XXX sermons lately preached at the parish church of Saint Mary Magdalen Milkstreet, London to which is annexed, A sermon preached at the funerall of George Whitmore, Knight, sometime Lord Mayor of the City / by Anthony Farindon.

[illustration] blazon or royal coat of arms of England and Wales

HONI •…•…T QVI MAL Y PENSE

A SERMON Preached on Good-Friday.

ROM. 8.32.

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

* 1.1 GOds benefits come not alone, but one gift is the pledge of another, the grant of a mite, the assignment of a Talent; a drop of dew from Heaven is a Prognostique of a gracious showre, which nothing can draw dry but Ingratitude; the Father might well say, * 1.2 that the love of God was as a constant and endlesse Circle from Good, to Good, in Good, without error, or inconstancy, rowling and carrying it self about in an everlasting gyre.

He spared not, but delivered up his sonne for us all, saith the Text, but how many gifts did usher in this? for he gave him often in the Creation of the world; for by him were all things made, and without him was made nothing that was made: when God gives, * 1.3 he gives his Sonne; for as we ask, so he gives in his name whatsoever we ask; every action of God is a gift, and every gift a tender of his Sonne, an

art to make us capable of more. Thus the Argument of Gods love is drawn à minori ad majus, from that which seems little, to that which is greater; from a Grain to a Harvest, from one Blessing to a Myriad, from Heaven to thy Soul, and from thy Creation to thy Redemption, from his Actions to his Passion, which is the true au∣thentique instrument of his love.

Here his love was in its Zenith, in its Verticall point, and in a direct line casts its rayes of comfort on his lost Creature: Here the Argument is at the highest, and S. Paul drawes it down à majori ad minus, and the Conclusion is full, full of all comfort to all. He that gives a Talent, will certainly give a Mite; he that gives his Son wil also give Salvation, and he that gives Salvation will give all things which may work it out, qui tradidit, he that delivered his Son is fol∣lowed with a quomodo non? how shall he not with him give us all things? quomodo non? It is impossible it should be otherwise, so that Christ comes not naked, but clothed with Blessings; he comes not empty, but with the Riches of Heaven, with the Treasuries of Wisdom and Happinesse; Christ comes not alone, but with troops of Angels, with glorious Promises and Blessings; nay to make good the quo∣modo non, to make it unanswerable, unquestionable; It is his Na∣kednesse that clotheth us, his Poverty that enricheth us, his no Re∣putation that ennobles us, his minoration that makes us great, and his Exinanition, his emptying himself that fills us, and the tradidit is an instrument of conveyance, his being delivered for us, delivers to us the possession of all things.

Qui non pepercit, who spared not his owne Son, but delivered him, &c.

In which words there is a cloud, and a cloud of Blood, the cloud of Christs Passion, for so most interpreters in plain termes expound the tradere by in mortem exponere, making his delivery to be nothing else, but an exposing him to shame, and misery, and death: we need not stand upon it; a tradidit were enough, for he is no sooner out of his hands, but he becomes a man of sorrowes: a tradidit were enough, but here is a non pepercit, he spared him not, 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 severall words to make it sure. A cloud then there is, and a cloud of Blood, but it distills in a sweet showre of Blessings, and we see a light in this cloud, by which we may draw that saving conclusion, quomodo non? How shall he not with him give us all things?

Here then is an assignment made to Man-kind: 1. Christ given: 2. Given for us all: and last of all the full streame of his Bles∣sings

issuing out with his blood; with him we have all things.

* 1.4 Or, because it is a work of infinite love, we will call it scalam a∣moris, the scale, or ladder of love; and then the steps, the parts con∣siderable will be these: 1. The person delivered, Tradidit proprium Filium, he delivered his own Son. 2. The delivery and manner of it, tradidit & non pepercit, he delivered and spared him not. 3. The persons for whom, pro nobis omnibus, for us all; And these will in the last place, the end of all, the end of his Delivery, the end of all his Suf∣ferings, and make us bold to challenge the Devil and all the world, and ask the question, quomodo non? how shall he not with him give us all things?

Qui tradidit proprium filium, Who delivered his own Son.

He spared not, but delivered his Son; * 1.5 and this though we make it the first step, yet indeed it is the top of the ladder, and the highest pitch of his love, from which the light of his countenance shines up∣on us, and shewes us that he loved us as his own Son, nay more than his own Son; and in this his manifestation of his love, is rather a Father to us than to him; de suo periclitatur, ut nos lucretur, saith the Father; to gain us, he is willing in a manner to be himself at a losse, and to win us from slavery, endanger his own, quasi orbitatis haurit doborem; he will spoyle and rob himself to enrich us, and to make us his children, deliver up his own. * 1.6 A strange contemplation it is, and Nazianzen shuts it up in admiration, counsels us to sit down and reverence it with silence. For can God delight to make his own Son a Sacrifice, who would not suffer Abraham to doe his command, and offer up his? or might he not have taken an Angel for his Son, as he did a Ramme for Isaac? 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉; what reason can be given for this his Delivery? Here the object is so radiant, that it con∣founds the sense, and we scarce can see it when we look upon it; his love at such an height, that our contemplation cannot reach it; and though in plain terms we are told that it was done, yet we are slow of heart to believe it; and therefore Photinus adopted a Son, Arrius created one, horruit Marcion, Marcion was afraid of the very thought: Deliver up he might an adopted Son, some excellent creature, or a phantasme, but started back and would not come neer to subscribe that he delivered up his own Son. His own Son in their Divinity, was a Son by Creation, or a Son by Adoption, or a Son in Appearance, which is not a Son. But this groundlesse and indiscreet care of Gods Honour, was a great sin against it, and S. Ambrose observes, that they who denied this for fear, were far worse, and more injuri∣ous to Christian Religion, than they who denied it for stomack; this pretence of his Honour more dangerous than perversenesse and

pertinacy: for when pride, or vain-glory, or ambition, shape and po∣lish an Errour, it is as soon discovered as the hands that wrought it; but when a shew of love, and piety, and zeale, paint and com∣mend it, and send it abroad in this glory, uncautelous and ignorant men are soon taken with it, never doubt, but yield, and are quickly deceived, and count it their Duty and Religion to be so. But why should we fear where no fear is? why should we fear to disparage him, when he is so well pleased to humble himself? why should we be wiser than God? why should we offend and scandalize Christ as Peter did? Be this far from the Lord, from the Son of God, that is, 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 him, to talk of improbability, or incongruity, or impossibi∣lity, is to speak against God; If he will deliver him, his will be done, and he that rests in Gods will doth best acknowledge his Ma∣jesty.

It was his will to deliver him, and this cleares all doubts, and beats down every imagination that exalteth it self against it; If he will do it, we have but one word left us for answer, Amen, let it be done: he hath wisdome and power to attend his will, and who are we that darken counsel with words without knowledge? when we fall down at his foot-stoole and acknowledge his infinite power; when we say, He onely can do wondrous works; when we in all humility acknow∣ledge that he can do more than we can think; that he can uphold us when we are ready to fall, enrich us in poverty, strengthen us in weaknesse, supply us with all necessary meanes and encouragements in this our race; when we preach it 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 Christian need not set his Songs and Hallelujahs to a higher note; but yet we do not rise so high, nor so fully expresse him, as when we give him an absolute will; He doth what he will in Heaven, and in Earth; non vox hominem sonat. This can belong to none but the high∣est, to God the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords; and this makes him Lord paramount, and commander of all. For even his omnipo∣tency seems to submit and vayle to his will, and is commanded by it; for many things he doth not doe, not because he cannot, Dei posse velle est, * 1.7 & non posse nolle, saith Tertull, he can do what he will, and what he will not do, we may say he cannot do; quod voluit, & potuit, & ostendit, but what he would do, he could & did: what his Son? his own Son? his beloved Son, as infinite and omnipotent as himself? shall he be delivered? yes, tradidit illum, he delivered him, because he would, quia voluit; his will is that which opens the windowes of

heaven, and shuts them again; that binds and looses, that plants and roots 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 in his bosome, & never shewed him to the world; but as he begatus again of the word of Truth, so he delivered up his Son 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 quia voluit, 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, but would not, but wrought him out of the Earth, and was the Potter which formed and shaped him out of the Clay with his own hands: so in the great work of our Redemption, he did not send a Moyses, an Angel, a Cherubin, or Seraphim, but tradidit proprium filium, delivered up his own Son, & in this delivery gave a price infinitely above that which he brought, motal, sinfull men, which were of no value at all, but that he made them; and he payes down not a Talent for a Talent, but a Talent for a Mite, for Nothing, for that which had made it self worse than no∣thing; his Son, for those who stood guilty of Rebellion against him, and his love for the world, which was at enmity with him. And thus he was pleased to buy his own will and love in us, and by this his in∣finite love to bound as it were his infinite power, his infinite wis∣dome, and his illimited will; for here his power, his wisdome, his will, may seem to have found a non ultra, he cannot do, he cannot find our, he cannot wish for us more, than what he hath done in the delivery of his Son.

And now, if we ask, what moved his will? not sure any loveli∣nesse, or attractivenesse in the object; there was nothing to be seen but loathsomnesse and deformity, and that enmity which might soo∣ner 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, not to be found in the world, which stood out against him, and when he did come, would not receive him, but was bound up in his own bowels of mercy and compassion; he loved us in our blood, and loving us he bid us live, and that we might live, delive∣red up his own Son to death. For his mercy was the Orator to move his will, and being mercifull, he was also willing to help us; Mercy is all our plea, and it was his motive, and wrought in him a will, a cheerful will, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 saith Saint James; it rejoyceth against Judgement; though we had forgot our Duty, yet would not he forget his Mercy, but hearkned to it, and would not continere mise∣ricordias, * 1.8 shut up his tender mercies in Anger, which is a Metaphor taken from martiall affaires; for in a siege an Army doth compasse 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 David calls claudere, or continere, to shut up his mercy in

anger; the Septuagint renders it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to make a trench about it and besiege it. Now the goodnesse of God, and his love to his Creature, would not suffer him thus to shut up his tender Mercies, as a Fort or Town is shut up to be undermined, and beat upon, 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 importu∣nate, let Power be formidable, and Vengeance 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 darknesse, which besiege and compasse 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 amoris, saith Aquinas; this was the riddle, or rather the mystery of his love to pose the wisdome of the world: I may say, being Love, and infi∣nite, it is no riddle at all, but plain and easie: for what can love doe that is strange? what can it doe amisse? that which moved him to do it, shewes plainly that the end for which he did it, was very good: Dilexit nos, he loved us, is the best commentary on Tra∣didit Filium, he delivered his Son for us, and takes away 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 of that nature, Heavenly as he is Heavenly, or but in some forward degree proportioned to his, we should see nothing that were difficult, nothing that were absurd, nothing that might misbecome us, which might promote or advan∣tage them: if our Love have heat in it, our Will will be forward and earnest, and we shall be ready to lay down our lives for them. For Love is like an Artificiall Glasse, and when we looke through it, an Enemy appears a Friend; Disgrace, Honour; Difficulties No∣thing. When he 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; Loe all these may be my children. What speak we of Disgrace? his Love defends his Majesty, and exalts this Humility of his son: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. saith Plato, Love hath this priviledge that it can∣not be defamed, and by a kind of Law hath this huge advantage, to make Bondage, Liberty; Disgrace, Honourable; Infirmity, Omni∣potent: who can stand up against Love, and say, why didst thou this? Had Marciou, and Photinus, and Arrius, well weighed the force and priviledge of Love; their needlesse fear, 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, quia tradidit, because he delivered

him up for us, but have seen as great glory in his Humility, as in his Glory, and would have faln down and worshipt God and man, even this crucified Lord of life, Christ Jesus. Love will doe any thing for those whom it looks, and stayes upon. If you ask a coat, it gives the cloak also; if you defire her to goe a mile, she will goe with you twaine, and is never weary, though she passe through places of hor∣ror and danger; if you be in the most loathsome dungeon, in the val∣ley and shadow of death, she forsakes you not, but will go along with you. Must the Son of God be delivered? Love sends him down, Charitas de coelo demisit Christum, it was Love that bowed the Hea∣vens, when he descended; must he suffer? Love nayles him to the Crosse, and no power could doe it, but Love. Must he be sacrificed? Love calls it a Baptisme, & coarctatur, how is Love 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, Heb. 2.10. So, though he be the Son of God, though we were his enemies, yet Love reconcileth all these seeming contradictions, resolves every doubt, tunes these jarring strings, and out of this discord maketh that melody which delighteth both men and Angels, and God himself; even that melody, whereof our love should be the resultance. He loved us, and then the Con∣clusion doth sweetly and naturally follow, Non pepercit, he spared not his owne Son, but delivered him up. And so from the Person, we passe to the Delivery it self,

Tradidit, & non pepercit, He delivered, and spared him not.* 1.9

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 Virgins womb, for that was a strange descent, and e∣ven then began his passion; Nasci se patitur, saith Tertullian, * 1.10 he suffer'd himself to be fashion'd in the womb, took of man, what is proper and naturall to him, to be Born and dye. Here he was drawn out and fit∣ted, made an object for the malice of men, and the rage of the Di∣vell to work on; here he was made a mark for his enemies to shoot at, here he had a back for the whip, and flesh to be ploughed, a face to be spit upon, a body to be nayld to the Crosse; here he was built up as a Temple, to be beat down again with axes and Hammers, with misery and Affliction. Mira traditio! a strange delivery it was of the sonne of God into the womb of a Mortall, yet tradidit illum he thus delivered him.

And being Borne, what was his whole life, but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a delivery of him, from sorrow to sorrow, from misery to misery, from po∣verty to shame, from derision to malice, from malice, to death? this was the pomp and Ceremony, with which he was brought to his Crosse, and from thence to his grave. Deliver me not into the

hands of my enemies, saith David. Behold, his freinds were his ene∣mies: what creature was there to whom he was not deliver'd? De∣liver'd to the Angels, to keep him (you will say) in all his wayes; but what need had he of an Angels assistance, whose wisdome reach∣ed over all? what need he an Angels tongue to comfort him who was Lord of the Angels, and who with his voyce could have de∣stroyed the Universe? but now he, who could turne stones into Bread, who could work it out of nothing, as he did in the multiplying of the loaves, is content toreceive an Almes from the hand of his Mi∣nister. Deliver'd to Joseph and Mary, * 1.11 to whom, saith the Text, he was obedient: Deliver'd from Annas to Caiaphas, from Caiaphas to Pilate; from Pilate to Herod; from Herod to Pilate againe, and from Pilate to the Jewes, to doe with him what they pleased; de∣liver'd to all the creatures, to heat, and to cold, to the thornes which gored him, to the whip which made long furrows in his flesh; to then ayles, which fastned him; to the speare which peirced him; to the Crosse which rack'd him; to the grave, which swallowed him; deliver'd to the Divell himself, and the power of darknesse: No creature from the highest to the lowest, to which he was not de∣livered; deliver'd in his body and his soule; in every part of his body, in those, which seem'd to be free from paine, his tongue, which their cruelty toucht not; for he that was man, yet had no∣thing of the impatience of man, complain'd of Thirst; he said I thirst: Deliver'd up to a quick and lively sense of paine, for many times extremity of paine takes it away, and it is lost in it self, but here paine did quicken his sense; the more he endured, the more sensible he was; the more he suffer'd, the more feeling he had; his last gasp was breathed out 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 with a strong loud voyce; de∣liver'd he was to envy which deliver'd him, saith the Text; to trea∣chery which betray'd him; to malice, which laid on sure strokes; to pride, which scorned him; to contempt, which spet upon him; to all those furious passions which turne men into Divells; from such a delivery we all cry Good Lord deliver us.

But thus deliver'd he was not onely to men, but to the passions of men, to the wild and brutish passions of his enemies, to the rage of Devills; and in the next place, not onely to their passions, but his own, which as man he carryed about with him, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 my soule is troubled, John 12.27. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in an Agony, Luk. 22.44. quae sentitur prius quam discitur, 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 〉 he is grievously vexed. Matth. 26.38. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 his soule was very hea∣vy, for these severall expressions the Evangelists give us; Trouble, vexation, an Agony, heavinesse in his soule, these were the bitter in∣gredients which fill'd up his cup so full, that he made it his prayer to have it taken out of his hand; the consideration of which hath

induced some to conceive, that the sense of his paine had so weakned his intellectuall faculties, that he forgat himself; non fuit haec meditata Christi oratio, saith Calvin, * 1.12 his paine 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 Inter∣pretis meditata oratio, this Author did not well understand, nor consi∣der what he wrote, and might seeme 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 resul∣tance of his grief, for grieve he did and feare; and he who as God could have commanded a Legion of Angels, as man had need of one to comfort him. He was deliver'd up to his passions to afflict, not swallow him up; no disorder, no jarr with reason, which was still above them; no sullennesse in his grief, no despaire in his complaints; no unreasonableness in his thoughts; not a thought which did rise a∣misse; not a word which was misplaced; not a motion which was not regular; he knew he was not forsaken, when he asked, why hast thou forsaken me? the bitternesse of the cup struck him into a feare, when his obedience call'd for it; he prayed indeed, that this cup might passe from him, which was not, as some think, the cup of his Crosse and passion, but this cup of his Agony; in which prayer it is plaine he was heard, for the Text tells us, there stood by an Angel from God to comfort, and strengthen him, Luk. 22.43. For being of the same mould and temper, he was willing to receive the same impressions, which are so visible in man, of sorrow and feare, even those affections which are seated in the sensitive part, and without which misery and paine have no tooth at all to bite us; for 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, 'tis our passion, and fancy that make it a Scorpion: what could malice hurt me, if I did not help the blow? what edge had an injury, if I could not be angry? what terror had death, if I did not feare? It is opinion and passion that makes us mi∣serable; take away these, and misery is but a name. Tunde, Anaxar∣chum enim non tundis, you touch not the Stoick though you bray him in a morter. Deliverd then he was to these passions, to feare, and to grief, which strein'd his body, which rackt his joynts, which stretched his sinews, which trickled down in clods of bloud, exhaled them∣selves through the pores of his flesh in a bloudy sweat; the fire that melted him was his feare and his grief.

Da si quid ultra est; is there yet any more, or can he be delivered further? not to despaire, for it was impossible; not to the torments of Hell, which could never seize on his innocent soule; but Irae Dei, to the wrath of God, which wither'd his heart like Grasse, and 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; look upon his Tongue, it cleaves to the roof of his mouth: what talk we of Death? the wrath of God is truely 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the fearfullest, and terriblest thing in the world; the sting of sin, which is the sting of Death. Look into your own soules; That weake apprehension of it, which we sometimes have, what a night and darknesse doth it draw over us? what a night? nay what a Hell doth it kindle in us? what torments do we feele, the Types and sad representations of those in the bottomlesse pit? how do our delights distast us? our desires strangle themselves? what a Tophet is the world? and what Furies are our Thoughts? what do we see, which we do not turne 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 moun∣taine can cover us? we are wearie of our selves, and could wish ra∣ther not to be, then to be under Gods wrath; were it not for this, there would be no Law, no Conscience, no Divell, but with this the Law is a killing letter, the Conscience a Fury, and the Divell a Tor∣mentor. But yet there is still a difference between our apprehensi∣on and his, for alas! to us his wrath doth not appeare in 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 distance, as that which may be turned away; and so not fearing his 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 appears, but as the cloud did to Elias servant, like a mans 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 apprehen∣sion; we see not so much deformity in sin as he did, and so not so much terrour in the wrath of God.) It were Impiety and Blasphemy to think that the blessed Martyrs were more patient than Christ, Cujus natura patientia, * 1.13 saith Tert. whose very nature was patience, yet who of all that noble Army ever breathed forth such disconso∣late speeches? God indeed delivered them up to the saw, to the wrack, to the teeth of Lions, to all the engines of cruelty, and shapes of death, but numquid deseruit? they never cryed out they were forsaken; he snatched them not from the rage of the perescutor by a miracle, but behold a greater miracle.

—Rident superant{que} dolores Spectanti similes—* 1.14

In all their Torments they had more life & joy in their countenance, than they who looked on, who were more troubled with the sight-than they were with the punishment; their Torture was their Tri∣umph; their Afflictions were their Melody; of Weak they were made Strong.

Tormenta, carcer, ungulae,* 1.15 Atque ipsa poenarum ultima Mors, Christianis ludus est.

Torments, Racks, and Strapadoes, and the last Enemy, Death it self, were but a recreation and refreshment to the Christians, who suffered all these with the patience of a stander by. But what speak we of Martyrs? Divers sinners (whose ambition never reacht at such a Crown, but rather trembled at it) have been delivered up to afflicti∣ons and crosses, nay to the anger of God; but never yet any, nay not those who have despaired, were so delivered as Christ; we may say that the Traitor Judas felt not so much, when he went and hang∣ed himself; For though Christ could not despaire, yet the wrath of God was more visible to him than to those that doe, who beare but their owne burden, when he lay pressed under the sinnes of the whole world. God in his approches of Justice, when he comes toward the sinner to correct him, may seem to go like the Consuls of Rome with his Rod and his Axes carried before him; many sin∣ners have felt his rod, and his Rod is Comfort; in his Frown, Fa∣vour; and in his Anger, Love; and his Blow may be a Bene∣fit; but Christ was struck as it were with his Axe; others have trembled under his wrath, but Christ was even consumed with the stroke of his hand. For being delivered to his wrath, his wrath delivers him to these Throwes and Agonies; delivers him to Judas, who delivers, nay betrayes him to the Jewes, 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 hangs betweene two Thieves. I mention not the Shame, the Torment of the Cross, for the Thieves endured the same. But his soul was crucified more than his body, and his heart had sharper nailes to pierce it, than his hands or his feet. Tradidit & non pepercit, he delivered him, and spared him not.

But to rise one step more; Tradidit & deseruit, he delivered, and in a manner forsook him, restrained his influence, denied relief, withdrew his comfort, stood, as it were a far off, and let him fight it out unto death; he looked about and there was none to help, even to the Lord he called, but he heard him not, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, * 1.16 he roared out for the very grief of his heart, and cryed with a loud voyce, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And could God forsake him? when he hung upon the Crosse, did he not see the joy which was set before him? Yes he did, but not to comfort, but ra∣ther torment him, Altissimo Divinitatis consilio actum est, ut gloria militaret in paenam, saith Leo. By the counsell of the Godhead it was set down and determined, that his Glory should adde to his Pu∣nishment,

that his Knowledge, which was more clear than a Sera∣phins, should increase his Grief; his Glory, his Shame; his Hap∣pinesse, his Misery; that there should not onely be Vinegar in his Drink, and Gall in his Honey, and Mirrhe with his Spices; but that his Drink should be Vinegar; his Honey, Gall; and all his Spices as bitter as Mirrhe; that his Flowers should be Thorns; and his Triumph, Shame. This could sin do, and can we love it? This could the love and the wrath of God do, his love to his Creature, and his wrath against sin: And what a delivery, what a desertion is this, which did not deprive him of strength, but enfeeble 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 comforts themselves? what misery equall to that which makes Strength a Tormenter, Knowledge a Vexation, and makes Joy & Glory a Per∣secution? There now hangs his sacred Body on the Cross, not so much afflicted with his passion, as his Soul was wounded with compassion, with compassion on his Mother, with compassion on his Disciples, with compassion on the Jewes who pierced him, for whom he prayes, * 1.17 when they mock him, which did manifest his Di∣vinity as much as his miracles; with compassion 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 torments of the blessed Martyrs, the reproch of his Saints, the wounds of every bro∣ken 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 sorrowes, not onely which he then felt, but which any men, which all men have felt, or shall feel to the time the Trump shall found, and he shall come again in Glory. The last de∣livery was of his soul, which was indeed traditio, an yielding it up, a voluntary emission or delivering it up into his Fathers hands; praeven∣to carnificis officio, saith the Father, he prevents the spear, and the hand of the Executioner, * 1.18 and gives 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 opens her mouth, and the Grave hers, and yields up her dead; the veyl of the Temple rends asunder, the Earth trembles, and the rocks are cleft, but neither Art nor Nature can reach the depth of this wis∣dom and love; no tongue, neither of the living nor of the dead, nei∣ther of men or Angels, are able to express it. The most powerfull E∣loquence is the Threnody of a broken heart, for there his death speaks it self, and the vertue and power of it reflects 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, * 1.19 passed through a field of Blood to the top of mount Calvarie, where the Son of God, the Saviour of the World, was nailed to the Crosse, and being thus lifted up upon his Crosse, he looketh down upon us to draw us after him. Look then back upon him who looks upon us, whom our sins have pierced, and behold his blood trickling down upon us; which is one ascent more, and brings in the persons for whom he was delivered, First, for us. Secondly, for us all.

Now this pro nobis, that he should be delivered for us, is a con∣templation full of delight and comfort, but not so easie to digest; for if we reflect upon our selves, and there see nothing but confusi∣on and horrour, we shall soon ask our selves 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 immortall Spirits, we as the Grasse, withered before we grow; yet he spared not his Son, to spare us, but the Angels that fell he cast into Hell, and chained them up in everlasting dark∣nesse, 2 Pet. 2.4. 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 meere com∣passion of our wants; With them he deales in rigour, and relents not; with us in favour and mercy, and seeks after us, and layes hold on us, when we were 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 doe so, and in this we might rest; but Divines will tell us, that man was a ritter object of mercy than they, quia levius est alienâ mente peccare quam propriâ, because the Angels sin was more spontaneous, * 1.20 wrought in them by themselves; man had importunam arhorem, that flattering and importuning Tree, and that subtill and seducing Serpent, to urge and sway him from his obedience; Man had a Tempter, the Angels were both the temptation and tempters to themselves; Man took in Death by looking abroad, but the Angels by reflecting upon themselves, gazed so long upon their own Beauty, till they saw it changed into horrour and deformity; and the offence is more par∣donable, where the motive is ab extrinseco, from some outward as∣soile, than where it grows up of it self. Besides, the Angels did not all fall, but the whole lump of mankind was leavend with the same lea∣ven, and pity it may seem, that so noble a Creature made up after Gods own Image, should be utterly lost. These reasons with others 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 fai∣rer appearance; but the Scripture is plain, that he took not the An∣gels, Heb. 2.16. he did not lay his hands upon them, to redeem them

to liberty, and strike off their Bonds, and we must goe out of the world to find out 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 〉 Tit. 3.4. the love of God to mankind, and what was in mankind but enmity and hostility, sinne and deformity, which are no proper mo∣tives to draw on his love? and yet he loved us, and hated sinne, and made haste to deliver us from it; Dilexisti me, domine, plusquam te, quando mori voluisti pro me, saith Aust. Lord when thou dyedst for me, thou madest it manifest, that my soule was dearer to thee, then thy self; such a high esteeme did he set upon a Soule, which we scarce honour with a thought, but so live, as if we had none. For us men then, and For us Sinners was he delivered, the Prophet Esay speaks it, and he could not speake it so properly of any, but him, He was wounded for our transgressions, and broken for our Iniquities, So that he was delivered up not onely to the crosse, * 1.21 and shame, but to our sinnes which nayled him to the crosse, which crucified him not onely in his Humility, but in his glory, now he sits at the right hand of God, and puts him to shame to the end of the world. Falsò de Judaeis querimur, why complain we of the Jewes malice? or Judas's treason? of Pilates injustice? we, we alone are they, who cru∣cifyed the Lord of life; Our Treachery was the Judas which be∣trayed him; Our malice, the Jew which accused him; our perjury, the false witnesse against him; our Injustice, the Pilate that con∣demned him; our pride scorned him; our envy grinned at him; our luxury spet upon him; our covetousnesse sold him; our corrupt bloud was drawn out of his wounds; our swellings prickt with his Thornes; our sores launced with his speare, and the whole Body of sinne stretched out and crucified with the Lord of life. Tradidit pro nobis, he delivered him up for us sinners; no sinne there is, which his bloud will not wash away, but finall impenitency, which is not so much a sinne, as the sealing up of the body of sinne, when the mea∣sure is full; pro nobis, for us sinners; for us? 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.

Pro nobis, * 1.22 for us men, and for us sinners he was deliver'd; pro infirmis, for us when we were without strength; pro impiis, for us when we were ungodly; pro peccatoribus, for sinners; Rom. 5.6,7. for so we were con∣sider'd in this great work of our Redemption, and thus high are we gone on this scale and ladder of love. There is one step more, pro no∣bis omnibus, he was deliver'd for us all, all, not consider'd as elect, or reprobate, but as men, as smners, 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 plaine and easie; pro omnibus, for all; this some will not touch, and yet they doe touch, and presse it with that violence, that they presse it almost into nothing, make the world not the world, and whosoever not whosoever, but some cer∣taine men, and turne all into a few, deduct whom they please out of all people, Nations, and Languages, and out of Christendome it self, and leave some few with Christ upon the Crosse, whose persons he beares, whom they call the elect, and meane themselves; sic Deus dilexit mundum, so God loved the world, that is the Elect, say they, * 1.23 they are the world, where tis hard to find them; for they are called out of it, and the best light we have, which is of Scripture, discovers them not unto us in that place; and if the Elect be this world which God so loved, then they are such Elect, which may not believe, and such elect as may perish, and whom God will have perish, if they doe not believe. Tis true, none have benefit of Christs death but the Elect, but from hence it doth not follow, that no other might have had; theirs is the kingdome of heaven, but are not they shut out now, who might have made it theirs? God, saith Saint Peter, would not that any should perish, 2 Pet. 3.8. and God is the Saviour of all men, saith Saint Paul, but especially of those that believe, 1 Tim. 4.10. all, if they believe, and repent; and those who are obedient to the Gos∣pel, because they doe; the bloud of Christ is powred forth on the Believer, and with it he sprinkles his heart, and is saved; the wicked trample it under their foot, and perish. That the bloud of Christ is sufficient to wash away the sinnes of the world, nay of a thousand worlds; that Christ paid down a ransome of so infinite a value, that it might redeeme all that are or possibly might be under that Cap∣tivity; that none are actually redeemed, but they who make him their Captaine, and doe as he commands; that is, believe and re∣pent; 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 stubborne 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 Christs meritorious passion is not made use of by all, say some; it was never intended, that it should, say o∣thers; and the event is the same, for if it be not made use of and ap∣plyed, it is as if it were not, as if it had never been obtain'd; onely the unbeliever is left under the greater condemnation, who turned away from Christ who spake unto him, not onely from heaven, but from his crosse, and refused that grace which was offer'd him, which could not befall him, if there had never been any such overture made; for how can he refuse that which never concern'd him? how can he forfeit that pardon, which was never seal'd? how can he de∣spise that spirit of grace, which never breathed towards him? They who are so tender and jealous of Christs bloud, that no drop must

fall, but where they direct it, doe but veritatem veritate concutere, un∣dermine, and shake one truth with another; set up the particular love of God to believers, to overthrow his generall love to Mankind; confound the virtue of Christs passion, with the effect, and draw them together within the same narrow compasse; 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 selfe from others as shut out and hid from the light and force of it, or having any Title to it, long be∣fore ever they saw the sunne; And thus they shorten the hand of God, when it is stretched out to all; bound his love, which is prof∣ferred to all, stint the bloud of Christ, which gusheth out upon all; and circumcise his mercy, which is a large cloak, saith Bernard, large enough to cover all; and the reason is no better then the position, quod vis esse charum, effice ut sit rarum, to make salvation more pre∣cious and estimable, it must be rare; Then 'tis most glorious when tis a peculiar; when tis entayld 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 en∣deare a few? and can there be any glory in that priviledge, which is writ with the bloud of so many millions? why should it not be com∣mon, since he would have it not onely common, but communi∣cated to all, and expresses himself as one grieved, and troubled, and angry, because it is not so? why should we feare Gods love should be cast away by being proferd to many? His love of friendship and complacency to those whom he calls his Friends, cannot be lost, but is as eternall as himself, it assists, and upholds them, and will crown them everlastingly. Nor is his generall love of good will and affecti∣on lost, though it be lost; for it is ever with him, even when the wicked are in hell. Plus est bonitas Dei, quam beneficentia; Christs bloud is ever in the Flow, though there be but few that take the Tide, and are carried along with it; Gods goodnesse is larger then his Beneficence; he doth not doe what good he can, or rather, he doth not doe 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 mercifull, we will not suffer him to save us. This is the condemna∣tion of the world, * 1.24 that light came into the world, and men loved dark∣nesse more then light. * 1.25 The Philosopher will tell us of the Indians, ad nascentem solem siti sunt, tamen in corpore color noctis est, they live at the very rising of the sunne, 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 Beames fall upon them hot and pure, and are darted at their very eyes, and yet remaine the Children of darknesse: Facit infidelitas multorum ut Christus non pro omnibus moriatur, qui pro omnibus mortuus est, saith Saint Ambrose; Christ was deliverd for all, is a true proposition; it is Infidelity alone that can

make it Hereticall, and yet tis true still, though to him that believes not, it is of no more use then if it were false; he was delivered for thee, but thou wilt not receive it; his passion is absolute, but thou art impenitent; he dyed for Judas who betrayed him, but will not save Judas that despaired, and hang'd himself: Infidelity, and impeniten∣cy are the worst Restrictives which limit and draw down to parti∣culars, a proposition so profitably generall, and bound so saving a universall, that contract and sink all into a few.

To conclude this; Christs hanging on the Crosse looks upon all, but all doe dot cast an eye, and look up in faith upon him; he was de∣liver'd to deliver all, but all will not be deliver'd: Omnis natura no∣stra in Christi hypostasi invixit, Our whole nature was united in Christs person; not the persons of a few, but our whole nature, and our whole nature is of compasse large enough to take in all; and in that common nature of man he offered up himself on the Crosse, for the sinne of all, that he might tollere peccatum mundi, take away the sinne of the world, destroy the very species and being of it; which though it be not done, cannot be imputed to any scantnesse, or de∣ficiency of virtue in his bloud, which is of power to purge out sinne wheresoere it is, if the heart that fosters it, be ready and willing to receive and apply it: And in this common nature of man, not from Abraham or David, but from the first man Adam himself, as Saint Luke carryes up his Genealogy, did Christ offer up himself upon the Crosse; and in this common nature, he presents himself before his Father, and now God looks upon Christ and mankind, as our eye doth upon light, and colours, which cannot be seen without light; before this light came into the world, we were covered over with darknesse, and deformity, and God could not look upon us, but in anger; but through this common light we may be seen and be be∣loved, we may be seen with pleasure; for as he was delighted in his Sonne, so in him he is well pleasd in those sonnes which he shall bring with him to glory; but it we will fully withdraw our selves from this light, then doth his soule hate us. Christ is the brightnesse of his Glory, light enough for God to look through upon a thousand worlds, multiplyed a thousand times; and if we doe not hide our selves from it, hide our selves in the cavernes of Earth in the world; If we doe not drown our selves in the bottome of the Sea, in the de∣luge of our lusts; if we doe not bury our selves alive in stubborne im∣penitency; if we doe not stop up all the passages of our soules, if we doe not still love darknesse, 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 deliver'd him for us, will with him give us all things; which is the end of all, the end of this his being delivered, and offers it self to our consideration in the last place.

* 1.26 He delivered, he sent, he gave him, for all these expressions we find to make him a Gift: He is the desire, and he is the riches of all Nations, so that, 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, * 1.27 hath made this man strong; by his name we are justified, by his name we are sanctified, and by his name we shall en∣ter into glory, with him we have all things, for in him are all the treasuries of Riches and Wisdome; we may think of all the King∣domes of the earth and the glory of them, but these come not within the compasse, 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, & glory of this world are of themselves nothing, but are the work of our opinion, and the creations of our fancy, have no worth, nor price, but what our lusts and desires set upon them, luxuria his pretium fe∣cit, 'tis our luxury, which hath raised the market, and made them va∣luable and in esteem, which of themselves have nothing to com∣mend them, and set them off. My covetousnesse makes that which is but earth a God; my ambition makes that which is but aire, as heaven; and my wantonnesse walks in the midst of pleasures, as in a Paradise; there is no such thing as Riches and Poverty, Honour and Peasantry, Trouble and pleasure, 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 de∣light 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 con∣quered; how many heroick persons lie in chains, whilest folly and basenesse walk at large? and no doubt there have been many, who have looked through the paint of the pleasures of this life, and be∣held 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 summe, for with Christ they are something, and they are then most valuable, when for his sake we can fling them away; for it is he alone that can make Riches a gift, and Poverty a gift; Honour a gift, and Dishonour a gift; Plea∣sure a gift, and Trouble a gift; Life a gift, and Death a gift; by his power they are reconciled and drawn together, and are but one and the same thing; for if wee look up into heaven, there we shall see them in a neer conjunction, even the poor Lazar in the rich mans bo∣som. In the night there is no difference to the eye between a Pearl and a Pibble-stone, between the choicest beauty and most abhorred deformity. In the night the deceitfulnesse 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 glory, where it is not to be found;

but when the light of Christs countenance shines upon them, then they are seen as they are, and we behold so much deceitfulnesse in the one, that we dare not trust them, and so much hope and advan∣tage 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 con∣voyes to happiness.

All things is of a large compasse, large enough to take in the whole world, but then it is the world transformed & altered, the world con∣quered by Faith, the world in subjection to Christ; All things are ours, when we are Christs; for there is a Civil Dominion and right to these things, and this we have jure creationis, by right of Creation, for the earth is the Lords, and he hath given it to the sons of men; and there is an Evangelical Dominion, not the power of having them, but the power of using them to his glory, that they may be a Gift; and this we have jure adoptionis, 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 Mes∣sias did the Jewes look for, and such a Messias doe some Christians worse than the Jewes frame to themselves; and in his name they beat their fellow-servants, and strip them, deceive and defraud them, because they fancy themselves to be his, in whom there was found no guile, and 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 kingdome of Heaven, for they have nothing to shew for either. I re∣member in 2 Corinth. 4.4. S. Paul calls the Divel the God of this world, and these, in effect, make him the Saviour of the world; for (as if he had been lifted up and nailed to the Crosse for them) to him every knee doth bow, nor will they receive the true Messias, but in this shape: for thus they conceive him giving gifts unto men, not spirituall, but temporall, not the Graces of the Spirit, Humility, Meeknesse, and Contentednesse; but Silver and Gold, dividing In∣heritances, removing of Land-marks, giving to Ziba Mephibosheths land, making not Saints, but Kings upon the earth; and 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 Do∣ctrine which brings with it a Pick-lock, and a Sword, and gives men power to defraud or spoyle whom they please, and to take from them that which is theirs, either by fraud or by violence, and to do both in the name and power of Christ. But let no man make his charter larger than it is, and in the Gospel we finde none of such an extent, which may reach to every man, to every corner of the earth, which may measure out the world, and put into our hands any part

of it, that either our wit or our power can take in; for Christ never drew any such conveyance, the Gospel brought no such tidings, but when labour and industry have brought them in, sets a seal, imprints a blessing on them, sanctifies them unto us by the Word, and by Prayer, and so makes them ours, our servants to minister unto, and our friends to promote, and lift us forward into everlasting habitati∣ons.

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 immorta∣lity and eternall 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, for that is the gift of God, to apprehend and receive them, and hope 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, and he hath given us his Spirit, fills 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 we have with Christ, and the Apostle doth not onely tell us that God doth give us them; but to put it out of doubt, puts up a quomodo non? challenges, as it were the whole world to shew, how it should be otherwise, How will he not with him give us all things? And this question addes ener∣gy, and weight, and emphasis, and makes the position more positive, the affirmation more strong, and the truth of it more perswasive and convincing, shall he not give us all things? It is impossible but he should; 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 Hell to raise it self up to his Mercy-seat, than for him to with-hold any thing from them to whom he hath given his Son: Impossible 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as most inconvenient, as that which is a∣gainst his Wisdome, * 1.28 his Justice, his Goodnesse, 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 Brasse, God cannot but give, when we are fit to receive, and in Christ we are made capable; and 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 descends, Mercy descends with him in a ful shower of Bles∣sings to make our Souls as the Paradise of God, to quicken our Faith, to rouze up our Hope, and in this Light, in this Assurance, in this

Heaven we are bold with S. Paul to put up the question against all Doubts, all Feares, all Temptations that may assault us, He that spa∣rede not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him give us all things?

* 1.29 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 Crosse, and from thence he looks down, and speaks to us to the end of the world, Crux patientis fuit Cathedra docentis, the Crosse on which he suffered was the Chaire of his profession, and from this Chair we are taught Humility, constant Patience, and perfect Obedi∣ence, an exact art and method of living well, drawn out in severall lines, so that what was ambitiously said of Homer, that if all Sciences were lost, they may be found in him, may most truly be said of his Crosse and Passion, that if all the characters of Innocency, Humili∣ty, 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, slain from the foundation of the World, yet now nailed to the Crosse.

Let us then with Love and Reverence look upon him, whothus looks upon us, put on our Crucified Jesus, that is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 as Chrys. every Vertue, his Humility, his Patience, his Obedience, and so bear about with us the dying of our Lord, and draw the pi∣cture of a Crucified Saviour in our selves. To this end was he deli∣vered up for us, to this end we must receive him, that we may glori∣fie God, as he hath glorified him on earth, for Gods Glory and our Salvation are twisted together, and wrought as it were in the same thred, are linked together in the same bond of Peace, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorifie me. Thus it runs, and it runs 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 deli∣vered for us; to see his purchase, those who were bought with this price, made his peculiar people! 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 may'st cry, loe here it is, or loe there it is, but here it is found: The Jew may seek salvation in the Law; the Superstitious in Ceremony, and bodily exercise; the Zelot in the Fire and in the Whirlwind; the phantastick lazy Chri∣stian in a Thought, in a Dream; and the profane Libertine in Hell it self: Then, then alone we find it, when we meet it in conjunction with the glory of God, which shines most gloriously in a Crucified Christ, and an Obedient Christian, made conformable to him, and

so bearing about in him the markes of the LORD JESUS.

To conclude then: Since God hath delivered up his Son for us all, and with him given us all things; let us open our hearts and re∣ceive him, that is, Believe in his name, that is, be faithfull to him, that is, love him, and keep his Commandements, which is our confor∣mity 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 him, take in Christ, take him in his Shame, in his Sorrow, in his Agony, take him hanging on the Crosse, 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 Teares with his Blood, drag our Sin to the Bar, accuse and condemn it, revile and spit in its Face, at the fairest presentment it can make; and then naile it to the Crosse, that it may languish and faint by degrees, and give up the Ghost, and die in us, and then lye down in peace in his Grave, and expect a glorious Resurrection to eternall life, where we shall re∣ceive Christ, not in Humility, but in Glory, and with him all his Riches, and Abundance, all his glorious Promises, even Glory and Immortality, and Eternall life.

Notes

• * 1.1

  The Introdu∣ction.
• * 1.2

  S. Dionys. de divin. Nom. p. 200.
• * 1.3

  Joh. 1.3
• * 1.4

  The Division.
• * 1.5

  Tradidit pro∣prium filium, his own Son.
• * 1.6

  Naz. or. 38.
• * 1.7

  T••r•…•…l. advers. Praxeam. c.x.
• * 1.8

  Ps••l. 77 ••.
• * 1.9

  Tradidit et non pepercit.
• * 1.10

  Tert. de patient.
• * 1.11

  Luk. 2.51. subject to them.
• * 1.12

  Calvin. Harm••. & in locum
• * 1.13

  Tert. de patient.
• * 1.14

  Sil. It 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 1.
• * 1.15

  Prudent. Eubal.
• * 1.16

  Mat. 27.46.
• * 1.17

  Tantam patien∣team nemo un∣quam perpetra∣vit. Tert. de Patientia.
• * 1.18

  Tert. A pol.
• * 1.19

  Tradidit pro nobis. For us sinners.
• * 1.20

  De Angelis qui∣busdam suâ sponte corruptis, corruptio•• gens Daemonum eva∣sit. Tert. Apol. c. 22.
• * 1.21

  E•• 53.
• * 1.22

  Pro nobis om∣nibus, so us all.
• * 1.23

  John 3.16.
• * 1.24

  John 3 19.
• * 1.25

  Ap••l. Flor. 1.
• * 1.26

  The end. With him he gives all things.
• * 1.27

  Act•• 3.
• * 1.28

  Naz. Or. 36.
• * 1.29

  The Conclusi∣on.