Haue yee no Regard? &c.

TO cease this Complaint, and to grant this Request; wee are to Regard: and that we may Regard, wee are to Con­sider the paines of his Passion. The parties to whom. Which, that wee may reckon no easie common matter of light moment, to doe, or not doe, as wee list: First, O all yee that passe by the way, Consuler a generall stay is made of all passengers, this day. For (as it were from his Crosse) doth our Sauiour addresse this his speech to them that goe 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 passe by the way, stay & Consider: To them frameth he his speech, that passe by: To them, & to them all. O vos omnes, qui transitis, O all ye that passe by the way, stay & Consider.

Which very stay of his, sheweth 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 bee reason; the most part of those that go thus to and fro, may well intend it, they haue little els to doe. But to except none, not some speciall Person, is hard. What know we their haste? Their occasions may be such, and so vrgent, as they cannot stay Well, what haste, what busines soeuer, passe not by, stay though. As much to say, as Be they neuer so great, your occasions; they are not, they cannot be so great as this: How vrgent soeuer, this is more, and more to bee intended. The regard of this, is worthy the staying of a lourney. It is worth the Considering of those, that haue neuer so great affaires in hand. So materiall is this sight in his account; which serueth to shew the exigence of this dutie. But as for this point it needeth not to be stood vpon to vs here at this time: we are not going by, wee neede not to be staied; wee haue staied all other our affaires, to come hi­ther, and here we are all present before God, to haue it set before vs, that wee may consider it. Thither then let vs come.

That which we are called to behold & con­sider, is his Sorrow: Sorrow. And Sorow is a thing which [Page]of it selfe Nature enclineth vs to behold, as be­ing our selues in the body, Heb. 13.3. which may be one daie in the like sorrowfull case. Therefore will euerie good eye turne it selfe, 1. Behold. Luk. 10.32. and looke vpon them that lie in distresse. Those two in the Gospell, that passed by the wounded man, be­fore they passed by him, (though they helped him not as the Samaritane did) yet they looked vpon him as he laie. But this partie here, lieth not, Iohn 3.14. he is lift vp as the Serpent in the wildernes, that vnlesse we turne our eies awaie purposely, we can neither will nor chuse, but behold him.

But because to Behold, Acts 1.11. and not to Consider, is but to gaze; And gazing the Angell blameth in the Apostles themselues, we must doe both: both Behold, 2. Consider. and Consider: looke vpon, with the cie of the bodie, that is, Behold; and looke into, with the eie of the minde, that is, Consider. So saith the Prophet heere. And the verie same doth the Apostle aduise vs to doe, Heb. 12.23. First, [...], to looke vpon him, (that is, to Behold) and then [...], to thinke vpon him, that is, to Consider his Sorrow: Sorrow sure would be con­sidered.

Now then, The quality, If euer the like. because as the qualitie of the Sor­row is, accordingly it would be cōsidered, (for if it be but a common sorow, the lesse wil serue, [Page]but if it be some speciall, so me verie heauie 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 eleuate it to the highest point, there is vpon his Sorrow set a Si fuerit sicut, a note of highest eminencie: for Si fuerit sicut, are words that haue life in them, and are able to quicken our consideration, if it be not quite dead: For, by them wee are prouoked, as it were to Consi­der, and considering, to see whether euer anie Sicut may bee found, to set by it, whether euer anie like it.

For if neuer anie, Our nature is, to regard things exceeding rare and strange; and such as the like whereof is not else to bee seene. Vpon this point then, there is a Case made, As if hee should say, If euer the like, Regard not this; But if neuer anie, Bee like your selues in other things, and vouchsafe this, (if not your chee­fest,) yet some Regard.

To enter then this Comparison, In the three parts of his Sorrow. & to shew it for such. That, are we to do, three sundry waies: For three sundry waies, in three sundry words, are these Sufferings of his heere expressed: all three within the compasse of the Verse.

1 The first is [...] ^Mac^- ^ob (which wee reade [Page] Sorrow,) taken from a wound or stripe, as all doe agree.

2 The second is [...] ^Gholel wee reade Done to me, taken from a word that signifieth Melting in a fornace; as S. Hierom noteth out of the Chaldaee (who so translateth it.)

3 The third is [...] ^Hoga where wee reade Af­flicted, from a word which importeth Renting off or Bereauing. The olde Latine turneth it, Vindemiauit me, As a Vine whose fruit is all plucked off. The Greeke with Theodoret, [...], as a Vine or tree, whose leaues are all beaten off, and it left naked and bare.

In these three are comprized his Sufferings, Wounded, Melted, and Bereft, leafe and fruit (that is) all manner of comfort.

Of all that is poenall, 1 Of the quality. or can be suffered, the common diuision is, Sensus & Damni, Griefe for that we feele, First of the quality of his Passion. or for that we forgoe. For that wee feele, in the two former, Wounded in body, Melted in soule: for that we forgoe, in the last; Bereft all, left neither fruit, nor so much as a leafe to hang on him.

According to these three, 1 P [...]na sensus in the body. To consider his Sufferings, and to begin first with the first. The paines of his Body, his wounds and his stripes.

Our verie eie will soone tell vs, No place was [Page]left in his Bodie, where hee might bee smitten, and was not. His skin and flesh rent with the whips and scourges, His hands and feet woun­ded with the nailes, His head with the thorns, His verie heart with the speare point; All his sences, all his parts loden with whatsoeuer wit or malice could inuent His blessed Body giuen as an Anuile to be beaten vpon, with the vio­lent hands of those barbarous miscreants, till they brought him into this case, of Si fuerit si­cut. For Pilates (Ecce Homo!) Ioh. 19.5. His shewing him with an Ecce, as if he should say, Behold, looke if euer you saw the like ruefull spectacle; This verie shewing of his sheweth plainely, hee was then come into wofull plight: So wofull, as Pi­late verily beleeued, his verie sight so pitifull, as, it would haue moued the hardest hart of them all to haue 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 peraduenture some Sicut may be found, in the Paines of the bodie: 2 Poena sensus in the Soule. but in the se­cond, the Sorrow of the Soule, I am sure, none. And indeede, the Paine of the Body is but the Body of paine: the verie soule of Sorow & Pain is the soules Sorrow & Paine. Giue me any griese, Syra. 15.57. saue the griefe of the minde, saith the wise-man, [Page] For (saith Salomon) the spirit of a man will sustaine all his other infirmities, P [...]o. 18.14. but a wounded spirit, who can beare? And of this, this of his soule, I dare make a Case, Si fuerit sicut.

Hee began to bee troubled in Soule, Ioh. 12.27. Luk. 22.44. saith S. Iohn: To bee in an agonie, saith S. Luke: To bee in anguish of minde and deepe distresse, Mar. 14.35. Matt. 26.38. saith S. Marke. To haue his Soule round about on euery side inui­roned with Sorrow, and that, Sorrow to the death: Heere is trouble, anguish, agonie, sorrow and deadly sorrow: but it must bee such, as neuer the like; So it was too.

The aestimate wherof we may take from the second word, of Melting, that is, from his sweat in the Garden; strange, and the like whereof was ueuer heard or seene. Luk. 22.44.

No maner violence offred him in body; no man touching him, or being neere him, in a colde night (for they were faine to haue a fire within doores) lying abroad in the aire, and vpon the colde earth, to bee all of a sweat, and that Sweat to be Blood; and not as they call it, Diaphoreticus, a thinne faint Sweat; but Grumo­sus, of great Drops, and those, so many, so plen­teous, as they went through his apparrell and an; and through all, streamed to the ground, and that in great abundance; Reade, Enquire, [Page]and Consider, Si fuerit sudor, sicut sudor iste; If euer there were Sweat like this Sweat of his? Neuer the like Sweat certainely, and therefore neuer the like Sorrow. Our translation is, Done vnto me: but we said, the word properly signi­fieth (and so S. Hierome & the Chaldey Para­phrast read it) Meltedme. And truely it should seeme by this fearefull Sweat of his, hee was neere some fornace, the feeling whereof, was a­ble to cast him into that Sweat, and to turne his Sweat into drops of Blood. And sure it was so: For see, euen in the verie 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 distill from him. That houre, what his feelings were, it is dangerous to define: wee know them not, we may be too bold to deter­mine of them. To verie good purpose it was, that the ancient Fathers of the Greeke Church in their Liturgy, after they haue recounted all the particular Paines as they are set downe in his Passion, and by all, & by euery one of them, called for mercy; doe, after all, shut vp all with this, [...], By thine vnknowen Sorrowes & Sufferings felt by thee, but not distinctly known by vs, haue mercy vpon vs & saue vs.

Now, though this suffice not, nothing neere; yet let it suffice, (the time being short) for his paines of Body and Soule. for those of the Bo­dy, it may be some may haue endured the like: but the sorrowes of his Soule are vnknowen sorrowes: and for them, none euer haue; euer haue, or euer shall suffer the like; the like, or neere the like in any degree.

And now to the third. 3 Pana Dam [...]i. It was said before, To be in distresse, such distresse as this was, and to finde 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 sorrowes, we are Confortati, that is, strengthened and made the better able to beare them all out. And who is there, euen the poorest creature among vs, but in some de­gree findeth some comfort, or some regard at some bodies hands? For if that be not left, the state of that partie is here in the third word said to bee like the tree, whose leaues and whose fruit are all beaten off quite, & it selfe left bare and naked both of the one and of the other.

1 And such was our Sauiours case in these his sorrowes this day, Leaues. & that so, as what is left the meanest of the sons of men was not left him: Not a leafe. Not a leafe! Leaues I may well call [Page]all humane Comforts and Regards, 1 Withered leaues. whereof he was then left cleane desolate. 1. His owne, they among whom hee had gone about all his life long, healing them, teaching them, feeding them, doing them all the good hee could, Ioh. 18.40. and 19.15. Mat. 27.25. Mar. 15.29.36. it is they that crie, Not him, no, but Barabbas rather; Away with him, his bloud bee vpon vs and our chil­dren. It is they that in the middest of his sor­rowes, shake their head at him; and crie, Ah thou wretch: they that in his most disconsolate estate and crie, Eli, Eli, in most barbarous man­ner deride him, and say, Stay, and you shall see Elias come presently and take him downe. And this was their Regard.

But these were but withered leaues. 2 Greene leaues. They then that on earth were neerest him of all, the greenest leaues and likest to hang on, and to giue him some shade: euen of them, some bought and solde him, others denied and for­swore him, but all fell away and forsooke him. [...] (saith Theodoret) not a leafe left.

But, leaues are but leaues, 2 Fruit. and so are all earth­ly staies. The fruit then, the true fruit of the Vine indeed, the true comfort in all heauinesse, is Desuper, from aboue, is diuine consolation. But Vindemiauit me, (saith the Latine Text) euen that was in this his sorrow, this day, bereft him [Page]too. And that was his most sorrowfull com­plaint of all others: not that his friends vpon earth, but that his Father from Heauen had for­saken him, that neither heauen nor earth yeel­ded him any regard; but that betweene the passioned powers of his soule, and whatsoeuer might any waies refresh him, there was a Tra­uerse drawen, and he left in the estate of a wea­ther-beaten tree, all desolate and forlorne. Euident, too euident, by that his most dread­full cry, which at once mooued all the powers in heauen and earth, Mat 27.46. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Weigh wel that cry, consider it wel and tell me, Si fuerit clamor sicut clamor iste, if e­uer there were cry, like to that of his: neuer the like crie, and therefore neuer the like sorrow.

It is strange, very strange, that of none of the Martyrs the like can be read; who yet endured most exquisite paines in their Martyrdomes; yet we see with what courage, with what cheer­fulness, how euen singing they are reported to haue passed through their torments. Will yee know the reason? S. Augustine setteth it downe, Martyres non eripuit, sed nunquid deseruit? Hee deliuered not his Martyrs, but did hee forsake them? He deliuered not their bodies, but hee forsook not their soules, but distilled into them [Page]the dew of his heauenly comfort; an abundant supply for all they could endure. Not so heere, Vindemiauit me (saith the Prophet) Dereliquisti me (saith hee himselfe:) No comfort, no supply at all.

Leo it is that first sayd it, (and all antiquitie allow of it,) Non soluit vnionem, sed subtraxit visio­nem. The vnion was not dissolued; True, but the beames, the influence was restrained, and for any comfort from thence, his Soule was, euen as a scorched heath-ground, without so much as any drop of dew of Diuine comfort: as a naked tree, no fruit to refresh him within, no leafe to giue him shadow without: The power of darknesse let loose to afflict him: The influence of comfort, restrained to releeue 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 farre as some do, is little better then blasphemie; Yet on the o­ther side, to shrinke it so short, as other some do, cannot be but with derogation to his loue, who to kindle our loue and louing Regard, would come to a Non sicut in his suffering: For, so it was, and so we must allow it to bee. This in respect of his Passion. Dolor.

Now in respect of his Person, Secondly, of the quality of his person. Dolor meus. Whereof, if it please you to take a view, euen of the person thus wounded, thus afflicted and forsaken, you shall then haue a perfect Non siout. And in deede, the Person is heere a weighty circumstance, it is thrice repeated, Meus, Mihi, Me. And wee may not leaue it out. For, as is the Person, so is the Passion; and any one, euen the verie least degree of wrong or disgrace, offered to a Person of excel­lencie, is more then an hundreth times more, to one of meane condition: So weighty is the circumstance of the Person. Consider then, how great the Person was; And I rest fully as­sured, heere wee boldly challenge, and say, Si fuerit sicut.

Ecce Homo, 1 Ioh. 19.5. saith Pilate first, A man hee is, as we are: and were he but a man, Nay, were he not a man, but some poore dumb creature, it were great ruth to see him so handled, as hee was.

A man, 2 Mat. 27.19. saith Pilate, and a Iust man. saith Pi­lates wife. Haue thou nothing to doe with that Iust man. And that is one degree further. For though we pity the punishment euen of male­factours themselues: yet euer, most compassi­on wee haue of them that suffer, and bee inno­cent. [Page]And he was Innocent: Pilate and Herod, Luk. 23.14. & 15. Ioh. 14.30. and the Prince of this world, his very enemies, being his Iudges.

Now, among the Innocent, 3 the more No­ble the Person, the more heauy the spectacle. and neuer doe our bowels earne so much as o­uer such. Alas, alas for that Noble Prince, Ier. 22.18. (saith this Prophet,) (the stile of mourning for the death of a great Personage.) And, he that suffe­reth heere, is such, euen a principall Person a­mong the sonnes of men, of the race royall, de­scended from Kings; Ioh. 19.22. Pilate stiled him so in his Title; and he would not alter it.

Three degrees. But, 4 yet wee are not at our true Quantus. For hee is yet more: More, then the highest of the sonnes of men: Ioh. 19.5. Mar. 15.39. for he is THE SONNE OF THE MOST HIGH GOD. Pilate saw no further, but Ecce Homo; The Cen­turion did, Verè Filius Dei erat hic. Now truely this was the Sonne of God. And heere, all words forsake vs, & euery tongue becommeth speechlesse.

Wee haue no way to expresse it, but à Minore ad Maius. (Thus,) Of this booke, the booke of Lamentations, one speciall occasion was, the death of King Iosias: But behold, a greater then Iosias is heere.

Of King Iosias (as a speciall reason of mour­ning) the Prophet saith, Cap. 4.10. Spiritus oris nostri, Christus Domini, The very breath of our no­strills, The Lords Annoynted; (for so are all good Kings in their Subiects accompts) He is gone. But behold, heere is not Christus Domini, but Christus Dominus, The Lords CHRIST, but the Lord CHRIST himselfe: And that, not comming to an Honourable death in bat­tell, as Iosias did, But, to a most vile reprochfull death, the death of malefactors in the highest degree. And not slaine outright as Iosias was: but mangled and massacred in most pitifull strange manner, wounded in body, wounded in Spirit, left vtterly desolate. O consider this well, and confesse the Case is truely put, Si fuerit Dolor sicut Dolor meus. Neuer, neuer the like Person: And if, as the Person is, the Passion be, Neuer the like Passion to his.

It is truely affirmed, that any one, euen the least drop of Blood, euen the least paine, yea of the body onely, of this so great a Person; any Dolor with this Meus, had beene enough to make a Non sicut of it. That is enough, but that is not all: for adde now the three other degrees; Adde to this Person, those Wounds, that Sweat, and that Crie, and put all together: [Page]And, I make no manner question, the like was not, shall not, cannot euer be. It is farre aboue all that euer were, or can bee. Abyssus est: Men may drowsily heare 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 Neuer the like; thus much.

NOw to proceede to the the Cause, and to consider it: 1 for without it, Of the cause. wee shall haue but halfe a Regard, and scarse that. In deede, set the Cause aside, and the Pas­sion (as rare as it is,) is yet but a dull and heauy sight: we list not much looke vpon spectacles of that kinde, though neuer so strange: they fill vs full of pensiue thoughts, & make vs Me­lancholique; and so doth this, till vpon exa­mination of the Cause, we finde it toucheth vs neere; And so neere so many wayes, as we can­not chuse, but haue some Regard of it.

What was done to Him wee see. 1 GOD. Let there now be a Quest of Inquiry, to finde who was doer of it. Who? who, but the Power of darknesse, wicked Pilate, bloody Caiaphas, the enuious Priests, the barbarous Souldiers? None of these are returned heere. Wee are too [Page]low, by a great deale, if we thinke to finde it a­mong men. Quae fecit mihi Deus. It was God that did it. An houre of that day was the houre of the power of darknesse: Luk. 22.53. but the whole day it selfe, is sayd heere plainely, was the day of the wrath of God. God was a doer in it; Wherewith God hath afflicted me.

God afflicteth some in Mercie: Gods 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 milde; others in his fierce wrath. This was in the very fiercenesse of his wrath. His Sufferings, his Sweat and Crie, shew as much; They could not come, but from a wrath, Si fuerit sicut, (For wee are not past Non sicut, no not here in this part: it followeth vs still, and will not leaue vs in any point, not to the end.)

The Cause then in God, 2 Sinne. was wrath. What caused this wrath? God is not wroth, but with sinne; Nor greeuously wroth, but with gree­uous sinne. And in CHRIST there was no greeuous sinne, Not his. Nay, no sinne at all. God did it, (the text is plaine.) And in his fierce wrath hee did it. Ioh. 18.22. For what cause? For God for­bid God should doe as did Annas the high Preist, cause him to be smitten without cause. [Page]God forbid (saith Abraham) the Iudge of the world should doe wrong to any. To any, Gen. 18.25. but specially to his own Sonne: That his Sonne, of whom with thundring voice from Heauen, he testifieth all his ioy and delight were in him, in him onely he was well pleased. And how then could his wrath wax hot, to doe all this vnto him?

There is no way to preserue Gods Iustice, and Christs Innocency both, but to say as the Angell sayd of him to the Prophet Daniel, The Messias shall be slaine, [...] ^{ve en lo}, shall bee slaine, Dan. 9.26. but not for himselfe. Not for himselfe? for whom then? for some others. Other mens. He took vpon him the person of others; and so doing, Iustice may haue her course and proceede.

Pitie it is to see a man pay that hee neuer tooke: but if he will become a Surety, if he will take on him the Person of the Debtor, so hee must. Pity to see a silly poore 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 himselfe, yet as a Sure­ty, as a Sacrifice, may iustly suffer for others, if hee will take vpon him their persons; and so, God may iustly giue way to his wrath against him.

And who be those others? Ours. The Prophet E­say telleth vs, and telleth it vs seuen times ouer for failing, Esa. 53.4.5.6. Hee tooke vpon him our infirmities, and bare our maladies: He was wounded for our iniquities, and broken for our transgressions. The chastizement of our peace was vpon him, and with his stripes were we healed. All we as sheepe were gone astray, and turned euery man to his owne way: and the Lord hath layd vpon him the iniquities of vs all. All, all, euen those that passe to and fro, and for all this, Regard nei­ther him nor his Passion.

The short is: It was we, that for our sinnes, our many, great, and greeuous sinnes, (Si fue­rit sicut) the like whereof neuer were) should haue swet this Sweat, and haue cryed this Cry; should haue been smitten with these sorrowes by the fierce wrath of God, had not he stepped betweene the blow and vs, and latched it in his owne body and soule, euen the dint of the fiercenesse of the wrath of God. O the Non sicut of our sinnes, that could not otherwise be answered!

To returne then a true verdict. It is we, (wee wretched sinners that wee are) that are to bee found the principalls in this act; and those on whom we seeke to shift it, to deriue it from our selues, Pilate and Caiaphas and the rest, but in­strumentall [Page]causes only. And it is not the exe­cutioner that killeth the man properly, (that is, They:) No, nor the Iudge, (which is God in this case:) onely sinne, Solum peccatum homicida est, Sinne onely is the murtherer, (to say the truth;) and our sinnes the murtherers of the Sonne of God: and the Non sicut of them, the true cause of the Nonsicut both of Gods wrath, and of his sorrowfull sufferings.

Which bringeth home this our text to vs, e­uen into our owne bosomes; and applieth it most effectually, to me that speake, and to you that heare, to euery one of vs; and that with the Prophet Nathans application; Tu es homo, 2 Sam. 12.7. Thou art the Man, euen thou, for whom God in his fierce wrath thus afflicted him. Sinne then was the cause on our part, Why wee, or some other for vs.

But yet, 3 Loue of vs. what was the cause why He on his part? what was that that mooued him thus to become our Surety, and to take vpon him our debt & danger? that mooued him thus to lay downe his Soule, a sacrifice for our sinne? Sure, Oblatus est quia voluit, saith Esay againe, Esa. 53.7. Offered he was for no other cause, but because he would. For vnlesse he would, he needed not: Needed not, for any necessity of Iustice; for no [Page]Lamb was euer more innocent: Not for any necessity of constraint; For twelue legions of Angells were ready at his command: But, be­cause he would.

And why would hee? No reason can be gi­uen, but, because hee Regarded vs: (Marke that reason.) And what were we? Verily, vtterly vnworthy euen his least regard; not worth the taking vp, 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 hee had done and suffred all this for vs: and yet he would Regard vs, that so little regard him. For when he saw vs (a sort of forlorne 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 vp wrath against the day of wrath, Rom. 2.5. by the errours of our life, till the time of our passing hence: and then the fierce wrath of God, ready to ouerwhelme vs, and to make vs endure the terrour and torments of a neuer-dying death, (another Non sicut yet) When (I say) he saw vs in this case, hee was mooued with compassion o­uer vs, and vndertooke all this for vs. Euen then, in his loue he regarded vs, and so regarded vs, that he regarded not himselfe, to regard vs.

Bernard saith most truely, Dilexisti me Do­mine, magis quàm te, quando mori voluisti prome: In suffring all this for vs, thou shewedst (Lord) that wee were more deare to thee, that thou re­gardest vs more, then thine owne selfe: And shall this Regard finde no regard at our hands?

It was Sinne then, and the hainousnesse of Sinne in vs, that prouoked wrath & the fierce­nesse of his wrath in God: It was loue, and the greatnes of his loue in CHRIST, that caused him to suffer the Sorrowes, and the greeuous­nes of these Sorrowes, and all for our sakes.

And indeed, but onely to testifie the Non si­cut of this his Loue, all this needed not, that was done to him. One, any one, euen the very least of all the paines hee endured, had beene 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 vnto God, is God. But if little had been suffered, little would the Loue haue been thought, that suffred so little; and as little Regard would haue been had of it. To awake our Regard then, or to leaue vs excuselesse, if wee continue regard­lesse; all this hee bare for vs: that hee might as [Page]truely make a Case of Sifuerit Amor, sicut Amor meus, as hee did before, of Si fuerit Dolor, sicut Dolor meus. Wee say wee will Regard Loue, if we will, heere it is to Regard.

So haue wee the Causes all three: Wrath in God: Sinne in our selues: Loue in Him.

Yet haue we not all we should. Our benefit by it. Pertaine it not to vs? For, what of all this? What good? Cui bono? That, that is it in­deed that wee will Regard, if any thing: as be­ing matter of Benefit, the only thing in a man­ner the world regardeth, which bringeth vs a­bout to the very first words againe. For, the ve­ry first words which wee reade, Haue yee no re­gard? are in the Originall, [...] lo alechem, which the Seuentie turne (word for word) [...], and the Latine likewise, Nonne ad vos pertinet? Pertaines it not to you, that you Re­gard it no better? For these two, Pertaining, and Regarding, are folded one in another, and goe together so commonly, as one is taken often for the other. Then to besure to bring vs to Regard, hee vrgeth this. Pertaines not all this to you? Is it not for your good? Is not the benefit yours? Matters of benefit they partaine to you, and without them, Loue, and all the rest may pertaine to whom they will.

Consider then, the inestimable benefit that [Page]groweth vnto you, from this incomparable Loue. It is not impertinent this; Euen this; That to vs heereby, all is turned about cleane contrary: That by his Stripes, wee are healed: 2 Cor. 6.2. by his Sweat, wee refreshed: By his forsaking, wee receiued to Grace. That this day, to Him the day of the fiercenesse of Gods wrath: is to vs the Day of the fulnesse of Gods fauour, (as the Apostle calleth it) A Day of Saluation. In respect of that he suffered, (I deny not) an euill day: a day of heauinesse: But, in respect of that, which He, by it hath obtained for vs: It is, (as wee truely call it, (A good Day, a Day of Ioy and Iubilee. For it doth not onely ridde vs of that wrath, which pertained to vs for our Sinnes: but further it maketh that pertaine to vs whereto we had no manner of right at all.

For, not onely by his death, as by the death of our sacrifice, by the blood of his Crosse, as by the bloud of the Paschal Lambe; the De­stroyer passeth ouer vs, 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 euen to our for­mer forfeited estate in the land of Promise. Or rather (as the Apostle sayth) Non sicut delictum sic donum: Not to the same estate, Rom. 8.15. but to one [Page]nothing like it: (that is) One farre better, then the estate our sinnes bereft vs: For they depri­ued vs of Paradise, a place on earth: but by the purchase of his bloud, we are entitled to a farre higher, euen the kingdom of Heauen: and his bloud, Mat. 26.28. not only the bloud of Remission to ac­quite vs of our sinnes; but the bloud of the Te­stament too, to bequeath vs, and giue vs estate, In that heauenly inheritance.

Now whatsoeuer else, this (I am sure) is a Non sicut: as that which the eye, by all it can see; the eare, by all it can heare; the heart by all it can conceiue, cannot pattern it, or set the like by it. Pertaines not this vnto vs neither? Is not this worth the regard? Sure if any thing bee worthy the regard, this is most worthy of our very worthiest and best regard.

Thus haue we considered and seene, The recapitu­lation of all. not so much as in this sight we might or should, but as much as the time will giue vs leaue. And now, lay all these before you, (euery one of them a Non sicut of it selfe) the paines of his Pody, esteemed by Pilates Ecce; the sorrowes of his Soule, by his sweat in the Garden; the comfortlesse estate of his sorrowes, by his cry on the Crosse: And with these, his Person, as being the Sonne of the great and Eternall God. [Page]Then ioyne to these, the Cause: In God, his fierce wrath: In vs, our hainous sinnes deser­uing it: In him, his exceeding great Loue, both suffering that for vs which wee had deser­ued; and procuring for vs, that we could neuer deserue: making that to appertaine to himselfe, which of right pertained to vs; and making that pertaine to vs, which pertained to him onely, and not to vs at all, but by his meanes a­lone. And after their view in seuerall, lay them all together, so many Non sicuts into one, and tell mee, if his Complaint bee not iust, and his request most reasonable.

Yes sure, his Complaint is iust, 1 The com­plaint. The matter Iust. Haue yee no Regard? None? and yet neuer the like? None and it pertaines vnto you? No Regard? As if it were some common ordinary matter, and the like neuer was? No Regard? As if it con­cern'd you not a whit, and it toucheth you so neere? As if hee should say: Rare things you regard, yea though they no wayes pertaine to you; this is exceeding rare, and will you not re­gard it? Againe, things that neerely touch you, you regard, though they be not rare at all; this toucheth you exceeding neere, euen as neere as your soule toucheth you, and will you no [...], yet regard it? will neither of these by it selfe, [Page]mooue you? will not both these together mooue you? what will mooue you? will Pity, Heere is Distresse, Neuer the like: will Duty? here is a Person, neuer the like: will Feare? here is wrath, neuer the like: will Remorse? heere are sinnes, neuer the like: will Kindnesse? heere is Loue, neuer the like: will bounty? heere are Benefits, neuer the like: will all these? heere they be all, all aboue any Sicut, all in the high­est degree.

Truely the Complaint is Iust, [...] it may mooue vs: it wanteth no reason, it may mooue: and it wanteth no affection in the deliuery of it to vs, on his part to mooue vs. Sure it mooued him exceeding much, for among all the deadly sor­rowes of his most bitter Passion, This, euen this seemeth to bee his greatest of all, and that which did most affect him, euen the greefe of the slender reckoning most men haue it in; as little respecting him, as if he had done, or suffe­red nothing at all for them. For loe, of all the sharp paines he endureth, he complaineth not but of this he complaineth, of No Regard: That which greeueth him most, that, which most he moaneth, is this. It is strange, he should be in paines, such paines as neuer any was, and not complaine himselfe of them, But, of want of re­gard [Page]onely. Strange, hee should not make request, O Deliuer me, or Relieue me: But on­ly, O Consider and Regard me. In effect, as if hee said, None, no deliuerance, no releefe do I seeke: Regard I seeke. And all that I suffer, I am con­tent with it: I regard it not: I suffer most wil­lingly, if this I may finde at your hands, Re­gard.

Truely, The regard of the Creatures of it. This so passionate a Complaint may mooue vs; it mooued all but vs: For most strange of all it is, that all the Creatures in hea­uen & earth, seemed to heare this his mourne­full Complaint, and in their kind, to shew their Regard of it: The Sunne in heauen shrinking in his light: the earth trembling vnder it; the very stones cleauing in sunder, as if they had sense and Sympathie of it: and sinfull men one­ly, not mooued with it. And yet it was not for the Creatures, this was done to Him, to them it pertaineth not: But for vs it was, and to vs it doth; And shall wee not yet Regard it? Shall the Creature, and not we? Shall we not?

If we doe not, it may pertaine to vs, The benefit, if but wee pertaine not to it: It pertaines to all, but all per­taine not to it. None pertaine to it, but they that take benefit by it; and none take benefit by it, no more then by the brazen Serpent, but [Page]they that fix their eye on it. Behold, Consider, and Regard it: the profit, the benefit is lost without Regard.

If wee doe not, The perill, [...] not. as this was a day of Gods fierce wrath against him, onely for regarding vs; so there is another day comming, and it will quickly bee heere, a day of like fierce wrath a­gainst vs, 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 carelesse of vs all, but shall cry as they did in the Gospell, Domine, Mark. 4.38. non ad te pertinet, si perimus? Pertaines it not to thee, Carest thou not that wee perish? Then would we be glad to pertaine to him, & his Passion. Pertaines it to vs then, & pertaines it not now? Sure now it must, if then it shall.

Then, 2 The Request. H [...]e some Regard. to giue end to this Complaint, let vs grant him his request, and Regard his Passion. Let the Rarenesse of it: The Neerenesse to vs: Let Pity, or Duty: Feare, or Remorse: Loue, or Bounty Any of them, or all of them. Let the iustnesse 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 preuaile with vs, to haue it in some Regard.

Some Regard! Verily, as his sufferings, 1 Our best ste­gard. his Loue, 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, euer the Re­gard should arise.

But God help vs poore sinners, and be mer­cifull vnto vs. 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 soone done. It should be otherwise, it should haue our deepest consideration, this; and our highest Regard.

But if that cannot be had, 2 At least, some Regard. (our nature is so hea­uy, and flesh & bloud so dull of apprehension in Spirituall things,) yet at least wise some Re­gard. Some, I say: The more the better; But in any wise some. And not as heere, No Regard, none at all: Some waies to shew, we make ac­compt of it, to withdraw our selues, to voyd our mindes of other matters, to set this before vs, to thinke vpon it, to thanke him for it; to regard him, and stay and see, whether hee will regard vs, or no. Sure he will, Acts 2.37. and we shall feele our hearts pricked with sorrow, by considera­tion of the cause in vs, our sinne: And againe, Luk. 24.32. warm within vs, by consideration of the cause [Page]in him, his Loue; till by some motion of Grace he answer vs, and shew, that our Regard is ac­cepted of him. 3 This Day spe­cially. And this, as at all other times, (for no day is amisse, but at all times, sometime to bee taken for this dutie) so specially on this Day; this Day which we hold holy to the me­morie of his Passion, this day to do it; to make this Day, the Day of Gods wrath & CHRISTS suffering, a Day to vs of serious consideration and Regard of them both.

It is kindly to consider Opus diei, in die suo, The worke of the Day, in the Day it was wrought: and this day it was wrought. This Day therefore, whatsoeuer businesse be, to lay them aside a little; whatsoeuer our haste, yet to stay a little, and to spend a few thoughts in calling to minde and taking to Regard, what this day the Sonne of God did and suffered for vs: and all for this end, that what hee was then, we might not be; and what he is now, we might be for euer.

Which, Almighty God grant wee may doe, more or lesse, euen euerie one of vs, ac­cording to the seuerall measures of his grace in vs, &c.