CHAPTER XII.

The extremity of pain which Christ our Redeemer endured in his body.-His being harassed day and night without a moment's rest.-His being crowned with thorns, torn with rods, and at last crucified.

The second thing to be considered is the pains and dolours thereof, which are all sorts of ways set forth to us in his story.

1. Immediately afore his death, want of sleep, not that whole night only which preceded his crucifying, in which he was kept waking in the high priest's hall, but three or four nights afore, as Brugensis computeth them. He in preparation to his passion, and being now to leave the world, spent those nights in prayer on mount Olivet, and on the days did teach the people in the temple after his coming into Jerusalem: so towards his end, pouring forth his spirit as a sacrifice to God and his people, ere he was offered up as the sacrifice. He knew his tabernacle was now to be dissolved, and he spared not himself, whom God afterwards spared not, days and nights wearing out himself in private prayer or preaching. Luke's words are these: Luke xxi. 37, And in the days' (it is in the plural) he was teaching in the temple, and in the nights he went out and abode in the mount' (that is, the whole nights, as abiding implies) that was called the mount of Olives.' This was his wonted custom for the time after he came into Jerusalem, confirming by his example what in the words afore he had taught his disciples, verse 36, Watch ye therefore, and pray always,' &c. And then, ver. 30, it follows, And all the people came early to him in the morning' (that is, every morning of those nights, as knowing his manner and wont) for to hear him.' These incessant prayers without rest must needs bring a strong body low in spirits, and weary it out. The fourth night, which was Thursday night, he was apprehended after those long sermons made to his disciples, which John hath recorded, and that solemn prayer put up, John xvii.

6

6

2. That night and next day they hurried him up and down seven journeys from one place to another (the Messiah had no rest, that those that were weary might have rest in him) according to the compute, of six miles and a half, or seven miles.

3. Whilst he was that last night in the high priest's hall, they smote him with the palms of their hands (which are bones, as our translators render that of Matthew, chap. xxvi. 67), saith Matthew; and with their fists, saith Mark, and both often; others add with rods, as the word gailen signifies, derived from gazis, a rod; and these on his mouth or face.

4. He had a crown of thorns plaited on his head, where the nerves tenderest of sense do meet. To harrow men with thorns is made a high and grievous torture and punishment, Judges viii. 16. Gideon, when by sense he would teach the men of Succoth, by sense and sore experience to do no more so wickedly, it is said, that he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness, and briars, and with them he taught the men of Succoth.' This crown of thorns was kept upon his head all the time, both in his way to the cross, and whilst on the cross, which pierced those veins and sinews on the temples and forehead, and caused his face, besmeared also with dust in his travel to the cross, to be (as the prophet speaks) more marred than any man's, Isa. lii. 14.

5. Add to this weariness and faintness of spirits, which appeared in the.

carrying of his cross. There was that one thing only, wherein they seemed to pity him, in calling to another to help him, Simon of Cyrene. But the truth of the thing was, that he having watched and spent himself so many days and nights together, he failed so much that they feared he would have fainted, and so expired ere he came to the place of execution, and so they should have missed of their designed malice in crucifying of him. We have wearied him with our sins, and this made him weary and ready to faint. Oh, come to him, all ye that are weary and heavy laden.

6. He was whipped and scourged, which was twice, once by Pilate's command, and that to the end to move compassion in the Jews, that so he having suffered so cruel a punishment as was sufficient to assuage their malice, and to satisfy for any crime they could in their own imagination think him guilty of, who in Pilate's had deserved nothing of death, they might relent and cease to desire his being crucified. And when he had scourged him, he brings him forth to public view, and cries, 'Behold the man !' And after that he was again scourged (as John relates it), as of custom the Romans used to do those whom they crucified. And these strokes were laid on, not by the Jews, who by their law were limited not to exceed forty stripes, but by the Roman soldiers, who had no bounds set them, but gave as many and as cruel ones as their barbarous nature pleased, unto an abject man, designed and condemned to the highest tortures.

7. He after all was crucified. The evangelists aggravate not that in the circumstances of it; only say, he was crucified;' but much is shut up in that one word the cruelty of that death being known in those days, and by the relation of it in stories, and by those who have made a collection of it, of the manner of it, in these days. The apostle Paul put this emphasis upon his death, 'To death, even the death of the cross,' Phil. ii. 8, cruciatus, or the pains of the cross, being commonly used by the Romans (among whom this death was frequent) to express the sharpest pains and tortures. The manner of which was,

(1.) The cross, the person to be crucified was being affixed unto, being laid upon the ground, his hands and feet were stretched out as far as they could extend, and then nailed in the hands and in the feet unto the cross; which the Psalmist, Ps. xxii., expresseth by digging holes (foderunt) in his hands and feet, ver. 16, as the vulgar translation reads it. In the hands and feet the nerves again meet and centre, and so they are of the most exquisite sense. Then,

(2.) The rearing up the cross with the man nailed on it (whilst on the ground), and fixing the cross in the hole which was digged for it, with a violent jog to fix it in the earth, as was their manner; this exceeded all the torments of our racks. In the 22d Psalm, ver. 14, 15, himself tells us that it loosened all his bones, or my bones dispart themselves. And it is not only said, as ver. 17, I may tell all my bones,' he hanging naked, but further, ver. 14, All my bones are out of joint.'

(3.) And thereon they hung till death, their arms and hands bearing the weight of their whole bodies, so as they died of mere pains (and thus Christ hung on the tree, Acts v. 30), exhausting their spirits. For a man to hold his hands but stretched out, what a trouble is it. Moses could not for a day do it, but was fain to be supported.

(4.) And this put them into an exquisite fever, as such pains do, as appeared by his thirst, as Ps. xxii. 15, My strength is dried as a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws.'

The last (of bodily sufferings) is death itself, which is the separation of soul and body unto this the curse reached; and it was not his pains or shame or hanging on a cross that would satisfy, unless he also breathe out his soul. This was necessary; unless the corn fall into the ground and die' (it is Christ's own similitude, John xii. 24), it abideth alone.' So he, unless he had died, had been (of mankind) in heaven alone. He was also to be the founder of a will and testament, and that is not of force until the death of the testator; he must therefore die: Heb. ix. 16, 17, For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead; otherwise it is of no strength at all whilst the testator liveth.' And he was to be the death of death, Hosea xiii. 14. And it is a general rule, what he procured virtue for in man's behalf, he did it by undergoing the same. Yea, he thereby made death a dead and ineffectual thing, καταργήσαντος τὸν θάνατον, destroying death, 2 Tim. i. 10. This was held forth in the type, Num. xxxv. 28, in that the murderer or manslayer was then set free from his prison, the city of refuge (which was a confinement to them) when the high priest died, but not till then. Nor should we have been set free unless our High Priest had died. Now for his soul and body thus to part, and for the Son of God, united to both personally, to continue that union unto that dead carcase of his body laid in the grave, what a debasement was it, besides all considerations else that belong to this head.

CHAPTER XIII.

The greatest of all Christ's sufferings were those of his soul.-What were the causes of those sorrows.-The greatness of those sufferings.—Wherein they did consist.-How it could consist with his being the Son of God, to be forsaken of God, and to bear such extremity of his Father's wrath.

But yet, though we have seen the woe and curse in this life due to us by sin passed over and sustained by Christ; and secondly, the curse of bodily death undergone too; yet (as the Revelation to another purpose speaks) there is a third woe, which a guilty conscience fears more than all the other, and which is the curse of curses, Thou shalt die the death.' 'Two woes are passed; behold, a third woe is yet to come,' which is the great and main curse of the law that is to be undergone (as the text says) before the law be fulfilled. For as the life promised-'Do this and live'-is more than to live bodily, or as a beast doth, or rationally, as men do; it being to live in communion with God, as angels do; so, Dying thou shalt die' is more than the bodily death and returning unto dust. And as that life promised is the favour of God-Thy favour is better than life,' Ps. xxxvi. 3; With thee is the fountain of life,' Ps. lxiii. 9, says David-so this death here threatened is from the wrath of God, which therefore is put for hell and death; as when it is said, 'We are saved from wrath to come,' 1 Thess. i. 10; This is the second death,' as it is called, Rev. xx. 6. And it is the original curse, the fountain of curses; whereas the death of the body, and all miseries of this life, are but the streams. This is the pure curse, without mixture, as it is called in the Revelation; the other is the curse in the dregs, mingled and conveyed by creatures. All other curses light upon the outward man first, and upon the soul but at the rebound, and at the second hand, only by way of sympathy and compassion; but the immediate

and proper subject of this curse is the soul and spirit: Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul that doth evil,' Rom. ii. 9. And this is the sum of all curses, and instead of all the rest. And therefore Paul, when he would express his willingness not only to die bodily, but to endure hell also, for his brethren, as Christ had done for him, he expresseth it by this, I could wish myself to be accursed from Christ,' (Rom. ix. 3); that is, to be separated from all the comfort I shall have by him, and endure that wrath that is due unto me, though undergone by him for me. Which wish of his may help us to understand how far Christ was made a curse for us; for it was the love of Christ which constrained Paul's heart unto this wish; and his meaning was to undergo that for his brethren in Christ, which Christ underwent for him, and so far as Christ underwent it, without sin. And so far as Paul wished it without sinning (for he spake it in Christ, and in the Holy Ghost, as ver. 1), so far might and did Christ undergo it without sin also. His meaning therefore was not that he was content to be cut off from being a member of Christ, and so to have no influence of grace from Christ derived to him. No; that had been a sinful wish, and not from the Holy Ghost. But his meaning is, that he could be content to lose that portion of comfort which was to be had in the enjoying of Christ, and so undergo that displeasure from him which was due unto his sins, by feeling the effects of it in anguish and pain, &c. Thus when it is said, that Christ was made a curse, not only in bodily miseries, but in his soul also, the meaning is not that the hypostatical union was dissolved, or the influence of divine grace restrained, but only, that in regard of comfort he was 'forsaken' of God, and felt the fearful effects of his anger due to our sins, without sin and despair.

In like manner, when it is said, Christ underwent this curse also, 'Dying thou shalt die,' the meaning is not that Christ's soul did die the second death the Scripture speaks it not, neither are we to speak it; but thus the Scripture expresseth it, that 'his soul was heavy unto death,' Mat. xxvi. 37, 38. It is spoken of this curse of his soul, which did not work death in it, but a heaviness unto death, not extensivè so as to die, but intensivè, that if he had died it could not have suffered more. As Jonas is said to be angry unto death,' Jonah iv. 10-that is, he thought that misery and cross for which he was angry to be even as great an affliction as death itself, and so he could out of his anger wish for death-so Christ's heaviness was as great as theirs that undergo that death; yet die he did not; it was but 'unto death,' as Onesiphorus was said to be sick unto death,' or as a woman in travail is said to be at the point of death, because if she were a-dying, she could not have more pain. There is such another phrase, Acts ii. 24, where it is said, that Christ was raised up, God having loosed the sorrows of death,' woivas, the throes of death, of which it was impossible he should be held. It is evident that it is spoken of his soul; for if it were spoken of bodily death, there were no sorrows that remained on his body in the grave, to withhold it from rising again. No; these sorrows died when he died, and were then ended, and so could not be said to be upon his body, to hinder it from rising. Again, it is not absolutely called death, but the sorrows of death;' that is, the same pains and throes that dying men's souls have, he felt. And it is observed, that the same phrase that is used to express the sorrows of hell, 1 Thess. v. 3, the travail of a woman (so Ps. xviii. 4, 5, the pangs of hell, or birth-throes, as the word signifies), the same phrase dívas] is here used, signifying the throes of a woman in travail, and having reference to that phrase in Isaiah liii. 11, He shall see

6

of the travail of his soul.' His soul, and not his person, is there properly meant, for it is spoke as of a part of himself, He shall see of the travail of his soul.' Those pains were indeed birth-throes to us, they tending to our life, but in him they were the sorrows of death. And so in this he bare the woman's curse in his soul, as well as Adam's curse in his body; as he did eat in sweat, so he brought forth in pain, and in sorrows unto death; but yet such as did not kill his soul, it died not, for he was to live to see his seed, and have joy in his soul for them for whom he had had most pain: so it is in Isa. liii. 10. For, thirdly, these sorrows did not hold him ;' had they held him, then indeed he had died. And the reason why he died not, was not that he had not the same throes and stabs that use to kill others; for they are therefore called the sorrows of death, because they were the same which kill all men's souls in hell; but he was too strong for them, nature was too potent in him, and life too vigorous; otherwise that which he underwent was enough to have killed out of hand all men and angels; but him they could not hold, it was impossible. Yet, fourthly, they were loosened, not so as never to have hold of him, or as if he never came in to them (as Bellarmine trifles); no, he was in them: (as Ps. exxiv. 7), 'His soul escaped as a bird out of the snare: the snare was broken, and he was delivered.' The devils they are reserved in chains too strong for them, Jude 5, but he, like another Samson, brake these ropes, these cords. So Ps. xviii. 5, 6, where the sorrows of hell are called cords, for the same word,, signifies both, and so the Chaldee Paraphrast reads it. And yet, fifthly, because these were truly the pains of death, therefore this delivery of his soul from them is called a resurrection; and the greatest wonder of his resurrection is ascribed to this; for the main power of the resurrection was seen in raising his soul, because it conflicted with such For his soul had a resurrection as well as his body, which Peter also, to shew he means it here, does distinctly mention, Acts ii. ver. 27. God's promise was, that he would not leave Christ's soul in hell'; that is, under the pressures of these sorrows; there is the resurrection of his soul from the sorrows of death expressed; nor suffer the Holy One to see corruption;' there is the resurrection of his body from the power the grave, both which make up that greater resurrection of his there spoken of. For to raise a soul from the terrors of God's wrath, does as much deserve the name of a resurrection, and more, as to raise a dead body. Therefore, says Heman (suffering these terrors in his soul), I am like the slain that lie in the grave, and wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee?' Ps. lxxxviii. 5, 10. And this resurrection Christ's soul had before it went out of his body: for after it went out, it went to paradise, and encountered not with the pains of death; but before it left his body, it did, and was rescued. And therefore, after that long conflict, for three hours' space, whilst the curtains of the world were close drawn, and all was hushed up in darkness, during which time he had struggled with these sorrows and with God's wrath, which towards the conclusion he manifests by that bitter expression, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' after that conflict (I say) he cries out,It is finished;' which some divines think not to have reference to the work of redemption, that that work was finished. No; for that was not as yet finished, his bodily death being a part of it, as also the piercing of his side, and laying of him in the grave; but the meaning is, that now the great brunt was over, that cup which he so feared was drunk off, his soul was

sorrows.

VOL V.

S

of