feast MARIVS himselfe could not have shewen a greater courage I could name women yet living who went stoutely to the skirmish against the enemies no wayes dreading the glistering of swords the brandishing of speares the hail of bullets falling thicke and whistling about their eares When men made head to men with their heeles they ran to the breach and catching the partizans that fleeing men had flung away laid their enemies heads where their feete were and saved the beleaguered towne The only sonnes of some of them being killed in that cause they buried them vvith dry eyes and laughing faces calling themselves happy that God had made them mothers of such children Neyther did they at any time weepe but when they saw men doe many things unbeseeming not onely Christians but men then through great displeasure they wept because men did neither blush for shame nor waxe pale for feare of eternall disgrace nor weepe for forrow that like IVDAS they had betrayed Iesus Christ or like REVBEN abode among the sheepfolds to heare the bleatings of the flockes Moreover the principall passions which provoke weeping are love anger sorrow If those passions bee more vehement in women than in men as men say then when they are sanctified in women as they are in all true Christian women we must confesse that in women there is greater anger against sinne greater sorrow for sinne and for the affliction of the Church greater love of God greater zeale of his glory than men and therefore that women weepe more than men Are they first in weeping they shall be first in comforts The more bitter their weeping is the greater shall their comfort be Women not men wept publiquely at the death of Christ therefore they vvere first comforted vvith the delightsome sight of his glorious resurrection and with the commission given unto them to bee the Apostles of the Apostles and to preach that their Lord and Master was risen againe S. Peter saith that women are the weaker vessell That speech may be turned to their praise for as a little cup of crystall though it be frayle and brittle is of more value than a thousand bowles of varnished tin so one godly and vertuous woman is more to bee esteemed when she weepeth to God in time of misery than ten thousand brutall men vvho can roare but cannot weepe I speake of brutall men for we finde in the Scriptures and I shew in this booke that the most courageous wise and godly men that ever had eyes in their heads did make of their heads living fountaines of tears of their eyes pipes to convey them to their cheekes and did weepe as much not only as women but as little children And indeed are vve not all Gods children why then shall we not weepe when vve offend him and hee chasteneth us Are vve not in his Church as new borne babes vvhy then should we not weepe in our necessities till hee take us in his lap lay our mouthes to his breast still us with the sweet milke of his spiritual comforts Can man have a true feeling of his evils and not weep Can he know that his helpe is in the Name of the Lord vvho made heaven and earth and not run unto him and cry unto him as the woman of Canaan did LORD HELP ME Will such men need rules of weeping Masters or Preachers to teach them how they ought to weepe No no their unfained love to the Church of God their earnest affection to the glory of God their extreame and godly sorrow for the bruising and crushing of Ioseph their passionate hatred and grudge against sinne will be to them a most sufficient and learned Master in that Art Godly sorrow will be Aarone rodde to their hearts of rocke and make them an undrainable spring of sighes of groans of cryes of tears of lamentations of complaints of expostulations of deprecations Their fervent love will make them most eloquent in devoute praying The heart wounded to the quicke sendeth up to the eyes rivers of teares and to the mouth flouds of most pithy and signifying words and easeth it selfe by weeping and praying There all the Saints of God men and women have in all times found teares enow and words in aboundance to make their mone to God Not that God vvho seeth without eyes heareth without eares and before whom hell it selfe is naked and the deepe hath no covering hath need of our teares to know our wants but because vve stand in need of him he will have us to know to feel our own miseries and to acknowledge with sighing mourning and praying that we have no hope but in his helpe but in the exceeding riches of his grace but in the infinite treasures of his mercies For this cause doth he exhort us to fast to weepe and to pray for the same cause at a Fast solemnized those dayes by-past made I in substance and so far as two houres of time would permit and I thought fit for the time and the hearers this exhortation to weeping which now I present to you MADAM as a publick testimonie of the due account which I make of those excellent gifts both of nature and of grace vvherewith God hath with an open hand inriched your noble and honourable person ISABELLA the Queen of women of whom I have already spoken might have been called the PHOENIX of Queenes if there had not bin a ZENOBIA before her in the Orient and after her an ELIZABETH in England This Queene was to all women a glistering Mirrour of chastitie a rare example of sobriety a perfect president of modesty She could not abide Iesters Stage-players Fidlers but banished them all off her Court when shee was not distracted with matters of State she was ever in the middest of her Ladies sewing with her owne hands and instructing exhorting them by word and by example to godlinesse and vertue Every day twice she had her ordinary houres of private prayers Her daughter MARY Queene of Portugall like unto her was very grave in all her carriage was as milde as any might be to all persons was enemy to idlenesse and was wont to exhort all her Ladies to MODESTIE saying that MODESTY IS THE PRINCIPAL ORNAMENT OF A WOMAN The Chastitie and Modesty of a woman the gracious and courteous gravity of a Lady the zeale and piety of a Christian the wisdome and providēt care of a vertuous noble Matron are the vertues w ch I have observed in your Ladiship and which have moved me to beare witnesse unto them by this dedication Futhermore all who know your Ladiship and know the perpetuall attendance of my Lord your vvorthy and right honourable husband on his Maiesty at Court will beare you record that you indeed are the vertuous Woman of whom Salomon saith that THE HEART OF HER HVSBAND DOTH SAFELY TRVST IN HER that her children arise and call her blessed that her husband praiseth her and saith MANY DAVGHTERS HAVE DONE VERTVOVSLY BVT
sinnes Is it not time to begin NOVV if ye have not begun till NOVV II. Behold l Luk. 22.48 Iudas betraying him with a kisse behold m Ioh. 18 12. the Officers binding him as if hee had beene a male factor behold them in the high Priests house n Luk. 22 63 64 65. mocking him smiting him blindfolding him and aftervvards striking him on the face asking him Who is it that smote thee behold them speaking manie other things blasphemously against him o Mat. 26.59.65 66. behold the chief Priests Elders and all the Councell seeking false vvitnesses against him behold them all vvith the high Priest pronouÌ„cing against him their award and last sentence He is guilty of death Novv harts burst Novv eies weepe NOW Christians if there bee any love of Christ if there be any bowels of compassion in you mourne and lament The Sonne of God was bound for you who were slaves that ye might bee set at libertie The Lord of glory was mockt for you who were the divells mocking stocke that ye might bee honoured of God who is your glory The light of the world was blind-folded for you who were darknesse that ye might bee enlightened The righteous was outrageously beaten for you who were unrighteous that ye might be spared The Innocent was condemned for you who were guilty that ye might be absolved Christ suffered all this for you and yet ye weepe not III. Follow him into the Iudgement-Hall Canst thou with an unbroken heart and dry eyes see him p Ioh. 19.1 2. scourged there and his flesh mangled and torne in pieces for thy sake Behold his naked head begirt with a crowne of sharpe thornes O let us us I say who professe to bee members of his body q Pudeat membrum deliciarisub capite spinis coronato O let us be ashamed to sport and to make merry under a head crowned with thornes IV. Goe to the Crosse heed the souldiers nayling to the unfruitfull tree his hands and his feete behold them giving him vineger mingled with gall to drinke in stead of wine consider how they stript him ere he die that hee may dye with more shame listen to all those that passe by and looke on him yee shall see them wagging their heads ye shal hear them reviling him and rayling on him most outrageously There he yeelded up the ghost there his side was pierst there he was made a woefull spectacle and the principall actor of a bloodie and pitifull Tragedy r Mat. 27 45 51. The Sunne could not looke on it it covered it selfe with a black mourning weede and was darkened but our faces shine as if wee had no cause of mourning The earth did quake but we tremble not The rockes rent our hearts are harder than flint stones yea than the most hard Diamonds and cannot be broken The graves were opened our throates alas are open Sepulchers breathing out all filthinesse and rotten words but our soules are graves sealed and shut to all good The dead rose againe we lye dead in trespasses and sinnes without any spirituall motion any feeling of the wrath of God which Christ in the passion of his death suffered for us For Å¿ 1. Pet. 2.24 his owne selfe bare our sinnes in his owne body on the tree There t Esa 53.5 he was wouÌ„ded for our transgressions there he was bruised for our iniquities there there the chastisement of our peace was upon him with his stripes which he received there wee are healed Hee whom the ignominious passion of Christ whom the shedding of his blood whom his cursed death will not wound with a pricking remorse and sting of sin he out of whose eyes the bruising and crushing of his body the sorrow and agony of his soule will not thrust a floud of teares shall never bee mooved by any other argument to mourne and to weep u Plin. hist nat l. 37. c. 4 I lla invicta vis duarum violentissimae naturae reruÌ„ ferri ignÃsque contemptrix hircino rumpitur sanguine The blood of a Hee-goat will beat in peeces the diamond which no heat of fire can melt no hammer of steele can breake What fire will melt what hammer will break our hearts of diamond if the blood of the Lamb of God will not doe it V. Iudas a Reprobate x Mat. 27 3 Iud is which had betraied him when hee saw that he was condemned repented and wept and wee who brag of our elation weep not The Centurion an ignorant Pagan when hee saw what was done when hee considered all the circumstances of his death glorified God saying y Luke 23 47 Certainly this was a righteous man wee that are called Christians wee that boast of the knowledge of God in Christ acknowledge not his righteousnes as wee should seeing wee weep not because hee z 1. Pet. 3 18 suffred for our unrighteousnesse a Luke 23 48 All the people that came together to that sight beholding the things which were done smote their breasts We know all the things that were done every day b Gal. 3.1 Christ is evidently set forth crucified among us by the preaching of the Gospell and yet none of us smiteth his breast c Ezech. 8.14 The idolatrous women of Ierusalem sate weeping for TAMMVS d Plut. de Iside Osiride called by the Greekes OSIRIS the false god of the Aegyptians whom Typhon slue and wee weep not for Iesus Christ who e 1 Iohn 5.20 is the true GOD and eternall life whom the Iewes slue f Plut de cessatione Oraculorum The Divells themselves which were in the Iles of Paxes did mourne at his death when Thamos the Pilot of the ship which was sayling by cried The great Pan is dead Who is the great Pan but hee who is all in all our Lord Iesus Christ The Divells mourned because g Heb. 2 14 through death hee destroyed him that had the power of death that is the Divell their master and them also we mourne not wee I say who were the causes of his death VI. It is written in the Revelat. that h Rev. 1.7 every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall wayle because of him Why shall they wayle because of him because they pierced him O God! have we pierced him are wee guiltie of his death was it not Iudas which betrayed him was it not the Councell of the State of the Church which sent to take him was it not the high-priest which accused him was it not Pilate which condemned him were they not Pilat's souldiers which scourged crowned nailed stript and pearced him What ye ask is true But why did hee suffer mortall men to exercise such cruelties on his innocent person He stood there in our room and what wee deserved that hee suffered Our covetousnesse betrayed him Our anger laide hold on him and tied him Our
God wil heare him Moses prayed often for the people and God remoued froÌ„ them temporall plagues But he did neuer forgiue sinne to any man who praied not for himselfe Yea Moses prayed for his sister MiriaÌ„ who for her sin was strucke with leprosie d Num. 12.13 He cryed vnto the Lord saying Heale her now O God I beseech thee and he was heard Did not Samuel mourne for Saul vnprofitably For God sayd vnto him e 1 Sam. 16.1 How long wilt thou mourne for Saul seeing I haue reiected him Did not Ieremiah pray and mourne incessantly for the people of Iuda and was not heard f Ierem. 11.14 Pray not thou for this people sayth God vnto him neither lift vp a crie or prayer for them For g Ierem 15.1 though Moses and Samuel stood before me yet my mind could not be toward this people Cast them out of my sight and â—et them goe forth Doubtlesse Ezechiel prayed for Ierusalem when the Lord said vnto him h Ezech. 14.20 Though Noah Daniel Iob were in it as I liue they shall deliuer neither Sonne nor Daughter Thinkest thou thaâ— God will heare another weeping for thy sins so long as he heareth thee blaspheming his holy Name and seeth thee wallowing with delight and content in the mire of filthy pleasure But if thou weepest and prayest for thy selfe hee will heare thee although all other mens and Angels mouthes were dumble Though all hearts were merry though al cheekes were dry and no vapours ascended from the eyes no tongue darted prayers vp to heauen but thine For i Chrysost in Math. homil 5. tom 2. Namet Deus gratiam non tam alijs rogantibus pro nobis vult donare quam nobis God delightes to giue grace not so much to others which pray for vs as to our selues Take for example Dauid Manasseh the forlorne Son the woman of whom I haue spoken the Theefe on the Crosse and Peter who wept and prayed for themselues when no body that we reade of prayed for them yea saith k Idem homil deprofecta Euangelij tom 3. Chrysostome wilt thou learne that when we pray for our selues we come better speed with God then when others pray for vs. The woman of Canaan cryed l Matth 15.23 and the Disciples came and besought him saying Send her away for shee crieth after vs But he answered to them and said I am not sent but vnto the lost sheepe of the house of Israel But when she commeth her selfe and holds on her crying and saith Truth Lord yet the Dogs eate of the crummes which fall from their masters table then he gaue her a benefit and said Be it vnto thee euen as thou wilt Yee see how he reiects her when others pray for her and grants her requests when shee prayeth her selfe VII Beloued auditors retaine and keepe in your sanctified memories these three lessons and now euen now put them in practise I beseech you I pray you for Christs sake m Col. 3.12.13 put on as the elect of God holy and beloued the bowels of mercies kindnes humblenes of mind meeknes long suffering forbearing one another forgiuing one another if any man haue a quarrell against any Euen as Christ forgaue you so also doe yee n Eph. 6.18 Pray alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watch thereunto with all perseuerance and supplication for all Saints Namely take heede that euery one of you pray and weepe this day euery day for your ownselues Which if ye doe with with an vnfained repentance doubt not of the forgiuenesse of your sins for God hath saith that o Esa 1.18 though yâ—ur sins be as Scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool And I am sent to you of God this day as Paul was to the Iewes of Antioche p Act. 13.38.39 To preach vnto you through Christ the forgiuenesse of sinnes And that by him all that beleeue are iustified from all things from which ye could not be iustified by the Law of Moses CHAPTER IV. I THe second comfort and blessednesse promised to them which weepe is deliuerance from the punishment of sinne II. If they suffer for righteousnesse sake the cause of their sufferings is a comfort vnto them III. God deliuereth them in a conuenient time IV. Till that time come he strengtheneth vs with his holy Spirit IV. Apostates which fall away are no true members of Christs Church I Bâ—essed are we if God hath blessed vs with this first and most necessarie blessing forgiuenesse of sinnes for to whom hee forgiueth sinnes he giueth all other necessary comforts And therefore our second comfort is that putting away from before his eyes the iniquitie of our sinnes he will also take away from our backes the punishment of them For when the cause is gone the effect must cease If ye desire a proofe of this truth hearken to David saying in the 32. Psalme q Psal 32.5 I acknowledged my sinne vnto thee and mine iniquity haue I not hid I said I will confesse my transgressions vnto the Lord And thou hast taken away the punishment of my sinne Did not the Lord say to Hezekiah who had wept and prayed vnto him r 2 Kings 20.3.5 I haue heard thy prayer I haue seene thy teares Behold I will heale thee This healing of the body was an effect of the healing of the soule as the good King confessed in his song of thankesgiuing when he said to his God Å¿ Esa 38.17 Thou hast in loue to my soule deliuered it from the pit of corruption for thou hast cast all my sinnes behind thy backe So yee reade in the Gospell of Matthew that Christ when hee was to cure one sicke of the Palsie said first vnto him t Matth. 9.2.6 Sonne be of good cheare thy sinnes be forgiuen thee And consequeÌ„tly Arise take vp thy bed and goe vnto thine owne house This is the order of Gods blessings the first is the forgiuenesse of sinne The second is the remouing of the punishment of sinne But we put the Plough before the Oxen we weepe and cry desiring to be deliuered of the punishment of sinne are not heard because we haue not sought with teares the forgiuenesse of sinne II. If we be persecuted for Righteousnes sake as many of our deare breathren are now wee haue subiect of comfort in the middest of our sufferings because we know that the cause of our sufferings is not only good and honest but also most honorable So saith Christ bidding vs u Matth. 5.21 reioyce and be exceeding glad when we are persecuted for righteousnes sake and reuiled for his sake So thought his Apostles when x Act. 5.41 they departed from the presence of the Councell reioycing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his Name Such brands are rather glorious then disgracefull wherefore then should we
not reioyce in them III. If we had no other share lotted vnto vs but afflictions how could we subsist and what should become of our hope Therefore Iesus Christ said to his Disciples y Iohn 16.20 Verily verily I say vnto you that yee shall weepe and lament but the world shal reioyce yee shall be sorrow full but your sorrow shall be turned into ioy Consider how turned into ioy First the Apostle saith z 1 Cor. 10 13 God is faithfull who wil not suffer you to be tempted aboue that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that yee may be able to beare it And how often hath God made such a way to his afflicted Church How often hath beene fulfilled that which Dauid saith a Psal 34.6 This poore man cryed and the Lord heard him and saued him out of all his troubles How many examples might I produce of Gods most wonderful deliuer āces whereby the sorrow of his children was turned into ioy and the day of their mourning and fasting into a good day of feasting and of gladnesse as in b Ester 9.19 22. the time of Queen Esther Leaving other examples whereof I haue spoken else where let vs consider one which cannot be yet worne out of our memories I speake of the Churches of France The wind with most horrible noice blowed vpon vs whole stormes of bullets and firie raine The sea wrought and of a plaine became high mountaines which we could not ouerswim Her flouds swelled her billowes roared her proud and outragious waues gauesuch blowes against the small skiffe wherin Iesus was asleep and redoubled them with such swiftnesse violence that neither could the shipper direct nor the steeresman stand at the rudder nor the mariners resist Thē our eares and our eyes hauing nothing before them but monstrous cries of roaring voyces but vgly darknesse but terrible images of desolation and death Then seeing our little boat ready to be driuen vpon the Rocke of destruction Then nothing being left vs but feare but dismaidnes but despaire of safetie but expectation of a loath some end we ran to the Lord who was a sleepe and awoke him crying as the Aposties did when vpon the tempestuous Sea they were a type of the Church c Matth. 8.25.26 Lord saue vs we perish Then d Fsal 121.4 the keeper of Israel who neither slumbers nor sleeps arose Then he spake to the windes and they spake no more he rebuked the waues of the Sea and they leuelled their mountaines they sleeked the furrowes of their angry browes they changed their wrinkles into smoothnes their crookednesse into euennesse their roughnesse into a faire plaine He made the storme a calme and when we could not be in a harder plight as being without hope to escape he directed our course to a more safe pleasant hauen then that which is nigh vnto the Citie of Lasea called c Act. 27 8. the Faire hauens So we arriued to the harbour of grace to the port of peace to the vnlooked for but much desired hauen of tranquillitie and quietnesse This was the fruite this was the effect of our humiliation of our fasting of our mourning and prayers in France Vndoubtedly the same cause shall bring foorth the same effect in the Palatinate and other parts of Germanie They haue a longer winterthen we had T is now their sowing time and now they sow in teares Their haruest shall come then shall be accōplished that which is written f Psal 126 5. They that sow in teares shall reape in ioy g Psal 147.9 God heareth the voyce of the young Rauens which cry and will he not heare the voyce h Luke 18.7.8 of his owne elect which cry day and night vnto him I tell you saith Christ that hee will auenge them speedily i Psal 14.7 O that the Saluation of Israel were come out of Sion when the. Lord bringeth backe the captiuitie of his people Iacob shall reioyce and Israel shall be glad IV. Secondly God hath a time ordained for his deliverances which the scripture calleth k Ps 69.13 Isa 49.3 an acceptable time Till that time come the Lord sweetneth the bitter gall of bodily tribulations with the honey of his spirituall comforts As Christ said to his Disciples l Ioh. 16.22 Now yee haue sorrow but your ioy no man taketh from you For euen then the comforter m Rom. 8.16 the Spirit of adoption beareth witnesse with our spirit that wee are the children of God And that comfort is so great that when wee weepe wee weepe for ioy and say with the Apostle n 2 Cor. 1.5 As the sufferings of Christ abound in vn so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ T is a wonder to behold the true Christian in the time of his trouble and distresse Men seeke to bring him downe to the ground but hope lifts him vp aboue the skie As when David said o Psal 94.18.19 My foot slippeth the experience of Gods wonderfull assistance made him to say forth with Thy mercy O Lord held me vp In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soule When men haue done what they can to overcome him with bitter iests with sharpe stripes and cruell tortures he overcometh them with patience And in him is verified that which the Apostle said p 2 Cor. 4.8.9 Wee are troubled on euery side yet not distressed we are perplexed but not in despaire persecuted but not forsaken cast downe but not destroyed As q Plin. histor natural l. 12. cap. 25. the Balme which of all liquors hath the sweetest and most pleasant smell distills not from the Balsame tree till it be pricked So the most precious graces of the Spirit of GOD wherwith the foules of truely religious Christians are beautified their faith their zeale their patience their constancie their contempt of the world their earnest desire of heauēly things flow neuer so aboundantly as when the sword of perse cution makes in them a deepe incision Therefore the Lord hath troden the Virgin the daughter of Iudah as in a Wine-presse and he hath pressed and wrung out of her the most excellent liquor of her faith hope and charitie which before was hid in the grapes and vnder the faire skin of a peaccable profession V. On the other part t is a monstrous spectacle to behold then the ficklenesse and inconstancie of counterfeit professors who fearing the weight of GODS Wine-presse conueigh themselues away from vnder it and doe euen as if one who desires to be esteemed an honest man when he seeth robbers and way-layers comming to the company where he is did troupe and ioine hands with them to take his friends purse or life from him to saue his owne r 2 Pet. 2.21 It had beene better for them not to haue knowne the way of righteonsnesse then after they haue knowne it to turne