the Apostle speaketh nayled vnto his Crosse the hand-writing of ordinances which was against vs who by his blood did wipe out the letters of this black bill which was against vs Now what Christ did with the blood of his body that we in some sort doe with the blood of our soules that is our teares for so they are called by the Fathers and they doe indeede wipe and eate out that which we haue written against our selues by our sinnes and stand where those letters did as one colour laid vpon another doth away the former and remaineth it selfe iust so when the booke of our conscience shall come to be opened if we haue shed teares for our sinnes there is no score nor register of our sinnes to be found in the Booke Whensoeuer a sinner shall repent himselfe say some translations Ingemuerit bemoane himselfe for his sinnes J will put away his iniquities out of my remembrance saith the Lord. Then our sighes and teares put them out of Gods remembrance dash them out of his Register and now our teares doe come in place of them for saith the Psalmist Are not all my teares in thy register Psalme 56. 8 Our teares then are registred as our discharge and acquittance for our sinnes for when hee findeth our teares registred hee lets vs goe as those who were marked for mourners in the ninth of Ezechiel who by their teares were acquitted from destruction Fourthly without these teares neither first can we dye vnto sinne secondly nor liue vnto God first not dye vnto sinne Can one thinke to bee deliuered of so huge a burthen as sinne without griefe and teares to haue his shoulder when it is burst set right without paine to haue a tooth pulled out of his head or a thorne out of his foote and not crie No woman looketh to bee deliuered of the Childe which shee hath carried in her wombe but nine moneths without paine and crying and can you expect to be deliuered of a man the old man a man of sinne without crying and teares Secondly and as no dying vnto sinne so no liuing vnto God without crying and teares for sinne for as in diseased bodies when any member by a violent hurt is benummed and dead a token that it is dead is this If the member feele no paine nor smart when it is pricked pinched lanched and cut but if the Physician by plying of it can bring it to that passe that he complaineth and crieth out at the dressing of it the Physician himselfe and his friends are glad because it is a sure argument that the member is aliue and vpon the recouery Iust so it is here If that after we haue been dead in our sinnes and trespasses so past sense and feeling of them that we did not sorrow nor shead teares for them wee can bee brought to haue a sense of them to weepe and mourne for them sure we are yet aliue and vpon our spirituall recouery Though I might yet now I will say no more of the vertue of those teares for sinne to which holy men haue attributed so much as some of the Fathers thinke that God did indue man with this deaw of teares for no other end but that by them he might wipe away and extinguish his sinne Chrysost. hom 7. ad pop Antioch saith it is plaine by experience for when we weepe and grieue for the losse of friends money for sicknesse or any other temporall calamitie we are so far from diminishing our griefe by our teares as we doe rather increase it onely if wee weepe for our sinnes we diminish our griefe and them and many times quite wipe them away And it is very true which Chrysostome saith for though by our teares we are not able to raise our Parents and Friends from death yet by teares wee are able to raise our soules from the death of sinne I haue staid the longer at this Well because it is deepe and the fire to be quenched by it is very great a huge masâ—e and body of sinne in regard whereof we must doe that indeed which Bonauenture how true I know not reporteth of S. Francis who because hee did see that he could not follow agnum immaculatum sine macula operaÌ„ dedit vt copiosis quotidianis lachrymarum imbribus animam purgaret The Lambe of God which was without spots himselfe vnspotted hee did what lay in him by his daily showres of teares to wash away these spots from his soule NOw the second Wel from whence we draw this precious seed of reares is the consideration of the miseries which attend vpon vs in this life for sinne which being rightly considered are able to draw teares from the stoniest heart That is it I called Jacobs Well because he digged it and in one sentence comprehended the miseries of mans life for which we must shed these teares so fully as nothing can bee more The sentence you haue in Genes 47. 9. For being asked of Pharaoh how old he was his answer was Few and euill haue my dayes been Mourne and weepe then for these two because our dayes are few we must die and because they are euill that is to say all the while till we die we are sicke wee haue no good dayes nor feele nothing but miserie so that this Well differeth from the former in this that was the consideration of sinne this the consideration of the miserie which attendeth vs in this life as a punishment of sinne and though I know that many men thinke they need not goe to this Well because they haue none but good dayes and hope they shall liue many yeeres yet I may aske them that question which the woman of Samaria in the fourth Chapter of Saint Iohn and the twelfth verse asked of Christ Art thou greater then our Father Iacob who did drinke of this Well Though hee had euill dayes yet I dare say if thou liuest in these dayes thou hast and seest more and though thou thinkest to liue long yet you will hardly liue the dayes which he had seene when he said so for hee was then one hundred and thirty yeeres old I haue not time now to say any thing of the â—ewnesse of our dayes I wil onely speake of the badnesse of them I doe not meane the badnesse or euill of sinne in them for that we drew teares from the first Well but the euil vanitie which attendeth vpon vs in this life for sinne The consideration of which miserie deserueth so many teares as that our life in regard of them is truly termed a valley of teares into which valley one no sooner entreth when he is borne but as Job hath it hee beginneth with teares and crieth so that being in this World wee are like Noah in the Arke or like Ilanders who from no point of their Iland can see any thing but waters so looke any where in this life there is nothing but occasion of teares and
you haue cried for your owne sinnes spare some of your teares for the sinnes of the time for vnlesse they be mourned for Gods plague will bee powred out vpō the place aswell as their persons and if you doe not mourne and crie for the sinnes of the time no body else will for the sinners themselues will not weepe When the Sea for Jonas his sinne raged the men of the ship were crying hard and throwing their-things into the Sea when Ionas for whom all this tempest was raised had got himselfe downe to the bottome of the ship and there was laid fast asleepe Christs Disciples sleepe when he is in an Agony for their sins Wicked men for whose sins all the tempests wherewith the Church is tossed arise neuer shed one teare in the storme but stretch themselues along vpon beds of Yuorie and short aloud vpon the pillowes of securitie it is onely the godly in the meane time who must pleade and pray and cry and shed teares for the sinnes of the time like Daniel who in the time of his peoples captiuitie in fasting and teares was confessing his owne sinnes and the sinnes of his people onely such mourners are fit to stand in the breach with their payles of water in their hand I meane with their teares and strong cryings like Moses to quench the flames of wrath which goe out from the Lord to consume vs for our sinnes Now concerning these teares which we are to shed both for our owne and other mens sinnes you shall doe well to take notice of these two things first the necessitie of them and secondly the vertue of them The necessitie of them appeareth first by precept secondly by practice By precept of God in the old Testament continually calling vnto his people by his Prophets Ioel Ieremie and the rest Turne you vnto me with weeping fasting and mourning And in the ninth of Ezechiel marking out all those for life who did weepe for their owne sinnes and the sinnes of the people In the new Testament by the precept of Christ who forbade the daughters of Ierusalem to weepe for him who was no sinner but commanded them to weepe for themselues who were sinners and by the precept of his Apostle Saint Paul who commanded the Corinthians to weepe for the vncleannesse of the incestuous person 1. Cor 5. 2. The necessitie of them appeareth by the practice of all the Saints who haue been chiefe mourners for their own and other mens sinnes In the old Testament Dauid deserueth to haue the place of the chiefe mourner since he vsed his teares for sinne not onely for Physick and a Bath as it is in the sixth Psalme I washed my bed euery night with my teares but for food for my teares were my meate day and night If he who was a man according to Gods owne heart did thus weepe for his sinnes how should we who walke according to the lusts of our owne hearts mourne for our sinnes In this traine of mourners you shall see Lot whose righteous soule was grieued and vexed for the filthinesse of the Sodomites You shal see Ezra Josiah Jsaiah Joel Ieremy especially calling for fountaines of teares for teares day and night for powring out their soules like water before the Lord writing whole bookes of Lamentations for their owne sins and the sins of their times In the new Testament wee haue a new traine of mourners and weepers in which traine you shall see Christ the chiefe mourner weeping for the sinnes of Ierusalem so prone vnto teares as that the solemnitie of the time the ioy of the people the shoutings and acclamations of Hosanna could neither drowne his voyce but that he lifted it vp nor dry his eyes but that hee wept after him commeth Peter weeping bitterly for his deniall Mary Magdalen wiping Christs feete with teares for her sinnes and then Saint Paul crying out by reason of his sinnes but O miserable man that I am who shall deliuer mee out of this body of death You haue seene sufficiently the necessity of these teares for sinne see a little the vertue and efficacy of them First these teares and sighes for our sinnes make vs the better to know our sinnes both for their colour and weight Alas so long as we take ioy and delight in sinne so long sinne seemeth little light easie and sweete vnto vs but he that here increaseth his sorrow increaseth his knowledge when we once come to smart to grieue and groane vnder sinnes then we will confesse that the remembrance of them is grieuous vnto vs and that the burthen of them is intolerable As a penny in the bottome of a bason of water sheweth as bigge as a shilling so our sinnes which to vs seeme but little steept once in the water of our teares shew themselues in their iust quantity and proportion Secondly as our teares for sins make vs know them so they wash and doe our sins away so as we shall neuer see them nor need to know them any more I dare say the teares wherewith Mary Magdalen washed Christs feete did not more wash away the dust from Christs feet then they did the sinne from her owne soule for immediatly after her teares did she heare that happy sentence Thy sins are forgiuen thee therefore are these teares called by the Fathers Our second Baptisme by which our sinnes are washed away compared by them to the waters of the red Sea in which Pharaoh and his hoast that is to say Satan and our sinnes are drowned To the waters of Jordan in which if like Naman we wash our selues seuen times that is to say often we shall be cured of the leprosie of sinne to the waters of the poole of Siloam because if wee bathe our selues in them we shall be cured of all spirituall diseases and infirmities so that if you vse to extoll and magnifie some waters which you distill from hearbs and flowers because they are good against sore eyes burnings and heats what doe you then say of these teares which if you can but distill from your owne eyes they will cure the lust of the eyes the pride of life and all carnall heates and desires Thirdly these teares for sinne doe not only wash away sinne for the present but wipe them out of all bookes of account so as they discharge vs of our sins for euer for you must know that euery sinne we do commit we write as it were in the booke of our owne conscience a bill of our hand against our selues wherby we acknowledge our selues debters to Gōd lyable to his Iustice. Now vnlesse this debt bee discharged and the bond cancelled we must be cast in prison for it and there lye til we pay the vtmost farthing which God knoweth will bee long enough for we our selues are not worth one farthing This bond is principally cancelled by Christ who as
with the eyes of his minde did see that Titus and Uespasian would not leaue one stone of them aboue another although they were his vtter enemies and within a weeke were to put him to death his iudgements were to come vpon them for this his death and murther and hee himselfe as a iust God was to send that destruction vpon Ierusalem yet was he so touched with the sense of their destruction that before they had shed that blood from his veines for which they were to be destroied he sheddeth first teares from his eyes for them Shed then these teares for such miseries of any men though your enemies and Gods enemies But what now if the parties vnder these miseries be Gods friends professing the same Religion and Worship with vs then let vs with Dauid and those that were with him for the burning of Ziklag Lift vp our voyces and weepe till wee can weepe no more 1. Sam 30. 4. then let vs with Esay 22 4. cry out Turne away from me I will weepe bitterly labour not to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people for it is a day of trouble and ruine and perplexitie by the Lord God of Hosts in the valley of Uision Then let vs with Jeremy call for Riuers and Fountaines of teares for the destruction of the people of God Who knoweth not that God within these few yeeres hath giuen vs iust occasion of sowing such teares there be people in the World professing the same Religion with vs who this time foure yeeres did thinke their soules as farre from death as we now thinke ours whose eyes were as dry as ours bee now whose feete as they thought were as secure from falling as ours are now but since their feet haue slipped their soules haue tasted of death their eyes haue bin drowned with teares because of complaining in their streets and carrying away into captiuitie because the sword of their enemies hath been glutted with their flesh and made drunke with their blood and shall not wee sow and shed some teares for them I will adde one step more What now if these miseries reach not onely to the Professors of the same Religion and worship with vs but to the Religion and Worship it selfe that the Turke casteth out not onely Christians but Christ and placeth in his place Mahomet That the Papists cast not out onely Protestants but place there the Pope and in the Temple of God set vp that Idoll the Masse O then for that let vs powre out teares day and night let vs bee ready to weepe and die I beseech you remember the Historie of Eli and his Daughter in Law 1. Sam. 4. 13. a messenger commeth to tell Eli the vnhappy newes of the defeate and ouerthrow which the Philistims had giuen Israel he was then sitting vpon a seate by the way side the Messenger commeth in with his clothes rent ashes on his head all his face blubbered with teares so that in his countenance Eli might haue read the bad newes yet had he strength to aske them The Messenger answers heauily Israel is fled before the Philistims that no question troubled him yet he sat still What more And there hath been also a great slaughter among the people that no question sunke deeper yet hee sate still What more Moreouer thy two sonnes Hophn◠and Phinehas are slaine sure that made a deep cut in the heart of a father yet hee sate still What more Can there bee any worse then these And Sir saith the Messenger the Arke of God is taken Old Eli who had strength to sit still all this while no sooner heard this but his strength immediatly forsooke him and he fell from his seate backward and broke his necke and died The report of this commeth to Phinehas wife Eli his daughter in Law who was big with child and neere her trauell she hearing the newes of the death of her Husband her Father in Law her Brother in Law of the people of God and taking of the Arke of God her griefes were aboue the griefes of Child-birth for she falleth in labour presently and bringeth forth a sonne the women about her begin to comfort her because shee had borne a sonne which Christ saith maketh a woman forget her paine when she remembreth that a man-child is borne into the world But saith the text shee answered not nor regarded it not onely cried out first The glorie is departed from Jsrael because the Arke of God was taken and because of her Father in Law and her Husband And because the standers by should not thinke that her griefe for the losse of these two were alike correcting as it were her selfe she insisteth onely in her lamenting the losse of the Arke and dyeth with that in her mouth saith the last Verse of that Chapter She said againe The glorie is departed from Israel for the Arke of God is taken and so she died We haue heard of late yeeres how the people of God hath fled before their enemies how they haue been slaine by them perhaps some of you haue lost your sonnes in these battels some your husbands some your friends Weepe for that But alas the Arke of God hath been taken in some places the Candlesticke remoued false Lights and Dagons set vp Now let our teares fall in great abundance You haue seene the necessitie of them in one word heare the vertue of them Which is this The keeping of the like teares from our owne eyes or if that shall not please God the drawing teares from others eyes if euer it shall please God to make our case such as theirs is at this time for they were not the greatest sinners on whom the Tower of Siloe fell but vnlesse we repent we must also looke for iudgement if God find in vs compassion for their passions he may proue compassionate to vs and keepe vs from the like passions As therefore Christ counteth himselfe touched when any of his members is touched Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Acts 9. 4. So ought it to bee among the members of his body the griefe of one ought to bee the griefe of all the rest If therefore wee mourne with those that mourne then do we draw this precious seed of teares from this second Well which I called Iacobs Well or the consideration of the miseries of this humane life THe third Wel from whence you may draw these precious teares is fons saluatoris our Sauiours Well a Well so deep and ful as we may draw teares frō thence perpetually and neuer draw it drie It is a Well from whence all the Fathers holy men learned men these sixteene hundred yeeres haue bin drawing teares in their mournefull meditations vpon our Sauiours death passion which by their stiles it should seeme they haue rather written with teares then with inke And indeed who can choose but sow teares when he shall thinke of this man who as
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