This latter part of the verse is a fair and lively crucifix, cut by the hand of, ,a most exquisite carver,-not to amaze our corporal lights with a piece of wood, brass, or stone, curiously engraved, to the increase of a carnal devotion, but to present to the eye of the conscience the grievous passion, and gracious compassion of our Savior Jesus Christ, "Who gave himself for us," etc. This crucifix presents to our eye seven considerable circumstances;

Who?-Christ.
What?-Gave.
Whom?-Himself.
To whom?-To God.
For whom?-For us.
After what manner?-An offering and sacrifice.
Of what effect?-Of a sweet savor.

WHO?

The person that gives is Christ; the quality of his person doth highly commend his exceeding love to us. We will ascend to this consideration by four stairs or degrees, and descend by four other. Both in going up and coming down we shall perceive the admirable love of the giver.

1. We will consider him a man. "Behold the man," (John 19:5), saith Pilate. We may tarry and wonder at his lowest degree, that a man should give himself for man. "For scarcely for a righteous man will one die," (Rom 5:7). But this man gave himself for unrighteous men, to die, not an ordinary, but a grievous death, exposing himself to the wrath of God, to the tyranny of men and devils. It would pity our hearts to see a poor dumb beast so terrified; how much more a man, the image of God!

2. The second degree gives him an innocent man. Pilate could say, "I have found no fault in this man" (Luke 23:14), no, nor yet Herod. No, nor the devil, who would have been right glad of such an advantage. So Pilate's wife sent her husband word, "Have thou nothing to do with that just man," (Matt 27:19). So the person is not only a man, but a just man, that gave himself to endure such horrors for us. If we pity the death of malefactors, how should our compassion be to one innocent!

3. In the third degree, he is not only a man, and a good man; but also a great man, royally descended from the ancient patriarchs and kings of Judah. Pilate had so written his title, and he would answer, not alter it, (What I have written, I have written.) And what was that? "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews," (John 19:19). Now as is the person, so is the passion: the more noble the giver, the more excellent the gift. That so high a king would suffer such contempt and obloquy to be cast upon him, when the least part of his disgrace had been too much for a man of mean condition! that a man, a good man, a great man, bore such calumny, such calamity, for our sakes: here was an unmatchable, an unspeakable love.

4. This is enough, but this is not all. There is yet a higher degree in this ascent; we are not come to our full quantus. It is this; he was more than man; not only the greatest of men; yea, greater than all men. He was more than the son of man, even the Son of God. As the centurion acknowledged. "Truly this man was the Son of God" (Mark 15:39). Here be all the four stairs upwards: a man, a harmless man, a princely man; and yet more than man, even God himself. Solomon was a great king, but here is a greater than Solomon. Solomon was Christus Domini, but here is Christus Dominus. He was the anointed of the Lord, but this is the Lord himself anointed. And here all tongues grow dumb, and admiration sealeth up every lip. This is a depth beyond sounding. You may perhaps drowsily hear this, and coldly be affected with it; but let me say, principalities and powers, angels and seraphims, stood amazed at it.

We see the ascent. Shall we bring down again this consideration by as many stairs?

(1.) Consider him, Almighty God, taking upon him man's nature. This is the first step downwards. "The word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). And "God sent forth his Son, made of a woman," (Gal 4:4). And this was done, by putting on our nature, not by putting off his own. (Humanity is united to the Godhead, but the Godhead is not disassociated from itself.) He is both God and man, yet but one Christ; one, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person. Now in that this eternal God became man, he suffered more than man can suffer, either living or dead. That man should be turned into a beast, into a worm, into dust, into nothing, is not so great a disparagement as that the glorious God should become man. "He that thought it not robbery to be equal with God, was made in the likeness of man." He that is "more excellent than the angels," became lower than the angels. Even the brightness of God's glory takes on him the baseness of our nature; and he that laid the foundations of the earth, and made the world, is now in the world made himself. This is the first descending degree.

(2.) The second stair brings him yet lower. He is made man; but what man? Let him be universal monarch of the world, and have fidelity and homage acknowledged to him from all kings and emperors, as his viceroys. Let him walk upon crowns and scepters, and let princes attend on his court; and here was some majesty that might a little become the Son of God. No such matter. "He took upon him the form of a servant," (Phil 2:7). He instructs us to humility by his own example. "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister," (Matt 20:28). "O Israel, thou hast made me to serve with thy sins," (Isa 43:24). He gave himself for a minister, not for a master; He that is God's Son is made man's servant. Proudly blind, and blindly poor man, that thou shouldest have such a servant as the Son of thy Maker. This is the second step downwards.

(3.) This is not low enough yet; "I am a worm, and no man," saith the Psalmist in his person. Yea, the shame of men and contempt of the people. He is called (Psa 24:7) the King of glory. "Be ye open, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in;" but Isaiah says, "He is despised and rejected of men: we hid as it were our faces from him: he was despised, and we esteemed him not." O the pity of God, that those two should come so near together, the King of glory, and the shame of men. The loftier the majesty, the lovelier the humility. Thus saith the apostle, "He made himself of no reputation," (Phil 2:7). .He that requires all honor as properly due to him, makes himself (not of little, but) of no reputation. Here was dejection, yea, here was rejection. Let him be laid in his poor cradle, the Bethlehemites reject him; the manger must serve—no room for him in the inn. Yea, "He came unto his own, and his own received him not" (John 1:11). All Israel is too hot for him; he is glad to fly into Egypt for protection. Comes he to Jerusalem, which he had honored with his presence, instructed with his sermons, amazed with his miracles, wet and bedewed with his tears? They reject him. "I would, and ye would not." Comes he to his kindred? They deride and traduce him, as if they were ashamed of his alliance. Comes he to his disciples? "They go back, and will walk no more with him," (John 6:66). Will yet his apostles tarry with him? So they say (verse 68), "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." Yet at last one betrays him, another forswears him; all forsake him; and Jesus is left alone in the midst of his enemies. Can malice yet add some further aggravation to his contempt? yes, they crucify him with malefactors. The quality of his company is made to increase his dishonor. In the midst of thieves, as it were the prince of thieves, saith Luther, He that "thought it no robbery to be equal to the most holy God," is made equal to thieves and murderers; yea, as it were a captain amongst them. This is the third step.

(4.) But we must go yet lower. Behold now the deepest stair and the greatest rejection. "The Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger" (Lam 1:12). "It pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief," (Isa 53:10). No burden seems heavy, when the comforts of God help to bear it. When God will give solace, vexation makes but idle offers and assaults. But now, to the rejection of all the former, the Lord turns his back upon him as a stranger; the lord wounds him as an enemy. He cries out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" How could the sun and stars, heaven and earth, stand while their Maker thus complained! The former degree was deep; he was crucified with evil-doers; reckoned amongst the wicked. Yet thieves fared better in death than he. We find no irrision, no insultation, no taunts, no invectives against them. They had nothing upon them but pain; he both contempt and torment. If scorn and derision can vex his good soul, he shall have it in peals of ordnance shot against him. Even the basest enemies shall give it; Jews, soldiers, persecutors, yea, suffering malefactors, spare not to flout him. His blood cannot appease them without his reproach. But yet the disciples are but weak men, the Jews but cruel persecutors, the devils but malicious enemies; all these do but their kind; but the lowest degree is, God forgets him, and in his feeling he is forsaken of the Highest. Weigh all these circumstances, and you shall truly behold the person that gave himself for us.

WHAT?

We come to the action. Giving is the argument of a free disposition. "I lay down my life; no man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again," (John 10:17, 18). He that gives life to us, gave up his own life for us. He did not sell, set, let, or lend, but give. He was offered, because he would be offered. No hand could cut that stone from the quarry of heaven; no violence pull him from the bosom of his Father, but his own mercy; he gave. "He cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills," (Song 2:8). He comes with willingness and celerity, no human resistance could hinder him; not the hillocks of our lesser infirmities, not the mountains of our grosser iniquities, could stay his merciful pace towards us.

He gave his life; who could bereave him of it? To all the high priest's armed forces he gave but a verbal encounter, I am he; and they retire and fall backward; his very breath dispersed them all. He could as easily have commanded fire from heaven to consume them, or vapors from the earth to choke them; he that controls devils could easily have quailed men. More than twelve legions of angels were at his back, and every angel able to conquer a legion of men. He gives them leave to take him, yea power to kill him; from himself is that power which apprehends himself. Even while he stands before Pilate scorned, yet he tells him, "Thou couldst have no power against me," "unless it were given thee from above." His own strength leads him, not his adversaries; he could have been freed, but he would not; constraint had abated his merit; he will deserve though he die.

The loss of his life was necessary, yet was it also voluntary; therefore he gave up the ghost. In spite of all the world he might have kept his soul within his body; he would not. The world should have been burned to cinders, and all creatures on earth resolved to their original dust, before he could have been enforced. Man could not take away his spirit; therefore he gave it. Otherwise, if his passion had been only material and not formal, it could not have been meritorious, or afforded satisfaction for us. For that is only done well that is done of our will.

But it is objected out of (Heb 5:7), that "he offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears, unto him that was able to save him from death." Hence some blasphemers say, that Christ was a coward in fearing the natural death of the body. If he had so feared it, he needed not to have tasted it. Christ indeed did naturally fear death, otherwise he had not been so affected as an ordinary man.

Yet he willingly suffered death, otherwise he had not been so well affected as an ordinary martyr. But he prays thrice, Let this cup pass. Divines usually distinguish here the sententiaries, thus: That there was in Christ a double human or created will, the one a natural will; the other a reasonable will. Christ, according to his natural will, trembled at the pangs of death, and this without sin; for nature abhorreth all destructive things. But in regard of his rational will, he willingly submits himself to drink that cup. Not as I will, O Father, but as thou wilt. A man, saith Aquinas, will not naturally endure the lancing of any member, yet by his reasonable will he consents to it. For the good of the whole body; reason masters sense, and cutting or cauterizing is endured. So Christ, by the strength of his natural will, feared death; but by his reason, perceiving that the cutting, wounding, crucifying of the Head, would bring health to the whole body of his church, and either he must bleed on the cross, or we must all burn in hell; behold now he willingly and cheerfully gives himself an offering and sacrifice to God for us.

But was it a mere temporal death that our Savior feared? No; he saw the fierce wrath of his Father, and therefore feared. Many resolute men have not shrunk at a little; divers martyrs have endured strange torments with magnanimity. But now when he that gave them strength quakes at death, shall we say he was a coward? Alas, that which would have overwhelmed man, would not have made him shrink; that which he feared, no mortal man but himself ever felt; yet he feared. The despair of many thousand men was not so much as for him to fear. He saw that which none saw, the anger of an infinite God; he perfectly apprehended the cause of fear, our sin and torment; he saw the bottom of the cup, how bitter and dreggish every drop of that vial was; he truly understood the burden which we make light of. Men fear not hell because they know it not. If they could see through the opened gates the insufferable horrors of that pit, trembling and quaking would run like an ague through their bones. This insupportable load he saw; that the sponge of vengeance must be wrung out to him, and he must suck it up to the last and least drop. Every talent of our iniquities must be laid upon him, till, as "a cart, he be laden with sheaves," (Amos 2:13). And with all this pressure he must mount his chariot of death, the cross, and there bear it, till the appeased God gave way to a completion: "It is finished."

The philosopher could say, that a wise man miserable, is more miserable than a fool miserable, because he understands his misery. So that our Savior's pangs were aggravated by the fullness of his knowledge. No marvel than if he might justly take David's words out of his mouth. "Thy terrors have I suffered with a troubled mind." This thought drew from him those tears of blood. His eyes had formerly wept for our misdoings; his whole body now weeps; not a faint dew, but he sweat out solid drops of blood. The thorns, scourges, nails, fetched blood from him, but not with such pain as this sweat. Outward violence drew on those; these the extremity of his troubled thought. Here, then, was his cause of fear. He saw our everlasting destruction, if he suffered not; he saw the horrors which he must suffer to ransom us, hence those groans, tears, cries, and sweat; yet his love conquered all. By nature he could willingly have avoided this cup; for love's sake to us he took it in a willing hand; so he had purposed, so he hath performed. And now to testify his love, saith my text, he freely gave.

WHOM?

Himself.—This is the third circumstance; the gift, himself. Not an angel; for an angel cannot sufficiently mediate between an immortal nature offended, and a mortal nature corrupted. The glorious angels are blessed, but finite and limited, and therefore unable for this expiation. They cannot be so sensibly "touched with the feeling of our infirmities" (Heb 4:15), as he that was, in our own nature, in all points tempted like as we are, sin only excepted.

Not saints, for they have no more oil than will serve their own lamps; they have enough for themselves, not of themselves, all of Christ, but none to spare. Fools cry, give us of your oil; they answer, "Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you; but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves," (Matt 25:9). They could not propitiate for sin, that were themselves guilty of sin, and by nature liable to condemnation. Wretched idolaters, that thrust this honor on them against their wills; how would they abhor such sacrilegious glory!

Not the riches of the world, "We were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold," (1 Peter 1:18). Were the riches of the old world brought together to the riches of the new world; were all the mineral veins of the earth emptied of their purest metals, this pay would not be current with God. It will cost more to redeem souls. "They that trust in their wealth, and boast in the multitude of their riches, yet cannot by any means redeem their brother, nor give to God a ransom for him," (Psa 49:6, 7). The servant cannot redeem the Lord. God made a man master of these things; he is then more precious than his slaves.

Not the blood of bulls or goats (Heb 9), Alas! those legal sacrifices were but dumb shows of this tragedy, the mere figures of this oblation, mystically presenting to their faith that "Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world." This Lamb was prefigured in the sacrifices of the law, and now presented in the sacraments of the gospel, slain indeed from the beginning of the world. Who had power, to profit us, before he had, a human being himself. None of these would serve.

Whom gave he then? Himself, who was both God and man; that so participating of both natures, our mortality and God's immortality, he might be a perfect mediator. He came between mortal men and immortal God, mortal with men, and just with God. As man he suffered, as God he satisfied; as God and man he saved. He gave himself,

Himself wholly, Himself only.

1. All himself, his whole person, soul and body, godhead and man-hood. Though the Deity could not suffer, yet in regard of the personal union of these two natures in one Christ, his very passion is attributed in some sort to the Godhead. So (Acts 20:28), it is called the "blood of God." and (1 Cor 2:8), "The Lord of glory" is said to "be crucified." The school's distinction here makes all plain. He gave all Christ, though not all of Christ; as God alone, he would not, as man alone, he could not make this satisfaction for us. The Deity is impassible; yet was it impossible, without this Deity, for the great work of our salvation to be wrought. If any ask, how the manhood could suffer without violence to the Godhead, being united in one person, let him understand it by a familiar comparison. The sunbeams shine on a tree, the axe cuts down this tree, yet can it not hurt the beams of the sun. So the Godhead still remains unharmed, though the axe of death did for a while fell down the manhood. His body suffered both sorrow and the sword; his soul sorrow, not the sword; his deity neither sorrow nor the sword. The Godhead was in the person pained, yet not in the pain.

2. Himself only, and that without a partner or a comforter.

(1.) Without a partner that might share either his glory or our thanks, of both which he is justly jealous. The sufferings of our Savior need no help. Upon good cause, therefore, we abhor that doctrine of the papists, that our offences are expiated by the passions of the saints. No, not the blessed Virgin hath performed any part of our justification, paid any farthing of our debts. But thus sings the choir of Rome (Holy Virgin, Dorotha, enrich us with thy virtue, create in us new hearts!) Wherein there is pretty rhyme, pretty reason, but great blasphemy; as if the Virgin Dorotha were able to create a new heart within us. No, "but the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin," (1 John 1:7). His blood, and his only. O blessed Savior, every drop of thy blood is able to redeem a believing world. What then, need we the help of men? How is Christ a perfect Savior if any act of our redemption be left to the performance of saint or angel? No, our souls must die, if the blood of Jesus cannot save them. And whatsoever witty error may dispute for the merits of saints, the distressed conscience cries, Christ, and none but Christ. They may sit at tables and discourse, enter the schools and argue, get up into the pulpits and preach that the works of good men is the church's treasure, given by indulgence, and can give indulgence, and that they will do the soul good. But lie we upon our deathbeds, panting for breath, driven to the push, tossed with tumultuous waves of afflictions, anguished with sorrow of spirit, then we sing another song—Christ, and Christ alone Jesus, and only Jesus; mercy, mercy, pardon, comfort, for our Savior's sake! "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved," (Acts 4:12).

(2.) Without a Comforter. He was so far from having a sharer in his passion, that he had none in compassion, that (at least) might anyways ease his sorrows. It is but a poor comfort of calamity, pity; yet even that was wanting. "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?" (Lam 1:12). Is it so sore a sorrow to Christ, and is it nothing to you? A matter not worth your regard, your pity? Man naturally desires and expects, if he cannot be delivered, ease; yet to be pitied. "Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends, for the hand of God hath touched me," (Job 19:21). Christ might make that request of Job, but in vain; there was none to comfort him, none to pity him. It is yet a little mixture of refreshing if others be touched with a sense of our misery; that in their hearts they wish us well, and would give us ease if they could; but Christ hath in his sorest pangs not so much as a comforter. The martyrs have fought valiantly under the banner of Christ, because he was with them to comfort them. But when himself suffers, no relief is permitted. The most grievous torments find some mitigation in the supply of friends and comforters. Christ after his monomachy or single combat with the devil in the desert, had angels to attend him. In his agony in the garden, an angel was sent to comfort him. But when he came to the main act of our redemption, not an angel must be seen. None of those glorious spirits may look through the windows of heaven, to give him any ease. And if they would have relieved him, they could not. Who can lift up where the Lord will cast down? What surgeon can heal the bones which the Lord hath broken? But his mother, and other friends, stand by, seeing, sighing weeping. Alas! What do those tears but increase his sorrow? Might he not justly say with Paul, "What mean ye to weep, and to break mine heart?" (Acts 21:13). Of whom then shall he expect comfort? Of his apostles? Alas! they betake them to their heels. Fear of their own danger drowns their compassion of his misery. He might say with Job, "Miserable comforters are ye all." Of whom, then? The Jews are his enemies, and vie in unmercifulness with devils. There is no other refuge but his Father. No, even his Father is angry; and he who once said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," (Matt 3:17), is now incensed. He hides his face from him, but lays his hand heavy upon him, and buffets him with anguish. Thus: he gave himself, and only himself, for our redemption.

TO WHOM?

To God; and that is the fourth circumstance. To whom should he offer this sacrifice of expiation but to him that was offended? And that is God. "Against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight," (Psa. 51:4). "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight," (Luke 15:21). All sins are committed against him: his justice is displeased, and must be satisfied. To God; for God is angry: with what, and whom? With sin and us, and us for sin. In his just anger he must smite; but whom? In Christ was no sin. Now shall God do like Annas or Ananias? "If I have spoken evil," saith Christ, "bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou me;" (John 18:23). So Paul to Ananias, "God shall smite thee, thou whited wall; for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?" (Acts 23:3). So Abraham pleads to God, "Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen 18:25). Especially right to his Son, and to that Son which glorified him on earth, and whom he hath now glorified in heaven? We must fetch the answer from Daniel's prophecy, "The Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself," (Dan 9:26). Not for himself? For whom, then? For solution hereof we must step to the fifth point, and we shall find.

FOR WHOM?

For us. He took upon him our person, he became surety for us; and, lo! Now the course of justice may proceed against him! He that will become a surety, and take on him the debt, must be content to pay it. Hence that innocent lamb must be made a sacrifice. "and he that knew no sin in himself, must be made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him," (2 Cor 5:21). Seven times in three verses doth the prophet Isaiah inculcate this: we, ours, us; (Isa 53:4, 5, 6). We were all sick, grievously sick; every sin was a mortal disease. "He healeth our infirmities," saith the prophet; he was our physician, a great physician. The whole world was sick to death, and therefore needed a powerful physician. So was he, and took a strange course for our cure; which was not by giving us physic, but by taking our physic for us. Other patients drink the prescribed potion; but our Physician drank the potion himself, and so recovered us.

FOR US.

He suffered for me, that had no cause to suffer for himself. O Lord Jesus thou sufferest not thine own, but my wounds. So monstrous were our sins, that the hand of the everlasting justice was ready to strike us with a fatal and final blow. Christ in his own person steps between the stroke and us, and bore that a while, that would have sunk us for ever. We abused the immortality we had, to our death; Christ used the mortality he had, to our life. He loved us; and such us, that were his utter enemies. Here then was love without limitation, beyond imitation. Unspeakable mercy, says Bernard, that the King of eternal glory should yield himself to be crucified; for so poor a wretch, yea, a worm; and that not a loving worm, not a living worm; for we both hated him and his, and were dead in sins and trespasses.

Yea, for all us, indefinitely; none excepted that will apprehend it faithfully. The mixture of Moses' perfume is thus sweetly allegorized. God commands him to put in so much frankincense as galbanum, and so much galbanum as frankincense, (Exo 30:34). Christ's Sacrifice was so sweetly tempered; as much blood was shed for the peasant in the field as for the prince in the court. The offer of salvation is general: "Whosoever among you feareth God, and worketh righteousness, to him is the word of this salvation sent." As there is no exemption of the greatest from misery, so no exemption of the least from mercy. He that will not believe and amend shall be condemned, be he never so rich; he that doth, be he never so poor, shall be saved.

This one point of the crucifix, for us, requires more punctual meditation. Whatsoever we leave unsaid, we must not huddle up this. For indeed this brings the text home to us, even into our consciences, and speaks effectually to us all; to me that speak, and to you that hear, with that prophet's application, Thou art the man. We are they for whose cause our blessed Savior was crucified. For us he endured those grievous pangs; for us, that we might never taste them. Therefore say we with that father, let him be fixed wholly in our hearts, who was wholly for us fastened to the cross.

We shall consider the uses we are to make of this by the ends for which Christ performed this.

It serves to save, to move and to mortify us.

1. To save us. This was his purpose and performance: all he did, all he suffered, was to redeem us. "By his stripes we are healed," (Isa 53:5). By his sweat we refreshed; by his sorrows we rejoiced; by his death we saved. For even that day, which was to him, the heaviest day that ever man bore, was to us "the accepted time, the day of salvation," (2 Cor 6:2). The day was evil in respect of our sins and his sufferings; but eventually, in regard of what he paid and what he purchased, a good day, the best day, a day of joy and jubilation.

But if this salvation be wrought for us, it must be applied to us, yea, to every one of us. For that some receive more profit by his passion than others, is not his fault that did undergo it, but theirs that do not undertake it; to apply it to their own consciences. We must not only believe this text in gross; but let every one take a handful out of this sheaf, and put it into his own bosom. So turning this for us into for me. As Paul, "I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me," (Gal 2:20). Blessed faith, that into the plural, us, puts in the singular soul, me. Every one is a rebel, guilty and convicted by the supreme law; death waits to arrest us and damnation to receive us. What should we do but pray, beseech, cry, weep, till we can get our pardon sealed in the blood of Jesus Christ, and every one find a sure testimony in his own soul, that Christ gave himself for me.

2. This should move us. Was all this done for us, and shall we not be stirred? "Have ye no regard? Is it nothing to you, that I suffer such sorrow as was never suffered?" (Lam 1:12). All his agony, his cries, and tears, and groans, and pangs, were for us; shall he thus grieve for us, and shall we not grieve for ourselves? For ourselves, I say; not so much for him. Let his passion move us to compassion, not of his sufferings (alas! our pity can do him no good); but of our sins which caused them. "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children, (Luke 23:28). For ourselves; not for his pains that are past, but for our own that should have been, and (except our faith sets him in our stead) shall be. Shall he weep to us, for us, and shall we not mourn? Shall he drink so deeply to us in this cup of sorrow, and shall we not pledge him? Doth the wrath of God make the Son shriek out, and shall not the servants for whom he suffered tremble? Every creature seems to suffer with Christ; sun, earth, rocks, sepulchers; Only man suffers nothing, for whom Christ suffered all. Doth his passion tear the veil, rend the stones, cleave the rocks, shake the earth, open the graves; and are our hearts more hard than those insensible creatures, that they cannot be penetrated? Doth heaven and earth, sun and elements, suffer with him, and is it nothing to us? We, wretched men that we are, that were the principals in this murder of Christ: whereas Judas, Caiaphas, Pilate, soldiers, Jews, were all but accessories and instrumental causes. We may seek to shift it from ourselves, and derive this heinous fact upon the Jews; but the executioner doth not properly kill the man. Sin, our sins, were the murderers. Of us he suffered and for us he suffered; unite these in your thoughts, and tell me if his passion hath not cause to move us.

And yet so obdurate are our hearts, that we cannot endure one hour's discourse of this great business. Christ was many hours in dying for us; we cannot sit one hour to hear of it. O that we should find fault with heat or cold in harkening to these heavenly mysteries, when he endured for us such a heat, such a sweat, such agony, that through his flesh and skin he sweat drops of blood. Doth he weep tears of gore-blood for us, and cannot we weep tears of water for ourselves? Alas! how would we die for him, as he died for us, when we are weary of hearing what he did for us.

3. This should mortify us. Christ delivered himself to death for our sins, that he might deliver us from death and our sins. He came not only to destroy the devil, but to "destroy the works of the devil," (1 John 3:8). Neither doth he take only from sin, the power to condemn us, but also, (Rom 6:6, 12), the power to rule and reign in us. So that Christ's death, as it answers the justice of God for our misdeeds, so it must kill in us the will of misdoing. Christ in all parts suffered, that we in all parts might be mortified. His sufferings were so abundant, that men cannot know their number, nor angels their nature, neither men nor angels their measure. His passion found an end, our thoughts cannot.

He suffered at all times, in all places, in all senses, in all members, in body, and soul also. All for us.

(1.) At all times. In his childhood by poverty and Herod; in the strength of his days by the powers of earth, by the powers of hell, yea even by the powers of heaven. In the day he lacks meat, in the night a pillow. Even that holy time of the great Passover is destined for his dying. When they should kill the paschal lamb in thankfulness, they slay the lamb of God in wickedness. They admire the shadow, yet condemn the substance. All for us; that all times might yield us comfort. So the apostle sweetly, "He died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him," (1 Thess 5:10).

(2.) In all places. In the cradle by that fox; in the streets by revilers; in the mountain by those that would have thrown him down headlong; in the temple by them that "took up stones to cast at him," (John 8:59). in the high priest's hall by buffeters, in the garden by betrayers; by the way, laden with his cross. Lastly, in Calvary, a vile and stinking place, among the bones of malefactors crucified. Still all for us, that in all places the mercy of God might protect us.

(3.) In all senses. For his taste, lo! it is afflicted with gall and vinegar-a bitter draught for a dying man! His touch felt more; the nails driven into his hands and feet; places most sensible of pain; being the most sinewy parts of the body. His ears are full of the blasphemous insults which the savage multitude belched out against him. Not him, but Barrabas, they cry to Pilate; preferring a murderer before a Savior. Will you read the speeches objectual to his hearing? (See Matt 27:29, 39, 42, 44, 49.) In all, consider their blasphemy, his patience. For his eyes, whither can he turn them without spectacles of sorrow? The despite of his enemies on the one side, shewing their extremest malice; the weeping and lamenting of his mother on the other side, whose tears might wound his heart. If any sense were less afflicted, it was his smelling; and yet the putrified bones of Calvary could be no pleasing savor.

Thus suffered all his senses. That taste that should be delighted with the wine of the vineyard, that "goeth down sweetly" is fed with vinegar. He looks for good grapes, behold "sour grapes" (Isa 5:4); he expects wine, he receives vinegar. That smell that should be refreshed with the odoriferous scent of the "beds of spices," the piety of his saints, is filled with the stench of iniquities. Those hands that sway the scepter of the heavens, are fain to carry the reed of reproach, and endure the nails of death. Those eyes that were as a "flame of fire" (Rev 1:14), in respect of which the very sun was darkness, must behold the afflicting objects of shame and tyranny. Those ears, which to delight the high choristers of heaven sing their sweetest notes, must be wearied with the taunts and scoffs of blasphemy.

And all this for us; not only to satisfy those sins which our senses have committed, but to mortify those senses, and preserve them from those sins. That our eyes may be no more full of adulteries, nor throw covetous looks on the goods of our brethren. That our ears may no more give so wide admission and welcome entrance to lewd reports, the incantations of Satan. That sin in all our senses might be done to death; the poison exhausted, the sense purified.

(4.) In all members. Look on that blessed body, conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of a pure virgin; it is all over scourged, martyred tortured, mangled. What places can you find free? To begin at his head; that head which the angels reverence, is crowned with thorns. That face, which is "fairer than the sons of men" (Psa 45:2), must be odiously spit on by the filthy Jews. His hands that made the heavens are extended and fastened to a cross. The feet which tread upon the necks of his and our enemies, feel the like smart. And the mouth must be buffeted which "spake as never man spake," (John 7:46).

Still all this for us. His head bled for the wicked imaginations of our heads. His face was besmeared with spittle, because we had spit impudent blasphemies against heaven. His lips were afflicted, that our lips might henceforth yield savory speeches. His feet did bleed, that our feet might not be swift to shed blood. All his members suffered for the sins of all our members, and that our members might be no more servants to sin, but "servants to righteousness unto holiness," (Rom 6:19). He would be polluted with their spittle, that he might wash us; he would be blindfolded, that he might take the veil of ignorance from our eyes. He suffered the head to be wounded, that he might renew health to all the body. Six times we read that Christ shed his blood; 1. When he was circumcised; at eight days old his blood was spilt. 2. In his agony in the garden, where he sweat drops of blood. 3. In his scourging, when the merciless tormentors fetched blood from his holy sides. 4. When he was crowned with thorns; those sharp prickles raked and harrowed his blessed head, and drew forth blood. 5. In his crucifying, when his hands and feet were pierced, blood gushed out. 6. Lastly, after his death, "one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water," (John 19:34). All his members' bled, to show that he bled for all his members. Not one drop of this blood was shed for himself, all for us; for his enemies, persecutors, crucifiers, ourselves. But what shall become of us, if all this cannot mortify us? "How shall we live with Christ, if with Christ we be not dead?" (Rom 6:8). Dead in deed unto sin, but living unto righteousness. As Elisha revived the Shunamite's child: "He lay upon it; put his mouth upon the child's mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands, and stretched himself upon the child, and the flesh of the child waxed warm," (2 Kings 4:34). So the Lord Jesus to recover us that were dead in our sins and trespasses, spreads and applies his whole passion to us; lays his mouth of blessing upon our mouth of blasphemy; his eyes of holiness upon our eyes of lust; his hands of mercy upon our hands of cruelty; and stretcheth his gracious self upon our wretched selves, till we begin to wax warm, to get life, and the Holy Spirit returns into us.

(5.) In his soul. All this was but the outside of his passion; "Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father save me from this hour; but for this cause came I unto this hour," (John 12:27). The pain of the body is but the body of pain; the very soul of sorrow is the sorrow of the soul. All the outward afflictions were but gentle prickings in regard of that his soul suffered. "The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?" (Prov 18:14). He had a heart within that suffered unseen, unknown anguish. This pain drew those strong cries, those bitter tears, (Heb 5:7). He had often sent forth the cries of compassion; of passion and complaint not till now. He had wept the tears of pity, the tears of love, but never before the tears of anguish. When the Son of God thus cries, thus weeps, here is more than the body distressed; the soul is agonized.

Still all this for us. His soul was in our souls' stead; what would they have felt if they had been in the stead of his? All for us; to satisfaction, to emendation. For thy drunkenness and pouring down strong drinks, he drunk vinegar. For thy intemperate gluttony he fasted. For thy sloth, he did exercise himself to continual pains. Thou sleepest secure, thy Savior is then waking, watching, praying. Thy arms are accustomed to lustful embracings; he for this embraceth the rough cross. Thou deckest thyself with proud attire, he is humble and lowly for it. Thou ridest in pomp, he journeys on foot. Thou wallowest on thy down beds, thy Savior hath not a pillow. Thou surfeitest, and he sweats it out, a bloody sweat. Thou fillest and swellest thyself with a pleurisy of wickedness. Behold incision is made in the Head for thee; thy Savior bleeds to death. Now judge whether this point (for us) hath not derived a near application of this text to our own consciences. Since then Christ did all this for thee and me; pray then with Augustine: Lord give me a heart to desire thee, desiring to seek thee, seeking to find thee, finding to love thee, loving, no more to offend thee.

There are two main parts of this Crucifix yet to handle. I must only name them, being sorry that it is still my hap to trouble you with prolixity of speech.

(6.) The next is the Manner: an offering and sacrifice. His whole life was an offering, his death a sacrifice. He gave himself often for us an eucharistical oblation, once an expiatory sacrifice. In the former he did for us all that we should do; in the latter he suffered for us all that we should suffer. "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree," (1 Peter 2:24). Some of the Hebrews have affirmed that in the fire which consumed the legal sacrifices, there always appeared the face of a lion, which mystery they thus resolve, that the Lion of Judah should one day give himself for us, a perfect expiatory sacrifice. Thus, "once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself," (Heb 9:26).

(7.) The last point is the Effect: Of a sweet smelling savor. Here is the fruit and efficacy of all. Never was the Lord pleased with sinful man till now. Were he never so angry, here is a pacification, a sweet savor. If the whole world were quintessenced into one perfume, it could not yield so fragrant a smell. We are all of ourselves dead and stinking carcasses. The pure nostrils of the Most Holy cannot endure us; behold the perfume that sweetens us, the redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus. This so fills him with a delightful scent, that he will not smell our noisome wickedness.

Let me leave you with this comfort in your bosoms. How unsavory so ever our own sins have made us, yet if our hand of faith lay hold on this Savior's censer God will scent none of our corruptions; but we shall smell sweetly in his nostrils. We should die, and thou payest it, we have offended, and thou art punished. A mercy without example, a favor without merit, a love without measure. Therefore I conclude my sermon, as we all shut up our prayers, with this one clause, Through our Lord Jesus Christ. O Father of mercy, accept our sacrifice of prayer and praise, for his sacrifice of pain and merit; even for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake! To whom, with the Father and blessed Spirit, be all glory, for ever. Amen.