To enter then this Comparison, and to
shew it for such. That, are we to doe, three
sundry wayes: For three sundry wayes, in
three sundry words, are these Sufferings of
his here expressed: all three within the compasse
of the Verse.
The first is NoValue Mac-ob which we reade
Sorow, taken from a wound or stripe, as all
doe agree.
The second is NoValue Gholel we reade Done
to me, taken from a word that signifieth Melting
in a fornace; as S. Hierom noteth out of
the Chaldæe who so translateth it.
The third is NoValue Hoga where we reade
Afflicted, from a word which importeth
Renting off, or bereauing. The old Latine
turneth it, Vindemiauit me, As a Vine whose
fruit is all plucked off. The Greeke with
Theodoret, NoValue as a Vine or tree,
whose leaues are all beaten off, and it left naked
and bare.

B3

In these three are comprised his Sufferings,
Wounded, Melted, & Bereft, leafe and
fruit, that is all maner of comfort.
Of all that is pœnal, or can be suffred,
the co~mon diuision is, Sensus, & Damni, Griefe
for that we feele, or, for that we forgo. For
that we feele, in the two former, Wounded in
body, Melted in Soule: For that we forgoe,
in the last; Bereft all, left neither fruit, nor
so much as a leafe to hang on him.
According to these three, To consider
his Sufferings, & to begin first with the first.
The paines of his Body, his wounds and
his stripes.
Our very eye will soone tell vs, No place
was left in his Body, where he might bee
smitten, & was not. His Skin and flesh rent
with the whips & scourges, His hands and
feet wounded with the nailes, His head with
the thornes, His very Heart with the speare
point; All his sences, all his parts loden with
whatsoeuer wit or malice could inuent. His
blessed Body giuen as an Anuile to bee
beaten vpon, with the violent handes of
those barbarous miscreants, til they brought
him into this case, of Si fuerit sicut. For, Pilates
Ecce Homo! His shewing him with
an Ecce, as if he should say, Behold, looke if
euer you saw the like ruefull spectacle. This
very shewing of his, sheweth plainely, hee
was then come into a wofull plight; So wofull,
as Pilate verrily beleeued, his very sight
so pitifull, as, it would haue moued the hardest
heart of them all to haue relented, and
said, This is ynough, we desire no more.
And this for the wounds of his Body, for
on this we stand not.
In this one peraduenture some Sicut may
be found, in the Paines of the Body: but in
the second, the Sorrow of the Soule, I am
sure, none. And indeede, the Paine of the
Body is but the Body of Paine: the very
soule of Sorow and Paine, is the soules Sorrow
and Paine. Giue me any griefe, saue the
griefe of the minde, saith the Wiseman. For
saith Solomon The spirit of a man will sustain
all his other infirmities, but a wounded spirit,
who can beare? And of this, this of his Soule,
I dare make a Case, Si fuerit sicut.
He began to be troubled in Soule, saith S.
Iohn: To be in an agonie, saith S. Luke: To be
in anguish of minde and deepe distresse, saith S.
Marke. To haue his Soule round about on
euery side inuironed with Sorow, and that,
Sorow to the death, Here is trouble, anguish,
agonie, sorow and deadly sorow: but it must
be such, as neuer the like; So it was too.
The æstimate whereof we may take from
the second word, of Melting, that is, from
his sweat in the Garden; strange and the
like whereof was neuer heard or seene.
No maner violence offred him in Body;
no man touching him, or being neere him,
in a colde night for they were faine to haue
a fire within doores lying abroad in the
ayre, and vpon the colde earth, to be all of a
sweat, and that Sweat to the Blood; and not
as they call it, Diaphoreticus, a thinne faint
Sweat; but Grumosus, of great Drops, and
those, so many, so plenteous, as they went
through his apparell and all; and through all,
streamed to the ground, & that in great
abundance; Reade, Enquire, and Consider,
Si fuerit sudor sicut sudor iste. If euer
there were Sweat like this Sweat of his? Neuer
the like Sweat certainely, and therefore
neuer the like Sorrow. Our translation is,
Done vnto me: but we said, the word properly
signifieth and so S. Hierome & the Chaldey
Paraphrast read it Melted me. And truly
it should seeme by this fearefull Sweat of
his, hee was neere some fornace, the feeling
whereof, was able to cast him into that
Sweat, and to turne his Sweat into drops of
Blood. And sure it was so: For see, euen in
the very next wordes of all to this verse, he
complaineth of it, Ignem misit in ossibus meis,
That a fire was sent into his bones which
melted him, and made that bloody Sweat to
distill from him. That houre, what his feelings
were, it is dangerous to define: wee
know them not, we may be too bold to determine
of them. To very good purpose it
was, that the ancient Fathers of the Greeke
Church in their Liturgie, after they haue recounted
all the particular Paines as they are
set downe in his Passion, and by all, and by
euery one of them, called for mercy; doe, after
all, shut vp all with his, NoValue
By thine vnknowen

C

Sorowes and Sufferings felt by thee,
but not distinctly knowen by vs, haue mercy
vpon vs and saue vs.
Now, though this suffice not, nothing
neere; yet let it suffice, the time being
short for his paines of Body and Soule: for
those of the Body, it may be some may haue
endured the like; but the sorrowes of his
Soule are vnknowen sorowes: & for them,
none euer haue, euer haue, or euer shall suffer
the like; the like, or neere the like in any
degree.
And now to the third. It was said before,
To be in distresse, such distresse as this was,
& to find none to comfort, nay not so much
as to regard him, is all that can be sayd, to
make his sorow a Non sicut. Comfort is it,
by which in the midst of all our sorowes, we
are Confortati, that is, strengthened & made
the better able to beare them all out. And
who is there, euen the poorest creature among
vs, but in some degree findeth some
co~fort, or some regard at some bodies ha~ds?
For if that be not left, the state of that partie
is here in the third word said to be like the
tree, whose leaues and whose fruit are all
beaten off quite, and it selfe left bare and naked
both of the one and of the other.
And such was our Sauiours case in these
his Sorowes this day, and that so, as what is
left the meanest of the sons of men, was not
left him: Not a leafe. Not a leafe! Leaues I
may wel call all humane Comforts and Regards,
whereof he was then left cleane desolate.
1. His owne, they among whom he
had gone about all his life long, healing
them, teaching them, feeding them, doing
them all the good he could, it is they that
cry, Not him, no, but Barabbas rather; Away
with him, his blood bee vpon vs and our children.
It is they that in the middest of his sorowes,
shake their head at him and cry, Ah
thou wretch: they that in his most disconsolate
estate & cry, Eli, Eli, in most barbarous
maner deride him, and say, Stay, and you shal
see Elias come presently and take him downe.
And this was their Regard.
But these were but withered leaues. They
then that on earth were neerest him of all,
the greenest leaues & likest to hand on, and

C2

to giue him some shade: euen of them, some
bought and sold him, others denied & forswore
him, but all fel away & forsooke him.
NoValue saith Theodoret not a leafe left.
But, leaues are but leaues, and so are all
earthly stayes. The fruit then, the true fruit
of the Vine indeed, the true comfort in all
heauinesse is Desuper, from aboue, is diuine
consolation. But Videmiauit me, saith the
Latine text euen that was in this his Sorow,
this day, bereft him too. And that was his
most sorowfull complaint of all others: not
that his friends vpon earth, but that his Father
from heauen had forsaken him, that
neither heauen nor earth yeelded him any
regard; but that betweene the passioned
powers of his soule, and whatsoeuer might
any waies refresh him, there was a Trauerse
drawen, & he left in the estate of a weather-beaten
tree, all desolate and forlorne. Euident,
too euident, by that his most dreadful
crie, which at once moued all the powers in
heauen and earth, My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? Weigh well that crie, consider
it well, and tell me, Si fuerit clamor sicut

8

clamor iste, If euer there were crie, like to
that of his: Neuer the like crie, and therefore
neuer the like sorow.
It is strange, very strange, that of none of
the Martyrs the like can be read; who yet
endured most exquisite paines in their Martyrdomes;
yet wee see with what courage,
with what chearefulnes, how euen singing
they are reported to haue passed through
their torments. Will ye know the reason?
S. Augustine setteth it downe, Martyres non
eripuit, sed nunquid deseruit? He deliuered
not his Martyrs, but did he forsake them?
He deliuered not their bodies, but he forsooke
not their soules, but distilled into the~
the dew of his heauenly comfort; an abundant
supply for all they could endure. Not
so here, Vindemiauit me saith the Prophet
Dereliquisti me sayeth hee himselfe: No
comfort, no supply at all.
Leo it is that first said it, and all antiquitie
allow of it, Non soluit Vnionem, sed subtraxit
visione. The Vnion was not dissolued;
True, but the beames, the influence was restrained,
and for any comfort from thence,

C3

his Soule was, euen as a scorched heath
ground, without so much as any drop of
dew of Diuine comfort: as a naked tree, no
fruit to refresh him within, no leafe to giue
him shadow without: The power of darknesse
let loose to afflict him: the influence
of comfort, restrained to relieue him. It is a
Non sicut this, It cannot be expressed as it
should, and as other things may; In silence
we may admire it, but all our words wil not
reach it. And though to draw it so farre as
some doe, is little better then blasphemie;
Yet on the other side, to shrinke it so short,
as other some doe, cannot be but with derogation
to his loue, who to kindle our loue
and louing Regard, would come to a Non
sicut in his suffering: For, so it was, and so
we must allow it to be. This in respect of
his Passion. Dolor.
Now in respect of his Person, Dolor meus.
Whereof, if it please you to take a view, euen
of the Person thus wounded, thus afflicted
and forsaken, you shall then haue a perfect
Non sicut. And in deed, the Person is here
a weighty circumstance, it is thrice repeated,
Meus, Mihi, Me. And we may not leaue it
out. For, as is the Person, so is the Passion;
and any one, euen the very least degree of
wrong or disgrace, offered to a Person of
excellencie, is more then a hundreth times
more, to one of meane conditio~: So weightie
is the circumstance of the Person. Consider
then, how great the Person was; And I
rest fully assured, here may we boldly challenge,
and say, Si fuerit sicut.
Ecce Homo saith Pilate first, A man he
is, as we are: and were he but a man, Nay,
were he not a man, but some poore dumbe
creature, it were great ruth to see him so
handled, as he was.
A man saith Pilate, and a Iust man, saith
Pilates wife. Haue thou nothing to doe with that Iust man. And that is one degree further.
For though we pitie the punishment
euen of malefactours themselues: yet euer,
most compassion we haue of them that suffer,
and be innocent. And he was Innocent:
Pilate, and Herode, and the Prince of this
world, his very enemies, being his Iudges.
Now, among the Innocent, the more
Noble the Person, the more heauie the spectacle:
and neuer doe our bowels earne so much,
as ouer such. Alas, alas for that noble
Prince, sayeth this Prophet, the stile
of mourning for the death of a great Personage.
And, he that suffereth here, is such,
euen a principall Person among the sonnes
of men, of the race Royall, descended from
Kings; Pilate stiled him so in his Title, and
he would not alter it.
Three degrees. But, yet we are not at
our true Quantus. For he is yet more: More,
then the highest of the sonnes of men: for
he is the Sonne of the most
high God. Pilate saw no further, but
Ecce Homo; The Centurion did, Vere Filius
Dei erat hic. Now truely this was the
Sonne of God. And here, all wordes forsake
vs, and euery tongue becommeth
speechlesse.
We haue no way to expresse it, but à Minore
ad Maius. Thus, Of this booke, the
booke of Lamentations, one speciall occasion
was, the death of King Iosias; But behold,
a greater then Iosias is here.

Of King Iosias as a speciall reason of
mourning the Prophet saith, Spiritus oris
nostri, Christus Domini, The very breath of
our nosethrils, The Lords Anointed;
for so are all good Kings in their Subiects accompts
He is gone. But behold, here is not
Christus Domini, but Christus Dominus, The
Lords Christ, but the Lord Christ himselfe:
And that, not comming to an Honourable
death in battaile, as Iosias did, But, to a most
vile reprochfull death, the death of malefactors
in the highest degree. And not
slaine outright, as Iosias was: but mangled
and massacred in most pitifull strange maner;
wounded in body, wounded in Spirit,
left vtterly desolate. O consider this well,
and confesse the Case is truely put, Si fuerit
Dolor sicut Dolor meus. Neuer, neuer the like
Person: And if, as the Person is, the Passion
be, Neuer the like Passion to his.
It is truely affirmed, that any one, euen
the least drop of Blood, euen the least pain,
yea of the body onely, of this so great a Person;
any Dolor with this Meus, had bene enough
to make a Non sicut of it. That is

D

enough, but that is not all: for adde now the
three other degrees; Adde to this Person,
those Wounds, that Sweat, and that Cry, and
put all together: And, I make no manner
question, the like was not, shall not, cannot
euer be. It is farre aboue all that euer were,
or can be. Abyssus est: Men may drowsily
heare it, and coldly affect it: But Principalities
and Powers, stand abashed at it. And
for the Quality, both of the Passion & of the
Person, That Neuer the like; thus much.

NOW to proceed to the Cause, and
to consider it: for without it, we
shall haue but halfe a Regard, and
scarse that. In deed, set the Cause aside, and
the Passion as rare as it is, is yet but a dul
and heauy fight: we lift not much looke vpon
spectacles of that kind, though neuer so
strange: they fill vs ful of pensiue thoughts,
and make vs Melancholique; and so doeth
this, till vpon examination of the Cause, we
finde it toucheth vs neere; And so neere so
many wayes, as we cannot chuse, but haue
some Regard of it.
What was done to Him we see. Let there
now be a Quæst of Inquirie, to finde who
was the doer of it. Who? who, but the
Power of darkenesse, wicked Pilate, bloody
Caiphas, the enuious Priests, the barbarous
Souldiers? None of these are returned
here. We are too low, by a great deale,
if we thinke to finde it among men. Quæ
fecit mihi Deus. It was God that did it. An
houre of that day was the houre of the
Power of darkenesse: but the whole day it
selfe, is said here plainely, was the day of the
wrath of God. God was a doer in it; Wherewith
God hath afflicted me.
God afflicteth some in Mercy: and others
in wrath. This was in his wrath. In
his wrath God is not alike to all; Some he
afflicteth in his more gentle and milde: others
in his fierce wrath. This was in the
very fiercenesse of his wrath. His Sufferings,
his Sweate, and Cry, shew as much;
They could not come, but from a wrath,
Si fuerit sicut, For we are not past Non

D2

14

sicut, no not here in this part: it followeth
vs still, and will not leaue vs in any point,
not to the end.
The Cause then in God, was wrath.
What caused this wrath? God is not wroth,
but with sinne; Nor grieuously wroth, but
with grieuous sinne. And in christ
there was no grieuous sinne, Nay, no sinne
at all. God did it, the text is plaine. And
in his fierce wrath he did it. For what cause?
For, God forbid God should doe as did
Annas the high Priest, cause him to be smitten
without cause. God forbid saith Abraham
the Iudge of the world should doe
wrong to any. To any, but specially to his
owne Sonne: That his Sonne, of whom
with thundring voyce from Heauen, he testifieth
all his ioy and delight were in Him,
in him onely he was wel pleased. And how
then could his wrath waxe hot, to doe all
this vnto him?
There is no way to preserue Gods Iustice,
and Christs Innocency both, but to say as
the Angel said of him to the Prophet Daniel,
The Messias shall be slain NoValue ve-en lo,
shalbe slaine, but not for himselfe. Not for
himselfe? for whom then? for some others.
He tooke vpon him the person of others;
and so doing, Iustice may haue her course and proceede.
Pity it is to see a man pay that he neuer
tooke: but if he will become a Surety, if he
will take on him the person of the Debtor,
so he must. Pity to see a sillie poore Lambe
lie bleeding to death; but if it must be a Sacrifice,
such is the nature of a sacrifice so it
must. And so Christ, though without sinne
in himselfe, yet as a Suretie, as a Sacrifice,
may iustly suffer for others, if he will take
vpon him their persons; and so, God may
iustly giue way to his wrath against him.
And who be those others? The Prophet
Esay telleth vs, and telleth it vs seuen times
ouer for failing, He tooke vpon him our infirmities,
and bare our maladies: He was wounded
for our iniquities, and broken for our transgressions.
The chastisement of our peace was
vpon him, and with his stripes were we healed.
All wee as sheepe were gone astray, and turned
euery man to his owne way: and the Lord hath

D3

16

layd vpon him the iniquities of vs all. All,
all, euen those, that passe to and fro, and for
all this, Regard neither him nor his Passion.
The short is: It was wee, that for our
sinnes, our many, great, and grieuous sins,
Si fuerint sicut, the like wherof neuer were
should haue swet this Sweat, and haue cryed
this Cry; should haue bene smitten with
these sorrowes by the fierce wrath of God,
had not he stepped betweene the blow and
vs, and latched it in his owne body and
soule, euen the dint of the fiercenesse of the
wrath of God. O the Non sicut of our sins,
that could not otherwise be answered!
To returne then a true verdict. It is we,
we wretched sinners that we are that are
to be found the principals in this acte; and
those on whom wee seeke to shift it, to deriue
it from our selues, Pilate and Caiaphas
and the rest, but instrumentall causes onely.
And it is not the executioner that killeth
the man properly, that is, They: No, nor
the Iudge, which is God in this case: onely
sinne, Solum peccatum homicida est, Sinne
onely is the murtherer, to say the trueth;
and our sinnes the murtherers of the Sonne
of God: and the Non sicut of them, the true
cause of the Non sicut both of Gods wrath,
and of his sorowfull sufferings.
Which bringeth home this our text to
vs, euen into our owne bosomes; and applieth
it most effectually, to mee that speake,
and to you that heare, to euery one of vs;
and that with the Prophet Nathans application,
Tu es homo, Thou art the Man, euen
thou, for whom God in his fierce wrath
thus afflicted him. Sinne then was the cause
on our part, why we, or some other for vs.
But yet, what was the cause why Hee on
his part? what was that that mooued him
thus to become our Suretie, and to take vpon
him our debt and danger? that mooued
him thus to lay downe his Soule, a sacrifice
for our sinne? Sure, Oblatus est quia voluit,
saith Esay againe, Offered he was for no other
cause, but because he would: For vnlesse
he would, he needed not: Needed
not, for any necessitie of Iustice; for no
Lambe was euer more innocent: not for any
necessitie of constraint; For twelue legions
of Angels were ready at his command:
But, because he would.
And why would hee? No reason can
be giuen, but, because hee Regarded vs:
Marke that reason. And what were we?
Verily, vtterly vnworthy euen his least regard;
not worth the taking vp, not worth
the looking after: Cum inimici essemus, saith
the Apostle we were his enemies when he
did it; without all desert before, and without
all regard after he had done and suffered
all this for vs: and yet hee would Regard
vs, that so little regard him. For
when he saw vs a sort of forlorne sinners
Non priùs natos, quàm damnatos, Damned
as fast as borne, as being by nature children
of wrath, and yet still heaping vp wrath against
the day of wrath, by the errours of
our life, till the time of our passing hence:
and then the fierce wrath of God, ready to
ouerwhelme vs, and to make vs endure the
terrour & torments of a neuer dying death,
another Non sicut yet When I say he
saw vs in this case, hee was mooued with
compassion ouer vs, and vndertooke all this
for vs. Euen then, in his loue he regarded
vs, and so regarded vs, that he regarded not
himselfe, to regard vs.
Bernard sayth most truely, Dilexisti me
Domine, magis quàm te, quando mori voluisti
pro me: In suffring all this for vs, thou shewedst
Lord that wee were more deare to
thee, that thou regardest vs more, then
thine owne selfe: And shall this Regard
finde no regard at our hands?
It was Sinne then, and the hainousnesse
of Sinne in vs, that prouoked wrath and
the fiercenesse of his wrath in God: It was
loue, and the greatnes of his loue in Christ,
that caused him to suffer these Sorrowes,
and the grieuousnes of these Sorrowes, and
all for our sakes.
And indeed, but onely to testifie the Non
sicut of this his Loue, all this needed not,
that was done to him. One, any one, euen
the very least of all the paines hee endured,
had bene ynough; ynough, in respect
of the Meus: ynough, in respect of the Non
sicut of his Person. For that which setteth
the high price on this Sacrifice, is this; That

E

he which offereth it vnto God, is God. But,
if little had bene suffered, little would the
Loue haue bene thought, that suffered so
little; and as little Regard would haue bene
had of it. To awake our Regard then, or to
leaue vs excuselesse, if we continue regardlesse;
all this he bare for vs: that he might
as truely make a Case of Si fuerit Amor, sicut
Amor meus, as he did before, of Si fuerit
Dolor, sicut Dolor meus. We say we will Regard
Loue; if we will, here it is to Regard.
So haue we the Causes all three: Wrath
in God: Sinne in our selues: Loue in Him.
Yet haue we not all we should. For, what
of all this? What good? Cui bono? That,
that is it indeed that we will Regard, if any
thing: as being matter of Benefit, the onely
thing in a manner the world regardeth,
which bringeth vs about to the very first
words againe. For the very first words
which we reade, Haue ye no regard? are in
the Originall, NoValue lo alechem, which
the Seuentie turne word for word NoValue
and the Latine likewise, Nonne ad vos
pertinet? Perteines it not to you, that you
Regard it no better? For these two, Perteining,
and Regarding, are folded one in
another, and goe together so commonly,
as one is taken often for the other. Then
to be sure to bring vs to Regard, he vrgeth
this, Perteines not all this to you? Is it not for
your good? Is not the benefit yours? Matters
of benefite, they perteine to you, and
without them, Loue, and all the rest, may
pertaine to whom they will.
Consider then, the inestimable benefite
that groweth vnto you, from this incomparable
Loue. It is not impertinent this; Euen
this; That to vs hereby, all is turned
about cleane contrary: That by his Stripes,
we are healed: by his Sweat, we refreshed:
By his forsaking, wee receiued to Grace:
That this day, to Him the day of the fiercenesse
of Gods wrath: is to vs the Day of
the fulnesse of Gods fauour, as the Apostle
calleth it A day of Saluation. In respect
of that hee suffered, I denie not an euill
day: a day of heauinesse: But, in respect of
that, which He, by it hath obtained for vs:
It is, as we truely call it, A good Day, a

E2

Day of Ioy and Iubilee. For it doeth not
onely ridde vs of that wrath, which pertained
to vs for our Sinnes: but, further it maketh
that pertaine to vs, whereto we had no
maner of right at all.
For, not onely by his death, as by the
death of our sacrifice; by the blood of his
Crosse, as by the blood of the Paschal
Lambe, the Destroyer passeth ouer vs, and
we shall not perish: But also by his death,
as by the death of our High Priest for hee
is Priest and Sacrifice both we are restored
from our exile, euen to our former forfeited
estate in the lande of Promise. Or rather
as the Apostle sayeth Non sicut delictum,
sic donum: Not to the same estate,
but to one nothing like it: that is One
farre better, then the estate our sinnes bereft
vs: For they depriued vs of Paradise, a place
on earth: but by the purchase of his Blood,
wee are entitled to a farre higher, euen the
kingdom of Heauen: & his blood, nor onely
the blood of Remission to acquite vs of
our sinnes; but the blood of the Testament
too, to bequeath vs, and giue vs estate, in
that heauenly inheritance.
Now whatsoeuer else, this I am sure is
a Non sicut: as that which the eye, by all it
can see; the eare, by all it can heare; the
heart, by all it can conceiue, cannot patterne
it, or set the like by it. Pertaines not this vnto
vs neither? Is not this worth the regard?
Sure if any thing be worthy the regard, this
is most worthy of our very worthiest and
best Regard.
Thus haue we considered and seene, not
so much as in this sight we might or should,
but as much as the time will giue vs leaue.
And now, lay all these before you, euery
one of them a Non sicut of it self the paines
of his Body, esteemed by Pilates Ecce; the
sorrowes of his Soule, by his sweate in the
Garden; the comfortlesse estate of his Sorrowes,
by his crie on the Crosse: And with
these, his Person, as being the Sonne of the
great and eternall God. Then ioyne to
these, the Cause: In God, his fierce wrath:
In vs, our heinous sinnes deseruing it: In
him, his exceeding great Loue, both suffering
that for vs which we had deserued; and

E3

procuring for vs, that wee could neuer deserue:
making that to appertaine to himselfe,
which of right pertained to vs; and
making that pertaine to vs, which pertained
to him onely, and not to vs at all, but by his
meanes alone. And after their view in seuerall,
lay them all together, so many Non
sicuts into one, and tell me, if his Complaint
bee not Iust, and his Request most Reasonable.
Yes sure, his Complaint is Iust, Haue ye
no Regard? None? and yet neuer the like?
None? and it pertaines vnto you? No Regard?