Lectures Upon the Passion Resurrection and Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ

uses, and the first part of that agony that JESUS CHRIST suffered for us in His soul. Now we have to weigh the second word, He says, He began to be astonished, and to be in a wonderful heaviness, The word in its own language signifies an extreme pain in the soul: Who is able to tell it? (The Lord save us from the extremity thereof) it rose upon that horrible wrath that He was stricken with, and was lying on Him, and pressing down His soul: First, He was stricken, then the heavy wrath of GOD lies still on the soul so that He hath dolour in His soul, that all the powers of His soul is full of wrath. Who can bear the wrath of the Omnipotent GOD: No, not CHRIST as He was man only, no not all the Angels in Heaven: The LORD save us from it. When the wrath of the great GOD strikes on any in the Hell, all the powers of the soul fail, and all leave off to do their duties, being full of displeasure.

It is a mar • eilous thing (for as careful as the LORD was wount to be of the redemption of man▪ for that was His only care night and day, it was His meat and drink) yet all that care was now away, and He forgets it, and He falls out in a Prayer, and He says, Take away this cup from Mee: and that was the cup of His Passion for our Redemption: yea He bids His Father take it away, which if it had been taken from Him, never a soul should have been redeemed: Consider then, if He was in an agony, or not: when He forgot the work of our Redemption. Now we must not think that this forgetfulness came of sin (our forgetfulness comes of sin) the Holy one had no sin: but it rose of an infirmity of Nature, wherewith He was cled for our sin. Ye see, if a man be in a distress in the soul the senses, and all the powers of the soul are so occupied about that sorrow, that they forget their own functions and operations, to help the part that is distressed: Even so it was with the LORD: for when for our sins He was vnderlying the wrath of that Omnipotent Judge, all the faculties of His soul, His understanding, His memory▪ &c, left all their functions, that all might concur to help Him in that common agony. Well, Brethren, if ye would see Hell, ye have here the viue image of it: The reprobate after that at the first they are astonished with the sudden wrath: as they continue in Hell, their dolour and pain shall ever be augmented: the wrath shall still lie upon them, like a mountain tumbling on them, and pressing them ever in soul & body: so that they remain ever in this everlasting pain. Christ made an end of it: but if thou be a reprobate: this anguish shall never leave thee. Oh! that the world will not know this, and once pause on it: would they then, think ye, run to all mischief as they do. And if once thou be cast into Hell, mountains of dolour, and heaps of wrath shall be heaped on thee for evermore. These are two parts of that Hell that the Lord suffers: now would ye have the third part▪ I remit you to the 5. Chapter to the Hebrews where there Paul says, that the Lord when He prayed in the days of His flesh, with strong cries, and with tears, He was heard: He had a terrible fear, beside the present pain: He was in a fear of a greater danger to insue. If thou goest to Hell once, beside the present pain that thou shalt be in: And, O the weight of that pain that shall be on thee! thou shalt ever have a terrible fear of a greater pain to fall on thee, y ^e pain of Hell is not ended in a moment, but y ^u shalt find the pain g • owing everlastingly, & a mountain of wrath shall come after another, as y ^e waves of the sea following one another. It is a sore matter to be in this pain everlastingly.

Now we have heard the first ground out of the words of the Holy Spirit: Come to the second ground. When He was in the agony, He utters such effects, that they who saw Him, and heard that pitiful voice, might easily see, what anguish He had in the soul, He falls out in a prayer, Father, take away this cup ; that is, the cup of thy wrath, wherein He utters a forgetfulness of our redemption, the dolour so increases upon Him, that He prays with greater intention, with tears, and with strong cries, and with weeping. Hell will cause thee to mourn, and compel thee to squeele, and howl like a dog: laugh not, it will cause thee to gnash thy teeth, if thou be cast in utter darkness: yet as He prays, the wrath increases, that He did sweat blood, and the drops of blood fell from His face to the ground. What man read ye of, or heard ye ever of, or ever shall, that was in such a fear, in such a torment, that for the fear of the torment, he did sweat blood. So, that ye see, that the Lord was in such anguish, as never a man was. Were any of the Martyrs in such a fear, or such an anguish, as this? No, no: Then as He utters His agony in prayer, so He utters it in many, heavy and bitter complaints, John 12. When he is speaking of His glorification suddenly, He breaks off, and says, My soul is troubled, what shall I say? and then He turned Him to His Father, and says, Save me from this hour : and last He says, My soul is heavy on all sides, even to the death. But of all complaints, this that He utters on the Cross: My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me ? is the most heavy, and it proceeds from the most bitter anguish of the soul. Now the Lord grant, that this complaint may save us from that complaint of the reprobate, that they shall utter in Hell: No question, these words utter a forsaking of Him, and that He was deserted for a time: He was left off, without all comfort in the world: Of all joy that He was wount to have: all joy was taken from Him: They import not a diuulsion of the Godhead from the manhead: the glorious Godhead dwelt in the Lord Jesus, whilst as He hang on the Cross: GOD never left Him at any time, after that once the Son of God took to Himself our flesh: He left it never, no, not on the Cross, nor in the grave: He left it never, nor never shall, but the Godhead kept it self so close in Christ the man, that it would let Him have no joy, whilst He should pay that ransom to the uttermost farthing, whereby the justice of God was satisfied for our sins. And this is the thing He complains on: Yet whilst He says, My God, my God, He lets us see He despairs not, but in the mean time whilst He was left, He cleau • th to God, & hath His confidence in His God, the Devil and all the world cannot separate Him from His GOD that dwelt within Him. Confidence in God will ofttimes be in the godly without feeling of joy, albeit that Spirit will not be out of their souls: The Spirit will minister no joy to them, yet the poor soul will never leave off to put confidence in God. Well, this complaint tells us, that Jesus Christ was deserted for a time, to save us, who should have been reprobates forever. But there is a great difference between Jesus Christ, and the reprobate. Indeed they agree in this, that both He and they are left comfor • l • sse, He uttered a great complaint: so they shall complain and howl: And as He cried and wept, so shall they: But here is the difference. He was for a time in a manner reprobate, they shall be made reprobates forever: He complained for a time, but they shall complain forever: He ceases not to put His confidence in God: the reprobate shall have no confidence, but as God shall leave them, so shall they leave God, & as God shall turn His back on them, so shall they turn their back on God. This is a sore matter. Then Jesus He uttered this complaint, My God, my God : They shall not say, My God, why hast thou left me: but shall cry, alas, forever! God hath left me forever, and cast me off from His presence forever. This speech My God, is a speech of confidence, and He cleaves to God in His heart, they shall shout and cry, GOD hath left me for evermore & cast me off. This for the two grounds, come to the third ground, that is, our own feeling: for if thou feelest not, all thy knowledge avails not a straw, Paul to the Philippians Chapter 3. says, He counted all things to be but loss and dung, that he might know Him, that is, Jesus Christ. Thē he sets down the parts of this knowledge, that I may know Him, & the virtue of His resurrectiō, & the communion of His Passions, & be made conformable to His death. Wherein stands y ^e knowledge of the resurrection of Christ? It is not eneugh to know it only: The knowledge stands in a fe • ling of the force of the glorious resurrection in thine heart, and thou shalt feel the old canker of sin mortified, and thee to be quickened with a new life to live to God. And likewise wherein stands the knowledge of His suffering? It stands of the feeling in thine heart of the mortification of sin: Thou must feel a regeneration in thee, or else thou feelest nothing, and thy soul shall get no life, howbeit thou knewest all the Bible: All this knowledge of Christ is but a dream, without a feeling: and thou art but sleeping, except thou findest a virtue proceeding from His suffering to thy soul, to reform it. But to speak of that feeling-knowledge of Jesus Christ who died for our sins: Howe shalt thou find and feel in thine heart that He suff • red anguish for thy sins, not only in body, but also in soul? I think there should be nobody, but they should be meditating on an answer: I shall tell you, how I, and thou, and everyone of us shall feel that curse and malediction that Jesus suffered, and that was laid on Him for our sins. If I find in my soul in some measure that wrath for my sins, which Jesus felt in full measure (Lord save us from that measure) if I taste and get a proving of that bitter cup of the wrath of God, that Jesus drank the dregs of, and all for my sins: if I taste of it, and put it to my mouth, when I feel this way and taste, I will begin and reason: If I find my sins and the burden thereof so heavy, that I can scarcely bear one sin among a thousand, yea, though it were but an evil thought: If I find the burden of my sins so heavy, who am but a man, O howe heavy must all the sins of the Elect be, that Jesus bare on His back! (Look how I come to His feeling from the other.) Then I will say, O howe heavy were the sins that JESUS bare on His back! And then I shall say, If once I can but taste one drop of that wrath that follows my sins, and finds it to be so bitter: (Let them taste of that cup who will, they never tasted of so bitter a thing) Then will I say, O howe bitter was that full cup of wrath whereof JESUS drank out the dregs and all, seeing one drop of it is so bitter in my soul. There we come in some measure to the feeling of that bitter wrath that JESUS felt. Behold the dealing of GOD with His own: for although He loved them never so well, yet He will let them feel the burden of their own sins in some measure, & He will tie the burden of them on their own backs, whilst they groan and peach: and He will touch them with the sense of wrath from heaven; and that to let them understand howe sad and heavy a wrath it was that Jesus suffered for our redemption. And when we feel any burden for sin, let us run to meditate on the sore burden of JESUS CHRIST, or else thy sickness and thy trouble is not sanctified to thee, if thou feelest not that Jesus Christ hath borne the burden of thy sin. Well, Brethren, this is a way, whereby we come to the feeling knowledge of the pain that CHRIST suffered, and this is bitter. But there is a sweeter manner: If I feel that sweet mercy of GOD in mine heart, and that peace of conscience in my soul, I will begin and reason with myself after this manner: This mercy that I taste of, this peace of conscience that I have, this joy and gladness that I taste, it behooved to proceed out of the malediction, and out of the wrath that lighted on my Mediator, it had been impossible for me to taste of mercy, if my Redeemer had not drunken out that full cup of wrath. And I say, indeed to thee, if the Lord Jesus Christ had not drunken out that cup of the wrath of God, there had never been such a thing, as any joy, or any piece of conscience in this world, nor in the world to come, if it had not been ransomed with the precious blood of Jesus Christ; there is not one drop of grace, peace or joy, but that which is bought and which the blood of Jesus Christ, hath paid for. Alas, if the world could understand howe dear one drop of grace is: No, ere one drop of grace came, it behooved the Lord to be taken, & put in the winepress of Hell, & tread on, & tramped on with the feet of the wrath of God: for this Justice of God who was offended, should never have suffered one drop of grace to come, if it had not been satisfied by the blood of the mediator.

Now to ende this purpose, I know perfectly that all this speech of the Cross, is but foolishness to the wise of the world: These wise Heades who compass the Worlde with wisdom, all is but foolishness to them. It is foolishness to them who perish, as Paul says, 2. Cor. 4.4. If thou findest the Cross of Jesus but foolishness, take thee a doom: thou shalt perish, all the world shall not save thee: & again by the contrary says Paul, The speech of the Cross is the wisdom of God, & the power of God to them who are saved. All is but foolishness in respect of the Cross: all the strength & might of the world, & things under Heaven is but weakness, in respect of Jesus Christ, and His strength. If thou countest the speech of the Cross, to be power & wisdom: assure thyself, thou hast an earnest penny, that thou shalt get life, & blessed is that soul that delites to hear of y ^e Cross of Christ, & counts it to be the power & wisdom of God, which shines wonderfully in this base Cross: y ^e wisdom of GOD shined never so in the creation of the Heavens, and of the world, as in the vile and abject Cross of JESUS CHRIST. The power of GOD shined not so much in creating thee of nothing, as it shines in thy redemption: The more foolish that this mean is that the LORD uses in redemption, to wit, a silly Cross; the more base it appears to be, the greater is the glory of the wisdom of GOD, who wrought such a great work of redemption thorough such base means. I say, the more infirm that this mean is, (for what is more infirm than a silly poor man, or a vile Cross?) the power of GOD appears y ^e greater, who hath wrought such a glorious work out of such a base mean. And I say, if thy redemption had been wrought with a glory, as the Jews and the Gentiles imagined, if GOD had yielded to their fantasie, and wrought our redemption by a glorious mean, that glory of GOD had been obscured, and the mean had gotten all the glory. But it hath pleased the LORD to work this work of redemption and salvation by base and naughty means, that the world respects no more of, than the dirt which they tread on. Look what is the difference betwixt the wisdom of GOD, and the wisdom of man: Will ye look to the cause of our redemption, to JESUS CHRIST, or to the Professors, and to Ministers, they are the foolishest in the world: silly bodies, and compare them with potent men, they are but contemptible, and of no valor: and, compare them with wise men, they are but fools. So look to the Cross, and to the Ministry thereof, whereby we are saved, all is weak, base, and contemptible: and all to this ende, that the LORD only may get the glory: and, as the APOSTLE says, He that glorieth, may only glory in the LORD : And let everyone of us give glory to that LORD of Glory: To whom with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, be all Honor and Praise for evermore.

THE XXI. LECTURE, OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST.

D VRING the time that the LORD JESUS hung quick on the Cross, which was three hours, and large more, ye may read (well-beloved in Christ) sundry voices that He uttered. When I look thorough the four Evangelists, I find in number six sundry voices, and everyone of them is well to be marked: for at that time He uttered nothing in vain. The first voice we read of, was a voice of divine power, together with mercy, when one of the Thieues, who hung at His right hand, said to Him, Lord remember me, when thou comest to thy Kingdom : The Lord answered him like a King, and like a powerful and merciful God, Verily J say unto thee, this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise ▪ The next voice, was a voice of human pity, and natural affection toward His Mother: she being by the Cross with John, and other women, He recommendes her to the custody of His w • ll beloved Disciple. The third voice we read of, was a voice of sadness, proceeding from an heart that was sad on every side to the death, and from that agony on the Cross, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The fourth voice in like manner, was a voice of sadness, proceeding from a wonderful heat in the soul and body, I thirst. The fifth voice by all appearance was a voice of joy, seeing the work of Redemption to be wrought, and the wrath of His Father to be asswaged, He says, after He had drunken the vinegar, Jt is finished. The sixth and last voice in like manner was a voice of joy: for finding He was to give up the ghost immediately, and finding His Father sweetly to loose His soul from His body, He says, Father, into thine hands I commend my spirit.

Now Brethren, all th • se foresaid voices the Lord uttered during the time that He hung quick on y ^e Cross: Of these we have heard, the first, the second, & the third, which was that heavy complaint that He made to His Father, My God, my God, &c. This day as God shall give us grace, we shall speak of the three other voices; one of them of sadness, and the other two of joy. But before we come to these voices which are the three l • st voices, we have to speak something of the misconstruing of the complaint of the Lord uttered to His God. Now the Jews that stood by Him, and heard Him cry, Eli, Eli, (for He cried aloud) of maliciousness, not of mistaking Him, they begin to calumniate and to misconstrue His words, because the word Eli, which is, My God, sounded like Elias : Therefore they said, He cried for Elias, when He cried on His God, Let us see if Elias will come, and take Him down. In the which words we may see clearly, that they sought not only to destroy His body, but the Devil in them sought to sunder and sever Him both in soul and body from His God: they would not hear Him cry upon His God, but they sought to destroy His body and His soul, such was the insatiable malice of the hearts of these Jews against Jesus Christ. This is the common dealing of the Devil and his instruments with the godly, and chiefly in that last hour, when the separation of the soul from the body is to follow: Not only to get the body dead, but the soul & God separated: if thou beginnest to pray & call on God, they will scorn thy prayer, & seek to cut thee frō God, & all hope of life. But to leave them, & their bitter malicioiusness: As in all the points of the suffering of Christ, I look more to the disposition of His Father, than to the Jews, to the devil, or his instruments: So I do in this. No question as His Father exercises Him inwardly with a bitter wrath: evē so, whē as the Lord by making an heavy mone, seeks an outgaet, & cries, My God, my God, &c: He will have Him met outwardly with bitterness. Aime where He will, He meets Him with nothing but bitterness & wrath inwardly & outwardly, hell inward & outward, no refuge, nor escaping till y ^t ransom be paid to the least farthing. Well Brethrē, if ye would see an image of hell, see it here. The Lord Jesus was for a time, & fealt nothing but extreme bitterness. But the reprobate, after they be once casten into hell, there is nothing for them but bitterness: let thē aim here & there to escape, howl & cry, they shall be met wi • h bitterness. What if it were but for a time! The Lord escaped, His suffering was but for a time; but no escaping for thee, if thou be thrust into hell, thou shalt never get out, and shalt find nothing but bitterness, aim here or there, all shall be in vain, & everlasting bitterness shall be casten in thy teeth, and compass thee on all sides: that is a sore word, An everlasting bitterness, never to have an ende. So blessed is that soul forever, who in that Day shall be found in Christ to get a part of that passiō y ^t He suffered: the Lord give everyone of us grace now while we have time, to know Him, & to seek to be found in Him for woe to y ^t soul y ^t shall be found out of Him in y ^e great day. Now I come • o y ^e voices, & first to that fourth voice y ^t the Lord uttered, whē He said, I thirst. When uttered He it? When He knew that all • hinges were ended : To the ende that the prophesy might be fulfi • led that was spoken of Him before, He said, I thirst. A voice of sadness • , coming from an extreme drought of body. The Lord Jesus, as He too • e our nature upon Him, so He took on all our infirmities sin ex • epted. Many times was He hungry and thirsty: but chiefly wh • n He hanges on the Cross in that extreme heat of His soul and His body. The soul was burnt up with wrath, and all the moisture of the body likewise dried up with wrath: at this time the Lord had such a thirst, that the tongue of man cannot express it: thou sufferedst never such a thirst, in any Fever or disease, as the Lord Jesus suffered for thee on the Cross. And no doubt, beside other pains, this exceeding thirst was a part of His pain, and a part of that ransom that He paid to the Father for our redemption. Ye see when a man is in a Fever, the thirst will be a special part of the pain that he hath: Therefore, albeit the thirst that the Lord s • ffered on the Cross, was an exceeding great pain: yet He will not utter His voice, I thirst, till the ransom was paid: He would not seek to quench that thirst, till that wrath of the Father was satisfied. The drought was insatiable: for the infinite wrath of God thirsted after the blood of the Mediator, bearing our sins, and was not quenched till the blood of the Mediator was drunken up. No quenching of sin, but by the blood of the Mediator: if thou be not in Him, the wrath of God will thirst for thy blood. After this, follows that bodily thirst: The soul is dried up: the moisture of the body is clung up: the wrath sucks all up. On this rises the thirst of the body: for except the Lord had had a spiritual thirst, and a pleasure to obey His Father to the death, & to save thy soul from Hell; it had been impossible for Him to have suffered that bodily thirst so long. Learn this lesson at the Lord Jesus, and follow His example: we should suffer patiently all pain that it pleases the Lord to lay on body and soul, knowing that it is according to His will, and that by thy suffering, thy obedience to Him is tried. And, as we should suffer patiently all pain • ; so we learn at Christ to abide patiently this bodily thirst in sickness or Fevers, knowing well that the Lord lays it on us, to try our obedience & patience. But wilt thou know how thou shouldest abide it patiētly? The Lord Jesus had a spiritual thirst to obey His Heauēlie Father, & for thy salvation, that swallowed up that bodily thirst. Gette thee an earnest thirst to obey thy God: it will be a wondrous thing how patiently thou wilt suffer whatsoever God will lay on thee. Therefore Brethrē, in all things we should set our hearts to obey God: and wink and close thy eyes at all dangers: yea, if thou be in extreme thirst, and going to die, say, Lord, I will obey thee: &, if thou get thy heart thus resolved, and humbled under the hand of thy God, howbeit thou be in pain for a time, thou shalt see a fair end. The Lord Jesus after this thirst, and after death, saw a glorious end. So no question, wilt thou lean on thy God, as He did, & abide His will patiently, thou shalt see the joyfullest, & most glorious end that ever was. The Lord give us grace to obey God, and to say, Cast me here, or there, & lay on me what thou wilt, I shall obey thee, though thou shouldest slay me, I will trust in thee. This is an happy r • solution. We shall speak of the end wherefore the Lord uttered this voice: To the ende (says John ) that the Scripture might be fulfilled. In the 5. of Matt. the Lord says, J come not to dissolve the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill the Law, and to fulfill every jot of that Law: Heaven and Earth shall perish, ere one jot of that Law shall pass away. Now among all the prophesies that Christ fulfilled, there is one here made mention of in the 69. Psalm, Jn my meat they gave me bitterness, and in my drink they gave me g • ll to drink. Now this prophesy is accomplished: David spake this in his own person typically: but the veri • y thereof was fulfilled in Christ. David got no vinegar to drink: but Jesus Christ drunk vinegar. When the Lord came into the world▪ & wrought the work of our redemption there was not so much as a title that was foretold of Him, but He fulfilled it: there was not a circumstance of His death, but it was fore-told: That nailing was fore-told, where it is said, They pierced mine hands, and my feet: The hanging of Him betwixt two Thieues was fore-told, They reckon me (says the Prophet) amo • g the unjust : The dividing of His garments was fore-spoken, They diuid • d my garments among them, and cast lots for my coat. Look the XXII. and IXVI. PSALMES, and the LIII. CHAPTER of ESAY. So this drinking of vinegar was foretold. Now what learns this unto us? Was there ever any man whose death was pointed out this way? No, never any one. All the Kings, nor all the Emperors, had never such a particular pointing out of their death. This lets us see, that the Father had a more special care of the death of JESUS, than of the death of any man that ever was: and consequently, it lets us see▪ that there was never such a worthy personage in the world as JESUS, and that there was never such excellency in the death of any, as in the death of Jesus: in it stood the life of the world. Let men make pomps of the death of Emperors, the Lord had never such an eye to the death of any, as to the death of His only well beloved Son, and all the predictions of His death are to this end, that we comparing the issue of His death, with the predictions, we might believe that Jesus was sent to be the only Savior of the world. When I think on this, I wonder at the blindness of y ^e Jews, y ^t cannot know Him to be the Mediator, but after that once a man be given to a reprobate sense, he will say, the Sun in y ^e noon-tide is but darkness. The Gospel is hid, says Paul 2. Cor. 4.4. to them who perish : if thou see not & believe not y ^e Gospel, thou hast an earnest penny in thy bosom, y ^t thy damnatiō is sealed up Thus far for His thirst they gave Him a drink: There is a vessel full of vinegar: This was a custom that they used: they had a drink beside them who were crucified: Some think it was for this end, that the pain might be stanched: There is a drink of vinegar standing beside the Lord: but I know not if they gave such a sour drink to the thieves. So this vessel standing beside one of them steps to it in scorn, and takes a water sponge, and puts it on a reed, and puts it to His head, he got little thank for his work: I take this giving of this drink to the Lord at this time, to have proceeded from bitter malice. The wrath of His Father was begun to be asswaged: yet the wrath of the Jews could not be asswaged. There is none end of the malice of the Jews, so long as breath is in Him, they never cease to rage against Him. Whē He was dead they persecute Him: whē He was in glory, they thought to shame Him. Whē y ^e Lord looses y ^e rains of y ^e devil, & of wicked men to chastise his own, they run headlongs to wrack His Church: y ^e Lord seeks but chastisemēt: they seek wrack of body & soul: he y ^t knows not this, he knows nothing, & if these persecutors got their will, they would not only seek y ^e wrack of y ^e body, but also of y ^e soul. What doth y ^e Lord for this? when y ^e Lord hath pulled in their rains, He takes y ^e scourge, & casts it in y ^e fire, because they run far beyond their commission. This shall be y ^e end of their miserable souls. O y ^t damnation y ^t shall overtake them! when y ^e Lord hath chastened us by them, they shall be cast in y ^e fire forever. Refuses y ^e Lord y ^e drink? indeed before He was raised up on y ^e Cross, He tasted of this, but would not drink, but He being on the Cross▪ it is said, He drank it. It may by that after such a troublesome labor, that His drought was so great, that He was glad to drink any liquor. Always, this I know, except the Lord had had a thirst of thy salvation, He had not drunken it. The thirst of thy salvation made Him as He drank out the cup of the wrath of His Father: So to drink out this bitter cup that was propined to Him, out of the bitterness of their hearts, He drank out the wrath of God, and the wrath of man, that thou shouldest drink the water of Life. I say, remember upon that drink that Jesus drank, when thou drinkest delicious drinks: it is not thy money that buys the wine, except it be bought with the precious blood of Jesus: not a piece of bread, or anything pertains to thee, if it be not bought with the blood of Jesus: to them who are sanctified, all thing is sanctified, & if thou be not in Him, thou shalt be accused as a violent possessor of all things, in y ^t great day. Now I go to the next voice, when He hath drunk̄, He says, Jt is sinished, that is, y ^t wearisome work is now put to an end: now the ransom is paid: now the work of Redemptiō is ended. Brethren, that ye may understand this, The Lord when He was in the Garden, had two works: The first was, to buy Heaven, to conquer life to us: The second, to put us in possession of it. The first work He began it in the first moment of His conception, and continues still from that time to that moment: He gave up the Spirit to the Father. Now that work being ended, He proclaims on the Cross, cries out in the audience of them all, Consummatum est, it is finished. Now that wearisome work is ended, the dear work is ended, Heaven and life, and righteousness is conquered to the world forever. This is the sum of the Gospel, the work of our Redemption is ended: this is all our preaching, Heaven, life, & glory is conquered again, to the lost world. Thou needest not to give one penny out of thy purse for Heaven. Cursed are they from the High Heaven, to the low Hell, that open their mouth to say, Thou must pay some of that ransom out of thy purse: Woe to the Papists who will stand up & say, Thou must pay some part of that ransom, woe to that foul mouth that dare be so bold to open it, and say, pay thou a part of that ransom with thy money, seeing that Jesus Christ hath proclaimed that all is finished & bought by His blood, woe, vengeance and everlasting damnation shall light on the Pope, and all the Papists that dare open their mouths to speak such presumptuous words. Yet there is another work remaining, which is to put us in possession of Heaven, and He began this, at His resurrection: and He holds it on y • t, and shall continue it unto His coming again: And at that day of His coming, ye shall hear Him crying, All is ended : not on His Cross, but in glory: and all the Angels and all the Saints shall cry, All is ended, Glory to him who hath ended all, & no more shall be. Look down to His heart, and to the sense, from whence this voice arose, whē He says this: ye shall find that Jesus felt the wrath of His Father asswaged. Before He was in an agony: now He feels the agony to cease: where before He found no joy, now joy returns: On the sense of all these things, falls out this voice, All is ended. Whē I look to this, I think I see y ^e image of a godly Saint dying: for the godly are like to him in death and life. Before the last moment they are in a battle, and suddenly they will say, I have gotten the victory in Jesus: and thē last they will yield up the spirit. Come to the last voice: It is a voice of joy. I am of that opinion, that before the Lord yielded up the ghost, the agony left him, and that joy that had left him, returned again, and made him to utter joyful words. The Evangelists say, He cried with a loud voice. What voice this is, Luke expresses, Father, into thine hands I recommend my spirit. All that were standing about might have heard him uttering this powerful voice. Now ye would wonder, that a man immediately yielding up his spirit, should have such a strong voice. Ye see men and women, in death their voice will fail them: some will not have any voice, and some not any sign: some, if they get that grace to speak, yet it will be a weak voice, because the strength of nature fails. Yet Jesus all the day before uttered not so shrill a voice. So it must follow, that natural strength was not failed in Jesus Christ, and that by the strength of nature, he might have lived long: for the other two lived long, and were not dead, till they came and brake their legs. Jesus died against nature: neither was he broken as they were. What follows of this? Jesus Christ in that same moment that he yielded the spirit, he had a power above nature: and a divine power against nature, which puts out the life: and, if he had power against nature to put out his life, he uttered before the Jews, that they had no power to put out his life, and that he had a power to keep his life if it had pleased him: And that is it which he says, None takes my life from me, but I lay it down, and I take it up again. Ye will hear, that when word came to Pilate that JESUS was dead, he wondered, and all the world wondered at this yielding up of the spirit. And by this the Lord would show, that he was not a common man: he would show, that he was God, either to keep his life, or to put it out, at his pleasure. He says, Father, into thine hands I commend my spirit. These words are far from this, My God, my God, why hast, &c. for those words proceeded of great sadness mixed with confidence, but of no joy: but these words, Father, into thine hands, &c. as they proceeded of confidence, so they proceeded of a wonderful joy. No doubt, at this time he feels that sweet hand of the Father dealing with him moste sweetelie: not as the reprobate: Alas, the hand of the Lord in justice striking the soul of the reprobate, looses it from the body, with the sense of extreme wrath. But the Lord feels the hand of the Father loosing his soul from the body with sweetness. And all they who die in CHRIST, will feel the Father loosing the soul with sweetness, as these last words utter. Look to the Martyrs: they never utter the first voice, My God, my God, &c. No, but the second, Father, into thine hands I commend my spirit, because they find joy in torment▪ Stephen, the first Martyr, uttered the second voice, ACTS, CHAP. VII. VERS. 59. And the rest of the Martyrs followed him: which testifies plainly, that this was a voice of joy that JESUS uttered. But mark the words of CHRIST: ye see that every man and woman, beside the body, they have a spirit, and more beautiful, and far more precious of substance than the body, and yet it lodges in an house of claye, and in an earthly Tabernacle. Next, there will be a separation of the soul and the body. Thou thinkest ever to live, but whether thou wilt or thou wilt not, thy soul shall be separate from the body, and then the body shall die. Shall thy soul die? No, if thou be in CHRIST, the Father shall take thy soul.

Now again, Brethren, see how careful the Lord is of his soul at the point of death. If Jesus, who had no sin, is so careful of his soul; I pray thee, who art a sinful body, how careful shouldest thou be thereof? It must live, either in Heaven, or in Hell: if the Lord cried so loud that the earth quaked again, & till the Temple rent asunder; wilt not thou, a sinful creature, be careful of thy soul? A man should have care of the soul at all times, but chiefly at the hour of the separation, for at that time the Devil is busy to devour thee, and the golfe of Hell to swallow thee up. Then look how careful thou shouldest be in following the example of Jesus, to recommend the soul into the hands of the Father: and look how careful thou art to render the soul into the hands of the Father; the Father shall be as careful to loose the soul, if thou be in Jesus Christ, to conuoy it with Him to rest for evermore in His blessed bosom. The LORD give us grace to commend our souls into the hands of that faithful keeper in the hour of death, and that we may find Him ready to receive and conuoye them with Him to that everlasting rest, purchased to us through Christ: To whom with the Father, and the blessed Spirit, be praise for evermore: AMEN.

THE XXII. LECTURE, OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST.

W EE heard the last day (well-beloved Brethren) the sundry voices and speeches which Jesus Christ, whilst He hung quick on the Cross, and was nailed thorough hands and feet uttered in the audience of the whole people. The first two voices were the voices of pity and mercy. The one of mercy, to one of the Thieues, that was crucified with Him, Verily (says the Lord) this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise. The other of pity, to His own Mother, (who stood by, looking on Him, when as He hung upon the Cross in extreme pain) recommending her to JOHN, His well-beloved Disciple. Other two voices, were voices of sadness, and heaviness of heart: The one an heavy complaint to His Father, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The other proceeding from an extreme drought, that came of that sense of wrath and pain which He felt during the time that He hung upon the Cross, I thirst. The last two voices were of joy, for it appears well, that before the Lord gave up the ghost, comfort and joy returned to Him again. And I am of this mind, that there are none, who are God's own, but before their departure out of this life, (sooner or later) they will get a sense of that joy which they are to pass unto immediately. The first voice of joy, was, All is ended : As though He would say, This w •• ke is done, and ended, and now the ransom of the redemption of man is paid to the least farthing. Now the last voice was when He was immediately ready to render up His spirit into the hands of the Father, says, with a feeling of joy in the heart, Into thine hands, Father, J commend my Spirit. Now this day, we have to speak by His grace, First, of His death, and the yielding up of His Spirit: Next, of those wonders that fell out immediately after the Lord had rendered the Spirit: and thirdly, we have to speak how the multitude were moved when they saw these wonders. Now as concerning His death, the words are but few. John says, When He had spoken, and cried with a loud voice, He bowed down His head, and He rendered His Spirit. The words are to be marked, He renders His Spirit, first, as it were, He took His soul in His own Hande, and delivered it in the hands of the Father, desiring Him to keep it well, to the day of His glorious resurrection: for, Brethren, this is the difference between the godly, & ungodly in their death: as they differ, and are unlike to other in their life: so especially in their death. The ungodly cast away the soul and life, and cares not where it goes: but woe is to them that do so, they will never take up such a life again, when they have cast it▪ away, not regarding where it goes to, but thinking lightly of it. No, let no man nor woman cast away this life, or dislodge this soul lightly: if the soul go from thee lightly, and thou carest not for it: better it were for thee, never to have had a life, a soul, or a body. But again, Brethren, The Lord Jesus, as all His lifetime He is careful for the soul that is lodged in an earthly tabernacle: so chiefly, in the moment, when it is to fllit, The godly, they will not let the soul flit out of the body, until they know that the hand of the Lord, is sweetly loosing the soul, to keep it, until the day of their glorious resurrection. Brethren, it would be well marked, There is not one of the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, but they note very precisely the death of the Lord, and the yielding up of His Spirit. As for the circumstances that fell out in His Passion: some will note one thing and leave another. As for example, These voices that He utters on the Cross, not one of the Evangelists hath them all, some hath one, and some another. But when it comes to the yielding of the Spirit, they all in one harmony note, The Lord gave up the Spirit. This is a thing not to be passed by, nor to be lightly looked on, and it lets us see, the death of our Savior, the separation of His soul from His body, is so substantial, and so needful a thing both to Him to have suffered, and us to know, that except the Lord had suffered the death, all the crucifying of Him inwardly & outwardly, all the rest of His suffering had auailed us nothing, the ransom of our sins had not been paid: for that was the curse that was laid upon us, to pull our soul from our body: and as it was needful that He should suffer the death for us, so it is needful to everyone of us to know this, that my Savior died, and His soul was really separated from His body, it is needful that thou have evermore the Lord Jesus crucified before thee, and know that the soul was separated from His blessed body: for grace and remission of sins is conquered thorough the death of the Mediator: if thou hast not Faith of the death of the Mediator, it is impossible that thou canst believe that thy soul shall come to Heaven. The Apost. Heb. 9. hath a notable comparison, he says, When a man hath made a Testament, and his legacy, wherein he leaves such inheritance to any man: his Testament can never be sure, nor ratified, before the man be dead: and if he ratify not the Testament with his death, it cannot be sure: for the man in this life may alter the Testament: But after that once he die, there it stands, it cannot be revoked: Even so says the Apostle, The Heir of the world, Jesus Christ hath made a Testament, and such one as never man made, leaving such goods and heritage to His Saints, as never man left, even that heavenly Heritage, that exceeding Glory, Now, says the Apostle, If the Heir of the World, Jesus Christ had not sealed up His Testament by His blood, it had never been sure, but His death interueening and closing it, then the Testament is sure, & all the world is not able to alter one jot of it, to add or diminish it. Woe be to him that will add anything to the Testament of Jesus Christ: he is counted a villain, who will add to a man's Testament. Wilt thou add or diminish anything at thy pleasure, from the Testament of Jesus Christ. This Newe Testament is the best Testament that ever was: Let Worldlings be content with the Testaments of their forefathers, yet count thou nothing at all, except thou get a part of the legacy left in His Testament. Woe be to thee, albeit thou get Ea • ledomes and Kingdoms and great possessions left to thee by the Testament of thy forefathers, if thou gettest not this Testament. Well, Brethren, this Testament cannot be ratified, but by the blood of the Testator. How can I believe it, except I know that He died, and that the soul was as verily separated from the body as ever the soul of man was: so when I consider the death of my Savior, who hath made such a Testament, I am so far from that, to be offended at that shameful death, that the death is the ground of my salvation, and that in His death is all my glory, & the assurance of my life is in the assurance of His death, and His ignominy and shame is my glory.

Now thus far for the death of the Lord Jesus, Now come to the consideration of these wonders that fell out immediately, as He gave up the Ghost: The Uaile of the Temple rent asunder, from the top to the bottom, The earth quaked : Such things never fell out in all the deaths of men in the world: No, not in the deaths of all the Kings in the world: The stones were cloven, the graves of the dead did open. These are the four wonders that are noted to have fallen out immediately, when the Lord gave up the Ghost. Brethren, the Lord in His death, He was even in the extremity of His humiliation, He was weakened, made of no reputation the Lord of glory was tread upon by the feet of death, death stamping on Him, He could not be further humbled: there is nothing so ignominious as death: except it be sanctified: it is terrible and ignominious, so that if it be not sanctified in the death of the Lord Jesus: it is but a curse to thee, & a vengeance from Heaven: yet for all this casting down of Him, His heavenly Father leaves Him not, but in His greatest humiliation the Father gives the greatest tokens of His glory, and He testifies that He was not only innocent, but that He was the Lord of glory, & y ^t Godhead never left Him in that ignominious death, nor never shall leave Him, albeit it kept the self close, y ^• He might suffer that ignominious death, because it was not expedient that He should utter His power: yet y ^t Godhead in His death wrought such wonders, that He testifies before the Jews that y ^t same man which hung there was the Lord of glory and the Lord of life. Will ye come further, that albeit that miserable people had not a tongue to speak, and would not give a testimony of the glory of CHRIST, the dumb and senseless creatures, who had not mouth, nor tongue, nor life, will not be silent, but will do their homage to the Lord. Fye on thee, and woe is thee, that ever thou got y ^e mouth or tongue: the dumb creatures in their kinds do homage to their God, & glorifies Him, & shames all the world, & they shame all y ^e disciples: for all were offended at Him now. So now y ^e earth and the rocks shame them all: fie on them. The Lord as He came riding to Jerusalem, like a glorious King, to give them a show of His glory, Luke 19. When the disciples cries, Hosanna, Blessed be he that comes in the Name of the Lord, the Pharisees were angry at it: they were offended to see the Lord glorified. Then Jesus answered, if these would hold their tongue, the stones would cry : These stones & senseless creatures shall cry and glorify Me, there should not be a wall in Jerusalem, but they should have cried: if the disciples and the multitude had holden their tongue: and if men had their tongue, and glorify not God, the stones shall rise up, and shame them, and glorify Him. Now the mouth of the people is close, and not one of the disciples cried, Hosanna: yet the earth forgets Him not, she cries in her own manner, Hosanna : the rocks cry: the veil of the Temple cries, Hosanna whilst it rent asunder. Well, Brethren, blessed is the soul y ^e hath a mouth to glorify God: woe to thee that hath gotten a tongue to glorify the Lord, & does it not: if the Lord in humiliation was glorified by the dumb creatures, can He want His glory now in Heaven? if thou glorifiest not God, another shall glorify Him: if no man shall glorify Him, the sea, the earth, the sun, & the moon shall glorify Him: & thou, albeit thou were a King, shalt be thrust in Hell to thine everlasting shame. Now Brethren, there is not one of these four wonders, but particularly they would be considered: & first, The renting of the veil of the Temple. The veil of y ^e Temple was a fair wall, ouergilt w ^t fine gold there was never a thing so glorious outward in this world, as y ^t Temple, vpō y ^e which hang a glorious Tapestrie wrought curiously: it divided y ^e most holy place, called the Sanctuary, wherein the Lord gave His presence, & it was y ^e type of that heavenly Sanctuary, wherein Jesus Christ entered by His blood, it got the name from the office & use, it was called a veil, a covering, because it hid the Sanctuary from the sight of the people, & of the Priests: only the High Priests excepted who entered in it once in the year, and that not without blood: No, for his life he durst not enter in it without blood. Now when the LORD gives up the Ghost, this Vail cleaves in twain▪ and in a manner he makes an answer to the voice of the Lord. Wilt thou who hast life, reason, mou • h, and tongue, answer Him, He will make the veil to answer Him. The Lord said a little, before He gave up the Ghost, Consummatum est : All is ended, the ceremonies of the Law of Moses are ended: the sh • ddowes are away: there is no more use of that veil. When the veil hears this, The veil says, Amen, it is true my Lord, & here for my part, I give over my office, and I give the sight of the Sanctuary to the people, and shall not hide it any mo • e: for Jesus Christ hath opene • up the Vail, and pulled it down, and mad • an entry to the Sanctuary by His blood. Well, this is the preaching of the Vail to the Jews. But heard they this? Take the High Pri • stes any h • ed to this lang • age of the Vail? No, they were never busier in the Ceremonies, than after they heard this speech: They saw the Vail rent, but they took no lesson by it, there is a wonderful induration, Paul 2. Cor. 3. tells the cause, There was another veil laid on their hearts, so that they could neither see not hear. It was harder to rent that veil, than an hundredth veils of stone. Lord keep us from that reprobate sense: alas, that we should not take heed to this: The earthly veil rent asunder at the voice of the Lord, but the veil of their heart could not b • e rent, neither for the voice of the Lord, nor yet for the wonders. This is the lesson: Everyone of us should take heed to our heart: after that once a man be given up to a reprobate sense, as this people was: after that once thou beginnest to do against thy knowledge, either in manners, or in religion: after that once thou beginnest to do against: conscience, thou wilt do the contrary of all that it bids thee▪ thy conscience telling thee, when thou art going to murder, to harlotry, to oppression, to anger thy God, all is wrong do it not: yet thou wilt trampe on the belly of thy conscience. In the first Chapter to the Romans ye may read the end of this, As thou wilt not hear thy conscience, and the voice of God, the Lord catches thy conscience from thee, and casts thee over to a reprobate sense: so that thou art past feeling, that it were better to speak to a stone, than to thine heart, and when I speak to that pillar, it sh • ll rather rent than thine heart. Wouldest thou see a wonder: The Papists would bring in wonders, but bring in a man who is regenerate that is a wonder: yea, it is a great wonder, to alter thine hard and stony heart, than to cleave the hardest rock that ever was. Let me see an regenerate man, from whom that scroofe is taken away: it is a greater wonder to see a regenerate man from whom that scroofe is taken away, than that all the rocks should rent. This for the first wonder: now follows the second. The Earth quakes : No doubt, but with the quaking of the earth, there was a sore dinne, whilst the soul of the Lord separated from the body. O! what a thing was it to draw the soul of the Savior of the world from the body: No, the renting of the rocks was nothing in respect of that drawing of the soul of the Mediator from the body: The Earth is holden up by the mighty hand of the Lord: and when it shakes, the mighty hand of the Lord shakes it. When the Lord begins to shake His arm, all the mountains shakes: it is no jesting for if He hit thee, He will bruise thee in pieces, although all the world were about thee. What is miserable man doing, that will not know the power of the Almighty God: This shaking means a threatening to this people: and the earth threatens to swallow them all up, for their indignity they wrought to their Lord their Maker. If thou dishonorest thy Maker, the earth shall open and swallow thee up, as it did Core, Dathan and Abiram ▪ who withstood Moses : No, it is a wonder that the earth should bear men. No, I protest, I would not wonder so much, if the earth opened and swallowed some men, as I wonder that the Lord in His long suffering patience spares them, and holds His hand and Judgment off them. It is a wonder that the houses fall not down on the blasphemers, and the chambers, where they commit their filthiness should not smoother them▪ But He shall cause an heavier thing fall on the body and soul, than a thousand mountains were tumbled on them: thou doest nothing but heaps up wrath, as the Apost. says, against the day of wrath. No, wrath, and heavy wrath shall be heaped on them. So the earth threatens th • m, for the indignity they did to their Lord. Ye see, that after the earth quaked, it will swallow up towns and people: but she swallows them not up now, but the earth vomites them out, as not worthy to bear them in her belly No, she thought them over bitter to be within her, who had dishonored her Creator: but afterward look what came on them. The earth will revenge that foul thing done to her Lord: the land of Judea spewed them out, and the earth will not let that cursed kind have a foot-breadth of her. O! what is it to have battle with the Creator, when He begins to arm the earth or any creature against thee, we would think that this shaking of the earth should have moved them, yet t • ey take no thought for it. At the voice of the Lord the earth did shake, but did the Priests and the Scribes shake? Are they moved at the dinne and shaking of the earth? So again, I say there is nothing so immovable: No, not the earth, as thine hardened heart will be at all the denunciations that will come from Heaven, or Hell: save thy self from a reprobate sense, or else thou shalt never be wakened, till thou be thrust into hell, where thou shalt be tormented with endless vexation without any hope of comfort. This for the second wonder. Now let us come to the clieuing of the Mountains. This follows on the former: as the earth opened to swallow them, so the mountains cloue to tumble upon them: The mountains will not suffer them to dishonor their maker. What moved this, the Jews ? Even as much as the other two. No question it was a great and terrible noise, when the mountains cloue. Woe to a senseless heart: The mountains may clieue, and shiuer and quake, but if thy soul be given to induration, the stones & mountains shall be moved, and broken, but thine heart shall never break. Woe again to a senseless heart, which is not moved at the word of God: that Scepter of iron (whereof ye read, 2. Psal. ) shall light on thee, & bruise thee in pieces: Therefore, cast away that veil frō thine heart, and strive to keep light in thy soul & conscience, and walk in sobriety, till thy God call on thee, and then thou shalt see a blessed ende. Now we come to the last wonder which was wrought. The graves do their duty: they forget not their maker: but in their manner, they glorify their Lord God, and honor Him: yea, death it self, with the grave, do Him homage and honor. But miserable man will not honor Him: The graves lay open from three a clock after noon (for about three a clock the Lord gave up the ghost,) and they lay open all that day & all that night, & all the day following, and the next night till the morning that the Lord rises: and then the bodies of the Saints also arole, by virtue of His resurrection, and went into the City. The graves will tell the miserable people, that the Lord Jesus had loosed the bands of the grave by His death. By death He slew death: with her own sword He slew her, as we speak. She would teach them, that the bodies in that Great day shall rise up by the virtue of that resurrection of Jesus Christ. This question may be asked. What became of those bodies which arose & went into the City? Did they lay them down again in the grave, or ascended they to Heaven? I will not be curious in this purpose: But in my judgment, they were taken up to the heavens with Jesus Christ, to be an argument of our resurrection & going to the heavens. This was a fair lesson: but this miserable people was not moved. Woe to a stony & senseless heart: the grave may open, but nothing will open a senseless soul. Therefore, I beseech you strive to get a soft and mollified heart. The voice of Jesus made the earth to quake, the rocks to rent, the graves to open, the dead to rise: but the voice of the LORD opened not their hearts: then He opens the graves: It is an easier thing to raise a dead body out of the grave, than to raise thy soul, if it be once ha • dened: it is more wonderful to raise a dead soul, and to see that soul get a sense of Heaven, than to see all the bodies of the Church-yard rising.

Now to compare these wonders, There are two of them, The first and the last that teach this people: The other two, the second and the third that threatens them. The quaking of the earth, and the renting of the rocks threaten a damnage and destruction to them: and in this temperature of His wonders: As the power of God, so the wisdom of God appears wonderfully: He threatens this people for the indignity, that they had done to the LORD of glory, with Hell and death, yet He holds up His hands. O! how unwilling He is to strike, but if He light on thee, He will cause thee squeele: He is aiming: He is shaking that terrible arm, and threatening them: in the mean time the Lord is remembering His mercy, and teaches them by wonders, to look yet if they will take a lesson, to repent of all the indignity that they had done: He threatens them with the one hand, and offers mercy with the other, to see if they will repent. This is the dealing of the Lord He warns them, and He says. Yet I will not swallow thee up with the earth, and I will not let the rocks tumble down on thee, to devour thee, yet repent: for there is g • ace for thee, if thou turnest. Brethren, no man shall go to Hell, without advertisement to stand, to the end, that if thou wilt not repent, when the Lord begins to put hand in thee, and to rent thee, thy mouth may be closed, that thou canst not say: Lord▪ I got no warning, all excuses shall be put away. Alas, will not men learn for all this shaking of the mountains. Lord shake these hearts of ours, & the Lord be merciful to all sinful souls, & to senseless creatures, lest whē they shall cry Peace, & all things are sure enough, thē sudden judgment approach & the wrath come & overtake them. Now come to y ^e last thing & I shall end. Are there none y ^t are moved at all at these wonders? Amongst so many hundreds & thousands is there not one moved? yes there are some moved, & who are these? are the high Priests moved? No, not a whit, is there any of y ^e rest of y ^e order of y ^e Priests moved? Not, They continue blind and dumb. Are the Pharisees, and the Scribes, or the Elders moved? No: They are not moved; but the more they hear, their hearts are the more hardened. Who are then moved at these wonders? It is an Ethnic body, a Captain of men of war under PILATE, and a Pagan, who never once knew GOD, yet when he sees this, and heard the voices, he says, Of a surety this man was just : And more he says, Truly this was the Son of GOD. Is there any moe? Yes: A bande of men of war: Not of the IEWES, but such as had lived on robbery, without the fear of GOD, they feared greatly, and said also, Truly this man was the Son of GOD. Who of the IEWES is moved? Not the Scribes, and the Pharisees, and the rest of the Order, they are nothing moved: but the silly multitude, who cried before, Crucify him, now they go home, smiting on their breasts, and crying, woe to them for that days labor: but there was never a motion in the Priests, or in any of the Princes or Pharisees▪ or Scribes. It is a wonderful thing, to see that they who had judgment and understanding, and who had read all the prophecies of the MESSIAS to come, got no sense: yet a silly multitude gets some sight and sense. Woulde ye know and point out a senseless creature, who will not be moved neither by work nor word: It is such a man, as hath this worldly wisdom: Such a man, as hath knowledge, and yet does against his knowledge and conscience: for all that these Priests and Pharisees did, was both against knowledge and conscience: They repined against the Holy Spirit, and against their conscience, they crucify Jesus. Whosoever thou art, who opponest thee to the brightness of the Gospel, thou crucifiest the Lord of glory: and as it shall be laid to the charge of the high Priests and Pharisees, and of Pilate, and Herod, in that Great day, that they crucified JESUS CHRIST: So it shall be laid to thy charge, and thou shalt be as guilty of His blood, as they. Woe to that soul which will resist that word and the Holy Spirit. Woe shall be to the great men in this land, who against conscience conspires against CHRIST, Religion, and their native Country, for wrath and vengeance remaineth for them, if they leave not off this unhappy course: The King of SPAINE, and all their associates shall not be able to hold vengeance off them, that shall one day be heaped upon their heads. The LORD save us from induration, and never suffer us to repine against Light, nor to scrape it out of our soul and conscience.

I see here further: The LORD gets moe friends in His death, than in His life: The Centurion, and the men of war, they curse the time that ever they were employed in that service: The multitude, who bad crucify Him, thorough blindness and ignorance; now they repent the time that ever they did it, and they return homewardes, knocking upon their breasts. That immaculate Lamb, that precious Sacrifice, hanging thus on the Cross, He cast such a sweet smell on the earth, and on the people, that they who were His enemies, go away mourning. This falls out often times in the Martyrs, for some people goes out with them, who would eat them: and yet the LORD JESUS makes their death to cast such a sweet smell, that it is effectual to move many thousands to mourn, and to be converted: So that it is found to be true, that the blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church. And they who would have swallowed them before in their death, pities them, and become their friends, thorough the sweet smell, which they felt coming from their death, and would go home mourning, that ever they were enemies unto them, and were instruments of their death.

Therefore, let the enemies of the truth persecute the Saints of GOD, and His Truth, with Fire and Sworde, as they please; They shall get no vantage, and they shall not get this Light quenched: for there shall such a sweet smell arise out of the ashes of the Saints, which in despite of the enemies far moe shall be won to JESUS CHRIST by their death, than ever was won to Him by their life: To Him, therefore, with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, be all Honor, Praise, and Glory, for evermore:

THE XXIII. LECTURE, OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST.

W EE have heard these days past (beloved Brethren in Christ) what was the part of the whole multitude of the wicked, and persecutors of JESUS CHRIST, in crucifying Him, in taunting and scorning Him: Doubtless, there were in that company some of the godly, who loved the LORD JESUS: but seeing we have heard nothing of them as yet, therefore this day we shall speak somewhat in their behalf. Now, what are they doing in the mean time? They are standing afar off. Some men & many women, who all that time had followed Him before, standing to see that sad spectacle: yet with sadness they had joy, no question: And this is the first part of our TEXT, which we have read, out of MATTHEW, MARKE, and LUKE. After this we enter into the History of Christ's burial: But before we come to His burial, we have in the XIX. CHAPTER of JOHN, the History of the taking down of His body from the Cross: So at this time, by God's grace, we shall speak of these two, to wit, Of the part of the godly, who loved Him, and next, Of the taking down of that blessed body from the Cross, after it was dead. Then, to come shortly to the purpose: It is said, And all his acquaintance stood afar off. There is the general: Then comes on the particular, Manie women : particular mention is made of them: Manie women are standing afar off, looking on. We heard of before in the XIX. of JOHN, verse. 23. of three women chiefly, Marie the Mother of Jesus, and other two Mary's, together with His well-beloved Disciple JOHN: and they were standing at that time when He hung quick upon the Cross, so near hand Him, that He speaks to them from the Cross, and they heard Him. So Brethren, this standing afar off at this time, as I take it, hath been after the Lord had given up the ghost, when the women are returning home again, being loath to part company with Him: and as they were going home, they turned about, & looked to Jesus hinging on the Cross, on Moūt Caluarie : They stand first near, & thē turning home again, they stand afar off. No questiō, it was y ^e love they bare to the Lord, that drue thē after him, whē he went to be crucified, & y ^t same love y ^t they bare to him was so tender & entire, y ^t it made them to stand & look on him when he hung on the Cross: and y ^t love they bare to y ^e Lord Jesus made thē to sever frō the rest of the multitude, and to gather themselves together, and look back to Him where He was hanging. For this is a sure thing, Those that meet together in one faith and love in the Lord Jesus, of mere force they must meet together among themselves, and be linked together by the band of love in one body. By the contrary, those who meet not together in one faith in Jesus Christ, their hearts will never be joined in this world, they will never meet to make one body, they will never separate themselves from the multitude of this world: No, if it were all my kindred, father, and mother, brother, and sister, if they love not the Lord Jesus, mine heart and his shall never be linked together in this world, nor in the world to come: He that loveth not the Lord Jesus, (as Paul says, 1. Corin. Chap. 16. ) let him be Anathema maran-atha▪ that is, cursed for evermore. But he who loves the Lord Jesus, and meets with me in Him, let him be what he will, let him be in the vtmoste corner of the world, mine heart and his is linked together, and there is a conjunction which never shall be separated, neither in the Heaven, nor in the Earth: it shall last forever.

Brethren, when I consider this multitude here standing, looking upon Him when He hung upon the Cross, I think I see an image of the whole world: for it is a world of people, who are standing about Him: there are Gentiles, there are Jews, and the false adulterous kirke, there are Priests, Pharisees, Elders, blind guides of the people, & a profane multitude, enemies of all sorts: And as there are many enemies to Christ, So there is a silly handful of godly men and women, gathered together, looking upon that sad spectacle; who resembled the true Church militant here upon the face of the earth: And as in all this multitude, like draws to like, The wicked and the ungodly rank themselves together, The Priests rank themselves together. The soldiers rank themselves together; and also the godly rank themselves together, and look upon that sad spectacle, their Lord crucified. Well, this is common to all: all are standing looking to CHRIST, hanging on the Cross upon the top of the Mount Caluarie, Jewe, and Gentile, wicked, and godly, all are looking: But in looking there is a great difference: There are some delighting their eyes with the spectacle, there are some feeding the malice of their hearts, and drinking the blood of JESUS CHRIST, the Priests, the Pharisees, and the Elders: But the godly are looking on with sadness of their hearts: And I doubt not, but as with sadness, so also they are looking on Him with joy, by faith in His glorious resurrection. There are many this same hour who have their eyes fixed on Christ, both Turks and Pagans, and the true Church, and the false Church: but one cause moves not all. Take heed, therefore, howe thou lookest, either to His Cross, or to His glory: look that thy soul be set on Him, and see that by looking unto Him, thou preasse to be partaker of the fruit of His death and resurrection: for if thou lookest to Him for the fashion, or in malice, as the Turks do, and the Pagans, and the Papists, enemies to His Cross, thou shalt perish: & better had it been to thee never to have heard of Jesus, or never to have seen Him. Further, this would be well considered: We see if we have a friend, whō we love well, if he betaken out to a shameful death (there was never such a shameful death as this) we will think shame of him, and he will think shame that his friends should see him in that estate. Who would think but that the acquaintances of Jesus should have thought shame of Him, to have conuoyed their friend to such an ignominious death, and to have seen Him so shamefully demained. So that, Brethren, when I consider this matter well, I perceive that those His familiars and acquaintance have seen further into Christ, than men & women do commonly. No doubt but the friends of Christ, who came to see Him hanging in ignominy, saw life in that death: they saw glory in His ignominy; otherwise they had never come to see Him hanging in ignominy: And no doubt they felt a sweet perfume flowing from that Sacrifice: It was the sweetest smelling Sacrifice that ever was offered. All the perfume and incense that ever was offered, passed not up with such a sweet smell in the nosethrilles of the Father, as that one blessed sacrifice did: And as it smelled sweetly in the nosethrilles of the Father: so did it cast a sweeter smell in the nose of the godly, than ever they found: and they thought it had such a fragrant odour, and such a sweet smell unto them, that they thought, ere they had been separated from Him in His death, they had rather chosen to have died a thousand deaths: for as the Lord says, Wheresoever the carrion is, there must the Eagles resort. Well is the man who in his death finds the sweet smell of y ^e death of Jesus Christ. I have no more to say of this matter, but if this acquaintance of Jesus for the time took such a pleasure in His death, (being shameful,) that they could not be separated from Him, it is a shame to us to draw so far back from Him, not now hanging in ignominy on the cross, but most glorious in the Heavens. Fye on this dull headed and dead world, that hath no sense of that glory, and is not allured by that unspeakable glory, rather to suffer a thou and deaths, albeit it were the sword, the fire, and all torments, than to be separated from this Jesus Christ: But the women's part is more particularly to be considered: Let all women take heed: it is said, Many women were there, Moe of them, have followed the Lord to the cross, than men, that I may speak to the glory of GOD, and shame of men. As for men, I find nothing but this general. In Luke a company of men and women, but in Matthew and Mark, I find of women especially: they are looking on Him with sadness mixed with joy: And from whence came they? It is said, that They came out of Galilee, following on Him: they never left Him, they wearied not to follow such a guide, they ministered to Him on their own charge: As they were fed with that bread of life, that came out of His mouth, so they spared not, freely and liberally to communicate all that they had to Him: And happy is the man, who so finds the effect of the word of life in his heart, that he would bestow again, all that he hath for the love of that word. Brethren, ye know, what is in hand presently: many words need not: seeing this division of the town in competent Congregations intended, is to feed your souls with the word of life: spare not for goods to get that word of life.

Now, I see beside the multitude, mention made of three women, Marie Magdalene, then, Marie the mother of James the less, and of Ioses, and Salome, the mother of the two sons of Zebedee : No question, these women mentioned here have borne a tender affection to the Lord: forgets the Lord that love they bare to Him in all times before, in following Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem unto the ignominious death of the cross and there staying with the Lord, and not leaving Him, but ministering to Him: forgets the Lord this? No, but He remembers upon it: thou shalt never do a good deed to JESUS CHRIST, but He shall meet thee: they love Him, and He honors them: they never left Him: they shamed the men yea, His disciples: yea, even the very Apostles: for we read not of any of all His Apostles, that any of them was there present, except John: Peter had taken him to a back side, for all his stoutness before: the rest were offended in Him: These women did cleave to Him through the band of love: forgets the Lord this? No: as they love Him beyond His Apostles: so the Lord honors them above the Apostles. It is no small thing to get the honor to be an eye witness of the death and resurrection of JESUS CHRIST: it is greater honor than all the honor in the world. No doubt, the LORD made these women in their turning back preachers to the Apostles themselves: they told Peter, James and Matthew what they had seen: there is none end of honor, when the Lord begins to honor: as He honors them to be witnesses of His death, and preachers of it to others: so He will have the names of some of them to be registrate to the posterity. And it is the will of JESUS CHRIST, that this day I promulgate the names of these women in your audience, to their honor, after so many hundredth years, and their names shall be registrate perpetually to their everlasting honor, whilst JESUS CHRIST come again: yea, their names shall be written in the Heavens everlastingly. Never one repents the gratitude done to JESUS CHRIST: thou shalt get two good deeds for one. Again, the LORD will let us see in the example of these women that oft times in women there will be a more tender love to the Lord JESUS, than in men, who are the stronger sex: ye will see the weaker and simpler that the sex be, and the less worldly wit that it have, the more spiritually it is disposed, the more affectionate it is to heavenly things, the greater heavenly wisdom it hath. If any man, says PAUL, seem to be wise in this world, let him be a fool, that he may be wise, that is true • lie wise, wise in GOD, 1. Cor. 3.18. And as their love is great, so the Lord will honor them to the shame of men, and whereas men should preach CHRIST, He will make women to preach JESUS CHRIST to men, to the shame of men, and His own glory. All tends to this, that as men and women do desire to be honored of God, so all men and women should strive continually to love and glorify GOD. GOD loves none, nor honors none, but only those who love and honor the Lord Jesus Christ: if thou lovest not the Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt get no love nor honor of God: yet further, this is not to be passed by, the world wonders now, that He had such an eye to these three women: There were many hundredth men, but how many of their names were registrate to their honor? He had such a respect to them, that He espied them out beside the rest of thousands that were there, and by His Holy Spirit caused registrate them. This registrating of them came not rashly, but from an ordinance of God, and His especial Providence. There is not a public conuention, albeit it were a man hanged, where multitudes of men and women run together to hear & see, but the all-seeing eye of the Lord is upon every person in particular, man, woman, ladde, or lasse. Never an head there, great or small, poor or rich, noble, or ignoble, but the eye of the Lord is on them: yea, it goes down to the inward affections, to rip and search them, to see of what disposition every soul is. As for example, we are all met together here, sundry men and women, some greater, some smaller, some younger, some older: yet there is not one of us, on whom the Lord hath not His eye. We are met, to see Jesus Christ crucified on mount Caluarie, there is not one of our hearts, but the eye of the Lord sees it, and He sees wherefore, and for what end thou art come to that meeting, whether it be to feed thine ears, and to take delectation in hearing of new things, or to take pastime to see, and be seen, or to eschew the shame of the world, or whether thou comest to reap profit, and to be edified of that thou hearest, and to get life of that Cross and death of Christ: for therein stands thy life, and this should be the end of thy meeting with God's children. Th • n seeing the eye of the Lord is set on every soul: therefore it becomes everyone of us, to strive to approve our hearts to the Lord: so that everyone of us may say to the Lord, for this ende am I come, O Lord, to be partaker of the fruit of the death of Jesus Christ. Woe to them who come for another cause, or sinistrous respect, and come not to be edified: for the Gospel shall never be a word of life to them, but a savor of death unto death. If it work not life in thee, and if the Spirit work not life by the preaching of the Cross, it shall be the power of death to thy soul.

Brethren, we have hear the first part: Now we have to speak of the second part: The taking of His body down from the Cross before His burial. The taking down of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of lords▪ comes of a r • quest made to Pilate, and made not by His friends, but by His enemies. I see this, this miserable people of the Jews were spoiled of all power, as they had no power to hang any: so they had no power to take any down from the Cross, or from the gallows, without the leave of the Magistrate: they were spoiled of all power by the judgment of God, & therefore, they behooved to have recourse to Pilate : they were slaves, yet they would not acknowledge the true King of glory, who might have made them free. I see here a commendable thing in the Roman policy, As it was not lawful to hang any without the command and license of the Magistrate, so they who were hanged, might not be taken without the license of the Judge. There sold nothing be done to a guilty person, but by the authority of the Judge. God in His judicial Law, gave not only Laws concerning the lifting of men upon the cross, but also of y ^e taking down of them frō the cross. It is well to be marked, who it is that gives the advise, that the Lord with the other two should be taken down from the cross, to put an ende both to their pain, and their ignominy. It is not one of His disciples, it is not Peter, nor John, nor Matthew, they are not so bold, they durst not presume it: No, it was His enemies that crucified Him, that interponed their request for Him? Was this a benefit they did to Him? Certainly this was a benefit they did to Him, to take Him down from the cross: yet they do it, not to benefit Him, for any pity they had on Him: for they thought, that He was living but the Lord had given up the Ghost. When thy friends will not make a suite for thee, the Lord will raise up thine enemies to do thee good: He cannot only make thy friend do thee good, but thy foe also. If thou be the Lord's, He can make them who would wish thee woe, to do thee good: if thou be the Lord's, the fire, the water, and the sword, which otherwise would devour thee, shall benefit thee: the Lord, against all men's expectation, shall do thee good, if thou be the Lord's▪ thou shalt not want relief. Now, what was the sum of their request? They besought Pilate, that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken down. That is, that they might be put out of pain, and that they might make an end of them: for they thought they were quick. Now, whether this request was upon a custom used amongst them, or not, the Text declares not: but it seems, except the feast of the Passover had interueened that same time, that they would not have been careful of them▪ but would have suffered them to hang whilst they had yielded up y ^e Ghost. The other two were quick in pain, when the Lord yielded up the spirit. I note this: When thy enemies do thee a good turn, they do it never of love. These might have dispatched the Lord, and the two Thieues, with less pain, than to have broken their thies: They had taken their lives sooner from them, if they had beaten out their brains. So when thy enemy benefits thee, and does thee any good turn, be sure he does it not of purpose, to do thee good: as we commonly speak, If he give thee a bit, he will give thee a buffet with it: Soure and bitter is the benefit of the enemy. Indeed it is true, that the Lord, who makes all things to work for the best, to them that loves Him, will dispose their doings otherwise, and make them to work thy good: And therefore, have thine eye set upon the Lord, and He shall make the malice and bitterness of thine enemy to turn to thy comfort. There is another thing to be marked: The Lord had ordained, that there should not be one bone broken of CHRIST, and so it was fore-told. Now will ye see the force of the word and providence of God: The force of the word and providence of God appears the more clearly by this opposition which is made to His ordinance: The Jews requested to have His bones broken, and Pilate gave commandment to break them: But is there any bone broken, notwithstanding their suit, and Pilate's commandment? No, not one. This lets us see, That if God have ordained & said anything, it lies not in the hands of any man to disannul it: If God shall say, There shall not be one bone of my anointed broken; great Caesar, and all the Kings of the earth, the king of Spain, and the Pope, and all their adherents, shall not be able to do the contrary. So in the midst of all fear and danger, let us depend upon the providence of God, and say, Lord, if thou hast said otherwise, than these men's intentions are, I will not be afraid for them, I know they are not able to do anything without thy providence▪ and so, Lord, I lean only on thy providence, and am content with thy will. So in these miserable days, we are to lean to God, and to depend on His providence, and we shall see the vain enterprises of men vanish away like smoke, and we shall see the wicked to be made spectacles to all the world. Let us see what moved the IEWES to make this request: Was it pity that moved them? No: They had no pity of Him. Was it obedience to the commandment of God, who commanded, that an hanged man should be cut down y ^t same day, because he was accursed? Deu. 21.22.23. No, it was a vain superstition that moved them, they were to celebrate the Pass • over, and this was the day of their preparation, they were preparing them by crucifying the innocent, the Lord of glory. Was this an holy preparation? This was the Friday, and the morne was the Pa • che. John says, that was, an high day, or a great Sabbath, because they kept two holy days together, both their own ordinary Sabbath, and the extraordinary Passover, and this they did contrary to the ordinance of GOD: for they should have celebrated the Passover on Thurseday, as the LORD did: for He celebrated it that night that He was betrayed by Judas, and led away captive by the Jews. So they did cast in the two Holy days together, according to their custom: for when y ^e Passover fell to be on Thurseday, they used to delay it until the Satterday which was their Sabbath day, lest y ^t if these feasts which are so near other, had been both kept, the people should have wearied, and if Christ & the other had not been taken down, tha • y ^t Holy exercise would have been defiled. So they thought, if they had been taken down from the cross, and put away, they had been holy eneugh. And upon that same pretence, when they were to accuse Christ, they would not enter in the common Hall, lest they should have been polluted. They were Hypocrites, they polluted the world, and defiled the earth that they tread on. A polluted body who hath no sanctification in Christ, there is nothing that he touches, meat, or drink: yea, the earth he walks on, but he defiles all: yet these foul Hypocrites thought, that if Jesus who sanctifies the Sabbath, and sanctifies the heart, had been taken away they had been holy eneugh. An Hypocrite is a foul body, & defiles all that he handles. All his religion is outward standing in bodily exercises: and when he hath polluted all, yea, the very earth he treads on: he will say, Handle not, touch not, taste not, that will pollute thee, Coloss. 2.21. There is his religion: When the foul body defiles the air, the earth, the Heaven, he bids thee touch it not, lest it defile thee, when he defiles all that he touches.

Now they get the request granted them, and gets a commandment of Pilate, and so The men of war came forward, and brake the legs of the one first▪ and then they came to the other, and brake his also : They brake both their legs with great pain and torment.

Now, will ye see these 2 thieves, they are like in their death, both are crucified, & in end both their thighs are brokē: yet for all this, the one of them is a vessel of glory, and he had a promise of glory, and an assurance of it in his heart: the other had none. So, Brethren, take heed: though the death of the wicked, and the godly be alike: yet they are not alike in condition: Judge not of men's estate by the outward misery: measure not Heaven and Hell by the outward death: The Elect and the wicked will be oft times alike in death, and oft times the Elect will die in the greatest torments. Who suffered more painful deaths, than the Martyrs did: Beware that thou say, as the Papists, who are enemies to Christ, say: They teach, albeit that in Jesus Christ thy sin be forgiven: yet the pain is not forgiven: and they say, that the pain that the godly suffer in death, is a satisfaction for sin: They say that the pain of the penitent thief was the punishment of his sin: but they lie, and the Lord shall justify it. The Elect suffer no pain for sin: torment them as they will, burn them, scalde them, all is but a merciful chastisement, and death to them is a fair port to Heaven: He makes darkness to be light to His own.

Well, this for the execution of the two thieves: They come to the Lord, to see whether He was dead or not: they are not rash: they find Him dead: they find no sponke of life in Him: therefore they offer not to break His thighs: See how the word and providence of God takes effect. The Lord had said, One bone of Him should not be broken: and therefore to preueene the breaking, the Lord miraculously took the Spirit from His Son: His death was miraculous, as ye heard before: by the strength of nature He might have lived longer, as that great and mighty voice which he uttered last, testifies: and so His sudden death was a mean to perform the Lord's ordinance: He would use this, as the ordinary mean to execute the eternal decree of the Father. It is a folly to thee, to say, thou wilt depend on the providence of God, and in the mean time to leave off means: for by so doing thou temptest God, who as He hath ordained the ende, so He hath also ordained the means to the end. As for example, If thou wouldest go to Heaven, thou must use the means, the hearing of the word, &c. Yet many will contemn the means, and yet brag they are assured to come to Heaven, they will contemn the preaching which is the instrument that God uses. But I say to thee, thou deceivest thyself: for I denounce, if thou werest an Emperor, thou shalt never see Heaven, nor life, who contemnest that mean and instrument which the Lord hath ordained to be used, to bring thee to Heaven, which is the preaching of His truth. Now, Brethren, ye see here the testimony of the death of Christ, given by the bu • rioes, they preach His death, as though they had said, Mark, all people: This Jesus whom we have crucified is dead: and therefore in token that this is true, we will not break His bones: after that comes another burrio, a man of war, and gives the last witness, He smites Him with a spear: so that out of the wound gushed out blood and water : As though the knave had said, I shall let you see, that He is dead, & that there is no life in Him, and so he smites Him to the heart, with a spear: The Lord would have the death of the Lord testified sundry ways for thy comfort: for the most shameful thing that ever was, is death, except it be sanctified: it is the greatest misery that can come to man: if thou gettest no remedy against it, for that death of the body is a port to that death everlasting. It is no children's play to have the soul dislodged: No, it was an ignominy to the Lord of glory, to be holden under the bands of death, and to be tread under the feet of death: yet the Father will have His death testified sundry ways: First, He will have it testified with a cry, when He cried with a loud voice, Father, into thine hands I commend my Spirit : Next, He will have the burrioes to testify His death, and then He will have a spear thrust to His heart, to testify His death, besides the testimony that all the creatures gave of His death. Is this for nothing? No, for suppose the Lord Jesus had been crucified, taunted and scorned, and suffered all the ignominy that ever could have been, and yet had been taken down quick, and the nails loosed, & gotten His wounds healed, thou hadst not been s • u • d, thy salvation had not been wrought: Our sins had never been forgiven us, for without shedding of blood, and death, there had been no remission of sins, except I know, beside all the pain the Lord suffered that He suffered the death also, I would never believe to get life▪ & to be saved. Now to end in a word, Look to the witnesses: the burrioes, they were evil witnesses for themselves but good witnesses for us▪ for their witnessing testifies to our w • ll, that the Lord was dead: and so these burrioes have done a notable good work to us, but not to themselves, because they were His enemies. It is as t • ue this day, as it was that day: there is, and shall be witnesses, preaching the death of CHRIST, crying, That CHRIST died for the redemption of the world, and teaching salvation by CHRIST to others, and others shall get good by them, yet they shall get no good themselves. Why? Because they are enemies to the Cross of CHRIST. An enemy to His death, can preach His death well enough. All Preachers of the death of JESUS CHRIST ought to take heed to this: That when they preach to others (as the Apostle saith) they be not reprobate themselves. Woe to the man who preaches salvation to others, if in the mean time he be a reprobate himself. I must be as careful for mine own salvation, as for the salvation of others: And therefore, if thou speakest of the death of CHRIST to thy Neighbor, strive to be assured, that thou thyself art partaker of that salvation, through JESUS: To whom, with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, be all Honor, Praise, and Glory, for evermore, Amen.

THE XXIV. LECTURE OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST.

T HE last day (beloved Brethren in Christ) we entered into the History of the taking of the Lord from the Cross, before He was buried: The taking of Him from the Cross, it came by a request: The Jews His enemies, made request to Pilate, the Roman deputy, and Judge for the time. The sum of the request was, that the thies of the crucified men might be broken, and so they might be taken from the Cross▪ Pilate the Judge yielded to the request, & gave commandment to the soldiers▪ & to the burreo, to execute & slay them, that afterward they might be buried. The soldiers came first to the one thief, & broke his thies: thē they came to the other thief, & broke his thies also: and last, they came to Jesus, and finding Him already dead, and to have given up • he spirit, they would not break His legs: Yet to put the matter out of doubt, one of the soldiers came with a spear, and pierced the Lord's side, thorough y ^e heart, & out of the wound there gush • d blood and water. Now Brethren, this day, as the Lord shall give us grace, we shall follow out this History, and we shall speak of three things: First, of the effusion & gushing out of the blood & the water out of the side of the Lord. Then we sh • ll speak of that grave testimony that John, the writer of this Gospel, gave to the History, & narration, that the bones of the Lord were not broken, and that His side was pierced, and that thereafter the blood and the water gushed out: Last, we shall speak of the end wherefor these things came to pass. There was not one bone of Him brokē: His side was pierced, to the end that the word of the Lord (long time spoken of before) might be accomplished: And he brings in two Scriptures, the one concerning that His bones should not be brokē, & the other concerning the piercing of His side with the spear. Now come to y ^e first of these heads. I leave the vain dream of the papists (for all their religion is but dreams & fantasies) I pass their dream concerning this soldier y ^t pierced the side of the Lord with a spear how they say y ^t the Griek word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , which signifies a spear, was the name of the man that pierced Christ's side, and how they say, that this man was a Centurion, & an old Captain, who was blind: & after he had pierced the Lord's side, he washed his eyes with the blood that issued out, & got his sight, & the • eafter in an instant was converted, & became a Christian man and a Martyr: and this is he whom they worship, and whose bones are kept as a relict, and he is called Saint Longimus. I leave the spirit of vanities: fie on them, they fill the hearts of the people of God with such vanities, and therefore shame and confusion shall come vpō them in the end. Now Brethren, to speak of that which is more profitable, Of the gushing out of the blood and water out of the side of the Lord. JOHN says, that one of the soldiers, with a spear, pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. No doubt this effusion of the blood and water in a part was natural and ordinary: for, they who have skill in the things which concern the body of man, and know the Anatomy, they know that the heart of man is a receptacle of blood, and in the heart is the cleannest and finest blood: The vital blood is fined in the heart of man, and the blood there is finer than in the rest of the body: Ye hear commonly that the heart blood is the finest blood, and moste precious: Ye know likewise that there is a fliece, which compasseth and goes about the heart, which is called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 : and in it there is some liquor and water wherewith the heat in the heart is cooled and refreshed. Then to come to the purpose: The Lord being pierced thorough the sid • , and in thorough the heart, it was no wonder, that that blood in the heart: and that water in the fliece should have gushed out, especially seeing that He had but newlie given up the ghost, and He was yet warm: so that this blood and this water could not be yet much altered, by reason of the shortness of time. But Brethren, when I weigh this matter more deeply, and consider that this blood and this water gushes out in such abundance, and so distinctly, that the one is so severed from the other, that they who stood beside might discern very well the blood from the water, and the water from the blood. I see here something above nature, and I am compelled to think, and say, that there was something here extraordinary: As all things that fell out in the death of the LORD JESUS was extraordinary, and shown Him to be more and greater than any common man that ever died: The giving up of the ghost, with a loud voice, shown, that He was more than a man. For Brethren, to leave the speaking of this matter, let us see what this blood & this water means, and to what use the gushing out of the blood & the water serves for. No question, the gushing out of the blood and the water out of the wound testifies, that the Lord was verily dead. What man will live when his heart blood is shed? The heart is the most vital part of the body: It is the seat of the life: Perse it, and there is no life for the man: So this effusion of the blood & water testifies, that the Lord was dead, and there was no life in Him. Yet Brethren, this blood & this water meaned more than this: they testified of the force of that death: they testified not of a death only, but of a powerful death. No man's death was ever so powerful, as the death of the Lord Jesus. All the Emperors in the world had no such power in their death▪ as Christ had. It testifies of a power to purge the sins of man. What Emperors blood ransomed sinful man, or could purge him from his sins? What water came there ever from an Emperors heart, which washed away the corruptiō of thy nature? Now to speak it in a word: This blood and this water testified of a power that flowed from the death of Christ, to the remission of sins, and the washing of our foul nature: with the blood bracke out remission of sins, and with the water burst out regeneration. Yet to make this plainer: By the blood of Christ, (which is the blood of God, God and man in one) we are ransomed from death and Hell, the guiltiness of all our sins is taken away, the punishment with the guilt is taken away, Hell is taken away, the justice of God that required our blood, is satisfied by that blood of Christ, that wrath that would have sucked up thy blood, (it would not have left one drop of thy blood vnsucked) and that wrath which cannot be satiate without blood, is satiate by the only blood of CHRIST. Mark well: It was not blood only that came out of His side, but it was blood and water: it was a watery blood: JOHN, who stood by, left this in register, That sensibly in the blood he perceived water: to testify, That by that blood of JESUS we obtain not only remission of our sins: but by this same blood the foulness and uncleanness of our nature is washen away: for water serves to wash away filthiness. This same JOHN, in his first Epistle, Chap. 5. verse. 6. says, that Christ came into the world by water, meaning the water which gushed out of His side: (JOHN could never forget this sight) He came by water to wash away this inherent corruption which is in us: for if it be not purged, there is no entry to Heauē. I fore-warn thee, thou shalt never see Heaven, if thy corruption be not purged away. Then he says, He came by water and blood : not by water only, but by water and blood: meaning this blood was watery, and this water was bloody: Not only to wash away the inherent corruption, but also to ransom • us, to obtain to us remission of our sins, and to take away the guiltiness of our sin, both original and actual, and that punishment, and wrath that was due to us: In that same Chapter John points out the three witnesses of Christ in the Heavens, and three witnesses of Christ in the earth: And for the witnessing in the earth, he counts these same two, the blood and the water, & the third, the Spirit, who testifies th • t Jesus came & died for thee: where we may see, that this blood and this water that came out of the side of the Lord never leaves the earth, never ceases to cry, The Redeemer of the world is come. If thou be in Jesus, that blood sprinkling thine heart, & conscience within thee shall testify unto thee, that Jesus is come in the world for thy purgation. So that, Brethren, I affirm this, that all the words in the world, and all the hearing, shall not put that persuasion in thine heart, that Jesus Christ is come for thy Redemption: except that blood and that water cry within thee: certainly, we have no better assurance that the Lord is come, than when we feel that effectual working of the remission of our sins, and the purgation of them by the mortifying of sin. Now we have daily in our Sacraments of Baptism, & the Lord's Supper outward signs of this water, and this blood whereby they are outwardly represented to our eyes. In the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper we have the sign of the blood, in the Sacrament of Baptism, we have the sign of the water: and therefore the blood & the water remain ever in the earth, as witnesses, testifying that Christ is come, and they are ever represented to us in these outward signs and symbols in the Sacraments. So in a word, this blood gushing out of the Lord's side, and this water testifies: First, that the Lord was truly dead: Next, that His death is forceable to the remission of our sins, and to our regeneration. Unto these two uses, we may join the third: this gushingou • of the blood and water out of the Lord's side, testified, that the sacrifices, purgations, and washing of the Law, were now abolished they were now no more to have place, because they were only certain types and shadows of the blood and water to come, whic • gushed out both together out of the Lord's side. Now I come t • the testimony of John, concerning the breaking of the thighs o • the Lord, & y ^e piercing of His side with y ^e spear, John seals up this & first, he says, I testify this, J bear witness to this, thē he aggreages hi • testimony in sundry words: First, I, as an eye-seeing witness, stood by, and I saw with mine eyes, that the thies of the Lord were not broken, and that a soldier pierced H • m though • ow • he side unto the heart, and that blood and water came out of His side. Next: As I saw these, so I tell thee, that my testimony is true. Thirdly, I know, & am persuaded, my testimony to be true : my conscience persuades me, that it is true, & I believe it myself, to the end that ye may believe it. So therefore, as I believe, believe thou: This he says to all, to the end of the world yea, who hears this, believe it as well as I. Ye see here, JOHN is earnest to testify the death of Christ, that verily He died: And he testifies it with great weight, and many grave words. We have heard before sundry testimonies of His death. The Lord in the last words He testifies of His own death, when He cries, Father, into thine hands I commend my spirit : All those wonders from the Heaven testified, that the Lord had given up the ghost: His Heauenlie Father made the Burreoes and the men of war to testify, that He was dead, and to preach it to all the people about. Now JOHN comes in last, and with many words, and words of great weight, testifies, that the Lord gave up the ghost. What means all this? Ye see there is not anything in all the history testified by so many testimonies. The Spirit of God labors not to persuade us of anything in all His Passion, so much, as that He died: and to certify this, that He was pierced with a spear. To leave the Heresies, which fell in the world, concerning the death of Christ, for it was much to persuade the world of it: they would not believe that JESUS died truly. All these testimonies lets us see such a necessity to be in the death of JESUS, that except the LORD had died as truly as ever man died, He could not have been our Redeemer: And except He had died truly, we could never have believed to have been saved by Him. Except I know as truly as ever I knew anything in the world, that my Redeemer died for me, I would never go seek life out of His death. Indeed, a wanton sinner, who is ladē with sin, & feels not the weight thereof, so long as his conscience is sleeping, that he feels not y ^e burreo, & sees not y ^t fearful wrath that cannot be quenched without blood & that terrible justice of God, y ^t cannot be satisfied, but by death, will count little of the death of Christ: It is alike to him, whether He had died or no: so long as thou sleepest all is alike, but after the conscience is wakened, & the Lord once let thee feel the weight of thy sins, wherewith thou art ladned: No, if thou diddest but feel the weight of an evil thought, thou wouldest groan as fast as if the mountains and rocks were tumbled on thee▪ and then thou would • st think no life nor salvation for thee, but Hell and damnation, if thou gottest not a Savior for thee: and if thou feelest that Justice of God, and the terrors of Hell before thee, the sight of the death of Jesus would be the most joyful and comfortable sight that ever thou sawest, and all thy joy & glory would be in that death of Christ, Paul says Gal. 6.14 Far be it from me, that I should re • oyce in anything, but in the death of Christ : he found all his life to be in that death, 1. Cor. 2.2. he says, When I came amongst you, to speak of the death of Christ to you who knew not what it meant (a vain company they were, who delited in vain oratory) I would not begin to clawe your itching ears, but I decreed to know nothing but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. Now, Brethren, besides this, In these words that JOHN sets down, and 〈◊〉 the which he aggreadges his testimony, mark another lesson. Will ye see, from whence our Faith comes? from whence comes our Faith? from whence flows it? JOHN says, And he that saw it, bare record, and his record is true and he knoweth that he saith true, that they should believe. From whence then comes Faith in this death? it comes by hearing: Faith is of hearing of a testimony and record: and if thou hearest not a record, thou shalt not believe, and if thou believest not, thou shalt never see Heaven. And if thou contemnest the record, I give thee this doom, thou shalt never see Heaven with thine eyes, if thou werest a King: So Faith is wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit, by a record and witness bearing. So ere thou gettest Faith, some witness must stand up and bear record. The Lord must send out some witness to cry and preach? but what witnesses must these be? JOHN says, He that saw these things, hath testified of them. The witnesses must be seeing witnesses: it must be John, and such as saw Him, and felt Him with their hands. Then, who must be the witnesses? They must be the Apostles that were conversant in this world with Jesus Christ, who heard Him preach, and saw Him work wonders, and saw Him dead, and saw Him crucified, and saw Him pierced thorough the side: They must be the first witnesses. But more, Brethren, Is it enough that they saw Him with their bodily eye? No, John adds more, that he was persuaded that his testimony was true. The witnesses, as they testify that which they saw: so they must believe it with their hearts. There were great multitudes, hundreds, thousands, who heard Him, touched Him, and saw Him crucified, and some of them crucified Him too: yet none of these are made witnesses, to preach to the world, but the Apostles who saw and believed: these are set up as witn • sses in y ^e world, that all should believe. Thē the first ground of thy Faith is the very eye of the Apostles, & their sight and sense: The next ground, is Faith in the hearts of the Apostles. And if ye will say to me, Why believe ye the Gospel of John? and the Gospel of Matthew, and the Epistles of Paul, &c. I answer, because these were men who heard and saw Christ, and I will say more, I believe them, because they believed in their hearts that thing which they saw, and go before not only by sight of the body, but also by Faith in the heart.

When ye hear these records (albeit the men be not living, yet we have that same thing that they wrote, and that which they themselves believed) I beseech you consider them, and pass not over lightly, when ye read of John or Paul, or the rest: I beseech you pass not lightly, seeing the ground of thy Faith is not only their sight, but the sense of their hearts and Faith: ye who would read with judgment, travel to go into the heart, to seek that Faith into the heart, and that joy, and that sadness that they felt: and pray, LORD, seeing these men utter a feeling of these things that they saw, and which they wrote, touch mine heart, and give me thine Holy Spirit, that I may attain to the sense and feeling of these things. If ye would have a testimony of this: behold what PAUL says, in the second Epistle to the Corinthians the fourth Chapter, and fourteenth verse, I believe, that I myself shall gloriously rise : and then he brings in David's words: J believed, and therefore I spake. Always, look that in reading we strive to have a feeling and sense in our heart of that which we read: otherwise we make no fruit of our reading, we speak like parrats, we know not what we speak: I say to thee, if the word of grace rise not from the deep persuasion of thine heart, thou speakest like a Parrot, thou profanest that Holy word, and knowest not what thou speakest.

Now all the Apostles are away yet their testimony remains, & this is that blessed Gospel that we have this day, yet the Lord leaves not the world, destitute of witnesses, who have lively voices, who will preach like the Apostles, & indeed their record should be believed: if thou beleeuedst never a preaching, I say, thou hast no Faith, thou shalt never see Heaven. Indeed we are not Apostles, but sinful men, yet if thou believest us not, thou shalt die, as well as they who would not believe the Apostles: I bid no man nor woman believe us simply, but only so far as our record agrees with the record of the Apostles: We may not compare with the Apostles: we have not seen Him, we have not heard Him, as they did: they had a greater measure of persuasion, & of Faith, and of feeling, than any Preacher hath now (yet the Lord hath given His measure to everyone) therefore we desire not that ye should believe us simply, to believe everything that we say, as the Pope, and that soul crew will bid you believe all that they affirm: No, if he were the best Minister that ever preached, believe his record, if it agree not with the writing of the Apostles: They have set down the ground, and they who teach any other thing but that which is written by the Apostles, or else that follow on their writes by a necessary consequence, I pronounce a vengeance and a curse shall be on them. Woe to deceivers, who poison souls daily by their vengeance and poison. Now to come to the last head, John lays down the ende wherefore His thighs were not broken, and by piercing of His side: These things were set down, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, and he cites two testimonies: The first is out of the twelfth Chapter of Exodus, Not one bone of Him shall be broken. The next is out of the twelfth Chapter of Zechariah, They shall see Him whom they have pierced. Some will marvel, that it is said oft times in the Gospel, this was done, that the Scripture might be fulfilled: Some would think that this had been but a light cause, that the thighs of Christ, and the bones were not broken: Wherefore? That the Scripture might be fulfilled: the side was pierced, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Men would count this but light: but wilt thou count that light, that the word of the Lord might be fulfilled. Thinkest thou it a light thing▪ that that thing that the Lord spake long time before, should come to pass, and the LORD should be glorified in His Truth. Thinkest thou it a light thing that the Lord should be found a liar: No, ere He be a liar, and ere a jot or title that He hath spoken, should pass away vnf • lfilled, it is better that Heaven and Earth, men, and Angels, and all the creatures should vanish to nothing. The Lord speaks none idle talk, as man will do, but what thing so ever that He speaks, He speaks it of set purpose, to the glory of God, and to the well of His Church: and therefore it is very requisite, both for His own glory, and for the well of His Church, that His word be accomplished. Would to God we could consider how highly we sold regard the glory of God, in believing of His promises of mercy, and His threatenings of Justice: Well, the end of these things was, that GOD should be glorified, in the truth of His word. There is nothing the Lord seeks more, than to be known in the truth of His word, and therefore look what He will do to be known to be true in His promise: rather than His promise be not performed, He will invert the course of nature: the thing that the Lord hath once spoken, it shall be performed, albeit all the world should say the contrary. It is said, Numb. 23.19. God is not as man, that He should lie, neither as the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said it, and shall He not do it? and hath He spoken, and shall He not accomplish it? Men may lie, but God cannot lie: ere He bring not about the thing that He hath spoken, He will mixe the Heaven and the Earth together, He will bring things about, against all the means in the world: not only by and above nature, but also contrary and against nature: As He brought the promise made to Abraham to pass. Nature can be no impediment to the LORD, albeit a creature can do nothing against Nature. Look then what a Faith we should have? We should believe His promise, albeit it were never so impossible to Nature: Thou must not only glorify God, when thou seest His promise come to pass, but also thou must also glorify Him, by depending and hanging on His word, ere ever thou see it accomplished. It is an easy thing, when thou seest the Lord's promise come to pass, to say▪ Glorified be GOD in the truth of His promise: but except thou glorify Him by Faith in His word, ere ever thou see the promise effectuate, thou doest nothing worthy of praise: belee • e His word, let never death, nor life, nor power in Heaven or i • Earth or the Devils separate thee from that Faith in His word. No▪ I say further, thou must so glorify God by Faith in His word that albeit thou sawest all things threaten the contrary: yet notw • thstanding thou feelest in thine heart that God is true, & this was a fined and purified Faith. Such was the Faith of Abraham, who above hope believed under hope, that he should have a seed, not considering the deadness of his own body, nor the deadness of Saraes womb; he believed in despite of nature, and all ordinary means; and therefore worthily he is called, The Father of the Faithful. Then, wouldest thou have such a faith as the Lord commendes; believe in His promise, though all the things in the world should threaten the contrary: Hath He promised to thee Heaven and Life, and albeit thou saw nothing but Hell and Death; yet believe Him, for there is nothing more contrary to Life than Death: And yet, albeit thine own heart would make opposition, and say unto thee, It cannot be that ever thou canst get Life and Heaven, for what seest thou but Death and Hell? Yet thou wouldest glorify God by believing His promise in despite of Hell and Death: Notwithstanding thou seest the Devil, man, Death, and Hell threatening, that thou shalt not get life, yet believe the Lord's promise. And if in this case thou believest, thou hast a fined faith, fined and made more precious than Golde in the furnace. And, except thou be tried by such temptations, thou knowest not what faith means. Faith must be tried by temptations, by troubles, and afflictions. Our Christians would pass thorough the world with ease and rest: they will believe: but howe? In peace and rest: they cannot abide to be charged with fire and sword, but would slip over in wealth and quietness. But true faith must abide the trial of the fire, of manifold temptations and afflictions. Well, the day shall come when it will be seen who among us hath this fined faith: They have the fined faith, who will seek to Jesus Christ, and to His promise in the fire.

I would have spoken of these two Testimonies, but I leave them until the next occasion, and so I ende here, beseeching the Lord to have a care of everyone of us, and to furnishe us with grace and strength, that we may stick fast unto Him, and His promises: Not only now in peace, but even in the midst of the fire, and in death it self: That after this life be ended, we may be glorified in the Heavens, thorough Christ: To whom, with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, be all Honor and Glory, for evermore: AMEN.

THE XXV. LECTURE, OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST.

T Hese days past (beloved Brethren in Christ) we have spoken of the taking down of y ^e Lord from the Cross, after He was dead, which came as ye heard by a request made to Pilate: these who made the request were the Jews, his enemies: they requested that he should be taken from the cross : not for any love they bare to him, but because it was the time of the preparation to the Passover : & they believed, that Jesus & the other two crucified mē who hung on y ^e Cross should have polluted their holy feast, & holy actiō: & request Pilate, that y ^e thies of the crucified men might be brokē, that thereafter they might be takē down from from the Cross. The soldiers came first to the one thief, & broke his thie, thē they came to the other, & broke his thie also: last, they came to Jesus, & finding Him to be dead, they would not break His thie: but one of the soldiers came with a spear in his hand, and to put the matter out of doubt, he thrust Him thorough y ^e heart, so that out of the wound ran blood & water in abundance. Whē John hath made a rehearsal of these things, he joins to a weighty testimony, He who saw these things, hath testified of them, & his testimony is true, & he knows, that they are true, that ye might believe. Last, he sets down the end of these things: first, wherefor the thies of Jesus were not brokē: thē, wherefor His side was pierced: These things were done (sais John ) that y ^e Scripture might be fulfilled : & for this he alleges first y ^e which is spokē of the type (Exod. 12) Not one bone of the Pascal lamb might be brokē : and Zachar. 12. They shall see him whom they have pierced thorough. The last day, Brethren, we left off at these testimonies of Scripture: therefore this day, as God shall give us grace, we shall speak first of these 2 testimonies, & thereafter we shall enter to the next History, y ^t is, to the burial of Jesus. Then to speak of the first testimony, Not one bone of him shall be brokē. Moses speaks these words ( Exod. 12) of the pascall lamb: he gives a commandment, that in the eating of the pascall lamb, not one bone of it should be broken. That which Moses speaks of the pascall lamb, John. draws it unto Jesus Christ, because the Lord Jesus was the true pascall lamb: and that lamb that the Jews ate, was but a figure & shadow of that true lamb, the Lord Jesus, who took away the sins of the world : therefore, seeing the type & shadow had ceased by the death of Jesus Christ (there was not a pascall lamb anymore, and all the celebration of the Passover that the Jews used after the death of Jesus Christ, was but vanity) it was good reason, that John should draw that which was spoken of the figure, to the thing signified by the figure: for these words that Moses spake of the pascall lamb were accomplished in Christ: there was not one jot of it, but it was perfected and accomplished in Him. Paul (1. Cor. 5) draws to Christ the very words which Moses used in prescribing of the eating of the pascall lamb, Put away the old leaven, that we may be a new lump, as we are unleavened, for Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Mark this lesson for our instruction: When thou readest of the Types and Figures in the old Testament, cast away the Types, and keep the verity, and appl • e it to CHRIST, who is figured by the Types. We are ever reading y ^t old Scripture y ^t speaks of the types used in the old Church of the Jews, as that Scripture of the Paschal lamb and all the other ceremonies of the Jews : but take heed how ye read them: read them not, as the Jews read them: read not these Scriptures, as though they were to be understood of as many types, yet to be kept in the earth: beware of that: Hear them not, as though they were any figures and shadows unfulfilled, for that were, to exclude the Lord Jesus, who only is the body. But in reading cast away the types, because they have alll ceased at the coming, and after the death of Christ. Cast not away the Scripture, but draw it unto Jesus: and that whole Scripture which the Jews understood of the type, understand thou of Christ. As for Example, In reading of this Scripture, Exod. 12.41. Cast aside the type, the Paschal Lamb, but cast not away the Scripture, Ye shall not break one bone of Him, Take this Scripture and understand it of Jesus Christ, that Lamb of God, and His bones. And we must not think, Brethren, that this is any wrying and wresting of the old Scripture by the own sense, because the same Scripture which spake of the Type, spake of Jesus, but mediately by the Types: and the Fathers of old, by reading of the Types, got a sight of the body, looking in thorough the shadow to the body. This is no wresting of the Scripture. But now, seeing all Types are away, it is good reason, that those Scriptures now immediately be understood of Christ, which before mediately were applied to Christ. I go to the second testimony, Zechariah 12.10. prophecies that the Jews that pierced thorough Christ, should see Him: and when they see Him, they should weep for Him, as for their only begotten son. It is a prophecy of the repentance of the Jews, who had crucified Christ, & pierced Him thorough: a promise of their repentance for that woeful deed they did. This same thing came to pass in the 2. of the Acts when Peter in his preaching laid to their charge that wicked deed, that they had crucified the Lord of glory, & had put hand into the Lord of life, at his preaching their hearts were pricked & pierced thorough with bitterness, & they demand of Peter, & the rest, What shall they do to be safe? & it is said, three thousand of them repented & believed at that one preaching. The words would be marked, How is this, that They pierced Jesus. They pierced Him first with their sins: it was the Jews sins chiefly that procured the death of Christ: Next, they pierced Him when they persecuted Him, when they crucified Him, & blasphemed Him, and railed on Him hanging on the cross: & last they pierced Him, when by the spear in the hands of a soldier, they thrust Him thorough, and pierced His side. And who is this that pierced Him. It was not so much the Ethnic man that did this, as the Jews, for whose sins He came to die: for they were the occasion of all this wickedness. If we will mark narrowly, and will weigh narrowly this matter aright, we will see great wickedness, malice, and unthankfulness to have been in this people: The Lord came to die for them? And who are these that slay Him? Even these for whom He came to die. Was not this a mischievous deed? Who will not abhor and detest such a villainy and malice? Alas, should I who am a sinner, when an innocent man comes to die for my sins, slay that man, and be a burrio to Him? Lord save me from such wickedness, and let never mine hands be a slayer of that man: and yet this was the malice of the ungrateful Jews. Again, will ye consider the wonderful love that Christ carried to this people, when they deserved nothing at His hands but death, He dies for them, when they were His enemies: He shed His blood sor them: & thereafter when they executed Him and crucified Him, (behold His wonderful love) He brings them to repentance, His mercy overcomes their malice: so that in them ye see that which is said to be verified, Where sin abounds, grace and mercy superabounds, ROM. 5.20. There is no comparison between the love of Jesus, and the sins of men: Albeit thy sins were never so great and heinous, yet the love & mercy of Christ, will compass them, and go round about them all: so that no sinner hath occasion to despare of mercy and of grace. I doubt not, there is none of us all, but we will condemn the Jews, and will find fault with the malice of this people: but look to thyself, whilst as thou condemnest them, that thou disfigure thine own face, and condemn thine own self. Are there none in this land that have put hand in Jesus, that died for them, as surely, as ever the Jews did. Who dare cleanse themselves? Thou darest not say, but thou hast pierced the Lord, either one way or other: There is not a sin that thou committest, but therewith thou hast pierced the Lord. Hast thou opponed thyself to the Truth, and persecuted the Gospel, then thou hast pierced Christ. Hast thou persecuted the Church of Christ, and troubled His members on the earth? thou hast pierced the Lord: for He cries out: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me 〈◊〉 ? Hast thou been given over to thy lusts, and led a wicked life? I say, if thou be in any of these ranks: if thou gain standest His Truth, persecutest Him in His members, or by thy evil life: Protest as thou wilt, thou hast pierced Him, as well, as the Jews, and thou shalt be as guilty of His death, as they were, and as Pilate, Herod, Judas and Caiaphas were challenged for His death, so shalt thou, except the Lord of His mercy grant thee grace to repent. The Lord give everyone of us grace in time to repent, JOHN. REVEL. 1.7. draws this Scripture to the second coming of Christ in the clouds: for he says, They shall see Him whom they have pierced, and all the Tribes of the earth shall mourn before Him. Of the which we may gather, that in the latter day the very Elect, when they shall rise, and see the Lord, when they shall see these hands, and these seete, and that side, which by their sins they have pierced thorough, their first meeting shall be with bitter mourning, they shall mourn, as a man will do for His only begotten son, but immediately that weeping shall be turned into joy, and the Lord shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, so that they shall never mourn nor sorrow anymore, but they shall be with the Lord, and rejoice with a solid joy forever more,

Now I come to the burial of that blessed body: As the down taking from the cross came by a request, so this burial also comes by request. But who requests for His burial? Not the Jews that requested for His down taking, but good Joseph of Ar • mathea requests for the burial. The Jews requested not for any love they bare to Him, but Joseph that worthy disciple of Christ requests upon love. Then the things that we shall speak of the burial this day are these: First, by the conference of the four Evangelists, we have a fair description of this man Joseph : Next, we have especially in the Gospel of Luke, how boldly he comes to Pilate : thirdly, we have the suite it self: then the good and human answer that he receives out of the mouth of Pilate. Then look how this man is pointed out: First, he is described by his name, his name is Joseph : Next, he is described by his country: he was of Arimathea, a town in Judea : Thirdly, he was described from his substance, He was a rich and wealthy man : and what more? What matter of all outward things, of our birth, of the place of it, or all the riches and substance in the world, if there be no more: Fourthly, he is described from his office, He was a wise and grave Senator, and apparently he was in that Council of the IEWES, which was called SANEDRIM: yea, apparently he was on PILATES counsel, because he was a wise and potent man. But all these are outward things, therefore the Spirit afterward paints him out by his inward qualities: for if thou have no good properties, I will not give a penny for all thy calling, thy substance, and all outward things: He is painted out in these qualities, which concern this life, & his behavior toward mē: he is called a good & upright mā in his life. But what help all these civil and moral virtues, if there be no more, they are little worth. Therefore, the Spirit of God describes him from the inward grace of the heart, from faith and hope. And it is said He waited for the kingdom of God. All his riches closed not his eyes from the sight of that life to come. Then as he hoped for y ^t Kingdom, so he used the means: He believed in Jesus Christ, and was His Disciple. So then, if thou be not a scholar to Christ in this earth, look never to dwell with Him in Heaven. Yet there is something wanting: He durst not avowe himself openly, for fear of his riches and honor: But now at last, when it comes to extreme persecution, he manifestes himself: When they sat in the Counsel, concerning the death of Christ, JOSEPH would not give his counsel nor consent thereunto. But yet there is an impediment in this man: for he should not only have refrained to have given his consent, but should have opponed himself against them, as Nicodemus did, for he opponed himself boldly unto them: Doeth our law (says he) condemn a man before he be heard ? JOHN. 7.50. where learn ye that ? So ye see, it is an hard and dangerous matter to be a Counselor, either in Church or in Policy. There will be many impedimentes in Counsellers; yea, even in the best of them: and ye see that when hard matters do come in question, men will absent themselves from the Council: but that is not well done. For, if thou be a Counselor, albeit there were never so hard a matter in hand, thou art bound in conscience to be present: But indeed it is better to absent thyself, than to come and give an evil vote. Again, there are some, who will come, but will not consent to evil; as JOSEPH here did: But this is not enough: there is an infirmity here: for thou that art a Counselor, art bound to make opposition to evil. Again there are other some who will come, & not only refuse to consent to that which their conscience judges to be evil: but also will oppone themselves boldly thereunto, as Nicodemus did. And these are the best sort of Counsellers. Always, we see this: It is an hard matter to be a good Counselor: for often times this terror and that terror will be casten in to thee, if thou incline either this way or that way: and sometimes the matter will fall out so ambiguously, that thou wilt not know howe to vote, or what way to turn thee: So that of all men, he who is a Coūseller, either in Church or Policy in these dangerous days, wherein such terrors are casten in, hath most need to depend upon the counsel of God, revealed in His word: & in all things to keep a good conscience. Let no man offer to do against his conscience, for then the conscience shall take hold on him, intend a process against him, and challenge him, convict him, and torment him with anguish before the Lord's Tribunal▪ This for the description of the man. We must not think y ^t by fortune or chance or of his own accord rashly he came to this point: No, the providence of God guided him, led him out for that purpose. And in this action God had respect, not only to the Heauēlie honor of Christ: but also to the worldly things, to riches & power. The Lord chose a worldly, rich, & potent man to bury Him; to this end, that the Jews who by all means sought to heap shame & ignominy upon the Lord, should not oppone themselves, & stay Him to be buried: for if it had been a poor or mean man, that had taken this in hand, doubtless they had opponed themselves, & hindered His burial. Again: an honorable man is chosen to bury His Son honourablie. The Father will have an Honorable riche man to bury His dear Son. Indeed Joseph of Arimathea got never such honor, as by y ^t burial of the blessed body of Jesus, the Son of God. His calling was nothing: he had never been registrate for y ^t he was a Senator in Judea, except that the Lord had put in his hand the burial of His dear Son. It is true, the burial of the Lord Jesus is the last point of His humiliation: for what is the burial of the body, but the continuance of y ^e body under death? And, if thy burial be not sanctified, it is a terrible thing to be casten in a hole, & to be bound under the earth. Woe to that body who is casten into a hole, and in the belly of the earth, and if it be not sanctified in the burial of JESUS CHRIST. So I say, the burial of Jesus Christ was the last point of His humiliation. He was holden in the fetters of death. Yet the Lord begins the glory of the Son at that which was ignominious in it self. He will not employ every man in this work, but the most honorable man in the City. And then He will have His Burial not in a vile place, nor in a backside, but in a notable & fair place, covered with a stone. So the Heavenly Father will have the honor of the Sōne & His glory, to begin at the burial, which was shameful in it self: and then He goes forward, till His resurrection, and to His ascending to Heaven, & sitting at the right hand of the Father. To worldlings, this honor of their burial, is but a part of worldly honor: but here unto Christ, that same piece of honor was y ^e beginning of his heavenly glory. If thou be in Jesus this same honor which is done to thy body in this life in thy burial, is the beginning of thy glory which thou shalt enjoy in the Heavens. The dishonor of the faithful in this life shall be turned to their honor and glory, and it shall be turned to their weal: All things work together for the best unto them that love God, says Paul, Rom. 8.29. If thou lovest the Lord, that shame that shall be heaped on thee in this earth, shall be the beginning of thine honor. Then much more shall the honor that thou shalt get in this life, be the beginning of that everlasting honor. Now when Joseph takes up the body of y ^e Lord lying so low at the Gallows foot, and intends to bury that body: I doubt not, but he hath an eye to that glorious resurrection, and he saw that glory wherewith that body should be glorified & should glorify the bodies of the faithful, & make them like His glorious body. If there were no more but that respect of the resurrection of the bodies of the faithful, in that day it should make us count of the bodies of the faithful, of their death and burial. 1. Pet. 3.7. Ye read, that husband should give honor to their wives, because they are the infirmer and weak • vessels, and because that with them they are to be heirs of the kingdom of glory, and of that life. Ye see this, that if there were but an earthly body, who were appearing heir to a kingdom, men will count of him: Much more then, when we see a man or woman ordained to that Heavenly kingdom, and to that glory, should we not honor them for that respect of glory. Paul to Tim. says, In a great house are many vessels, some to honor, & some to dishonor. Ye see in a Noble man's house howe honourably they will handle golden and silu • r vessels. Then when we look to a faithful man, should we not count greatly of him, because he is so glorious a vessel, and is to be partaker of that glory? All the glory of this world appertains properly to the faithful: Indeed, often times they have least part thereof (that they may know their happiness stands not in this earthly glory, but in that glory of Heaven) & the wicked have most of it. Yet I say: All the glory even of this world appertains to the faithful only. No honor appertains to a king who is a reprobate: He is but a violent usurper of these worldly things, and he shall one day give account of his violent usurpation: nothing but shame appertains to him, and all his honor shall be turned into shame.

Now I go to the next thing: The boldness that Joseph had in coming to Pilate : He lurked before, but now when Jesus is lying in greatest ignominy, as we use to speak, At the Gallows foot: The man takes boldness, & steps in to Pilate's Hall, & makes his request. His riches, his substance, & honor held him abacke awhile: but now he comes out & forgets all, & interceades for the body of Jesus, to bury it. Thy riches & honor of the world, are like as many fetters & iron chains, to retain thee & hold thee abacke from Christ. Yet all the riches & honor in the world cannot hinder nor hold back GOD'S calling, when He puts out His hand to draw thee in to Him: But if He put not out His hand, & draw thee out, thou art so fast detained, that all the strength in the world will not be able to draw thee. It is true that Paul says, 1. Cor. 1.26. Ye see your calling, how that not many wise men after the flesh, nor many noble are called ; It is a rare thing to see the Lord draw such men: He uses not to call many wise men, out of the hands of their wisdom; nor many rich men, out of the hands of their riches; nor many Noble men, out of the hands of their Nobility: No, He lets them be. We read not of any potent men among the Jews, whom the Lord pulled out to be His Disciples, except these two, Joseph & Nicodemus. There might have been moe among the Princes of the Jews, but we find the names of no moe registrate. O how hard a thing it is, to draw a wise mā a mighty man, or a Noble man to Christ: for it is true that Christ says, It is as hard to draw a rich man to Christ, as to draw a Camel thorough a needles eye. To draw a great body thorough a needles eye, is no less difficulty than to draw thee to Christ, who art a Noble man, who wilt sit up, & talk of thy kindred, & of thy blood. This doing of Joseph may be marveled at. Think ye not y ^t Joseph should have manifested himself rather in Jesus lifetime, than now after His death? When He was going, working wonders, and speaking such sweet sentences as never man spake, yet all this moved him not to come forth, and show himself. But now Christ being in shame, he comes out. Whereunto shall I ascribe this? I ascribe it to the force y ^t came from the death of Jesus. There was never a living man in the world, that had such force as y ^t dead body had. No, I say, He had more power hanging dead on the cross, than when He was living in the world, & more mighty was His death than His life. The Lord give us a sense & feeling of y ^e force of y ^e death of Christ▪ it is able to cause a dead body rise from death to life. John 12.24. He foretold y ^e power of His death: When the corn of wheat lies in the ground and dies, it fructifies and brings forth much fruit : so the dead body of Jesus fructifi • d, and brought with it out of the grave to life many thousand souls, & so does it to the end of the world. Hast thou life into thee, From whom came that life? Even from the death of Jesus Christ: if Christ had not died, thou hadst never felt life. He uses also for this purpose another similitude, Where ever the dead carcass • s, thither resort the Eagles : Meaning, where His dead body was, the faithful where ever they were, they should take them to their wings, from all the ends of the earth, & leave their riches and honor, and by Faith flee to Him, to feed upon Him, for His dead body casts such a sweet smell thorough the Heavens, and the Earth (a carioun casts such an evil smell, but the body of Jesus hath a sweet smell) that it will allure men & women to come to it. The Lord give everyone such a taste of His sweetness, as Joseph and Nicodemus found, that with pleasure we may flee to Him, and feed on Him. Now follows the request, he comes in to Pilate's Hall, and desires leave to take up the dead body of Jesus, as ye saw before, the body of Jesus was not taken from the cross without the license of the Judge, Pontius Pilate : so they durst not bury the body of Jesus without leave, Why? The Lord was condemned, and the man who is condemned, is yet in the hands of the Judge, until he give Him over. If we consider well this whole History of the suffering of Christ, we shall find one thing worthy to be marked, Albeit the Lord Jesus was the moste innocent man that ever was in the world, yet having to do with Magistrates, both civil and ecclesiastical, as Pontius Pilate, Caiaphas, and the rest, from the beginning to the end, He will have nothing done but with their leave: when the Magistrate sent out men of war to take Him, He would not suffer Peter to resist them, but He reproved him for drawing his sword: He would not have His body taken down from the Cross, without the leave of the Magistrate: He would have nothing done to Him: He would not be buried without the leave of the Magistrate. He leaves thee His example, to teach thee, if thou werest never so innocent, yet if thou fallest in the hands of the Magistrate, suffer nothing to be done to thee with offense, and with the disgrace of justice and judgment: he who would die well, and in the Lord, let Him protest that nothing be done to him that will disgrace justice, albeit he suffer innocently. I might let you see an higher ground of this matter, but I will touch it only. The Lord that came in the world to relieve thee from that great Judge, and from all the pointes of his Justice, it behooved Him to suffer all the points of Justice under the earthly judge Pontius Pilate, in His condemnation, in His taking from the cross, & in His burial: this was all to the intent, that thou mightest be fully freed from all the points of the Justice of GOD, for whatsoever thing He either did or suffered, it was for thy cause. There is another thing here, that would not be passed by: There is no question, but it comes of the Providence of God, that this body is neither reaued away by violence, nor stolen away by slight, but the taking away comes of a special request • : no question, this matter was so dispensed, that the death of Jesus should be made notable, and come to the ears of Pilate, and all other men: the death was to be made notable to the world, & likewise the burial was to be made notable, to the end, that His glorious resurrection might be made known to the world. These are the two pillars of our Faith, the death of Christ, and His resurrection, & these are the two points that the devil and the Heretics have from time to time striven to hew and cut down, that they should not appear to the world, because they are the chief pillars of our Faith: but honor & glory be to the Lord, who of His grace hath kept these pillars constantly in His Church, in despite of the devil, & all his instruments. Now the God of Heaven grant us grace to take hold on His death, and glorious resurrection, that through His death and resurrection we may be raised from death to newness of life here, that hereafter we may reign in glory with Him, To whom with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, be all honor, praise and glory, world without end.

THE XXVI. LECTURE, OF THE BVRIALL OF CHRIST.

T HE last day (well-beloved in Jesus Christ) we entered into the History of the Burial of the Lord Jesus: and we heard that the Burial came by a request, made to Pilate the Roman Deputy for the time: The request maker was one JOSEPH: He is set down and described by all the four EVANGELISTES, in all his properties: He was a man of ARIMATHEA, a Town in IVRIE. He was a rich man, and also an honorable and grave Counselor. Then, as concerning the qualities of his person: He was a good and an upright man, who lived uprightly in the world: and yet he had a further respect than unto this life, for he waited constantly for the Kingdom of God. And therefore, when Christ came into the world, and took upon Him that great office of the Mediator betwixt GOD and man, he enters into His school, and became His Disciple, howbeit for fear of the IEWES, he durst not manifest himself, but lurked secretly for a time, even to this time that it came to the Burial of the body of Jesus; and then he shows himself to be a Disciple of Christ. In that Council, which was against the Lord, he was a Counselor; but he would neither give counsel, nor consent to the condemning and slaying of CHRIST. Thus much ye heard before concerning this man and his properties: Then we heard howe he goes forward boldly to Pilate to seek the Lord's body. He lurked before, so long as Jesus was in the world, working such wonders as never man wrought, & speaking with such a grace as never man spake with. But now when He is dead, he comes out boldly, and goes to Pilate, and he manifestes himself: To let us see, that JESUS in His death, had greater force to draw the souls of men unto Him, than He had in His life: for from that death there came so sweet and sensible a smell to the souls of sinners, that it drew the souls of sinners unto Him: Namelie, the heart of this man JOSEPH: So that he comes out boldly, as said is, and he goes to PILATE, and requests him to give him the body of JESUS to be buried. Thus far we heard the last day: Now this day we have PILATES answer to IOSEPHS request.

PILATE wonders that He was dead so soon: and for the more certainty he calls a Centurion, and asks him, if He was dead already. The Centurion affirms, that He was dead already. PILATE grantes the request. After this we come to the manner of His Burial. We shall go forward as time shall suffer, & God shall give us grace. Pilate wonders that he was so soon dead. This wondering of Pilate, no question, imports, that the death of Jesus was extraordinary: It was not after the common fashion of men y ^t were crucified, for men who were crucified, they used to hing long on the Cross, before they yielded the spirit, days & nights; and in end, ere they yielded the spirit, the life was taken from them by violence: They were broken on the Cross. So Pilate hearing, that the Lord was so soon dead, he wondered, as at an extraordinary thing. There are sundry things that testify that death of Jesus to have been extraordinary: as first, That mighty and loud voice & crying which the Lord uttered on the Cross immediately before He yielded the spirit: for who will give a loud cry at the yielding of his spirit? for at the point of death, when nature fails, it is a rare thing to find a man to have a voice or a word. Next, The yielding of His spirit so suddenly, whē by the power of nature He might have lived longer. Last: This wondering of Pilate testifies, That His death was extraordinary, & that there was a power in Jesus which controlled nature. When nature would have kept life, the divine power puts it out. In a word: This wondering testifies, That the death of Jesus was the death of God, the death of a man, but God in the man, glorious and blessed for evermore.

Now it is said, Pilate understood of the Centurion, that Jesus was dead, when he granted the request of Joseph, and gave the body to him to be buried. First, I see Pilate is a good Iustitier, (the Roman Justice was a good Justice, the Roman Iustitiers were good) he shown him self to be a good Iustitier in this: a man condemned to die, he would not give Him out of His hands, till he knew perfectly that He was dead. The Judge should not give a man out of his hands to any, till he know he be dead; Justice requires that: If they did so to the green tree, the Lord Himself says, what shall they do to the withered? If so precise justice was kept on y ^e innocent, what shall become of the reprobate, who must suffer every point of justice? Lord save us from that justice of the reprobate. I put it out of doubt: This justice kept on Jesus is a lively image of that justice, that shall be kept on the reprobate. Thou shalt not escape one point of that justice, but thou shalt suffer in thy carcage y ^e extremity, if thou be not participate of His blood. Another thing is to be marked in Pilate: I see a part of humanity in him: he grants the dead body humanely. And surely this was by the fashion: for the bodies of crucified mē were not givē & yielded at the request of mē: as their death was ignominious, so was their burial. I put no doubt, the conscience of the innocence of Jesus never left him, & the conscience of His innocency made him to be so easy to grant the body of Jesus at the request of Joseph. Brethren, if this matter had been in the hands of Caiaphas, & the Priests, and the Scribes, & the Elders, they would not have been so ready to have givē the body to be buried▪ for as they sought to shame Him in His death, so would they in His burial: they had buried Him like an Ass, & castē Him out like a beast. So who is this that dishonors the Saints of God in their burial? It is not Pilate, or an Ethnic, or Turk, or Pagan: it is hypocrite professors, hypocrites, Caiaphas, it is false priests, knaves, with a coloured religion: it is the counterfeit hie priests, those shavelings, those monks & friers, who murder the innocēts: there was never bitterness nor gal of heart like their bitterness, who will cal thenselves the kirke (they are a false & a deceiving kirke) they have not been content to martyre the dear Saints of God, (that bloody massacre shall never go out of memory, it shall be recent to their perpetual shame, & they shall pay for it one day) but they have raised up y ^e bones of the dead to burn thē: The vessels of dishonor seek the dishonor of the vessels of honor: but shame and confusion shall light upon them, whē the Saints of God shall get honor. The Lord save us from them, and that judgment which they shall receive. We go now to the manner of the Burial. Look the loving affection of this holy man Joseph, would to God we could learn at him (who loved the dead Jesus so well) to love Him now living and glorified in the Heauēs. When he hath got̄ the body of the Lord, he takes it, & puts it, not in a foul cloth; he takes not an old sheet, but he buys the cleanest linnē, & finest that culled be got̄: & the Spirit of God notes, that it was a fine linen cloth, which had never touched any man's body before: then he wraps the body of Jesus in that winding sheet. I suppone it was with his own hands (for we read of none other that touched Him) for he thought his own hands over unworthy to wind such a precious and glorious body.

Now Brethren, as the Burial of the Lord was honored by an honorable man, who was the Burier of Him: so it was honored with a clean winding-sheet, which is a piece of the honor of the Burial. But look to this man's doings better: When he procures leave to bury Him, he departs not, & leaves another to bury Him: he sais not, I have done enough. I have got̄ his body, he has other friends thā I, here he has his mother, & his disciples, & other womē, who came with him out of Galilee, and others, let them bury him, & do y ^e rest to him: No, he says not so: So this is a commendable thing in him, who having got̄ leave to bury him, he perfects the work, he will bury him, himself with his own hands. Let us learn at Joseph : If we put to our hands to the work of Jesus to honor him, (woe to him that honors him not) if thou begin to do him any service, leave not off, whilst thou have ended it: Count not that which thou hast done, as men do, who will say, I have professed, I have suffered for religion, more than the best of them. But when thou art running that race: never look over thy shoulder until thou comest to thy races ende: and say, thou art an unprofitable servant, suppose thou hadst done never so much: go forward, the crown is not in the midst of the race, but at the end: and he who persistes to the end of the race, he shall get the crown, & not he who goes back again. Yet the affection of the man would be considered and weighed, after that once that sweet smell (the sweetest smell that ever was felt) comes from the body of Jesus, that sweet smell of love (for the savor of that body is the savor of love, such love as man never bare to man, such love as made the Lord to die for sinners) after that the smell comes to Joseph's soul, it wakened up in his heart love towards the Lord: for He must love us, before we love Him: and whilst He begins to love Him, he makes request for Him, & ever the nearer that he draws to that precious body: the sweet smell that came from that precious body was always the greater, and the heart of Joseph warmed ay the more with Him: so that he could never get rest until he got that body in his arms, and wrapped it in linen clothes. So when we begin to taste that fragrant odour, that sweet smell, our hearts will be allured to draw near to Him, and as we draw the nearer to Him, we will ay find the sweeter savor proceeding from Him: Thou shalt feel always the more that sweet odour, the more near thou meet with Him: and whoever thou be that seekest Him once, thou wilt never rest whilst thou see Him, and be with Him. Paul speaks this of himself, 2. Cor. 4.8. I approve rather to be with the Lord, than to dwell in this body. And to the Phillipians, 1.23. I desire to be loosed, and to be with Christ : For as well as we love this body, we will be content to slit out of it, to let the body fall down, like a broken pitcher, that we may be conjoined with Christ: we will be content to slit, and to obtain Jesus Christ, even with the dissolution of the body.

This for the part of Joseph, in the burying of Christ, now follows the part of one Nicodemus : Whilst as Joseph is wrapping the body of Jesus in the winding-sheet, one Nicodemus who had come to Jesus by night to be instructed secretly by Him, he comes to Him, and he comes not empty handed (come not empty handed to Christ, bring w ^t thee some gift) he comes with a mixture of Myrrh, and aloes, a precious odour, and with a great weight, an hundredth pound weight, a great weight, and a great price, for this gift hath been a costly gift. But to speak of this Nicodemus, to compare him with Joseph, as Joseph was an honorable man, & a Prince amongst the people, so was Nicodemus an honorable man, & a Prince amongst the people, read the 3. of John. As Joseph was a rich man, so Nicodemus was a rich and mighty man, as Joseph was a secret disciple of Christ, so Nicodemus was a quiet disciple of Christ, who lurked before, and now comes to light. I read of one property in Nicodemus, which was not in Joseph. This Nicodemus is called by Christ, a Doctor, and Master in Israel : He was a Pharisee, learned in the law of the Jews, we read not this of Joseph. Yet to go forward in the comparison, As Joseph brought his honor and riches, and laid them down at the feet of Jesus Christ, who lay dead in ignominy in the sight of the world, so this Nicodemus brings his honor and his riches, his learning, and his wisdom, and lays them down at the feet of Jesus lying dead: there he humbles his head, as it were at the feet of Jesus: So that this was the greatest honor that Jesus got in His death and burial: the wisdom, the honor, and the learning of the world, and the riches in the persons of these men was all cast under His feet, and no doubt, these two men, before they met with Jesus, and knew Him, they stood much on their reputation, they thought their riches, and their honor was something, and they counted much of their perogatives in the world, but after they got a sight of Jesus, all these, as Paul speaks of himself, seemed but loss unto them: they seemed but dung and dirt, in respect of Jesus Christ, whom they counted to be their only vantage. If thou hadst wisdom to compass the world, it is nothing but folly, in respect of that eminency of the wisdom of Jesus Christ, all would stink, and be dung to thee, thou wouldest not endure to look upon them, if thou hadst a sight of that eminency of the wisdom of Jesus Christ. Wise men will spitte at the Cross of Christ: these wise men, if ye speak to them of the Cross of Christ, they will spit at it: yet albeit they be wise, the foolishness of the Cross of Christ will shame them all, the foolishness of it shames all the wise in the world, the poverty shames all the riches of the world, the ignominy of it shames all the honor, all the crowns and scepters in the world: and therefore PAUL 1. Cor. in Isaiah’s words, he glories, Where is the wisemen now? where are the Scribes? where is the disputer of the world? Hath not this foolish Cross of Christ made all but folly: the very foolishness of y ^e Cross of Christ hath made all y ^e perogatives of y ^e world but foolishness: the world would not know God in His wisdom, when He had set out such a fair Fabric of y ^e world, He determined to save so many as should believe. But how? by Philosophy? No, by wisdom? No, but by the foolishness of preaching : thou shalt never see Heaven, I give thee this doom, if thou be not saved by this foolish preaching. This for the persō of Nicodemus, now let us see his gift, it is a rich gift, a mixture of Myrrh & Aloes of an hundredth pound weight what moved y ^e man to do this? now certainly there are few folks y ^t will cast away their goods, & give them for nothing: it behooved y ^t some great mater should have moved this man: if he had not seen something in y ^t body, to have moved him to have brought this gift, he had never brought such a precious gift: if he had not seen a wonderful preciousnes in y ^e body (even that dead body was y ^e most precious thing in y ^e world) he had never been so liberal, as to have bought so much precious ointment what causes men be so loath to bestow anything on Christ, & His Gospel: y ^e world sees not how precious He is in His Gospel, when thou seest not y ^e preciousnes of y ^e Gospel & of Christ: O! what marvel is this? y ^t thou bestowest nothing on Jesus & His Gospel: I doubt not, if thou couldest see y ^e power of y ^e light, & y ^e preciousnes of that Gospel, thou wouldest bestow gifts & presents, yea, all y ^t thou hast to y ^e glory of Jesus, & and to y ^e maintenance of it: ye had need to look on this mater at this time. The Lord open the eyes of men to see y ^e price of this glorious Gospel. But to speak of Nicodemus gift: y ^t gift is honorable, a gift of odors: what should have moved this man to have both such a gift of odors more thā any other: if Nicodemus had not felt y ^e sweetest savor & odour, that ever was, coming frō the body of Jesus, he had never brought such a gift, he meets a sweet savor with a sweet savor: that body needed no odors of Nicodemus, because that body was filled with the presence of God, and therefore needed none odors, to preserve it from corruption. The natural body of a man, being dead, will stink, but the body of the Lord Jesus was not subject to corruption: so ye see, Brethren, all things honor the burial, y ^e honorable mā Joseph honors y ^e burial, the winding sheet honors y ^e burial, y ^t man Nicodemus honors y ^e burial y ^t rich gift honors y ^e burial of y ^e Lord, so His burial was on all ways honorable: So y ^e glory of Jesus began in His burial. When Nicodemus is come with his gift, Joseph & Nicodemus join hands in hands together, & They took towells, and buries the body of Jesus, after the manner of the burial of the Jews : Yet I see in this Joseph a thing commendable: When Nicodemus comes with a rich gift, and a richer gift than he gave, he envies him not, he envies neither the man, nor his gift, but heartily they take the body together, and annoint it. Let no man envy another, who comes with a gift to Jesus, but let me with my small gift, and thee with thy great gift, heartily join hand in hand together, and glorify Jesus Christ: put away envy and emulation, and heartily honor JESUS CHRIST, for if we saw that all our honor stands in the honor of Jesus Christ, we would be content, that every man should come with greater gifts to honor Jesus Christ: and so emulation would be put away. Now the Lord give us grace to see, that all our honor stands in that, that Jesus Christ may be honored, that we may be content with all men to glorify Him: he says not, Nicodemus do thou the rest of it, I have done my part, I have bought y ^e winding-sheet, & now I will go my way, do thou the rest, annoint thou Him, & bury thou Him. No, he leaves Him not, but when once he put his hand to Him he will not leave Him: hast thou begun to serve Christ, leave Him not, albeit a King should command thee, leave Him not: if thou come not w ^t odors come with a windingsheet, if not with y ^e windingsheet, come, put the towell about Him, & bind Him, & if thou doest no more, stand by, & speak to His honur, & glorify Him, and if thou hast not a tongue to speak reverently of Him, think of Him reverently, & honor Him in thy heart If thou honor Him not, woe to thee if thou were a King: woe to thee, if y ^u glorify not y ^e God of glory, & this may let us see by experience, y ^t y ^e soul y ^t hath any will to glorify Jesus, can never be at rest, but whē it is occupied in glorifying Him, he says, this was done after y ^e custom of y ^e Jews : as they buried honorable men, so they buried Jesus, good reasō was it y ^t so it should be, there came never such an honorable man among them as Christ: no, not their kings, David, Solomon. &c. were nothing to Him. So it appears y ^t this custom in y ^e burial was according to their ceremonial law, & therefore these ceremonies y ^t y ^e Jews used in these burials, their washing, their odors & the rest were all figures of Jesus to come, & of y ^t glorious resurrectiō of His, which is y ^e ernest pēny of our resurrectiō, for our resurrectiō depēds on His glorious resurrection, and if He had not risen, we should never have risen in glory. Seeing therefore they were shadows after His death and resurrection, all these ceremonies, all this balming, washing, &c. take an end: and except thou wouldest say, that Jesus is not risen and extinguish the sweet smell of His resurrection, thou must leave off all the ceremonies. It is true, burial should be honored, and certainly in the burial of men and women, a great respect should be had: Why should the body of a man be cast away: the very light of Nature imprinted in the heart by the creation dites, that the dead body of a man or a woman should be buried honourablie, and that in hope of immortality: Nature hath a smell of immortality, and it causes the body be had in due regard: the beasts bodies ye see, when they are dead, they are cast away and no more is made of them. Come to custom, the custom of burial that the Fathers used from the beginning, teaches us, that the burial of man and woman should be respected, and that upon the hope of resurrection: Begin at Adam, go to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and all the rest of the holy Patriarchs, they had a regard of their burials, upon hope of their resurrection: for the bodies of the Saints who are buried, shall rise gloriously in that great day: and this they did not so much by Nature, as by a revelation of God, and on this hope followed these ceremonies: the washing and balming of the bodies, Acts 9.37 The very word the Scripture uses, the word of sl • eping, show the body would not die forever: but that they laid down the body in the grave to sleep, as if it were laid down in a soft bed to sleep, not to lie for ay there, but to rise again • in the morning, when the day shall rise. Jesus Christ is the most glorious morning that ever was: and the body that sleeps in Him, sh • ll rise again to glory, when He shall come in the clouds w • th millions of His Angels. Come to the custom of the nations: their burial was honored, they did it of imitation following the F • thers, like Apes, wanting the hope of resurrection. What h • lpeth thee thy burial, or the honors of it, if thou want • st that hope of resurrection: they wanted the word of God the life of all ce • emonies, what good do all these ceremonies without the word and promises of God, by them only they are quickened, by them only they live, without them they are dead shadows. The very Ethnikes had a respect to burial: But this was in hope of resurrection, but upon a custom for pomp and vain glory. As in all things the Lord gave them up unto a reprobate sense, so in burial He gave them up to a reprobate sense. They would cast out some dead bodies like dogs, and some used to burn the dead bodies in the fire, these are barbarous and inhumane fashions. The body should be buried in the earth, thou shouldest return to the earth, as thou camest of the earth: Again, some amongst the Gentiles used over great gorgeousnesse, and sumptuousness in their burials, placing the effect of the burial in gorgeousnesse. But to come to us, if thou werest a King, thou shouldest not follow the Ethnics in sumptuousness: when the Lord brings a man low, wilt thou exalt his head, and exceed measure in gorgeousnesse: wilt thou hold up his head, when the Lord is casting down his head, the Lord will cast down thine head, and his both to the dust. Eschew two extremities, First, eschew contempt, cast not away the body: and secondly, eschew gorgeousnesse and superfluity, keep a Christian honor: albeit thou werest a King, or an Emperor, thou shouldest keep a mediocrity, and Christian honesty, and let that sweet smell of the death and resurrection of JESUS CHRIST savor into his burial.

What shall we say in burials then? Shall we make none exception, No, let us look to Circumstances: Burie not a beggar like a King, look to the place and time, and person: yet in all times places and persons, let the burial smell of that sweet smelling odour of JESUS CHRIST, and let that simple Christian honesty be seen in your burials.

Now because the time is spent, and I will not weary you: I leave the rest till the next day, and commend you to GOD, beseeching Him, that ye may be like to Him, both in life and death, and in His burial and resurrection, that we may dwell with Him for evermore in the Heavens. To whom with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, be all honor, praise and glory, world without end.

THE XXVII. LECTURE, OF THE BVRIALL OF CHRIST.

W EE have in hand at this present (well-beloved in CHRIST) this Gospel of the Burial of the Lord: When He is crucified and dead, His Burial is obtained by a request: which request was made to Pilate, the Judge and Roman Deputy: he that made the request, was Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable man, a Senator, a rich, a good, and a godly man. There comes afterward to Joseph, one Nicodemus, a Doctor in Israel, an honorable, a wise, and a good man, and a Disciple of Jesus, albeit quietly, as Joseph was: and he joins hands in this work with Joseph : So these two take the whole work in hand: first Joseph, and then Nicodemus. In the History of this Burial we have these two partes: First, we have the winding of Christ, as we speak commonly, He is winded and wrapped in a new linen cloth, being embaulmed with sweet odors. We have heard already of this first part of His Burial: The second part of His Burial, is the laying of His precious body in the grave. First this day we shall speak of the laying of y ^t body in the grave: & next falls out a piece of a History, concerning certain women, namely, Marie Magdalene, & the other Marie, the mother of Ioses, who are witnesses of y ^t burial, & saw that all things were well done. Thirdly, in that part we have read in the Gospel of Matthew especially, we have a piece of History concerning the watching & keeping of the grave of Jesus, after He was buried. The History is very plain, and the doctrine thereof shall be plain also. Then to begin at the first part of the history: The burying of Jesus after he was wrapped in the winding-sheet, John in his Gospel marks the place where he was buried: First in general, he notes it to be in a Garden ; not a Church, not an house but, a Garden, in the fair fields: not under a roof, but under the roof of heavē. This burying in Kirks is come in upon superstition. It may suffice the greatest lord of them all to be buried in the fields, as the Lord Jesus was buried. So the place was a Garden. Next, it is described from the situation of it: Neare Mount Caluarie, the place where he was crucified: Joseph and Nicodemus chose this place, of very purpose, because it was near hand: the time straited them: the time of the Passover was drawing near, and they were to celebrate it after the going down of the Sun: and therefore they take the commodity of the place. This was their purpose. But the Father of heaven had his purpose in this work. The place was notable, & known to all the indwellers in Jerusalem. The Lord of purpose chose that place: that as the place of His Burial was known to Jerusalem, so the Resurrection of the Lord should be known to Jerusalem. Al this knowledge that: He was buried avails nothing: if thou knowest not y ^t He is risen again: & without this knowledge no remission of sins, no life. But to come more particularly to the place: John, when he had set it down in general, he comes in special, and he calls it, a monument ; he calls it, a new grave, wherein never man lay. It was a grave, not hewn out of the earth: it was hewn out of a stone: and Joseph caused it to be hewē out, not to Jesus, but to himself: but yet he vouchsafes it upon Jesus. All was notable; the place, the gardē, the time, the grave, that His Resurrection might be notable & easily known 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 to all the indwellers in Jerusalem, for He made all things to fall out so, that His resurrection should be patent: the Lord provided that in all respects the burial of Jesus might be honorable. Look to these men that buried Him, Joseph and Nicodemus, honorable men: look to His windingsheete, and clean linen clothe: look to the odors wherewith He was embalmed, they were costly: look to the place, it was hewn out of a stone, with great cost, and travel, it was a new grave wherein never man lay, it was ordained for an honorable man: the Lord will have His Son honored in all these things, and as He was a chief man, far above all the kings in the world, separate from sinners, & made higher than the Heavens, as the Apostle says, Heb. 7.26. So His heavenly Father would have Him appearing a special man in His burial, and namely in His grave: for in that grave wherein He was laid, never sinful man come, & well worthy was He, who was separate from sinners to be laid in a grave, wherein never sinner was laid: yet the newness of the grave, it imports something more, that when He rose it should not be said, that any other man should have risen, but that it was only Jesus that had risen. To go forward to the laying of the body in the grave, the two men, Joseph & Nicodemus they take the body, & lay it in. They cast it not in, but softly & tenderly they laid that precious body that they loved so well, they laid it in a grave, as it were in a bed, to sleep: when they have laid Him down in y ^e grave, they take a great stone, & rolles it on the door of the grave, & when they have done that, they go to the celebration of the Passover: As all this work was directed by providence of God, so in laying on of this great stone, the Lord He had His providence. No question, Joseph and Nicodemus rolled on this stone to honor the Lord, but the providence of the Lord in this stone was chiefly, that when the Lord rose again, the enemies should not say, that the Lord was stolen out of the grave: for it was no small matter to rolle away such a great stone: so the Lord would meet the calumnies of His enemies in raising the stone, and not only in raising the stone, but in breaking the bands of death, and of the grave, and in raising from death to life, wherein He shown the power of His Godhead: for in nothing did the power of GOD appear so evidently, as in the raising of Christ from the death: and therefore the Apostle Paul in the first Chapter to the Ephesians, verse 19. brings it in as a singular proof of the strong power of God. Now we have ended this discourse of the burial, which in all respects ye see is honorable: so that, albeit the burial be otherwise ignominious, and by the last part of His humiliation: yet in it the Lord begins to honor Him, He begins at it His glory: even so, albeit the burial of all men & women being shameful of the own nature, yet the burial of all faithful men and women being sanctified in the burial of Jesus Christ, is the first part of their honor for by it they pass to that eternal glory: but the unbelievers by their burial pass to shame and confusion. Now we go unto the second part of this Text, to the part of the godly women, good Marie Magdalene, who never left the Lord, but followed Him from Galilee, then the other Marie, the mother of Joses : As they followed Him to the Cross, so they followed Him to the burial, and they stand aside, and see Him buried. O that love! that wonderful tender love! that could not suffer them to be reaued from the LORD: for woe is the heart that is separate from Jesus, and that love that drew them to the Cross, that same draws them to the grave with Him: for nothing could separate these women from Jesus: No, the cross, the grave, death it self, cannot separate these women's hearts from the LORD: so out of all question, this following of Jesus to the grave was a token of an intiere love that they bare to Him: yea, it was rather a token of that love that came from Jesus to them: that following of Him uttered such a love and smell, to flow from that dead body, that hang on the cross, and was buried, that never man nor woman felt the like: He so loved the world, that He died for it, He gave Himself for it: for, Brethren, except that force that came from the body, had drawn their hearts, it had been impossible that they could have followed Him. No man can love GOD first, but because He loves us, we love Him: None can come to me, says Christ, except my Father draw him: if He lay not hold on us first, our hearts will never incline to love Him. Now certainly, I put no question in it: these women looked with sad and heavy hearts on this burial: for when we see one buried, whom we love, we will be sad, nature dites this: But as they were heavy hearted in looking on y ^e spectacle: so their heart had joy in looking thereon, for they had a great hope to see: y ^t glorious body rise again, so they had sadness mixed w ^t joy, for woe to y ^t sadness y ^t hath not joy mixed with it. Now yet I see as they continued in following Him, first to y ^e cross, & then to the burial: so the Lord continues in honoring them, for He sends them out as Preachers, & eye witnesses of his death, which honor never one of the Apostles got, but John : so He honored them in His burial: therefore honor Christ, follow Him to the cross, follow Him to the grave: think not shame of His cross or His grave, love Him with thine heart, wait on Him, for He will let thee see the most glorious things that ever the eye saw: hold therefore the eye upon Him, look to Him night & day, now when He is in the Heavens: and I promise thee, thou shalt find by experience, He shall make thee a proclaimer of His glory: but thou who settest not thine heart to seek Him now, when He is gone to the Heavens, thou shalt not have a mouth to glorify Him, or to speak of His Name hereafter. Now, will ye look to y ^e carefulness of these womē, they stand against y ^e grave a far off & they look no doubt w ^t sad hearts, how these two men, Joseph & Nicodemus handles the glorious body of Jesus, & lays it in y ^e grave. Men & womē for curiosity & delectatiō use to look vpō such spectacles, but these women looked w ^t a careful & sorrowful heart, looking that this body should be tēderly & honorably handled & buried. Therefore, if y ^u hast y ^t ability to be a handler, & medler with y ^e work of y ^e Lord, as Joseph & Nicodemus was: look at least, y ^t thou be a careful onlooker & tender it in thy heart, & see y ^t all things go well, & if thou doest that, y ^e Lord shall count it a piece of good service for y ^e furthering of y ^e glory of His Kingdom, If thou hast not to bestow on Christ, yet speak well of Him, if y ^u canst not speak, yet think well of Him: yet these women are not content to look on only, but they will be also medlers in this actiō: & for this cause, whē y ^e grave is closed, they go home w ^t , unspeakable sadness, & joy mixed together, going home, they prepare sweet odors for y ^e embalming of Him y ^e third day following, they cease vpō y ^t morne, because it was the Sabbath, & vpō y ^e third day He rose & disappointed them of y ^e embalming of Him, but yet their intentiō is to be commended, they are not content to look on Him, but according to their power, they put to their hand: but ere they prepared these odors, a sweet smell came frō His body to them: for except a sweeter smell come frō Him, except He give thee a greater grace, y ^u wilt not bestow a pēny on Him, except He give thee a pound: but being once benefited by Him, thou wilt bestow if it were thy own life, (let be thy goods) for Him & His glory: and if thou wilt not bestow on Christ, and upon His Gospel, I testify thou hast never found the sweetness of the Lord, nor of His grace, It may be that He cast a Lordship to thee, or portion of heritage as it were a bone to a dog, but if thou bestowest nothing on Him, thou hast never felt the grace of God, thy soul hath never tasted of that odour & sweetness that is in Him Now I come to the last part which I have read out of the Gospel of Matthew, concerning the watching of Jesus after He was buried. This watching came upon a suite, as all other things came upon a suite, for nothing durst be done without license of the Magistrate, of Pilate the Roman Deputy: the Judge was reverenced, without him nothing was done. The time of the suit is noted, to wit, the next day after He was buried. This was, no doubt, the Sabbath day, for they began their day at Even, when the Sun goes down, (as ye would say on Friday at Even) for no doubt, the watch stood about y ^e grave all night. The suit is made to Pilate, & all is done by the Judge: it is a circumstance should be well noted, think it not a light matter. The Lord in all His suffering is subject to the Judge, it behooved Him to vnderly the sentence of the earthly Judge in all sorts: if He had not vnderlyed it, it had behooved thee to vnderly the fearful Judgment of that everlasting Judge. But who makes the suit? It is not Joseph, nor Nicodemus, none of them that loved Christ. Joseph indeed made a suit that the body should be buried? But who is it that makes this suit? Who but they who suited to crucify the LORD, The Scribes, the Pharisees, that were enemies to Him. Look thorough all this History, & ye shall find sundry suits, some evil, some good, some on an evil mind, some on a good mind, many evil, few good, many suitors to crucify Him, many suitors to break Him, many suitors to hold Him down in the grave: ye read of none but of one Joseph, who makes suit to get the dead body of Jesus buried. Read all the Ecclesiastical Histories, and ye shall find these same things that fell out in Christ, to have fallen out in His members: when a godly man hath been drawn out before the civil Judge, or to martyrdom: there hath been sundry suitors for him, some suitors good, some evil yet ever moe evil than good. Therefore a P • ince or Magistrate was never in such danger, in any judgment, as whē he gets a good man fallen in his hands. Pilate was never in such danger, as he was into through this action, for it lost him his life present, & the life to come. When the action of a thief or a murderer comes before a King there is no such danger: but when a godly man is brought before him for the cause of CHRIST, then he should take good heed, where he shall get one to give him a good counsel: he shall get many to give him evil counsel, many shall cry, crucify Him: & woe to him, if he assent, as Pilate did, for he shall involve himself in that same guiltiness with them that cried crucify him. It is true indeed, that Pilate granted a good suite, he gave leave to Joseph, to bury the body of Christ, yet did this any good to Pilate, saved it him? No, Thinkest thou when thou hast executed an innocent, that thou doest enough, when thou hast given His body to be buried? No, that shall not excuse thee, nor free thee from guiltiness. O how g • eat and weighty is the burden of Magistrates! Therefore they had need ever to have good men about them, and we should pray the Lord earnestly to guide them and direct them in judgment.

This much for the suitors, now come to the suit: the words are these: The deceiver said, whilst as He was alive, that within three days He should rise: command therefore that the sepulcher be made sure, until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, that He is risen frō the dead: so shall the last e • rour be worse than the first. In effect this is as much, as if they had said these words, this man said, that He should rise the third day, therefore appoint Him a guard to testify of His glorious resurrectiō: y ^e Lord so directed their words, albeit their meaning was flat contrary: Mark therefore a good lesson: ever more the Lord h • th snared the reprobate in their wicked devises, & hath ever turned them from that mischievous end they aimed them, to the manifestation of His own glory. The Priests & Pharisees thought to obscure y ^e glory of Christ's resurrection, & if it had lain in their hands to hold Him by force in the grave: but the Lord who works light out of darkness, makes their suit to serve for the clearer manifestation of His resurrection, for they could have done no more for the manifestation of His resurrection, if they had been hired for that purpose: so look what interprise wicked men will devise to dishonor Him: I say, the Lord shall turn it in end to His glory, but to their destruction: I will say further, (& it may seem marvelous) perverse devises of the wicked often times do serve more to His glory, than the good purposes & deeds of the godly: for it is not a greater glory to GOD, to bring light out of darkness, than to bring light out of light: the Lord is a most skillful and mighty workman, He makes His glory to appear, by bringing light out of darkness, by bringing life out of death, and by calling the things that are not, as if they were: all the devises of the wicked are darkness, the doings of the godly are light: so the Lord will sometimes be more wonderfully glorified in the doings of the wicked, than in the doings of the godly. But this doth y ^e wicked no good, nor it serves nothing for their benefit, for in y ^e mean time they are more malicious against y ^e Lord, than ever they were, they call Him a deceiver : this is a wonderful thing, they saw the Lord's power in obscuring of the sun, in renting of the rocks, in opening of the graves, they saw His great glory shine in all these wonders: yet such is the malicioiusness of these wicked men, they call y ^e Lord of glory, a deceiver, & in so doing not only they oppone themselves against God, but also they do so far as in them lay, as to have spitted in the face of God: yet these miserable creatures, I mean the Scribes & Pharisees, came not on a suddaintie to this extreme malicioiusness, but they show some mean & small beginnings of it, whē Christ first manifested Himself, & began to preach amongst them: then they proceeded frō worse to worse continually, all the time He was conversant amongst them: thereafter in His Cross & death they taunted & mocked Him, & put Him to the most shameful death they could devise: & now when He is buried & laid in y ^e grave, they utter more maliciousness than ever they did, they come to the extremity of malicioiusness and induration, they call the Lord a deceiver. Cursed be y ^t mouth that calls the Lord a deceiver, & as Paul says, He that loveth not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha, 1. Cor. 16.22. This lets us see the nature of their sin, it was a sin against the Holy Spirit, and this is the nature of that sin, when once thou shalt enter in it, thou wilt hardly get back again, until thou comest to extreme excecation and induration, to thine everlasting destruction. My lesson is this, If the Lord give us grace to learn it. When it pleases the Lord to shine unto thee, albeit thou werest a King, or Earl, or Lord, look, as thou would eschew H • ll & damnation, that thou repine not to this light, but greedily embrace it, and walk in it: for if thou step forward in repining, thou shalt have an hard back-coming again, and thou shalt come from excecation to excecation, until thou come to utter destruction. Now, I doubt not, but ye are sorrowful, when ye hear the Lord a deceiver, ye are sorrowful to hear light called darkness▪ but comfort our selves with this, the Lord who was free of all guile and deceit, suffers Himself to be called a deceiver, to purge us from guile and deceit: for it might seem marvelous, that the Spirit of God should register this name of a deceiver, suppose they called Him a deceiver: for this name defiles the air to call the Lord of Truth a deceiver: Yet no question the Spirit hath left it in register to be heard and read of all Christians, to the ende of the world, that thou mayest know what the Lord hath suffered for thee. And doubtless this name was heavier to Him, than all the vexation that was done to Him: it was heavier than the crucifying of him it self: and when thou hearest this name thou shouldest say, He was not a deceiver, but it was I that was a deceiver, & He was called a deceiver for me who was damned for deceit, that I should be delivered from the debt & punishment of deceit, and deceivers.

Now to end shortly: Ye have a watch, says he, go and make it sure, keep it as ye please. He was an easy man to grant to any man whatsoever thing he sought of him: either good or evil. He granted to Joseph his suit to bury Christ: so he grants to the Priests and Pharisees this suit to keep Him in the grave: The reason is, because being an Ethnic, he served not God, but the affections of mē, whether good or evil: he looked not to God, but he had a respect to his own standing: and therefore he cares not to grant a suit suppose it were against God and Christ: He had a respect to his own standing, when he commanded Christ to be crucified: Such like he respected his own standing, when he gave Joseph leave to bury Him: and likewise now when he grantes this suit to the Priests to watch His grave, he respected his own standing. Mark this Brethren: It is a miserable thing, when a King or a Judge hath not God before his eyes: woe to y ^t king who hath not God & a good conscience before his eyes: for he will be a slave to the affections of any varlot in the Countreye. A Beggar, a Horse-rubber, and the vilest slave that can be among men, is not so vile a slave as he who serves the affections of men, and hath not God and a good conscience before him: and ever the higher, and the greater his estate be, he is the greater slave. Now having gotten leave of Pilate, they set men of war to keep Him in the grave, they make the sepulcher sure with the watch, to the ende He should not be stolen away: and for the more security, they s • aled the stone, and signated it with Pilate's ring: and then it was death to any man in the world to touch it: Yet the more busy they are, and the more they strive to hold Him in the grave, the more the Lord glorifies Him, and the more clear and manifest was his Resurrection. Could Pilate's seal hold him in the grave? Could the men of war hold him in? No, they could not keep him: but ye will haare: They fell all down dead at his Resurrection, and they had not a word to speak, suppose such was the impudency of the Priests, that although they knew that he was risen: Yet they hired the men of war to say that he was not risen but his disciples stole him away by night: And this error continues in the world among the Jews ever since. But the Lord Jesus arose with great power and glory, and now is in infinite glory in the Heavens, at the right hand of the Father: To whom, with the Son, and holy Spirit, from our hearts, we render all praise, honor, and glory, forever and ever, AMEN.

THE XXVIII. LECTURE OF THE RESVRRECTION OF CHRIST.

T HESE days past (beloved Brethren in Christ) we have heard at length of the death and Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ: and in ende we heard of His Burial after His death and passion. Now it follows, as the Lord shall give us grace, that we speak of His glorious resurrectiō from the dead. In speaking of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, we shall follow out the whole four Evangelists. Matthew in his last Chapter, Mark in his last Chapter, and Luke in his last Chapter, sets down the History of the resurrection of Jesus Christ; but John insists more largelie than the rest, for he hath two Chapters of the History of the Resurrection. Then to come to the purpose. We find in none of the four Evangelists the time and the hour when the Lord arose from the dead precisely noted. We find not the manner of His rising out of the grave. We find no mention made of any witnesses that saw Him rise out of the grave. It hath pleased the Lord in His wisdom, to conceal all these things: yet it is certain He arose out of the grave in the morning (what hour he knows Himself) in the morning, after y ^e Jewish Sabbath, which was the beginning of the third day after His Burial: for the Jews counted their day from even till evē: so the third day began at evening. As it is certain that the Lord arose out of the grave in the night; so we find in the four Evangelists, that when He is risen, He testifies a little after, His glorious Resurrection, by many witnesses: And first of all the emptiness and roomnesse of the grave testifies th • s Resurrection. Marie Magdalene, and the other Marie, and Salome, testify of it: The Ang • ls of Heaven testify of it: The Lord Himself testifies of it by appearing to the women: And these women testify of it to His Disciples: And then the Lord witnesses His Resurrection by His own appearing unto them.

To come to the Text that we have read: We have first of all out of the Gospel of MARKE noted the occasion, how it comes to pass that these women are made witnesses to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Next, we have the coming of these holy women out of Jerusalem with odors to anoint the dead body of Jesus, which they supponed to have been in the grave: Thirdly, we have the rehearsal of some things that fell out whilst the women were coming to the grave: There falls out a great earthquake, because their was a glorious Angel coming from Heaven to the grave: And last of all, we shall speak of the part of Marie Magdalene particularly, because she prevented the other, and came first to the grave: she was a woman who loved the Lord marvelously, and waited continually upon Him. As touching the occasion▪ MARKE says, that when the Sabbath day was past, Marie Magdalene, & Marie the mother of James and Salome, bought sweet ointments, that they might come and anoint him : that is, the dead body of the Lord, which, as they supponed, lay in the grave. Note the time well. It was after the Sabbath was past: for after they had seen the Lord laid in the grave by Joseph and Nicodemus, they returned home to the Preparation of the Passover, which was as we compt on the Friday at even, when the Sun was gone down. On the morrow after, which was their Sabbath, they celebrated the Passover, and they rested all that day until the evening: Then upon their Sabbath at even, which is our Saturdaye at even, when the Sun was gone down, their Sabbath being ended, they remember their purpose, and buy sweet odors, that on the morrow early they might embaulme the dead body of the Lord.

Now Brethren, surely the love and affection of these women cannot be passed by: They take a purpose to honor the Lord by embaulming His body: They rest on the Sabbath day: a day & a night interuenes yet this time stays not their purpose (I shall cause one night interuening put a good purpose out of our heads. Indeed we will keep an evil purpose long in our mind: But if we have a good purpose at even, we will forget it ere the morne, it will be buried with us, as if we had never thought it.) But this purpose of these holy women would be better examined, that we may see wherein they are to be commended: they buy and prepare sweet smelling odors to annoint the body of the LORD, the LORD was risen at this time, & the LORD had foretold them oftener than once or twice, that He was after His death to rise on the third day, yet they go out of very purpose that same day, this cannot be commendable in them. As for the love that was in the hearts of these women, it cannot but be commended to all posterities to the end of the world, & would to GOD the like love & zeal to God were in the hearts of men & women in these days, but certainly the deed it self, seeing they had the word of God in y ^e contrary, is not commendable: But look again in all this doing, the Lord takes more heed to y ^e heart, than to y ^e deed, & not only forgives He the sin, but also He works out of it, not only His own glory, but y ^e well of y ^e womē: they went out of set purpose to embalm Him, y ^e Lord turns this so about, y ^t He makes them to be witnesses of His glorious resurrectiō. Now well is them y ^t loves y ^e Lord: for to them all things works for y ^e best, out of their sins He works their salvation, & out of darkness light. But to come forward to the next head: The sweet odors being bought, confected & prepared▪ y ^e women go toward the grave, the time is very precisely noted by all y ^e four Evangelists, Matthew calls it, the end of the Sabbath, when the first day in the week began to dawn. It was in y ^e dawning before the Lord's day (so called in remembrance of His glorious resurrectiō, which we use to call our Sunday). Mark says, it was the first day of the Sabbath, early in the morning, in the beginning of the week, as he would say, Sunday, early in the morning, before y ^e rising of y ^e sun, Luke says y ^e same, John says, early the first day of the week when it was dark, in a world, it was on Sunday in y ^e morning, at y ^e very point of time, whē y ^e sun rose. Now y ^e purpose of these women was not to be witnesses of y ^e resurrectiō of y ^e Lord but to embalm His body (which as they thought, was lying in the grave) but y ^e Lord turns y ^e matter so about y ^t He makes them to be witnesses of Christ's resurrectiō, & this was no small honor, He makes women witnesses of y ^e resurrectiō, even to y ^e shame of men, yea, even to y ^e shame of His Apostles: for they rose early in y ^e morning but His Apostles lay lurking still, & go not out: So in the example of these women, we may see that to be true which Paul says, 1. Cor. 1.27. The Lord hath chosen the foolish things of the world, to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world, to confound the mighty things, that all glory might redound to Him. Another thing we see in their example, that which the Apostle says, 1. Cor. 3.18. If any man seem to be wise in this world, let him be a fool, that he may be wise. The LORD in this doing will have His disciples to sit down in the school of women, to learn of them that glorious resurrection, He will make them to be fools, y ^t they may be made wise, and He will have the women to be their teachers, and if thou acceptest not of the testimony of these women, & become not as a fool, albeit thou werest never so wise, thou shalt never get a part of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now I go forward to the third thing we have here set down. It is an incident that falls out whilst as the women is on their journey, going to the grave, for as they are going to the grave, there falls out, says Matthew, a great earthquake, the cause is noted, for as they were going to the grave, the Lord of glory sends an Angel to tell the resurrection of the Lord to these women: so in very deed, the Angel is a witness before the women, but the women before the men: Always, the Angel that comes from Heaven, he is a honorable ambassador: the blessed Angels are very glorious, & no question the Lord would have His resurrection first witnessed by so glorious an ambassador, He would not have man to testify first of it, but He would have a glorious Angel from Heaven to tell, & proclaim the Lord of glory was risen, and that He had broken the bands of death, & risen up in despite of the Devil, & death, & that to our well, y ^t both we may rise to a newness of life, & y ^t we may be assured, that they who sleep in Him, as Paul says, and lies in the gave, shall be raised with Him at that great day in glory. An Angel, a glorious creature honors the message, but yet I say, the message and commission honors the Angel more, than the Angel does the message: yea, if it were all the Angels in Heaven, they get more honor by it, than they can give to it. Well, if the preaching of y ^e Gospel, the testifying of Jesus, & His resurrection, honors the Angels, shall we think that any man in earth is too good to preach the Gospel of Christ, No, if thou werest a King, it is a great honor to thee, that thou shouldest have grace to speak of His blessed Name. Well, Brethrē, as the ambassador was glorious, & the message was glorious, so y ^• commission was the joyfullest thing that ever y ^u heardest: all the Angels in Heaven, are too unworthy to tell it. Now as the ambassador was glorious, & the message more glorious, so the Lord of Heaven honors His Ambassador w ^t a terrible earthquake: the ambassador of a King hath honor, and why should not the ambassador of the LORD JESUS have honor above all the Kings of the world? No doubt the LORD in this Earthquake hath a further respect, for hereby He testified, that His glorious presence accompanied the Angel, and that to the weal and comfort of the silly women: for as all the rest was to prepare their hearts reuerentlie to receive so glorious an Ambassador, so was also this Earthquake: For if both men and women be not prepared to receive the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST, let an Angel come from Heaven, if they be not prepared by the power of GOD, they will not believe, they will not hear, nor receive the message with reverence. Therefore, let no man say, What needs all this, a glorious Angel to come from Heauē▪ and such an Earthquake? He might have come otherwise, He might have come fair and softly, and in more quiet manner, I answer to this: The LORD looked not so much to the Angel, or the message, as to the women: for if it were an Angel that came from Heaven, He shall never be received by the silliest body, except thine heart be prepared by the power of God.

Now to go forward: When this Angel comes down first, we have what He does: Then we have a fair description of this Angel: The first thing He does, is, He goes to the grave, and rowles away the stone from the door. Ye would think this was but a sober and servile office, to so glorious an Ambassador. Might not men have done it? It was Joseph and Nicodemus who rolled the stone to the tomb. Might not men have rolled it away again? Mark, and compare the Burial with His glorious resurrection: In His Burial He kept the Godhead close: for if either in the death of Christ, or in His Burial, that Godhead should have uttered it self, He could neither have died, nor yet have been buried: for the Godhead can neither die, nor be buried: but in the resurrection, the Godhead that dwelt in Him bodily breaks out, and raises the stone. Upon this difference there follows another: in His Burial, the Godhead keeping it self close, He had no Angels, but mortal men, to wit, Joseph, and Nicodemus, to serve Him: they wind Him, they lay Him in the grave, they roll the stone to the door of the grave: But when it comes to His glorious resurrectiō, in the which that Godhead that before kept it self close, brake out, He uses not the ministry of men, but of a glorious Angel, an Angel rolles away the stone, as it were with His own hand. Now this lets us see how highly and honourablie we should think of this glorious resurrection. It is true, the LORD in His Burial was honorable, but He was far more honorable in His Resurrection: for the honor that He had in His Burial was but a wordly honor; but in His Resurrection He had an Heauenlie honor: Indeed Joseph and Nicodemus who buried Him, were two Honorable men, but an Angel is an hundredth times more Honorable and glorious than any man, albeit he were a king, or Caesar himself. And so the LORD in His Burial uttered Himself to be a Lord over men, but in His glorious Resurrection He uttered Himself even in our nature, not only to be Lord of men, but also of Angels. So Brethren, all tendes to this, to let us see the glory of the Resurrection of Jesus. Now would to God we could strive night and day to get a sight of it: for except we get a sight of it, in some measure here, we shall never see glory hereafter. But before I leave this, I see, that in the rolling away of the stone, the Lord hath a respect to the weakness of these women, knowing well they were not able to remove so heavy a stone, to see whether the Lord was there or no: He sends this Angel to roll it away, to the ende, that when the women came, they should see that the LORD was risen from the dead. Well, here we have a comfortable lesson: The LORD will help them that seek Him: Seek the Lord where ever He be: Seek the Lord in the grave: seek the Lord in the Heaven, and thou shalt be assured, if thou be a weak body, the Lord shall supply thy weakness, and He shall cause the strong Angel to do that which thou art not able to do. Read we not how the Lord hath sent His Angels to fight the battles of His own? And if thou wilt seek the Lord when thou art going any way, thou shalt find in experience that the Lord shall send His Angel before thee, and prepare things before thy coming. And I doubt not, but some of you who hears me, have found this in your own experience, in such sort, that ye have wondered at that blessed providence of His Majesty, and hath been moved glorify Him.

Now there is another thing to be marked: When He hath rolled the stone from the door, He departs not, but he sits down, and abides there, to testify that the Lord Jesus was risen. So ye see the first witness of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is an Angel, He remains sitting upon the stone, to testify, that Christ was risen in glory. The first witnesses of His death and Burial, were men and women; but the first witness of His glorious resurrection, is His blessed Angel; to let us see how the Lord would honor His Resurrection, and to make us esteem of it, & to wonder at it, for in the sight of it stands our life and glory. Alas! that once our eyes could be opened, to see the glory of our Redeemer, sitting at the right hand of that Majesty, then could we not but wonder at the greatness of that glory.

Well then, as I said before in this point: The Lord had a great respect to the poor women. Alas! an Earthly King will have a small respect to the poor: But the Lord of glory had a great respect to these poor women. Indeed, the sight of the emptiness of the grave might have been a sufficient testimony to them of Christ's Resurrection, considering the fore-warning they had before, to wit, That the Lord should rise again the third day: but they were weak in faith: And therefore, He that supplied the weakness of their bodies, by the strength of the Angel, He supplies their faith by this same Angel: for they began to doubt, whether He was risen: they thought He was stolen away: Yet the Lord Jesus supplies their weakness, and to the emptiness of the grave, He subjoins the saying of the Angel, The Lord is risen from the dead. Then the lesson is this: Again seek the Lord: Art thou sick in body, He will supply thy weakness: Art thou weak in faith, seek the Lord: & as certainly as He supplied the faith of these women, He shall supply thy faith. And if thou wilt not believe for one testimony, He will testify again: and I testify, He will never leave thee, if thou once aimest to seek Him: yea, He will heap testimony upon testimony, till He confirm thee, and bring thee to perfection.

Now Brethren, follows hereafter a fair description of this Angel. In MATTHEW first he is described from his look & countenance. The look and his eyes glaunced, as ye see flashes of fire. Then he is described from his raiment: He is clad with fair bright raiment, white like the snow : He hath fiery eyes, and his raiment is like white snow. Last of all, he is descriued from the effect that followed on his sight. But on whom? Not on the women, but on the strong men of war: for as soon as they saw him, they were not able to look upon him but fell down as dead: they might not sustain to behold him, and his glorious countenance. Now, as this great Earthquake, which was joined with his coming down from Heaven, was a visible sign of the presence of God, accompanying Him, so that terrible countenance & white raiment were also visible signs of that same presence of GOD, accompanying Him when he came to the grave. The Majesty of GOD shined in his face, & raiment, & the same presence made the men of war to fall down as dead. Whereto was all this? To glorify & honor that great commission that the Angel had. Why should not the ambassador of a glorious King be glorious? Why should not His look, his countenance, His raiment, and all be glorious? But yet again, all this is for the well of the poor women: In all this the LORD regarded them: for even as the terrible earthquake was to prepare their hearts to receive the ambassage reverently: Even so, was the bright countenance and shining raiment of this Angel. Now to speak something of the signs of the presence of God, that He hath used since the beginning, to set out His invisible glory: No, all the Angels in Heaven had never power to get access nor apprehend y ^t inaccessible light. It is true, the great God hath no need to borrow either light from the fire-flash, or whiteness frō y ^e snow, or hue, or hotnes from the fire, to set forth His glory, for all the beauties in all the creatures are not to be compared to y ^t glory that is in Him. The fire had never y ^t glance to set forth His glory▪ &c. yet it hath pleased y ^e Lord, for our capacity submitting Himself to our infirmity, by those things y ^t are most glorious & exquisite in Nature, to set out & represent His incomprehensible glory: He takes as it were a dark shadow thereby, to let us see His shining glory: & therefore (Brethren) take up y ^e lesson. When ever the Lord utters His Majesty by outward signs of His creatures, hold not altogether thine eye fixed on y ^e outward signs, as though His Majesty extended y ^e self no further, as though there were no greater glory in Him than in them, as though He were no whiter than the snow, nor brighter than the fire: for the visible creature cannot fully express the glory of the Creator: but by the eye of Faith, thou shouldest pierce into that inward light and incomprehensible glory, whereinto GOD dwells, blessed forever, which is represented by the beauty of these outward signs. Therefore when He sets out His brightness by the brightness of the Sun: when thou seest the Sun shining, thou shouldest say with thyself, I cannot abide the brightness of this Sun: & therefore what brightness is in y ^t God that made it: and if by the eye of Faith thou lookest thorough the glory of all the creatures, to the infinite glory of the Creator, thou shalt have a fair vantage, for thou shalt no sooner look upon His glory, by the eye of faith, but as soon shall the Lord by the beams of His infinite glory, and by a marvelous light shine in thine heart: for as the Apostle says, 2. Cor. 4.6. God that commanded the light to shine out of darkness, is He which hath shined in our hearts. And I doubt not but these poor women looking to the glory of the Angel, who was an Ambassador of Jesus: they saw and considered how glorious Jesus was who sent him: and so they found the glory of the Lord shining in their soul afterwards, which made them to rejoice with a joy unspeakable, and glorious.

Now to end shortly, it is said, That for fear of Him the keepers were astonished, and became as dead men. The men of war, are standing about the grave when His Angel comes: but when they see the Angel, the earth did not shake so fast as they did: they shake and fall down dead, as it were in a trance: these men were stout before: and it is likely that they had bragged before, that all the world should not get Him out of the grave: for they were acquainted with tumults of war, and they had seen as many terrible sights, as any men: yet for all their stoutness, they look not so soon to the Angels face, and raiment, but as soon they fall down dead. Well, thou art a stout man, if thou wilt say: All the devils in Hel shall not smite thee, nor affright thee, thou thinkest thou wilt out-face all the world: this Land is full of such foolish braggers, who will say, they will not be afraid to meet the Devil: but one blencke of the face of that Majesty of GOD, will cause them fall down as dead to the ground. Will ye weigh this matter aright, It is not only the outward sight of the Angel that astonishes these men: for if it was the sight of the Angel, why fell not the women down? Why were they not astonished? the women stood still, and the Angel spake to them, and they to him: so there must be another cause of this terror? and what was the cause? They were great sinners: sin did reign in them without repentance: they had an evil conscience: they were enemies to Jesus Christ: and therefore at the sight of the Angel, when the light of GOD enters in, and wakens their consciences, they are stricken with exceeding terror and fear. The children of God, who have their consciences purged from the guiltiness of sin, uses not to be stricken with such terror at the sight of God, but rather receive joy thereby. It is true: The presence of the Majesty of God is terrible in it self: and the Angels themselves cannot behold it in the own brightness: yet it is joyful, sweet and comfortable to them who are in Jesus Christ: but when it meets with a sinful heart, and an evil conscience, of all things it is most terrible: if thou who art a sinful man, and who art not in the Lord Jesus: if thou sawest Him shine in thine heart, & if thou gettest not a sight of thy sin, thou shalt find such terror and fear, that all the world cannot comfort thee, for that sight of all sights is most terrible to them who are not in Jesus Christ. I grant, indeed, that the very children of God: yea, even the best of them all, so long as this remanent corruption abides in them, they find the Majesty and glorious presence of God makes them to be afraid: We may see the example of this in these women, at the sight of the Angel they were afraid: but after that once sin be altogether abolished, then His presence shall not be fearful, but comfortable. We shall have no fear, but joy everlasting: As for the reprobate, they cannot be able to abide His glorious presence in that great day: for if that glory was so terrible that shined in one Angel, how terrible shall it be to them that are out with Christ, when not one Angel, but millions of Angels in glory: yea, the Lord Himself as Judge of the world, shall appear in His incomprehensible glory, it shall be so terrible, that it shall cause them to cry, Hilles and mountains fall on us, and save us from the presence of the Lamb. The Lord grant, that we may be found in the Lord Jesus Christ here, and that we may have our consciences sprinkled with His blood, that we may find the Lord's presence not only comfortable to us here, but chiefly in that great day, when we shall see Him face to face. To this Lord Jesus, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be all praise, honor and glory forever.

THE XXIX. LECTURE, OF THE RESVRRECTION OF CHRIST.

T He Resurrection of Jesus (Beloved Brethren) was without any witnesses; no man saw Him rise: therefore, the four Evangelists record not that any man or womā saw the Lord rise out of the grave: for so it pleased the Lord to arise from the dead, that He would not have neither man nor woman in this world seeing Him rise. The Testimony of the four Evangelists, is, That after He was risen without any witnesses, then His Resurrectiō was known & made manifest to y ^e world by many witnesses. They set down two occasions of y ^e Resurrection of Jesus Christ: The first occasion was thorough the womē, Mary Magd. & Mary the mother of James, who after they had seen Him buried, returned home to buy odors to embalm the dead body of Jesus, where He lay in the grave. Now whē the Sabbath had passed by, the womē buys the sweet odors in the night time, which proceeded the Lord's day, as we term it: & in the night time they confect them, y ^t in the day they might enbalme the precious body of Jesus. These womē (in the dawning of the day, before the Sun rose) went out of set purpose to anoint the Lord. There is y ^e first occasiō how his resurrectiō came to light. The other occasiō: As these womē came, the Angel of the Lord came down : his purpose is to testify to these women y ^t came out of the Town, that the Lord was risen. Now follows the manifestatiō of His Resurrection: The Angel prevents the women, and rolles the stone from the grave, and abides still there, to testify to the women, that the Lord Jesus was risen frō the dead. After this, the Lord Jesus Himself appears to the womē, and confirms the Testimony of the Angel. The women having received these two manifestations of His rising, they get this honor to be made the first preachers of the Resurrection before all men: yea, even before th' Apostles themselves: and this preaching of the women is the third manifestation. Then after the women had testified to His Apostles, that He was risen, the Lord appears Himself to the Apostles, and confirms their Testimony, that verily He was risen from the dead. Now Brethren, it is to be known first of all, concerning these womē, who next after the Angels were made witnesses of the Resurrectiō of Jesus Christ, y ^t they came not all to the grave in one company, but as it appears well of the History, there has been two cōpanies of thē, one company y ^t came first to the grave, & went out of Ierusalē before sun rising: another company y ^t came out after this company, & came to the grave of the Lord before the other company. If we mark not this difference, we will see well howe the four Evangelists aggree in that History of the Resurrection of JESUS CHRIST. As for the first company: There were two women especially, named Marie Magdalene, and Marie the mother of James, not excluding the rest: but they are named, because among all the rest they were most notable, and best known to the Apostles. Mark notes three to be in the first company, these two, and one Salome. Luke notes none, but calls them certain women, who followed Jesus out of Galilee, understanding these same women. John names none, but one, Marie Magdalene, (not excluding the rest) because she was best known for her love, for her zeal, for her faith, and for her affectiō to Christ, her name is registrate. Brethrē, the last day we heard something of the first company, & the time whē they came, in the dawning of the day before the Lord's day, which we cal Sunday. Now we heard, as they came out of Ierusalē, the Angel of the Lord descended from Heauē, with a great earthquake: No question the women were afraid at this: but being strēgthned with the Spirit, they came forward: as they were coming to the grave, they fell in question about the rolling away of the stone frō the door of the grave: they foresaw not this impediment ere they came frō home: but being carried with an earnest desire to anoint the Lord's dead body: they were not mindful of any impedimēts. We know whē a man or a womā, would fain have a thing done, they will not forecast for all perils: but it is better to provide & foresee in time y ^e impedimēts ere thou begin the work: Yet a man or a womā who hath the work of the Lord, should not cast for all perils: for if he put not his hand to the work of the Lord, except he see all impedimēts removed, he will never do anything to the glory of God: for in performing of y ^e Lord's work, we must not think y ^t He will remove all impedimēts at y ^e first, as these womē found all impedimēts to be takē away. Now these women came forward, & as they came, they perceived the stone to be rolled from the grave. Marie Magdalene seeing the stone away, she ran back, & shown the matter to Peter & James, in Jerusalem, where they lay lurking she brings in her conceit evil tidings to them, & says, The body of the Lord is stollē away out of the grave & we know not where they have laid him. So Brethren, in this Text y ^t we have read, we have first a particular History of Marie Magdalene, registrate by John : Thē we have the History of the rest of the women: As concerning Mary Magdalene, we note of her these four things out of the Gospel of John : First, her outcomming: Next, what she sees when she is come, to wit, the stone rolled away: Thirdly, what she does when she sees the stone removed▪ she returns to Peter : & fourthly, what she says: she brings no good tidings to Peter and James, but she says, They have stolen away the body of the Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. Touching the going out of Marie, I stay not on it, for she came out with the rest of the first company of womē: only this, if any mā would ask wherefor the women got this honor above men, ye even the Apostles, to be made first witnesses of this Resurrection of Christ? I answer, So it pleased the Lord y ^t directed thē: & this only one cause makes their witnessing also to be autentik, y ^t no man should except against it. Ye see in civil things womē are not admitted to be witnesses: but here ye see in this spiritual m • tter they are made witnesses before all the world: & their testimony is so autētik, y ^t if John or Peter or any of th'apostles had refused this testimony, they had hazarded their part & portion in the resurrectiō of Jesus Christ: & if thou reject their witnessing this day, thou shalt never have part of His resurrection. To come to the Text : What sees she, & the rest when they come to the grave? They see the stone rolled away, & so they are relieved of y ^t care y ^t troubled thē by the way. Mary Magd. & the rest, came of a great zeal to the grave, to anoint the Lord's dead body: yet I will not commend this purpose, because they had no warrand of the word of the Lord: for He told He would rise the third day: & therefore they should not have come out to anoint Him y ^e third day. Yet whē they go out the third day to anoint Him, ere they came to the grave, they find y ^e impediment to be takē away, the stone to be removed. Mark this well: If they y ^e came to this action without any warrande, got all impedimēts removed: How much more, if any man or woman of zeal to God, & to His glory have a good purpose, & have an express warrād of His word, shall they find all impedimēts to be takē away? God is the same to us now, y ^t He was to thē then. Yet I see again, it is not to be too wise in the work of the Lord: but as soon as we know what is the Lord's will, we should address our selves to perform the same, & commit the success to Him, who can remove all impedimēts: for in so doing thou honourest God, & givest Him the glory, y ^t is due to Him, when under hope against hope thou believest, as Abrahā did, Rom. 4. 18. But ye will say, Albeit Marie Magd. found the stone rolled away, yet she found not the body of the Lord, which she meant to anoint with odors: I answer: she found not the thing she sought: but what lost she? She found a better thing than she sought: she seeks the Lord among the dead, and she finds Him among the living: the faithful who seek the Lord, shall never be disappointed: if thou missest that thing that thou seekest, thou shalt get a better thing, & if thou seekest this life (if thou be in the Lord) if thou loose it: what loosest thou? thou shalt find a better life. Marie seeing y ^e stone rolled away, she goes not forward but returns home again. Now certainly I cannot deny, but this came of zeal, but I will not excuse her but she should have stayed with y ^e rest, & have looked into y ^e grave, to hear the Angels informatiō, but on a suddenty she returns. Brethren, this falls out in y ^e best & most godly, they will oft times be miscarried for a while, not y ^t there is any fault to be found with their zeal, or w ^t their affection to y ^e Lord: but y ^e hasty & sudden doing, comes more of a blindness & ignorance than of zeal: & therefore mark y ^e lessō: Who ever would be zealous in a good cause, & would utter their affectiō toward y ^e Lord, ere they begin, they should beware & know well what they are doing: let knowledge go before, & let it be borne as a torch, to show the way, & then let zeal follow, for if zeal follow not, I will not give a penny for thy knowledge, zeal without knowledge is better thā knowledge without zeal: a great zeal w ^t a sober measure of knowledge is better thā all y ^e knowledge in y ^e world without zeal: knowledge without zeal serves for nothing but for damnatiō: if y ^u understood, & couldest tell over y ^e whole Bible, without zeal that serves thee for nothing: I had rather have one y ^t can speak two words w ^t zeal, than have all thy knowledge: little knowledge w ^t zeal will save thee, but if y ^u hadst all y ^e knowledge in y ^e world, without zeal it will not save thee. Now y ^e last thing concerning Marie : whē she hath returned back to Peter & John : here she begins to make a sad narratiō, & cōplains, & says, alas, They have stolen away the body of the Lord, & we know not where to seek it, speaking in the plural mumber: she makes a mone & look to y ^e affectiō of the woman toward y ^e Lord: she could not be separate frō Him, whē He was dead in y ^e grave (alas she had another kind of love to Him, thā we have now: but now, albeit He be now glorified in y ^e Heavens, we will suffer our self easily to sunder frō Him without a complaint or mone: but if we found either y ^e force of His death, or yet the force of His life & glory, we would never be glad until we were joined w ^t Him▪ Now when she says, they had taken away y ^e Lord, albeit she speaks not y ^e truth, yet I will not say, she made a lie, but she failed in ignorance, she spake as she thought, but she knew not y ^t the Lord was risen. Ignorāce is a sore thing: for whē once any mā cōmits a sin through ignorance, he goes forward frō one sin to another: so she makes an evil report to y ^e Apostles: strive therefore to get this misty cloud of ignorance removed frō thee: for if thou takest pleasure to lie in it, y ^e end of it shall be utter darkness. Brethrē, mark y ^e mercy of God: y ^e Lord lays not this to her charge: it is said commonly, love hides a multitude of sins: y ^e Lord when He loves a person, He casts y ^e mantle of His mercy over his sins, & hides them: He will be loath to revile them whom He loves: a man will not shame another whō he loves well, much less will y