Our Sauiourswil. lingues todie. the fecondSunday inLent. Ser.i4. (hall deliuer him to theGentiles, tomocke,and to fcourgehim,to beatand buf- fet him about the cheekes, to reuile him to his teeth,and to fpitinhisface,bee- ing relinquifhed'and forfaken ofall men.; For it is written, i willfinitetheir Sheapeheard, and theAare 'hall be fcattered. The perfons thatfhall take my life from mee,fhall be thePrinces of the Priefts, and the Romane power : the cir_ cumftances ; fcoffes,fcornes fcourges, &c. But after this fo foule a (Forme , I fluff recouer a very cheerefull Hauen , and reft in fafery. The third day will I rife again. Beholdwega;vp toHierufalem.Saint Markefaith,lefas went befare,andthey were a. mafed,andasthey followedthey feared. Wherewe aretoconfider , Thathee, that goes to receiue Death , fhowes greatcontent , great courage, andgreatvalour. But thoff,that go to receiue Life, greatcowardize,great forrow,and great feare. Whence it cameto paffe,that our Sauiour ariawent apace before,and that his Difciplesfollowed 'lowlyafter. He wentht./Ore them. The plçafures heetooke therein,claptwings tohis feet. Some may aske ; Howcanthis his ioy,futewiththe forrow which he fuffered in the garden ' But this ioy,was verse fitting and conuenientfor him ; to the end, that they whohereafter fhould fee him fad,might thinke, that thewinde of this his forrow,blew it felfeout of another corner; the contentment of his death continuing 'tillon foot. Epiphanies fayth, That thisour Sauiours forrow, grew from the delirethat he had to dye. For,ifhee fhould alwayeshauc expreft this his willingneffe that he hadtodye ; theDeuil,fearefullofhis owne hurt,would haue fought to hauediuerted it. And as Pilotswifewas drawne to folicite his life,fo wouldhe likewife hauefolicited allHierufalem to fauc him , had hee fo wellknowne then as he did afterwards,thatChrifts death wouldhauebin fo ad- uantagious tomankind.Hewas willing likewife toprouoke thereby, hisand our aduerfary, &toput him moreeagerly vpon the bufrneffe : perfuading himfelfe, that this his forrow proceeded outof feare. Mott men (fayth Epiphaniur) feare todye ; only our Sauiors feare was,not todye.Chrift,byhisfeare oflife,fought to fecurehis death. Howbeit,wemuffwithal! acknowledge,that he did truelÿ bothgreeue,and feare. via as theyfollowed they feared. That our nature fhould fuffercowardize and feare,feeing death neere at hand, as weehaue frene theexperiment of it in thegreateft Saints that are in Hearten, as in Elias, lob, and Saint Paul ; fonot to feare death, is the priuiledge and fauour ofGrace. To feare it, is the condi= Lionofnature,which dothnaturallydefire theconferuationofit's beeing, and thepreferuation of it's life.Nor is it much, that Nature fhoulddifcouerinman this weakeneffe and cowardize ; whenas beingvnitedto the God-head in our Sauiour Chrift, hedid beggeand intrear, according to this hitinferiour par't,to wit his humanity, ¡fit bepofsible let thiscup pa/ fromme. WhereuponLeo the Pope fayth,rpfa voxnonexaudtti,magnaeft expofttofacramenti.Themyitery,that Chrift fhould begge,and not beheard,is, That our Nature would not willingly pur- chafe anygood thing,at fo deere a rate,as the priceof it's life and being. 2Killn- mes (poliari, fedfuperueftiri, Wewould not beftripped,butouer-clothed. And albeit the Difciples ° ad fomany lecturesof death read vnto them, yetcould they not rernoorte thefear of death from them. And if humane nature wrought vp- on our Sauiour Chrift, according to that inferiour portion of his, though fo well incounrered with. his content and readinefFe todye; itis not much, that his Difciples fhould lagger behind, and thew themfelues fo lazie and cowardlyas they did. T s Filiva 219 marke. '447. Marke 10.3 ob. Sot. Naturall in all to feekelife, &Limn dea l
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