in public and private, to hearing and reading God's holy Word, and exercising a most solemn Repentance for those Sins which crucified the Lord of Life. Thus, with Abhorrence of Sin, and penitential Grief, did they celebrate the Memory of our Saviour's Sufferings.

Q. What Provision hath the Church of England made to exercise the Devotion of her Members all this Week?

A. She calls all her devout Members every Day this Week to meditate upon our Lord's Sufferings, having collected in her Offices most of those Portions of Scripture that relate to this tragical Subject; increasing their Humiliation by the Consideration of our Saviour's: That with penitent Hearts, and firm Resolutions of dying likewise to Sin, they may attend their Saviour through the several Stages of his bitter Passion. And, by encouraging a prudent Abstinence from innocent Pleasures, and the Cares of worldly. Business, as well as from the common Liberties of Food, she directs their Thoughts and Affections to the serious Consideration of such Things as concern their eternal Salvation; that by reflecting upon the Guilt of their Sins, and disposing their Minds to an Abhorrence of them, they may be qualified for the Benefit of our Saviour's Expiation?

Q. Who was it that this Day suffered?

A. Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God; begotten of his Father before all Worlds, God of God, very God of very God; the Prince of Glory, the Heir of everlasting Bliss, the promised Messias; who took upon him the Nature of Man, and in that Nature being still the same Person he was before, did suffer for our Salvation; for the Princes of this World 1 Cor. ii. 8. crucified the Lord of Glory, and God purchased his Aets xx. 28. Church with his own Blood?

Q. What was it our Saviour suffered?

A. When the blessed Jesus took upon him human Nature, he was subject to all those Frailties

and Infirmities, those outward Injuries and violent 5 Impressions to which Mortality is liable; his whole Life was full of Sufferings, from his Birth in the Stable, to his Death upon the Cross; but particularly in his last bitter Passion, he suffered most exquisite Pains and Torments in his Body; and inexpressible Fears and Sorrows, and unknown Anguish in his Soul.

:

Q. What did our Saviour suffer in his Body?

A. He was betrayed by Judas, and denied by Mat. xxvi. Peter, both his own Disciples. He was apprehended and xxvii. and bound by the rude Soldiers as a Malefactor, accused by false Witnesses, arraigned and condemned. He was buffeted, scourged, and spit upon, derided and mocked by the People, the Soldiers, and at last by the High-Priest. He was made the Scorn, and Contempt, and Sport of his insolent and insulting Enemies; was worried to Death by the Clamours of the Rabble, that cried out, Crucify him, Crucify him. And accordingly he was nailed to the Cross, on which after having hung several Hours, he gave up the Ghost; a Death of utmost Shame and Ignominy, as well as of Torment insupportable.

Q. What was the Nature of Crucifixion?

A. It was a Roman Punishment, remarkable for the exquisite Pains and Ignominy of it, being the most painful and the most shameful of all their Ways of dispatching Criminals. The Body was laid

upon a Piece of Wood, afterwards erected and fixed in the Earth, the Hands nailed to a transverse Beam fastened unto that towards the Top thereof; and the Body rested upon another Piece of Wood, fixed into that which was erected towards the lower Part. The Torment of it appeared from the piercing those Parts of the Body with Nails, which are most nervous, and yet did not quickly procure Death; and the Shame of it was evident from those upon whom it was inflicted, being only Slaves and Fugitives; but when the Roman Emperors

Mat. xxvi.

38.

became Christians, this Punishment was forbidden, out of a due Respect and pious Honour to the Manner of Christ's Death.

Q. How doth it appear that our Saviour suffered in his Mind?

A. From those grievous Agonies he felt first in the Garden of Gethsemane, just before his Apprehension, when his Soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto Death; when he sweat as it were Drops of Blood, and prayed thrice with great Vehemence to his Father, that if it were possible, that bitter Cup might pass from him: And from that unconceivable Anguish which he expressed upon the Cross, when he broke out into that passionate Mat. xxvii. Exclamation, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? So that Evil to come tormented his Soul with Fear, and Evil present with Sadness, Sorrow, and Anguish.

46.

John x. 17,

18.

4.

Q. Did our Saviour suffer the Torments of the Damned?

A. It is certain the Damned are the Objects of God's Wrath, and will remain so to all Eternity; but our Saviour, in laying down his Life, did an Act highly agreeable to God, and for which the Father loved him, and whatever he suffered was not of 1 Cor. xv. long Duration, in that he rose from the Dead the third Day. And though he is said to be a Curse for us, it is only upon the Account of that accursed Death which he suffered. And being thus highly obedient to his Father, and putting his Confidence in God, in the bitterest Part of his Passion, by his Mat. xxvi. Resignation in the Garden, and by recommending his Luke xxiii. Spirit into the Hands of his Father upon the Cross; he did not despair of God's Mercy, which inseparably attends all those Torments the Damned endure.

42.

46.

Q. Whence then proceeded that Horror and Dread which seized our Saviour upon the Approach of his Passion?

4. It is not reasonable to believe that this

Horror and Dread proceeded only from the Prospect of Death; because Martyrs have embraced it with Joy as well as Resignation, when attended with Therefore grievous Circumstances of Cruelty.

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some have thought that the Devil exerted all his. Power and Malice to distract and afflict our Saviour with dismal Apprehensions and horrid Phantasms; and that it was this Conflict with the Powers of Hell which caused his inexpressible Anguish. And this Notion hath some Countenance from our Saviour's calling the Season of his Passion the Power Luke xxii. of Darkness. But if we consider how perfectly the 53. blessed Jesus understood the Evil and Guilt of Sin; how zealous he was for God's Glory; how desirous of the Salvation of Mankind; and yet withal that he knew how small a Number would be saved; how an ungrateful and rebellious world would frustrate the End of his Death, and the Designs of his Mercy; we may in some Measure guess at that Anguish that sunk and depressed him in such a wonderful Manner. For we may imagine how much he, who loved us so well as to die to redeem us, might be grieved and afflicted, when he foresaw that even by his dying he should not save us all.

Q. For what Reason did our Saviour suffer the painful and shameful Death of the Cross?

10.

Heb. ix.

A. To deliver us from the Wrath to come, and to Thes. i purchase eternal Redemption for us. And to give us à perfect Pattern of Patience and Resignation to 12. the Will of God, and of all those Christian Virtues which are necessary to qualify us to receive the Benefit of his Expiation: leaving us an Example that 2 Peter ii. we should follow his Steps. For when by our Sins 21. we had justly incurred the Displeasure of Almighty God, and were liable to eternal Misery, our blessed Saviour discharged the Obligation; and, by shedding his most precious Blood as the Price of our Mat. xx. Redemption, made Satisfaction to God for us. He 28. was contented to be substituted as a Sacrifice for us,

24.

1 Pet, ii. to bear our Sins in his own Body on the Tree, and to expiate the Guilt of our Offences, by his own Sufferings. He died not only for our Benefit and Advantage, but in our Place and Stead; so that if he had not died, we had eternally perished. And the Blood of Christ, which was shed for us upon the Heb. x. 29. Cross, is called the Blood of the Covenant; because thereupon God was pleased to enter into a Covenant of Grace and Mercy with Mankind, wherein he hath promised and engaged, for the Sake of Christ's Sufferings, voluntarily undergone upon our Account and in our Stead, to forgive the Sins of all those that sincerely repent and believe, and to make them Partakers of eternal Life.

xiii. 20.

Mat. xx. 28.

1 Cor. xv.

3.

Q. But this being Matter of Revelation, what Scripture proves this important Article?

A. St. Matthew tells us, that the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and xxvi. 28. give his Life a Ransom for many. That his Blood is John x. 11. shed for many, for the Remission of Sins. In St. John our Saviour is called the good Shepherd that lays down his Life for the Sheep. St. Paul delivers this Doctrine clearly in most of his Epistles; That in due Rom. v. 6. Time Christ died for the Ungodly: That he died for our Sins, according to the Scriptures: That by the Grace Heb. ii. 9. of God he should taste Death for every Man. Parti cularly in the Ninth of the Hebrews, this Matter is largely treated of. St. Peter says, that we are not redeemed with corruptible Things, &c. but with the 1 John ii. precious Blood of Christ. St. John, that Jesus Christ is the Propitiation for our Sins; and not for our's only, but for the Sins of the whole World. Hereby perceive 1 John iii. we the Love of God, because he laid down his Life for us. Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy Blood, out of every Kindred, and Tongue, and People, and Nation. Many other Proofs might be brought; but these Texts make the Reason of our Saviour's Death plain and evident: and they that can evade the Force of them may, by the like Evasions, overthrow

1 Pet. iv.

18.

2.

16.

Rev. v. 9.