showed he, as when he sent the Son of God to be the son of man, that the sons of men might be made the sons of God again, and when he made him to die that men might live. Herein (says 1 John iv. 10) is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be a reconciliation for our sins; here only is an uncontrollable testimony of an undoubted love; and if ye will duly consider all the rest of God's glorious properties, ye shall find them all most clearly manifested in the person of Jesus Christ. Now, wouldst thou know that in him thou shalt find all things that the soul of man stands in need of, and can require? What can the soul of man require? Desirest thou honour? If thou believest in him, he shall grant thee that power and prerogative, that thou shalt be the son of God, John i. 12. Desirest thou riches? He was made poor, that thou through his poverty mightest be made rich, 2 Cor. viii. 9, not with transitory and corruptible riches, but with riches and treasures incorruptible and permanent. Desirest thou food, meat, drink to thy soul? He is that bread of life, he is that water of life. Desirest thou wisdom, sanctification, and redemption? Christ is all these unto thee, 1 Cor. i. 30. Desirest thou light? He is the light of the world, John viii. 12. Desirest thou life? He is thy life, Col. iii. 4. Whatever he suffered, it was for thee, for by his stripes we are healed, Isaiah liii. 5. He was burdened with shame, that he might redeem thee from shame, and clothe thee with glory. He was taken and bound to set thee at liberty, who was bound with Satan and sin. He was mocked, and was dumb before the earthly judge, that thou, whose mouth before was closed through the guilt of sin before God, might have boldness and pertness' in thy prayers and supplications. He suffered anguish and grief, that thou mightest find comfort and joy. He drank the gall, that thou mightest drink of a sweet and joyful cup. He was naked, that thou mightest be clothed; and if thou wilt go through all the points of his suffering, and apply them to thy broken and casten down soul, thou shalt find that

In the original "peartnesse,” i. e. access with confidence. See Eph. iii. 12.

every one of them shall furnish comfort unto thee; yea, if thou be a true penitent sinner, and believest in him, thou shalt find all these miracles to be wrought and performed in thy soul, which ever the Lord, in the days of his humility, wrought on the body of any; thou shalt find life to thy dead soul, eyes to thy blind soul, ears to thy deaf soul, limbs to thy lame soul, a new tongue to thy dumb soul, &c. Therefore, as we should take pleasure and delight in reading the whole parts of the Scripture, (for it is all by divine inspiration, and is profitable to teach, to convince, to correct, and to instruct in righteousness, 2 Tim. iii. 16,) so chiefly, that part which contains the History of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ; for of all there is none more profitable, none more necessary, none more easy to be understood by the simple, none more easy to be kept in memory, none more forcible to move the affections, either to admire the incomprehensible and infinite love of God towards sinners, or the fierceness of his wrath for sin, or the severity of his justice in seeking such exact satisfaction, or to move to detest and abhor sin, which made the Son of God to be made so unworthily always handled, and at last to be so shamefully crucified, or to rejoice for these incomprehensible benefits that Christ hath acquired to us, our effectual calling from the kingdom of darkness to his marvellous light, our justification in pacifying the wrath of God, in satisfying for sin, in absolving us from guiltiness, in dying that we might live, in bringing peace and joy to the conscience, and our sanctification, whereby we are repaired to his own image. Nothing serves more for the mortification, nor1 when we consider how Christ hang upon the cross for sin; nothing will move us more effectually to conform ourselves to him as an ensample in his humility, patience, obedience, love, and, finally, in offering ourselves to him, as he offered himself for us, nor when by faith we behold Christ on the cross crucified for us.

Now, this History of the Death and Resurrection of Christ have many worthy men learnedly and comfortably handled and exponed with great painfulness, and no less commendation; amongst the

1 i. e. Than.

rest, that reverend and faithful man of God, M. ROBERT ROLLOCK, of blessed memory, for his learned and judicious exposition thereof, and for his manifold other graces which God vouchsafed on him, deserves with the first to be commended; for God in him, as in a vive' ensample, gave us a show of such qualities and conditions as are required to be in a Bishop of Jesus Christ, 1 Tim. iii. In him learning and godliness strove together, knowledge and conscience, art and nature, a profession and an answerable conversation; he was faithful and painful in his calling, and his calling did he decore with an holy and harmless life; for between these two there was such a harmony and consent, that in reading his writings any man might see the manner of his life, and in seeing his life, he might also therein read his writings: for his life spake what his pen wrote, and his person was a pattern of his written precepts. He was never idle, but ever doing the office of a minister of Jesus, either did he read, meditate, pray, comfort, preach, or write; no travail did he refuse that he might glorify God, who sent him, enlarge the kingdom of Jesus Christ, and acquire miserable souls from misery to felicity, from darkness to light, and from death to life, that so at last he might finish his course with joy. That was his meat and his drink, the delight and pleasure of his soul. Great graces did the Lord bestow upon him, excellent knowledge, great humility, fervent zeal, charitable interpreting of all men's doings, compassion toward all sorts of sinners. Who in conceiving was more quick-in judgment more solid-in memory more stedfast and sure-in delivery more pithy, in convincing more powerful? Who with learning had greater facility and easiness in declaring his mind, and resolving the text of Scripture-greater clearness in raising the grounds of doctrine, greater power in applying, greater wisdom in furnishing consolation, and greater dexterity in loosing of things obscure and doubtsome? In one word, we may be bold to say of him, that which Nazianzene spake of Athanasius, that his life was a good definition of a true minister and preacher of the Gospel. But we need not to insist in praising him, seeing so 1i. e. Living.

2 i. e. Adorn.

many, even all that knew him by face, or heard him, do praise him for the singular and excellent virtues and graces that God bestowed on him; yea, they who never knew him by face, but by his learned and judicious writings, dwelling afar off, have highly commended him, and the posterity, whose profit so much he regarded in his labours, we doubt not, shall know and praise him, and we had rather be silent than to speak too little.

Now, Sir, because we thought that these Lectures on this History of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ in itself, for the matter so moving and alluring, would profit and edify many, if not of the most learned, at least of the simple sort; and that other Sermons that were delivered by him, and set out by us of before, were well liked of by many; and that sundry hearing that they were in hands, longed to see them come to light, we have taken some pains in revising and correcting them, not only for the love and duty that we owe to that faithful and reverend Author of them, who was our master, but also that with the greater liking and profit they might be read by all them that desire to be edified. And what our pains herein hath been few can well judge, but those who have been acquainted with such cases. We have endeavoured to give the true meaning of the Author clearly, to make his method plain; we have omitted many superfluous repetitions; we filled out imperfect sentences; we cleared things obscure; we rectified the sentences which were inverted; we endeavoured, so far as was possible, to give out his own phrase, style, and matter. As for the matter, this we may boldly affirm, that it is fully set down, and that it is as good, at least, if it be not better, than his Latin Commentary set forth by himself; yea, we doubt nothing, but the matter shall satisfy all men who crave edification; but as for the phrase and style, we dare not say that it will be found so absolute and exact in all things, as if it had been finished by himself, before he ended his course, neither as we would wish, and other men would require; and what marvel? seeing neither did he deliver them of purpose to be printed, neither did he ever see them thereafter, neither were they received by his scholars upon that purpose, but only for the helping of their own memory; yea, and at the first

time after, that upon your request, Sir, we took pains upon them, we found such hardness and imperfections, and that his own phrase and elegancy was not observed, that we feared to hazard the name and credit of the learned and judicious Author, who deserved so well of us, yea, of the whole church of God, and had left off the work as imperfect, if the earnest request of you, and of some other of the learned, (whose judgments are to be reverenced,) had not encouraged us thereto. Yet we trust that the style shall not be much blamed, except by those who, being delicate-eared, regard language more than matter; for there is here an easy method, with a familiar style, condescending to the capacity of the meanest, and answerable to the matter entreated, to wit, the cross of Christ, which refuses to be decored with human eloquence, that the matter be not obscured by the style, but may appear above it, as oft times Mr Rollock himself was wont to speak. Yea, albeit it may be that the style in some few of the first sermons be somewhat hard and unpleasant, which we might easily have amended, if we had not thought it unmeet to have set out his matter in our words; yet if any will read forward, especially from that part where the harmony of all the Evangelists is taken in, and all the four are in such sort conferred together, that no circumstance of the History of Christ's Death and Resurrection is omitted, he shall ever find more and more contentment in all things. And as we have taken pains for the profit and edification of many, so we doubt not but the success and event shall answer to our desire. For, to speak nothing of the history itself, which is so pleasant, sweet, plain, easy, and forcible, to move all the affections of the soul, here ye will find how every clause and sentence of every one of the Evangelists are linked together, and depend one upon another, according to the order of nature; here ye will see a plain and an easy method; here ye will see how clearly the doctrine results off the doctrine laid down; here ye will see fit applications to these times; and here ye will see, when occasion offers, how the enemies of the truth of God are pithily convinced and confuted.

And now, if we would presume to dedicate this work, and our labours therein, to any other than to you, Sir, whose deservings