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. VII.

1 THey that weep not for sinne, are constrained to weep for the punishment of sinne.

2 He that weepeth not in affliction, is a desperate sinner.

3 Godly men weep in af∣fliction.

4 In our afflictions wee must weep to God.

I. FOr,x 1.1 if we would iudge our selves, we should not bee iudged. If wee could once sorrow: if sorrow wrought indignation in us; indignation, feare; fear, desire; desire, zeal; zeale, revenge, by wee∣ping for our sinnes, and abstaining from sinne, then wee should never weep for the punishmēt of sin: but if wee weep not when wee should weep,y 1.2 sinne lieth at the doore; and the punish∣ment

thereof shall make us to weep when wee would not weep.a 1.3 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for, because of these things, because of fornication, of un∣cleannesse, of covetous∣nesse, of filthy and foo∣lish talking, and other vices, which are but too too common in our Churches, commeth the wrath of GOD upon the childen of disobedience. I am not a Prophet, nor the sonne of a Prophet, to say to you, as Ezechi∣el writ to the Iews,b 1.4 An evill, an onely evill, be∣hold,

is come. An end is come: the end is come: it awaketh against thee: behold, it is come. The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwel∣lest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is neer. Yee see it come upon your brethren, for whom ye fast, & should weepe NOW. Are they not as honest, as godly, as religious as ye are? Therefore say not with the profane Iews,c 1.5 Wee have made a cove∣nant with death, & with hell are we at agreement. When the over-flowing

scourge shal passe thorow, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, & under falshood have wee hid our selves. Apply rather to your selves that w^ch Christ, who cannot lie, said to the Iewes ofd 1.6 the Gali∣leans, whose blood Pi∣late had mingled with their sacrifices; and of those eighteene, upon whom the Towre in Si∣loe fell, that they were not sinners above all the rest of the people: And therefore, except ye repent, yee shall all like∣wise perish.

II. When affliction is comne, I need not ex∣hort you to weep for it: To that, nature will be to you a most perswa∣sive preacher. The heart must bee harder than a Stithie, if it sorrow not; the eyes must be dryer than a potsheard, if they weep not in affliction. The Iewes were come to the height of sinne, when the Lord checked them for hardnesse of heart in their oppressi∣on; saying,e 1.7 In that day did the Lord GOD of Hostes call to weeping, & to mourning, and to bald∣nes,

and to girding with sackcloth: and behold ioy and gladnes, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine; and ye say, Let us eat and drink: for to-morrow we shall die. Such a sinner in that was their King Achaz, who in the time of his distresse did tres∣passe yet more against the Lord. He was ever king Achaz, ever like him∣selfe; never better, but rather worse. This hard∣nesse of heart is a neere cousin to the irremissi∣ble sinne: for God said to these stony-hearted

sinners, Surely, this ini∣quity shall not be purged from you, till ye die.

III. I hope there is none so wickedly dis∣posed amongst you all: for, I deeme, there is none amongst you, but hee will sorrow, weep and mourne, when the hand of God is heavie upon him; we are all of one metall. Iob saith, that in his afflictions,f 1.8 his roarings were poured out like the waters: heeg 1.9 cried: his harp was tur∣ned into mourning; and his organe, into the voice of them that weep. The

like wee haue heard of many others, with the refutation of the indo∣lence and unsensiblenes of the Stoicks.

IV. But if ye do no∣thing but roare, but cry, but weepe and mourne when yee are chastised, what doe yee that your dogges will not doe? will they not cry and howle when they are beaten? Teares, if they bee alone, are no more regarded of God, than the howling and yelling of beasts, which will roare when they are hardly used.

Weepe then as the Saints have alwayes wept. When your eyes run downe with teares, and your eye-lids gush our with waters, let your prayers runne up to heaven with them, to powre them out into the bosome of God. Weepe ash 1.10 Hannah wept, who beeing in bit∣ternesse of soule, prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. Weepe as the chil∣dren of Israel wept: for when the children of Beniamin had destroied of them fortie thousand men,i 1.11 they wept before

the Lord. Weepe as Iob wept, whenk 1.12 his eyes powred out teares unto God. Weepe as David wept, who when he was swimming in his teares, said,l 1.13 Evening and mor∣ning, and at noone will I pray, and cry aloud, and hee shall heare my voice. Weepe as Hezekiah wept;m 1.14 He prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore.n 1.15 Hee chattered like a crane, or a swallow: hee mourned as a dove: his eyes failed with looking upward: his praier was, O Lord I am oppressed, undertake for me.

Notes

• x 1.1

  1. Cor. 11.31.
• y 1.2

  Gen. 4.7
• a 1.3

  Eph. 5.4
• b 1.4

  Ezech. 7.5, 6, 7.
• c 1.5

  Esa. 28.15.
• d 1.6

  Luke 13.2
• e 1.7

  Esay 22 12, 13, 14
• f 1.8

  Iob 3 24
• g 1.9

  Iob 30.28, 31.
• h 1.10

  1. Sam. 1.10.
• i 1.11

  Iudg. 20 23, 26.
• k 1.12

  Iob 16.20.
• l 1.13

  Psal. 55.17.
• m 1.14

  2. Kin. 20.2, 3.
• n 1.15

  Esa. 38.84.