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A10132
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The Christian mans teares and Christs comforts. Delivered at a fast the seventh of Octob. An[n]o. 1624. By Gilbert Primerose minister of the French Church of London.
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Primrose, Gilbert, ca. 1580-1642.
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1625
(1625)
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STC 20389; ESTC S114339
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81,191
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440
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omnesque corum fibras c. The Pelagians sowed those tares in the field of the church teaching that all affections yea their smallest fillets may bee taken from man Now r Lact. Inst l. 6. c. 15. Laetitiae affectus in splene est irae in fells libidinis in iecore timoris in corde ioy is in the spleen choler in the gall lust in the liver feare in the heart wherfore ye cannot pull those affections from man except yee pluck from him the milt the gall the liver the heart transform him into another nature yea forbid him to be vertuous and honest for vertue is nothing but an ordering tempering of the affections to that which is honest and good take them away way and vertue is gon Without anger there is no fortitude without feare no prudence and advisednesse without lust no temperance without joy no love no sense feeling of vertue Therefore other Philosophers said better that affections are like unto good plants growing in a fertile soil which if yee neglect they wex wilde but if they bee carefully husbanded they bring foorth most pleasant and excellent fruit Which doctrine is true for wee must weed our affections and snip from them whatsoever is irregular and vicious To pluck them out by the root is as if when yee have killed a man ye should cōmand him to stand on his feet and live Yet ſ Plato de Repub. lib. 3. in principio the same philosophers who gave so excellēt precepts for the keeping of the affections in a due proportion measure thought weeping and mourning to bee tolerable in base fellows and meane women but uncomely in all men of note and in women also which are of the right stamp and desire to bee esteemed vertuous V. Consider now what difference there is between the wise men of the world and God Philosophers say that there is much unmanlinesse and faint-heartednesse but no generousnesse in weeping therfore they condemne it as childish rather than man-like many men are still of that opinion GOD is of a far other minde for hee giveth most earnest commandements to his people to weep and rebuketh them sharpely when they weep not Christ in my Text blesseth them that weep and the Scripture ministers unto us many examples of the most courageous men that have been at any time under the vault of heaven which did both weep and mourn Was not t Hos 12.4 Iacob so stout and hardie that he wrestled with God and prevailed yet then even then hee wept and he mourned so bitterly for Ioseph whom hee deemed to be dead that u Gen. 37.35 he refused to be comforted for said he I will go down into the grave unto my sonne mourning Did not x 1 Sam. 17.35 David kill a Lion and a Bear Slew hee not with a sling and a stone the monstrous Giant Goliath Was there ever in battell a more valiant man in an Armie a more courageous Captain in a Kingdome a more royall King yet how did hee weep for Absalom hee was not ashamed to tell that when God's hand was heavie upon him y Psalm 32.3 hee roared all the day long If I should produce for an example of bitter weeping a Ier. 31 15. Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted ye would peradventure say that shee was a woman and that women are not so courageous But what can yee say to Iacob to Ioseph to David ye must needs confess that they mourned not through want of courage but through abundance of love Zechariah speaking in typicall words of the death of Christ and of Christians faith b Zech. 12 11 12 13 14 In that day shall there bee a great mourning in Ierusalem as the morning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon and the land shall mourne every familie apart the family of the house of David apart their wives apart the familie of the house of Nathan apart and their wives apart the familie of the house of Levi apart and their wives apart the familie of Shemei apart their wives apart ALL the families that remaine every familie apart and their wives apart See the mean in mourning it shal be without mean such as was the mourning at Megiddo where the good King Iosiah was slain for c 2 Chro. 35.24 all Iuda and Ierusalem mourned for him See the persons that shall mourn Men and women of all qualities and conditions First Kings and their wives secondly Princes and their wives thirdly all ecclesiastical persons their wives finally all the rest of true Christians their wives Where is courage rage where generosity where constancy if it bee not in Christians who wrestle against the divell and overcome him Was there ever in the world any man or in heaven any Angell to be compared with Iesus Christ did hee not d Iohn 11 33.35 grone in the spirit did hee not trouble himself did he not weep for Lazarus If ye seek a President of weeping who may bee to you a true President heer ye have one who is better and e Psalm 45.2 fairer than all the children of men Shall wee refuse to follow such a Ring-leader and seeing the Sonne of God did weep because f Heb. 2 17 in all things it behooved him to bee like unto his brethren shall wee think it a disgrace unto us to weep and to be like unto him VI. Surely his holy Spirit sanctifieth in us our naturall affections but abolishes them not And wheras many Philosophers take them for vices when they exceed mediocrity God gives them full libertie when they come from a good cause and aspire unto a good end g Lact. Inst l. 6. c. 16. Potest et qui graditur errare qui currit rectam viam tenere For as hee that walketh softly may stray and hee that runneth keep the high way so a man may be moderate in his affections sin and let them growe to the highest measure and not sinne yea if he should restrain them he should sinne No mediocrity is to bee praised in ill-doing If thou be but tickled with joy for the death of thine enemie thou sinnest but h 2 Sam. 6 14 20 23 David leaping for joy and dancing before the Lord with all his might when hee brought the Ark into Sion sinned not Contrariwise Michol his wife reproving him for the excesse of his joy sinned and was punished In things which are truely good no excesse is vicious for God liketh a man who dooth good things with all his minde all his soule all his heart and all the strength of his affections Who will say that to leap for joy for the deliverance of the Church is a sin i Lact. ibid. Nemo dubitat quin in illo exiguū laetari in hoc parum laetari sit maximum crimen The Church saith that not to leap for joy in such a case is
THE CHRISTIAN MANS TEARES AND Christs Comforts DELIVERED AT A FAST the seventh of Octob. Ano. 1624. By GILBERT PRIMEROSE Minister of the French Church of London HIERON ad Nepolit Lachrymae auditorū laudes tuae sint Let the Teares of thy Auditors be thy praise LONDON Printed for I. Bartlet at the gilt Cup in the Gold-Smiths Row in Cheape-side 1625. TO THE RIGHT Honourable and Religious Lady ELIZABETH Countesse of Anandale Viscountesse of ANAN c. MADAM COnsidering it is the custome of those which set out Bookes to stamp them with the glorious titles of some person of note and authority that they may bee received as currant money I have given to this little booke the silver wings of your right Honourable name that flying abroad like a mourning Dove it may finde a quiet resting-place in the favourable allowance of the Reader The matter wherewith it is stuffed is weeping laughing mourning and comforts The end wherefore it is made is to exhort all kinde of persons to shead teares of godly sorrow which God may put in his bottles the Lamb of God turne into the wine of heavenly comforts when they shall be called unto his marriage-Supper Such teares were never more necessary I will not say that they were never lesse heeded nor cared for than they are now because I am a stranger at home let every man speake to his owne conscience let every conscience aske of its own heart how it is touched with sinne how affected with the affliction of the Church let every heart iudge it selfe and if our heart condemne us let us all know that God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things One thing I know generally that men when they are exhorted to weep are accustomed to say that weeping is more womanish than manly for women are of a more weake and moyst constitution of body and more sensible of the passions which provoke weeping than men are Men blaspheme the glorious and dreadfull Name of the Lord our God Men are more frequent in the Tavernes than in the Church Men let flye all they have at Cards at Dyce at other unlawful games foolish sports Where is there deceit where robberie where oppression where but among men Who trouble the state Men. Who undermine who betray who dismember the Church by schismes by heresies by secret plots Men. Who persecute the Church Men. Who forsake it Men. The most part of the evill that is done in the world is done by men Not because they are moe but because they are worse than women and for the most part alas have neither wit nor courage but to doe ill For all this they weepe not because forsooth it becomes not men to weepe But when the hand of God is heavie upon them will they not curse will they not roare like wild beasts Is roaring more manly Is it nothing so womanish as weeping I know not what they call womanish for many women have beene many in this last age of the world are better than manie men Had not SEMIRAMIS distaffe a sharper edge than NINVS her husbands sword Was not TAMYRIS as martiall as CYRVS did she not find out a more wittie stratagem to overthrow him who was a most craftie and cunning warrier and his armie of two hundred thousand men trained up in warres from the cradle than he did to intangle her Sonne who was a beardlesse Captain did not the AMAZONES fight when men fled did they not subdue their enemies who had overcome their husbands Had not ZENOBIA a lions heart in a womans breast How often did shee constraine the Romane armies to shew her a faire paire of heeles Neither was she overcome but wearied with the innumerable multitude of new armies sent against her by the Emperor VALERIVS AVRELIANNS who when he had triumphed of her was faine to be a suitor unto her for her daughter to be his wife Though she was a Syrian shee spake Greeke and Latin shee was instructed in all sciences she writ the Story of the Orient she had quick eyes and a mans voyce her teeth were so white that she seemed to have pearles and not teeth in her mouth in all the gifts of the body and of the spirit she went beyond all the men of her age Her owne husband ODENATVS vvas the most valiant man of those dayes He subdued all the Orient the Emperor GALLIENVS was fain to pray him to be partaker of the Empire with him but shee was better than he PHILE was so wise from her tender nayles that being yet a yong girle her father ANTIPATER that old and wise Counsellor of ALEXANDER THE GREAT that worthy King of Macedonia asked her counsaile and followed it when she was wife to DEMETRIVS a man given to many vices she could manage and governe his passions with such discretion that she made his government tolerable to his subiects his person respectable to all men his power fearefull to his enemies I forbeare to speake of CRATESICLEA the royall mother of CLEOMENES king of Sparte and of PORCIA the wise daughter of CATO and the courageous wife of BRVTVS who when she had received a great wound did not so much as shrinke To enter into the Church Was not DEBORAH more meete to bee Generall of an army than BARAK did not IAHEL with a hammer and a nail teach the great Captaine SISERA that he had a foolish head One woman in the Citie of ABEL was wiser than all the men therein There was no man in BETHVLIA to be compared in wisdome with IVDITH What courage shee and her hand-maid had OLOFERNES proud and cup-shotten head could best tell When IVDAS betrayed Christ when PETER denyed him when the Priests and Elders of the Iewes accused him women were faithfull unto him When Pilate condemned him when men mocked him and nailed him on the crosse women wept for him when his owne disciples through feare fled away from him women most courageously followed him PVLCHERIA faire indeed but more wise than faire was more worthie of the imperiall diadem than her brother THEODOSIVS II. who prospered when hee was guided by her was unfortunate and turned the empire topsie turvie when he neglected her counsell FERDINAND king of Spaine was a wise and valiant Prince But his roiall wife ISABELLA outreached him in all princely vertues He was hard and sparing She was liberall and honourable He was fitter to keep and maintain his own kingdom than to enlarge it She She I sal encreased it with the kingdome of Navarre with the Canarie Isles and with the new world which we call AMERICA She never drank wine When she was sicke when she was in travaile not onely shee cried not shee mourned not but shee did not so much as change her countenance as give one sigh On her daughters wedding day newes being brought unto her of the death of her only sonne shee suppresseth her griefe she keepes a merrie countenance lest she should marre the