they haue sought God wiping all teares from their eyes hath bestowed vpon them And this is all I haue time to say of the fourth Well the Well of Life These now are the foure Wells from whence we may draw these teares this precious Seede which heere wee are commanded to sowe Though prophane men thinke these teares but the badge of hypocrites yet know that Dauid did sowe them who was none but a man according to Gods owne heart That they proceede out of childishnesse and simplicitie yet Dauid did sowe them who was wiser then his Ancients and Teachers though they doe account them womanish and signes of weakenesse yet Dauid did sowe them who had the heart of a Lion and was one of the Worthies and valiant men of Israel Though they thinke they proceed of idlenesse and lazinesse yet did Dauid sowe them a man as full of businesse both in peace and warre as euer was any And if Dauids example wil not serue the turne remember Christ the Sonne of Dauid one farre beyond all the exceptions wherewith prophane men vse to charge the precious teares which wee are to draw from those foure Fountaines So that as from the bitter flowers of Wormewood by the Art of distilling and heat of the fire sweete and wholesome moystnesse and waters are distilled euen so from the bitter consideration of our sinnes miseries for sinne the bitter passion of Christ and our absence from God by the fire and heate of Gods Spirit and this act of spirituall sorrow and weeping do drop and distil teares of farre more vertue and vigour then all the waters you vse to distill which you make serue for so many purposes O sweete waters O precious seede O diuine teares What can you not do You whom God maketh so great account of as that hee putteth you in his owne bottle You which keepe vs from euerlasting teares weeping and gnashing of teeth You that make fat and fertill our hearts like that Fountaine which came out of Paradise Genes 2. and make them bring forth a plentifull haruest of ioy You that both quench our thirst and coole our concupiscences for as when we are thirstie we run to the Well and when our houses are on fire wee run to the water so these teares both lay our thirst and coole our lusts You that doe rayse vp our soules towards heauen as the waters of the Deluge did lift vp the Arke for the peoples teares by the waters of Babylon brought into their minds the remembrance of Sion You that are the viaticum or prouision at our death when wee are trauelling to our euerlasting home as you were to Iphtahs Daughter Dauid Iob and Ezekiah who vpon the sentence of his death turned himselfe to the wall and wept You blood of our soules which crie lowder into the eares of God then either our sinnes or the blood of Abel and therefore in our language is called a crying who next to the blood of Christ speake best things who neuer held your peace though you want tongues and teach our eyes to speake powerfully to the Lord Lament 2. 18. Ne taceat pupilla oculi tui Let not the apple of thine eye hold its peace or take rest Of you I will say no more for such is the sweetnes and force of your owne eloquence with God that whatsoeuer the most eloquēt toungs or happiest pennes can say or write of you it is farre beneath your worth Happie is the man who hath his bottle full of you his eyes running ouer with you for you are the precious seede here spoken of They that sow in teares And thus much of the first thing in the first season the seed to be committed Teares NOw secondly see the manner of committing this seed it must not be thin or niggardly scattred but sowed plentifully else our Haruest shall bee no reaping but a gathering for he that soweth sparingly shall sparingly reape as the Lord in the parable of the Gospell complained of the reapers so may we now of the sowers he complained that the Haruest was great but the reapers or laborers few We may on the other side complaine that the seed is great here is seed enough neuer more matter and cause of teares but the sowers few few that plentifully shed and powre them out Many now and then will drop a teare vpon the present occasion as in extremitie of heate you shall see sometimes a few drops of raine or a few prodigious drops of bloud to fall but you know the verse Gutta cauat lapidem non v◠sed saepe cadendo teares will neuer sinke into our stony hearts but by oft falling as wee see drops doe hollow stones And who is there among vs that doth thus sowe them We must shed them often and many at a time often Day and night saith Ieremie without taking rest to our eyes ne taceat pupilla oculi tui day and night saith Dauid and many at a time So many as will fill Gods bottell so many as you may wash your bed and water your couch with them at a time so many as may serue a man for meate and drinke They were my meate saith Dauid and I mingled my drinke with teares As many as would serue to wash ones feete with Marie Magdalen or if wee cannot attaine to that measure of spirituall moysture and perfection of teares with those holy men and women yet let vs doe that which the strict letter of the Text requireth of vs let vs sowe them obserue a seede time for them that is to say set out some certaine times and seasons for the sowing of them principally those which the Church hath or shall set out but euery one his owne times and seasons too according as hee feeleth his owne wants or is touched with the sense of others miseries especially the Church of God I doubt not but that some such sowers there are these are they that stand in the breach and that the wrath of God doth not burne among vs as it doth among many perhaps lesse deseruing then we no question a good part of the cause is the seed of these sowers the many teares of these men of teares which they throw vpon the deuouring flames of wrath which are gone forth from the Lord the number of which teares vnlesse they bee increased and in this combustion of Christendome we will shew our selues as swift in running to the foure Wells aboue mentioned as we can be forward to run and ride if wee heare but of any new vpstart Well in the Countrie and from them bring pales full of teares to quench this flame the fire may go on and as now it is in our neighbours house so next it may take hold of ours Now as all are bound to sowe these teares so they especially who in the Parable of the Sower Matth. 13. 3. are designed by that name I meane Gods
of all The second Well wee may call Jacobs Well as the Well of Sichem is called by the woman of Samaria in the 4. of John and I giue it the name from Iacob because the consideration of the miseries of this life we best learne from him who in one sentence did most significantly expresse them all Gen. 47. 9. Few and euill haue the dayes of my pilgrimage been The third Well we may call fontem Saluatoris our Sauiours Well or the Well of saluation as it is called by the Prophet because it is the consideration of his teares and passion who is both our Sauiour and saluation And the fourth Well we may call fontem vitae the Well of life or Gods Well because it is the consideration of our absence from him with whom is the Well of life Psal. 36. 9. With thee is the Well of life I can make these foure Wels but two and deuide these teares in lachrymas amaras ac dulces salt teares and fresh or sweet teares teares of hatred teares of loue teares of griefe and teares of ioy the teares we must draw from Adam and Iacobs Well we may call salt teares teares of hatred and griefe because we shed them out of a detestation of sinne and being wearied of the miseries of this life The teares wee draw from our Sauiour and Gods Well we may call fresh sweet teares teares of loue and ioy because they are shed out of a desire to be at home in our owne Country with God and Christ. And these two larger Wels of griefe and ioy wee may wel compare to the waters of Noahs Floud which were wholly caused by God yet partly from the Springs of the Depth which were let loose below partly from the excessiue Raines which fell from Heauen aboue For our teares of griefe and hatred proceed from the consideration of our sinnes and miseries which are here below our teares of loue and ioy from our consideration of Christ and God who are aboue yet all these teares like the whole waters of the Deluge are from God Sure if the consideration of our sinnes and miseries can not fetch teares from vs yet the consideration of Christ and God will doe it If Moses first smiting will not yet his second smiting shall fetch water out of the stony Rock But I will let this latter deuision of teares passe and hold my selfe to our first foure Wels. And though I know that in this valley of teares there needeth no great seeking after Wels for we may haue iust occasion of teares euery where yet it is our best course to draw them from the Well-head Dulcius ex ipso fonte bibuntur aquae and of these foure Wels now I will speake in order If onely first I tell you that by the teares here to be drawne from these Wels wee must not vnderstand strictly onely the moystnesse and water of our eyes but the griefe and sorrow of our hearts which many a time runneth ouer when we cannot shed a teare leues loquuntur curae ingentes stupent But as all teares are worth nothing without the mourning of the heart so many times the heart may bee drowned with griefe when the eyes are drie and we shall reape in ioy though we sowe not in teares but in sorrow blessed are they not onely that weepe but mourne for they shall be comforted Mat. 5. 4. WE begin with the first Well of sorrow or teares which I called Adams Well because it is the consideration of sinne which by Adam entred into the world and who would not shed teares for sinne if he do but consider what a lamentable thing it is that it is nothing else but one offending and grieuing of God al his creatures making vs like Ismael setteth our hand against euery man and euery mans hand against vs It is a grieuing of God for it was onely sinne which made God grieue and repent that he had made man It grieued the Sonne of God the sins of Ierusalem in the 19. of Luke made him weepe our sinnes made him grieue in the Garden and drew not onely his teares but his bloud from him on the Crosse It grieueth the holy Ghost therefore in Scripture are we forbid to grieue and quench the Spirit by our sinnes It grieueth the Angels for as they Reioyce at the conuersion of a sinner to God so no question after a sort they grieue as God is said to grieue for the auersion of a sinner from God It grieueth all sorts of men good men whose eyes gush out with teares when they see that the wicked will not obserue Gods Law It offendeth wicked men whom sinners draw into sinne by their bad example and though perhaps yet they doe not grieue at it yet it is the cause of many teares to them afterwards and perhaps of weeping and gnashing of teeth for euermore It grieueth and offendeth all the rest of the creatures because it turneth them out of the seruice of God into the seruice of sin and Satan for God created the Heauens Elements and al other creatures to serue man and to waite vpon him in his seruing of God but now when man turneth himselfe out of Gods seruice all the creatures while they serue sinfull man are as it were turned out of Gods seruice too and not without grieuing are compelled to waite vpon a wrong Master in which regard the creatures in the 8. Romans 22. verse are said to groane and to be in trauell nay which you would wonder at sinne grieueth and offendeth the very damned in hell for the more the number of the damned is increased which is done by sinne the greater is their torment their groaning weeping gnashing of teeth for that must needs bee the cause why the Rich Glutton in the 16. of Luke did beg of Abraham that Lazarus might be sent to his friends and kindred to forewarne them of comming thither One damned can aske nothing out of charitie but out of selfe-loue lest his torment and griefe should be increased by seeing his brethren there Now who would not shed teares and grieue for sinne which maketh all the Persons of the Trinitie Angels good men and bad all the rest of the creatures nay the very damned in hel to grieue and will one day if they be not wept for here make vs weepe and gnash our teeth for euermore Now when I tell you that wee must shed teares for sinne I meane not onely your owne sinnes though them principally but the sinnes of others too the sinnes of the time aswell as the sinnes of your persons for as we find Dauid washing his bedde with teares for his owne sinnes so finde wee his eyes gushing with teares because the wicked would not obserue Gods Law Christ had no sinnes of his owne to mourne for yet wept he for the sinnes of Ierusalem Dearely beloued in the Lord when
after his cure Thy sinnes are forgiuen thee as if that should be his chiefe ioy if there were no more ioy here is recompence enough for all thy mourning From the teares wee draw from Jacobs Well that is to say for the miseries of humane life wee reape a second ioy which is the ioy of content for they make vs content with that little God giueth vs here because wee see this life a vaile of miserie and that the more men haue the more miserie they haue with it Now for one to be content with his present estate it is not onely a great ioy but so great a gaine too as that without it as it should seeme by the Apostle godlinesse it selfe were no gaine Godlinesse is great gaine if a man be content with that he hath From the teares which we draw from the third Well that is to say our Sauiours Wel we may reape a third ioy and that is no lesse then the ioy of our saluation as it is called by the Psalmist 51. 12. Restore vnto me the ioy of thy saluation and to the waters of this Well wee haue an expresse promise annexed Esay 12. 3. With ioy shall yee draw water out of the Wells of saluation Here is a ioy indeed for a condemned man to be deliuered from I cannot tell how many sentences of death temporall and eternall curses here and being cursed hereafter and that with no lesse price then by the bitter death and passion of the Sonne of God This may well be called The Ioy of saluation She that was saued from least found great cause of ioy I meane Marie whose spirit reioyced in God her Sauiour And hee that thought he was saued from most Saint Paul who reckoned himselfe the greatest sinner found so much ioy in it as hee resolued neuer to reioyce nor glorie in any thing else but in the Crosse of Christ. From the teares which wee draw from the fourth Well that is to say the Well of life we reape a fourth ioy the ioy of hope Of what Of inheriting our Country from our absence from which wee wept so much and if it were not for this hope the heart would breake It was this ioy the ioy of hope of looking after the recompence of the reward which made the Martyrs so merry from this ioy of hope came their reioycing singing kissing of the stake as it is reported of Theodorus that young man who when by Iulians command he was drag'd to most terrible tortures hee is said so to haue sung and reioyced as hee made his very torturers to blush hee perswaded some almost others altogether to become Christians I can stay no longer on these ioyes because the gaudium magnum the great Ioy is yet behind Onely let mee tell you this that the least of those Ioyes is worth all your teares and the least drop of them is worth a Sea of all sensuall and worldly ioyes and indeed to speake of these spirituall ioyes to such as haue not felt them is ridiculous because they are knowne by apprehension not by discourse and to them who haue felt them it is needlesse to discourse of them for this doctrine is better learned by one experience then by a hundred rules as one will know more of the sweetenesse of hony by one taste of it then by a hundred disputations and discourses of it In this point only if there were no more it is worth all worldly ioyes it is purum purum gaudium a sincere and sound ioy so are not worldly ioyes they are but shadowes and figures of things wee take them to bee 1. Cor. 7. 30. Let them that reioyce be as if they reioyced not and them that marry be as if they married not and they that buy as if they possessed not for the shadow of these things passeth away The Fathers on that place haue made this obseruation that the ioyes of this world are but quasi as if they were ioyes not ioyes indeed but shadowes or figures they are as it is in the nine and twentieth Chapter of Esay and the eighth verse As whē a hungry man eateth in his dreame but when he awaketh his soule is emptie as Nebuchadnezzar did see the glorie of the world but it was in a dreame Next this spirituall Ioy is a sincere ioy because as it is all ioy so it is alwayes ioy any crosse or affliction will dash out a worldly mans ioy Balthasars ioy dashed out with the dash of a pen vpon the wall Herods ioy dashed with a few Lice and Vermin worldly mens ioyes lie in the power of others but saith our Master of spirituall ioy no man shall take your ioy from you It is increased rather then impaired by death it selfe as I told you in the Martyrs or by scourges as in the Apostles who reioyced that they were thought worthy to suffer for the name of Christ So worldly ioyes are but like Townes and Countries finely painted in the Map which as with a little water any one may wipe out so are they quite wiped away by the water of affliction and if there be no crosse to dash out worldly ioyes they will dash out themselues for they are all saith Gregor Nyss. in his 5. homily on Eccles. written in water which retaineth no print of that which passeth thorow it nam voluptatis cuiusque cessante operatione cessat sensus when that is gone in which worldly men ioy their ioy is gone It is not so with spirituall ioy which reflecteth back vpon it owne acts and obiects When wicked men delight in sin they reioyce for the time but when they remember what they haue done that reflecting vpon it grieueth and troubleth them Pro. 14. 13. The end of their mirth is heauines but a godly mā is ioyed not only whē he reflecteth vpon any ioyful action but when he remembreth his griefe and sorrow and reioyceth euen in the remembrance of his sufferings As Samson Iudg. 14. 8. being set vpon by a Lion slew it and after a few dayes going to looke vpon it found a swarme of Bees and Hony-combes in it So godly men when they reflect vpon their temptations and crosses find ioy and sweetnesse in the remembrance of them I haue done with the Ioy which wee shall reape here from our teares let vs speake a little of the Ioy of Heauen which one day wee shall reape hence from the same teares for hee that draweth teares from the foure forenamed Wells shal be sure one day to reape eternall ioy OF which Ioy I know not well what to say so much hath been said already and yet nothing hath been said in my expression of it I would gladly take a new course and onely tell you this of it that it cannot be expressed Heare Saint Augustine he telleth vs that one day while he was about to write something vpon the eighth verse