THE COPY OF THE Sermon preached on Good- Friday before the King's Majesty. By D. ANDREW'S Dean of Westminster. VI April 1604. ¶ Imprinted at London by Robert Barker, Printer to the Kings most Excellent Majesty. LAMENT. JEREM. CAP. 1.12. Have ye no Regard, o all ye that pass by the wäy? Consider, and behold, If ever there were sorrow, like my Sorrow, which was done unto me, wherewith the Lord did afflict me in the day of the fierceness of his wrath. AT the very reading or hearing of which verse, there is none but will presently conceive, it is the voice of a party in great extremity. A complaint. In great extremity two ways: First, In such distress, as never was any, If ever there were sorrow like my sorrow? And then in that distress having none to regard him: Have ye no Regard all ye? To be afflicted, and so afflicted, as none ever was, is very much: In that affliction, to found none to respect him or care for him, what can be more? 1 Cor. 10.13 In all our sufferings it is a comfort to us that we have a Sicut: that nothing hath befallen us, but such as others have felt the like: But here, Sifuerit sicut? If ever the like were (that is) never the like was. Again in our greatest pains, it is a kind of ease, even to find some regard. Naturally we desire it, if we cannot be delivered, if we cannot be relieved, job 19.21. yet to be pitied: It showeth there be yet some, that are touched with the sense of our misery, that wish us well, and would give us ease if they could: But this afflicted here, findeth not so much, neither the one nor the other: but is even as he were an outcast both of Heaven and Earth. Now verily a heavy case, and worthy to be put in this book of Lamentations. I demand then, Christ's complaint. Of whom speaketh the Prophet this? of himself, or of some other? This I find; there is not any of the ancient writers, but do apply, yea, in a manner appropriate this speech to our Saviour CHRIST: And that this very day, the day of his Passion, (truly termed here the day of God's wrath:) And wheresoever they treat of the Passion, ever this verse cometh in: And (to say the truth) to take the words strictly as they lie, they cannot agreed, or be verified of any but of him, and him only. For though some other, not unfitly, may be allowed to say the same words: it must be in a qualified sense: for, in full and perfect property of speech, He, and none but he: None can say, (neither jeremy nor any other) Si fuerit dolour sicut dolor meus, as CHRIST can: Not day of wrath, like to his day: no sorrow to be compared to his, (all are short of it,) nor his to any, it exceedeth them all. And yet, according to the letter, it cannot be denied, but they be set down by jeremy, in the person of his own people, being then come to great misery, and of the holy City, than laid waste, and desolate by the Chaldees. What then? Ex Aegypto vocavi Filium meum. Hos. 11.1. Out of Egypt have I called my Son, was literally spoken of this people too: Matt. 2.15. Psal. 22.1. yet is by the Evangelist applied to our Saviour CHRIST. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? at the first uttered by David, yet the same words our Saviour taketh to himself, Mat. 27.46. and that more truly and properly, then ever David could: and of those of David's, and of these of Ieremies, there is one and the same reason. Of all which the ground is; 1 Cor. 10. 1● that correspondence which is between CHRIST & the Patriarches, Prophets, and People before CHRIST, of whom the Apostles rule is, Omnia in figura contingebant illis: That they were themselves Types: and their sufferings, forerunning figures of the great suffering of the Son of God; which maketh Isaaks offering, and josephs' selling, and Israel's calling from Egypt, and that complaint of David's, and this of Ieremies, appliable to him; That he may take them to himself, and the Church ascribe them to him, and that in more fitness of terms, and more fullness of truth, than they were at the first spoken by David, or jeremy, or any of them all. And this rule, and the steps of the Father's proceeding by this rule, are to me a warrant, to expound and apply this Verse (as they have done before,) to the present occasion of this time; which requireth some such Scripture to be considered by us, as doth belong to his Passion, who this Day poured out his most precious Blood, as the only sufficient Price, of the dear purchase of all our Redemptions. Be it then to us, (as to them it was, and as most properly it is) The speech of the SON OF GOD, as this Day hanging on the Cross, to a sort of careless people, that go up and down without any manner of Regard of these his Sorrows & sufferings, so worthy of all Regard. Have ye no regard? o all ye that pass by the way, Consider and behold, if ever there were sorrow, like to my sorrow, which was done unto me, wherewith the Lord afflicted me in the day of the fierceness of his wrath. Here is a Complaint, and here is a Request. A complaint, that we have not: The Parts. A request, that we would have the Pains and Passions of our Saviour CHRIST in some Regard. For first he complaineth (and not without cause) Have ye no regard? And then (as willing to forget their former neglect, so they will yet do it) he falleth to entreat, o consider and behold! And what is that we should Consider? The Sorrow which he suffereth: and in it, two things: The Quality, and the Cause. 1. The Quality, Si fuerit sicut: If ever the like were; And that either in respect of Dolour, or Dolour meus. The Sorrow suffered, or the Person suffering. 2. The Cause: that is God, that in his wrath, in his fierce wrath, doth all this to Him, which cause will not leave us, till it have led us to another cause in ourselves, and to another yet in him; All which serve to ripen us to Regard. These two then specially we are moved to Regard. 1. Regard is the main point. But because therefore we Regard but faintly, because either we Consider not, or not aright; we are called to consider seriously of them. As if he should say, Regard you not? If you did Consider, you would: if you Considered as you should, you would Regard as you aught. Certainly the Passion, if it were throughly Considered, would be duly Regarded. Consider then. So the points are two: The Quality, and the Cause of his suffering: and the duties two: To Consider, and Regard. So to consider, that we Regard them, and him for them. Have ye no Regard? etc. TO cease this Complaint, and to grant this Request; we are to Regard: and that we may Regard, we are to Consider the pains of his Passion. The parties to whom. Which, that we may reckon no easy common matter of light moment, to do, or not do, as we list: First, O all ye that pass by the way, Consuler a general stay is made of all passengers, this day. For (as it were from his Cross) doth our Saviour address this his speech to them that go to and fro, the day of his Passion, without so much as entertaining a thought, or vouchsafing a look that way. O vos qui transitis! O you that pass by the way, stay & Consider: To them frameth he his speech, that pass by: To them, & to them all. O vos omnes, qui transitis, O all ye that pass by the way, stay & Consider. Which very stay of his, showeth it to be some important matter, in that it is, of all. For as for some to be stayed, and those the greater some, there may be reason; the most part of those that go thus to and fro, may well intent it, they have little else to do. But to except none, not some special Person, is hard. What know we their haste? Their occasions may be such, and so urgent, as they cannot stay Well, what haste, what business soever, pass not by, stay though. As much to say, as Be they never so great, your occasions; they are not, they cannot be so great as this: How urgent soever, this is more, and more to be intended. The regard of this, is worthy the staying of a lourney. It is worth the Considering of those, that have never so great affairs in hand. So material is this sight in his account; which serveth to show the exigence of this duty. But as for this point it needeth not to be stood upon to us here at this time: we are not going by, we need not to be stayed; we have stayed all other our affairs, to come hither, and here we are all present before God, to have it set before us, that we may consider it. Thither then let us come. That which we are called to behold & consider, is his Sorrow: Sorrow. And Sorrow is a thing which of itself Nature inclineth us to behold, as being ourselves in the body, Heb. 13.3. which may be one day in the like sorrowful case. Therefore will every good eye turn itself, 1. Behold. Luk. 10.32. and look upon them that lie in distress. Those two in the Gospel, that passed by the wounded man, before they passed by him, (though they helped him not as the Samaritane did) yet they looked upon him as he lay. But this party here, lieth not, john 3.14. he is lift up as the Serpent in the wilderness, that unless we turn our eyes away purposely, we can neither will nor choose, but behold him. But because to Behold, Acts 1.11. and not to Consider, is but to gaze; And gazing the Angel blameth in the Apostles themselves, we must do both: both Behold, 2. Consider. and Consider: look upon, with the cie of the body, that is, Behold; and look into, with the eye of the mind, that is, Consider. So saith the Prophet here. And the very same doth the Apostle advice us to do, Heb. 12.23. First, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to look upon him, (that is, to Behold) and then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to think upon him, that is, to Consider his Sorrow: Sorrow sure would be considered. Now then, The quality, If ever the like. because as the quality of the Sorrow is, accordingly it would be considered, (for if it be but a common sorrow, the less will serve, but if it be some special, so me very heavy case, the more would be allowed it: for proportionably with the suffering, the consideration is to arise:) To raise our consideration to the full, and to elevate it to the highest point, there is upon his Sorrow set a Si fuerit sicut, a note of highest eminency: for Si fuerit sicut, are words that have life in them, and are able to quicken our consideration, if it be not quite dead: For, by them we are provoked, as it were to Consider, and considering, to see whether ever any Sicut may be found, to set by it, whether ever any like it. For if never any, Our nature is, to regard things exceeding rare and strange; and such as the like whereof is not else to be seen. Upon this point then, there is a Case made, As if he should say, If ever the like, Regard not this; But if never any, Be like yourselves in other things, and vouchsafe this, (if not your chiefest,) yet some Regard. To enter then this Comparison, In the three parts of his Sorrow. & to show it for such. That, are we to do, three sundry ways: For three sundry ways, in three sundry words, are these Sufferings of his here expressed: all three within the compass of the Verse. The first is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mac-ob- ob (which we read Sorrow,) taken from a wound or stripe, as all do agreed. The second is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gholel we read Done to me, taken from a word that signifieth Melting in a furnace; as S. Hierom noteth out of the Chaldaee (who so translateth it.) The third is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hoga where we read Afflicted, from a word which importeth Renting off or Bereaving. The old Latin turneth it, Vindemiavit me, As a Vine whose fruit is all plucked off. The Greek with Theodoret, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as a Vine or tree, whose leaves are all beaten off, and it left naked and bore. In these three are comprised his Sufferings, Wounded, Melted, and Bereft, leaf and fruit (that is) all manner of comfort. Of all that is poenall, Of the quality. or can be suffered, the common division is, Sensus & Damni, Grief for that we feel, First of the quality of his Passion. or for that we forgo. For that we feel, in the two former, Wounded in body, Melted in soul: for that we forgo, in the last; Bereft all, left neither fruit, nor so much as a leaf to hung on him. According to these three, P●na sensus in the body. To consider his Sufferings, and to begin first with the first. The pains of his Body, his wounds and his stripes. Our very eye will soon tell us, No place was left in his Body, where he might be smitten, and was not. His skin and flesh rend with the whips and scourges, His hands and feet wounded with the nails, His head with the thorns, His very heart with the spear point; All his senses, all his parts laden with whatsoever wit or malice could invent His blessed Body given as an Anuile to be beaten upon, with the violent hands of those barbarous miscreants, till they brought him into this case, of Si fuerit sicut. For pilate's (Ecce Homo!) joh. 19.5. His showing him with an Ecce, as if he should say, Behold, look if ever you saw the like rueful spectacle; This very showing of his showeth plainly, he was then come into woeful plight: So woeful, as Pilate verily believed, his very sight so pitiful, as, it would have moved the hardest hart of them all to have relented, and said, This is enough, we desire no more. And this for the wounds of his body, (for on this we stand not.) In this one peradventure some Sicut may be found, in the Pains of the body: Poena sensus in the Soul. but in the second, the Sorrow of the Soul, I am sure, none. And indeed, the Pain of the Body is but the Body of pain: the very soul of Sorrow & Pain is the soul's Sorrow & Paine. Give me any grief, Syra. 15.57. save the grief of the mind, saith the wiseman, For (saith Solomon) the spirit of a man will sustain all his other infirmities, P●o. 18.14. but a wounded spirit, who can bear? And of this, this of his soul, I dare make a Case, Si fuerit sicut. He began to be troubled in Soul, joh. 12.27. Luk. 22.44. saith S. john: To be in an agony, saith S. Luke: To be in anguish of mind and deep distress, Mar. 14.35. Matt. 26.38. saith S. Mark. To have his Soul round about on every side environed with Sorrow, and that, Sorrow to the death: Hear is trouble, anguish, agony, sorrow and deadly sorrow: but it must be such, as never the like; So it was too. The aestimate whereof we may take from the second word, of Melting, that is, from his sweat in the Garden; strange, and the like whereof was never heard or seen. Luk. 22.44. No manner violence offered him in body; no man touching him, or being near him, in a cold night (for they were fain to have a fire within doors) lying abroad in the air, and upon the cold earth, to be all of a sweat, and that Sweated to be Blood; and not as they call it, Diaphoreticus, a thin faint Sweat; but Grumosus, of great Drops, and those, so many, so plenteous, as they went through his apparel and an; and through all, streamed to the ground, and that in great abundance; Read, Inquire, and Consider, Si fuerit sudor, sicut sudor iste; If ever there were Sweat like this Sweat of his? Never the like Sweat certainly, and therefore never the like Sorrow. Our translation is, Done unto me: but we said, the word properly signifieth (and so S. Hierome & the Chaldey Paraphrast read it) Meltedme. And truly it should seem by this fearful Sweat of his, he was near some furnace, the feeling whereof, was able to cast him into that Sweat, and to turn his Sweat into drops of Blood. And sure it was so: For see, even in the very next words of all to this verse, he complaineth of it, Verse 13. Ignem misit in ossibus meis, That a fire was sent into his bones which melted him, and made that bloody Sweat to distil from him. That hour, what his feelings were, it is dangerous to define: we know them not, we may be too bold to determine of them. To very good purpose it was, that the ancient Fathers of the Greek Church in their Liturgy, after they have recounted all the particular Pains as they are set down in his Passion, and by all, & by every one of them, called for mercy; do, after all, shut up all with this, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, By thine unknown Sorrows & Sufferings felt by thee, but not distinctly known by us, have mercy upon us & save us. Now, though this suffice not, nothing near; yet let it suffice, (the time being short) for his pains of Body and Soul. for those of the Body, it may be some may have endured the like: but the sorrows of his Soul are unknown sorrows: and for them, none ever have; ever have, or ever shall suffer the like; the like, or near the like in any degree. And now to the third. Pana Dam●i. It was said before, To be in distress, such distress as this was, and to find none to comfort, nay not so much as to regard him, is all that can be said, to make his sorrow a Nonsicut. Comfort is it, by which in the midst of all our sorrows, we are Confortati, that is, strengthened and made the better able to bear them all out. And who is there, even the poorest creature among us, but in some degree findeth some comfort, or some regard at some body's hands? For if that be not left, the state of that party is here in the third word said to be like the tree, whose leaves and whose fruit are all beaten off quite, & itself left bore and naked both of the one and of the other. And such was our Saviour's case in these his sorrows this day, Leaves. & that so, as what is left the meanest of the sons of men was not left him: Not a leaf. Not a leaf! Leaves I may well call all humane Comforts and Regards, Withered leaves. whereof he was then left clean desolate. 1. His own, they among whom he had gone about all his life long, healing them, teaching them, feeding them, doing them all the good he could, joh. 18.40. and 19.15. Mat. 27.25. Mar. 15.29.36. it is they that cry, Not him, not, but Barrabas rather; Away with him, his blood be upon us and our children. It is they that in the midst of his sorrows, shake their head at him; and cry, Ah thou wretch: they that in his most disconsolate estate and cry, Eli, Eli, in most barbarous manner deride him, and say, Stay, and you shall see Elias come presently and take him down. And this was their Regard. But these were but withered leaves. Green leaves. They than that on earth were nearest him of all, the greenest leaves and likest to hung on, and to give him some shade: even of them, some bought and sold him, others denied and forswore him, but all fell away and forsook him. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (saith Theodoret) not a leaf left. But, leaves are but leaves, Fruit. and so are all earthly stays. The fruit then, the true fruit of the Vine indeed, the true comfort in all heaviness, is Desuper, from above, is divine consolation. But Vindemiavit me, (saith the Latin Text) even that was in this his sorrow, this day, bereft him too. And that was his most sorrowful complaint of all others: not that his friends upon earth, but that his Father from Heaven had forsaken him, that neither heaven nor earth yielded him any regard; but that between the passioned powers of his soul, and whatsoever might any ways refresh him, there was a Traverse drawn, and he left in the estate of a weatherbeaten tree, all desolate and forlorn. Evident, too evident, by that his most dreadful cry, which at once moved all the powers in heaven and earth, Mat 27.46. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Weigh well that cry, consider it well and tell me, Si fuerit clamor sicut clamor iste, if ever there were cry, like to that of his: never the like cry, and therefore never the like sorrow. It is strange, very strange, that of none of the Martyrs the like can be read; who yet endured most exquisite pains in their Martyrdoms; yet we see with what courage, with what cheerfulness, how even singing they are reported to have passed through their torments. Will ye know the reason? S. Augustine setteth it down, Martyrs non eripuit, sed nunquid deseruit? He delivered not his Martyrs, but did he forsake them? He delivered not their bodies, but he forsook not their souls, but distilled into them the dew of his heavenly comfort; an abundant supply for all they could endure. Not so here, Vindemiavit me (saith the Prophet) Dereliquisti me (saith he himself:) No comfort, no supply at all. Leo it is that first said it, (and all antiquity allow of it,) Non soluit unionem, sed subtraxit visionem. The union was not dissolved; True, but the beams, the influence was restrained, and for any comfort from thence, his Soul was, even as a scorched heath-ground, without so much as any drop of dew of Divine comfort: as a naked tree, no fruit to refresh him within, no leaf to give him shadow without: The power of darkness let lose to afflict him: The influence of comfort, restrained to relieve him. It is a Non sicut this, It cannot be expressed as it should, and as other things may; In silence we may admire it, but all our words will not reach it. And though to draw it so fare as some do, is little better than blasphemy; Yet on the other side, to shrink it so short, as other some do, cannot be but with derogation to his love, who to kindle our love and loving Regard, would come to a Non sicut in his suffering: For, so it was, and so we must allow it to be. This in respect of his Passion. Dolour. Now in respect of his Person, Secondly, of the quality of his person. Dolour meus. Whereof, if it please you to take a view, even of the person thus wounded, thus afflicted and forsaken, you shall then have a perfect Non siout. And in deed, the Person is here a weighty circumstance, it is thrice repeated, Meus, Mihi, Me. And we may not leave it out. For, as is the Person, so is the Passion; and any one, even the very lest degree of wrong or disgrace, offered to a Person of excellency, is more than an hundreth times more, to one of mean condition: So weighty is the circumstance of the Person. Consider then, how great the Person was; And I rest fully assured, here we boldly challenge, and say, Si fuerit sicut. Ecce Homo, joh. 19.5. saith first, A man he is, as we are: and were he but a man, Nay, were he not a man, but some poor dumb creature, it were great ruth to see him so handled, as he was. A man, Mat. 27.19. saith Pilate, and a Just man. saith pilate's wife. Have thou nothing to do with that Just man. And that is one degree further. For though we pity the punishment even of malefactors themselves: yet ever, most compassion we have of them that suffer, and be innocent. And he was Innocent: Pilate and Herod, Luk. 23.14. & 15. joh. 14.30. and the Prince of this world, his very enemies, being his judges. Now, among the Innocent, the more Noble the Person, the more heavy the spectacle. and never do our bowels earn so much as over such. Alas, alas for that Noble Prince, jer. 22.18. (saith this Prophet,) (the style of mourning for the death of a great Personage.) And, he that suffereth here, is such, even a principal Person among the sons of men, of the race royal, descended from Kings; joh. 19.22. Pilate styled him so in his Title; and he would not altar it. Three degrees. But, yet we are not at our true Quantus. For he is yet more: Moore, than the highest of the sons of men: joh. 19.5. Mar. 15.39. for he is THE SON OF THE MOST HIGH GOD. Pilate saw no further, but Ecce Homo; The Centurion did, Verè Filius Dei erat hic. Now truly this was the Son of God. And here, all words forsake us, & every tongue becometh speechless. We have no way to express it, but à Minore ad Maius. (Thus,) Of this book, the book of Lamentations, one special occasion was, the death of King josias: But behold, a greater than josias is here. Of King josias (as a special reason of mourning) the Prophet saith, Cap. 4.10. Spiritus oris nostri, Christus Domini, The very breath of our nostrils, The Lords Anointed; (for so are all good Kings in their Subject's accounts) He is gone. But behold, here is not Christus Domini, but Christus Dominus, The Lords CHRIST, but the Lord CHRIST himself: And that, not coming to an Honourable death in battle, as josias did, But, to a most vile reproachful death, the death of malefactors in the highest degree. And not slain outright as josias was: but mangled and massacred in most pitiful strange manner, wounded in body, wounded in Spirit, left utterly desolate. O consider this well, and confess the Case is truly put, Si fuerit Dolor sicut Dolor meus. Never, never the like Person: And if, as the Person is, the Passion be, Never the like Passion to his. It is truly affirmed, that any one, even the lest drop of Blood, even the lest pain, yea of the body only, of this so great a Person; any Dolour with this Meus, had been enough to make a Non sicut of it. That is enough, but that is not all: for add now the three other degrees; Add to this Person, those Wounds, that Sweated, and that Cry, and put all together: And, I make no manner question, the like was not, shall not, cannot ever be. It is fare above all that ever were, or can be. Abyssus est: Men may drowsily hear it, and coldly affect it: But Principalities and Powers, stand abashed at it. And for the Quality, both of the Passion and of the Person, That Never the like; thus much. NOw to proceed to the the Cause, and to consider it: for without it, Of the cause. we shall have but half a Regard, and scarce that. In deed, set the Cause aside, and the Passion (as rare as it is,) is yet but a dull and heavy sight: we list not much look upon spectacles of that kind, though never so strange: they fill us full of pensive thoughts, & make us Melancholic; and so doth this, till upon examination of the Cause, we find it toucheth us near; And so near so many ways, as we cannot choose, but have some Regard of it. What was done to Him we see. GOD. Let there now be a Quest of Inquiry, to find who was doer of it. Who? who, but the Power of darkness, wicked Pilate, bloody Caiaphas, the envious Priests, the barbarous Soldiers? None of these are returned here. We are too low, by a great deal, if we think to find it among men. Quae fecit mihi Deus. It was God that did it. An hour of that day was the hour of the power of darkness: Luk. 22.53. but the whole day itself, is said here plainly, was the day of the wrath of God. God was a doer in it; Wherewith God hath afflicted me. God afflicteth some in Mercy: God's wrath. and others in wrath. This was in his wrath. In his wrath God is not alike to all; Some he afflicteth in his more gentle and mild; others in his fierce wrath. This was in the very fierceness of his wrath. His Sufferings, his Sweat and Cry, show as much; They could not come, but from a wrath, Si fuerit sicut, (For we are not past Non sicut, not not here in this part: it followeth us still, and will not leave us in any point, not to the end.) The Cause then in God, Sinne. was wrath. What caused this wrath? God is not wroth, but with sin; Nor grievously wroth, but with grievous sin. And in CHRIST there was no grievous sin, Not his. Nay, no sin at all. God did it, (the text is plain.) And in his fierce wrath he did it. joh. 18.22. For what cause? For God forbidden God should do as did Annas the high Priest, 'cause him to be smitten without cause. God forbidden (saith Abraham) the judge of the world should do wrong to any. To any, Gen. 18.25. but specially to his own Son: That his Son, of whom with thundering voice from Heaven, he testifieth all his joy and delight were in him, in him only he was well pleased. And how then could his wrath wax hot, to do all this unto him? There is no way to preserve God's justice, and Christ's Innocency both, but to say as the Angel said of him to the Prophet Daniel, The Messiah shall be slain, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ve en lo, shall be slain, Dan. 9.26. but not for himself. Not for himself? for whom then? for some others. Other men's. He took upon him the person of others; and so doing, justice may have her course and proceed. Pity it is to see a man pay that he never took: but if he will become a Surety, if he will take on him the Person of the Debtor, so he must. Pity to see a silly poor Lamb lie bleeding to death; but if it must be a sacrifice (such is the nature of a sacrifice) so it must. And so Christ, though without sin in himself, yet as a Surety, as a Sacrifice, may justly suffer for others, if he will take upon him their persons; and so, God may justly give way to his wrath against him. And who be those others? Ours. The Prophet Esay telleth us, and telleth it us seven times over for failing, Esa. 53.4.5.6. He took upon him our infirmities, and bore our maladies: He was wounded for our iniquities, and broken for our transgressions. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes were we healed. All we as sheep were gone astray, and turned every man to his own way: and the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquities of us all. All, all, even those that pass to and fro, and for all this, Regard neither him nor his Passion. The short is: It was we, that for our sins, our many, great, and grievous sins, (Si fuerit sicut) the like whereof never were) should have sweat this Sweat, and have cried this Cry; should have been smitten with these sorrows by the fierce wrath of God, had not he stepped between the blow and us, and latched it in his own body and soul, even the dint of the fierceness of the wrath of God. O the Non sicut of our sins, that could not otherwise be answered! To return then a true verdict. It is we, (we wretched sinners that we are) that are to be found the principals in this act; and those on whom we seek to shifted it, to derive it from ourselves, Pilate and Caiaphas and the rest, but instrumental causes only. And it is not the executioner that killeth the man properly, (that is, They:) Not, nor the judge, (which is God in this case:) only sin, Solum peccatum homicida est, Sin only is the murderer, (to say the truth;) and our sins the murderers of the Son of God: and the Non sicut of them, the true cause of the Nonsicut both of God's wrath, and of his sorrowful sufferings. Which bringeth home this our text to us, even into our own bosoms; and applieth it most effectually, to me that speak, and to you that hear, to every one of us; and that with the Prophet Nathans application; Tu es homo, 2 Sam. 12.7. Thou art the Man, even thou, for whom God in his fierce wrath thus afflicted him. Sin than was the cause on our part, Why we, or some other for us. But yet, Love of us. what was the cause why He on his part? what was that that moved him thus to become our Surety, and to take upon him our debt & danger? that moved him thus to lay down his Soul, a sacrifice for our sin? Sure, Oblatus est quia voluit, saith Esay again, Esa. 53.7. Offered he was for no other cause, but because he would. For unless he would, he needed not: Needed not, for any necessity of justice; for no Lamb was ever more innocent: Not for any necessity of constraint; For twelve legions of Angels were ready at his command: But, because he would. And why would he? No reason can be given, but, because he Regarded us: (Mark that reason.) And what were we? Verily, utterly unworthy even his least regard; not worth the taking up, Rom. 5.8. not worth the looking after. Cuminimici essemus, (saith the Apostle) we were his enemies when he did it; without all desert before, and without all regard after he had done and suffered all this for us: and yet he would Regard us, that so little regard him. For when he saw us (a sort of forlorn sinners) Non priùs natos, Ephes. 2.3. quàm damnatos, Damned as fast as born, as being by nature children of wrath, and yet still heaping up wrath against the day of wrath, Rom. 2.5. by the errors of our life, till the time of our passing hence: and then the fierce wrath of God, ready to overwhelm us, and to make us endure the terror and torments of a neverdying death, (another Non sicut yet) When (I say) he saw us in this case, he was moved with compassion over us, and undertook all this for us. Even then, in his love he regarded us, and so regarded us, that he regarded not himself, to regard us. Bernard saith most truly, Dilexisti me Domine, magis quàm te, quando mori voluisti prome: In suffering all this for us, thou show'dst (Lord) that we were more dear to thee, that thou regardest us more, than thine own self: And shall this Regard find no regard at our hands? It was Sin then, and the heinousness of Sin in us, that provoked wrath & the fierceness of his wrath in God: It was love, and the greatness of his love in CHRIST, that caused him to suffer the Sorrows, and the grievousness of these Sorrows, and all for our sakes. And indeed, but only to testify the Non sicut of this his Love, all this needed not, that was done to him. One, any one, even the very lest of all the pains he endured, had been enough; enough, in respect of the Meus: enough, in respect of the Non sicut of his Person. For that which setteth the high price on this Sacrifice, is this; That he which offereth it unto God, is God. But if little had been suffered, little would the Love have been thought, that suffered so little; and as little Regard would have been had of it. To awake our Regard then, or to leave us excuseless, if we continued regardless; all this he bore for us: that he might as truly make a Case of Sifuerit Amor, sicut Amor meus, as he did before, of Si fuerit Dolour, sicut Dolor meus. We say we will Regard Love, if we will, here it is to Regard. So have we the Causes all three: Wrath in God: Sin in ourselves: Love in Him. Yet have we not all we should. Our benefit by it. Pertain it not to us? For, what of all this? What good? Cui bono? That, that is it indeed that we will Regard, if any thing: as being matter of Benefit, the only thing in a manner the world regardeth, which bringeth us about to the very first words again. For, the very first words which we read, Have ye no regard? are in the Original, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lo alechem, which the Seventie turn (word for word) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and the Latin likewise, Nun ad vos pertinet? Pertains it not to you, that you Regard it no better? For these two, Pertaining, and Regarding, are folded one in another, and go together so commonly, as one is taken often for the other. Than to besure to bring us to Regard, he urgeth this. Pertains not all this to you? Is it not for your good? Is not the benefit yours? Matters of benefit they pertain to you, and without them, Love, and all the rest may pertain to whom they william. Consider then, the inestimable benefit that groweth unto you, from this incomparable Love.. It is not impertinent this; Even this; That to us hereby, all is turned about clean contrary: That by his Stripes, we are healed: 2 Cor. 6.2. by his Sweat, we refreshed: By his forsaking, we received to Grace. That this day, to Him the day of the fierceness of God's wrath: is to us the Day of the fullness of God's favour, (as the Apostle calleth it) A Day of Salvation. In respect of that he suffered, (I deny not) an evil day: a day of heaviness: But, in respect of that, which He, by it hath obtained for us: It is, (as we truly call it, (A good Day, a Day of joy and jubilee. For it doth not only rid us of that wrath, which pertained to us for our Sins: but further it maketh that pertain to us whereto we had no manner of right at all. For, not only by his death, as by the death of our sacrifice, by the blood of his Cross, as by the blood of the Paschal Lamb; the Destroyer passeth over us, and we shall not perish: Exod. 12.15 But also by his death as by the death of our High Priest (for he is Priest and Sacrifice both) we are restored from our exile, Num. 15.28 even to our former forfeited estate in the land of Promise. Or rather (as the Apostle saith) Non sicut delictum sic donum: Not to the same estate, Rom. 8.15. but to one nothing like it: (that is) One fare better, than the estate our sins bereft us: For they deprived us of Paradise, a place on earth: but by the purchase of his blood, we are entitled to a fare higher, even the kingdom of Heaven: and his blood, Mat. 26.28. not only the blood of Remission to acquit us of our sins; but the blood of the Testament too, to bequeath us, and give us estate, In that heavenly inheritance. Now whatsoever else, this (I am sure) is a Non sicut: as that which the eye, by all it can see; the ear, by all it can hear; the heart by all it can conceive, cannot pattern it, or set the like by it. Pertains not this unto us neither? Is not this worth the regard? Sure if any thing be worthy the regard, this is most worthy of our very worthiest and best regard. Thus have we considered and seen, The recapitulation of all. not so much as in this sight we might or should, but as much as the time will give us leave. And now, lay all these before you, (every one of them a Non sicut of itself) the pains of his Body, esteemed by pilate's Ecce; the sorrows of his Soul, by his sweat in the Garden; the comfortless estate of his sorrows, by his cry on the Cross: And with these, his Person, as being the Son of the great and Eternal God. Than join to these, the Cause: In God, his fierce wrath: In us, our heinous sins deserving it: In him, his exceeding great Love, both suffering that for us which we had deserved; and procuring for us, that we could never deserve: making that to appertain to himself, which of right pertained to us; and making that pertain to us, which pertained to him only, and not to us at all, but by his means alone. And after their view in several, lay them all together, so many Non sicuts into one, and tell me, if his Complaint be not just, and his request most reasonable. Yes sure, his Complaint is just, The complaint. The matter Just. Have ye no Regard? None? and yet never the like? None and it pertains unto you? No Regard? As if it were some common ordinary matter, and the like never was? No Regard? As if it concerned you not a whit, and it toucheth you so near? As if he should say: Rare things you regard, yea though they no ways pertain to you; this is exceeding rare, and will you not regard it? Again, things that nearly touch you, you regard, though they be not rare at all; this toucheth you exceeding near, even as near as your soul toucheth you, and will you no●, yet regard it? will neither of these by itself, move you? will not both these together move you? what will move you? will Pity, Hear is Distress, Never the like: will Duty? here is a Person, never the like: will Fear? here is wrath, never the like: will Remorse? here are sins, never the like: will Kindness? here is Love, never the like: will bounty? here are Benefits, never the like: will all these? here they be all, all above any Sicut, all in the highest degree. Truly the Complaint is Just, 〈…〉 it may move us: it wanteth no reason, it may move: and it wanteth no affection in the delivery of it to us, on his part to move us. Sure it moved him exceeding much, for among all the deadly sorrows of his most bitter Passion, This, even this seemeth to be his greatest of all, and that which did most affect him, even the grief of the slender reckoning most men have it in; as little respecting him, as if he had done, or suffered nothing at all for them. For lo, of all the sharp pains he endureth, he complaineth not but of this he complaineth, of No Regard: That which grieveth him most, that, which most he moaneth, is this. It is strange, he should be in pains, such pains as never any was, and not complain himself of them, But, of want of regard only. Strange, he should not make request, O Deliver me, or Relieve me: But only, O Consider and Regard me. In effect, as if he said, None, no deliverance, no relief do I seek: Regard I seek. And all that I suffer, I am content with it: I regard it not: I suffer most willingly, if this I may find at your hands, Regard. Truly, The regard of the Creatures of it. This so passionate a Complaint may move us; it moved all but us: For most strange of all it is, that all the Creatures in heaven & earth, seemed to hear this his mournful Complaint, and in their kind, to show their Regard of it: The Sun in heaven shrinking in his light: the earth trembling under it; the very stones cleaving in sunder, as if they had sense and Sympathy of it: and sinful men only, not moved with it. And yet it was not for the Creatures, this was done to Him, to them it pertaineth not: But for us it was, and to us it doth; And shall we not yet Regard it? Shall the Creature, and not we? Shall we not? If we do not, it may pertain to us, The benefit, if but we pertain not to it: It pertains to all, but all pertain not to it. None pertain to it, but they that take benefit by it; and none take benefit by it, no more then by the brazen Serpent, but they that fix their eye on it. Behold, Consider, and Regard it: the profit, the benefit is lost without Regard. If we do not, The peril, 〈◊〉 not. as this was a day of God's fierce wrath against him, only for regarding us; so there is another day coming, and it will quickly be here, a day of like fierce wrath against us, Psal. 90.11. for not regarding him. And who regardeth the power of this wrath? He that doth will surely Regard this. In that day, there is not the most careless of us all, but shall cry as they did in the Gospel, Domine, Mark. 4.38. non ad te pertinet, si perimus? Pertains it not to thee, Carest thou not that we perish? Than would we be glad to pertain to him, & his Passion. Pertains it to us then, & pertains it not now? Sure now it must, if then it shall. Than, The Request. H●●e some Regard. to give end to this Complaint, let us grant him his request, and Regard his Passion. Let the Rareness of it: The Nearness to us: Let Pity, or Duty: Fear, or Remorse: Love, or Bounty Any of them, or all of them. Let the justness of his Complaint: Let his affectionate manner of Complaining of this, and only this. Let the shame of the Creatures Regard. Let our Profit, or our Peril. Let some thing prevail with us, to have it in some Regard. Some Regard! Verily, as his sufferings, Our best stegard. his Love, our good by them are: so should our Regard be, a Non sicut too, That is, a Regard of these, and of nothing in comparison of these. It should be so: For with the benefit, ever the Regard should arise. But God help us poor sinners, and be merciful unto us. Our Regard is a Non sicut, indeed: but it is backward, and in a contrary sense; That is, no where so shallow, so short, or so soon done. It should be otherwise, it should have our deepest consideration, this; and our highest Regard. But if that cannot be had, At lest, some Regard. (our nature is so heavy, and flesh & blood so dull of apprehension in Spiritual things,) yet at lest wise some Regard. Some, I say: The more the better; But in any wise some. And not as here, No Regard, none at all: Some ways to show, we make account of it, to withdraw ourselves, to void our minds of other matters, to set this before us, to think upon it, to thank him for it; to regard him, and stay and see, whether he will regard us, or no. Sure he will, Acts 2.37. and we shall feel our hearts pricked with sorrow, by consideration of the cause in us, our sin: And again, Luk. 24.32. warm within us, by consideration of the cause in him, his Love; till by some motion of Grace he answer us, and show, that our Regard is accepted of him. This Day specially. And this, as at all other times, (for no day is amiss, but at all times, sometime to be taken for this duty) so specially on this Day; this Day which we hold holy to the memory of his Passion, this day to do it; to make this Day, the Day of God's wrath & CHRIST'S suffering, a Day to us of serious consideration and Regard of them both. It is kindly to consider Opus diei, in die suo, The work of the Day, in the Day it was wrought: and this day it was wrought. This Day therefore, whatsoever business be, to lay them aside a little; whatsoever our haste, yet to stay a little, and to spend a few thoughts in calling to mind and taking to Regard, what this day the Son of God did and suffered for us: and all for this end, that what he was then, we might not be; and what he is now, we might be for ever. Which, Almighty God grant we may do, more or less, even every one of us, according to the several measures of his grace in us, etc. Concio Latinè habita CORAM REGIA MAIESTATE, quinto Augusti 1606. in Aula Grenuici: Quo tempore venerat in Angliam, Regem nostrum invisurus, Serenissimus Potentissimusque Princeps CHRISTIANVS quartus, Daniae & Noruegiae Rex. Ab Episcopo Cicestriensi Eleemosynario Regio. LONDINI, Excude bat Robertus Barkerus, Serenissimae Regiae Maiestatis Typographus.