they which mourn shall be comforted III. Our comfort is our blessednesse and all blessednesse is of God to whose prayse we cry aloud with the holy Apostle f Eph. 1.3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who hath blessed vs with all spirituall blessings in heavenly places in Christ So all our comforts are of God who g Isa 51.3 shall comfort Sion For he is h 2 Cor. 1.4 the God of all comfort who comforteth vs in all our tribulation He comforteth vs by his deare Sonne Iesus Christ who saith that the Lord hath sent him i Isa 61.2 to comfort all that mourn and as he came into the world for that end so he doth that wherefore he came as he said to his Disciples k Ioh. 14.18 I will not leaue you Orphanes that is comfortlesse I will come to you He cometh to vs by his Spirit who is the true Comforter For he ascended into heauen thence he l Tertull. de praescript cap. 11. Misit vicariam vim spiritus sancti qui credentes agat hath sent in stead of himselfe the power of the holy Spirit by whom the beleeuers are led according to his promise m Ioh. 14.16 I will pray the Father and he shall giue you another comforter that he may abide with you for euer IV. Here is the certaintie of our comforts God hath promised that we shall be comforted n Heb. 10.23 He is faithfull that promised and o 1 Thes 5.24 also will do it He giueth not that charge to another His owne selfe doth it p Isa 46.10.11 My counsell sayth he shall stand and I will doe all my pleasure I haue spoken it I will also bring it to passe I haue purposed it I will also doe it Hee doth it by his owno Spirit As q Ioh. 3.8 the wind so the Spirit bloweth where it listeth If he will comfort vs who can grieue vs Men will doe what they can to make vs weepe But saith Christ r Ioh. 16.25 Your heart shall reioyce and your ioy no man taketh from you If we hold our eyes vpon our selues we see our own weaknesse and we know we may loose our ioy But Christ hath prayed that ſ Ioh. 17.13 wee may haue his ioy full filled in our selues And the Comforter himselfe abideth in vs who then shall take the fruits of our teares from vs O most precious pearles of your eyes O teares most acceptable to God! The French Virgin is not so curious to keepe the teares of the vine wherwith a Plin. l. 23. cap. 1. Cutem in facie mulierum purgant Ibid. Vitia cutis in facie varosque lentignes emendant she takes away the speckes and pimples and other spots of her face and hands keepeth their skin soft and faire As God is carefull to keepe the teares which trill from the spiritual branches ingraffed into Iesus Christ who b Ioh. 15.1 is the true Vine c Psal 56.8 Hee putteth them into his bottle Are they not in his Booke d Ctesias in Indicis When the teares distilling from the Indian tree called Siptachora fall into the riuer Hyparchus they are congealed there and turned into most excellent Amber So when our teares fall into the riuer of the mercies of God they become there a most precious iewell And as the Sunne drawing salt vapours out of the Sea vp into the aire turneth them into pleasāt showers of raine e Isa 55.10 which watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud that it may giue seed to the sower and bread to the eater So f Mala. 4.2 the Sunne of righteousness our Lord Iesus Christ draweth vp to heauen our sighs our groans the salt vapours of our deuotion the bitter teares of our godly sorrow which we poure out before him and keepeth them in his bottles till being all gathered together hee powre them downe vpon vs againe in a mos sweet and well-come shower of all kinde of heauenly comforts which are our blessednesse both in this world and in the world to come V. Be not deceiued with the errour of Papists Imagine not that there is any merit in teares as that word is taken by Papists that in them there is any satisfaction as Papists speake of satisfaction that they wash out the blots of the soule which are our sinnes as water cleanseth and taketh away the spots of the body as Papists dare too boldly and ignorantly affirme they haue not in themselues any such efficacy neither hath God made vnto thē any such promise Nothing can satisfie the wrath of God but the death of the son God Nothing is of worth and value before his eyes to be rewarded with glory but the obedience of the Lord of glory No water can purge and take away sinnes g Ioh. 1.29 It is the Lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world VI. If ye aske who hath satisfied the wrath of God I answere with Isaiah Christ h Isa 53.5 was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities iquities the chastisement of our peace was vpō him with his stripes we are healed If ye aske again by what means by what deserts ye obtaine eternall life Christ himself answereth i Ioh. 14.6 I am the Way the Truth and the Life i.e. The true way to eternall life And the Apostle faith that k 1 Cor. 1.30.31 of God ye are in Christ Iesus who of God is made vnto vs wisdome and righteousnesse and sanctification and redemption That according as it is written He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. Finally if ye aske which is the riuer which is the poole wherein we are clensed of all our sinnes so perfectly that there remaineth no spot no blemish in vs The Disciple which lay in Christs bosome was priuie to all his secrets faith that l 1. Ioh. 1.7 the bloud of Iesus Christ the Sonne of God clenseth vs from all sinne He only is the riuer of Iordan wherein the leprosie of sin is cured m 2 Kings 5.14 The riuer Iordan in the land of Canaan did neuer clense any man of the leprosie of the body but Naamās the Syrian This Iordan of the heauenly Canaan clenseth perfectly all leprous sinners which wash and dippe themselues in it At n Ioh. 5.4 the poole of Bethesda he onely was made whole of his disease who first after the troubling of the water stepped in But when soeuer a sinner shal repent of his sinnes that he hath committed and cast himselfe into this vndraynable poole of the bloud of the sonne of God his sicknes shall be cured and his soule shal be healed Yee read in the Legendes that Constantine the great being leprous was councelled to wash in a bath made of the bloud of little children that he might be made cleane That bath was nothing else but the bloud
sinnes Is it not time to begin NOVV if ye have not begun till NOVV II. Behold l Luk. 22.48 Iudas betraying him with a kisse behold m Ioh. 18 12. the Officers binding him as if hee had beene a male factor behold them in the high Priests house n Luk. 22 63 64 65. mocking him smiting him blindfolding him and aftervvards striking him on the face asking him Who is it that smote thee behold them speaking manie other things blasphemously against him o Mat. 26.59.65 66. behold the chief Priests Elders and all the Councell seeking false vvitnesses against him behold them all vvith the high Priest pronouÌ„cing against him their award and last sentence He is guilty of death Novv harts burst Novv eies weepe NOW Christians if there bee any love of Christ if there be any bowels of compassion in you mourne and lament The Sonne of God was bound for you who were slaves that ye might bee set at libertie The Lord of glory was mockt for you who were the divells mocking stocke that ye might bee honoured of God who is your glory The light of the world was blind-folded for you who were darknesse that ye might bee enlightened The righteous was outrageously beaten for you who were unrighteous that ye might be spared The Innocent was condemned for you who were guilty that ye might be absolved Christ suffered all this for you and yet ye weepe not III. Follow him into the Iudgement-Hall Canst thou with an unbroken heart and dry eyes see him p Ioh. 19.1 2. scourged there and his flesh mangled and torne in pieces for thy sake Behold his naked head begirt with a crowne of sharpe thornes O let us us I say who professe to bee members of his body q Pudeat membrum deliciarisub capite spinis coronato O let us be ashamed to sport and to make merry under a head crowned with thornes IV. Goe to the Crosse heed the souldiers nayling to the unfruitfull tree his hands and his feete behold them giving him vineger mingled with gall to drinke in stead of wine consider how they stript him ere he die that hee may dye with more shame listen to all those that passe by and looke on him yee shall see them wagging their heads ye shal hear them reviling him and rayling on him most outrageously There he yeelded up the ghost there his side was pierst there he was made a woefull spectacle and the principall actor of a bloodie and pitifull Tragedy r Mat. 27 45 51. The Sunne could not looke on it it covered it selfe with a black mourning weede and was darkened but our faces shine as if wee had no cause of mourning The earth did quake but we tremble not The rockes rent our hearts are harder than flint stones yea than the most hard Diamonds and cannot be broken The graves were opened our throates alas are open Sepulchers breathing out all filthinesse and rotten words but our soules are graves sealed and shut to all good The dead rose againe we lye dead in trespasses and sinnes without any spirituall motion any feeling of the wrath of God which Christ in the passion of his death suffered for us For Å¿ 1. Pet. 2.24 his owne selfe bare our sinnes in his owne body on the tree There t Esa 53.5 he was wouÌ„ded for our transgressions there he was bruised for our iniquities there there the chastisement of our peace was upon him with his stripes which he received there wee are healed Hee whom the ignominious passion of Christ whom the shedding of his blood whom his cursed death will not wound with a pricking remorse and sting of sin he out of whose eyes the bruising and crushing of his body the sorrow and agony of his soule will not thrust a floud of teares shall never bee mooved by any other argument to mourne and to weep u Plin. hist nat l. 37. c. 4 I lla invicta vis duarum violentissimae naturae reruÌ„ ferri ignÃsque contemptrix hircino rumpitur sanguine The blood of a Hee-goat will beat in peeces the diamond which no heat of fire can melt no hammer of steele can breake What fire will melt what hammer will break our hearts of diamond if the blood of the Lamb of God will not doe it V. Iudas a Reprobate x Mat. 27 3 Iud is which had betraied him when hee saw that he was condemned repented and wept and wee who brag of our elation weep not The Centurion an ignorant Pagan when hee saw what was done when hee considered all the circumstances of his death glorified God saying y Luke 23 47 Certainly this was a righteous man wee that are called Christians wee that boast of the knowledge of God in Christ acknowledge not his righteousnes as wee should seeing wee weep not because hee z 1. Pet. 3 18 suffred for our unrighteousnesse a Luke 23 48 All the people that came together to that sight beholding the things which were done smote their breasts We know all the things that were done every day b Gal. 3.1 Christ is evidently set forth crucified among us by the preaching of the Gospell and yet none of us smiteth his breast c Ezech. 8.14 The idolatrous women of Ierusalem sate weeping for TAMMVS d Plut. de Iside Osiride called by the Greekes OSIRIS the false god of the Aegyptians whom Typhon slue and wee weep not for Iesus Christ who e 1 Iohn 5.20 is the true GOD and eternall life whom the Iewes slue f Plut de cessatione Oraculorum The Divells themselves which were in the Iles of Paxes did mourne at his death when Thamos the Pilot of the ship which was sayling by cried The great Pan is dead Who is the great Pan but hee who is all in all our Lord Iesus Christ The Divells mourned because g Heb. 2 14 through death hee destroyed him that had the power of death that is the Divell their master and them also we mourne not wee I say who were the causes of his death VI. It is written in the Revelat. that h Rev. 1.7 every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall wayle because of him Why shall they wayle because of him because they pierced him O God! have we pierced him are wee guiltie of his death was it not Iudas which betrayed him was it not the Councell of the State of the Church which sent to take him was it not the high-priest which accused him was it not Pilate which condemned him were they not Pilat's souldiers which scourged crowned nailed stript and pearced him What ye ask is true But why did hee suffer mortall men to exercise such cruelties on his innocent person He stood there in our room and what wee deserved that hee suffered Our covetousnesse betrayed him Our anger laide hold on him and tied him Our
of the Sonne of God wherein he washt by faith and was made cleane of the incurable leprosie of sinne So then if ye aske by whose satisfaction merits ye obtaine eternall life the Scripture answereth absolutely that it is by the onely satisfaction and merits of our Lord Iesus Christ o Act. 4.12 Neither is there Saluation in any other for there is none other Name vnder heauen giuen among men whereby we must be saued VII But if we aske to whom this saluation is giuen That is another question where vnto the Scripture maketh another answere and faith as Elizabeth said to the Virgin Marie p Luk. 1.45 Blessed is she that beleeued q 2 Cor. 1.20 All the promises of God in Christ are Yea and in Christ are Amen vnto the glory of God And r Gal. 3.14 we receiue the promise of the Spirit through faith Neither haue we any other hand to receiue Christ who is promised vnto vs but faith Therefore it is written that ſ Eph. 2.8 by grace ye are saued by faith And because our last and principall blessednesse is our saluation it is also written that they which be of faith are blessed with faithfull Abraham t Act. 15.9 The hearts are purified by faith Therefre it is written u Math. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart The heart by faith is broken and bruised with the sense of sinne and with x 2 Cor. 7.10 godly sorrow for sinne Therefore it is written y Math. 5.3 Blessed are the poore in spirit Faith looketh vp to heaven with a weeping eye Faith calleth vpon God with prayers steeped in teares Faith stretcheth soorth to the throne of grace hands dipped in the bitter and salt waters of repentance And therefore it is written Blessed are they that mourne If faith did not repent sigh weepe pray repentēce weeping sighing prayer should be sinnes For a Rom. 14.23 whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne So the teares of Esau were sinnes So when David prayeth against the wicked man b Psal 109.7 Let his prayer become sinne he teacheth vs that prayers of wicked and vnbeleeuing men are sinnes for to such men c Tit. 1.15 nothing is pure but euen their mind and conscience is defiled And what can come from such a puddle but filth and stincking putrefaction h Gal. 5.6 Faith worketh by loue and is rich in good workes Therefore it is written l Psal 1.2 blessed is the man whose delight is the Law of the Lord m Psal 119.1 Blessed are the vndefiled in the way n Psal 128.1 Blessed is euery one that feareth the Lord c. Yee see what persons are blessed And what qualities are required in you if you desire to be partakers of blessednes The first must be faith For o Heb. 11.6 without faith it is impossible to please God From faith springs forrow for sin repentance weeping prayers good workes p Eph. 2.10 which God hath prepared that we should walke in them All those which are adorned and inriched with those good qualities are blessed but the cause wherfore they are blessed is the merite of Christ Iesus in whom they beleeue by whom they pray for whom they weepe and by whose spirit they are lead in the way of the Lord doe good workes For to them q Zech 12.10 that mourne in Ierusalem Zechariah saith that r Zech. 13.1 there shall be a fountaine opened for sinne and for vncleannesse what are not their eyes a fountaine To weepe for sinne they may be To blot out and abolish the slaine of sinne they cannot be The only side of Christ which was pierced in his death was made a fountain of bloud to wash in it the sinnes of all them which to weepe for their sinnes make of their heads a fountaine of teares VIII Therefore when ye read in the Homilies of the Doctors of the Church either auncient or moderne that teares are a satisfaction for sinne that they wash it away and blot it out and many such hyperbolicall speeches yee must vnderstand them f Cum graeno salis with a graine of salt as the Iurisconsults speake of some sayings of their Doctors and know that either they speake of satisfaction giuen to the Church or attribute to the effect that which is proper to the cause which is frequent amongst orators and in speeches gilt and beautified with Rhetoricke Consider that in my text blessednesse is attributed to them which weepe not to weeping to the tree not to the fruit to the worker not to the worke And when yee seeke the causes of your blessednesse looke not downeward to your selues but vpward to the mercie of God and with a sincere heart and true mouth follow the holy Apostle and say t Eph. 1.3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who hath blessed vs with al spirituall blessings in heauenly places in Christ u Rom. 11.36 For of him and through him and to him are all things To whom be glory for euer Amen If yee remember this distinctiō betweene the qualification of the persons which are to be saued the causes wherfore they are saued as also the chāging of attributions when the effects are honoured with the glorious titles which belong to their causes ye wil not easily be seduced with Papistry nor troubled with som speeches which the Doctors vttered hyperbolically which the Papists wrest vnlearnedly which ye must vnderstand x Rom. 12.6 according to the proportion of faith soundly CHAPTER II. I. ALl our comforts are called Life and wherefore II. Item wherefore that life which is our onely comfort is called euerlasting III. What eternall life is IV. T is imperfect in this world and perfect in the world to come V. He that hath not the beginnings of eternall life in this world shal neuer come to the perfection thereof in the world to come I. BVT to leaue of disputing against Papists which is not fit for this day wherin we are assembled to dispute against our owne sinnes and to let alone the hyperbolicall speeches of Doctors let vs come to Christs comforts wherin our blessednesse consisteth Our Blessednesse in holy Scripture is called Life Euerlasting T is called Life not because we shall act liue and moue by it as we doe now during our abode in the earthly tabernacles of our mortall bodies but because it is a most glorious happie and blessed estate our soueraigne good and felicitie the full perforformance of all our desires the longed-for wish of our vnsatiable hearts the center and last resting place of all the agitations of our stirring and vnquiet soules There is nothing that man loueth better then life For how can he loue what can he loue if he liue not Life is the spring of loue life is the enioyer life is the vser of all the things which we loue As we cannot loue without life So life