LXXX sermons preached at the parish-church of St. Mary Magdalene Milk-street, London whereof nine of them not till now published / by the late eminent and learned divine Anthony Farindon ... ; in two volumes, with a large table to both.

The Second SERMON. (Book 2)

MATTH. V. 4.

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

THese words of our Saviour present the Christian in sables, multo deformatum pulvere, with ashes sprink∣led on his head, his garments rent, his heart broken, himself a companion, a man, a friend of sorrow. Hi me comites qui tenent, Cura, miseriae, aegritudo, la∣crymae, lamentatio, saith he in Plautus. But it is the Christian's language. We must look to meet with misery, and cares, and sickness, and lamentation: We must learn to be poor, and we must learn to be miserable. Blessed∣ness indeed is a fair inscription, but like that upon Semiramis her tomb, That he who opened it should find within it great treasurie. But when Dari∣us had broken it up, he found onely a writing which told him. If he had not been a wicked person, he would never have broken up a sepulchre to look for treasure. So Blessedness here is a fair title; but remove it, and we find nothing but Mourning within, and withall a sharp reproof for him that searcheth the Gospel to find the World or Pleasure there. For it was not the errour of the Jew onely, to expect 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a glorious and great Messias, that should fill their treasury with wealth, and bring in a new Paradise of pleasures, and make an everlasting Jubilee; but even the Disciples did for a while dream on the same pillow, and in their Master looked for the pomp and glory of the world. This was so gross a conceit, that it had been less prejudicial to the Jews never to have heard of Christ. For the greatest cause why they refused him when he came, was, because he came in a posture so opposite to their expectation. What, a Messias with poverty? a Christ with contempt? a Christ with

mourning? Ecquis Christus cum sua fabula? Farewel Christ with his Le∣gend the Gospel. It is most true that the Father telleth us, Christi hu∣militas multos offendit; The humility of Christ offendeth many. As it hath dashed some on the rocks of Heresie, so it hath drowned others in the gulf of Profaneness: As it hath driven some to deny his Divinity, so it hath moved others to crucifie him again. There are many Jews who were never circumcised, many who are willing to receive Christ with honour and riches and pleasures, but not with disgrace and poverty and affliction. Regnare volumus; We are willing to reign with Jesus, but not to mourn with Jesus. Hence I cannot but think that this Sermon of our Saviour's was made to this end, to take off all conceit of wealth or pleasure, and to dig up by the very roots this gross and dangerous errour. In discipulos transfert pleniorem gratiam, disciplinae auctioris capacitatem, saith Tertullian; he filleth his Disciples hearts with more a∣bundant grace, that they may be fitted to receive his discipline. He that will be a disciple of Christ must be of the same mind with Christ, must know what his Kingdom is, and that it is not of this world; that there is a star fixed even in this cloud of sorrow consolation in mourning; yea, that this cloud is a star, this mourning is blessedness. Ill weeds must be destroyed before you can sow good corn; Nor is the soul capable of Divine truth and saving knowledge, till it be purged and cleansed from the dross of this world, till we can raise our Happiness (as Christ doth) out of mourning, and set this Diamond in this clay. It is the observation of St. Basil upon Psal. 29. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. It is the method of Scripture, every where to place mourning before joy, the night before the day.* 1.1 Percutiam, & sanabo, saith God, I will smite and I will make whole. Weeping for a night, and joy followeth in the morn∣ing. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. First the punishment, then the blessing; first smiting, then healing; first mourning, then consolation. First we mourn, as men climbing up the Hill; then we sing, as at rest on the top of Sion: first we set sad tunes in the valley of tears, the Church mili∣tant; then we chant out an Antheme, an Hymne of joy, in the Church triumphant.

Our division now is easie. We have here 1. an Affirmation; Blessed are they that mourn: 2. a Confirmation, or Reason; For they shall be com∣forted. But we must alter a little this method, and by degrees reconcile these two so opposite to our sense, Blessedness, and Mourning: And then we shall pass by these lines. First we shall shew you, What may be here meant by mourning; Secondly, How useful and behoofful it is for Chri∣stians to mourn: Which will bring in the last, How mourning worketh consolation. Of these we shall speak in order.

I. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 here is the word. And it is not Grief, but Mourning, which is here commended. But because Mourning, if it be true, supposeth Grief, we may well understand both. Indeed Grief is inward, in the heart and soul, but Mourning is written in our face, floweth in our tears, is visible in our habit, and loud in our complaints. It is that ceremoni∣ous piety which we perform for our friends deceased. Interdictum ne capite damnatos lugerent, saith Suetonius; Tiberius forbad that the kins∣men of those whom he condemned to death should mourn. Qui lugent, abstinent à conviviis, ornamentis, & alba veste; They who mourn abstain from banquets, fling off their ornaments and white apparel. The com∣mon gesture was to sit down. Residentur mortui, saith Tully; We sit down at the tombs of the dead, to bewail them. By the rivers of Baby∣lon, there we sate down, yea we wept, when we remembred Sion. And Ezek. 8.14.* 1.2 Sedebant mulieres plangentes Adonidem, There sate women

weeping for Tammuz. And John 19.25. it is said of the mother of Christ, and of his mother's sister, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that they did not sit but stand by the cross, because, though they were full of sorrow, yet they might not seem to mourn for him who suffered for treason against Caesar. And this I take to be the proper signification of the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. For 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 is the same with praefica, a woman hired to weep and lament and howle for the dead. But then, I suppose, this includeth Grief also, which hath alwaies been the lot of Christians. For if the question be asked, Who are those that weep and mourn in the world? we must point them out amongst the best. The wicked live, become old, yea,* 1.3 are mighty in power. They are merry in hell: for they alwaies carry their hell a∣bout with them. They are condemned already; and they leap and dance with the sentence, with vengeance hanging over their heads. Their houses, saith holy Job, are safe from fear; neither is the rod of God upon them. They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoyce at the sound of the organ. But for the righteous; it is not so with them. They are killed every day; The drunkards make songs of them: They hang down the head like a bulrush; Their whole life is accounted madness. This indeed was painful for David to know; it was even his sickness. But when he went into the Sanctuary of God, and considered his wisdom and providence guiding every thing to its end, and changing the face of things, putting a lustre and glory on that which flesh and bloud looked upon with hor∣rour, and compassing that about with woes which it beheld with admira∣tion; then understood he their end, the end of both.* 1.4 The one placed in slippery places, tumbled down into destruction; the other lifted up their heads, because salvation and comfort drew near. For Pleasure and Grief, as they have divers aspects, so also have contrary effects. Pleasure smileth, and Grief weepeth; but there is bitterness in those smiles, and joy in those tears.

II. Now to shew how useful Mourning is, it will not be amiss to com∣pare them both, both Delight and Mourning. For certainly when our Saviour joyneth Blessedness and Mourning, he layeth a kind of imputation upon Pleasure, as it it were the very mother and nurse of all misery. Naturally we seek it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Aristotle, from our tender years: And all our life long we do 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, incline to pleasure, as a stone doth to the center. Xerxes proposed great rewards to those who did invent new delights. The Roman Emperours set up offices à voluptatibus; They had their Arbitri, their Praepositi, their Tribunes of pleasure; and they accounted none more generous then those who were most sportful. Ho∣mer bringeth in the Gods themselves 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, spending their time in mirth and jollity. So hath Pleasure bewitched the world, that without it nothing is received; without it the world it self were nothing. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing. And as if Nature had not afforded us variety enough, we have made a kind of art of plea∣sure. We have mingled it with our labour, made that as easie as we could; we have mingled it with our sorrow, ready to receive it even into a broken heart; and we have mingled it with our Religion, attem∣pered that to our sense, made it gentle and plyable, more answerable to our lusts and sinful desires. For who doth not make his burthen sit as easie as he can? Who would not have a Religion that should bow and condescend to his desires, that should grant charters and indulgences to the flesh, and so à deliciis transire in delicias, pass from delight to delight, from sensual delight to spiritual, out of a Seraglio, a stews, a theatre, in∣to heaven? And this hath brought in that deluge of sin and misery, that

when Religion threatneth us with scorpions, with crosses, with tribulati∣ons, with mortifications, we silence her, or put our own words into her mouth, teach her to speak placentia, more pleasing things, and so re∣tain her name, but make her depart out of our coasts. S. Basil calleth it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the devil's hook, with which he haleth men to destru∣ction, by which he striveth mentem facere amentem, to divide the mind from it self, and distract it, & Dei templum in theatrum voluptatum verte∣re, to change the temple of God into a theatre of luxury. For indeed all the evil that befalleth us is from our selves, from our bodies, which we strive to pamper up. Had we not eyes, we should not be so blind; and had we not ears, we should not be so deaf. Did we not too much fa∣vour our bodies, our souls would flourish more, be more active and vi∣gorous in those duties which must make them perfect. There is, saith Gregory Nazianzene, a kind of warlike opposition between the Body and the Soul, and they do 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, pitch their tents one a∣gainst another. When the Body prevaileth, the Soul is down; when that is most active, even like a wanton heifer or a wild ass, then is the Soul sick, even bed-rid with sin. Empedocles the Philosopher taught that Lis and Amicitia, Enmity and Friendship, were the two common princi∣ples of all things in the world: But had he carefully observed the com∣position of Man, he had found Enmity good store, but Friendship none at all. For from whence do all our turbulent affections spring? Philo will tell us, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that they are the natural issues of our flesh. From whence those 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, inquinations and pollutions, of the soul? from whence those 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, tumults, those thunders and earthquakes? All these are from the earth, earthly; For that which is born of the flesh, is flesh. And the body is not onely an enemy, but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a castle of defence, for all the enemies the soul hath. It was a wise wish of Archytas, that he might rather be taken with madness then with pleasure. And Simplicius ac∣counted it a great benefit of Nature that no pleasure was of long conti∣nuance, nè diu insani essemus, that we might not be long mad. For she leadeth the Senses in triumph, and Reason captive at their heels, to wait upon them and be ministerial to them. What evil ever yet befell any almost but from Pleasure? Shee befooleth the wise; Look upon Solomon: She perverteth the just; Behold David: She weakeneth the strong, as we see in Samson. Assyria drew its last breath at a feast: Gluttony be∣trayed Babylon, and riot Nineveh: And we had been at this day a hap∣py Nation, had we not been lovers of pleasure more then lovers of God. Every man seeketh his own private pleasure; and within a while he seeth it snatched from him and buried in the ruines of the whole. Death it self would have no such strength, but that it borroweth aid and a subsidiary force from Sensuality and Pleasure,

Quae violas lasciva jacit, foliisque rosarum Dimicat, & calathos inimica per agmina fundit; Prudent.

which destroyeth us, not with a sword and a spear or the weapons of the mighty, but with violets and roses, with smiles and flattery, with colours and tasts, with delights, with nothing. Which maketh the Fa∣ther cry out, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉; What should we do, what would be our end, if, temporal pleasures had been firm and lasting! which being but brittle and frail, more mortal then Mortality it self, do yet chain and fetter us unto themselves; and when we cleave most unto them, fly from us, but leave such an impression and mark behind them that we prefer them be∣fore true Happiness, and fall off from them as Lucifer did from heaven: For when we lose them we are in hell. Clemens Alexandrinus saith they make men 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, like wax, that the devil may set what impression he

pleaseth upon them; now the bloudy face of Murther, anon the wanton looks of Lust, the grim visage of Anger and the horrour of Cruelty. Pleasure boweth the Covetous; for he loveth to look upon his wealth: It lifteth up the head of the Proud; for he is his own paradise, and walk∣eth in the contemplation of himself as in the palace which he hath made: It whetteth the sword of the Revenger; for his delight is in bloud: It grindeth the teeth of the Oppressour; for the poor are his bread. It is the first mover (I may say, the form) of every sin. From hence arise those motions contrary to Reason which d••stroy all sanctified thoughts, which do (as the Philosopher speaketh) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, rob us of consul∣tation, oppress and put out the light of the soul, and leave us 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as it were fighting in the dark, in the midst of Ignorance and Confusion. Like those Egyptian thieves, they first embrace, and then strangle us. The Sun now affordeth no light, the heaven is not spang∣led with stars, but filled and veiled with clouds. And as Diomedes could not see the Goddess in the cloud, no more can we see the face of Truth and beauty of Virtue in this darkness and confusion. And can we now expect comfort from those whose very comforts are mortal, which please with hurting, and hurt with pleasing, and their end is desolation and mourning? Occidua res est omnis voluptas; All sensual delight, even when it riseth, is in its setting and going down, and then casteth a long shadow, which is nothing but grief. And as when the Sun setteth, the shadows increase, and the shadow of an infant presenteth a giant-like shape: so the least pleasure, when it declineth, portendeth a sorrow far greater and larger then it self. Besides, this sorrow not onely followeth at the heels of pleasure, but keepeth pace with her. For every pleasure resisteth it self, is impatient of it self; and when it increaseth it self, it de∣stroyeth it self; becometh offensive, and maketh men weak and impo∣tent in their embraces, and so turneth enemy unto it self. We read in Epiphanius, that the Egyptians having put into one vessel many serpents together, and shut them up close, to try the event, in time one stronger then his fellows having consumed all the rest, when now no more remain∣ed, began to eat up himself: So Pleasure is a serpent to deceive us, and a serpent to destroy it self. For when we have spent our time and spirits in luxury and riot, to please our sensual and brutish part, at last Pleasure reflecteth upon it self, and wasteth it self. For it is not onely true that Tully saith, Liberalitas liberalitatem exhaurit; that Liberality indiscreet∣ly used destroyeth and exhausteth it self; but we find it as true, Voluptas voluptatem exhaurit, Pleasures immoderately taken consume themselves, and return upon us nothing but pain and misery, and voluptas voluptate perit, by Pleasure Pleasure dieth.

We will now leave this theatre of Pleasure, whereon whosoever acteth, faileth, and is thrown off, and for a while walk amongst the tombs. I called it Pleasure, but it deserveth not that name, which being lost leaveth an eternal loss behind it. For who would so affect a feast as to forfeit his health and appetite but to tast it, and for one dram for go all gust and delicacy? Let us then enter the house of Mourning, and see what glorious effects it doth produce. And we shall find it a friend to virtue, the guard of our life, and a kind of Angel to guide us in all our wayes. And in this respect God may seem to have preferred us before the Angels, in that he hath built us up of flesh and bloud, in that he hath given us so many senses, and so many powers of our souls, as so many crosses. For an An∣gel cannot mourn, cannot fast, cannot suffer persecution; but the soul of man, being united to the body, is carried up by those to an Angelical e∣state. I know S. Paul brandeth worldly sorrow, and maketh the effect of

it no better then death.* 1.5 And a better effect it cannot have whilst it is worldly and sensual. Grief for a disgrace received may make me disho∣nour my self more, to speak and do those things which are not seemly. Sorrow for the loss of my goods may distract me, leave me miserable, but scarce a man. The loss of a friend may draw on the loss of my life. For when we find nothing but misery in misery, we are willing to run from it, though we run out of this life; and this, whilst our sorrow is fixed upon that evil that raised it. But the devout School man will tell us, Luctus sensualis trahit per••ccidens in luctum bonum, that this grief may draw on also repentance unto salvation not to be repented of, that is a re∣pentance that will comfort us. For comfort may be brought to us in a stream of bitterness. The rod of God is a rod of iron to bruise us to pieces, till we hearken to it and obey it: But when I understand its language and discipline, when I see the plague of my heart in the distemper of my body, my lust in a fever, and my intemperance in a dropsie, when I dis∣cover greater evils then those I mourn for, then I devert my grief upon these, where it may be laid out with more advantage; then this rod is no more a rod, but a staff to comfort me. Thus we may be drowned, and we may be washed and refreshed in our tears; and the house of Mourning may be our prison, and it may be our school; and by the help of that Spirit who is the Comforter we may work comfort out of that grief which was ready to swallow us up. Our own experience will teach us that one of the greatest provocations to sin is, not to feel the wrath of God in those outward calamities which produce this mourning. The Pythagoreans, where they speak of the Affections, call them virtues, and do thus distinguish them. Some they say are virtutes animi purgati, signs and indications of a mind clensed and renewed already. Hope and Joy cannot be but in a virtuous soul: For as where health is, there is chearful∣ness; where youth is, there is comliness; where Musick is, there is an ex∣sultancy: so where goodness is, there is joy. Others are virtutes animi purgatrices, virtues which purge and clense the soul; as Fear and Grief. For, like Physick, by degrees these purge out ill humours, raise the soul to a kind of health, and make it at length a mansion for Joy and Comfort. As we see clothes deeply stained will not let go their spots without the loss of some part of their substance; so when those maculae peccati, as the Schools call them, the spots and pollutions of sin, have sunk down far, and deeply stained and fullied us, they will hardly be washed out with∣out some loss and impairing of our selves, without these purgatives of Grief and Mourning, which bring leanness into our souls. Haud levio∣ribus remediis restinguendus est animus quàm libidinibus exarsit. The Phy∣sick must be proportioned to the disease; if that be violent, the Physick must needs be strong that purgeth it. Dei sancti infirmiores sunt, quia si fortes sint, vix sancti esse possunt, saith Salvian; The Saints of God do many times lose their joy and strength, because it is a very hard matter to be in prosperity and to be Saints. It is observed, that in Common∣wealths dissensions, seditions and luxury are longae pacis mala, the issues of a long-continued peace: And many times States are rent in pieces through civil dissentions, if outward wars hinder not. S. Augustine telleth us, Plùs nocuit eversa Carthago Romanis quàm adversa, that Carthage in her rubbish brought more disadvantage to Rome then when she stood out in defiance as an enemy. And were it not for this outward jarre in our bo∣dies by sickness, and in our souls by disgrace and other calamities, we should find no peace within; for the soul hath no such practising enemy as the body, wherein she liveth. And as Cato thought it good husban∣dry to maintain some light quarrels and jarres amongst his houshold-servants,

lest their agreement amongst themselves might prejudice their master; so it may seem spiritual wisdom for the Soul, that the body and inferiour faculties be kept in perpetual jarre, that there be a thorn in the flesh, something set up in opposition against it, lest it prove wanton, and hold out too stubbornly against the Spirit. Febris te vocare potest ad poe∣nitentiam, saith Ambrose. It may so fall out, that the sight of a Physi∣cian may more promote thy conversion then the voice of a Preacher; a Fever, then a Sermon. The heathen Oratour could tell us, Optimi su∣mus, dum infirmi sumus, that we are never well but when we are sick, ne∣ver better then when we are worst. In this case, saith he, who sendeth his hopes afar off? who waiteth upon his ambitious and covetous desires•• who thinketh of his pleasure and wantonness? who shutteth not up his ears against detraction and malicious speech? how do we betake our selves to our beads and prayers? so that if you would look out the per∣fect pattern of a true Christian, you shall find it no where so soon as on the ground and on the bed of sickness. The heathen shutteth up all in this conclusion, Look, saith he, what the Philosophers with many words and large volumes do endeavour to teach, that can I most compendiously teach both my self and you; Tales esse sani perseveremus, quales nos futu∣ros profitemur infirmi; Let us be indeed such when we be well, as we pro∣mise we will be when we are sick. A lesson almost equivalent to that great commandment, and contains in it all the Law and the Prophets. We mourn, I am sure, in our sickness: For what is sickness but the very drooping and languishing of our spirits? And it may seem to be a part of that discipline by which the Apostles did govern the primitive Church. For when S. Paul had delivered over the incestuous person to Satan for the mortifying of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved, S. Chrysostom and S. Ambrose do joyntly interpret it, that S. Paul did with him as God did with Job, deliver him to Satan to be afflicted with diseases and sickness, under which he might mourn. And this is the reason why our Saviour thus joyneth Blessedness and Mourning together, because this is the end for which we are delivered up to sorrow and grief, ad interitum carnis, for the mortifying of the flesh, and the refreshing of the spirit, ut in ipsa sit censura supplicii in qua fuit causa peccati, that that part may smart with sorrow which hath offended with pleasure and riot. Look back upon the ancient Worthies of the Church, and you would think they made Sorrow a science, and studied the art of mourning. For as if the Devil had not been the Devil still, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as S. Chrysostom calleth him, a spiritual executioner, to afflict them; as if the World had left off to be the World, an enemy, and had not misery enough to fling on them; as if there had not been an Ismael left to persecute Isaac, nor a Dragon to pursue the Woman in the wilderness, they did sit down, and deliberate, and condemn themselves to sorrow and mourning. Ingrediatur utique putredo in ossibus meis, saith Bernard; Let infirmity seise upon my body, let rottenness enter and fill up my bones, let it abound in me; onely let me find peace of conscience in the day of my tribulation. The Heathen conceived they did it, not for the exercise of virtue, but, as Philoso∣phers did abstain from pleasures, that death might be less dreadful, nè desiderent vitam, quam sibi jam supervacuam fecerant, that they might not nourish too much hope of life, which they had now made superfluous and unnecessary to them by a voluntary abdication of all delights. Indeed this might be one reason. And Tertullian replieth, Si ita esset, tam alto consilio tantae obstinatio disciplinae debebat obsequium; If it were so, yet this was the power of Christian discipline, to learn to contemn death by the contempt of pleasure. Jejuniis aridi, in sacco & cinere volutantes,

saith the same Father; We are dried up with fasting, and debarred of all the comforts of this life we roll in sackcloth and ashes. What should I mention their 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, their 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, their minds dejected, their bodies macerated, their 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, sufferings in secret, which was, saith the Father, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, full of pain and grief? You might behold them kissing the chains of imprisoned Martyrs, washing the feet of Lazars, wallowing at the Temple-doors, on their knees begging the prayers of the Saints. You might see them stript and naked, their heir neglected, their bodies withered, and their knees of horn, as Nazianzene speaketh Orat. 12. But what do I mention these? This would go for superstition in these dayes, as every thing else doth that hath but any savour of dejectedness and hu∣mility. Religion then hung down the head, and went in blacks: it is now grown lofty and bold, walketh in purple, and fareth deliciously every day. The way to comfort was streit and narrow then: it is made broader now, even the same broad way which leadeth to destru∣ction. There were some of old who so far exceeded in fasting and au∣sterity, ut indigerent Hippocratis fomentis, that they stood more in need of the counsel of a Physician then of a Divine: but few now-a-dayes are like to offend this way; we stand in need rather of the spur then of the bridle. Their austerity may at least commend unto us Sadness and Mourn∣ing as a thing much be fitting a Christian, and very conduceable to hap∣piness. The Philosopher will tell us, Melancholici sunt ingeniosi, that me∣lancholick men are most commonly witty and ingenious, because their thoughts are setled and fixed, and not called aside by every vain object which interveneth. Certainly blessed are those dumps which unrivet us from the world; blessed are those afflictions which lift us to heaven; blessed is that sigh whose echo is a pious conversation; and that worm∣wood is an antidote which maketh the world distastful. But to leave this, as a sight we do not love to look upon; we will yet shew you a more particular and fuller sight of Blessedness in the valley of Tears and land of Mourning. And we may easily observe how Mourning worketh 1. up∣on the Understanding; 2. upon the Will; 3. upon the Memory; and how it ordereth and composeth rotam nativitatis, the whole wheel and compass of our Nature.

1. We see not onely the seeds of moral conversation, those 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, common notions, which are born with us, but also those seeds of saving knowledge which we gather from Scripture and improve by instruction and practice, never so darkned and obscured as when pleasures and de∣lights have taken full possession of our souls. As we see in some sick men, that the light of their reason is dimmed, and their minds disturbed; which proceedeth from those vicious vapours that their corrupt humours exhale: So is it in the Soul and Understanding; which could not but ap∣prehend things aright if it were not dazled and amazed with interveni∣ent and impertinent objects and phantasms: but being blinded by the God of this world, it seeth truth indeed, but through the vanities of the world, which, as coloured glasses, present the objects like unto them∣selves. In our ruff and jollity how little do we see of our selves? At what a distance do we see our sins? even as we do the stars, which ap∣pear to us not much bigger then an ordinary candle, when indeed they are greater then the whole earth. If sin prosper, it is an heroick act, a glorious virtue; which, had it failed, had nailed us to the cross. Sin hath now the face of Virtue: Envy is Emulation; Covetousness, Thirst; Prodigality, Bounty; Faction, Faith; Rebellion, Religion; the Gospel, Liberty. All things appear unto us as upon a stage, in masques and vi∣zards and strange apparel. Quis sibi verum discere audet? Who is he in

this case that will tell himself the truth, and impartially censure his own actions? but when the hand of Justice, or rather of Mercy, shall lead us into the house of mourning, when calamity shall cut off our hopes of en∣joying such pleasing objects as had taken us up and bound us to them∣selves, then the Understanding hath more liberty then before to retire into it self, then it beginneth evigilare, to awake as a man out of sleep, to enjoy a kind of heaven and serenity, which did before 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as the Platonick speaketh, sleep in a hell of confusion and darkness. Now the seeds of Goodness, being freed from the attr••ctive force of allure∣ments, begin to recover life and strength, and sprout forth into those apprehensions which bring with them a loathing of that evil which we made our delight. Now every sin appeareth in its own shape: now En∣vy is Murther, and Covetousness Idolatry, and Prodigality Folly, and the Gospel not a Sanctuary for Libertines, but Mourners.* 1.6 In my prosperi∣ty, saith David, I said, I shall never be moved; but what followeth, Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled. And what followeth that? I cri∣ed to thee, O Lord; and unto the Lord I made supplication. It is strange, saith Calvine, that God should enlighten David's eyes by hiding his face, without the light of whose countenance knowledge it self is no better then darkness: but we find it most true, that prosperity doth most times infatuate us, but afflictions, which make us mourn, do make us wise.

2. The Will of man, as it is a free, so is it a perverse and froward fa∣culty, and Planet-wise moveth in its own way contrary to the strong cir∣cumvolution of the first mover. And though it cannot be compelled or forced to determine thus or thus, yet is it attemptable and may be wrought upon by allurements and threatnings. Folly may be bound up in it; but the rod of discipline may scatter it. And to this end are all the exhortations and beseechings and menaces in the Gospel. If Pleasure be powerful now to sway her to forbidden objects, Adversity may be as powerful to withdraw her, and settle her irregular motion. Now Esau will kill his brother Jacob; within a while he blesseth him. Now David longeth for the water of the well of Bethlehem; anon he loatheth it as the bloud of men, and will not drink of it, but poureth it out unto the Lord▪ All the blessings and curses under the Law were levelled at the Will. And though Prosperity be fair-spoken and too persuasive; yet Affliction is the more vehement Oratour, and bringeth with her vineas & pluteos eloquentiae, her engines of battery, which make a forcible im∣pression, and shake the soul. For shall a smile have power upon the Will, and shall thunder be repelled? If lust deceive me, rottenness in my bones may make me wise. What I will in my jollity, in the dayes of my mourning I will not. For having followed the deceitful allurements of the world, and finding gall and bitterness upon every seeming de∣light; having found death on the harlots lips, and misery in every way she wandereth; having fed on husks in a strange countrey, and been almost famished; the same Will that set me on my journey, and brought me thither, will change, and turn me back again to my Father's house.

3. Afflictions revive those decayed characters in the Memory, whe∣ther of God's blessings, or our own sins. How soon in our dayes of plea∣sure do we forget God? how soon do we forget our selves? How many benefits, how many sins are torn out of our memory? Who remembreth his own Soul in his lust, or can think he hath a Soul? Who thinketh of Reason in Intemperance? who thinketh of Sin in Jollity? Did Zimri e∣ver think of Treason and Murder in those seven dayes he wore his Ma∣ster's

Crown, and sate upon his Throne? We may observe, that those things which slip glibly and smoothly down our throats in the dayes of our mirth, in time of adversity are like gravel in our mouths. The Patriarchs made no scruple of the sale of their brother Joseph for four∣teen years together; but at last being cast into prison, they call their sin to mind,* 1.7 and that upon no apparent reason, We are verily guilty con∣cerning our brother; therefore is this distress come upon us. Sorrow is to us à memoria, and proveth, like Joseph to his brethren, a remembrancer unto us: It removeth the callum, the hardness, from our consciences, and maketh them quick of sense: Ab ipso morbo remedium sumit, it worketh treacle out of the Viper, remedy from the disease, light out of darkness, and maketh Sin it self beneficial and advantageous to us: For it draweth it out of the Affection into the Memory, where it is as operative to destroy, as it was in the Affection to increase it self. For but to remember sin, and to contemplate the horrour of it, and the Hell it deserveth, is enough to bow our wills, and break our hearts, and lay them open, that they may be fit receptacles of comfort. He were a bold sinner that durst look his sin full in the face. Now afflicti∣on and mourning bring us to this sight, wipe off the paint of Sin, strip her of her scutcheons and pendants, of her glory and beauty, and shew her openly in all her deformity, not with Pleasure and Honour and Riches, but with the Wrath of God, Death and Hell waiting upon her, that we may defie and mortifie Sin, and then triumph over it. And then we are brought back from the valley of the shadow of death into green pastures, and led beside the still waters, the waters of rest and refreshing: for God is with us, and his rod and his staff, with which he guideth us, comfort us, as it is Psal. 23.

And now in the last place, you see the rock out of which you must hew your Comfort, even out of Sorrow it self; Or you may see Joy and Comfort shoot forth from Mourning, as lightning from a thick and dark cloud; Or rather this Consolation ariseth not so much from Affliction and Mourning it self as from the cause of it. Sometimes we mourn in prison and in torments for righteousness sake. And there cannot be a greater argument out of which we may conclude in comfort, then this, that at once we are made witnesses and examples of righteousness; at once glorifie God, and purchase a crown of Glory for our selves. And thus comfort is conveyed to us through our own bloud. Sometimes we suf∣fer disgrace and loss of goods, because we had rather be poor then be as rich and evil as they that make us poor; and sit in the lowest form, then be higher and worse. This troubleth us, and this comforteth us. For thus to be poor, is to be in the Rich mans bosome; thus to be in the dust, is to be in Heaven. Sometimes we mourn as under the rod, and are brought to Affliction as to a School of discipline. And if we can read and understand the mystery of Affliction, as Nazianzene calleth it; if we can see mercy in anger, a Father in a Lord; if we can behold him with a rod in his hand, and healing under his wings, and so learn the lesson which he would teach us; learn by poverty to enrich our selves with grace; by disgrace, to honour our selves; by imprisonment, to seek liberty in Christ; if we can learn by those evils which can but touch us, to chase away those which will destroy us; if we can be such proficients in this School; this also may trouble us, and this will comfort us. If we hearken not to the rod, it may prove a Scorpion: But if we thus bow, and kiss it, it will not onely bud and blossome, as Aaron's did, but bring forth the sweet fruit of Consolation. And thus this miracle of Consolati∣on is wrought in us, first by the power of God's Grace, which maketh his

smitings healings, and his wounds kisses; and then by a strong actuating and upholding our Reason in the contemplation of God's most fatherly power and wisdome, which will check and give lawes to the inferiour powers and faculties of the soul, and draw them in obedience unto it self, that all melancholick fancies may vanish, all sensual grief may be swallowed up in victory in this, in the content and rest we find in the end which we obtain, or for which we suffer and mourn. So the blessed Vir∣gin had comfort even when she stood by the Cross vveeping, and her soul was filled with it even then when it was pierced through as with a sword. In a word, mourning is a remedy; and all remedies bring com∣fort. And this is of the number of those remedies quae potentiae suae qua∣litate consumptâ desinunt cùm profuerint, which having consumed and spent its virtue, vanisheth away, and leaveth to be, when it hath wrought its just effect. For he that is comforted feeleth not what he feeleth, but his contemplation carrieth his mind to heaven when his senses peradven∣ture labour under those displeasing objects which are contrary to them. At the same time Moses may be in the Mount, and the common people rebell and commit idolatry below: At the same time the Martyr may roar on the rack, and yet in his heart sing an hymn of praise to the King of Glory. Reason may so far subdue the Flesh as to make it suffer: but it cannot make it senseless; for then it could not suffer; then it were not flesh. Affliction will be heard, and felt, and seen in its violent operati∣on, seen in its terrour, heard in contumelies and reproaches, and felt in its smart; but in all these the Spirit is more then conquerour, and de∣lighteth it self with terrour, feedeth and feasteth on reproaches, and findeth a complacency in smart and pain it self. And then when we are under the rod, and suffer for sin and not for piety, as sensual grief may occasion spiritual, so spiritual sorrow and displacency hath alwaies com∣fort attending it. For sorrow and comfort in course affect the soul, and with such dispatch and celerity that we rather feel then discern it. The devout School-man giveth the instance in the quavering and trembling motion of a Bell after the stroke, or of a Lute string after the touch, and observeth such an Harmony in the heart by the mutual touch of Sorrow and Comfort. And David hath joyned them together in the second Psalm, Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoyce with trembling. When Affliction striketh the heart, the sound will end in Joy, and Comfort will be the resultance. Mourning is a dark and melancholick thing, and maketh a kind of night about us: but when the Spirit saith Let there be light, there will be light, light in the Understanding, re∣ctitude in the Will, order and peace in the Passions, serenity in the Soul; sin not in the Affection but in the Memory, where it is kept to be whipt and crucified; health in the Soul, strength in our spiritual Pulse, chearfulness to run the wayes of God's commandments; the best and onely comforts in the world, true symptomes of a spi∣ritual health, and fair pledges and types of that everlasting comfort which the God of all consolation will give to those who thus mourn in Sion.

For conclusion, to apply all to our selves in a word; I need not ex∣hort you to hang down the head, and mourn, and walk humbly before your God. Behold, God himself hath spoken to us in the whirlwind: He hath spoken in thunder, and shaken our Joyes, beat down all be∣fore our eyes in which our eyes took pleasure, and of which we could say we had a delight therein. He hath shaken the pillars of the earth. He hath shaken the pillar of Truth, the Church. He hath shaken every house; for what house, what estate tottereth not? He hath shaken our

Confidence: We dare not trust others, we dare not trust in our selves because we do not trust in him. He hath shaken our Resolution: We know not what to determine, we know not what to think. He hath shaken our very Hopes: Not a door, as the Prophet speaketh, non osti∣olum spei, not a wicket, of hope can we see to enter at. And need I now use any other art or eloquence, or any other Topick to move you to sorrow? What need the tongue of men and Angels, when the ve∣ry stones do speak? When all about us is thus shaken, can we set∣tle and rest upon our lees? When Jerusalem is so low, on the ground, it is time to hang up our harps, and sit down, and weep. Behold, the land mourneth,* 1.8 and the gates thereof languish. The Church mourneth, her very face is disfigured. Religion mourneth, being trod under foot, and onely her name held up to keep her down. All that we should delight in, mourneth; and shall we chant to the tune of the viol? Shall the Covetous still hug himself at the sight of his heaps? shall the Ambitious deifie himself in his Honour? shall the Wanton still crown himself with roses? shall every man sport and play in his own cock∣boat, whilst the ship of the Church is tempest beaten and driven up∣on the rocks? Have ye no regard, all ye that pass by the way, to see a troubled State, a disordered Church mouldred into Sects and crumb∣led into Conventicles, Religion enslaved and dragged to vile offices? true Devotion spit at, and Hypocrisie crowned? common Honesty al∣most become a reproach, and the upright moral man condemned to hell? Can you behold this, which the Angels desire not to look on, but turn away their face; which God himself is grieved at, and pressed under as a cart is with sheaves? When the bleeding wounds of the Church and Religion it self open themselves wide, when our Miseries bespeak us, when our Sins bespeak us, when every evil is so powerful an oratour, when our Miseries cry aloud, and our Sins cry louder, can the apple of our eye cease and rest in this valley of Hadad rimmon, in this Aceldama, in this confusion? Or why go we not mourning all the day long? If this sight grieve us not, it is an argument (and it is the Philosopher's) that we never delighted in the contrary; that we loved our selves, and not the publick; that we cryed up the Church as the Jews did the Temple, but cared not for it; that Religion was onely written in our banners, whilst we fought for our selves; that we spake for Order, but rejoyced not in it; that we prayed for Peace, but de∣lighted in War. And this Consequence is natural, and will necessarily follow. For that which we love is either our joy, or our grief: Whilst it is present, it filleth us with joy; and then, when it is taken from us, it must needs leave us in sorrow. I might here inlarge my self; but I must not be too bold with your patience. I shall say as our Saviour said, Lift up your eyes, and look upon the fields. Look every where about you, send your eyes far and near, and you shall see horrour and amazement and distraction, motives enough to melt you, and your selves the most miserable objects of all, if you do not mourn and weep over them. Look then upon them, and do not doubt of God's providence. He that suffereth is malus interpres Divinae providentiae, the worst interpreter of a thousand: and his Providence is like it self in those effects which seem to us most disproportionable. Tunc opti∣mus, cùm tibi non bonus; Then he is most good, when his goodness seemeth not to be extended unto thee; most just, when sinners flourish, and good men are opprest; then caring for his vineyard, when he let∣teth in the wild bores to spoil it. Again, do not murmure, nor repine. For in these calamities and miseries of the world we hang indeed as it

were upon a cross, but our Saviour hangeth by us. If we bespeak him churlishly, as one of the Thieves did, our Saviour will give us no answer: but if we mourn before him, and humbly intreat him, then shall we hear that comfortable reply, Now you are on the cross; but you shall be with me in paradise. Let us not tempt God, as the Jews did in the wilderness; nor murmure, as some of them murmured: For then those evils which appear as Serpents to us, will devour us. But let the Priests, the Ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the Al∣tar: let the people take up a Lamentation: let us all bawail our sins, and that desolation which nothing but our sins could make upon the earth; and in this our humility, in this day of our mourning, rouse up our drooping spirits with this Christian resolution, even with this; Here in this house of mourning will we build up a Temple for the Holy Ghost; here in this dungeon purchase our liberty; here in this Golgo∣tha crucifie our lusts and overcome the world; here in this disorder compose our affections, in this confusion make our peace; here, even in this Common-wealth, make our selves Citizens of the heavenly Jerusa∣lem; here in the ruines of a Church marry our selves unto Christ; here amongst scorpions and draggons fit our selves for the company of An∣gels; be miserable and mourn, to rejoyce for ever. Thus Blessedness and Consolation shall compass in the man of sorrow on every side, who is troubled on every side, but not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; cast down, but not destroyed. And thus blessed are they that thus mourn. The Angels are their servants to convey their tears, God is their Trea∣surer to keep them in his bottle, and the holy Ghost is their Comforter. Their sighs are the breath of heaven, their tears the wine of Angels, their groans the Echo of the Spirit of Grace: Who will lead them to the living fountains of the waters of comfort, and will wipe all tears from their eyes, and bring them to the presence of the God of consolation, where there is fulness of joy, and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Deut. 32.39. Psal. 30.5.
• * 1.2

  Psal. 137.
• * 1.3

  Job 21.7.
• * 1.4

  Psal. 73.
• * 1.5

  2 Cor. 7.10.
• * 1.6

  Psal. 30.6.
• * 1.7

  Gen. 42.21.
• * 1.8

  Jer. 14.