The Christian mans teares and Christs comforts. Delivered at a fast the seventh of Octob. An[n]o. 1624. By Gilbert Primerose minister of the French Church of London.

CHAP. V.

1. THird motive to wee∣ping, from the passion and death of Iesus Christ, con∣sidered first in the Garden;

2. Next, in the High Priests house;

3. Thirdly, in the Iudge∣ment-Hall;

4. Fourthly, upon the Crosse.

5. Divers examples to moove us to weepe for his death.

6. We have crucified him, therefore we should weepe be∣cause of him;

7. As the Iewes did.

8. They that weepe not in this world, shall weepe in hell.

I. BUt, to leave this, let us cast our eyes upon the passion and death of our Lord Iesus Christ,f 1.1 who knew no sinne, and neverthelesse was of God made sinne for us; Let us looke upon him in the garden: there hee said, thatg 1.2 his soule was excee∣ding sorrowful even unto death: He was thus sor∣rowfull for our sinnes: and shall not we be sor∣rowfull for them? Thereh 1.3 he was sore amazed, and very heavy: And shal not we be amazed for his a∣mazednesse,

and very heavy for his heavines, who was thus amazed, thus heavie for us? There yee see him wal∣lowing on the ground before the throne of the justice of God, therei 1.4 he is in an agonie, there in a cold aire: the heate of the agonie openeth all the pores of his sacred body, it melteth his flesh like waxe, it changeth all his humors into a ri∣ver of a bloody sweat; which piercing and run∣ning through his gar∣ment, imbued and dyed the ground with a crim∣son

colour: There yee heare himk 1.5 offering up prayers & supplications, with strong crying and teares, unto him that was able to save him from death; death which hee was to suffer, not for himselfe, but for us. O hearts of steele! when will the agonie of the Sonne of God for you, cast you in an ago∣ny for your selves? O eyes drier than the dry∣est bricke! when will the bloodie sweate of your sweet Saviour, w^ch mol∣lified the hard ground, soften you? when will

the streames of teares, running from the glo∣rious and bright-shining eyes of the King of kings, change you in∣to fountaines of water? when will weeping dig hollow furrowes and gutters in your faces? O when will yee begin to shed one teare for your owne sinnes? Is it not time to begin NOVV, if ye have not begun till NOVV?

II. Beholdl 1.6 Iudas betraying him with a kisse: beholdm 1.7 the Offi∣cers binding him, as if hee had beene a male fa∣ctor:

behold them in the high Priests house,n 1.8 mocking him, smiting him, blindfolding him, and aftervvards striking him on the face, & ask∣ing him, Who is it that smote thee? behold them speaking manie other things blasphemously against him:o 1.9 behold the chief Priests, & El∣ders, and all the Coun∣cell, seeking false vvit∣nesses against him: be∣hold them all, vvith the high Priest, pronoūcing against him their award and last sentence, He is guilty of death. Novv

harts burst, Novv eies weepe; NOW Chri∣stians, if there bee any love of Christ, if there be any bowels of com∣passion 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 glo∣ry was mockt for you, who were the divells mocking stocke, that ye might bee honoured of God, who is your glo∣ry. The light of the world was blind-folded for you who were dark∣nesse, that ye might bee

enlightened. The righ∣teous was outrageously beaten for you, who were unrighteous, that ye might be spared. The Innocent was condem∣ned for you, who were guilty, that ye might be absolved. Christ suffered all this for you, and yet ye weepe not.

III. Follow him in∣to the Iudgement-Hall: Canst thou, with an un∣broken heart, and dry eyes, see himp 1.10 scourged there, and his flesh man∣gled, and torne in pie∣ces for thy sake? Be∣hold his naked head be∣girt

with a crowne of sharpe thornes: O let us, us I say, who professe to bee members of his bo∣dy,q 1.11 O let us be ashamed to sport, and to make mer∣ry under a head crowned with thornes.

IV. Goe to the Crosse: heed the souldi∣ers nayling to the un∣fruitfull tree his hands and his feete; behold them giving him vine∣ger 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 ray∣ling on him most outra∣geously. There he yeel∣ded up the ghost: there his side was pierst: there he was made a woefull spectacle, and the prin∣cipall actor of a bloodie and pitifull Tragedy.

r 1.12The Sunne could not looke on it; it covered it selfe with a black mour∣ning 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 har∣der than flint stones, yea than the most hard Dia∣monds, and cannot be broken. The graves were opened: our throates, alas! are open Sepul∣chers, 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 spi∣rituall motion, any fee∣ling of the wrath of God, which Christ in

the passion of his death suffered for us. Fors 1.13 his owne selfe bare our sinnes in his owne body on the tree. Theret 1.14 he was woū∣ded for our transgressi∣ons: 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 shed∣ding of his blood, whom his cursed death will not wound with a prick∣ing 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 1.15The 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 dia∣mond, if the blood of the Lamb of God will not doe it?

V. Iudas a Repro∣bate,

x 1.16 Iud is which had betraied him, when hee saw that he was condem∣ned, repented, and wept: and wee, who brag of our elation, weep not.

The Centurion, an ig∣norant Pagan, when hee saw what was done, when hee considered all the circumstances of his death, glorified God, say∣ing,y 1.17 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 heez 1.18 suffred for our unrigh∣teousnesse.

a 1.19All 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 dayb 1.20 Christ is evidently set forth, & crucified among us, by the preaching of the Gospell: and yet none of us smiteth his breast.

c 1.21The idolatrous wo∣men of Ierusalem sate weeping for TAMMVS,d 1.22 called by the Greekes

OSIRIS, the false god of the Aegyptians, whom Typhon slue: and wee weep not for Iesus Christ, whoe 1.23 is the true GOD, and eternall life, whom the Iewes slue.

f 1.24The Divells them∣selves, 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, be∣causeg 1.25 through death hee

destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the Divell their ma∣ster, and them also: we mourne not, wee, I say, who were the causes of his death.

VI. It is written in the Revelat. thath 1.26 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, w^ch 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 souldi∣ers 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 inno∣cent person? He stood there in our room; and what wee deserved, that hee suffered: Our cove∣tousnesse

betrayed him; Our anger laide hold on him, and tied him; Our lust mocked him; Our envy accused him; Our pride delivered him; Our worldly feare con∣dēned him; Ou•• ••nhu∣manitie scourged him; Our ambition crowned him with thornes; Our profanenesse and atheism spet upon him, smote him, and abused him; Our causelesse othes nay∣led him; Our intempe∣rancie in drinking gave him vinegar and gall to drink; Our blasphemies, our horrible execrati∣ons,

our cursings, pear∣ced him to the heart: and yet wee weep not. God was made a worm for us; and wee weepe not. Blessing it self was made a curse for us; and wee ••eep not. Life it selfe is dead for us; and we weep not.

VII. When the Iewes heard, that hee whom they denied, whom they delivered, whom they crucified and killed by wicked hands, wasi 1.27 the Holy One, the Iust, the Prince of life;k 1.28 they were pric∣ked in their hearts, al∣though

thatl 1.29 through ignorance they did it. O how bitterly did Saint Paul weep, when he re∣corded how he had binm 1.30 a blasphemer, a perse∣cuter, and an oppressor of Christ's Church, altho hee did it ignorantly in unbeleef! ween 1.31 crucifie him, wee put him to an o∣pen shame every day; if not vvickedly, at least vvittingly and vvilling∣ly: neverthelesse, vvee are not pricked in our hearts; and therefore vve have no tears in our eies to vveep and vvail, because of him vvhom

vvee have pearced.

VIII. Will vve de∣ferre the accomplish∣ment of S^t. Iohn's Pro∣phesie till Dooms-day; vvheno 1.32 the Kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and all the rabble of vvicked men, shal cry to the moun∣tains and rockes, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the Throne, and from the wrath of the Lambe; vvhen their crying shall availe them nothing; vvhen the irrevocable Doome shall bee pro∣nounced, and they shall

bee cast into utter dark∣nes, vvherep 1.33 there shall weeping, and gnashing of teeth; because then shall bee fulfilled the threat∣ning of Christ;* 1.34 Wo bee to you that laugh now, for ye shall waile and weep? That vveeping vvill be unfruitfull, because it shall bee a vveeping of despaire; such as Iudas vveeping vvas when he hanged himself.

Let us then, my be∣loved & dear brethren, begin to weep NOVV, and to shead fruitfull teares;q 1.35 teares for our sinnes of omission, teares

for our sins of commissi∣on: for, through negli∣gēce, we have not done the good wee should have done; through rashnes, vve have done the evill vvhich vvee should not have done. Let us join to that vvee∣ping, a resolution to sin no more: let us after that manner, according to the exhortation of S. Iohn,r 1.36 bring forth fruits answerable to amendmēt of life.s 1.37 To bring forth such fruits, is, to weep for our sinnes past, and not to commit any sin, for which we shal have need to weep again.

Notes

• f 1.1

  2. Cor. 5.21.
• g 1.2

  Mat. 26 38.
• h 1.3

  Mark 14.33.
• i 1.4

  Luk. 22.44.
• k 1.5

  Heb. 5.7
• l 1.6

  Luk. 22.48.
• m 1.7

  Ioh. 18 12.
• n 1.8

  Luk. 22 63, 64, 65.
• o 1.9

  Mat. 26.59.65, 66.
• p 1.10

  Ioh. 19.1, 2.
• q 1.11

  Pudeat membrum deliciarisub capite spinis coronato.
• r 1.12

  Mat. 27 45, 51.
• s 1.13

  1. Pet. 2.24.
• t 1.14

  Esa 53.5
• u 1.15

  Plin. hist. nat. l. 37. c. 4 I lla invicta vis, duarum violentissimae naturae rerū, ferri ignísque contemptrix, hircino rum∣pitur sangui∣ne.
• x 1.16

  Mat. 27 3
• y 1.17

  Luke 23 47
• z 1.18

  1. Pet. 3 18
• a 1.19

  Luke 23 48
• b 1.20

  Gal. 3.1
• c 1.21

  Ezech. 8.14
• d 1.22

  Plut. de Iside & O∣siride.
• e 1.23

  1 Iohn 5.20.
• f 1.24

  Plut de cessatione O∣raculorum.
• g 1.25

  Heb. 2 14
• h 1.26

  Rev. 1.7
• i 1.27

  Acts 3 14.15
• k 1.28

  Acts 2 37.
• l 1.29

  Act. 3.17
• m 1.30

  1 Tim. 1.3.
• n 1.31

  Heb. 6.6
• o 1.32

  Rev. 6.15, 16
• p 1.33

  Mat. 22 13
• * 1.34

  Luke 6.25
• q 1.35

  Aug de Temp ser. 66. Duplicem habere debet fletum in poe∣nitentiâ om∣nis peccator, five per neg∣ligentiam bonum non fecit, seu per audaciam malum perpe∣travit. Quod enim opor∣tuit, non ges∣sit; & quod non oportuit, egit.
• r 1.36

  Mat 3.8
• s 1.37

  Aug. ibid. Fructus dig∣nus est poeni∣tentiae, trans∣acta flere peccata, & eadem iterum non agere.