The Dead Saint Speaking to Saints and Sinners Living, Treatise 5 · Character 6
6. Character.
A ſincere mourning is a filial mourning.
There are the mournings of a ſon, and the mournings of a ſlave; the one doth ariſe from fear, the other from love; love 1. Of God to the ſoul. 2. Of the ſoul to God.
1. From the conſideration of Gods love to the ſoul. When the ſoul ſits down, and recounts the immenſity, greatneſs of Gods love to it; when it takes a view of what God might have done with it, and what God hath done with it; how juſtly hee might have damned the ſoul, and how mercifully hee hath ſaved the ſoul; what coſt, what care, what pains, what ſweat, what blood hee hath laid out to ſave us, and how eaſily hee might have damned us; Oh! this melts and diſſolves the ſoul; the ſoul even crumbles into duſt, and diſſolves into water, under the thoughts of it. You ſee this ſet down in Ezek. 36.31. Then ſhall you remember your doings. Then, when? when God ſhall expreſſe love, as you ſee verſ. 25, 26. why th…n will the ſoul ſay to it ſelf, as Abſolom to Huſhi, is this thy kindneſs to thy friend? art thou ſo cruel to him, who hath been ſo kinde to thee? ſo evil to him, who hath been ſo good to thee? Oh theſe thoughts do lay a man in the duſt. God hath taken ſuch a way to juſtifie and ſave men, that if wee bee but men, it will break our hearts that wee have offended him. Who is it that can read over that place without tears? Iſa. 43.24, 25. Thou haſt bought mee no ſweet Cane with money, neither haſt thou filled mee with the fat of thy ſacrifices, but thou haſt wearied mee with thine iniquities; and haſt made mee ſerve with thy ſins, thou haſt made my mercy to ſerve, my patience to ſerve, with thy ſinnes, even to look on while thou abuſedſt mee. And what would a man imagine now would follow after this, Therefore I will plague thee, I will puniſh thee. But read and wonder, and read; withhold from tears if thou canſt, if any ſpark of ingenuity bee in thee, I, even I, am he who blotteth out thine iniquities for my own names ſake, and will not remember thy ſins. Here was the wonder of mercy.
2. It ariſeth from the love of thy ſoul to God. The love of the perſon offended doth cauſe a godly man to mourn, that hee hath offended him. You ſee David, Pſal. 51. Againſt thee, againſt thee, have I ſinned; godly ſorrow, ſincere mourning is an ingenuous mourning, ſcarce a thought of Hell and damnation comes into the mind, if they do; alas! theſe do not trouble him ſo much as his ſin; that hee hath grieved and offended ſo good a God by Sin. Hence Zachary hath this expreſſion.Zach. 12.10 They ſhall look upon him whom they have pierced, and they ſhall mourn, &c. In which there is nothing but pure love; the expreſſion is obſervable, the Prophet doth not ſay, they ſhall mourn as a ſon for a Father, there may bee ſelf-love in that, a child may ſee himſelf undone in the loſs of a father; but hee ſaith, they ſhall mourn as a father for a ſon, in which there is pure love. But now with Hypocrites, it is neither the conſideration of Gods love to them, nor any love or good will which they bear to God, that makes them mourn, but indeed love to themſelves, they have Sinned and are afraid God will damn them for Sin, therefore it is terror, no principle of love to God, which draws them to mourn for Sin. As they hate Sin only in reference to hell, ſo they mourn for Sin only in reference to hell.
What St. Auguſtine ſaith of fear of ſin, I may ſay of ſorrow for Sin. Hee that fears ſin for Hell, fears not to Sinne, but to burn, but hee hates ſinne indeed, who ſo hates ſin as hell it ſelf. Qui gehennam metuit, non peccare metuit, ſed ardere.So he who ſorrows for Sin for fear of hell and wrath, hee is not ſorry for ſin, but howles for fear of hell: but he ſorrows truly who is more grieved for ſinning, than he is afraid of burning.