Mat. 23 37. By this complaint it appeareth that though our Sauiour mourned for the Citty of Ierusalem yet the people of Ierusalem had the greatest cause to bewaile theyr owne misery Our prophet therefore in weeping for the people he sets them a president and rule to follow It was their punishment that strooke his hart with this inward sorrow and caused his eyes to shedde teares and therefore he frames himselfe to weepe that by his weeping hee might wring teares out of their eyes But ought not euery man to bee mooued most with that which most concerneth himselfe Why then is our Prophet touched with a more liuely sence of the Iewish calamities then the Iewes that were to feele the smart thereof Why doth he not wish that their heads were full of water and theyr eyes fountaines of teares that they might Weepe day and night for the destruction that should come vpon themselues Oh their harts were hardned that makes our Prophet to mourne the more He had rebuked them for their sinnes but they would not amend He had denounced Gods iudgements but they despised his threatnings When the false Prophets flattered them with Peace Peace to them they harkened It is saide of our Sauiour Christ concerning the Iewes that hee did mourne for the hardnes of their harts Marke 3. 5. And heere our Prophet Ieremiah when nothing would preuayle he takes himselfe to mourning In this place we see how needfull it is that faithful Pastors be placed among the people when they are ignorant to teach them when they sin to admonish them when admonitions wil not serue to terrifie them with Gods iudgments when nothing will preualle to mourne for them The dumb dogs the ydle Non-residents do none of these thinges the one cannot and the other will not and both of them haue bin the destruction of many thousande soules which will one day bee required at both of their handes But what shall the faithfull ministers do Shal they tel the Drunkards what the prophet Isaiah saith vnto them Wo vnto them that rise vppe early to follow drunkennes and to them that continue vntill night till the Wine do inflame them Isa 5 11. Wo vnto them that are mighty to drinke Wine and to them that are strong to poure in strong drink ver 22. And what the Prophet Ioell saith 1 5. Awake yee Drunkardes and howle and weepe all ye drinkers of Wine because of the new Wine for it shal be pulled frō your mouth Shall we tell the Adulterers what our prophet Ieremiah saith of them 5 7. Though I fed them to the full yet they commit Adultery and assemble themselues by companies into the Harlots houses they rise vp in the morning like fedde horses euery man neyeth after his neighbors wife Shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord Shal not my soule be auenged on such a Nation as this shal wee say to the common and prophane swearer as the wise man saith Ezechiel 23 9. Accustome not thy mouth to swearing for in it there are many falles neither take vp for a custome the naming of the Holie one for thou shalt not be vnpunished for such thinges And ver 11. A man that vseth much swearing shall be filled with wickednes and the plague shall neuer go from his howse Or that which God himselfe sayeth in the third commaundement that the Lord wil not hold that person guiltles that taketh his name in vain Shall wee cry out against deceite in buying and selling against false weights and measures against deceitfull and vnprofitable wares against extortion oppression and such like in condemning whereof the Scripture is vehement Shall wee say to the Vsurer in the name of the Lord Thou shalt take no vsury of thy Brother thou shalt seeke no aduantage against him but thou shalt feare thy God that thy Brother may liue with thee Thou shalt not giue him thy mony to vsury nor lend him vitels for increase Le 25. 36 Or that which in another place Thou shalt not giue to vsury vnto thy Brother as vsury of money vsury of meate or vsury of any thing that is put to vsurie Deut 23 19. But what auayleth it vs to speake of these things your Pulpits haue sounded with these exclamations but all in vaine These sinnes haue so bewitchedy our minds partly with pleasure and partly with profitte that they are become like the deafe Adder that stoppeth her eares and will not heare the voyce of the Charmer Charme hee neuer so wisely They are so deepely rooted in your harts through long continuance that all their labour is in vaine which shall endeuour to plucke them vp They haue so lulled you asleepe in the cradle of security that it is easier for vs to raise vp Lazarus out of his Graue then to bring you to any sence or feeling of your sinnes Seeing then that all things are brought to this desperate state the Lorde hath at length begun to waken vp his iudgements to see if he can Waken you out of your sleepe of sinne He hath begun at length to stretch forth his punishing hande vppon this Citty which as it hath bin heauy vppon those whom it hath touched so it threatneth destruction to many moe Oh then what remaineth for vs but with the Prophet Ieremy to weepe and lament And heerein leaue mee not alone but as Moses and all the congregation of Israell wept before the dore of the Tabernacle when the wrath of the Lord was kindled against them Numb 25 6. so it behoueth you all to ioyne with me as Actors in this lamentation And first you that are the Fathers and Gouernors of this Citty as your sinnes are not the least for I may not flatter you so it is your partes to bee the formost in this great humiliation But if you thinke the matter doth not concerne you then I turne mee vnto the Lawyers the Merchants and Artificers with all the residue vvhose sins haue conspired together to bring downe Gods wrath vpon this Citty And if they refuse me then where should I make my mone but to the women vvho haue good reason to be partakers of this common sorrowe because their Pride Vanity Loftie lookes Gayrish attyre Wanton gesture other vices haue not beene the least cause to sute this citty with this fearefull pestilence And if they disdain to mingle their tears vvith mine then haue I none to fly vnto but the little children that they at least with their crying and weeping may helpe to increase this dolefull lamentation But if the hearts of all bee hardened if neither Men Women nor Children will mourne vvyth mee yet vvill I vvayle and mourne my selfe alone and say with the prophet Oh that my head were full of water and mine eyes a Fountaine of teares that I might weepe day and night And so I come to the second part which is the obiect of the Prophets mourning that I might weep for what for the slain of
the daughter of my people There is a time to laugh and a time to Weepe a time to sow and a time to reape a time to commit sinne and a time to be punished for sin The Iews had laughed a long time in security but afterwards they mourned a long time in misery They had a long time sowne the Tares of disobedience but now they were to reape the fruite of wrath and vengeance And as they had spent a long time in running the race of sinne so the Lorde at length found out his time to breake off their course by powring his heauy iudgements vpon them The prophet heere bewayleth the slaughter of the people he makes no mention of their sins which were the cause thereof But in speaking of the effect hee implyeth the cause for had it not beene for theyr sinnes the hoast of the Chaldaeans had not come amongst them and then that slaughter had not bin committed Hereby he teacheth them that it had beene in theyr power to haue preuented this lamentable effect if they had repented of theyr sinnes and accepted the time of Grace when it was offered vnto them but when they had despised mercy had chosen to wallow still in theyr sinnes now was the dore of mercy shut and nothing but miserable destruction to fall vpon them This was the cause that our prophet ceaseth to bewaile their sinnes and insteed thereof he bewaileth the punishment which their sinnes had produced That I might weepe for the slaine He saith not for those that were dead among the people for then he might seeme to insinuate that this destruction should be by some natural cause But when he saith for the slaine he shewes it was by violent death vpon the sword of their enemy And heere consider the destroyers and the destroyed The destroyers are described Ier 22 23. Beholde a people commeth from the North-countrey and a great Nation shall arise from the sides of the earth With Bow and shielde shall they be weaponed they are cruell and will haue no compassion their voyce roareth like the sea and they ride vpon horses well appointed like men of warre against thee O daughter of Zyon And Ier 4 13. Behold he shal come vp as the clowds and his Charicts shall be as a Tempest his horses are lighter then Eagles Woe vnto vs for we are destroyed And Ier 8 16. The neying of his horses was heard from Dan the whole Lande trembled at the neyghing of his strong horses for they are come and haue deuoured the Lande with all that is in it the Citty and those that dwell therein The destroyers then were the hoaste of the King of Babel clad in glitering armor with their bloody weapons their hands vvounding and slaying and killing al that come in their Way their Horsses besprinckled vvith blood trampling vpon the dead Carkasses crushing their flesh and their bones vnder their feet vvhile they lay gasping and panting and breathing out the Ghost The destroyed were the Iewes signified by these Words the slaine of the daughter of my people These are they whome the Prophet bevvayleth hauing theyr flesh mangled their bodies dismembred their limbes scattered vp and dovvne here a legge and there a hand and there a head and their bloud running too and fro in the streets of Ierusalem But is the slaughter among vs such a slaughter Beloued whether our sins may prouoke the Lorde in his vvrath to make such a slaughter of our people I leaue that to your vpright and due consideraon But the svvord of the enemy hath not yet made such hauocke among vs. The Lord hath taken the matter into his ovvne hand He hath sent his Angels to destroy euen from Dan to Bersheba from the one end of the Land to the other and the slaughter they haue made is a great slaghter And the vvrath of the Lord is not yet turned avvay but his hand is yet stretched out still Our sinnes haue made our eyes to see that verified vvhich the Lord threatneth by the Prophet Moses Deut 32 42. I wil make mine arrowes drunke with the blood and my sword shall eat flesh If euer this iudgementwere accomplished in this land it is nowe executed in these our dayes The atrowes of the Lord are drunke with blood and his sword doâ—h not cease deuouring of mans flesh O wretched people that would not be warned in time to escape this fearefull iudgement of the Lord. You therefore that would not followe our counsell when we exhorted you in the name of the Lord to forsake your sins and amend your liues now must you heare vs strike vp the drum of Gods wrath and sound out the Trumpet vnto the Lords battels Oye Angels smite slay pursue till the Lord shall command to make an end of killing and till it shall please him to giue a sign of retrait But so long as your sins strike vp the alarum so long will the Angels of the Lorde destroy First therefore must we sound the retrayte from sinne before the Lord wil sound the retrait from the battell But what shall I put you in hope that if yee presently repent and turn vnto the Lord the lord will forthwith stay his hande and slay no more Beloued I haue no such commission When the Iewes had many yeares taken their full scope to roue and range licentiously in their sinnes despising the admonitions of Isaiah Ioel and the rest of that time our Prophet Ieremiah comming after them finding no better entertainement then they had done in the 4. chap. xii ver hee gyues sentence against them which was too late to bee reuersed And though sometimes hee insert many excellent promises for the comfort of Goddes Church that they might not vtterly despaire of mercy yet those promises wer not to take place till first they had felte the smart of their former contempt as we may see Ier 29 10 c. So the Lord hauing vouchsafed vnto vs the preaching of his Gospell with al temporal blessings accompanying the same so long a time and in so gracious a measure as neuer nation vnder heauen hath beene so blessed of God as this Land and this Citty novv that our sinnes haue as much abounded against GOD as his mercies haue abounded towards vs insomuch that the Lorde could no longer with-hold his iudgements how can we looke that this wrath of the Lord should be so easily remoued which wee our selues haue prouoked til first we haue felt his scourge for our former vnthankfulnes And yet it stands you vpon euen speedily to repent flee vnto the mercy of God in his sonne Christ least you bee not onely cut off by this sword of the Lorde but also perish for euer in the world to come The iudgements of God are of two sortes eyther generall prepared for the destruction of all the world or particuler for the punnishment of certaine Nations Kingdoms Citties or towns The general iudgements are of two sorts Fyrst the Element of Water whereby
Ieremiahs Teares OR A Sermon Preached in York-minster vpon Trinity Sunday in the yeare of our Lord 1604. when the sicknes was begunne in the Cittie BY Thomas Pullein Vicar of Pontefract sometime Chaplaine of New Colledge in Oxford Oh that they were wise then they would vnderstand this they would consider their latter end Deut. 32. 29. LONDON Printed by William Iaggard for Clement Knight 1608. To the Honourable Robert Askwith Lord Mayor of the Citty of Yorke and the Right Worshipfull his Graue Associates and Brethren the Aldermen all spirituall Graces with wordly Prosperity in this life and eternal happines in the life to come HAuing of long time conceiued a purpose my good Lord to giue some publicke Testimony of my Loue to your Honourable Citty the place of my byrth J began now in the latter end of your Lordships yeare to consider that J could neuer haue a fitter opportunity for the accomplishment of my desire Whereupon beeing loath to vse any further delay in letting passe so good an occasion neere lost already I was forced in hast the time so requiring to looke vp my old Papers to see if I could finde any thing worthy to present vnto your Lordship And while I was thus occupied I bethought my selfe of that Sermon which heeretofore I made in the City when it was newly visited with the late contagious sicknes being drawn thither at the earnest request of a Worshipful friend And this J thought the fittest to publish at this time for sundry causes First to put vs in mind of the manifolde Gracious and Fatherly benefites wherewith God hath blessed vs aboue al the Nations of the Earth and how we haue abused the same Secondly to set before vs the horrible sins wee haue committed with our monstrous vnthankfulnesse against his Maiesty Thirdly to renew a fresh the remembraÌ„ce of his seuere Chastisements lately but most iustly inflicted vpon vs which we seeme to haue vtterly forgotten And lastly to admonish vs that if neither his blessings nor punishments wil moue vs to repent amend our liues hee hath yet more fearefull iudgements to astonish our rebellious harts vtterly to make an end of vs which though we haue escaped the plague do still threaten our ruine and destruction All which points I had rather should be obserued out of the sermon it selfe then trouble this place with the repetition therof The reason why I haue deferred this vnto the end of your yere was because I had partly heard by generall report partly seene with mine owne eyes how honorably you haue performed your Office and passed your yeare with as much credit applause as any of your Predecessors I coulde not but reioyce in your Lordships behalfe for a Testimony of my Gratulation bringe with me this pore present to the shutting vp of your yeare not doubting but your Lordship will take the same in good part And thus honorable and right Worshipfull commending this small exercise to your diligent reading carefull practise with my harty Praiers to the Lorde for the continuance of his blessings vpon your Citty that it will please him to replenish the people vnder your Gouernment with the knowledge of his heauenly truth and feruent loue of his holy Gospel framing their harts in obedience thereunto to their eternal Saluation I humbly take my leaue Pontefract this first of Ianuary 1607. Your Lordships and Worships to command in the Lord Thomas Pullein Ornatissimis viris omni doctrinarum genere imprimis conspicuis D. Custodi Socijs caeterisque Alumnis Collegij Noui apud Oxonienses debita vnicuique obseruantia DVodecim plus minus elapsum est annorum interualum doctissimi viri et fratres plurimum obseruandi ex quo insignis vestrae domus Capellanus eforo Collegij vestri in vineam Dominime contulerim Quales exinde labores susceperim non dignos seuseo de quibus dicam Hoc qualecunque opusculum si quid inde sit emersurum boni Ciuitas illa in qua natus fuerim et educatus cui labor etiam iste dâ—stinatus iampridem fuerat optimo iure sibi vendicat vt vbi lucem ipse primum conspexerim quod a me primo profectum est primum etiam in lucem prodeat Si quid tandem vos interpellem rogetis dicam verbo Nihil mihi visum est indignius quam vobis vel inconsultis velsaltem neglectis quicquam moum in publicum prodire Quicquid enim mibi est vobis acccptum fero vobisque animi qua maxime possum gratitudine refero Nullius autum rei magis sum cupidus quam vt vos labores meos siue hos siue alios in posterum fortassis edendos in vestram tutelam suscipere quod recte dictum fuerit aequi consulere si quid proficiendi studio deliquerim indulgenter condonare velitis Deus in studia vestra incumbat Spiritus sui gratia multosque e vestra societate dignos operarios in messem suam emittere dignetur Valete viri praestuntissimi meque alumnum Collegij vestri vestrum in sinum a linguis mordacibus confugientem suscipite fouete tueamini Pontefracti Calendis Ianuarij 1607 Vestra societati addictissimus Thomas Pulleinus Ieremiah 9. 1. Oh that mine head were full of Water and mine eyes a fountaine of teares that I might weepe day and night for the slaine of the daughter of my people AS God hauing tyed Abrahams faith and by tryall found it sincere in walking obediently vnto his will did plant his Church in Abrahams posterity being holie branches of a holy tree so this Church God woulde not leaue destitute of his further grace but as in mercy hee had freely chosen the same from among the rest so in his goodnes he blessed it aboue the rest He sent his Prophets from time to time as dilligent husband-men to employ theyr Prayers both earely and late for the dressing of hys Vineyard and to do all things which might serue to make it fruitfull that as hee had planted the same by himselfe so he might water it by his seruants giue the increase by his spirit Amongst these seruants of God whom the Lord had indued with the spirite of Prophesie some were employed specially among the Iewes consisting of the Tribes of Iudah and Beniamin some were sent to the ten Tribes of Israell which being reuolted from the house of Dauid were now become a seueral kingdome of themselues some exercised a more ioynt function concerning both the kingdome of Iudah Israell and some Prophecied more specially concerning forraigne Nations Of those Prophets whose commission was to preach vnto the Iewes our prophet Ieremiah was neyther the last nor the least who being indued with rare and excellent gifts of God as namely with feruent zeale inuincible courage and vnchaungeable constancy beganne for to prophecie in a most corrupt and daungerous time when the Booke of the Lawe was lost and neuer a coppie thereof extant for the instruction of the people
from so many places besides your ordinarie Preachers whome the Lorde hath placed among you which though they bee few through your owne fault yet are they enow to make you without excuse and al these haue not ceased to cry and cal on you for the amendment of your liues to lay away your swearing your drunkennesse your Whoredome your falshood and deceit in buying selling and bargaining your prophaning of Gods Sabboths your contempt of his word your biting extorting and oppressing vsuries besides infinite others your grieuous and abhominable sinnes and yet all in vaine insomuch that the Lord hauing laid his heauy hand vpon many places of this Land to the destruction of many thousands hath begunne also to stretch it out vppon this Citty and is like to proceed further and not yet to make an end according to that of the Prophet Isaiah 9 12. The wrath of the Lord is not yet turned away but his hand is stretched out still This is the cause that hath mooued me laying aside all matter both of doctrine and exhortation to make choyse of this place of Scripture the better to occasion me to lament bewaile both the hardnes of your hearts and the greatnes of your punishment and to say with the prophet Ieremiah Oh that my head c. The Prophet in these words doth signifie that as their sinnes were monstrous passing al measure so the destruction was fearfull which the Lord was determined to bring vpon them exceeding the measure of his ordinary Iudgements and therefore that hee was not able sufficiently to bewayle the greatnesse thereof For great sinnes procure great punishments and great punnishments are neuer without great sorrow and lamentation Seeing therefore the punnishments which God had prepared for the Iewes were such as they had neuer felt before so the Prophet desireth to bewayl the same with such a measure of Lamentation as neuer had bin heard of before that the greatnes of his mourning might if it wer possible be fully answerable to the greatnesse of their miseries In these wordes wee may obserue two things First the mourning of the prophet and secondly the obiect of his mourning The mourning in these words Oh that mine head were full of Water and mine eies a fountain of teares that I might weep day and night the obiect of his mourning was the slaughter of the people that I might weepe day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people His mourning he sets down in most patheticall and significant terms And this he doth by way of a Rhetoricall gradation for he that weepeth sheds tears and he that sheds tears must haue some inward moisture that must be resolued into tears The prophet therfore framing composing himself to weep and in weeping to exceed measure to passe moderation that he might not be interrupted in the course of his weeping for want of matrer to ministet suply of tears he first wisheth that his head were full of water or rather that his head were resolued into water for that commeth nearer the Haebrew original Oh that some man wold make my head to become as water In this great lamentatiō the prophet seemeth to fear nothing more then that his head should be drawn dry that for lack of moysture he should be constrained in time to forbear weeping for as Seneca saith Nullus dolor longus est qui magna est The sorrow that is great cannot be long for such is the infirmity of nature that nothing vehemēt or violent can bee of long continuance Seeing therefore that this sorrowe was extraordinatie because it did arise of an extraordinary ocasiō here he sets forth in extraordinary hyperbolicall formes of speech rather expressing his desire how hee would haue it to bee then any hope he had that it could so be not so much declaring what was possible likely to bee doone as what was meete and conuenient to bee done The thing therefore that our prophet desireth is first that his head might be ful of water It is not a small quantity of water that will content him but he would haue it ful of water Nay he would haue it resolued into water that so long as it is a heade so long it might neuer be without water to weepe and waile for the destruction of the people But why doth hee wish that his head were full of water and not rather his heart seeing the heart is the seate of all the affections Although the heart is the seate of the affections yet the head is the seat of all the sences both inwarde and outward And the head as it is the highest part of the bodye so the mind which is the chiefest part of the soul hath erected her throne therein keepes there her residence and from thence as from a Watch Tower apprehendeth all things vnderstandeth al things and discerneth all thinges that are brought vnto her by the outward sences which are her handmaids This is the place where the minde doeth sitt as Queene and Gouernour and whatsoeuer it be shee commaundeth prescribeth or directeth that the will and affections are ready to execute And for that cause it is said Mens cuiusque est quisque The mind of euery man is the man himself This is that which first aprehendeth the cause of griefe sorrow and by by Communicateth the same with the hart which is presently moued either to embrace or dislike as the minde Iudgeth the obiect to bee good or euil Like vnto a Porter who keeping the gate doth open it to his friend and shuts it to his enemy By this the prophet in his Prophetical spirit did foresee that horible and bloody slaughter which should be committed by the hoast of the Chaldaeans in the City of Ierusalem And this did so deeply afflict and pierce his hart that he could not containe himselfe but must needs break out into a most dolefull lamentation And the better to continue and increase his sorrow by ministring as it were food thereunto he wisheth that his head wer full of water for as fire consumeth wood and coales and for want of woode or coales the fire it selfe will consume and be extinguished so weeping exhausteth and draweth out teares and when teares are consumed without supply weeping it selfe must needes haue an end And therefore that a fresh supply might neuer be wanting he wisheth that his head might alwaies abound with water And for this purpose the head is a more fit member then the heart First because the obiect of the affections is there apprehended and iudged of and according to that iudgement the hart is affected Secondly for that the head is much larger and of a more capacious figure Thirdly because it is more apt to receiue and hold water both in regard of the ventricles or receptacles of the braine within and also for that it is strongly fenced and enuironed as it were with a hard wall round about And lastly for that