THE CHRISTIAN MANS TEARES, AND Christs Comforts.

DELIVERED AT A FAST the seventh of Octob. An o. 1624.

By GILBERT PRIMEROSE Minister of the French Church of London.

HIERON. ad Nepolit. Lachrymae auditorū laudes tuae sint.
Let the Teares of thy Auditors be thy praise.

LONDON, Printed for I. Bartlet, at the gilt Cup in the Gold-Smiths Row in Cheape-side. 1625.

TO THE RIGHT Honourable and Re­ligious Lady, ELIZABETH, Countesse of Anan­dale, Viscountesse of ANAN, &c.

MADAM:

COnsidering it is the custome of those which set out Bookes, to stamp them with the glorious titles of some per­son of note and authority, that they may bee received as cur­rant [Page]money; I have given to this little booke the silver wings of your right Honoura­ble name, that flying abroad like a mourning Dove, it may finde a quiet resting-place in the favourable allowance of the Reader.

The matter wherewith it is stuffed, is weeping & laughing, mourning and comforts. The end wherefore it is made, is to exhort all kinde of persons to shead teares of godly sorrow, which God may put in his bot­tles, & the Lamb of God turne into the wine of heavenly com­forts, when they shall be called unto his marriage-Supper.

Such teares were never more necessary; I will not say that they were never lesse heeded nor cared for, than they are [Page]now, because I am a stranger at home: let every man speake to his owne conscience; let e­very conscience aske of its own heart, how it is touched with sinne, how affected with the af­fliction of the Church: let eve­ry heart iudge it selfe; and if our heart condemne us, let us all know, that God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.

One thing I know general­ly, that men when they are ex­horted to weep, are accustomed to say, that weeping is more womanish than manly: for wo­men are of a more weake and moyst constitution of body, and more sensible of the passions which provoke weeping, than men are. Men blaspheme the glorious and dreadfull Name [Page]of the Lord our God: Men are more frequent in the Ta­vernes, than in the Church: Men let flye all they have at Cards, at Dyce, at other un­lawful games, & foolish sports. Where is there deceit, where robberie, where oppression? where, but among men? Who trouble the state? Men. Who undermine, who betray, who dismember the Church by schismes, by heresies, by secret plots? Men. Who persecute the Church? Men. Who for­sake it? Men. The most part of the evill that is done in the world, is done by men: Not because they are moe, but be­cause they are worse than wo­men, and (for the most part, a­las!) have neither wit nor cou­rage, but to doe ill. For all this [Page]they weepe not, because, for­sooth, it becomes not men to weepe. But when the hand of God is heavie upon them, will they not curse? will they not roare like wild beasts? Is roa­ring more manly? Is it no­thing so womanish as weeping?

I know not what they call womanish? for many women have beene, many in this last age of the world are better than manie men. Had not SEMIRAMIS distaffe a sharper edge than NI­NVS her husbands sword? Was not TAMYRIS as martiall as CYRVS? did she not find out a more wittie stra­tagem to overthrow him, who was a most craftie and cun­ning warrier, and his armie of two hundred thousand men [Page]trained up in warres from the cradle, than he did to intangle her Sonne who was a beardlesse Captain? did not the AMA­ZONES fight, when men fled? did they not subdue their enemies, who had overcome their husbands? Had not ZENOBIA a lions heart in a womans breast? How of­ten did shee constraine the Ro­mane armies to shew her a faire paire of heeles? Neither was she overcome, but wearied with the innumerable multitude of new armies sent against her by the Emperor VALERIVS AVRELIANNS; who when he had triumphed of her, was faine to be a suitor unto her, for her daughter to be his wife. Though she was a Syri­an, shee spake Greeke and La­tin; [Page]shee was instructed in all sciences; she writ the Story of the Orient; she had quick eyes, and a mans voyce; her teeth were so white, that she seemed to have pearles, and not teeth in her mouth: in all the gifts of the body and of the spirit, she went beyond all the men of her age. Her owne husband ODENATVS vvas the most valiant man of those dayes: He subdued all the O­rient, & the Emperor GAL­LIENVS was fain to pray him to be partaker of the Em­pire with him: but shee was better than he. PHILE was so wise from her tender nayles, that being yet a yong girle, her father ANTIPATER, that old and wise Counsellor of A­LEXANDER▪ THE [Page]GREAT, that worthy King of Macedonia asked her coun­saile, and followed it: & when she was wife to DEMETRI­VS, a man given to many vi­ces, she could manage and go­verne his passions with such discretion, that she made his government tolerable to his subiects, his person respectable to all men, his power fearefull to his enemies. I forbeare to speake of CRATESICLEA, the royall mother of CLEO­MENES king of Sparte, and of PORCIA the wise daughter of CATO, and the courageous wife of BRV­TVS, who, when she had recei­ved a great wound, did not so much as shrinke.

To enter into the Church; Was not DEBORAH [Page]more meete to bee Generall of an army, than BARAK? did not IAHEL, with a hammer and a nail, teach the great Cap­taine SISERA, that he had a foolish head? One woman in the Citie of ABEL was wi­ser than all the men therein. There was no man in BE­THVLIA to be compared in wisdome with IVDITH: What courage shee and her hand-maid had, OLOFER­NES proud and cup-shotten head could best tell. When IV­DAS betrayed Christ, when PETER denyed him, when the Priests and Elders of the Iewes accused him, women were faithfull unto him: When Pi­late condemned him, when men mocked him, and nailed him on the crosse, women wept [Page]for him: when his owne disci­ples through feare fled away from him, women most coura­geously followed him.

PVLCHERIA faire in­deed, but more wise than faire, was more worthie of the impe­riall diadem, than her brother THEODOSIVS II. who prospered when hee was guided by her; was unfortunate, and turned the empire topsie turvie when he neglected her counsell. FERDINAND king of Spaine was a wise and valiant Prince: But his roiall wife I­SABELLA outreached him in all princely vertues. He was hard and sparing; She was li­berall and honourable. He was fitter to keep and maintain his own kingdom, than to enlarge it: She, She I sal, encreased it [Page]with the kingdome of Na­varre, with the Canarie Isles, and with the new world, which we call AMERICA. She ne­ver drank wine. When she was sicke, when she was in travaile, not onely shee cried not, shee mourned not, but shee did not so much as change her counte­nance, as give one sigh. On her daughters wedding day, newes being brought unto her of the death of her only sonne, shee suppresseth her griefe, she keepes a merrie countenance, lest she should marre the feast MARIVS himselfe could not have shewen a greater cou­rage.

I could name women yet li­ving, who went stoutely to the skirmish against the enemies, no wayes dreading the gliste­ring [Page]of swords, the brandish­ing of speares, the hail of bul­lets falling thicke, and whist­ling about their eares. When men made head to men with their heeles, they ran to the breach, and catching the par­tizans that fleeing men had flung away, laid their enemies heads where their feete were, and saved the beleaguered towne. The only sonnes of some of them being killed in that cause, they buried them vvith dry eyes and laughing faces; calling themselves happy, that God had made them mothers of such children. Neyther did they at any time weepe, but when they saw men doe many things unbeseeming, not onely Christians, but men: then, through great displeasure, they [Page]wept, because men did neither blush for shame, nor waxe pale for feare of eternall disgrace, nor weepe for forrow, that, like IVDAS, they had betrayed Iesus Christ; or like REV­BEN abode among the sheep­folds, to heare the bleatings of the flockes.

Moreover, the principall passions w ch provoke weeping, are love, anger, sorrow: If those passions bee more vehe­ment in women, than in men, as men say; then, when they are sanctified in women, as they are in all true Christian wo­men, we must confesse, that in women there is greater anger against sinne, greater sorrow for sinne, and for the affliction of the Church, greater love of God, greater zeale of his glo­ry, [Page]than men: and therefore that women weepe more than men.

Are they first in weeping? they shall be first in comforts. The more bitter their weeping is, the greater shall their com­fort be. Women, not men, wept publiquely at the death of Christ: therefore they vvere first comforted vvith the de­lightsome sight of his glorious resurrection, and with the com­mission given unto them, to bee the Apostles of the Apostles, and to preach that their Lord and Master was risen againe. S. Peter saith, that women are the weaker vessell. That speech may be turned to their praise: for as a little cup of crystall, though it be frayle and brittle, is of more value than a thou­sand [Page]bowles of varnished tin; so one godly and vertuous wo­man is more to bee esteemed, when she weepeth to God in time of misery, than ten thou­sand brutall men, vvho can roare, but cannot weepe.

I speake of brutall men; for we finde in the Scriptures, and I shew in this booke, that the most courageous, wise, and god­ly men, that ever had eyes in their heads, did make of their heads living fountaines of tears, of their eyes pipes to con­vey them to their cheekes; and did weepe as much, not only as women, but as little children. And indeed are vve not all Gods children? why then shall we not weepe, when vve offend him, and hee chasteneth us? Are vve not in his Church as [Page]new borne babes? vvhy then should we not weepe in our ne­cessities, till hee take us in his lap, lay our mouthes to his breast, & still us with the sweet milke of his spiritual comforts? Can man have a true feeling of his evils, and not weep? Can he know that his helpe is in the Name of the Lord, vvho made heaven and earth, and not run unto him, and cry unto him, as the woman of Canaan did, LORD HELP ME?

Will such men need rules of weeping, & Masters or Prea­chers to teach them how they ought to weepe? No, no: their unfained love to the Church of God, their earnest affection to the glory of God, their ex­treame and godly sorrow for the bruising and crushing of [Page] Ioseph, their passionate ha­tred and grudge against sinne, will be to them a most sufficient and learned Master in that Art. Godly sorrow will be Aa­rone rodde to their hearts of rocke, and make them an un­drainable spring of sighes, of groans, of cryes, of tears, of la­mentations, of complaints, of expostulations, of deprecations. Their fervent love will make them most eloquent in devoute praying. The heart wounded to the quicke, sendeth up to the eyes rivers of teares, and to the mouth flouds of most pithy and signifying words, and easeth it selfe by weeping and praying. There all the Saints of God, men and women, have in all times found teares enow, and words in aboundance, to make [Page]their mone to God.

Not that God, vvho seeth without eyes, & heareth with­out eares, and before whom hell it selfe is naked, and the deepe hath no covering, hath need of our teares to know our wants: but because vve stand in need of him, he will have us to know & to feel our own miseries, and to acknowledge with sighing, mourning, and praying, that we have no hope but in his helpe, but in the exceeding riches of his grace, but in the infinite treasures of his mercies. For this cause, doth he exhort us to fast, to weepe, and to pray: for the same cause, at a Fast so­lemnized those dayes by-past, made I in substance, and so far as two houres of time would permit, and I thought fit for [Page]the time and the hearers, this exhortation to weeping; which now I present to you,

MADAM, as a publick testimonie of the due account which I make of those excellent gifts, both of nature and of grace, vvherewith God hath, with an open hand, inriched your noble and honourable per­son. ISABELLA the Queen of women, of whom I have al­ready spoken, might have been called the PHOENIX of Queenes, if there had not bin a ZENOBIA before her in the Orient, and after her an ELIZABETH in England: This Queene was to all wo­men a glistering Mirrour of chastitie, a rare example of so­briety, a perfect president of modesty. She could not abide [Page]Iesters, Stage-players, Fidlers, but banished them all off her Court: when shee was not di­stracted with matters of State, she was ever in the middest of her Ladies, sewing with her owne hands, and instructing & exhorting them, by word and by example, to godlinesse and vertue. Every day twice she had her ordinary houres of pri­vate prayers. Her daughter MARY, Queene of Portu­gall, like unto her, was very grave in all her carriage, was as milde as any might be to all persons, was enemy to idlenesse, and was wont to exhort all her Ladies to MODESTIE; saying, that MODESTY IS THE PRINCI­PAL ORNAMENT OF A WOMAN. The [Page]Chastitie and Modesty of a woman; the gracious and courteous gravity of a Lady; the zeale and piety of a Chri­stian; the wisdome and provi­dēt care of a vertuous & noble Matron, are the vertues w ch I have observed in your Ladi­ship, and which have moved me to beare witnesse unto them by this dedication.

Futhermore, all who know your Ladiship, and know the perpetuall attendance of my Lord, your vvorthy and right honourable husband, on his Maiesty at Court, will beare you record, that you indeed are the vertuous Woman, of whom Salomon saith, that THE HEART OF HER HVS­BAND DOTH SAFE­LY TRVST IN HER; [Page]that her children arise and call her blessed; that her husband praiseth her, and saith, MA­NY DAVGHTERS HAVE DONE VER­TVOVSLY, BVT THOV EXCEL­LEST THEM ALL. You are the last and most sure receiver of my Lords debts: you are the most faithfull keeper of his treasures and Registers: Let it please you then, most vertuous and Noble LA­DY, receive this obligatorie bill, whereby I acknowledge my selfe indebted to my Lord for his favour and kindnesse, and doe bind me by it, as by a solemne contract, to powre out my soule before the Lord of Lords, day and night; besee­ching his divine Maiestie to [Page]powre downe upon your right honourable persons and hope­full issue, all kind of blessings externall, internall, and eter­nall, for Christ Iesus his Sons sake; in whom I am, and shall remaine for ever,

MADAM, Your most humble and most affectionate servant, Gilbert Primerose.

Errata pars primae.

Pag. 13 lin 13. d. the. p. 44. l. 19. when. p. 56. l. 5. yexing. p. 60. l. 10 sadnesse. p. 130. l. 6. election. p. 213. l. 13. Dorter, or sleeping place. p 252. l. 1. his. p. 241. l. 15. not.

Errata pars secundae.

Pag. 18. l. 15. d. in. l. 18. the. p. 26. l. 6. his.

THE CHRISTIAN mans Teares: AND Christs Comforts.

The first part of the Christian mans TEARES.

‘ MATTH. 5.4. Blessed are they that mourne: for they shall be comforted.’ ‘ LUKE 6.21. Blessed are ye that weepe now: for ye shall laugh.’

CHAP. I.

ALl men have a naturall knowledge and desire of [Page 2]blessednesse.

2. But no man can tell, without speciall revelation from God, wherin it consisteth.

3. Thence is the great di­versitie of opinions, concer­ning them who are blessed;

4. As Kings.

5. Courtiers.

6. Rich men.

7. Voluptuous men.

8. There is no blessednesse in any worldly thing.

I. AS all men have a na­tural impres­sion, wher­by they acknowledge, that there is one Soue­raigne and chiefe God, who should bee wor­shipped [Page 3]with heart, words, and deedes; so they have a naturall light, whereby they know that there is a So­veraigne and chief good, which should bee desi­red, and sought with much endeavour, and great might; as the chief end of their lives, and the onely blessednesse whereby they are to be perfected, and wherein all their desires and af­fections must rest, as in their centre. For bles­sednesse is the perfecti­on of man; and no man can say, that he is bles­sed, [Page 4]till he say, August. Confess. lib. 10 cap. 20. Vita beata non est mihi, donec dicam, satest. It is e­nough.

Thence it is, that as all men worship God, so they doe all desire to bee blessed by the en­joying of the Sove­raigne good; the onely naming whereof rejoy­ceth the heart, and is unto it a restorative, when it is sorrowfull and faint. Ibid. una. voce, fi inter­rogari pos­sent, utrum beati esse vellent, fine ulla dubita­tione, ve [...]le responderent. Aske of all men together, (if it were possible); aske of them a part, whether they desire to be happy and blessed: and doubt not but they shal all an­swer with one voice; [Page 5]that is our desire. what­soever wee attempt, whatsoever wee prose­cute, whatsoever we be­stow our time in, we do it for that end. Blessed­nesse is our great busi­nesse: all our cogitati­ons are of it, all our cares are for it, all our delight is in it. Tis not so in other things. Take but two men, and Ibid. ca, 21. aske of them, if they will go to the warres; it may be, that one of them answers, he will; the o­ther; that hee will not. Aske of them againe, if they desire to bee hap­py: [Page 6]foorthwith they shall answer, what else? neither will one of the two goe to the warres, and the other lurke at home, but to bee bles­sed. So deepely is the sense and desire of bles­sednesse rooted in all mens hearts.

II. But, alas! Ioh. 1.5 The light shined in darke­nesse, and the darknesse comprehended it not. For what is the naturall knowledge which men have of God, and of the soveraigne good wher­in their blessednes con­sists, but as a lightning, [Page 7]which in the twinkling of an eye is extingui­shed and drowned in the dimme cloudinesse of a darke night? To speake of blessednesse apart, because it is the principall matter of my text: all men know ge­nerally, and in grosse, that thereis such a thing which is called blessed­nesse, and have a confu­sed desire thereof; but which of them all can tell what it is, wherein it consists, which is the way to attaine unto it? In that knowledge they are as blind as Moles, [Page 8]till they bee enlightned with a more excellent light than that which nature doth afford. For Aug. Con­fess. lib. 10. ca. 23. Multos expertus sum qui velint fallere, qui autem falli neminem. though there bee ma­ny which like to de­ceive and cousen o­thers, and not one at all who can abide to be de­ceiv'd; whatsoever they love besides that which is blessednesse indeede, they call it their bles­sednesse, and will have others to thinke so of it. Et quia falli nolunt, nolūt convinci quod falss sunt. And because they shunne to be deceived, they cannot suffer to be convinced of their er­ror.

[Page 9]III. Whereof if yee desire to have a cleere tryall, yee need not to drive your thoughts backward, and to search Idem de Civit. dei, lib 19. cap. 1. & [...]. into the reasons which distracted the ancient Philosophers into two hundred, fourescore and eight opinions, concer­ning this one and one­ly point of mans bles­sednesse in this misera­ble world.

Let us fixe them up­on those things which our eyes see, and our eares heare, and aske of so many men, which are much busied, wal­king [Page 10]abroad, going and comming thorow the streetes, passing by the high wayes, playing, sporting, eating, drin­king, trading by sea, by land, sitting in their shops, plotting, musing, meditating in their clo­sets; what they thinke of felicitie, and which is the blessed end wher­about they spend so much time, and take so great paines: we shall find them to be like un­to the builders of Ba­bel, and their language so confounded, that they understand not [Page 11]one anothers speech.

IV. Begin at Kings: Aske of the great king Nebuchadnezzar, wher­in consists his beati­tude. Hee shall speake and say, Dan. 4.30. Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdome, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my Ma­iestie? But when his kingdome shall bee ta­ken frō him, when the heart of a beast shall be giuen him, when hee shall bee driven from men, when his Palace shall be changed into a [Page 12]denne, his fare and dainties into grasse, his wine into muddie wa­ter, he shall say to God, as David saide in the Psalms to another pur­pose, When I spake so, Psal. 73.22. I was a beast before thee.

Let Herodot. Clio. Solon come to Croesus the rich King, and tell him that Tellus, Cleobes, & Biton, poore men, but honest, are more blessed than he, he shall stand amazed, and wonder how such a Philosopher can by a­ny apparant reason be­reave such riches, as his, [Page 13]of the glorious title of beatitude, & deck with it three unknowne and needy wretches. But when Cyrus shal dispoil him of his mountaines of gold, when hee shall bee tied to the post, when the wood shall be put on the fire; when, in the midst of a smoky flame, he shall be made to his enemies a most pleasant spectacle of a pitifull Tragedy, then he shall cry, but too too late, O Solon, Solon, So­lon! then he shall know how truly it is said, Iob 15 [...]1. Let him not trust in vanitie, [Page 14]which deceiveth him: for vanitie shall be his re­compense.

When the Emperour SEVERUS was on his death-bed, what avay­led the memorie of all his riches, honors, pow­er, delights, but to make him, upon the trebble string of his melancho­lick hart, tune this dole­full Song; Spart. in Seneio. Hac omnia fui, & nihil expedit I have been all things, and nothing a­vaileth?

To returne to the Scriptures: Did not Eccles. 2.3. Salomon acquaint him­self with wisdome, and with folly? Did he not [Page 15]give himself to women and to wine? Did hee not make great workes, build Houses, plant Vineyards, Gardens, & Orchards, gather silver and gold? Made he not silver to be in Ierusalem as common as stones? Saith he not, that ver. 10 what­soever his eyes desired, he kept it not from them? that he with-held not his heart from any ioy? Was not that blessednesse? Oh no! The Catastro­phe, the shutting up of all was, ver. 11 Behold, all is vanity, and vexation of spirit. He saith as Seve­rus [Page 16]said, There is no profit under the Sun.

V. Cannot Kings finde blessednesse in the pleasures, riches, power, glory of a Kingdome? and shall Courtiers, who wade but in shal­low water, who dare not adventure to swim in the Ocean of royall pleasures, who eat but the crums and leavings of their Master's Table, call their life blessed­nesse? Yea that will some of them, I warrant you, as being most like unto the Flie; whereof it is written in the Apo­logues, [Page 17]that, preferring it self, with much brag­ging and ostentation, to the Ant, who hath no dwelling-place but in the holes of the earth, it said; I am ever with the King at table, I drink in his cup, I eat of his best dainties, I sleepe in his purple gown, I kisse the Queen's face; & consi­derd not, that it was but a troublesome worme, which by and by should bee favoured with the cheer which the Empe­rour Domitian gave to the Flies of his Bed­chamber, as the proverb [Page 18]saith; To-day glad, to­morrow dead.

Goe to Ahasuerus Court; cast your eyes there upon the King's Minion, Haman: ye see him betimes in the morning waiting Esth. 6.4 at the outward Court of the King's house, to pre­sent his sute against Mordecai: aske of him, wherein hee placeth his blessednesse. Esther 5.11. He shall make you a long Roll of the glory of his riches, of the multitude of his children, of all the things wherin the King hath promoted him a­bove [Page 19]all the Princes & servants of the Court, of the Queene's most speciall kindnes and fa­vour unto him: he will assure you, that blessed­nes it self goeth to bed, & riseth with his Grace; that nothing is wanting to make it up thorowly, but the King's cōmand to hang Mordecai, w ch shall presently bee dis­patched; not thinking, that the next day all his blessednes shall be han­ged with him on the gallows which hee had prepared for Mordecai: as if it had been written [Page 20]of him, Iob 8.14, 15 Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be as a spiders web. Hee shall leane upon his house, but it shall not stand: hee shall build it fast, but it shall not en­dure.

VI. Goe to the rich men of the Land: aske of them, as Croesus did of Solon, Who is the happiest man of the world? They shall an­swer, as Croesus thought Solon should have an­swered to him, and if need bee fetch their an­swer out of the Scrip­tures; Our blessednesse [Page 21]is, that Psa. 144.12. our sonnes may be as plants growne up in their youth; that our daughters may be as cor­ner-stones polished after the similitude of a Pa­lace; that our Garners may be full, affording all manner of store; that our sheepe may bring foorth thousands and ten thou­sands in our streets; that our oxen may bee strong to labour; that there bee no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no com­plaining in our streets: happy is that people that is in such a case: After this maner did the rich [Page 22]man in the Gospel bless his soule; saying, Luk. 12.19.20 Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many yeeres: take thine ease: eat, drink, and be merrie. But God said unto him; Thou fool, this night thy soule shall bee required of thee: then whose shall those things be which thou hast prepa­red?

Go to the Exchange, goe to the shops, goe to the ships, go to all kinde of worldlings; ye shall heare them all saying, It is a good and blessed thing to dwell with goods: They will deafe [Page 23]you with their continu­all sighing and crying, Iob 31 24. Who will shew us anie good? When their ri­ches are increased, yee shall see them setting up in the Temple of their hearts, Ezech. 8.3. the Idol of iea­lousie, Iob 31 24 making of gold their hope, and saying to the fine gold, thou art my confidence.

Say thou unto them, that the holy man Iob, though richer than they are, thought it a most heinous crime to trust in riches; that David, a most rich King, faith to al rich men in the name [Page 24]of God, and with au­thoritie from heaven, Psal. 62 10 If riches increase, set not your heart upon them: that the Apostle rendereth a most pe­remptorie reason of this exhortation, ta­ken from 1. Tim. 6.10. the uncer­tainetie of riches; that either wee must leave them by death, as the rich man of whom I have spoken, did; or they will Pro. 23.5 make them­selves wings, and flye a­way as an Eagle towards heaven, and leave us, ere we dye: they will an­swer, There is no such [Page 25]matter; That Salomon, the wisest of all men, said most truely, that Eccles. 10.19 money answereth all things; that therefore Demost. [...] ete Opus, opus sunt opes: nam sine his nihil fit quod opus. they must, they must have money, because without mony nothing that must bee done, can bee done: money must they have, and in mony will they trust.

VII. Goe, I pray you, to the Comedians, to the houses of ga­ming, of tippling, and of joy: goe to the Un­thrifts and Ale-knights of the country: demand in what schoole they [Page 26]have been brought up. They will answer, In the schoole of Epicurus, with two royall fel­lows, Sardanapalus and Heliogabalus; where they have learned a short, but most excellēt Compendium of Philo­sophie, 1. Cor. 15.32 Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die: whereof, the words which Salomon speaks in the behalfe of such disciples of ryot, are an ample Commen­tary; Eccles. 3.12 There is nothing better for a man, than to reioyce, and to do good to himselfe in his life; and [Page 27]also that every man should eat and drink, and enioy the good of his la­bour, it is the gift of God.

This was the Philo­sophie of another rich man in the Gospell, Luke 16 19 who was clothed in pur­ple and fine linnen, and fared sumptuously everie day; and, ere hee was a­ware, was buried in the bottomelesse pit of hel: where one drop of that sweet water, wherein poore Lazarus doth swim, would bee more welcom to him to cool his tongue, than all the deceiving pleasures [Page 28]which hee enjoyed du­ring the flying dayes of his short life. That is the place ordained to all his school-fellows: where then, if not till then, they shall con­demne all their former courses, and with Salo­mon, Eccles. 2.2. say of laughter, It is mad; and of mirth, what doth it?

VIII. Oh that the force of reason could move them, if they will not be moved with the authority of Scriptures. How can riches bee mans blessednes? Aug. de mor. Eccles. cathol. Ho­minis optimū deterìus esse quàm ipsae homo, non potest. Mans blessednesse cannot bee [Page 29]worse than man himself. Are not the best riches worse than the worst man? What are they but Hab. 2.6 thick clay, as Haba­cuc cals thē? which Bern. Qua possessa, one­rant; aemata, inquinant; amissa, cru­ciant. if ye possesse, they are a heavy load unto you: which if yee love, they defile you: which if yee lose, they are a crosse unto you. Surely, if they could speake, they would say, Thom. 12a. q. 2. art. 1. in conclus. Man is not made for us, but wee are made for man: as it is written, Psal. 8.6 Thou hast put all things under his feet. Therefore man is our end and blessed­nesse: but wee are not [Page 30]the end, wee are not the blessednesse of man.

How can honour bee mans blessednes? Arist. 1 Aethic. c. 5 Bles­sednes is in him who is happy: but honour is not in him who is ho­noured, it is rather in him who doth honour. Moreover, Thom. ib. art. 2. in con­clus. honour is given to some excellen­cie: there is no excel­lencie to be compared with blessednes, where­of all kinde of excellen­cie is a part: wherefore honor is a publike testi­mony rendred to bles­sednes, & is not so good as blessednesse is. The [Page 31]same may bee saide of glory & of good fame, which follow mans blessednesse, such as he may have in this world; but are no part of it.

How can Ibid. Art. 4. Power and Authoritie bee mans blessednesse? Is it not particular to some few? And among all men, are there any so vexed with troubles without, with cares and griefe within, as such men are? In blessednesse there is no care, no vexation of spirit, but full content.

Who will say, that [Page 32] Ibid. 6. Conclus. mans reasonable and immortall soule can­not come to blessed­nesse, but by wallow­ing like a sow in the muddye pleasures of the mortal body? They like Scorpions have stinging tailes, as Salo­mon, who knew them better than any man, saith, affirming that Pro. 14.13. the end of mirth is heavines?

I might run through all the faculties and gifts both of body and soule, and shew you, that blessednesse is not in any of them apart, nor in thē all together: [Page 33]but that which I have said, is sufficient to con­vince all them which hold for Principles and Maximes of their faith, that blessed are they that are rich, that are full, that laugh, &c. and cry, Woe, woe, woe unto them that are poore, that are hungry, that mourne, &c.

CHAP. II.

1. Iesus Christ curseth them which laugh, &c and cal­leth them blessed which weepe.

2. Three necessarie pro­perties required in blessednes.

3. They cannot be found, [Page 34]but in God alone.

4. Our blessednesse is the vision or fruition of God.

5. What men are not bles­sed.

6. Who are blessed.

I. SEe now & iudge, that God hath not said without a pregnant cause, to such men, Esa. 55.8. My thoughts are not your thoughts, nei­ther are your wayes my wayes: for as the hea­vens are higher than the earth, so are my wayes higher than your wayes, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For our Lord Iesus Christ in the [Page 35]Gospel of S. Luke, cur­seth them whom they doe blesse: and cryeth, Luk. 6.24. Woe unto you that are rich: woe unto you that are full: wo unto you that laugh now: On the o­ther part, hee blesseth them whom they curse, saying, Luk. 6.21. Blessed bee yee poore: for yours is the kingdome of God: blessed are ye that hunger now; for ye shall be filled: and in my text, Blessed are ye that weepe now: for ye shall laugh: or as the words are in S. Mat­thew; Blessed are they that mourne, for they [Page 36]shall be comforted.

These sentences are paradoxes and giddie conceits to the world: but to the Church, they are Maximes of truth, and propositions more firme than the heaven, which Iob 37.18. is strong as a molten looking-glasse; and more immoveable than the earth, which Psal. 104 5. God hath founded upon her bases, that it should not be remooved for ever. For they were concei­ved in the breast of God the Father, who is wisedome it selfe: and were pronounced by [Page 37]the Sonne of God, who is the substantiall word of the Father, even 1. Ioh. 5.20. the true God, and eternall life. Let us then be deaf to the hoggish sayings of men: but let us, I pray you, let us this day, and all the dayes of our lives, listen seri­ously to our Lord Ie­sus Christ, saying, that those which weepe and mourne, are blessed: and shewing, that their wee­ping shall be turned in­to joy, because they shal be comforted. O then give care to the wise­dome of God, teaching [Page 38]you by me this day what persons are bles­sed: that thereafter he may cheere up your hearts with the most comfortable doctrine of the comforts where­in their blessednes con­sisteth.

II. Blessednesse is to bee considered eyther in the obiect, or in the fruition and enioying of it: The obiect of it, is all good things that a god­ly mans heart can de­sire: By good things, un­derstand not any of those visible creatures of God which we now [Page 39]enioy: for Rom. 14.17. the king­dome of God, the posses­sing wherof is our bles­sednesse, is not meat and drinke, that is, it consi­steth not in any out­ward thing: but is righ­teousnesse, and peace, and ioy in the holy Ghost, pro­ceeding from things more excellent; as it is written, 1. Cor. 2.9. Eye hath not seene, nor eare heard, nei­ther have entred into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. This then is their first propertie, that they are not of this world.

[Page 40]Moreover, they must be eternall and exempt from all alteration and corruption: wee must not, saith the Apostle, 2. Cor. 4.18. Looke at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seene, are temporall: but the things which are not seene, are eternall: for if wee did seeke our blessednesse in tempo­rall things subiect to corruption; they com­ming to decay, to waxe old, and to rot, our bles­sednes should faile with them.

[Page 41]Thirdly, reason it selfe teacheth us, that to make up true & per­fect blessednes, all good things must ioyne toge­ther: for though a man be inriched with them all saving one, so long as that one is lacking to his desire, hee is not throughly blessed: for in a blessed man, there is nothing void, no part emptie: all his desires are satisfied, and so full, that he saith, It is enough.

III. Now where shall we finde all good things? where else but in God, who as hee is [Page 42] the soveraigne God, so hee is the soveraigne good? as hee is Deut. 10.17. the GOD of gods, and Psal. 8.10. God alone; so he is the good of goods, and Mat. 19.17. there is none good but he: In him are all goods, to sa­tisfie all our desires: the goods which are in him, are like unto him­selfe. Iam. 1.17 With him there is no variablenesse, nei­ther shadow of turning: he is Esa. 57.15. the high and lofty One that inhabiteth e­ternitie; to whom Da­vid said with most hum­ble supplication, Thou wilt shew mee the path of [Page 43]life: Psal. 16.11. In thy presence is fulnes of ioy, at thy right hand are pleasures for e­vermore. And againe, Psal. 17.11. When I awake, I will be satisfied with thy likenes.

IV. God, who is all goodnesse it selfe, is Boêt. 3. de Consolat. Pros. 10. al­so blessednesse it selfe: he is blessednesse by his owne essence. Per essenti­am. Mans bles­sednes commeth from his by participation, Per partici­pationem. even so farre, as according to our capablenesse, wee are filled with his infi­nite goodnesse. He bor­roweth nothing from any creature, yea tho all creatures were brought [Page 44]to the first nothing, whereout of they were taken, as hee was from ever, so hee should bee blessed for ever. Wee borrow all from him: and our blessednesse is nothing but the enioy­ing of him, which the Scripture calleth, The vision of God: according to the comfortable say­ing of our Saviour, Mat. 5.8. Blessed are the poore in heart, for they shall see God.

O blessed blessednes! when shall we see thee? where shall wee enioy thee, that wee may bee [Page 45]blessed in thee? B [...]t. ibid. Pros. 3. Bea­titudo est sta­tus omnium bonorum ag­gregatione perfectus. Oh blessed blessednesse of them that see thee! In thee they see all good­nesse: in thee they en­joy all good things: they are filled with thee; and thou beeing with them, they are ful­ly consummated by thee, who art to all thy Elect, Thom. 12a. q. 2. art. 8. Concl. Beati­tudo est bo­num perfe­ctum quod totaliter qui­etat appeti­tum. their perfect & universall good, satisfy­ing all their desires. O blessed blessednes, w ch dwellest in them whom thou blessest, without interruption, and who art never weary of dwelling in them, dwell [Page 46]in us who are heere be­fore thee: Aug. Con­fess. lib. 1. cap. 1. Quia fecisti not ad te: Et in­quietum est cornostrum, domae requi­es [...]at in to. for thou hast made us to goe to thee: and our heart findeth no rest, till it rest in thee. Let us all speake so to our God, that hee hea­ring our prayers, may fill us with his blessed­nesse, and so we may be blessed in him.

V. Yee have heard what blessednesse is: thereby yee may iudge who is blessed: Idem de morib. Eccl. Cath. cap. 3. Hee who hath not that which he desireth, whatsoever it be, is not blessed: nei­ther is hee blessed, who hath that which hee lo­veth, [Page 47]if it bee hurtfull: nor hee also who loveth not that which hee hath, how good soever it be: for hee who coveteth that which he cannot obtain, is grieved: Cruciatur. and hee who hath obtained that which he should not covet, Fallitur: is de­ceived: and hee who co­veteth not that which should be obtained is sick. Aegrotat. None of these can have place in the soule of man without miserie: now miserie and blessednesse cannot dwell together in one mā. Therfore none of those men are blessed.

VI. Who then are [Page 48]blessed? not they Ciecro. Aiunt esse beatos, quil vivunt ut ip­si velint, &c. Velle enim quod non de­ceat, id ip­sum miseri­mum est. who live at their owne will: for to will that which is not decent, is a most mi­serable thing. Other­waies many wicked mē should bee blessed. For Psal. 10 3. the wicked boasteth of his harts desire, and bles­seth the covetous whom the Lord abhorreth.

Hee onely is blessed, Aug. de Trinit. lib. 13. cap. 5. Beatus non est, nisi qui & habet omnia qua vult, & ni­hil vuls mal [...] who hath all that his heart can desire, and de­sireth nothing amisse. Such shall be they that weep and mourne now, as Iesus Christ saith in my text.

CHAP. III.

1. WEeping is often put in the Scripture for fasting, repentance, and prayers.

2. Of the naturall causes of weeping.

3. What mourning is.

4. Errour of those which condemne weeping, and other naturall affections.

5. Divers examples of courageous and godly men which did weepe, namely, of our Lord Iesus Christ.

6. Too great moderation in the things of God, is a sin; excesse in them, is laudable.

7. Some teares are indif­ferent.

8. Some are wicked.

[Page 50] 9. Some are good.

10. First motive to wee­ping, by the examples of godly men which wept through god­ly sorrow.

I. THerefore ye must learn, & with the assi­stance of Gods Spirit, I will teach you what are the naturall causes of weeping and mour­ning: what difference there is betweene them, how weeping is not un­worthy of men, who thinke themselves the most worthiest of all men, and is no unseem­linesse in a Christian [Page 51]man: finally, which is the weeping and mour­ning whereunto bles­sednes is promised.

This discourse is fit for this day, which is a day of repentance, of fasting, of weeping, and extraordinary prayers: for where fasting is, there weeping & mour­ning should be, as yee may learne of the ex­hortation which God made to his people by the Prophet Ioel, say­ing, Ioel 2.12. Turne yee even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with [Page 52]mourning.

Yea they are so in­separably conjoyned, that weeping is put for fasting: for the peo­ple did aske of the Prophet Zech. Zech. 7 3. Should I weep in the fift month, separating my selfe, as I have done these so many yeares? because there is no true fasting without weeping. Ye read like­wise, that when the Di­sciples of Iohn came to Christ, saying, Mat. 9.14, 15. Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not? he said unto them, Can the children of the [Page 53]bed-chamber mourne, as long as the bridegroome is with them? Being as­ked of fasting, hee an­swereth of mourning, because there is no fa­sting, where there is no mourning: for to Christ fasting and mourning are all one; as hee shew­eth by the rest of his an­swer: But the dayes will come when the bride­groom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast. And therefore S. Marke, and S. Luke doe set downe Christs an­swer after this manner, Mark 2.19. Luk. 5.34. Can the children of the [Page 54]bride-chamber fast? chan­ging the words, not the meaning; because hee that mourneth, cannot chuse but fast. Speake to him of eating and drinking: hee shall an­swer you with David, Psa. 102 9. Ashes are my bread: weeping is my drinke: As also he that hath an empty belly, fasteth in vaine, and to no pur­pose, if he mourne not: which I pray you to ob­serve, and heed careful­ly in this day of your fasting.

Moreover, true repen­tance, and prayers of re­pentance [Page 55]are seldome without weeping: and therfore the Scriptures describe the infamous womans, and Peters re­pentance and prayers, by their teares. Luk 7.37, 38. That woman came into Si­mons house where Christ was, and weeping, washt his feete with her teares: Mat. 26.75. Peter went our of Cai­phas house, where hee had denyed Christ, and wept bitterly: Ambr. de poenit. Petri Apo­stoli, lib. 10. Lucae, cap. 22. Non in­venio quid dixerit, in­venio quod fleverit. ye reade that they did weepe; ye read not that they spake: ye see their tears, ye hear not their words. For sorrow when it is vehe­ment [Page 56]and grievous, squeeseth teares out of the eyes so fast, that it smothereth the words, & turns them into vex­ing, into groaning, into sighing; which speake not, and yet their voice is heard; which aske not pardon with words di­stinguished by syllables, and knotted with let­ters, and yet obtaine it. No prayers are so light, none take flight to hea­ven so quickly, none comeback so swiftly frō the Throne of grace with grace & grants, as prayers of teares. The [Page 57]prayers of the mouth are oftē but lip-labor, & false witnesses to a dou­ble heart: as God saith of Hypocrites, Esa. 29.24. Mat. 15 8. This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lippes: but their heart is farre from me. But the prayers of teares are true witnesses of a single heart, and powre out the soule before GOD: as it is said of Hannah, that 1. Sam. 1 10.13, 15. shee was in bitter­nesse of soule, and wept sore, and powred out her soule before the Lord, un­to whom shee prayed, and [Page 58]spake in her heart, for her voice was not heard, and her petition was gran­ted. Therefore when Christ saith, that blessed are they that weepe and mourne; hee understan­deth them that are of a sorrowfull spirit, and who in their sorrow, fast, weepe, mourne, pray.

IV. Alexand. Aphrodisae problem. The Natura­lists and Physicians say, that originally teares come from the vapors which are condensed in the braine; and beeing there dissolved and tur­ned to water, fall gently [Page 59]upon the eyes, to moy­sten and refresh them, lest they should bee dryed up, and wax hard through want of moy­sture: for that effect, God hath put in each eye foure kernels, two in the upper, and two in the lower angle, to re­ceive and keepe those humors, which drop ei­ther by the compression and straining, or by the dilation and inlarging of the said kernels: that straining and inlarging, are the internall and nighest causes of teares: there bee other causes [Page 60]which moove them, and are externall, to wit, sor­row, choler, love, joy; sundry other affections and agitations of the spirit: as also smoake, and the spirits of things that are sowre & sharpe, as onyons are. Sorrow and madnesse make us weepe, by cooling and squeesing the conduits and kernels of the eyes; and by wringing out of them the humors which they containe. Ioy inlar­geth them, and maketh those humours to fall downe, namely, in such as are tender and deli­cate, [Page 61]and whose consti­tution is more humid: for the kernels of their eyes are soft and slacke: wheras they which have them strait and com­pact, or who are not so humid, weepe not but seldome, and with much adoe. Likewise the o­ther perturbations and passions of the soule, make such a stirring in the body, and in the hu­mors, that they glide easily, and flow in such abundance, that they runne not only thorow the eyes, but also tho­row the nostrils. These [Page 62]teares are called volun­tarie.

Other teares there be which are not volūtary, such as are those which proceede either from some disease in the eye, as is the inflammation of the uttermost skinne thereof, called Opthal­mia, and the want of those kernells whereof I have spoken: or from a great defluxion of hu­mors from the braine upon the eyes; or from the debilitie of the re­taining force of nature, when it is not strong e­nough to hold in those [Page 63]waters, but letteth them slip and trickle. He that weepeth thus, would bee glad to have dry cheeks: for his tears are not voluntary.

III. Mourning is the highest degree of wee­ping; when the smart is so great, and the wound which the heart hath re­ceived thereby, so deep and sensible, that it be­gets in the whole body wondrous Symptomes. Then the hands, forget­ting their natural office, runne to the garments, w ch are the ornament of the body, to rent them; [Page 64]to the face, to scratch & deface it; to the head, to pluck off the haire; to the beard, which is the glory of man, to tear it, and (if it were possi­ble) to root it out. Then the feet beat and smite the ground, which hath not given any offense. Then the aire is trou­bled, and resoundeth with yelling, with roa­ring, with bauling, with lowd and confused noi­ses of lamenting voices. Then ye heare nothing, but Alas! Alas! Then yee see nothing but dis­figured faces, & a dole­full [Page 65]spectacle of great a­stonishment.

When Gen. 50.10, 11. Ioseph and the Aegyptians buryed Iacob, they mourned with a great and very sore la­mētation. Which when the Inhabitants of the land saw & heard, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Aegypti­ans: wherefore they called the name of that place Abel-Mizraim, i. The mourning of the Ae­gyptians. 2 Sam. 18.33. The mour­ning of David for Ab­salom is thus described: He wept; and as he went, thus he said: O my sonne [Page 66]Absalom! my sonne! my sonne. Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son! When Ezra 9.3 Ezra mourned; hee rent his garment and his mantle, and pluckt off the haire of his head, and of his beard, & sate down astonied.

IV. Sen. ep. 116 Cic. 1. Aca­dem. quast. The Stoickes, ancient Philosophers, held, that a wise man must be moved neither with joy, nor with grief; therefore that he must neither laugh nor weep. Hier. ad­vers. Pelag. Omnes affec­tus tolli posse, omnesque co­rum fibras, &c. The Pelagians sowed those tares in the field of the church; tea­ching, [Page 67]that all affections, yea, their smallest fillets, may bee taken from man. Now, Lact. Inst. l. 6. c. 15. Lae­titiae affectus in splene est, irae in fells, libidinis in iecore, timo­ris in corde. ioy is in the spleen; choler, in the gall; lust, in the liver; feare, in the heart: wherfore ye cannot pull those affec­tions from man, except yee pluck from him the milt, the gall, the liver, the heart, & transform him into another na­ture, yea, forbid him to be vertuous and honest. for vertue is nothing but an ordering & tem­pering of the affections to that which is honest and good: take them a­way, [Page 68]way, and vertue is gon. Without anger, there is no fortitude; without feare, no prudence and advisednesse; without lust, no temperance; without joy, no love, no sense & feeling of ver­tue.

Therefore other Phi­losophers said better, that affections are like unto good plants grow­ing in a fertile soil: w ch if yee neglect, they wex wilde; but if they bee carefully husbanded, they bring foorth most pleasant and excellent fruit. Which doctrine [Page 69]is true: for wee must weed our affections, and snip from them whatso­ever is irregular and vi­cious. To pluck them out by the root, is as if, when yee have killed a man, ye should cōmand him to stand on his feet, and live. Yet Plato de Repub. lib. 3. in principio. the same philosophers, who gave so excellēt precepts for the keeping of the affec­tions in a due proporti­on & measure, thought weeping and mourning to bee tolerable in base fellows, and meane wo­men; but uncomely in all men of note, and in [Page 70]women also which are of the right stamp, and desire to bee esteemed vertuous.

V. Consider now, what difference there is between the wise men of the world, and God. Philosophers say, that there is much unmanli­nesse and faint-hearted­nesse, but no generous­nesse, in weeping: ther­fore they condemne it as childish, rather than man-like; & many men are still of that opinion. GOD is of a far other minde: for hee giveth most earnest comman­dements [Page 71]to his people to weep, and rebuketh them sharpely when they weep not. Christ in my Text blesseth them that weep: and the Scripture ministers un­to us many examples of the most courageous men that have been at a­ny time under the vault of heaven, which did both weep and mourn.

Was not Hos. 12.4. Iacob so stout and hardie, that he wrestled with God, and prevailed? yet then, e­ven then hee wept: and he mourned so bitterly for Ioseph, whom hee [Page 72]deemed to be dead, that Gen. 37.35. he refused to be comfor­ted: for, said he, I will go down into the grave un­to my sonne, mourning. Did not 1 Sam. 17.35. David kill a Lion and a Bear? Slew hee not with a sling and a stone the monstrous Giant Goliath? Was there ever in battell a more valiant man, in an Armie a more courage­ous Captain, in a King­dome a more royall King? yet how did hee weep for Absalom! hee was not ashamed to tell, that when God's hand was heavie upon him, [Page 73] Psalm 32.3. hee roared all the day long. If I should pro­duce, for an example of bitter weeping, Ier. 31 15. Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comfor­ted, ye would peradven­ture say, that shee was a woman, and that wo­men are not so courage­ous. But what can yee say to Iacob? to Ioseph? to David? ye must needs confess, that they mour­ned, not through want of courage, but through abundance of love.

Zechariah, speaking in typicall words of the death of Christ, and of [Page 74]Christians, faith, Zech. 12 11, 12, 13 14 In that day shall there bee a great mourning in Ieru­salem, as the morning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon: and the land shall mourne, e­very familie apart; the family of the house of Da­vid apart, & their wives apart; the familie of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; the familie of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the familie of Shemei apart, & their wives apart; ALL the families that remaine, e­very familie apart, and [Page 75]their wives apart. See the mean in mourning: it shal be without mean; such as was the mour­ning at Megiddo, where the good King Iosiah was slain: for, 2 Chro. 35.24. all Iuda and Ierusalem mourned for him. See the persons that shall mourn; Men and women of all qua­lities and conditions: First, Kings and their wives; secondly, Prin­ces and their wives; thirdly, all ecclesiastical persons & their wives; finally, all the rest of true Christians & their wives. Where is cou­rage, [Page 76]rage, where generosity, where constancy, if it bee not in Christians, who wrestle against the divell, and overcome him?

Was there ever in the world any man, or in heaven any Angell to be compared with Iesus Christ? did hee not Iohn 11 33.35 grone in the spirit? did hee not trouble himself? did he not weep for La­zarus? If ye seek a Presi­dent of weeping, who may bee to you a true President, heer ye have one who is better and Psalm 45.2 fairer than all the chil­dren [Page 77]of men. Shall wee refuse to follow such a Ring-leader? and see­ing the Sonne of God did weep, because Heb. 2 17 in all things it behooved him to bee like unto his bre­thren; shall wee think it a disgrace unto us to weep, and to be like un­to him?

VI. Surely his holy Spirit sanctifieth in us our naturall affections, but abolishes them not. And wheras many Phi­losophers take them for vices when they exceed mediocrity; God gives them full libertie, when [Page 78]they come from a good cause, and aspire unto a good end: Lact. Inst. l. 6. c. 16. Potest et qui graditur, er­rare; & qui currit. rectam viam tenere. For as hee that walketh softly, may stray; and hee that run­neth, keep the high way: so a man may be mode­rate in his affections, & sin; and let them growe to the highest measure, and not sinne: yea, if he should restrain them, he should sinne. No medi­ocrity is to bee praised in ill-doing. If thou be but tickled with joy for the death of thine ene­mie, thou sinnest: but 2 Sam. 6 14, 20, 23 David, leaping for joy, and dancing before the [Page 79]Lord with all his might when hee brought the Ark into Sion, sinned not. Contrariwise, Mi­chol his wife, reproving him for the excesse of his joy, sinned, and was punished.

In things which are truely good, no excesse is vicious: for God li­keth a man who dooth good things with all his minde, all his soule, all his heart, and all the strength of his affecti­ons. Who will say, that to leap for joy for the deliverance of the Church, is a sin? Lact. ibid. Nemo dubi­tat, quin & in illo exiguū laetari, & in hoc parum laetari, sit maximum crimen. The [Page 80]Church saith, that not to leap for joy in such a case, is unthankfulnesse, and therfore a most de­testable sinne. The true moderation of the affe­ctions, is to withdraw them from sinne, and to apply them unto righte­ousnesse: when they are once in the way, lay the bridle on their neck, put the spurs to their sides, and make them to gal­lop till they runne with thee to the Kingdome of heaven. In our disci­pline, saith Saint Austin, Aug. de eiv. Dei. l. 9 c. 5. In disci­plinâ nostrâ non tam quae­ritur, utrum pius animus itascatur, sod quare irasca­tur, &c. wee ask not if a godlie soule bee angry, but for [Page 81]what cause hee is angry; neither whether hee bee sorrowfull, but for what cause he is sorrowfull; nor if he fear, but what is the cause of his feare: for, to be angry against a sinner, that he may be corrected; to bee sorrowfull for him who is afflicted, that hee may be delivered; to fear for him who is in danger, lest hee perish; who, that is in his right wits, can blame it?

VII. Let us apply this to weeping and mourning. Wee must judge of all our affecti­ons, not by their medio­crity [Page 82]or excesse, but by the causes which set them on work, and the end whereunto they in­cline, as I have said: this must bee the rule of our judgement concerning other mens weeping, & our owne.

For such as are the causes of our Teares, such are they: some cau­ses are indifferent, some ill, some good. All teares naturally come from ioy or sorrow. These cau­ses are indifferent in themselves. When Gen. 29 11 Ia­cob saw his cousin Ra­chel, he lifted up his voice, [Page 83]and wept: when Gen. 33.4 Iacob and Esau met together, they wept: when Gen. 43.30 Ioseph saw his brother Benia­min, his bowels did yerne upon him, and hee wept: When he made himself knowne to his brethren, Gen 45 1, 2 he wept aloud: when hee went to meet Israel his father; Gen. 46.29 he fell on his necke, and wept on his necke a good-while. Na­turall love in them be­gat joy, and joy opening all the pores of the eyes, they could not chufe but weepe. Such joy, such love, such teares are not commanded of [Page 84]God; for he is not ser­ved by them. Neither hath God forbidden them: for they are no offense unto him, so that they goe not be­yond their due propor­tion and measure.

I say the like of teares which come from sor­row. Agar neither ser­ved nor offended God, when Gen. 21.16. shee lift up her voice, and wept, being in distresse, because shee had no water to give to her sonne to drinke. It was naturall to Ier. 31.25 Ra­chel to weepe for her children; and in that, [Page 85]shee sinned not: but when she refused to bee comforted, she sinned. The Act. 20.37. brethren of Ephe­sus and Miletus, when Paul was going away, wept sore, and fell on his necke, and kissed him. So wee are accustomed to weepe, when wee lacke things which are neces­sary to our subsistence; as also when those whom we love, die, or go from us to some for­reine place. Where we love, if wee see any mi­serie, sorrow seiseth the heart, the distressed hart sendeth a cold ayre to [Page 86]the eyes: the eyes pres­sed with cold, become like a foggie winter day, and distill teares abun­dantly. In such teares there is neither offence, nor service don to God. Therefore they are in­different.

IIX. But when Gen. 37.38, 41. E­sau lift up his voice, and wept, because his bro­ther had taken away his blessing, he sinned; for hee wept through de­spight, proceeding from the pride of his uncir­cumcised heart, & from hatred against his bro­ther Iacob, whom hee [Page 87]vowed to slay. Num. 14.39. The people of Israel beeing deprived of entring into the land of Canaan, mourned greatly, not through repentance for their murmuring against God, but through selfe-love, which is no small sinne. What were the teares of Cain, Saul, A­chitophel, Iudas, but stin­king waters, flowing from the muddy puddle of discontent and de­spaire.

In anger a man will weep, not only through displeasure for the of­fence received, but also [Page 88]through joy for hope of revenge: as the Crocodile weepeth when hee hath found his prey. So Spartioni Antonia. Caracalla. Bas­sianus wept for joy as often as hee saw the I­mages of his brother Geta, whom he had mur­thered. Manie Robbers & Pyrats weepe so; wo, wo to such weepers.

IX. The vveeping where of we speake, and whereunto wee exhort you this day, is good, be­cause it commeth from a good spring: I may call it godly, because it floweth from godlines. I know that all reares in [Page 89]themselves are indiffe­rent, & no part of Gods service; but they take their denominatiō from the root whereout they grow and blossome. If the root bee badde, they are bad; if good, they are good: all good and godly teares come from ioy or from sorrow.

As naturall joy made Iacob to weepe when he saw Rachel: so a superna­turall joy Neh. 8.9. made the Iewes to weepe, when they heard the words of the Law. The love of God made them to re­joyce in his Law, & that [Page 90]ioy turned their eyes in­to fountaines of teares; which they shed in such abundance, that Nehe­miah, and Ezra, and the Levites, were faine to exhort them, not to bee grieved, but to abstaine from mourning & wee­ping. The Church nee­deth not such exhorters, because it hath but few such weepers. Would to God that such a cause might bee unto us this day, a cause of crying unto you, as Ezra did then; Mourne not, nor weepe.

But what godly Ioy [Page 91]doth never or seldome amongst us, will not 2 Cor. 7.10. godly sorrow doe it? Manie, manie cannot perswade their eyes to weepe for joy, whose eyes sorrow will plunge into a river of teares. Let us then, I pray you, let us NOW, let us in this day of godly sor­row weepe after a god­ly maner: let that sor­row which springeth from the love of God, NOW in this day of teares, furnish unto us teares of repentance to God, and teares of chari­ty both to our selves, & [Page 92]to others, who should be to us, for Gods sake, as our selves.

X. If there bee no sinne among us, let joy enlarge our hearts, let laughing cleere our fa­ces, let us say to sorrow, Get thee hence: but if that which is written in the Book of Iob of the natural & sensuall man, that Iob 15 16 he is abominable & filthy, and drinketh ini­quity like water, bee true of us; if we sin NOVV, then let sorrow presse our hearts, and make of them a spring of teares NOVV: let heaviness [Page 93]cover our faces, as a cloud: let our eyes be­come rivers; and for so much water of iniquity, or rather for so much wine of sinne, wine w ch is Deut. 32.33. the poison of dragons; and the cruell venome of aspes, wherewith we are every day drunken; let us this day, let us NOW cry Avant to joy, let us NOW welcome wee­ping, let us NOW run to our eyes, and draw water; let us make of this Fasting, a Feast of mourning: let everie man NOW drinke to his brother, every wo­man [Page 94]to her sister, full cups of tears.

When the people of Israel were rebuked of Samuel for their sinnes, 1 Sam. 7.6 they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew wa­ter, and poured it out be­fore the Lord, and fasted on that day, & said there, Wee have sinned against the Lord. Lo how bu­sy, lo how forward they were to draw water for the clensing of their sa­crifices, and for the pu­rifying and washing of their bodies; or, as some Doctors allegorize the words, lo how contrite [Page 95]they were, making of their harts wels of god­ly sorrow, and going thither with the bucket of faith, to draw up to the eyes tears of repen­tance for bewailing of their sinnes. And what had they done? They had worshipped strange gods, and set up among them ASTAROTH, R. David Kimchi in lib. radicum. which was the god of their sheep their fathers had done the like. And when the Angell of the Lord rebuked them of that sinne, Iudg. 2 4, 5 they lift up their voice, and wept, and called the name of that [Page 96]place Bokim, i. weepers, and they sacrificed there unto the Lord.

O how many strange gods doe wee worship! What are our self-love, our ambition, our filthy lusts, our envie, our ha­tred, our pride, but strāge gods, to whō we offer most abominable sacrifices al the hours of the day? Our covetous­nes, our insatiable desire of cattel, of sheep, of the Mammon of unrighte­ousnes, is our Astaroth, yea, an Idoll so much worse than Astaroth, in that wee worship it not [Page 97]openly, but privately; not in the face of the world, but in the face of God; not in temples of stone, but in the tem­ples of our hearts, w ch God hath dedicated to his owne service. How many Samuels, how ma­ny Angels hath GOD sent unto us, to reprove us of so many sinnes! and wee are heer assem­bled, as Israel in Miz­peh, to acknowledge & confesse our sinnes. O then, dear brethren and sisters, let us first look up to the infinite Maje­stie of God whom wee [Page 98]have offended, and let us afterwards looke downewards to our selves who are the of­fenders. Iob 4 19 Wee dwell in houses of clay: our foun­dation is in the dust: wee are crushed before the moth. Houses of clay, earth and dust, wormes, which are the meat of of wormes, sin against God; and shall wee not mourne? shall wee not draw teares from our hearts? shall wee not command our eyes to pour them out NOVV before the Lord? shall wee not NOVV wash [Page 99]with them our reasona­ble sacrifices, the calves of our lips, which wee are come hither to offer up unto God? shall not this House of God bee this day Bokim unto us? shall wee not NOVV cry to heaven with wee­ping & mourning, Wee have sinned against the Lord?

David sinned but one night, and Psalm 6.6. hee was weary with his groning: every night hee made his bed to swim: hee watered his couch with his teares. If I say of many of us, that we sin every night [Page 100]and every day, I thinke that I shall not lie: Oh then shall we not weep this one day? David, when he wept, cried to heaven, Psalm 51.1, 2, 3 Have mercie upon mee, O God, accor­ding to thy loving kind­nesse: according to thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions: wash mee thorowly from mine iniquitie, and clense mee from my sin. What mo­ved him to cry so loud, and in crying, to pray for mercie? For, saith hee, I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before me. Because [Page 101]he acknowledged his sinne, therfore he wept. If wee knew how hate­full our sinnes are to God, we would weep: we knowe them not, we feele them not, wee cast them still behinde our backs, wee never bring them before our eyes: therefore we weep not. Oh how horrible shall bee that day, wherein shall bee fulfilled that which GOD saith, Psalm 50.21 I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thy eyes! The Lord in his mercy preserve us from the terror and horror [Page 102]of that day.

Hee will doe it, if by the weeping of this day wee prevent the wee­ping of that day; if, as Daniel did, Dan. 9 3, &c. wee set our face unto the Lord God, to seek him by prayer and supplications, with fa­sting, and sackcloth, and ashes; if, as he did, wee confesse that wee have sinned, & committed ini­quity, and done wicked­ly, our Kings, our Prin­ces, our fathers, and all the people of the Land; if wee acknowledge, as hee did, that if GOD should deale with us, as [Page 103]hee dealt with his peo­ple of those daies, righ­teousnesse should belong unto him, & unto us con­fusion of face; if, as hee did, we joyne depreca­tion to the accusation of our owne sins, and con­fession of our owne de­serts, crying, Ver. 19 O Lord heare, O Lord forgive, O Lord hearken and doe.

Where are the wo­men of joy, w ch through grief for their sin, wash Christ's feet with their teares, as Luke 7 37 one woman of that kinde did once? How many (alas!) how many Publicanes, yea, [Page 104]worse than Publicanes, doe swarme in the Church! Shall ye finde one among a thousand, who dare Luke 18.13 not so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven, for shame; who smiteth upon his breast, which conceived sin in him; who with words interrupted with sighes, and carried into heaven with a swift flowing stream of teares, cryeth to God, God be mercifull to mee a sinner, as the Publicane in the Gos­pell did? Wee are all prodigall sonnes: what do we all but feed swine; [Page 105]but feed upon swines provender, but cherish in our selves our filthie lusts, but delight in sin? Nevertheless, which of us all commeth to him­self, returneth to his Fa­ther, and saith, Father, I have sinned against hea­ven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy sonne, Luke 15 15 as once a prodigall sonne did?

Mat. 26 75. Peter denied Christ but once, and against his heart, and yet he excu­sed not his fault, but wept for it bitterly. Are wee not of the crue of those, of whom the A­postle [Page 106]writes, that Tit. 1.16. they professe they knowe God, but by their workes they deny him; beeing abomi­nable, and disobedient, and to every good worke reprobate? Would to God we were not. But we are, and yet our hart is glad, our faces shine, our cheeks are dry, our eyes are hardned like Pumice-stones, and we weep not.

Think yee, that Saint Paul could write to the Romanes without ve­hement sighing, how Rom. 7 19 the good that he would, hee did not; but the evill [Page 107]which he would not, that he did? We are of a dis­position much disagree­ing unto his: The evill that we would, we do not; but the good which wee would not, that wee doe. Through feare of pu­nishment, wee abstaine often from the evill which wee like to doe: and through love of praise; or of some re­ward, we do sometimes the good which wee love not: we serve God in covered dishes, yet wee sigh not. O how sensible was sin to this holy Apostle, when hee [Page 108]cried, Rom. 7 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall de­liver mee from this body of death? O how many teares, dropping from his eyes, washed his hands, and blurred his paper when hee writ these words! Hee with many sobbing tears de­sired to die, that sinne might die in him: Rom. 6 7 for hee that is dead, is freed from sinne. We would not live, if wee could not sinne: for life with­out sinne, is death unto us. Wee walke as the Gentiles of whom the Apostle writeth, that [Page 109] Eph. 4 19 being past feeling, they have given themselves o­ver unto lasciviousnesse, to work all uncleannesse with greedinesse. There­fore being without sor­row in our hearts, wee have no teares in our eyes, and we weep not. What token is this? Surely, that there is no love, no respect to God in us: for if wee loved his goodnes, if wee re­spected his Majestie, our hearts would cleave a­sunder for sorrow, our eies would breake out into teares when we of­fend him.

CHAP. IV.

1 SEcond motive to weep­ing, from the Iustice of God.

2 Sinnes are debts, where­by wee treasure up wrath to our selves.

3 The sinner fighteth a­gainst God.

I. AS we love not his Goodnes, as wee honour not his Majestie; so we feare not his Iustice: & though wee be selfe-lo­vers, though apparantly wee love our selves too [Page 111]much, yet I may say, that wee love not our selves enough, because wee hate our owne soules. 2. Sam. 1.17 David wept & lamen­ted [...] when Saul killed himselfe, and when his best friend Ionathan was slaine by the Philistins. The Chap. 1 verse 11 author of the book of Wisedome saith, that the mouth that belyeth, slaieth the soule. Say not that the booke is not Canonicall: God him­selfe saith, that Ezech. 18.7 [...] the soule that sinneth, it shall dye. Neyther is there any of you ignorāt of the scrip­ture, where S. Paul wri­teth, [Page 112]that Rom. 6 23 the wages of sinne is death. Where­fore take heede to your sinnes; for so many sins as yee commit against the eternall God, so ma­nie mortall blowes give yee to your immortall soules.

II. Macrob. l. 2 Satur. c. 4 Habenda est, inquit, ad somnum mihi conciliandum illa culci [...]ra; in qua ille, tanto aere a­lieno obstric­tu [...], somnum capere potuit. Augustus Caesar wondred, how a certain Knight of Rome, vvho owed great summes of money, farre beyond all his worth, slept so se­curely, that hee was no way disquieted with feare of the rigor of Iu­stice, no way grieved with the overthrow of [Page 113]his family; and would needes have the Quilt whereon that carelesse man could be at quiet; thinking it should have more force to make him sleepe, than all the Lau­danum of the Apothe-caries shops. Wee are that man: our debts are our sinns, which we pile up so mightily, that, as David said of his ini­quities, Psalm 40.12 they are mo than the hayres of our head: neverthelesse wee say with David, but not in so good a cause, Psalm 4.8 I vvill lay me downe in peace, & sleepe; neyther call wee [Page 114]to minde when wee are thus hoording and hea­ping sinnes upon sinnes, as the Fables tel that the Gyants laide hills upon hills, when they were to fight against God; that Rom. 2.5 through our hardnesse and impenitent heart, we treasure up unto our selves wrath against the day of wrath, and revela­tion of the righteous iudgement of God. This is no tale forged by a Poet, but a most true saying come from Hea­ven: for Ro. 1.31 this is the iudg­ment of God, that they which cōmit such things, [Page 115]are worthy of death.

III. What is it to sinne? God saith, it is to walke at all adventures with him; or, as the tran­slation of the text hath, contrary unto him: that is, as if yee should runne your head against a wall of marble stone. Heare then what news he sen­deth to such adventu­rers, Lev. 26.27, 28. If ye walk at al ad­ventures with me, I will also walk at all advētures with you in fury: and I, e­ven I, will chastise you seven times for your sins: when we fight and bic­ker, and tilt thus with [Page 116]God, who shall have the upper hand, and which of us shall triumph? It were a safer course for us to Gen. 32.24. wrestle with him, as Iacob did: Hosea 12.4. Hee wept, & made supplication un­to him. Hee wrestled by weeping, hee preuayled by praying: it is sorrow­ing; it is weeping for sinne, it is praying for forgivenesse of sinnes, which giveth us power over God. Therefore if we desire to prevayle NOW, let us weepe and pray NOW.

CHAP. V.

1. THird motive to wee­ping, from the passion and death of Iesus Christ, con­sidered first in the Garden;

2. Next, in the High Priests house;

3. Thirdly, in the Iudge­ment-Hall;

4. Fourthly, upon the Crosse.

5. Divers examples to moove us to weepe for his death.

6. We have crucified him, therefore we should weepe be­cause of him;

7. As the Iewes did.

8. They that weepe not in this world, shall weepe in hell.

[Page 118]I. BUt, to leave this, let us cast our eyes upon the passion and death of our Lord Iesus Christ, 2. Cor. 5.21. who knew no sinne, and neverthelesse was of God made sinne for us; Let us looke upon him in the garden: there hee said, that Mat. 26 38. his soule was excee­ding sorrowful even unto death: He was thus sor­rowfull for our sinnes: and shall not we be sor­rowfull for them? There Mark 14.33. he was sore amazed, and very heavy: And shal not we be amazed for his a­mazednesse, [Page 119]and very heavy for his heavines, who was thus amazed, thus heavie for us? There yee see him wal­lowing on the ground before the throne of the justice of God, there Luk. 22.44. he is in an agonie, there in a cold aire: the heate of the agonie openeth all the pores of his sacred body, it melteth his flesh like waxe, it changeth all his humors into a ri­ver of a bloody sweat; which piercing and run­ning through his gar­ment, imbued and dyed the ground with a crim­son [Page 120]colour: There yee heare him Heb. 5.7 offering up prayers & supplications, with strong crying and teares, unto him that was able to save him from death; death which hee was to suffer, not for himselfe, but for us. O hearts of steele! when will the agonie of the Sonne of God for you, cast you in an ago­ny for your selves? O eyes drier than the dry­est bricke! when will the bloodie sweate of your sweet Saviour, w ch mol­lified the hard ground, soften you? when will [Page 121]the streames of teares, running from the glo­rious and bright-shining eyes of the King of kings, change you in­to fountaines of water? when will weeping dig hollow furrowes and gutters in your faces? O when will yee begin to shed one teare for your owne sinnes? Is it not time to begin NOVV, if ye have not begun till NOVV?

II. Behold Luk. 22.48. Iudas betraying him with a kisse: behold Ioh. 18 12. the Offi­cers binding him, as if hee had beene a male fa­ctor: [Page 122]behold them in the high Priests house, Luk. 22 63, 64, 65. mocking him, smiting him, blindfolding him, and aftervvards striking him on the face, & ask­ing him, Who is it that smote thee? behold them speaking manie other things blasphemously against him: Mat. 26.59.65, 66. behold the chief Priests, & El­ders, and all the Coun­cell, seeking false vvit­nesses against him: be­hold them all, vvith the high Priest, pronoūcing against him their award and last sentence, He is guilty of death. Novv [Page 123]harts burst, Novv eies weepe; NOW Chri­stians, if there bee any love of Christ, if there be any bowels of com­passion in you, mourne and lament. The Sonne of God was bound for you who were slaves, that ye might bee set at libertie. The Lord of glo­ry was mockt for you, who were the divells mocking stocke, that ye might bee honoured of God, who is your glo­ry. The light of the world was blind-folded for you who were dark­nesse, that ye might bee [Page 124]enlightened. The righ­teous was outrageously beaten for you, who were unrighteous, that ye might be spared. The Innocent was condem­ned for you, who were guilty, that ye might be absolved. Christ suffered all this for you, and yet ye weepe not.

III. Follow him in­to the Iudgement-Hall: Canst thou, with an un­broken heart, and dry eyes, see him Ioh. 19.1, 2. scourged there, and his flesh man­gled, and torne in pie­ces for thy sake? Be­hold his naked head be­girt [Page 125]with a crowne of sharpe thornes: O let us, us I say, who professe to bee members of his bo­dy, Pudeat membrum deliciarisub capite spinis coronato. O let us be ashamed to sport, and to make mer­ry under a head crowned with thornes.

IV. Goe to the Crosse: heed the souldi­ers nayling to the un­fruitfull tree his hands and his feete; behold them giving him vine­ger mingled with gall to drinke, in stead of wine: consider how they stript him, ere he die, that hee may dye with more shame: listen to all those [Page 126]that passe by, and looke on him; yee shall see them wagging their heads, ye shal hear them reviling him, and ray­ling on him most outra­geously. There he yeel­ded up the ghost: there his side was pierst: there he was made a woefull spectacle, and the prin­cipall actor of a bloodie and pitifull Tragedy.

Mat. 27 45, 51. The Sunne could not looke on it; it covered it selfe with a black mour­ning weede, and was darkened: but our faces shine, as if wee had no cause of mourning. The [Page 127]earth did quake; but we tremble not. The rockes rent: our hearts are har­der than flint stones, yea than the most hard Dia­monds, and cannot be broken. The graves were opened: our throates, alas! are open Sepul­chers, breathing out all filthinesse, and rotten words; but our soules are graves sealed and shut to all good. The dead rose againe: we lye dead in trespasses and sinnes without any spi­rituall motion, any fee­ling of the wrath of God, which Christ in [Page 128]the passion of his death suffered for us. For 1. Pet. 2.24. his owne selfe bare our sinnes in his owne body on the tree. There Esa 53.5 he was woū ­ded for our transgressi­ons: there he was bruised for our iniquities: there, there, the chastisement of our peace was upon him: with his stripes which he received there, wee are healed. Hee, whom the ignominious passion of Christ, whom the shed­ding of his blood, whom his cursed death will not wound with a prick­ing remorse, and sting of sin; he out of whose [Page 129]eyes the bruising and crushing of his body, the sorrow and agony of his soule, will not thrust a floud of teares, shall never bee mooved by any other argument, to mourne and to weep.

Plin. hist. nat. l. 37. c. 4 I lla invicta vis, duarum violentissimae naturae rerū, ferri ignísque contemptrix, hircino rum­pitur sangui­ne.The blood of a Hee­goat will beat in peeces the diamond, which no heat of fire can melt, no hammer of steele can breake. What fire will melt, what hammer will break our hearts of dia­mond, if the blood of the Lamb of God will not doe it?

V. Iudas a Repro­bate, [Page 130] Mat. 27 3 Iud is which had betraied him, when hee saw that he was condem­ned, repented, and wept: and wee, who brag of our elation, weep not.

The Centurion, an ig­norant Pagan, when hee saw what was done, when hee considered all the circumstances of his death, glorified God, say­ing, Luke 23 47 Certainly this was a righteous man: wee that are called Christians, wee that boast of the knowledge of God in Christ, acknowledge not his righteousnes as wee should, seeing wee [Page 131]weep not because hee 1. Pet. 3 18 suffred for our unrigh­teousnesse.

Luke 23 48 All the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts. We know all the things that were done: every day Gal. 3.1 Christ is evidently set forth, & crucified among us, by the preaching of the Gospell: and yet none of us smiteth his breast.

Ezech. 8.14The idolatrous wo­men of Ierusalem sate weeping for TAMMVS, Plut. de Iside & O­siride. called by the Greekes [Page 132]OSIRIS, the false god of the Aegyptians, whom Typhon slue: and wee weep not for Iesus Christ, who 1 Iohn 5.20. is the true GOD, and eternall life, whom the Iewes slue.

Plut de cessatione O­raculorum.The Divells them­selves, which were in the Iles of Paxes, did mourne at his death, when Thamos the Pilot of the ship, which was sayling by, cried, The great Pan is dead. Who is the great Pan, but hee who is all in all, our Lord Iesus Christ? The Divells mourned, be­cause Heb. 2 14 through death hee [Page 133]destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the Divell their ma­ster, and them also: we mourne not, wee, I say, who were the causes of his death.

VI. It is written in the Revelat. that Rev. 1.7 every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wayle because of him. Why shall they wayle because of him? because they pierced him. O God! have we pierced him? are wee guiltie of his death? was it not Iudas which [Page 134]betrayed him? was it not the Councell of the State & of the Church, w ch sent to take him? was it not the high-priest which accused him? was it not Pilate which condemned him? were they not Pilat's souldi­ers which scourged, crowned, nailed, stript, and pearced him? What ye ask, is true. But why did hee suffer mortall men to exercise such cruelties on his inno­cent person? He stood there in our room; and what wee deserved, that hee suffered: Our cove­tousnesse [Page 135]betrayed him; Our anger laide hold on him, and tied him; Our lust mocked him; Our envy accused him; Our pride delivered him; Our worldly feare con­dēned him; Ou [...] [...]nhu­manitie scourged him; Our ambition crowned him with thornes; Our profanenesse and atheism spet upon him, smote him, and abused him; Our causelesse othes nay­led him; Our intempe­rancie in drinking gave him vinegar and gall to drink; Our blasphemies, our horrible execrati­ons, [Page 136]our cursings, pear­ced him to the heart: and yet wee weep not. God was made a worm for us; and wee weepe not. Blessing it self was made a curse for us; and wee [...]eep not. Life it selfe is dead for us; and we weep not.

VII. When the Iewes heard, that hee whom they denied, whom they delivered, whom they crucified and killed by wicked hands, was Acts 3 14.15 the Holy One, the Iust, the Prince of life; Acts 2 37. they were pric­ked in their hearts, al­though [Page 137]that Act. 3.17 through ignorance they did it. O how bitterly did Saint Paul weep, when he re­corded how he had bin 1 Tim. 1.3. a blasphemer, a perse­cuter, and an oppressor of Christ's Church, altho hee did it ignorantly in unbeleef! wee Heb. 6.6 crucifie him, wee put him to an o­pen shame every day; if not vvickedly, at least vvittingly and vvilling­ly: neverthelesse, vvee are not pricked in our hearts; and therefore vve have no tears in our eies to vveep and vvail, because of him vvhom [Page 138]vvee have pearced.

VIII. Will vve de­ferre the accomplish­ment of S t. Iohn's Pro­phesie till Dooms-day; vvhen Rev. 6.15, 16 the Kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and all the rabble of vvicked men, shal cry to the moun­tains and rockes, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the Throne, and from the wrath of the Lambe; vvhen their crying shall availe them nothing; vvhen the irrevocable Doome shall bee pro­nounced, and they shall [Page 139]bee cast into utter dark­nes, vvhere Mat. 22 13 there shall weeping, and gnashing of teeth; because then shall bee fulfilled the threat­ning of Christ; Luke 6.25 Wo bee to you that laugh now, for ye shall waile and weep? That vveeping vvill be unfruitfull, because it shall bee a vveeping of despaire; such as Iudas vveeping vvas when he hanged himself.

Let us then, my be­loved & dear brethren, begin to weep NOVV, and to shead fruitfull teares; Aug de Temp ser. 66. Duplicem habere debet fletum in poe­nitentiâ om­nis peccator, five per neg­ligentiam bonum non fecit, seu per audaciam malum perpe­travit. Quod enim opor­tuit, non ges­sit; & quod non oportuit, egit. teares for our sinnes of omission, teares [Page 140]for our sins of commissi­on: for, through negli­gēce, we have not done the good wee should have done; through rashnes, vve have done the evill vvhich vvee should not have done. Let us join to that vvee­ping, a resolution to sin no more: let us after that manner, according to the exhortation of S. Iohn, Mat 3.8 bring forth fruits answerable to amendmēt of life. Aug. ibid. Fructus dig­nus est poeni­tentiae, trans­acta flere peccata, & eadem iterum non agere. To bring forth such fruits, is, to weep for our sinnes past, and not to commit any sin, for which we shal have need to weep again.

CHAP. VI.

1. TEares of repentance are fruitfull, but they are not honourable.

2. Teares of charity, which we powre out for the sinnes of our brethren, are both fruit­full and honourable.

3. In this charity, there is a duty to God,

4. And to man.

5. Examples of godly men which wept for other mens sinnnes, are accusations of the hardnes of our hearts;

6. Namely, the examples of Iesus Christ.

[Page 142]I. SUch fruites are fruitfull, such teares are pro­fitable, but they are not honourable. 'Tis shame to a man to sinne: and therefore it is not hono­rable unto him to have need of pardon, to beg it, to weepe for it. Quem li­berat, notat. A remission is a disgrace­full brand to him that opposeth it to the hands of justice: and amongst the Nobles of the land, those are most estee­med, in whose family there is no pardon, no letters of remission: But [Page 143]u it is the glory of a man, Pro. 19.15. and namely of a King, to passe over a transgres­sion, and to forgive it. It is even so between God and us. Pro. 25.2. It is the glory of God to conceale a thing, and to give pardons to great sinners: But they which receive such par­dons, must confesse as Daniel did, that Dan. 9.8. to them belongeth confusion of face, and say with Iere­miah, Lam. 3.2. It is of the Lords mercies that wee are not consumed, because his com­passions faile not.

II. As we must have fruitfull teares of repen­tance, [Page 144]to weepe for our owne sinnes NOW: so must we have honorable tears of charity, to weep NOW for the sinnes of our brethren, whereof we are not guiltie. As it is honourable to Luk. 15.10. the Angells to reioyce o­ver the sinners that re­pent, because they them­selves are without sin: so it is a glory to us to mourne for those sinnes wherewith wee are not blemished.

III. In this glory there is a duty: if wee honour God, if we feare his glorious Majestie, if [Page 145]wee bee zealous of his glory, can we heare his great and fearfull name blasphemed, can we see his word despised, his law transgressed, his glory turned into shame, and not bee commoo­ved? If our dearest friends uttered in our eares but one word of discommendation and reproach against our fa­thers and mothers that begat us, what noise would we not make? up would all friendship go, no exhortation, no sub­mission, no satisfaction would be able to bridle [Page 146]our impatience, and to restraine our passionate­nesse & furie from ven­geance.

If great men who are above our reach, if our Magistrates, if our Prin­ces, if our Kings speake disdainfully of them, at the least wee would weepe, at the least wee would shew, by all kind of tokens of sorrow, that such disgracing checks are grievous un­to us. The living God, the Father of spirits is every where vilipen­ded, dishonoured, revi­led by great and small, [Page 147]by our inferiors, by our superiours, by our e­quals, by our friends, by our foes. And shall not we, which professe to be Gods children, be sensible of such contu­melies?

IV. A great many, yea many millions, yea, the greatest part of men give themselves over unto lasciviousnesse, and run head-long into the dark gulf of death & eternall damnation. Are they not created to the image of God, as well as wee are? Are they not our owne flesh? are they not [Page 148]our brethren? where then is our charitie, where our bowells, where our mercy, if we seek not to rescue them, if we endeavour not to pull them out of the fire; if all helps beeing impossible to us, wee weepe not for them?

V. 2. Pet. 2.7, 8. Lot a poor stran­ger, in the middest of a towne swarming with wicked men, when hee could doe no better, vexed his righteous soule from day to day with their filthy conversation and unlawfull deeds. Is not Christendome as filthy [Page 149]as Sodome? and shall we finde amongst us all one Lot, whether out­lander or home-bred, that is vexed therwith? When David lived a private life, and had not the power in his hand to represse wicked men; what he might, that hee did. Psal. 119 53, 136. Horror tooke hold upon him, because of the wicked that had forsaken Gods law: rivers of wa­ters ran downe his eyes, because they kept it not. The forsaking of Gods Law is an indifferent thing unto us: wee dis­course, wee eate, wee [Page 150]drinke, we take pleasure in wicked men that transgresse it. O how was that holy man mo­ved with blaspheming and cursing, when hee said to his God, The zeale of thine house hath eaten me up: Psal. 69 9, 11. the repro­ches of them that reproa­ched thee, are fallen upon me. Therefore I wept, and chastened my soule with fasting, and that was to my reproach! The ayre is infected with blasphe­ming and cursing: who is eaten up with the zeale of the house of God, and of his glory, [Page 151]to refraine it? At the least, who fasteth, who weepeth when hee can­not refraine it?

If God should send his Angell through the middest of this City, as he did Ezech. 9.4. the man clothed with linnen, through the midst of Ierusalem, to set a marke upon the fore­heads of the men that sigh, and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof; I doubt not but hee should finde some sigh­ing, and shedding teares abundātly. For wherso­ever the visible Church [Page 152]is, God hath there one or another that belong­eth to his election: but I feare that the number would be very scant and few.

Where justice hath e­rected her sea, where Lawyers pleade at the barre, there is prevari­cation and briberie: where there is a crowd and many halls of traf­ficking men, and of di­vers societies of trades­men; there must needes be Monopolies, ingros­sing, cousenage, for­swearing and robbery. Where there are so ma­ny [Page 153]Tavernes, so many Ale-houses, there is i­dlenes, unnecessary wa­sting, and lecherie: where every where yee see nothing but pompe, but sumptuousnesse, but riot, but gorgeousnesse and braverie, yee shall not lye, if yee say that there is too much pride and vanitie. As a bigge and wel-fed body is full of ill humours: so in a great Citie, such as this is, there are many irre­gular and carelesse Ci­tizens. And as standing waters turne into mud, and breed frogges and [Page 154]toads; so a long peace begets a crue of uglie and noysome vices, and a packe of base and lewd fellowes.

If we could Ezec. 8.8, 9, 10. digge in the wall, as Ezechiel did, how many creeping things, how many abo­minable beastes should we see, not purtrayed, but living and mooving in the Temples of ma­ny mens hearts, who have a fare shew in the flesh, and seeme to our charitable judgement the honestest men that ever are bread. Oh! if wee could know them, [Page 155]we would, or at least we should mourn NOW, as Ezra 9.3. Neh. 13.23. Ezra did once for the unlawfull marriages which they had con­tracted with the women of Ashdod, even with strange and beastly af­fections: Wee would NOW weepe in secret places for their pride, as Ieremiah did: and that which was comman­ded to Ezechiel, Ezech. 6.11. to smite with his hand, to stampe with his foote, and to say, Alas! for all the abomina­tions of the house of Isra­el; that would wee, or should we doe NOW [Page 156]for al the enormous and most wicked sinnes of the reformed Chur­ches.

The holy Apostle 2. Cor. 12.21. Paul was humbled a­mong the Corinthians, & bewayled many which had sinned, and had not repented of the unclean­nesse, and fornication, and lasciviousnesse, which they had committed. If this Church were but one Parish, if we might know every mans and womans carriage in it, I thinke that wee should rather want tears in our eyes, than matter to pro­voke [Page 157]them to weep for such sinnes.

The same Apostle re­buked sharpely 1. Cor. 5.2. the Co­rinthians, because they mourned not, that the in­cestuous man might be ta­ken away from among them. Alas! alas! what is riot, what is pride, what is taverning, what is lasciviousnesse, but committing of spiritu­all incest with the di­vell? There was but one incestuous of that kinde in Corinth; there are NOW too many of this kinde amongst us, and we weep not Now.

[Page 158] 2 Cor. 2.7.That incestuous man sorrowed, repented, & wept; yea hee was al­most swallowed up with over-much sorrow: these incestuous persons will seeme honest men, and weepe not: for Hosea, 4.11. whore­dome and wine, yea, the excellent wine, take away the heart.

Ier. 6.23, 24. Iehoiakims Courti­ers are threatned with great plagues, because when the King had cut the roll wherein the word of God was writ­ten, and cast it into the fire, they were not afraid, rent not their clothes, & [Page 159]wept not: My heart quakes, my soule shakes, my flesh faints, my haire stares, my tongue clea­veth to my jawes, and words are dryed up in my mouth, whē I begin to cōplaine that not the word of God, but his glorious body is most cruelly & ignominiously dismēbred, that no word is spokē by many with­out an oath, and no oath without wounds, passi­on, body, pockes, &c. that at each of those blasphemies, God is most vilely named; and none, yea not one of [Page 160]those that stand by, open their mouths to reprove it, yea, yea, doe not so much as sigh, as frowne, as shiver, as thrust one, one drop of teares from their hornie eyes to condemne it.

VI. O sweet Iesus! thou seeing the malice of the Iewes, Mark. 3.5. lookedst round about on them with anger, beeing grieved for the hardnesse of their hearts: O most glorious Sonne of God! Thou, who art Rom. 9.5. over al, God blessed for ever, didst Luk. 19.41.44. weep over Ierusalem, be­cause shee knew not the [Page 161]time of her visitation. O zealous and blessed A­postle! when thou wast at Athens, Acts 17.16 thy spirit was stirred in thee, seeing the Citie wholly given to Idolatry. If ye were be­yond sea, yea if ye could enter into a Recusants closet, yee should see so manie Idols, that yee vvould wonder, that men, men calling them­selves Christians, should be they of whom it is written, that Rev. 9.20, 21. they repen­ted not of the vvorkes of their hands; that they should not vvorship Di­vels, & Idols of gold, and [Page 162]silver, & brasse, & stone, and of wood, vvhich ney­ther can see, nor heare, nor vvalk. More would ye wonder, if ye did see them worshipping, in stead of Iesus Christ, a peece of dough rosted upon a paire of tongs. But alas! whose spirit would wex eager at it? That which is written of the Priests, People, & Princes of Israel, is true of them: Hos. 5.4 Their doings will not suffer them to turn unto their God; for the spirit of whoredomes is in the midst of them, & they have not knowne the [Page 163]Lord. But who, vvith Iesus Christ, whose ac­tions are our instructi­ons, is grieved for the hardnes of their hearts? Shall the sinnes of ido­laters wring one teare out of our stony heads; when our owne sinnes are increased above the haires of our head, and are heavier than the sand of the sea, and yet wee look on them with dry eyes, as if all their muscles were withered, and without sap? Let us, I pray you, let us be­gin NOW to weepe, because untill NOW [Page 164]we have not wept: let us tune upon the strings of our hearts a dolefull song of heavie mour­ning, because wee have not knowne, in this peaceable Kingdome, the things belonging to our peace.

CHAP. VII.

1 THey that weep not for sinne, are constrained to weep for the punishment of sinne.

2 He that weepeth not in affliction, is a desperate sinner.

3 Godly men weep in af­fliction.

[Page 165] 4 In our afflictions wee must weep to God.

I. FOr, 1. Cor. 11.31. if we would iudge our selves, we should not bee iudged. If wee could once sorrow: if sorrow wrought indignation in us; indignation, feare; fear, desire; desire, zeal; zeale, revenge, by wee­ping for our sinnes, and abstaining from sinne, then wee should never weep for the punishmēt of sin: but if wee weep not when wee should weep, Gen. 4.7 sinne lieth at the doore; and the punish­ment [Page 166]thereof shall make us to weep when wee would not weep. Eph. 5.4 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for, because of these things, because of fornication, of un­cleannesse, of covetous­nesse, of filthy and foo­lish talking, and other vices, which are but too too common in our Churches, commeth the wrath of GOD upon the childen of disobedience. I am not a Prophet, nor the sonne of a Prophet, to say to you, as Ezechi­el writ to the Iews, Ezech. 7.5, 6, 7. An evill, an onely evill, be­hold, [Page 167]is come. An end is come: the end is come: it awaketh against thee: behold, it is come. The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwel­lest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is neer. Yee see it come upon your brethren, for whom ye fast, & should weepe NOW. Are they not as honest, as godly, as religious as ye are? Therefore say not with the profane Iews, Esa. 28.15. Wee have made a cove­nant with death, & with hell are we at agreement. When the over-flowing [Page 168]scourge shal passe thorow, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, & under falshood have wee hid our selves. Apply rather to your selves that w ch Christ, who cannot lie, said to the Iewes of Luke 13.2 the Gali­leans, whose blood Pi­late had mingled with their sacrifices; and of those eighteene, upon whom the Towre in Si­loe fell, that they were not sinners above all the rest of the people: And therefore, except ye repent, yee shall all like­wise perish.

[Page 169]II. When affliction is comne, I need not ex­hort you to weep for it: To that, nature will be to you a most perswa­sive preacher. The heart must bee harder than a Stithie, if it sorrow not; the eyes must be dryer than a potsheard, if they weep not in affliction. The Iewes were come to the height of sinne, when the Lord checked them for hardnesse of heart in their oppressi­on; saying, Esay 22 12, 13, 14 In that day did the Lord GOD of Hostes call to weeping, & to mourning, and to bald­nes, [Page 170]and to girding with sackcloth: and behold ioy and gladnes, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine; and ye say, Let us eat and drink: for to-morrow we shall die. Such a sinner in that was their King Achaz, who in the time of his distresse did tres­passe yet more against the Lord. He was ever king Achaz, ever like him­selfe; never better, but rather worse. This hard­nesse of heart is a neere cousin to the irremissi­ble sinne: for God said to these stony-hearted [Page 171]sinners, Surely, this ini­quity shall not be purged from you, till ye die.

III. I hope there is none so wickedly dis­posed amongst you all: for, I deeme, there is none amongst you, but hee will sorrow, weep and mourne, when the hand of God is heavie upon him; we are all of one metall. Iob saith, that in his afflictions, Iob 3 24 his roarings were poured out like the waters: hee Iob 30.28, 31. cried: his harp was tur­ned into mourning; and his organe, into the voice of them that weep. The [Page 172]like wee haue heard of many others, with the refutation of the indo­lence and unsensiblenes of the Stoicks.

IV. But if ye do no­thing but roare, but cry, but weepe and mourne when yee are chastised, what doe yee that your dogges will not doe? will they not cry and howle when they are beaten? Teares, if they bee alone, are no more regarded of God, than the howling and yelling of beasts, which will roare when they are hardly used.

[Page 173]Weepe then as the Saints have alwayes wept. When your eyes run downe with teares, and your eye-lids gush our with waters, let your prayers runne up to heaven with them, to powre them out into the bosome of God. Weepe as 1. Sam. 1.10. Hannah wept, who beeing in bit­ternesse of soule, prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. Weepe as the chil­dren of Israel wept: for when the children of Beniamin had destroied of them fortie thousand men, Iudg. 20 23, 26. they wept before [Page 174]the Lord. Weepe as Iob wept, when Iob 16.20. his eyes powred out teares unto God. Weepe as David wept, who when he was swimming in his teares, said, Psal. 55.17. Evening and mor­ning, and at noone will I pray, and cry aloud, and hee shall heare my voice. Weepe as Hezekiah wept; 2. Kin. 20.2, 3. He prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. Esa. 38.84. Hee chattered like a crane, or a swallow: hee mourned as a dove: his eyes failed with looking upward: his praier was, O Lord I am oppressed, undertake for me.

CHAP. IIX.

1. WE must weepe also for the desolation of the Church,

2. As David and Iere­miah did.

3. Great desolation of the Churches by the last troubles.

4. Their present state most pitifull and lamentable.

5. Examples to moove us to weepe for them.

I WHen yee have thus wept for your selves, remember that ye are not for your selves onely: consider [Page 176]that yee belong to the mysticall body of our Lord Iesus Christ, the mēbers wherof are dis­perst through the whole world: and print in your minds the most reaso­nable commandement of the holy Apostle, Rom. 12.15. Weepe with them that weepe. Weepe for the Church, as the holy men of God have wept for it. They mourned for the evills past, for the evills that were present, and for the evills that were to come.

II. When David heard the tydings of the [Page 177]overthrow of Gods people by the Philistins, 2. Sam. 1.11, 12. He and all the men that were with him, mourned, and wept, and fasted un­till even. Made not Ie­remiah lamentations for the desolation of Ieru­salem? and when his eyes were dryed up, when his eye-lids were so withered, that heavi­nesse and sorrow could find no water to squeese out of them, did he not then wish, did hee not thē cry, Ier. 9.1. O that my head were waters, & mine eyes a fountaine of teares, that I might weepe day and [Page 178]night for the slaine of the daughter of my people.

III. Deare brethren, there is no man beyond seas, in those places where the warre was, but he may say as truely as Ieremiah saide in his Lamentations, Lam. 3.1 I am the man that hath seene affliction by the rod of the Lords wrath: who as Ier. 15.3. he had appointed over his Churches their foure kinds, the sword to slay, the dogges to teare, the fowles of the heaven to devoure, and the beasts of the earth to destroy; so hath hee brought those [Page 179]fierce and pitilesse exe­cutioners of his justice upon his people. Lam. 2.21. Hee hath slaine in the day of his anger, he hath killed, he hath not pitied. Chast women and honest ma­trons were defiled and murthered; shamefac't and pure virgins were most vilely deflowred; the young men were put to death by the sword; sucklings were pulled a­way from their mothers breasts, and cast into the rivers, or dasht against the stones; the princi­pall men of towns were hanged; the faces of El­ders [Page 180]were not honored; their bodies, which had beene Temples of the Holy Ghost, were given to bee meate unto the fowles of the heaven, and unto the beasts of the earth, as if they had beene dead dogs. Po­pulous townes are now heapes of stones: where defenced and strong ci­ties were, nothing is to be seen but ruines. That which was thought im­possible to be atchieved in fifty yeares by all the sleight and might of the enemies, was begun and finished in fiftie dayes.

[Page 181] Esa. 4.26.The Lord hissed unto them, and they came upō the Churches with speed swiftly. None was weary, none stumbled a­mongst them: their hor­ses hoofes were like flint, the wheeles of their charriots were like a whirle-wind. Their roaring was like a Ly­on; they laid hold of the prey, and carried it away safe, and there was none to deliver: So on them was accompli­shed that which Isaiah prophecyed once a­gainst the Iewes, and which was fulfilled. [Page 182]The head of those ar­mies might have writ­ten about the Embleme of his unlooked-for vi­ctories, the posie which Iulius Caesar carryed graven in the table of his triumph of the Par­thians, VENI, VIDI, VICI: I came to them, I saw them, I overcame them. Is there any head so frozen and hardned with unsensiblenesse, but it will NOW melt and flowe over with teares, at the naming only of the great breach which hath beene made in the Church of our [Page 183]Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ?

IV. There was ne­ver wound so weil hea­led, but the cicature re­mained: O how great is the scarre of this wound! Alas! alas! when shall it bee closed up? Behold and consi­der the present state of the Churches of the Pa­latinate, of Bohemia, and of many moe: Is it not NOVV most miserable, and a sorrowfull subject of a tragicall lamenta­tion? and shall wee not weepe NOVV?

V. Iob 30.25. Did I not weepe, [Page 184]saith Iob, for him that had evill dayes? was not my soule grieved for the poore? O how evill are Novv the daies of our distressed brethren! and shall not wee weepe for them NOVV? O how many rich men have beene turned into their shirts! how many are now poore, that were wont to relieve the poore! and shall not our soules bee grieved for them NOVV?

1. Sam. 4.20, 21, 22. Phineas wife was not so gladded, because she had borne a sonne, as she was deadly woū ­ded [Page 185]with displeasure, be­cause, the Arke of God was taken: At that ty­dings, shee called her sonne Ichabod, that is to say, Where is the glory? and nothing at all regarding him, shee saide in her mour­ning and lamentation, The glory is departed from Israel: for the Ark of God is taken. So wee­ping, so mourning, so bemoning, not so much the death of her belo­ved husband, as the taking of the Arke, shee gave up the ghost. The true Ark of God is [Page 186]the Gospell of our Lord Iesus Christ; Gospell which Rom. 1.16. is the power to e­very one that beleeveth. The Philistins have ta­ken the Arke: Antichrist hath againe smothered the Gospell: the glory is departed from the Churches: the abomi­nation of desolation is alas! alas! set up again in the houses of the Lord: swarms of drones humming and buzzing make an unknowne and most unpleasant noyse; where the word of the Lord was wont to bee [Page 187]preached, his Name to be ta [...]ed upon, his prai­ses to be sung. If men, hearing NOW these wofull tidings, will not weepe NOW; shall not women, who are more sensible of inju­ries, and sooner pricked with sorrow, mourne and weep NOW, even NOW?

Nehemiah was more sorrowfull for the de­solation of the City of Ierusalem, than he was joyfull for all his credit and favour with the great King. When hee heard, that the people [Page 188]of God, which was re­turned from the [...]pti­vity of Babylon, Neh. 1 3, 4. was in great affliction and re­proach, that the wall of Ierusalem was broken down, & the gates there­of burnt with fire; he sate down, & wept, & mour­ned certain daies, and fa­sted, and praied before the God of heaven. The king wondred to see his countenance; thinking his royall favour more than sufficient to cheer him up, and to make his heart glad. But hee answered, Neh. 2.3. Why should not my countenance bee [Page 189]sad, when the Citie, the place of my fathers sepul­chres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consu­med with fire? This is the present state of ma­ny bretheren: where they are suffred to live, they live in so great af­fliction and reproach, that death would bee welcomer unto them than life. Their towns are dismantled: their houses are turned into cotages: they that had something, are, by the oppression of garrisons, brought to little or no­thing. If there bee not [Page 190]at Artaxerxes Court a Nehemiah to weep a few daies; let us, who are no Courtiers, weep this one day for them: let us weep NOW.

David said of his e­nemies, that Psal. 35 12, 13, 14. they re­warded him evill for good, seeking to deprive him of his soule. But as for me, saith hee, when they were sicke, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soule with fasting, and my praier returned into mine owne bosome: I be­haved my selfe as though hee had beene my friend and brother: I bowed [Page 192]down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother. Was that holy mans charity so fervent, that hee wept for his foes? and shall ours bee so cold, that wee cannot finde one teare to shead NOVV for our friends?

Iohn 11 35, 36 Iesus wept for his friend Lazarus, vvho was dead and stinking. Then said the Iewes, Be­hold how hee loved him. Our deare friends are like unto Lazarus: they are in a worse plight, than if they were dead: when they walk abroad they look like a ghost. [Page 192]Their goods are becom a booty: their houses are desolation: their e­nemies are roaring Li­ons & ravening wolves, who have left nothing on them but skinne and bone. If we had chari­ty in our hearts to love them, would wee not have tears in our eies, to weep for them NOVV; words in our mouthes, to pray for them Now; our hands in our purses, to succour them Now? would wee not remem­ber the exhortation of the Apostle, and prac­tise it? Heb. 13 3. Remember, saith [Page 193]he, them that are in bōds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adver­sity, as being your selves also in the body.

CHAP. IX.

1. WEe must vveepe, to divert greater ca­lamities, wherewith wee are threatned.

2 Most excellent presidents of such weeping.

3 Of them which weepe when they should not weepe.

4 It is lawfull to weepe for the dead,

5 With moderation, and without ostentation:

[Page 194] 6 As it is comely to Chri­stians.

7 Custome of the ancient Church in Funerals.

8 They which weepe for sinne, and leave not off to sinne, weepe not as they should weepe.

1. AS the last of GODS visible workes were the best: so the last of the workes of the Man of sinne, who intituleth himselfe, Summum Nu­men in terris, the Sove­raigne God on earth, are the worst. The ill which hee hath done, is like unto 1. Kings 12.11 Salomons whips: but the ill which hee is [Page 195]minded to doe, is like unto Rehoboanis scorpi­ons. Hee playeth now with sundry of our bre­thren, as the Cat doth with the Mouse: but if hee may take all with his great Armies, hee hath laide his plotte to destroy, to cut off the churches, to tread them downe like the mire of the streets. He hath al­ready ingulfed the Pa­latinate: hee hath swal­lowed up the Kingdom of Bohemia: he hath set his foot on the neck of [Page 196] France are under his hand: of all the refor­med Churches vvhich God hath erected in the Continent & main land of Europe, none have e­scaped his clavves, but those of the Lowe-Coun­tries. Novv vvhen hee is assured of all the rest, he seeks to grasp them; making his account, that to us from them there is but a short pas­sage. Therefore this day vve fast, vve vveep, vve mourne, vvee pray for them.

II. The man of God, Elisha, settling his coun­tenance [Page 197]stedfastly on Hazael, wept; because, said hee unto him, 2 Kings 8.12 I knowe the evill that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel: Their strong holds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, & wilt dash their children, and rip up their women with childe. Our Lord Iesus Christ Luke 19 41, 42, 43 wept over Ierusalem, because the daies were coming, that she should bee laid even with the ground, and one stone should not bee left in her upon another. This is the hu­manity [Page 198]that our neigh­bours and we must look for, if our neighbours bee oppressed, and An­tichrist prevaile. There­fore let us NOW, NOW, I say, cry to heaven with weeping & mourning, that they may fall from their counsels, and their mis­chief return upon their owne heads.

1. Sam. 15.35 Samuel wept for Saul, whom God had rejected. Shall wee not weep for our brethren, whom God hath elec­ted? Isaiah saith, that Esay 15.5 that his heart cried out [Page 199]for Moab, that Esay 21 3, 4 his loins were filled with paine; that pangs had taken hold upon him, as the pangs of a woman that travelleth, that his hart panted, that fearefulnesse affrighted him, that God had turned the night of his pleasure into feare, because of the fall of Babylon, which was neer. Are the Saints so tender-hearted, that they weep for the ruine which is to come upon Gods enemies? Are we so hard-hearted, that we cannot weepe NOW for the evill wherewith GOD's servants are [Page 200]threatned? was Ioel 2 12 fasting, weeping & mourning, indicted to God's peo­ple, for Armies of Lo­custs and Caterpillers, which could doe no more but eat up the fruits of the earth, and destroy the glory of the trees? Now when great Armies of unmercifull men, whose minde is to destroy both the land and the inhabitants, rise up against our brethren, and seek to overwhelm them; shall wee not NOW, even NOW, with fasting and wee­ping cry unto God, as [Page 201] Iehoshaphat did, 2. Chro. 20.12 O our God, wilt thou not iudge them? for wee have no might against this com­pany that cometh against us, neither know we what to doe: but our eyes are upon thee.

III. O how great is our crossenesse! O how untractable is the hard­nesse of our hearts! Wee weep when we should not weep: we weep not as wee should weep: we weep not when we should weep.

As little children are angry when ye throwe out of their hands the knife wherewith they [Page 202]would have kill'd, them­selves; or take from them their puppets, that they may go to schools, and weepe when they should not weepe: so when God pulleth from one his riches, from a­nother his health, from some their honors, from others the pleasure of their bellies, which are but painted trifles, and to the most part of mens soules are more dange­dangerous, than sharpe knives in their throats; they weepe beyond all measure, and ye cannot still them. Whereas if [Page 203]they knew why God strippes them of their childish delights, they would say as the French men did, after that Iulius Cesar had brought them under the yoke of obe­dience, Periera­mus, nisipe­rij ssemus. We had perished, if wee had not perished. Gods children, after they have beene schoo­led and nurtered with such losses, thinke and speake so, and say with David, Psal. 119.67.71. Before I was af­flicted, I went astray: but now have I kept thy word: It is good for mee, that I have been afflicted, that I might learne thy [Page 204]statutes.

As wormes, which breede in childrens sto­mackes, and gnaw their guttes, cannot be killed but by worme-wood, or some other bitter poti­on, which yee cannot perswade them to drink without weeping: so the vanitie, the pride, the covetousnesse of riches, the contempt of the Gospell, the horrible se­curitie of many men, can not be cured but by the wormewood of tribu­lation; wherof the great Physician of the soule filleth to them great [Page 205]bowles, and compells them to drinke thereof, till their heads be dizzy, that they may bee hea­led; and they are so childish, that they weep: wheras as Iam 1.2. S. Iam. teaches them to count it all ioy, when they fall into di­vers tentations. I say then, that such men weep when they should not weepe.

IV. Others weepe when they should weep, but they weepe not as they should. Christian Religion transformeth not men into stocks and stones: and grace abo­lisheth [Page 206]not naturall affe­ctions, but sanctifieth them. When the Apo­stle, speaking of them which are asleepe, saith, that 1. Thes. 4.13. yee should not sor­row, even as others which have no hope, he forbid­deth you not to be waile your dead: for it is im­possible to fight against the motions of nature. Did not Gen. 23.2. Abraham, the father of the faithfull, mourne and weepe for Sa­ [...]ra? Did not Gen. 50 1.10. Ioseph weepe upon his dead fa­ther, and kisse him? did not all his sonnes bury him with a very great [Page 207]and sore lamentation? Did not Num. 20.29. all the congre­gation of Israel mourne for Aaron thirty dayes? Did Deut. 34.8. they not weep for Moses as many dayes? Did not David weepe for v 2. Sam. 1.17. Saul, for 2. Sam. 3.32. Abner, and for his sonne 2. Sam. 18.33. Ab­salom? and did not our Lord Iesus Christ Ioh. 11.35. weep for Lazarus? Did not Act. 8.32. the devout men of Ieru­salem make great lamen­tations over Steven? Did not Act. 9.39. the Christian wid­dowes of Lydda weepe for Dorcas when she was dead?

V. The thing which [Page 208]the Apostle forbiddeth, is weeping; such as is the weeping of the Gen­tiles, which is immode­rate, because they have no hope. One of them, seeing hee must needes pay the last tribute to nature, & go the way of all the earth, as he was dying, made an heavy mone for his soul, saying Spartiani Adrianus. Animula, vagula, blandula, Hospes co­mesque cor­poris; Quae nune abibis in loca Pallidula, rigida, nudula? Nec, ut soles, dabis iocos. O my restlesse, my gentle, my sweet soule, soule, which hast been a friend­ly guest and companion of my body? O how wanne, how cold, how bare and empty is the place whither thou must now goe! ney­ther [Page 109]shalt thou hereafter make me merry. The rest had no better hope; if they spake not so, they thought no lesse. But we know, that Ioh. 5.24. hee that be­leeveth in Christ, hath e­verlasting life, and shall not come into condemna­tion, but is passed from death unto life: therefore we must not weepe for our dead immoderate­ly, as Gentiles doe; but moderately, as Christi­ans doe.

In Ier 9.17, 18. Ieremiah his time, there was an heathnish custome among the Iewes, Praficae mulieres. to hire mourning [Page 210]women, who were accu­stomed to take up a wai­ling for their dead: and that Chrysost. ad Popul. Antiochen. homil. 69. & 70. profane custome was in the Church in S. Chrysostomes dayes. It is now banished out of the Church: But that w eh we doe, is not much un­like unto it: wee teare our faces with our nails, we pull the haire out of our heads, we rend our clothes, wee yell, wee roare, wee howle like beasts, and shew indeed, that wee are without hope, & so great hypo­crites; or that we consi­sider not what wee are [Page 211]doing. Chrysostome said, that Ex osten­tatione po­tius, & am­bitione, & inani gloria sunt, &c. there is more o­stentation, ambition, and vaine glory, than true sorrow in such wee­ping: for a man may weep bitterly in his clo­set, and not make such a shew. Yea, in such wee­ping there is great shame and great offence offe­red to our most holy re­ligion. For how shall we speak of the immor­tality of the soule to them which beleeve no such thing? how shall wee perswade them to beleeve Tertull. de Resurrect. Carnis. Fi­ducia Chri­stianorum, resurrectio mortuorum. the rising again [Page 212]faith of Christians, when by such yelling, wee make them to beleeve that death is as horrible unto us, as unto them? for they heed not what we beleeve, but what we doe. And how shall we our selves contemne death, if wee shew so great impatience when our friends die?

IV. Hearken then, and learne how to weep for the dead: doe yee consider death as it is Rom 6.23. the wages of sin? Weep. Consider it also as it is through Christ, Ioh. 5.24. a pas­sage to life, and weep not.

[Page 213]Doe ye consider how your dear friend, whom ye loved so tenderly, is by death become so ug­ly and loathsome, that ye are constrained with Gen. 23.4. Abraham to bury him out of your sight, lest he become suddenly a stin­king carrion? Weep. Cō ­sider also, that through Christ his grave is made a Doctor unto him, and weepe not.

Doth experiēce make you to say, that by and by he shall bee dust and ashes? Weepe. But send for faith, and it will tell you, that though hee [Page 214]sleep now in the dust of the earth, Dan. 12.2 he shal awake to everlasting life: ac­cording to the comfor­table saying of Christ to Martha, Iohn 11 25, 26 I am the re­surrection and the life: he that beleeveth in mee, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whoso­ever liveth, and belee­veth in me, shall never dye. For in that blessed day of the resurrection of the righteous, Christ Phil. 3.21 shall change our vile bo­dy, that it may be fashio­ned like unto his glorious body. Heer is the com­fort of your faith. The [Page 215]Pagans, speaking of a dead man, were wont to say, Scal. Ca­stigat. in Fe­stum verbo. Abitionē. FUIT, He was, be­cause they were with­out hope for the time to come. But your Rom. 5 5. hope, which maketh not asha­med, teacheth you to say, ERIT, He shall be. They said also, Tert. de testimonio animae. adver. Gent. c. 4. Abijt iam, sed reverti debet. Hee is gone, but he will come a­gain: not shewing, that they had any hope of the resurrection, as Ter­tullian deemed, but see­king Euphemisms & fair words, having a sense repugnāt to their mind; to shew, that they estee­med all dead men to be [Page 216]lost. In that same sense they said, VIXIT, He did live: and therefore they called him Ibid. Cúm alicuius de­functi recor­daris, misellū vocas cum. mise­rable. If yee consider your dead brother as departed out of this life because of sinne, say, He did live; and weep: but knowe ye not, that 1. Sam. 25.29. his soule is bound in the bun­dle of life with the Lord his God? Therfore say, VIVIT, Hee liveth: say, Hee is blessed; and weep not. Rev. 14 13 For, blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. Beleeve yee not, that they are past from death to life? [Page 217]Wherefore then weep ye? Will ye bee injuri­ous to our Lord Iesus Christ? Will yee deny the vertue of his death? Will ye forsake the me­rit thereof? Knowe yee not, that his death is to us which beleeve, the death of our death, and the life of our life? Then weep not.

O but he was my lo­ving husband: she was my vertuous wife: thou hast had some losse; weep: but thy losse is their gaine. They are gone to the marriage-supper of the Sonne of [Page 218]God: and it is written, Blessed are they which are called unto the mar­riage-supper of the Lamb. These are the true say­ings of God. Therefore weep not.

Alas! hee was mine onely sonne, the heire of all my goods: and now (alas!) to whom shall I leave them? Thy losse is great; weep: his advantage is greater. He is gone to his heavenly Father: hee is now his heir. Thou couldst give him but earthly goods: those which hee enjoy­eth, are celestiall. Thine [Page 219]are perishable, & death would have constrained him to leave them to an­other: those which hee now possesseth, are e­verlasting, and are not subject unto losse. If thy son were in credit with the King, I thinke thou shouldst laugh, and not weep: hee is in credit with the King of kings, and in great felicity in his presence; and if hee could send thee tidings from heaven, he would admonish thee to leave thy goods to thy poore kinsmen; and, accor­ding to the commande­ment [Page 220]of the Apostle, 1. Tim. 5.3 first to shew pietie at home; and next, to stran­gers that are needy. Therefore weep not.

He was a godly man, and (well-away!) I am bereft of his godly and fruitfull conversation. That affliction is great to thee; weep: but thy crosse is his crown. And therfore, if thou lovedst him as much as thou lo­vest thy self, thou woul­dest rather rejoyce for him, than weep for thy self. Weep for wicked men: for they are with the divell; yea, saith [Page 221] Ad pop. Antioch. hom. 69. Nā si lugendum est, diabolum oporteret lu­gero, &c. Chrysostom, If ye would weep, yee should weep for the divell himselfe. Rather let the divell weep for himselfe, be­cause he is damned: let wicked men weepe for thēselves, because they are tormented. But let us rejoyce for good and godly men, because they are with God, and are saved.

VII. This hath ever been the doctrine of the Christian Church; w ch, to withdraw those of the Gentiles that belee­ved, from mourning & crying at funerals, was [Page 222]accustomed to celebrate the funerals of Christi­ans with singing of psalms: Chrysost. ibid. hom. 70. and the words which they sung, were, Psalm 23.4 I will feare no evill: for thou art with mee: Item, Psalm 32.7 Thou art my hiding-place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble: as also, Psalm 116.7 Return unto thy rest, O my soule; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee. Cōsider now, and behold: God calls death a benefit; why then dost thou weep? Thou wilt weep for the welfare of thine enemy, because thou hat'st him; [Page 223]wilt thou make thy friend his companion, and weepe also for his weale?

The Apostle, forbid­ding us to weepe as the Gentiles doe, biddeth us 1. Thes. 4.18. comfort one another with these words of the resurrection: If, not­withstanding, we weepe as the Gentiles doe; I say, that, weeping when we should, we weepe not as we should.

VIII. I say the same of all those, which when they are rebuked of sinne, will weepe; and yet leave not off to [Page 224]sinne. The Scripture saith, that 1. King. 21.25, 26, 27. there was none like unto Achab, which did sell himselfe to worke wickednesse in the sight of the Lord. Yet when he heard the judg­ments of God denoun­ced against him, he rent his clothes, and put sack­cloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sacke­cloth, and went softly. O how bitterly hee wept! O how dolefully hee mourned! To looke on him, yee would have said, This is a penitent man. But immediately after, 1. Kin. 22.6.27. he giveth heede [Page 225]to false Prophets, he ca­steth Micaiah the Pro­phet of the Lord in pri­son, and surceaseth not from sinning, till God kill him. Doubtlesse, Cain wept & mourned, when hee saide to God, Gen 4.13. My iniquitie is greater than I can beare: Never­thelesse he did not for­beare to sinne, but wax­ed worse and worse.

Such men, saith Greg. Pa­storalis Curae 1. parte. Flendo ina­nit [...]r se mū ­dant, qui vi­vendo se ne­quiter in­quinant. Gre­gory, Wash themselves in vaine with teares, because they beray themselves by their naughtie lives, and practise that which is said in a Proverbe, 2. Pet. 2.22. The [Page 226]dogge is turned to his own vomit againe: and the sow which was washed, to her wallowing in the mire: what is such wee­ping, but increasing of sinne? Thou weepest for sinne, because thou knowest that it is an e­vill thing. And yet thou goest backe unto it a­gaine, as if thou sough­test to shed teares to steepe in them the dirt of thy sinnes, that as a sow thou maist wallow with full content in my­rie water: As when Ba­laam wished with sigh­ing, Numb. 23.10. Let me dy the death [Page 227]of the righteous, and let my last end be like his: yet after that, hee sought to curse the righteous, and gave a pernicious coun­sell to the King of Moab against them, what did he but heape sinne upon sinne, and aggravate his owne condemnation?

CHAP. X.

1. OF them that weepe not when they should weepe for their owne sinnes,

2. Nor for the sins of other men,

3. Nor for the afflictions of the Church.

[Page 228]I. BUt how, alas! how are they increased that weepe not! How ma­ny see wee before our eyes every day benum­med with a spirit of slumber, who Cypr. de Laps. Quan­do debuerant stare, iacue­runt: quando iacere & prosternere se Deo de­bent, stare se opinantur. when they should stand, fall; and when they should fall, stand! who when they should resist sinne, and stand fast for their souls against the wiles of the divell, fall into sinne: and when they should fall on their faces, with sad hearts and moist eyes, before the throne of the mercy of God, [Page 229]stand straight like Idols in Popish Churches, & are no more mooved, than if they had done nothing amisse; Ibid. An­te admissum facinus im­providi, post facinus ob­stinati, nec prius stabl­les, nec post­modum sup­plices. ney­ther carefull to stand be­fore they sinne, nor to pray and weepe after they have sinned.

Ieremiah powred out his heart like water be­fore the face of the Lord, his teares did run downe like a river, day and night, he gave him­selfe no rest, the apples of his eyes ceased not to weepe for the ruine and destruction of the Tem­ple builded with stones, [Page 230] Heb. 9.4 wherein was the Arke of the Covenant, the gol­den Censor, the golden pot that had Manna, Aarons rod that budded, and the Tables of the covenant: Chrysost. ad Popul. Antiochen. homil. 22. Si morientibus compa [...]imu [...], quis tam si­ne miseri­cordia est, qui animam suam mori­entem non deploret? And they weepe not for their soules which are more holy, and have dwelling in them the Father, the Sonne, and the Holy Ghost, even the holy Trinitie. They will weepe for a dead man, though a fremme body, if they know him. And they are so despe­rate, that they cannot weepe for the death of their best friend, of the [Page 231]guest and companion of their body, of their im­mortall soule which is dead in sinne. Rom. 8.22. Every creature groaneth, and travelleth in paine toge­ther untill now for the vanity of man: and man, even hee that cal­leth himselfe a Christi­an man, is a dullard, and unsensible of his owne iniquitie.

II. They weepe not for their owne sinnes: look not that they should weepe for the sinnes of other men. What S. Cyprian said of the sinnes of the Chur­ches [Page 232]of this time, I may say truly of those of this time. Cypr. de Lapsis Stu­debant au­gendo patri­monio singu­li: non in sacerdotibus religio de­vota, non in ministris fi­des integra, non in operi­bus miseri­cordia, non in mori bus disciplina, &c. Every man is givē to augmēt his patrimonie. There is no devotion in Priests, no fidelity in Mi­nisters, no mercy in our works, no discipline in our manners. Men have dis­guised beards, womē have painted faces: the eyes, disdaining to bee as God made thē, are counterfei­ted: the hayre is dyed with a lying colour: To deceive the hearts of simple ones, what see ye but crafty dea­ling? To intrap & oppresse the brethren, but deceit­full desires? For all that, [Page 233]there is no weeping.

III. For such sinnes, many plagues are come upon forrein Churches. Yee see nothing there but remarkeable specta­cles of calamitie, of mi­sery, of the follie, or ra­ther furie of men, of the vanitie of the world. That toucheth not the hearts of a great many of us. 'Tis a great pittie that they should bee without pittie: I have compassion on them, that they should bee without compassiō. No­thing can penetrate their hardnesse: no commi­seration, [Page 234]no Christian charitie can sinke into their hearts. Apply to them the words of the Prophet, Amos, 6.3, 4, 5, 6. They put far away the evill day, they cause the seat of violence to come neere: they lye up­on beds of Ivory, they stretch themselves upon their couches, they eate the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall: they chaunt to the sound of the violl, & invent to them­selves instruments of mu­sicke, like David: they drinke wine in bowles, and anoint themselves [Page 235]with the chief oyntments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Io­seph. I will not apply to them the words follow­ing, because I hope God shall give them repen­tance.

CHAP. XI.

1. EXcuses of those which weepe not.

2. Men loaden with sor­row, will not weepe.

3. Difference betweene the weeping of Hypocrites, and of sincere Christians.

4. Exhortation to those which cannot weepe, to imitate [Page 236]the example of Zacheus.

5. If we can weepe for our worldly losses, and not for our sinnes, we are Hypocrites.

6. Exhortation to ioyne weeping with fasting.

7. Christian weeping is a a gift of God.

8. Prayer for the gift of weeping.

I. I Heare their ex­cuses: they say, that many honest and godly men cannot weepe: That many Hy­pocrites will weepe: that Zacheus dry repen­tāce was as acceptable to Christ, as the whores & Peters weeping repētāce.

[Page 237]II. I know that the heart is sometimes so loaden and overwhel­med with sorrow, that it cannot ease it selfe by weeping. A man will shed many teares for the death of his dear friend, and shall not finde one teare in his eyes to weep for the death of his one­ly sonne. Lam. 3.28, 29. He sitteth a­lone, and keepeth silence, hee putteth his mouth in the dust, he is filled with sorrow. Medio­cres dolores lugent, in­gentes stu­pent. Meane griefes will make a man weepe and mourne: but those which are exceeding great, will drive him [Page 238]into a dump, and make him senselesse: As the Fables tell of Niobé, the rich and faire mother of 6 sons and 6 daughters, that after shee had lost them all in one day, she was hardned into a stone, because Cicero. 3. Tuscul. Niobé fingitur in la­pides, propter aeternum cre­do in luctu silentium. shee was so dismayed with that sudden & heavie afflic­tion, that she could nei­ther speak, weep, nor la­ment. Those of whom I speak, are not of this kinde. As there are no teares in their eies, so there is no sorrow in their hearts: for there is no token of amazed­nesse [Page 239]in their counte­nāce: they have a laugh­ing face: the beautifull red of their cheekes is a cleer token of the joy of their hearts: they are lustie: they are merry: their delight is to make good cheer: although they are ashamed not to fast when the Church fasteth, yet they like fea­sting better than fasting.

III. I knowe also, that an hypocrite will easily weep, namely, at the preaching, when he heares a patheticall and perswasive Preacher, who can bow and turne [Page 240]the mindes of [...]e hea­rers to any affection: yea, hee will rather rub his eyes with an onion, than he should not weep when godly men weep; and make art to do that which nature will not doe. Such were the hy­pocrits of whom Christ said, that Mat. 6 16 they dis-figu­red their faces, that they might appeare unto men to fast. When they fasted at home, they sought to make it known abroad. Hypocrits weep before men: but in their Clo­sets, in their Couches, their eyes are drier than [Page 241]dry sticks: they cannot say with David, Psal. 6.6 All the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears: nor with Ieremiah, that Ier. 13 17 they weep in secret places for the sinnes and affliction of the Church. This is a sure marke of an hypo­crite: If thou canst weep abroad, not at home; in the Church, not in thy Couch, for another mans misery, or for thine owne iniquitie, thou art an hypocrite.

Image-makers, Statu­aries, and Painters, will draw, with most lively [Page 242]and resembling colours, the feature of the face, the hands, the feet, and of other outward parts; but they care not for the inward parts, neither can their art and skil at­taine to the resembling of them: they will set out in quick colours a faire flowre; but they cannot so much as deli­neate the vertue therof. The hypocrite is such a cunning Painter: [...] counterfeit true devoti­on, by sighing, by sob­bing, by weeping, by such outward shewes of sorrow, and set a mour­ning [Page 243]face on a glad heart; the reformation whereof he heeds not.

But nature beginnes with the heart, and first forms the inward parts; which afterwards it be­girdeth with bones, ty­eth together with si­news, clotheth with flesh, covereth with a faire skinne, and fashio­neth by little and little the outward parts: So the blessed man, Psalm 32.2 in whose spirit there is no guile, offereth first to his God Psalm 51.17. the sacrifice of a contrite and broken hart; which by and by, and [Page 244]unawares, bursts foorth into sighing, sobbing, weeping, mourning, and all externall shewes of sorrow, because the bo­dy cannot chuse but sympathize and jump in all kinde of affections and passions with the soule, by reason of the strait union that is be­tween them.

IV. Now, if there bee any of you whose eyes are of horne, and cannot weepe; is his heart of stone, that it cānot sorrow, nor shew by outward tokens, that it sorroweth indeed? [Page 245]Yee say, that Luke 19.2 Zacheus wept not, because yee reade not that he wept. Then rejoyce as hee re­joyced: He was little of stature, but he was great in faith. By faith, he ran: by faith, hee climbed up into a tree to see Iesus: by faith, he made haste: by humility, hee came downe: by charity, hee received Christ into his house joyfully. Rejoice after that manner, and receive Christ into thy house: that rejoycing will be as acceptable to Christ, as weeping. By true charity, he gave half [Page 246]his goods to the poore; yea, if hee wept not, hee sorrowed to repentance after a godly maner: he gave fourefold to them whom he had cousened. If thou wilt not doe as much as he did, do as he did: restore unto thy neighbour that wherein thou hast deceived him: in this day of thy devo­tion, give a charitable devotion to the poore: make that their feasting, w ch thou hast spared by fasting: and seeing thou canst not weepe for thy selfe, make them which weep for themselves, [Page 247]laugh; that they, rejoy­cing for thēselves, may weep and pray for thee. Almes excels weeping.

V. But I fear this is a shift. If wee can shead tears enow for the losse of our goods, let us not excuse the constitution of our bodies: rather let us accuse the cor­ruption of our soules if we cānot also weep for offending God. For he that forroweth indeed to repentance, will bee more deeply & feeling­ly troubled with the loss of the favour of his good God, than of all [Page 248]the world besides.

VI. Now, what grief and vexation a worldly loss is unto us, we know all. Let us lay aside all frivolous excuses; and let us now, in the face of the blessed Angels, and of this holy Assembly, pray and sigh to GOD with tears and lamenta­tions of true repentāce: let us not seeke to as­swage our mourning: let us seek to increase it, that this day our hearts may grone, and our eies weep sore, & run down with teares for the di­stressed members of the [Page 249]Church of Christ Iesus. Let us joyne our hearts with their hearts, our eies with their eies, our tongues with their tongues; that all toge­ther, with one heart, and one mouth, wee may sigh, weep, mourn, pray for their deliverance, & for the continuation of this happy and long peace amongst us.

VII. Such weeping is a gift of God. As wa­ters came not out of the hard rocke, Numb. 20.10 til Moses with his rod smote it twice; so the rivers of teares will never flow & [Page 250]from our hearts of stone, till the Lord Iesus smite them often with the rod of his mouth, & soften them with the mightie and powerfull blowes of his holy Spi­rit. 'Tis the spirit that bruiseth our rocky harts: 'tis the heat of the spirit that melteth the yce of our frozen eyes, & ma­keth the waters flow: 'Tis the Spirit of Christ Iesus, Rom. 8 15 whereby wee cry Abba, Father: Rom. 8.26. 'Tis the Spirit it selfe which ma­keth intercession for us, with gronings which can­not be uttered. Ambros. in Lucam, c. 22. v. 61, 62. Quos Iesus respicit, plo­rant, &c. He, hee [Page 251]onely upon whō Christ looketh, weepeth. Peter denyed him once, & wept not, because the Lord loo­ked not. He deny'd him the second time, and he wept not, because the Lord loo­ked not. He denyed him the third time: the Lord looked upon him, and hee wept bitterly.

VIII. O Lord Iesus! O sweet Iesus! we have once, twice, thrice deny­ed thee: Look now up­on us: O Savior of man­kind, now the cock cro­weth; now look upon us. Veni, Cre­ator, Spiri­tus, & in­sunde coelitus lucis tuae ra­dium. O holy Spirit, Creator & reformer of mankind, [Page 252]come and create in us a new heart: send from heaven into our con­gealed hearts an hote beam of thy comforta­ble light, to breake and melt them; that now, at least now, we may know our sins, and the afflicti­ons of our brethren▪ that knovving them, we may feele them; that feeling them, wee may weep to thee for them▪ that weeping to thee▪ vve may be comforted by thee, according to thy promise vv ch thou hast made to us by thy dear Son Iesus Christ.

FINIS.

The second part OF THE CHRISTIAN MANS TEARES. Containing CHRISTS Comforts.

CHAPTER I. The Argument of the first Chapter.

I. AS there is a time of weeping and of mourning, so there is a time of comfort and of ioy.

II. Our comfort is spiri­tuall. N

[Page 2] III. Gods owne selfe is our comforter.

IV. Thence is the certain­tie of our salvation.

V. The cause of our com­forts are not in the me­rits of our teares.

VI. There is no merit nor satisfaction but in our Lord Iesus Christ.

VII. Blessednes is giuen to godly men: but not for their godlinesse.

VIII. How we must vn­derstand some sp [...]ches of the Doctors concer­ning Teares.

‘ MATH. 5. 5. Blessed are they that [Page 3]mourne: for they shall be comforted.’ ‘ LVK. 6.21. Blessed are ye that weepe now: for ye shall laugh.’

I. EXperience teacheth vs, & the scripture ioyning hands with ex­perience saith, that Eccles. 3.1.4. To euery thing there is a sea­son, and a time to euery purpose vnder the heauēs: Amongst orther things, that there is a time to weepe, and a time to laugh: a time to maurne, and a [Page 4]time to dance: A time to weepe, as Christ hath said, Blessed are yee that weepe now: A time to laugh: For, saith he, ye shall laugh: A time to mourne: because Christ saith, Blessed are they that mourn: A time to dance, because he saith also that they shall be comfor­ted.

I know not where Cicero. 4. Tuscul. HERACLITVS could find such abundance of teares; and what could moue him to weepe al­wayes: was there no blessing of God in the world to make him [Page 5]laugh? Was not DE­MOCRITVS a vaine man to laugh perpetu­ally at the vanitie of the world, and neuer to weepe for it? CATONS heart was made of steele and could neither be moued to laugh for ioy, when God blessed the State; nor to weepe for sorrow, when it was af­flicted.

But DAVID who was better then any of them, 2 Sam. 6.14. danced for ioy, when the Arke of the Lord entred into his house; and wept for sorrow when he sinned [Page 6]against the Lord. IESVS who was the best of all, Luk. 10.21. reioyced in spirit when he considered the wise dispensations of the blessings of God: He was also sorry and wept when he saw mens in­credulity and obstina­cie in their sinnes. And he saith to all Christi­ans, that they shall weep, for the causes whereof we haue spoken: as also that they shall laugh, for the causes whereof we are to speake.

II. Laughing is an ef­fect of ioy. Such as the ioy is, such is the laughing. [Page 7]Our ioy is such as we are, or should be; In­ward, celestiall, spiritu­all: for it cometh from the faith and hope of heauenly things, as Christ said to them which are persecuted; Mat 5.12. Reioyce and be glad, for great is your reward in heauen. For our laugh­ing is spirituall, heauen­ly, and inward, flowing from an inward and spi­rituall ioy: The Spring of our ioy, is comfort; whereof Christ sayth, that they which mourn shall be comforted.

III. Our comfort is [Page 8]our blessednesse: and all blessednesse is of God, to whose prayse we cry aloud with the holy A­postle; Eph. 1.3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ, who hath blessed vs with all spirituall blessings in hea­venly places, in Christ. So all our comforts are of God, who Isa. 51.3. shall comfort Sion. For he is 2 Cor. 1.4 the God of all comfort, who com­forteth vs in all our tribu­lation.

He comforteth vs by his deare Sonne Iesus Christ, who saith that the Lord hath sent him [Page 9] Isa. 61.2. to comfort all that mourn, and as he came into the world for that end, so he doth that wherefore he came, as he said to his Disciples. Ioh. 14.18. I will not leaue you Orphanes, that is, comfortlesse: I will come to you.

He cometh to vs by his Spirit, who is the true Comforter. For he ascended into heauen, & thence he Tertull. de praescript. cap. 11. Misit vica­riam vim spiritus san­cti qui cre­dentes agat. hath sent in stead of himselfe the power of the holy Spi­rit, by whom the belee­uers are led, according to his promise, Ioh. 14.16. I will pray the Father, and he [Page 10]shall giue you another com­forter, that he may abide with you for euer.

IV. Here is the cer­taintie of our comforts God hath promised that we shall be comfor­ted: Heb. 10.23. He is faithfull that promised, and 1 Thes 5.24. also will do it. He giueth not that charge to another: His owne selfe doth it. Isa 46.10.11. My counsell, sayth he, shall stand, and I will doe all my pleasure: I haue spoken it, I will also bring it to passe I haue purposed it, I will also doe it. Hee doth it by his owno Spirit: As Ioh. 3.8. the wind, so the Spirit [Page 11] bloweth where it listeth. If he will comfort vs, who can grieue vs? Men will doe what they can to make vs weepe. But saith Christ, Ioh. 16.25 Your heart shall reioyce, and your ioy no man taketh from you: If we hold our eyes vp­on our selues, we see our own weaknesse, and we know we may loose our ioy. But Christ hath prayed, that Ioh. 17.13. wee may haue his ioy full filled in our selues: And the Comfor­ter himselfe abideth in vs: who then shall take the fruits of our teares from vs?

[Page 12]O most precious pearles of your eyes! O teares most acceptable to God! The French Virgin is not so curious to keepe the teares of the vine, wherwith Plin. l. 23. cap. 1. Cutem in facie mu­lierum pur­gant. Ibid. Vitia cutis in fa­cie, varos­que & len­tignes emen­dant. she takes away the speckes, and pimples, and other spots of her face and hands, & keepeth their skin soft and faire; As God is carefull to keepe the teares which trill from the spiritual bran­ches ingraffed into Ie­sus Christ, who Ioh. 15.1. is the true Vine: Psal. 56.8. Hee putteth them into his bottle. Are they not in his Booke?

[Page 13] Ctesias in Indicis.When the teares distil­ling from the Indian tree, called Siptachora, fall into the riuer Hypar­chus, they are congealed there, and turned into most excellent Amber, So when our teares fall into the riuer of the mercies of God, they become there a most precious iewell: And as the Sunne drawing salt vapours out of the Sea vp into the aire, turneth them into pleasāt show­ers of raine, Isa. 55.10. which wa­tereth the earth, and ma­keth it bring forth and bud, that it may giue seed [Page 14]to the sower, and bread to the eater; So Mala. 4.2. the Sunne of righteousness our Lord Iesus Christ draweth vp to heauen our sighs, our groans, the salt vapours of our deuotion, the bitter teares of our godly sorrow, which we poure out before him, and keepeth them in his bottles till being all ga­thered together, hee powre them downe vp­on vs againe in a mos sweet and well-come shower of all kinde of heauenly comforts, which are our blessednesse both in this world, and in the [Page 15]world to come.

V. Be not decei­ued with the errour of Papists. Imagine not that there is any merit in teares, as that word is taken by Papists, that in them there is any satis­faction, as Papists speake of satisfaction, that they wash out the blots of the soule, which are our sinnes, as water clean­seth and taketh away the spots of the body, as Papists dare too boldly and ignorantly affirme: they haue not in them­selues any such efficacy: neither hath God made [Page 16]vnto thē any such pro­mise. Nothing can satis­fie the wrath of God, but the death of the son God: Nothing is of worth and value before his eyes to be rewarded with glory, but the obe­dience of the Lord of glory. No water can purge and take away sinnes, Ioh. 1.29. It is the Lambe of God, which taketh away the sinnes of the world.

VI. If ye aske who hath satisfied the wrath of God? I answere with Isaiah: Christ Isa. 53.5. was woun­ded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our in­iquities, [Page 17]iquities, the chastisement of our peace was vpō him, & with his stripes we are healed. If ye aske again, by what means, by what deserts ye obtaine eter­nall life? Christ himself answereth. Ioh. 14.6. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. i.e. The true way to eternall life. And the A­postle faith, that 1 Cor. 1.30.31. of God ye are in Christ Iesus, who of God is made vnto vs wisdome, and righteous­nesse, and sanctification, and redemption: That ac­cording as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Finally if ye aske, which is the [Page 18]riuer, which is the poole wherein we are clensed of all our sinnes, so per­fectly that there remai­neth no spot, no ble­mish in vs? The Disciple which lay in Christs bosome, & was priuie to all his secrets, faith, that 1. Ioh. 1.7. the bloud of Iesus. Christ the Sonne of God clenseth vs from all sinne. He on­ly is the riuer of Iordan wherein the leprosie of sin is cured: 2 Kings 5.14. The ri­uer Iordan in the land of Canaan did neuer clense any man of the leprosie of the body, but Naamās the Syrian: This Iordan [Page 19]of the heauenly Canaan clenseth perfectly all leprous sinners which wash and dippe them­selues in it. At Ioh. 5.4. the poole of Bethesda he onely was made whole of his disease who first after the troubling of the water stepped in. But when so­euer a sinner shal repent of his sinnes that he hath committed, and cast himselfe into this vndraynable poole of the bloud of the sonne of God his sicknes shall be cured, and his soule shal be healed. Yee read in the Legendes that Con­stantine [Page 20]the great being leprous, was councelled to wash in a bath made of the bloud of little children, that he might be made cleane. That bath was nothing else but the bloud of the Sonne of God, wherein he washt by faith, and was made cleane of the incurable leprosie of sinne.

So then if ye aske by whose satisfaction & merits ye obtaine eter­nall life, the Scripture answereth absolutely, that it is by the onely satisfaction and merits [Page 21]of our Lord Iesus Christ, Act. 4.12. Neither is there Saluation in any other: for there is none other Name vnder heauen gi­uen among men, whereby we must be saued.

VII. But if we aske to whom this saluation is giuen? That is another question, where vnto the Scripture maketh ano­ther answere, and faith, as Elizabeth said to the Virgin Marie, Luk. 1.45. Bles­sed is she that beleeued. 2 Cor. 1.20. All the promises of God in Christ, are Yea, and in Christ, are Amen, vnto the glory of God. And Gal. 3.14. we re­ceiue [Page 22]the promise of the Spirit through faith: Nei­ther haue we any other hand to receiue Christ who is promised vnto vs, but faith. Therefore it is written that Eph. 2.8. by grace ye are saued by faith: And because our last and principall blessednesse is our saluation, it is also written that they which be of faith, are blessed with faithfull Abraham.

Act. 15.9. The hearts are puri­fied by faith. Therefre it is written, Math. 5.8. Blessed are the pure in heart: The heart by faith is broken and bruised with the [Page 23]sense of sinne, and with 2 Cor. 7.10. godly sorrow for sinne Therefore it is written. Math. 5.3. Blessed are the poore in spirit: Faith looketh vp to heaven with a wee­ping eye: Faith calleth vpon God, with prayers steeped in teares: Faith stretcheth soorth to the throne of grace hands dipped in the bitter and salt waters of repen­tance: And therefore it is written, Blessed are they that mourne.

If faith did not repent, sigh, weepe, pray: re­pentēce, weeping, sigh­ing, prayer should be [Page 24]sinnes; For Rom. 14.23. whatsoeuer is not of faith, is sinne. So the teares of Esau were sinnes. So when Da­vid prayeth against the wicked man; Psal. 109.7. Let his prayer become sinne, he teacheth vs, that prayers of wicked and vnbelee­uing men are sinnes: for to such men, Tit.1.15. no­thing is pure: but euen their mind and consci­ence is defiled: And what can come from such a puddle, but filth and stincking putrefaction? Gal. 5.6. Faith worketh by loue, and is rich in good workes. Therefore it is [Page 25]written, Psal. 1.2. blessed is the man whose delight is the Law of the Lord, Psal. 119.1. Blessed are the vndefiled in the way, Psal. 128.1. Blessed is euery one that feareth the Lord, &c.

Yee see what persons are blessed: And what qualities are required in you, if you desire to be partakers of blessednes: The first must be faith: For Heb. 11.6. without faith it is impossible to please God: From faith springs for­row for sin, repentance, weeping, prayers, good workes, Eph. 2.10. which God hath prepared, that we should walke in them. All those [Page 26]which are adorned and inriched with those good qualities, are bles­sed: but the cause wher­fore they are blessed, is the merite of Christ Ie­sus, in whom they be­leeue, by whom they pray, for whom they weepe, and by whose spirit they are lead in the way of the Lord, & doe good workes.

For to them Zech 12.10. that mourne in Ierusalem, Zechariah saith, that Zech. 13.1. there shall be a fountaine opened for sinne, and for vncleannesse: what? are not their eyes a foun­taine? [Page 27]To weepe for sinne, they may be. To blot out, and abolish the slaine of sinne, they can­not be. The only side of Christ which was pier­ced in his death, was made a fountain of bloud, to wash in it the sinnes of all them, which, to weepe for their sinnes make of their heads a fountaine of teares.

VIII. Therefore when ye read in the Homilies of the Doc­tors of the Church, ei­ther auncient, or mo­derne, that teares are a satisfaction for sinne, [Page 28]that they wash it away, and blot it out, and ma­ny such hyperbolicall speeches, yee must vn­derstand them Cum graeno salis. with a graine of salt, as the Iu­risconsults speake of some sayings of their Doctors, and know that either they speake of sa­tisfaction giuen to the Church, or attribute to the effect that which is proper to the cause, which is frequent a­mongst orators, and in speeches gilt and beau­tified with Rhetoricke.

Consider that in my text blessednesse is attri­buted [Page 29]to them which weepe, not to weeping; to the tree, not to the fruit; to the worker, not to the worke: And when yee seeke the causes of your blessednesse, looke not downeward to your selues, but vpward to the mercie of God, and with a sincere heart and true mouth follow the holy Apostle, and say, Eph. 1.3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ, who hath blessed vs with al spirituall bles­sings in heauenly places in Christ. Rom. 11.36. For of him, and through him, and to him [Page 30]are all things: To whom be glory for euer. Amen.

If yee remember this distinctiō betweene the qualification of the per­sons which are to be sa­ued, & the causes wher­fore they are saued, as al­so the chāging of attri­butions, when the effects are honoured with the glorious titles which belong to their causes, ye wil not easily be seduced with Papi­stry, nor troubled with som speeches which the Doctors vttered hyper­bolically, which the Pa­pists wrest vnlearnedly, [Page 31]which ye must vnder­stand Rom. 12.6. according to the proportion of faith soundly.

CHAPTER II.

I. ALl our comforts are called Life, and wherefore.

II. Item, wherefore that life which is our onely comfort, is called euer­lasting.

III. What eternall life is.

IV. Tis imperfect in this world, and per­fect [Page 32]in the world to come.

V. He that hath not the beginnings of eternall life in this world, shal neuer come to the per­fection thereof in the world to come.

I. BVT to leaue of dispu­ting a­gainst Pa­pists, which is not fit for this day, wherin we are assembled to dispute a­gainst our owne sinnes, and to let alone the hy­perbolicall speeches of Doctors, let vs come to [Page 33]Christs comforts wher­in our blessednesse con­sisteth.

Our Blessednesse in holy Scripture is called Life Euerlasting. Tis called Life, not because we shall act, liue, and moue by it, as we doe now during our abode in the earthly taberna­cles of our mortall bo­dies; but because it is a most glorious, happie, and blessed estate, our soueraigne good and felicitie, the full perfor­formance of all our de­sires, the longed-for wish of our vnsatiable hearts, [Page 34]the center and last re­sting place of all the a­gitations of our stirring and vnquiet soules.

There is nothing that man loueth better then life. For how can he loue, what can he loue, if he liue not? Life is the spring of loue: life is the enioyer, life is the vser of all the things which we loue. As we cannot loue without life: So life is loathsome vnto vs without the fruition of those things which we loue. The Diuels and the damned liue in hell. But that life is called [Page 35] Death, because all the euils which they would gladly shake off, fall thicke, and lye close to­gether vpon them, and all the goods which they desire most earnest­ly with groanes and sighs, flee away from them.

Tis a liuing death, & a dying life. Therefore Dauid asketh, Psal. 34.12. what man is he that desireth life? And loueth many dayes that he may see good? Take good from life: And men will chuse death to be freed of life.

[Page 36]In the state whereof we speake, we see good, because in it we see God, Psal. 36.9. with whom is the fountaine of life, and in whose light we see light. August. de verbis Apo­stoli. Serm. 6. Omnino non mesa­tiaret Deus, nisi promit­teret mihi seipsum. De­um. &c. Certainely God could neuer satisfie me, if hee promised not to giue him­selfe vnto mee. For what­so euer God promiseth vn­to thee, 'tis of no value without himselfe: what is the whole earth? What is the whole Sea? What is heauen? What are all the starres? What is the Sun? what is the Moone? what the Hostes of Angels with­out him? I know him to be [Page 37]the creator of all those things. Ipsum sitio, Ipsum esurio, Ipsi dico, quo­niam apud te est sons vitae. I thirst after him, I hunger after him. To him I say, with thee is the fountaine of life. Bernard deproemio patr. coelest. Esse cum deo, esse in deo: Viuere cum Deo, viuero de Deo. &c. To be with God, to be in God: to liue with God, to liue by God, to haue God who is the soueraigne Good, is soueraigne blessednesse, is life it selfe.

II. This Life is cal­led Euerlasting, because as it cometh of God and is nothing but the enioying of him, so it is like vnto him Iam 1.17. with him there is no variable­nesse, neither shadow of [Page 38]turning. Tis so with their life. It may grow better, and shal be better in the resurrection: It know­eth no interchangeable course of seasons. Tis al at once the spring time of most pleasant sights, the Summer all kind of pleasures, the haruest of al blessings, which feare no withering by the biting frost of a cold & mistie winter. God is eter­nall by nature: This life is eternall through his grace: God is eternall without beginning, & without ending: Reu. 1.8. which is, and which was, and [Page 39]which is to come. This life hath a beginning, but shall neuer haue an end. Tis rather euer­lasting then eternall.

So is the death of the wicked, to whom the great Iudge shall say at the last day, Math. 25.41. depart from me, ye cursed, into euer­lasting fire, prepared for the Diuel, and his Angels. O happy would they thinke themselues, if death could cut the thread of their life! Woe, woe, be vnto them. Reu. 9 6. In those dayes men shall seeke death, and shall not find it: And shall de­sire [Page 40]to die, and death shall flee from them. This shall be the fulnesse of their misery, that they shall disire to die, and know that they shal neuer die. But in this shall be the fulnesse of our felici­tie, that liuing in God, we shall know that we shall liue with him for euer and euer Barnard. de modo bene viuendi. Serm. 69. Atterna vitaest vita­lis, ista est mortalis. Idem. in Psal Qui habitat. Serm. 17. Est finis sine sine. This life whereby we liue in in those houses of clay is mortall: But eternall life is vitall and liuely: Tis an end without end.

III. For eternall life, is a full and euerlasting [Page 41]possession and fruition of al things which God hath promised vnto vs in Iesus Christ his Son: ye may reduce them all to this one, Reu. 21.3. Behold, the Taber nacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, & God him­selfe shall be with them, and be their God. Or as S. Paul saith in fewer words, 1 Cor. 15.28. God shall be all in all.

August. de Verbis Apo­stoli. Serm. 16. Quic­quid hic quaerebas, quicquid hic promagno habebas, ipse tibi erit &c What is that all in all? Whatsoeuer thou didst seeke here, whatsoeuer thou didst make great accompt of here, his owne selfe shal [Page 42]it vnto thee. Idem con­cio 1. in Psal 36. That which is gold, cannot be siluer vnto thee: That which is wine, cannot be bread vnto thee: that which is light, cānot be drinke vn­to thee. Thy God shall be all vnto thee. Thou sha't eate him that thou hunger not, thou shalt drinke him, that thou thirst not: thou shalt be inlightened by him, that thou be not blind, thousha't be holden vp by him, that thou faint not Posssidebit te totum integrum, totus integer; He entire and whole shal possesse thee in­tire and whole: he shall be al in thee all: thou shalt be [Page 43]all in him all. Totum habe­bis: Totum & ille habebit; quia tu & ille vnuus eritis. Thou shalt haue him all: he shall haue thee all: because thou and hee shall be one.

IV. This eternall life, which is the possession of all good in God through Iesus Christ, and the onely comfort of them which weepe and mourne, though it be alwayes one and the same, and not of sundry sorts, yet it hath some degrees: we are now in this land of the dying, Viatores, Trauellers and [Page 44]way-faring men, and in it wee haue the begin­nings of eternall life. In heauen, which is the land of the liuing, wee shall be Comprehensores, Owners and peaceable possessors of the en­tire and whole felicitie, which GOD hath prepared for his deare ones.

The Lord Iesus hath he not said in his prayer to his Father, Ioh. 17.3. This is life eternall, that they might know thee the onely true God, and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent? If eternall life be in the [Page 45]knowledge of God, as Christ saith: And if 1 Cor. 13.9.10. we know in part, as the Apo­stle saith, we haue alrea­die eternall life, but in part only, till that which is perfect come, and that which is in part, may be done away, or rather swallowed vp in that profound Ocean of per­fect blessednesse. Now we Rom. 8.23. haue the first fruits of the Spirit: Then we shall haue a most plentifull haruest. Now we haue 2 Cor. 1.2. the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts, as a part, and therefore a most as­sured pawne, of the to­tall [Page 46]summe which shall be giuen vs then. Now we say one to another, Psal. 34.6. O taste and see, that the Lord is good. Then Cyprian. de Laude Mar­tyrij, Ibi non gustabunt quāsuanis sit Deus, sed im­plebuntur et satiabuntur dalcedine mirificâ. Ni­hil deerit, nihil oberit. Omne deside­rium eorum Christus praesens im­plebit. we shall not onely taste how sweet God is, but we shall be filled and satisfied with a wonderfull sweetnesse: then nothing shall be wanting vnto vs: nothing shall hurt vs, because Christ by his presence shall fill all our desires.

V. Be not therefore deceiued: for if ye haue not the beginnings of eternall life in this bar­ren wildernesse of your pilgrimage, ye shall ne­uer [Page 47]come to the com­pleatness thereof in the pleasant and fruitfull land of your rest, wher­of it is written, Ps. 25.13. His soule shall lodge in goodness, and his seed shall inherite the earth.

Obiect not the words which wee reade in the first Epistle of S. Iohn, Ioh. 3.2. It doth not yet appeare what we shall be: for he speaketh of the full manife­station and fruition of our blessednesse, of the beginnings whereof he writeth in that same Chapter, Vers. 14. We know that we haue passed from death [Page 48]vnto life, because we loue the brethren. Euen as Christ affirmed, Ioh: 5.24. Verily, verily, I say vnto you: He that heareth my word, and beleeueth in him that sent me, hath euerlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is pas­sed from death vnto life. Consider and see, how by faith in Christ, by loue to our brethren for Christ, we haue already eternall life, and blesse God who hath giuen you faith and loue.

CHAP. III.

I. OVr first comfort and blessednesse in this world, is the forgiue­nesse of our sinnes.

II. Which is declared by the example of David.

III. Who affirmeth that mans blessednesse is the forgiuenesse of his sinnes.

IV. The same is verified by the example of a wo­man which was a Sinner.

V. To obtaine this first de­gree of blessednes, we must be reconciled with our brethren.

[Page 50] VI. Laudable custome of the Primitiue Church to end their publicke prayers with a kisse.

VII. We must weepe and pray to God, one for ano­ther & for our ownselues.

VIII. Exhortation.

I. Our first com­fort, & ther­fore the first degree of e­ternall life, or of our blessednesse in this world, is forgiuenesse of sinne: Because our first misery is sinne. Ye haue heard that eternall life is in God; & ye heare I­saiah [Page 51]saying, Isa. 59.2. Your ini­quities haue separated be­tween you and your God: And your sinnes haue hid his face from you, that he will not heare. If then a man be separated from God, as he is by sinne, his life is gone, his bles­sednesse is lost, misery is become his portion, and death his inheri­tance: wherfore he can­not be restored to his blessednesse, but by for­giuenesse of sin, wherby he is reconciled with God, receiued againe into his fauour, inlight­ned with the bright­nes [Page 52]of his countenance, quickned with his life, blessed with his grace, graced with all his bles­sings. This is the first gate of heauen: This is the first entrance into the kingdome of glo­ry.

Blessed should we be, if we could be without sinne. Seeing that can­not be, because Iam. 3.2. in ma­ny things wee offend all, blessed are wee, if our sinnes be forgiuen vs. This is known of them onely that know what sinne is, and whose eyes godly sorrow changeth [Page 53]into fountains of teares making their hearts to sigh, their eyes to weep, their tongues to cry in­cessantly for forgiuenes of sinne, which was ne­uer refused to any that did aske it with a con­trite and broken heart Can yee name me one among so many milli­ons of sinners, who did weepe before God, and lost his teares? Who did offer his supplication to the Father of mercies with a sound and single spirit, and was reiected? Saith he not, that Isa. 66.2. He will looke to him that is [Page 54]poore, and of a contrite spirit? He hath said it; and who wil say that he must not, or will not doe it?

II. Which of you is ignorant of Davids sin? Was it not most hai­nous in it selfe? Was it not exceeding sinfull, & horrible aboue mea­sure in such a man, who was so many wayes be­holden vnto his God?

Who can tell vs bet­ter then himselfe, how hatefull it was? He con­fesseth in the fiftie and one Psalme, that by it he had lost the fauour [Page 55]of his Sauiour, and fal­len from the heauen of all felicitie, into the hell of all misery: and there­fore feeling the damna­tion wherein he was in­gulsed, and desiring to recouer the saluation which he had lost, he maketh with moaning and mourning this true confession to Nathan, whom the Lord had sent to rebuke him, 2 Sam. 12.13. I haue sinned against the Lord. And knowing that a confession made to a mortall man, was not sufficient to repaire one offence committed [Page 56]against the immortall God, he rūneth straight to the throne of grace, he couereth his bodie with sackcloth, hee sprinckleth dust and a­shes vpon his head, hee taketh the apparell, the countenance, the words of a prisoner at the Bar, of a malefactor con­demned to die; He cry­eth with many teares to his Iudge, Psal. 51.1. Haue mercie vpon me, O God.

Scarcely is the word out of his mouth, when God, who knew the de­sire of his heart, blessed him with this comfor­table [Page 57]answer, vttered by a man, but proceeding from the bowels of mercie, from mercies owne selfe; The Lord al­so hath put away thy sin: Thou shalt not die. Then his heart was filled with ioy, then his bruised bones were healed, and moistned with the mar­row of gladnesse: then his face shined, then his eyes were two glistering diamonds between his browes: Then he leapt, then hee triumphed, then he sang, When I sinned, I was miserable: Now my sinnes are for­giuen [Page 58]me, and I am blessed.

III. Then Rom: 4.6.7.8. he descri­bed the blessednesse of the man, vnto whom God im­puteth righteousnes with­out workes, saying, Psal. 32.1.2. Bles­sed are they whose iniqui­ties are forgiuen, & whose sinnes are couered: Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sinne.

August. in Psal. 31. Conc. 2.He saith not blessed are they in whom no sinnes are found, but whose sinnes are coue­red. Sinnes are they co­uered? They are abolished. If God hath coue­red [Page 59]our sinnes, noluit ad­uertere, he would not behold them: Si noluit aduertere, noluit animad­uertere, If he would not be hold them, he would not take notice of them: Si noluit animaduertere, noluit punire: if he would not take notice of them, he would not punish them: Noluit agnoscere, maluit ignoscere, Hee would not know them, he choosed rather to forgiue them.

Oh consider, I pray you, this example, and this saying of David. He had great store of ri­ches, [Page 60]he was mightie in force, he ouerpeered all men in wisedome, God had put on his head a crowne of fine gold: he was peaceable at home, victorious and triumphant abroad; he had wise Captaines, valiant Souldiers, faith full Ser­jeants, obedient Sub­jects: His children were like Oliue plants round about his Table; no worldly Commodities were wanting to his de­sires, and loe they are dung vnto him; Loe he assigneth not blessednes vnto them, but vnto [Page 61]the forgiuenesse of sins. Therefore let vs cry af­ter him with sweet Ber­nard, Bernard. in Cantica. Ser. 23. O solus vere beatus, cui non im­putauit Do­minus pecca­tum. O the onely, O the true blessed man, to whom the Lord imputeth not sinne: For who is without sinne? None, no not one. ALL haue sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Neuerthelesse who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect: Tis sufficient to me, in stead of all righteousnesse, to haue God alone propitious vnto me, because to him alone I haue sinned. Whats;oeuer he hath decreed not to im­pute vnto men, is as if it [Page 62]had neuer beene: non peccare, Dei iustitia est: Hominis iustitia, in­dulgentia Dei. Not to sinne, is the righteousness of God: The righteousness of man, is Gods indulgence Gods mercifull fauour, whereby hee forgiueth sinne, is my blessedness. IV. This was the iudge­ment of a man who had beene an adulterer and a murtherer: Such also was the iudgement of a woman, whom the Scripture calleth, Luk. 7.37. A Sinner. She came to the Pharisees house, where Christ was. The Phari­sees of all men were most affectionate to the Law, Gal. 3.24. The Law is a pedagogue [Page 63]to Christ, Rom. 10.4. who is the end of the Law for righteous­nesse to euery one that be­leeueth. See the wise­dome of the woman: when shee is in the Pha­risees house, shee goeth not to him, who taught, who beleeued that man is saued by the righte­ousness of the Law; She said in her heart with David, Psal. 51.3. I acknowledg my transgression, my sinne is euer before mee: I haue transgressed the Law, I find no good workes in my life, which hath bin so lewd, that I dare not trust in it. Therefore, O [Page 64] Pharisee, I am come to thy house, but not to thee: Thou speakest of perfection of righteous­nesse, thou preachest of rewards, thou bragst of merites: I cry to my God; Psal. 130.3.4. If thou Lord shouldest marke iniquitie, O Lord, who shall stand. But there is forgiuenesse with thee, that thou mayest he feared. My misery is my sinne, my blessed­ness is his mercy: I haue need of forgiuenesse, I come to craue mercy, I haue hoised the sailes of my faith towards the only haven which God [Page 65]hath ordained for sin­ners, I flie to the port of Salvation, where the stormie windes of the law tearing asunder the mountaines, and brea­king in pieces the rocks before the Lord, blow not; where the still and small voice of the Gos­pel refresheth the con­science, which thirsteth after thee, O my God, like a drie land: I am come, ô Pharisee, to him who 1 Tim. 1.15. is come into the world, to saue sinners, of whom I am chiefe: He is in thy house: He is not of thy house.

[Page 66]So she thought, so h [...] hart spake. Out of hand she runneth to her Sa­uiour: And, to apply to her with the alteratiō of two words, that which S. Chrysostome hath written of the woman of Canaan; Chrysost. tom. 2. Ex varijs in Matthaum locis homil. 16. See the wise­dome of the woman: Shee intreats not Iames, shee prayeth not to Iohn, shee goeth not to Peter, shee loo­keth not to the company of the Apostles, shee sought not a Mediatour: In stead of them all she tooke repen­tance with her for compa­nion, which was to her in stead of an aduocate, and [Page 67]so she goeth straight to the Soueraigne Spring: for this, saith she, is he come downe from heauen: for this hath hee taken our flesh, for this was he made man, that I may be bold to goe vnto him. In the hea­uens aboue the Cherubims tremble before him, the Seraphims feare him, and here below a Whoore goeth vnto him. She speaketh not, she cryeth not with her mouth, as the Wo­man of Canaan did, Mat. 15 22. Haue mercy on mee, O Lord, thou sonne of Da­vid. Her humility spake for her. She stood at his [Page 68]feet behind him: Her god­ly sorrow for sinne cry­ed aloud vnto him, She washt his feet with teares, and wiped them with the haires of her head: Her loue was a most ardent prayer. She kissed them, she anointed them with oyntment: each of those actions was a sensible prayer, O Lord, O sweet Iesus, haue mercy on mee. Thou art come into the world to haue mercy on sinners, O sonne of God haue mercy on me: Thou hast taken our flesh, thou art become that which I am, to haue [Page 69]mercy on sinners: O sonne of Dauid haue mer­cy vpon mee. Thou art still that which thou wast, thou art become that which thou wast not; Now thou art both in one person, O Imma­nuel, O God and man haue mercy on me.

Woman what ayles thee? What cause hast thou to weepe? Iudge by Christs answer to her weeping prayers, what was the cause of her praying teares? Luk. 7.48.50. Thy sinnes, saith he, are for­giuen. For her sinne she wept, because her sinne [Page 70]was her misery: Her sin was forgiuen her, be­cause forgiuenesse of sinne was her felicitie. Simon the Pharisee made vnto him a feast of fl [...]sh, & filled vnto him cups of wine: The Lord had no stomacke for Simons meate; no thirst for his drinke: This woman, like vnto Gen. 27.9. Rebecca, who could make sauourie meat to Isaac, such as he loved, knowing that Ioh 4.34. his meat and drinke was to comfort and to saue repenting sinners, filleth vnto him a bowle of teares mingled with [Page 71]faith, and he pledgeth her in Psal. 116.13. the cup of salva­tion, saying vnto her, Thy faith hath saued thee: Goe in peace.

Deare brethren, if this day wee weepe as this sinner did, our fasting will bee feasting to Christ, our teares will be his drinke: If we cry to God as David did, Psal. 6.1.4.8. O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger: Returne, O Lord, deliver my soule: oh saue me for thy mercies sake. The Lord will come and speake to our soules, and wee shall re­turne home, saying with [Page 72]David, Depart from mee all ye workers of iniquity: for the Lord hath heard the voyce of my wee­ping.

V. I say, if ye pray so, the Lord will heare you: If ye weepe so, the Lord will comfort you: If yee trust not in the prayers one of another: If ye rely not vpon the prayers of the Church; but if euery one pray for himselfe. Heed what I say, I doe not forbid you to pray, and to weepe one for another; for I haue taught you, that the Saints did [Page 73]weepe and pray when their brethren sinned: did not God say to Iobs friends, Iob. 42.8. Goe to my ser­vant Iob, and offer vp for your selues a burnt offe­ring, and my servant Iob shall pray for you: for him will I accept? He com­manded them to goe to Iob whom they had of­fended, and to require his prayers: He com­manded them also to of­fer vp for themselues a burnt offering; to teach vs three most profitable lessons.

The first, that our prayers are not accep­ted [Page 74]of God, till we be re­conciled to our bre­thren: This is Christs lesson, saying, Mat. 5.23 24. If thou bring thy gift to the altar, & there remembrest that thy brother hath ought a­gainst thee: Leaue there thy gift before the altar, and goe thy way: first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

The second, that we must forgiue them which trespasse against vs; This Lesson also hath Christ our good Doctor taught vs, not onely Mat. 18.32. by the Parable [Page 75]of the wicked seruant, who was punished, be­cause he shewed no mercy to his fellow; but also in proper words, when he giueth vs this warning; Luk. 17.3.4. Take heed to your selues: If thy brother trespasse against thee, re­buke him, and if he repent, forgiue him: And if he trespasse against thee sea­uen times in a day, and se­uen times in a day turne againe to thee, saying, I repent; Thou shalt forgiue him. Protest wee not that we doe this, when according to our Ma­sters direction, wee cry [Page 76]to God in our daily prayers; Forgiue vs our trespasses, as we forgiue them that trespasse against vs? If we forgiue them from our heart, we will pray to God for them, as God said that Iob would pray for his friends: Therefore S t Iames sayth both to them who giue offence, and to them which suf­fer it, Iam. 5.16. Confesse your faults one to another: And pray one for another, that yee may be healed: for the ef­fectuall feruent prayer of arighteous man avayleth much.

[Page 77]VI. In all the congre­gations of the Primitiue Church, Iustin. Apol. 2. [...]. Precibus fi­ni [...]is mutuis nos inuicem osculis salu­tamus. Tertull de Oratione. cap. vlt. the brethren had a most vsefull and laudable custome, to seale and close vp their prayers, with mutuall imbracings and kisses, which they called, Ora­tionis signaculum, the seale of Prayer: And so they went to the Table of the Lord. They kept this Custome princi­pally in their fasting dayes, as a publike te­stimony, that they did forgiue one another, & were assured that God would heare their pray­ers, [Page 78]which they had of­fered vp vnto him with single and meeke heart purified of all inward grudge and rankor, and indued with brotherly charitie according to his holy and righteous commandement: If any man withdrew this kisse from his brother, he was rebuked and hissed of the whole congrega­tion, which being an as­sembly of holy & true louers, could not abide a brother, who bewraied the ill-will and hatred of his heart, when he re­fused the kisse of his mouth.

[Page 79]This custome was grounded vpon the cu­stome of the Iewes, who at their meetings did kisse one another, and vpon the expresse com­mandement of the A­postles. For S. Paul ex­horteth the Romans, Rom. 16.16. 1 Cor. 16.20. 2 Cor. 13.12. 1 Thes. 5.26. 1 Pet. 5.14. the Corinthians, the Thessalo­nians, to greete one ano­ther with an [...]h [...] kisse: And S. Peter exhorteth the brethren, to greet one another with a kisse of charitie. Not with the kisse of religious homage, which is due to God a­lone and him whom he hath sent, our Lord Iesus [Page 80]Christ, Psal. 2.12. as it is written, Kisse the Sonne not with the kisse of superstitious homage to idoles, as the Israelites kissed Baal, 1 Kings 19 18. Hosea. 13.2. and the calues: Not with the kisse of naturall af­fection onely, such as is vsual among those who are of kinred, and nigh friends, as when Isaac kissed his Sonne Iacob, Gen. 27.27. and Iacob kissed his kinswoman Rachel. Gen. 29.11. Not with the kisse of humani­tie and ciuilitie, such as were frequent among the Iewes, when they did meet one another, or when they invited a [Page 81]friend to their houses, whereof Christ spake, when he said to Simon the Pharisee who had invited him, Luke 7.45. Thou gauest me no kisse: Plin. lib. 14. c. 13. Ideo propinquos foeminis oscu­lum dare, vt scirent an [...]e­metumole­rent. Not with the kisse of triall, such as was much vsed among the Romans who kissed their wiues and kins­women to try if they had drunke wine, nonnius ex Cicer. 3. de Repub. Ca­rent remet [...] omnes mulieres. Gellius. lib. 10. cap. 23. and if they did sent of it, killed them; for amongst thē it was a crime in a wo­man to drinke wine: Farre lesse with the kisse of treacherie and treason shadowed with the cloake of friendship & [Page 82]loue, as when Ioab kis­sing Amasa killed him, 2 Sam. 20.9.10. Luke 22.48 and Iudas betrayed our Lord Iesus Christ with a kisse. Pro. 27.6. Faithfull are the wounds of a friend: but the kisses of an enemie are deceitfull. In no case with the vncleane and vnchast kisse of wan tonnesse, whereof it is written that the Harlot met a yong man, Pro. 7.13. caught him, Origen. ad Roman. cap. 16.16. Osculum fi­dele primum castum sit, d [...] ­inde pacem simplicita­tem (que) habeat in chari ta [...] non ficta. and kissed him: but with an holy kisse, where­in there is no vnclean­nesse; and with a kisse of charitie, wherein their is no dissembling, but a cleare demonstration [Page 83]of a peaceable and lo­ving heart.

Where such holy kisses were vsuall, were there, thinke ye, any iarres, any alterations, any cousenage, any conten­tions at law? Or if any, were they not presently smothered and extin­guished in the very eyes of the congregation? I know the precept of the Apostle is not vni­uersall, and that we are not tyed by it to the cu­stome of kissing: But this ye must all know, that he thing signified thereby, to wit, cōcord, [Page 84]peace, charitie, is a law both vniuersal and per­petuall. And therefore as our fasting giueth wings to our prayers, that they may mount vp to the throne of grace swiftly, so let vs this day by an vnfained reconciliation, if there be any iarres amongst vs, and with christian charity, grace & imbel­lish them, that cōming there, they may be wel­come and accepted.

VII. The third is, that euery one weepe, and pray for himselfe as Iobs friends were cō ­manded [Page 85] to offer vp for themselues a burnt offe­ring. This lesson is im­plyed in my text. For to whom doth Christ promise that they shall be comforted? To them which mourne. Salomon bids vs? Pro. 31.6.7. giue strong drinke vnto him that is ready to perish, and wine vnto those that be of hea­uie hearts: Let him drink and forget his pouertie, and remember his misery no more. This Christ doth: He maketh glad with the wine of his comforts the hearts which are heauie for [Page 86]sinne: for who that is not witlesse will giue wine to him who is al­ready too merrie? Let not any man be decei­ued. Though this whole Church, though all the Churches of God, Though all the Saints, all the Angels of heauen should pray for one of you, if that one weep not, if he pray not for himself, God wil not heare them to forgiue him his sins? Iam. 5.17 18. Eliah may fast and pray for raine, when wicked Achab feastes, & God wil heare him. Moses prayed of­ten [Page 87]for the people, and God remoued frō them temporall plagues; But he did neuer forgiue sinne to any man, who praied not for himselfe.

Yea Moses prayed for his sister Miriā, who for her sin was strucke with leprosie, Num. 12.13. He cryed vn­to the Lord saying, Heale her now, O God, I beseech thee, and he was heard. Did not Samuel mourne for Saul vnprofitably? For God sayd vnto him. 1 Sam. 16.1. How long wilt thou mourne for Saul, seeing I haue reiected him? Did not Ieremiah pray and [Page 88]mourne incessantly for the people of Iuda, and was not heard? Ierem. 11.14. Pray not thou for this people, sayth God vnto him, neither lift vp a crie or prayer for them. For Ierem 15.1. though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: Cast them out of my sight, and [...]et them goe forth. Doubt­lesse Ezechiel prayed for Ierusalem, when the Lord said vnto him Ezech. 14.20. Though Noah, Daniel & Iob were in it, as I liue, they shall deliuer neither Sonne nor Daughter Thinkest thou tha [...] [Page 89]God will heare another weeping for thy sins, so long as he heareth thee blaspheming his holy Name, and seeth thee wallowing with delight and content in the mire of filthy pleasure?

But if thou weepest and prayest for thy selfe hee will heare thee, al­though all other mens and Angels mouthes were dumble. Though all hearts were merry, though al cheekes were dry, and no vapours a­scended from the eyes, no tongue darted pray­ers vp to heauen, but [Page 90]thine. For Chrysost. in Math. homil. 5. tom. 2. Namet Deus gratiam, non tam alijs ro­gantibus pro nobis vult donare, quam nobis, God delightes to giue grace, not so much to others which pray for vs, as to our selues: Take for example Dauid, Ma­nasseh, the forlorne Son, the woman of whom I haue spoken, the Theefe on the Crosse, and Peter who wept and prayed for themselues, when no body that we reade of prayed for them yea, saith Idem, ho­mil depro­fecta, Euan­gelij, tom. 3. Chrysostome, wilt thou learne, that when we pray for our selues we come better speed with God, then when others pray for vs. The woman of Canaan cryed. Matth 15.23. and the [Page 91]Disciples came and be­sought him, saying, Send her away, for shee crieth after vs: But he answered to them, and said, I am not sent, but vnto the lost sheepe of the house of Israel: But when she com­meth her selfe, and holds on her crying, and saith, Truth Lord, yet the Dogs eate of the crummes which fall from their ma­sters table, then he gaue her a benefit; and said, Be it vnto thee euen as thou wilt. Yee see how he reiects her, when others pray for her, and grants her requests when shee [Page 92]prayeth her selfe.

VII. Beloued auditors, retaine and keepe in your sanctified me­mories these three les­sons, and now, euen now put them in pra­ctise: I beseech you, I pray you for Christs sake, Col. 3.12.13. put on, as the elect of God, holy, and beloued, the bowels of mercies kindnes, humblenes of mind, meeknes, long suffering, forbearing one another, & forgiuing one another, if any man haue a quarrell against any: Euen as Christ forgaue you, so also doe yee. Eph. 6.18. Pray alwayes with all [Page 93]prayer, and supplication in the spirit, and watch thereunto with all perse­uerance, and supplication for all Saints. Namely take heede that euery one of you pray and weepe, this day & euery day for your ownselues.

Which if ye doe with with an vnfained repen­tance, doubt not of the forgiuenesse of your sins: for God hath saith, that Esa. 1.18. though y [...]ur, sins be as Scarlet, they shall be as white as snow: though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. And I am sent to you of God [Page 94]this day, as Paul was to the Iewes of Antioche, Act. 13.38.39. To preach vnto you through Christ the for­giuenesse of sinnes: And that by him all that be­leeue, are iustified from all things, from which ye could not be iustified by the Law of Moses.

CHAPTER IV.

I THe second comfort and blessednesse promised to them which weepe, is deli­uerance from the pu­nishment [Page 95]of sinne.

II. If they suffer for righ­teousnesse sake, the cause of their suffe­rings is a comfort vnto them.

III. God deliuereth them in a conuenient time.

IV. Till that time come, he strengtheneth vs with his holy Spirit.

IV. Apostates which fall away are no true mem­bers of Christs Church.

I B [...]essed are we, if God hath bles­sed vs with this first and most neces­sarie [Page 96]blessing forgiue­nesse of sinnes: for to whom hee forgiueth sinnes, he giueth all o­ther necessary com­forts. And therefore our second comfort is, that putting away from be­fore his eyes the iniquitie of our sinnes, he will also take away from our backes the punishment of them: For when the cause is gone, the effect must cease.

If ye desire a proofe of this truth, hearken to David, saying in the 32. Psalme, Psal. 32.5. I acknowledged my sinne vnto thee, and [Page 97]mine iniquity haue I not hid: I said I will confesse my transgressions vnto the Lord: And thou hast taken away the punish­ment of my sinne. Did not the Lord say to Heze­kiah who had wept and prayed vnto him, 2 Kings 20.3.5. I haue heard thy prayer, I haue seene thy teares: Be­hold I will heale thee? This healing of the bo­dy was an effect of the healing of the soule, as the good King confes­sed in his song of thankesgiuing, when he said to his God, Esa 38.17. Thou hast in loue to my soule de­liuered [Page 98]it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sinnes behind thy backe.

So yee reade in the Gospell of Matthew, that Christ when hee was to cure one sicke of the Palsie, said first vnto him, Matth. 9.2.6. Sonne, be of good cheare thy sinnes be for­giuen thee: And conse­quētly, Arise, take vp thy bed, and goe vnto thine owne house.

This is the order of Gods blessings: the first is the forgiuenesse of sinne: The second is the remouing of the [Page 99]punishment of sinne. But we put the Plough before the Oxen, we weepe and cry desiring to be deliuered of the punishment of sinne, & are not heard, because we haue not sought with teares the forgiue­nesse of sinne.

II. If we be persecu­ted for Righteousnes sake as many of our deare breathren are now, wee haue subiect of comfort in the middest of our sufferings, because we know that the cause of our sufferings is not on­ly good and honest, [Page 100]but also most honora­ble. So saith Christ, bid­ding vs Matth. 5.21. reioyce and be exceeding glad, when we are persecuted for righte­ousnes sake, and reuiled for his sake. So thought his Apostles, when Act. 5.41. they departed from the presence of the Councell, reioycing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his Name. Such brands are rather glori­ous then disgracefull: wherefore then should we not reioyce in them?

III. If we had no o­ther share lotted vnto vs, but afflictions, how [Page 101]could we subsist, and what should become of our hope? Therefore Iesus Christ said to his Disciples; Iohn 16.20. Verily, veri­ly, I say vnto you, that yee shall weepe and lament, but the world shal reioyce: yee shall be sorrow full: but your sorrow shall be turned into ioy. Consider how turned into ioy.

First the Apostle saith, 1 Cor. 10 13 God is faithfull, who wil not suffer you to be temp­ted aboue that you are a­ble: but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that yee may be able to beare it. And [Page 102]how often hath God made such a way to his afflicted Church? How often hath beene ful­filled that which Da­uid saith, Psal. 34.6. This poore man cryed, and the Lord heard him, and saued him out of all his troubles? How many examples might I produce of Gods most wonderful deliuer āces, whereby the sorrow of his children was turned into ioy, and the day of their mourning and fasting, into a good day of feasting, and of glad­nesse; as in Ester 9.19 22. the time of Queen Esther?

[Page 103]Leaving other exam­ples, whereof I haue spoken else where, let vs consider one which cannot be yet worne out of our memories. I speake of the Churches of France. The wind with most horrible noice blowed vpon vs whole stormes of bul­lets and firie raine: The sea wrought, and of a plaine became high mountaines which we could not ouerswim: Her flouds swelled, her billowes roared, her proud and outragious waues gauesuch blowes [Page 104]against the small skiffe wherin Iesus was asleep, and redoubled them with such swiftnesse & violence, that neither could the shipper di­rect, nor the steeresman stand at the rudder, nor the mariners resist. Thē our eares and our eyes hauing nothing before them, but monstrous cries of roaring voyces, but vgly darknesse, but terrible images of deso­lation and death; Then seeing our little boat ready to be driuen vp­on the Rocke of de­struction; Then no­thing [Page 105]being left vs but feare, but dismaidnes, but despaire of safetie, but expectation of a loath some end, we ran to the Lord who was a sleepe; and awoke him, crying as the A­posties did, when vpon the tempestuous Sea they were a type of the Church. Matth. 8.25.26. Lord saue vs, we perish. Then Fsal. 121.4. the kee­per of Israel, who neither slumbers nor sleeps, a­rose: Then he spake to the windes, and they spake no more: he re­buked the waues of the Sea, and they le­uelled [Page 106]their moun­taines, they sleeked the furrowes of their angry browes, they changed their wrinkles into smoothnes, their croo­kednesse into euennesse their roughnesse into a faire plaine? He made the storme a calme, and when we could not be in a harder plight, as being without hope to escape, he directed our course to a more safe & pleasant hauen, then that which is nigh vn­to the Citie of Lasea, called Act. 27 8. the Faire hauens. So we arriued to the [Page 107]harbour of grace, to the port of peace, to the vnlooked for, but much desired hauen of tranquillitie and qui­etnesse. This was the fruite, this was the effect of our humiliation, of our fasting, of our mourning and prayers in France.

Vndoubtedly the same cause shall bring foorth the same effect in the Palatinate, and other parts of Germanie. They haue a longer winterthen we had. Tis now their sowing time, and now they sow in [Page 108]teares: Their haruest shall come, then shall be accōplished that which is written, Psal. 126 5. They that sow in teares, shall reape in ioy. Psal. 147.9. God heareth the voyce of the young Ra­uens which cry, and will he not heare the voyce Luke 18.7.8. of his owne e­lect, which cry day and night vnto him? I tell you, saith Christ, that hee will auenge them speedily. Psal. 14.7. O that the Saluation of Israel were come out of Sion: when the. Lord bringeth backe the captiuitie of his peo­ple, Iacob shall reioyce, [Page 109]and Israel shall be glad.

IV. Secondly, God hath a time ordained for his deliverances, which the scripture cal­leth Ps. 69.13. Isa. 49.3. an acceptable time. Till that time come, the Lord sweetneth the bit­ter gall of bodily tribu­lations, with the honey of his spirituall com­forts: As Christ said to his Disciples, Ioh. 16.22. Now yee haue sorrow, but your ioy no man taketh from you. For euen then the com­forter, Rom. 8.16. the Spirit of a­doption beareth witnesse with our spirit, that wee are the children of God: [Page 110]And that comfort is so great, that when wee weepe, wee weepe for ioy, and say with the Apostle, 2 Cor. 1.5. As the suffe­rings of Christ abound in vn, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

Tis a wonder to be­hold the true Christian in the time of his trou­ble and distresse: Men seeke to bring him downe to the ground, but hope lifts him vp a­boue the skie: As when David said, Psal. 94.18.19. My foot slip­peth, the experience of Gods wonderfull assistance made him to say [Page 111]forth with, Thy mercy, O Lord, held me vp: In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soule. When men haue done what they can to overcome him with bitter iests, with sharpe stripes, and cruell tortures, he over­cometh them with pa­tience; And in him is verified that which the Apostle said, 2 Cor. 4.8.9. Wee are troubled on euery side, yet not distressed: we are per­plexed, but not in de­spaire; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast downe, but not destroyed.

[Page 112]As Plin. histor. natural. l. 12. cap. 25. the Balme, which of all liquors hath the sweetest and most plea­sant smell, distills not from the Balsame tree till it be pricked: So the most precious graces of the Spirit of GOD, wherwith the foules of truely religious Christi­ans are beautified, their faith, their zeale, their patience, their constan­cie, their contempt of the world, their earnest desire of heauēly things flow neuer so aboun­dantly, as when the sword of perse cution makes in them a deepe [Page 113]incision. Therefore the Lord hath troden the Virgin, the daughter of Iudah as in a Wine­presse, and he hath pres­sed and wrung out of her the most excellent liquor of her faith, hope and charitie, which be­fore was hid in the grapes, and vnder the faire skin of a peaccable profession.

V. On the other part, tis a monstrous specta­cle to behold then the ficklenesse and incon­stancie of counterfeit professors, who fearing the weight of GODS [Page 114]Wine-presse, conueigh themselues away from vnder it, and doe euen as if one who desires to be esteemed an honest man, when he seeth robbers and way-layers comming to the com­pany where he is, did troupe and ioine hands with them, to take his friends purse, or life from him, to saue his owne; 2 Pet. 2.21. It had beene bet­ter for them not to haue knowne the way of righte­onsnesse, then after they haue knowne it, to turne from the holy commande­ment delivered vnto [Page 115]them. I will not com­pare the true Christian to a tree in the king­dome of Congo, called by the Portugalians, Arbor tri­stis. The sorrowfull tree, be­cause it neither buds, nor blossomes, nor brings forth fruit, but in the night, and in the day is without fruit, flowers, or leaues, as if it were dead: for the Christian is like vnto the Palme-tree, which is greene both day and night; though his god­linesse shineth more brightly, like a Dia­mond, in the night of [Page 116]his aduersitie, then in the day of his prosperi­tie. But well may I compare those painted Christians to the herbe called Heliotropium or Turnesol, be cause it tur­neth with the Sunne both arising and going downe; For so long as prosperous dayes shine vpon them, they follow Christ, who is Mal. 4.2. the Sun of righteousnesse: But if to put his children to a triall of their faith, he hide himselfe for a little while in a darke night of persecution, forth­with they turne their [Page 117]backes vnto him, and forsake him.

Great and wailefull is their losse: Neverthe­lesse, the Church find­eth in it a great gaine, & in weeping for them matter of ioy for her selfe. For what are they but super fluous and vn­profitable Ezech. 5.1.2. haire of the mystical body of Christ, which he burnes with fire or scattereth in the wind, when he taketh a rasour to trimme the head and the beard of his Church? but Ezech. 22.18. brasse, tinne, yron, lead, drosses which are euaporated [Page 118]& vanish away in stinc­king & pestilent smoak, when Mal. 3.3. the refiner and purifier of the sonnes of Levi, taketh his gold and his siluer to melt and purge them in the furnace of triall? but the scum which the Caul­dron of the Church ca­steth out, when it seeths and bubbles at the fire of persecution? but Psal. 1.4. chaffe which the winde driueth away, when the Lord taketh Mat. 3.12. his fann [...] in his hand, & a broome to sweepe and purge throughly his floare? but Ioh. 15.1. the fruitlesse bran­ches [Page 119]of the true vine, which the heavenly Vine-dresser takes a­way, and casts into the fire of his indignation? but August in Epist. Iohan. tract. 3. Non de carne mea praecisi sunt, sed pectus mihi preme­bant, cum inessent, &c. ill humours which lay heavie vpon the sto­macke of the Church? but noisome and rotten deiections which shee avoyds into the iakes of the world, when the Physician of the soule hath giuen her to drink a bitter potion in the cup of tribulation? When such filthy excre­ments are euacuated she is not so grosse, so swol­len and puffed vp as she [Page 120]was, but shee is more healthful. Finally, what are they but like vnto woodden legs, or to a Creple-mans staffe, which, when he is cu­red of his disease, he casteth away, and not on­ly looseth nothing of his owne, but also re­ceiueth a benefit, and thankes God, that they are not more behooue­full vnto him?

CHAP. V.

1 OVr first comfort in heaven, is, that wee shall be without sinne;

2 The second, that we shall be free from all miserie;

3 The third, that our faith and hope shall bee chan­ged into the reall possession of the thing beleeved and hoped for.

4 What shall bee then the blessednes of our soules,

5 And of our bodies.

6 Eternall life more fully described by seven circum­stances.

7 Then the wicked shall see the glory of Gods children; who also shall see the torments [Page 122]of the wicked, and praise God incessantly.

8 Exhortation & praier.

I. AS at the mar­riage Ioh. 2.10 in Ca­na of Galilee, all the wine was good; but that which was gi­ven last, was the best: so all those comforts whereof I have spoken, are most excellent; but the last, which God gi­veth to his children at the last day of their lives, and which he shall fill to them in the un­measurable bowles of his infinit mercies at the last day of the world, [Page 123]surpasseth them all.

Our comfort and our blessednes is now, that our sinnes are forgiven us: our comfort, our blessednes shall be then, that we shall be without sinne. Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord: they rest from their labours. Their first, their last, their most continu­all and toilsome labour, is their sinne: from it they rest. And therfore the holy Apostle Rom. 7 24 desi­red to die, that his bles­sednes, which consisted onely in forgivenesse of sinne, by death might [Page 124]bee changed into the blessednesse of abolish­ment of sinne: for then there shall bee no sinne, because there shall bee no inticement, no al­lurement to sin. Rev. 21 27 There shall in no wise enter into the holy City, any thing that defileth. Nothing is able to defile us, but sinne: and therefore to it wee shall say in that day, Get thee hence, stād without. Rev. 22 15 For with­out are dogs, and sorce­rers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and ido­laters, and whosoever lo­veth and maketh a lie. [Page 125]What is sinne, but a lie? What is a sinner, but a lover, but a maker of lies? But within are they of whom it is writ­ten, Esay 60.21 Thy people shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for e­ver; the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glo­rified. O Lord, Psalm 118.9, 20 open to me the gates of righteous­nes: I will go into them, and I wil praise the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord, into which the righteous shall enter. I wil praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become [Page 126]my salvation.

II. Our comfort and our blessednes is now, that when Rev. 17 4 the Whore of Babylon drinketh unto us, in the cup of her abo­minations and fornicati­ons, not the health, but the death of our soules, God strengtheneth us with Esa. 11.2 the spirit of might, which maketh us to say to him, Psalm 73.27, 28 Loe, they that are farre from thee, shall perish. Thou hast destroied all them that goe awho­ring from thee: but it is good for mee to draw neer to God. I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I [Page 127]may declare al thy works.

Our comfort and our blessednes is now, that when our enemies make us to drink great bowles of salt teares in stead of wine, we drink stoutly, and are not drunk, and stagger not any way from our profession: when they bait us, they cannot abate us: when they presse us, they can­not oppresse us: when they cut the thread of our mortall life, vvee rejoice with joy un­speakable, and full of glory, because we know that God will knit and [Page 128]fasten our soules to the thread of immortalitie, which his owne hands have spun.

Our comfort, our blessednes will be then, that Rev. 21 4. God shal wipe away all teares from our eyes: and there shal be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shal there be any more pain. Rem. Fe­lices lachry­mae, quas be­nignae manus Conditoris abstergunt! O bles­sed tears, which the mer­cifull hands of the Crea­tor wipe away! Then Rev. 20 14 death and hell shall bee cast into the lake of fire. Then we shall with tri­umphing voices desie death, and say, 1. Cor. 15.55 O death, [Page 129]where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy vic­tory?

III. Our comfort & our blessednesse now, is our faith. 'Tis our bles­sednesse, that Christ dwels in us: and Eph. 3.17 hee dwelleth in our hearts by faith. Now, by faith; u Now, Aug. de verb. Apost. ser. 16. as long as wee are in the way; now, as long as wee are in our pilgri­mage; now, 2. Cor. 5.6, 7 whiles wee are at home in the body, wee are absent from the Lord: for wee walke by faith, not by sight. Now we are in the world, be­sieged on all sides with [Page 130]Armies of enemies: and 1. Iohn 5.4 this is the victory that overcometh the world, e­ven our faith.

Then we shall dwell Cant. 8.14 in the mountaine of spi­ces, in the Countrey of Eden, in the Paradise of felicity, of glory, and of joy. Greg. in 7. Psalm poenit. Vbi est lux sine defectu, gaudium sine ge­mitu, desiderium sine poe­nâ, amor sine tristitiâ, sa­tietas sine fastidio, sospi­tas sine vitio, vita sine morte, salus sine languo­re: Where there is light without any defect, glad­nesse without mourning, desire without pain, love [Page 131]without sorrow, fulnesse without loathsomenesse, safenesse without imper­fection, life without death, salvation without any languishing feeble­nesse: where wee shall enjoy all felicity with Heb. 12 22, 23 the innumerable compa­nie of the Angels, with the generall Assembly & Church of the first-borne, with the spirits of iust men made perfect. For then we shal be citizens of heaven, fellows to all the Saints, like unto the blessed Angels, heires of God, joint heirs with Christ.

[Page 132]Now our comfort & our blessednesse is our hope. Hope is necessary unto a wayfaring man: hope comforteth him in the way. A man who is on his journey, endu­reth all kinde of travell, so long as he hopeth to come to his journeyes end: Aug. de verb. Apost. ser. 16. T [...]ll [...] illi spem per­veniendi, continuò franguntur vires ambu­landi. Take from him that hope, by and by ye shall see him discoura­ged, his strength weak­ned, his journey broken off. Wee are all travel­lers, all on our journey to heaven. The staffe which upholdeth us, the spurre which setteth us [Page 133]forward in the way, is our hope: Rom 8.24, 25. for we are sa­ved by hope. But hope that is seen, is no hope: for, what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if wee hope for that wee see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Aug. ibid. In this patiēce the Martyrs were crow­ned: Desidora­bant quod non videbāt, contem [...]e­bant quae fo­rebant. they desired the things w ch they suffred: in this hope they said, Rom 8.35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tri­bulation, or distresse, or persecution, or famine, or nakednesse, or perill, or [Page 134]sword? O the strength! O the power of hope!

1. Ioh. 3.2. Beloved, now we are the Sonnes of God, now wee are predestinated, called, iustified, adop­ted: and it doth not yet appeare, what we shall be: therefore we hope: for we know, that when hee shall appeare, we shall bee like him: for we shall see him as he is, i. e. we shall enioy him, Bern in fes [...]o omnium Sanctor. serm. 4. 1. in all his creatures: 2. in our selves: 3. in his owne selfe: for then we shall know the blessed Trini­ty in its own selfe: then, with the pure eye of our [Page 135]heart, wee shall behold that incomprehensible, that unspeakeable glo­ry, not 1. Cor 13.12. through a glasse in a riddle, as now in his workes, in his Word, in his Sacraments; but face to face. Then we shall no more walk by faith, but by sight. And Aug. eod. Spes tam non erit, quia erit res. hope shal bee no more, because wee shall enioy the thing ho­ped for. Now Col. 3.3, 4. our life is hid with Christ in God: when Christ, who is our life, shall appeare, then shall ye appeare with him also in glory. O how glo­rious is that glory! who shall give mee words to [Page 136]utter it aptly? Eye hath not seen, nor eare heard, neither hath entred into the heart of man, what brightnesse, what sweet­nesse, what pleasantnes, what glory God hath prepared for them that l [...]ve him: This is that Phil. 4.7 peace of God which pas­seth all understanding: Bern. ibid. Quod ergo nulli datum est expertri, nullus cone­tus affari. wherefore that which no man is able to un­derstand, let no man go about to utter.

IV. Yet, if yee will suffer me to fumble, and to speake of such things as I can; since I cannot speake of them as I [Page 137]would, 'Ile make to you a short description, and draw rudely, as it were with a coale or blacke inke, the first lineaments of the bright-shining light of that glory.

Man, as ye know, is framed of two parts: of a soule, and of a body. The wise men of the world say, that in the soule there are three fa­culties or natures, w ch they call reasonable, sen­suall, and cholericke. By the first wee reason and discourse: by the se­cond, we couet meates, drinkes, all sorts of de­lights: [Page 138]by the third, we are angry. In the first, so long as we are in this world, there is know­ledge and ignorance; for 1. Cor. 13.9. we know in part: In the second, there is de­sire and disdaine: In the third, there is ioy and an­ger. But in that day, Bern. ibid. im­plebit Deus rationale no­strum luce sapientiae: im­plebit concupiscibile no­strū fōte iustitiae, &c. God will fill our reasonable part with the light of wisedome: our sensuall part with a fountaine of righteousnesse: our chole­ricke part with perfect [Page 139]tranquillitie. Then wee shall know God with all our minde, as wee are knowne of him: then, beeing filled with his righteousnesse, we shall ever love him with all our hearts, and still de­sire him; ever bee satis­fied with his likenesse, and still hunger after him; ever rejoyce in his goodnesse, and never be weary of rejoycing in him. Nihil quippe aut deest semper videntibus, aut superest semper volen­tibus: For there nothing is wanting to them who see God alwayes; nothing [Page 140]is overmuch to them who desire alwayes. This is the blessed comfort wherewith Lazarus is comforted in Abrahams bosome; as Abraham said, Luk. 16.25. Now he is comfor­ted.

V. Mans body is made of the foure Ele­ments; of earth, water, ayre, and fire. Ex Bern. ibid. Habe­bit Terra nostra immor­talitatem, Aqua impassi­bilitatem, Aer agilita­tem, Ignis perfectissimam pulchritudinē: Our earth shall receive immortali­tie, and shall not returne unto earth againe. Our [Page 141]water shall be glorified with impassibilitie, and shall not be subiect to a­ny passion or sufferings, which may hurt and grieve us. Our aire shall have such agilitie and promptnesse, Aug, de Civit. dei, lib 22. cap. 30. Certe ubi volet Spiritus, ibi protinus o­rit & cor­pus. that it shall quickly carry the body wheresoever the soule will have it to go. Our fire shall be beauti­fied with the most won­derfull light of all faire­nesse.

If the Exod. 34.29, 30. skin of Moses face, after he had beene fortie dayes with God in Moūt Sinai, shone so brightly, that the peo­ple [Page 142]was afraid to come nigh him: how bright­ly, I pray you, shal shine the bodies of the Saints, when they shal be trans­ported by the holy An­gels unto Mount Sion, and enlightened with the glorious light of the face of God shining up­on them night and day, world without end!

The Lord Iesus him­self saith, that Mat. 13.43. the righ­teous shall shine foorth as the Sunne, in the king­dome of their father. And the holy Apostle saith, that Phil. 3.20, 21. wee looke for the Saviour, the Lord Ie­sus [Page 143]Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may bee fashioned like unto his glorious body. In his transfiguration, w ch was but a praeludium of his glorification, Mat. 17 2. his face did shine as the Sun, & his rayment was white as the light.

If such was the glory not onely of his body, but of his raiment also, when hee was upon earth; how wonderfull and glorious is his body now in heaven! And if our bodies are to be like unto his in glory, what hart can conceive, what [Page 144]speech can expresse the greatnes of that glory! How radiāt & glittring shall then be the beams of the glorious bodies of all the Saints toge­ther, when each of us shall bee so glorious! So then saith S. Bernard, allegorizing the words of the psalm, Psalm 72.19 The whole earth shall bee filled with his glory: Bern. ibid. So will GOD fill our soules, when in them shall bee perfect sci­ence, perfect righteousnes, perfect ioy: So the whole earth shall bee filled with his glory, when the bodie shall be incorruptible, im­passible, [Page 145]nimble, and fa­shioned like unto his glo­rious body.

VI. But what is all this that I have said, or can say of eternall life? It is as if I should paint the fair light of the Sun with the blackest coale. O the last comfort of the Christian man, how blessed art thou! ô bles­sed life of them that hunger and thirst after thee, how comfortable art thou for the thing which we shall enjoy in thee, for the meanes, for the measure, for the time, for the certainty, for the [Page 146]place, for the companions of that cōfortable bles­sednes, of that blessed comfort!

The thing shall bee God himselfe; Ber. Deus omne bonum, & summum bonum. God, who is all goodnes; God, who is the soveraigne good. Now wee make our mone with David, and say, Psalm 42.2, 23. My soule thir­steth for God, for the li­ving God: when shall I come and appeare before GOD? But as Lyranus saith upon the sixt chap­ter of S. Iohn, Is status est vita aeterna, ut faciat tūc Deus, ut videamus quod credidimus, manducemus [Page 147]quod esurivimus, habea­mus quod amavimus & desideravimus: Eternall life is a state wherein God will make us to see that which we beleeved, to eat that for which wee were hungry, to have that wch wee loved and desired.

The means shall be no means: wee shall enjoy him by himselfe imme­diately: As Saint Iohn saith, that Rev. 22 22, 23 hee saw no Temple in the heavenly Ierusalem: for the Lord God Almightie and the Lamb are the Temple of it; and the City, saith he also, had no need of the [Page 148]Sun, neither of the Moon, to shine in it: for the glo­ry of God did lighten it, & the Lamb is the light thereof.

The measure shall bee Luke 6 38. good measure, pressed downe, and shaken toge­ther, and running over, given into our bosome. For Bernard. Deus futurus est in­tellectui plenitudo lucis, voluntati multitudo pa­cis, memoriae continuatio aeternitatis: nam quic­quid olim inchoavit & praeparavit gratia, tunc absolvet & perficiet glo­ria: God shall bee to our minde fulnesse of light; [Page 149]to our will, multitude of peace; to our memory, con­tinuatiō of eternity: then whatsoever grace hath begun in us, glory will make it perfect.

The time shall not be Aug. in Mat. sor. 17 Ʋbi sunt dies bow, nec mul­ti, sed u [...]s. Dies ille nes­cit ortum, nescit occa­sum: illi di [...] non succedit crastinus, quia non pra­cedit tum besternus. many daies, but one; A most wonderfull day: A day which hath no ri­sing, no setting; A day which is not followed by another, because another day is not gone before it. Psalm 30.5. Weeping soiourneth in the evening, but singing commeth in the morning. We are now in the eve­ning of our misery, and therefore weeping so­journes [Page 150]journes with us: wee shal be then in the mor­ning of our felicity. Then Mal. 4.2 the Sunne of righ­teousnes shall arise unto us; Sunne whereof the Prophet saith, Esay 60 20. Thy Sun shall no more goe downe; neither shall the Moone withdraw it self: for the Lord shall bee thine ever­lasting light, & the daies of thy mourning shall bee ended.

The place shall be new heavens, and a new earth, wherin dwelleth righte­ousnes. If this heaven, which we see enamelled with so many bright & [Page 151]glistering starres, be so glorious; if this earth, which is diapred with such a pleasant and pro­fitable diversity of so many creatures, and is inhabited by sinners, be so faire: how glorious will the new heavens bee, how faire will the new earth be, which are prepared to be the bles­sed habitation of righ­teous men!

The certainty shall be most certaine: Aug. do civ. Doi, l. 12 c. 13. Quomo­do enim vera beatitudo est, de cuius nun­quam aeterni­tate confidi­tur? for that cannot be true blessednes, of the eternity whereof we are not assured.

The companions shall [Page 152]bee all the blessed An­gels, and all the Elect; who then shall knowe one another, even as in the transfiguration Mat. 17 4 Pe­ter knew Moses & Elias, whom before hee had never seen: & the Luke 16 23 rich man being in hell, knew Lazarus in Abraham's bosome.

VII. O wonderfull dispensation of the ju­stice and mercies of the Lord our God! Chrysost in ep ist. 3. ad Cyriac. Episc. The tyrants and persecuters shall see & know God's deare children whom they martyrized, and Sap. 5.4, 5. whose life they accoun­ted [Page 153]madnesse; and their end, disgrace & infamy? Seeing and knowing them, they shall groane with anguish of spirit, and say with the sobs of too too late repentance, Psal. 144.15. happy is that people that is in such a case: happy is that people, whose God is the Lord; But woe and alas is to us now and for evermore.

The Church also shall see and know al her per­secuters, and having all teares wipt from her eyes, shall sing Rev. 5.9. a new song, which shall never waxe old, even [Page 154] Rev. 15.3. Exod. 15. the song of Moses, the servant of God, which shall bee continually in their mouthes, to praise God & the Lamb, who hath guided them by his strength thorow the red sea of bloody persecuti­on, and planted them in the mountaine of his in­heritance, in the Sanctu­ary which his hand hath established.

IIX. Deare brethren, what shal we render un­to the Lord our God, for so many comforts which hee hath already bestowed upon us, and for this last comfort w ch [Page 155]he hath prepared for us? Aug. de verbis Apost. s [...]th. 16. Praedestinavit antequā essemus, vocavit cùm a­versi essemus, iustifica­vit cùm peccatores esse­mus, glorificavit cùm mortales essemus: He did predestinate us, before wee were: hee called us when our backes were turned unto him: hee iu­stified us when wee were sinners: hee glorified us when we were subiect to death. This last benefit is but begun in us in this world, we looke for the accomplishment there­of in the world to come, where God shall be un­to [Page 156]us Bern. in Vigil. nati­vit. Domini, s [...]m. 5. omne iucundum; omne utile, omne hone­stum; whatsoever is dele­ctable, profitable, and ho­nest, and therefore what­soever our hearts can desire. Aug. ibid. In his quae iam habemus, laudemus Deum largitore: In his quae non­dum habemus, tenemus debitorem: Let us then, I pray you, praise God for that which wee have re­ceived, and trust in him as in a most sufficient debtour of the rest w ch is to be received. Debitor enim factus est; non ali­quid à nobis accipiendo, sed quod ei placuit pro­mittendo: [Page 157]for hee is be­come our debtor, not by receiving any thing from us, but by promi­sing that which of his owne good pleasure he is willing to give us.

And because Idem de Symbolo, ad catech lib. 3. cap. 11. Si in cor hominis non ascendit, cor hominis illuc ascen­dat. the things which hee hath prepared for us, cannot ascend into our hearts, let our hearts ascend un­to him with whom they are. For that effect, let us now, even now puri­fie our hearts: for every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, even as he is pure, 1. Ioh. 3.3. Yea, let us lay [Page 158]downe willingly this present transitorie life, that wee may attaine to the other which is eter­nall: for by the small losse of this life, wee en­ter into the glorious & joyfull possession of the other.

O God, Idem Confess. lib. 10. cap. 22. Ipsa est be­ata vita, gaudere ad te, de te, propter te: ipsa est, & non est altera. The onely blessed and eternall life, is to reioyce to thee, in thee, of thee, for thee: there is no other life. Re­member me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bea­rest unto thy people: O vi­site [Page 159]me with thy salvati­on, that I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may reioyce in the gladnesse of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheri­tance. O eternall God, Psal. 106.4, 5. O Father of mercies, heare our prayers which wee powre out before thee, that we may frō hence­forth, and for evermore sing unto thee Davids song; Thou hast turned from me my mourning in­to dancing: thou hast put off my sackecloth, and girded mee with glad­nesse. Psal. 30.11. O Father of Christ heare us for Christ thy [Page 160]Sonnes sake; to whom, with thee and the holy Ghost, be all glory, ho­nour, and praise, both now and for evermore, Amen.

FINIS.

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