Gods faithfulnesse when wee see no other meanes but as to rayse children out of stones to fetch water out of a flintie Rocke to hold out a three yeeres famine with an handfull of meale and a little oyle here indeed is a true hope and a noble tryall of a strong faith for hope that is seene is no hope and faith grounded on or guided by the blind leader of carnall reason is no faith Thus God tryed Abrahams faith in that great extremitie when he commanded him to offer vp his onely sonne Thus was Iobs faith patience and constancie tryed by those extreme crosses on his bodie goods and children God dealeth with his children as Fencers with their scholers they first begin with woodden cudgels after they goe to weapons with blunted edges and points and last of all as they grow in skill and to put their skill to the tryall they play at sharpe and many times fetch blood So God inures his children first vnto pettie crosses and so inflicteth greater and greater at last hee will strike with the sharpe and draw blood from their soules onely to try what proficients they haue beene in the schoole of faith and patience Secondly because hee would make the deliuerance the more ioyfull when it doth come for the greater are our afflictions the greater shall be the waight of glory and the more welcome vnto vs as the Apostle speaketh concerning sinne in the godly so it is true concerning affliction God many times so bringing to passe that where sorrow hath abounded there ioy should much more abound So that afflictions they are but preparatiues to greater comforts Vintners we see oftentimes set before their guests that haue dainty palates brinish and salt meates that so their wine may haue the better taste and relish So because it is mans nature too slightly to esteeme of the mercies fauours and comforts of God as either to forget or to extenuate and lessen them hee doth many times giue them full cuppes of bitter sorrow to the end that they may the more highly esteeme and prize his mercies and fauours when he bestowes them Thirdly God seemes to leaue his without all hope of comfort because they should ascribe all the praise and honour of their deliuerance vnto him onely Man is of a dogged nature as in aduersitie like the dogge that snarles and bites at the stone and neuer lookes to the hand that threw it so in prosperitie when wee fare well and obtaine any blessed and comfortable deliuerance from any euill wee are readie presently to share glory with God saying This haue I gotten by my care industrie and wisedome or else attribute it vnto second causes and neuer looke vp vnto God to giue him the glorie But let vs know that God is a ielous God he will not part stakes with any man and therefore he will many times suffer vs to sinke so low that all meanes in the world shall faile before he will raise vs vp to the end we may acknowledge that God is aboue and beyond all meanes The vse of this shall be none other then those words of Saint Peter Dearely beloued 1. Pet. 4. 12. thinke it not strange concerning the fierie tryall which is among you to prooue you as though some strange thing were come vnto you but put on Iobs resolution Though the Lord Iob 13. 15. slay me yet will I put my trust in him Thus haue you seene a tragicall scene of sorrow personated and acted in and by a miserable and mournful widow lamenting the losse of her onely sonne now we are come to make it end in a ioyfull plaudite while we looke vpon Christ her mercifull comforter for hee seeing her hath compassion on her and sayth vnto her VVeepe not Wherein wee may obserue these parts 1. The time When the Lord saw her 2. The authour The Lord 3. Two antecedent causes of of her comfort first Christ his omniscience or prouidence hee saw her and this I may call the seed of her comfort secondly his mercy he had compassion on her and this I may call the ground into which it was cast and where it tooke roote 4. The comfort it selfe which is first verball onely Weepe not and here it is sprung into a blade Secondly reall for she receiued her sonne againe as the History sheweth and thus it is growne to an eare When the Lord saw her Was there a time when Christ did not know her miserie no Christ knew before hee came to see her and by his Almighty power whiles her sonne lay vpon his death-bed could haue preuented his death and his mothers sorrow but he deferres it vntill this time to teach vs this lesson That God alone best knowes when to wound and when to heale when to kill and when to make aliue when to afflict with sorrow and when to send comfort we are not to limit God to times and seasons nor yet to prescribe vnto him when wee should haue deliuerances from dangers and comfort in crosses and afflictions My times saith Dauid that is times of prosperity and aduersity are in thy hand that is to order and dispose according to thy wisedome to thy good will and pleasure And therefore though the Lord may seem a long time not to giue audience nor yet to behold the afflictions of his Saints yet there wil come a when a time that will bring comfort vnto them The Lord Heere is the Author All true sound comfort comes from God in Christ and from him onely is to bee expected hee is the Father of mercies and God of all comfort it is hee that sendes comfort in afflictions yea life in death it selfe by his power and mercy hee sweetens the bitter waters of death with the wood of his Crosse making that which is seene as though it were not so that though he hath not taken away death it selfe yet he hath taken away the tyrannicall power of death insomuch that through him wee may insultingly say Oh death where is thy sting Christ is the true hearbe of grace which doth mitigate if not wonderfully sweeten all those cups of gall and vineger which are the portion and the potion of the children of grace here before they can be the children of glory in heauen The Vse whereof is first to stirre vp euery one of vs to seeke onely vnto God for comfort and to satiate and delight our selues onely in him as in the God of all comfort and consolation If hee send vs comfort if he be the rocke vpon whom wee build our consolation no affliction can discomfort vs no feare can afright vs nor death it selfe can dismay or appall vs vnto him therefore and onely to him let vs seeke for comfort Secondly heereby is discouered and reprooued the vngodly practise amongst many now adayes that in the time of sorrow in stead of going to God for comfort they runne a cleane contrary way to the deuill They will goe to an Ale house to drinke
man leane it will runne into his hand Secondly as this woman was wealthy and of good esteeme so shee was a widow shee had beene before a married woman and as shee had participated of those blessings which attend VVedlocke so shee had many times felt those cares which are incident vnto those who haue the care and charge of a Family and being made a mother felt no doubt the trueth of Gods sentence I will greatly encrease thy sorrow in sorrow shalt thou bring foorth thy children and yet to adde more vnto her griefe and which may seeme the greatest griefe of all her husband one halfe of her selfe dyes and that not in his old and decrepit age when all his pleasure was gone and life it selfe growne to be but labour and sorrow but in the flower of his youth and not long after his mariage which probably may be gathered by this that hee left but one onely sonne and this our Sauiour calles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a yong Stripling all which must needs make her widow-hood the more grieuous widow-hood in it selfe beeing a crosse great enough insomuch that the Prophet Dauid reckoneth and puts it among his Imprecations and curses on Gods and his enemies Let his children bee Psal 109. fatherlesse and his wife a Widow So the Prophet Ieremie Lam. 1. 1. Lamenting and bewailing the miserable estate of Ierusalem speaketh thus How doth the citie remaine solitary that was full of people Shee is as a widow And Chapter 5. 5. Wee are fatherlesse without fathers and our mothers are Widowes yet all this while she beares these crosses manfully she yeelds not vnto thē shee breakes not into open weeping but comforts her selfe calling to minde those many and sweet promises and comforts made by God vnto VVidowes for God hath promised to defend the fatherlesse and widowes The Lord your God is God of gods which doth right vnto the fatherlesse an Widowes And Psalme 146. 9. The Lord keepeth the Stranger he releeueth the fatherles and Widowes Yea the Lord commits the care of them vnto Magistrates charging them and all others Ex. 22. 22. You shall not trouble the widow nor the fatherlesse childe yea the Lord out of his loue and care towards them appoints part of the Tythe for their reliefe Deut. 14. 29. Hee would haue them to bee remembred in their Feastes Hee menaceth a curse against him that Deut. 27. 29. wrongeth the widow Cursed be hee that hindreth the cause of the stranger the fatherlesse and VVidow And Ieremie 5. 25. hee reckoneth the neglecting of the widow one cause of the destruction of the people VVith these and many other promises which shee found in Scripture no doubt but shee did continually comfort her selfe in her widow-hood that though shee were yong yet she did not affect a second marriage and besides shee tooke it as a pledge of Gods great fauour vnto her that hee had giuen her a sonne to bee a stay and a comfort vnto her in her widow-hood But see to adde yet more vnto the complement of her miserie God who knowes how to giue vs tearesto drinke in measure and knoweth best when he hath laid sorrow affliction enough vpon his children leaues not the widow thus As not shee so neither are wee worthy to know whereunto wee are reserued This her yong sonne dyes who was the light of her eyes and the ioy of her life To shew vnto vs thus much by the way that not onely old men must but the yongest that is may die wee are no sooner come into the world but wee hasten out of the world The pace of death is soft and sure and euery man is a dying man till he be dead And therefore wee must so set our mortality before our eyes as to thinke euery day our last day and labour carefully to redeeme the time ill past because so vncertaine is the time of our abode But what had this yong man done thus vntimely to bee cropt off in the budde of his yeeres Hee was but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a very yong man as his tender yeeres could not patronize good counsell and want of grauitie giue authoritie to his person to be a president of vertue so it is likely he was not yet misled by the errors of youth much lesse could hee haue beene a ring-leader vnto euill Or why should we lay sinne to his charge when the holy Ghost layes none but rather charitably yea confidently perswade our selues that hee that was now about to doe so much for his body had before done much more for his soule Happily God tooke him away that hee should not see the euill to come And truely if the mother had rightly considered this it had beene a cause rather to mitigate then any way to exasperate or aggrauate her griefe that God had so timely thus well prouided for her son that though she had lost a sonne yet heauen had found a Saint and though hee had beene neuer so deare and precious in her eyes yet to haue reioyced that shee had layd vp her treasure in heauen Had hee beene an vnnaturall Cain a prophane Esau a proud aspiring Absolon an vsurping Adonijah this might haue redoubled her griefe to consider that from her loynes a chip should haue beene hewen to make a fire-brand in hell But to haue a godly yong Iosiah to be taken away in his tender yeeres that he might not see the euill to come might cause her rather to magnifie his mercie then to whine vnder the rod of correction And heereof should all parents make a comfortable vse when at any time God shall deale with them in the like case by remoouing their hopefull yong plants from out of his nursery of grace heere and transplanting them into his Orchard of glory in heauen there to flourish as Palmes for euermore But had this her sonne bin taken away in his infancy her sorrow had been the lesse shee had sustained paine and sorrow in bringing him into the word care and feare in his nurture and education and now that shee thought to haue receiued some comfort in him for whom shee had often both wearied and disquieted her selfe behold he dyes Thus it pleaseth God many times to deale with his dearest children to lay affliction after affliction putting into all their cups of comfort and contentments bitter drams of sorrow griefe Whence wee may learne first how vncertaine a thing it is to expect any certaine comfort in this world we are all subiect to vicissitude change and alteration We must not expect any perpetuity of felicity here lest wee should forget to looke after any other heauen then heere on earth Doe not we see by experience that kingdomes haue their declensions and Crownes and Scepters their crosses and shall priuate and particular persons expect greater stability Secondly it must teach vs how to entertaine comforts when God sendes them euen as the Apostle bids vs the world so to vse them as though
ground and tooke deepe roote VVeepe not here it is sprung into a blade This good Samaritan Christ Iesus contenteth not himselfe to see this wounded woman for indeed she had a wounded spirit and to haue compassion on her but goes vnto her bindes vp her wounds poures wine and oyle into them and takes care for her farther comfort weepe not To teach vs that it is not sufficient for vs when we see any in miserie onely to bee moued with compassion but wee must speake some words of comfort in due season it is the Apostle his rule our tongues must vtter the tender affections of our hearts and our hearts as they are or should bee the ground where mercy must roote must sometimes shew that there is life by sending fourth some buddes into the tongue which is the hearts best interpreter and commonly speakes the language of the heart if the heart conceiue compassion the tongue must vtter weepe not VVeepe not Here comes our Sauiour now and makes good in performance his comfortable doctrine which was in words and promises Blessed are they that mourne hee comes with a towell in his hands and wipes away the brinish teares from the blubbered and furrowed cheeks of this sorrowfull widow and turnes her sadnesse into gladnesse her fasting into feasting her sobbes and sighes into songs and prayses of deliuerance such is the power prouidence and mercy of our gracious Lord and mercifull Sauiour to rayse vp vnto his children in the middest of sorrow sudden and vnexpected comfort But here some sad deiected Christian co-partner with this widow in the same or like cause of griefe may yet refuse to be comforted and iustifie both the cause and act of sorrow for the Prophet Esay complained in his dayes that the righteous man perished and no man considered it in his heart besides it is not found through the whole sacred Storie of our Sauiours life that euer hee was seene to laugh but to weepe often and besides all this woman lost her sonne and therefore a senslesse stupiditie in her not to haue mourned would haue argued not onely want of loue but of nature and humanitie or to haue had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 courage aboue and beyond the strength of nature for how quiet soeuer the morall Doctors haue made themselues yet their rules haue neuer counteruailed all their troubles The wisest and most resolute Moralist that euer was look't pale when he was to taste his poysonfull Hemlocke and why because to grieue at crosses and to feare death is naturall is to bee a man why then doth our Sauiour forbid her saying VVeepe not We must know for all this that the God of nature will haue vs sometime though not to deny yet to curbe nature and grace must teach vs to doe that sometime which nature cannot for courage and constancie against all crosses and then to be least shaken when most assayled commeth from the rules of an higher art then naturall wisedome was euer able to teach Not that grace would make a man not be affectionate as not to mourne with them that mourne and weep with them that weepe for euen this is a lesson which euery man must learne in the schoole of grace but direct vs to moderate the inordinate and ouer-passionate affections of nature that they should not meurne as men without hope for them that sleepe in the Lord. Weepe not Here mee thinkes I am taken with admiration to conceiue in what amazement this sorrowfull soule and all the mournfull company stood to see one silly man and that a stranger to come with such a song of melody into a house of mourning and to present such a dissonant and discording dittie to so dolefull a tune and yet I cannot chuse but admire more how suddenly their sorrow was turned into comfort and mourning into mirth while I consider who it is that sayes vnto her weepe not Vox hominem sonat oh Deus certè the sound of the voyce bewrayes him to be a man but the matter that he speakes mightily declares him to be the Sonne of God God speakes by his Sonne the brightnesse of his glory and the engraued forme of his Person out of his Word vnto all both good and bad but it is not the sound of the voyce of God but the matter which he speaks that argues loue he may speake vnto an enemie as vnto Satan Satan whence commest thou Iob 1. in anger as vnto Adam when he called him to an account Adam where art tbou Gen. 3. He speakes peace to none but to his owne it is vnto them and vnto their soules that he sayes I am thy saluation It is with them that hee doth indent I will be their God and they shall be my people and happy that soule vnto whom in the middest of sorrow Christ shall vtter this comfortable voyce Weepe not The Church of God is compared to a ship sayling on the sea euery Christian is a passenger in this Vessell Christ is the Pilot and Steeres-man he still sits at the Helme let the weather be neuer so foule let the sea and waues of crosses rise one vpon another with neuer such swelling surges yet if my Sauiour say vnto my soule I am thy saluation I will neuer despaire if my steeres-man say vnto mee as vnto his Disciples Feare not O yee of litle faith that little faith I haue shall make me so confident as not to be dismayed if my Sauiour meete mee though not in the flesh yet but in his word as he doth here this comfortlesse widow with a noli flere weepe not though he take away from mee father or mother brother or sister my nearest and dearest comfort in the world I will not mourne as without hope but comfort my selfe in his comfortable promises Thus haue you seene a sorrowfull mother following her dead sonne with tearedewed cheekes a passionate multitude attending this pensiue widow a compassionate Lord stopping their mouthes wiping their eyes and cheering their hearts with a comfortable noli flere VVeepe not But this is not all let me adde something farther then my Text yet not beyond the Text for t' is in the Hystory hee gaue her her sonne aliue againe and thus the blade is growne to an eare from a verball to a reall comfort To teach vs first that it is not sufficient for vs to haue a tender heart and a bemoaning tongue to those that are in want and miserie but our handes must be inlarged our hearts towards poor needy Christians must be so affected that some worke of charitie and mercy might be effected Secondly and for conclusion of all whereas this woman in the depth of her sorrow found comfort and the yong man in the midst of death found life we may learne that both to liue and to liue comfortably are in and from Christ alone But some sorrowfull soule may yet farther obiect and reason that well might this woman receiue a great deale of comfort for shee had the reall and bodily presence of her blessed Sauiour whose very lookes were able to reuiue a drooping and languishing soule and besides to his presence he annexed his Power miraculously raising her dead sonne to life and thereby vnexpected comfort to her selfe but now Christ is ascended into heauen and there shall remaine till his second comming besides miracles are now ceased how then shall I by this example any whit comfort my selfe how shall I expect restitution of my losse restauration of my comfort I answere these doubts proceed but from the weaknesse of our faith shall the eyes of the body minister comfort to the soule and shall not Faith the Eye of the soule doe much more Rubbe but the scales of infidelitie from these eyes and then euen now by faith thou mayest see thy Sauiour sitting at the right hand of God making continuall intercession for thee But why doe I grant that Christ is absent from his Church and children Hee is not as Abraham in the Parable answered Diues They haue Moses and the Prophets so I say wee haue Christ still haue we not his owne promise Loe I am with you to the end of the world Doth hee not daily speake vnto our soules by the Spirit the Comforter and to our eares by his holy word as comfortably as euer hee did vnto this woman when hee sayd vnto her VVeepe not May not wee daily heare him say Blessed are the poore in spirit Blessed are they that mourne for they shall bee comforted Come vnto mee all yee that are heauy laden and I will refresh you and you shall finde rest vnto your soules As for the comfort this woman had by the raising of her dead sonne know that this was but a temporall and short life and when hee badde her not to weepe this comfort was as short if not shorter then the former for certainely afterwards so long as shee liued shee would haue cause to weepe by daily renewed causes of sorrow But wee howsoeuer wee loose our friends now shall one day see a more blessed raising of them neuer any more to bee depriued of their societie and then shall Christ pronounce words which shall bring more durable comfort then these to this woman for then shall all teares bee wiped from our eyes neuer to feele more sorrow Till which time the Lord giue vs grace to liue religiously and to wait patiently FINIS