THE CHRISTIANS MOVRNING GARMENT The third Edition AT LONDON Printed for Thomas Pauier and are to be sold at his shop at the entrance into the Exchange 1603. To the right Honourable and virtuous young Gentleman Henry Lord Hastings Grace and peace RIght Noble Impe. THose little creatures the Silk-wormes shunning duality of meates and betaking themselues wholy to the fresh leasage of the Mulberie tree frame by Natures instinct and vertue of the Plant so faire and so sweet a webbe that the greatest personage will not thinke much to weare it I am the meanest of the seruants of God farre lesse than the least of his mercies yet by the operation of his blessed spirit the soule of my soule and the efficacie of his holy word whereon alone I wish to feede I trust I haue shaped such a garment as the best Christian will not disdaine to put on A Mourning Garment it is For lighter colours beseeme not Gods Childe in this carelesse Age where Ladye Faith goes bare-foote alas all alone attended by no good workes which makes her wash handkerchers in her teares I present this vesture to your Lordship not doubting but you will accept it and adorne your selfe with it And I desire it may be a token of a dutifull and thankfull minde for the numberlesse fauours our happy vnhappy name hath receiued from your most noble and for zeale of religion most worthie Ancestors The Lord blesse your Honor that as you growe in stature and yeares so you may growe in grace and fauouor with God and men Your Honours in all obseruance William Worship The Christians mourning Garment IT is a rule that will abide the tutch-stone No man comes to heauen with drie eyes Our selues are shippes launched foorth for heauen our teares must be the sea our sighes the gales of winde while Hope is the anchor and Grace steares the helme Moses Hezekiah Peter Mary Magdalen and all the Saints of God were wasted on the riuers that gusht from their own eyes to the kingdome of glory Howbeit though euery penitent sinner wéepe yet euery one that wéepes is not a penitent sinner For teares in themselues are but things indifferent neuer please God but when they issue from a troubled spirite suppled with grace and wounded with true remorse and sence of sinne It is not sorrow 2. Cor. 7. 10. but godly sorrow that goes for currant Some wéepe for themselues not for others some wéepe for others not for themselues some neither wéepe for themselues nor others some both wéepe for themselues and others To wéepe for thy selfe not for others betokens luke-warmnesse to wéepe for others not for thy selfe hypocrisie neither to wéepe for thy selfe nor others deadnesse of hart both to wéepe for thy selfe and others zealousnesse The last of these is an effect of holy sorrow which who so findeth not in himselfe one time or other is no better than a vessell of wrath In the name of God then good Christian brother let thine eyes spout out teares as a Conduite spouteth out waters for thy gréeuous capitall and enormous vices Say not thou art Sanguine complexiond and canst not wéepe of a manly stomack and wilt not Sam. 1. 16. 12. wéepe for Dauid was both yet teares were his meate day and night Flatter not thy selfe the vaine conceit of easie attaining saluation may cast many a soule away in a yeare Thou must vpon necessity mortifie the flesh Away with it Away with it crucifie it crucifie it Now ere thou can do this it will cost thée many a groane and many a teare oh it will go to the hart of thée As thou tendrest thy soule looke home vnrip vnbowell ransacke thy selfe throughout Mourne for thy originall sinnes and for thy actuall sinnes for thy sinnes before thy calling and since thy calling for thy presumptuous sinnes and for thy sinnes of infirmitie for thy open sinnes and for thy secret sinnes for thy sinnes of ommission and for thy sinnes of commission Stéepe thine eyes in teares read letters of discomfort on the ground as thou goest let the streames of thy sighes and the incense of thy praiers rise vp like mountaines before the Lord and if this will not mooue him to pitty if it be possible wéepe teares of bloud Aboue all things beware thou looke not sowerly in company to be séene of men for then thy rewarde is sure to be great in hell Get thée into thy most retyred closet let no body by thy good will know of it pull the latch into thée sée there be no holes in the dore no cranies nor clifts in the wall then fall groueling to the earth thump thy brest strike vpon thy thigh wring thy hands and poure out thy soule before the Lorde so he that séeth thy true humiliation in secret shal one day rewarde thée openly in the sight of his glorious Angels Vnclaspe thy Bible lay the ten commandements before thée and bedewing them with thy teares make thine humble confession thus before God O my God I am confounded and ashamed to lift vp mine eyes vnto thée my God for mine iniquities are increased and my trespasse is growne vp into heauen Yet Lord remember thy mercies of olde and open mine eyes that I may sée the wonders of thy law that so sinne may be out of measure Rom. 7. 12 sinful Good God thy commandements are iust and holy but I am carnall sold vnder sinne and should not lye yelping and howling in the burning lake of damned soules if I had my right Blessed be thy name for inspiring this good motion of meditating in thy law for it is a glasse wherein I may beholde the vglye morphew of my soule and so be forced to flée to my redéemer for his precious blood to rinse and munditie me that I may be presented a spotlesse virgin before thée Alas I should haue béene thy Nazarite The 1. cōmandement and haue giuen thée all my hart but I haue giuen the flesh a péece of it the worlde a péece of it and the deuill a péece of it I should haue worshipped thée according to the square and tenor of thy word without adding detracting changing but I haue ballanced thy seruice after mine owne scoales and haue more delighted in falling downe before a gilt Image than in beholding thy swéet sonne most liuely crucified in Gal. 3. 1. thy worde preached and sacraments administred I should haue magnified thy name and haue spoken of it with high reuerence but I ah wretch haue curst band and champed Phil. 2. 10. Iesu in my mouth at whose blessed name euery knée should bow both of things in heauen and things in earth and things vnder the earth yea Lord I haue torne thy holy name as the Draper rasheth out a péece of linnen to the buyer I should haue hallowed the best daye of the seauen and haue bestowed it in prayer hearing of Sermons receiuing the sacrament almes meditation on Gods workes but I woe worth
thy sinnes while thou iettest vp and downe with a Cammels proud neck bearest no part in their song of sorrow Thy corne which thou hopedst would growe plumpe in the eare is blasted in the prime and it thanks thée for it Thy close is pesterd with thornes and thistles and other cursed and vntimely fruite and it thankes thée for it Thy fishes are frozen to thy pond they silently thanke thée for it O what a rack what a gybbet would this be to thy soule if thou hadst any grace But thou more sencelesse then sencelesnesse euen when fit opportunitie is offered to cast dust vpon thy head and that thine eye euen thine eye should shoure forth teares day and night goest metily away regardlesse of so lamentable spectacles What is this but a cleare demonstration that so continuing thou art within an inch of hell Water is an heauie substance and yet if a man lay close to the bottome of the sea he should féele no waight because No Element is heauy in it proper place The whole world is crushed with the ponderousnesse of thy sinnes and thou féelest it not A shrewd token that sinne is where it would be Alas for pitty why wilt thou dye why wilt thou strangle thy soule with so full resolution If thou loue God who loued thée first be no longer an Heafer of thrée yeares olde euer liuing in pleasure neuer féeling sorrow but let thy bowels sound like an Harpe or Shawme for thy transgressions and now at length sigh out this exclamation Oh that mine head were full of water and mine eyes a fountaine of teares that I might wéepe day and night for my manifold and bloody sinnes And that thy hart may yet waxe colder within thy body know further that thy sins lye so sore vpon thy swéete Saniours back that he can take no rest Hearke how he complaineth Beholde I am pressed vnder Amo. 2. 13 thy sinnes euen as a Cart is pressed that is full of sheaues Pitie O pitie thy selfe if not take pitie vpon thy Redéemer who is prest downe to hell with the heauy sheaues of sinne which thou hast pickt vpon him most cruelly more like a Iew than a Christian It was thou O wretch that didst cast him into his agony where he swet such a sweat that the drops of blood trickled downe apace and the Angels were faine to comfort him It was thou O wretch that betraiedst him with a kisse soldst him for a little pleasure of sinne not worth thirtie péeces of siluer It was thou O wretch that camest vnto him with swords and staues as if he had béene a théefe who indéede thought it no robbery to be equall with God It was thou O wretch that didst whip him and clap a crowne of thornes vpon his head mocking him spitting in his face O cruelty If thou haue occasiō to spit thou gettest thée to the Chimney or behinde the doore for manners sake and yet thou makest no bones of spitting in the face of the God of Angels It was thou O wretch that didst strip him naked riuet his hands and féet to the crosse flouting him euen when he indured for thy sake the incomprehensible wrath of God his Father Behold thy Redcéemer offering vp praiers with strong crying and teares and art thou srolicking The daughters of Ierusalem wéepe the Virgin Mary is pierced through with the sword of sorrow and doost thou run ryot and chop away thy soule for a mite of pleasure The Sunne lends night in midst of day the vaile of the Temple is rent from the top to the bottom the earth quaketh the Mat. 27. 51. stones cléeue the graues open and art thou fatting thy selfe with merriment And meanest thou for all this to saile to heauen by heauen Can there be two heauens If thou still play the Epicure letting these reasons which the scripture yéeldeth so bounteously rebound from thine eye eare and hart like a Tennise from the ground I euen plunged in a gulfe of sorrow to sée thée like a frantick smile when thou dingest thy knuckles against what is next thée till the blood spin out must leaue thée to the secret councell of God if thou néeds wilt perish thy blood will be vpō thine owne soule But I trust these words shall prooue vnto thée the swéet sauour of life vnto life and not of death vnto death wherfore be dilligent in waighing two reasons moe so will I betake me to the remainder The first is the blessednesse of this godly sorrow Doest thou molest the ayre with sighes and the earth with teares not countersaite and forced but sincere and penirent Reioyce and be glad Thou art in the kingdome of Grace the forerunner of the kingdome of heauen Before the conuersion and Zeph 1. 12 new spirituall byrth thou was frozen in the dregs of thy sinne there was such a thicke Ice vpon thy soule that the euill Angelles shotte at pricks as it were and droue carts vpon it but since the Holy Ghost which the Math. 3. 12 Gospell compared to fire hath caught holde on thée thy congealed nature is dissolued and thawed into a flood of teares Wouldst thou thinke it There is not a Psal 56. 8. teare shed for sinne but God catches it before it falles to the ground and treasureth it vp in his bottle Not a teare spent in this sort which thou shalt not finde vpon recorde in heauen so soone as euer thy soule is vnhousde In summe the Lambe in the midst of the Thorne will with his owne hand wipe away al teares from thine eyes Thus they that sowe in teares shall reape in ioye Blessed art thou if thou now wéep for thou Reue. 7. 17 shalt laugh blessed art thou if thou now mourne for thou shalt be comforted Yet a very little while and he that shall come Luck 6. 21 will come and will not tary The last Motiue is the consideration of their deplored estate who ayming at nothing but the bodyes corrupt satisfaction bury the excellent designes of the soule in muddy sensuall pleasure terming sorrow for sinne nothing els but a sullen passion be got betwéene Feare and Melancholy the silly effect of the foolishnes of Prenching Whervnto shall I liken this generation They are like vnto the fat Kine of Bashan that are in the mountaine of Samaria appointed for the slaughter They are like vnto Théeues that goe through a fayre sloured field to the gallowes They are like vnto Riuers that run swéet fresh into the salt sea They are like vnto Passengers laide along to sléepe vnder shady trées who wakning since themselues swelted with the heate of the remooued sun These Riotours that neuer came where true sorrow grew first are base For themselues affirme that pleasure is for the body all men know the body is for the soule so become they seruants to their seruants seruāt Secondly their estate is damnable in life in death after death In
life for their consciences are bereft of sence and motion by that gangrene sinne and throughly burnt with a searing Yron If a man should cut them vp he should finde no hart in them for Whoredome and Wine and new Wine haue taken Hose 4. 11. away their hart This is a plague of all plagues The stone in the bladder is a gréeuous disease so is the stone in the backe but there is no disease to the stone in the hart Some read the Bible and finding the wrath of God to smoake against sinners in the olde Testament somtime with stoning somtime with the earth swallowing her inhabitants somtime with fire brimstone from heauen they wonder why God is so gentle now a dayes as to let sinne alone which growes so ranke in all places Alas it is true wretches that we are we are all of one language quite contrary to the good language of Canaan we build Towers of Babel Towres of sinne and confusion whose pinacles spire vp to heauen and cry out in the eares of the Lord Thou God to whome vengeance belongeth thou God to whom vengeance belongeth shew thy selfe And verily if we goe on as we doe out-sinning all the regions about vs and turning vnto our owne race as a horse rusheth into the battaile we shall driue the Lord in his anger to exclaime O they haue put out my eyes as the Philistins did Sampsons my type they multiply abhominatiōs as if I had no prouidence lead me lead me to the maine pillers of the land the posts whereon the house standeth that so I may bring the realme vpō their heads be at once auenged of them for my two eyes But to answer the question I auouch i◠confidently that the Lorde doth plague the impenitent of this land more sharply and seuerely now in these dayes of peace then he did malefactors in former ages And I prooue it thus Then he punished the body now he punisheth the soule deliuering these men vp into a reprobate sence giuing the Deuill liberty to eare-marke them It is the fearefullest iudgment in the world when sin is punished with sinne and this is the iudgment of these times Wo wo wo vnto vs for we are sick of sinne vnto death and yet féele it not nay like Gadarens we driue away the Lord of life the deare Physitian of our soules If any man be desirous to know the cause of so vniuersall a desertion and embrawning of the hart I must tell him that we are poore with riches pale with beauty sicke with health euill with good Peace and Plenty the mother and daughter haue so led and pampred vs that we are waxen wantonings and kick against the Lord Search the Scripture who will he shall euer finde that leannesse of soule hath béene sent amongst Quailes that excessiue mirth gluttony and chambering make men pursie vnweildsome and to God vnseruiceable By this deare Christian brother mayest thou take a scantling of their wretched estate in this life who do nothing els but fulfill their sensuall lusts and appetites Surely me thinkes this one iudgement that vsunlly befalleth Belly-gods on earth should make our Lusty blouds afraid But alas they haue eyes and see not eares and heare not harts and vnderstand not They drinke till they be drounde in fire and shoote chaineshot of roaring oathes that make the windowes of heauen to totter in my conscience they made the earth quake so lately Tel them of it they breake iests and like the prophane Isralits rebuke the Priest Hosea 4. 4. Yet when they lye vpon their death beds tumbling and tossing and telling the clock when the flashes of hell fire present themselues to their consciences and the bloody wounds appeare which they gaue their owne soules in the dayes of their iollitye when that wilde beast Sin that hath so long slept at the dore of their harts and stird not is suddainely awaked and flyes in their bosome ready to pull out their throates when swarmes of iniquities humme like flyes about them and like Frogges scrall vpon them and croke vengeance against them then tell me if they descend not from the treble keyes of mirth to the graue keyes of sorrow tell me then if they tremble not like an Aspine leafe or like the hartlesse Deare at the noyse of the thunder-cracke Then send for Moses send for the Preacher then good people pray for me O whither shall I flie from the Arrowes of the Almightie that part my ribbes and wound me incurably Alas I thought I could haue repented at the last gaspe euen when I was fetching my soule sighes but now I finde to my paine that repentance is the guift of God O that I might dye the death of the righteous This will be the out-crye of euery one of them dye not their harts like stones within 1. Sam. 25. 37. them as Nabals did But when the date of their life is out and their soules vnbodied then is that truely brought to passe which our Sauiour pronounceth Woe bée to you that now laugh Luk. 6. 25. for yée shall wéepe and waile When they once put their heades within hell gates and heare the feareful yelling of damned spirits that féele no comfort no release no ease nor any thing but amaze and horror then will they wish wish that they had wept their eies out sighed their lungs in péeces but it will be too late Then will each of them crye out Cursed be the day wherin I was borne cursed be the paps that gaue me suck cursed be the knées that preuented me for damned I was damned I am damned I shall be for euer more O whether poore forsaken shall I go from distresse since no remooue can lessen my sorrowes euery place presents like face of misery Alas what comfort cā I haue when the God of all comfort is away Alas it is a long night that 's neuer day an vnmercifull fire that 's neuer quenched a dreadful torment that hath neuer end but lasteth for a time times no time euen for euer O hell hell thy fire is intollerable hot yet without any light to giue a soule cōfort the breath of the Lord like a Riuer of Brimstone doth kindle it O that some moūtaine would Isai 30. 33. fall on me hide me from the presence of the Lambe whom if I had kist he had not béene angry and I had neuer come to this O that I had béene borne a Katte or a Spider or a Load for so should my soule haue vanished to nothing whereas now it is substantiue alwayes dying yet neuer dead Worme of conscience when oh when wilt thou dye wilt thou neuer leaue tugging and tearing my soule Father Abraham one drop of water to coole my tongue good father Abraham Alas why go I about to blazon the armes of hell since they passe the power of any pencils expressing or mindes imagination Suppose a man laid his limmes on a