A declaration of the true manner of knowing Christ crucified

Therefore give me grace, O God, that beholding mine own estate in the person of my Saviour thus condemned, I may detest and loath my sins that are the cause thereof, and by a lively faith embrace that absolution which thou offerest me in him, who was condemned in my stead and room, O Jesus Christ Saviour of the world, give me thy holy and blessed spirit that I may judge my self, and be as vile and base in mine own eyes as thou wast vile before the Jews: also unite me unto thee by the same spirit, that in thee I may be as worthy to be accepted before God, as I am worthy in my self to be detested for my sins. When thou readest, that he was clad in purple and crowned with thorns, mocked and spit upon, behold the everlasting shame that is due unto thee, & be ashamed of thy ⟨p. 35⟩self, and in this point conform thy self to Christ, and be content (as he was) to be reproached, abused, and despised, so it be for a good cause. When thou readest, that before his crucifying, he was stripped of all his clothes, think it was that he being naked might bear thy shame on the cross, and with his most precious and rich nakedness cover thy deformity. When thou readest the complaint of Christ, that he was forsaken of his father, consider how he suffered the pangs and torments of hell as thy pledge and surety. Learn by his unspeakable torments what a fearful thing it is to sin against God, and begin to renounce thy self, and detest thy sins, and to walk as a child of light, according to the measure of grace received. When thou comest to die, set before thine eyes Christ in the middest of all his torments on the cross: in beholding of which spectacle to thy endless comfort, thou shalt see a paradise in the middest of hell: God the father reconciled unto thee, thy Saviour reaching out his hands unto thee to receive thy soul unto him; and his cross as a ladder to advance it to eternal glory. Whereas he cried aloud with a strong voice at the point of death, it was to show that he died willingly without violence ⟨p. 36⟩or constraint from any creature, and that if it had so pleased him, he could have freed himself from death, and have cast his very enemies to the very bottom of hell.

Therefore giue me grace, O God, that beholding mine owne estate in the person of my Sauiour thus condemned, I may detest and loath my sinnes that are the cause thereof, and by a liuely faith embrace that absolution which thou offerest me in him, who was condemned in my stead and roome, O Iesu Christ Sauiour of the worlde, giue me thy holy and blessed spirite that I may iudge my selfe, and be as vile and base in mine owne eyes as thou wast vile before the Iewes: also vnite me unto thee by the same spirite, that in thee I may be as worthy to be accepted before God, as I am worthy in my selfe to be detested for my sinnes. When thou readest, that he was clad in purple and crowned with thornes, mocked and spitt vpon, behold the everlasting shame that is due unto thee, & be ashamed of thy