Chap. 3· Sett..3· h>nd, and with her hair hanging, rcJdy (if need were )to wipe his feet. again; ?r that in this meditation I m;~y be more fpirim>l , lee the l.J.furer corn~ firft wlth Jud.u sbag, and difbilm•e to the poot' as he goes along; let the Drunkard follow after Wtth the fpunge that was 5lled.wiih gall, and vinegar, and check his wanton tlurfl_; l<(t the young EJJlbnt or voluptuous man come ltke lns Mafler wt<lt bare foot, and With the crown of thorns fet alfo upon his head; let the wanton perfon bear the rods; and whips, aod wires wherewith Chrifl was fcourged, and fright his own flcOJ ; let the ambtttous ,man be clad in the purple robe, the angry perfon in the feamlefs coat ; my meaning i1,' let every !inner according eo the nature of his !in, draw fomething or other from the paffio_n • of Clui£1: to the mortifying of Ins fin; yea let all turn mourners, let all bow then· heads, and be ready eo give up tbe gbofr for the Name of Chrifl. And let not Chrifl be buried without aSer~on neither, and let c':e Text be this,_ 'Thepod Shcpherdgiveth John to. rr~ his life for the Sheep, and 111 the end of the Serm?n ( whet_her tt !Je ~~ ufe or n_o) let the Preachertakeoccafion tofpeak a word or two tnthe pratfe of Clmfl, lethtmfaywtth the Spoufe, that He IVM the chiefcft a·nong ten th•rt{ands, that he WM altogether lovely; Cant.~. rd.lil'. that b•ing God above all gods, he became man beneath all men ; that when he fpake he began ordinarily with verily, verily, J [•)' umo you; tltat he was an holy man, that he never finned in at! his life neither in thought, word , or deed; that being endowed with the po1ver of miracles, he lovingly employed it in curing the lame, and blind, and deaf, and dumb, in catl:ing out devils, in healing the lick, in rcfloring the dead to life ; that ;ts he lived, fo he dyed, for being unjuftly condemned, mocked, flripped, whipped, crucified, he took all patiently, praying tor his perfecmors, and leaving to them, when he had no temporal thing to give them, a legacy of love, of life, of mercy, of pardon, of falvation: When tbe Sermon is done, and the Burial isfinilhed, let every Mourner go home, and begin a new life in imitarion of Jefu; ChrifL 0 my foul that thou wouldil: thus meditate, and thus imitate, that fo thy meditarion might be fruitful, and thy imitation reaf; I me1n that thy life and death might be conformable to the life and death of J efu; Chrill:, ·But of that hereafter. SECT. Ill. Of defi•ing Jifu..in that re[pefl. 3. I Et us de(ire after 'fefUJ; carrying on the. work _of our f•l~ation in his death. j e; .- Ius Chnfl to a fallen ftnner ts the cluef obJect of deftre, bur Jefus Chrift as crucihed is the_chie~ piece _of rllltobje<'i:. Humbled fouls look after the- remedy, and they find !t chtefly mChnfl cructfied; and hence are fo many cryes after bathings in Chrift's blood, {'nd hiding in Chrijf's righreou(nefs, aflive and paffive. Indeed nothing doth fo cool and refreflt a parched, dry, and tl1irfly foul'as the blood of Jefus; which made the poor woman cry out fo earneltly, I h.we an hmband, and childr(n, and.many other comforts, but I w011ld give them all, and all the good that ever I (hall fee in thu world, or m the world to come, tohave my poor thirjfy foul rcfrejl/d with that vreciolif blood of the Lord Jejiu Chrifl·. ' Bur what ts there in Chrifl's blood or death chat is fo dellrable? I anfwer--- r · There is i~ it the perfon of Chrifl, he chat is God-man, man-God, The bright~ . m(s of hu Fathers glory, andthecxprefs Image of his PerforJ, it is he that dyed; every Heb. 1 • 3. drop of hiS blood was not only the blood of an innocent man, brit of one that was God as well as man, God with his. own blood purchafed the ch,.ro-h; now furely every thing of A<ls , 0 , 1 s, God 15 mofl defirable. · . 2 · Th:re is in it a worth, or price; Clu:ifl confidered under the notion of a f1crifice 15 of tnfintte Worth i now tht1 facrijice ( faitb the Apoflle) he offered rtp, Heb. 9. 28. Heb. 9.28, ~e offered ~p, not 111 heaven, as the Socinia~s would have·it, in prefendng.himfelf be- '01e God Ius Father, but upon earth, viz.. m hts paflton upon the Crofs. No wealth m. heaven or ranh befides rhis could redeem one foul ; and therefore the Apoftle fees tlm agamflall comtptible things, as jilver and (old, tbe things fo much let by amongfl th~d men of thts world; Ye were mt rede~med with corruptible things, M jilver, alld i Pet. 1 , 1 g; · go -, -- but wtth the prCCiotu blood of Cnrift, as of a Lamb n·ithoHt blemijh, and with· out fpor. ' 3 · The~e _isi~ it a _merit and f1eisfa<'i:ion ; the Scripture indeed doeh not exprefl'{ ufe thefe 1\ord~; but tt bath cl)e fencond meamng of them· As in that text, He hatb E h f ' · - made p • ·•· 7" \
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