SAint Paul, the Trumpe and so­lemne Proclaimer of the Gospell, who on earth sate at Gamaliels feet, and in a diuine rapture was assumed into a higher Schoole in Heauen, where hee gained the audience of vnspeakable myste­ries. The deputed, deligated Do­ctor and Apostle of the Gentiles, 1 Cor. 1. made Christ crucified his preaching, his learning, and his glory. The subiect of his preaching, We preach Christ crucified; Gal. 6, 14. the obiect of his glory, God forbid I should glory saue in the Crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ. The Sap of his learning, I determi­ned not to know any thing, saue Iesus Christ, and him cru­cified. Very well may the death of life, the end of eter­nity, and the Obsequies of him that could not dye make [Page 2]worke for this great Apostle. Tis learning enough to sit at the Crosse by the feete of Christ; no Schoole to Caluary, no Chaire to the Crosse, no Doctor vnto Christ, no Lesson to him crucified. This is Iacobs Ladder, Mo­ses Chaire, Dauids Key, and Solomons Throne, wherein I know not if the loue of God the Father was more ar­dent to exhibit, or the Will of God the Sonne more prompt to this propitiatory expedition. Oblatus est quia voluit. And Christ would neuer haue beene so willing, but he knew it to be of soueraigne vse for mankinde: misit redemptionem; Hee sent redemption to his people, profitable for vs, but it cost him deare, redemit sangui­ne, it was the price of bloud. Were euery Starre a world, here is plenteous redemption for them all; of great extent, which reacheth vnto all, Omnia trahit ad seipsum, In this good all our felicity doth consent; the effusion of his Bloud not without paine, that paine without paralell, Was there euer sorrow like to my sorrow? Paine concomitated with shame, Cum iniquis reputatus est, he makes vp the number of the wicked, as vniust as could be, Sicut ouis ad occisionem, as vnkind as might be, massacred by his owne Nation. A people whom God had sequestred to himselfe, yet when we view the record of their liues, they make it good that their Election was not of workes but of grace. They had Abraham to their Father: could God to that Patriarke, vpon the exercise of his omnipotency, forge or raise a more flin­ty Ceneration? The Messias, the perfume of their Of­frings, the bloud of their Sacrifices, the fire of their Holocausts, shadowed in their Ceremonies, fore-spoken by their Prophets, all this could not dispell that mist of darknesse which setled vpon their hearts; Si enim cog­nouissent: [Page 3]for, had they knowne, they would not haue crucified the Lord of Glory.

The parts and persons of this Text are two fold: First, the persons nocent, the Iewes. Secondly, the party Innocent, The Lord of glory. Of them the A­postle speaketh; first, by way of supposition; Si cog­no [...]issent, Had they knowne. Secondly, by way of po­sition, the sequel inferreth, non cognouerunt, they haue not knowne him. In the second part there are two branches. 1. The Indignitie of the Passion, the worst that might be; They crucified. 2. The dignitie of the Patient, the best that could be; the Lord of glory. These pillars must carrie my meditations, and your attenti­ons. I begin with the Iewes ignorance, and shall end with their malice to the Lord of glory.

THE Iewes proceed against their Messias out of errour. Ignorance was that cloud, The first part of their ignorance. in which all the stormes that fell vpon our Sauiours head were ingendred; so the due punishments which hung o­uer their heads, and by the tradition of iust reuenge vpon their children, to them were vailed; Ierusalem si cognouisses & haec, a Citie in this miserable, in that she did not vnderstand her approaching misery.

COuld the Iewes bee ignorant of their Messias? The Iewes could not see Christ by the light of Na­ture. They were men, and vpon the first Man God stampt his Image; as the Sunne is guilded with light, so the Soule was engrauen with knowledge: but A­dam and his wife, ambitious to enlarge their Science, would steale it forth of the sides of an Apple, that all was cancelled, and obliterated by their fall, and a pe­nance [Page 4]due to their pride to know as Gods, was to bee as ignorant as beasts. Thus man, an Egregious crea­ture was yoaked with beasts, who may say truly, what God Ironically, Gen. 3. Ecce Adam factus est quasi vnus e no­bis, see, man is become as one of vs; here's little light left for the Iewes to see their Messias.

Man naturally endeuours to repaire these losses, to set downe some thing in the naked tables of his soule, the corporall organs no sooner giue leaue to the soule to vnfold it selfe, but it readily makes loue to knowledge. Dame natures best scholler makes vs no lesse desirous then happy in the enioying.

Yet without supernall reuelation Philosophie beget­teth not Theologie. Hierom. Hoc doctus Plato nesciuit, hoc elo­quens Demostenes ignorauit. Platoes learning could ne­uer towre so high, nor Demosthenes eloquence ex­presse it. Were euery Iew as Moses well read in Ae­gyptian learning, and Aegypt was then the worlds A­cademy; Greece and Palestine had not yet spoiled her of that Iewell: such Herbalists as Salomon, whose skill reacheth from the Cedar to the Thistle: such Se­cretaries to Nature, that the earth should not quake, nor the Sea passe her bounds, except their Art should impale the one, confirme the other; or that the voice of thunder could not be heard in our Land, but they so well acquainted with it, as if they had made that Canon, and charged it with that Bullet; or the Clouds not set on fire by lightning without the sparkes of their inuention, to kindle them; or those Christall bottles of the aire thin as the liquor they containe, could not emptie their moist burthens vpon the earth without their prognostication, or the [Page 5]power of some domineering planet to vnstop them; could they number the Starres, read their meaning in their faces, I load your patience: what of all this? This is a wise madnesse, saith Iustin Martyr; a busie vanitie, saith Basil, and a curious fansie. Ioh 38 4. These men dar­ken counsell by words without knowledge. Where wast thou when I laid the foundation of the earth? declare, Iob 38.25.26. If thou hast vnderstanding, who laid the corner stone; who shut vp the Sea within doores when I made a cloud the garment thereof, and the thicke darkenesse a swadling­band, and said, hitherto shalt thou come, here shall thy proud waues be staied. The Lord weigheth the winds and waters by measure, maketh a decree for raine, and a way for lightning and thunder. Thus their owne Art is their owne labyrinth, much more will the transcen­dent truth of the Gospell amaze them. Pauls Lecture at Athens was a new Doctrine neuer heard of there, the Inscription vpon their altar [...] was a re­cord of their ignorance. Acts 17. Wee speake the wisedome of God hidden in a Mysterie. Where is the wise? 1 Cor. 1. Where is the Scribe? Where is the Disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisedome of this world? I will destroy the wisedome of the wise, and bring to no­thing the vnderstanding of the Prudent. The ladder of humaine wisedome is too short to scale the Crosse of Christ; Wee preach Christ crucified, vnto the Iewes a stumbling blocke, vnto the Greekes foolishnesse: the mysterie whereof was wisedome beyond their vn­derstanding, knowledge beyond their learning, and a worke beyond their time; were the Iewes as wise as the wisest Philosophers, yet non cognouerunt, that knowledge will not lend them Spectacles to see the Lord of Glory.

But the Iewes were the Secretaries of Heauen, they haue Moses and the Prophets; to them were these diuine Oracles committed, The Lord was knowne in Iury, and his Name great in Israel, this Sunne was in that Ecliptike, this light in that Go­shen. If all other lights be an Ignis fatuus, falie and dimnie, heres a Starre from Heauen that will neuer faile them: man to the attainment of a supernatu­rall end needs a supernaturall meane, the naturall vn­derstanding, Non sufficit viatori, will neuer shine bright enough to be our safe conduct to these cele­stiall truthes. In Prolog. sent. Percipit per naturalem potentiam, non per naturalem agentem, saith Scotus. It may be the Caske to reserue, neuer the light without a greater light to descry them. Hee keeps his Chaire in Heauen that dictates these lessons. Illiterate Apostles, in whom the Creator to qualifie them with gifts wrought a new creation, that suddenly from all simple they be­came all wise, the Iewes therefore hauing the Key of Scriptures, what mysteries will not that vnlocke?

Come then, lets see what light the Scripture giues to Christ, here are contained a cloud of Prophesies, the day would faile me to suruay them. Gen. 3. Semen muli­cris, &c. twas but young dayes when God first in­gaged himselfe to mercy, that a Childe should re­paire those breaches the mother occasioned. The promise is renewed to Abraham: vpon his seede the blessed one is entailed, but the blessednesse is inlarged vnto all nations, in the miraculous birth and vn­bloudy facrifice of Isaak was a vision of the birth and death of the worlds redeemer, Abraham saw my day and reioyced. What will the Iewes say to Iacobs Shilo. [Page 7]The Scepter shall not depart from Israel, &c. Ge [...]. 49. When in Christs time the Scepter was wrested out of the Iewes hands: Their King a beneficiary, and precarious King: With all their hearts they wished for the Messias, though their conceits could no otherwise imploy him then to quit them of the Romane yoke. Dauid was the root out of which this branch did flou­rish; What Ditties did Israels chiefe Chanter war­ble vpon his Sonne, his Lord. The manner of his death, the cry vpon the Crosse, his Passion, and his skorne are the contents of that Euangelicall 22. Psalme, I am powred out like water: a worme and no man: I may tell all my bones: they part my Garments in sunder, &c. So plaine, that the wicked Iewes had no way to put out the eyes of that Prophesie, then by offering violence to the sacred Text. And had rather posterity should finde non-sense, then their cruelty recorded. Esay, the flower of speech and Prophesie, who seemes to contex a History, not write a Prophe­sie, Surely, Esay 53. hee hath borne our griefes and carried our sorrowes; hee was wounded for our transgressions, hee opened not his mouth, he is brought like a Lambe to the slaughter, the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of vs all. And to giue the Scribes and Priests their due, they could by this light blazen the Tribe, Family, Mat. 2. and place of his birth. For when the Starre dispeared, the Prophesies by them applyed to the Sages of the East, were Starres, to conduce their feet to worship there, as swift as Herods to goe shed bloud there. How then could the Iewes be ignorant?

Very well, for Prophesies are but empty sounds, Volant & auolant, the flye and dye; beate the eare, [Page 8]not the heart, if the Holy Ghost bee not present to pierce it. No breaking open these Seales, no vnlock­ing of these mysteries without Dauids Key. The right honourable Eunuch, Treasurer to the Queen of Aethiopia, sought for a better treasure at that time to be found at Hierusalem, nec Sanctior sum hoc Eunucho, nec studiosior. Can our diligence cōpare with his, who vnderwent a tedious iourney, and in that deuout Pil­grimage made the Scripture his companion? Hieron ad Pau­lin. Et cum verba Domini lingua volueret, labijs personaret; igno­rabat cum, quem in libro nesciens venerabatur, saith Heirom. He read the Prophet without diuine Specta­cles, and with an implicite deuotion adored whom he knew not. Philip layeth open Iesus, that lay hid in the letter, for the common place of his Meditations was the very Passion of Iesus. But the Iewes had no sacred Spirit, no Philip to expound these Myste­ries, their proud conceits cheating their vnderstan­ding, as some foolish Mountebankes were ignorant of what they professed; and which (I cannot speake without stomake) were ignorant of their ignorance: for all this to them Moses is vailed; I know who hath said it, 1 Cor. 3.14, 15. When Moses is read, the vaile is vpon their hearts.

VVHat of this, 3 They know not the Messias in our Sauiours person. will the Iew reply, wee are ver­sed in the Scripture, the Prophesies flye not out of our sight, the Messias we expect, and hope he is not long a comming, then a rush for this Roman dominion; but is it possible Iesus should bee the man? borne of meane parentage, his education obscure, himselfe followed by the meanest; we must be con­uinced [Page 9]by better euidence, our Rulers vpon such slender proofes are too wise to trust him. But no rea­son to distrust him, a threefold cord of witnesses is not easily broken: Christ, besides the written, had the liuing Word of his mouth, supported by his famous Acts to speake for him. Scrutamini Scriptu­ras (saith our Sauiour) Search these Volumes, and if I am not recorded there, neuer credit me more: his astonishing words and conuincing workes, what mettall were the Iewes composed off, that these would not soften?

What was Christs life but a Commentary, and re­flection of the fore-running Prophesies. The Law was but a shadow; Christ the substance, the good thing to come. In the volume of thy Law it is written of me, &c. not a line therein but tends vnto Christ the Center, his birth of a Virgin-mother, cradle ba­nishment, when he fled that could not goe, the effi­cacy of his preaching, his miraculous cures, vindica­ting of his Fathers Temple from pollution, &c. all are filed which were in him fulfilled. Let vs arest our selues awhile vpon his foretold Passions, when Christ rode in triumph towards his Crosse, hee did not be­stride an Asses backe without a Prophesie to helpe him vp; Behold, Z [...]ch 5. thy King commeth riding vpon an Asses fole. Indas makes his merchandise of him, the price of bloud is pitcht by one Prophet, and the man of bloud described by another; Lach 11.13. a goodly price that I was prized of them, euen thirty pieces: see the difference, GOD values man at his owne Bloud, man his God at thirty pence. The Betrayer is betrayed by description, My familiar and friend, &c. Ps [...]. 41. [Page 10] hath conspired against me. All his Disciples shall turne Cowards, a Prophesie had sounded that retreat, I will strike the Shepherd and the sheepe shall be scattered; dye he must, for the Messias must be slaine, and that in a grieuous manner, to make good the Type, he must be lifted vp; then fastened with nailes; They haue pier­ced my hands and my feet, vpon a Crosse, Dominus triumphauit eligno, which reading Iustin Martyr and Tertullian imbrace. If they plough vpon his backe with whips, those Furrowes are recorded. No mar­uell the Souldiers riflle for his garments, that vailed couetousnesse of Lots an euent in it selfe contin­gent, Psal. 22. in the Prophesie certaine, for my vestments they did cast lots. What will the Iew say now? Prophe­sies not accomplished, ambiguitates sunt & anigmata, (saith Irenaeus) are darke Clouds, but in the accom­plishment those Clouds are dispersed, they become Histories. Obdurate Iewes! shew vs but a man in whom all the Prophesies were fulfilled, and any Pro­phesie left vnfulfilled in our Sauiours person, and we will suppose some probability to march on your side: why then? (knowing what the Iewes did know) vp­on so foule a fact will our Apostle finde and returne Ignoramus. Yet one prophesie had not beene accom­plisht, if the Iewes had knowne it, that they must be the men to imbrew their hands in the bloud of their Messias.

But They glory in the act, are so confident, that were it to doe againe, their Conscience would make no scruple to reiterate it; as deeming the same a ma­ster piece of obedience. In killing of his Disciples they thought to merit at the hands of God, but in [Page 11]killing of his sonne to super-errogate, and in a despe­rate affectation of Ignorance, sollicite for that blood vpon their heads, which Pilate washed from his hands; and are so farre from sorrow, that holding one life too little to take from him, onely they la­ment he hath no more: their Malice is so hereditary, that if Christ should reuiue himselfe daily, to saue the Priests of Rome a labour, daily would they Sa­crifice him.

A Grosse mistake there was then in the person of Christ, 4 The Mira­cles of Iesus did not remoue their ignorance. who in their owne verdict was not tain­ted with sinne; but that they could not collect what he was by his miracles, they are to mee a miracle of sottish infidelity; Iudaei signa petunt, their curiositie was set vpon miracles; now they might take their fill. Tell me, what was he? Arnob. Cuius Iussu ipsi Daemones in hominum visceribus merst, & cooperti possessione [...] ­debant: The very Dinels inuiscerated in men, at the sound of his Imperiall word, yeeld vp possession, lea­uing their habitations, as if their houses had beene on fire ouer their heads: Confession is their penance, with an yeelding voyce they yellow out, Thou art the Sonne of God: Intelligunt diaboli quod non intelligunt Iudaei, as Cyrill spake of the Arians; that power the diuels ascribe to God which the Iewes to the Diuels; surely Sathan is a greater polititian then to vnder­mine himselfe with ciuill discord. Was hee an ordi­nary Man, who with the trident of his word becalmes the Seas, paues them with solidity to a confirmed path for himselfe and Peter to walke on; the Specta­tors amazed cry out, what manner of man was this [Page 12]to whom the dumbe creatures speake such obedience. Surely hee another Neptune was then whom Poets faine: Arnob. cra. Gen­tes lib 1. Post liminto vitam restituens animas efflatas iussit in diem lucidam remeare: Christs call awakes Lazarus in the graue, vnites what death for foure dayes had diuorced, the spirit returneth to its old moald, and by a new Metempsychosis, or ra­ther [...], (such which Pythagoras neuer drea­med of) the same soule reenters into the same bo­dy. This Miracle reconciles enuie, enuie a conspi­racy, and for a further conclusion, They will see if God can dye or noe. When the Conspirators came armed to apprehend him, who expected not declined them, the breath of his mouth as a mighty tempest, leuels them with the earth. A Roman Cohort driuen backe at a word? Nec vox hominem sonat: could not his speech betray him? without flattery they might haue applauded, not the voyce of man, but God. Quid poterit Matest as eius iudicatura, cuius hoc poterat humi­litas Iudicanda, saith Leo. When Peter with a blow had lopt off Malchus eare, the diuorced peece is glew­ed to its former place, Christ reforming what himselfe had formed, and that flesh knowing whose potsheard it was, is no sooner touched with Gods finger, then a­gaine restored, yet this Physitians pay was cruelty.

Thus to recapitulate all, 1. not humane science, 2. not reuealed prophesies, 3. though accomplished in Christs person: 4. confirmed with the working of Miracles could open their eyes, but in seeing they did not see, Aquia. &c. God hath sent them the spirit of slumber. These Euidences led them to know the Messias in Christ, but not the Mysterie in the Deitie, but with [Page 13]leaue to Aquinas the Iewes held the Deitie insepera­ble from the Messias: Chrisostome in loc. or they knew not Crucifixionis mysterium. The Messias to vndergoe so ignominious a death, to suffer, and be crucified vnder Pontius Pilate, could neuer come within the Iewish Creede. The vul­gar Iew conceiued well, but not truly, of him; yet somewhat popish loath to leaue the tradition of his fathers. The more illuminate Doctors had greater knowledge, but with greater pride and malice, which did extinguish it. Their Theory was vertiginous, swom in the braine, there floating without anchor, and was of no credit with the will. They cauelled at his preaching, traduced his person, slandered his mira­cles, fathering them vpon diuels. God onely hath the key which vnlocks the heart, Faith is in his owne cu­stodie, and he distributs it to whom he will. Yet their ignorance was a sinne; Saint Paul led away with in­considerate zeale, was made thereby the chiefe of sinners, though qualified for mercy. In the Iewes their knowledge shall accuse them not acquit them, they knew enough to condemne them, but not enough to to saue them.

But the Diuine decree for slaying of the Lambe was out, which nailed him surer to the Crosse then the Iewish nailes, and thereby sealed to an infallible ne­cessity: how then can the determinate counsell of God be set vpon the contingent knowledge of the Iewes. The Iesuites piece all with a Scient [...]a media, whereby God holds his hands from decreeing, till either in se or in re, he obserueth the voluminous foldings, and pleating of the Will of man, and passeth his decree accordingly: So he knew Conditionately what the [Page 14] Iewes would haue done vpon better knowledge. The Schoolemen content themselues with Scientta simplicis Intelligentiae, whose obiect is Ens possibile, but not fu­turum, goes as farre as possibility can goe: and Scien­tia visionis, whereby God perceiueth all things that are and shall be. Betwixt them crouds in Scientia me­dia, and participates of both: as it precedeth the Di­uine decree hath relatiō to the former; but as the effect may come to passe, if the condition were fulfilled, commeth neerer to that of Vision; a spiders web, a cu­rious fansie, and Iesuites darling; pretended by Fon­seca to be found in Aristotles Metaphysicks, which to establish a freedome of will in man, destroyes it in God; for God may not decree till he seeth what man will doe; and what man will doe, God is bound to de­termine accordingly.

But without this groundlesse subtilty, truth will shew it selfe. Necessary euents as they flow from the first cause, in respect of the second causes may admit contingency; both in the effect may concurre with no dissonant harmony; for 1. Many effects are immuta­ble in the second causes, which in respect of the first cause are mutable; the Sunne is a fixed Planet vnto Ioshuah, stands still to behold his conquests, flyes back­ward at the sight of Ahaz dyall, yet ex necessitate natu­rae, constantly circleth about the heauens in the Orbe his Chariot, and is neuer tyred with that diurnall pro­gresse. 2. Many Effects mutable in the second causes, but immutable in the first cause: the confirmed An­gels by nature subiect to change by grace determined in goodnesse; collapsed Adam in respect of the diuine Prescience his fall was necessary, but in himselfe most [Page 15]contingent, so for Christ, his Father from all eterni­tie markt him to the slaughter by his decree; yet our Sauiour offred himselfe as willingly as the Iewes did kill him, although non inde volunt as interficien divnde moriendi; the Iewes had not the same end in killing as Christ in dying. Our Redeemer then did suffer ne­cessarily; necessitate finis, in three respects saith Aqui­nas: 1. for vs, to procure our freedome, Aquin. part. 3. q. 40. Oportet exal­tari; The sonne of man must bee lifted vp, that whosoe­uer beleeueth in him should not perish. Secondly, for himselfe, to make way for Glory: Opertet Christum pa­ti; ought not Christ to suffer these things, and so to enter into his glory. Thirdly, to answer his Fathers Decree: filius hominis sicut definitum est vadit; The Sonne of man truely goeth as it is written of him. Thus the Iewes were as free as ignorant, euery way guilty; neither Gods all seeing decree, nor their blinded ignorance shall excuse them from that which followeth; They crucified the Lord of glory; which is the second part.

THE Iewes for long were, as I may say, The first branch the per­sons, They. the fauou­rites of heauen; if deliuerances, miracles and bles­sings are pledges of mercy, neuer was people so en­deared, or God more exuberant to any Nation, non taliter secit, &c. yet they were an ill complexioned people, of a rebellious and churlish temper. Pharaoh is hardned and scourged to tame them; neuer was a­ny Prince so subdued with wonders, yet they ascribe their deliuerance to a Calfe, and though those Mira­cles were Emblems of a Diuiner power, and did speake a supreame Deitie; they prostrate themselues vnto an Idol beholding for its Godhead, to the curious Arti­zan. [Page 16]God sent his Prophets, which sealed their Pro­phesies with their bloud; long had Christ been slaine in them, now they kill him in himselfe. Those to this were tolerable Assasinates; for flesht in their bloud, they conspire against the Lord of glory.

It must needs augment his torments, that his owne people should degenerate into Traitors, not a Gen­tile, but a Iew, not a Iew alone, but Iudas his Apostle. The Gentiles were Idolaters, the Iewes like them­selues, cruell, Iudas was a man, and homo Deo lupus, no maruell these doe like themselues. God his father, and Christ most deare vnto himselfe, are priuie to the car­riage of all this; conspiracy, and danger on all hands, Treason, treason, neuer the like, of Iew and Gentile, Souldiers and Apostle, father and sonne, heauen and earth, Singuli non perdunt, per dunt omnes; all coniure against this lambe to lead him to the slaughter. The Father, I haue smitten him: The Sonne, I lay downe my life for my sheepe; the Iew, crucifie him; the Gentile, in Pilate condemning him, the Earth gaping for sal­uation, the heauens waiting for restitution. Thus a sonne deliuered of his father, yeelding himselfe, a Prince slaine of his people, the Nations coniure a­gainst the Blessed one of Nations, heauens dispoyle him of his throne, the earth of his footstoole: but in what had Christ offended himselfe, to lay hands vp­on his owne person, abnegauit seipsum non quod debuit pe [...]c [...]tis plenus, sed quod voluit plenus charitatis, saith Cyprian: no need to deny himselfe for sin, but chose ra­ther to hate himselfe then desist from louing vs.

All Christs life a continuall passion, banished be­fore he had the vse of his legges, in preachings often, [Page 17]in fastings, and temptations often, restlesse, harbour­lesse, & in vita passiuam habuit actionem, Bernard. & in morte passionem actiuam sustinuit, and though the Iewes could not lay hold on him till the houre was come, yet before-hand they crucifie his reputation: but all these to that which followed were but the beginning of sorrowes. Let vs trace his footsteps, though with Peter we follow him a farre off, and in the Gospell there is such a liuing Commentary of his death and passion, that we doe not read but see him crucified.

Many houres of consultation had the Iewes spent in complotting his death, but all their designes were frustrated, for nondum venit hora, and when that time calculated by heauens appointment, was come; Iu­das is suborned, an Apostle that was his Treasurer and his Almner; thou wast deceiued Iudas, Vertue was his treasure, Mercy was his dole; who to augment his pay, resolues at once, to sell his place and Master, and vnder-values him at so cheape a rate, that he sets no price vpon the price of the world, but entertaines their owne proffer of thirty-peeces to become a merci­nary Traitor.

Whilest they strike hands to betray him, the Lord remembers vs, institutes the sacrament of Grace, breaths forth diuine admonitions, makes his will, be­queathes to his Disciples his peace for a legacie, pati­ence and pressures for an inheritance, against which he armeth them with heauenly habitations. Quo dulcius esse solet lumen Phoebi iam. iam cadentis; hap­py men that were Auditors to this Sermon; then con­cludeth with a Hymne, which continued and ended with his progresse to Mount Oliuet: Was not hea­uen [Page 18]now on earth, when Halleluiahs were chaunted by this holy Quire?

Where, to meet the Traitor and his complices, He baulkes not the place Iudas knew was consecrated by his customary deuotions, attended with three Disci­ples that had witnessed his glory in the Mount; In a Garden vndergoes the pennance for Adams trespasse in a garden; that the same place which was the nest where sin was first hatched, might be now the child­bed of grace and mercy; and where the premisses of our miseries were, might be the conclusion of our misfortunes. There his soule is couched vnder the burthens of feare and sorrow. The chastisement of our peace is laid vpon him; Esay 53. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquitie of vs all. Dauid fetched many penitent groanes; Caine belched forth words of despaire vnder this burthen; the heauens could not hold sinfull An­gels, nor the earth Corah and his associates, nor the water preserue Pharach and his hoast. Maruell not then that Christ prostrate in pangs, sunke vnto the earth, blessing the same with his embracements, mak­ing his foot stoole his couch, where he findes, if not to lay his head, his face; like a worme hee crawles vpon the ground, and vpon that earth he is crucified without a Crosse; feare and loue are the nailes, our sinnes the thornes, his Fathers wrath the speare to cruciate him, which cruse a bleeding shower to raigne throughout all his pores, that in a cold night he sweats without heat, and bleeds without a wound, all his body is be­sprinkled with a crimson dew; the very Vaines and Pores expediting our Sauiours will of their owne ac­cord, not waiting the Tormentors furie, poure out [Page 19]the bloud of mercy. August. Quàm frigidumerat peccatum quod tam calido indiguit lauacro. Foule sinne that could not be clensed but by such a bath: That Sweat is not wipte off, but Hee falls into an Agony, in a counterconquest of affection if hee shall pitty him­selfe or his people.

Thrice doth he pray and thrice suffers an vnwilling willing repulse; Si possibile, If it hee possible, let this Cup passe from me, was the voice of flesh and bloud: but Fiat voluntas tua, Thy not my Will bee done, was the voice of a prompter Spirit. As a bitter Po­tion Christ declines that Cup, but as beneficiall to vs, accepteth it. This Cup passe from me? Doth the Generall, quake and is the Souldier valiant? With vndaunted courage haue Martyrs imbraced the fla­ming Instruments of death; Bernard. Stat Martyr tripudi­ans & triumphans licet corpore lacero, & rimante la­tera ferro: those Bonefires to them golden Chariots to ascend with Elias. That incendialis tunica, Contra Na [...]iones, lib. 1. as Ter­tullian termes it, a coat context of flames was put on willingly by many. But Christ vnderwent the sting of death, they incountred death without a sting. Death by Christ was once foiled, Hell by him once appalled, that the Relicts of that conquest are sub­dued with an easie onset. Besides, their punishments are so spiced and lenified with celestiall comfort, illis in poent est volunt as, in martyrio Coelum, that to these Christian Stoicks their tortures are pleasures, their martyrdom a Paradise. To Stephen the Heauens are opened, nor can that cloud of stones eclipse him from seeing the Sun of Righteousnesse vpon his feet to assist him. To Peter a deliuering Angell, that [Page 20]shakes off his chaines like dust from his hands and feet; and asking no leaue of the Iaylors, doth in­large him. Tis happinesse to bee a Martyr; but to Christ afflicted what comfort is afforded? His Fa­ther neuer so angry bent against him as now, when he personated vniuersall sinners. An Angell indeed lookes vpon him from Heauen, with a purpose to comfort him: alas, small is the light that a Starre can yeeld when the Sunne is downe; and a sorry ex­change, that a creature shall comfort his God, his Comforter. Bernard. Therefore agnosco vocem aegroti in medi­co, agnosc [...] Gallinam infirmantem cum Pullis, stupeo mi­serationem, expanesco dignationem; that our Phisician is ill, our Comforter desolate, to me this mercy is an amazement, this infirmity a wonder.

But hearke you Sir, What may you call those tor­ments that Christ did there indure? Our answer is, that he suffered all those punishments for sinne, that did reconcile vs to his Father. All those, I say, that did neither preiudice the plenitude of sanctitie or sci­ence in his sacred person; but to say, that hell fire was indured by him, is a Doctrine fit for none, but him that hath made shipwracke of his faith, to land on shore his priuate fancies. How could it comply with Gods Sonne, to be subiected to that vengeance which was prepared for Deuills. Yet Christ vnder­went what the diuine Iustice could require, neither did the dignity of his person dispense with any tor­ment, but to make the passion of one auaileable for many. For if hee might haue dispensed with one de­gree of extremity in punishment, 4 Sent. [...]. 46. q. 4. a. 4. then with another, and so consequently with all, as Scotus aptly noteth. [Page 21]So far as we are able to cleere this doubt, and acquit our selues of vniust imputation, obserue, that sinne is either inherent or assumed. To the first, there is euer annexed remorse of conscience, but not vnto the latter; Christ therefore assuming sin by imputati­on, not committing it, felt the punishment thereof, without the gnawings of the worme of Conscience: againe, there are punishments due to sinners which euer remaine in their staine and guilt, or to those which breake off their sinnes by repentance: to the former, the Analogy of Iustice hath measured tor­tures by the length of eternity, it being a well pro­portionated right, that to those, who if they had liued euer, would haue sinned euer, to bee punished for euer: but to those which bury their temporary sins in repentance, eternity of punishments belongeth not. Christ therefore suffering efficaciously for these, not for those, satisfied his Father without eternity of punishments or despaire of recouery. Further, how Christ was exiled from his Fathers presence, as his forlorne words vpon the Crosse seeme to import. Scotus will informe vs, that affectione Iustitiae, 4 Sent. d. 46. q. 4. Resp. ad princip. Arg. he was euer vnited to his Father, because he euer trusted, lo­ued, and glorified him. But affectione commodi, that de­light euer emergent from that diuine vision, was for a time suspended; his body and soule till the Resurre­ction, euer within sight of the Deity, were stayed from glorification, so to make his soule and body ca­pable of more ample sorrow, was in the instant of his passion depriued of happinesse. Though both these, saith Canus, may goe for Myracles, Christ was then forsaken of his Father, by deniall of protection and [Page 22]subtraction of Ioy, not otherwise. His soule hath not ended in these griefes, but new cruelties inuade his body. After these conflicts the butcherly Iewes attach him, and leade him as a Lambe to the slaugh­ter, apprehending him whom mercy before had ap­prehended; as a Malefactor the true high Priest is brought before the false, & from painted wall Annas dismissed to Caiphas, a Priest as wise as Balaams Asse, who spake more then he knew, yet the truth; where they binde his hands, buffet him with theirs, spit vp­on his face, which the Angels desire to contemplate; the Priests question him, their seruants blinde him, those, out of the superfluity of contempt, these, of skorne; those, to try if he were a God, these, if a Pro­phet. Accusers are wanting, which in so wicked a generation cannot be long, who corrupt his words, change his meaning; for Christ said not, Destruam Templum, but Soluite, I will destroy this Temple; but, destroy ye; neither added hee, Templum Dei, but simply, This Temple. Thirdly, hee meant his Body, not that materiall Fabrick wherein consisted their holy Ostentation. This euening was famous with the reuolt and reconcilement of one Disciple, as the next morning with the despaire of another: thus that day was ended.

Their wrath went not downe with the Sunne, the next morning was to them a continuall night when they consult to eclipse the Sunne. Iudas, the first in treason, is the first in the Calender of reuenge; a transcendent sunne, a Traitor Paramount: therefore he is his owne Iudge and Executioner, his conscience arraignes him, his owne hands do hang him. Passage [Page 23]is denied that impious soule through those lippes which had touched Christs: nor shall it ascend so high towards heauen, but rip open a way by the violent rupture of his bowels to hell. Arius that killed his Godhead by denyall; Iudas his manhood by treason, are alike in punishment; yet it was a greater sinne to kill himselfe, then his Master.

These mentall murderers loath to act it with their owne hands, conuent him before Pilate. Where Christ stands at the Roman tribunall, the Iudge delegated from God, more then Caesar sits in Commission vp­on him; by him he is questioned to amazing silence. Iustly was the Lambe of God dumbe, and opened not his mouth before him that had shorne him with whips. Pilat after the expence of some cruelty, la­bours to take off the Iewes, to lenifie and tame their cruelty, which like fire kept in with water sprinkled, or a water-course stopt, breaks forth with greater fu­rie. Good Iesus, how art thou now abused! New ac­cusations are forged, new Knights of the Post procu­red, to make thee a traitor to the Roman State. He that with Spittle cured the eyes of the blinde, is blinded with their spittle: who can number those stripes wherwith they flea, and teare his body, one wound ea­ting into another, that there is no health in his bones by reason of our sinnes. Tyranny cloatheth him with one purple, died in the purest graine of his bloud; dis­daine with another: a Reed is his Scepter, and a Crowne context with Thornes is beaten to his head; and with all the complement of scorne, on bended knees they salute him King. O Iesus! was that frothy spittle the ointment, those thornes thy Crowne, the Reed thy Scep­ter, [Page 24]the purple died and imbroidered with blood thy royall robes: or because Adams sinne brought forth thornes, must it be thy penance to weare them? Vn­thankfull people, thus watred with his bloud, bring forth nothing but Thornes to crowne him: conspuunt in leprefu [...], ugauerunt vt latronem, deriserunt vt fa­tuum, saith Chrisostome.

Thus Pilate persisting to take off the edge of their malice, exposeth him to be commiserated, with Ecce homo, sufficiently punished; Ecce Rex vester, sufficient­ly derided; then pleading the benefit of their cu­stome, is desirous that Christ might be pardoned vp­on course, but these pacifications are but whetstones of a sharper and more incensed hatred. Barrabas that brought many from life to death, is preferred before Christ, that brought more from death to life; and no maruell, like will to like, murderers to a murderer. An outcry is raised, Crucifie him, crucifie him: twice Cruelfie, as if they thought one Crosse too little for him; Inconstant fauour of man, their Anthemes of Hosanna and Benedictus not long since ioyfully spo­ken, are conuerted into tragicall notes of Crucifie him. If Pilat be indulgent, they goe neere to proclaime him traitor, to auoid which suspition, he chooseth to be an vniust Iudge, rather then supposed a disloyall subiect: by his doome he allots him to the Crosse, ap­points the Souldiers his executioners, and the Priests his Ouersters.

Now Christ goeth the dolorous way, beares his Crosse till he fainted, that bore him till he dyed, where malice in them, longing as much as mercy in him for accomplishment; to make haste permit him an Ad­iutor. [Page 25]A guilty conscience doubteth want of time, therefore dispatcheth hastily. Where the women as as he went, strew the way with teares, whom he wish­eth to spend when occasion shallserue, to still their plaint and to stay their weeping, as if some trespasse were in their teares, or some sinne in their sorrow: when in the rage of slaughter Infants blood shall be more plentifull then Mothers teares, and a screeching voice shall be heard in Hterusalem, many Rachels wee­ping for their children, and would not be comforted be­cause they were not.

Must no other death stint their malice but the Crosse? others they had in practise, as the Towell, sto­ning, and beheading, more fauourable, and sutable to their Nation; will they pollute a Iew with a Ro­man death? He was made obedient to the death of the Crosse, a degree beyond death. Magnacrudelitas, non solum occidere, sed & crucifigere quaerunt, vt morte vex­aretur producta, saith venerable Bede: Tertull. the Crosse cru­cifigendi corporis machina, the engine of torture, a slow death, spinning out paine into a longer threed, where his owne weight becomes his owne affliction, vpon this racke dinumerauerunt omnia ossa mea; They sum vp the number of his bones, anatomize his body, his armes and legges racked with violent puls, hands and feet boared with nailes, his side wounded with a speare, the whole body torne with stripes, and goa­red with blood; with what words shall I complaine of their sauagenesse? Lactant. Tully extended all the nerues of Eloquence, and crucified his inuentions to expresse the quality of these paines, yet was non-p [...]ust at his Gauintan Crosse: yet hitherto their malice brought our Sauiour.

And that at the solemne time of the Passeouer, when Hierusalem was full of Iewes and Proselytes; they kill the Lambe of God without a figure, their malice making way for the diuine dispensation, for Christ our passeouer is offred for vs, &c. And to fulfill their cruel­ty with a Prophesie, they crucifie him with theeues, where the one a Doeg obdurate wounds him with his tongue, and hath Iustice; the other in a holy Catastro­phe, doth blesse God and dye: Were my soule so happy a felon as to steale Paradise at the last; I would not feare any temporall arraignment to dye such a sinner, or to be condemned for such a thiefe.

The witnesse of all this, and chiefe mourner was the Blessed virgin: Nature & Grace are the welsprings whence flow such riuers of teares for her innocent sonne; now Simeons Prophesie is made good: A sword of compassion doth pierce her heart; Can such a mother forget such a sonne? by a reflect act her hands and feet with his are pierced, her side woun­ded and head bruised with thornes, as if but one soule in two bodies. Oh my Lord! thy griefe was the grea­test that euer was in man, and mine as great as euer happened to woman. The very dumbe Creatures cry out of these paines; the renting of his body rends the vaile of the Temple; the digging into his side opens the Monuments; the cry of him dying awakes the dead; the immouable earth doth quake for feare of those feares; the Sun is ashamed to shew his bright­nesse, when the Father of lights was darkned with such disgrace; the Heauens discolour their beauties, and suiting themselues to their makers fortune are in mourning robes when the lampe of heauen is extin­guished: [Page 27]Ingratefull Nation, the Sunne will not shine vpon them, but is immantled with a miracu­lous eclipse, and Sympathizing with the Sunne of Righteousnesse, will not appeare in Glory, when the Lord of Glory is thus disgraced: Bonau. Solus homo non compa­titur pro quo solo Christus patitur. Onely man is bereft of compassion, for whom onely Christ vnderwent this Passion. I except the Centurion, Bernard. qui vitam agnouit in morte, who in the shadow of death espied the sub­stance of the Deitie. Surely this man was the Sonne of God.

Thus Christ hauing out-cryed his torments, pray­ed for reliefe, and at his death for forgiuenesse to his enemies; emisit spiritum non amisit, willingly yeelds to nature, and offers vp a broken heart and a troubled spirit to his Father for the worlds redemption: O strange Physicke where the Physitian must bleed! and a stranger Conquest, where the Conquerour must dye, and God would take no other satisfaction. The wit of Heathen Religion pacified their Gods with sa­crifices, and of greater price of greater efficacie. San­guine placastis ventos, &c. The Childrens passage through the fire to Molech was thought a holy pro­cession; but here is a mystery, God to offer himselfe, and men to kill him: Noua hostia nouo imponitur alta­ri, & crux Christi non templi fit ara sed mundi, saith Leo: this Catholike Sacrifice is offred vpon Mount Cal­uary, the altar of the world; O the Miracle of mercy to quicken vs! The Lord is, view his worth in the end of my Text. The Lord of Glory.

Shall that Deity, Lord of glory. which principally resides in hea­uen be fastned to a crosse on earth? truely, though [Page 28]the Deitie be impatible, yet by Hypostaticall vnion, it constituted, and made vp that Person which was qualified to passion, and that so well compacted and put together, that death could not diuorce that vni­on. The godhead hath not flesh and bloud, yet God, he bled for vs, Qui redemit nos sanguine suo: our sinnes were at so high a rate, that nothing but the blood of the Lord of glory could purchase vs.

This vnion consisteth [...] vndiuided, [...] inseperable, and [...] without locall distance, saith Damascene: as a branch in the stocke, as light in the Sunne, as an accident in a subiect is the humani­tie sustained by the Deitie. The Catholike Faith go­eth vpright betwixt Eutiches and Nestorius, bending neither to the right hand of naturall confusion, or to the left of personall diuorce. Now, Quaecunque in vno supposito vniuntur, illa dese inuicem possunt praedicari. Our Sauiours person is inuested with the properties of either nature; hence flow the concrete predicati­on of natures, God is man; and the abstract commu­nication of properties to the subiect Christ, is infinitenesse. In this marriage the humane nature is in the person enstated with all the diuine Royalties; and that is so indulgent, as to assume her infirmities, that we may say, Christ-God-Man made the world, Christ-Man-God redeemed it. Here is the root of the infinitenesse of his merits; Principium quo, the subiect wherein he suffered was the humane nature; but the principium quod, the soule which did enable and informe it was the Deity. Sent. 3. d. 19. Christ did elicere acti­ones ex supposito, saith Scotus, performe his taske in proper person. So by that meanes, reconciled infi­nitenesse [Page 29]to all his actions. Infinite not in respect of the act, but Person, The Lord of glory. Gabriel. 3.5.19. d. q. 19. d. q. vnica.

The Lord of glory, and yet crucified! Neuer was glory so eclipsed, here is Honour ashamed, Maiesty affli­cted, Innocence guilty, health sicke, the Sunne in the night, a vailed Deity. In mount Tabor Christ was apparelled like himselfe, a man might reade Maiesty in his countenance, but in Mount Caluary all is ob­tenebrated. Christ, like his Spouse the Church, is blacke, but comely. The Crosse nigredo est sed forma, & similitudo Domini. Goe vnto Esay, Hee hath no forme nor comlinesse, there is no beauty in him. The sable Curtaines by that Prophet are drawne vpon him: Haue recourse vnto Dauid, Thou art fairer then the children of men, grace is powred into thy lips: Bernard. Intu­ere sane pannis sordidum, plagis liuidum, illitum sputis, pallidum morte, & nigrum vel tunc profecto fatebere; to see him thus conspuicated, thy wit will serue thee to confesse his blacknesse; but aske the Apostles whom they saw in the Mount, or the Angels whom they desire to see, thou wilt soone recognize him to be the Lord of glory. Ergo formosus in se, niger prop­ter te; so comely in himselfe, so blacke for thee: thus crucified he was without disparagement to his glo­ry. Non est fastidita humilitas, Leo. quia nec imminuta Maiest [...]s; nihil nocuit naturae inuiolabili quod passibili oportehat inferri. All these passions truly vndergone by him, did no whit impeach his Deity. So, Consum­matum est, it is finished, and with it my Meditations: there is remaining a short conclusion which desires to finde and leaue you attentiue.

YOu haue heard me relate the greatest crime that euer was committed, wherein I know not if the Art of Tyranny were greater to inuent, or Christs patience to endure. The Heire is slaine, but the Iewes haue lost the inheritance. This is the medulla, and blessednesse of Christianity, that God set more by vs, then his Sonne, and Christ lost his life in seeking vs. Nos tanto redimimur pretio, Leo. nos tanto curamur impen­dio; so dearely did he ransome vs. Is it nothing vnto you, all ye that passe by, Behold and see, if there bee any sorrow like to my sorrow which is done vnto me, where­with the Lord hath afflicted mee in the day of his fierce anger.

Yet to consider Christ as a man of sorrow, & not a Sauiour of sinners, that his wounds were not our salues, yeelds but a melancholike contemplation; but when we call to mind that this was our ransome, and how euery stripe that razed his Flesh doth cure our soules: How the bloud of compassion ranne in Christ: nec desunt foramina per quae effluat; Condu­it pipes are not wanting for transfusion, not of bloud but mercy; with all our hearts we pray, His Bloud be vpon vs and our children. In the Sea of sinne let vs cast Anchor vpon this Rocke; be thy sinnes neuer so great, Bernard. it is able to support them. Turbatur Conscien­tia, sed non perturbabitur; the sting of sinne is taken out by our Sauiours Passion, so that though the re­membrance thereof be bitter, yet the rehearsall of Christs Passions is farre sweeter, wherein Quot vul­nera tot ora, so many wounds, so many speaking and interceding tongues, pleading thy right at the mer­cy-seat, Lord, whither shall we then goe? Heere is a [Page 31] Iubilee of grace: let Rome expect an influence of goodnesse from the Starres, we desire but the Sunne of Righteousnesse to be our light, our heat, our life. Quaeris Alcidae parem, nemo est nisi ipse; Seneca in Theb. Let our soules perish if He cannot saue them.

Beware your sinnes make you not incapable. Ie­sus washed all his Disciples feet, yet all were not cleane: though from the Center of Caluary lines of mercy are drawne to the vtmost parts of the earth, yet all the world is not within the Circle of pardon. The best Physike hath not its efficacy vpon some in­disposed patients, Quicquid recipitur, &c. proues true in Diuinity: I shall goe beyond my Commission to tell you, He hath made Saluation as common as the light of the Sunne or breath of our Nostrells; God is no Prodigall of his mercy: inuert that speech of Piso in Tacitus, Perdere scit, donare nescit; Histor. 1. hee is bountifull, not profuse, and his goodnesse obserues a Method. Christs pains were not extensiuely infinite, so not auailable for such sinners, of whose iniquity there is no end. Our sins indeed betraied him into sin­ners hands, who crucifie vnto themselues the Son of God afresh, and put him to open shame. Euery sin is a naile, a thorne, a Speare; & euery sinner, a Iew, a Iudas, and a Pilat. Be not incouraged to sin, and then think to take Sanctuary at a Sauiour; iniure not Christ so much, as to make him the foundation of thy sinfull life, who lost his to extinguish it; presumptuous sinners! that put themselues vnder the protection of a Redeemer, and so thinke to escape the arest: Surely, to tender Christ the complement of our lips with corrupt hearts, is like the Souldiers, to prostrate our selues [Page 32]before him in scorne. Bera. Deferre not to be good vpon hopes, I tu & quaere salutem in medio Gehennae, quae semel operata est in medio terrae; this life is our Har­uest to reape the fruit of his merits. Finally, Christ hath left vs an example to crucifie the world with the lusts thereof; for, Quid est volaticum huius mundi gau­dium? This world is a fleeting good, a winged Ioy. But spes Resurrectionis fastidium est mortis, saith Ter­tullian. The Saints contemne death, who haue a part in the second Resurrection: where they shall be crowned, not with Thornes but Glory; and sing praises to Iesus, the Lord of glory.