THE PASSION SERMON, PREACHED AT PAUL'S CROSS on Good-Friday. Apr. 14. 1609.  
By I. H.  
LONDON Printed by W. S. for Samuel Macham, and are to be sold at his Shop in Paul's Churchyard at the Sign of the Bullhead.  
ANNO. 1609.   

TO THE ONLY HONOUR AND GLORY OF GOD MY DEAR AND BLESSED SAVIOUR (WHICH HATH DONE AND SUFFERED ALL THESE THINGS FOR MY SOUL.)  
HIS WEAK AND UNWORTHY SERVANT HUMBLY DESIRES TO CONSECRATE HIMSELF AND HIS POOR LABOURS: BESEECHING HIM TO ACCEPT AND BLESS THEM TO THE PUBLIC GOOD, AND TO THE PRAISE OF HIS OWN GLORIOUS NAME.   

To the Reader.  
I Desire not to make any Apology for the Edition of this my Sermon: It is motive enough, that herein I affect a more public and more enduring good. Spiritual niceness, is the next degree to unfaithfulness: This point cannot be too much urged, either by the tongue, or press. Religion and our souls depend upon it, yet are our thoughts too much beside it. The Church of Rome, so fixes herself (in her adoration) upon the Cross of Christ, as if she forgot his glory: Many of us so conceive of him glorious, that we neglect the meditation of his Cross, the way to his glory and ours. If we would proceed aright, we must pass from his Golgotha, to the mount of Olives, and from thence to heaven, and there seek and settle our rest. According to my weak ability, I have led this way in my speech, beseeching my Readers to follow me with their hearts, that we may overtake him which is entered into the true sanctuary, even the highest heavens, to appear now in the sight of God for us.   

THE PASSION SERMON.  JOHN. 19 VERSE 30. 
When jesus therefore had received the Vinegar, he said; It is finished: and bowing the head, he gave up the ghost.  
THE bitter and yet victorious Passion of the Son of GOD (right Honourable and beloved Christians) as it was the strangest thing that ever befell the earth: So, is both of most sovereign use, and looks for the most frequent and careful meditation. It is one of those things, which was once done, that it might be thought of for ever. Every day therefore must be the Good-friday of a Christian▪ who, with that great Doctor of the Gentiles, must desire to know nothing but jesus Christ, and him crucified.  
There is no branch or circumstance in this wonderful business, which yields not infinite matter of discourse. According to the solemnity of this time and place, I have chosen to commend unto your Christian attention, our saviours Farewell to Nature (for his reviving was above it) in his last word in his last act. His last word, It is finished, his last act, He gave up the ghost: That which he said, he did. If there be any theme that may challenge and command our ears and hearts, this is it; for, behold; the sweetest word that ever Christ spoke, and the most meritorious act that ever he did, are met together in this his last breath. In the one ye shall see him triumphing; yielding in the other, yet so as he overcomes. Imagine therefore, that you saw Christ ●esus, in this day of his passion (who is every day here crucified before your eyes) advanced upon the chariot of his Cross, and now, after a weary conflict, cheerfully overlooking the despite and shame of men, the wrath of his Father, the law, sin, death, hell; which all lie gasping at his foot: and then you shall conceive, with what spirit he saith, Consummatum est, It is finished. What is finished? Shortly; All the prophecies, that were of him; All legal observations, that prefigured him; his own sufferings; Our salvation. The prophecies are accomplished, the ceremonies abolished, his sufferings ended, our salvation wrought: these four heads shall limit this first part of my speech, only let them find and leave you attentive.  
Even this very word is prophesied of; All things that are written of me have an end, saith Christ. What end? this, It is finished: this very end hath his end here. What therefore is finished? not this prediction only of his last draft, as Augustine, that were too particular. Let our Saviour himself say, All things that are written of me by the Prophets. It is a sure and convertible rule; Nothing was done by Christ, which was not for told, nothing was ever foretold by the Prophets of Christ, which was not done. It would take up a life to compare the Prophets and Evangelists, the predictions and the history, & largely to discourse how the one foretells, and the other answers; let it suffice to look at them running. Of all the Evangelists, S. Matthew hath been most studious, in making these references and correspondences; with whom, the burden or undersong of every event, is still (ut impleretur) That it might be fulfilled. Thus hath he noted (if I have reckoned them aright) two and thirty several prophecies concerning Christ, fulfilled in his birth, life, death.  
☞ ☜ ☞ ☜ Esay 7.14. Mat. 1.23. Zach. 9.9. Mat. Ibidem. Mich. 5.2. Mat. 2.6. jere. 7.11. Mat. 21.13. Esay. 11.1. Mat. 2.15. Psalm. 8.2. Mat. 21.16. jer. 31.15. Mat. 2.18. Esay. 5.8. Mat. 21.33. judg. 13.5. Mat. 2. ult. Psal. 118.22. Mat. 21.44. Esa. 40.3. Mat. 3.2. Psal. 110.1. Mat. 22.44. Esay 9.1. Mat. 4.15. Esay. 8.14. Mat. 21.44. Leu. 14.4. Mat. 8.4. Psal. 41.9. Mat. 26.31. Esay 53.4. Mat. 8.17. Esay. 53.10. Mat. 26.54. Esay 61.1. Mat. 11.4. Zach. 13.7. Mat. 26.31. Esay 42.1. Mat. 12.17, Lam. 4.20. Mat. 26.56. jona. 1.17. Mat. 12.40. Esay. 50.6. Mat. 26.67. Esay 6.9. Mat. 13.14. Zac. 11.13. Mat. 27.9. Psal. 78.2. Mat. 13.35. Psal. 22.18. Mat. 27.35. Es. 35.5.6. Mat. 15.30. Psal. 22.2. Mat. 27.46. Es. 62.11. Mat. 21.5. Psal. 69.22. Mat. 27.48.  
To which Saint john adds many more. Our speech must be directed to his Passion; omitting the rest, let us insist in those.  
He must be apprehended: it was foreprophesied; The Anointed of the Lord was taken in their nets, sayeth jeremy: but how? he must be sold: for what? thirty silver pieces, and what must those do? buy a field, all foretold; And they took thirty silver pieces, the price of him that was valued, and gave them for the Potter's field, saith Zacharie (miswritten jeremy, by one letter mistaken in the abbreviation, by whom? that child of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Which was he? It is foretold; He that eateth bread with me, saith the Psalmist. And what shall his Disciples do? Run away, so saith the prophesy: I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered, saith Zacharie. What shall be done to him? he must be scourged and spit upon: behold, not those filthy excrements could have light upon his sacred face, without a prophesy; I hid not my face from shame and spitting, saith Esay. what shall be the issue? In short, he shall be led to death: it is the prophesy, the Messias shall be slain, saith Daniel: what death? he must be lift up▪ Like as Moses lift up the Serpent in the wildness, so shall the son of man be lift up. Chrysostome saith well, that some actions are parables; so may I say, some actions are prophecies, such are all types of Christ, and this with the foremost. Lift up, whither? to the Cross, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  it is the prophesy, hanging upon a tree, saith Moses, how lift up? nailed to it, so is the prophesy, foderunt manus, they have pierced my hands and my feet, saith the Psalmist: with what company? two thieves, with the wicked was he numbered, saith Esay: where? without the gates saith the prophesy: what becomes of his garments? they cannot so much as cast the dice for his coat, but it is prophesied, They divided my garments, and on my vestures cast lots, saith the Psalmist: he must die then on the Cross, but how? voluntarily. Not a bone of him shall be broken: what hinders it? lo, there he hangs, as it were neglected, and at mercy, yet all the raging jews, no, all the Devils in hell cannot stir one bone in his blessed body: It was prophesied in the Easter-Lambe, and it must be fulfilled in him, that is the true Passeover, in spite of fiends and men: how then? he must be thrust in the side: behold not the very spear could touch his precious side being dead, but it must be guided by a prophesy; They shall see him whom they have thrust through, saith Zacharie: what shall he say the while? not his very words but are forespoken: his complaint, Eli Eli lamma sabactani, as the Chalde, or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Hebrew, Psalm 22.2. his resignation: In manus tuas, Into thy bands I commend my spirit, Psalm 31.5. His request, Father forgive them: He prayed for the transgressors, saith Esay. And now when he saw all these prophecies were fulfilled, knowing that one remained, he said, I thirst, Domine, quid sitis? saith one, O LORD, what thirstest thou for? A strange hearing, that a man, yea that GOD and MAN dying should complain of thirst.  
Could he endure the scorching flames of the wrath of his Father, the curse of our sins, those tortures of body, those horrors of soul, & doth he shrink at his thirst? no, no: he could have borne his drought, he could not bear the Scripture not fulfilled. It was not necessity of nature, but the necessity of his Father's decree, that drew forth this word, I thirst. They offered it before, he refused it: whether it were an ordinary potion for the condemned to hasten death (as in the story of M. Anthony) which is the most received construction, or whether it were that jewish potion, whereof the Rabbins speak; whose tradition was, that the malefactor to be executed, 
Sit mors mea in remissio nem omnium iniquitatum mearum.  should after some good counsel from two of their Teachers, be taught to say; Let my death be to the remission of all my sins; and then, that he should have given him a bowl of mixed wine, 
Vt usus rationis tollatur.  with a grain of Frankincense, to bereave him both of reason and pain.  
I durst be confident in this latter; the rather for that Saint Mark calls this draft, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Myrrh wine, mingled (as is like) with other ingredients. And Montanus agrees with me in the end, ad stuporem & mentis alienationem; A fashion which Galatine observes out of the Sannedrim, to be grounded upon Proverbs, 31.6. Give strong drink to him that is ready to perish, I leave it modestly in the midst; let the learneder judge▪ whatsoever it were, he would not die till he had complained of thirst, and in his thirst tasted it: Neither would he have thirsted for, or tasted any but this bitter draft; that the Scripture might be fulfilled; They gave me vinegar to drink: And lo, now Consummatum est; all is finished.  
If there be any jew amongst you, that like one of john's unseasonable Disciples, shall ask, Art thou he, or shall we look for another? He hath his answer; ye men of Israel, why stand you gazing and gaping for another Messias? In this alone, all the Prophecies are finished; and of him alone, all was prophesied, that was finished. Paul's old rule holds still. To the Jews a stumbling block; and that more ancient Curse of David, Let their table be made a snare; And Steuens two brands sticks still in the flesh of these wretched men: One in their neck, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  stiffnecked, the other in their heart; uncircumcised; the one, Obstinacy, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  the other Unbelief: stiff necks indeed, that will not stoop and relent with the yoke of sixeteen hundred years judgement and servility; uncircumcised hearts, the fi●me of whose unbelief, would not be cut off with so infinite convictions. Oh mad & miserable nation: let them show us one prophesy that is not fulfilled, let them show us one other in whom all the prophecies can be fulfilled, and we will mix pity with our hate: If they cannot, and yet resist; their doom is past; Those mine enemies, that would not have me to reign over them, bring them hither, & slay them before me. So let thine enemies perish, O Lord.  
But what go I so far? even amongst us (to our shame) this riotous age hath bred a monstrous generation (I pray God I be not now in some of your bosoms, 
Aug. ad Hie. Dum volunt & judaei esse & Christiani, nec judaei sunt, nec christiani.  that hear me this day) compounded, much like to the Turkish Religion, of one part▪ Christian; another, jew; a third, worldling, a fourth, Atheist: a Christians face; a jews heart, a worldlings life; and therefore Atheous in the whole; that acknowledge a God, and know him not; that profess a Christ, but doubt of him; yea, believe him not: The fool hath said in his heart, there is no Christ. What shall I say of these men? they are worse than Devils: that yielding evil spirit, could say, jesus I know: and these miscreants are still in the old tune of that tempting Devil; Si tu es filius Dei, if thou be the Christ: Oh God that after so clear a Gospel, so many miraculous confirmations, so many thousand martyrdoms, so many glorious victories of truth, so many open confessions of Angels, men, devils, friends, enemies; such conspirations of heaven and earth, such universal contestations of all ages and people; there should be left any spark of this damnable infidelity in the false hearts of men. Behold then, ye despisers, & wonder, and vanish away: whom have all the Prophet's foretold? or what have the prophecies of so many hundreds, yea thousands of years foresaid, that is not with this word finished? who could foretell these things, but the spirit of God? who could accomplish them, but the Son of God? He spoke by the mouth of his holy Prophets, saith Zacharie: he hath spoken, and he hath done; one true God in both: none other spirit could foresay these things should be done, none other power could do these things, thus foreshowed this word therefore, can fit none but the mouth of God our Saviour, It is finished. We know whom we have believed; Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God. Let him that loves not the Lord jesus, be accursed to the death.  
Thus the prophecies are finished: Of the legal observations, with more brevity. Christ is the end of the Law: what law? Ceremonial, Moral. Of the Moral, it was kept perfectly by himself, satisfied fully for us: Of the Ceremonial, it was referred to him, observed of him, fulfilled in him, abolished by him. There were nothing more easy, then to show you how all those jewish Ceremonies looked at Christ, how Circumcision, Passeover, the Tabernacle, both outer and inner, the Temple, the Laver, both the Altars, the tables of showbread, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  the Candlesticks, the vail, the Holy of holies, the Ark, the Propitiatory, the pot of Manna, Aaron's rod, the high Priest, his order and line, his habits, his inaugurations, his washings, anointings, sprinckling, offer, the sacrifices, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and what ever jewish rite; had their virtue from Christ, relation to him, and their end in him. This was then their last gasp; for, now strait they died with Christ, now the veil of the Temple rend: 
Ex quo apparet, tunc scissum esse, cum Christus emisit spiritum.  As Austen well notes out of Mathewes order; It tore then, when Christ's last breath passed: That conceit of Theophilact is witty; that as the jews were wont to rend their garments, when they heard blasphemy: so the Temple not enduring these execrable blasphemies against the Son of God, tore his vail in pieces. But that is not all, the vail rend, is the obligation of the ritual law canceled; the way into the heavenly Sanctuary opened; the shadow giving room to the substance: in a word, it doth that which Christ saith; 
Ceremoniae sicut defuncta corpora necessariorum officijs deducenda erant ad sepulturam, non simulatè, sed religiosè, nec deserenda continuò. Augustin.  Consummatum est. Even now then the law of ceremonies died: It had along & solemn burial, as Augustine sayeth well, perhaps figured in Moses, who died not lingeringly, but was thirty days mourned for: what means the Church of Rome to dig them up, now rotten in their graves? & that, not as if they had been buried, but sown, with a plenteous increase; yea, with the inverted usury of too many of you Citizens; ten for one. 
Ego è contrario loquar, & reclamant mundo liberâ voce pronunciem, ceremonias judaeorum perniciosas esse, et mortiferas, & quicunque eas obseruauerit, sive ex Gentibus, in barathrum diaboli devolutum. Hier.  It is a grave and deep censure of that resolute Hierome; Ego è contrario loquar. etc. I say, saith he, and in spite of all the world dare maintain, that now the jewish ceremonies are pernicious and deadly, and whosoever shall observe them, whether he be jew or Gentile, in barathrum Diaboli devolutum; shall fry in hell for it. Still Altars? Still Priests? sacrifices still? still washings? still unctions? sprinkling, shaving, purifying? still all, and more than all? Let them hear but Augustine's censure, Quisquis nunc etc. 
Quisquis nunc ea celebrare volverit, tanquam sopitos cineres eruens, non erit pius, etc.  Whosoever shall now use them, as it were, raking them up out of their dust; he shall not be Pius deductor corporis, sed impius sepulturae violator; an impious and sacrilegious wretch, that ran sacks the quiet tombs of the dead.  
I say not that all Ceremonies are dead; but the Law of Ceremonies, and of jewish. It is a sound distinction of them, that profound Peter Martyr hath in his Epistle, to that worthy Martyr, Father, Bishop Hooper: Some are typical, foresignifying Christ to come: some, of order and decency. Those are abrogated, not these: the jews had a fashion of prophesying in the Churches; so the Christians from them, as Ambrose: the jews had an eminent pulpit of wood; so we: they gave names at their Circumcision; so we at Baptism: they sung Psalms melodiously in Churches, so do we, they paid and received tithes, so do we, they wrapped their dead in linen, with odours; so we; the jews had sureties at their admission into the church; so we: these Instances might be infinite: the Spouse of Christ cannot be without her laces, and chains, and borders. Christ came not to dissolve order. But thou Lord, how long? how long shall thy poor Church find her ornaments, her sorrows? and see the dear sons of her womb, bleeding about these apples of strife, let me so name them not for their value (even small things, when they are commanded, look for no small respect) but for their event: the enemy is at the gates of our Syracuse; how long will we suffer ourselves, taken up with angles and circles in the dust: ye men brethren, & fathers, help; for God's sake put to your hands, to the quenching of this common flame▪ the one side by humility & obedience; the other, by compassion; both by prayers and tears: who am I, that I should revive to you the sweet spirit of that divine Augustine, who when he heard and saw the bitter contentions betwixt two grave & famous Divines, Jerome and Ruffian; Heu mihi, saith he, qui vos all cubi simul invenire non possum, Alas that I should never find you two together, how I would fall at your feet, how I would embrace them and weep upon them, and beseech you, either of you for other, and each for himself, both of you for the Church of God, but especially, for the weak, for whom Christ died, who not without their own great danger, see you two fight in this Theatre of the world. Yet let me do what he said he would do; beg for peace, as for life: by your filial piety to the Church of GOD, whose ruins follow upon our divisions; by your love of God's truth; by the graces of that one blessed Spirit, whereby we are all informed and quickened, by the precious blood of that son of God, which this day, and this hour, was shed for our redemption, be inclined to peace & love, & though our brains be different, yet let our hearts be one. It was, as I heard, the dying speech of our late reverend, worthy and gracious Diocesan; Modo me moriente vivat ac floreat Ecclesia; Oh, yet if, when I am dead, the Church may live and flourish.  
What a spirit was here? what a speech? how worthy never to die? how worthy of a soul so near to his heaven? how worthy of so happy a succession? Ye whom God hath made inheritors of this blessed care, who do no less long for the prosperity of Sion, live you to effect, what he did but live to wish; all peace with ourselves, and war with none but Rome and Hell. And if there be any wayward Separatist, whose soul professeth to hate peace; I fear to tell him Paul's message, yet I must: Would to God those were cut off that trouble you. How cut off? As good Theodosius said to Demophilus, a contentious Prelate; Si tu pacem fugis, etc. 
Si tu pacem fugis, ego te ab Ecclesia fugere mando.  If thou fly peace, I will make thee fly the Church. Alas, they do fly it: that which should be their punishment, they make their contentment, how are they worthy of pity? As Optatus of his Donatists; they are Brethren, might be companions, and will not. Oh wilful men; whither do they run? from one Christ to another? Is Christ divided? we have him, thanks be to our good God, and we hear him daily; and whither shall we go from thee? thou hast the words of eternal life.  
Thus the Ceremonies are finished,: now hear the end of his sufferings, with like patience and devotion: his death is here included; it was so near, that he spoke of it as done; and when it was done, all was done. How easy is it to lose ourselves in this discourse: how hard, not to be overwhelmed with matter of wonder; and to find either beginning or end: his sufferings found an end, our thoughts cannot. Lo, with this word, he is happily waded out of those deeps of sorrows, whereof our conceits can find no bottom: yet let us with Peter, gird our coat, and cast ourselves a little into this sea.  
All his life was but a perpetual Passion: In that he became man, he suffered more than we can do, either while we are men, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  or when we cease to be men; he humbled, yea, he emptied himself. We, when we cease to be here, are clothed upon. 2. Cor. 5. We both win by our being, and gain by our loss; he lost, by taking our more or less to himself, that is, manhood. For, though ever as God, I and my Father are one: yet as man, My Father is greater than I That man should be turned into a beast, into a worm, into dust, into nothing; is not so great a disparagement, as that GOD should become man: and yet it is not finished; it is but begun. But what man? If, as the absolute Monarch of the world, he had commanded the vassalage of all Emperors and Princes, and had trod on nothing but Crowns and Sceptres, and the necks of Kings, and bidden all the Potentates of the earth to attend his train; this had carried some port with it; suitable to the heroical Majesty of God's Son. No such matter, here is neither Form nor Beauty; unless perhaps (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) the form of a servant: you have made me to serve, with your sins. Behold, he is a man to God; a servant to man; and, be it spoken with holy reverence, a drudge to his servants. He is despised and rejected of men; yea (as himself, of himself) a worm, and no man, the shame of men, and contempt of the people. Who is the King of glory? the Lord of hosts, 
Psal. 24.10.  he is the King of glory. Set these two together; the King of glory; the shame of men: the more honour, the more abasement. Look back to his Cradle, there you find him re●ected of the Bethlemites; borne and laid, alas, how homely, how unworthily; sought for by Herod, exiled to Egypt, obscurely brought up in the Cottage of a poor Foster-Father, transported and tempted by Satan, derided of his kindred, blasphemously traduced by the jews, pinched with hunger, restless, harbourless, sorrowful, persecuted by the Elders, and pharisees, sold by his own servant, apprehended, arraigned, scourged, condemned, and yet it is not finished. Let us, with that Disciple, follow him a far off; and passing over all his contemptuous usage in the way, see him brought to his Cross. Still the further we look, the more wonder: every thing adds to this ignominy of suffering, & triumph of overcoming: where was it? not in a corner, as Paul saith to Festus, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Act. 26.27.  but in jerusalem, the eye, the heart of the world. Obscurity abateth shame: public notice heightens it: Before all Israel and before this Sun, saith GOD to David, when he would thoroughly shame him: In jerusalem, which he had honoured with his presence; taught with his preachings, astonished with his miracles, bewailed with his tears; O jerusalem, jerusalem, how oft would I, and thou wouldst not: O yet, if in this thy day. Cruelty and unkindness, after good desert, afflict so much more, as our merit hath been greater. Where about? without the gates: in Calvary, among the stinking bones of execrable Malefactors. Before, the glory of the place, bred shame, now the vileness of it. When? but in the Passeover; a time of greatest frequency, and concourse of all jews and Proselytes: An holy time, when they should receive the figure, they reject the substance: when they should kill and eat the Sacramental Lamb, in faith, in thankfulness, they kill the Lamb of GOD, our true Passeover, in cruelty and contempt. With whom? The quality of our company, 
& In medio la tronum tanquam latronum ●mmanissimus. Luther.  either increases or lessens shame. In the midst of thieves (saith one) as the Prince of thieves: there was no guile in his mouth, much less in his hands: yet behold he that thought it no robbery to be equal with God, is made equal to robbers and murderers; yea superior in evil. What suffered he? As all lives are not alike pleasant, so all deaths are not equally fearful▪ there is not more difference betwixt some life and death, then betwixt one death and another. See the Apostles gradation? He was made obedient to the death, even the death of the Cross. The Cross, a lingering, tormenting, ignominious death. The jews had four kinds of death for malefactors; the towel, the sword, fire, stones; each of these above other in extremity. Strangling with the towel, they accounted easiest▪ the sword worse than the towel; the fire worse than the sword: stoning worse than the fire, but this Roman death was worst of all. Cursed is every one that hangeth on Tree. Yet (as Jerome well) he is not therefore accursed, because he hangeth; but therefore he hangeth, because he is accursed. He was made (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) a Curse for us. The curse was more than the shame: yet the shame is unspeakable; and yet not more than the pain. Yet all that die the same death, are not equally miserable: the very thieves fared better in their death than he. I hear of no irrision, no inscription, no taunts, no insultation on them: they had nothing but pain to encounter, he pain and scorn. An ingenuous and Noble nature, can worse brook this then the other; any thing rather than disdainfulness and derision: especially, from a base enemy. I remember, that learned Father begins Israel's affliction, with Ismaels' persecuting laughter. The jews, the Soldiers, yea, the very thieves flouted him, and triumphed over his misery; his blood cannot satisfy them, without his reproach. Which of his senses now was not a window to let in sorrow? his eyes saw the tears of his Mother, and friends, the unthankful demeanour of Mankind, the cruel despite of his enemies, his ears heard the revilings and blasphemies of the multitude; and (whether the place were noisome to his scent) his touch felt the nails, his taste the gall. Look up O all ye beholders, look upon this precious body, and see what part ye can find free? that head which is adored and trembled at by the Angelical spirits, 
Caput Angelicis spiritibus ●●emebundii spinis coronatur, etc.  is all raked and harrowed with thorns: that face, of whom is said; Thou art fairer than the children of men, is all besmeared with the filthy spittle of the jews, and furrowed with his tears; those eyes, clearer than the Sun, are darkened with the shadow of death; those ears that hear the heavenly consorts of Angels, now are filled with the cursed speakings & scoffs of wretched men: those lips that spoke as never man spoke, that command the spirits both of light and darkness, are scornfully wet with vinegar and gall: those feet that trample on all the powers of hell (his enemies are made his footstool) are now nailed to the footstool of the Cross: those hands that freely sway the sceptre of the heavens, now carry the reed of reproach, & are nailed to the tree of reproach: that whole body, which was conceived by the holy Ghost, was all scourged, wounded, mangled: This is the outside of his sufferings. Was his heart free? Oh no, the inner part or soul of this pain, which was unseen, is as far beyond these outward and sensible, as the soul is beyond the body; God's wrath beyond the malice of men: these were but love-tricks to what his soul endured. O all ye that pass by the way, behold and see, if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow: Alas, Lord, what can we see of thy sorrows? we cannot conceive so much as the heinousness and desert of one of those sins, which thou barest: we can no more see thy pain, than we could undergo it; only this we see, that what the infinite sins, of almost infinite men, committed against an infinite Majesty, deserved in infinite continuance; all this thou in the short time of thy passion hast sustained. We may behold and see; but all the glorious spirits in Heaven, cannot look into the depth of this suffering. Do but look yet a little into the passions of this his Passion: for, by the manner of his sufferings, we shall best see, what he suffered. Wise and resolute men do not complain of a little; holy Martyrs have been racked, and would not be loosed; what shall we say, if the author of their strength, God & man, bewray passions? what would not have overwhelmed men, would not have made him shrink; and what made him complain, could never have been sustained by men▪ What shall we then think, if he were affrighted with terrors, perplexed with sorrows, and distracted with both these? And lo, he was all these: for, first, here was an amazed fear; for millions of men to despair, was not so much as for him to fear: and yet it was no sleight fear: he began (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) to be astonished with terror. Which in the days of his flesh, offered up prayers and supplications, with strong cries and tears, to him that was able to help him, and was heard in that he feared. Never man was so afraid of the torments of hell, as Christ (standing in our room) of his father's wrath. Fear is still suitable to apprehension. Never man could so perfectly apprehend this cause of fear; he felt the chastisements of our peace, yea, the curse of our sins; and therefore might well say with David; I suffer thy terrors with a troubled mind; yea, with job, The arrows of God are in me, and the terrors of God fight against me. 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  With fear, there was a dejecting sorrow (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) My soul is on all sides heavy to the death: his strong cries; his many tears are witnesses of this Passion: he had formerly shed tears of pity, and tears of love, but now of anguish: he had before sent forth cries of mercy; never of complaint till now: when the Son of God weeps and cries, what shall we say or think? yet further, betwixt both these and his love, what a conflict was there? It is not amiss distinguished, that he was always in Agone; but now in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in a struggling passion of mixed grief. Behold, this field was not without sweat and blood; yea a sweat of blood. Oh what man or Angel can conceive the taking of that heart, that without all outward violence, merely, out of the extremity of his own Passion, bled (through the flesh and skin) not some faint dew, but solid drops of blood? No thorns, no nails, fetched blood from him, with so much pain as his own thoughts: he saw the fierce wrath of his Father, and therefore feared: he saw the heavy burden of our sins to be undertaken; and thereupon, besides fear, justly grieved; he saw the necessity of our eternal damnation, if he suffered not: if he did suffer, of our redemption, and therefore his love encountered both grief and fear. In itself, he would not drink of that cup: in respect of our good, and his decree, he would and did; and while he thus striveth, he sweats and bleeds. There was never such a combat, never such a bloodshed, and yet it is not finished; I dare not say with some Schoolmen, that the sorrow of his Passion, was not so great as the sorrow of his compassion: yet that was surely exceeding great. To see the ungracious carelessness of mankind, the slender fruit of his sufferings, the sorrows of his mother, Disciples, friends; to foresee from the watchtower of his Cross, the future temptations of his children, desolations of his Church; all these must needs strike deep into a tender heart. These he still sees and pities, but without passion; then he suffered in seeing them.  
Can we yet say any more? Lo, all these sufferings are aggravated by his fullness of knowledge, and want of comfort▪ for, he did not shut his eyes, as one saith, when he drunk this cup: he saw how dreggish, and knew how bitter it was. Sudden evils afflict, if not less, shorter. He foresaw, and foresaid every particular he should suffer: so long as he foresaw, he suffered: the expectation of evil, is not less than the sense: to look long for good, is a punishment; but for evil is a torment. No passion works upon an unknown object: as no love, so no fear is of what we know not. Hence men fear not hell, because they foresee it not: if we could see that pit open before we come at it, it would make us tremble at our sins, and our knees to knock together, as Baltazars, and perhaps, without faith, to run mad at the horror of judgement. He saw the burden of all particular sins to be laid upon him; every dram of his father's wrath, was measured out to him, ere he touched this potion; this cup was full, and he knew that it must be wringd, not a drop left: it must be finished. Oh yet, if as he foresaw all his sorrows, so he could have seen some mixture of refreshing. But I found none to comfort me, no, none to pity me. And yet it is a poor comfort that arises from pity. Even so, O Lord, thou treadest this winepress alone, none to accompany, none to assist thee. I remember, Ruffinus in his Ecclesiastical story reports, that one Theodorus a Martyr, told him, that when he was hanging ten hours upon the rack for religion, under julians' persecution, his joints distended and distorted, his body exquisitely tortured with change of Executioners; 
Vt nulla unquam aetas similem meminerit.  so as never age (saith he) could remember the like: he felt no pain at all, but continued indeed, all the while in the sight of all men, singing and smiling▪ for there stood a comely young man by him on his libbet (an Angel rather, in form of a man) which with a clean towel, still wiped off his sweat, and powered cool water upon his racked limbs▪ wherewith he was so refreshed, that it grieved him to be let down. Even the greatest torments are easy, when they have answerable comforts: but a wounded and comfortless spirit, who can bear? If yet but the same Messenger of GOD, might have attended his Cross, that appeared in his agony; and might have given ease to their Lord, as he did to his servant. And yet, what can the Angels help, where God will smite? Against the violence of men, against the fury of Satan, they have prevailed in the Cause of GOD, for men: they dare not, they cannot comfort, where God will afflict. When our Saviour had been wrestling with Satan in the end of his Lent, than they appeared to him, and served; but now, while about the same time; he is wrestling with the wrath of his Father for us, not an Angel dare be seen, to look out of the windows of heaven to relieve him; for men, much less could they, if they would; but what did they? Miserable comforters are ye all: the Soldiers, they stripped him, scorned him with his purple, crown, reed, spat on him, smote him; the passengers, they revived him, and insulting, wagging their heads and hands at him; hay, thou that destroyest the Temple, come down, etc. The Elders and Scribes; alas, they have bought his blood, suborned witnesses, incensed Pilate preferred Barrabas, undertook the guilt of his death, cried out, Crucify, crucify: Ho, thou that savedst others. His Disciples, alas: they forsook him, one of them forswears him; another runs away naked, rather than he will stay and confess him. His mother and other friends: they look on indeed, and sorrow with him; but to his discomfort. Where the grief is extreme, and respects near, partnership doth but increase sorrow. Paul chides this love: what do you weeping and breaking my heart? The tears of those we love, do either slacken out hearts, or wound them. Who then shall comfort him? himself? Sometimes our own thoughts find a way to succour us, unknown to others: no, not himself. Doubtless (as Aquinas) the influence of the higher part of the soul, was restrained from the aid of the inferior: My soul is filled with evils. Psalm. 87.4. Who then? his Father? here, here; was his hope: If the Lord had not holpen me, my soul had almost dwelled in silence: I and my Father are one. But now (alas,) he, even he, delivers him into the hands of his enemies; when he hath done, turns his back upon him as a stranger; yea; he woundeth him as an enemy. The Lord would break him. Esay, 53. 10. Yet any thing is light to the Soul, whiles the comforts of God sustain it: who can dismay, where God will relieve? But here, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? What a word was here, to come from the mouth of the Son of GOD? My Disciples are men, weak and fearful; No marvel, if they forsake me. The jews are themselves, cruel and obstinate. Men are men, graceless, and unthankful. devils are according to their nature, spiteful and malicious. All these do but their kind; and let them do it: but thou, O Father, thou that hast said; This is my well-beloved son, in whom I am well pleased: thou of whom I have said, It is my father that glorifies me, what? forsaken me? Not only brought me to this shame, smitten me, unregarded me; but, as it were, forgotten, yea, forsaken me? What, even me, my Father? How many of thy constant servants have suffered heavy things: yet in the multitudes of the sorrows of their hearts, thy presence and comforts have refreshed their souls. Hast thou relieved them, and dost thou forsake me? me, thine only, dear, natural, eternal son. O ye heavens and earth, how could you stand, whiles the Maker of you thus complained. Ye stood; but partaking after a sort of his Passion: the earth trembled and shook, her rocks tore, her graves opened, the heavens withdrew their light, as not daring to behold this sad and fearful spectacle.  
Oh dear Christians, how should these earthen and rocky hearts of ours shake, and rend in pieces at this Meditation? how should our faces be covered with darkness, and our joy be turned into heaviness? All these voices and tears, and sweats, & pangs are for us, yea, from us. Shall the Son of God thus smart for our sins, yea with our sins and shall not we grieve for our own? shall he weep to us in this Market place, and shall not we mourn? Nay, shall ●e sweat and bleed for us, and shall not we weep for ourselves? Shall he thus lamentably shriek out, under his Father's wrath, and shall not we tremble? Shall the heavens and earth suffer with him, and we suffer nothing? I call you not to a weak & idle pity of our glorious Saviour: to what purpose? His injury was our glory. No, no; Ye daughters of jerusalem, weep not for me; but weep for yourselves: for our sins, that have done this; not for his sorrow that suffered it: not for his pangs, that were; but for our own, that should have been, and (if we repent not) shall be. Oh how grievous, how deadly are our sins, that cost the son of God (besides blood) so much torment? how far are our souls gone, that could not be ransomed with any easier price? that that took so much of this infinite Redeemer of men, God and man, how can it choose but swallow up and confound thy soul, which is but finite and sinful? If thy soul had been in his soul's stead, what had become of it? it shall be, if his were not in stead of thine. This weight that lies thus heavy on the Son of God, and wrung from him these tears, sweat, blood, and these unconceivable groans of his afflicted spirit, how should it choose but press down thy soul to the bottom of hell? & so it will do, if he have not suffered it for thee, thou must and shalt suffer it for thyself. Go now thou lewd man, and make thyself merry with thy sins; laugh at the uncleanenesses, or bloodiness of thy youth: thou little knowest the price of a sin: thy soul shall do, thy Saviour did, when he cried out, to the amazement of Angels, & horror of men; My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? But now no more of this; It is finished: the greater conflict, the more happy victory. Well doth he find and feel of his Father, what his type said before, He will not chide always, nor keep his anger for ever. It is fearful; but in him, short: eternal to sinners; short to his Son, in whom the Godhead dwelled bodily. Behold; this storm, wherewith all the powers of the world were shaken, is now over. The Elders, pharisees, judas, the soldiers, Priests, witnesses, judges, thieves, Executioners, devils, have all tired themselves in vain, with their own malice; and he triumphs over them all, upon the throne of his Cross: his enemies are vanquished, his father satisfied, his soul with this word at rest and glory; It is finished. Now there is no more betraying, agonies, araignements, scourge, scoffing, crucifying, conflicts, terrors; all is finished. Alas beloved, and will we not yet let the son of God be at rest? do we now again go about to fetch him out of his glory, to scorn and crucify him? I fear to say it: God's spirit dare and doth; They crucify again to themselves the Son of God, and make a mock of him. To themselves, not in himself: that they cannot, it is no thank to them; they would do it. See and consider, the notoriously-sinfull conversations of those, that should be Christians, offer violence unto our glorified Saviour, they stretch their hands to heaven, and pull him down from his throne, to his Cross: they tear him with thorns, pierce him with nails, load him with reproaches. Thou hatest the jews, spittest at the name of judas, railest on Pilate, condemnest the cruel butchers of Christ; yet, thou canst blaspheme, and swear him quite over, curse, swagger, lie, oppress, boil with lust, scoff, riot, and livest like a debauched man; yea, like an humane Beast; yea, like an unclean Devil. Cry Hosanna as long as thou wilt; thou art a Pilate, a jew, a judas, an Executioner of the Lord of life; and so much greater shall thy judgement be, by how much thy light and his glory, is more. Oh, beloved, is it not enough that he died once for us? Were those pains so light, that we should every day redouble them? Is this the entertainment that so gracious a Saviour hath deserved of us by dying? Is this the recompense of that infinite love of his, that thou shouldest thus cruelly vex and wound him with thy sins? Every of our sins is a thorn; and nail, and spear to him: while thou pourest down thy drunken carouses, thou givest thy Saviour a potion of gall; while thou despisest his poor servants, thou spittest on his face, while thou puttest on thy proud dresses, and liftest up thy vain heart with high conceits, thou s●ttest a Crown of thorns on his head: while thou wringest and oppressest his poor children, thou whippest him, and drawest blood of his hands & feet. Thou hypocrite, how darest thou offer to receive the Sacrament of GOD, with that hand, which is thus imbrued with the blood of him whom thou receivest? In every Ordinary, thy profane tongue walks, in the disgrace of the religious and conscionable. Thou makest no scruple of thine own sins, and scornest those that do: Not to be wicked, is crime enough: hear him that saith, Saul, Saul why persecutest thou me? Saul strikes at Damascus: Christ suffers in heaven. Thou strikest; Christ jesus smarteth, and will revenge. These are the (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) afterings of Christ's sufferings: in himself it is finished; in his members it is not, till the world be finished. We must toil, & groan, and bleed; that we may reign; if he had not done so, It had not been finished. This is our warfare; this is the region of our sorrow and death. Now are we set upon the sandy pavement of our Theatre, and are matched with all sorts of evils; evil men, evil spirits, evil accidents; and (which are worst) our own evil hearts; temptations, crosses, persecutions, sicknesses, wants, infamies, death; all these must in our courses, be encountered by the law of our profession. What should we do but strive & suffer, as our General hath done; that we may reign as he doth, and once triumph in our Consummatum est? God and his Angels sit upon the Scaffolds of heaven, and behold us: our Crown is ready; our day of deliverance shall come; yea, our redemption is near: when all tears shall be wiped from our eyes; and we that have sown in tears, shall reap in joy. In the mean time, let us possess our souls, not in patience only, but in comfort: let us adore and magnify our Saviour in his sufferings, and imitate him in our own: our sorrows shall have an end; our joys shall not: our pains shall soon be finished; our glory shall be finished, but never ended.  
Thus his sufferings are finished; now together with them, Man's salvation. Who knows not, that man had made himself a deep debtor, a bankrupt, an outlaw to GOD? Our sins are our debts, & by sins, death. Now, in this word and act, our sins are discharged, death endured, & therefore we cleared: the debt is paid, the score is crossed, the Creditor satisfied, the debtor acquitted, and since there was no other quarrel saved: we are all sick and that mortally: Sin is the disease of the soul: Quot vitia, ●●t febres, saith Chrysostome; so many sins, so many Fevers, and those pestilent. What wonder is it, that we have so much plague, while we have so much sin? Our Saviour is the Physician? The whole need not the Physician, but the sick: wherein? He healeth all our infirmities: he healeth them after a miraculous manner; not by giving us receipt, but by taking our receipt for us. A wonderful Physician; a wonder full course of cure One while he would cure us by abstinence; our superfluity, by his forty days emptiness▪ according to that old Rule; Hunger cures the diseases of Gluttony. Another while, by Exercise: He went up▪ and down from City to City, and in the day was preaching in the Temple, in the night, praying in the Mount. Then, by diet; Take, eat, this is my body: and, Let this cup pass. After that yet, by sweat; such a sweat as never was; a bloody one: yet more by incision; they pierced his hands, feet, side: and yet again by potion; a bitter potion of vinegar and gall. And lastly, which is both the strangest, and strongest receipt of all, by dying: Which died for us; that whether we wake or sleep, 
●. Thes. 5, 10  we should live together with him. We need no more, we can go no further; there can be no more physic of this kind▪ there are cordials after these, of his Resurrection and Ascension; no more penal receipt. By this blood we have redemption, Ephes, 1.7. justification, Rom. 3.24. Reconciliation, Colos. 1 20. Sanctification, 1. Pet. 1.2. Entrance into glory, Heb. 10.19. Is it not now finished? Woe were us, if he had left but one mite of satisfaction upon our score, to be discharged by our souls: and woe be to them that derogate from Christ, that they may charge themselves; that botch up these al-sufficiently meritorious sufferings of Christ, as imperfect with the superfluities of flesh and blood. Maledictus homo, qui spem ponit in homine. We may not with patience see Christ wronged by his false friends: As that heroical Luther said in the like; Cursed be the silence that here forbeareth. To be short, 
Maledictum silentium, quod hic connivet.  here be two injuries intolerable; both give Christ the lie upon his Cross: It is finished. No, somewhat remains: the fault is discharged, not the punishment. Of punishments, the eternal is quit, not the temporal. It is finished by Christ: No, there wants yet much; the satisfactions of Saints applied by his Vicar; add men's sufferings to Christ's, than the treasure is full; till then, It is not finished.  
Two qualities strive for the first place in these two opinions; Impiety and absurdity; I know not whither to prefer. For impiety; here is GOD taxed of injustice, unmercifulness, insufficiency, falsehood. Of injustice, that he forgives a sin, and yet punishes for that which he hath forgiven: unmercifulness, that he forgives not while he forgives, but doth it by halves; insufficiency, that his ransom must be supplied by men: falsehood, in that he saith, It is finished, when it is not. For Absurdity, how gross and monstrous are these Positions? that at once the same sin should be remitted and retained; that there should be a punishment, where there is no fault: that, what could strike off our eternal punishment, did not wipe off the temporal; that he which paid our pounds, sticks at our farthings, that God will retain what man may discharge, that it is, and is not finished.  
If there be any opinions, whose mention confutes them, these are they. None can be more vain, none had more need of solidity: for, this prop bears up alone, the weight of all those millions of Indulgences, which Rome creates and sells to the world. That Strumpet would well near go naked, if this were not. These spiritual Treasures, fetch in the Temporal: which yet our reverend and learned Fulke, justly calls a most blasphemous & beggarly principle: it brings in whole chests, yea mines of gold, like the Pope's Indieses: and hath not so much as a rag of proof to cover it, whether of Antiquity, of Reason, of Scripture. Not of Antiquity, for, these jubilee Proclamations began but about three hundred years ago. Not of Reason, how should one mere man pay for another, dispense with another, to another, by another? Not of Scripture, which hath flatly said, The blood of jesus Christ his son, purgeth us from all sin: and yet I remember, that acute Sadeel hath taught me, that this practice is according to Scripture: 
Negotiatores terrae sunt ipsi Sacerdotes, qui vendunt orationes & missas pro denarijs: Facientes domum orationis, Apothecam negotionis. In Revel. l. 10. p. 5.  what Scripture? He cast the money-changers out of the Temple, and said; Ye have made my house a den of thieves. Which also Joachim, their prophetical Abbot, well applies to this purpose. Some modest Doctors of Lovan, would fain have minced this Antichristian blasphemy; who began to teach, that the passions of the Saints are not so by Indulgences applied, that they become true satisfactions; but that they only serve to move God, by the sight of them, to apply unto us Christ's satisfaction. But these meal-mouthed Divines, were soon charmed; four several Popes (as their Cardinal confesseth) fell upon the neck of them, 
Bellar. l. 1. de Indulgent.  and their opinion; Leo the tenth, Pius the fifth, Gregory the thirteenth, and Clemens the sixth: and with their furious Bulls, bellow out threats against them, and toss them in the air for heretics, and teach them, upon pain of a Curse, to speak home with Bellarmine, Passionibus sanctorum expiari delicta: and strait, Applicari nobis sanctorum passiones ad redimendas poenas, quas pro peccatis Deo de bemus: that by the sufferings of Saints, our sins are expiated; and that, by them applied; we are redeemed from those punishments, which we yet owe to God. Blasphemy, worthy the tearing of garments: how is it finished by Christ, if men must supply? Oh blessed Saviour, was every drop of thy blood enough to redeem a world, and do we yet need the help of men? How art thou a perfect Saviour, if our Brethren also must be our redeemers? Oh ye blessed Saints, how would you abhor this sacrilegious glory? and with those holy Apostles, yea, that glorious Angel, say, Vide ne feceris; and with those wise Virgins: lest there will not be enough for us, and you, go to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. For us, we envy not their multitude; Let them have as many saviours as saints, and as many Saints as men: we know with Ambrose, Christi passio adiutore non eguit; Christ's passion needs no helper: and therefore, with that worthy Martyr, dare say, None but Christ, none but Christ. Let our souls die, if he cannot save them; let them not fear their death or torment; if he have finished. Hear this, thou languishing and afflicted soul: There is not one of thy sins, but it is paid for; not one of thy debts in the s●roll of God, but it is crossed; not one farthing of all thine infinite ransom is unpaid. Alas, thy prosperity of fools destroyeth them; yea, the confidence of prosperity: Thou sayest, God is merciful, thy Saviour bounteous, his passion absolute: All these, and yet thou mayest be condemned. Merciful, not unjust; bountiful, not lavish; absolutely sufficient for all, not effectual to all. Whatsoever God is, what art thou? Here is the doubt: thou sayest well; Christ is the good Shepherd. wherein? He gives his life, but for whom? for his sheep. What is this to thee?? while thou art secure, profane, impenitent, thou art a Wolf, or a Goat: My sheep hear my voice: what is his voice, but his precepts? where is thine obedience to his commandments? If thou wilt not hear his law, never hearken to his gospel: here is no more mercy for thee, then if there were no Saviour. He hath finished, for those in whom he hath begun. If thou have no beginnings of grace as yet, hope not for ever finishing of salvation; Come to me all ye that are heavy laden, saith Christ: thou shalt get nothing, if thou come when he calls thee not. Thou art not called, and canst not be refreshed, unless thou be laden, not with sin (this alone keeps thee away from God) but with conscience of sin: A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Is thy heart wounded with thy sin? doth grief & hatred strive within thee, whether shall be more? are the desires of thy soul with God? dost thou long for holiness, complain of thy imperfections, struggle against thy corruptions? Thou art the man, fear not, It is finished. that law which thou wouldst have kept and couldst not; thy Saviour could, and did keep for thee, that salvation which thou couldst never work out alone (alas poor impotent creatures, what can we do towards heaven without him, which cannot move on earth but in him:) he alone for thee hath finished. Look up therefore boldly to the throne of GOD, and, upon the truth of thy repentance and faith, know, that there is no quarrel against thee in heaven, nothing but peace and joy: All is finished: he would be spitted on, that he might wash thee, he would be covered with scornful robes, that thy sins might be covered: he would be whipped, that thy soul might not be scourged eternally: he would thirst, that thy soul might be satisfied: he would bear all his Father's wrath, that thou mightest bear none; he would yield to death, that thou mightest never taste of it: he would be in sense for a time as forsaken of his father, that thou mightest be received for ever.  
Now bid thy Soul return to her rest, and enjoin it David's task. Praise the Lord, O my soul; and, What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. And, as ravished from thyself with the sweet apprehension of this mercy, call all the other creatures to the fellowship of this joy, with that divine Esay: Rejoice, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it, shout ye lower parts of the earth, burst forth into praises ye mountains. for, the Lord hath redeemed jacob, and will be glorified in Israel. And even now, begin that heavenly Song, 
Revel. 5.  which shall never end with those glorified Saints; Praise and honour; and glory, and power, be to him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for evermore.  
Thus, our speech of Christ's last words is finished. His last act accompanied his words; our speech must follow it: let it not want your devout & careful attention; He bowed and gave up the ghost.  
The Cross was a slow death, & had more pain than speed; whence a second violence must dispatch the crucified; their bones must be broken, that their hearts might break. Our Saviour stays not death's leisure, but willingly and courageously meets him in the way, and like a Champion that scorns to be overcome, yea, knows he cannot be, yieldeth in the midst of his strength, that he might by dying, vanquish death. He bowed and gave up: Not bowing, because he had given up, but because he would. He cried with a loud voice, saith Matthew. Nature was strong, he might have lived; but he gave up the Ghost, and would die, to show himself Lord of life and Death. Oh wondrous example, he that gave life to his enemies, gave up his own: he gives them to live, that persecute and hate him; and himself will die the while, for those that hate him. He bowed and gave up: not they; they might crown his head, they could not bow it: they might vex his spirit; not take it away: they could not do that without leave; this they could not do, because they had no leave. He alone would bow his head, and give up his Ghost: I have power to lay down my life: Man gave him not his life; man could not bereave it. No man takes it from me. Alas, who could? The high-priests forces, when they came against him armed; he said but, I am he, they flee and fall backward. How easy a breath dispersed his enemies? whom he might as easily have bidden the earth, yea, hell to swallow, or fire from heaven to devour. Who commanded the Devils and they obeyed: could not have been attached by men: he must give not only leave, but power to apprehend himself, else they had not lived to take him: he is laid hold of; Peter fights: Put up saith Christ, Thinkest thou that I cannot pray to my Father, and he will give me more than 12. Legions of Angels? What an Army were here? more than threescore and twelve thousand Angels, and every Angel able to subdue a world of men: he could, but would not be rescued; he is led by his own power, not by his enemies; and stands now before Pilate, like the scorn of men; crowned, robbed, scourged, with an Ecce homo; Yet thou couldst have no power against me, unless it were given thee from above.  
Behold, he himself must give Pilate power against himself, else he could not be condemned: he will be condemned, lifted up, nailed; yet no death without himself. 
Quod emittitur voluntarium est: quod amittitur necessarium. Ambr.  He shall give his soul an offering for sin. Esay, 53.10. No action, that savours of constraint, can be meritorious, he would deserve, therefore he would suffer and die. He bowed his head, and gave up the Ghost, O gracious and bountiful Saviour, he might have kept his soul within his teeth, in spite of all the world, the weakness of God is stronger than men: and if he had but spoken the word, the heavens and earth should have vanished away before him: but he would not. Behold, when he saw that impotent man could not take away his soul, he gave it up, and would die, that we might live. See here a Saviour, that can contemn his own life for ours: & cares not to be dissolved in himself, that we might be united to his Father. Skin for skin, saith the Devil, and all that he hath, a man will give for his life. Lo here to prove Satan a liar, skin and life and all, hath Christ jesus given for us. We are besotted with the earth, and make base shifts to live; one with a maimed body, another with a perjured soul, a third with a rotten name: and how many had rather neglect their soul, than their life, and will rather renounce and curse GOD, then die? It is a shame to tell; many of us Christians dote upon life, and tremble at death; and show ourselves fools in our excess of love, Cowards in our fear. Peter denies Christ thrice, and forswears him; Marcellinus twice casts grains of incense into the Idols fire; Ecebolius turns thrice; Spira revolts and despairs: Oh let me live, saith the fearful soul. Whither dost thou reserve thyself, thou weak and timorous Creature? or what wouldst thou do with thyself? Thou hast not thus learned Christ: he dies voluntarily for thee, thou wilt not be forced to die for him: he gave up the Ghost for thee: thou wilt not let others take it from thee for him, thou wilt not let him take it for himself.  
When I look back to the first Christians, and compare their zealous contempt of death with our backwardness: I am at once amazed and ashamed: I see there even women (the feebler sex) running with their little ones in their arms, for the preferment of martyrdom, and ambitiously striving for the next blow. I see holy and tender virgins, choosing rather a sore and shameful death, then honourable Espousals. I hear the blessed Martyrs, entreating their Tyrants and tormentors for the honour of dying: Jgnatius, amongst the rest, 
Quod si venire noluerint, ego vim faciam ut devorer.  fearing lest the beasts will not devour him: and vowing the first violence to them, that he might be dispatched. And, what less courage was there, in our memorable and glorious forefathers of the last of this age? and do we, their cold and feeble offspring, look pale at the face of a fair and natural death; abhor the violent, though for Christ? Alas, how have we gathered rust with our long peace? Our unwillingness is from inconsideration, from distrust. Look but up to Christ jesus upon his Cross, and see him bowing his head, and breathing out his soul, and these fears shall vanish: he died, and wouldst thou live? he gave up the Ghost, and wouldst thou keep it? whom wouldst thou follow, if not thy Redeemer? If thou die not, if not willingly, thou goest contrary to him, and shalt never meet him. Though thou shouldest every day die a death for him, 
Si per singulos dies pro eo moreremur, qui nos dilexit, non sic debitum exol●eremus. Chrysost.  thou couldst never requite his one death, and dost thou stick at one? Every word hath his force, both to him & thee: he died, which is Lord of life, and commander of death; thou art but a tenant of life, a subject of death; And yet it was not a dying, but a giving up, not of a vanishing & aery breath, but of a spiritual soul, which after separation, hath an entire life in itself. He gave up the Ghost: he died, that hath both overcome and sanctified, and sweetened death. What fearest thou? he hath pulled out the sting and malignity of death. If thou be a Christian, carry it in thy bosom, it hurts thee not. Darest thou not trust thy Redeemer? If he had not died, death had been a Tyrant, now he is a slave. O Death where is thy sting? O Grave where is thy victory? Yet the Spirit of God saith not, he died, but gave up the Ghost. The very Heathen Poet saith: He durst not say, that a good man dies. It is worth the noting (me thinks) that when Saint Luke would describe to us the death of Ananias and Sapphira, he sayeth (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) he expired: 
Act. 5.5.  but when Saint john would describe Christ's death, he saith, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he gave up the Ghost: how? how gave he it up, and whither? so, as after a sort he retained it: his soul parted from his body; his Godhead was never distracted either from soul or body: this union is not in nature, but in person. If the natures of Christ could be divided, each would have his subsistence; so there should be more persons. God forbid, one of the natures therefore may have a separation in itself: the soul from the body: one nature cannot be separate from other, or either nature from the person. If you cannot conceive, wonder: the Son of GOD hath wedded unto himself our humanity, without all possibility of divorce; the body hangs on the Cross, the soul is yielded, the Godhead is eviternally united to them both; acknowledges, sustains them both. The soul in his agony feels not the presence of the God head; the body upon the Cross feels not the presence of the soul. Yet as the Fathers of Chalcedon say truly, (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉,) indivisibly, inseparably is the Godhead, with both of these, still and ever, one and the same person. The Passion of Christ (as Augustine) was the sleep of his Divinity: so I may say: The death of Christ, was the sleep of his humanity. If he sleep, he shall do well, said that Disciple, of Lazarus▪ Death was too weak to dissolve the eternal bonds of this heavenly conjunction. Let not us Christians go too much by sense; we may be firmly knit to God, & not feel it: thou canst not hope to be so near to thy God as Christ was, united personally: thou canst not fear, 
Quantumcunque te deieceris, humilior non eris Christo. Hieron.  that God should seem more absent from thee, than he did from his own Son; yet was he still one with both body and soul, when they were divided from themselves: when he was absent to sense; he was present to faith; when absent in vision, yet in union one, and the same: so will he be to thy soul, when it is at worst. He is thine, and thou art his: if thy hold seem loosened, his is not. When temptations will not let thee see him, he sees thee, and possesses thee; only believe thou against sense, above hope; & though he kill thee, yet trust in him. Whither gave he it up? Himself expresses▪ Father, into thy hands, and, This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise. It is justice to restore whence we receive; Into thy hands. He knew where it should be both safe & happy: true; he might be bold (thou sayst) as the Son with the father. The servants have done so; David before him, Steven after him. And lest we should not think it our common right; Father saith he, I will that those thou hast given me, may be with me, even where I am: he wills it, therefore it must be. It is not presumption, but faith, to charge God with thy spirit; neither can there ever be any believing soul so mean, that he should refuse it: all the fear is in thyself, how canst thou trust thy jewel with a stranger? What sudden familiarity is this? God hath been with thee, and gone by thee; thou hast not saluted him: and now in all the haste, thou bequeathest thy soul to him▪ On what acquaintance? how desperate is this carelessness. If thou have but a little money, whither thou keep it, thou layest it up in the Temple of trust; or whether thou let it; thou art sure of good assurance, sound bonds; if but a little land; how carefully dost thou make firm conveyances to thy desired heirs? If goods, thy will hath taken secure order, who shall enjoy them; we need not teach you Citizens to make sure work for your estates: if Children, thou disposest of them in trades, with portions, only of thy soul (which is thyself) thou knowest not what shall become. The world must have it no more; thyself wouldst keep it, but thou knowest thou canst not: Satan would have it; and thou knowest not whether he shall: thou wouldst have God have it; and thou knowest not whether he will; yea, thy heart is now ready with Pharaoh to say; Who is the Lord? O the fearful and miserable estate of that man, that must part with his soul, he knows not whither: which, if thou wouldst avoid, (as this very warning shall judge thee if thou do not) be acquainted with GOD in thy life, that thou mayest make him the Guardian of thy soul in thy death. Given up it must needs be; but to him that hath governed it: if thou have given it to Satan in thy life; how canst thou hope God will in thy death entertain it? Did you not hate me, and expel me out of my father's house; how then come ye to me now in this time of your tribulation, said jeptha, to the men of Gilead. No, no, either give up thy soul to God while he calls for it in his word, in the provocations of his love, in his afflictions, in the holy motions of his spirit to thine: or else when thou wouldst give it, he will none of it, but as a judge to deliver it to the Tormentor.  
What should God do with an unclean, drunken, profane, proud, covetous soul? without holiness, it is no seeing of God: Depart from me, ye wicked, I know ye not; go to the gods you have served. See how God is even with men: they had in the time of the Gospel, said to the holy one of Israel, Depart from us; now in the time of judgement, he saith to them; Depart from me, They would not know God when they might; now God will not know them, when they would.  
Now therefore (beloved) if thou wouldst not have God scorn the offer of thy deathbed, fit thy soul for him in thy health; furnish it with grace, enure it to a sweet conversation with the God of heaven: then mayest thou boldly give it up, and he shall as graciously receive it, yea fetch it by his Angels to his glory  
He gave up the Ghost. We must do as he did: not all with the same success. Giving up, supposes a receiving, a returning. This inmate that we have in our bosom, is sent to lodge here for a time; may not dwell here always. The right of this tenure, is the Lords, not ours. As he said of the hatchet: It is but lent, it must be restored: It is ours to keep, his to dispose and require. See and consider both our privilege and charge. It is not with us as with brute Creatures: we have a living ghost to inform us, which yet is not ours, (and, alas, what is ours, if our souls be not?) but must be given up, to him that gave it.  
Why do we live, as those that took no keep of so glorious a guest? as those that should never part with it, as those that think it given them to spend, not to return with a reckoning?  
If thou hadst no soul, if a mortal one, if thine own, if never to be required; how couldst thou live but sensually? Oh remember but who thou art, what thou hast, and whether thou must; and thou shalt live like thyself, while thou art, and give up thy ghost confidently, when thou shalt cease to be. Neither is there here more certainty of our departure then comfort▪ Carry this with thee to thy deathbed, and see if it can refresh thee, when all the world cannot give thee one dram of comfort. Our spirit is our dearest riches: if we should lose it, here were just cause of grief. howl and lament, if thou thinkest thy soul perisheth: it is not forfeited, but surrendered. How safely doth our soul pass through the gates of death, without any impeachment, while it is in the hands of the Almighty? Woe were us, if he did not keep it while we have it; much more when we restore it. We give it up to the same hands that created, infused, redeemed, renewed, that do protect; preserve, establish, and will crown it: I know whom I have believed, & am persuaded that he is able to keep that, which I have committed to him against that day. O secure and happy estate of the godly: O blessed exchange of our condition: while our soul dwells in our breast, how is it subject to infinite miseries? distempered with passions, charged with sins, vexed with temptations; above none of these: how should it be otherwise? This is our pilgrimage; that our home: this our wilderness, that our land of promise, this our bondage, that our kingdom: our impotency causeth this our sorrow.  
When our soul is once given up, what evil shall reach unto heaven; and wrestle with the Almighty? Our loathness to give up, comes from our ignorance and infidelity. No man goes unwillingly to a certain preferment, I desire to be dissolved, saith Paul; I have served thee, I have believed thee, and now I come to thee, saith Luther: The voices of Saints, not of men. If thine heart can say thus, thou shalt not need to entreat with old Hilarion, Egredere mea anima, egredere, quid times? Go thy ways forth my soul, go forth, what fearest thou? but it shall fly up alone cheerfully from thee; and give up itself, into the arms of God, as a faithful Creator, and Redeemer. This earth is not the element of thy soul, it is not where it should be: It shall be no less thine, when it is more the owners. Think now seriously of this point; God's Angel is abroad, and strikes on all sides? we know not which of our turns shall be the next: we are sure, we carry deaths enough within us. If we be ready, our day can not come too soon. Stir up thy soul to an heavenly cheerfulness, like thy Saviour: Know but whither thou art going; & thou canst not but with divine Paul, say from our saviours mouth, 
Vt contra: Nullam animam recipio quae me nolente seperatur à corpore. Hieron.  even in this sense: It is a more blessed thing to give, then to receive God cannot abide an unwilling guest: give up that spirit to him, which he hath given thee, and he will both receive what thou givest, and give it thee again with that glory and happiness, which can never be conceived, and shall never be ended. Even so Lord jesus, Come quickly.  
Gloria in excelsis DEO.