Chapter VIII
That as Christ expressed his will and consent in the dedication of himself to
the work, so he shewed his cheerful willingness in all the parts of the per
formance.
You have had the former part of this great story, his dedication of him
self at his conception. The last part follows, to see how he made good his vow from the first to the last act thereof, obedient to the death. I need take no text for it, the New Testament gives everywhere testimony thereof. It were infinite to give you all the passages that argue this his
willingness and zeal throughout the whole of his life and at his death. I
shall lay afore you but some more eminent and obvious.
It is observable that the very first words you have recorded as uttered
by himself, and that when a child, at twelve years old, yea, and that but one speech neither ; and this that I am now a-speaking was the sum and eminent import of it : Luke ii. 48, his mother seems to chide him, that
without their privity he had stayed behind, and put them to that sorrow and trouble in seeking him, and not knowing what was become of him. What is Christ s answer ? Yer. 49, Wist ye not that I must be about my Father s business ? As if he had said, It is true you are my parents, and I have been subject to you hitherto in your particular affairs, but do
not you know I have another Father higher than you, who hath com manded me, by virtue of my office of mediatorship, other manner of busi ness to be done by me than to attend on you, and wherein I am not to
take counsel or direction from you, or ask leave of ycu ? For I am not an ordinary son : Wist ye not I was about my Father s business ? ev r
CHAP. YIII.] OF CHEIST THE MEDIATOR. 165
rov *argb$, in the things or affairs of my Father, who is my Father after another manner than you are, and therefore my business is another manner
of business than of other children. I am the Christ, the Messiah, and at
these years do understand myself well enough to be so ; and I have a
spiritual work to do, enjoined me by my Father, which all other obliga
tions, though at these years, must give way to. And as elsewhere it is,
* As the Father commands me, so do I, as John xiv. 81. His will and law is written in my heart from a child ; I am engaged to do his will, to
perform the office of a mediator, the Messiah, whereof one part is the pro
phetic office, to teach and to instruct. And to give a specimen or an evi dence of it, I have now by his command (this being my first coming up to
the temple, my Father s house, where I am to preach hereafter many a
sermon) been among the doctors arguing with them, ver. 46. It would seem the first time he came, according to the law, to the feast ; the manner
being at twelve years to put a difference between a child and a youth, that
the males of that age should go up to the temple. Malachi had told he
should, as a messenger of the covenant or prophet, suddenly come to his
: Mai. iii. 1, Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall pre pare the way before me : and the Lord whom ye seek, shall suddenly come
temple
to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in :
behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. And when he comes first, he will come as a messenger or declarer of the covenant, though but at twelve years of age. As God shewed Moses that he himself was that
deliverer to his people (long afore he delivered them) by one act of ven
geance upon an Egyptian, so God gave demonstration that this was the angel of the covenant in the temple, almost twenty years afore he came to exer
cise that function ordinarily. But that which I observe out of it is to the
point in hand, that at twelve years old, and long afore, the human nature understood full well his office, and his being the mediator, and did direct
his actions to that aim and level. He acted as the Messiah unto his
Father, as his Father in another manner than he is the Father of men or
angels, and had the law written in his heart at his conception in his eye. To do his will he was careful of, yea, delighted to do that will : I was about my Father s business : yea, I ought to be (says he). This is the original
obligation and undertaking my ear was long since bored through to do, viz., this his will. I am not mine own, nor yours, but his servant ; I must be
in his business. And though now you have a more eminent instance of it
at twelve years, you might have perceived it long ago, if you had observed my carriage, and how I have directed my aims ; therefore, you see, he blames them : Wist you not that I was in my Father s business ? And the word eJvai sv ro7$, to be in the things of his Father, imports his being wholly in them. And though his Father did not ordinarily, or perhaps had not afore this his appearing at the temple, set him about business ex
traordinary, or other than such as a child subject to parents useth to be (as, ver. 51, it is after this said of him that he was subject to them), yet he had been in all his course in the things of his Father, and had car
ried himself as one that walked by a higher principle of obedience to God than other men were bound to. And this they might have observed, else he would not have blamed them for not considering it. And the word
tlmi is to be wholly and continually given up to it, as men in an office
* Or ministry, let us wait on our minis
ought to be. As Rom. xii. 7, 8,
tering ; or he that teacheth, on teaching ; or he that exhorteth, on exhorta tion : he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity ; he that ruleth, with
166 OF CHEIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK IV.
diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness. 1 Tim. iv. 15,
1 Meditate upon these things ; give thyself wholly to them ; that thy pro
fiting may appear to all. That which we translate, and rightly too, give
thyself wholly to them, is the like phrase, sv rovroig lodi, be in these
things. So then Christ as now, so from his infancy, had been wholly in
the things of his Father, and as mediator, directing all obedience as such
to him ; and not only acting holily, as a child sanctified from the womb, but mediator-like ; and he delighted to do it, and shewed so much at his
first undertaking. This is the first speech, and it is an early one you have of him, and it imports it. In a word (Christ says),
* He that sent me is with me, namely, always; and I do always those things that
please him, John viii. 29. And he had done so always from his infancy, and directed all to him as a Father that had sent him on that spiritual woik. And the Father hath not left me alone, but guided me from the
first thus to do (says he) ; for of his guiding him to do his will he there
Why should I be large in rehearsing to you all his other speeches which
might argue this, how that it was his meat and drink to do the will of God ? John iv. 34, Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that
sent me, and to finish his work. He was hungry, and yet zeal and desire
to do God s will in saving of souls, swallowed up the sense of that hunger and faintness. He delighted to do God s will more than ever hungry man did to eat his meat ; and not only at this time, and for this fit, but to do all the rest of the work to the last, to perfect and to complete every part of it.
So it follows, and to finish or perfect his work. So then, all his time
afore, he had made it his meat and drink, as much as now, and for all
years to come, the same zeal was in him, even to the whole, from first to
last, as the word perfecting implies. And in all this he still directed his obedience as mediator, looking at all he did, not only as obedience due in common as from other men, but as it was the work designed by him that had sent him, and sealed him to this work : see John vi. 38, For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. Still, you see, he fulfils that primitive obligation of his, I delight to do thy will, God. Yea, it is not only said, as here, that it was more
to him than meat to do his will ; but further to express his zeal in it, in another place at another time, this his zeal is said to have eaten him up, his strength, and spirits, and all. He was eaten up, and devoured there by : it swallowed up all his intentions, as the wrath of God is said to have drunk up Job s spirits : John ii. 17, The zeal of thy house (and of thy glory concerned in it) hath eaten me up, says Christ.
CHAPTEE IX.
That lie did not shrink at the approach of his greatest sufferings, his death, but
shewed a cheerful resolution to the very last moment.
Let us instance further, in that which was the hardest piece of his work, and the finishing of all, his sufferings at his death.
1. Afore he came to undergo it a good while, see the frame of his
spirit ; Luke xii. 50, I have a baptism to be baptized with ; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished
! He knew the bitterness of that bap-
CHAP. IX. J OF CHBIST THE MEDIATOR. 167
tism to be such as no creature was able to be baptized with it : Matt. xx. 22, But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with ? They say unto him, We are able. Yet, says he, How am I straitened till it be accomplished. How much I cannot
express ; and I am straitened that my desire and longings are delayed, and
they straiten and contract the heart. Never woman desired more to be
delivered, than he to have finished that work ; to have gone over that brook, that sea of wrath, he was to be sunk over head and ears into.
Upon a time when Christ began first to declare the greatness of his suf
ferings Mat. xvi. 21, From^that time forth, began Jesus to shew unto
his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised
again the third day Peter took him (that is aside, as a friend out of
love) and began to rebuke him, that he would spare himself, and not pro voke the pharisees by zeal ; and
* be it far from thee, Lord (says he), that never deservedst it, that art the Saviour of men, goest up and down doing good, this shall not be to thee. But how did Jesus take this ? One would have thought he should have taken it lovingly. Absolutely, we never did
see Christ so angry, and take a thing so ill. It is said, ver. 23, But he
turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan ; thou art an offence unto me : for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. The word
ffrga<pi/$, translated he turned, it imports not so much the turning of his body to him, as the turning and change of his countenance unto a paleness or redness, as when a man s blood is up, or when he is moved with anger and indignation. And what said he ? Get thee behind, Satan. There was never such a word came forth of those
lips afore or after, given to a saint, as Peter was. All was because he touched him in what his spirit was most eager for ; as anger swells and
riseth against what comes in the way and current of men s desires, even as a strong stream against what would stop it. And Christ adds,
* Thou art an offence unto me ! An offence is properly an occasion of stumbling. Now Christ s holy nature was not capable of such an occasion of stumbling, or being drawn to. sin, as ours is ; yet Peter s speech had that tendency in
it, to divert him from that great work his heart was intent upon. Then at another time Peter would be meddling to rescue him by the sword, John
* Put up thy sword into its sheath ; yet still you may thereby see how strongly his heart continued set upon the work of redemption that was undertaken
xviii. 11. And though he then received a milder answer from Christ,
* The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink ? Every word speaks the eagerness and strength of his
by him, and designed to him ;
will and resolution therein. Interrogations in that case argue the greatest vehemency. But this belongs to the next particular
: namely, When he came to perform that last part of his obedience, his sufferings to death.
1. As the time drew nearer and nearer for him to take his last journey to Jerusalem, not having many months or days to live, and knew also all that would befall him there, as he had told Peter and his disciples ; the
evangelist Luke says of him, chap. ix. 51, When the time was come he should be received up (namely, by means of that cruel death, unto glory), 4 he stedfastly set his face to go up to Jerusalem. I will not dispulo whether it was his last journey (which I rather think with Grotius), or thnt
it was half a year afore, as others ; but two journeys to Jerusalem are after-
168 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK IV.
wards mentioned by Luke (which yet argue not that his disposition, here
recorded occasionally, should not be intended of his last journey) ; for Luke
tells things not strictly in order of time, but of occasions (as Grotius hath
observed). However this all do and must acknowledge, that the scope of
this passage was to shew that Christ now toward his end hardened himself, and in all his deportment (which is expressed by face there) set himself to
manifest so much, that nothing did or should divert him. Yea, and this was observable in him more than at former times ; for, ver. 53, it was
observed by a whole city of the Samaritans, who therefore received him not : And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would
go to Jerusalem.
Hence the exhortation from Christ s example, suffering resolutely for us :
* Forasmuch as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind ; a strong resolution, causing a man s mind as boldly and venturously to encounter difficulties, as strong armour doth embolden a man s mind to rush into battle. So then Christ armed himself, steeled his heart, as we use to speak.
1 Peter iv. 1, is this,
And then when he was to eat his last supper, to eat his last (as we use
to speak), so it is called, Luke xxii. 16, see what vehemency of desires he
utters, ver. 15, With desire have I desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer ; that is, how have I longed with the most passionate desire
for the arrival of this last night and meal that I must make, that it would come and hasten, as all men are apt aforehand to do for that which their
hearts are set upon. And that to have been his reason is evident by what
follows, ver. 16, For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the
vine, until the kingdom of God shall come : the thing signified by the
passover, the redemption of the world by my death. This is to be my last
drink I shall drink with you ; and now my death comes on, by which you and the world shall be saved and redeemed.
And again, when he knew Judas was to go out to betray him, he said,
* Do what thou dost do, quickly ; John xiii. 27, 30, as soon as thou
wilt, for I am ready and resolved. He dares him, and hastens him to it
to shew his own resolvedness. And when he was gone out he claps his hands (as it were) for joy, and utters his joy and triumph in it, ver. 31,
* Therefore when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glori
fied, and God is glorified in him. For he reckoned the stroke now as good as struck, the thing now as good as done, that he should be crucified. For
the instrument that was to set all a-work was gone out about it, and he
calls his death, his being glorified, because it was the foundation of all
that glory himself and his elect were to have. How bitter soever it proved afterwards, his heart at present was filled with joy for the thoughts of the
approach of it ; he looks upon it as his wedding day, his coronation day
(as in more respects than one it proved) ; as Solomon s heart is said to be
filled with joy in the day wherein his mother crowned him. And that so he esteemed it, you have another place to the same purpose, John xii. 23,
24, 28, Now the hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified, which is spoken out of the same passion of spirit as the former ; as if he had said, Now, even now is the time, the longed-for hour, so long longed
for, come, wherein I shall be glorified, and do that most glorious work for which I came into the world. For this hour I came into the world, as
ver. 27. And this he speaks in relation to his death, so in the 24th verse, as also ver. 27, 28, and 32 evidently shew. It is true, he was struck with
terror and trouble at his entrance into it (for here the first thunderclap
CHAP. IX. J OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 169
that struck him did begin), so ver. 27, Now is my soul troubled, and so
* What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But withal, he renews and recovers that which had been his constant re
troubled, as he adds,
solution and pursuance. But for this cause came I to this hour. It was
a consideration he took in to hearten himself unto it ; that he had gone so far, and was now come to it, and should I now recoil ? And what was
it did glad him, even in the midst of this his trouble ? 1. That his Father
* Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice
should be glorified.
from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.
spring out of him) otherwise must have done in heaven.
* But if it die, it bringeth forth much
fruit ; which further, ver. 32, 33, he expresseth, I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all men to me. This he said, signifying what death he
should die.
After this he maketh a long sermon to his disciples, when Judas was gone
forth to act his fatal design ; and Christ, to lose no time, in the mean while
enters into a long and large sermon to hearten his disciples, recorded in
the ensuing thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of John. And it is greatly
observable, how that in the midst of his sermon, in the tenor of his discourse
coming to that which most of all did move him to that work, namely, his
Father s love, you have the passage, John xiv. 31, But that the world may know that I love the Father ; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence. He would needs in all haste be
gone, as if he had overslipped his time of Judas his meeting him with his
trained bands, and so they would miss of him. He sits upon thorns (as we use to say of one that thinks the time long), for he breaks off in the
midst of a discourse, which he assumes again (as if he had forgotten him
self), though two chapters afterwards, the fifteenth and sixteenth. Of all
works else, preaching, and preaching his last too, his heart was most in ; and yet he makes a start in the midst of a sermon to be gone, to be taken
and crucified : Arise, let us go hence. He looked on the glass, and saw
it was not yet run out, and he sits down again, and preacheth another sermon of the vine and of the branches, occasioned by what he had been
administering, the sacrament of his supper, his blood, so signified by the
blood of the vine. Well, when that sermon and his latter prayer, chap,
xvii., was done, it came to the very point of his bitter execution, he stays not till their pursuivants and Judas with his trained bands should find him
out; but as the eighteenth chapter tells us, he oners himself as a sacrifice
into their hands (for so all sacrifices were to be brought to the door of the
temple by the person that sacrificed), and so to be offered up. And all
this he did willingly and knowingly aforehand of what should come to pass,
chap, xviii. 4. And these things the eighteenth chapter of John doth
* When
punctually and setly relate, from the first verse to the ninth :
Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his dis
ciples. And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place ; for Jesus
ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples. Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh
thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing
all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye ? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith
] 70 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOE. [BOOK IV.
unto them, I am he. And Judas, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and
fell to the ground. Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye ? And
they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he ; if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way
: that the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou givest me have I lost none.
We had sinned against knowledge, and he suffers with a full cognisance, and an aforehand deliberation of all that was to befall him. And further
(to make us apprehensive of this his will in it), he tells Peter, when he would needs vainly and weakly attempt to rescue him, Mat. xxvi. 53,
1 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall pre
sently give me more than twelve legions of angels ? Alas ! he needed not
so great a party ; his own word, I am he, John xviii. 8, struck them all
* The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it ?
backward, and might have done dead ; and ver. 11,
He never shewed any sign of reluctancy, till in the garden he saw what was indeed in that cup his Father did present him with, even his
wrath, and being made a curse. And to shew what the nature of a man
in itself might in such a case do, namely, shew his abhorrency of so high an endurance, and merely to let us understand so much, to the end we
might see his love (for it was meet we should by something understand how much he was put to it), he thereupon cries out, Father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass. But as he had, John xii. 27, so here his Father s will quiets all again. And the whole mind of this passage is but
to shew,
1. His averseness, as to the thing in itself simply considered, because of the bitterness of it ; and, 2. That the whole ground of his submitting notwithstanding thereunto was his Father s will ; and, 3. How that, notwithstanding his will stood to it as high as ever, yet only upon that ground, Not my will, but thy will be done. When they had him in the high priest s hall, scorning and buffeting of him ; as he had set his face, as you heard, afore his sufferings to go to
Jerusalem; so now the prophet uttering it in his person, tells us how he
* I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair : I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help me ; therefore shall I not be confounded : therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I
steeled his heart thereagainst also :
shall not be ashamed.
Lastly, When he hung upon the tree, and had enough to have provoked so great a spirit, so empowered as he was with the sovereignty of heaven and earth to have relieved himself, and to have commanded those nails to have given way, he could have taught them better obedience than to detain their Lord in so great sufferings a moment ; and that which did and
might have provoked him farther to have shewn his power to rescue him
self, was their cruel mockings of him added to all his sufferings, Come down (say they),
* thou that savest others, and we will believe thee.
Well, he still hangs quietly there. He endured the cross (Paul says), * and despised the shame, Heb. xii. 1. When in the grave, all the power of death could not keep him there, for he had done his work. But love
kept him on the cross, and nailed him there with stronger nails than men or devils could have driven in.
CHAP. IX.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 171
Alas ! He could, as Samson, whilst they mocked him, have broke down
the pillars of heaven about their ears, and himself have stood erect from out the ruins of it. In the sixteenth Psalm (made of him) he blesseth God
for having given him that counsel to persist in his resolution to die, and
keeping the purpose of it fixed in his heart during all those nights in which he had to do with his Father afore his sufferings. If he, I am sure we much more, have cause to bless God for giving it, and him for following it. Even so, Jesus blessed ! Amen.
172 OF CHEIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK Y.