A Century of Sermons, Sermon 5 – Half title 5
THE FIFTH SERMON UPON THE PASSION.
ACTS ii. 23.
Him being delivered by the determinate counſel and foreknowledg of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and ſlain.
CHriſt was crucified between two Thieves, the one a Blaſphemer, the other a Penitent; an unfit place for Jeſus the righteous, very incongruous to ſort him among Thieves, though both had been penitent. But lo St. Peter exhibits him in my Text in another poſture; on the one hand he ſets before the Jews the demonſtration of all his holy ways while He lived in humility, on the other hand his victorious reſurrection, when he began to ſtep into glory. The verſe before my Text is the ſum of his admirable, innocent, and beſt deſerving converſation before he was betrayed into the hands of men, Jeſus of Nazareth a man approved of God among you by Miracles, Wonders and Signs, which God did by him in the midſt of you: the verſe behind my Text is the blazoning of his eternal life after He had deſtroyed death, whom God hath raiſed up, having looſed the pains of death, becauſe it was not poſſible that he ſhould be holden of it. In the firſt He lets them ſee their malice that they kill'd an Innocent, in the ſecond He lets them know the impotency and weakneſs of their malice, that He was revived again, and exalted into Glory: the goodneſs and miracles which were conſpicuous in him ſhould have bred him reverence from his friends, and that the hand of violence ſhould not touch him: but his looſening the pains of death, and breaking the bars of Hell aſunder, muſt obtein him homage and worſhip from thoſe that were his enemies. By the former deſcription, that He was ſo approved, ſo well known for doing ſigns and wonders, their conſcience would confeſs that He was a man ſent from God: by the latter deſcription, that he ſhook off the ſleep of death, as Samſon ſhook off his fetters after he awoke, their faith ought to confeſs, that He was God that came down to man. Thus ſtands my Text ſupported between the double honour of our Saviour, on the one ſide his Noble Acts, how He lived in righteouſneſs among men, on the other ſide, or on the reverſe, his Reſurrection, how He lives again in Power and great Majeſty above the Angels.
This is the right way to conſider his Death and Paſſion, and then you ſhall have no ſcandal at his Croſs: have you not ſeen him pictur'd hanging on the Tree, with his Mother on the right hand, and the Diſciple whom he loved on the left? if you have that figure in mind, you cannot forget the order which St. Peter obſerves in theſe three verſes (the Breviary of the whole Goſpel) whereof my Text is the Center; behold the ſufferance of Chriſt, that's the middle, the love knot, the band of all; then the ſame of him that went before his death, like Mary that bore him in her womb, and the fame that went after his death, like John the Evangeliſt, who was the faithful Witneſs of his Reſurrection. And ſo I have told you how the Text ſtands among its neighbour verſes, but in it ſelf, and in its own contents, it is the moſt proper work of that Meditation which is due to this time of Lent; it is a calling of ſins to remembrance, a provocation to repentance, and both theſe through the conſideration of the bloody Paſſion of our Lord and Saviour. Now that ſhedding of the bloud of Chriſt, which both accuſeth us of ſin, and cleanſeth us from all our ſins, is referred here to two cauſes that brought it to paſs, two moſt ſeveral cauſes, and out of moſt divers ends; to God and to man. Firſt, He was delivered by the determinate counſel and foreknowledg of God; it did not happen, as a miſchief that could not be avoided, by the ſudden exclamation of the people, or by the inconſtancy of Pilate, no the Council of the Holy Trinity had ſat upon it, and concluded it before all time. Secondly, as the ordination of his death was to a good end, and from God; ſo the execution came from the Devil and his Inſtruments out of moſt malignant reſpects: that is, ye Jews that brought him to the Judgment-hall and urged againſt him, and did not leave till ye had murder'd him, your hands were wicked that took him, and crucified him, and ſlew the Lord of Life.
Begin we with that Cauſe which was a Cauſe before all time, and then with that Cauſe which was a Cauſe in time: Him being delivered by the determinate counſel and foreknowledg of God. What is this determinate counſel? what is this foreknowledg? how was Chriſt delivered through thoſe means? theſe are the firſt Doctrins to be opened.Eth. lib. 6 cap. 9. Counſel or foreign ſays Ariſtotle is to canvaſs and to conſider doubts diſcreetly and providently before ſome action is to be effected, and to conclude out of thoſe doubts well weighed what is beſt to be done, that is it which is called foreign or underſtanding: 'tis very true, this is the way and progreſs of mans wit, to run through uncertain objections, and at laſt to come to clear determinations: and counſel among us is a rational remedy againſt raſh and precipitate proceedings: beware to think that theſe rules do conclude Almighty God: there is counſel in God, not by way of deliberation and diſcourſe, but becauſe his infinite wiſdom hath decreed all things, both which way they ſhall tend, and the bounds which they ſhall not paſs, and that's the event of counſel:Thom. 1. p. q. 22. art. 1. Concilium dicitur non propter inquiſitionem, ſed propter certitudinem cognitionis, ſays Aquinas, that is, counſel is attributed to God, not becauſe He doth adviſe and demur, much leſs becauſe He doth require the ſuffrages and opinions of others: but foraſmuch as He hath eſtabliſhed all things, how they ſhould be effected in the fulneſs of time, therefore that Order and Decree, which is the upſhot of counſel, among men is called to help the infirmneſs of our capacity, counſel in the Moſt High. Damaſcen was ſo ſcrupulous in this, that he choſe words on purpoſe to deſtinguiſh between God and Man: In Deo eſt foreign, non foreign, a reſolution, as you would ſay, not a conſultation; for all things are manifeſt to him at once, both of things that are, and things that ſhall be, nay of things that are only poſſible in themſelves, and never ſhall be. But St. Paul prevented Damaſcen, and avoids that diſtinction, by putting thoſe words together to make up one ſenſe, Epheſ. 1.11. Being predeſtinated according to the purpoſe of him who worketh all things after the counſel of his own will, foreign and foreign, Will and Counſel, are united in the operations of God; when you hear of his counſel, conceive the wonderful and myſterious wiſdom of God; when you hear his will is joyned unto it, obſerve his free power and authority: it was of old the deſcription of a Tyrant, that his will was law, ſic volo, ſic jubeo, he managed all things according to the decree of his will; but if you lookt for counſel, you ſhould find nothing but raſhneſs, and for the moſt part injuſtice; but in all the Statutes and Ordinances of God there is counſel in his will, ſumma ratio, verity and judgment in all things that he hath appointed: yet ſumma libertas nothing impels God to any Decree but his own free will and election, tempering all things with wiſdom and juſtice; God doth decree both the means and the end of all things, and hath ſet them a Law, as David ſays, that they ſhall not paſs.
In the next place ſome light muſt be given to this other term in the Text, the Foreknowledg of God: to foreſee a thing before it be actually effected comes to paſs in a threefold manner, either by the inſight of natural cauſes: So Artiſts can foretel at what day and hour Eclipſes of the Sun and Moon will happen; or by rational ſagacity, as a prudent man can eſpy how affairs will ſucceed when a good foundation is laid; or by Divine inſpiration, when the Lord from above doth give a ſpirit to his Prophets to behold things to come, as if they were preſent before their eyes. Theſe three are thus laid down after the meaſure of our own underſtanding, but when we ſpeak of Gods foreknowledg it is of another fadom: for firſt all things that were, that are, that ſhall be, are preſent to him at one inſtant, thoſe ſucceſſions of time, paſt, preſent, and to come, which are differences to us, are none at all to God, his knowledg, which is eternal, reacheth with one ſimple act even to the producing of effects in time without all variation, and therefore is called Preſcience very improperly, and with much diſſimilitude from humane ways of preſcience. 2. Our foreſight is bare foreknowledg, not able to put forward a good event, and as unable to prevent a calamity. Abraham could truly preſage that Iſrael ſhould come out of Egyptian bondage, but he could not haſten the time of their return: Iſaiah could foretel that Judah ſhould be led away into captivity, but he could not mitigate their bondage: but Gods foreknowledg hath his hand and power always annexed unto it: for whereas my Text ſays Chriſt was delivered by the determinate counſel and foreknowledg of God; St. Peter ſays Acts iv. 28. that Herod and Pilate and the Gentils were gathered together againſt Chriſt, to do whatſoever thy hand and thy counſel determined before to be done. He doth not only foreſee good how like it is unto himſelf, and evil per diſſimilitudinem ſui, how unlike it is unto himſelf, but his providence intervenes, and manageth that evil which he foreſees will ariſe out of the corrupt and depraved will of the creature to his own glory. It were an Epicuraean dream to imagin there is ſuch a dull barren knowledg of things to come in God, as ſhould not interpoſe, but leave all things to their own courſe and ſwing: therefore Stapleton had no ſuch juſt cauſe to declaim againſt Beza, for rendring foreign in this place not Praeſcience, but Providence. God did not provide, that is, decree it antecedently, that Judas ſhould ſin and betray Chriſt, but ſince the Creature will decline from good, conſequently the Lord decrees the evil man ſhall not be reſtrained, but ſhall be ſuffered to heap vengeance upon his own head. Let Stapleton chafe at Eſtius, a great Doctor of their own, that ſays Preſcience in this place ſtands for Predeſtination, him being delivered by the determinate counſel and praedeſtination of God. Now Providence is the ordaining of all things to a good end, but Predeſtination is the ordaining of Gods choſen Portion to a bleſſed end. I am ſure Tremelius for Foreknowledg doth tranſlate it Providence out of the Syrian Paraphraſt: and do but mark the ſcope of this place, and you will find that Preſcience here is annext with Providence. For whereas the Jews thought that Chriſt had faln into their hands through unability of defending himſelf from his Enemies, St. Peter beats down that error, that Gods determinate Counſel and Providence was in the fact; but that had been a very weak Apology to ſay, that God foreſaw it long before. And ſo much concerning theſe ſimple terms, to wit the determinate counſel and foreknowledg of God.
Now that the righteous God, in whom ſuch counſel, and ſuch foreknowledg do reſide, ſhould deliver up his moſt innocent Son and our dear Saviour unto death, that's a myſtery to be weighed with modeſty; the Text ſays poſitively God did deliver him, yet we know there is no injuſtice in the Moſt High, therefore this ſcruple is worth the ſcanning: Firſt of all it is an harſh and offenſive ſpeech that ſome uſe, who perhaps mean well, that God did appoint and preordain Judas to betray his Lord, and the Jews to crucifie him; and the reaſons which they uſe to excuſe the Phraſe, as if God thereby were not made the Author of ſin, ſeem to me to want ſufficiency. Zuinglius ſays, juſto non eſt lex poſita, you can ſet God no Law, therefore whatſoever you attribute unto him is no ſin, becauſe ſin is the violation of a Law. Beloved, there are ſome things which cannot conſiſt with Gods glory, and that's an eternal Law as we may call it, obſerved by God to do nothing againſt his glory: He cannot ly, He cannot deny himſelf: thus the ſcripture ſpeaketh. And Abraham talking face to face with God, ſays he, God forbid that the Judg of all the world ſhould do unjuſtly: Would thou puniſh the righteous with the wicked? as who ſhould ſay, that were to thwart the eternal Law which muſt not be infringed. This lays the opinion of Zwinglius flat. There is another pretence from very venerable Authors, that God purpoſeth and ordaineth the ſame act which man executeth; but man hath an evil end in it, ſo it becomes iniquity to him, whereas God intends a pious end, and therefore concurs not to mans iniquity; and they give a fair inſtance of their meaning out of my Text. Chriſt was delivered of his Father to ſave the World, that was the merciful and gracious work which was God's deſtination; but he was delivered of the Devil to make the Jews guilty of his death, of Judas for lucre ſake, of the Prieſts and Phariſees for envy, of Pilate for fear: the ſcope of Pilate, of the Jews, of Judas was extremely diſtorted, ſo they became guilty of a mighty ſin in the ſame work wherein God was righteous. This will not down with me I confeſs for ſafe Divinity; for firſt it favours that opinion of ſome Libertines too much, that it is no crime, but praiſe-worthy to do evil that good may come of it. Secondly, it cannot be ſhifted according to this opinion me-thinks, but that God ordains man to fall into that act, wherein he cannot chooſe but have a bad intention, and moſt diverſe from the good purpoſe of God. And it is but a lame leg to hold up an halting cauſe to interpoſe, that God can work good out of evil, and bring light out of darkneſs; therefore though He preordains evil, He will wind it up well to his own glory: for ſurely they do not think of God as they ought, that He is all pure and holy, that think ſin muſt be referred to God either as an efficient cauſe of it, or predeſtinately as a deficient cauſe, to declare his honor. Why, God ſtands not in need of our good works to ſet forth his praiſe, O my God my goods are nothing unto thee, ſays the Pſalmiſt, much leſs doth he want our ſins and our tranſgreſſions to make him glorious.
Thus I have premiſed that they have not my conſent that ſay, that God ordained or decreed that Judas ſhould betray our Lord, and that the Jews ſhould blaſpheme him, and deſpitefully entreat him: thus rather I would propound it to you in a far ſafer way, as I conceive, God did not decree thoſe criminous actions of Judas, Herod, Pilate, &c. but He did decree the Paſſion of Chriſt, and did ſettle it in his ſixt and eternal counſel, that he ſhould ſhed his bloud as a Propitiation for the World: actio diſplicuit, paſſio grata ſuit. I am led along with the judgment of Leo the Great in this point. Thus he.Serm. 16. de Paſs. Did the iniquity of them that perſecuted Chriſt ariſe out of Gods Counſel and Decree, and that heinous treaſon worſe than all villainy? Did the hand of Divine preparation arm them to it? this muſt not once be imagined of that ſupreme juſtice that governs all things: Multum diverſum, multumque contrarium eſt id quod in Judaeorum malignitate eſt praecognitum, & quod in Chriſti paſſione eſt diſpoſitum; that is, there is great diſſimilitude between theſe two, how God foreſaw the malignancy of the Jews, but it was his own diſpoſing and ordination that Chriſt ſhould ſuffer: therefore it comes to this ſenſe, He was delivered to death ſimply, without addition of a death procured by ſin, through the determinate counſel of his Father: but the conſpiracy, and envy, and bloudy outcries that concurr'd in his death, the foreknowledg of God did apprehend it would be carried with that violence, and decreed to ſuffer it: Non inde proceſſit voluntas interficiendi unde moriendi, ſays the ſame Father, God did not will after the ſame manner to have his Son die, and to have him barbarouſly crucified. To allot him unto death was very juſt, becauſe that Lamb of God did take upon him the iniquity of us all; and Leo adds that God could have commanded ſome holy Prophet to have ſacrificed Chriſt before him, even as He commanded Abraham to offer up his only Son Iſaac, and the Lord of life and death might have permitted Abraham to ſtrike the ſtroke without impiety, but to allot him to ſuch a death, wherein factious Enemies delighted themſelves in his pains, that cannot conſiſt with ſuch a God as hates the leaſt impurity.
But my Text you will ſay declines it not, but that both his death, and his deliverance into the hands of the Jews, that is the manner of his death, both of them were ordained of God: and ſo they were, but with this correction of the propoſition, omnia vel ordinata ſunt à Deo ut fiunt, vel ordinatum non impedire, quò minus fiant, all that is good is ordained of God that it ſhall be, and all beſide that is evil is ordained of God that it ſhall be ſuffered to be, and in thoſe things which are to be referred to permiſſion, I mean all the works of the Devil, I do not exclude the determinate counſel of God, nay it muſt neceſſarily be preſent at it: Quicquid permittit Deus conſultò & volens permittit; there is Juſtice, and Wiſdom, and Counſel from above imployed about thoſe things, wherein God is highly diſpleaſed: For firſt, no ſinner in the world can ſay he was ſo permitted to enter into ſin, that no impediments were caſt in his way to avert him, ſome illumination he had, ſome inſtruction to draw him back, ſome remorſe of conſcience, though not in ſuch meaſure as did infallibly prevail upon his crooked will. Even Judas himſelf was deterred from his Satanical proceedings, by the prediction of his Maſters mouth, one of you ſhall betray me; by the warning of the ſop; by rebuke and confuſion, Judas betrayeſt thou the Son of man with a kiſs? though the treachery was permitted, yet theſe were impediments, though not ſuch as would take place with a Reprobate. Secondly, God is no idle Spectator upon the actions of men whether good or bad; where he permits the Devil to draw us into temptation, his hand is not quite taken off from our ſins, but that he moderates our offences, and that many ways, as ſtopping our ſins at ſuch a quantity and exceſs, that they ſhall go no further; they that had power given them to kill Chriſt, had not power to break his legs, a bone of him could not be broken: and the Lord ſets other moments of time than the ſinner caſts about for himſelf: as no man could lay hands on Chriſt (yet the Phariſees fingers itcht at him) becauſe his hour was not yet come. Therefore thirdly it muſt hang together with that which goes before, that God diſappoints a wicked man of that which he intends in his naughtineſs, and brings it about to his own glorious ends. As Joſeph ſaid to his Brethren, Ye thought evil againſt me, but God meant it unto good, Gen. l. 20. Deus cogitavit id ipſum in bonum convertere, Junius adds that unto it. God did provide to convert it unto good. Neither is our faith endangered hereupon to ſuſpect God as the cauſe of ſin, becauſe he draws his own ends out of evil; that He may do, and yet be no Author of ſin, but abhor it, becauſe He is Lord of thoſe Creatures that ſin and rebel againſt him; and the Creature can no more exempt it ſelf from his dominion, becauſe it is ſinful, then becauſe it is ſinful it will eſcape his Law, or diſſolve it ſelf to nothing.
So then the antecedent Doctrin is ſumm'd up into this Theſis. If you ask in theſe terms, what was the cauſe of Chriſts death, the anſwer is, it was Gods Decree, and eternal Statute, for as much as He loved us with an everlaſting love, and would not ſpare his own Son to pull us out of deſtruction. Again, if you ask who was the cauſe that Chriſt was buffeted, ſpot upon, crowned with thorns, crucified, the anſwer is, the Devil and his Inſtruments; but when the Lord foreſaw how their cruelty and blaſphemy would abound, his Counſel did direct, moderate, confine their ſin; and his loving kindneſs towards us, that He might ſhew us plenteous redemption did permit it. The ancient Fathers of the Church thought this the trueſt and moſt inoffenſive concluſion, to refer the injurious ſlaughter of Chriſt not to Gods ordination, but to his permiſſion. You heard Leo's judgment before, to whom St. Auſtin agrees. The Jews enacted a ſin which the righteous Lord did not compel them to do,Tracti. 53. in Johan. In Act. homil. 5. for no ſin doth pleaſe him, ſed facturos eſſe praevidit, quem nihil latuit, but this was foreſeen of him to whom nothing is concealed. Yet St. Chryſoſtom more clearly, that the ſcope of this part of St. Peters Sermon to the Jews is foreign, it was not their rage and violence which could have prevailed againſt Chriſt, if God had not permitted it; for as He did not command the evil Spirit to ſeduce Ahab and his flattering Prophets, but the Devil offering himſelf, and being moſt deſirous to do that miſchief, God gave him leave, and would not inhibit him; ſo the Jews were not authorized, or ordained or ſtirred up from God to ſhew that prodigious hatred to his Son, but He yielded him up to their fury, and did not deliver him: therefore Chriſt did not ſay, Father why haſt thou given me up into their hands? but my God, my God, why haſt thou forſaken me?
Surely this is the ſcope of my Text, and I believe they ſhoot wide from the mark, that collect from hence, that St. Peters meaning was either to excuſe their heinous treſpaſs, or elſe to comfort their wounded conſcience, becauſe Chriſt was delivered by the determinate counſel and foreknowledg of God: no all the comfort which was adminiſtred is verſ. 38. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jeſus Chriſt for the remiſſion of ſins. There is no comfort under the Sun, no balm in the world for a miſerable ſinner, but repent, and believe that there is abundant mercy in the ſatisfaction of Chriſt Jeſus: and for excuſe, that little extenuation of their fact which could be made, is chap. iii. ver. 17. Ye deſired a Murtherer and killed the Prince of Life, but I wote that through ignorance you did it, as did alſo your Rulers: theſe are plain and divine Allegations, and there is no colour to help the greatneſs of their ſin either from the determinate counſel, or from the foreknowledg of God; not from the determinate counſel, for they had not an eye in the crucifying of Chriſt to comply with Gods counſel, but to ſatiate their own ſpleen and hatred; for impious men may execute that which God is content ſhould come to paſs, and yet they do nothing leſs than obey God; for obedience is not grounded upon the thing done, but upon the readineſs and duty of the will in doing: beſide, was there any Law that commanded the High-Prieſts to crucifie our Saviour? for God doth ever reveal his will in ſome Law. No ſuch Law I am ſure, therefore no obedience in this bloudy work of the Jews. For no man can be ſaid to obey that doth not know the will of the Lord, neither doth direct his actions by the Rule of any Commandment; And what had they to do with Gods ſecret counſel? They had not the leaſt glimpſe of it; Therefore my Text chargeth them home, Ye have taken him, and by wicked hands have crucified and ſlain him. It is an error to amaze a man, that reads it in the Popes Canon Law, that becauſe it was the counſel of the holy Trinity, and the obedience of Chriſt to humble himſelf unto death, even unto the death of the Croſs, therefore the Jews had ſinned deadly if they had not crucified him. It was well rejoyn'd by one,Cartwr. Rem. Teſ…, that he wondred how the dumb and dead Paper did not ſtand up, refuſing to take that ink wherewith ſuch an abominable blaſphemy ſhould be printed, whereby the immaculate Lamb of God, in whom there was no ſin, is affirmed to be juſtly and worthily condemned.
But will the fore-knowledge of God, and that permiſſion which followed it, plead any part of their pardon? Nothing leſs; his fore-knowledge compels no man into the way of perdition. God fore-ſees iniquity in us becauſe we will be evil, but we are not made evil becauſe he foreſees it. There have been always ſome in the world whom the Devil hath blinded with pernicious error, making them dream of inevitable Fate and Deſtiny, chiefly knitting this fallacy to fool themſelves, that Gods fore-ſight cannot be deceived, therefore ſuch ſins as he foreſaw they would fall into are not to be declined.Lib. de bono perſe. c. 15. St. Auſtin reprehended one of his Colledge or religious houſe for this ſaying, Qualiſcunque nunc ſim, talis ero qualem me Deus praeſcivit; Whatſoever I am now, at laſt I ſhall be no other than juſt as God foreſaw I ſhould be: Whereas, ſays the holy Father, his ſaying had been better on this wiſe, God foreſaw I ſhould be ſuch a one, either as I would make my ſelf by ſin, or by his grace and piety. If I can I will clear that which makes the Objection ſeem to be difficult. No man can be condemned for actual ſins unleſs he do commit them through his own wilfulneſs. But nothing is wilfully done which is inevitably and neceſſarily done; and freedom is quite taken away unleſs you take away all kind of neceſſity. But Gods previſion from all eternity infers a neceſſity through the ſuppoſition of it that nothig can alter from the way, wherein before all time he ſaw all things lie naked and open before him. This is the Objection, and the Anſwer is moſt ſolid and punctual, though not ſo clear and eaſie to common underſtandings as the Objection. But thus: That which God foreſees ſhall be but preſuppoſing that God ſaw the effect in its cauſes that it would be: Therefore it is all one to ſay, that God ſees it that it is, and it is impoſſible but whatſoever is, when it …s muſt be even ſo as it is. Yet a little nearer to perſpicuity, you may conſider an action either in the putting forth and the doing, or when it is paſt and done. In the doing God foreſaw man had power either to do, or not to do, and therein foreſaw he was left to his freedom, and the liberty of his own counſel; thus God ſaw from all eternity that man was not put upon evil or deſtruction neceſſarily; then conſider that action as foreſeen of God to be done and committed, ſo it is neceſſary: But no otherwiſe, than as we know it was neceſſary that Lot was drunken, becauſe that which is paſt and gone cannot be recalled. You ſee an Archer drawing his Bow, you ſee he may chooſe whether he will let the Arrow fly from him or not, but when it is gone out of the Bow, it is not in his will and power to reſume it. So God did foreſee the thoughts of the Jews, and when they were ſhooting out their Arrows, even bitter words, yet after the liberty of their own will they might have ſtopped and refrained; then he ſaw that they took to the worſt, and choſe death rather than life, ſo he let them walk in their own inventions, which made them ſtumble and fall. Perhaps you will yet plead againſt God, and ſay, the Lord knew the ways of wicked men, and he is Almighty, and could have ſtinted their iniquity, that ſuch helliſh effects ſhould never have been wrought. I ſweep away this cavil with a word. God was not wanting to put impediments, and very great ones, in the ways of Chriſts enemies, that they might have deſiſted and been wiſe; but if theſe were made unſufficient, know that he is not bound to uſe Omnipotent means to repreſs impiety. It is his great pleaſure to put his Creature to the trial of obedience, therefore it had not ſtood with his wiſdom either to have made ſuch a Law as man could not break, or to endue him with ſuch abilities as he could not tranſgreſs. He will hedge in the way of ſin to ſome, on whom he caſts his beſt good liking, he will remove the objects and occaſions of lewdneſs far from them, they ſhall not come within the graſp of fearful tentations. He would not let Paul kick againſt the pricks, nor hale men and women, that acknowledge Chriſt, before unrighteous Judges; but all men are not Pauls in God's deareſt love and purpoſe. Some are given over, as theſe Jews were, to a reprobate ſenſe, but according to their own wiſh, their bloud be upon their own heads, for God was innocent.
Now it is time to draw this Point into a Concluſion, and in this form and uſe; Let no calamities or malignities of this world offend us, though the Church of Saints goes by the worſt oftentimes, let it not provoke our ſoul to ſay in its bitterneſs, is there any Providence above? Is there any knowledge in the moſt High? Quis putat eſſe Deos? He that will cut a man off, when he begins to narrate a matter, and not hear his tale out, will quite miſconceive him, and loſe the ſenſe of his Narration: So it happens to them that look raſhly upon ſome miſerable events in the world, and ſearch no further; the uppermoſt part of thoſe things which they ſee is Satan reigning, Sin increaſing, Juſtice declining, Religion mourning: But the bottom and the nethermoſt part of this tragical ſpectacle is Profundum juſtitiae & ſapientiae; eternal Juſtice revenging theſe injuries, coeleſtial and inſcrutable wiſdom drawing peace out of contention, repentance out of ſins, content out of poverty, and an innumerous increaſe of faithful men and women out of bonds, and captivities, and perſecutions. They have not the patience to hear God tell out his tale, they will not lend their eyes ſo long to ſee him bring his work to conſummation, that do not diſcern into his holy counſels, that at laſt he will wind up all thoſe things that appear moſt diſproportionable to his honour, to the high advancement of his glory. Was ever the name of God defied in any thing ſo much as in the ſhameful death of Chriſt? Ah thou that buildeſt the Temple in three days, come down from the Croſs and ſave thy ſelf. And again, He truſted in God, let him deliver him if he will have him. And yet this that ſeemed ſuch a blur to Gods renown, was converted into ſuch a good uſe, that all the bleſſings that ever we received in this world were not ſo fruitful, ſo beneficial to us, as the death of Jeſus. Look not upon the ſuperficies of his ſufferings, as ſome do, and no more, a Picture in a glaſs-window will read you that Leſſon; but look into the inward ſanctuary, into the boſom of this myſtery, that he was delivered by the determinate counſel, and foreknowledge of God.
You have hitherto attended to the firſt part of my Text, that the ordination of Chriſts death was from God, and to a good end and purpoſe; the latter part, which I will but ſnatch at and away, is, that the execution of his death came from the Devil and his Inſtruments out of moſt malignant reſpects, Him ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and ſlain. Ye have taken, this is no backbiting, no defiance at a diſtance, where the Jews did not hear him, but foreign, withſtanding them to their face; as St. Paul calls it. foreign, ſays St. Chryſoſtome. O how boldly the man of God ſpeaks being compaſſed about with thoſe murderers? Some are faln in our days into a moſt ridiculous way of reproof and exhortation if it be compared with this. They will diſcourſe very earneſtly what obedience the people owe in the audience of the King; and again, they will preach how the King is tied to juſtice and equity far from Court in the audience of the People: Inveigh againſt ingroſſers of Grain in the City, and againſt falſe Merchandiſe in the Country. This is a moſt prepoſterous courſe, and no way intended to edifie their Auditors. So St. Peter might have tax'd the Idolatry of the Gentiles in the hearing of the Jews, and the ſin of the Jews that they killed Chriſt in the hearing of the Gentiles; but that partition had been very ill divided. For it were like that Paradox in Chirurgery, called Ʋnguentum armarium, to cure a man without application of the remedy at an hundred miles diſtance. No, St. Peter had no ſuch Quackſalver tricks in Divinity, but directs his reprehenſion to them that were before him, Ye have taken, &c.
And all the Jews were rightly thus accuſed, (except thoſe few of men and women that were his Diſciples and followed him) for if they were not ſuch as accuſed him falſely, yet they were ſuch as ſuborned Catives to betray him. If they were not in the plot of betraying, they were in the ſin of delivering up to Pilate; if not among thoſe that delivered him up to judgment, yet among thoſe that cried out Crucifie him in the time of judgment. Nay, though they did not cry out, nor ſo much as in their hearts conſent to his unjuſt trial, yet they held their peace, they ſuffered wrong to prevail and did not reſiſt it. They did not put off the Roman Souldiers, and ſtay their fatal hands; in one reſpect or other they were all as guilty as St. Peter chargeth them, By wicked hands ye have crucified and ſlain him. Some of the Jewiſh Rabines ſlout at theſe words of St. Peters to this day, ſaying, the Chriſtians are quite miſtaken to impute unto them the crucifying of Chriſt, for they had no ſuch kind of death in their Law, and they did all things à punto according to their Law, they crucified no man. They had but four capital puniſhments for Malefactors, ſays Maimonides, after the tradition of Moſes, killing with the Sword, ſtoning to death, hanging on a tree by the neck, and burning. But the infliction of crucifying was unheard of to their Nation. Thus they. And whereas Cardinal Baronius, Cardinal Sigonius, Juſtus Lipſius, and ſome other learned men, contradict the Rabbines in this, I think they did amiſs not to believe their great Doctors in their own Laws and Cuſtoms, wherein they were moſt expert.
The true retortion is, that in the days of Chriſt the power of life and death was taken out of the hands of the Jews by their Lords the Romans that reigned over them; therefore they implore the Roman Magiſtrate that he would condemn and execute their Priſoner after the Roman Laws, and the Romans did deal with him after the rigour of their Laws, which ſentenced all thoſe that were convicted of ſedition and raiſing tumults to the bitter death of the Croſs. So Chriſt foretold to his Diſciples anon before he entred into Jerusalem, That the Son of man ſhould be betrayed unto the chief Prieſts and Scribes, and they ſhall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to ſcourge, and to crucifie him, Mat. xx. 19. It was not the cuſtom in Iſrael to ſtrike nails through the feet or hands of any that were hanged up, ſays Maimonides, Nay, the moſt accurate Caſaubon ſays, that there is not one word in all the Hebrew tongue for being nailed to the Croſs, ſo little were they acquainted with the puniſhment. This foreign in my Text, affigentes, which the Vulgar Latine moſt ignorantly reads affligentes, is heathen Language, and unknown to the Jews. The Rabbines, in contempt of our Saviour, call him in their Tongue ſometimes as you would ſay foreign, he that was hanged; but their Tongue could not furniſh them with a word to ſay, he that was faſtned to a tree. There may be divers ways of hanging on a tree beſide crucifying; and the Old Teſtament uſeth ever the general phraſe, Curſed is every one that hangeth on a Tree. The only place in the Old Law which hath reſpect particularly to the death of the Croſs, is Pſal. xxi. 17. They pierced my hands and my feet. Therefore the Rabbines have endeavoured to corrupt that place more than any other in all the Bible. But the Pſalmiſt alludes to that which the Jews ſhould procure, and the Romans execute.Sozom. lib. 1. c. 18. One only place ſelected out of Sozomen by Caſaubon avails much to prove that crucifying was not a Jewiſh but a Roman faſhion: For Conſtantine thought that no Malefactor was worthy to die on a Croſs, becauſe our Lord had ſo ſuffered, the juſt for the unjuſt, therefore he took away that penalty of crucifying uſed before by the Romans, ſays Sozomen.
Therefore the vulgar Latine Tranſlation miſtakes the words of my Text, but hits the ſenſe very well, for it hath not Per manus impias, by wicked hands, but Per manus impiorum, by the hands of the wicked; as if it were in Greek foreign, with an Article, which would make it perſonal. But then the meaning is, ye Jews have taken him, and by the hands of the wicked, that is, of the Gentiles, have crucified him and ſlain him. So Chriſt foretold, The Son of man ſhall be delivered into the hands of ſinners, that is, into the hands of the Gentiles. We that are by nature Jews, and not ſinners of the Gentiles, ſays St. Paul, Gal. ii. St. Chryſoſtome underſtands it two ways, either by the hands of Judas, or by the hands of the Souldiers. It is all one; for conſider it well, and it is rather the worſe on their ſide than the better: They ſuborned Judas, they importuned Pilate, they ſtirred up the Souldiers. St. Peter paſſeth over theſe inſtrumental, accidental coadjutors, and directs his invectives againſt them that had the chief finger in the murder, that ſet all the wheels a going; Ye have taken him, and crucified him. If David could diſcern the hand of Joab in the woman of Tekoahs Parable, then be ſure the Lord doth eſpy the chief Actors and Complotters of all miſchief, and rebellion, though others appear in the fact, whom they have expoſed to cenſure and dangers. Statiſts love to bring about odious projects by the hands of underlings, as the Ape in the Fable would take the Cheſnut out of the hot Embers with the Cats foot. But God will ſend his Angels to gather up the Tares in bundles, all that were Complices in the ſame ſin ſhall make one bundle both Jew and Gentile. For there is no connivence in Gods juſtice, no ignorance in his wiſdom, no partiality in his ſentence, To him therefore be glory for ever. AMEN.
NINE SERMONS UPON THE RESURRECTION OF OUR SAVIOUR.