BVILDINGS stand by the benefit of their foundations that susteine and support them , & of their butteresses that comprehend and embrace them , and of their contignations that knit and vnite them : The foundations suffer them not to sinke , the butteresses suffer them not to swerue , and the contignation & knitting suffers them not to cleaue ; The body of our building is in the former part of this verse : It is this , hee that is our God is the God of saluation and salutes ; of saluation in the plurall , so it is in the originall ; the God that giues vs spirituall and temporall saluation too . But of this building , the foundation , the butteresses , the contignations are in this part of the verse , which constitutes our text , and in the three diuers acceptations of the words amongst our expositors . Vnto God the Lord belong the issues from death , Of for first the foundation of this building , that our God is the God of all saluations ) is laid in this ; That vnto this God the Lord belong the issues of death , that is , it is in his power to giue vs an issue and deliuerance , euen then when wee are brought to the iawes and teeth of death , and to the lippes of that whirlepoole , the graue . And so in this acceptation , this exitus mortis ▪ this issue of death is liberatio à morte , a deliueran●e from death , and this is the most obuious and most ordinary acceptation of these words , and that vpon which our translation laies hold , the issues from death . And then secondly the butteresses that comprehend and settle this building , That hee that is our God , is the God of all saluation , are thus raised ; vnto God the Lord belong the issues of death , that is , the disposition and manner of our death : what kinde of issue and transmigration wee shall haue out of this world , whether prepared or sudden , whether violent or naturall , whether in our perfect senses or shaken and disordered by sicknes , there is no condemnation to bee argued out of that , no Iudgement to bee made vpon that , for how soeuer they dye , precious in his sight is the death of his saints , and with him are the issues of death , the wayes of our departing out of this life are in his hands . And so in this sense of the words , this exitus mortis , the issues of death , is liberatio in morte , A deliuerance in death ; Not that God will deliuer vs from dying , but that hee will haue a care of vs in the houre of death , of what kinde soeuer our passage be . And in this sense and acceptation of the words , the naturall frame and contexture doth well and pregnantly administer vnto vs ; And then lastly the contignation and knitting of this building , that hee that is our God is the God of all saluations , consists in this , vnto this God the Lord belong the issues of death , that is , that this God the Lord hauing vnited and knit both natures in one , and being God , hauing also come into this world , in our flesh , he could haue no other meanes to saue vs , he could haue no other issue out of this world , nor returne to his former glory , but by death ; And so in this sense , this exitus mortis , this issue of death , is liberatio per mortem , a deliuerance by death , by the death of this God our Lord Christ Iesus . And this is Saint Augustines acceptation of the words , and those many and great persons that haue adhered to him . In all these three lines then , we shall looke vpon these words ; First , as the God of power , the Almighty Father rescues his seruants from the iawes of death : And then as the God of mercy , the glorious Sonne rescued vs , by taking vpon him selfe this issue of death : And then betweene these two , as the God of Comfort , the holy Ghost rescues vs from all discomfort by his blessed impressions before hand , that what manner of death soeuer be ordeined for vs , yet this exitus mortis shall bee introitus in vitam , our issue in death ( shall be an entrance into euerlasting life . ) And these three considerations ? our deliuerance à morte , A morte , in morte , per mortem . in morte , per mortem , from death , in death , & by death , will abundantly doe all the offices of the foundations , Foundation , butteresses and contignation . of the butteresses , of the contignation of this our building ; That he that is our God , is the God of all saluation , because vnto this God the Lord belong the issues of death .

First , then , I. Part. we consider this exitus mortis , to bee liberatio à morte , that with God the Lord are the issues of death , and therefore in all our death , and deadly calamities of this life , wee may iustly hope of a good issue from him . In all our periods and transitions in this life , are so many passages from death to death ; our very birth and entrance into this life , Exitus a morte vteri . is exitus à morte , an issue from death , for in our mothers wombe wee are dead so , as that wee doe not know wee liue , not so much as wee doe in our sleepe , neither is there any graue so close , or so putrid a prison , as the wombe would be vnto vs , if we stayed in it beyond our time , or dyed there before our time . In the graue the wormes doe not kill vs , wee breed and feed , and then kill those wormes which wee our selues produc'd . In the wombe the dead child kills the Mother that conceiued it , & is a murtherer , nay a parricide , euen after it is dead . And if wee bee not dead so in the wombe , so as that being dead wee kill her that gaue vs our first life , our life of vegetation , yet wee are dead so , as Dauids Idols are dead . Psal. 115. vers. 6. In the wombe wee haue eyes and see not , eares and heare not ; There in the wombe wee are fitted for workes of darkenes , all the while depriued of light : And there in the wombe wee are taught cruelty , by being fed with blood , and may be damned , though we be neuer borne . Of our very making in the wombe , Dauid sayes , I am wonderfully and fearefully made , Psal. 139. 6. and such knowledge is too excellent for me , Ps ▪ 118. 23. for euen that is the Lords doing , and it is wonderfull in our eyes ; Ipse fecit nos , 100. 3. it is hee that hath made vs , and not wee our selues , nor our parents neither ; Thy hands haue made me and fashioned me round about , saith Iob , and ( as the originall word is ) thou hast taken paines about me , and yet , sayes he , thou doest destroy me . Though I bee the Master peece of the greatest Master ( man is so , ) yet if thou doe no more for me , if thou leaue me where thou madest mee , destruction will follow . The wombe which should be the house of life , becomes death it selfe , if God leaue vs there . That which God threatens so often , the shutting of the womb , is not so heauy , nor so discomfortable a curse in the first , as in the latter shutting , nor in the shutting of barrennes , as in the shutting of weakenes , when children are come to the birth , and no strength to bring forth .

It is the exaltation of misery , Esay 37. to fall from a neare hope of happines . And in that vehement imprecation , the Prophet expresses the highest of Gods anger giue them ô Lord , what wilt thougiue them ? giue them a miscarying wombe . Therefore as soone as wee are men , ( that is , inanimated ) quickned in the womb ) thogh we cannot our selues , our parents haue to say in our behalf , wretched man that he is , who shall deliuer him from this body of death ? Rom. 7. 24. for euen the wombe is a body of death , if there bee no deliuerer . It must be he that said to Ieremy , Before I formed thee I knew thee , and befored thou camest out of the wombe I sanctified thee . Wee are not sure that there was no kinde of shippe nor boate to fish in , nor to passe by , till God prescribed Noah that absolute form of the Arke . Exo. 23. That word which the holy Ghost by Moses vseth for the Arke , is common to all kinde of boates , Theball , and is the same word that Moses vseth for the boate that he was exposed in , That his mother layed him in an arke of bulrushes . But we are sure that Eue had no Midwife when she was deliuered of Cain , therefore shee might well say , Gen. 4. 1. possedi virum à Domino , I haue gotten a man from the Lord , wholly , entirely from the Lord ; It is the Lord that enabled me to conceiue , The Lord that infus'd a quickning soule into that conception , the Lord that brought into the world that which himselfe had quickened , without all this might Eue say , My body had bene but the house of death , and Domini Domini sunt exitus mortis , Exitus a mortibus mundi . to God the Lord belong the issues of death . But then this exitus a morte , is but introitus in mortem , this issue , this deliuerance from that death , the death of the wombe , is an entrance , a deliuering ouer to another death , the manifold deathes of this world , wee haue a winding sheete in our Mothers wombe , which growes with vs from our conception , and wee come into the world , wound vp in that winding sheet , for wee come to seeke a graue ; And as prisoners discharg'd of actions may lye for fees ; so when the wombe hath discharg'd vs , yet we are bound to it by cordes of hestae by such a string , as that wee cannot goe thence , nor stay there ; wee celebrate our owne funeralls with cryes , euen at our birth ; as though our threescore and ten years life were spent in our mothers labour , and our circle made vp in the first point thereof ; we begge our Baptisme , with another Sacrament , with teares ; And we come into a world that lasts many ages , but wee last not ; Ioh. 14. 2. in domo Patris , says our Sauiour , speaking of heauen , multae mansiones , there are many mansions , diuers and durable , so that if a man cannot possesse a martyrs house , ( he hath shed no blood for Christ , yet hee may haue a Confessors , he hath bene ready to glorifie God in the shedding of his blood . And if a woman cannot possesse a virgins house ( she hath embrac'd the holy state of mariage ) yet she may haue a matrons house , she hath brought forth and brought vp children in the feare of God . In domo patris , in my fathers house , in heauen there are many mansions ; but here vpon earth the sonne of man hath not where to lay his head , Mat. 8. 20. sayes he himselfe . Nonne terram dedit filijs hominum ? how then hath God giuen this earth to the sonnes of men ? hee hath giuen them earth for their materialls to bee made of earth , and hee hath giuen them earth for their graue and sepulture , to returne and resolue to earth , but not for their possession : Here wee haue no continuing citty , Heb. 13. 14 nay no cottage that continues , nay no persons no bodies that continue . Whatsoeuer moued Saint Ierome to call the iournies of the Israelites , in the wildernes , mansions ; Exo. 17. 1. The word ( the word is Nasang ) signifies but a iourney , but a peregrination . Euen the Israel of God hath no mansions ; but iournies , pilgrimages in this life . By what measure did Iacob measure his life to Pharaoh ; the dayes of the years of my pilgrimage . And though the Apostle would not say morimur , Gen. 47. 9. that , whilest wee are in the body wee are dead , yet hee sayes , Peregrinamur , whilest wee are in the body , wee are but in a pilgrimage , and wee are absent from the Lord ; hee might haue sayd dead , 2 Cor. 5. 6. for this whole world is but an vniuersall churchyard , but our common graue , and the life & motion that the greatest persons haue in it , is but as the shaking of buried bodies in their graue , by an earth-quake . That which we call life , is but Hebdomada mortium , a weeke of death , seauen dayes , seauen periods of our life spent in dying , a dying seauen times ouer ; and there is an end . Our birth dyes in infancy , and our infancy dyes in youth , and youth and the rest dye in age , and age also dyes , and determines all . Nor doe all these , youth out of infancy , or age out of youth arise so , as a Phoenix out of the ashes of another Phoenix formerly dead , but as a waspe or a serpent out of a caryon , or as a Snake out of dung . Our youth is worse then our infancy , and our age worse then our youth . Our youth is hungry and thirsty , after those sinnes , which our infancy knew not ; And our age is sory and angry , that it cannot pursue those sinnes which our youth did ; & besides , al the way , so many deaths , that is , so many deadly calamities accompany euery condition , and euery period of this life , as that death it selfe would bee an ease to them that suffer them : Vpon this sense doth Iob wish that God had not giuen him an issue from the first death , from the wombe , Wherefore hast thou brought me forth out of the wombe ? Io. 18. O that I had giuen vp the Ghost , and no eye seene me ? I should haue beene as though I had not beene . And not only the impatient Israelites in their murmuring ( would to God wee had dyed by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt ) but Eliah himselfe , Exo ▪ 16● 3. when he fled from Iesabell , and went for his life , as that text sayes , vnder the Iunipertree , requested that hee might dye , & sayd , it is enough now , O Lord , take away my life . Rev. 19. 4. 4. 3. So Ionah iustifies his impatience , nay his anger towards God himselfe . Now ô Lord take , I beseech thee , my life from mee , for it is better to dye then to liue . And when God asked him , doest thou well to be angry for this , he replyes , I doe well to be angry , euen vnto death , how much worse a death then death , is this life , which so good men would so often change for death ? But if my case bee as Saint Paules case , quotidiè morior , that I dye dayly , that something heauier then death fall vpon me euery day ; If my case be Dauids case , tota die mortificamur ; all the day long wee are killed , that not onely euery day , but euery houre of the day some thing heauier then death fall vpon me , though that bee true of me , Conceptus in peccatis , I was shapen in iniquity , and in sinne did my mother conceiue me , ( there I dyed one death , ) though that be true of me ( Natus filius irae ) I was borne not onely the child of sinne , but the child of wrath , of the wrath of God for sinne , which is a heauier death ; Yet Domini Domini sunt exitus mortis , with God the Lord are the issues of death , and after a Iob , and a Ioseph , and a Ieremie , and a Daniel , I cannot doubt of a deliuerance . And if no other deliuerance conduce more to his glory and my good , Apoc. 1. 18. yet he hath the keys of death , and hee can let me out at that dore , that is , deliuer me from the manifold deaths of this world , theomni die and the tota die , the euery dayes death & euery houres death , by that one death , the finall dissolution of body and soule , the end of all . But then is that the end of all ? Is that dissolution of body and soule , the last death that the body shall suffer ? ( for of spirituall death wee speake not now ) It is not , though this be exitus à morte ; It is introitus in mortem : though it bee an issue from manifold deaths of this world , Exitus a morte Incinerationis . yet it is an entrance into the death of corruption and putrefaction & vermiculation and incineration , and dispersion in and from the graue , in which euery dead man dyes ouer againe . It was a prerogatiue peculiar to Christ , not to dy this death , not to see corruption : what gaue him this priuiledge ? Not Iosephs great proportion of gummes and spices , that might haue preserued his body from corruption and incineration longer then he needed it , longer then three dayes , but it would not haue done it for euer : what preserued him then ? did his exemption and freedome from originall sinne preserue him from this corruption and incineration ? 't is true that original sinne hath induced this corruption and incineration vpon vs ; If wee had not sinned in Adam , mortality had not put on immortality , 1 Cor. 15. vers. 33. ( as the Apostle speakes ) no , corruption had not put on incorruption , but we had had our transmigration from this to the other world , without any mortality , any corruption at all . But yet since Christ tooke sinne vpon him , so farre as made him mortall , he had it so farre too , as might haue made him see this corruption and incineration , though he had no originall sinne in himself ; what preseru'd him then ? Did the hypostaticall vnion of both natures ? God and Man , preserue him from this corruption and incineration ? 't is true that this was a most powerfull embalming , to be embalmd with the diuine nature it selfe , to bee embalmd with eternity , was able to preserue him from corruption and incineration for euer . And he was embalmd , so embalmd with the diuine nature it selfe , euen in his body as well as in his soule ; for the Godhead , the divine nature did not depart , but remained still vnited to his dead body in the graue ; But yet for al this powerful embalming , his hypostaticall vnion of both natures , we see Christ did dye ; and for all his vnion which made him God and Man , hee became no man ( for the vnion of the body and soule makes the man , and hee whose soule and body are separated by death as long as that state lasts is properly no man . ) And therefore as in him the dissolution of body and soule was no dissolution of the hypostaticall vnion ; so is there nothing that constraines vs to say , that though the flesh of Christ had seene corruption and incineration in the graue , this had bene any dissolution of the hypostaticall vnion , for the diuine nature , the Godhead might haue remained with all the Elements and principles of Christs body , aswell as it did with the two constitutiue parts of his person , his body and his soul. This incorruption then was not in Iosephs gummes and spices , nor was it in Christs innocency , and exemption from originall sin , nor was it ( that is , it is not necessary to say it was ) in the hypostaticall vnion . But this incorruptiblenes of his flesh is most conueniently plac'd in that ; Non dabis , thou wilt not suffer thy holy one to see corruption , Psal. 16. 10. wee looke no further for causes or reasons in the mysteries of religion , but to the will and pleasure of God : Mat. 11. 26. Christ himselfe limited his inquisition in that ita est , euen so Father , for so it seemeth good in thy sight . Christs body did not see corruption , therefore , because God had decreed it shold not . The humble soule ( and onely the humble soule is the religious soule ) rests himselfe vpon Gods purposes and the decrees of God , which he hath declared and manifested not such as are conceiued and imagined in our selues , though vpon some probability , some veresimilitude , Acts 2. 31. 13. 35. so in our present case Peter proceeds in his Sermon at Ierusalem , & so Paul in his at Antioch . They preached Christ to haue bene risen without seeing corruption , not onely because God had decreed it , but because he had manifested that decree in his Prophet , therefore doth Saint Paul cite by speciall number the second psalme for that decree ; And therefore both Saint Peter & S. Paul cite for it that place in the 16. psalme , Vers. 10. for when God declares his decree and purpose in the expresse words of his Prophet , or when he declares it in the reall execution of the decree , then he makes it ours , then he manifests it to vs . And therfore as the Mysteries of our Religion , are not the obiects of our reason , but by faith we rest on Gods decree and purpose . ( It is so ô God , because it is thy will , it should be so ) so Gods decrees are euer to be considered in the manifestation thereof . All manifestation is either in the word of God , or in the execution of the decree ; And when these two concur and meete , it is the strongest demonstration that can be : when therefore I finde those markes of adoption and spirituall filiation , which are deliuered in the word of God to be vpon me , when I finde that reall execution of his good purpose vpon me , as that actually I doe liue vnder the obedience , and vnder the conditions which are euidences of adoption and spirituall filiation ; Then so long as I see these markes and liue so ; I may safely comfort my selfe in a holy certitude and a modest infallibility of my adoption . Christ determines himself in that , the purpose of God was manifest to him : S. Peter and S. Paul determine themselues in those two wayes of knowing the purpose of God , the word of God before the execution of the decree in the fulnes of time . It was prophecyed before , say they , and it is performed now , Christ is risen without seeing corruption . Now this which is so singularly peculiar to him , that his flesh should not see corruption , at his second coming , his coming to Iudgement , shall extend to all that are then a liue , their Hestae shall not see corruption , because as th' Apostle sayes , and sayes as a secret , as a mystery ; Behold I shew you a mistery , wee shall not all sleepe , ( that is , not continue in the state of the dead in the graue , ) but wee shall all be changed in an instant , we shall haue a dissolution , and in the same instant a redintgeration , a recompacting of body and soule , and that shall be truely a death & truely a resurrection , but no sleeping in corruption ; But for vs that dye now and sleepe in the state of the dead , we must al passe this posthume death , this death after death , nay this death after buriall , this dissolution after dissolution , this death of corruption and putrifaction , of vermiculation and incineration , of dissolution and dispersion in and from the graue , when these bodies that haue beene the children of royall parents , & the parents of royall children , must say with Iob , Corruption thou art my father , and to the Worme thou art my mother & my sister . Miserable riddle , when the same worme must bee my mother , and my sister , and myselfe . Miserable incest , when I must bee maried to my mother and my sister , and bee both father and mother to my owne mother and sister , beget & beare that worme which is all that miserable penury ; when my mouth shall be filled with dust , and the worme shall feed , and feed sweetely vpon me , when the ambitious man shall haue no satisfaction , Vers. 24 20 if the poorest aliue tread vpon him , nor the poorest receiue any contentment in being made equall to Princes , for they shall bee equall but in dust . Iob. 23. 24. One dyeth at his full strength , being wholly at ease & in quiet , and another dyes in the bitternes of his soul , and neuer eates with pleasure , but they lye downe alike in the dust , and the worme covers them ; In Iob and in Esay , Vers. 14. 11. it couers them and is spred vnder them , the worme is spred vnder thee , and the worme couers thee , There 's the Mats and the Carpets that lye vnder , and there 's the State and the Canapye , that hangs ouer the greatest of the sons of men ; Euen those bodies that were the temples of the holy Ghost , come to this dilapidation , to ruine , to rubbidge , to dust , euen the Israel of the Lord , and Iacob himselfe hath no other specification , no other denomination , but that vermis Iacob , thou worme of Iacob . Truely the consideration of this posthume death , this death after buriall , that after God , ( with whom are the issues of death ) hath deliuered me from the death of the wombe , by bringing mee into the world , and from the manifold deaths of the world , by laying me in the graue , I must dye againe in an Incineration of this flesh , and in a dispersion of that dust . That that Monarch , who spred ouer many nations aliue , must in his dust lye in a corner of that sheete of lead , and there , but so long as that lead will laste , and that priuat and retir'd man , that thought himselfe his owne for euer , and neuer came forth , must in his dust of the graue bee published , and ( such are the reuolutions of the graues ) bee mingled with the dust of euery high way , and of euery dunghill , and swallowed in euery puddle and pond : This is the most inglorious and contemptible vilification , the most deadly and peremptory nullification of man , that wee can consider ; God seemes to haue caried the declaration of his power to a great height , when hee sets the Prophet Ezechiel in the valley of drye bones , & sayes , Sonne of man can these bones liue ? as though it had bene impossible , and yet they did ; The Lord layed Sinewes vpon them , and flesh , and breath into them , and they did liue : But in that case there were bones to bee seene , something visible , of which it might be sayd , can this thing liue ? But in this death of incineration , and dispersion of dust , wee see nothing that wee call that mans ; If we say , can this dust liue ? perchance it cannot , it may bee the meere dust of the earth , which neuer did liue , never shall . It may be the dust of that mans worme , which did liue , but shall no more . It may bee the dust of another man , that concernes not him of whom it is askt . This death of incineration and dispersion , is , to naturall reason , the most irrecouerable death of all , & yet Domini Domini sunt exitus mortis , vnto God the Lord belong the issues of death , and by recompacting this dust into the same body , & reanimating the same body with the same soule , hee shall in a blessed and glorious resurrection giue mee such an issue from this death , as shal neuer passe into any other death , but establish me into a life that shall last as long as the Lord of life himselfe .

And so haue you that that belongs to the first acceptation of these words , ( vnto God the Lord belong the issues of death ) That though from the wombe to the graue and in the graue it selfe wee passe from death to death , yet , as Daniel speakes , the Lord our God is able to deliuer vs , and hee will deliuer vs .

And so wee passe vnto our second accommodation of these words ( vnto God the Lord belong the issues of death ) That it belongs to God , and not to man to passe a iudgement vpon vs at our death , or to conclude a dereliction on Gods part vpon the manner thereof .

Those indications which the Physitians receiue , 2. Part. Liberatio in morte . and those presagitions which they giue for death or recouery in the patient , they receiue and they giue out of the grounds and the rules of their art . But we haue no such rule or art to giue a presagition of spirituall death & damnation vpon any such iudication as wee see in any dying man ; wee see often enough to be sory , but not to despaire ; wee may bee deceiued both wayes , wee vse to comfort our selfe in the death of a friend , if it be testified that he went away like a Lambe , that is , without any reluctation . But , God knowes , that may bee accompanied with a dangerous damp and stupefaction , & insensibility of his present state . Our blessed Sauiour suffered coluctations with death , and a sadnes euen in his soule to death , and an agony euen to a bloody sweate in his body , and expostulations with God , & exclamations vpon the crosse . He was a deuout man , who said vpon his death bed , or dead turfe ( for hee was an Heremit ) septuaginta annos Domino seruiuisti , & mori times ? hast thou serued a good Master threescore and ten yeaes , and now art thou loath to goe into his presence ? yet Hilarion was loath , Bartaam was a deuout man ( an Heremit too ) that sayd that day hee dyed . Cogita te hodie coepisse seruire Domino , & hodie finiturum . Consider this to be the first days seruice that euer thou didst thy Master , to glorifie him in a Christianly and a constant death , and if thy first day be thy last day too , how soone dost thou come to receiue thy wages ? yet Bartaam could haue beene content to haue stayd longer forth : Make no ill conclusions vpon any mans loathnes to dye , for the mercies of God worke momentarily in minutes , and many times insensibly to bystanders or any other then the party departing . And then vpon violent deaths inflicted , as vpon malefactors . Christ himselfe hath forbidden vs by his owne death to make any ill conclusion ; for his owne death had those impressions in it ; He was reputed , he was executed as a malefactor , & no doubt many of them who concurred to his death , did beleeue him to bee so ; Of sudden death there are scarce examples to be found in the scriptures vpon good men , for death in battaile cannot be called suden death ; But God gouernes not by examples , but by rules , and therefore make no ill conclusion vpon sudden death nor vpon distempers , neither though perchance accompanied with some words of diffidence and distrust in the mercies of God : The treelyes as it falles its true , but it is not the last stroake that fells the tree , nor the last word nor gaspe that qualifies the soule . Stil pray wee for a peaceable life against violent death , & for time of repentance against sudden death , and for sober and modest assurance against distemperd and diffident death , but neuer make ill conclusions vpon persons ouertaken with such deaths ; Domini Domini sunt exitus mortis , to God the Lord belong the issues of death . And he receiued Sampson , who went out of this world in such a manner ( consider it actiuely , consider it passiuely in his owne death , and in those whom he slew with himselfe ) as was subiect to interpretation hard enough . Yet the holy Ghost hath moued S. Paul to celebrate Sampson in his great Catalogue , Heb. 11. and so doth all the Church : Our criticall day is not the very day of our death : but the whole course of our life . I thanke him that prayes for me when Quid apertius diceretur ? sayes hee there , what can bee more obuious , more manifest then this sense of these words . In the former part of this verse , it is sayd ; He that is our God , is the God of saluation , Deus salvos fariendi , so hee reads it , the God that must saue vs . Who can that be , sayes he , but lesus ? for therefore that name was giuen him , because he was to saue vs . And to this lesus , sayes he , this Sauiour , belongs the issues of death ; Mat. I. 21 : Nec oportuit eum de hac vita alios exitus habere quam mortis . Being come into this life in our mortal nature ; He could not goe out of it any other way but by death ? Ideo dictum , sayes he , therefore it is sayd . To God the Lord belong the issues of death ; vt ostenderetur moriendo nos saluos facturum , to shew that his way to saue vs was to dye . And from this text doth Saint Isodore proue ; that Christ was truely Man , ( which as many sects of heretiques denyed , as that he was truely God ) because to him , though he were Dominus Dominus ( as the text doubles it ) God the Lord , yet to him , to God the Lord belong'd the issues of death , oportuit eum pati more can not be sayd , then Christ himselfe sayes of himselfe ; Luk. 24. 26 These things Christ ought to suffer , hee had no other way but by death : So then this part of our Sermon must needes be a passion Sermon ; since all his life was a continuall passion , all our Lent may well bee a continuall good Fryday . Christs painefull life tooke off none of the paines of his death , hee felt not the lesse then for hauing felt so much before . Nor will any thing that shall be sayd before , lessen , but rather in large the deuotion , to that which shall be sayd of his passion at the time of due solemnization thereof . Christ bled nor a droppe the lesse at the last , for hauing bled at his Circumcision before , nor wil you a teare the lesse then , if you shed some now . And therefore bee now content to consider with mee how to this God the Lord belong'd the issues of death . That God , this Lord , the Lord of life could dye , is a strange contemplation ; That the red Sea could bee drie , That the Sun could stand still , that an Ouen could be seauen times heat and not burne , That Lions could be hungry and n●t bite , is strange , miraculously strange , but supermiraculous that God could dye ▪ but that God would dye is an exaltation of that . But euen of that also it is a superexaltation , that God shold dye , must dye , & non exitus ( said S. Augustin God , the Lord had no issue but by death , & oportuit pati ( says Christ himself all this Christ ought to suffer , was bound to suffer ; Deus vltionum Deus says Dauid , Psal: 91 God is the God of reuenges , he wold not passe ouer the sonne of man vnreuenged , vnpunished . But then Deus vltionum libere egit ( sayes that place ) The God of reuenges workes freely , he punishes , he spares whome he will . And wold he not spare himselfe ? he would not : Dilectio fortis vt mors , Cant. 36. loue is strong as death , stronger , it drew in death that naturally is not welcom , Si possibile , says Christ , If it be possible , let this Cup passe , when his loue expressed in a former decree with his Father , Vers. ● had made it impossible . Many waters quench not loue , Christ tryed many ; He was Baptized our of his loue , and his loue determined not there . He mingled blood with water in his agony and that determined not his loue ; hee wept pure blood , all his blood at all his eyes , at all his pores , in his flagellation and thornes ( to the Lord our God belong'd the issues of blood ) and these expressed , but these did not quench his loue . Hee would not spare , nay he could not spare himselfe . There was nothing more free , more voluntary , more spontaneous then the death of Christ . 'T is true , libere egit , he dyed voluntarily , but yet when we consider the contract act that had passed betweene his Father and him , there was an oportuit , a kind of necessity vpon him . All this Christ ought to suffer . And when shall we date this obligation , this oportuit , this necessity ? when shall wee say that begun . Certainly this decree by which Christ was to suffer all this , was an eternall decree , and was there any thing before that , that was eternall ? Infinite loue , eternall loue , be pleased to follow this home , and to consider it seriously , that what liberty soeuer wee can conceiue in Christ , to dye or not to dye ; this necessity of dying , this decree is as eternall as that liberty ; and yet how small a matter made hee of this necessity and this dying ? His Father cals it but a bruise , Gen. 3. 15. and but a bruising of his heele ( the serpent shall bruise his heele ) and yet that was that , the serpent should practise and compasse his death . Himselfe calls it but a Baptisme , as though he were to bee the better for it . Luk. 12 40. I haue a Baptisme to be Baptized with , and he was in paine till it was accomplished , and yet this Baptisme was his death . The holy Ghost calls it Ioy ( for the Ioy which was set before him hee indured the Crosse ) which was not a ioy of his reward after his passion , Heb. 12. 2. but a ioy that filled him euen in the middest of those torments , and arose from him ; when Christ calls his Calicem , a Cuppe , and wee worse ( can ye drink of my Cuppe ) he speakes not odiously , Mat. 22. 22. not with detestation of it : Indeed it was a Cup , salus mundo , a health to all the world . And quid retribuam , says Dauid , what shall I render to the Lord ? Ps. 116. 12. answere you with Dauid , accipiam Calicem , I will take the Cup of saluation , take it , that Cup is saluation , his passion , if not into your present imitation , yet into your present contemplation . And behold how that Lord that was God , yet could dye , would dye , must dye , for your saluation . That Moses and Elias talkt with Christ in the transfiguration , Mat. 17. 3. both Saint Mathew and Saint Marke tells vs , Mar. 9. 4. but what they talkt of onely S. Luke , Dicebant excessum eius , says he , Luke 9. 31. they talkt of his decease , of his death which was to be accomplished at Ierusalem , The word is of his Exodus , the very word of our text exitus , his issue by death . Moses who in his Exodus had prefigured this issue of our Lord , and in passing Israel out of Egypt through the red Sea , had foretold in that actuall prophesie , Christ passing of mankind through the sea of his blood . And Elias , whose Exodus and issue out of this world was a figure of Christs ascension , had no doubt a great satisfaction in talking with our blessed Lord de excessueius , of the full consummation of all this in his death , which was to bee accomplished at Ierusalem . Our meditation of his death should be more viscerall and affect vs more because it is of a thing already done . The ancient Romanes had a certain terdernesse and detestation of the name of death , they cold not name death , no , not in their wills . There they could not say Si mori contigerit , but si quid humanitus contingat , nor if , or when I dye , but when the course of nature is accomplished vpon me . To vs that speake dayly of the death of Christ , ( he was crucified , dead and buried ) can the memory or the mention of our owne death bee yrkesome or bitter ? There are in these latter times amongst vs , that name death frely enogh , and the death of God , but in blasphemous oathes & execrations . Miserable men , who shall therefore bee sayd neuer to haue named Iesus , because they haue named him too often . And therfore heare Iesus say , Ne sciui vos , I neuer knew you , because they made themselues too familiar with him . Moses and Elias talkt with Christ of his death , only , in a holy and ioyfull sense of the benefit which they and all the world were to receiue by that . Discourses of Religion should not be out of curiosity , but to edification . And then they talkt with Christ of his death at that time , when he was in the greatest height of glory that euer he admitted in this world , that is , his transfiguration . And wee are afraid to speake to the great men of this world of their death , but nourish in them a vaine imagination of immortality , & immutability . But bonum est nobis esse hic ( as Saint Peter said there ) It is good to dwell here , in this consider ation of his death , and therefore transferre wee our tabernacle ( our deuotions ) through some of those steps which God the Lord made to his issue of death that day . Conformitas , Take in the whole day from the houre that Christ receiued the passeouer vpon Thursday , vnto the houre in which hee dyed the next day . Make this present day that day in thy deuotion , and consider what hee did , and remember what you haue done . Before hee instituted and celebrated the Sacrament , ( which was after the eating of the passeouer ) hee proceeded to that act of humility , to wash his disciples feete , euen Peters , who for a while resisted him ; In thy preparation to the holy and blessed Sacrament , hast thou with a sincere humility sought a reconciliation with all the world , euen with those that haue beene auerse from it , and refused that reconciliation from thee ? If so and not els thou hast spent that first part of his last day , in a conformity with him . After the Sacrament hee spent the time till night in prayer , in preaching , in Psalmes ; Hast thou considered that a worthy receaving of the Sacrament confists in a continuation of holinesse after , aswell as in a preparation before . If so , thou hast therein also conformed thy selfe to him , so Christ spent his time till night ; At night hee went into the garden to pray , and he prayed prolixious he spent much time in prayer , how much ? Because it is literally expressed , that he prayed there three seuerall times , Luk. 22. 24. & that returning to his Disciples after his first prayer , and finding them a sleepe sayd , could ye not watch with me one houre , Mat. 26 40. it is collected that he spent three houres in prayer . I dare scarce aske thee whither thou wentest , or how thou disposedst of thy self , when it grew darke & after last night : If that time were spent in a holy recommendation of thy selfe to God , and a submission of thy will to his , It was spent in a conformity to him . In that time and in those prayers was his agony & bloody sweat . I will hope that thou didst pray ; but not euery ordinary and customary prayer , but prayer actually accompanied with shedding of teares , and dispositiuely in a readines to shed blood for his glory in necessary cases , puts thee into a conformity with him ; About midnight he was taken and bound with a kisse , art thou not too conformable to him in that ? Is not that too literally , too exactly thy case ? at midnight to have bene taken & bound with a kisse ? from thence he was caried back to Ierusalem , first to Annas , then to Caiphas , and ( as late as it was ) then hee was examined and buffeted , and deliuered over to the custody of those officers , from whome he receiued all those irrisions , and violences , the couering of his face , the spitting vpon his face , the blasphemies of words , & the smartnes of blowes which that Gospell mentions . In which copasse fell that Gallicinium , that crowing of the Cock which called vp Peter to his repentance , how thou passedst all that time thou knowest . If thou didst any thing that needed Peters teares , and hast not shed them , let me be thy Cock , doe it now , Now thy Master ( in the vnworthiest of his seruants ) lookes back vpon thee , doe it now ; Betimes , in the morning , so soone as it was day , the Iewes held a counsell in the high Priests hall , and agreed vpon their euidence against him , and then caried him to Pilate , who was to be his Iudge ; diddest thou accuse thy selfe when thou wakedst this morning , and wast thou content euen with false accusations ( that is ) rather to suspect actions to haue beene sin , which were not , then to smother & iustify such as were truly sins ? then thou spentst that houre in conformity to him : Pilate found no euidence against him , & therefore to ease himselfe , and to passe a complement vpon Herod , Tetrarch of Galilee , who was at that time at Ierusalem ( because Christ being a Galilean was of Herods iurisdiction ) Pilat sent him to Herod , & rather as a mad-man then a malefactor , Herod remaunded him ( with scornes ) to Pilat to proceed against him ; And this was about eight of the clock . Hast thou been content to come to this Inquisition , this examination , this agitation , this cribration , this pursuit ofthy conscience , to sift it to follow it from the sinnes of thy youth to thy present sinnes , from the sinnes of thy bed , to the sinnes of thy boorde , & from the substance to the circumstance of thy sinnes ? That 's time spent like thy Sauiours . Pilat wold have saued Christ , by vsing the priuiledge of the day in his behalfe , because that day one prisoner was to be deliuered , but they choose Barrabas , hee would have saued him from death ; by satisfying their fury , with inflicting other torments vpon him , scourging and crowning with thornes , and loading him with many scornefull and ignominous contumlies ; But they regarded him not , they pressed a crucifying . Hast thou gone about to redeeme thy sinne , by fasting , by Almes , by disciplines and mortifications ? in way of satisfaction to the Iustice of God ? that will not serue , that s not the right way , wee presse an vtter Crucifying of that sinne that gouernes thee ; & that conformes thee to Christ . Towards noone Pilat gaue iudgement , and they made such hast to execution , as that by noone hee was vpon the Crosse. There now hangs that ●acred Body vpon the Crosse , rebaptized in his owne teares and sweat , and embalmed in his owne blood aliue . There are those bowells of compassion , which are so conspicuous , so manifested , as that you may see them through his wounds . There those glorious eyes grew faint in their sight : so as the Sun ashamed to suruiue them , departed with his light too . And then that Sonne of God , who was neuer from vs , and yet had now come a new way vnto vs in assuming our nature deliuers that soule ( which was neu●r out of his Fathers hands ) by a new way , a voluntary emission of it into his Fathers hands ; For though to this God our Lord , belong'd these issues of death , so that considered in his owne contract' he must necessarily dye , yet at no breach or batt●ry , which they had made vpon his sacred Body , issued his soule , but emisit , hee gaue vp the Ghost , and as God breathed a soule into the first Adam , so this second Adam breathed his soule into God , into the hands of God . There wee leaue you in that blessed dependancy , to hang vpon him that hangs vpon the Crosse , there bath in his teares , there suck at his woundes and lye downe in peace in his graue , till hee vouchsafe you a resurrection , and an ascension into that Kingdome , which hee hath prepared for you , with the inestimable price of his incorruptible blood .