A sermon preached at St. Maries Spittle on Munday in Easter weeke the fourteenth day of Aprill, anno Dom. 1623. By Walter Bancanqual ...

A sermon preached at St. Maries Spittle on Munday in Easter weeke the fourteenth day of Aprill, anno Dom. 1623. By Walter Bancanqual ...

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A SERMON PREACHED AT SAINT MARIES SPITTLE.

Errata.

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A SERMON PREACHED AT SAINT MARIES SPITTLE.

Psal. 126. 5.‘They that sow in teares, shall reape in ioy.’

WHen any one hath sowne tares, doth hee expect to reape wheate? Do men gather grapes of thornes, or figges of thistles? saith our Master, Matthew the seuenth, and the sixteenth. Ut sementem feceris, ita & metes: As you sow, so you shall reape, saith the old Prouerbe: Iustified by Saint Pauls instance, Galatians the sixth, and the eighth: He that soweth in the flesh, shall of the flesh reape corruption. And indeed from euery seede sowne, men doe expect [Page] to reape graine, or corne, eiusdem speciei, of the same kind. How can wee then expect from teares to reape ioy, which differeth from it in the whole species or kind? To naturall and worldly men, this is one of the paradoxes, wherewith they vse to charge Diuinitie, and indeed a paradox it must needs be to all those who are not orthodox, and sound in the doctrine of spirituall teares and ioy which are here meant, who know no other ioy but iollitie, nor teares, but when they are troubled; who know not the ioy of the Spirit which Christians haue here, nor their Masters ioy which they shall haue one day hence; who know not that gracious raine of teares, which God sendeth vpon his Inheritance, whereby hee refresheth it, when it is wearied. To such heteredox, earthly-minded men, this Parable of the Prophets Sower is a plaine paradox.

But here now vnto Gods people, in this Psalme, or vnto any other people who haue been in such a case, vnto whose [Page] owne experience God hath iustified it, that after many yeeres captiuitie in a strange Land, where they did sow nothing but teares, eate the bread of sorrow, and drinke the water of affliction, by the waters of Babylon, where all their ioy was suspended, their Harpes and Instruments hanged vp; yet he now bringeth againe their captiuity, like the Riuers of the South: he now filleth their mouthes with laughter, and their tongues with ioy: He maketh their ioy, like the ioy of Husbandmen in Haruest, who after long expectation, come home loaded with sheaues To such of the Children of God, who, by reason of their sinnes, after they haue mourned like Turtles, & chattered like Cranes, or like Dauid, washed their beds with their teares, and haue had their belly full of them as he had; My teares haue been my meate day and night; Psalme the fortie two, the third verse; do find, that God afterward doth make their broken bones to reioyce, to whom (Esay the sixtie one, and the second) God giueth [Page] beautie for ashes, the oyle of ioy for mourning, the garment of gladnesse for the spirit of heauinesse. And lastly, to all the Saints of God, who as strangers here vpon earth, from home in Baca, this valley of teares, sighing for the adoption of the sonnes of God, and the redemption of their bodies, groaning and moaning with Saint Paul, till they may be dissolued, look with him one day to be with Christ, and to enter into their Masters ioy. To all such now this is no paradox, but a proposition by experience proued vnquestionable, that those that sow in teares, shall reape in ioy.

IT is a figuratiue proposition, whereinThe sense of the words. the people going into captiuitie, is cō pared vnto Husbandmen, committing the seed to the earth, and as it were, with sorrow burying it there, as being vncertaine, by reason of many alterations of weather, whether euer it wil fructifie and multiply; and the same people returning from their captiuitie, is compared to Husbandmen, after many large hopes [Page] and feares, reaping with great ioy a plentifull Haruest, of the same seed so committed to the earth by them. But now this proposition in generall is true, of all, or any of the people of God, not onely in the case of captiuitie, but any other calamitie spirituall or temporall, that they that sow in teares, shall reape in ioy. And in this generall sense will I handle the words.

THey may be deuided into a Lent andThe Deuision. Easter; first, fasting, and secondly, feasting: First, a time of sorrow, and secondly, a time of ioy, or most seasonably into two knowne seasons of the yeere, a seed time, they that sow in teares; and a time of haruest, shall reape in ioy. In the first season two things wee must take notice of, the seed, and the sowing or manner of committing of it, the seed, Teares: or indeed to speake properly, it is the seasoning, rather then the seed, potius sal terrae; or pluma, quam semen, rather the salt or showre, then the seed: for it is in the text, [Page] not they that sow teares, but they that sow in teares: so that the seed here properly is, any good a Christian doth here in this life, be it an act of faith, repentance, almes, fasting, &c. If these, or any of these, be sowne with, or in such teares as are here meant, you shall bee sure to reape them againe with ioy; so that as you see, when Husbandmen haue committed their seed vnto the ground, if the earth bee not afterwards watered with the raine of Heauen, their labour is lost; so whatsoeuer spiri tuall seede we sowe in our hearts, it will not fructifie, vnlesse it be watred with this heauenly raine, and dew of teares: so that though Paul sowe, or plant, if that Apollos, or some other, do not water, God will giue no increase, no reaping will follow; as therefore in Scripture we are commanded, to cast our bread vpon the waters; so here we are commanded, to cast water vpon our bread, or any thing that is ours: and this water, Our teares, shall not be as water spilt vpon the ground, which cannot be gathered [...]. 11. 1 vp againe, for our teares are put vp in Gods [Page] bottell; Psalme the fiftie six, and the eighthPsal. 56. 8. verse, they shall be gathered and reaped againe with increase and ioy, like the fruite in Haruest. Though strictly now it is here to be taken for the seasoning, yet fitly we may here account it for the seede, because the principall thing here intended by the Spirit of God, is the mouing and stirring vs vp to teares, and therefore I must intreate you at this time, to let them be held not onely for the seasoning, or the salt, but for the seed it selfe, warranted by other places of Scripture so to do: for Dauid calleth teares not onely his Sawce, but his Meate too, in the place aboue cited; My teares were my meate day and night: and in the 80. Psalme, vers. 5.Psal. 80. 5. he accounteth them whole foode, meate and drinke; Thou hast fed them with the bread of teares, and hast giuen them teares to drinke: let teares then be here for, The seede.

The manner of committing this seed, must be by sowing; they that sowe in teares; they must not be, as trees are planted, one farre from another; nor niggardly or [Page] sparingly scattered vp and downe, here a corne, and there a corne, but sowne, shed and powred out plentifully, as a sower soweth corne with a full and liberal hand. You know the Apostles rule, the second to the Corinthians, the ninth Chapter, and the2. Cor. 9. 6. sixth verse, Qui parce seminat, parce metet; He that soweth sparingly, shall reape sparingly: If wee sowe our teares thin and sparingly, the ioy we shall reape, shall not be so much messis, as spicelegium; not a haruest, or reaping, but a poore gathering, or gleaning. Teares then must be the seede, and sowing, the manner of committing: and this is the first season, the seede-time, they that sowe in teares.

Now the second season, is the haruest, or time of reaping, they shall reape in ioy: where we must take notice of these three things; first, the Corne, Ioy; secondly, the1. 2. manner of gathering it, reaping; thirdly,3 the reapers, onely such as sowed (they) shall reape: The Corne, ioy, a strange1 graine, you will say, to bee reaped from such a seede as teares, but you will not [Page] thinke it so strange, after you haue heard what teares are here meant: for there are Lachrymae amoris, and Lachrymae doloris, teares of loue, and teares of griefe: for teares of loue, no wonder though they bring forth ioy, for they are teares of ioy, and shed for ioy: and for teares of griefe in godly men, they are neuer altogether without ioy, they neuer sorrow as without hope: as wicked men neuer know what a perfect and sincere ioy is, but in the middest of al their ioyes feel secret checks pinchings and griefes: so godly men in all their sorrowes haue some secret smiles, and lightnings of ioy: they, as it is in the 2. Psalme, Serue the Lord in feare, and reioyce Psalm. 2. 11. in trembling. Now as the seed must bee turned after it is sowne, before it can come to be corne, and be fit to be reaped: so here these teares shall be turned, and a little turning wil serue the turne, to make these teares ioy; the Lord of the haruest hath promised that he will turne them, Iohn 16. 20. But your sorrow shall be John 16. 20. turned to ioy: and so from the seede of [Page] teares, men come to gather ioy, that's the corne.

Secondly, take notice of the manner of2 gathering this corne; we shall reape it; if we haue not scattered but sowed, we shall not gather or gleane onely, but reape, that is, looke how farre the corne which husbandmen reape in haruest, exceedeth the seede which they did sowe in seedtime, which in some grounds is, thirty, Matth. 13. 8. some forty, some sixty, some one hundred fold, Matth. 13 8. so far shall the ioy which we shall reape, exceed the teares which wee did sowe.

Thirdly, wee must take notice of the3 Reapers; they shall reape, which they? they that did sowe, They shall, and none but They shall; they shall: and good reason, that that man whose browes did sweate, his hands should eate: that the same hand that did sowe, should reape; and as they, so none but they; for Psalme 84. 6. such only comePsal. 84. 6. to appeare before God in Sion, who passe through the valley of Baca, that is, the valley of teares. It is not here, as in the oppressions [Page] of tenants, where, as the Apostle speaketh; one man soweth, and another man reapeth: They take all the paines, and the cruell extorting Landlord reapeth all the profit: nor as in your Impropriations abroade, and in the abominable crying sacriledge of this Citty, where the Ministers of Gods Word, and the Pastors of your soules sowe spirituall things vnto you, with the sweate not onely of their browes, but braines too; but you cheate them in their tythes, and reape that which is by all diuine and humane lawe, as due to their spirituall sowing, as your gownes on your backes, or your bread prouided for your bellies; But here they, and none but they that did sowe, shall reape. And so you haue the parts of this proposition, which I meane to handle in this order which now I haue propounded, as God and your good patience shall giue mee leaue.

WE begin then first with the seede-The Seede. time, and herein first with the seed, [Page] [teares] they that sowe in teares. Teares are nothing else but a little water distilled by the heate of our tender braine, through our eyes: and as in all distillations, the thing to bee distilled, ought to bee choise and good: so it must be here; we must make choise of our teares, these teares are a seed to bee sowne, from whence wee hope to reape ioy: now husbandmen, you know, are euer very choise in their seed, that it be the best, purest, and finest that may be; for rotten, musty, empty seed can neuer promise any plentifull haruest: So it is with this seede of teares, many sorts of teares there are, but all of them not fit to bee sowne: but only from the best and choysest of them can wee expect to reape ioy. There be three sorts of teares, first, naturall 1 teares in themselues neither good nor bad, but as they are vsed moderately or immoderately: such are the teares which are produced from the sense of worldly losses, as of goods, friends, &c. or sense of sicknesse or iniuries, or the like: these are not the seed here to be sowne, no ioy nor [Page] blessing: to be reaped from them, these teares did Esau plentifully sowe when heGen. 27 34. 38. Heb. 12. 17. lost his birth-right, but from them all could he reape no ioy, nor Fathers blessing: these teares plentifully sowne by Rachel in Ramah, weeping for her children, but she reaped no ioy, for she would not be Ier. 31. 15. Matth. 2. 18. comforted, because they were not. These teares are so far from producing any ioy, as considered in themselues, they produce nothing but death, 2. Cor. 7. 10.2. Cor. 7. 10. Worldly sorrow causeth death.

The second teares are wicked and pernicious 2 teares, such as are sowne either by wicked men in this life, or by the damned in hell: by wicked men in this life, produced by craft, dissimulation and hypocrisie, from a desire to seeme deuoute, or compassionate, that so they may worke their owne ends: these be Crocodiles teares, good store of them sowne at Achabs feast, to drowne1. King. 21. 4, 5. Naboths vineyard: many such teares sowne at the funerals of Parents and Husbands, when there is no more sorrow at the heart, then there vsed to be at the hearts [Page] of the Praeficae, who of old were wont to be hired at all funerals to weepe, as now you doe, poore people to come in mourning gownes: many such teares no question sowne, at the long prayers the hypocrites make, when they meane to prey vpon Widdowes houses: these are not the seed here to bee sowne, no Ioy to bee reaped from the teares of Hypocrites, for the haruest and portion of hypocrites, is nothing Luke 1 [...]. 28. but weeping and gnashing of teeth; nor are here meant, such teares as are shed by the damned in hell, they reape no ioy, but still more weeping, more cursing, from their fellow weepers; derision and laughter from God and his Saints: so that from them nothing is reaped wherewith as it is in the 129. Psalme, The mower filleth his Psal. 129. [...]. hand, nor the gleaner his lap, nor they that passe by say, We blesse you in the name of the Lord. Of these naturall and hypocriticall teares, I will now say no more, they are not the teares to be sowne in the text.

The third sort of teares then are wholesome and sauing teares, which proceede [Page] from the holy Ghost, as from the fountaine, and are distilled vnto vs by him who in the Rom. 8. 26. is said to request Rom. 8. 26, for vs, with sighes which cannot be expressed: not that he himselfe asketh, but maketh vs to aske, not with ordinary and naturall sighes and teares, nor with acted and hypocriticall sighes and teares, but with godly and sauing sighes and teares, which no man is able to expresse, and wring from himselfe▪ only these teares are this precious seed, as they are called in the next verse, from whence you may expect to reape ioy, and of them onely will I speake; and though I know, that for the most part a discourse of teares is displeasing, being as some suppose, too sad and melancholly, yet I hope neither shall you be sorry for it, because it is to make you reape ioy, nor I my selfe bee sorry for it, hoping with S. Paul, that this discourse, like his epistle, though it cause a sorrow, yet it shall only2. Cor. 7. 8, cause a godly sorrow, a sorrow to repentance, 2. Cor. 7. 8.

These teares now are the seede, but [Page] where shall we haue this seed? for though naturall and hypocriticall teares flow from our selues: yet these precious sauing teares, come not from our selues, but from aboue; this water of life, commeth from the well of life, for these teares, though when wee shed them, they are Donum or vnguentum effusum; a sweet oyntment powred forth: for I make no question but that Maries teares, wherewith she washed Iuke 9 38. Christs feet, were as acceptable to him as the boxe of oyntment she powred on his head.Vers. 46 For as that in the Gospell, is called a precious oyntment, so in the words after the text, a precious seede. Though, I say, in regard of our shedding them, they are Donum effusum Deo, yet in regard of our receiuing of them, they are Donum infusum à Deo, an oyntment or gift powred into vs by God: and though the words, precious seede, in the next verse, signifieth semen acquisitum, a seed purchased or bought with a price, yet they are not to be accounted semen acquisitum, in that sense in which Diuines▪ distinguish betweene Habitus [Page] infusi and acquisiti, that is, infused and acquired gifts, but only teares here are called semen acquisitum, because they must be aliunde quaesitae quam a nobis, purchased from somewhere else, then from our selues. Where then must we quaerere and acquirere, seeke and purchase this precious seed? If it be a precious seed, then you must purchase it with a price: what price? Must we pay money for it? No, you know in Isai. 55. 1. There is a buying or purchasing without money, Hoe, euery one that Esay 55. 1. thirsteth, come to the waters, buy without money, &c. What then must wee pay for this precious seed? there is another price besides money, there is operae precium, as wel as pecuniae precium, the price of paines: though it cost vs no money, yet it will cost vs our paines and labour, which is precio aestimabile, though not a penny, yet pennyworth. What labor, what paines, must this precious seede cost vs? I will tell you. When Jeremy went to seeke this precious seede, he asked the way to the Well head; hee inquired for some welles and [Page] fountaines from whence they were to be had, Ieremy 9. 1. O that my head were a fountaine of teares! Now how vse men toJer. 9 1. come by water out of welles or fountaines, not without drawing of it? In the fourth of John, the woman of SamariaIohn 4. 11. wondred how Christ should come by the water of Jacobs well without drawing. The well is deepe, and thou hast nothing to Esay 12. 3. draw with, Isa. 12. 3. With ioy shall ye draw water out of the wells of saluation. The price and purchase then of this precious seede, is operae precium, the price of our paines, and this operae, or paines, is haurire, to draw, and wee must bee sure to draw them, nec e paludibus, nec puteis, neither out of pits nor puddles, where there is nothing but myry durt, or standing puddle, such as was in Jeremy his dungeon, such as are all the wells from whence naturall, hypocriticall, and infernall teares are drawne. But you must draw them è fontibus, from wells, and sinae, I called them salutares lachrymae, sauing teares, wee must draw them è fontibus salutis, from the wells [Page] of saluation, of which the Prophet speaketh. Now the wels from whence wee may draw these precious teares, are so many, as if wee should seeke for them, as the people of Israel did in the 15. of Exodus,Exod. 15. 27. before we had gone half three daies iourney, as they did, wee should find many more then the twelue Wels or Fountaines, which they found at Elim. But for memory and methods sake, I wil only send you to foure Wels, frō whence you may draw your bellies ful of these precious teares; of which, the more you drink, you will still be, though not the more drie, yet the more desirous to mend your draught, quo plus sūt potae, plus sitiūtur aquae.

The first Well is, the consideration of1 our sinnes, which (I hope) will draw teares from the driest and deaddest eyes that can be. The second Well is, the consideration2 of the miseries wee are compassed with in this life: and from this Wel wee cannot misse to draw (in regard of these miseries) teares; for this life of ours is not only a Well, but a Valley of teares. [Page] As Riuers naturally seeke the Valleys; so our teares naturally run into this channell.3 The third Well is, the consideration of Christs passion, and teares for vs, and from this Well wee cannot misse of teares; the driest eye in the world can giue him no lesse then teares; if not for teares, yet for torments and bloud. The fourth Well, is the desire of being at home in our owne Country, which is Heauen, the consideration of our absence and exile from God, and our longing to be with him; and from this Well we cannot misse of teares, when with the people of Israel, sitting by the Waters of Babylon, wee remember our absencePsal. 137▪ 1▪ from Sion. And as it is the custome in Scripture, to giue names to Wells, so if it please you, for our better memories sake, we will name these Wells too. The first1 wee may call Adams Well, because it is the consideration of that source of sinne, which is deriued vnto vs from Adam, as the Fountaine and Well of all. The second2 Well wee may call Jacobs Well, as [Page] the Well of Sichem is called by the woman of Samaria, in the 4. of John; and IIohn 4 6. giue it the name from Iacob, because the consideration of the miseries of this life we best learne from him, who in one sentence did most significantly expresse them all, Gen. 47. 9. Few and euill haue the dayes of my pilgrimage been. The third WellGen 47. 9. we may call, fontem Saluatoris, our Sauiours Well, or the Well of saluation; as it is called by the Prophet, because it is the consideration of his teares and passion, who is both our Sauiour and saluation. And the fourth Well we may call, fontem vitae, the Well of life, or Gods Well, because it is the consideration of our absence from him, with whom is the Well of life, Psal. 36. 9. With thee is the Well of life. Psal. 36. 9▪

I can make these foure Wels, but two, and deuide these teares in lachrymas amaras ac dulces, salt teares, and fresh or sweet teares, teares of hatred, & teares of loue, teares of griefe, and teares of ioy: the teares we must draw from Adam and Iacobs Well, we may call salt teares, teares of [Page] hatred and griefe, because we shed them out of a detestation of sinne, and being wearied of the miseries of this life. The teares wee draw from our Sauiour and Gods Well, we may call fresh sweet teares, teares of loue and ioy, because they are shed out of a desire to be at home in our owne Country with God and Christ. And these two larger Wels of griefe and ioy, wee may wel compare to the waters of Noahs Gen. 7▪ 20, 21. Floud, which were wholly caused by God; yet partly from the Springs of the Depth, which were let loose below, partly from the excessiue Raines which fell from Heauen aboue. For our teares of griefe, and hatred, proceed from the consideration of our sinnes and miseries which are here below: our teares of loue and ioy, from our consideration of Christ and God, who are aboue; yet all these teares, like the whole waters of the Deluge, are from God. Sure, if the consideration of our sinnes and miseries, can not fetch teares from vs, yet the consideration of Christ and God will doe it. If [Page] Moses first smiting will not, yet his secondExod. 17. 6. smiting shall fetch water out of the stony Rock. But I will let this latter deuision of teares passe, and hold my selfe to our first foure Wels. And though I know, that in this valley of teares, there needeth no great seeking after Wels; for we may haue iust occasion of teares euery where; yet it is our best course to draw them from the Well-head; Dulcius ex ipso fonte bibuntur aquae; and of these foure Wels, now I will speake in order. If onely first I tell you, that by the teares, here to be drawne from these Wels, wee must not vnderstand strictly, onely the moystnesse and water of our eyes, but the griefe and sorrow of our hearts, which many a time runneth ouer, when we cannot shed a teare; leues loquuntur curae ingentes stupent. But as all teares are worth nothing, without the mourning of the heart; so many times the heart may bee drowned with griefe, when the eyes are drie; and we shall reape in ioy, though we sowe not in teares, but in sorrow: blessed [Page] are they, not onely that weepe, but mourne: for they shall be comforted, Mat. 5. 4.

WE begin with the first Well of sorrow,1 Adams Well. or teares, which I called Adams Well, because it is the consideration of sinne, which by Adam entred into the world; and who would not shed teares for sinne, if he do but consider, what a lamentable thing it is, that it is nothing else, but one offending and grieuing of God, & al his creatures; making vs like Ismael, setteth our hand against euery man, and Genes. 16. 12. euery mans hand against vs? It is a grieuing of God; for it was onely sinne which made God grieue and repent, that he had made man. It grieued the Sonne of God; the sins of Ierusalem (in the 19. of Luke)Luke 10. 41. made him weepe: our sinnes made him grieue in the Garden, and drew not onelyMatth▪ 2 [...]. 38▪ his teares, but his bloud from him on theLuke. 23. 33. Crosse: It grieueth the holy Ghost; thereforeEphes. 4▪ [...]0. in Scripture are we forbid to grieue [...] ▪ and quench the Spirit by our sinnes. It grieueth the Angels; for as they Reioyce at Luke [...] ▪ [...] [Page] the conuersion of a sinner to God, so (no question) after a sort they grieue, as God is said to grieue for the auersion of a sinner from God. It grieueth all sorts of men; good men, whose eyes gush out with Psal. 119. 136. teares, when they see, that the wicked will not obserue Gods Law. It offendeth wicked men, whom sinners draw into sinne by their bad example; and though perhaps yet they doe not grieue at it, yet it is the cause of many teares to them afterwards, and perhaps of weeping, and gnashing of teeth for euermore. It grieueth and offendeth all the rest of the creatures, because it turneth them out of the seruice of God, into the seruice of sin and Satan; for God created the Heauens, Elements, and al other creatures, to serue man, and to waite vpon him in his seruing of God; but now, when man turneth himselfe out of Gods seruice, all the creatures, while they serue sinfull man, are, as it were, turned out of Gods seruice too, and, not without grieuing, are compelled to waite vpon a wrong Master▪ in [Page] which regard, the creatures, in the 8. Romans,Rom. 8 22. 22. verse, are said to groane, and to be in trauell: nay, which you would wonder at, sinne grieueth and offendeth the very damned in hell; for the more the number of the damned is increased, which is done by sinne, the greater is their torment, their groaning, weeping, & gnashing of teeth: for that must needs bee the cause why the Rich Glutton in the 16. of Luke, did beg of Abraham, that Lazarus Luk. 16. 27, 28. might be sent to his friends and kindred, to forewarne them of comming thither. One damned can aske nothing out of charitie, but out of selfe-loue, lest his torment and griefe should be increased, by seeing his brethren there. Now, who would not shed teares, and grieue for sinne, which maketh all the Persons of the Trinitie, Angels, good men and bad, all the rest of the creatures, nay, the very damned in hel to grieue, and will one day, if they be not wept for here, make vs weepe and gnash our teeth for euermore?

Now when I tell you, that wee must [Page] shed teares for sinne, I meane not onely your owne sinnes, though them principally, but the sinnes of others too, the sinnes of the time, aswell as the sinnes of your persons: for as we find Dauid washingPsal. 6. 6. his bedde with teares for his owne sinnes, so finde wee his eyes gushing with Psal. 119. 136. teares, because the wicked would not obserue Gods Law. Christ had no sinnes of his owne to mourne for, yet wept he for theLuke 19 41. sinnes of Ierusalem. Dearely beloued in the Lord, when you haue cried for your owne sinnes, spare some of your teares for the sinnes of the time: for vnlesse they be mourned for, Gods plague will bee powred out vpō the place, aswell as their persons: and if you doe not mourne and crie for the sinnes of the time, no body else will, for the sinners themselues will not weepe. When the Sea for Jonas hisIonas 1. 4. sinne raged, the men of the ship were crying hard, and throwing their-things into the Sea; when Ionas, for whom all thisUers. 5. tempest was raised, had got himselfe downe to the bottome of the ship, and [Page] there was laid fast asleepe. Christs Disciples sleepe, when he is in an Agony forMat. 26. [...]0, 43. their sins. Wicked men, for whose sins all the tempests, wherewith the Church is tossed, arise, neuer shed one teare in the storme, but stretch themselues along vpon beds of Yuorie, and short aloud vponAmos 6. 4. the pillowes of securitie: it is onely the godly in the meane time, who must pleade, and pray, and cry, and shed teares for the sinnes of the time; like Daniel, whoDan. 9. 16, 17. in the time of his peoples captiuitie, in fasting and teares, was confessing his owne sinnes, and the sinnes of his people; onely such mourners are fit to stand in the breach, with their payles of water in their hand, I meane▪ with their teares, and strong cryings, like Moses, to quench the flames of wrath, which goe out from the Lord to consume vs for our sinnes.

Now concerning these teares which we are to shed▪ both for our owne, and other mens sinnes, you shall doe well to take notice of these two things; first, the necessitie of them; and secondly, the [Page] vertue of them. The necessitie of them1 appeareth, first, by precept; secondly, by2 practice. By precept of God in the old Testament, continually calling vnto his people by his Prophets, Ioel, Ieremie, and the rest; Turne you vnto me with weeping, Ioel 10. 12. fasting, and mourning. And in the ninth of Ezechiel, marking out all those for life,Ezech. 9. 4. who did weepe for their owne sinnes, and the sinnes of the people. In the new Testament, by the precept of Christ, who forbade the daughters of Ierusalem toLuke 23. 28. weepe for him, who was no sinner, but commanded them to weepe for themselues who were sinners: and by the precept of his Apostle Saint Paul, who commanded the Corinthians to weepe for the vncleannesse of the incestuous person,1. Cor. 5. 2. 1. Cor 5. 2.

The necessitie of them appeareth by the practice of all the Saints, who haue been chiefe mourners for their own, and other mens sinnes. In the old Testament Dauid deserueth to haue the place of the chiefe mourner, since he vsed his teares [Page] for sinne, not onely for Physick, and a Bath, as it is in the sixth Psalme; I washed Psal. [...] 6 my bed euery night with my teares; but for food: for my teares were my meate day and night. If he, who was a man according to Gods owne heart, did thus weepe for his sinnes, how should we, who walke according to the lusts of our owne hearts, mourne for our sinnes? In this traine of mourners you shall see Lot, whose righteous2. Pet. 2. 7. soule was grieued and vexed for the filthinesse of the Sodomites. You shal see Ezra, Josiah, Jsaiah, Joel, Ieremy especially calling for fountaines of teares, for teares day and night, for powring out their soules like water before the Lord, writing whole bookes of Lamentations for their owne sins, and the sins of their times. In the new Testament wee haue a new traine of mourners and weepers, in which traine you shall see Christ, the chiefe mourner, weeping for the sinnes of Ierusalem; so prone vnto teares, asLuk. 19 41. that the solemnitie of the time, the ioy of the people, the shoutings and acclamations [Page] of Hosanna, could neither drowne his voyce, but that he lifted it vp: nor dry his eyes, but that hee wept: after him,Luke 22. 62. commeth Peter weeping bitterly for his deniall: Mary Magdalen wiping ChristsLuke 9. 38. feete with teares for her sinnes, and then Saint Paul crying out by reason of his sinnes: but O miserable man that I am, who Rom. 7. 24. shall deliuer mee out of this body of death! You haue seene sufficiently the necessity of these teares for sinne: see a little the vertue and efficacy of them.

First, these teares and sighes for our1 sinnes, make vs the better to know our sinnes, both for their colour and weight. Alas, so long as we take ioy and delight in sinne, so long sinne seemeth little, light, easie and sweete vnto vs: but he that here increaseth his sorrow, increaseth his knowledge: when we once come to smart, to grieue and groane vnder sinnes, then we will confesse, that the remembrance of them is grieuous vnto vs, and that the burthen of them is intolerable. As a penny in the bottome of a bason of water, [Page] sheweth as bigge as a shilling: so our sinnes, which to vs seeme but little, steept once in the water of our teares, shew themselues in their iust quantity and proportion.

Secondly, as our teares for sins make2 vs know them, so they wash and doe our sins away, so as we shall neuer see them, nor need to know them any more. I dare say, the teares wherewith Mary Magdalen Luke 9. 38. washed Christs feete, did not more wash away the dust from Christs feet, then they did the sinne from her owne soule: for immediatly after her teares did she heare that happy sentence, Thy sins are forgiuen Vers. 47. thee: therefore are these teares called by the Fathers, Our second Baptisme, by which our sinnes are washed away; compared by them to the waters of the red Sea, in which Pharaoh and his hoast, thatExod. 14 27. is to say, Satan and our sinnes are drowned: To the waters of Jordan, in which,2. King. 5. 10, 14. if like Naman, we wash our selues seuen times, that is to say, often we shall be cured of the leprosie of sinne: to the waters [Page] of the poole of Siloam, because if weeJohn 9. 7. bathe our selues in them, we shall be cured of all spirituall diseases and infirmities: so that if you vse to extoll and magnifie some waters, which you distill from hearbs and flowers, because they are good against sore eyes, burnings and heats, what doe you then say of these teares, which if you can but distill from your owne eyes, they will cure the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, and all carnall heates and desires.

Thirdly, these teares for sinne, doe3 not only wash away sinne for the present, but wipe them out of all bookes of account, so as they discharge vs of our sins for euer: for you must know, that euery sinne we do commit, we write, as it were, in the booke of our owne conscience, a bill of our hand against our selues, wherby we acknowledge our selues debters to Gōd, & lyable to his Iustice. Now vnlesse this debt bee discharged, and the bond cancelled, we must be cast in prison for it, and there lye, til we pay the vtmost [Page] farthing, which God knoweth will bee long enough, for we our selues are not worth one farthing. This bond is principally cancelled by Christ, who, as the Apostle speaketh, nayled vnto his Crosse the Coloss. [...]. 14. hand-writing of ordinances which was against vs, who by his blood did wipe out the letters of this black bill, which was against vs Now what Christ did with the blood of his body, that we in some sort doe with the blood of our soules, that is, our teares: for so they are called by the Fathers: and they doe indeede wipe and eate out that which we haue written against our selues by our sinnes, and stand where those letters did: as one colour laid vpon another doth away the former, and remaineth it selfe: iust so, when the booke of our conscience shall come to be opened; if we haue shed teares for our sinnes, there is no score nor register of our sinnes to be found in the Booke. Whensoeuer a sinner shall repent himselfe (say some translations, Ingemuerit) bemoane himselfe for his sinnes, J will put away [Page] his iniquities out of my remembrance, saith the Lord. Then our sighes and teares put them out of Gods remembrance, dash them out of his Register, and now our teares doe come in place of them: for saith the Psalmist, Are not all my teares in Psal. 56. 8. thy register, Psalme 56. 8? Our teares then are registred as our discharge and acquittance for our sinnes; for when hee findeth our teares registred, hee lets vs goe as those, who were marked forEzech. 9. 4. mourners, in the ninth of Ezechiel, who by their teares were acquitted from destruction.

Fourthly, without these teares, neither4 first, can we dye vnto sinne, secondly, nor liue vnto God: first, not dye vnto sinne:1 Can one thinke to bee deliuered of so huge a burthen as sinne, without griefe and teares? to haue his shoulder when it is burst, set right, without paine? to haue a tooth pulled out of his head, or a thorne out of his foote, and not crie? No woman looketh to bee deliuered of the Childe which shee hath carried in her wombe [Page] but nine moneths, without paine and crying; and can you expect to be deliuered of a man, the old man, a man of sinne, without crying and teares? Secondly,2 and as no dying vnto sinne; so no liuing vnto God, without crying and teares for sinne: for as in diseased bodies, when any member, by a violent hurt is benummed and dead, a token that it is dead is this: If the member feele no paine, nor smart when it is pricked, pinched, lanched and cut, but if the Physician by plying of it can bring it to that passe, that he complaineth and crieth out at the dressing of it, the Physician, himselfe, and his friends are glad, because it is a sure argument, that the member is aliue, and vpon the recouery: Iust so it is here; If that after we haue been dead in our sinnes and trespasses, so past sense and feeling of them, that we did not sorrow nor shead teares for them, wee can bee brought to haue a sense of them, to weepe and mourne for them; sure, we are yet aliue and vpon our spirituall recouery.

[Page]Though I might, yet now I will say no more of the vertue of those teares for sinne, to which holy men haue attributed so much as some of the Fathers thinke, that God did indue man with this deaw of teares, for no other end, but that by them he might wipe away and extinguish his sinne. Chrysost. hom. 7. ad pop. Antioch. Chrys. hom. 7. ad Populum Antioch. saith, it is plaine by experience; for when we weepe, and grieue for the losse of friends, money, for sicknesse, or any other temporall calamitie, we are so far from diminishing our griefe by our teares, as we doe rather increase it; onely if wee weepe for our sinnes, we diminish our griefe and them, and many times quite wipe them away. And it is very true which Chrysostome saith, for though by our teares we are not able to raise our Parents and Friends from death, yet by teares wee are able to raise our soules from the death of sinne. I haue staid the longer at this Well, because it is deepe, and the fire to be quenched by it is very great; a huge mas [...]e and body of sinne, in [Page] regard whereof we must doe that indeed, which Bonauenture (how true I know not) reporteth of S. Francis, who because hee did see, that he could not follow agnum immaculatum sine macula, operā dedit vt copiosis & quotidianis lachrymarum imbribus animam purgaret: The Lambe of God which was without spots, himselfe vnspotted, hee did what lay in him, by his daily showres of teares, to wash away these spots from his soule.

NOw the second Wel from whence weIacobs Well. draw this precious seed of reares, is the consideration of the miseries which attend vpon vs in this life for sinne: which being rightly considered, are able to draw teares from the stoniest heart. ThatJohn 4. 6. is it I called Jacobs Well, because he digged it, and in one sentence comprehended the miseries of mans life, for which we must shed these teares so fully, as nothing can bee more. The sentence you haue in Genes. 47. 9. For being asked of Pharaoh, how old he was? his answer was,Gen. 47. 9. [Page] Few and euill haue my dayes been. Mourne and weepe then for these two, because our dayes are few, we must die; and because they are euill, that is to say, all the while till we die, we are sicke, wee haue no good dayes, nor feele nothing but miserie; so that this Well differeth from the former in this; that was the consideration of sinne, this, the consideration of the miserie, which attendeth vs in this life as a punishment of sinne: and though I know, that many men thinke, they need not goe to this Well, because they haue none but good dayes, and hope they shall liue many yeeres; yet I may aske them that question, which the woman of Samaria, in the fourth Chapter of Saint Iohn, and the twelfth verse, asked ofIohn 4▪ 1 [...]. Christ, Art thou greater then our Father Iacob, who did drinke of this Well? Though hee had euill dayes, yet I dare say, if thou liuest in these dayes, thou hast and seest more; and though thou thinkest to liue long, yet you will hardly liue the dayes which he had seene, when [Page] he said so, for hee was then one hundred and thirty yeeres old. I haue not time now to say any thing of the [...]ewnesse of our dayes, I wil onely speake of the badnesse of them: I doe not meane the badnesse or euill of sinne in them; for that we drew teares from the first Well; but the euil vanitie which attendeth vpon vs in this life for sinne.

The consideration of which miserie deserueth so many teares, as that our life (in regard of them) is truly termed, a valley of teares; into which valley, one no sooner entreth▪ when he is borne, but (as Job hath it) hee beginneth with teares, and crieth: so that being in this World, wee are like Noah in the Arke, or like Ilanders, who from no point of their Iland can see any thing but waters: so looke any where in this life, there is nothing but occasion of teares, and therefore it were not much amisse to make Logicians change their termes, and say, that flebile, or lachrymabile, the facultie of weeping, is more mans proprium, then risibile, [Page] or the faculty of laughing: for wee know, that neuer was any man but hee, wept, at least, when hee was borne, some men there haue been, who for any thing we know, neuer laughed, as the Fathers all haue obserued it of Christ.

I haue not time to bid you shed teares, for the miseries common to all men, in regard of which, the Saints of God haue neuer thought other-wise of this life, then of a valley of teares, as of a place of exile or pilgrimage by Iacob, Dauia, Saint Paul; of a place of strife and warre, by Simeon; Lord, now lettest Luke 2. 29. thou thy seruant depart in peace; as of a prison and place of bonds, by Saint Paul, who accounteth his going out of it, a Philip. 1. 23. being dissolued, or vnbound. Now how doe men in exile, bonds, or vnder a war, behaue themselues? Not in mirth, but mourning; in teares, not in triumphing. I will only now desire you to shed teares for some speciall miseries of this life▪

O, you will say, that labor may be spared in this place, here are none acquainted [Page] with any other miseries, then those generall ones which humane nature is subiect to. Here in this Citie is no miserie, pouertie, warre, complaining in our streetes, nor carrying away into captiuitie: We haue our Summer, and our Winter-houses, fulnes of bread, beds of Yuorie to stretch our selues vpon, wine to make our hearts glad, oyle to make our faces shine, euery one of vs may su vnder our owne vine and fig-tree, and eat the fruite of them; therefore let vs feast and laugh, we haue no other cause, let them mourne and weep whom it concernes. O, but soft, God hath not done so to euery Nation; other people in the world feele the weight of al these miseries aboue-named: we are commanded to mourne with Heb. 13. 3. those that mourne; we must shed teares for their miseries, aswell as our owne. It is the deuils cunning, when he meaneth to stop vp this Well of teares, to present the state of this vally of teares to vs, as he did the estate of the land of Egypt to the Israelites, to make them remember the Riuers [Page] and cleere Springs there, but to forget their seruitude and taske of making of brick, to remember their Garlick, Cucumbers, and flesh-pots; but to forget their stripes and bonds, or to present it vnto vs, as he did it to Christ; take vs vpMatth. 4. 8. to the top of a high mountaine, and from thence shew vs all the riches, pompe, and pleasures of the world, but sheweth vs none of the miseries and calamities of it. But now if any of vs from some high Mountaine, could but looke downe into this large valley of teares, and there haue at once obiected vnto vs all the speciall miseries and calamities, which men are suffering there, to heare there at once, all the sighes of the sicke, the tortures and rackings of many mens limbs, both by the hand of Iustice and Iniustice, the lamentable cryings of the poore for want of bread, the faint chillinesse, and chattering of many one half starued with cold; heare the disconsolate weeping and teares for the losse of parents, husbands, children, friends; should see the pitifull [Page] anguish and affliction of such as are condemned to row in Galleys, work in Minerals, to turne in Mils, to see how they eate nothing but the bread of sorrow by weight, and drinke nothing but the water of affliction by measure; to heare their vnpitied roarings and teares, at the smart of their vnmercifull lashings: nay, if you did see from thence the miseries of a besieged Citie, to heare the roaring of the Canon, the sound of the trumpet, and the noise of the Drum; to heare the pitifull groanes of men, dying▪ and wallowing in their blood, or swouning in the streetes for famine; to see the women many times (as the Prophet hath it) to eate their owne children of a span long; to see the vncomfortable teares of fathers and husbands, for the barbarous rauishing of their wiues and daughters. If these, and millions of such miseries in the world, were obiected to vs all at once, and wee did but know what men were doing abroad, perhaps it would draw teares from those▪ eyes, which now [Page] laugh so much. See a little the necessitie and vertue of these teares for others.

I he necessitie of these teares appeareth, as did the necessitie of the former, 1. by precept, 2. practice: 1. precept of theRom. 12. 15. Apostle, who commandeth vs to mourne with those that mourne, Rom. 12. 15. of Iob, [...]0. 25. Did not J weepe with him that was in Iob 30▪ 25. trouble? Was not my soule in heauinesse for the poore? Of Jsaiah, Jeremie, all the Prophets, who powred out their soules in teares before the Lord, for the miseries God at any time brought vpon his people. But let our Master bee as the chiefe mourner in this traine, who shed teares for Ierusalems miseries, for the griefe of Lazarus his friends; for the text saithIohn 11. 15. there directly, Iohn 11 15. that Christ was glad for Lazarus his death, that his Disciples might beleeue, so that he wept only for his friends sake, who were then a weeping; to shew vs the necessitie of our teares, and mourning with those that mourne, say the Fathers on that place.

Now in shedding our teares for others, [Page] wee shall doe well rightly to distribute them. Shed these teares, for these speciall miseries of any men, though they be both Gods enemies and ours, at least in this regard, that they should haue deserued them. Saint Aug 1. lib. de ciu. Dei, cap. 6.Aug de ciuit. Dei, lib. 1. c. 6. doth highly extoll the fact of Marcus Marcellus, which was this: When hee was besieging the famous Citie of Syracusa, hee got himselfe vp to an high Turret, there to see the issue of the battell: and when he saw the Armies on both sides in the furie of [...]he fight, heard the clashing of the Armes, the horrible out-cries of those that were beaten, saw the flames of the fire which they had cast into the Towne, ascending vp towards heauen, heard the noise and terrible cracking of the falling of the houses of that ancient Citie; hee could not containe himselfe from teares, as if the battell were going against him, notwithstanding the victory was sure enough on his side, onely because he did see men, though they were his enemies, endure so much miserie. [Page] Shall not wee haue as compassionate a mind, as a Heathen man had, when wee heare of the like miseries, which many in the world sustaine, though they were enemies to our State, to our Religion, though they were Papists, nay, though they were Pagans? If his example cannot moue vs to be of his mind, yet (as the Apostle speaketh) Philip. 2. 5. Let that Phil. 2. 5. same mind be in vs, which was in Christ Iesus; who, when he came neere the Citie of Ierusalem, and with his bodily eyes did see the proud buildings, and stately Towers, but with the eyes of his minde did see, that Titus and Uespasian would not leaue one stone of them aboue another, although they were his vtter enemies, and within a weeke were to put him to death, & his iudgements were to come vpon them, for this his death and murther, and hee himselfe as a iust God, was to send that destruction vpon Ierusalem, yet was he so touched with the sense of their destruction, that before they had shed that blood from his veines, for [Page] which they were to be destroied, he sheddeth first teares from his eyes for them. Shed then these teares for such miseries of any men, though your enemies, and Gods enemies.

But what now if the parties vnder these miseries be Gods friends, professing the same Religion and Worship with vs? then let vs with Dauid, and those that were with him, for the burning of Ziklag, Lift vp our voyces, and weepe till wee 1. Sam. 30 4. can weepe no more, 1. Sam 30. 4. then let vs with Esay, 22 4. cry out, Turne away from Jsai. 22 4. me, I will weepe bitterly, labour not to comfort me, for the destruction of the daughter of my people, for it is a day of trouble and ruine, and perplexitie, by the Lord God of Hosts, in the valley of Uision. Then let vs with Jeremy, call for Riuers and Fountaines Ier. 9. [...]. of teares, for the destruction of the people of God. Who knoweth not, that God within these few yeeres, hath giuen vs iust▪ occasion of sowing such teares? there be people in the World, professing the same Religion with vs, who this time [Page] foure yeeres did thinke their soules as farre from death, as we now thinke ours, whose eyes were as dry as ours bee now, whose feete, as they thought, were as secure from falling, as ours are now; but since, their feet haue slipped, their soules haue tasted of death, their eyes haue bin drowned with teares, because of complaining in their streets, and carrying away into captiuitie, because the sword of their enemies hath been glutted with their flesh, and made drunke with their blood; and shall not wee sow and shed some teares for them?

I will adde one step more: What now if these miseries reach not onely to the Professors of the same Religion, and worship with vs, but to the Religion and Worship it selfe; that the Turke casteth out not onely Christians, but Christ, and placeth in his place Mahomet: That the Papists cast not out onely Protestants, but place there the Pope, and in the Temple of God set vp that Idoll, the Masse? O then for that let vs powre out [Page] teares day and night, let vs bee ready to weepe and die. I beseech you remember the Historie of Eli and his Daughter1. Sam. 4. 13. in Law, 1. Sam. 4. 13. a messenger commeth to tell Eli the vnhappy newes of the defeate and ouerthrow, which the Philistims had giuen Israel: he was then sitting vpon a seate by the way side; the Messenger commeth in with his clothes rent, ashes on his head, all his face blubbered with teares, so that in his countenance Eli might haue read the bad newes, yet had he strength to aske them. The Messenger answers heauily, Israel is fled before the Philistims: that (no question) troubled him, yet he sat still. What more? And there hath been also a great slaughter among the people: that (no question) sunke deeper, yet hee sate still. What more? Moreouer, thy two sonnes, Hophn [...] and Phinehas, are slaine: sure, that made a deep cut in the heart of a father, yet hee sate still. What more? Can there bee any worse then these? And Sir, saith the Messenger, the Arke of God is taken. Old Eli, who had [Page] strength to sit still all this while, no sooner heard this, but his strength immediatly forsooke him, and he fell from his seate backward, and broke his necke, and died. The report of this commeth to Phinehas wife, Eli his daughter in Law, who was big with child, and neere her trauell; she hearing the newes of the death of her Husband her Father in Law, her Brother in Law, of the people of God, and taking of the Arke of God, her griefes were aboue the griefes of Child-birth; for she falleth in labour presently, and bringeth forth a sonne; the women about her begin to comfort her, because shee had borne a sonne (which Christ saith, maketh a woman forget her paine, when she remembreth, that a man-child is borne into the world:) But (saith the text) shee 1. Sam. 4. 19, 20. answered not, nor regarded it not, onely cried out first, The glorie is departed from Jsrael, because the Arke of God was taken, and because of her Father in Law, and her Husband. And because the standers by should not thinke, that her griefe for the [Page] losse of these two were alike, correcting as it were, her selfe, she insisteth onely in her lamenting the losse of the Arke, and dyeth with that in her mouth, saith the last Verse of that Chapter, She said againe, The glorie is departed from Israel, for the 1. Sam 4 22. Arke of God is taken; and so she died. We haue heard of late yeeres how the people of God hath fled before their enemies, how they haue been slaine by them: perhaps some of you haue lost your sonnes in these battels, some your husbands, some your friends; Weepe for that: But alas! the Arke of God hath been taken in some places, the Candlesticke remoued, false Lights and Dagons set vp: Now let our teares fall in great abundance. You haue seene the necessitie of them: in one word heare the vertue of them;

Which is this, The keeping of the like teares from our owne eyes; or if that shall not please God, the drawing teares from others eyes, if euer it shall please God to make our case such, as theirs is at this [Page] time: for they were not the greatest sinnersLnke 13. 4. on whom the Tower of Siloe fell: but vnlesse we repent, we must also looke for iudgement: if God find in vs compassion for their passions, he may proue compassionate to vs, and keepe vs from the like passions. As therefore Christ counteth himselfe touched, when any of his members is touched; Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Acts 9. 4. So oughtActs 9. 4. it to bee among the members of his body, the griefe of one, ought to bee the griefe of all the rest. If therefore wee mourne with those that mourne, then do we draw this precious seed of teares from this second Well, which I called Iacobs Well, or the consideration of the miseries of this humane life.

THe third Wel, from whence you mayOur Sauiours Well. draw these precious teares, is fons saluatoris, our Sauiours Well, a Well so deep and ful, as we may draw teares frō thence perpetually, and neuer draw it drie It is a Well, from whence all the Fathers, holy [Page] men, learned men, these sixteene hundred yeeres, haue bin drawing teares in their mournefull meditations vpon our Sauiours death & passion, which by their stiles, it should seeme, they haue rather written with teares, then with inke. And indeed, who can choose but sow teares, when he shall thinke of this man, who as hee was called by the Prophet, Uir dolorum, a man of sorrowes; so he might aswell haue been called, Uir lachrymarum, a man of teares; so giuen to them, as that no worldly nor diuine ioy, could make him refraine from them.

Foure times we know hee wept, and they were all foure such times, as others were, either reioycing for him, or laughing at him: at his birth (no question) he wept, as all other men doe, then were the Angels singing: at Lazarus his raising,Luk. 2. 13. the multitude was laughing, because hee said, he slept; this Man of teares weeping:John 11. 35. Ierusalem in triumph shouting out Hosanna Luke 19. 41. for ioy; this Man of teares weeping: vpon the Crosse, the beholders [Page] mocking and shaking their heads at him, this man of teares praying and weeping▪ for the Fathers expound that place of the Apostle in the Epistle to the Heb. 5. 7. Who offered vp prayers and supplications, Heb. 5. 7. with strong cryings and teares; of our Sauiours prayer on the Crosse. What, shall no mirth keepe him from mourning? No solemnitie keepe him from sorrowing for vs, and shall wee euer forget to shed our teares, for this man of teares? (which is my onely apologie vnto you, for thus mentioning his passion at this Easter solemnitie.) But why weepe for him? In these two regards; first, for griefe that he should suffer so much; secondly, for griefe that we should bee the cause of this his so grieuous sufferings.

First, whose eyes can be dry, when wee remember the measure of his suffering, that the Sonne of God should bee humbled so low, as to be borne of a woman? The earth is but a center to the heauen, and a man or woman, but as a center to the earth; and yet that a centers center [Page] should containe him, whō the whole circumference, that is to say, the heauen of heauens cannot cōtaine: that at his birth his bed should be no better thē a cratch, a bed nothing so well furnished as that bed, which the poore Shunamite made2. King 4. 10. for Elisha; 2. Kings 4. 10. for there was neither a table, nor a stoole, nor Candlesticke by it. O that He who made the World, and spred the heauens like a curtaine, should bee cast in such a bed, as was neither made, nor had curtaine hanging about it▪ that he should flie by banishment into Egypt, vnto whom God gaue the ends of the earth for his proper possession: that he should be put to fast, who filleth the hungrie with good things, and was that Bread of life, which came downe from heauen to giue life vnto the World: that he should be tempted of the Deuill, whom hee did vsually throw out of the possessed by the word of his mouth: that he should weepe for Ierusalem, who at his passion would not suffer the daughters of Ierusalem to [Page] weepe for him; Weepe not for me, ye daughters Luk. 23. 28. of Jerusalem: that he should bee subiectMatth. 11. 29. to wearinesse, who is the refresher of all those that be loaden and wearied: that he through sense of Gods wrath vpon him for sinne in the Garden, should sweat water and blood, who neuer knewIohn 1. 29. sinne, but was that immaculate Lambe of God, who taketh away the sinnes of the world: that hee should bee mocked and scoffed at, who one day shall hauePsal. 2. 4. the sinners in derision: that hee should be spit vpon, who one day shall spit and spue the wicked out of his mouth, as it isReuel. 3. 16. Reuelat. 3. 16. That they durst scourge him with rods, who with a whip of cordsIohn 2. 15. not long before, had scourged out the prophaners of the Temple: that they durst bind him, who bindeth Kings in chaines, and Princes in linkes of Irons: that they durst set a Crowne of thornes vpon his head, at whose right hand (as the Apostle telleth vs) there standeth a Crowne of immortall glory.

That they durst put a rod for a Scepter [Page] in his hand, Who with a Scepter of Yron Psal. 2. 9▪ shall crush the wicked, and breake them in pieces like a potters vessell; Psal. 2. 9. That he should die, who was the Resurrection and the life. That he should die so accursed a death, as to bee crucified, who was the blessed of the Lord, and hee in whom all the Nations on the earth were to be blessed. That he should be crucified betweene two theeues, who was theIohn 14. 6. truest man that euer was borne, nay, was Truth it selfe. That hee on the Crosse should thirst, who in the 55. of Esay, calleth vnto euery one that thirsteth, toEsay [...]5. 1. come vnto him. That hee should haue Vineger offered him to drinke, who was that tree that sweetened the waters of Marah. That he should be wounded in the side, who healeth the Nations, and bindeth vp our wounds. That hee who was God himselfe, should aske, why God had forsaken him? Can wee remember these things, and not sowe teares? Can we remember, that his blessed Head was pricked with Thornes, and yet doe not [Page] our hearts pricke vs, at the remembrance of it? That our Sauiours hands and feete were smitten thorow with nayles, and his side with a lance, and yet we not so much as smite our brest at it. That with the spittings of his enemies, and his owne precious blood and teares, his beautifull face was all marred; and yet our faces not wet with so much as one teare for it. That his face for faintnesse lost the colour, and yet no mans cheekes grow pale at it. That he should bee thus offered a pure Virgin as a sacrifice, and yet we not doe so much, as the Daughters of Israel did in remembrance of Iphtaphs daughter, bewaile it with teares and lamentations. You know, the senselesse creatures could not hold, but testifie their griefe: the Sunne put on, as it were, a mourning robe for the death of his elder brother, the Sonne of righteousnesse; the Vayle of the Temple rent it selfe in two, for griefe to see it's Lord so dishonoured: the stones in the streete claue asunder, to see that Stone refused of the builders, [Page] which was the head of the corner; and shall wee now bee sparing of our teares?

Dearely beloued in the Lord, when I consider, how at the passion of the Sonne of God, the rest of the creatures did testifie their griefe, but yet our hard hearts cannot send foorth a sigh, nor our eyes a teare; I am ready to allow of the force1. King. 13. 5. and strength of Bonauentures Meditation on Ezech. 36. 26. and almost begin to say Amen to his petition. The Lord thereMatth. 27. 51. thus promiseth to his people; I will take from you your hearts of stone, and giue you hearts of flesh: No, Lord (saith he) I will haue none of that change, giue me rather a heart of stone, then a heart of flesh: for in the 1▪ King 13. 5. at the voyce of the Prophet, the stones of the Altar went asunder; but the heart of Jeroboam remained vntouched▪ and when thy Sonne my blessed Sauiour suffered, The Vayle of the Temple rent it selfe in two, and the stones of the streete did cleaue themselues asunder; Matth. 27. 51. yet the hearts of the Iewes [Page] remained vntouched: therefore Lord (saith he) giue me rather a heart of stone, then a heart of flesh. Let vs not (I beseech you) be slow to draw teares out of this Well.

O, but Christ hath forbid vs, Weepe Luk. 23. 28. not for me, ye daughters of Jerusalem, Luke 23. 28. But, O Lord, thou couldest haue taken no such ready course to make vs weepe, as to forbid them then to weepe; for how can we (alas) but weep to remē ber that thou thy selfe diddest weepe for Ierusalem, and yet that thou wouldest not suffer the daughters of Ierusalem to weepe for thee? that thou makest so small account of thy selfe, in regard of vs, that thou canst not choose but weepe, when thou considerest, that in Ierusalem, there shall not be left so much, as one stone vpon another; and yet thou wilt not consent, that the daughters of that trayterous Citie shall weepe, to see thee keepe not so much as one drop of blood by another? Weepe then first for the measure of his passion.

[Page]O but secondly, grieue and weepe much more, that we were the cause of all this his suffering: you are deceiued, if you thinke it was either the hands, or tongues of Christs enemies, that did crucifie and reuile Christ, so much as our sinnes did. Not all the hands of the souldiers could haue done it; he said no soonerIohn 8. 6. to them; I am he, but they fell dead to the ground, Iohn 8. 6. What was it then? heare the Prophet, Propter scelus populi mei percussi eum; heare the Apostle, Sinners doHeb. 6. 6. crucifie againe vnto themselues the King of glorie, and make a mocke of him, Heb. 6. 6. What our sinnes doe now, they did then; the Iewes cried out, Crucifie him, crucifie Luke 23. 21. him; their malice was so great, that if it had been possible, they would haue had him twice crucified; and they had their wish: for they did it once with their hands, and we did it with our sinnes: let vs shed teares for that.

The necessitie and vertue of these teares, drawne from our Sauiours Well, see both at once in one word: because we [Page] must be like Christ, that sheweth the necessitie of them, and they make vs like Christ, that sheweth the vertue of them; if the head weepe, the hand must not play, nor the foot dance; and if the members condole, when the head weepeth, it maketh the members like the head. Remember Vriahs answer to Dauid, when hee would haue had him gone home to reioyce with his wife: Doth my Lord and Sam. 11. 11. Captaine Joab, and the Hoast of the Lord lye abroad in tents, and shall I goe home and reioyce with my wife? 2. Sam. 11. 11. Did our head weepe, and shall not our eyes shed teares? Let it be the answere wee make to all the pleasures and vanities of this world, when they would perswade vs onely to laughter, and to forget teares. And thus much of the teares which wee may draw from this third Well, which I called our Sauiours Well.

THe fourth Well, I called the Well ofThe Well of Life. Psal 36. 9. life, or Gods Well; With thee is the Well of life, Psal. 36. 9. How can wee out [Page] of this Well draw teares? Euen because wee cannot come at this Well. Let vs weepe, because in this life we are forcedPsal. 137. 1. to sit by the waters of Babylon, and are yet strangers, and as it were, banished and barred from being satisfied with the pleasures of that Riuer, which gladdeth the Citie of God. Alas, if wee did consider that our Country were Heauen, and did apprehend this place here below, to bee our prison, or place of banishment, the least absence from our Country would draw teares from our eyes, and sighes from our hearts, with Dauid, Psal. 120. 5.Psal. 120. 5. Woe is me that J soiourne in Mesech, and am constrained to dwell in the Tents of Kedar. Theodoret expounding that place, obserueth, that Kedar was the other son of Ismael, and that they who were descended of him, did dwell not farre from Babylon; who calling to mind, that their father Jsmael was cast out of Abrahams Family, did liue like exiles, and bewaile their banishment out of their fathers House, the House of Abraham. What [Page] should we doe then, when wee consider our long absence from Abrahams bosome, and our being banished like our father Adam, for a certaine time, from the heauenly Paradise? Do you remember how the Iewes behaued themselues in the 137. Psalme, in the time of their exile and captiuitie, while they sat by thePsal. 137. Riuers and Waters of Babylon? they wept, would not be comforted, hanged vp their Harpes and Instruments. What are the waters of Babylon, but the pleasures and delights of the World, the waters of confusion, as the word signifieth? Now when the people of God sit by them, that is to say, doth not carelessely, but deliberately, with a settled consideration, see them slide by and passe away; and compareth them with Sion, that is to say, with the vnconceiueable riuers of pleasure, which are permanent in the heauenly Ierusalem; How can they chuse but weepe, when they see themselues sitting by the one, and soiourning from the other? And it is worthy your [Page] obseruing, that notwithstāding the Iewes had many causes of teares; the Caldeans had robbed them of their goods, honors, Countries, libertie, parents, children, friends; the chiefe thing for all this, that they mourne for, is their absence from Sion; We wept, while we remembred thee, O Sion; for their absence from Ierusalem. What should wee then doe for our absence from another manner of Ierusalem? theirs was an earthly, old, robbed, spoyled, burned, sacked Ierusalem; ours a Heauenly new one, into which no arrow can be shot, no noyse of the Drum heard, nor sound of the Trumpet, nor calling vnto battell: who would not then weepe, to be absent from hence?

The necessity of these teares you may easily see, because God giueth none of the water of the Well of life; that is to say, eternall happinesse, but to such who by the importunitie of their teares doe begge it, and obtaine it of him. The vertue of them is seene, because the Saints who sought heauen with these teares, obtained [Page] it. Dauid, whose meate day and night Psal. 42. 3. were his teares, while they said vnto him, Where is thy God? whose heart brayed, panted and fainted, after the liuing God, Psal. 42. 3. The woman of Samaria, who after shee had heard Christ talke not aboue three or foure words of the water of this Well of life, made it her present suite; Lord, euermore John 4. 15. giue me to drinke of these waters, Iohn 4. 15. Peter, who after he had seene a little of the glory of that Country, made it his next suite; Lord, it is good for vs to Mat. 17. 4. be here, let vs build three tabernacles. Saint Paul, who after▪ his rapture into that Countrie, made it his onely moane, that While we dwelt in the bodies, we were strangers 2. Cor. 5▪ 2. from the Lord, and did sigh, till he might Phil. 1. 23. be dissolued, and be with Christ. All these mens longings haue been satisfied, and that Kingdome which with teares they haue sought, God (wiping all tearesReucl. 21. 4. from their eyes) hath bestowed vpon them. And this is all I haue time to say of the fourth Well, the Well of Life.

These now are the foure Wells, from [Page] whence we may draw these teares, this precious Seede, which heere wee are commanded to sowe. Though prophane men thinke these teares, but the badge of hypocrites; yet know, that Dauid did sowe them, who was none, but a man according to Gods owne heart. That they proceede out of childishnesse and simplicitie, yet Dauid did sowe them, who was wiser then his Ancients and Teachers: Ps. 119. 99, 100. though they doe account them womanish, and signes of weakenesse; yet Dauid did sowe them, who had the heart of a Lion, and was one of the Worthies, and valiant men of Israel. Though they thinke they proceed of idlenesse and lazinesse; yet did Dauid sowe them, a man as full of businesse, both in peace and warre, as euer was any. And if Dauids example wil not serue the turne, remember Christ, the Sonne of Dauid, one farre beyond all the exceptions, wherewith prophane men vse to charge the precious teares, which wee are to draw from those foure Fountaines. So that as from [Page] the bitter flowers of Wormewood, bySimile. the Art of distilling, and heat of the fire, sweete and wholesome moystnesse and waters are distilled; euen so, from the bitter consideration of our sinnes, miseries for sinne, the bitter passion of Christ, and our absence from God, by the fire and heate of Gods Spirit, and this act of spirituall sorrow and weeping, do drop and distil▪ teares of farre more vertue and vigour, then all the waters you vse to distill, which you make serue for so many purposes.

O sweete waters! O precious seede! O diuine teares! What can you not do? You whom God maketh so great account of, as that hee putteth you in hisPsal. 56. 8. owne bottle? You which keepe vs from euerlasting teares, weeping and gnashing of teeth? You that make fat, and fertill our hearts, like that Fountaine which came out of Paradise, Genes▪ 2. and makeGen. 2. them bring forth a plentifull haruest of ioy? You that both quench our thirst, and coole our concupiscences? for as when [Page] we are thirstie, we run to the Well; and when our houses are on fire, wee run to the water; so these teares both lay our thirst, and coole our lusts. You that doe rayse vp our soules towards heauen, as the waters of the Deluge did lift vp theGen. [...]. 17. Arke; for the peoples teares by the waters of Babylon, brought into their minds the remembrance of Sion? You that are the viaticum, or prouision at our death, when wee are trauelling to our euerlasting home, as you were to Iphtahs Daughter, Dauid, Iob, and Ezekiah, whoEsay 38. 2. vpon the sentence of his death, turned himselfe to the wall and wept? You blood of our soules, which crie lowder into the eares of God, then either our sinnes, or the blood of Abel; and thereforeHeb. 12▪ [...]. in our language is called a crying, who next to the blood of Christ speake best things, who neuer held your peace, though you want tongues, and teach our eyes to speake powerfully to the Lord, Lament. 2. 18. Ne taceat pupilla oculi Lament. 2. 18. tui; Let not the apple of thine eye hold [Page] its peace, or take rest. Of you I will say no more, for such is the sweetnes and force of your owne eloquence with God, that whatsoeuer the most eloquēt toungs, or happiest pennes can say, or write of you, it is farre beneath your worth. Happie is the man who hath his bottle full of you, & his eyes running ouer with you: for you are the precious seede here spoken of; They that sow in teares. And thus much of the first thing in the first season, the seed to be committed, Teares.

NOw secondly, see the manner ofThe manner of committing the seed. committing this seed, it must not be thin, or niggardly scattred, but sowed plentifully, else our Haruest shall bee no reaping, but a gathering: for he that soweth 2. Cor. 9. 2. sparingly, shall sparingly reape: as the Lord in the parable of the Gospell complained of the reapers, so may we now of the sowers; he complained, that the HaruestMatth. 9. 37. was great, but the reapers, or laborers few.

We may on the other side complaine, [Page] that the seed is great: here is seed enough, neuer more matter and cause of teares, but the sowers few, few that plentifully shed and powre them out. Many now and then will drop a teare vpon the present occasion; as in extremitie of heate, you shall see sometimes a few drops of raine, or a few prodigious drops of bloud to fall: but you know the verse, Gutta cauat lapidem non v [...], sed saepe cadendo: teares will neuer sinke into our stony hearts, but by oft falling, as wee see drops doe hollow stones. And who is there among vs, that doth thus sowe them? We must shed them often, and many at a time, often; Day and night, saith Ieremie, without taking rest to our eyes, ne taceat pupilla oculi tui: day and night, saith Dauid, and many at a time. So many as will fill Gods bottell, so many as you may wash yourPsal. 6. 6. bed, and water your couch with them at a time, so many as may serue a man for meate and drinke. They were my meate Psal. 42. 3. (saith Dauid) and I mingled my drinke Psal. [...]02. 9. with teares.) As many as would serue to [Page] wash ones feete with Marie Magdalen; or if wee cannot attaine to that measure of spirituall moysture and perfection of teares, with those holy men and women: yet let vs doe that which the strict letter of the Text requireth of vs; let vs sowe them, obserue a seede time for them; that is to say, set out some certaine times and seasons for the sowing of them, principally those which the Church hath, or shall set out; but euery one his owne times, and seasons too, according as hee feeleth his owne wants, or is touched with the sense of others miseries, especially the Church of God.

I doubt not, but that some such sowers there are; & these are they that stand in the breach, and that the wrath of God doth not burne among vs, as it doth among many, perhaps lesse deseruing then we: no question, a good part of the cause is, the seed of these sowers, the many teares of these men of teares, which they throw vpon the deuouring flames of wrath, which are gone forth from the [Page] Lord, the number of which teares, vnlesse they bee increased, and in this combustion of Christendome, we will shew our selues as swift in running to the foure Wells aboue mentioned, as we can be forward to run and ride, if wee heare but of any new vpstart Well in the Countrie, and from them bring pales full of teares to quench this flame; the fire may go on, and as now it is in our neighbours house, so next it may take hold of ours.

Now as all are bound to sowe theseMatth. 13. 3. teares, so they especially, who in the Parable of the Sower, Matth. 13. 3. are designed by that name, I meane, Gods Ministers: for if the seede in that Parable, be the Word of God, then the sowers must bee the Ministers of that Word. The Seers and Watchmen of Israel, as they ought with Ioel, Jeremy, and the rest (if from the Towers of Sion they spie any fire approching vnto it) to call to all the people of God for teares, to meete and quench the flame: so they ought first to [Page] powre out their owne teares; si vis me flere, dolendum est primum ipsi tibi. Where onely by the way, note how much these Ministers and sowers are mistaken, who vse to sowe and preach the Word of God, not in teares, but in laughter, and thinke they sowe best, when their wit makes the people laugh. But alas, it were more wisdome to make them weepe. From this kind of sowing, they shall reap but small ioy from the fruite of their Auditors, and lesse ioy in their owne consciences from the remembrance of it, when they shall lie vpon their deathbeds. Now I haue done with the seedetime; They that sow in teares. I come to the Haruest, and will dispatch it more quickly: Shall reape in ioy.

IN which, as I told you, wee must takeThe Haruest. notice of three things: First, the Corne, Joy: Secondly, the manner of gathering it, Reaping; they shall reape. Thirdly, the Reapers, they, that is to say, the Sowers. For the Corne, Ioy, as I told you, that we [Page] were to be choyce in the seed: All teares not to be sowne: so not euery Ioy here to be reaped, nor expected. As I told you of three sorts of teares, so I pray you take notice of three sorts of Ioyes.Three sorts of ioyes.

First, sensuall ioy, not that it is a Ioy1 indeed, but because men call it, and account it so: for it is a beastly sensualitie and voluptuousnesse, and though it doth arise from the externall sense, yet because it ariseth onely from sense, it is against all sense, that it should be called Ioy, and may as well be called a sencelesse, as a sensuall ioy.

Secondly, ioy is humane or worldly2 ioy, whereby a man is delighted with vertue and honestie, by the naturall or reasonable contemplation of them: neither of these ioyes be that Ioy you must heere looke to reape; for Christ hath promised these ioyes to the World, Mundus Iohn 16. 20. autem gaudebit; but the World shall reioyce: A world full of these ioyes will neuer make a Haruest; for though to the sence they seeme to grow fairer and [Page] higher then true Ioy, yet when you come to the haruest-field, they prooue but wilde Oates, which many times grow higher then the Corne; or like the gawdie flowers among the Corne, which rather disgrace it, then grace it, and proue both the corne to bee naught, and the ground barren; these ioyes be such, as the Mower filleth not his hand with them, nor the gleaner his lap.

The third Ioy then, and that which is3 here meant, is spirituall, which ariseth from the inioying of God and spirituall things, and it is called spirituall ioy, both because it is apprehended and perceiued not by our senses, but by our spirits, but especially because the Spirit of God begetteth this ioy in vs, and is the cause of it, who therefore is called the Comforter, Iohn 14. 16. or bringer of ioy.

NOw this spiritual ioy is twofold, hereDiuision of spirituall ioy. and hence: first, in via; secondly, in patria: first, the ioy which we feele while wee are vpon our way or iourney in this [Page] life; and secondly, the ioy wee shal feele, when we are come to our iournies end, in the life to come, both of which we shall reape from teares; the one we may for distinctions sake call spirituall, the other heauenly Ioy; the one, the first fruits or earnest of the Spirit, the other, the haruest or whole summe: for whereas in other haruests, the gleaning followeth, but in Heauen there is no gleaning, but all haruest, God is there all in all: Therefore God here before bestoweth vpon vs something answerable to a gleaning; he bestoweth vpon vs here some eares of this Corne, till the Haruest be ripe; the one is, the ioy which the prodig all conceiued,Luke 15. 18. when hee thought but of returning to his father; the other, the ioy of kissing, weeping, falling on his necke, feasting,Vers. 22. &c. and musicke, which hee conceiued vpon his meeting with his Father: theNumb. 13. 24. one, the bunch of grapes, which Joshuahs Spies brought to shew the goodnesse of the Land; the other, the whole Vintage, The milke & hony where with the Land ouerflowed. Exod. 3. 8. [Page] In a word, the one is our ioy, which may enter into vs, because it is not without measure; the other, our Masters ioy, which is so great, as it cannot enter into vs, but we must enter into it, Enter into thy Masters Ioy. In a word, looke how great difference there was betweene the first fruits, and all the rest, which was the Masters, or the Owners of the ground, so much difference is betweene our ioy here, which the Scripture calleth, Primitiae Rom. 8. 23. Spiritus, The first fruits of the Spirit, and our ioy hence, which is the Owners, and Masters owne; and therefore is called, Our Masters Ioy. The obiect of both these ioyes is the same, God and heauenly things; but our ioy here, ariseth from our being vnited to these obiects by hope and faith: but our ioy hence, shall arise from our actuall being vnited to them, by vision, comprehension, and fruition; so that looke how much enioying is aboue hope, and sight aboue faith, so much shall our ioy hence be aboue that which is here: which I speake not for the [Page] vilifying of our ioy here, but for the magnifying of our Ioy hereafter; I will speake a word of either.

A world of Ioyes we haue here, accordingIoy in v [...]a. to the number of the seuerall obiects, which the Spirit of God maketh vs to take delight in, according to which number of obiects, we haue so many seuerall straines of ioy; to speake of all which, were to slip from the proper place of my Text, and to fall into the common place of ioy; the ioy which in this life you shall reape, by the warrant of my Text, is fourefold, according to the fourefold feede of teares, which I directed you to draw from the foure Wells▪ I will but name them.

From Adams Well, that is to say, teares1 for our sins, we reape here the ioy, first, of the forgiuenesse and remission of them all, which is not onely a ioy, but a blessednesse, Psal. 32. 1. Blessed is the man, whose sinnes are remitted. The Publican found more ioy in this, that after his teares and smiting of his brest, hee returned home [Page] iustified, then the Pharise did in the enumeration of all his gifts and goodnesse; and Marie Magdalen found more comfort in that one sentence of Christ after her teares, Thy sinnes are forgiuen thee, then euer she did in all the gifts and pleasures of her Louers. Christ called health and other gifts which hee bestowed vpon men, by this name, as he told the sicke of the Palsey, Mark. 2. 5. after his cure, Thy Mark▪ 2. 5. sinnes are forgiuen thee: as if that should be his chiefe ioy: if there were no more ioy, here is recompence enough for all thy mourning. From the teares wee2 draw from Jacobs Well, that is to say, for the miseries of humane life, wee reape a second ioy, which is the ioy of content, for they make vs content with that little God giueth vs here, because wee see this life a vaile of miserie, and that the more men haue, the more miserie they haue with it. Now for one to be content with his present estate, it is not onely a great ioy, but so great a gaine too, as that without it (as it should seeme by [Page] the Apostle) godlinesse it selfe were no gaine: Godlinesse is great gaine, if a man be 1. Tim. 6. 6. content with that he hath. From the teares which we draw from the third Well, that is to say, our Sauiours Wel, we may reape a third ioy, and that is no lesse then the3 ioy of our saluation, as it is called by the Psalmist, 51. 12. Restore vnto me the ioy of Psal. 51. 12. thy saluation: and to the waters of this Well, wee haue an expresse promise annexed, Esay 12. 3. With ioy shall yee draw Esay 12. 3. water out of the Wells of saluation. Here is a ioy indeed, for a condemned man to be deliuered from, I cannot tell how many sentences of death, temporall and eternall curses here, and being cursed hereafter, and that with no lesse price, then by the bitter death and passion of the Sonne of God▪ This may well be called, The Ioy of saluation. She that was saued from least, found great cause of ioy, I meane Marie, whose spirit reioyced Luke 1. 47. in God her Sauiour. And hee that thought he was saued from most, Saint Paul, who reckoned himselfe the greatest sinner, [Page] found so much ioy in it, as hee resoluedGal. 6. [...]4. neuer to reioyce, nor glorie in any thing else, but in the Crosse of Christ. From the teares which wee draw from the fourth Well, that is to say, the Well of life, we reape a fourth ioy, the ioy of4 hope; Of what? Of inheriting our Country, from our absence, from which wee wept so much; and if it were not for this hope, the heart would breake. It was this ioy, the ioy of hope of looking after the recompence of the reward, which made the Martyrs so merry; from this ioy of hope came their reioycing, singing, kissing of the stake, as it is reported of Theodorus that young man, who when by Iulians command, he was drag'd to most terrible tortures, hee is said so to haue sung and reioyced, as hee made his very torturers to blush; hee perswaded some almost, others altogether to become Christians. I can stay no longer on these ioyes, because the gaudium magnum, the great Ioy is yet behind.

Onely let mee tell you this, that the [Page] least of those Ioyes is worth all your teares, and the least drop of them is worth a Sea of all sensuall and worldly ioyes; and indeed to speake of these spirituall ioyes, to such as haue not felt them, is ridiculous, because they are knowne by apprehension, not by discourse, and to them who haue felt them, it is needlesse to discourse of them; for this doctrine is better learned by one experience, then by a hundred rules; as one will know more of the sweetenesse of hony by one taste of it, then by a hundred disputations and discourses of it. In this point only, if there were no more, it is worth all worldly ioyes: it is purum purum gaudium; a sincere and sound ioy: so are not worldly ioyes, they are but shadowes and figures of things wee take them to bee. 1. Cor. 7. 30. Let them that reioyce, be as if 1. [...]. they reioyced not; and them that marry, be as if they married not; and they that buy, as if they possessed not; for the shadow of these things passeth away. The Fathers on that place haue made this obseruation, that [Page] the ioyes of this world are but quasi, as if they were ioyes, not ioyes indeed, but shadowes or figures; they are, as it is in the nine and twentieth Chapter of Esay, Jsai. 2 [...] 8. and the eighth verse: As whē a hungry man eateth in his dreame, but when he awaketh, his soule is emptie: as Nebuchadnezzar did seeDan. 2. 31, 37. the glorie of the world, but it was in a dreame. Next, this spirituall Ioy is a sincere ioy, because as it is all ioy, so it is alwayes ioy, any crosse or affliction will dash out a worldly mans ioy: Balthasars Dan. 5. 5, 6. ioy dashed out with the dash of a pen vpon the wall; Herods ioy dashed with aActs 12. 23. few Lice and Vermin▪ worldly mens ioyes lie in the power of others; butIohn 6. 22. (saith our Master of spirituall ioy) no man shall take your ioy from you: It is increased rather, then impaired by death it selfe, as I told you in the Martyrs; or by scourges, as in the Apostles, who reioyced, that they were thought worthy to suffer for Acts 5. 41. the name of Christ: So worldly ioyes are but like Townes and Countries, finely painted in the Map, which as with a little [Page] water any one may wipe out; so are they quite wiped away by the water of affliction: and if there be no crosse to dash out worldly ioyes, they will dash out themselues: for they are all, saith Gregor. Greg. Nyssen. hom. 5. in Eccles. Nyss. in his 5. homily on Eccles. written in water, which retaineth no print of that which passeth thorow it: nam voluptatis cuius (que) cessante operatione cessat & sensus; when that is gone in which worldly men ioy, their ioy is gone. It is not so with spirituall ioy, which reflecteth back vpon it owne acts and obiects. When wicked men delight in sin, they reioyce for the time; but when they remember what they haue done, that reflecting vpon it, grieueth and troubleth them, Pro. 14. 13. The end of their mirth is heauines: butProu. 14. 13. a godly mā is ioyed, not only whē he reflecteth vpon any ioyful action, but when he remembreth his griefe and sorrow, and reioyceth euen in the remembrance of his sufferings. As Samson, Iudg. 14. 8. beingJudg. 14. 8. set vpon by a Lion, slew it; and after a few dayes going to looke vpon it, [Page] found a swarme of Bees and Honycombes in it: So godly men, when they reflect vpon their temptations and crosses, find ioy and sweetnesse in the remembrance of them. I haue done with the Ioy which wee shall reape here from our teares; let vs speake a little of the Ioy of Heauen, which one day wee shall reape hence from the same teares: for hee that draweth teares from the foure forenamed Wells, shal be sure one day to reape eternall ioy.

OF which Ioy, I know not well whatIoy in Patria. to say, so much hath been said already, and yet nothing hath been said: in my expression of it, I would gladly take a new course, and onely tell you this of it, that it cannot be expressed. Heare Saint Augustine, he telleth vs, that one day, while he was about to write something vpon the eighth verse of the thirty sixt Psalm, which is this; Thou shalt make them drinke of the Riuers of thy Pleasure; and hee was almost swallowed vp with the contem▪ [Page] plation of these Heauenly Ioyes, that one called him very lowd by his name; and inquiring who it was, he answered; I am Hierome, with whom in my life time thou hadst so much conference concerning doubts in Scripture, and am now by experience, best able to resolue thee of any doubts concerning the Ioyes of Heauen: but onely let me first aske thee this question: Art thou able to put the whole earth, and all the waters of the Sea into a little pot? No more is it possible that thy vnderstanding should comprehend the least shadow of these Ioyes. Will you heare Paul tell vs, that hee cannot expresse them? 1. Cor. 2. 9. Eye hath 1. Cor. 2. 9. not seene, nor eare heard, neither haue entred into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for those that loue him. The eye can see very farre: I will not stand to tell you, how farre the Opticks tell vs that a man may see, hauing all aduantages: but it is certaine, that a man may see wonderfull farre in the night, because he may see the Starres of the Firmament; [Page] which are so farre distant from vs, that Philo (laughing at the folly of the Babylonish builders) affirmeth, That a Milstone would be foure hundred yeeres in falling to the earth from the Spheare of the Moone: and Astronomers, That it would bee fifteene hundred yeeres a falling from the firmament, where the Stars are. And yet though our eye can see thus farre, yet it cannot pierce into this Ioy: he goeth on to the eare, which extendeth it selfe a great deale farther then the eye, which onely looketh vpon things present, but by our eare wee know things past, the glorie of all the Monarchies and Empires that are past, the glory of all things that now are, and all the things which are foretold shall be; and yet our eares haue neuer heard of any thing like this Ioy: he goeth on; neither hath entred into the heart of man to vnderstand: That is more then both the former, the eie apprehendeth things present, the eare things past, present, and to come, they go no farther: but the vnderstanding apprehendeth [Page] things that are, and are not, and by a diuine power calleth things that are not, as if they were: disputat de quolibet ente & non ente; it imagineth Mountaines of gold, and heauen to be a place of infinite Ioy: and yet the hart of man cannot comprehend this Ioy. Sure these are great expressions of the Apostle: Can we find no other way to know this Ioy? As Moses and Ioshua sent out som Spies to spy the Land:Numb. 13 18. so we haue 2. special mē in Scripture, who haue spied this ioy; Iohn in a Vision, Paul in his Person: Can they tell vs nothing of this Ioy? Yes, Iohn telleth vs something of it, but his expressions are darke, in regard of the light that is there; for he expresseth it by flouds, Riuers, Mountains, Mettals, stones, all which are but materiall things, and whatsoeuer hee saith, is not good enough to be a shadow of this Ioy: and S. Paul is forbid to tell vs what he heard, and was so rauished with that he did see, as that he is confounded, and can say nothing of it: nay, not so much as now foureteene yeeres after he was there, tell [Page] vs whether he was there in the body, or [...]. Cor. 12. 3. out of the body: it must be a great ioy which so dazelled him. When men see things in a dreame or vision, then they thinke they see them in the body; but restored againe to themselues and senses, they know that they did not see them in the body: but the Apostle foureteene yeeres after, cannot tell whether hee saw that ioy in the body, or out of the body. Now after these great expressions of the impossibility of expressing it, I will neuer goe about to doe it; onely I will giue you a taste of it by this one drop: One drop of this Ioy, is able to quench al the fire that burneth, to dry and stop all the teares, weeping, and gnashing of teeth, which is in hell; the rich glutton in hell desired Abraham to send Lazarus withLuk. 16. 24 one drop of water to coole him. From whence wee must not inferre, that the paines of hell are so little, as they may be quenched with one drop of water, but rather make this safe inference, that one drop of that water where Abraham and [Page] Lazarus were, is of such infinite power and sweetnesse, that if it could bee but dropped into the flames of hell, it would quench them all. The greatnesse of this Ioy may be comprehended in these two words; in the fulnesse of the obiect, and in the fulnesse of inioying this obiect. The obiects are many, but the summe of all is God, whom we shal see face to face, and in him all the ioyes and goodnesse which is in Heauen with him: for as looking in a glasse, we see the glasse, our selues, and all things about it; so in that glasse of the Trinitie, we shall by a beatificall Vision, see the glory of the Trinitie, see our selues, and our owne glorie, and all the Angels, Saints and pleasures of Heauen, which are round about that Trinitie. And as our ioy shall be full, in regard of the fulnesse of this obiect, so it shall bee full, in regard of our fulnesse of inioying it; we shall feele this ioy with all our powers and faculties; and neuer haue done feeling it, euer beholding, though alwaies satisfied; euer drinking [Page] and yet still thirsting, non per sitim siccitatis, saith the schoole, sed per sitim ardoris & desiderii, not with any thirst of drinesse, but with the thirst of desire. This is all I will at this time say of the Ioy of Heauen.

But now how come we to reape this Ioy from our teares? It is a thing that both standeth with reason, and with good iustice: with reason; for as sweete Spices, when they are burnt in the fire, or beaten in the Morter, send forth their sweete smell and sauour: so after our teares and griefe, God may well send vs this pleasure and ioy; with Gods iustice and goodnesse it standeth, that those soules which haue refrained themselues from worldly delights, which cannot bee without some sorrow and sadnesse, should one day bee filled with ioy and gladnesse, that those vessels, which for the inioying of God, did emptie themselues of all ioy here, should run ouer with ioy in Heauen, that as Ioseph (Gen. 45.) afterGen. 45. 2, 3, 4. he had vsed his brethren a little roughly [Page] at first could hold himselfe no longer, but must needs ouer-ioy them, with making himselfe knowne to them: so Christ our elder Brother, after he hath vsed vs here a little hardly vnder the rod, and made vs shed many a salt teare, should shew vs himselfe in Heauen, wipe those teares from our eyes, and fill them with ioy and laughter. Though you see therefore the Children of God in teares, nay and perhaps in blood, both broken-hearted, and broken-boned, despaire not for all this, but that one day you may see them shine in Ioy, like the bright Starres of the Firmament.Dan. 12. 3. When you see one in the streets from euery dunghill, gather old pieces of rags & clouts, little would you thinke, that of these rotten rags beaten together in the Mill, should bee made such pure fine Paper, as afterwards we see: and so from teares we doe not expect pure Ioy, which notwithstanding is the pure Corne wee are promised heere from this seede of Teares. I haue done with the Corne, Ioy; now I come to the [Page] manner of gathering it, which is reaping.

IF we haue not scattered, but sowed, weeThe Reaping. shall not gather or gleane, but reape; that is to say, Looke how farre the corne which Husbandmen receiue in Haruest, doth exceede the seede which they did sowe in seede-time, so farre shall the Ioy which we shall reape, exceede the teares which wee did sowe. When God suffereth vs to sorrow, he euer keepeth in his hand, and suffereth teares perhaps, to enter into our soules, but not to goe ouer our soules; but in bestowing his mercies and ioyes, hee euer stretcheth forth his hand, & semper, say Diuines, praemiat vltracondignum; He filleth our cup full, and maketh it to runne ouer. Isai. 40. 12. GodEsay 40. 12. is said to measure the waters pugno, with his fist, and to mete out the Heauens palmo, with his spanne. By the Waters, you know, in Scripture, is often meant sorrow and afflictions; and by the Heauens, the Ioyes and rewards due to the righteous. When therefore he measureth out [Page] our teares and sorrowes, he doth it pugno, with his fist, that is to say, his hand closed and contracted; but when hee measureth our Ioyes and consolations, hee doth it palmo, explicata manu, with his span, and open hands: saith our Master; A little Iohn 16. 16. while and yee shall not see me, and againe, a little while yee shall see me, for J goe vnto my Father. The Apostles were to mourne and fast for the absence of the Bridegroome, and their Master, to wit, all the time of his being dead and buried in the Graue, and then afterward they were to see him from his resurrection vntill his ascension, or going to his Father. So there was modicum absentiae, & modicum praesentiae, a little while of his absence, and a little while of his presence; but now which of these littles was the greater? that of his absence while hee was in the graue, was fortie houres; that of his presence, or conuersing with them, betweene his resurrection and ascension fortie dayes; so that for euery houre of his absence, there was a whole day of his [Page] presence: nay, Jsaiah maketh the one a yeere, annum placabilem, and the other but a day, diem vltionis, Isai. 61. 2. To preach Jsai. 61. 2. the acceptable yeere of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God: but the Apostle, 2. Cor. 4. 7. hath cut the one so short, and2. Cor. 4. 7. so lengthened and loaded the other, as he will not haue them come within the compasse of any comparison; Our light afflictions which are but for a moment, cause vnto vs a farre more excellent and eternall weight of glory. Let any man shew mee a richer or fuller expression in all Tully or Demosthenes, then this; our teares but light, our ioy not onely weightie, but a weight, our teares but momentarie, past2. Cor. 4. 17. as soone as come, our Ioy eternall, euer comming, and neuer to bee gone. What proportion betweene these two? our Ioy then shall be as farre aboue our teares, as reaping aboue sowing; they shall reape.

THirdly, wee must take notice of theThe Reapers. reapers, they shall reape. Which they? They that did sowe: they shall, and none [Page] but they shall: they shall, and good reason they should, because it was they that did sowe. And though some that haue sowne in teares, doe complaine of the latenesse or thinnesse of the Haruest, that they haue not reaped in Ioy, as is here promised, know, that some grounds are later then others, and some yeeres the Haruest falleth later then others, and that God, who is the Lord of the Haruest, in his good time will ripen thy Ioy, and thou shalt reape it: and in the meane time, if we trie it narrowly, we shall find the cause in our selues, both of the latenesse of our Ioy, because wee were too late of sowing our teares; and of the thinnesse of our Ioy, because we did sowe our teares too thin. And if after our sowing of teares we find no haruest of ioy at all, we may be well assured, that either our seede was not good; that is to say, our teares none of them which are heere meant, or else some of the mischances is come vpon them, which came vpon the seede that came to no good in the thirteenth [Page] of Matthew, either they haue falne by the way side; that is to say, they haue been shed for false causes, not vpon true grounds of godly sorrow; or they haue falne vpon stony ground; that is to say, onely falne from our eyes, but neuer sunke into our stonie and hard hearts, and so could take no roote; or else they haue falne among the Thornes, which choaked them; that is to say, the griefe and cares of this present World, which drowne many times our godly teares: or else the enuious man hath sowne Tares among our teares; that is to say, false worldly ioyes, which wee, as they sprung vp, did not weede out, till they ouergrew this seed: but let vs sowe this precious seede of teares in a good ground; that is to say, in a contrite and broken heart, and haue a care, that the enuious man sowe no Tares among them, and they shall bring forth a hundred fold; for all they that thus sowe in teares, shall reape in ioy.

And as all they, so none but they, [Page] Psal. 84. 6. Such onely come to appearePsal. 84. 6. before God in Sion, who passe through the valley of Baca, that is to say, teares. And indeed there is no other way to enter into Heauen but by affliction, violence, griefe, and teares. There are in the new Testament twelue names especially giuen to the Kingdome of Heauen, and the celestial ioy which we hope to reape; but looke to them narrowly, and you shall find, that quantum honoris is in euery one of them, tantum etiam & oneris; that as there is pleasure in them, so there is toyle and teares likewise, before you can come thither. Matth. 11. It is called the Kingdome of Heauen: but the Text tellethMatth. 11. 11. vs, that it cannot bee taken but by violence. It is called a Heauenly Citie; the Spirituall Ierusalem. But the Apostle, 2. Eph. teacheth vs, that those who are Citizens of this world, cannot be fellow Citizens with the Saints: there is a changing of the Copie, which to flesh and blood is grieuous. The fourteenth of John, it is called, the House of God, in which there are Iohn 14. 2. [Page] many dwelling places: but the Gospell telleth vs, that the doore of this house is so narrow, as wee shall haue much adoe to get into it, Matth. 13. 44. A hid Treasure, Matth. 13. 14. but that we must digge very sore for it: Matth. 13. 46. A rich Pearle; but rated atMatth. 13. 46. such a high price, as we must sell all wee haue to buy it: and that was a grieuous taske to the young man in the Gospell; Matth. 20. 9. A penny, but it is giuen onelyMatth. 20. 9. to such as labour all the day long in the Lords Vineyard, Luke 14. 16. The great Luke 14. 16. Supper of the King: but such a one as those who minded worldly businesse, as seeing of Farmes, prouing of Oxen, and marrying of Wiues, were not thought worthy of it: Matth. 25. 21. Our Masters Joy: Matth. 25. 21. but into which no man must enter, vnlesse by his toyle and trading, hee hath doubled his talent. Matth. 25. The Marriage of the great King: but from whose Marriage-chamber they that sleepe too long, are shut forth. 1. Cor. 9. A prize; but such as no man obtaineth, vntill hee run to the end of the race 2. Tim. 4. A Crowne [Page] of righteousnesse, but none must we are it, but those, who with the Apostle haue fought a good fight. And lastly, A Paradise; This night shall thou bee with mee in Paradise: but you know how Paradise was guarded, with a guard of Cherubins, Fire, and the blade of a sword shaken, to passe through which guard, it must cost vs some paines and danger: and besides these twelue, herein the Text it is called a Ioy, but such a one as onely those shall reape, who first sowe in teares: So that these men, who trauelling to the Mountaine of God, take not the valley of Baca, that is to say, the valley of teares in their way, but shun it; and had rather take the way of the flowrie and gawdy Meddowes: So as there is no Meddow in their way, in which they leaue not some tokens of their merriment and wantonnesse, as it is 2. Wisd. They are out of their way, Errant & errant toto coelo, they are wide, and as wide as the wide Heauen. And so much afterwards they themselues confesse in the fifth of Wisdome, [Page] Ergo errauimus, &c. Therefore wee went astray from the way of truth; as therefore all they, so none but they who sowe in teares, shall reape in ioy; which is the proposition of the text, that by Gods assistance I haue now expounded vnto you. And it is in the number of those propositions, which are conuertible and reciprocal, for as they that sowe in teares, shall reape in ioy: so it is as true, that those that sowe in ioy, shall reape in teares; if by Ioy you vnderstand worldly ioy; and by teares, vncomfortable teares here, and desperate weeping and gnashing of teeth hereafter. Christ himself hath conuerted these two propositions, Luk. 6. 21. for Blessed are you that weepe now, for you shall laugh. So it is in the 25. verse; Woe be vnto you that laugh now, for you shal weep. And as I told you of our ioy, so I tell you of their teares: for they shal find, that their weeping shal as much exceede their ioy, as reaping doth sowing; al their ioyes are but momentarie, or for dayes, at most, for yeeres: but there shall be no end of their Haruest of teares, it shal come in so fast vpon them; neuer shall [Page] their teares faile to fall from their eyes, nor neuer shall any teare that falleth, bee wiped from their eyes: and if they should shed but euery yeere that they must remaine in that bottomles valley of teares, one teare, they shall shed more teares then there be drops of water in all the Ocean; for though we cannot number the drops of water in the Ocean, yet God can precisely tell, how many there are euen to one: but these teares neither God nor man can number, because they are numberlesse and infinite teares, which they shall reape, who sowe in Ioy; as that Ioy is infinite which they shall reape, who sow in teares. And so now by Gods assistance and your patience, I haue cleared my hands of my text: They that sowe in teares, shall reape in Ioy.

FINIS.

§

§

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A SERMON PREACHED AT St. MARIES SPITTLE ON MVNDAY IN EASTER Weeke, the fourteenth day of Aprill, Anno Dom. 1623. By Walter Balcanqual, Doctor of Diuinitie, and Master of the Sauoy.

LONDON, Printed by F. K. for Iohn Budge, and are to be sold at the signe of the greene Dragon, in Pauls Churchyard. 1623.

Errata.

Page 2. line 20. for heteredox, read heteredox▪ p 4. l. 25. for large, r. long. p. 5. l. 23. for pluma, r. plunia. p. 13. l. 21▪ for feast, r. fast p 15. l. 2. for vnto, r. into. p. 16. l. 14. after so▪ adde these. p. 18. l. 14. for opera, r. opera▪ p. 18. l 23. for [...] ▪ r. since. p. 24 l. 10. for one, r. ane. p. 36. l. 11. for lanched, r. lanced. p. 40. l. 8. after euill, adde, of. p. 59. l. ar. for Sonne, r. Sunne. p. 62. l. 21. after it, adde, once p. 69. l. 8. for act, r. air [...]. p. 70. l. 21. for held, r. hold. p. 76. l. 15 for Secondly, r. the second. p▪ 82. l. 10. after promise, adde, of ioy. p. 83. l. 8. for from, r▪ for. p. 84. l. 16. for purum, in the second place, r. putum.

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Information about this book

Title statement

A sermon preached at St. Maries Spittle on Munday in Easter weeke the fourteenth day of Aprill, anno Dom. 1623. By Walter Bancanqual ...

Balcanquhall, Walter, 1586?-1645.

Edition statement

1623

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Text Creation Partnership,

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Date

2005-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A02266

ID [STC]

STC 1240

ID [STC]

ESTC S100541

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

99836378

ID [PROQUEST]

99836378

ID [VID]

646

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(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A02266)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 646)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English Books, 1475-1640 ; 871:13)

Source

— A sermon preached at St. Maries Spittle on Munday in Easter weeke the fourteenth day of Aprill, anno Dom. 1623. By Walter Bancanqual ..., Balcanquhall, Walter, 1586?-1645..

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[2], 104 p.

Printed by F[elix] K[ingston] for Iohn Budge, and are to be sold at the signe of the greene Dragon, in Pauls Church-yard,. London :: 1623.. (On Psalms CXXVI, 5.) (Printer's name from STC.) (Running title reads: A sermon preached at S. Maries Spittle.) (Reproduction of the original in the British Library.)

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