We may read here a Lecrure of the immenfe love of God in Chritl: to us poor GenVfe. tiles. be is therefore whipped that he might marry us to himfelf and never re1e& us, or cafl ~s otf: we read oh law inMo(es, that if a man tooka wife, and hated her, and gave occafions of fpeech againft her, and brought an evil nameupon her undefervedly ; thatthen the Eldm of theCity jhon!dtakt that man andch~jfi{e htm, ---- a~d foe Jhot<ld D<ut.". 1 s, 19 behi< wife, hemi"ht not put her away allhu daY.es. There IS a great myf\ery mtins ceremony; for tlut ~nan ( fay fome) was Clmft,, who by his i~carnation betrothed unto himfelf the Gentile Church, but be feems to hate her, and togtve an occafion of afpeech againfl her, and tobring an evil report upon her, as Into thClMY of the Gentiles ye foal! Mat. 10 , r. notg~, and into the Cuy of the Samantans ye Jluzll tJot ente~; and tt u Hot meet to takt the Mat. 15.~6~ childrens bread, and to caft it Hnto dogs. And now be IS accufed before the Elders, nowhe is whipt and cbaf\ifed, and commanded by his Father to take her to his wife, and not to put her away all his dayes. I know there is much unlik~nefs in this myftery, for Chrift was not wbtpt for calhng the Church adulterom, thatmdeed waft chaft; but he was whipt to prefent the Church as a chaft Virgin to his Father, that indeed was adultet·ous, Oh he loved the Church ~nd gavehimfelf for it.--that he might prefent it to Eph.s, , 1.27; himfelf a gloriom Chmch, not having (pot, or wrin"Je, or any fuch thing, but that it Jl"uld be holy andwitho~tt biemijh; this wa; the meaning of Chri!l's whipping, The cha- Ifa. SH. ftifement of ou;- peace l:VM ltpon him, and with his }Tripes are we healed. Come then, andlet us learn to read thi, love. letter fent from Heaven in bloody characters, Chrift is flripped who cloathed the Lillies of the field; Chrift is bound hand and foor, his hands that multiplied the loa~ es; and his feet that were weary in feekingthe firagling tlteep; Chrift is fcourged all over, becaufe all over we were full of wounds, and br~elfes, and Ha. 1 • 6 , p~ttrifying (ores, and there was no way to cure our wounds, but by his wounds, our bruifes, but by his bruife3, our fores, but by his fores; 0 read, and read again, Chrift i; whipped, belly, back, fide, from his tlwulders to the foles of his feet, the lafhes eating into his llefh, and cutting his very veins, fo that (as fome fay with much confidence, though I know not with what truth ) the gatl1es were fo wide that you might have feen his ribs , and bones, and very inwards ; what, was there ever love like unto this love? had he not been God as well as man, he could never have had in his heart fuch a love as this; 0 it was a divine love, it was the love of a Jefus, a love far furpaffing either the love of men, or women, or of Angels. 3. They put upon him~ purple robe, or a fear/et robe. rohncalls it purple, and Mat- John ry. •· thew fear/et; howfoever fome difference may be, yet becaufe of their likenefs, they are ~ht. 2 7 , :8. put fometimes one for another, They pm upon him a fearlet robe, it is in the Original a fear/et clOAk_, it was a loofe fhorr garment, at fir[l ufed only by Kings or Emperors. K 'lit. and the colour of it was fuitable to Chri!l's condition, for he was now purple all over, a~"'~~~;, w<!l within it, as without it; his body and h_is jiarment were both of a deep dyed fan- • gume colour, Some out of Zachary, where 1t lS fatd tha.t Jofhua was cloathed with filthy Zach. l• l· garments, conclude the old, ragged, thred,bare filthinefs of his robe; fo that every · dung n,.n have its office and feveral O>are in his abufe; the coloura~d the maHner of the garment flours his Kingdom; the barenefs, his outward eftimation with the people. the raggednefs, his_late fcattered retinue;' the fullednef>, his 1\ained, [potted life, as' they pretended, faymg, He"'"' a friendof public~nsand finners--but out of this darknefs the Lord can bring light, he bath his myf\erie3wrapt up in the malice of his enemtes; for bo;]l,,, hugt~rmcnt, and on his thigh was written amyftery; and in this fence, what other ts lm garment bu~ the embleme of his humanity? and what is his fcarlet gar- Rev. I9. ' 6 • mem, bm the embleme of his wounded body ?"that as he fpake of the woman, She anomted htm afonh.mdunto hu b~trtal· fo Pi/arein the myftery cloaths him aforehand John 1 - unto his bloody death, ' •· ,• .4: The~ platted a crow; of thorns, tmdp~ttit upon his head ; a goodly crown for the MJt.'7·'9; l<.rng of Krngs, we read of many forts of crowns, as of the triumphal, laurrl, naval, · mural, &c. but never till this did we read of a crown of thorns· a crown it was to .delude him; andacrow_n of thorns tQ rorment him; inthis wemay read both his pain and tl1ame: I. For illS pa111, 1t boared his head faith Oforiu_; with fe1•emy and two wounds; Bernard fpeaks of many more, mil/e punlilms, &c. I know not what ground Ber. Serm.do they have to number them; but certainly many wounds they made, and the rather po!f.V•m· may we. fay fo; becaufe that after they had put it upon his head, they took.. a reed, andMat. , -. 30 • [mote h,_m on the heRd: ( •·) they fmote him on the head to faften the crown of thorns · upon ·Imn furer, and to im1'rintit deeper, till as fome think it pi~rced his very Skull. z. Nor I'.·
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