BOOK 6. THE DEATH.
CHAPTER 1.
6.1.2. Of the Brook over which Christ passed.
Of the Brook over which Christ passed.
The first passage of that night, was Christ's going over the brook Cedron to the garden of Gethsemane, "When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into which he entered, and his disciples," John xviii. I.
In this passage observe we these particulars: This section; The river over which they passed. Following Sections; The garden into which they entered; The prayer he there made; and the dolours and agonies he there suffered.
1. He and his disciples went over the brook Cedron. So it was called (say some) from the many cedars that grew all along the banks; or (say others) from the darkness of the valley: so Kader signifies darkness: and this was done to fulfil a prophecy, "He shall drink of the brook in the way," Psal. cx. 7. By the brook or torrent, we may understand mystically the wrath of God, and the rage of men, the very afflictions which befel Jesus Christ; and by his "drinking of the brook," we may understand Christ enduring afflictions; or (as others) his enduring many afflictions, and not a few.
(a). That afflictions are understood by waters, we find it very frequently in scriptures; "The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of Belial made me afraid," Psal. xviii. 4. "Deep calleth unto deep, at the noise of the water-spouts, all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me" Psal. xlii. 7. And, "Save me, O God, for the waters are come in unto my soul," Psal. lxix. 1. "And if it had not been the Lord, who was on our side, then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our souls, then the proud waters had gone over our souls," Psal. cxxiv. 1, 4, 5.
(b). As waters signify afflictions, so Christ drinking of those waters, it signifies "Christ's suffering of afflictions; or," as others, it signifies "Christ's suffering of many afflictions." Thus we find together two words with relation thereunto, "Are ye able to drink of the cup (saith Christ) that I shall drink of, and to be baptised with the baptism that I am baptized with?" Matt. xx. 22. He that drinketh hath the water in him; and he that is baptized, dipped or plunged, hath the water about him: so it notes the variety or universality of afflictions which Christ suffered; it was within him, and it was about him; he was every way afflicted.
2. Not to speak yet of those sufferings, which yet we are not come to speak unto, we find here in the way, betwixt the city and the garden, that Christ went over the brook Cedron: in the night he wades through through the waters, yea, in a cold night he wades through cold waters on bare feet; and as he wades through them, he drinks of them; he doth not sip, but drink; "He shall drink of the brook in the way." I know some would not have this prophecy accomplished till after Christ's apprehension, when it is said, "That the rude rout brought him again to Jerusalem, over the brook Cedron; and then he drunk of the brook;" but I find no mention of this brook in scripture at such a time: only now, in this way, I find these passages. (i). His conference with his disciples as they go along. (ii). The disciples reply upon his conference. (iii). His dolorous passage over the brook, betokening the very wrath of God.
(a). In the way (Vid Aretius in locum.) he hath a serious conference with his disciples: so the evangelist. Matt. xxvi. 30, 31. "And when they had sung an hymn, they went out towards the mount of Olives; and then saith Jesus unto them, all ye shall be offended because of me this night, for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad." Christ now begins the story of his passion; "the shepherd shall be smitten and he proves it from God's decree, and from the prophecy of the prophet, Zech. xiii. 7. "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, -- smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered abroad." God the Father is here brought in, as drawing and whetting his sword, and calling upon it, to do execution against Jesus Christ; God the Father had an hand in the sufferings, "It pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief," Isa. liii. 10. "I will smite the shepherd," saith God. It was not a naked permission, but a positive decree, and actual providence of God that Christ should suffer: the plot was long since drawn, and lay hid in God's bosom, till he was pleased (by the actions of men) to copy it out, and to give the world a draught of it. This was not a thing of yesterday: no, no God spent his eternal thoughts about it! The story was long since written in Zechariah's book: and in the volume of God's book, Psal. xl. 8. Christ was ordained to be a Lamb slain from the beginning of the world, "him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken (saith Peter) and by wicked hands have crucified and slain," Acts ii. 23. The enemies of Christ, though they broke commands, yet they fulfilled decrees, "Against thy holy child Jesus whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done," Acts iv. 27, 28. The story of Christ's sufferings was long since taken up, and resolved on in the councils of heaven. And now in the way, "The only begotten Son, which lay in the bosom of his Father," reveals this story, he tells the disciples, "it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered."
(b). The disciples hearing this discovery of "the shepherd being smitten, and the sheep being scattered," they are amazed: what, shall Christ die? And shall we like cowards, run away and leave him alone in the combat? Peter, who seems boldest, he speaks first, "Though all men should be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended." O rash presumption! it appears in these particulars;
(i). Peter prefers himself before the rest, as if all the other disciples had been weak, and he only strong, "though all should be offended, yet will not I."
(ii). Peter contradicts Christ's great discovery of his Father's great design from all eternity, with a few bragging words, q.d. What, though Zechariah hath said it, and God hath decreed it, yet, on my part, I will never do it, "Though I should die with thee, I will not deny thee."
(iii). Peter, in his boast, never mentions God's help, or God's assistance; whereas, in relation to future promises, the apostle's rule is, "ye ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live, and do this and that," James iv. 15. So Peter should have said, "By God's assistance, I will not be offended, by the Lord's help I will not deny thee; if the Lord will, I will not do this, and that, I will live with thee, and die with thee, rather than I will deny thee;" but we find no such word in all the story; and therefore Christ takes him off his bottom in the first place, "Verily I say unto thee, Peter, that this night before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice," Matth. xxvi. 35. Oh no, saith Peter, he will not off his presumptuous confidence, "Though I should die with thee, I will not deny thee; likewise said all his disciples." But I must not dwell on these passages.
3. His dolorous passage over the brook succeeds; "He went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron;" I never read of this brook Cedron; but some way or other, it points at the sufferings of our Saviour; I shall instance in some places.
(a). When David fled from Absalom out of Jerusalem, it is said, "That all the country weeped with a loud voice, and all the people passed over; the king also himself passed over the brook Cedron, towards the way of the wilderness," 2 Sam. xv. 23. In this story we find David passing over this brook Cedron with bare head and bare feet; and he and all his men "weeping as they went up by the ascent of mount Olivet," verse 30. I cannot think, but in this, king David was a type of king Jesus; Christ, as another David, with his soldiers or disciples, goes out of Jerusalem, bare head and bare foot, (as this type seems to speak) what weeping was in the way I cannot tell; but probably sadness was in the hearts both of him and his disciples, whose conference was of fleeing, suffering, dying the most grievous death that ever was: all the difference that I find betwixt the type and antitype in this passage is, in that David fled from the face of Absalom; but Christ goes out of Jerusalem, not to flee from Judas, or the Jews, but rather to commit himself into their hands.
(b). When Solomon confined Shimei to his house in Jerusalem, saying, "Dwell there, and go not forth from thence any whither, for it shall be, that on the day thou goest out, and passest over the brook Cedron, thou shalt know for certain that thou shalt surely die," 1 Kings ii. 36, 37. Now, two of the servants of Shimei running away from him, he follows after them, and passing over this brook Cedron, it became his death; why, here was a type of Jesus Christ; we were those fugitive servants that ran away from God, and to fetch us home, Jesus goes over the brook Cedron; rather than he will lose his servants, he will lose his life. All the difference that I find betwixt Shimei and Christ in this, is in that Shimei was but a wicked man, and yet he died an honourable death, not for his servants, but for his own transgression: but Christ being a just man (so Pilate's wife sent her husband word, "have thou nothing to do with that just man,") he died a most ignominious shameful death, even the death of the cross, and that not for himself, but for us, Isa. Jiii. 5. "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities."
(c). When the good kings,, Hezekiah and Asa, and Josiah, had purged the city and the temple of idolatry, they burned the cursed things at the brook Kidron, and cast them therein. "And Asa cut down the idol, and he brought out the grove from the house of the Lord without Jerusalem into the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron," 2 Kings xxiii. 6. "And the priests went into the inner parts of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and brought all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord; and the Levites took it to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron" 2 Chron. xxix. 16. "And they arose, and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away, and cast them into the brook Kidron, or Cedron," 2 Chron. xxx. 14. All these note unto us, that the brook was, as it were, the sink of the temple, into which all the purgamenta, and uncleanness of God's house, and all the accursed things were to be cast; and here again was a type of Christ upon him was cast all the filth of our sins, that, as a river or fountain, he might cleanse us from them; in this respect he is said to be "made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him," 2 Cor. v. 21. He was made sin for us, and a curse for us, that so he might swallow up sin and death, and might be the destruction of hell, and all.
I cannot pass over this passage of the brook, without some use or application to ourselves.
Use.
1. It informs. Methinks this valley, and this brook of Cedron, is a right representation of a Christian's life; Jesus went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron; what is our life if we are Christ's, but a passage through a vale of tears, and over a brook of several afflictions; "Many are the troubles of the righteous," Psal. xxxiv. 19. The very word Cedron, which signifies darkness, denotes this state: an horror of great darkness was said to fall on Abraham; and then said God, "Know thou of a surety, that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall be afflicted four hundred years," Gen. xv, 12, 13. As God made the evening and the morning the first day, and second day, and third day, etc. so the life of God's saints is as the evening of troubles, and their happiness hereafter is as the morning of glory; God's worst is first, with those that are his; the way to Canaan is through the wilderness; "The Way to Zion is through the valley of Baca," Psal. lxxxiv. 6. "Through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God," Acts xiv. 22. "In the world ye shall have tribulation," saith Christ, John xvi. 33. Yea "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution," saith the apostle, 2 Tim. iii. 12. Our rest is not here in this world; what is this world, but an ark of travail, a school of vanities, a fair of deceits, and labyrinth of error, a barren wilderness, a stony field, a tempestuous sea, a swelling brook, a vale of tears full of all miseries?
2. It reproves. It is the first passage of Christ when he begins his sufferings, to go over the brook Cedron, and it is the A, B, C, of Christianity (as Bradford said) to learn the lesson of taking up the cross, and following Christ. Surely this world is no place, and this life it is no time for pleasure; God hath not cast man out of paradise, that he should find another paradise on this side heaven. Oh! Why do we seek the living among the dead: Why do we seek for living comforts, where we must expect to die daily? It is only heaven that is above all winds, and storms, and tempests, and seas, and brooks, and waves: Oh why do we look for joys in a vale of tears? It was an heavy charge that the apostle James laid upon some, that "they lived in pleasure upon earth," James v. 5. q.d. Earth is not the place for pleasure: earth is the place of sorrow, of trouble, of mourning, of affliction, "Remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented," Luke xvi. 25. All the pleasure that wicked men have, it is upon earth, but the condition of the godly is clean contrary; Oh! It is sad to outlive our happiness; and when we shall come to live indeed, then to want our comforts and our joys, Matth. vi. 2 , "Verily, I say unto you, they have their reward," said Christ of hypocrites, their heaven is past. "They spend their days in wealth or in mirth," (saith Job of the wicked,) "and in a moment go down to the grave," Job xxi. 13. Alas their best days are then past, and they must never be merry any more. Ah, fond fools of Adam's seed, to lose heaven for a little earthly contentment! How should this sour your carnal joys, when you remember, all this is only upon earth, it cannot be forever! There must be a change of all things, here you laugh, and hereafter you must howl! No sooner death comes, but then you will cry, "Farewell world. Oh into what a gulf am I now falling!"
3. It instructs, Ah, my brethren! Let us remember, we are pilgrims and strangers upon earth, and our way lies over the brook and valley of Cedron: we cannot expect to enter with Christ into glory, but "we must first drink of the brook in the way," (i.e.) we must endure many afflictions, variety of afflictions. You will say, "This is an hard saying, who can bear it?" I remember, when Jesus told his disciples of his sufferings to be accomplished at Jerusalem, Peter takes the boldness to dehort his Master, "be it far from thee. Lord, this shall not be unto thee," Matth. xvi. 22. But Jesus thereupon calls him Satan, meaning that no greater contradictions can be offered to the designs of God and Christ, than to dissuade us from sufferings. There is too much of Peter's humour abides amongst us; Oh! This doctrine of afflictions will not down with libertines, Antinomians, or the like; and hence I believe we have our congregations so thin in comparison of some of theirs, they that can break off the yoke of obedience, and untie the bands of discipline, and preach a cheap religion, and present heaven in the midst of flowers, and strew palms and carpets in the way, and offer great liberty of living under sin, and reconcile eternity with the present enjoyment, shall have their schools filled with disciples; but they that preach the cross, and sufferings, and afflictions, and strictness of an holy life, they shall have the lot of their blessed Lord, (i.e.) they shall be ill thought of, and deserted and railed against. Well, but if this be the way that Christ hath led us, while others abide at ease in Zion, let us follow him in the valley, and over the brook that is called Cedron.
Thus far we have observed Christ in the way together with his passage over Cedron; we come now to the garden, into which he entered &nd his disciples.