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MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES, ANECDOTES, &c.

THOUGHTS ON THE PASSION OF CHRIST.

BY BISHOP HALL.

A MEDITATION FOR GOOD FRIDAY.

My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me?"

WHAT a word was here to come from the mouth of the Son of God! My disciples are men, weak and fearful; no marvel if they forsake me. The Jews are themselves cruel and obstinate. Men are men, graceless and unthankful. Devils are, according to their nature, spiteful and malicious. All these do but their kind; and let them do it: but thou, O Father! thou that hast said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;" thou, of whom I have said, "It is my Father that glorifies me!" What, forsaken me? Not only brought me this shame, smitten me; but as it were, forgotten, yea, forsaken me! What, even me, my Father! How many of thy constant servants have suffered heavy things; yet in the multitude of the sorrows of their hearts, thy comforts have refreshed their souls? Hast thou relieved them, and dost thou forsake me? Me, thine only, dear, eternal Son? O ye heavens and earth! how could you stand, while the Maker of you thus complained! Ye stood, but partaking of his passion: the earth trembled and shook, her rocks tore, her graves opened, the heavens withdrew their light, as not daring to behold this fearful spectacle.

O Christians! how should these earthen and rocky hearts of ours shake, and rend in pieces at this meditation! how should our faces be covered with darkness, and our joy be turned into heaviness! All these voices, and tears, and sweats, and pangs, are for us; yea, from us. Shall the Son of God thus smart for our sins, yea, with our sins, and shall not we grieve for our own? Shall he weep for us, and shall not we mourn? Nay, shall he sweat and bleed for us, and shall not we weep for ourselves? Shall he thus shriek out under his Father's wrath, and shall not we tremble? Shall the heavens and earth suffer with him, and we suffer nothing? Lcall you not to a weak and idle pity of our glorious Saviour. To what purpose? His injury was our glory. No, no-"Ye daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves;"-for our sins, that have done this; not for his sorrow, that suffered it; not for his pangs that were, but for our own that should have been, and (if we repent not) shall be.

Oh! how grievous, how deadly are our sins, that cost the Son of God (besides blood) so much torment! How far are our souls gone, that could not be ransomed with an easier price! That, that took so much of this infinite Redeemer of men, God and Man, how can it choose but swallow up, and confound thy soul, which is but finite and sinful! If thy soul had been in his soul's stead, what had become of it! It should be, if his were not instead of thine. This weight that lies thus heavy on the Son of God, and wrung from him these tears, sweat, blood, and these inconceivable groans of his afflicted spirit, how should it choose but press down thy soul to the bottom of hell? And so it would do; if he had not suffered it for thee, thou must and shouldst suffer for thyself. Go, now, thou lewd man! and make thyself merry with thy sins; laugh at the uncleanness of thy youth. Thou little knowest the price of a sin; thy impenitent soul shall do; thy Saviour did, when he cried out, to the amazement of angels, and horror of men, "My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me?"

But now no more of this-"It is finished!" The greater conflict, the more happy victory. Well doth he find and feel of his Father, what his type said before, "He will not chide always, nor keep his anger for ever."

It is fearful; but in him, short: eternal to sinners: short to his Son, in whom the Godhead dwelt bodily. Behold! this storm, wherewith all the powers of the world were shaken, is now over. The elders, Pharisees, Judas, the soldiers, priests, witnesses, judges, thieves, executioners, devils, have all tired themselves in vain, with their own malice; and he triumphs over them all, upon the throne of his cross. His enemies are vanquished, his Father satisfied, his soul with this word at rest and glory-"It is finished!"

Thus his sufferings are finished; now, together with them, man's salvation. Who knows not, that man had made himself a deep debtor, a bankrupt, an outlaw to God? Our sins are our debts; and by sins, death. Now, in this word and act, our sins are discharged, death endured, and therefore we cleared. The debt is paid, the score is crossed, the creditor satisfied, the debtors acquitted, and since there was no other quarrel, saved. Woe were us if he had left but one mite of satisfaction upon our score, to be discharged by our souls! And woe be to them that derogate from Christ, that they may charge themselves; that botch up these all-sufficiently meritorious sufferings of Christ, as imperfect, with the superfluities of flesh and blood.

Hear this, thou languishing, afflicted soul! There is not one of thy sins but it is paid for; not one of thy debts in the scroll of God, but it is crossed; not one farthing of all thine infinite ransom is unpaid. Alas! thy sins (thou sayest) are ever before thee, and God's indignation goes still over thee, and thou goest mourning all the day long, and with that pattern of distress, criest out, in the bitterness of thy soul, "I have sinned! what shall I do to thee, O thou preserver of men?" What shouldst thou do? Turn, and believe. Now thou art stung in thy conscience with this fiery serpent, look up with the eyes of faith to this brazen serpent, Christ Jesus, and be healed. Behold! his head is humbly bowed down to thee; his arms are stretched out lovingly to embrace thee: yea, his precious side is open to receive thee; and his tongue interprets all these to thee for thine endless comfort. "It is finished!" There is no more accusation, judgment, death, hell for thee; all these are no more to thee, than if they were not. "Who shall condemn ? It is Christ which is died, but lives for evermore."

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST AND HIS PEOPLE.
BY JEREMY TAYLOR.

A MEDITATION FOR EASTER SUNDAY.

“But every man in his own order; Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming."-1 Cor. xv. 23.

1. CHRIST is the first fruits; he is already risen from the dead: for he alone could not be held by death. "Free among the dead."-Death was sin's eldest daughter, and the grave-clothes were her first mantle; but Christ was conqueror over both, and came to take that away, and to disarm this. This was a glory fit for the Head of mankind, but it was too great and too good to be easily believed by incredulous and weak-hearted man. It was at first doubted by all that were concerned; but they that saw it, had no reason to doubt any longer. But what is that to us who saw it not? Yes, very much: They doubted very much, that, by their confirmation, we might be established, and doubt no more. Mary Magdalene saw him first, and she ran with joy, and said, "she had seen the Lord, and that he was risen from the dead; but they believed her not;-after that, "divers women together saw him," and they told it, but had no thanks for their pains, and obtained no credit among the disciples: the two disciples that went to Em

maus saw him, talked with him, ate with him, and they ran and told it; they told true, but nobody believed them: then St. Peter saw him, but he was not yet got into the chair of the catholic church, they did not think him infallible, and so they believed him not at all. Five times in one day he appeared; for after all this, he appeared to the eleven; they were indeed transported with joy and wonder; but they would scarce believe their own eyes, and though they saw him, they doubted. Well, all this was not enough; he was seen also of James, and suffered Thomas to thrust his hand into his side, and appeared to St. Paul, and was seen by "five hundred brethren at once." So that there is no capacity of mankind, no time, no place, but had an ocular demonstration of his resurrection. He appeared to men and women, to the clergy and the laity, to sinners of both sexes; to weak men and to criminals, to doubters and deniers at home and abroad, in public and in private, in their houses and their journeys, unexpected and by appointment, betimes in the morning and late at night, to them in conjunction and to them in dispersion, when they did look for him and when they did not; he appeared upon earth to many, and to St. Paul and St. Stephen from heaven: so that we can require no greater testimony than all these are able to give us; and they saw for themselves and for us too, that the faith and certainty of the resurrection of Jesus might be conveyed to all that shall die, and follow Christ in their own order.

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Now this being matter of fact, cannot be supposed infinite, but limited to time and place, and, therefore, to be proved by them who, at that time, were upon the place; good men and true, simple and yet losers by the bargain, many and united, confident and constant, preaching it all their life, and stoutly maintaining it at their death; men that would not deceive others, and men that could not be deceived themselves, in a matter so notorious, and so proved, and so seen; and if this be not sufficient credibility in a matter of fact, as this was, then we can have no story credibly transmitted to us, no records kept, no acts of courts, no narratives of the days of old, no traditions of our fathers, no memorials of them in the third generation. Nay, if from these we have not sufficient causes and arguments of faith, how shall we be able to know the will of Heaven upon earth? unless God do not only tell it once, but always, and not only always to some men, but always to all men: for if men must believe others, they can never do it in anything more reasonably than in this; and if we may not trust them in this, then, without a perpetual miracle, no man could have faith: for faith could never come by hearing, by nothing but by seeing. But if there be any use of history, any faith in men, any honesty in manners, any truth in human intercourse; if there be any use of apostles or teachers, of ambassadors or letters, of ears or hearing; if there be any such thing as the grace of faith, that is less than demonstration or intuition; then we may be as sure that Christ, the first fruits, is already risen, as all these credibilities can make us. But let us take heed: as God hates a lie, so he hates incredulity; an obstinate, a foolish, and pertinacious understanding. What we do every minute of our lives, in matters of little and great concernment, if we refuse to do it in religion, which yet is to be conducted as all human affairs are, by human instruments, and arguments of persuasion proper to the nature of the thing, it is an obstinacy as cross to human reason, as it is to divine faith.

But this article was so clearly proved, that presently it came to pass that men were no longer ashamed of the cross, but it was worn upon breasts, printed in the air, drawn upon foreheads, carried upon banners, put upon crowns imperial; presently it came to pass that the religion of the despised Jesus did infinitely prevail; a religion that taught men to be meek and humble, apt to receive injuries, but unapt to do any; a religion that gave countenance to the poor and pitiful, in a time when riches were adored, and ambition and pleasure had possessed the heart of all mankind; a religion

that would change the face of things, and the hearts of men, and break vile habits into gentleness and counsel; that such a religion, in such a time, by the sermons and conduct of fishermen, men of mean breeding and illiberal arts, should so speedily triumph over the philosophy of the world, and the arguments of the subtle, and the sermons of the eloquent; the power of princes and the interests of states, the inclinations of nature and the blindness of zeal, the force of custom and the solicitation of passions, the pleasures of sin and the busy arts of the devil; that is, against wit and power, superstition and wilfulness, fame and money, nature and empire, which are all the causes in this world that can make a thing impossible; this, this is to be ascribed to the power of God, and is the great demonstration of the resurrection of Jesus. Everything was an argument for it, and improved it; no objection could hinder it, no enemies destroy it; whatsoever was for them, it made the religion to increase; whatsoever was against them, made it to increase; sunshine and storms, fair weather or foul, it was all one as to the event of things; for they were instruments in the hands of God, who could make what himself should choose to be the product of any cause; so that if the Christians had peace, they went abroad and brought in converts; if they had no peace, but persecution, converts came in to them. In prosperity, they allured and enticed the world by the beauty of holiness; in affliction and trouble, they amazed all men with the splendour of their innocence, and the glories of their patience; and quickly it was that the world became disciple to the glorious Nazarene, and men could no longer doubt of the resurrection of Jesus, when it became so demonstrated by the certainty of them that saw it, and the courage of them that died for it, and the multitude of them that believed it; who, by their sermons and their actions, by their public offices and discourses, by festivals and eucharists, by arguments of experience and sense, by reason and religion, by persuading rational men and establishing believing Christians, by their living in the obedience of Jesus and dying for the testimony of Jesus, have greatly advanced his kingdom, and his power, and his glory, into which he entered after his resurrection from the dead. For he is the First Fruits; and if we hope to rise through him, we must confess that himself is first risen from the dead. That is the first particular.

2. There is an order for us also: we also shall rise again. The ashes of old Camillus shall stand up sprightly from his urn; and the funeral fires shall produce a new warmth to the dead bones of all those who died under the arms of all the enemies of the Roman greatness. This is a less wonder than the former; for if it was done once, it may be done again: for since it could never have been done but by a power that is infinite, that infinite must also be eternal and indeficient. By the same almighty power, which restored life to the dead body of our living Lord, we may all be restored to a new life in the resurrection of the dead.

When man was not, what power, what cause made him to be? Whatsoever it was, it did then as great a work as to raise his body to the same being again; and because we know not the method of Nature's secret changes, and how we can be fashioned beneath "in the secret parts of the earth," and cannot handle and discern the possibilities and seminal powers in the ashes of dissolved bones, must our ignorance in philosophy be put in balance against the articles of religion, the hopes of mankind, the faith of nations, and the truth of God? And are our opinions of the power of God so low, that our understanding must be his measure; and he shall be confessed to do nothing, unless it be made plain in our philosophy? Certainly we have a low opinion of God, unless we believe he can do more things than we can understand; but let us hear St. Paul's demonstration: if the corn dies and lives again; if it lays its body down, suffers alteration, dissolution, and death, but at the spring, rises again in the verdure of a leaf, in the fulness of the ear, in the kidneys of wheat; if it proceeds from little to great, from nakedness to

ornament, from emptiness to plenty, from unity to multitude, from death to life: be a Sadducee no longer, shame not thy understanding, and reproach not the weakness of thy faith, by thinking that corn can be restored to life, and man cannot; especially since, in every creature, the obediential capacity is infinite, and cannot admit degrees; for every creature can be anything under the power of God, which cannot be less than infinite.

But we find no obscure footsteps of this mystery even amongst the heathens; Pliny reports that Apion, the grammarian, by the use of the plant osiris, called Homer from his grave; and in Valerius Maximus we find that Elius Tubero returned to life, when he was seated in his funeral pile; and in Plutarch, that Soleus, after three days' burial, did live; and in Valerius, that Eris Pamphylius did so after ten days. And it was so commonly believed that Glaucus, who was choked in a vessel of honey, did rise again, that it grew to a proverb: "Glaucus having tasted honey, died and lived again." I pretend not to believe these stories to be true; but from these instances it may be concluded, that they believed it possible that there should be a resurrection from the dead; and natural reason and their philosophy did not wholly destroy their hopes and expectation to have a portion in this article.

For God-knowing that the great hopes of man, that the biggest endearment of religion, the sanction of private justice, the band of piety and holy courage, do wholly derive from the article of the resurrection-was pleased not only to make it credible, but easy and familiar to us; and we so converse every night with the image of death, that every morning we find an argument of the resurrection. Sleep and death have but one mother, and they have one name in common.

Charnel-houses are but "cemeteries" or sleeping-places; and they that die, are fallen asleep, and the resurrection is but an awakening and standing up from sleep: but in sleep our senses are as fast bound by nature, as our joints are by the grave-clothes; and unless an angel of God waken us every morning, we must confess ourselves as unable to converse with men, as we now are afraid to die and to converse with spirits. But, however, death itself is no more; it is but darkness and a shadow, a rest and a forgetfulness. What is there more in death? What is there less in sleep? For do we not see by experience that nothing of equal loudness does awaken us sooner than a man's voice, especially if he be called by name? And thus also it shall be in the resurrection: we shall be awakened by the voice of a man, and he that called Lazarus by name from his grave, shall also call us: for although St. Paul affirms, "that the trumpet shall sound, and there shall be the voice of an archangel;" yet this is not a word of nature, but of office and ministry. Christ himself is that archangel, and he shall "descend with a mighty shout," saith the apostle;* "and all that are in the grave shall hear his voice," saith St. John: † so that we shall be awakened by the voice of man, because we are only fallen asleep by the decree of God; and when the cock and the lark call us up to prayer and labour, the first thing we see is an argument of our resurrection from the dead. I will not now insist upon the story of the rising bones seen every year in Egypt, nor the pretences of the chemists, that they, from the ashes of flowers, can reproduce, from the same materials, the same beauties in colour and figure; for he that proves a certain truth from an uncertain argument, is like him that wears a wooden leg, when he hath two sound legs already; it hinders his going, but helps him not the truth of God stands not in need of such supporters; nature alone is a sufficient preacher. Night and day; the sun returning to the same point of east; every change of species in the same matter; generation and corruption; the eagle renewing her youth, and the snake her skin; the silk-worm and the swallows; the care of posterity, and the care of an immortal name; 1 Thess. iv. 16. † John v. 28.