earth, and the renting of the rocks, threaten a damage and destruction to them; and in this temperature of his wonders, as the power of God, of God, so the wisdom of God appears wonderfully. He threatens this people for the indignity that they had done to the Lord of Glory, with hell and death, yet he holds up his hands. O! how unwilling he is to strike, but if he light on thee, he will cause thee squeal. He is aiming; he is shaking that terrible arm, and threatening them. In the meantime, the Lord is remembering his mercy, and teaches them by wonders to look, yet, if they will take a lesson, to repent of all the indignity that they had done. He threatens them with the one hand, and offers mercy with the other, to see if they will repent. This is the dealing of the Lord. He warns them, and he says, "Yet I will not swallow thee up with the earth, and I will not let the rocks tumble down on thee, to devour thee, yet repent, for there is grace for thee, if thou turnest." Brethren, no man shall go to hell without advertisement to stand, to the end, that if thou wilt not repent, when the Lord begins to put hand on thee, and to rend thee, thy mouth may be closed, that thou canst not say, "Lord, I got no warning;" all excuses shall be put away. Alas! will not men learn for all this shaking of the mountains? Lord, shake these hearts of ours, and the Lord be merciful to all sinful souls, and to senseless creatures, lest, when they shall cry "Peace," and all things are sure enough, the sudden judgment approach, and the wrath come and overtake them.

Now, come to the last thing, and I shall end. Are there none that are moved at all at these wonders? Amongst so many hundreds and thousands is there not one moved? Yes, there are some moved, and who are these? Are the high priests moved? No, not a whit. Is there any of the rest of the order of the priests moved? No, they continue blind and dumb. Are the Pharisees, and the scribes, or the elders, moved? No, they are not moved; but the more they hear their hearts are the more hardened. Who are then moved at these wonders? It is an ethnic body, a captain of men of war under Pilate, and a Pagan, who never once knew God, yet when he sees this, and heard the voices, he says, "Of a surety this

man was just." And more he says, "Truly this was the Son of God." Is there any more? Yes, a band of men of war, not of the Jews, but such as had lived on robbery, without the fear of God, "they feared greatly," and said also, "Truly this man was the Son of God." Who of the Jews is moved? Not the scribes and the Pharisees, and the rest of the order, they are nothing moved; but the silly multitude, who cried before him, "Crucify him," now they go home, "smiting on their breasts," and crying, woe to them for that day's labour; but there was never a motion in the priests, or in any of the princes, or Pharisees, or scribes. It is a wonderful thing to see, that they who had judgment and understanding, and who had read all the prophecies of the Messiah to come, got no sense, yet a silly multitude gets some sight and sense. Would ye know and point out a senseless creature, who will not be moved neither by work nor word? It is such a man as hath this worldly wisdom; such a man as hath knowledge, and yet does against his knowledge and conscience; for all that these priests and Pharisees did was both against knowledge and conscience. They repined against the Holy Spirit, and against their conscience they crucify Jesus. Whosoever thou art who opponest thee to the brightness of the Gospel, thou crucifiest the Lord of Glory; and as it shall be laid to the charge of the high priests and Pharisees, and of Pilate and Herod, in that great day, that they crucified Jesus Christ, so it shall be laid to thy charge, and thou shalt be as guilty of his blood as they. Woe to that soul which will resist that Word and the Holy Spirit! Woe shall be to the great men in this land who against conscience conspire against Christ, religion, and their native country, for wrath and vengeance remaineth for them, if they leave not off this unhappy course. The King of Spain, and all their associates, shall not be able to hold vengeance off them, that shall one day be heaped upon their heads. The Lord save us from induration, and never suffer us to repine against light, nor to scrape it out of our soul and conscience!

I see here further. The Lord gets moe friends in his death than in his life. The centurion and the men of war they curse the

time that ever they were employed in that service. The multitude who bade crucify him, through blindness and ignorance, now they repent the time that ever they did it, and they return homewards knocking upon their breasts. That immaculate Lamb, that precious Sacrifice, hanging thus on the cross, he cast such a sweet smell on the earth, and on the people, that they who were his enemies go away mourning. This falls often times in the martyrs, for some people go out with them who would eat them, and yet the Lord Jesus makes their death to cast such a sweet smell, that it is effectual to move many thousands to mourn, and to be converted. So that it is found to be true, that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the kirk. And they who would have swallowed them before in their death, pity them, and become their friends, through the sweet smell which they felt coming from their death, and would go home mourning, that ever they were enemies unto them, and were instruments of their death.

Therefore, let the enemies of the truth persecute the saints of God and his truth with fire and sword, as they please, they shall get no vantage, and they shall not get this light quenched, for there shall such a sweet smell arise out of the ashes of the saints, which,' in despite of the enemies, far moe shall be won to Jesus Christ by their death than ever was won to him by their life. To him, therefore, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be all honour, praise, and glory, for evermore. Amen.

1 So in origin.

THE TWENTY-THIRD LECTURE.

OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST.

MATTH. CHAP. XXVII.

55. And many women were there, beholding him afar off, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him.

56. Among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's sons.

MARK, CHAP. XV.

40. There were also women, who beheld afar off, among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and

of Joses, and Salome;

41. Who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him, and many other women, who came up with him unto Hierusalem.

LUKE, CHAP. XXIII.

49. And all his acquaintance stood afar off, and the women that followed him from Galilee, beholding these things.

JOHN, CHAP. XIX.

31. The Jews then (because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath-day, for that was an high day) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken down.1

1 This verse of John is not given here in the Latin Commentary. In the other verses, both works agree.

WE have heard, these days past, beloved brethren in Christ, what was the part of the whole multitude of the wicked, and persecutors of Jesus Christ, in crucifying him, in taunting and scorning him. Doubtless, there were in that company some of the godly who loved the Lord Jesus; but, seeing we have heard nothing of them as yet, therefore, this day we shall speak somewhat in their behalf. Now, what are they doing in the meantime? They are standing afar off,—some men and many women, who all that time had followed him before,-standing to see that sad spectacle; yet with sadness they had joy, no question. And this is the first part of our text which we have read out of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. After this, we enter into the history of Christ's burial. But before we come to his burial, we have, in the 19 chapter of John, the history of the taking down of his body from the cross; so at this time, by God's grace, we shall speak of these two, to wit, of the part of the godly who loved him, and next, of the taking down of that blessed body from the cross after it was dead. Then, to come shortly to the purpose, it is said, "And all his acquaintances stood afar off." There is the general. Then comes on the particular, "many women;" particular mention is made of them. Many women are standing afar off looking on. We heard of before in the 19 of John, verse 23, of three women chiefly, Mary the mother of Jesus, and other two Marys, together with his well-beloved disciple John; and they were standing at that time when he hung quick upon the cross, so near hand him, that he speaks to them from the cross, and they heard him. So, brethren, this standing afar off at this time, as I take it, hath been after the Lord had given up the ghost, when the women are returning home again, being loath to part company with him; and as they were going home, they turned about and looked to Jesus hanging on the cross on mount Calvary. They stand first near, and then turning home again, they stand afar off. No question, it was the love they bare to the Lord that drew them after him when he went to be crucified; and that same love that they bare to him was so tender and entire, that it made them to