None but Christ, Chapter 4
CHAP. IV. The ſufferings of Chriſt at and upon the Croſſe.
HAving finiſhed the ſufferings of Chriſt in his life, we now come to his ſuffering in his death on the Croſſe in theſe words, And him crucified] For greater love (ſaith Chriſt) hath no man, then this, that a man lay downe his life for his freinds, John 15. 13. If as the Jewes dream he had come as a great Monarch, had trod on nothing but Crownes and Scepters, and the necks of Kings, and had had the Potentates of the earth to attend his traine, it had beene great love to us: Yea it had beene ſome love if he had onelyonly pitied us in our miſery, and wept for us, as David did for Abſalom: Or if he had pleaded for us, and ſpake a good word for us, as Jonathan did for David: Or if he had ſent an Angel for us: Or if himſelfe had ſuffered diſgrace, reproaches,Cant. 2, 5. opprobryes, &c. But greater love he could not ſhow, then to dye for us: skin for skin, and all that a man hath will be give to ſave his life; yet Chriſts life was not too dear for us; the ſpouſe indeed was ſick of love, but Chriſt exceeded her, for he died for love. This is our Pellican that hath nouriſhed and fed us with his bloud. Many mothers can endure crying of their children, and bearing them with paine, that would hardly dye for them; but the love of Chriſt paſſed the love of women, for he dyed for us.
Yea greater love had Chriſt towards us then barely to dye for us, in three reſpects. 1. A man may dye for another,Codrus for the Athenians Curtius to preſerve Rome. if perhaps it be an honourable death, to get renoune after his death, as ſome of the heathens have done. 2. If it be an eaſie death. 3. If it be for a dearly beloved freind to whom he hath been much ingaged: Scarcely for a righteous man will one dye ſaith Paul, that is, that hath lived juſtly: Yet for a good man (that hath beene very beneficiall to him) peradventure one would even dare to dye; andRom. 5. 8. yet it is but a peradventure neither.
But firſt, Chriſt died not an honourable death, the people applauding him, as they did ſometimes the Martyrs; But the ſhamefull death of the Croſſe, Heb. 12. 2. He endured the Croſſe, and deſpiſed the ſhame. Now diſhonour and ſhame to a noble ſpirit is as bitter as death it ſelfe; And ſurely if to live with infamy be worſe then death, what is it then to dye with infamy?
It was ſhamefull in five reſpects.
1. In that they made him carry his owne Croſſe, or gallowes whereupon he was hanged, as when malefactors go with halters about their necks to execution.
2. It was ſhamefull, in that he was1 Ioh. 19. 23. ſtript naked to the ſcorne of Angels and men; even he that covers the heavens with ſtarres, the earth with flowers, the beaſts with skins, and men with raiment, even he was ſtript naked (ſo farre as modeſty would permit ſay ſome) and clothedRev. 3. 17. 18. onelyonly with his own innocency. To teach us we are naked of all righteouſneſſe, and deſerve to be ſtript naked of all comforts, earthly and ſpirituall; And that he might cloath us with the robes of his righteouſneſſe.
3. It was ſhmeful, in that he was hang'd; a death meet for theeves, murtherers and execrable ſinners; we count it a death too baſe for noble bloud, although they turn traytors, and therefore they have liberty to exchange the gallowes for the block.
To ſee a King hang'd, what a ſhamefull ſuffering were it? but for God to be hang'd on a gallowes much more.
The Turks mock us at this day with our crucified God: and ſome of the heathens ſaid they would not beleeve in a hang'd God; But the greater his ſufferings were, the greater was his love, and our miſery, who deſerved to hang in hell for ever.
4. It was ſhamefull, in that he was hanged with two theeves, and in the midſt as the Prince of theeves and murtherers, and as the greateſt malefactor, Eſay 53. 12. He was numbred among the tranſgreſſour…. His good name was as deare to him as ours to us; Now which of us, eſpecially being innocent, could be content to be eſteemed as murtherers, adulterers, theeves, or the like? Yet perhaps this might figure out the laſt judgement when repentant ſinners ſhall be ſet on the right hand, and the reprobates on the left (as one obſerveth *) the one ſort to be ſaved,Sir John Heyward knight. the other to be condemned.
5. It was ſhamefull, becauſe he was inſulted over in his miſery, as Sampſon was mocked by the Philiſtines at his death; he ſaved others, ſaid they, but cannot ſave himſelfe; Come drwne from the Croſſe and wee will beleeve in thee. All that ſee me laugh me Pſal. 22. 7.to ſcorne, they ſhoot out the lip, &c.
Secondly, as Chriſt died not an honorable death, ſo he ſuffered not an eaſie, but a moſt bitter and painfull death; he wasPhil. 2. Heb. 12. 2. obedient to death, even to the death of the Croſſe, he endured the Croſſe. This appeares even in what he ſuffered from men in his body (which yet was leſſe then what many Martyrs ſuffered being rouled naked in a barrel of nailes, racked, burned, &c.)
Firſt, before he was laid upon the Croſſe. They gave him gall and vinegar to drink, as Matthew reads it, Matthew 27. 34. foreign: Or wine mingled with mirh, as Mark reads it, Mark 15. 23. foreign (one explaines the other) That is, wine as ſharp as vinegar, and imbittered with mirh like gall, but not gall it ſelfe (as Beza) Or rather I think it was mingled with both gall and mirh (as Gerard.) Some indeed think this no part of his ſufferings, and that it was not to torment him, but ut mors ejus eſſet celerior, ſo Calvin: And Beza thinks the good women brought the wine to chear him, and that it was Vinum dulce ſweeteCalvin in Ioc. Baroni Annal. An. no Chriſti 34. c. 84. Bera in Ioc. Prov. 31. 6. wine, a kind of Nectar, (and ſo thinks Baronius) according to that of Solomon, Prov. 31. 6. Give wine to him that is of a heavy heart. But this cannot be; for it is not likely the ſouldiers would let the godly women give him wine to cheare him, and its very probable the ſouldiers gave this wine to him themſelves. …. It is cold vinegar mingled with gall, and wine mingled with myrrhe, which cannot properly be called ſweet wine. 3. It was prophecied Pſ. 69. 21. they gave him gall and vineger to drink. 4. They loved him not ſo well to cheere him.
…. Others ſay they uſed to give wineAd ſtuporem & mentis alienationem as Arias Mont. mixt with myrrhe, to inebriate and intoxicate their ſences, that were to die this death, that they might not feele their paine. But this were a foule murthering ſin to make men drunk, before execution which ſhould be a time of greateſt and moſt ſolemn repentance, thereby cauſing them to dy in their ſins without mercy.
But thirdly I rather conceive the IewsCornel. …alapide Gerard. in Harm. Evang. did it ad ludibrium & ad tormentum, to mock and afflict him, for they brought ſowre wine like vineger, and mingled it with Gall and myrrhe, to make it bitter enough, ſo that they did not afford Chriſt that comfort they did to ordinary malefactors.
And this was to teach us that our cup ſhould have been gall and wormwood to all eternity; but Chriſt hath drunk the cup of wormwood and gall, that we might drink the cup of conſolation.
2. They rackt him (as ſomethink) till all his bones were out of joynt, Pſal. 22. 14. All my bones are out of joynt, for ſo (they ſay) was the cuſtome of the Romans to deal with thoſe that were to be crucified.
3. His armes being ſtretched out, they nailed him by the hands, bearing the weight of his own body and then they nailed his feet to the foot of the croſſe, and ſo taking up the croſſe with this bloudy ſacrifice upon it, probably they ſet it down into the earth (or otherwiſe making it faſt) thereby exceedingly rending the wounds & ſhaking his body.
They pierced my hands and feet, or Lyon-like tore they them, as the text with the marginall note reads it, Pſal. 22. 17. andforeign thus were his hands and arms ſpread wide open to take us into his armes, and embrace us with the armes of his mercy.
4. Thus he continued hanging theMors minus poenae, quam mora mortis habet. weight of his whole body by his hands, the fleſh rending, opening, bleeding, for three houres together, which could not be but a great torment. They would likewiſe faine had his legs broken with an iron rod, and heard his bones craſh in his skin, but that God prevented them.
And more they would have done but could not being dead already; only one out of deſparate malice, runs at him and thruſts his ſpeare into his heart to be ſure to kill him, and make his death to be without queſtion.
But thus was Chriſts heart wounded, that our hearts might be eaſed and cheared. For from thence came water and bloud, (the pericardium about the heart, having a little bagge of water to coole it, which they pierced) to ſignify he would be to us both water and bloud, both Iuſtification and ſanctification, 1 Cor. 1. 30.
2. Thus you ſee what he ſuffered from men, which were his bodily ſufferings; now followes what he ſuffered from God in his ſoul, which were the ſoul of his ſufferings, which in compariſon of what he felt from men, were but as the biting of a flea to the tearing of a lion. If God once fight againſt us, who can ſtand before him when he is angry? (have pity upon me O my friends ſaith Job, for the hand of God hath touched me, Job. 10. 11.) And was not the hand of God alſo moſt heavy upon him, when God made him feel all the wrath his elect ſhould have ſuffered in hell to all eternity, for he bare our ſorrowes (Eſay 53. 4. Lam. 1. 12.) though perhaps not in the ſame kind, andPerkins on the Creed, ſaith, He ſuffr…d the very torments of the damned in his ſoul, Perk. 1. vol. p. 215. And Anſwerable in extremity of pain to the torments of hell, ſaith Cuſan. excit. l. 10. p. 619. and Field. on the Ch. p. 448. 2 Tim. 4. 16. different in regard of time, for Chriſt was not capable of every degree of the ſecond death, as ſeparation from the love of God, deſpaire, eternity of torment, yet equivalent to the torments of the damned.
If the wrath of God againſt one ſinner for one ſin be unquenchable fire, and the worme that never dieth, wailing and gnaſhing of teeth for ever, what torment was upon him who drunk up the cup of Gods wrath for all our ſins? This made him roare and cry out, My God my God why haſt thou forſaken me, as if he ſhould ſay all my friends have forſaken me, my diſciples are gone from me, but wilt thou forſake me alſo, he cryes not out of Peter or the reſt of his diſciples, ſaying, O my diſciples, why doe you forſake me, but O my God why haſt thou forſaken me. And ſecondly wilt thou now forſake me, now I am dying, now I am in this my greateſt conflict and miſery? its a great affliction to be forſaken of God at any time, but eſpecially in times of affliction, ſorrow and death. 3. He calls him ſtill his God, My God. I will put my truſt in thee, though thou doſt forſake me; Chriſt himſelfe wanted comfort, not faith, for he was not forſaken in regard of the Hypoſtaticall union *Q…od …emel aſſumpſit nunquam poſtea dimiſit. Dam…ſc. Veſtitutus omni ſolatio. Tao. Field. on Ch.nor o… his faith, but of his comfort and raviſhing joy he formerly found in God, as in a ſwound there is the ſtoppage of the ſouls operation, or as the ſunne when eclipſed, (for comfort is not ad eſſe fidei, but ad bene eſſe not to the being, but to the wellbeing of faith) 4. And laſtly wilt thou forſake me?) even Me, of whom not long ſince, thou didſt pronounce this is my beloved ſon in whom I am well pleaſed? Yet muſt we not think this acclamation was vox errantis the voice of one that was deceived, for he was indeed forſaken. 2. Nor murmurantis. 3. Nor deſperantis. of one that murmured or deſpaired; but impoſtulantis of one that mourned and prayed▪ even a ſtrong ſupplication that he might not be thus forſaken.
And thus was Chriſt forſaken, that, we might be beloved and never forſaken, I will never fail thee nor forſake thee, Heb. 13. 6.
3. Thus you have ſeene Chriſt died neither an honourable nor an eaſie death;Rom. 5. 7. Neither yet did hee die this bitter death for juſt or good men, or for his friends that had dearly loved him; butEz…k. 16. 8. for us ungodly, enemies, ſinners, that hated him in our hearts. When he ſaw us in our bloud, that was the time not of his1 Tim. 1. 13. of whom I am cheife. loathing, but of his love to us, yea to ſome of us greater ſinners then thoſe that periſh; greater ſinners are in heaven then ſome in hell. Alas what are we (may we ſay as Mephiboſheth ſaid to David) that the Lord ſhould look upon ſuch dead dogges as we are, to dye pro vermiculis & vernaculis? for bondſlaves, for baſe wormes compounded of ſlime and duſt and the Devils poyſon; a lyon for a dog, the Kings ſonne for a traytor, a man for a worme; nay for ſome Snake or Serpent that had ſtung his friend to death. Yea and when he died not for Angels, but paſſed by thoſe veſſels of gold, and embraced us veſſels of clay.