The Way to True Happiness, Sermon 4
The fourth SERMON.
For theirs is the Kingdome of heauen.
WEe hauehave spoken already of the first step to Heauen, pouerty of spirit. Our Sauiour layes his foundation low, but sets vpon't a glorious roofe, euen heauen it selfe: Blessed are the poore in spirit, for theirs is the kingdome of heauen; We hauehave already spoken of the strength of our Sauiours argument; now of the certainty of it: heauen is assured to eueryevery one that is poore in spirit; theirs is the Kingdome of heauen. From the closenesse of the connexion, Note that
Grace and glory, Doctr. holinesse and happinesse goe alwayes together: hee that hath the one, hath the other also: Thus 2. Pet 1.3. God (saith the Apostle) hath called vsus to glory and vertue: through the Temple of vertue must we passe on to glory. And hence it is that S. Paul, Rom. 8 30. saith, that whom God hath iustified, them he (hath) also glorified: hee deliuers it in the time past, to shew the certainty: for this it is also, that he couches sanctification, and glorification vnderunder one word, (glorified) Indeede God hath subordinated them the one to the other, there being not any specificall difference, but onelyonly graduall: for what is grace, but the beginning of glory? or what is glory, but the perfection of grace? glory is gracious glory, and grace is glorious grace; we shall hauehave in heauen the same life, the same louelove that now, &c. but onelyonly made perfect. Hence is that speech of our Sauiour, Ioh. 5. he that beleeueth hath eternall life, so close a connexion is there betwixt holinesse and happinesse, that being the meanes, this the end.
Vse 1 Take heede you feuer not what God hath set together, the meanes and the end; to sunder these is the diuells sophistry, by which hee deludes those naturall bruite beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, 2 Pet. 2. for thus they reason. If God hauehave elected me to saluation, he will saue me howsoeuer: But these must know and obserue these two rules: 1. that God brings no man to heauen, but he first makes him willing, accordig to that of a Father,Austen. Hee that made thee without thee, will not saue thee without thee. Secondly, that whomsoeuer God brings to heauen, hee brings him in his owne way. Of that golden chaine, Rom. 8. two links hee hath let downe to vsus, namely, that of vocation, and the other sanctification, whereby to climbe vp to the state of glory: the first linke of his secret will, hee hath reserued to himselfe. Make then your election sure, by becomming sure of your calling: and as our Sauiour here bids, be poore in spirit, that you may be enriched with Gods Kingdome: mourne, that you may be comforted: for otherwise, by soaring aboue your measure, and seeking to pry into Gods eternall purpose, you may Icarus-like leaue your name for a Prouerb, and your selfe be drowned in the sea of perdition.
Let all such as hauehave true grace, be hereby encouraged Vse 2 to goe on cheerefully in their course, looking to the recompence of reward set before them, euen the Kingdome of heauen, which is certainly theirs, euen as many as hauehave grace in the truth of it. Common graces indeed are looseable, and are often lost: but sauing grace, howsoeuer it be in it selfe looseable, because a creature, yet shal not be lost, because the Creator vndertakes it. The Apostle calls them graces accompanying saluation, foreign things that hauehave saluation, that include it foreign that is, foreign as the Scholiasts giuegive it. Now, sauing grace may be thus discerned. it is 1. humbling, makes a man nothing in himselfe, low in his owne eyes, meane in his owne account. 2. purging, it purgeth out corruption, purifies the heart. 3. Edifying; the good man would hauehave all men good, and come to heauen aswell as himselfe, all should be saued by his good-will. To a man thus qualified heauen is assured: for such graces can neuer be lost, the exercises of them may be intermitted for a time, as the leaues of a tree may be shaken off, and are, but still the sap is in the root. Motion may cease in the body, yet life not be extinguished: as a man in an apoplexy, stirres not for the time, yet we say, he is inter viuos, to be reckoned among the liuing: So he that hath true grace, he may lose his sense, and fruition of his good estate, neuer his right and Title thereunto: the sonne abides alwayes in the house, though the seruant abide not euer. A Leper in the Law, had not alwayes the enioyment of his house, for hee was for the time excluded the camp: but returning clean, hee needed not to sue for a new Title, but tooke possession of his house, being his owne, as before. Therefore get sauing grace for a Title, and then Peter secures you of two things: 2 Pet. 1.10, 11. one, that you shall neuer fall away, ver. 10. the other, that an entrance shall be ministred abundantly into the euerlasting Kingdome of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ. vers. 11. the Kingdome is kept for you, and you for the Kingdome, as it is, 1 Pet. 1.4, 5. and both you and it in Gods keping, and that, in so safe a place as heauen. And thus hauehave we gone up one round of the ladder, euen pouerty of spirit: The second is spirituall mourning in the 4th verse.
An addition to what is said, touching the Estate or Grace (terme it as you will) of spirituall pouerty.
REader, the notes vponupon the third verse, are too too short; that subiect requires a larger discourse; all that for the present will be said, is this:
1. For the order, I conceiue that our Lord and Master beganne with spirituall pouerty, for two maine reasons: 1. Because hee would beat off his Disciples from those dreaming thoughts of high worldly preferments by him, a thing which he minded all his volunteers of, yet still they had crochets that way, and could not lay them downe with Christ in his graue, Acts 1.
2. Because the case is now much altered with man, he hath emptied himself of God, of heauen, and filled himselfe with hell, with earth, with creatures of Gods, or of his own making, and must be re-emptied before he can be filled, outed, and dispossessed of all that is his own, and the diuels, before he can be re-enstalled and restored in his blood, and setled in his primitiue goodnesse.
Hence, as in philosophy, the Naturalist layes downe his priuation amongst his principles of nature, so the Lord Christ beginnes with a kinde of priuation and pouerty, and premises this as a fore-runner and disposition, if not as a principle of mans blessednesse. The truth is, spiritual pouerty is another thing than a bare priuation, as descending from a cause transcendently positiue, and hath more in it than can be easily expressed. Hee did well, who distinguished betwixt pouerty in spirit, and a poore spirit;V. de Caictan in append. ad summul. in Jentac. 4. a man may be rich in grace, yet poore in spirit, because he owes it all to God, and wholly depends vponupon him, for the hauing and the vsing of it, and he may be worse then naught; worse for spirituall things, and yet be rich and high in spirit, because he may looke vponupon grace as a thing meane, base, worthlesse, needlesse, or at least a thing that hee may get when hee will, and keepe and vse, and enioy it at his owne pleasure, and indeed, …he emptier the soule is, the more it swells this way, and the more 'tis laden with treasure, the more it feares it selfe, suspects thieues, desires helpe and company. The question is not here, what grace men hauehave, but what opinion they hauehave of grace; whether they place their riches and happinesse in it, yea, or no; and what they conceiue of themselues, and of creatures, and meanes for the compassing and enioyment of it; hee that holds himselfe neuer the poorer for spirituall wants, or referres ought to himselfe in the obtaining of grace, is a poore fellow indeed, but not in our Sauiours sense: but hee who resolues all into God, and into grace, who sees grace to be all the grace and glory of the creature,Who is poore. and owes all his graces to grace, and liues a life of meere dependency, this is a man poore in spirit, rich in grace: for spirituall pouerty is not a nullity or vacuity of grace, but a free and willing acknowledgement of our indebtednesse and dependency on Gods grace for grace,The parts of pouerty. and is made vp of these two: 1. A thorow (yet free) conuiction of our owne nothingnesse in spiritualls, and 2. (vponupon the like conuiction) a cheerfull dependency vponupon Gods sufficiency for all goodnesse. This, as other pouerties, mostly results from comparison,Whence it a…ises. for when a man hath eyes to see God in his fulnesse, and himselfe in his emptinesse, and so layes himselfe by God, the standard, then hee sees his pouerty, and cries out, I am a sinfull man, as Peter did; and with Iob, I abhorre my selfe in dust and ashes:The seate of pouerty in the vnderstanding. Howbeit conuiction of iudgement is not all, there's many a man empouerished, yea, who knowes himselfe to be naught worth, who yet is not poore in spirit and disposition, he frets, he bussles, he beares a great outside, and can in no wise stoope, begge, be beholden: and so 'tis here also; we all are bankrupts in grace, that's confessedly cleare, and some are conuinced of their emptinesse of grace, and inability of getting it, who yet are not poore in spirit, for the spirit frames the will2. The will. (as Caietan well) as well as the vnderstanding, subdues that, as well as it conuincces this, and makes a man glad to be nothing in himselfe, so God may be all: for the poore, with St. Paul, would be found in Christ, hee would not be found in himselfe, he would be wise, iust, holy, strong, &c, in Christ aboue, and would hauehave Christs graces, and Christs selfe vponupon Christs termes, vponupon free grace; without all contributions of help, or attributions of worth, seene or fore-seene in himselfe. And when a man is wrought to this, that hee willingly disclaimes all helpes and hopes of his owne, and the creatures, and freely casts himselfe vponupon Christ for all, finding all grace in him, none without him, then hee is poore in spirit. And this the first worke of the spirit, Ioh. 16. It conuinceth, (that is, it clearely concludes the contradictory to that we naturally hold to be most true) it conuinces man that he is sinful, and Christ only righteous, and vntill a man sees this, hee is his owne Christ, his owne God, his owne hope, and cares no more for Christ, than a loyall subiect doth for a pardon which he needs not. It is not therefore without cause, that our Sauiour begins here, that hee vses a method (as I may so say) analyticall, vnrauells, vntwists, vndoes all that man hath done, and deales with him as you would with a glasse of precious water, 1. empty it to the bottom, of all that was formerly there, and then fill it with what is sweet; happy is the man who is thus taught of God, who is brought backe a quite contrary way to his primitiue estate; mans misery came in when he shooke off God, and would stand by himselfe, when hee would be no longer dependent, but absolute; and then beginnes his happinesse, when hee is content to strip himselfe of all, and to expect all from God in Christ, when once hee can disclaime all selfe-conceitednesse, selfe-wilnesse, selfe-worthinesse, selfe-sufficincy, selfe-dependency, fleshly selfe-louelove, and in one, all selfishnesse, and can yet at the same time say, Gods mercy is my merit, Gods power my strength; God is my hope, my life, my fulnesse, in him I see and find riches in my pouerty, wisdome in my folly, all-sufficiciency of grace and helpe, in my vtter emptinesse and vnsufficiency, then he is poore, then hee is happy, for his happinesse, life, abilities, all lye out of himselfe, lie in God originally, immediately in Christ: Now because this is the hardest thing in the world, for a man thus to deny & resigne himselfe, and to be wholly dependent, for eueryevery man would be some body in and with himselfe, nay, eueryevery man would be absolute a King, a God (for still that first poyson conueyed into Eue, runs along in the blood, and being bred in the bone, will neuer out of the flesh) our blessed Sauiour therefore puts on the duty, and perswades it from the most pressing arguments, Blessed (saith he) are the poore, they hauehave the spirit in them, and the Kingdome is prepared for them; Blessednesse, what can be more? the spirit, what greater guift? what better guide? the Kingdome! Luke 11.what greater estate? the Kingdome of Heauen, what higher Kingdome? as if hee had said, you all reach at a Kingship, you would dwell as high as God himselfe, here's the way; hence take your first rise, be poore, and then you shall be rich; low, and then you shall be high; bee nothing in your selues, expect all, all grace, all ability to get, vse, encrease, keepe grace, from me, and mee alone, and you shall be happy now, and glorious hereafter: OnelyOnly remember, that as I speake of spirituall abasements, so I vndertake for spirituall aduancement; a Kingdome you would hauehave, and a Kingdome I promise you, but a Kingdome not of mans, but of Gods, not on earth, but of Heauen; there be not enough on earth, for Saints to hauehave, eueryevery one one to himselfe, but there's one in Heauen which is sufficient for you all, that you lost by seeking it out of God in your selues, that I restore to you, in case you be thus poore, that is, if so be you will lay downe all hopes of your owne, and receiue it as a meere gift of mine, who come not onelyonly to prepare a place for you there, but to paue you a way, and to lead you by the hand, till you come thither. Thus much I adde, because the notes of the Sermon (taken onelyonly in the deliuery) are too short, and so too darke; wee goe on.
Blessed are those that mourne, for they shall be comforted.
POuerty of spirit, respects the iudgement of a man; but mourning the affections: as Chrysostome said, that God in the creating of the world, built downe-ward: So our Sauiour heere first layes the foundation of happinesse in the iudgement, and then descends, and builds downward vponupon the affections. Blessed are those that mourne; mourning is a contraction of the heart, as the Apostle calls it, foreign 2 Cor. 2.4. a contraction or coarctation of the heart, vponupon the apprehension of some present or pressing euill, or the absence of some desired good. This mourning is alwayes found in pouerty, and is therefore heere set next it by our Sauiour, although in Saint Luke, hee interpose those that hunger, and therefore I stand not much vponupon the connexion.
In the words we hauehave the point and the proofe. The point: Blessed are those that mourne; the proofe, for they shall be comforted. We will take the words of Christ for our point.
Doctr. Hee is a hapy man that can mourne well.
Here, before wee goe any further, somewhat must be said by way of explication, and so wee'll proceed to the vse: The persons are said here to be mourners; in Luke, to be weepers. Sorrow is as the tree, & that's opposed to ioy; the next & immediate bud is mourning, opposed to reioycing: the next to that is weeping, opposed to laughter; The sense is then, hee that is in a mourning case, is an happy man; not simply for that he mournes (for that implyes a contradiction) but in a sense, namely, as it presupposes some good, and promiseth more.
But are all mourners happy? No, for there are 1. carnall mourners, that mourne because goodnesse is so neer them, and sin so far off. 2. Natural, that mourne onelyonly for the presence of some temporall euills, or the want of some outward good. 3. Spirituall, for the want of some spirituall good, or the presence of som spirituall euill, and such are here intended: as if our Sauiour should say, they are happy men that can mourne in spirituall manner; and for this wee hauehave Christs owne word, both heere, and Luke 6 21. In both places he not only barely affirms it, but also backs it with a reason: they are blessed, for they shall reioyce and be comforted. This reason holds in spirituall things; mourners are therefore blessed, because they shall be comforted; not so in outward things, as to say, to those that are sicke; Blessed are yee sicke, for yee shall be visited, restored: Blessed are yee poore, for yee shall be relieued, your wants supplyed, &c. The argument is not good, for here the griefe of the present, exceedes the ioy of the future, the comfort quits not cost of the affliction: but it holds very well in things spirituall, as heere, yee mourners shall be comforted, and are therefore blessed: for as your sorrowes abound, your comforts shall superabound: so that although spirituall mourning be not comfort, yet it carries comfort along with it, and inferres happinesse; which will yet more plainly appeare, if wee consider.
Reason 1 First, that it flowes from a good fountaine (a cleare streame, you know, argues a cleare spring) This is first a sound head, a wel-composed iudgement, the affections are blinde, and doe follow as they are guided: If they be put into the hands of a bruitish leader, as sense and appetite, they prooue bruitish; if into the hands of rationall guides, they become rationall; if of spirituall, spirituall; when therefore the mourning is spirituall, it shews the iudgement also sound and spirituall, that sees eueryevery thing in its right colours: and so it argues a sound head.
Secondly it argues a wel-temper'd heart: such an heart as is 1. soft and fleshy, yeelding: A stone, you know, will neuer yeeld, no more will a stony heart relent. He that can conceiue deepe sorrow for sinne, and powre out himselfe into teares, that man hath sure a soft heart. And 2. a sound heart, set against sinne, and for that which is good. All sorrow growes from an antipathy betweene the party grieuing, and the cause thereof, as on the contrary, delight shewes a conueniency and agreement with the thing wherein a man delights.
Secondly, that this mourning is of good quality, 'tis a diuine sorrow, 'tis foreign, a sorrow according to God, as the Apostle calls it, 2. Cor. 7. Such as works repentance▪ tends to life, (whereas worldly sorrow worketh death) is neuer to be repented of: worldly sorrow is to be vnsorrowed. The sweetest thing in sinne, must end in bitternesse, the pleasure in sorrow; yea, the sweeter it is in the act, the more bitterly must it be bewailed. But here 'tis otherwise; the bitterest thing in this godly sorrow is sweetest of all: the more a man can teare his heart therewith, the more comfort he hath; he onelyonly sorrowes, because he cannot sorrow enough; mournes, because he can mourne no more, can entertaine this guest no better; if naturall teares ease (as Aquin. 1.2. q. 38. Art. 2.) nedum spiritual. And this is the quality this spirituall mourning.
Thirdly, that it hath good effects: For, 1. it is preuenting, 2. reforming. First, it preuents all other needlesse sorrowes; Naturall sorrowes it moderates and boundes, as suspected; carnall and hellish sorrow, it banisheth as an enemy; Godly sorrow is a diuersion of other sorrowes, toward the right obiect: As Chirurgians, when a man bleeds dangerously in one place, they open a veyne in a…other; so to turne the course: So when a …an bleedes, mournes too much, for worldly things, it lets him bleed elsewhere, turning the course of his sorrow vponupon his sinne. Secondly, it is reforming, produces those good effects of carefulnesse, apologie, feare, desire, and the rest, as they are reckoned vp, 2 Cor. 7.11. It mends the foule much, makes a man better, and so sets him onward toward happinesse.
Reason 4 Lastly, if we consider the issue of godly sorrow, 1. it tends and bends to happines, not simply and of it selfe, for the Angels mourne not, and yet are happy, but respectiuely, as the state now stands with vsus; wee went away from God by sinne, and must returne againe by weeping-crosse: And yet not directly now, neyther doth spirituall mourning make a man happy, but onelyonly as it makes way for Christ (as the needle makes way for the threed) that we may be reunited, and pieced againe to God: so that as the case now stands, godly sorrow is necessary to our happinesse, and tends vntounto it, seruing, as the opening of a veyne, to let out the sicknesse,Psal. 126.5. Psal. 97.11. and to bring in ease: 2. It ends in happinesse: for, they that sow in teares, shall reape in ioy; and light is sowne for the righteous, and ioy for the vpright in heart. Now men sow alwayes for increase; they expect not onelyonly their seed againe, but many for one: so they that sow in godly sorrow, shall reape a ioyfull haruest of happinesse; it is with this sorrow, as with the silke-worme, which spends and workes out it selfe, till at last it end in a soft silke: so doth this consume and waste it selfe, till at length it end in euerlasting ioy.
Vse. 1 It may serue to bewaile our vnhappinesse now adayes, that run a course quite contrary to that of our Sauiour, he blesseth them that mourne; the most are of another iudgement, and hold such of all other the most vnhappy; and as we vary from him in iudgement, so likewise in prescription; he saith mourne, that you may reioyce; weepe, that you may laugh; the world on the other side saith, be merry, that you may not mourne; laugh, that you may not be cast down; the Apostle bids turne all your laughter to mourning, your ioy into heauinesse, Iames 4. Men now adaies turne all heauinesse to laughter, are afraid of mourning, put it farre from them, looke on it as on an enemy, make account, if they should goe about it, they should neuer hauehave merry day more; Nay,Nehem. 1. they vary also from the practice of the Saints, in sad times; Nehemiah, though for his one particular hee were in good estate, and sufficiently well prouided for, yet he could not enioy it, so long as the Church of God was in heauinesse and affliction; but prouokes himselfe to mourning, and applies himselfe close thereunto: So Vriah, 2 Sam. 11.seeing the people of God in hazard, refused vtterly to goe into his house, to eate and to drinke, and to lie with his wife; so sensible hauehave the Saints of God euer beene of the Churches afflictions, but especially for the sinnes of the times hauehave they been greatly humbled, as Ezra, who in this case, rent his garments, pluckt off the hayre of his head, and of his beard, and sate astonished, Ezra. 9. And Riuers of teares ranne downe Dauids eyes, because men kept not Gods Law. Had Dauid but liued in our times, walked in our streetes, to hauehave seene our pride, heard our oathes, lies, &c. eueryevery where vttered, hee would surely hauehave washed our streetes with his teares. But what doe wee? see these things in others, yea, act them our selues: wee our selues sweare, lie, drinke, reuell, &c. and yet wee mourne not, It is for that we want matter? Is there no cause of mourning amongst vsus? Surely, if wee looke vponupon Gods gracious dealing with vsus, we hauehave had blessings in abundance, vnderunder a peaceable and quiet gouernment: but wee cannot but know there are stormes abroad, and who can tell where they will light in the end? Heere wee hauehave no townes, but Shalems; no men, but friends. Goe into the fields, no speares but standing corne, no drummes but tabrets, no out-cries but haruest-homes, all matters of reioycing: but looke abroad a while, and you shall see all places become Acheldamaes, houses of blood, fields of blood, ditches of blood, townes of blood, Churches of blood, and can we yet finde no mater of mourning? or if wee see no misery, is there no sinne in the world? tell me? Can wee see no sinne in the heart, none in the house, none in the towne, none in the Church, none in the State, none in the Land, none in the world? Oh the ignorance that is yet found in many places, amongst vsus, in such abundance of the meanes: Besides, many will come indeede to heare, but they hauehave made their conclusion before-hand, how farre they will goe, they are euen set, and as g…od as they meane to bee. There is a name of Religion amongst vsus, and 'tis but a name, as appeares when it comes to meum and tuum. What is the reason then that wee mourne not? weepe not? 1. some pleade they cannot hauehave while? and this excuse is worse than the fault, q. d. my brothers house is fired, but I cannot hauehave while to quench it, 2. others will say, they cannot weep; but that's but a false plea: for they can command teares in outward crosses, or vnkindnesses from a friend: yea, they can weepe oftentimes of meere curstnesse of heart, and thinke they hauehave reason for it too. Although these teares hurt them greatly, and the other helpe, yet, those they giuegive way to, and these they abhorre; so taking cordialls for poison, and poison for cordialls: and therefore no maruell they hauehave no more comfort of their teares so ill-grounded, so ill-bestowed.
GiueGive way to this mourning: it hurts no man, Vse. 2 but makes for his happinesse and comfort. Wee hauehave laughed too long already, and mourned too much for temporal crosses: Turne now the streame into the right channell, set your sorrow vponupon the right obiect: then it is where it should be, when bent against sinne, and then 'tis comforable.
But how shall I know my sorrow to bee sound and spirituall? Quest.
First, if the obiect be spirituall, Answr. the absence of some good, or presence of some euill. The chiefe good we know, is God. The good man mournes & laments after God, as the Scripture speaketh, when he withdraweth himselfe either in the light of is countenance (which a Dauid holds better then life, and the want thereof more bitter then death) or in the graces of his Spirit, or in the ministry of his Word, when wee hauehave not our signes, see not our visions, or in the losse of his seruants: So for sinne, the good man lookes vponupon sinne (both his owne, and others) as vponupon the greatest euill, and is thereby moued to mourning, but for his owne most. And as for sinnefull, so also for painefull euills of the Saints abroad, or at home, or for those personall miseries, which grow out of his owne corruptions &c.Vid. Aug. sermo: 7 de tempore.
Secondly, it may be knowne by the spring and motiue of it: namely, louelove to good, whence comes griefe in the want of it: and hatred of euill, whence sorrow in the presence of it.
Thirdly by the effects, which respect, 1. God, 2. our neighbour, 3. our selues: for God, spirituall mourning sends a man to heauen, with prayers, confessions, suites to God. 2. It sends a man to his neighbour; makes him mercifull, not pettish, censorious; &c. It makes him also iust to his neighbour. If I hauehave wronged any man, I'll bee ready to satisfie him, to make him restitution. If I hauehave runne away with his goods or good name, I'll carry them home againe, &c. 3. for himselfe, it sets a man further off from his sinnes, nearer to God; emptyes him of himselfe, inflames him with zeale for God, and a greater louelove of goodnesse. And thus you may know spirituall mournning,
The next thing is how to exercise it. And here 1. get the instrument set in tune, goe to the heart-maker, and heart-mender, God, and pray him to giuegive a soft heart: Take his Couenant, Ezek. 36. and plead it to him, say: Here's thy owne hand, Lord, thou hast promised to take away the stony, and to put in the place thereof an heart of flesh. He will not eat his word, deny his promise. 2. Keepe the wound alwayes open and bleeding, as it were, by the constant practise of all the exercises of Religion, but especially of humiliation, reckoning often with thy selfe; so to see what thou hast done, that thou shouldest not, what thou hast not done, that thou shouldest? how slightly and slubberingly thou hast posted ouer the duties of each day? 3. VponUpon extraordinary occasions set thy selfe to a more than ordinary mourning. And here 1. vse a good method. 2. thinke of good motiues: for method. 1. Take a fit time, when God hath any way mollified thy hart, and made it in a mourning case, close with him. After a shower the husbandman puts in the plough, 'twill not vp else; so when we finde our selues any whit softned, take the hint, improue that opportunity.
2. Betake thy selfe to a fit place, where thou mayest freely and without distraction mourne before the Lord. Peter went out and wept bitterly; the hall was no fit place for such a businesse. Get into some corner, and there weepe thy fill betweene God and thine owne soule, see what reason thou hadst so to offend thy Father, wound thine elder brother, grieue Gods Spirit, thy comforter. And thus much of the method you must runne. Consider next of the motiues, and see what reason you hauehave to mourne, (for indeed a man wil see a great deale of reason before he will yeeld to entertaine this guest.)
Godly sorrow is 1 needfull. 2. profitable. 3. comfortable.
Needfull it is 1. in respect of others, they will not doe it, hauehave not hearts to doe it, some must: therefore mourne thou. 2 in respect of our selues it is necessary, and that 1. to preserue vsus from the common contagion and destruction. How was Lot preserued from both in Sodom? hee vexed his righteous soule at their vncleane conuersation, he set him selfe a weeping daily for their sinnes: and so he was neither infected by them, nor destroied with them. 2. A man shall neuer be able to pray for others,— si vis mestere, dolendum &c. or to admonish or reproue to purpose, vnlesse hee hauehave first beene a mourner for them before God, bled before God himselfe for that sinne, which he reproues in others; what likelihood is there, that that reproofe shall take, or worke vponupon another, when thy selfe art not affected? Vse. 2
Vid Chrysost. in P…al. 51. Homil. 2.—Secondly, it is profitable as well as necessary. Naturall sorrow heales not, payes no debts; but godly sorrow cures the soule, sets off wi…h God, makes one alway better when it leaues him, then when it findes him. And for the publike, such a one may stop a common plague, stand vp in the gap, diuert a iudgement, make all the towne, countrey, kingdome where he liues, beholding to him: for he preserues the Iland,Io… 22.30. as Iob in one place hath it, after some translations.
Thirdly, it is also maruelous comfortable, lightens the heart, pulls out the sting of all crosses. It is not a vexing, blubbering sorrow,Vid. Aug. Confess. lib. cap. but rationall, quieting, and such as giues content. A Christian could liue and feed vponupon these teares, hee weepes and is glad, hee can doe so: Yea, when he hath wept one houre, he would giuegive all the money in his purse, hee could weepe another. It is not a whining or gnawing sorrow, that pines a man; this feedes him, eates out the corruption of the soule, lets out the filthy matter, pride, passion, folly, &c: as out of a bile, and then comes ease and rest, where before was none. Therefore, be not afraid of godly sorrow, feare that which is carnall; for that tends to death, and that which is naturall; for if not bounded, it will easily degenerate into carnall; but if it be godly, feare it not: shall be knowne to be such, if it send vsus to God by prayer, make a man thankfull, that hee hath fit time, place, and a message to make him mourne, and so he can finde teares to weepe ouer Christ, whom he hath peirced. If it be such a sorrow, it is godly, and we must take the comfort of it.
Comfort to those that mourne aright, they are- Vse. 3 the blessed ones of the Lord; onelyonly, be sure it be a right sorrow, namely such as being set vponupon sin, makes a man prayerfull, thankfull, mercifull, humble: for this is a healing sorrow.