The copie of the sermon preached on Good-Friday before the Kings Maiestie. By D. Andrewes Deane of Wesminster. VI. April 1604

Haue yee no Regard? &c.

TO cease this Complaint, and to grant this Request; wee are to Regard: and that we may Regard, wee are to Con∣sider the paines of his Passion. Which, that wee may reckon no easie common matter of light moment, to doe, or not doe, as wee list: First, a generall stay is made of all passengers, this day. For (as it were from his Crosse) doth our Sauiour addresse this his speech to them that goe to and fro, the day of his Passion, without so much as entertaining a thought, or vouchsafing a look that way. O vos qui transitis! O you that passe by the way, stay & Consider: To them frameth he his speech, that passe by: To them, & to them all. O vos omnes, qui transitis, O all ye that passe by the way, stay & Consider.

Which very stay of his, sheweth it to be some important matter, in that it is, of all. For as for some to be stayed, and those the greater some, there may bee reason; the most part of those that go thus to and fro, may well intend it, they haue little els to doe. But to except none, not some speciall Person, is hard. What know we their haste? Their occasions may be such, and so vrgent, as they cannot stay Well, what haste, what busines soeuer, passe not by, stay though. As much to say, as Be they neuer so great, your occasions; they are not, they cannot be so great as this: How vrgent soeuer, this is more, and more to bee intended. The regard of this, is worthy the staying of a lourney. It is worth the Considering of those, that haue neuer so great affaires in hand. So materiall is this sight in his account; which serueth to shew the exigence of this dutie. But as for this point it needeth not to be stood vpon to vs here at this time: we are not going by, wee neede not to be staied; wee haue staied all other our affaires, to come hi∣ther, and here we are all present before God, to haue it set before vs, that wee may consider it. Thither then let vs come.

That which we are called to behold & con∣sider, is his Sorrow: And Sorow is a thing which

of it selfe Nature enclineth vs to behold, as be∣ing our selues in the body, which may be one daie in the like sorrowfull case. Therefore will euerie good eye turne it selfe, and looke vpon them that lie in distresse. Those two in the Gospell, that passed by the wounded man, be∣fore they passed by him, (though they helped him not as the Samaritane did) yet they looked vpon him as he laie. But this partie here, lieth not, he is lift vp as the Serpent in the wildernes, that vnlesse we turne our eies awaie purposely, we can neither will nor chuse, but behold him.

But because to Behold, and not to Consider, is but to gaze; And gazing the Angell blameth in the Apostles themselues, we must doe both: both Behold, and Consider: looke vpon, with the cie of the bodie, that is, Behold; and looke into, with the eie of the minde, that is, Consider. So saith the Prophet heere. And the verie same doth the Apostle aduise vs to doe, First, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to looke vpon him, (that is, to Behold) and then 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to thinke vpon him, that is, to Consider his Sorrow: Sorrow sure would be con∣sidered.

Now then, because as the qualitie of the Sor∣row is, accordingly it would be cōsidered, (for if it be but a common sorow, the lesse wil serue,

but if it be some speciall, so me verie heauie case, the more would be allowed it: for proportion∣ably with the suffering, the consideration is to arise:) To raise our consideration to the full, and to eleuate it to the highest point, there is vpon his Sorrow set a Si fuerit sicut, a note of highest eminencie: for Si fuerit sicut, are words that haue life in them, and are able to quicken our consideration, if it be not quite dead: For, by them wee are prouoked, as it were to Consi∣der, and considering, to see whether euer anie Sicut may bee found, to set by it, whether euer anie like it.

For if neuer anie, Our nature is, to regard things exceeding rare and strange; and such as the like whereof is not else to bee seene. Vpon this point then, there is a Case made, As if hee should say, If euer the like, Regard not this; But if neuer anie, Bee like your selues in other things, and vouchsafe this, (if not your chee∣fest,) yet some Regard.

To enter then this Comparison, & to shew it for such. That, are we to do, three sundry waies: For three sundry waies, in three sundry words, are these Sufferings of his heere expressed: all three within the compasse of the Verse.

[ 1] The first is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉^Mac^-^ob (which wee reade

Sorrow,) taken from a wound or stripe, as all doe agree.

[ 2] The second is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ^Gholel wee reade Done to me, taken from a word that signifieth Melting in a fornace; as S. Hierom noteth out of the Chaldaee (who so translateth it.)

[ 3] The third is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉^Hoga where wee reade Af∣flicted, from a word which importeth Renting off or Bereauing. The olde Latine turneth it, Vindemiauit me, As a Vine whose fruit is all plucked off. The Greeke with Theodoret, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as a Vine or tree, whose leaues are all beaten off, and it left naked and bare.

In these three are comprized his Sufferings, Wounded, Melted, and Bereft, leafe and fruit (that is) all manner of comfort.

Of all that is poenall, [ 1] or can be suffered, the common diuision is, Sensus & Damni, Griefe for that we feele, or for that we forgoe. For that wee feele, in the two former, Wounded in body, Melted in soule: for that we forgoe, in the last; Bereft all, left neither fruit, nor so much as a leafe to hang on him.

According to these three, [ 1] To consider his Sufferings, and to begin first with the first. The paines of his Body, his wounds and his stripes.

Our verie eie will soone tell vs, No place was

left in his Bodie, where hee might bee smitten, and was not. His skin and flesh rent with the whips and scourges, His hands and feet woun∣ded with the nailes, His head with the thorns, His verie heart with the speare point; All his sences, all his parts loden with whatsoeuer wit or malice could inuent His blessed Body giuen as an Anuile to be beaten vpon, with the vio∣lent hands of those barbarous miscreants, till they brought him into this case, of Si fuerit si∣cut. For Pilates (Ecce Homo!) His shewing him with an Ecce, as if he should say, Behold, looke if euer you saw the like ruefull spectacle; This verie shewing of his sheweth plainely, hee was then come into wofull plight: So wofull, as Pi∣late verily beleeued, his verie sight so pitifull, as, it would haue moued the hardest hart of them all to haue relented, and said, This is enough, we desire no more. And this for the wounds of his body, (for on this we stand not.)

In this one peraduenture some Sicut may be found, in the Paines of the bodie: [ 2] but in the se∣cond, the Sorrow of the Soule, I am sure, none. And indeede, the Paine of the Body is but the Body of paine: the verie soule of Sorow & Pain is the soules Sorrow & Paine. Giue me any griese, saue the griefe of the minde, saith the wise-man,

For (saith Salomon) the spirit of a man will sustaine all his other infirmities, but a wounded spirit, who can beare? And of this, this of his soule, I dare make a Case, Si fuerit sicut.

Hee began to bee troubled in Soule, saith S. Iohn: To bee in an agonie, saith S. Luke: To bee in anguish of minde and deepe distresse, saith S. Marke. To haue his Soule round about on euery side inui∣roned with Sorrow, and that, Sorrow to the death: Heere is trouble, anguish, agonie, sorrow and deadly sorrow: but it must bee such, as neuer the like; So it was too.

The aestimate wherof we may take from the second word, of Melting, that is, from his sweat in the Garden; strange, and the like whereof was ueuer heard or seene.

No maner violence offred him in body; no man touching him, or being neere him, in a colde night (for they were faine to haue a fire within doores) lying abroad in the aire, and vpon the colde earth, to bee all of a sweat, and that Sweat to be Blood; and not as they call it, Diaphoreticus, a thinne faint Sweat; but Grumo∣sus, of great Drops, and those, so many, so plen∣teous, as they went through his apparrell and an; and through all, streamed to the ground, and that in great abundance; Reade, Enquire,

and Consider, Si fuerit sudor, sicut sudor iste; If euer there were Sweat like this Sweat of his? Neuer the like Sweat certainely, and therefore neuer the like Sorrow. Our translation is, Done vnto me: but we said, the word properly signi∣fieth (and so S. Hierome & the Chaldey Para∣phrast read it) Meltedme. And truely it should seeme by this fearefull Sweat of his, hee was neere some fornace, the feeling whereof, was a∣ble to cast him into that Sweat, and to turne his Sweat into drops of Blood. And sure it was so: For see, euen in the verie next words of all to this verse, he complaineth of it, Ignem misit in ossibus meis, That a fire was sent into his bones which melted him, and made that bloody Sweat to distill from him. That houre, what his feelings were, it is dangerous to define: wee know them not, we may be too bold to deter∣mine of them. To verie good purpose it was, that the ancient Fathers of the Greeke Church in their Liturgy, after they haue recounted all the particular Paines as they are set downe in his Passion, and by all, & by euery one of them, called for mercy; doe, after all, shut vp all with this, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, By thine vnknowen Sorrowes & Sufferings felt by thee, but not distinctly known by vs, haue mercy vpon vs & saue vs.

Now, though this suffice not, nothing neere; yet let it suffice, (the time being short) for his paines of Body and Soule. for those of the Bo∣dy, it may be some may haue endured the like: but the sorrowes of his Soule are vnknowen sorrowes: and for them, none euer haue; euer haue, or euer shall suffer the like; the like, or neere the like in any degree.

And now to the third. [ 3] It was said before, To be in distresse, such distresse as this was, and to finde none to comfort, nay not so much as to regard him, is all that can be said, to make his sorrow a Nonsicut. Comfort is it, by which in the midst of all our sorrowes, we are Confortati, that is, strengthened and made the better able to beare them all out. And who is there, euen the poorest creature among vs, but in some de∣gree findeth some comfort, or some regard at some bodies hands? For if that be not left, the state of that partie is here in the third word said to bee like the tree, whose leaues and whose fruit are all beaten off quite, & it selfe left bare and naked both of the one and of the other.

[ 1] And such was our Sauiours case in these his sorrowes this day, & that so, as what is left the meanest of the sons of men was not left him: Not a leafe. Not a leafe! Leaues I may well call

all humane Comforts and Regards, [ 1] whereof he was then left cleane desolate. 1. His owne, they among whom hee had gone about all his life long, healing them, teaching them, feeding them, doing them all the good hee could, it is they that crie, Not him, no, but Barabbas rather; Away with him, his bloud bee vpon vs and our chil∣dren. It is they that in the middest of his sor∣rowes, shake their head at him; and crie, Ah thou wretch: they that in his most disconsolate estate and crie, Eli, Eli, in most barbarous man∣ner deride him, and say, Stay, and you shall see Elias come presently and take him downe. And this was their Regard.

But these were but withered leaues. [ 2] They then that on earth were neerest him of all, the greenest leaues and likest to hang on, and to giue him some shade: euen of them, some bought and solde him, others denied and for∣swore him, but all fell away and forsooke him. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (saith Theodoret) not a leafe left.

But, leaues are but leaues, [ 2] and so are all earth∣ly staies. The fruit then, the true fruit of the Vine indeed, the true comfort in all heauinesse, is Desuper, from aboue, is diuine consolation. But Vindemiauit me, (saith the Latine Text) euen that was in this his sorrow, this day, bereft him

too. And that was his most sorrowfull com∣plaint of all others: not that his friends vpon earth, but that his Father from Heauen had for∣saken him, that neither heauen nor earth yeel∣ded him any regard; but that betweene the passioned powers of his soule, and whatsoeuer might any waies refresh him, there was a Tra∣uerse drawen, and he left in the estate of a wea∣ther-beaten tree, all desolate and forlorne. Euident, too euident, by that his most dread∣full cry, which at once mooued all the powers in heauen and earth, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Weigh wel that cry, consider it wel and tell me, Si fuerit clamor sicut clamor iste, if e∣uer there were cry, like to that of his: neuer the like crie, and therefore neuer the like sorrow.

It is strange, very strange, that of none of the Martyrs the like can be read; who yet endured most exquisite paines in their Martyrdomes; yet we see with what courage, with what cheer∣fulness, how euen singing they are reported to haue passed through their torments. Will yee know the reason? S. Augustine setteth it downe, Martyres non eripuit, sed nunquid deseruit? Hee deliuered not his Martyrs, but did hee forsake them? He deliuered not their bodies, but hee forsook not their soules, but distilled into them

the dew of his heauenly comfort; an abundant supply for all they could endure. Not so heere, Vindemiauit me (saith the Prophet) Dereliquisti me (saith hee himselfe:) No comfort, no supply at all.

Leo it is that first sayd it, (and all antiquitie allow of it,) Non soluit vnionem, sed subtraxit visio∣nem. The vnion was not dissolued; True, but the beames, the influence was restrained, and for any comfort from thence, his Soule was, euen as a scorched heath-ground, without so much as any drop of dew of Diuine comfort: as a naked tree, no fruit to refresh him within, no leafe to giue him shadow without: The power of darknesse let loose to afflict him: The influence of comfort, restrained to releeue him. It is a Non sicut this, It cannot be expressed as it should, and as other things may; In silence we may admire it, but all our words will not reach it. And though to draw it so farre as some do, is little better then blasphemie; Yet on the o∣ther side, to shrinke it so short, as other some do, cannot be but with derogation to his loue, who to kindle our loue and louing Regard, would come to a Non sicut in his suffering: For, so it was, and so we must allow it to bee. This in respect of his Passion. Dolor.

Now in respect of his Person, Dolor meus. Whereof, if it please you to take a view, euen of the person thus wounded, thus afflicted and forsaken, you shall then haue a perfect Non siout. And in deede, the Person is heere a weighty circumstance, it is thrice repeated, Meus, Mihi, Me. And wee may not leaue it out. For, as is the Person, so is the Passion; and any one, euen the verie least degree of wrong or disgrace, offered to a Person of excel∣lencie, is more then an hundreth times more, to one of meane condition: So weighty is the circumstance of the Person. Consider then, how great the Person was; And I rest fully as∣sured, heere wee boldly challenge, and say, Si fuerit sicut.

Ecce Homo, [ 1] saith Pilate first, A man hee is, as we are: and were he but a man, Nay, were he not a man, but some poore dumb creature, it were great ruth to see him so handled, as hee was.

A man, [ 2] saith Pilate, and a Iust man. saith Pi∣lates wife. Haue thou nothing to doe with that Iust man. And that is one degree further. For though we pity the punishment euen of male∣factours themselues: yet euer, most compassi∣on wee haue of them that suffer, and bee inno∣cent.

And he was Innocent: Pilate and Herod, and the Prince of this world, his very enemies, being his Iudges.

Now, among the Innocent, [ 3] the more No∣ble the Person, the more heauy the spectacle. and neuer doe our bowels earne so much as o∣uer such. Alas, alas for that Noble Prince, (saith this Prophet,) (the stile of mourning for the death of a great Personage.) And, he that suffe∣reth heere, is such, euen a principall Person a∣mong the sonnes of men, of the race royall, de∣scended from Kings; Pilate stiled him so in his Title; and he would not alter it.

Three degrees. But, [ 4] yet wee are not at our true Quantus. For hee is yet more: More, then the highest of the sonnes of men: for he is THE SONNE OF THE MOST HIGH GOD. Pilate saw no further, but Ecce Homo; The Cen∣turion did, Verè Filius Dei erat hic. Now truely this was the Sonne of God. And heere, all words forsake vs, & euery tongue becommeth speechlesse.

Wee haue no way to expresse it, but à Minore ad Maius. (Thus,) Of this booke, the booke of Lamentations, one speciall occasion was, the death of King Iosias: But behold, a greater then Iosias is heere.

Of King Iosias (as a speciall reason of mour∣ning) the Prophet saith, Spiritus oris nostri, Christus Domini, The very breath of our no∣strills, The Lords Annoynted; (for so are all good Kings in their Subiects accompts) He is gone. But behold, heere is not Christus Domini, but Christus Dominus, The Lords CHRIST, but the Lord CHRIST himselfe: And that, not comming to an Honourable death in bat∣tell, as Iosias did, But, to a most vile reprochfull death, the death of malefactors in the highest degree. And not slaine outright as Iosias was: but mangled and massacred in most pitifull strange manner, wounded in body, wounded in Spirit, left vtterly desolate. O consider this well, and confesse the Case is truely put, Si fuerit Dolor sicut Dolor meus. Neuer, neuer the like Person: And if, as the Person is, the Passion be, Neuer the like Passion to his.

It is truely affirmed, that any one, euen the least drop of Blood, euen the least paine, yea of the body onely, of this so great a Person; any Dolor with this Meus, had beene enough to make a Non sicut of it. That is enough, but that is not all: for adde now the three other degrees; Adde to this Person, those Wounds, that Sweat, and that Crie, and put all together:

And, I make no manner question, the like was not, shall not, cannot euer be. It is farre aboue all that euer were, or can bee. Abyssus est: Men may drowsily heare it, and coldly affect it: But Principalities and Powers, stand abashed at it. And for the Quality, both of the Passion and of the Person, That Neuer the like; thus much.

Notes

• The parties to whom.
• O all yee that passe by the way, Consuler
• Sorrow.
• Heb. 13.3.
• 1. Behold. Luk. 10.32.
• Iohn 3.14.
• Acts 1.11.
• 2. Consider.
• Heb. 12.23.
• The quality, If euer the like.
• In the three parts of his Sorrow.
• Of the quality.
• First of the quality of his Passion.
• P••na sensus in the body.
• Ioh. 19.5.
• Poena sensus in the Soule.
• Syra. 15.57.
• P••o. 18.14.
• Ioh. 12.27. Luk. 22.44.
• Mar. 14.35. Matt. 26.38.
• Luk. 22.44.
• Verse 13.
• Pana Dam••i.
• Leaues.
• Withered leaues.
• Ioh. 18.40. and 19.15. Mat. 27.25. Mar. 15.29.36.
• Greene leaues.
• Fruit.
• Mat 27.46.
• Secondly, of the quality of his person.
• Ioh. 19.5.
• Mat. 27.19.
• Luk. 23.14. & 15. Ioh. 14.30.
• Ier. 22.18.
• Ioh. 19.22.
• Ioh. 19.5. Mar. 15.39.
• Cap. 4.10.