but after he is confirmed an Apostle and he who before his teares proued a transgressor after of Gods flocke is made a Pastor and receiues others for instruction that had not before guided well himselfe The same also in that holy penitent is proued For we reade she wept but not ought she spake We reade not saith one what in words she vttered Stella in Luc. Luk. 7. but what she did For the kingdome of heauen is not obtained by words but by good workes A rare miracle is to be seene in her washing with her teares the feete of Iesus For often we obserue the earth watered by the heauens but inuerting natures lawes we neuer heard the earth bewet the heauens and yet that here may be beheld if we conceiue the maker of heauen aboue the heauen So great a good are teares Impediments of weeping and yet how many euill le ts thereof hardly shall one seuerally relate but their sources or head fountaines shall here be pointed at too strong each one alone for this same naughtinesse which if in one they do concurre they resist with more forciblenesse Them in this order we will digest first Diuision of lets speaking of the naturall then of those which occasion breeds Amongst those naturall dulnesse hath his place which being of those euils that are bred in man makes senslesse them in whom it rules which vice Pierius Hieroglyph l. 30. c. 2. by the skilfull in nature they pourtray in that fish which for this purpose is called Slothfulnesse Torpedo Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This creature casts poyson of temper extremely cold which when ouer weeles or lines or angle or speare it hath runne stupifies the strongest armes that holds any of these deluding all their fishing so whatsoeuer affection in man hath need for to be stirred by such heartlesse lazinesse is ouerwhelmed Whence Dauid so often intreates of God he would quicken him Psal 119. after his iudgements in his lawes in his righteousnesse And as one that had deuoured Opium or some destroyer of the vitall heate Lighten mine eyes Psal 13.3 lest that I sleepe the sleepe of death This is accompanied with another vice as hurtfull as it selfe namely the neglect of our owne saluation which hath dwelt in man since he cast away himselfe Now where the end is neglected what care is of the meane expected He that cares not for prosperitie what trouble will he vndergo for hauing it He that loathes not filthinesse it selfe will neuer for cleannesse danger his life by washing in the riuer If any delight in botches and neither smels nor feeles contagious vlcers seldome will he endure for health to be lanced and seared and cut Like to this or the cause of this is ignorance of God and of our selues For he that neither knowes himself to be vnrighteous not that God doth hate reuenge iniquitie neither Gods mercie nor his owne misery neither how shamefull is his present life nor how fearful estate remaines him in vaine shall you looke from such for teares and lamentation Hence all speech for this effect to most men is ridiculous and vaine This time as wrote the most famous Christian Oratour we neither feele in our selues the piercing sorrowes S. Chrysest de compunctione cordis l. 1. paulè ab initio 1. Tim. 6. nor admonish others but are like corpes fairely adorned with vestments outwardly but inwardly with long consumption of grieuous sicknesse wasted Or as the Franticke who speaking and doing many shamefull things and dangerous are neither ashamed nor frayed awhit but rather glory seeming to them selues scunder and wiser then the best so we against health doing what euer we do not so much as account that health which we want If the weakest disease stirre the strongest of our bodies strait Physickes helpe we seeke and laitish as the Prophet speakes gold out of the bag Psa 46 6. But for this purpose siluer is too fine to be weighed in the ballance The soule is daily torne and wounded burnt and vtterly endangered and yet no care is had The cause of all is that all alike of this sicknes we are possessed As where all without exception haue some one bodily griefe very want of thought consumes them all while no man ministers the healthful nor forbids the hurtfull things so we all languishing some more some lesse are one and other destitute of sense Obliuion is next and not vnlike For know a man that himselfe not onely descrues wrath and hatred but also is adiudged to shame and paine yet if by interuention of other things he let the remembrance of those to slip it is all one as though he had neuer knowne For vnremembrance of euill is falling of sense out of the soule which Lemuels mother intimates bidding Plo. 31.6.7 Giue strong drinke vnto him that is ready to perish and wine vnto those that be of heauie hearts that he may drinke and forget his pouertie and remember his misery no more And familiar instance doth illustrate it when the eues and robbers arraigned and iudged ouer night to die the morrow by companie of their mates with Tobacco and wine become so carelesse as if they were repriued from death for a thousand yeares This we see and wonder at others forgetfulnesse and say If it were our case we should not be vnmindfull of so certaine and so present death and yet our selues with like or other delights bewitched scarce euer thinke the like estate is ours For since once it was in Adam said to vs Gen 3.30 S. Chrysostem in Genesin Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne the sentence is past on euery of vs and with our sentence we are sent to prison shortly after to go to execution onely with this difference that they commonly betweene their doome and death haue from the earthly iudge the assured respite of a night but we from God the Iudge of all haue not the certaintie of an houre From these there springs another euill as hurtfull as the rest for many Pharises not discerning or not remembring their owne wretchednesse remit teares to publicans and harlots as not beseeming them or deserued of themselues let Dauid and Peter and Marye and like trangressors weepe as for vs we are not tainted of any criminous offence Amos 6. So sing they to their organe Dan 4. and boasting of the Babel which their owne conceites haue built glorying in their riches and increase of goods and neede of nothing Reu. 3. not knowing that they are wretched and miserable and poore and blind and naked Such as once fell out of the castell windowes to the bottome of the deepe though after exalted much higher then before in the house that stands vpon the rocke Mat. 7. they thinke had neede by reason of their former fall still to weepe Psal 40. as for themselues yet swimming in the waters sometimes taking hold yet neuer entring into
and power and all such sensible but senslesse gods All men honour this power with their vowes cunctis potentiaista votius est nemo colendam neget quaÌ„ profitesur opundam she deserues to be worshipped whom he professeth to be worthy the seeking for And after We must ioyne profite which most procures the gods credit with men For whereas all reason is hid whence shall the knowledge of those that should be worshipped be better had then from the momorie and instructions of prosperous affaires Finally after other couetous and ambitious talke thus Rome vaunts This Sernice of God made the world subiect to my hests these rites droue Hannibal from the walls and the Senons from the Capitoll And on the other side Publicke famine and thinne haruest are imputed to the leauing of that religion which seemed to cause all plentie Euen so they spake of old and still do Ier. 44.15 c. that sacrifice to the queen of heauen saying that whé they sacrifice vnto her they haue plentie of victuals but when they leaue off to burne incense to their owne yarne that then they want all things So to this day they speake of Poperie and the reparation of true religion that impietie may appeare in all ages like vnto if selfe So euery of these if you aske them Where is thy God points with his finger at some thing which he worships because he worships the creature in stead of the Creator Rom. 1. But the Creator cannot be seene therfore neither shewed to these eyes Therefore it is said to Israel Deut. 4.15 Ye saw no maner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake vnto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire And to vs Ioh. 1.18 No man hath seene God at any time the onely begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him For All things whatsoeuer he hath heard of the Father Ioh. 15. he hath shewed vs. All things which were lawfull to be vttered vnto vs 2. Cor. 12. which were expedient for vs. Onely in the Sonne for euer the Father may be seene Philip hauing seene the Sonne requests not wifely Iohn 14.8 Shew vs the Father as though that would suffice him which was and is vnpossible for him For no man hath seene God nor cansee 1. Tim. 6.16 he dwelleth in light which no man can approach vnto And Solemon saith 2. Chron. 5.2 He dwelleth in the thicke darknesse Nezian in carm So that If a man can passe through the darknesse he shall be blinded by the obstacle and spleÌ„dent veile of the great light and it is not easie to pierce as Nazianzene speakes through a double battlement for God that filleth all and dwelleth ouer all though he lighten the mind yet she s before the beames thereof and still leauing it as it is able in sight to follow him drawes it by degrees to higher things Yet interposeth between it his incoÌ„prehensible essence as many veiles as were ouer the Tabernacle Therefore Moses himselfe though knowne to God by name much desiring to know the way of his maker Exod. 33.13 receiues this answer Thou canst not see my face for There shall no man see me and liue V. 20. For that Iacob is said to haue seene God at Peniel face to face and his life was preserued is not spoken properly Cyril Glaphyrorum l. 1. do Iacob but because of the Godhead dwelling bodily in Christ Moses therefore can see but Gods back-parts Exo. 33.32.23 that is his workes and that too being put by the grace of the same God whose glory passeth by him in a clift of the rocke whereon we are built that rocke is Christ in the clifts of which rocke alonely 1. Cor. 10. the Church herselfe is lou ly Cant. 2.14 Christ alone is that propitiatory or mercie feate whereby vâ—e approach to God Exod. 15.17 figurally made by the hand of Moses and spiritually interpreted by the Apostles Paul and Iohn Rom 3.25 yet it was couered with Chetubins of gold 1. Ich. 25.2 and the Seraphins theÌ„selues with two wings Exod. 25.19.20 couer their eyes from beholding God Esâ—â— 6. and with other two their feete Cyril De tabernacule l. 9. from being beheld of men So the things of God themselues are inuisible Rom. 1. how much more God himselfe Nyssen hom 5. in Cantica that is vnbounded by any kind of limit of place of time of forme of colour of quaÌ„tity of figure of fashioÌ„ of distance or any other Without body and supersubstantiall is that Nature which commandeth all things Cyril de sestis Pasch hoÌ„ 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let neuer therefore the minde go out of the body to learne ought of God for that which is conceiued beyond and aboue all not onely bodily but also spirituall substance can neither be circumscribed by place nor subiect to the shapes of formed things whose way is in the sea Psal 77.19 and his pathes in the great waters and his footsteps are not knowne The more presumptuous are they that dare enquire for the sight of his person Who alone himselse beholdeth all things Sybil. or ac in prooemio 1. l. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. but is not seene of any mortall flesh for what flesh can see the heaneÌ„ly true and vncorruptible not being able to stand against and gaze in the beames of the materiall Sunne as the heathen Sybil spake before Paul was taught the same from heauen This note we for our instruction and comfort Gen. 30.8 in the wrastlings of God wherewith we wrastle with those our sisters that exceed in multitude namely Romanists the congregations of carnall men Let vs walk 2. Cor 5. v. 5. as the true Church of God by faith and not by sight Deut. 4.12 beleeuing on him the voice of whose words we haue heard but haue seene no similitude We haue heard the voice of his word not the immediate voice whereof the creature is not capable For if the sound of the heauens motion be therefore not perceiued of man because his sense is not sufficient to receiue it as men of nature write then much lesse shall any creature heare the Creators voice So the word himselfe testifies ye haue neither heard his voice at any time Iohn 5.37 nor seene his shape Iohn 6.46 neither hath any man seene the Father saue he which is of God he hath seene the Father Psal 36. in whose light the Father in the Sonne in that manner which is meere Mar. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God in that they shall see him in whom they are pure being conformed to him that is the perfecter of their purenesse 1. Ioh. 3.2 For now we are the sonnes of God and it doth not yet appeare
of the Lord shall returne and come to Sion first in the Church on earth but more magnificently in heauen with songs and euerlasting ioy vpon their heades they shall obtaine ioy and gladnesse and sorrow and sighing shall fly away The Prouerbe is Transition Omne tulâ—t punctum c. He is able to accomplish all that mixes profit with his pleasure but our meaning is at this present to ioyne power to profitablenes To speake therefore of the efficacie of teares which was fourth amongst the heads propounded to be treated touching them If you will call them showers or stormes from aboue they hinder the attempts of diuels which besiege the Citie of God quenching all their canon shot for teares are th' effects of faith whose vertue is to quench the enemies fierie darts Ephe. 6.16 Or if you tearine them cataractes or falls of water from the highest mountaines they presse and crush what e're lifts vp it selfe against God 2. Cor. 10.5 of which perhaps a little after he here complaines Psal 42.7 whence is truly said S Bern. festo omnlum sanctorum serm 1. A stubborne horse is tamed by the whippe and a rebellious spirit by shedding teares For riuers and brookes carrying with them what euer lyes in the way at length ouerwhelming the very walls and bays opposed vnto their violence hence that is to them asscribed which is neare vnlawfull to attribute to a creature that by theÌ„ a man in wrestling preuailed with God Hos 12.4 He had power ouer the Angell and preuailed but how he wept and made supplication vnto him Or if we say they are pure waters of some siluer streame in which the letters otherwise vnlegible are perceiued Bern. de Coena ser 12. Lachryme dicant quia voces explicare non queunt Naso Lachryma pondera vo cis habent Flor. lib. 1. c. 22. For if the drooping soule caÌ„not declare her minde teares shall supply where the tongue is tyed Or if that which is intended by weight of arguments must be enforced teares are the weightiest words wherewith Veturia vnarmed Coriolanus her sonne now readie to batter the wals of Rome To Antipater coÌ„plaining grieuously to Alexander of his mother he returned this answer Knowest thou not ô Antipater that one teare of a mother will blot an hundred iniurious letters Will you stile them bathes the hardest ice will speedily resolue being cast therein such as they say Stella in Luke 7. was the heart of the first most sinfull and then most mournfull Mary Magdalen For in these is a hote resoluing quality issuing from the mines not of blacke sulphure or the like but of the precious and celestiall gold of wisedome inspired by God Are they called noble wines and generous that makes men confident Spes iubet esse ratas and they giue great confidence towards God which in one of Dauids words euidently appeares where to the Almighty he dares to say Hold not thy peace at my teares Psal 39 1â— Ephrâ—â—â— de compâ—â—â—ctiâ— ne hoâ—â— 4. What is hold not thy peace at my teares I know saith he O Lord thou art a righteous Iudge none I know can deliuer out of thine hand Iob 10. I know thou wilt iudge the quicke and dead Rom. 2. thou wilt strictly iudge the sonnes of men for euery idle word Mat. 12. vpon euery secret Eccles 12. though lightest thought I know thou wilt come and call the nations from East to West Psal 50. to heauens from aboue and to the earth beneath that thou mayst iudge thy people And I to my selfe am conscious of manifold offences Psal 38. yet this I also know that thou art mercifull I know that teares and troubled spirit are to thee most acceptable Psal 51. because these thou hast commanded and these are sacrifices wherewith thou art pleased Therefore I pray do not remember my sinnes and forget my teares for so should I not be able to stand Psal 130. but rather remember these forgetting those So shall I not feare to come into thy presence when the thrones of Princes are cast downe Dan. 7. and thou art set the Ancient of dayes with garment white as snow and haire like vnto the purest wooll vpon thy throne a fierie flame with wheeles as burning fire from which the fierie streames shall issue and come forth from before thy face when thousand thousands shall minister vnto thee and ten thousand times ten thousand shall stand before thee when iudgement is set and the bookes are opened out of the which all dead shall be iudged according to the things written therein Then shall be discouered the iniquities of vs all and mine amongst the rest but if for them my teares in thy presence shall appeare Vide efficacissimam his iusmodi deprecationem in Anacreonticis Damasceni 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. their accusations shall be void and their guilt vndone Therefore thus confidently I request hold not thy peace at my teares Finally if by art you wil perfect nature and ranke them amongst those which stillers skill makes and cals strong waters Maximus Taurinensis serm hiem de poenitemia Petri ostiaria hom 3. Qui etiam est inter sermones diui Ambrosij nec non S. Augustini sed faliò illius enim noÌ„ câ—iusuis horuÌ„ stiluÌ„ redoleâ— able to breake through that which hammers lightly do not burst for Weeping hath some preheminence of praying which Peter conuerted by his Lords lookes taught others by his owne experience breaking forth in teares without request of words For we see his teares but do not heare his voice we reade his weeping but no mention of his speaking Iustly indeed Peter wept in silence because that which is bewailed is not wont to be excused and what cannot be defended yet may be washed away for teares can cleanse the offence which shame forbids vs to confesse so teares are carefull both of credit and saluation not ashamed to seeke and sure to obtaine in asking Teares I say are silent and yet effectuall prayers they aske not pardon and yet obtaine it they make no plea but finde mercie This difference there is the prayers of teares are more auailable then of words for speech in prayer perhaps doth lie which teares cannot speech oft times doth not vnfold the whole businesse but alwayes teares declare the entire affection Therefore now Peter vseth not speech Inuertio quod fleuerit non inuenio quid dixerit lachrymas eius lego satisfactionem non lego wherewith he had sinned wherewith he had lyed wherewith he had denied the faith lest thereby he be not beleeued in confession which erewhile denying he had abused Therefore had he rather lament then pleade his cause and confesse with teares what he had denied in words And yet see further what Peter hath profited in teares He fell before he wept Ibid. paulò infra
but a consuming fire to the wicked Esay 33. The same fire In Nazian Orat. 6. as Elias of Candie speaketh hath burning heat and cheerefull light so doth God deuide his workes betweene the good and bad The absence of God is that which vnawares these mockers testifie to be the extreamest miserie and the Saints confesse it so much lamenting euen the vniust esteeme thereof When the Apostle will aggrauate the great disparity of the Ephesians being before Gentiles and now Christians he summes vp all their former miserie in this being without God in the world Eph. 2 12. at their reproch thereof Baals Priests spare not to cut and launce themselues 1. Kings 18. Not onely the Church prayes most earnestly against the appearance of Gods forsaking and Dauid grieues that they say Psal ◠◠There is no helpe for him in God and Iob with all his might armes himselfe against that temptation of his friends saying I am as one mocked of his neighbour Iob 12.4 who calleth vpon God he answereth him But euen Cain and Saul Gen 4.14 sorrow as admitting no comfort vpon experience thereof 1. Sam. 28.15 though they had no grace to feare it before it came Amplificatiō For euen nature her selfe in the worst abhorres to be depriued of her maker and to be without God is to be without life Psal 30.5 in knowledge of whom it doth consist he is not onely the author of that eternall life proper to his owne seruants Iohn 17.3 but also of the naturall Giuing to all Acts 17 25. life and breath and all things And they who but beleeue there is a spirit know that to be farre from God is to be possessed of Sathan Thus farre euen godlesse men are grieued much more the godly are moued thereby to mourne not receiuing comfort Aug. in medit quicquid uon est Deus meus egeslas est For haue they riches without God it is but pouerty haue they friends and kinred in the world yet in comparison with God Mat. 23 9. they know no father He it is that when father and mother forsake them takes them vp Psal 27.10 God alone is he to whom they are betrothed 2. Cor. 11 2. to whom they are ioyned not in one flesh 1. Cor. 6.17 but in one spirit Therefore vpon any desertion though but in appearance Ioel 1.8 they lament like a virgine girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth Psal 73 25. whom say they haue we in heauen but thee alone and there is none vpon earth that we desire besides thee And againe Thou art my portion Psal 119.57 ô Lord and againe Psal 62.7 In God is my saluation and my glory the rocke of my strength and my refuge is in God Which all if in God you take from them what haue you lest wherein they may be cōforted For when in the day of his trouble he sought the Lord Psal 77. and found him not His soule refused to be comforted and no wonder if he do so whē as he cannot find his heauenly Father whereas Rahel in the Prophet likewise so refused Ier. 31. because her children whom she sought were not to be found on earth though they had changed it with heauen In the earth there is no losse besides this which may not in some sort be repaired Is the house burned Money and mens labour will build another Hath the extortioner pilled or the robber spoyled thy substance By labor and leisure thou shalt recouer thy selfe againe Is thy wife dead Another may be had Or thy children thou mayst beget or else adopt others in their stead Sicknesse may be driuen from the body by helpe of physicke sadnesse from the spirit by some conuenient delight if God alone be gone none can bring him againe nor supply his roome Application By this we may consider in compassion ouer others that know not themselues what their condition is who still remaine such as we sometimes were carried away vnto dumbe idols euen as we were led 1. Cor. 12.2 as the Gentils that know not God 1. Thes 4 5. I meane not onely them that haue no knowledge of Gods iudgements Psal 147.10 but also and especially them that knowing them haue turned them into hemlocke more then the nations that are without the Church of whom the Apostle saith 2. Ioh. v. 9. Whosoeuer transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God To whom God in the Prophet Ier. 2.19 Thine owne wickednesse shall correct thee and thy back slidings shall reproue thee know therefore and see that it is an euill thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God and that my feare is not in thee saith the Lord God of hoasts Euill it is in the present how intollerable and vnremediably euill will the end proue That which is so bitter in the bud increasing to bitternesse how bitter will the ripe fruite proue Hereby may be gessed though not plainly vnderstood how painfull is that punishment of the damned which they call the paine of losse so grieuous to the Saints in the present is the ouershadowing of Gods countenance that notwithstanding their stedfast hope of seeing him againe they are disquieted as though he were quite departed Iob 29.5 when the Almightie saith Iob was yet with me Psal 77.7 and Dauid Will the Lord cast off for euer and will he be fauourable no more S. Chrysost in epist What sorrow to see the king in royall maiestie accompanied with all his Princes seruants and loyall subiects riding in chariots of triumph because all their aduersaries are once so vanquished as they shall neuer arise againe but himselfe to be debarred of beholding much more of partaking of that honour Psa 149. of all his Saints to see the Lord Iesus with the thou sands of his Saints as light cloudes carried vp aboue the starry skie with Angelicke trūpets royall voice meane while himselfe is perpetually confined below neuer againe to see that King of glory Psal 24. nor haue accesse to any of his companye so that it may well be questioned whether be more lamentable Depart from me ye cursed Mat. 25. or that which followeth into euerlasting fire The Poëts make Tantalus his extreame torment to be in this that standing in water to the chinne still liuing he can neuer drinke of it to quench his thirst wherefore their worme of griefe gnawes as painfully as their fire burnes who must euer remember Luke 22.28.29.30 how they that followed Christ in his temptations sit in the kingdom appointed vnto them eating drinking spiritually celestially vnspeakably without filling without lothing at his table in his kingdome sitting on thrones Luke 13.29 iudging the tribes yea all those that come frō the East and West and South North sitting with Abraham and Isaac and Iacob in the kingdome
we are exercised in defending any of them he may the easier and deeper wound our head Christ and God He strikes at Iobs flockes Iob 1.11 and heards and house and children but you heare him tell God Iob 2.5 from whom he cannot conceale it all is that Iob may curse God and so be forsaken Vse Therefore 2. Cor. 2 11. being not ignorant of his wiles 2. Pet. 5.8 let vs be sober and watch against our aduersaric that goeth about espying where he may get aduantage We ought to imitate here the serpents wisedome who when he cannot get away first of all secures his head as he can and we should fence that best which he assaultsmost the hope of God though the rest that is riches and esteeme and the like be wounded or maimed that life may remaine in the heart and spirit in the head Our Sauiours answers to his seuerall temptations ministers to vs a singular instruction concerning all the sorts of his sleights for in those three are the kinds of all for in what euer words with what euer colours to what euer pretence the enemie propounds them our defender referres them to the iniurie of God Math. 4. Man shall liue by euery word that cometh out of the mouth of God Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God This obseruation is most worthy of our imitation in all the enemies assaults ObseruatioÌ„ 9 Where God is Now for answer to the question of these inquisitors if they will learne or that others may that will we are first to tell them their questions about God which they make to vs are shapen by the patterne of the first that the old serpent made needlesse questions Gen. 3. that they may turne vs to nothing as they did our mother but it is good for vs for answer to take heed vnto the word which she neglected Wherefore out of it as Paul vnto the superstitious Thessalonians The God A 9.17.23 not whom ye ignorantly worship but of whom vnfaithfully ye aske him declare we vnto you not what he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which none can do but where he is which you demand though we could more easily if you had asked where are all other things haue answered they are in God that word which is our wisedome answers The Lord is in his holy Temple Psal 11.4 euen in that whereof the Apostle speaketh The temple of God is holy 1. Cor. 3.17 which ye are Therefore as this temple is euery where Psa 6.3 The earth is filled with his glorie Psal 97.6 so that All the people see his glorie And The Lords throne is in heauen Psal 11.4 for The heauens of heauens are the Lords And briefly if you will beleeue himselfe Ier. 3.24 He filleth heauen and earth Or if you beleeue not the testimonie of God concerning himself Sybil. oracul proemio ex Theophilo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though it be greater then mans yet receiue it from men and of men like vnto your selues Pythagoras will answer Apud Cyrillum Alexandrinum Iupiter est summus vertex atque infima planta c. The one God is whole in the whole circle Orpheus your ancientest diuine will giue his verdict that Ioue is first and Ioue is last he meant Iehouah or Iah before and after the ages of the world Ioue the highest point and in the lowest plant he is for euer in one and yet in euery place And Maro Prince of the Latine Poets saying Georgic 4. Deism ire per omnes ter ras tractusque maris coelumque profundum c. that God his walke is through sea and land and highest heauens from whom the beasts and birds the creeping things and man the Lord of all take life and motion breath and being Or briefly as the emblame reports which naturall men haue giuen God is an eye vpon a staffe Cyril contra Iulian. l. 9. a staffe vpholding all things an eye beholding a staffe in the clementarie region an eye in the celestiall Psal 33.13 14 for God loketh downe from heauen beholding all the sonnes of men from the place of his habitation he looketh vpon all the inhabitants of the earth Esa 66.1 The heauen is his throne and the earth is his footstoole Therefore an eye vpon a staffe because his glory is most seene aboue as his helpe is most required here in things subiect to continuall change for else behold 1 King 3.27 the heauen and heauen of heauens cannot containe him He is higher then the heauens as the King whom he set ouer his people 1. Jam. 9.2 From his shoulders and vpward So that the vpper surface of those spheres is the lowest base of his palace and yet he searcheth deeper then the lowest earth wherefore in vaine you thinke you can by searching finde out God Iob 11 7.8.9 can you finde out the Almighty to perfection If he be as high as heauen what can you do if deeper then hell what can you know If his measure be longer then the earth and broader then the sea Esay 40.18 to whom then will you liken God or what likenesse will you compare vnto him Esay 66.1 Where is the house that you build vnto him what is the place which you assigne him for his bound Esay 40.12 Hath he not measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and meated out the heauen with a spanne V. 22. It is he that sitteth vpon the circle of the earth and the inhabitants thereof are as grashoppers And yet though he be so high he humbleth himselfe to behold the things that are in heauen Psal 113.6 and in the earth 2. Cor. 6.16 he dwelleth in his Church and walketh amongest the golden candlesticks Reu. 1.13 Year not onely so but in euery of his Saints it is said 1. Cor. 14.25 God is in you of a truth Yea what speake we of his Saints from none of you he is absent and yet with none of you he is present he is absent by his grace but is present by his power Ber. de triplici cohoerenua who is euery where and yet no where being both comprehensible Nicetus in Nazianz. and scarce comprehensible and altogether vncomprehensible Comprehensible Arnob. l. 3. aduersus hâ—â—resis because this notion of God is most certaine that nothing can be spoken equall to him incomprehensible by the same reason because as saith Nazianzene Orat. 42 in Pascha This onely can be comprehended of God that he is infinite scarce comprehensible in his effects or workes comprehensible in respect of the creatures apprehension incomprehensible in his vncreated nature scarce comprehensible in respect of the things he hath created Isidor Hispal de summo bono The infinitnesse of Gods greatnesse is this that we conceiue him within all things but not inlosed without
Iewes he was glad for the Disciples because by the resurrection of Lazarus their faith in Christ shold be confirmed he wept for the Iewes incredulitie because neither when Lazarus was raised they would beleeue in Christ the Lord. To which purpose may be referred his charge by Ieremie Weep not for the dead Ier. 22.10 for the dead in bodie alone neither bemoane him but weepe for him that goeth away fioÌ„ the communion of the Church which he seemed to haue for he shall returne no more nor see his natiue country The heauenly kingdome whereof the people of God are all citizens Lastly we may ought to weepe for the affliction of Gods people as Ieremie and many others for Iosias dead 2. Chr. 35 25. 2. King 8.12 Elisha foreseeing in spirit the desolation of Israel by Hazael Iob. 2.12 and Iobs friends astonied at his calamitie For so shall we make our selues partakers of their ioy partaking in their griefes not being indifferently affected much lesse reioycing or insulting ouer them that are in miserie as is the miserable maner of some The eye inflamed Simon Magister â—at 12 â—n fine is something pained by the softest medicine and indifferent words may oppresse the mind that with other calamities is already troubled The daughters of Israel by a custome went yearely to lament the daughter of Iepthah the Gileadite Iudg. 11.39.40 foure dayes in a yeare euen after she was dead for her solitarie life being addicted to perpetuall virginitie by her fathers vow much more ought the Saints for with one another in their life who are by spirituall coagmentatioÌ„ one anothers members These are last in order which are but ought not to be least in vse The heathen man hath truly said Tullius ad Heren l. 2. n. 50 Partitionsbus or aetorijÌ„s 〈◊〉 57. Nothing dries sooner then a teare especially in anothers calamities These are the things for which healthfully fruitfully teares are shed Conclusion wherefore let vs sow them not in the barren wildernesse but in ground receiuing raine rendring much increase For the world is wont to weep for the losse of worldly friends Hugo Victo tâ—â— 2. ser 28. as father and mother son and daughter brother and sister kindred or acquaintance after the flesh but weeping for their dead they weep not for themselues they lament the losse of earthly things but neuer a iot bemoane their spirituall damages Is any sicke in body or dyes out of it His friends mourne He sinnes damnably liues incestuously calls his brother foole his eyes behold strange women and lusts after them not one bewailes him O vnhappy health blinded sight dead life for those things they mourne that ought not to be moaned and greuously lament that for which a little were enough but those things they do not lament at all which of all most worthy are Yea oftentimes laugh because of such of whom Esaias Woe vnto them that call euill good Esay 5. and good euill that put darknesse for light and light for darknesse that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter Let vs lament my brethren moderately the losse of friends but more our want of good workes our want of vertues Let the vnchaste lament the losse of his or her integrity the proud the losse of humility the wrathfull the losse of inward quietnesse the couetous the losse of bountifulnesse the drunkards the losse of sobernesse the dead of heart the losse of spirituall reioycing the enuious the losse of charitie for happie are those that now in repentance weepe for they shall laugh obtaining pardon next being clothed with righteousnesse and last and most receiued into glory Which God graunt vs all by his Sonne our Lord Iesus Christ Amen In the eight and last place of our proposall concerning this subject The diguitie of â—â—ares remaines to speake after our little holding measure something of the dignitie and praise of this grace of teares which euen by the witnesse of them that are without Suidas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Chry soft Pieriâ—s hievoglyphicorâ—Ì„ l. 4. cap. 43. Visus eâ—am â—iâ—â—eos manibus tract are lapillos Vnio in his latis gemma inimica viris are precious vnions For the diuiners haue said that those gems seene in dreames portend the shedding of teares Whereto some of the Church also do accord specially Chrysostome whose elogie is of them What is more beauteous then those eyes which glister with the frequent showers of these celestiall waters No purple dye of Iesabels painting 2. Kin. 9.30 or renting of the face as God himselfe doth tearme it none of Herods pretious stones mixing colours with gold and siluer set about how euer resplendent reflecting the Sunne beames Ier. 4 30. are any way saue by contrary to be compared with these Act. 12. Euseb histor l. 1. for those how euer together with his oration they drew from the fickle peoples mouth a word of admiration and commendation as The voyce of God yet could they not preserue him yet aliue from the fretting and eating of wormes and present stench vntollerable But these most fitly are resembled by the sweet smelling myrrhe dropping from the spouse her fingers Cant. 5. whose vertue is to preserue euen the dead from putrefaction The penmen of the holy Scripture to shew vs their esteeme from teares and weeping haue giuen names to diuers places celebrious in the Scriptures as men are wont to call new found landes by the names of their much respected and loued Princes of which number are Abel Mitsraijm Gen. 50 11. The mourning of the Ægyptians Iud. 2.5 2. Chr. 35.25 and Bochim weepers because of Israel Zach. 12.12 Esay 16.9 Ier. 48.32 The mourning of Hadadrimmon in the vally of Megiddo Gen. 35.8 and elsewhere the weeping of Iazer and at Deborah Rebekahs nurse her graue Allon Bachuth the oke of weeping Here from the holy Scripture not onely commends men but also sometime argues their religion in Paul thus writing to his Timothie I thanke God 2 Tim. 1. whom I serue from my forefathers with pure conscience ver 3.4.5 that without ceassing I haue remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day greatly desiring to see thee being mindfull of thy teares that I may be filled with ioy when I call to remembrance the vnfained faith that is in thee For the honestie of his teares implyed the sincerity of his faith The excellent esteeme that Christ himselfe hath of them is the cause why he doth compare his spouses eyes vnto the fish pools in Heshbon Cant. 7.4 vnfitly were her eyes compared to pooles if they were not much bewet with teares So great their glory is that in regard of the sweetnesse of those streames amidst which the Church on earth is plaÌ„ted for certaine respect one prefers it before the high pure hill of Angels habitation for the ioy that springs from teares
or else from which true teares do spring for ioy is either the cause or effect of all religious teares The heauens saith he knew not but by the children of the Church Bern. in Cantica ser 68. For the Angels haue from their beginning and for euer ioy without all experience of the contrary The Church this while hath them both in practise and shall hereafter esteeme more highly of the one hauing proued the other How worthy are those of all to be commended which by God so choisly in his bottle are conserued Psal 56.8 Most noble must needs be that wine which is layd vp in the Kings priuie cellar which vnder a speciall key is kept the stopping and straining and drawing whereof if we may say it lawfully the Almightie hath vouchsafed no not to any celestiall Minister O that my soule were another Ezekiels booke written within and without Ezek. 2.10 written I say with lamentations and mourning and woe That I might be found so forward to weepe as I haue bene bold to sinne and such intention as I haue had in offending so great deuotion I might haue in repenting Teares are that which in her choisest children the Church euer most frequently hath vsed whither I hold may be referred which in the mysticall writings is obserued those first Fathers of the faithfull congregation Gen. 26.18 Abraham I meane and Isaac are euer reported to haue digged wells but Philistines to haue stopped them So speakes the Prophet of the wayfarers that iourney towards heauen Who passing through the valley of mulberries make it a well Psal 84.6 How but digging by continuall contrition the wells wherout they draw the liuing waters of lasting consolation they dig vp fountaines still that as one well it all appeares but Satan and his Angels Philistian-like stoppe them with all their might that Israel and Iudah with all that ioyne vnto them 2. Kin. 3. might for want of water perish in the wildernesse wherethrough they go to fight against incestuous Moab So againe it is recorded by a song not as a matter of an externall letter NuÌ„ 21.17.18 that the Princes of the people digged the well they digged it with their staues at the appointment of the Law-giuer I will with Israel most gladly say Spring vp ô well euen out of my hearts veines so will I cheerefully sing vnto it magnifying him that made it and put water thereinto Euen the Lord himselfe of whose laughter in all his dispensation in the flesh we heare not so much as once mention yet at least thrise is reported in the Gospell to haue wept Luke 19.41 for the Cities destinie Ioh. 11.35 for the Iewes infidelitie Heb. 5 7. for the acceptance of his owne prayers with the Father S. Bafil Greg. Theod. Iohan. Chrysost which obseruatioÌ„ is often I know not whether first in the Triumviri of the Grecian Church of their time He wept Aug. serm 104. as Augustine preaches That with his teares he might blot out the sinnes of the world that he might abolish the hand-writing of legall ordinances that was against vs which was contrary vnto vs for saith he Col. 2. if Peter could with the shedding of his teares wash off his spots ministerially why should we not beleeue the sinnes of the world are wiped away by Christs virtually Finally after the Lords teares many beleeued at Lazarus his resurrection Vicit ergò ex parte incredulitatem iudaeorum Dominicae pietatis affectus discordes eorum mentes molliuit prima fusio laâ—â— chrymarum so partly his piety ouercame the Iewes infidelitie and the profusion of teares first softened their rebellious hearts Blessed are these water flouds whereby euery wall of sinne is broken through and ouerborne Ex Augustino adfratres serm 11. Wholsome waters that quench and cast out the poyson of vices a constant lauare which so often is able to cleanse as mans heart hath need of purging This is beloued the hear be of that heauenly fuller wherewith he daily whites his seruants vestements when they are fouled this is the spirituall niter which being it selfe composed of the dew of diuine grace wipes out the blots of our slippes this the precious lixiuie wherewith the inner man his head is washed This is the holy teare sweet solace against our daily falls which as it were the vicar of Christ his passion giuing remedie against iniquitie that thereby Christ may seeme so often to die in efficacie as the elect of God comes into the deepe This alone is the health of soules the remission of sinnes a spirituall sacrifice acceptable to God a burnt offering full of marrow Is the sinners heart humbled and bewet with daily teares this saith the Father is a goad whereby God is enclined to man the cord whereby he is strongly bound vnto him without which saith he neither Baptisme auailes those that in ripe age receiue it and the Lords body is taken to condemnation without which there is no fruit of hearing the word no reward of workes Wherefore let none be voide of teares whom the dignitie of the Israelitish name commendeth from the action or affection the exercise or desire the shedding or remembring them no good man be destitute at any time at whatsoeuer solemnitie in whatsoeuer mirth if so be he will prolong his gladnesse to perpetuall whereas the word of truth tels Pro. 13.14 the other ends in heauinesse and without doubt vnpleasant vndelightfull wherefore the author and giuer of all our ioy better prouiding for it not onely appointed a fast of afflicting soules on the tenth day of the seuenth moneth Leuit. 16 29 but also on euery monethly and yearely feast appointed a goat to be sacrifised For remembrance of sinne Num. c. 28. and c 29. Which also that pious penitent seemes not to haue misknowne presenting our redeemer at the Pharisie his feast with more welcome dishes of teares then all that cheare the euent also whereof approued the deed when our Sauiour indeed by open protestation preferred theÌ„ Luke 7. The like whereof againe he exemplified in his owne person for comming in triumph to the Towne Luke 19. in a most celebrious manner accompanied with the multitudes cutting downe branches strawing the wayes spreading their garments crying Haleluiahs and Hoshangnahs to the Sonne of Dauid Dauids Lord acknowledged in spirit wept ouer them The third meditation of the chiefe cause of godly teares Thus by occasion of Dauids teares I haue digested as I could the whole subiect of teares next is to consider the matter of Dauids teares in the proper cause which in this wise himselfe deciphers While as it was said vnto me daily where is thy God For this is the other part of the verse containing the cause of that sorrow related in the former This cause is declared in termes first more generall and then more speciall This is the generall comprehension While it was