of a happie issue out of all straites and difficulties as wee see in Dauid who hauing committed himselfe to God Psal 3. who was able and had promised to helpe him hee triumphs ouer all his enemies and saith he will not feare though ten thousand should compasse him round about That was some oddes and one would thinke he had little neede to vse such speeches but rather to runne away as fast as hee could at least hee should take little sleepe in the night so long as hee was in such danger or if hee did lie downe and sleepe hee should haue little hope to rise againe in the morning yet wee see vers 5. that hee laid him downe and slept and rose againe because the Lord sustained him and this he got by calling vpon God as it is vers 4. 2 Secondly if we would not be oppressed with feares labor to be righteous for wickednesse makes men dastardlie whereas righteousnesse makes men stout as Lyons 2. Righteousnes Pro. 28.1 that will not looke ouer the shoulder for the barking of euery dogge but walke on without all feare Indeede the child of God will not bee presumptuous neither will hee bee timorous though his enemies sinne Satan and the world bee strong yet hee knows God is stronger and that none euill can come vnto him without the Lord. Which if wee can thorowly meditate vpon and take this receite euerie morning to season our hearts with the feare of God and to wash our hearts and hands from vnrepented sins walke where wee will so it be in our waies nothing shall be able to hurt vs. Vers 58. Thou hast maintained the cause of my soule That is thou hast stood on my part and freed mee from death that was intended against mee For though my name and libertie and riches bee taken from mee yet my life is redeemed and that is thy mercie that bodie and soule are not yet parted Whence the doctrine is Doct. 8. God vpholds his Isa 44.23 That God is the maintainer and vpholder of his people Howsoeuer Kings and Princes bee nursing fathers vnto Gods Church yet that is not because hee needs them but because he would doe them a good turne in imploying them in his seruice And therefore may God be called the vpholder of his people because he saues them frō their firmes and from the punishments due to their sins which no man can doe He watches ouer them night and day and waters them euerie moment Jsa 27.3 and hee will contend with them that contend against his people This should strike a terror into the hearts of those that are iniurious vnto Gods seruants they are bold where the hedge is lowest euerie dwarfe aduentures to leape ouer But let them know that God is as a wall of fire about his Church and hee will maintaine the right of his children Indeede their props are and still haue beene so weake their enemies so strong the standers against them so shamefull and the oppositions so continuall that it is a miracle the Church stands to this day but God hath beene and euer will bee the vpholder of it and therefore it must needs goe ill with those that lift vp themselues against it Vse 2 Secondly here is a notable consolation for the afflicted people of God Howsoeuer they haue fewe meanes and few friends and where they should haue most helpe they haue least where they looked for comfort they finde discomfort and where they thought to bee enriched they are impouerished yet if they can pray all shall bee well If money and friends and large reuenues and the like had beene the vpholders of the Church it would haue gone to the ground long ere this But what saith the Church here O Lord thou hast maintained the cause of my soule There is our stay let vs bee sure wee haue a good cause and lay it before Gods iudgement seate and then though wee be ouerborne God will not bee ouerborne but hee will stand on our side euen hee that loues goodnesse and hates wickednesse and will be auenged on those that bend themselues and their endeuors to do mischiefe vnto his people Wee would willinglie haue him to bee our Iudge who is most iust who carries the greatest loue to vs and our cause and the hardest mind against our aduersaries such an one is God And therefore seeing we haue a good cause to stand in euen the matter of our saluation and enemies whom God hates with a deadly hatred the diuell the world and the flesh c. this should put life and heart into vs to goe vnto Christ Iesus our Iudge who hath so dearely loued vs as to lay downe his life for vs and for the destruction of all our enemies When wee are ouercharged with burdens and temptations let vs lay them vpon him and say Lord thou hast vndertaken to comfort thy children I am not able to vndergoe this that is vpon mee therefore doe thou maintaine my cause and helpe and deliuer mee from my miserie Vers 59. Thou hast seene my wrong From these words this doctrine may be collected Doct. 9. All vvrōgs knovvne to God That there is nothing done spoken or thought against any Christian but God takes knowledge of it there is not one practise slander or deuice of cruell beasts against the sheepe of Christ but God sees it and markes it And this must needs be so Reason 1 1 First because they are his flocke and therefore hee loues to looke vnto them especiallie sith hee hath paide so deerely for them 2 Secondly it is his nature to behold all things Psal 94. Eph. 4.6 For he that made the eye shall not he see c. He is aboue vs all and through vs all and in vs all Yea wee are as it were the apple of his eye Now it is a hard matter for one to come with thornes to put out anothers eye and he not take notice of it and 3 Thirdly God doth the rather obserue the indignities that are offered vnto his children because their profane aduersaries doe hate his image in them For when they were as bad as themselues they could liue with them twentie or thirtie yeares and be good friends with them but when once they renounce the seruice of Satan and of their owne lusts vnto which they are in bondage still then they oppose with might and maine against them Psal 69.7 and therefore it is said for thy sake haue we suffred rebuke shame hath couered our face 4 The fourth and last reason why God must needs take notice of the wrongs done vnto his seruants is because it belongs to him to reward euerie one according to their workes Reuel 20.12 Hee must and will giue them full pay and therefore hee keeps all vpon iust and due record As the workes of the righteous shall stand for them so shall the workes of reprobates be written in great capitall letters against them that all the world may take notice of them at the last day Vse This offers vnto vs matter of singular comfort Howsoeuer the aduersaries be busie and watchful to plot and procure the hurt of Gods Church they cannot be so vigilant for the hurt of it as God is watchfull for the good of it and therefore they may bee sure they shall haue a happie issue out of all their troubles if so be they can make their mone to God and waite patientlie for his mercie Obiection But what neede wee lay open our griefes before him seeing that hee knows them all before hand Answere Though he doe know them yet he would haue you to preferre your bill of complaint and that will be for the increase of your comfort and further experience of his loue and howsoeuer hee purpose to destroy the wicked yet would he haue you to go on in your suite against them still Neither is this to bee restrained onelie to corporall enemies but it holds much more strongly for spirituall enemies Say a man bee surcharged with sinne and Satan let him bemone his case before the Lord and it will be a marueilous ease vnto him If one of our children should but say father or mother I am exceeding sicke readie to saint vnder my paines c. hee neede say no more this would set their hearts and hands a worke to doe him good And is there not far more loue in our heauenly Father Yes surely and therefore in all such extremities let God be our refuge and let vs cast all our cares and sorrows vpon him who is able and willing to beare them and in due season to free vs from them and in the end to make vs gainers by them FINIS
they here take and that which wee must take in the like distresse according to the measure of the affliction and as it is more publike or priuate so must be the measure of our lamentation To this there is a promise made in the prophesie of Isaiah c. That when our hands cannot help our selues nor our tongues preuaile with others yet then wee may relieue our selues by our prayers vnto God Isaiah 61. 12. c. for in that place the Lord vndertaketh that mourners shal be comforted c. God the Father sends his owne sonne and the Father and the Sonne doe send the holy Ghost that when men are mourning and seele their pouertie so as it breakes their hearts the spirit which is the comforter may minister comfort vnto them that when they feele their captiuitie and imprisonment as it were Christ Iesus may set them at libertie be they neuer so weake neuer so meane neuer so miserable neuer so sinfull if once they come thus to mourne they shall haue their hearts comforted though they bee couered with ashes God will giue them beautie for ashes and put on them the garment of gladnes for the spirit of heauines bestowing vpon them that which shall make them cheerefull euen the oyle of ioy not an earthly but an heauenly oyle And there is great cause why God should deale so with such kinde of persons for Reasons 1 1 Hee is full of pitie and compassion and therefore the prophet Ioel in his 2. Chap. vers 13. biddeth vs rent our hearts and not our garments Ioel. 2.13 that is bring inward sorrow that may crush and breake the heart and then turne vnto the Lord which if we doe wee shal be sure of reliefe and why the Lord is mercifull saith hee and our God is very readie to forgiue When wee see our children mourning and confessing their faults wee cannot but haue our bowels of compassion earning towards them If Iacob had stood by and heard his sonne Iosephs pitifull moane that in the anguish of his soule hee made vnto his brethren when they dealt so vnnaturallie with him would hee not haue pitied him and by strong hand haue rescued him from his cruell sonnes What shall wee then thinke of God he is farre more mercifull than Iacob was and wee are neerer vnto him than euer Ioseph was vnto his father And therefore when wee mourne in a holy manner certainely hee will arise and haue mercy vpon vs. Hee cannot slay when he sees our hearts full of sorrow and our eyes full of teares for the sighs and groanes of his people doe giue him no rest in heauen Secondly this godly mourning must needs be a speciall remedie in all manner of afflictions because it makes our prayers very forcible it sets an edge vpon our petitions and makes vs pray heartily feruently and strongly When Iacob wept in his prayer it was so effectuall that hee preuailed Genesis 32.11 When Gods people ioyned together to powre forth buckets full of teares drawne from the bottome of their hearts before the Lord they were marueilously helped 1. Sam. 7.6 for the great measure of their teares made their supplications more feruent and therefore it is said of Christ Iesus himselfe that in the dayes of his flesh hee did offer vp prayers with strong crying Heb. 5.7 and teares vnto him that was able to saue him from death When our Sauiour was about the principal point of his mediatorship then did he gather strength vnto himselfe by this meanes Thirdly this must needs be very effectuall because it is exceeding forcible against sinne for when sorrow comes into the heart sinne goes out it will not lodge there vnlesse it bee cockered and made much of When euery one laments his iniquitie and mournes ouer Christ Iesus whom hee hath pierced by his sinnes then there is a fountaine opened to wash them from all euen from sins that made a separation betwixt God and vs. Zacharie 12. 13. Seeing then that this godly and holy sorrow is a means to make God pitie vs to make vs call earnestly vpon him and to expell sinne which might hinder vs from preuailing with him it must needes follow that of all remedies in times of distresse this is the best and surest Vse 1 This serues for instruction vnto vs to vse all meanes and furtherances whereby wee may attaine vnto this There are many afflictions abroad many neerer home in our owne townes and families nay there are many things amisse in our owne hearts here is a medicine for euetie one of our maladies let vs get it and vse it and all arguments and helps that may continue and increase it as the Nineuites hauing direction by the spirit of God as many of them as were his did when Ionah threatned destruction against their citie within fortie dayes they abased themselues and fell to mourning and vsed fasting to helpe it onward the people must shew it in their countenances the lowing of the beasts and crying of the infants must further them to this holy remorse and griefe for their great and haynous transgressions They had grieued the Lord by their iniquities and therefore now they would grieue themselues with godly contrition for them Hence it was that Gods people amongst the Iewes vsed to weare sack-cloth to lie on the ground and to put dust vpon their heads which were then meanes to further them in the worke of humiliation Therefore now that wee feare danger is neere vs let vs betake our selues to this holy mourning if wee refuse to doe it and still continue to be hard-hearted if the pestilence come into our families wee are likelie to be taken away with the first and to haue not only our bodies but our soules in danger and that of Gods wrath and euerlasting displeasure Therefore let vs seeke to haue our hearts mollified by this excellent meanes of God and for this end consider of the blessings of God plentifully powred downe vpon our nation Nehemi 9. and vpon out selues in particular as they did in the day of their humiliation of whom Nehemiah maketh mention Let vs seriously recount how many mercies wee haue enioyed and how much they haue beene abused how many afflictions wee haue felt and how little wee haue beene bettered how many deliuerances wee haue found and yet how carelesse nay how rebellious we haue beene notwithstanding them all Let vs weigh with our selues what hurt our sins haue done vnto vs how many good thinges they haue turned from vs and how many euils they haue puld vpon vs and aboue all let vs remember what a huge weight and multitude of miseries they haue brought vpon our Sauiour namely debasement and humiliation sorrowes and sufferings assaults and temptations the heauie burden of our guiltines and the greeuous punishment due for our deserts the rage and violence of most malicious men and the wrath and displeasure of the most righteous God torments of bodie and terrors
of soule and death it selfe a painefull death a shamefull death and a cursed death Vse 2 Secondly hereby may those bee confuted that thinke it dangerous to meditate on such things as will discomfort them and bring them to desperation as they speake and therefore they would haue no man to tell them of their sinnes but let them heare of the mercies of God in Christ that they are likely to escape Gods hand when the pestilence comes neere them though others escape not but bee swept away on euery side of them beeing notwithstanding as good or better than themselues Farre bee it from vs that any here present should haue such thoughts or giue such eare to such carnall counsell There is no danger in Christian sorrow but the more of it the better And therefore the Apostle Iames saith Iam. 4.9 Suffer affliction or afflict your selues and sorrow and weepe and if any thing keepe you from mourning away with it let goe laughter and let carnall mirth be turned into mourning and your ioy into heauinesse O then you cannot cast downe your selues so lowe but God will raise you vp againe Obiection Obiect Oh but to weepe and lament it is not manhood it argues that men want courage and fortitude and is altogether vnbeseeming the person of a man they will trust in God they say and neuer mourne for the matter Solution Doth it argue want of courage to lament Nay it argues want of faith not to lament for sinne What doe they thinke of Iacob was he a coward They cannot say so for the holy Ghost giues him that commendation that he had strength and courage not onely to preuaile against men but with the Angell of the couenant And what was his conflict Hosea 12.3.4 Hee wept and prayed as the Prophet Hosea witnesseth Was this cowardlines Nothing lesse for the scripture commends it for notable strength And further what doe they thinke of Dauid was hee a coward they will not so disgrace that renowned king and worthy captaine of the Lords host as to lay vpon him the imputation of cowardise yet hee makes mention of his teares and that often Psal 6.6 Psal 9.136 as in the Psalmes where he saith that hee watered his couch with teares that his eves did gush forth with riuers of teares because men kept not Gods lawe and such like And what will they say to all Gods people of whom it is said Zacharie 12 that they should mourne as they did for Iosiah in the valley of Itadadrimmon where hee was slaine whose death all Israell did bitterly bewaile and as one mourneth for his first borne the only heire and hope of the familie What will they answere to this will they condemne all Gods people for a generation of cowards Nay this is so farre from bewraying want of fortitude that wee may boldly say that when men are fullest of such teares they are fullest of fortitude For what shall wee thinke of the Lord Iesus Christ had hee no heart was hee destitute of courage that could not possibly bee Nay when hee was to exercise the fulnesse of his power to vndertake such a worke as no creature durst attempt when hee was to offer vp himselfe to his father as a sacrifice for the sinnes of the Elect when hee was to encounter the Lords wrath and his iustice Sathan and death heil and damnation and all the power of darkenes that same time hee wept and that abundantly Heb. 5. And I hope none will say that then our Sauiours strength failed him notwithstanding his bitter teares and cries In trueth those that doe not weepe when there is cause they are without heart and vtterly voide of true fortitude subiect to marueilous feares and violent distempers which arise from a base minde for what is the reason they are so affraide of death but because they haue not mourned for their sinnes and so remoued the sting of death which if they had done they would triumph ouer death and say with S. Paul 1. Cor. 15. O Death where is thy sting their hearts would then stand fast as the strong mountaines and not bee affraide of any ill tidings Psal 112. Psal 91.6 Not not of the pestilence that walketh in the darke nor of the plague that destroyeth at noone day Vse 3 3 Thirdly this makes exceedingly for the comfort of those that are mourners in Sion they are in fauor with God and out of the reach of al danger so that nothing can befall them for hurt Blessed are those that mourne Math. 5.4 for they shall bee comforted more happie is the poore man that weepes for his sinne than the greatest potentate that reioyceth in the flesh Vers 18. For the destruction of the daughter of my people Here is the cause of their lamentation it was the ruines and calamities of Gods Church and poore distressed seruants whence this doctrine may be gathered Doct. 2. What afflictions doe go neerest the hearts of the Saints That the greatest affliction that shoulde touch the hearts of Gods people is the affliction of the Church as is euident out of this text For when Gods inheritance was spoiled some put to the sword others led captiue the temple of God razed and the exercises of religion abolished this made them to grieue exceedingly this was it that wrought vpon Ieremie and made him breake forth into those wishes Oh that mine head were full of water Ieremy 9.1 and that mine eyes were a fountaine of teares that I might weepe day and night for the slaine of the daughter of my people As if hee could not haue his fill nor weepe enough for the desolations of Sion and the miserable ouerthrow thereof which he foresawe This was it that went neere the heart of good Nehemiah who beeing in great prosperitie Nehem. 1.4 2.1.2.3 cup-bearer to the mightiest Monarch that was then in the world and in speciall fauour with him yet for the affliction and reproch wherein the Church of God was hee conceiued such inward sorrow that he was sad in the kings presence which yet was a thing that he must and would haue forborne if possibly hee could Moses goes further hee does not onely mourne but is content to lay downe his prosperitie and to expose his estate to a manifest ouerthrow so that hee might helpe forward the deliuerance of the afflicted Israelites Heb. 11.24.25.26 Act. 7. and saue them from the hands of their oppressors For he knew he could not be in fauor with Pharoah if he should ioyne with them whom hee so cruelly handled but hee chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to be called the sonne of Pharaohs daughter Hester seemes to goe somewhat beyond him for she resolues with her selfe for the cause of the Iewes who were then all destinated to slaughter to aduenture her life in going to the king in their behalfe Hester 4.16 I will goe saith shee though it be
from the stroakes of God as the pestilence or the like yea from the furie of Satan and from the assaults of sinne All other towers are but poore weake cotages Let men dwell where they will whither can they goe but death wil finde them out They may flie from the Plague but God will pursue them for he is not an archer that hath but one arrow or such arrowes onelie as will reach those that are neere but though they should runne to the end of the world hee is able to shoote at them and the arrowes of his vengeance will finde them out No strength can defend them when he comes against them with his strength nay all the power of men is but a broken reede and all meanes of no force in themselues If wee onelie vse them in obedience they will bee as a staffe to leane vpon if wee rest on them they will be as a broken staffe that will deceiue vs and giue vs a fall Vers 56. Thou hast heard my voice stop not thine eares 57. Thou drewest neere c. Whence this doctrine ariseth Doct. 3 That Gods children in their prayers and seruices doe marke and know how they speed VVe must obserue how we speed in religious exercises so that they cannot onlie say I thanke God at such and such a time I prayed but O Lord thou diddest then heare my voice then diddest thou draw neere vnto mee at such a time I was put to it and thou deliueredst mee out of great danger This wee see in the spouse who when her beloued was departed from her saith In my bed night by night I sought him Cant. 3.1.2 whom my soule loueth and found him not Shee had not that ioy and refreshing as she was wont to haue from the vse of the priuate meanes and shee knew it and obserued it full well Then she went abroad and there found as little successe Afterwards shee comes to conferre with Gods Ministers how she might recouer her loue to Christ and the feeling of Christs loue vnto her and yet there shee had not that full successe as she expected Then she goes a little further that is as was before shewed waits patiently vpon God and then she found him whom her soule loued and tooke hold of him that is faster hold then euer she had done before She had paid so dearely for her negligence that she would be warie how she failed in her dutie any more So that when she sped well or ill she knew how it went with her This point is further proued vnto vs out of another verse of this Chapter of the Lamentation Lament 3.8 where these words are vsed VVhen I cry and shoute hee shutteth out my prayer Not but that God tooke notice of it and had a time to reward it but for the present he gaue them no answere They had hard hearts and God saw that one crie and shoute would not be sufficient to mollifie and soften them and therefore he lets them pray and cry againe and againe and yet still they had the repulse and they obserued to their great griefe Psal 66.18.19 Answerable to this is that in the Psalme where Dauid saith If I regard wickednesse in my heart the Lord will not heare me But God hath heard me and considered the voice of my prayer Reason And there is reason why as they did marke how they sped so should wee also For vnlesse wee doe so it is impossible that wee should euer bee thankfull for that wee receiue or lay vp any store of comfort against the time to come If wee speed ill wee shall goe away without any care or studie to grow better if wee speed well wee shall depart without any desire of glorifying God or of confirming our hearts for afterwards Whereas diligent obseruation how God deales with vs would worke in vs great experience both for our humiliation and consolation For sometimes Gods seruants haue a comfortable answere to their sutes and then they come away as fresh and nimble and ioyfull as if their hearts had beene made glad by sweet and pleasant wine Ps 109.15 At another time they come limping and fainting away as if they had beene strucke on the head So for the Sermon now and then they depart from it as from some notable feast so merrie and comfortable as if they had made the best bargaine that euer they did in their liues at some other times they come out of the church hanging downe their heads and full of pensiuenesse as if they had receiued the sentence of death What is the cause hereof Profane persons thinke they are the melancholiest and vnconstantest people in the world But will not they themselues looke heauilie on the matter when they are crossed in things that are most deere vnto them And why then should they blame Gods seruants if they be sometimes merrie and sometimes heauie according as they are crossed or comforted in the worde of life which is more deare vnto them then all the treasures of the earth Howsoeuer they may charge them to be vnconstant yet indeede they themselues are more vnconstant For let them haue to deale with some great Iudge about matters of their estate and let them be told this day that they are likely to haue good and fauourable hearing that the Iudge likes well of them and of their cause how ioyfull and iocund will they be How will they talke of it and in a sort boast of it But let them come to the Iudge themselues the next day and let him frowne vpon them and tell them I vnderstand you are a leaud fellow I know your practises well inough looke to your selfe and acquite you well lest I strip you of your lands and life together Will not such a salutation cast them into their dumps and make them looke heauie and sad as if they were halfe dead And if one should aske them why are you so variable They would wonder why he should make such a question Haue wee not iust cause to bee cast downe would they say when the Iudge that gaue mee such good hopes before doth now looke and speake so wrathfullie against mee And wherefore then will you finde fault with Gods seruants who deale with the King and Iudge of heauen and earth in the matter of their saluation whose fauor they esteeme more than all things in the world and whose displeasure they feare more then all the mens in the world yea then death it selfe Why I say doe you finde fault with them if their comforts ebbe and flow as matters goe better or worse betwixt God and them Vse 1 This is for cōfutation of carnall hearers who are affected at all times alike They haue heard many hundred sermons but they were neuer more comforted at one than at another They are none of these changelings but the same men still But let such know that hee that doth neuer feele himselfe sicke it is greatly to bee doubted hee