Fruitful Lessons Upon the Passion Burial Resurrection Ascension, passion · Commentary 31
Doctrine and fruite.
PIlate feareth men more than God, therfore doth he againſt God, and condemneth the innocent, althogh he thinketh to be vnguilty of his bloud.
The Euangeliſt maketh mention of the feaſt of Eaſter or Paſſah, to the intent wee ſhoulde conſider, that Chriſt the true right Paſchall lambe, was put to death and ſlaine for vsus.
Here we learne what the iudgement of the world is: righteouſnes is refuſed and condemned: wickedneſſe, vngratiouſneſſe, and murther, is deliuered and quite. O how lamentably periſheth the righteous, & no man there is that conſidereth it, or that goeth about to deliuer him? The true, is giuen ouer to the lyers; the innocent, to the guiltie; the godly, to the vngratious; the murtherer is choſen, before Ieſus the annointed ſonne of God: heere the wicked is preferred before the iuſt, death before life, night & darknes before the light.
This nowe, in all our troubles, when wee are oppreſt and falſely condemned, ſhal comfort & ſtrengthen vsus, if we ſet before our eyes the bleſſed example of Ieſus the innocent, who for vsus was condemned as an euill dooer. For wee ſeruantes are not aboue our Lorde. If the Iudge of the quicke and deade bee wrongfully condemned, how much more conuenient is it, that wee poore guiltie ſhoulde ſuffer, when wee are iudged, whether it bee doone iuſtly or vniuſtly?
Chriſt for our ſake was falſly condemned, to take from vsus the iuſt iudgement of eternall damnation, which was gone out vponupon vsus for our ſinnes.
Graunt vntounto vsus, O Lord Ieſu, that neither thratening nor ſlaunder driue vsus away from the contemned croſſe, but that with our whole powers we may gladly follow thee, O giuegive vsus grace, to faſten our fleſh with the temptations therof, vntounto the croſſe, that we bewailing our former ſinnes, may withſtand and ouercome the temptations that are behind. Helpe vsus (Lorde) in the conflict of the ſpirite, lette thy croſſe (ô Lord) bee vntounto vsus a medecine againſt all vice, and graunt, that we alway chearefully take vp our croſſe, and follow thee, Amen.
THen the ſouldiers lead Ieſus againe into the iudgment hall: And when they had mocked him, they stripped him out of the purple robe, and put his own garments vponupon him, and lead him forth to be crucified. And he bare his owne croſſe himſelfe, and went on towardes the place of execution. And as they lead him, they caught one that was called Simon of Cyren, who came from the field, and was the father of Alexander and Rufus, him they compelled to carie the croſſe of Ieſus, and laid it vponupon him, that he might beare it after Chriſt. And there followed him a great companie of people, and women, which bewailed and lamented him. But Ieſus turned backe to them, and ſayd: Ye daughters of Ieruſalem, weepe not for me, but weepe for your ſelues and for your children. For behold, the daies will come, in the which they ſhall ſaie: Happie are the barren, and the wombes that neuer bare, and the paps which neuer gaue ſucke. Then ſhall they begin to ſaie to the mountaines, Fall on vsus: and to the hils, couer vsus, for if they doo this in a greene tree, what ſhall be done in the drie? And vntounto the place of execution, there were lead with him two other murtherers to be ſlaine. And they came vntounto the place called Golgatha, that is, a place of dead mens skuls, (or the place of execution.) And they gaue him to drinke vinegre mixt with gall, but when he had proued it, he would not drinke it. And they crucified him, & with him two murtherers, the one on the right hand, the other on the left, and Ieſus in the middeſt. That the Scripture might be fulfilled: Hee was counted among the euill dooers.