yet could not their sorrow be exhausted unlesse sinne did cease witnesse the man after Gods owne heart mine eyes gush out with rivers of water because men keepe not thy law Psal 119 136. This was it that caused Saint Paul Psal 119. 136. with sorrow and teares to paint out the false Apostles in their colours Phil 3. 18. For many walke saith he of whom I Phil. 3. 18. have told you often why then may some man say do you tell us any more Yes and now I tell you weeping that they are the enemies of the crosse of Christ Yea Christ himselfe wept thus for Jerusalem Luke 19. 41 42. And when he was come Luke 19. 41 42 neare he beheld the City and wept for it saying O if thou hadst even knowne at the least in this thy day those things which belong unto thy peace but now are they hid frrom thine eyes This this beloved is a sure signe of a good Nathaniell and an infallible token of a true Israelite viz to weepe in secret for the sinnes of others yea and cry out against the wickednesse committed against God in the land And the Lord said unto him viz. the Angell goe through the midst of the City even through the midst of Jerusalem and set a marke upon the foreheads of them that mourne and cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof so ye may find it Ezekiel 9. 4. Ezek. 9. 4. Thirdly ye shall lament or mourne for the Judgements of 3. Cause of weeping Open and generall Judgement God on the land take the Prophet Jeremy for a patterne who in this case thus cryes out Jer. 4. 19. My belly my belly I am pained even at the very heart mine heart is troubled within mee I cannot be still for my soule hath heard the sound of the trumpet Jer. 4. 19. and the alarme of the battaile destruction upon destruction c. and againe Chap. 8. 21. I am sore vexed for the hurt of Jer 8. 21 the daughter of my people I am heavy and astonishment hath taken mee Nay yet more pathetically doth this Prophet declare his compassionate greife for this people and therefore as one that could never sufficiently lament their destruction he cryes out 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 Oh that I had in the wildernesse a cottage of way-faring men c. as Jer. 9. 1 2. Jer 9. 1 2. Fourthly ye shall mourne for the afflictions of poor Ioseph 4 Cause of weeping private and particular Afflictions and as feeling members one of anothers misery ye shall lament for those that are tost from post to pillar that are driven from house and home in a word that are for Christs sake brought to great extremity They drinke wine in bowles saith the Prophet Amos and anoint themselves with the cheif ointments but no man is sorry for the afflictions of Ioseph Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive c. Amos 6. 6. 7. Amos 6. 6 7. mine eye casteth out rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people yea mine eye droppeth without stay and ceaseth not Lam 3. 48 49. Lam. 3. 48. 49. Fifthly ye shall sorrow for the losse of deare freinds thus 5 Cause of weeping losse of freinds 2. Sam. 1. 26. 2 Sam. 18. 33. Jo. 11. 35. 6 cause of weeping our pilgrimage here David sorrowes for the losse of deare Ionathan woe is mee for thee my brother Ionathan 2 Sam. 1. 26. and he is likewise greatly perplexed with the untimely death of his sonne Absalom 2 Sam 18. 33. thus Mary yea and Christ himselfe doe weepe for Lazarus Io 11. 35. Sixthly and lastly ye shall sigh and sorrow to because you are but as Pilgrims here sitting by the rivers of Babel the world according to Saint Chrysostomes glosse opprest with various calamities weeping at the remembrance of your spirituall Sion For therefore we sigh earnestly desireing to be clothed with our house which is from heaven so Saint Paul 2 Cor 5. 2. verily verily I say unto you that ye shall weepe lament 2 Cor. 5. 2. and sorrow Ye shall weepe for your owne sinnes and 2 for the sinnes of others Ye shall lament 3 for the Judgements of God on the land and 4 for the afflictions of poore Joseph Ye shall sorrow 5 for the losse of deere freinds and 6 for your owne bitter peregrination here in this world Pilgrimage you know is alwaies perillous Gods children then who are but pilgrimes here must not expect an immunity Observat 1 from the crosse nor must the righteous think to be free from afflictions no we must through many afflictions enter into the Kingdome of God as Acts 14. 22. yea and all that will live godly in Christ Iesus shall suffer persecution as 2 Tim 3. 12. Acts 14. 22. Dearly beloved thinke it not strange concerning the fiery triall 2 Tim. 3. 12. which is among you as though some strange thing were come unto you as 1 Pet. 4. 12. In the world ye shall have affliction for the servant is not better then his Lord nor the disciple above his 2 Pet. 4 12 Master as Math. 10. 24. If therefore they have done these things to the greene tree what shall become of the dry verily verily Mat 10. 24. I say unto you that ye shall weepe lament and sorrow Luke 23. 31. The reason is evident for ye are not of the world saith our Saviour Io. 15. 19 in the world therefore ye shall have affliction Reason 1 There is no concord 'twixt Christ and Belial nor is there Jo. 15. 19. 2 Cor 6. 14. 15 any agreement 'twixt light and darknesse R. 2 Secondly ye shall weepe lament and sorrow because ye are by Christ the adopted children of God it is meet therefore that ye become like unto him in affliction who hath already trode this path of tribulation R. 3 Thirdly and lastly ye shall weepe lament and sorrow because troubles are the surest tutors of goodnesse before I was afflicted saith David I went astray but now I keepe thy word Psal 119. 67. How many would have died ill if they had lived Psal 119. 67. merrily without affliction God hath severall waies to reduce his little flocke from the stragling by pathes of destruction yet I am perswaded none none I say more powerfull then affliction which sends the soule to meditation whereby she sees the worlds follies in such true colours of vanity that no sound discretion can think them worth the doting on Ideo enim Deus foelicitatibus terrenis amaritudines misoet ut illa quaeratur foelicitas cujus dulcedo non est fallax Aug. super Mat. Serm. 29. For therefore doth God intermingle bitter in gredients with his best terrestriall
be changed altered nor revoked it being so decreed by God and therefore of necessity must really come to passe doe not therefore thinke that I speake this to you rashly or slenderly onely by the way but know that I am in good earnest and avouch it constantly and that with a double asseveration verily verily I say unto you But why did our blessed Saviour thus geminate his asseveration what would not his single affirmation have beene a sufficient warrant for any to rely on who was truth it selfe Or might not his bare word have deservedly obtained credit who could not lye For Heaven and Earth shall passe away but not one jot or tittle of his word shall perish or fall to the ground Surely beloved this emphaticall iteration of our Saviours verily here was to extirpate that secure carelesnesse which he saw lurking in his owne Disciples he knew full well the parasiticall disposition of mans depraved nature to be such that if it but a while enjoyed peace and prosperity as altogether forgetfull of its owne miserable condition and never thinking of much lesse expecting the billowes of iminent and approaching adversity 't would be ready to sooth up it selfe with a vaine conceit of continued content even of enjoying perpetuall peace And therefore that the suddaine seizure of sad discontents and fearefull frownings of inexpected oppositions might not over whelme them our Saviour Christ rouzes them up here with a most patheticall praediction of their future calamities verily verily I say unto you Diseases once discovered are accounted as halfe cured and miseries foretold as halfe prevented premonitio est premunitio forewarning is thus a fore-arming Afflictions greatest augmenter is inexpectation when thwarting crosses come suddainely and unlooked for they distract the mind and drive the faculties from their due consultation of remedy Thus the suddaine falling of a house is more perillous then the rising of a flood for while of the former the hurt is unavoydable by reason both of the violence and precipitation the latter through the warning and appearance of it's coming is lesse dangerous lesse prejudiciall Tela previsa minus feriunt quam repentina Christ therefore that neither the suddaine aspect of distastfull afflictions might distract his chosen nor yet the unlooked for accesse of cruell calamities might offend his children he forewarnes them Jo 16. 2. here of them They shall excommunicate you yea the time shal come that whosoever kills you will thinke that he doth God service Jo 16. 4. But these things have I told you that ye should not be offended and these things have I said unto you that when the houre shall come ye might remember that I told you them For Verily verily I say unto you that ye shall weepe lament and sorrow O then put we not far off the evill day but rather provide we for perillous times for much more hard is the winter to the grassehopper then the pismire who before having stored 1 Thess 5. verses 6 8. her garner is now able to withstand a famine Let us not therefore sleepe as doe others but let us watch and be sober let us which are of the day put on the breast plate of faith and love and the hope of salvation for an helmet for verily verily I say unto you that ye shall weepe lament and sorrow And this be breifly spoken of my first particular the serious protestation verily verily I say unto you The second followes which is the sad Lamentation exprest in these words ye shall weepe lament and sorrow Ye shall weep lament and sorrow These three words they have their severall significations For first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye shall weepe imports a clamourous kind of howling as Mat. 2 18. Math. 2. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Rama was a voice heard mourning and weeping and great howling Rachel weeping for her children c. Secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye shall lament or mourne denotes a continued course of sorrow and implies an habituall kinde of heavinesse Thirdly and lastly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye shall sorrow or greive signifies a dumpish sadnesse or contristation of the spirits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ne contristate and greive not the spirit of God Eph. 4. 30. Citius Eph 4. 30. desint lacrymae quà m causa lacrymandi so sometime Seneca far sooner shall watery teares be wanting then cause of Seneca weeping shall cease For indeed infinite are the causes that force the faithfull to weepe and lament from birth to buriall yea and of exceeding efficacy are the motives that make the righteous thus to sorrow even from Cradle to Coffin which as for brevity so likewise for perspicuities sake I shall endeavour to reduce to these six subsequent heads First therefore every true child of God shall and must 1 cause of weeping our owne sinnes weepe both for the Remnants of sin remaining in him as also for his owne actuall sinnes daily committed against God For this cause Saint Paul wearied with miserable and continuall conflicts and as yet in part subject to sin cryes out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver mee from this body of death Rom 7. 24. And as originall sin wrested this heavy Rom. 7. 24. exclamation from this holy Apostle so likewise did actuall sinnes wring from that sinfull woman for so she is stiled Luke 7. 37. abundance of teares they turned her lascivious Luk 7. 37. lookes to lamenting and her wanton eyes to weeping Yea and this was the cause that made Saint Peter goe out and weepe bitterly Math. 26. 75. Flevit amarè ut lachrymae lavarent Math 26. 75. Ambr. delictum tu similiter lachrymis dilue culpam So Saint Ambrose he wept bitterly that teares might cleanse or wash away Ambr his offence doe thou in like manner purge and put away thy fault with teares shed thou teares for thy intemperance for thy impatience for thy anger for thy malice c. Secondly ye shall weepe for the sinnes of others too and 2 cause of weeping others sin though it be true that the best of Gods children cannot weep too much or rather indeed enough for their owne sinnes yet must they weepe for the sinnes of others also like the widow of Zarephta who though she had not meale in her ferkin nor oyle in her cruse for the susteining of her selfe and her child yet spared some for the Prophet Elijah And thus did 1 Kings 17. just Lot weep for the sinfull conversation of the wicked Sodomites for he being righteous dwelling among them in seing and hearing vexed his righteous soule from day to day with their unlawfull deeds as 2. Pet 2. 8. For so great is the holy Indignation 2 Pet. 2. 8. that Gods children beare against sinne and such deepe impression of greife doth the perpetration thereof strike in the righteous that if it were possible for them to weepe even rivers of teares
and shall slaves goe free shall children serve at the table and shall servants sit downe shall Gods deare children weepe lament and sorrow and shall the wicked worldlings rejoyce Ye◠beloved Truth it selfe hath spoken it and David seing it verified ingeniously confessed his feet were almost gone and his tradings had well neere flipt Psal 73. 2. It hath indeed beene Psal 73. 2. alwayes a great temptation to the godly to see the wicked enemies of God in prosperity and to behold his deare children in adversity wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper saith Ieremy and why are all they in wealth that rebelliously transgresse Ier 12. 1. wherefore dothe wicked live saith Iob Jer. 12. 1 wax old and grow in wealth Iob. 21. 7. Certainely saith David I have clensed my heart in vaine and washed mine hands in innocency Psal 73. 13. for daily have I beene punished and chastened every morning Psal 37. 2. Psal 73. 13. Thus beloved though God be just in all his works and holy in all his wayes yet man is not able to give a reason of all his deeds David himselfe saw not the end of these men till he went into the Sanctuary of God namely how they were set in slippery places and though they seeme to flourish for a while like greene bay trees yet are they soone cut downe like the grasse and Psal 37. 2. withered even as the greene herbe O how soone doe they consume perish and come to a fearefull end The righteous indeed shall be punished but as for the seed of the ungodly it shall be rooted out at the last Psal 37. 29. Psal 37. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mundus autem gaudebit But the Observ 2 world shall rejoyce The vilest men upon earth you see may have a time of mirth in this world The wickedest wretches under the cope and canopy of heaven may have a time of rejoyceing a time of prosperity here Loe saith David These are the wicked yet prosper they alway and increase in riches Psal 73. 12. The earth saith Iob is given into the hand of the wicked Iob. 9. 24. Did not cursed Cham rejoyce a while had not cruell Cain a time of prosperity here on earth had not the filthy Sodomites a time of jollity in this world Had not hard-hearted Pharaoh a time of mirth in Aegypt breifely had not hypocriticall Saul had not wicked Haman had not treacherous Iudas their severall times of rejoycing And at this day with us have not blasphemous swearers debauched Drunkards prophane Papists and Neuteralizing Atheist have not these I say their severall times of delight and pleasure here we cannot deny it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mundus enim gaudebit for the world shall rejoyce And is not this the Reason namely because they have Reason 1 their portion here because their heaven is upon earth in a word because they have all the joy here that ever they are like to have Nam qui hic consolantur indigni tua consolatione habentur so Aug. in Soliloque for they that are comforted here Aug in Soliloq with the worlds consolations are counted unworthy of thy heavenly consolations hereafter Sonne remember saith Abraham to Dives that thou in thy life time receivedst thy pleasures and likewise Lazarus his paines now therefore is he comforted and thou art tormented Luke 16. 25. Luk. 16. 25. Secondly wicked men have a time of mirth a time of Reason 2 prosperity here that they may be found without all colour of excuse at the dreadfull day of Judgement for by it they are as it were fatted up against the day of slaughter But I passe on to the objects of this worldly joy and as most pertinent to my purpose in hand I proceed to shew you wherein Worldlings delight in vvhat the godly lament so wicked men doe thus rejoyce Now the Object of the worlds Joy is fourefold wicked men I say rejoyce especially in these foure things First in their owne sinnes Secondly in the sinnes of others Thirdly in the miseries of others and Fourthly and lastly in doing mischeife unto others They rejoyce first in their owne sinnes Psal 10. 3. The 1 Their owne sins Psal 10. 3. Moler Com. in locum Superbia inquit impios eousque provehit ut non tantum pravis suis cupiditatibus securi indulgeant sed etiam spreto contempto dei judicio de sua cupiditate sceleribus glorientur seque omnireatu absolvant wicked hath made boast of his owne hearts desire and the coveteous blesseth himselfe in his wickednesse that is saith Molerus commenting on the place The wicked rejoyce in their sinnes and contemning Gods Iudgements glory in their wickednesse Such rejoycers as they are Solomon derides Ecclesiastes 11. 9. Rejoyce O goung man in thy youth and let thy dayes cheere thee in the dayes of thy youth and walke in the wayes of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but yet know that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgement But what doe wicked men rejoyce only in their owne sinnes and doth their joy dilate it selfe noe further then to delight in their owne wickednesse O yes beloved as not content with their owne they rejoyce in the sinnes of others too which is the second object of the worlds Joy and wicked mens rejoycing Thus cursed Cham rejoyced at his fathers 2 Others sins nakednesse Gen 8 22. and I would to God that this rejoycing Gen. 8. 22. were not so common amongst the carowsing Chams of these our dayes who impudently boast not only of their owne immoderate quaffing and beastly uncleanenesse but also shamelesly glory in the weakenesse and infirmities of others O how many doe by this meanes draw iniquity with Isaiah 5. 18. 1 Cor. 5. 6. the coards of vanity and sin as it were with cartropes But their rejoycing is not good so the Apostle 1 Cor 5 6. Neither is the worlds joy confined onely to these two nor 3 Others misery yet can these limits comprehend the latitude of wicked mens rejoycing for as altogether void of compassionate humanity and quite destitute of humane compassion worse then bruite beasts they rejoyce in the miseries of others which is the third object of the worlds joy and wicked mens rejoycing And thus did the bloudy souldiers rejoyce in our blessed Saviours misery a little before his passion putting upon Math 27. 27 28 29 30 31 c. him ascarlet robe and platting a crowne of thornes on his head bowing in derision before him with a HAILE KING OF THE JEVVES thus likewise the high Preists mocking him with the Scribes Elders said he saved others himself he cannot save in a word thus they that stood by at the time of his extreame torment on the crosse when he cryed with a loud voyce Eli Eli lamasabacthani mockt him with a this man calleth for Elias when alas they knew well enough what he