[9] “Howsoever men when they sit at ease, do vainly tickle their own hearts with the wanton conceit of I know not what proportionable correspondence between their merits and their rewards, which in the trance of their high speculations, they dream that God hath measured and laid up as it were in bundles for them;—we see notwithstanding by daily experience in a number even of them, that when the hour of death approacheth, when they secretly hear themselves summoned to appear and stand at the bar of that Judge, whose brightness causeth the eyes of angels themselves to dazzle, all those idle imaginations do then begin to hide their faces. To name merits then is to lay their souls upon the rack. The memory of their own deeds is loathsome unto them. They forsake all things wherein they have put any trust and confidence. No staff to lean upon, no rest, no ease, no comfort then, but only in Christ Jesus.”—Richard Hooker. 1585.[10] “By the cross of Christ the apostle understandeth the all-sufficient, expiatory, and satisfactory sacrifice of Christ upon the cross, with the whole work of our redemption: in the living knowledge of, whereof he professeth he will glory and boast.”—Cudworth on Galatians. 1613.

“Touching these words, I do not find that any expositor, either ancient or modern, Popish or Protestant, writing on this place, doth expound the cross here mentioned of the sign of the cross, but of the profession of faith in Him that was hanged on the cross.”—Mayer’s Commentary. 1631.

“This is rather to be understood of the cross which Christ suffered for us, than of that we suffer for Him.”—Leigh’s Annotations. 1650.[12] “Christ crucified it the sum of the Gospel, and contains all the riches of it. Paul was so much taken with Christ, that nothing sweeter than Jesus could drop from his pen and lips. It is observed that he hath the word ‘Jesus’ five hundred times in his Epistle.”—Charnock. 1684.[14] “If our faith stop in Christ’s life, and do not fasten upon his blood, it will not be a justifying faith. His miracles which prepared the world for his doctrines; his holiness, which fitted himself for his sufferings, had been insufficient for us without the addition of the cross.”—Charnock. 1684.[15] “Paul determined to know nothing else but Jesus Christ and him crucified. But many manage the ministry as if they had taken up a contrary determination, even to know anything save Jesus Christ and him crucified.”—Traill. 1690.[17] “In Christ’s humiliation stands our exaltation; in his weakness stands our strength; in his ignominy our glory: in his death our life.”—Cudworth. 1613.

“The eye of faith regards Christ sitting on the summit of the cross, as in a triumphal chariot; the devil bound to the lowest part of the same cross, and trodden under the feet of Christ.”—Bishop Davenant on Colossians. 1627.[19] “The world we live in had fallen upon our heads, had it not been upheld by the pillar of the cross; had not Christ stepped in and promised a satisfaction for the sin of man. By this all things consist; not a blessing we enjoy but may put us in mind of it; they were all forfeited by sin, but merited by his blood. If we study it well we shall be sensible how God hated sin and loved a world.”—Charnock. 1684.[20] “If God hateth sin so much that he would allow neither man nor angel for the redemption thereof, but only the death of his only and well-beloved Son, who will not stand in fear thereof?”—Church of England Homily for Good Friday. 1560.[22] “The believer is so freed from eternal wrath, that if Satan and conscience say, ‘thou art a sinner, and under the curse of the law,’ he can say, it is true, I am a sinner, but I was hanged on a tree and died, and was made a curse in my Head and Lawgiver Christ, and his payment and suffering is my payment and suffering.”—Rutherford’s Christ Dying. 1647.