It is O∣pinion and Passion that make us miserable: take away these, and Misery is but a name. Tunde; Anaxarchum enim non tundis. You touch not the Stoick, though you bray him in a mortar. Delivered then was the Son of God, to these Passions, to Fear, and to Grief: These strained his body, rackt his joynts, stretched his sinews; these trickled down in clods of blood, and exhaled themselves through the pores of his flesh in a bloody sweat. The fire that melted him was his Fear and his Grief.

Da si quid ultrà est; Is there yet any more? or can the Son of God be delivered further? Delivered he was, Not to Despair; for that was im∣possible: nor to the torments of Hell; which could never seize on his in∣nocent soul: But to the Wrath of God, which withered his heart like grass,* 1.31 burnt up his bones like a hearth, and brought him even to the dust of death. Look now upon his Countenance; it is pale and wan: upon his Heart; it is melted like wax: upon his Tongue; it cleaveth to the roof of his mouth. What talk we of Death? The Wrath of God is truly 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the terriblest thing in the world; the sting of Sin, which is the sting of Death. Look into our own souls: That weak apprehension of it which we sometimes have, what a night and darkness doth it draw

over us? nay, what a hell doth it kindle in us? What torments do we feel, the types and sad representations of those in the bottomless pit? How do our delights distast us, and our desires strangle themselves? What a Tophet is the world? and what Furies are our thoughts? What do we see which we do not turn from? what do we know which we would not forget? what do we think which we do not startle at? Or do we know what to think? Now what rock can hide us? what mountain can cover us? We are weary of our selves, and could wish rather not to be then to be under Gods wrath. Were it not for this, there would be no Law, no Conscience, no Devil: but with this the Law is a killing let∣ter, the Conscience a Fury, and the Devil a Tormenter. But yet there is still a difference between our apprehension and Christ's. For, alas! to us God's wrath doth not appear in it its full horror: for if it did, we should sooner dye then offend him. Some do but think of it; few think of it as they should: and they that are most apprehensive, look upon it as at a di∣stance, as that which may be turned away; and so not fearing God's wrath treasure up wrath against the day of wrath. To us, when we take it at the nearest, and have the fullest sight of it, it appeareth but as the cloud did to Elijah's servant,* 1.32 like a man's hand: but to Christ the heavens were black with clouds and winds, and it showred down upon him as in a tempest of fire and brimstone. We have not his eyes, and therefore not his appre∣hension: We see not so much deformity in Sin as he did, and so not so much terror in the Wrath of God. It were Impiety and blasphemy to think that the blessed Martyrs were more patient than Christ;* 1.33 Cujus natu∣ra patientia, saith Tertullian; whose very nature was patience: yet who of all that noble army ever breathed forth such disconsolate speeches? God indeed delivered them up to the saw, to the rack, to the teeth of Li∣ons, to all the engines of cruelty and shapes of death; but numquid dese∣ruit? they never cryed out they were forsaken. He snatched them not from the rage of the persecutor by a miracle; but behold, a greater mi∣racle;

* 1.34— Rident, superánt{que} dolores, Spectanti similes—

In all their torments they had more life and joy in their countenance than they who looked on, who were more troubled with the sight than the Martyrs were with the punishment. Their torture was their triumph; their afflictions were their melody. Of weak they were made strong.

* 1.35Tormenta, carcer, ungulae, Stridens{que} flammis lamina, Atque ipsa poenarum ultima, Mors, Christianis ludus est.

Torments, Racks, Strappadoes, and the last enemy, Death it self, were but a recreation and refreshment to Christians, who suffered all these with the patience of a stander-by. But what speak we of Martyrs? Divers sin∣ners (whose ambition never reach at such a crown, but rather trembled at it) have been delivered up to afflictions and crosses, nay to the anger of God: But never yet any, nay not those who have despaired, were so de∣livered as Christ. We may say that the Traytor Judas felt not so much when he went and hanged himself. For though Christ could not despair, yet the wrath of God was more visible to him than those that do, who bear but their own burthen, whereas he lay pressed under the sins of the whole world. God in his approaches of Justice, when he cometh toward the sinner to correct him, may seem to go like the Consuls of Rome, with his Rods and his Axes carried before him. Many sinners have felt his Rods: And his Rod is comfort; his Frown, favour; his Anger, love; and

his Blow a benefit. But Christ was struck as it were with his Ax. O∣thers have trembled under his wrath,* 1.36 but Christ was even consumed by the stroke of his hand. Being delivered to God's Wrath, that wrath de∣liverth him to these Throws and Agonies; delivereth him to Judas; who delivereth, nay betrayeth him to the Jews; who deliver him to Pilate; who delivered him to the Cross; where the Saviour of the world must be murthered, where Innocency and Truth it self hangeth between thot Thieves. I mention not the shame or the torment of the Cross; for we Thieves endured the same. But his Soul was crucified more than his Bo∣dy, and his Heart had sharper nails to pierce it than his Hands or Feet. TRADIDIT, ET NON PEPERCIT; He delivered him, and spared him not.

But to rise one step more; TRADIDIT, ET DESERƲIT; He deliver∣ed, and in a manner forsook him, restrained his influence, denied relief, withdrew comfort, stood as it were afar off, and let him fight it out un∣to death. He looked about, and there was none to help;* 1.37 even to the Lord he called, but he heard him not.* 1.38 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 He roared out for the very grief of his heart, and cryed with a loud voyce, My God, my God,* 1.39 why hast thou forsaken me? And could God forsake him?* 1.40 When he hung upon the cross, did he not see the joy which was set before him? Yes, he did;* 1.41 but not to comfort, but rather torment him. Altissimo Divinitatis consilio actum est, ut gloria militaret in poenam, saith Leo; By the counsel of the Godhead it was set down and determined that his Glory should add to his Punish∣ment: that his knowledge, which was more clear than a Seraphins, should increase his Grief; his Glory, his Shame; his Happiness, his Misery: that there should not only be Vinegar in his Drink, and Gall in his Honey, and Myrrhe with his Spices; but that his Drink should be Vinegar, his Honey, Gall; and all his Spices as bitter as Myrrhe: that his Flowers should be Thorns; and his Triumph, Shame. This could Sin do; And can we love it? This could the Love and tht Wrath of God do, his Love to his Creature, and his Wrath against Sin. And what a Delivery, what a Desertion was this, which did not deprive Christ of strength, but enfee∣ble him with strength; which did not leave him in the dark, but punish him with light? What a strange Delivery was that, which delivered him up without comfort, nay which betrayed and delivered up his com∣forts themselves? What misery equal to that which maketh Strength a tormenter; Knowledge a vexation, and Joy and Glory a persecution? There now hangeth his sacred Body on the cross, not so much afflicted with his passion as his Soul was wounded with compassion; with compas∣sion on his Mother; with compassion on his Disciples; with compassion on the Jews, who pierced him, for whom he prayeth when they mock him; which did manifest his Divinity as much as his miracles:* 1.42 with com∣passion on the Temple, which was shortly to be levelled with the ground: with compassion on all Mankind; bearing the burden of all, dropping his pity and his blood together upon them; feeling in himself the tor∣ments of the blessed Martyrs, the reproach of his Saints, the wounds of every broken heart, the poverty, diseases, afflictions of all his Brethren to the end of the world; delivered to a sense of their sins who feel them not, and to a sense of theirs who grone under them; delivered up to all the miseries and sorrows, not only which himself then felt, but which any men, which all men have felt, or shall feel to the time the Trump shall sound, and he shall come again in glory. The last Delivery was of his Soul, which was indeed traditio, a yielding it up, a voluntary emission or delivering it up into his Fathers hands; praevento carnificis officio, saith the Father. He preventeth the spear and the hand of the executioner, and

giveth up the ghost. What should I say? or where should I end? Who can fathome this depth? The Angels stand amazed; the Heavens are hung with black; the Earth openeth her mouth, and the Grave hers, and yieldeth up her dead; the veyl of the Temple rendeth asunder; the Earth trembleth, and the Rocks are cleft. But neither Art nor Nature can reach the depth of this Wisdom and Love: no tongue, neither of the living nor of the dead, neither of Men nor Angels, is able to express it. The most powerful eloquence is the threnody of a broken heart: For there Christ's death speaketh it self, and the virtue and power of it re∣flecteth back again upon him, and reacheth him at the right hand of God, where his wounds are open, his merits vocal, interceding for us to the end of the world.

We have now past two steps and degrees of this scale of Love with wonder and astonishment, and, I hope, with grief and love; we have passed through a field of Blood to the top of mount Calverie, where the Son of God, the Saviour of the World, is nailed to the cross, and being lifted up upon his cross, looketh down upon us, to draw us after him. Look then back upon him who looketh upon us, whom our sins have pierced, and behold his blood trickling down upon us; Which is one as∣cent more, and bringeth in the Persons for whom he was delivered: First, for us; Secondly, for us all.

III. Now, that he should be delivered FOR ƲS, is a contemplation full of delight and comfort, but not so easie to digest. For if we reflect upon our selves, and there see nothing but confusion and horrour, we shall soon ask the question, Why for us? Why not for the lapsed Angels, who fell from their estate as we did? They, glorious Spirits; we, vile Bodies: they, heavenly Spirits; we, of the earth, earthly, ready to sink to the earth, from whence we came: they, immortal Spirits; we, as the grass, withered before we grow: Yet he spared not his Son, to spare us; but the Angels that fell he cast into Hell,* 1.43 and chained them up in everlast∣ing darkness. We may think that this was munus honorarium; that Christ was delivered for us for some worth or excellency in us: No; it was munus eleemosynarium, a gift bestowed upon us in meer compassion of our wants. With the Angels God dealeth in rigor, and relenteth not; with us in fa∣vour and mercy. He seeketh after us, and layeth hold on us, being gone from him as far as Sin and Disobedience could carry us out of his reach. It was his love, it was his will to do so; and in this we might rest. But Divines will tell us that Man was a fitter object of mercy than the Angels, quia levius est alienâ mente peccare,* 1.44 quàm propriâ: because the Angels sin was more spontaneous, wrought in them by themselves; Man had importunam arborem, that flattering and importuning Tree, and that subtile and sedu∣cing Serpent, to urge and sway him from his obedience: Man had a Temp∣ter; the Angels were both the temptation and tempters to themselves: Man took in death by looking abroad; but the Angels reflecting upon them∣selves, gazed so long upon their own beauty, till they saw it changed into horrour and deformity: And the offence is more pardonable, where the motive is ab extrinseco, than where it groweth up of it self. Besides, the Angels did not all fal, but the whole lump of Mankind was leavened with the same leaven; and pity it may seem that so noble a Creature, made up after Gods own Image, should be utterly lost. These reasons, with o∣thers, we may admit; though they may seem rather to be conjectures than reasons, and we have not much light in Scripture to give them a fair∣er appearance:* 1.45 but the Scripture is plain, that he took not the Angels; he did not lay his hands upon them, to redeem them to liberty, and strike off their bonds. And we must go out of the world to find the reason,

and seek the true cause in the bosome of the Father, nay in the bowels of his Son, and there see the cause why he was delivered for us, written in his heart. It was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the love of God to mankind.* 1.46 And what was in mankind, but enmity and hostility, sin and deformity? which are no proper motives to draw on love. And yet God loved us, and hated sin, and made hast to deliver us from it. Dilexisti me, Domine, plusquàm te, quando mori voluisti pro me, saith Augustine; Lord, when thou dyedst for me, thou madest it manifest that my soul was dearer to thee then thy self. Such a high esteem did he set upon a Soul, which we scarce honour with a thought, but so live as if we had none. For us Men then, and for us Sinners was Christ delivered. The Prophet Isaiah speaketh it; and he could not speak it properly of any, but him,* 1.47 He was wounded for our trans∣gressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. So that he was delivered up not only to the Cross and Shame, but to our Sins, which nayled him to the cross, which not only crucified him in his humility, but crucified him still in his glory, now he sitteth at the right hand of God, and put him to shame to the end of the world. Falsò de Judaeis querimur. Why complain we of the Jews malice? or Judas's treason? or Pilates injustice? We, we alone are they who crucified the Lord of life. Our Treachery was the Judas which betrayed him; our Malice, the Jew which accused him; our Perjury, the false witness against him; our Injustice, the Pilate that condemned him. Our Pride scorned him; our Envy grinned at him; our Luxury spate upon him; our Covetousness sold him. Our corrupt Blood was drawn out of his wounds, our Swellings prickt with his thorns, our Sores launced with his spear, and the whole body of Sin stretched out and crucified with the Lord of life. He delivered him up for us Sinners. No sin there is which his blood will not wash away, but final Impenitency, which is not so much a sin as the sealing up of the body of sin, when the measure is full. For us sinners, for us the progeny of an arch-traytor, and as great traytors as he. Take us at our worst; if we repent, he was delivered for us. And if we do not repent, yet he may be said to be delivered for us; for he was delivered for us to that end that we might repent. For us sinners he was delivered; for us, when we were without strength; for us, when we were ungodly.* 1.48 So we were considered in this great work of Redemption. And thus high are we gone on this scale and ladder of Love.

There is one step more; He was delivered for us all; ALL, not consi∣dered as Elect or Reprobate, but as Men, as Sinners;* 1.49 for that name will take in all; for all have sinned. And here we are taught to make a stand, and not to touch too hastily: and yet the way is plain and easie. For all. This some will not touch; and yet they do touch and press it with that violence that they press it almost into nothing; make the world not the world, and whosoever not whosoever, but some certain men; and turn all into a few; deduct whom they please out of all people, nations, and languages, and out of Christendome it self; leave some few with Christ upon the Cross, whose persons he beareth, whom they call the Elect, and mean themselves. So God loved the world; that is, the Elect, say they: They are the world;* 1.50 where it is hard to find them; for they are called out of it: and the best light we have, which is the Scripture, discovereth them not unto us in that place. If the Elect be the world which God so loved, then they are such Elect as may not believe, such Elect as may perish, and whom God will have perish if they do not believe. It is true, none have benefit of Christ's death but the Elect: but from hence it doth not follow that no other might have had. Theirs is the kingdome: but are not they shut out now who might have made it theirs? God, saith S. Peter,* 1.51 would not that any should perish: and God is the Saviour of all men, saith S. Paul,* 1.52 but especially

of those that believe; all, if they believe and repent; and those who are obedient to the Gospel, because they do. The blood of Christ is pour∣ed forth on the Believer; and with it he sprinkleth his heart, and is saved: the wicked trample it under their foot, and perish. The blood of Christ is sufficient to wash away the sins of the world, nay of a thousand worlds. Christ paid down a ransome of so infinite a value that it might redeem all that are' or possibly might be, under captivity: But none are actual∣ly redeemed but they who make him their Captain, and do as he com∣mandeth. that is believe and repent; or, to speak in their own language, none are saved but the elect. In this all agree, in this they are Brethren: and why should they fall out, when both hold up the priviledge of the Believer, and leave the rod of the stubborn Impenitent to fall upon him? The death of Christ is not applyed to all, say some; It is not for all, say others. The virtue of Christ's meritorious passion is not made use of by all, say some; It was never intended that it should, say others. And the event is the same: for if it be not made use of and applyed, it is as if it were not, as if it had never been obtained: Only the unbeliever is left under the greater con∣demnation, who turned away from Christ, who spake unto him, not only from heaven, but from his cross, and refused that grace which was offer∣ed him. Which could not befall him if there had never been any such overture made. For how can one refuse that which never concerned him? how can he forfeit that pardon which was never sealed? how can he despise that Spirit of grace which never breathed towards him? They who are so tender and jealous of Christ's blood, that no drop must fall but where they direct it, do but veritatem veritate concutere, undermine and shake one truth with another; set up the particular love of God to Believers, to overthrow his general love to Mankind; confound the vir∣tue of Christs passion with its effect, and draw them together within the same narrow compass; bring it under a Decree, that it can save no more then it doth, because it hath its bounds set; Hitherto it shall go, and no further; and was ordained to quicken some, but to withdraw it self from others, as shut out and hid from the light and force of it, from having any title to it, long before ever they saw the sun, Thus they shorten the hand of God, when it is stretched out to all; bound his love, which is profered to all; stint the blood of Christ, which gusheth out upon all; and circumcise his mercy, which is a large cloak, saith Bernard, large e∣nough to cover all. And the reason is no better then the position, Quod vis esse charum, effice ut sit rarum; To make salvation more precious and estimable, it must be rare: Then it is most glorious, when it is a peculiar, and entailed on a few, Why should the Love of God be a common thing? I answer, Why should it not be common, since he is pleased to have it so? Why should he cast away so many, to endear a few? Can there be any glory in that Priviledge which is writ with the blood of so many mil∣lions? Why should not Gods Love be common, since he would have it not only common, but communicated to all, and expresseth himself as one grieved and troubled and angry, because it is not so? Why should we fear God's love should be cast away by being profered to many? His love of Friendship and Complacency, to those whom he calleth his Friends, cannot be lost, but is as eternal as himself: it assisteth and upholdeth them, and will crown them everlastingly. Nor is his general love of Good will and Affection lost, though it be lost: for it is ever with him, even when the wicked are in hell. Plus est bonitas Dei quàm beneficentia. Christs blood is ever in the flow, though there be but few that take the tide, and are carried along with it. Gods Goodness is larger then his Beneficence. He doth not do what good he can; or rather, he doth

not do what good he would; because we fall back, and will not re∣ceive it. We will not suffer him to be good; we will not suffer him to be merciful; we will not suffer him to save us.* 1.53 This is the condemna∣tion of the world, that light came into the world, and men loved dark∣ness more then light.* 1.54 The Philosopher will tell us that the Indians ad nascentem solem siti sunt, tamen in corpore color noctis est, they live at the very rising of the sun, yet their bodies are black and swarthy, and resemble the night. So many there be who live in the very region of light, where the beams fall upon them hot and pure, and are darted at their very eyes, and yet they remain the children of dark∣ness. Facit infidelitas multorum ut Christus non pro omnibus moriatur, qui pro omnibus mortuus est, saith S. Ambrose. Christ was delivered for all, is a true proposition: it is Infidelity alone that can make it Heretical: And yet it is true still, though to him that believeth not it is of no more use then if it were false. He was delivered for thee; but thou wilt not receive him: His passion is absolute; but thou art impenitent. He dyed for Judas, who betrayed him; but will not save Judas, that despaired and hanged himself. Infidelity and Impenitency are the worst Restrictives, that limit and draw down to particulars a proposition so profitably general, and bound so saving an Universal; that contract and sink all into a few.

To conclude this; Christ hanging on the cross looketh upon all; but all do not cast an eye, and look up in faith upon him. He was delivered to deliver all; but all will not be delivered. Omnis natura nostra in Chri∣sti hypostasi: Our whole nature is united in Christ's person; not the per∣sons of a few, but our whole nature: And our whole nature is of compass large enough to take in all. And in that common nature of man he of∣fered up himself on the cross for the sin of all,* 1.55 that he might take away the sin of the world, destroy the very species and being of it. Which though it be not done, cannot be imputed to any scantness or deficiency of virtue in his bloud, which is of power to purge out sin wheresoere it is, if the heart that fostereth sin be ready and willing to receive and apply it. And in this common nature of Man, not from Abraham or David onely, as S. Matthew, but even from the first man Adam himself, as S. Luke carryeth up his Genealogy, did Christ offer up himself upon the cross. And in this com∣mon nature he presenteth himself before his Father. And now God looketh upon Christ and Mankind as our eye doth upon Light, and Co∣lours, which cannot be seen without light. Before this Light came into the world, we were covered over with darkness and deformity, and God could not look upon us but in anger; but through this common Light we may be seen and be beloved, we may be seen with pleasure. For as God is delighted in his Son, so in him he is well pleased in those Sons which he shall bring with him to glory. But if we will fully withdraw our selves from this Light, then doth his soul hate us.* 1.56 Christ is the bright∣ness of his glory, light enough for God to look through upon a thousand worlds multiplyed a thousand times. And if we do not hide our selves from it, hide our selves in the caverns of the earth, in the world; if we do not drown our selves in the bottome of the sea, in the deluge of our lusts; if we do not bury our selves alive in stubborn impenitency; if we do not stop up all the passages of our souls; if we do not still love dark∣ness, and make it a pavilion round about us; he will look upon us through this light, and look lovingly upon us with favour and affection: He will look upon us as his purchase; and he that delivered his Son for us, will with him also freely give us all things: Which is the End of all, the

End of Christ's being delivered, and offereth it self to our consideration in the last place.

IV. God delivered, God sent, God gave his Son. All these expressions we find to make him a Gift. He is the desire, and he is the riches, of all Nations. As whatsoever we do, we must do; so whatsoever we have, we receive in his name. The name of Jesus, saith S. Peter of the impotent man,* 1.57 hath made this man strong. By his name we are justified; by his name we are sanctified; by his name we shall enter into glory. With him we have all things; for in him are all the treasures of riches and wisdome. We may think of all the Kingdoms of the earth and the glory of them: but these come not within the compass, nor are to be reckoned amongst his Donations. For as the Naturalists observe of the glory of the Rainbow, that it is wrought in our eye, and not in the cloud, and that there is no such pleasing variety of colours there as we see; so the pomp and riches and glory of this world are of themselves nothing, but are the work of our opinion and the creations of our phansie, and have no worth or price but what our lusts and desires set upon them. Luxuria his pretium fecit; It is our Luxury which hath raised the market, and made them valuable and in esteem, which of themselves have nothing to commend them and set them off. My Covetousness maketh that which is but earth a God; my Ambition maketh that which is but air, an heaven; and my Wanton∣ness walketh in the midst of pleasures as in a paradise. There is no such thing as Riches and Poverty, Honour and Peasantry, Trouble and Plea∣sure; but we have made them, and we make the distinction. There are no such plants grow up in this world of themselves; but we set them, and water them, and they spread themselves, and cast a shadow, and we walk in this shadow, and delight or disquiet our selves in vain. Diogenes was a king in his tub, when Great Alexander was but a slave in the world which he had conquered. How many Heroick persons lie in chains, whilest Folly and Baseness walk at large? And no doubt there have been many who have looked through the paint of the pleasures of this life, and beheld them as monsters, and then made it their pleasure and triumph to contemn them. And yet we will not quite exclude and shut out Riches and the things of this world from the sum: For with Christ they are somthing: and they are then most valuable when for his sake we can fling them away. It is he alone that can make Riches a gift, and Poverty a gift; Honour a gift, and Dishonour a gift; Pleasure a gift, and Trouble a gift; Life a gift, and Death a gift. By this power they are reconciled and drawn together, and are but one and the same thing. If we look up into heaven, there we shall see them in a neer conjunction, even the poor Lazar in the Rich mans bosome. In the night there is no difference to the eye between a pearl and a pibble, between the choicest beauty and most abhorred deformity. In the night the deceitfulness of Riches and the glory of Affliction lie hid, and are not seen, or in a contrary shape; in the false shape of terrour, where it is not; or of glory, where it is not to be found: But when the light of Christ's countenance shineth upon them, then they are seen as they are; and we behold so much deceitfulness in the one that we dare not trust them, and so much hope and advantage in the other that we begin to rejoyce in them, and so make them both conducible to that end for which he was delivered, and our convoyes to happiness.

All things is of a large compass, large enough to take in the whole world: But then it is the world transformed and altered, the world con∣quered by faith,* 1.58 the world in subjection to Christ. All things are ours,

when we are Christ's. There is a Civil Dominion and right to these things: and this we have jure creationis, by right of Creation.* 1.59 For the earth is the Lord's, and he hath given it to the sons of men. And there is an Evan∣gelical Dominion; not the power of having them, but the power of using them to God's glory, that they may be a Gift: and this we have jure a∣doptionis, by right of Adoption, as the sons of God, begotten in Christ. Christ came not into the world to purchase it for us, or enstate us in it. He did not suffer, that we might be wanton; nor was poor, that we might be rich; nor was brought to the dust of death, that we might be set in high places. Such a Messias did the Jews look for: and such a Messias do some Christians worse than the Jews frame to themselves; and in his name they beat their fellow-servants and strip them, deceive and defraud them, because they phansie themselves to be his in whom there was found no guile. They are in the world as the mad Athenian was on the shore; Every ship, every house, every Lordship is theirs. And indeed they have as fair a title to their brothers estate as they have to the king∣dome of heaven; for they have nothing to shew for either. I remember S. Paul calleth the Devil the God of this world,* 1.60 and these in effect make him the Saviour of the world: For as if he had been lifted up and nailed to the cross for them, to him every knee doth bow: nor will they receive the true Messias but in this shape. They conceive him giving gifts unto men; not spiritual, but temporal: not the graces of the Spirit, Humility, Meekness, and Contentedness; but Silver and Gold: dividing inheri∣tances, removing of land-marks, giving to Ziba Mephibosheth's land; making not Saints, but Kings upon the earth. Thus they of the Church of Rome have set it down for a positive truth, That all civil Dominion is founded in Grace, that is, in Christ; A Doctrine which bringeth with it a Pick-lock and a Sword, and giveth men power to spoyl whom they please, to take from them that which is theirs either by fraud or by vio∣lence, and to do both in the name and power of Christ. But let no man make his Charter larger than it is. In the Gospel we find none of such an extent as may reach to every man, to every corner of the earth; as may measure out the world, and put into our hands any part of it that either our wit or our power can take in. Christ never drew any such Convey∣ance; the Gospel brought no such tidings. But when honest labour and industry have brought riches in, Christ setteth a seal, imprinteth a bles∣sing on them, sanctifieth them unto us by the Word and Prayer, and so maketh them ours, our servants to minister unto us, and our friends to promote us unto everlasting habitations.

Our Charter is large enough, and we need not interline it with those Glosses which the Flesh and the Love of the World will soon suggest. With Christ we have all things which work to that end for which he was delivered. We have his Commands, which are the pledges of his love: for he gave us them that he might give us more, that he might give us a Crown. We have his Promises of immortality and eternal life. Faciet hoc: nam qui promisit est potens: He shall do it: for he is able to perform it: With him every word shall stand. He hath given us Faith (that is the gift of God) to apprehend and receive the promises: and Hope,* 1.61 to lift us up unto them. He hath given us his Pastors to teach us (that is scarce looked upon as a gift: but then) he hath given us his Angels to minister unto us. He hath given us his Spirit, and filleth us with his Grace, if we will receive it: which will make his Commands, which are now grievous, easie; his Promises, which are rich, profitable: which may carry us on in a regular and peaceable course of piety and obedience: which is our Angel, which is our God; and we call it Grace. All these things vve have with Christ. And the Apostle doth not only tell us that God doth

give us them, but, to put it out of doubt, putteth up a QƲOMODO NON? challengeth as it were the whole world to shew how it should be other∣wise; How will he not with him also freely give us all things? This Question addeth energy and weight and emphasis, and maketh the Position more positive, the Affirmation more strong, and the truth of it more perswa∣sive and convincing; Shall he not give us all things? It is impossible but he should. It is more possible for a city upon a hill to be hid, than for him to hide his favour from us; more possible for Heaven to sink into Hell, or for Hell to raise it self up to God's Mercy-seat, than for him to withhold any thing from them to whom he hath given his Son. Impossible it is, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as most inconvenient, as that which is against his Wisdome and his Justice and his Goodness,* 1.62 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as abhorrent to his Will, to deny us any thing. In brief; If the Earth be not as iron, the Heavens cannot be as brass. God cannot but give when we are fit to receive; and in Christ we are made capable. When he is given, all things are given with him; nay more than all things, more than we can desire, more than we can conceive. When he descendeth, Mercy descendeth with him in a full shower of blessings to make our souls as the paradise of God, to quicken our Faith, to rouse up our Hope. And in this light, in this as∣surance, in this heaven, we are bold with S. Paul to put up the Question against all doubts, all fears, all temptations that may assault us; He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

And now we have passed up every step and degree of this scale and ladder of Love, and seen Christ delivered and nailed to the cross. And from thence he looketh down, and speaketh to us to the end of the world. Crux patientis fuit cathedra docentis: The Cross on which he suffered was the Chair of his Profession. And from this Chair we are taught Humili∣ty, constant Patience, perfect Obedience, an exact Art and Method of living well, drawn out in several lines. What was ambitiously said of Homer, That if all sciences were lost, they might be found in him, may most truly be said of Christ's Cross and Passion, That if all the characters of Innocency, Humility, Obedience, Love, had been lost, they might here be found in libro vitae Agni, in the Book of the Life, nay of the Death, of the Lamb,* 1.63 slain from the foundation of the world, yet now nailed to the Cross.

Let us then with love and reverence look upon him who thus looketh upon us. Let us put on our crucified Jesus, that is, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as Chrysostome, every virtue, his Humility, his Patience, his Obedience; and so bear about with us the dying of our Lord,* 1.64 and draw the picture of a cru∣cified Saviour in our selves. To this end was he delivered up for us, to this end we must receive him, that we may glorifie God, as he hath glo∣rified him on earth. For God's glory and our salvation are twisted toge∣ther and wrought as it were in the same thread, and linked together in the same bond of peace.* 1.65 I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorifie me. Thus it runneth; and it runneth on evenly in a stream of Love.

Oh how must it needs delight him to see his Gift prosper in our hands; to see us delivering up our selves to him who was thus delivered for us; to see his purchase, those who were bought with this price, made his pecu∣liar people!* 1.66 Lift then up the gates of your souls, that this King of glory may come in. If you seek salvation, you must seek the glory of God; and if you seek the glory of God, you shall find it in your salvation. Thou mayest cry, Lo, here it is, or, Lo, there it is; but here it is found. The Jew may seek salvation in the Law; the Superstitious, in Ceremony and bodily Exercise; the Zelote in the Fire and the Whirlwind; the

phantastick lazy Christian, in a Thought, in a Dream; and the prophane Libertine, in Hell it self: But then, then alone we find it, when we meet it in conjunction with the Glory of God, which shineth most gloriously in a crucified Christ, and in an obedient Christian made conformable to him, and so bearing about in him the marks of the LORD JESƲS.* 1.67

To conclude then; Since God hath delivered up his own Son for us all, and with him given us all things, let us open our hearts, and receive him;* 1.68 that is, believe in his name; that is, be faithful to him; that is, love him, and keep his Commandments, which is our conformity to his Death. And then he will give us; What will he give us? He will heap gift upon gift, give us power to become the Sons of God. Let us receive Christ in his shame, in his sorrow, in his agony, take him hanging on the cross; take him, and take a pattern by him: that, as he was, so we may be troubled for our sins; that we may mingle our tears with his blood; drag Sin to the bar; accuse, and condemn it; revile and spit in its face, at the fairest presentment it can make; and then nail it to the cross, that it may lan∣guish and faint by degrees, till it give up the ghost, and die in us. Then lye we down in peace in the grave, and expect a glorious resurrection; when we shall receive Christ, not in humility, but in Majesty, and with him all his riches and abundance, all his promises, even Glory and Im∣mortality and Eternal life.

Notes

• * 1.1

  S. Dionys. de Divin. Nom. p. 200. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c.
• * 1.2

  Joh. 1.3.
• * 1.3

  Orat. 38. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• * 1.4

  Matth. 16.22.
• * 1.5

  Job 38.2.
• * 1.6

  Psal. 72.18. & 86.10.
• * 1.7

  Psal. 135.6.
• * 1.8

  Advers. Pra••e∣am, c. 10.
• * 1.9

  Jam. 1.18.
• * 1.10

  Ezek. 16.6.
• * 1.11

  Jam. 2.13.
• * 1.12

  Psal. 77.9.
• * 1.13

  Matth. 5.40.
• * 1.14

  Luke 12.50.
• * 1.15

  Hebr. 2.10.
• * 1.16

  De patient.
• * 1.17

  Psal. 27.12.
• * 1.18

  Psal. 91.11.
• * 1.19

  Luke 22.43.
• * 1.20

  Luke 1.51.
• * 1.21

  John 19.28.
• * 1.22

  Matth. 27.50. Matth. 27.18.
• * 1.23

  John 12.27. Luke 22.44.
• * 1.24

  Matth. 26.37.
• * 1.25

  Matth. 26.38.
• * 1.26

  Mark 14 36.
• * 1.27

  Harmon. in locum.
• * 1.28

  Matth. 27.46.
• * 1.29

  Matth. 26.39.
• * 1.30

  Luke 22.43.
• * 1.31

  Psal. 102.3, 4. and 22.15.
• * 1.32

  1 Kings 18.44
• * 1.33

  De patient.
• * 1.34

  Sil. Ital. l. 1.
• * 1.35

  Prudent. Hymn. in lau∣dem Vincentii M.
• * 1.36

  Psal. 39.10.
• * 1.37

  Isa. 63.5.
• * 1.38

  Psal. 18 41.
• * 1.39

  Matth. 27.46.
• * 1.40

  Psal. 38.8.
• * 1.41

  Heb. 12.2.
• * 1.42

  Tantam pati∣entiam nemo unquam perpe∣travit. Tert. de Patientia.
• * 1.43

  2 Pet. 2.4.
• * 1.44

  De Angelis quibusdam suâ sponte corrup∣tis, corruptior gens Daemonum eva••it. Tert. A∣pol. c. 22.
• * 1.45

  Hebr. 2.16.
• * 1.46

  Tit. 3.4.
• * 1.47

  Isa. 53.5.
• * 1.48

  Rom. 5.6.8.
• * 1.49

  Rom. 5.12.
• * 1.50

  John 3.16.
• * 1.51

  2 Pet. 3 9.
• * 1.52

  1 Tim. 4.10.
• * 1.53

  John 3.19.
• * 1.54

  Apul. Flor. 1.
• * 1.55

  John 1.29.
• * 1.56

  Hebr. 1.3.
• * 1.57

  Acts 3.13. 1 Cor. 6.11. Col. 2.3.
• * 1.58

  i Cor. 3.21, 22, 23.
• * 1.59

  Psal. 24.1. & 115.16.
• * 1.60

  2 Cor. 4.4.
• * 1.61

  Eph. 2.8.
• * 1.62

  Naz. Or. 36.
• * 1.63

  Rev. 13.8.
• * 1.64

  2 Cor. 4.10.
• * 1.65

  Psal. 50.15.
• * 1.66

  Psal. 24.7, 9.
• * 1.67

  Gal. 6.17.
• * 1.68

  John 1.12.