of the thirty sixt Psalm which is this Thou shalt make them drinke of the Riuers of thy Pleasure and hee was almost swallowed vp with the contem plation of these Heauenly Ioyes that one called him very lowd by his name and inquiring who it was he answered I am Hierome with whom in my life time thou hadst so much conference concerning doubts in Scripture and am now by experience best able to resolue thee of any doubts concerning the Ioyes of Heauen but onely let me first aske thee this question Art thou able to put the whole earth and all the waters of the Sea into a little pot No more is it possible that thy vnderstanding should comprehend the least shadow of these Ioyes Will you heare Paul tell vs that hee cannot expresse them 1. Cor. 2. 9. Eye hath not seene nor eare heard neither haue entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for those that loue him The eye can see very farre I will not stand to tell you how farre the Opticks tell vs that a man may see hauing all aduantages but it is certaine that a man may see wonderfull farre in the night because he may see the Starres of the Firmament which are so farre distant from vs that Philo laughing at the folly of the Babylonish builders affirmeth That a Milstone would be foure hundred yeeres in falling to the earth from the Spheare of the Moone and Astronomers That it would bee fifteene hundred yeeres a falling from the firmament where the Stars are And yet though our eye can see thus farre yet it cannot pierce into this Ioy he goeth on to the eare which extendeth it selfe a great deale farther then the eye which onely looketh vpon things present but by our eare wee know things past the glorie of all the Monarchies and Empires that are past the glory of all things that now are and all the things which are foretold shall be and yet our eares haue neuer heard of any thing like this Ioy he goeth on neither hath entred into the heart of man to vnderstand That is more then both the former the eie apprehendeth things present the eare things past present and to come they go no farther but the vnderstanding apprehendeth things that are and are not and by a diuine power calleth things that are not as if they were disputat de quolibet ente non ente it imagineth Mountaines of gold and heauen to be a place of infinite Ioy and yet the hart of man cannot comprehend this Ioy. Sure these are great expressions of the Apostle Can we find no other way to know this Ioy As Moses and Ioshua sent out som Spies to spy the Land so we haue 2. special mē in Scripture who haue spied this ioy Iohn in a Vision Paul in his Person Can they tell vs nothing of this Ioy Yes Iohn telleth vs something of it but his expressions are darke in regard of the light that is there for he expresseth it by flouds Riuers Mountains Mettals stones all which are but materiall things and whatsoeuer hee saith is not good enough to be a shadow of this Ioy and S. Paul is forbid to tell vs what he heard and was so rauished with that he did see as that he is confounded and can say nothing of it nay not so much as now foureteene yeeres after he was there tell vs whether he was there in the body or out of the body it must be a great ioy which so dazelled him When men see things in a dreame or vision then they thinke they see them in the body but restored againe to themselues and senses they know that they did not see them in the body but the Apostle foureteene yeeres after cannot tell whether hee saw that ioy in the body or out of the body Now after these great expressions of the impossibility of expressing it I will neuer goe about to doe it onely I will giue you a taste of it by this one drop One drop of this Ioy is able to quench al the fire that burneth to dry and stop all the teares weeping and gnashing of teeth which is in hell the rich glutton in hell desired Abraham to send Lazarus with one drop of water to coole him From whence wee must not inferre that the paines of hell are so little as they may be quenched with one drop of water but rather make this safe inference that one drop of that water where Abraham and Lazarus were is of such infinite power and sweetnesse that if it could bee but dropped into the flames of hell it would quench them all The greatnesse of this Ioy may be comprehended in these two words in the fulnesse of the obiect and in the fulnesse of inioying this obiect The obiects are many but the summe of all is God whom we shal see face to face and in him all the ioyes and goodnesse which is in Heauen with him for as looking in a glasse we see the glasse our selues and all things about it so in that glasse of the Trinitie we shall by a beatificall Vision see the glory of the Trinitie see our selues and our owne glorie and all the Angels Saints and pleasures of Heauen which are round about that Trinitie And as our ioy shall be full in regard of the fulnesse of this obiect so it shall bee full in regard of our fulnesse of inioying it we shall feele this ioy with all our powers and faculties and neuer haue done feeling it euer beholding though alwaies satisfied euer drinking and yet still thirsting non per sitim siccitatis saith the schoole sed per sitim ardoris desiderii not with any thirst of drinesse but with the thirst of desire This is all I will at this time say of the Ioy of Heauen But now how come we to reape this Ioy from our teares It is a thing that both standeth with reason and with good iustice with reason for as sweete Spices when they are burnt in the fire or beaten in the Morter send forth their sweete smell and sauour so after our teares and griefe God may well send vs this pleasure and ioy with Gods iustice and goodnesse it standeth that those soules which haue refrained themselues from worldly delights which cannot bee without some sorrow and sadnesse should one day bee filled with ioy and gladnesse that those vessels which for the inioying of God did emptie themselues of all ioy here should run ouer with ioy in Heauen that as Ioseph Gen. 45. after he had vsed his brethren a little roughly at first could hold himselfe no longer but must needs ouer-ioy them with making himselfe knowne to them so Christ our elder Brother after he hath vsed vs here a little hardly vnder the rod and made vs shed many a salt teare should shew vs himselfe in Heauen wipe those teares from our eyes and fill them with ioy and laughter Though you see therefore the Children of
the Iewes remained vntouched therefore Lord saith he giue me rather a heart of stone then a heart of flesh Let vs not I beseech you be slow to draw teares out of this Well O but Christ hath forbid vs Weepe not for me ye daughters of Jerusalem Luke 23. 28. But O Lord thou couldest haue taken no such ready course to make vs weepe as to forbid them then to weepe for how can we alas but weep to remēber that thou thy selfe diddest weepe for Ierusalem and yet that thou wouldest not suffer the daughters of Ierusalem to weepe for thee that thou makest so small account of thy selfe in regard of vs that thou canst not choose but weepe when thou considerest that in Ierusalem there shall not be left so much as one stone vpon another and yet thou wilt not consent that the daughters of that trayterous Citie shall weepe to see thee keepe not so much as one drop of blood by another Weepe then first for the measure of his passion O but secondly grieue and weepe much more that we were the cause of all this his suffering you are deceiued if you thinke it was either the hands or tongues of Christs enemies that did crucifie and reuile Christ so much as our sinnes did Not all the hands of the souldiers could haue done it he said no sooner to them I am he but they fell dead to the ground Iohn 8. 6. What was it then heare the Prophet Propter scelus populi mei percussi eum heare the Apostle Sinners do crucifie againe vnto themselues the King of glorie and make a mocke of him Heb. 6. 6. What our sinnes doe now they did then the Iewes cried out Crucifie him crucifie him their malice was so great that if it had been possible they would haue had him twice crucified and they had their wish for they did it once with their hands and we did it with our sinnes let vs shed teares for that The necessitie and vertue of these teares drawne from our Sauiours Well see both at once in one word because we must be like Christ that sheweth the necessitie of them and they make vs like Christ that sheweth the vertue of them if the head weepe the hand must not play nor the foot dance and if the members condole when the head weepeth it maketh the members like the head Remember Vriahs answer to Dauid when hee would haue had him gone home to reioyce with his wife Doth my Lord and Captaine Joab and the Hoast of the Lord lye abroad in tents and shall I goe home and reioyce with my wife 2. Sam. 11. 11. Did our head weepe and shall not our eyes shed teares Let it be the answere wee make to all the pleasures and vanities of this world when they would perswade vs onely to laughter and to forget teares And thus much of the teares which wee may draw from this third Well which I called our Sauiours Well THe fourth Well I called the Well of life or Gods Well With thee is the Well of life Psal. 36. 9. How can wee out of this Well draw teares Euen because wee cannot come at this Well Let vs weepe because in this life we are forced to sit by the waters of Babylon and are yet strangers and as it were banished and barred from being satisfied with the pleasures of that Riuer which gladdeth the Citie of God Alas if wee did consider that our Country were Heauen and did apprehend this place here below to bee our prison or place of banishment the least absence from our Country would draw teares from our eyes and sighes from our hearts with Dauid Psal. 120. 5. Woe is me that J soiourne in Mesech and am constrained to dwell in the Tents of Kedar Theodoret expounding that place obserueth that Kedar was the other son of Ismael and that they who were descended of him did dwell not farre from Babylon who calling to mind that their father Jsmael was cast out of Abrahams Family did liue like exiles and bewaile their banishment out of their fathers House the House of Abraham What should we doe then when wee consider our long absence from Abrahams bosome and our being banished like our father Adam for a certaine time from the heauenly Paradise Do you remember how the Iewes behaued themselues in the 137. Psalme in the time of their exile and captiuitie while they sat by the Riuers and Waters of Babylon they wept would not be comforted hanged vp their Harpes and Instruments What are the waters of Babylon but the pleasures and delights of the World the waters of confusion as the word signifieth Now when the people of God sit by them that is to say doth not carelessely but deliberately with a settled consideration see them slide by and passe away and compareth them with Sion that is to say with the vnconceiueable riuers of pleasure which are permanent in the heauenly Ierusalem How can they chuse but weepe when they see themselues sitting by the one and soiourning from the other And it is worthy your obseruing that notwithstāding the Iewes had many causes of teares the Caldeans had robbed them of their goods honors Countries libertie parents children friends the chiefe thing for all this that they mourne for is their absence from Sion We wept while we remembred thee O Sion for their absence from Ierusalem What should wee then doe for our absence from another manner of Ierusalem theirs was an earthly old robbed spoyled burned sacked Ierusalem ours a Heauenly new one into which no arrow can be shot no noyse of the Drum heard nor sound of the Trumpet nor calling vnto battell who would not then weepe to be absent from hence The necessity of these teares you may easily see because God giueth none of the water of the Well of life that is to say eternall happinesse but to such who by the importunitie of their teares doe begge it and obtaine it of him The vertue of them is seene because the Saints who sought heauen with these teares obtained it Dauid whose meate day and night were his teares while they said vnto him Where is thy God whose heart brayed panted and fainted after the liuing God Psal. 42. 3. The woman of Samaria who after shee had heard Christ talke not aboue three or foure words of the water of this Well of life made it her present suite Lord euermore giue me to drinke of these waters Iohn 4. 15. Peter who after he had seene a little of the glory of that Country made it his next suite Lord it is good for vs to be here let vs build three tabernacles Saint Paul who after his rapture into that Countrie made it his onely moane that While we dwelt in the bodies we were strangers from the Lord and did sigh till he might be dissolued and be with Christ. All these mens longings haue been satisfied and that Kingdome which with teares
you haue cried for your owne sinnes spare some of your teares for the sinnes of the time for vnlesse they be mourned for Gods plague will bee powred out vpō the place aswell as their persons and if you doe not mourne and crie for the sinnes of the time no body else will for the sinners themselues will not weepe When the Sea for Jonas his sinne raged the men of the ship were crying hard and throwing their-things into the Sea when Ionas for whom all this tempest was raised had got himselfe downe to the bottome of the ship and there was laid fast asleepe Christs Disciples sleepe when he is in an Agony for their sins Wicked men for whose sins all the tempests wherewith the Church is tossed arise neuer shed one teare in the storme but stretch themselues along vpon beds of Yuorie and short aloud vpon the pillowes of securitie it is onely the godly in the meane time who must pleade and pray and cry and shed teares for the sinnes of the time like Daniel who in the time of his peoples captiuitie in fasting and teares was confessing his owne sinnes and the sinnes of his people onely such mourners are fit to stand in the breach with their payles of water in their hand I meane with their teares and strong cryings like Moses to quench the flames of wrath which goe out from the Lord to consume vs for our sinnes Now concerning these teares which we are to shed both for our owne and other mens sinnes you shall doe well to take notice of these two things first the necessitie of them and secondly the vertue of them The necessitie of them appeareth first by precept secondly by practice By precept of God in the old Testament continually calling vnto his people by his Prophets Ioel Ieremie and the rest Turne you vnto me with weeping fasting and mourning And in the ninth of Ezechiel marking out all those for life who did weepe for their owne sinnes and the sinnes of the people In the new Testament by the precept of Christ who forbade the daughters of Ierusalem to weepe for him who was no sinner but commanded them to weepe for themselues who were sinners and by the precept of his Apostle Saint Paul who commanded the Corinthians to weepe for the vncleannesse of the incestuous person 1. Cor 5. 2. The necessitie of them appeareth by the practice of all the Saints who haue been chiefe mourners for their own and other mens sinnes In the old Testament Dauid deserueth to haue the place of the chiefe mourner since he vsed his teares for sinne not onely for Physick and a Bath as it is in the sixth Psalme I washed my bed euery night with my teares but for food for my teares were my meate day and night If he who was a man according to Gods owne heart did thus weepe for his sinnes how should we who walke according to the lusts of our owne hearts mourne for our sinnes In this traine of mourners you shall see Lot whose righteous soule was grieued and vexed for the filthinesse of the Sodomites You shal see Ezra Josiah Jsaiah Joel Ieremy especially calling for fountaines of teares for teares day and night for powring out their soules like water before the Lord writing whole bookes of Lamentations for their owne sins and the sins of their times In the new Testament wee haue a new traine of mourners and weepers in which traine you shall see Christ the chiefe mourner weeping for the sinnes of Ierusalem so prone vnto teares as that the solemnitie of the time the ioy of the people the shoutings and acclamations of Hosanna could neither drowne his voyce but that he lifted it vp nor dry his eyes but that hee wept after him commeth Peter weeping bitterly for his deniall Mary Magdalen wiping Christs feete with teares for her sinnes and then Saint Paul crying out by reason of his sinnes but O miserable man that I am who shall deliuer mee out of this body of death You haue seene sufficiently the necessity of these teares for sinne see a little the vertue and efficacy of them First these teares and sighes for our sinnes make vs the better to know our sinnes both for their colour and weight Alas so long as we take ioy and delight in sinne so long sinne seemeth little light easie and sweete vnto vs but he that here increaseth his sorrow increaseth his knowledge when we once come to smart to grieue and groane vnder sinnes then we will confesse that the remembrance of them is grieuous vnto vs and that the burthen of them is intolerable As a penny in the bottome of a bason of water sheweth as bigge as a shilling so our sinnes which to vs seeme but little steept once in the water of our teares shew themselues in their iust quantity and proportion Secondly as our teares for sins make vs know them so they wash and doe our sins away so as we shall neuer see them nor need to know them any more I dare say the teares wherewith Mary Magdalen washed Christs feete did not more wash away the dust from Christs feet then they did the sinne from her owne soule for immediatly after her teares did she heare that happy sentence Thy sins are forgiuen thee therefore are these teares called by the Fathers Our second Baptisme by which our sinnes are washed away compared by them to the waters of the red Sea in which Pharaoh and his hoast that is to say Satan and our sinnes are drowned To the waters of Jordan in which if like Naman we wash our selues seuen times that is to say often we shall be cured of the leprosie of sinne to the waters of the poole of Siloam because if wee bathe our selues in them we shall be cured of all spirituall diseases and infirmities so that if you vse to extoll and magnifie some waters which you distill from hearbs and flowers because they are good against sore eyes burnings and heats what doe you then say of these teares which if you can but distill from your owne eyes they will cure the lust of the eyes the pride of life and all carnall heates and desires Thirdly these teares for sinne doe not only wash away sinne for the present but wipe them out of all bookes of account so as they discharge vs of our sins for euer for you must know that euery sinne we do commit we write as it were in the booke of our owne conscience a bill of our hand against our selues wherby we acknowledge our selues debters to Gōd lyable to his Iustice. Now vnlesse this debt bee discharged and the bond cancelled we must be cast in prison for it and there lye til we pay the vtmost farthing which God knoweth will bee long enough for we our selues are not worth one farthing This bond is principally cancelled by Christ who as
therefore it were not much amisse to make Logicians change their termes and say that flebile or lachrymabile the facultie of weeping is more mans proprium then risibile or the faculty of laughing for wee know that neuer was any man but hee wept at least when hee was borne some men there haue been who for any thing we know neuer laughed as the Fathers all haue obserued it of Christ. I haue not time to bid you shed teares for the miseries common to all men in regard of which the Saints of God haue neuer thought other-wise of this life then of a valley of teares as of a place of exile or pilgrimage by Iacob Dauia Saint Paul of a place of strife and warre by Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace as of a prison and place of bonds by Saint Paul who accounteth his going out of it a being dissolued or vnbound Now how doe men in exile bonds or vnder a war behaue themselues Not in mirth but mourning in teares not in triumphing I will only now desire you to shed teares for some speciall miseries of this life O you will say that labor may be spared in this place here are none acquainted with any other miseries then those generall ones which humane nature is subiect to Here in this Citie is no miserie pouertie warre complaining in our streetes nor carrying away into captiuitie We haue our Summer and our Winter-houses fulnes of bread beds of Yuorie to stretch our selues vpon wine to make our hearts glad oyle to make our faces shine euery one of vs may su vnder our owne vine and fig-tree and eat the fruite of them therefore let vs feast and laugh we haue no other cause let them mourne and weep whom it concernes O but soft God hath not done so to euery Nation other people in the world feele the weight of al these miseries aboue-named we are commanded to mourne with those that mourne we must shed teares for their miseries aswell as our owne It is the deuils cunning when he meaneth to stop vp this Well of teares to present the state of this vally of teares to vs as he did the estate of the land of Egypt to the Israelites to make them remember the Riuers and cleere Springs there but to forget their seruitude and taske of making of brick to remember their Garlick Cucumbers and flesh-pots but to forget their stripes and bonds or to present it vnto vs as he did it to Christ take vs vp to the top of a high mountaine and from thence shew vs all the riches pompe and pleasures of the world but sheweth vs none of the miseries and calamities of it But now if any of vs from some high Mountaine could but looke downe into this large valley of teares and there haue at once obiected vnto vs all the speciall miseries and calamities which men are suffering there to heare there at once all the sighes of the sicke the tortures and rackings of many mens limbs both by the hand of Iustice and Iniustice the lamentable cryings of the poore for want of bread the faint chillinesse and chattering of many one half starued with cold heare the disconsolate weeping and teares for the losse of parents husbands children friends should see the pitifull anguish and affliction of such as are condemned to row in Galleys work in Minerals to turne in Mils to see how they eate nothing but the bread of sorrow by weight and drinke nothing but the water of affliction by measure to heare their vnpitied roarings and teares at the smart of their vnmercifull lashings nay if you did see from thence the miseries of a besieged Citie to heare the roaring of the Canon the sound of the trumpet and the noise of the Drum to heare the pitifull groanes of men dying and wallowing in their blood or swouning in the streetes for famine to see the women many times as the Prophet hath it to eate their owne children of a span long to see the vncomfortable teares of fathers and husbands for the barbarous rauishing of their wiues and daughters If these and millions of such miseries in the world were obiected to vs all at once and wee did but know what men were doing abroad perhaps it would draw teares from those eyes which now laugh so much See a little the necessitie and vertue of these teares for others I he necessitie of these teares appeareth as did the necessitie of the former 1. by precept 2. practice 1. precept of the Apostle who commandeth vs to mourne with those that mourne Rom. 12. 15. of Iob â—0 25. Did not J weepe with him that was in trouble Was not my soule in heauinesse for the poore Of Jsaiah Jeremie all the Prophets who powred out their soules in teares before the Lord for the miseries God at any time brought vpon his people But let our Master bee as the chiefe mourner in this traine who shed teares for Ierusalems miseries for the griefe of Lazarus his friends for the text saith there directly Iohn 11 15. that Christ was glad for Lazarus his death that his Disciples might beleeue so that he wept only for his friends sake who were then a weeping to shew vs the necessitie of our teares and mourning with those that mourne say the Fathers on that place Now in shedding our teares for others wee shall doe well rightly to distribute them Shed these teares for these speciall miseries of any men though they be both Gods enemies and ours at least in this regard that they should haue deserued them Saint Aug 1. lib. de ciu Dei cap. 6. doth highly extoll the fact of Marcus Marcellus which was this When hee was besieging the famous Citie of Syracusa hee got himselfe vp to an high Turret there to see the issue of the battell and when he saw the Armies on both sides in the furie of â—he fight heard the clashing of the Armes the horrible out-cries of those that were beaten saw the flames of the fire which they had cast into the Towne ascending vp towards heauen heard the noise and terrible cracking of the falling of the houses of that ancient Citie hee could not containe himselfe from teares as if the battell were going against him notwithstanding the victory was sure enough on his side onely because he did see men though they were his enemies endure so much miserie Shall not wee haue as compassionate a mind as a Heathen man had when wee heare of the like miseries which many in the world sustaine though they were enemies to our State to our Religion though they were Papists nay though they were Pagans If his example cannot moue vs to be of his mind yet as the Apostle speaketh Philip. 2. 5. Let that same mind be in vs which was in Christ Iesus who when he came neere the Citie of Ierusalem and with his bodily eyes did see the proud buildings and stately Towers but