thou mightest behold the Face of My FATHER in heaven.

S. LORD, wherefore did they buffet Thee with fists, and beat Thee with staves?

C. That thou mightest be freed from the strokes and tearing of infernal fiends.

S. LORD, wherefore wouldest Thou be reviled ?

C. That GOD might speak peace unto thee by His Word and SPIRIT.

S. LORD, wherefore was Thy Face disfigured with blows and blood?

C. That thy face might shine glorious as the Angels

in heaven.

S. LORD, wherefore wouldest Thou be so cruelly scourged?

C. That thou mightest be freed from the sting of conscience, and whips of everlasting torments.

S. LORD, wherefore wouldest Thou be arraigned at Pilate's bar ?

C. That thou mightest at the last day be acquitted before My judgment-seat.

S. LORD, wherefore wouldest Thou be falsely accused ?

C. That thou shouldest not be justly condemned. S. But why, LORD, wouldest Thou be condemned? C. That the law being condemned in Me, thou mightest not be condemned by it.

S. But why wast Thou condemned, seeing nothing could be proved against Thee?

C. That thou mightest know that it was not for My fault, but for thine, that I suffered.

S. LORD, why wast Thou stript of Thy garments ? C. That thou mightest see how I forsook all to redeem thee.

S. LORD, wherefore wouldest Thou be lifted up upon the Cross?

C. That I might lift thee up to heaven with Me. S. LORD, wherefore wouldest Thou hang upon a cursed tree?

C. That I might satisfy for thy sin committed in eating the forbidden fruit of a tree.

S. LORD, wherefore wouldest Thou hang between two thieves ?

C. That thou mightest have place in the midst of heavenly Angels.

S. LORD, wherefore were Thy hands and feet nailed to the Cross ?

C. To enlarge thy hands to do the works of righteousness, and to set thy feet at liberty to walk in the ways of peace.

S. LORD, wherefore did they crucify Thee in Golgotha, the place of dead men's skulls ?

C. To show thee, that My death is life unto the dead.

S. LORD, why did not the soldiers divide Thy seamless coat?

C. To show that My Church is one without rent or schism.

S. LORD, wherefore didst Thou taste vinegar and gall?

C. That thou mightest eat the bread of Angels, and drink the water of life.

S. LORD, why saidst Thou upon the Cross, "It is finished ?"

C. That thou mayest know, that by My death, the law was fulfilled, and thy redemption effected.

S. LORD, why didst Thou cry out upon the Cross, My God! My GOD! why hast Thou forsaken Me ?"

C. Lest thou, being forsaken of GOD, shouldest have been driven to cry, in the pains of hell, woe and alas for evermore.

S. LORD, wherefore was there such a general darkness when Thou didst suffer and cry out upon the Cross ?

C. That thou mightest see an image of those hellish pains which I suffered to deliver thee from the endless pains of hell and everlasting chains of darkness.

S. LORD, why wouldest Thou have Thine arms nailed abroad?

C. That I might embrace thee the more lovingly. S. LORD, wherefore didst Thou cry with such a loud and strong voice in yielding up the ghost?

C. That it might appear that no man took My life rom Me, but that I laid it down of Myself.

S. LORD, wherefore didst Thou commend Thy soul into Thy FATHER's hands?

C. To teach thee what thou shouldest do, being to depart this life.

S. LORD, wherefore was the veil of the temple rent in twain at Thy death?

C. To show that the Levitical law should be no longer a partition-wall between Jews and Gentiles; and that the way to heaven is now open to all believers.

S. LORD, wherefore did the earth quake and the stones cleave at Thy death?

C. For horror to bear her LORD dying, and to upbraid the cruel hardness of sinner's hearts.

S. LORD, wherefore did not the soldiers break Thy legs, as they did the thieves', who hanged at Thy right and left hand?

C. That thou mightest know that they had not power to do any more unto Me than the Scripture had foretold that they should do, and I should suffer to save thee.

S. LORD, wherefore was Thy side opened with a spear?

C. That thou mightest have a way to come nearer to My heart.

S. LORD, wherefore ran there out of Thy precious side blood and water?

C. To assure thee that I was slain indeed, seeing My heart-blood gushed out, and the water which compassed My heart flowed forth after it, which once spilt, man must needs die.

S. LORD, wherefore ran the blood first by itself, and the water afterwards by itself, out of Thy blessed wound?

C. To assure thee of two things:

1. That by My blood-shedding, justification and sanctification were effected to save thee.

2. That My SPIRIT, by the conscionable use of the water in Baptism, and Blood in the Eucharist, will effect in thee righteousness and holiness, by which thou shalt glorify Me.

S. LORD, wherefore did the graves open, at Thy death?

C. To signify that death, by My death, had now received his death's wound, and was overcome.

S. LORD, wherefore wouldest Thou be buried?

C. That thy sins might never rise up in judgment against thee.

S. LORD, wherefore did so many bodies of Thy saints (which slept) arise at Thy resurrection?

C. To give thee assurance, that all the saints shall arise by virtue of My resurrection at the last day. S. LORD, what shall I render unto Thee for all these benefits ?

C. Love thy Creator, and become a new creature.

Comforts

Against the Loss of Sight.

BISHOP HALL.

1.

The Two Inward Lights, of Reason and Faith.

Thou hast lost thine eyes; a loss which all the world is unable to repair. Thou art hereby condemned to a perpetual darkness: for, The light of the body is the eye; and if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! S. Matt. vi. 22, 23.

There are but two ways by which any outward comfort can have access to thy soul; the eye, and the ear: one of them is now foreclosed for ever.

Yet know, my son, thou hast two other inward eyes, that can abundantly supply the want of these of thy body; the eye of Reason, and the eye of Faith: the one, as a Man; the other, as a Christian.

Answerable whereunto, there is a double light apprehended by them, rational and divine; Solomon tells thee of the one; The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly; (Prov. xx. 27:) the beloved disciple tells thee of the other; GOD is light: and we walk in the light, as He is in the light. 1 S. John i. 5, 7.