Christ's Tears FOR JERUSALEMS UNBELIEF AND RUINE NOW Humbly recommended to England's Consideration in this her day of Tryal and Danger By 〈◊〉 Reverend and Learned Divine Mr. THEOPHILUS GALE LONDON Printed for M. Widdowes at the Green Dragon in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1679. Preface IT is the Supreme Wisdome Interest and Perfection of Man who is an intelligent Being to understand adhere unto his last End and whatever means conduce thereto This is stiled Luke 19. 42. To know the things that belong unto our peace And the supreme end of our Great Lord in espousing Human Nature was to acquaint Sinners with the things that belong to their peace and bring them into an immediate Capacitie for the Fruition of them Is it not then the highest piece of Folie and Madnesse for rational Creatures to shut their Eyes and Hearts against that which is their supreme Happinesse Is there so much Beautie in the Deformitie of Sin So much Pleasure in the Chains and Fetters of Satan So much Libertie in the Vassalage and Bondage of Lusts So much Content in the embraces of an heart-distracting World So much peace and ease in the stings and troubles of a tormented Conscience So much life in the death of Sin and Hel torments as to make a rational soul amorous of and in love with them If not how comes it to passe that men mind not more the things that belong unto their peace Was it ever known that any but mad men would take delight to see their own heart-bloud gush out Would any but blind fools spurne at food the most delicious satisfying food when offered to their famished souls May we not count such bewitched Sots who plot and contrive by al means possible to ruine themselves And yet Lo is not this the Case of al such who wil not know and embrace the things that belong unto their peace when offered to them Alas What a world of such mad and blind fools are there Yea how many great Professors yea how many Churches fal under this black brand of Folie and Madnesse Was not this Jerusalem's sin and folie for which she has paid so dear for 1600 years And has Jerusalem been alone in this sin Has not England also dranke very deep of this venimous intoxicating Cup And what may we expect but Jerusalem's prodigious Ruines unlesse we al make haste to know and embrace the things that belong unto our peace before they are hid from our eyes The designe therefore of this ensuing Discourse is to awaken and provoke secure Unbelievers and slumbering Professors deeply to consider and chearfully to embrace Evangelic offers of Life and Grace before it be too late And our First Book is wholly spent in the explication of our Lords doleful Lamentation Luke 19 41. over Jerusalems Sins and Ruines Wherein we have endeavored to explicate What were Jerusalem's Church-wasting Sins and Ruines which our Lord here laments in order to a Conviction of and Lamentation over our own Sins and approching Ruines if not prevented by a timous Repentance and closing with the things of our peace And because Jerusalem's main Sin was Infidelitie this therefore is the chief subject of what follows Book 2. Wherein we have endeavored to explicate the black and prodigious Nature of Vnbelief in the several parts thereof and that in opposition to Faith whereof it is a Privation Wherein we have also opened the Nature and main essential Ingredients of Faith which indeed comprehends the chief vitals of Christianitie and therefore requires our most diligent Attention and curious Inquisition The next great and commun Head to be explicated is the Causes of Infidelitie which wil open to us what a great Mysterie of Iniquitie lies at the Root of Unbelief Hence we are to procede to its Aggravations which wil discover to us the monstrous Magnitude of this sin And thence follows the severe Punishment and Vengeance which the righteous God inflicteth for this Sin of Infidelitie These things wil if Providence favor and assist our desires be the subject of several Discourses Only that I might not at present wholly frustrate the Readers expectations I have in the Corollaries and Uses of the Second Book given some Hints and Intimations of the chief Particulars which I intend to discourse of under the following Heads As for the Forme of the Discourse I thinke I may with Sinceritie say I have endeavored to suit it to my Mater I would hate sinful Affectation of Words or Things merely to please itching curious spirits as much as Hel. Yet if any words occur that may give lustre and efficace to the Truths discoursed of I cannot thinke myself obliged to reject them because not so vulgar as other words lesse proper are Only if thou meet with any word beyond thy capacitie to apprehend remember that the following word usually explains the same A TABLE OF CONTENTS BOOK I. Christ's Lamentation over Jerusalem CHAP. I. An Explication of Luke 19. 41. Pag. 1 THe Contexture of the words Pag. 2. And when he was come near 3. He beheld the Citie 4 5. And wept over it 6 7 8. Chap. 2. The most solemne Profession without Sinceritie wil not satisfie Christ 9 13. Chap. 3. Previous and General Observations 13. Chap. 4. Church-sins bring Church-ruines 17. Evil of doing brings the evil of suffering 18. Sin in itself the worst evil 19. Chap. 5. A numeration of Jerusalem 's sins 22. 1. Vnbelief a Church-ruinating Sin Ibid. 2. Carnal Presumtion 24. 3. Spiritual Pride 27. 4. Carnal Securitie 29-31 5. Carnal Confidence 32. 6. Earthly-mindednes Pag. 33. 7. Vnfruitfulnesse 34. 8. Persecution of the Prophets 35. 9. Want of Reformation 36. 10. Impenitence 37. 11. Apostasie 38. Chap. 6. Divine wrath the effective Cause of Jerusalem 's Ruines 40. The effects of Divine wrath on Jerusalem 43. 1. Temporal jugements Ibid. 2. Spiritual jugements 45 46. Chap. 7. 1. The Qualities of Christs tears 47. 1. They are Divine Ibid. 2. Rational 3. Free 4. Sincere 48 49. 5. Spiritual 6. Generous 7. Humble 49-51 8. Pathetic 9. Sympathetic 52 53. 10. Seasonable 11. Public 54. 2. The efficaces of Christ's Tears 55. 1. Prophetic 2. Instructive 3. Exhortative ib. 4. Threatning 5. Intercessorie 56. 6. Influential 7. Exemplary 57 58. Chap. 8. The Motives of Christs Tears 59. 1. As a Father 2. As an Husband ibid. 60. 3. As her Lord. 4. As a Minister 61 62. 5. Christs natural relation to Jerusalem 64. Chap. 9. Doctrinal Corollaries ibid. 1. Christs Affections relative ibid. 2. Christs Affections most pure 65. 3. Christs real Wil to save sinners ibid. 4. The Aggravations of such as refuse Christ 67 5. Mans Ruine from himself 68. Use 1. Advice to studie Englands Sins 69. Use 2. Mourne over Englands Sins and Miseries 71. Use 3. Caution against Church-sins Pag. 74. BOOK II. Wherein the Nature of Infidelitie consists Chap. 1. The Explication of Luke 19. 42. 76. Chap. 2. Eighteen general Observations drawn from Luke 19. 42. 86-98 Chap. 3. What
doth it distract deaden and harden the heart in al duties How lean poor and barren in Grace and gracious fruits are many Believers by reason of their prevalent Unbelief Doth it not also take off the Beautie Lustre and Sweetnesse of Mercies received or expected Oh! how bitter are many sweet Mercies when mixed with Infidelitie Yea doth it not turne al Mercies into Curses to those who are under the complete dominion of it as Rom. 11. 9 And how many choise Mercies are Believers deprived of by reason of their Unbelief Whence spring their groundlesse troubles of Consciences their misjugements and mistakes about their state their heart-faintings sinking discouragements and despondences under Desertion their hard and scandalous thoughts of Christ his Heart and Dispensations towards them but from their Infidelitie Oh! What a sting doth it put into al afflictions How burdensome and irkesome is the Crosse of Christ to the unbelieving heart How sweet and easy is the bitter heavy Crosse so far as Faith prevails But oh What a troublesome vexatious neighbor is Infidelitie How doth it torment the heart and cause it to pine away and consume to nothing even under groundlesse expectations and needlesse fears of trouble May it not become a true Proverb Much Infidelitie and much Sorrow How do afflictions pinch and gal unbelieving spirits How unable are such to see any good in afflictions What need have afflicted persons of Faith Again how soon doth Infidelitie betray us into the hands of every Tentation Faith hath Omnipotence engaged for its assistance but oh what a poor impotent thing is Unbelief How unable is it to to conflict with smal Tentations Satan is oft the father but is not Unbelief the mother of al Tentations What made Adam and Eve yield to Satan's tentation but their Infidelitie Was not this also that which made Judas betray Peter denie and the Jews crucifie the Lord of Glorie It s true when the Tentation is asleep the unrighteous man is righteous the unclean person is chaste the passionate man is meek the invidious man is kind the avaricious man is liberal the unfaithful man is faithful but oh when the tentation is awakened how soon doth Unbelief betray the heart into the hands of these or the like corruptions Thinke not thy self secure from the prevalence of any Tentation so long as thou art under the prevalence of Infidelitie Alas how soon is Tentation fired by Unbelief but oh How is the believing soul that by faith adheres to Christ strongly fortified and armed against the most violent Tentations Moreover how are the main breaches of our lives maintained and improved by Infidelitie What departures from God what turnings aside from or remisnesses in Duties are Unbelievers exposed unto Doth not Unbelief cut the Sinews and Nerves of al evangelic Obedience Doth it not let out the vital spirits heart-bloud of al good Inclination and affections Is not the very root and seminal virtue of good Intentions withered and blasted hereby How much beneath the least evangelic dutie is the unbelieving soul How doth Unbelief poison many good Inclinations Oh! what a venimous maligne thing is Unbelief How doth it infuse a malignitie and poison into al the parts of the Soul Is not the spirit of the mind the most noble part of the soul envelopped or wrapt up in contagious black darknesse by it Are not al the faculties of the soul spoiled of their vigor beautie harmonie order and exercices by Unbelief Oh! What a bloudy hard-hearted soul-murdering sin is it How doth it compel the Sinner to embrew his hands in his own bloud to sheath a sword in his own bowels by a wilful rejection of Evangelic offers How welcontented is it to see the Unbelievers sentence of condemnation subscribed and sealed with the Mediators dreadful curse John 3. 18 What flames of vengeance what treasures of wrath doth Infidelitie treasure up against the day of wrath Rom. 2. 5. 2 Thes 1. 7 8 9 How patient is it whiles Satan claps on the chains and fetters of spiritual slumber and hardnesse of heart on the Sinners legs How willing is it to see the poor Unbeliever famished and starved amidst the rich and sumtuous feasts of evangelic Grace and Mercie Has not Christ made a plentiful and costly feast for Sinners And is he not extreme free and cordial in his Invitations How then comes it to passe that Sinners come not to it when invited Why is it not Unbelief that keeps them back and that as it were by hairs namely some poor and foolish excuses Mat. 22. 1-6 Oh! how studious and ready is Infidelitie to shift it self of Christ and al the good things of its peace offered to it What silly excuses and pretences doth it make to put off Christ and his evangelic offers What little reason or cause have Unbelievers to object against Christs gracious offers Are not Christs armes open to receive them when they come Yea Doth he not day by day cal upon and importune them to come unto him Prov. 1. 20-25 Did he ever refuse or look strangely on any that came unto him Yea is he not more willing to receive Sinners than they are to come unto him or are the flames of Hel more elegible than the joys of Heaven Is the Vassalage of Satan more desirable than the Libertie of the Sons of God Is there so much Beautie in Sin as to make men desire it before the Beauties of Holinesse Are the Remorses and Stings of the worme of Conscience more agreable and pleasing than peace of Conscience and the smiles of Divine Love If not how comes it to passe that Sinners choose the evil and refuse the good offered to them Oh! is not Infidelitie the cause of al this miserie Is not Christ's hand and heart open towards Sinners but are not their hearts shut against him by Unbelief Is there any thing in Christ or his evangelic offers that keeps men from believing O then What an irrational sottish perverse cruel sin is Unbelief What a world of miserie doth it bring on Sinners How justly doth Christ pronounce a sentence of death against them who wilfully reject his offers and means of life Alas how is it possible that Salvation itself should save such so long as they wilfully spurne at the offers of Salvation Is there any sin that doth more directly oppose Salvation by Christ than Unbelief Christ comes by his Evangelic offers of Grace to draw the Unbelievers heart unto him but oh how doth he draw back Yea how doth his unbelief oppose Christ as He comes clothed with Grace Love and Pitie And can Unbelievers expect that Christ should passe by such affronts and indignities without severe punishments Doth any thing more provoke Christ than to have his bowels and compassions towards Sinners spurned at Cannot he put up any injuries better than this Is not Unbelief the most cruel and bloudie enemie in the world in that it takes away not only the active power of doing good
was his first Bride and yet now a commun Harlot for Idol-lovers the Citie which was the Seat of his Glorious presence but now a den of thieves and robbers The Citie which had been the Glorie of al Nations but was now next dore to ruine Hence observe That the prevision or contemplation of imminent danger occurring to a place or people nearly related to us doth much affect a serious compassionate heart Al Relations cal for Affections And there is no Affection more proper for Relates under present or impendent miserie than compassion That mother must needs have the heart of a Tiger who seeing her child boiling in a Caldron of lead hath no emotion of bowels for it Christ here whiles he beheld the Citie with the eyes of his bodie did at the same time with the eye of his omniscience behold al the sins and future miseries of Jerusalem al her contemt of his Evangelic offers Love and Grace al her covenant-breaking and Apostasies from him al her bloody and mischievous designes against his Person Crown and Dignitie with al the curses plagues and shours of Divine wrath which would ere long pour down as a Deluge on her This could not but melt his heart into tears and draw from him the doleful Lamentation which follows To see a deluge of sin exhaled or drawen up into clouds of Divine wrath ready to burst asunder and fal down in shours of vengeance on a professing Citie or people nearly allied to us cannot but dissolve an affectionate gracious heart into shours of tears and christian Lamentations That must needs be an heart desperately obdurate and hard that is not affected and moved at such a sight But more of this in what ensueth CHAP. IV. Church-sins the moral Causes of Church-Ruines and therefore the chief mater of our lamentation WE now come to the Lamentation it self expressed in those termes And wept over it Which we may forme into this Proposition or Doctrine That nothing was mater of greater Lamentation unto Christ and ought to be such unto us than to behold the Ruines of a professing Citie or Church which has been long the Seat of Gods gracious Presence and Worship This Proposition which takes in the spirit and mind of the whole verse I intend with the Lords assistance to insist somewhat more largely on And for the explication hereof three Questions occur as fit to be examined by us 1. Touching the Object or mater of this Lamentation What Christ here doth and what we ought to lament 2. As to the Act what Christs weeping here implies 3. As to the motives of this Lamentation What it was that moved Christ to lament over the Ruines of this professing Citie or Church of Jerusalem 1. Q. What Christ here doth and what we ought to lament in the ruines of a professing Citie or Church which hath been long the Seat of Gods gracious Presence and Worship For the Resolution of this Question we may consider the Ruines of a professing Citie or Church 1. In their Causes 2. In the Effects of those Causes 1. As for the Causes of these Ruines they are either Moral and Meritorious or 2. Physical and Productive 1. The moral or meritorious cause of Jerusalems as also of al other Church-ruins is Sin Sin is the fuel of Divine wrath eternal vengeance flameth out of guilt Physical or natural evil is but the consequent of Moral the evil of Passion or Suffering is but the effect of the evil of Action or Doing Yea Sin is in it self the worst evil He that departes from God executes on himself his last doom The soul that loseth God loseth its way Life and self and the further it departeth from God the more it is envelopped and entangled in eternal chains of darknesse and miserie No sin is so pleasing in the committing as it is bitter in the issue There is an inseparable connexion betwixt sin and punishment and nothing can dissolve it but the bloud of Christ Every sin carries Hel in its womb Lust is a pregnant mother with child of Death and torments Thus Gen. 4. 7. And if thou doest not wel sin lieth at the dore Sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which some Hebrew Doctors understand the punishment of sin So Gen. 19. 15. as elsewhere Sin is used for punishment by reason of that individual connexion that is between them Hence the Greek Atee which they feigned to be a woman cast out of Heaven pernicious and hurtful to al. Oh! what an enemie is sin Lieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coucheth a word usually given to Brutes but applied sometimes to men Job 11. 19. and here to Sin which as a hurtful beast lieth in wait ready to devour What a slie Foxe is sin Hence it followeth At the dore i. e. 1. near at hand for to lie at the dore is to be near at hand so Deut. 29. 30. the curses are said to lie or couch on the Sinner Or 2. at the dore may implie such a a certain place in which it may be easily excited just like a chained Mastive that lies at the dore and albeit he seems to sleep yet suddenly starts up and sets upon such as are about to enter in thus Sin or the punishment of sin lieth at the dore That Sin is in it self the worst evil is evident because 1. it was the First evil and so the mesure of al evil for the first in every kind is the mesure of al in that kind Again 2. As sin was the first evil so also the first moral cause of al other evils Now a bad cause is worse than its effects as a good cause is more noble and perfect than its effects It was Sin that opened the dore and let in al other evils into the world and therefore it must needs be the worst evil 3. Sin contains in it al the malignitie venime poison stings curses and plagues of evil al the degrees of evil lie wrapt up in sin 4. The worst part of hel lies in sin a sinlesse Hel would be comparatively an easy Hel to a rectified Soul our blessed Lord suffered a sinlesse Hel and yet was at the same time infinitely happy as to his essential Beatitude By which it is most evident that sin is in it self the worst evil and Hel. Hence it naturally follows That the first great Object or Mater of our blessed Lords Lamentation was Jerusalem's sins which were her worst evil and the main cause of al her other evils Thus the Prophets and People of God of old in al their Lamentations over Church-ruines they had a particular eye on their Church-sins as the procuring cause thereof So Jeremie in his Lamentations layeth the greatest accent on their sins which were the meritorious cause of al their sufferings Thus Lament 1. 5. For the multitude of her transgressions her children are gone into captivitie before the enemie Oh! here lies the sting of al Israels sufferings that the multitude of