Jewish Hypocrisy, Chapter 3
CAP. III.
1. Mourning and ſad lamentations were another art of moving God to pitty them. 2. But very unſucceſsful alſo, though it was practiſed among them with a great deal of ceremony. 3. The true nature of godly ſorrow briefly opened in many particulars heaped together. 4. The ſmall hopes that we can build upon ſuch a watriſh foundation as our tears, which are ſhown to be things oft times of little worth.
1. AND this will lead me to another thing, which was uſually a companion of their faſting, and a means whereby they hoped to inſinuate themſelves into Gods favour. Weeping I mean, wailing and making lamentation for their ſins; which they were wont to do with no ſmall ſadneſs, and with many doleful complaints, as the word foreign in that 7. of Zach. 5. gives us to underſtand. It is ſaid of Mordecai, Eſth. 4.1. that he cryed with a loud and bitter cry. Their Planctus or mourning uſed to be with howling, beating of their heads, or knocking of their breaſts, and ſometimes tearing of their hair, with ſuch like expreſſions of inward grief, whereby they thought to move God, as they are apt to do men, to compaſſion and pitty toward them. For they ask the Queſtion, Zach. 7.3. foreign Shall I weep in the fifth monethmonth? &c. intimating that they took it to be pleaſing to him, and therefore they durſt not leave it off, unleſs they underſtood he would be pleaſed with the ceaſing of it.
2. Now God returns an anſwer to them, ver. 5. which grants more then they ſpoke of, and ſaith, When you faſted and mourned, i. e. wept with wailing and lamentation, &c. you did it not to me. For that word foreign in the 3. v. is altered here into foreign, weeping is changed into mourning; and it is as if he had ſaid, To what purpoſe is your weeping? yea where you make a pittiful moan, a lamentable deal of do, moſt bitter complaints, and pour out your tears with loud cryes, it is nothing at all to me. God could by no means be brought to a good liking of their ſins, though they were content to be at this trouble for them, and waſh them out of his memory with their tears. He could not be moved to mercy with blubbered eyes, and ſad looks, and fearful ſcritches, and owl like howlings in the night of their affliction. And there was as little in all the appendices of this weeping, which here we may reaſonably conceive not to have been excluded: Such as rending of the garments, foreign. L. de Iſid. & Oſir.putting on of ſackcloath next their loyns, wearing of dirty apparrel, ſtrowing aſhes on their heads, lying on the ground (a thing in faſhion among Heathens themſelves, as Plutarch tells us of the Athenian women) hanging down their heads, and ſitting in ſilence. Which laſt was an expreſſion of ſadneſs, as well as their bitter cryes; exceſs on either ſide being an indication of great grief. All this, I ſay, ſignified nothing to God, but that they were miſerable; for alas, the deep and hearty ſorrow for ſin, the mourning of their ſouls after God, the rending and tearing of their hearts; the doffing off all the fine gay cloathing, wherein their hearts ſecretly prided themſelves; the uncaſing and ſtripping of their ſouls of all their coverings, wherein they hid and kept warm many beloved ſins; the laying ſome grating conſiderations as cloſe to their hearts, as ſack-cloth was to their fleſh; the pouring ſhame and reproach upon themſelves; the bluſhing to look up unto the face of God with any confidence, till they were peremptorily reſolved (againſt all impediments) to be better; the trembling proſtrations at his feet; the fulneſs of grief that makes the heart unable to ſpeak a word for it ſelf; theſe things they were ſtrangers unto. And therefore the Prophet Iſaiah cryes out, cap. 58.4, 5. Is this the Faſt that I have choſen, a day for a man to afflict his ſoul? is it to bow down his head as a bulruſh, and to ſpread ſack-cloth and aſhes under him? wilt thou call this a faſt, and an acceptable day to the Lord? No, rend your hearts and not your garments (ſaith the Prophet Joel) and turn to the Lord with faſting, weeping and mourning.
3. Then tears are good, when they are the companions of a relenting and returning heart; when they run out of a ſoul that is running towards God. 1 Sam. 7.2, 3. All the houſe of Iſrael lamented after the Lord, and Samuel ſpake unto them, ſaying, If you return unto the Lord with all your heart, then put away the ſtrange gods, and prepare your heart to the Lord, and ſerve him only, and he will deliver you. That is, if you be in good earneſt, let us ſee ſomething elſe beſide your weeping and lamentation; and if theſe be the outward expreſſions of the in ward relenting of your hearts, then put away all thoſe diſpleaſing things that have created you ſo much miſchief, and coſt you now ſo many tears. Away with all theſe ſins that are ſuch offences to your ſelves as well as unto God. Thruſt not theſe needles any more into your heart, theſe thorns into your eyes; carry them all away in this flood of tears. Tears are no further liked of God, then as they are expreſſions of a ſerious inward grief and ſorrow, which is fed and nouriſhed even by our reaſons, and have their ſpring in the deepeſt conſiderations. And then only are they expected from us, when we uſe to weep in other caſes of ſadneſs, and upon dolefull accidents. If that be our temper, to weep bitterly when ſome mournful object preſents it ſelf to us, wherein we are concerned; it is a ſad ſign to ſee our eyes dry, when the deplorable condition of our ſouls doth lie before us. But if our ſorrow uſeth to expreſs it ſelf ſome other way in ſuch caſes, then that is all the outward token that God requires in this. Yet let it be what it will, God will not accept of it, unleſs it amount to a great diſpleaſure againſt our ſelves; baſe thoughts of our ſelves, that have committed ſuch acts; a huge trouble in our mind for what is paſt; hearty wiſhes that all were undone; ſenſe of our obnoxiouſneſs to Gods diſpleaſure; humble and earneſt requeſts to be received into his favour. Which laſt thing, if it be true, is inconſiſtent with our remaining in a ſtate of ſin, and therefore this ſorrow goes a great deal further, and includes in it an hatred of ſin; a reſolution never more to have to do with it; a chuſing rather to die then willingly attempt ſuch another act: An actual declining of it; a ſetting of our ſelves to reſiſt the next temptation; a placing of a watch over our ſelves; and in every thing, ſuch a temper as cannot be quiet in the condition it is, but which muſt be better. If we find not our ſelves in this poſture, all our tears are no better then puddle water, our ſighs but the reek of a dunghill, our tearing of our hair but a fit of madneſs, our mourning but the noiſe of wolves; and there is not ſo much as the beginning of that work in us which God looks for when we faſt, and weep, and call after him.
4. And it will not be amiſs to obſerve what cheap and eaſie things tears are, before we paſs any further. Firſt, there are ſome weeping tempers and diſpoſitions; hearts ſo ſoft and tender, ſo full of moiſture, that they have a flood of tears for any occaſion. The breaking of a glaſs, the loſs of the leaſt thing that they love, an unkind word, the croſſing of their wills in the ſmalleſt trifle, will make ſome hearts burſt forth into them. And therefore eaſie, and ſoft natures, have little reaſon to lay any weight upon them. And ſecondly, you know that ſtones will be moiſt, and weep in foul weather. In a great danger, or when ſome ſad judgement is upon them, the hardeſt and moſt marble hearts may begin to relent and bedew themſelves with tears. When men have diſmal and black apprehenſions of a tempeſt that rattles in their ears; when they have a ſound of Gods wrath that comes and amazes them with its fearfull noiſe; it may make them ſhrike and cry out, and it may ſqueeze ſome ſad groans from them, which may end in tears. Nay thirdly, tears being bodily things, they are many times ſooner cauſed by bodily calamities, then by a ſenſe of ſpiritual concernments. We may weep for the harm that ſin hath done us, when we think it is for the wrong that we have done to God. The loſs of our health or goods may moſt trouble us, and not the loſs of God and our ſouls. The diſcredit ſin hath brought upon our name, may more affect us, then the diſhonour that thereby we have caſt upon our Maker. And ſo while men think that they weep for ſin, and that Gods name ſuffers, they do but pour out their own private grief, & lament their own ſufferings. As the people of Iſrael (whom Zach. ſpeaks of, and whoſe caſe we are ſtating) might eaſily mourn and weep all the ſeventy years, if it had been but to think of the great calamities that had befaln them. The ruine of their City, the burning of their Temple, the captivity of their Nation, the pouring out their blood like water, and ſundry doleful circumſtances in all theſe might well make them wiſh with Jeremiah, cap. 9.1. that their head was waters, and their eyes a fountain of tears, that they might weep day and night for the ſlain of the daughter of their people. But what is all this to a ſenſe of ſin, and a groaning under the intolerable burden of their iniquity! To what purpoſe are all theſe tears, if inward grief and anguiſh for ſin do not give them all their acrimony and ſmartneſs? if they waſh and ſcour not the ſoul from all its filth and naſtineſs? Or, fourthly, tears may be but ſome heat-drops, when men have a great ſenſe of ſome mercy, and the Sun ſhines very comfortably upon them: which though they are very great, and bigger then fall in more conſtant ſhowers, yet they are ſoon over, and all is fair again. Or, fifthly, they may be like the morning dews; ſome good moods when they are cool and ſober; a good fit as ſoon as they are up in a morning, and before they go into any company or employment. But in the heat of the day, and when a temptation comes, they are all lickt up, and no foot-ſtep of them remains. And it is well, if they become not more ſcorcht and dry by ſuch little moiſtures. Or, ſixthly, ſuppoſe that there be ſome preſent heavy ſenſe of ſin that makes them bigg with a cloud, and expreſs theſe briny tears; yet alas! they are but like a ſudden daſh of rain, which is ſoon paſſed over, and then all is clear again, until the next affectionate ſhowre. At the next meeting they entertain their ſins with as great a friendſhip and familiarity, as if there had never been any falling out, nor any unkindneſſes paſſed between them. And if after ſome embraces and new endearments, there happen again a new diſtaſt alſo; yet the reconcilement is eaſie, and a ſmall importunity will make them forget all the injuries their ſins have done them, and all the ill language that they have given their ſins. Such are the tears of many a man, who cozens himſelf into a conceit that he is a penitent; they are but the iſſue of a natural tenderneſs, or the product of ſome ſharp affliction, or the over-flow of ſome ſudden paſſion, whoſe ſurges may ſwell by ſome outward as well as inward cauſes. As a child while he is under the laſhes of the rod, makes a ſad face, & waters his cheeks, and promiſeth loudly, but as ſoon as the boyes come, goes to his play as merrily as ever again: So is it with many finners, who are good no longer then they feel the ſmart; but ſmile upon their antient pleaſures, and waſh their faces in ſweet waters, which you would have thought ſhould never have been waſht with any thing but ſalt tears. Or as you ſee a young man who being in love with one much below him, and therefore chidden by his Father, weeps like a little babe, and ſeems as if he would drown himſelf in the flood of his tears; but upon the very next ſight is as hot in his love, and as eager in his purſuit, as though there had been no ſuch cooler. So it is with many fond men, who in the abſence of thoſe creatures that they dote upon, and when they are under ſound reproofs from God for their follies, they weep as if they meant to leave themſelves no eyes to look upon them any more: But yet when thoſe objects ſhall happen to give them a kind greeting, they cannot forbear to anſwer the ſalutation with their uſual civility. And yet how much men pleaſe themſelves in this tenderneſs of heart, is more apparent, then that I need ſpeak of it. They take this eaſineſs to be ſorrowful, to be a ſign of grace, and that their hearts are not hardened; when as they have the ſame eaſineſs to ſin, and are no harder to be wrought upon to conſent unto it. They will take this to be godly ſorrow, though it work no repentance and amendment, in ſpite of what the Scripture ſaith, and the cleareſt reaſon that can be offered. But I will ſpend no more time about thoſe who cozen themſelves with ſuch little things; for all that I can ſay will not convince them, unleſs they will conſider; and if they will, then half of what hath been ſaid will be ſufficient to convince them. And beſides, I would not either make this book ſwell to a great bulk (which I do not affect) or paſs over too lightly what I chiefly intend.