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IOB. CHAP. 42. VER. 6.Wherefore I abhorre my selfe, and repent in dust and ashes.
THis is in many deare re∣gards a mourning and pe∣nitentiall season, therefore I thought best to accom∣modate it with a peniten∣tiall Sermon. I abhorre my selfe, &c.
Affliction is a winged Chariot, that mounts vp the soule toward hea∣uen: nor doe wee euer so rightly vnderstand Gods Maiestie, as when wee are not able to stand vnder our owne miserie. It was Naamans
leprosie that brought him to the knowledge of the Prophet, and the Prophet brought him to the sauing knowledge of the true God: had he not beene a leper, hee had still beene a sinner. Schola crucis, schola lucis: there is no such Schoole instructing, as the crosse afflicting. If Paul had not beene buffeted by Satan, hee might haue gone nigh to buffet God, through danger of being puffed vp with his reuelations.
The Lord hath many messengers, by whom he solicites man: He sends one health, to make him a strongman: another wealth, to make him a rich man: another sicknesse, to make him a weake man: another loss••s, to make him a poore man: another age, to make him an old man: another death, to make him no man. But among them all, none dispatcheth the busines surer or sooner then affliction: if that faile of bringing a man home, nothing can doe it. He is stil impor∣tunate for an answere; yea, hee speakes, and strikes. Doe wee complaine of his incessant blowes? alas, hee doth but his office, he waites for our Repentance; let vs giue the messenger his errand, and hee will be gone. Let him take the proud man in hand, he will humble him: he can make the Drunkard sober; the Lascinious chast: the Angry patient; the Couetous cha∣ritable; fetch the Vnthrift Sonne backe againe to his Father, whom a full purse had put into an itch of trauelling: the only breaker of those wild Colts. Ier. 5. the waters of that Deluge, which (though they put men in feare of their
liues) beare them vp in the Arke of Repentance higher toward heauen. It brought the brethren to the acquaintance of Ioseph, and makes ma∣ny a poore sinner familiar with the Lord Iesus.
Iob was not ignorant of God before, while he sate in the Sun-shine of peace; but resting his head on the bosome of plenty, hee could lye at his ease, and contemplate the goodnesse of his Maker. But as when the Sunne shines forth in his most glorious brightnesse, we are then least able to looke vpon him: wee may solace our selues in his diffused rayes and comfortable light, but wee cannot fixe our eyes vpon that burning Carbuncle. These outward things do so engrosse vs, take vp our consideration, and drowne our contemplatiue facultie in our sense; that so long, wee onely obserue the effects of Gods goodnesse, rather then the goodnesse of God it selfe. Necessitie teacheth vs the worth of a friend; as Absynthium, wormewood rub∣bed vpon the eyes, makes them smart a little, but they see the clearer. Therefore Iob confes∣ed, that in his prosperity hee had onely (as it were) heard of God; but now in his tryall hee had seene him. I heard of thee by the hearing of the eare, but now mine eye seeth thee: that is, he had obtained a more cleare and perspicuous vision of him; the eye being more apprehensiue of the obiect then the eare. Segniiùs irritant animos di∣missa per aures. When wee heare a man descri∣bed, our Imagination conceiues an Idea or forme of him but darkely: if wee see him, and in
tentiuely looke vpon him, there is an impression of him in our minds: wee know his stature, his gesture, his complection, his proportion. Sic o∣culos, sic ille manus, sic or a ferebat. Such a more full and perfect apprehension of God did cala∣mity work in this holy man; and from that spe∣culation proceedes this humiliation; Wherefore I abhorre my selfe, and repent in dust and ashes.
Where wee may consider three degrees of mortification; the Sicknesse, the Death, and the Buriall of Sinne. I abhorre my selfe, there sinne is sicke and wounded: I repent, there it is wounded and dead: In dust and ashes, there it is dead and buried. To denie ones selfe, maimes concupi∣scence, that it cannot thriue: to repent, kills it, that it cannot liue: in dust and ashes, buries it, that it cannot rise vp againe. I throw it into the Graue, I couer it with mould, I rake it vp in dust and ashes.
But I will not pull the Text in peeces; on∣ly I follow the manuduction of the words: for there is not a superfluous word in the verse, as the Psalmist said of the Army of Israel, There was not one feeble person among them. It beginnes as high as the glory of Heauen, and ends as low as the basest of Earth. The first word [Therefore] respects an infinite God: the last words [Dust and ashes] declare an humbled man. The meditation of the former is the cause of the latter, and the condition of the latter is the way to the former. To study God, is the way to make an humble man: and an humble
man is in the way to come vnto God. Such a consideration will cast vs down to dust and ashes: such a prostration will lift vs vp to glory and blessednesse. Here then is a Iacobs Ladder, but of foure rounds. Diuinitie is the Highest, I haue se••ne th••e, Therefore. Mortalitie is the lowest, Dust and ashes. Betweene both these, sit two o∣thers, Shame and Sorrow; no man can abhorre himselfe, without Shame; nor Repent, without Sorrow. Let your honourable patience admit Iob descending these foure staires; euen so low as he went; and may all your soules rise as high as he is.
This referrs vs to the motiue that humbled him; and that appeares by the context, to be a double meditation; one of Gods maiestie, ano∣ther of his mercie. 1. Of his maiestie; which being so infinite, and beyond the comprehensi∣on of man, hee considered by way of compari∣son, or relation to the creatures; the great Be∣h••moth of the Land, the greater Leuiathan of the Sea; vpon which hee hath spent the precedent Chapters. Mathematicians wonder at the Sun, that it being so much bigger then the Earth, it doth not set it on fire, and burne it to ashes: but here is the wonder; that God being so infinitely great, and wee so infinitely euill, we are not con∣sumed. VVhatsoe••••r the Lord would doe, that did he, in heauen, in earth, in the Sea, and in all deepe places. If mans power could doe according to his will, or Gods will would doe according to
his power, who could stand? I will destroy man from the face of the earth, saith the Lord. The ori∣ginall word is, I will steepe him, as a man steepes a piece of earth in water, till it tu••ne to dirt: for man is but clay, and forgets his maker, and his matter. None but God can reduce man to his first principles, and the originall graines where∣of he was made: and there is no dust so high, but this great God is able to giue him stee∣ping.
2. Or this was a meditation of his mercy, then which nothing more humbles a heart of flesh. VVith thee, O Lord, is forgiuenesse, that thou mightest bee feared. One would thinke, that pu∣nishment should procure feare, and forgiuenesse loue: but nemo magis diligit, quàm qui maximè veretur offendere: no man more truely loues God, then hee that is most fearefull to offend him. Thy mercie reacheth to the heauens, and thy faithfulnesse to the cloudes; that is, aboue all sub∣limities. God is glorious in all his workes, but most glorious in his workes of mercie: and this may bee one reason, why Saint Paul calls the Gospell of Christ, a Glorious Gospell. Salomon tels vs, It is the glory of a man to passe by an offence: herein is God most Glorious, in that he pasleth by all the offences of his children. Lord, who can know thee, and not loue thee; know thee, and not feare thee? feare thee for thy Iustice, and loue thee for thy mercie: yea feare thee for thy mercie, and loue thee for thy Iustice, for thou art infinitely good in both.
Put both these together, and here is matter of humiliation, euen to dust and ashes. So Abra∣ham interceding for Sodome; Behold, I haue ta∣ken vpon mee to speake vnto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes. Quanto magis Sancti Diuinitatis interna conspîciunt, tanto magis se nihil esse cog∣noscu••t. It is a certaine conclusion; no proud man knowes God. Non sum dignus, I am not wor∣thy, is the voice of the Saints: they know God, and God knowes them. Moses was the meekest man vpon earth, and therefore God is said to know him by name. I am lesse then the least of thy mercies, saith ••acob; loe, hee was honoured to bee Father of the 12. Tribes, and Heire of the Blessing. Quis ego sum Domine, sayes Dauid, who am I, O Lord? Hee was aduanced from that lowly conceite to bee King of Israel. I am not worthy to loose the latchet of Christs shooe, saith Iohn Baptist. Loe, hee was esteemed worthy to lay his hand on Christs head. I am not worthy that thou shouldest come vnder my roofe, sayes the Centurion: therefore Christ commended him, I haue not found so great faith, no not in Israel. I am the least of the Apostles, saith Paul, not worthy to be called an Apostle: therefore hee is honoured with the title of The Apostle. Behold the hand∣maid of the Lord, saith the holy Virgin: there∣fore shee was honoured to be the Mother of the Lord, and to haue all generations call her Bles∣sed. This Non sum dignus, the humble annihila∣tion of themselues, hath gotten them the honor of Saints. In spirituall graces, let vs study to be
great, and not to know it: as the fixed Starres are (euery one) bigger then the earth, yet ap∣peare to vs lesse then torches. In alto non altum sapere; not to bee high-minded in high deserts, is the way to blessed preferment. Humilitie is not onely a vertue it selfe, but a vessell to con∣taine other vertues: like embers, which keepe the fire aliue that is hidden vnder it. It emptieth it selfe, by a modest estimation of the owne worth, that Christ may fill it. It wrastleth with God, like Iacob; and winnes by yeelding: and the lower it stoopes to the ground, the more aduan∣tage it gets to obtaine the blessing. All our pride, O Lord, is from the want of knowing Thee: O thou infinite Maker, Reueale thy selfe yet more vnto vs; so shall wee abhorre our selues, and repent in dust and ashes.
It is a deepe degree of mortification, for a man to abhorre himselfe. To abhorre others is easie: to deny others, more easie: to despise others, most easie. But it is hard to despise a mans selfe: to deny himselfe, harder: hardest of all, to abhor himselfe. Euery one is apt to thinke well, speake well, doe well to himselfe. Not only Charity, a spirituall vertue, but also Lust, a carnall vice, be∣gins at home. There is no direct Commande∣ment in the Bible, for a man to loue himselfe; be∣cause we are all so naturally prone to it. Indeed, we are bound to loue our selues; so much is im∣plied in the Precept; Love thy neighbour as thy selfe; therefore loue Thy selfe, But Modus praecipi∣endus,
vt tibiprosis; so loue thy selfe, as to doe thy selfe good. But for a man, vpon good termes, to abhorre himselfe; this is the wonder! He is more then a meere Sonne of Eue, that does not ouer∣value himselfe. Qui se non admiratur, mirabilis est: hee that doth not admire himselfe, is a man to be admired.
Nor is this disease of proud flesh, peculiar onely to those persons, whose imperious com∣mands, surly salutations, insolent controule∣ments, witnesse to the world how little they ab∣horre themselues. But it haunts euen the baser condition, and fomes out at the common iawes. A proud beggar was the Wisemans monster; but pride is the daughter of Riches. It is against reason, indeed, that metalls should make diffe∣rence of men: against religion, that it should make such a difference of Christian men. Yet commonly, Reputation is measured by the acre; and the altitude of Countenance is taken by the Pole of Aduancement. And as the seruant va∣lues himselfe higher or lower, according as his master is: so the master esteemes himselfe grea∣ter or lesse, according as his master, that is, as his Money or Estate is. His heart is proportio∣nably enlarged with his house: his good, and his blood riseth together: Is not this the great Baby∣lon, which I haue built for the honour of my Maie∣stie? But you know, hee was turned into a beast that said so. Gold and siluer are heauy metalls, and sinke downe in the ballance: yet by a prepo∣sterous inuersion, they lift the heart of man vp∣wards:
as the plummet of a clocke, which, while it selfe poyseth downewards, lifts vp the striking hammer. As Saul vpon his annointing, so many a one vpon his aduancing, is turned quite into another man. God I thanke thee, sayes the Pha∣risee, that I am not as other men are, nor as this Publican: not as other men, and for this hee thankes God: as if because hee thought better of himselfe, God must needs thinke better of him too. Now hee must no more take it as hee hath done; a new port, for a new report. He ab∣horres all men, but admires himselfe. Yet after these blustring insolencies, and windie ostenta∣tions, all this thing is but a man, and that (God knowes) a very foolish one.
But the children of grace haue learned ano∣the•• lesson, to thinke well of other men, and to abhor themselues. And indeed, if we consider what Master we haue serued, & what wages de∣serued, we haue iust cause to abhorre our selues. What part of vs hath not sinned, that it should not merit to be despised? Run all ouer this little Ile of man, & find me one mēber of the body, or faculty of the soule, that can say with Iobs mes∣senger, Ego solus aufugi; I alone haue escaped. What one action can wee iustifie? Produce ex tot mil∣libus, vnum. Where is that Innocencie, which de∣sires not to stand onely in the sight of Mercie? There is in our worst workes wickednesse, in our best weaknesse, errour in all. What time, what place, are not witnesses against vs? The very Sabbath, the day of Rest, hath not rested from
our euills. The very Temple, that holy place, hath beene defiled with our obliquities. Our chambers, our beds, our boords, the ground we tread, the ayre wee breath, can tell our follies. There is no occasion, which, if it doe not testifie what euill we haue done, yet can say, what good we should, and haue not done.
If all this do not humble vs, looke we vp (with Iob heere) to the Maiestie which we haue offen∣d••d. To spoile the Armes of a common Sub¦iect, or to counterfeit his Seale, is no such hay∣nous or capitall crime. But to deface the Armes of the King, to counterfeit his Broad Seale, or priuy Signet, is no lesse then Treason: be∣cause the disgrace redounds vpon the person of the King. Euery sinne dishonors God, & offers to sticke ignominy vpon that infinite Maiestie; therefore deserues an infinite penaltie. Against thee, O Lord, against thee haue I sinned. I, thy crea∣ture; against Thee, my Maker: heere is a trans∣cendencie, which when a man considers, hee is worthie to bee abhorred of all men, that does not abhorre himselfe.
Yet when God, and our owne selues, stand in competition, which do we most respect? Temp∣tation is on our left hand, in a beautifull resem∣blance, to seduce vs. The will, the glory, the Iudgement of God, is on our right hand, to di∣rect vs: doe we now abhorre our selues? Com∣moditie sets off inquitie, & wooes vs to be rich, though sinners: Christ bids vs first s••ek thee king∣dome of Heauen, and tells vs that other things
shall come without seeking, they shall bee added vnto vs: Doe we now abhorre our selues? Such a sinne is pleasing to my lust and concupiscence, but it is displeasing to God and my Conscience: Doe I now abhorre my selfe? That wee loue God farre better then our selues, is soone said; but to prooue it, is not so easily done. Hee must Deny himselfe, that will bee Christs ser∣uant. Many haue denied their Masters, many haue denied their Friends, many haue denyed their Kinred, not a few haue denied their Bro∣thers, some haue denied their owne Parents, but to denie themselues, durus hic sermo, this is a hard taske. Negare suos, sua, se; to denie their profits, to deny their pleasures, to denie their lustes, to denie their reasons, to denie themselues? no, to doe all this they vtterly denie.
Yet hee that repents truely, abhorres himselfe; Non se vt conditum, sed se vt perditum; not the creature that God made, but the creature that himselfe made. Repentance loues Animam, non malitiam, carnem, non carnalitatem; the Soule, not the venime of the soule; the flesh, not the fl••shli∣nesse of it. So farre as hee hath corrupted him∣selfe, so farre he abhorres hims••lfe; and could ra∣ther wish non esse, not to be at all, then malum ••sse, to be displeasing to his Maker.
Thus, if wee despise our selues, God will ho∣nour vs: if we abhorre our selues, God will ac∣cept vs: if wee denie our selues, God will acknow∣ledge vs: if wee hate our selues, God will loue vs: if wee condemne our selues, God will acquite vs:
if we punish our selues, God will spare vs: yea, thus if we seeme lost to our selues, wee shall bee found in the day of Iesus Christ.
Repentance hath much acquaintance in the world, and few friends: it is better knowen then practised; and yet not more knowen, then tru∣sted. My scope, now, shall not bee the definiti∣on of it, but a perswasion to it. It is euery mans medicine; an vniuersall Antidote, that makes many a Mithridates venture on poyson. They make bolde to sinne, as if they were sure to re∣pent. But the medicine was made for the wound, not the wound for the medicine. Wee haue read, if not seene, the Battell betwixt those two venimous creatures, the Toad and the Spider: where the greater, being ouer-match'd with the poyson of the lesse, hath recourse to a certaine hearbe, some thinke the Plantane; with which shee expells the infection, and renewes the fight: but at last, the hearbe being wasted, the Toad bursts and dies. Wee sucke in sinne, the poyson of that old Serpent, and presume to driue it out againe with Repentance: but how if this Hearbe of grace bee not found in our Gardens? As Tra∣ian was marching foorth with his armie, a poore woman sollicited him to doe her iustice vpon the murderers of her onely sonne. I will doe thee Iustice, woman, sayes the Emperour, when I returne. The woman presently replyed; But what if my Lord neuer returne? How farre soe∣uer we haue runne out, we hope to make all rec∣konings
euen, when Repentance comes: but what if Repentance neuer comes?
It is not many yeares, more incitations, and abundance of meanes, that can worke it: but Re∣pentance is the faire gift of God. One would thinke it a short Lesson; yet Israel was fortie yeares a learning it; and they not sooner got it, but presently forgot it. Reu. 16. We reade of men plagued with heat, and paines, and sores; yet they repented not. Iudas could haue a broken necke, not a broken heart. There is no such induce∣ment to sinne, as the presumption of ready Re∣pentance: as if God had no speciall riches of his owne; but euery sinner might command them at his pleasure. The King hath Earth of his owne, he lets his subiects walke vpon it: he hath a Sea, lets them saile on it: his Land yeelds fruit, let them eate it: his fountaines water, let them drinke it. But the moneys in his Exche∣quer, the garments in his Wardrope, the Iewels in his Iewel-house, none may meddle with, but they to whom hee disposeth them. Gods com∣mon blessings are not denied: his Sunne shines, his raine falls, on the righteous and vnrighteous. But the treasures of heauen, the robes of glory, the Iewels of Grace and Repentance; these hee keepes in his owne hands; and giues, not where he may, but where he will. Mans heart is like a doore with a Spring locke: pull the doore af∣ter you, it lockes of it selfe; but you cannot open it againe without a key. Mans heart doth natu∣rally locke our grace; none but hee that hath the
Key of the house of Dauid, can open the doore, and put it in. God hath made a promise To Re∣pentance, not Of Repentance: wee may trust to that promise, but there is no trusting to our selues. Nature flatters it selfe with that singular instance of mercy; one malefactor on the crosse repenting at his last houre. But such hath beene Satans policie, to draw euill out of good, that the calling and sauing of that one soule, hath bin the occasion of the losse of many thousands.
Wheresoeuer Repentance is, shee doth not de∣liberate, tarries not to aske questions, and exa∣mine circumstances; but bestirres her ioynts, cals her wits & senses together: summons her tongue to praying, her feet to walking, her hands to wor∣king, her eyes to weeping, her heart to groaning. There is no need to bid her goe, for shee runnes: she runnes to the word for direction, to her own heart for remorse and compunction, to God for grace and pardon: and wheresoeuer shee find∣eth Christ, shee layeth faster hold on him, then the Shunnamite did on the feet of Elisha; As the Lord liueth, and as thy soule liueth, I will not let thee goe: no Gehesi can beate her off. She resolues that her knees shall grow to the pauement, till mercy hath answered her from heauen. As if she had felt an earth quake in her soule, not vnlike that Iaylor, when he felt the foundations of his prison shaken; shee calls for a light the Gospell of truth, and springs in trembling; and the fi••st voice of her lips is, O what shall I doe to be saued? Shee lowes with mourning, like the Kine that carried
the Arke; and neuer rests till shee comes to Beth∣shemesh, the fieldes of mercie. The good Starre that guides her, is the promise of God: this giues her light through all the darke clouds of her sorrow. Confidence is her life, and soule: she drawes no other breath then the perswasion of mercie; that the King of Israel is a mercifull King. Faith is the heart-blood of Repentance. The matter, composition, constitution, sub∣stance of it, is amendment of life: there be many counterfets that walke in her habite, as King A∣hab had his shadowes; but that's her substance. Her countenance is spare and thinne; shee hath not eyes standing out with fatnesse. Her diet is abstinence; her garment and liuery, Sackcloth and ashes: the Paper in her hand, is a Petition; her dialect is Miser••re; and lest her owne lusts should bee bane within her, she sweats them out with confession and teares.
Wee know, there is no other fortification a∣gainst the Iudgements of God, but Repentance. His forccs be inuisible, inuincible; not repelled with sword and target: neither portcullice, nor fortresse can keepe them out: there is nothing in the world that can encounter them but Repen∣tance. They had long since laid our honour in the dust, rotted our carkases in the pit, sunke our soules into hell, but for Repentance. Which of those Saints, that are now saued in heauen, haue not sinned vpon earth? What could saue them but Repentance? Their infirmities are recorded, not onely for the instruction of those that stand,
but also for the consolation of them that are fal∣len. Instruunt Patriarchae, non solùm docentes, sed & errantes. They doe not onely teach vs by their Doctrines, but euen by their very errours. Noah was ouercome with a little wine, that esca∣ped drowning with the world in that Deluge of water. Lot was scorched with the flame of vn∣naturall lust, that escaped burning in the fire of Sodome, Sampson, the strongest; Salomon, the wi∣sest, fell by a woman. One Balme recouered them all, blessed Repentance. Let our soules, from these premises, and vpon the assurance of Gods promises, conclude; that if we repent, our sinnes are not greater, Gods mercies cannot bee lesse. Thus was Niniueh ouerthrowen, that she might not be ouerthrowen. Quae peccatis perit, fletibus stetit. Euery man must either bee a Niniuite, or a Sodomite: a Niniuite sorrowing for sinne, or a Sodomite suffering for sinne. Doleat peccata reus, vt deleat peccata Deus. If wee grieue, God will forgiue.
Nor yet must wee thinke, with this one short word (I repent) to answere for the multitude of our offences; as if we that had sinned in parcels, should be forgiuen in grosse. It were a rare fa∣uour, if we paying but one particular of a whole Booke of debts, should be granted a generall ac∣quittance for them all. No, let vs reckon vp our sinnes to God in confession, that our hearts may find a plenary absolution. Nor is it enough to recount them, but wee must recant them. Doe we thinke, that because wee doe not remember
them, that God hath forgotten them? Are not debts of many yeares standing, to be called for? Mans Iustice doth not forbeare olde offenders: no tract of time can eate out the Characters of blood. Thou writest bitter things against me, when thou makest mee to possesse the sinnes of my youth. These things hast thou done, saith God, and I held my peace: therefore thou thoughtest mee altogether such a one as thy selfe: but I will re∣prooue thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Therefore let vs number all the sinnes wee can, and then God will forgiue vs all the sinnes that wee haue.
If wee could truely weigh our iniquities, we must needs find a necessitie, either of repenting, or of perishing. Shall wee make God to frowne vpon vs in heauen, arme all his creatures against vs on earth? shall w••e force his curses vpon vs and ours? Take his rod, and teach it to scourge vs with all temporall plagues; and not repent? Shall wee wound our owne consciences with sinnes, that they may wound vs with eternall torments; make a hell in our bosomes heere, and open the gates of that lower hell to deuoure vs hereafter; and not repent? Doe wee, by sinne, giue Satan a right in vs, a power ouer vs, an ad∣uantage against vs; and not labour to crosse his mischiefes by repentance? Doe wee cast Brim∣stone into that infernall fire, as if it could not bee hote enough, or wee should faile of tor∣tures except wee make our selues our owne tormentors; and not rather seeke to quench
those flames with our penitent teares?
If we could see the farewell of sin, we would abhorre it, and our selues for it; Could Dauid haue conceiued the griefe of his broken bones, before-hand; he had escaped those aspersions of lust and blood. Had Achan foreseene the stones about his eares, before he filch'd those accursed things, hee would neuer haue fingerd them. But it may be said of vs, as it was of our first parents; when they had once sinned and fallen; Tunc a∣perti sunt oculi eorum, Then their eyes were opened; Then, not before. In this place comes in Repen∣tance; as a rectifier of disorders, a recaller of a∣berrations, a repairer of all decayes and brea∣ches. So it pleaseth Gods mercy, that the daugh∣ter should be the death of the mother. Peccatum tristitiam peperit, tristitia peccatum conteret. Sin bred sorrow, sorrow shall kill sinne: as the oyle of Scorpions healeth the sting of Scorpions.
If I should giue you the picture of Repentance, I would tell you, that shee is a Virgine faire and louely: and those teares which seeme to doe violence to her beautie, rather indeed grace it. Her Brest is sore with the strokes of her owne penitent hands; which are alwayes, either in Moses his posture in the Mount, lifted vp towards heauen; or the Publicans in the Temple, smiting her bosome. Her knees are hardened with con∣stant praying, her voyce is hoarce with calling to heauen; and when shee cannot speake, she de∣liuers her mind in groanes. There is not a teare falles from her, but an Angell holds a bottell to
catch it. Shee thinkes euery mans sinnes lesse then her owne, euery mans good deeds more. Her compunctions are vnspeakeable; know∣en onely to God, and her selfe. Shee could wish, not onely men; but euen beasts, and trees, and stones, to mourne with her. Shee thinks, no Sunne should shine, because shee takes no plea∣sure in it; that the Lilies should bee cloathed in black, because she is so apparelled. Mercy comes downe, like a glorious Cherub, and lights on her bosome, with this message from God; I haue heard thy prayers, and seene thy teares: so with a handkerchiefe of comfort, dries her cheeks, and telles her that she is accepted in Iesus Christ.
I haue but one staire more, downe from both Text and Pulpit; and it is a very low one; Dust and ashes.
An adorned body is not the vehicle of an humbled soule. Iob, before his affliction was not poore. Doubtlesse, hee had his Wardrobe, his change and choise of garments. Yet now, how doth his humbled soule contemne them! as if hee threw away his vesture, saying; I haue worne thee for pompe, giuen countenance to a silken case; I quite mistooke thy nature, get thee from mee, I am weary of thy seruice, thou hast made mee honourable with men, thou canst get mee no estimation before the Lord. Repentance giues a farewell, not onely to wonted delights, but e∣uen to naturall refreshings. Iob lies not on a bed of Roses and Violets, as did the Sybarites; nor
on a couch beautified with the Tapestrie of E∣gypt; but on a bed of Ashes. Sackcloth is his ap∣parell; dust and ashes the lace and embroyderie of it. Thus Niniu••hs King, vpon that fearefull sentence, rose from his throne, layd his robe from him, couered himselfe with sackcloth, and sate in a∣shes. O what an alteration can repentance make? From a King of the earth, to a worme of the earth: from a foot-cloth, to sackcloth: from a Throne, to a dunghill: from sitting in State, to lying in ashes! Whom all the reuerence of the world attended on, to whom the head was vn∣couered, the knee bowed, the body prostrated; who had as many salutations, as the firmament starres, God saue the King: Hee throwes away Crowne, scepter, Maiestie, and all, and sits in a∣shes. How many doth the golden Cup of Ho∣nour make drunke, and driuen from all sense of mortalitie! Riches and hearts ease, are such v∣suall intoxications to the soules of men; that it is rare to finde any of them so low as Dust and Ashes.
Dust, as the remembrance of his originall: Ashes, as the representation of his end: Dust, that was the mother: Ashes, that shall bee the daugther of our Bodies.
Dust, the matter of our substance, the house of our soules, the originall graines whereof wee were made, the top of all our kinred. The glory of the strongest man, the beautie of the fairest woman; all is but dust. Dust; the onely compounder of differences, the absoluer of all
distinctions: who can say, which was the Cli∣ent, which the Lawyer: which the borrower, which the lender: which the captiue, which the Conqueror; when they all lie together in blen∣ded dust?
Dust; not Marble, nor Porphyrie, Gold nor precious stone, was the matter of our bodies; but earth, and the fractions of the earth, dust. Dust, the sport of the winde, the very slaue of the beesome. This is the pit from whence wee are digged; and this is the pit, to which we shall bee resolued. Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt returne againe. They that sit in the dust, and feele their owne materials about them, may well renounce the ornaments of pride, the gulfe of auarice, the foolish lustes of concupiscence. Let the couetous thinke, what doe I scrape for? a little golden dust: the ambitious, what doe I aspire for? a little honourable dust: the libidi∣nous, what doe I languish for? a little animated dust, blowen away with the breath of Gods dis∣pleasure.
O how goodly this building of man appeares, when it is clothed with beautie and honour! A face full of maiestie, the throne of comelinesse; wherein the whitenesse of the Lilie contends with the sanguine of the Rose: an actiue hand, an erected countenance, an eye sparkling out lu∣stre, a smoothe complexion, arising from an ex∣cellent temperature and composition: where∣as other creatures, by reason of their cold and grosse humours, are growne ouer, beasts with
haire, foules with feathers, fishes with scales. O what a workman was this, that could raise such a Fabricke out of the earth, and lay such orient colours vpon Dust! yet all is but Dust, walking, talking, breathing dust: all this beautie but the effect of a well concocted food, and life it selfe but a walk from dust to dust. Yea, and this man, or that woman, is neuer so beautifull, as when they sit weeping for their sinnes in the dust: as Mary Magdalen was then fairest, when she knee∣led in the dust, bathing the feet of Christ with her teares, and wiping them with her haires: like heauen, faire sight-ward, to vs that are with∣out; but more faire to them that are within.
The Dust is come of the same house that wee are: and when she sees vs proud, and forgetfull of our selues, shee thinkes with her selfe, Why should not shee, that is descended as well as we, beare vp her plumes as high as ours. Therefore she so often borrowes wings of the winde, to mount aloft into the ayre, and in the streets and high wayes, dasheth herselfe into our eyes: as if shee would say, Are you my kinred, and will not know me? will you take no notice of your owne mother? To taxe the folly of our ambi∣tion, the dust in the street takes pleasure to bee ambitious.
The Iewes in their mourning, vsed to rend their garments; as if they would bee reuenged on them, for encreasing their pride, and keeping them from the sight of their nakednesse. Then they put on sackcloth, and that sackcloth they
sprinkled ouer with dust, and ouerstrawed with ashes: to put God in minde, that if hee should arme his displeasure against them, he should but contend with dust and ashes; and what glory could that bee for him? Shall the dust praise thee, O God; or, art thou glorified in the pit? Nay, ra∣ther, how often doth the Lord spare vs, because hee remembers wee are but dust? To shew that they had lifted vp themselues aboue their crea∣tion, and forgot of what they are made; now by by Repentance returning to their first Image, in all prostrate humility they lay in the dust; confes∣sing, that the wind doth not more easily disperse the dust, then the breath of God was able to bring them to nothing.
Thus, Dust is not onely Materia nostra, or Ma∣ter, our Mother, or matter wherof we are made; for our foundation is in the dust. But Patria nostra, our Countrey where we shall dwell; Awake yee that dwell in the dust. We are no better then the dust wee shake off from our feete, or brush off from our clothes. O, therefore let vs turne to God in dust, before hee turne vs into dust. Yea, Saint Augustine goes further, and sayes, that not onely the bodies of all men, but euen the soules of some men, are no better then dust. They are so set vpon earth, and earthly things, that they are transformed into earth and dust: and so be∣come the food of that old Serpent, whose punish∣ment was to eate the dust.
For Ashes, they are the Embleme or repre∣sentation of greater misery: Dust onely shewes
vs, that wee haue deserued the dissolution of our bodies; Ashes put vs in mind that wee haue merited also the destruction of our Soules. A∣shes are the leauings of the fire, the offalls of consumed substances. When God shall giue vp the largest buildings of Nature to the rage of that Element, it shall reduce them to a nar∣rowe roome, the remnants shall bee but ashes. This was all the Monument of those famous ci∣ties, Sodome, Gomorra, and the rest; heapes of ashes. Ecce vix totam Hercules impleuit vrnam, sayes the Poet; that great Gyant scarce makes a pit∣cher of ashes.
For this cause, the Ancients vsed to repent in Ashes; remonstrating to themselues, that they deserued burning in endlesse fire, more then those Ashes wherein they wallowed. Yea, if Abraham compared himselfe to dust and ashes, I may compare my soule to a sparke hid in the Ashes: which, when sickenesse and death shall stirre vp; like fire, shee takes her flight vpwards, and leaues the heauy fruitlesse ashes of my bodie behind her.
In both, wee haue a L••sson of our owne mortalitie. The finger of GOD hath writ∣ten the Epitaph of man; the condition of his bodie, like Characters printed in the Dust. Mans body, so well as the yce, expounds that Riddle; the gignit filia matrem: the daugh∣ter begets the mother; Dust begot a bodie, and a bodie begets Dust. Our bodies were a•• first strong Cities; but then wee made them
the Forts of Rebels: our offended Liege sent his Serieant Death to arrest vs of high Trea∣son. And though for his mercies sake in Christ, hee pardoned our sinnes, yet hee suffers vs no more to haue such strong houses; but lets vs dwell in paper Cottages, mudde walles, mor∣tall bodies. Methusalem liued nine hundred sixtie nine yeares; yet hee was the sonne of Enoch, who was the sonne of Iared, who was the sonne of Malaleel, who was the sonne of Cainan, who was the sonne of Enos, who was the sonne of Seth, who was the sonne of A∣dam, who was the sonne of Dust. Aske the woman that hath conceiued a childe in her wombe; Will it bee a Sonne? Peraduenture so: Will it bee well formed and featured? Peraduenture so: Will it be wise? Peraduenture so: Will it be rich? Peraduenture so: Will it be long-liued? Peraduenture so: Will it be mor∣tall? Yes, this is without peraduenture; it will die. Euen a Heathen, when hee heard that his son was dead, could say without changing coun∣tenance, Scio me genuisse mortalem; I know that I begot a mortall man.
An olde man is said to giue Alexander a little Iewell; and tolde him, that it had this vertue; so long as hee kept it bright, it would out-value the most fine golde or precious stone in the world; but if it once tooke dust, it would not bee worth a feather. What meant the Sage, but to giue the Monarch an Embleme of his owne body; which being animated with
a Soule, commanded the world; but once fallen to dust, it would be worth nothing: for a liuing dog is better then a dead Lyon.
I conclude, I call you not to casting Dust on your heads, or sitting in Ashes▪ but to that sorrow and compunction of Soule, whereof the other was but an externall Symbole or testimo∣nie. Let vs rend our hearts, and spare our gar∣ments; humble our soules, without afflicting our bodies. It is not a corps wrapp'd in Dust and A∣shes, but a contrite heart, which the Lord will not despise. Let vs repent our sinnes, and amend our liues: so God will pardon vs by the merites, saue vs by the mercies, and crowne vs with the glories of Iesus Christ.
Zepper.
Luke 15.17.
Vers. 5.
Psalm. 135.6.
Genes. 6.7.
Psalm. 130.4
1 Tim. 1.11.
Gen. 18 27.
Gr••g. mo••. ••8.
Exod. 33.17.
Gen. 32.10.
Mat. 3.11.
Mat. ••.8.
1 Cor. 15.9.
August.
Dan. 4.30.
Luke 18.11.
Iob. 1.15.
Psal. 51.4.
Mark. 8.34.
Reu. 16.11.
Math. 5.45.
Reuel. 3.7.
2 Kings 4.30.
Acts 16.29.
1 King. 20.31.
Iob 13.26.
Psal. 50.21.
Genes. 3.7.
Aug.
Ion. 3.6.
Genes. 3.1••
Psal 30.9.
Psal. 103.14.
Iob. 4.19.
Esai. 26.19.
2 Pet. 2.6.
Eccl. 9.4.
Esai. 58.5.
Psalm. 51.17.